"This year's drought has indeed greatly subsided, and the water sources that have been cut off in many places have ......"

In the Midsummer Palace, Zhu Youxiao sat behind Long Eucalyptus to deal with the music, and sitting in front of them were Gu Bingqian, Bi Ziyan, and Wen Tiren, who came from the capital to report on affairs.

At this moment, it was Wen Tiren who was talking eloquently, and after Xu Guangqi became a scholar, he became the secretary of the Ministry of Industry after Zhu Youzhen's recommendation, which made Zhou Yanru of the Criminal Department almost grit his teeth.

However, Shi Fenglai was happy in his heart, thinking that the Zhejiang Party had not done anything and picked up a Ministry of Works.

Although Yuan Keli and the others were uncomfortable, Xu Guangqi was indeed too old, so he could only let him become a scholar.

As for Gu Bingqian, this old fox didn't say anything, didn't do anything, just watched the play quietly.

He knew very well in his heart, why did King Qi recommend Wen Tiren to be the secretary of the Ministry of Works? To put it bluntly, it is because Wen Tiren follows the principle of "not doing well".

Because Daming is engaged in infrastructure construction, the current Ministry of Industry is the place with the largest inflow and outflow of money and grain.

Wen Tiren doesn't do it well, and if there is something, he will do what King Qi says, which is the most in line with King Qi's idea, because Wen Tiren will completely copy it and will not let the people below change it.

As long as he copies the policy issued by Zhu Youzhen, and the people below do not change it, then if something happens, King Qi can't blame him.

This kind of principle may make many things rigid, but what King Qi wants now is rigidity.

"Since the beginning of autumn, the drought in Huguang, Nanzhili, Guangdong, and Sichuan has all decreased, and the rainy season is even more pouring, and many rivers have continued, and it has also rained a few ......times in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces."

"In the past few years, the Ministry of Industry has built a large number of dams and reservoirs, strengthened both banks of the Yellow River, and sorted out the ...... of the Yellow River."

"At present, the water in the reservoirs of Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces is enough to support the people to grow vegetables for several months, so that a large number of people will not be able to search for wild vegetables."

"In addition, the imperial horse supervisor has transferred grain properly, often closed the warehouse and opened the warehouse to release grain, and the local political department has made meritorious contributions to the resettlement of the people, and the grain prices in Shaanxi and Shanxi have dropped to 400 wen and 1 stone respectively."

Wen Tiren's mouth is really powerful, and under his few words, the merits of Zhu Youzhen, Xu Guangqi, and Wang Shunding in the past few years are about to become his merits.

It's just that the people sitting here are all the human spirits of this era, so although everyone listens, they don't think so.

Zhu Youxiao handled the music, and his ears kept listening, although he was a little dissatisfied with Wen Tiren's report, he was generally satisfied.

After dealing with a note, he slowly looked up at the three ministers:

"Why are grain prices higher in Shanxi than in Shaanxi, where the drought is more severe? Hasn't Beizhili been transferring grain and receiving help? ”

"Long live ......" Bi Zi was stern, and then replied:

"After several migrations in Shaanxi, so far, there are only more than 3.8 million people in the province, while the 800-mile Qinchuan River in Guanzhong and the 600-mile river in the Hetao have not had a large-scale water shortage."

"As a result, nearly 18 million acres of cultivated land along the Weihe, Jinghe and Yellow rivers have been cultivated."

"Last year, there were 5 million people in Shaanxi, and the grain was naturally not enough to eat, but now the population has dropped sharply, although the grain is scarce, but counting the grain transfer in Henan and Sichuan, it is actually about the same."

Speaking of which, Bi Ziyan once again said:

"On the other hand, in Shanxi, according to the report of the local yellow book at the beginning of the year, there are 6.97 million people in Shanxi, and although there are more than 52 million mu of cultivated land in the province, 70 percent of it is dry land, and only 30 percent is irrigated land."

"It is really ...... to use this less than 15 million mu of water to feed the people of Shanxi ."

After saying three points, Bi Ziyan didn't continue.

"How much grain is Beizhili going to transfer to Shanxi this year?" Zhu Youxiao naturally leaned back, his hands on the armrests, his brows furrowed.

"According to the estimation of the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the Ministry of Households, it should be possible to transfer 7 million stones without spending silver, and about 300,000 stones will be lost in the process."

Bi Ziyan replied in strict manners, but Zhu Youxiao frowned tightly and asked: "Then is this grain enough for the people of Shanxi to eat?" ”

"Naturally, this is not enough......," Bi Ziyan replied calmly, without the slightest flustery.

Compared with Zhu Youzhen's aura, Zhu Youxiao's aura is much weaker.

For them, the old fritters who have been oppressed by Zhu Youxiao's aura, it is easy to respond to Zhu Youxiao's questioning......

"You're confident, and I'd like to hear that you've got things in order."

Zhu Youxiao squinted, and Bi Ziyan continued to answer respectfully:

"The minister took a look at the general situation of each province this year, among which Sichuan and Henan provinces are enough to supply Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces."

"Enough supply?" Zhu Youxiao was a little unconvinced, but Bi Ziyan was confident: "It's enough to supply." ”

"Why?" Zhu Youxiao asked, and Bi Ziyan replied unhurriedly:

"Thanks to Sun Chuanting's liquidation of the lawless gentry, and Li Banghua's meritorious work in Chatian."

"Say ......" Zhu Youxiao had a bad premonition in his heart.

Facing his hunch, Bi Ziyan said eloquently:

"In June of this year, Li Banghua and more than 7,000 officials in Sichuan ran for half a year, and asked the Western Military Governor's Office to help make an inventory, and finally counted the acres of land in Sichuan."

"After the gentry were cleared, the cultivated land in Sichuan totaled more than 276,000 hectares, and the people of Sichuan were only more than 4.25 million people......

Bi Ziyan's words made Zhu Youxiao subconsciously pinch the handrail, but quickly let go.

This move was seen by Gu Bingqian and the others, and they couldn't help but be a little happy in their hearts.

"Sure enough, compared to the young and old King of Qi, it's better to deal with it......

This may be a rare time for the three of them to reach a tacit understanding in their hearts, and such a rarity is also based on the fact that they were suppressed by Zhu Youzhen's aura of dislike and anger.

Today's Zhu Youxiao is only twenty-six years old, and compared with Gu Bingqian, the old fritters who have been screened layer by layer in the party struggle, he is still too tender.

It's not that he can't use his means, but compared to Zhu Youzhen, his growth rate is too slow.

Of course, in normal times, he can also do what Zhu Youzhen said "not to show joy and anger", but the affairs of Sichuan do not allow him to be stable.

According to the calculation of 100 mu per hectare, Sichuan has a total of more than 27.6 million mu of cultivated land, but only 50 years ago, during Zhang Juzheng's new policy inventory, Sichuan only had more than 13 million mu of cultivated land, but now it has suddenly more than tripled.

Is it the industriousness of the people of Sichuan? And then how many fields were cultivated in fifty years?

Naturally not......

To be clear, these fields have been cultivated a long time ago, maybe not so much fifty years ago, but they are not far behind.

The reason why the imperial court has never known is that it is on the Sichuan gentry who were killed by Sun Chuanting.

This is not a small amount, it is a whole of more than 14 million mu of cultivated land, even if it is according to 30 to 1, it can hand over nearly one million stones, rice and wheat.

According to Zhu Youzhen's new policy of giving one out of ten, starting next year, Sichuan will be able to contribute 7 million stone rice and wheat every year, at least 3 million taels.

During this Wanli period, Sichuan handed over no more than one million stone of rice and wheat every year, about one million taels of miscellaneous silver, and at least 1.4 million taels of color.

It can be said that the promulgation of Zhu Youzhen's new policy, coupled with Sun Chuanting's "killing", Sichuan's taxes have more than doubled.

Zhu Youxiao wasn't sure if there would be such a serious concealment in other southern provinces, but with his character as emperor, he would rather believe that there was a ......

Therefore, after he calmed down, he wondered if he could use Sun Chuanting to solve the gentry of other southern provinces?

It's just that as soon as this thought appeared in his mind, the figure of his younger brother appeared in his mind.

"With my brother's character, I'm afraid he won't let me use Sun Chuanting for this kind of thing......"

Zhu Youxiao squinted, but finally gave up, and said gloomily to Bi Ziyan while giving up: "Continue to ......"

"Yes......" Bi Ziyan replied, and then continued to explain:

"The household department has calculated that there is a surplus of grain to feed the people of Sichuan with the fields of Sichuan, so you can buy 10 million stones of grain from Sichuan and escort it north, which will probably lose 10% of the grain."

"In addition, Henan's current Imperial Horse Supervisor and Political Secretary can collect 6 million stone rice and wheat, and can buy an additional 15 million stone, of which 8 million stone can be allocated to support Shaanxi, and the rest to support Shanxi."

"Counting the grain of Beizhili, after the loss on the road, 18 million stones can be transported to Shanxi."

"These plus the sweet potatoes and potatoes irrigated in Shanxi should be able to stabilize grain prices."

"If the drought in Shanxi ends next year, then the people of Shanxi will be peaceful......"

"In addition, the imperial court should be able to collect 69 million Ishida Fu this year."

"More than that?" Zhu Youxiao frowned, obviously this matter made him a lot happier.

"Long live Hui, yes......" Bi Ziyan responded first, and then explained:

"Relying on the autumn rain, Henan, Shandong, Hexi, and Jiugang have bumper harvests this year, and Tian Fu will pay more."

"Among them, the old port is the most, but the rice and wheat in the old port are a little hard, not as soft as the rice in the Central Plains."

Bi Ziyan brought the habit of reporting to Zhu Youzhen, that is, to bring some feelings of the people, because Zhu Youzhen likes to listen to this kind of thing the most.

However, the two brothers have very different personalities, Zhu Youzhen likes to listen to them, but Zhu Youxiao doesn't like them and doesn't care, so he waved his hand and said impatiently:

"If there is still a big drought in Shanxi next year, this batch of rice will be transferred to the two places, sold at a reduced price, and the price of rice will be stabilized."

"The minister ordered ......" Bi Ziyan responded, and Zhu Youxiao also looked at Wen Tiren relaxedly:

"How's the railroad going?"

Zhu Youxiao is very concerned about this, because it is related to whether he can go thousands of miles away to play and get out of the realm of Beizhili, which restricts him.

"The construction deadlines of each railway are in a hurry, and the ministers often go to supervise, and the roadbed of each railway has gone out of the territory of Beizhili."

"At present, it has been determined that the railways that can be opened this year are the two railways of Beijing Gate and Beijing-Tianjin, one is expected to be opened to traffic on September 20, and the other is expected to be opened to traffic on December 25."

"As for the other seven railways, the roadbed was built and the tracks were laid at the same time, and although it will take 15 years for them to be completely opened, these 15 years will be opened to traffic."

"For example, the Beijing-Jiajia Railway, the Jingxi Railway and the Beijing-Long Railway are expected to be completed in eight, thirteen and fifteen years, but in fact they will be able to go directly from Beijing to Taiyuan in three years, and Xi'an in five years."

"Several other railways are similar, the Beijing-Liao Railway will take seven years to build, but it will be completed to Yanshan County in a year, and it will only take six hours to reach Dading Palace."

"There is also a 12-year construction period for the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, but ......"

Wen Tiren is very good at picking up good words, he knows Zhu Youxiao's character in his heart, knows that this emperor is free by nature, and always wants to climb high and look far.

Therefore, he did not specifically say that the construction period would take several years to make the emperor dissatisfied or angry, but said when a specific section of the route would be completed.

As he said, "six hours to Yanshan County", there are eighteen hours to Taiyuan three years later......

These are particularly attractive to Zhu Youxiao, so even taking Zhu Youxiao to look at him is a lot more pleasing to the eye, and it is rare to praise him: "My brother didn't choose you wrong......

"The minister is terrified...... Wen Tiren got up, shook his head, and saluted back.

His humble appearance, compared with Bi Ziyan and Gu Bingqian, who "pretended to be deaf and dumb" next to him, was simply in the emperor's heart.

It's just that his "outstanding" made Zhu Youxiao set his sights on Gu Bingqian.

Gu Bingqian noticed the emperor's gaze, and returned the salute respectfully:

"On the cabinet side, this year's Mining Division, Tea Division, Government Department and other divisions have done a good job."

"October Enke is also already preparing, this year's Enke is divided into north and south fields, respectively in Beijing, Nanjing, the number of scientific expeditions is estimated to be about 300,000 people......

"After the end of the scientific examination, the Department of Government and Academies will select 160,000 officials to teach and study, of which 10,000 will stay in Beizhili, and the remaining 150,000 will be sent to Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan to serve in local government schools."

"These 150,000 teachers and students are expected to rush to the government schools at the end of the month, and students from the three provinces will sign up on the first day of the first month, and the school will start on the first day of February, and it is expected that children between the ages of 15 and 7 will be enrolled."

"The cabinet estimates that the expenditure will be three million taels higher next year, but the five divisions of the "Mineral, Wine, Tea and Salt City" will increase their income by about one million taels......

Gu Bingqian stopped speaking after speaking, while Zhu Youxiao meditated thoughtfully.

He did not support the basic education of the whole people, because he understood that while education, the people would also open up the wisdom of the people, and once the wisdom of the people was opened, many things could not be hidden.

It's just that although he knows it, he can't stop it.

In his heart, he still agrees with Zhu Youzhen's policy of "opening up the people's wisdom and suppressing Confucius", and also agrees with Zhu Youzhen's imperial technique of "king domineering and parallel".

From this point of view, Zhu Youzhen thinks that opening up the people is something that Daming must do, and this matter cannot be stopped by Zhu Youxiao.

Although Zhu Youxiao knew that his younger brother had left a lot of retreats for the Ming royal family, so that unless he was a fool on stage, he would not hurt the royal family, but he was still uneasy.

"What are the expenses for this year? How much can I balance? Zhu Youxiao asked about the question he was most concerned about, to which Gu Bingqian also replied respectfully:

】

"This year's annual income is about 32 million taels, and the other five military governors have a salary of 17 million, 7.8 million officials, 11 million soldiers, horses, and officials, and 1.2 million officials, totaling 37 million taels."

"Tian Fu should be able to collect 69 million stones, and the expenses of the Officials' Workshop and the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, the Soldiers and Horses Division, the Officials Division, the Guanxue Division, and the Imperial Horse Supervisor are 29 million stones, and the Migration Division currently needs 10 million stones."

"After calculation, this year should be five million taels in arrears, and the annual income is thirty million stones."

Speaking of which, Gu Bingqian calculated the account:

"According to the grain prices of Beizhili, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, after the imperial court produces rice and wheat, the annual income of rice and wheat should be 18 million taels, so the annual balance is 13 million taels."

The impact of the drought on agricultural countries has been compared, and last year Daming still had more than 10 million stone rice and wheat, and this year it has earned 30 million stone.

Zhu Youxiao is not worried about the flow of rice and wheat, because Beizhili, especially the capital, is originally a big eater of rice and wheat, and the rice and wheat transported from all over the country every year, in addition to transporting the nine sides, is sold in the capital to stabilize grain prices.

According to this year's situation, counting the gold and silver flowing in from the old port, India, and Yingzhou, the Ming Dynasty actually had a surplus of nearly 50 million taels of silver.

This kind of surplus makes Zhu Youxiao very useful, because his internal money has also accumulated more than 2 million taels this year.

After the repair of the three major halls, Zhu Youxiao did not ask for silver from the household department and the imperial horse supervisor, because his internal money was enough.

Whether it is the Dading Palace in Xiuyan Mountain or the Midsummer Palace in Fangshan, he uses his own internal funds, so no one says anything about him.

Of course, this is because Zhu Youzhen allocates all the mouthy officials.

In Zhu Youzhen's view, unless the country is in difficulty, as long as the emperor does not use the treasury, how to use the internal funds is the emperor's own business.

As for the officials who came to power later, they were basically Yanshan officials, and Yanshan officials didn't care much about how the emperor used his internal funds, unless they would ask the emperor to send internal funds when the country was in trouble, and at other times they were busy picketing hundreds of officials.

In short, the current political environment in Daming makes Zhu Youxiao feel very comfortable, so he wants to express his feelings.

"My ......"

"Long live, Changchun Palace ordered someone to send a ......"

Before Zhu Youxiao could finish a word, Liu Ruoyu walked in with a few copies of the recital.

During the process, Zhu Youxiao was slightly dissatisfied, but he was quickly relieved, because he knew that Liu Ruoyu was so nervous, and it must be that the content of the performance was very important.

He took the recital, but when he opened the first book, his good mood sank instantly.

Qi Jin, Qin Bangping, and Qin Banghan asked for Zhishi to return to their hometowns, and their younger brother approved and granted the three marquises.

Zhu Youxiao didn't feel anything about awarding the marquis, because these three people did have merit.

If it weren't for Qi Jin back then, the arrears of taxes in Jiangnan would not be collected at all, and Fang Congzhe and Sun Ruyou could use the arrears of taxes to threaten themselves all the time.

As for Qin Bangping and Qin Banghan, if it weren't for them, Shenyang City would have been breached in the first year of the Apocalypse, and the loss of Shenyang would mean that half of the Liaodong Peninsula had been lost.

Therefore, the credit of these three people is great, and ......

Zhu Youxiao figured out this recital with his fingers for a long time, and didn't speak for a long time, obviously not wanting to be angry with this recital.

"What do you think?" Zhu Youxiao asked Liu Ruoyu, and Liu Ruoyu was silent for a moment when he heard this:

"The slave maid thinks that the country is in difficulty, and these three old generals are still needed to preside over the overall situation."

Junchen's answer was seen by Gu Bingqian and the three of them, and the three of them were a little curious about the content of the note, but in the next second, Zhu Youxiao opened the next note, and his mood was even heavier.

Without waiting for Gu Bingqian and the others to ask, Zhu Youxiao looked at the three of them and said:

"Qi Jin, the governor of the Southern Army, Qin Bangping, the governor of the Western Army, and Qin Banghan, the general soldier of Guizhou, asked to return to their hometown."

"The three people on the table of King Qi are the Marquis of Dingyuan, the Marquis of Zhongzhou, and the Marquis of Youyang."

"What do you think?"

"......" Listening to the emperor's words, Gu Bingqian and the three finally knew in their hearts why the emperor's face was ugly.

These three people are veterans who came from the Longqing and Wanli periods, and it can be said that in the current Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, they are one of the few veterans who have received more favors from the imperial court than from the King of Qi.

In many things, they are on the side of the King of Qi, but if the King of Qi rebels, then they will not hesitate to conquer the King of Qi.

In other words, in the eyes of this group of veterans, the emperor is greater than the king of Qi, and the king of Qi is greater than the hundred officials.

Although Gu Bingqian and the others felt that the King of Qi would not rebel, and Zhu Youxiao also felt the same, they were not sure whether the people under the King of Qi would coerce the King of Qi to rebel.

Lu Wenzhao, Man Gui, Sun Yingyuan, and ...... Yellow Dragon!

Qi Yuanfu's words to Huang Long were not nonsense, but a real admonition.

Today's Huanglong is thirty-eight years old, but what about his merits?

Fight against the Netherlands and Spain, destroy Johor, Aceh, Banten, Java, Pahang, Tengalu, Sulogo, and Pakistan, recover the South Seas, and re-establish the old port.

He also destroyed Ceylon, Jaffna, Tanjor, Kulan, Pandia, Madurai, Mysore, Clarkdi, Gingi, Vijayanagaro, Bijapur, Bidar, Gorkunda, and Ahmednegar, and set up a lesser Western Inspectorate.

In addition, he also participated in the extermination of Jiaozhi, fought against the Mughals, and commanded the war of the vassals......

To put it simply, the thirty-eight-year-old Huang Long has already destroyed the country for twenty-two on his own, assisted in the destruction of the first country, and laid down about 12 million square kilometers for the Ming Dynasty.

The territory conquered by the other generals together is less than a fraction of it.

Although the kingdoms he destroyed were not strong, the territory was there.

This is also the reason why Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan are more capable than Huang Long, but Huang Long can always lead in letters.

To put it bluntly, there are four words, "immortal work".

In addition, he is also the only person who has the ability to divide the territory of Da Ming at the moment, and after the separation, he and Da Ming have a stalemate.

Huanglong's rebelliousness, but that depends on who he compares with.

If a person like Lan Yu is put in his position, I am afraid that even the emperor can only coax him, unlike now, he is more regular to Zhu Youxiao.

What is the reason why Huanglong did not rebel and did not divide the territory? Everyone knew very well that there was a King Qi pressed on it.

What is Huanglong's appeal? Everyone understood, but no one dared to say it.

The situation of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was originally strong and the imperial power was weak.

Now that Qi Jin and Qin Bangping are retreating, even if the people who are on the top are still the people of the Qin and Qi families, they are a head shorter than Huanglong, saying that things are not as tough as the previous generation.

Zhu Youxiao believes that his younger brother is true, but the matter of the yellow robe is not unprecedented.

Lu Wenzhao, Sun Yingyuan, and Huang Long have tested the imperial power more than once, but they were appeased by Zhu Youxiao.

If Qi Jin and the three of them retreat, can the newly recruited Qi Yuangong and Qin Minping be stabilized......

Suddenly, Gu Bingqian and the others remembered one thing, that is, the King of Qi sent Qi Yuanfu and Qi Yuanbi to work in India, and there was a garrison of the Southern Army Governor's Mansion in the old port.

For a while, everyone's breathing couldn't help but be a little short, and then thinking of Huanglong's going to Beijing to report on his work, they probably had a certain grasp in their hearts.

"The ministers think it's okay to ......"

Gu Bingqian made a decisive statement, and Bi Ziyan and Wen Tiren also expressed their positions successively, and they all thought that there was no problem with King Qi's performance.

It's just that after they expressed their position, Zhu Youxiao said again:

"The second part of the transfer is sparse, the king of Qi let Qi Yuangong serve as the governor of the Western Army, lead the Guangdong army, let Qin Minping serve as the governor of the Southern Army, and lead the Wusizang army, what do you think?"

"......" Gu Bingqian and the three frowned slightly, not knowing why King Qi arranged it this way.

According to common sense, it should be Qi Yuangong's son who inherited his father's business and was the hereditary governor of the Southern Army, but now he was sent to the Western Army Governor's Mansion, and he also led the Guangdong General Army.

In the same way, Qin Minping should also be a brother and a brother, why was he assigned to the Southern Army?

"Could it be ......" Wen Tiren and Gu Bingqian's breathing was a little short, and for a while, a not very good thought rose in their hearts.

"Among the Qin and Qi families, I'm afraid someone has already been co-opted......"