"Boom—"

In Layue, despite the widespread snowfall in the north, workers in Shanxi and Shaanxi are still working, constantly blasting all kinds of low hills and mountains that obstruct the railway.

At this time, almost all river transportation stopped, and land transportation outside the customs also stopped.

Grain destined for Liaodong from Yingzhou stopped at Liaoyang and was to be sent to Taining Province after the snow melted in February.

As for Guannei, grain from Yingzhou also arrived in Tianjin, and with the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway at the end of the month, a truckload of grain was transported to the capital, and the grain from the capital was transported to Shanxi by land.

Further south, Henan and Sichuan respectively transported grain to Shaanxi, and the overall grain price of the two provinces stayed at the price of one pound of rice and three cents.

More than 2 million workers in the two provinces have to go out to work even in heavy snowy weather.

They don't work, and their families can only starve, so no matter how cold it is, they can only hold on to pickaxes and shovels in their hands.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Industry issued them cotton clothes and cotton gloves so that they would not be covered with frostbite.

"Boom—"

The sound of blasting continued to sound, as the province through which the Beijing-Jiajia Railway and the Beijing-Long Railway passed, and the two provinces had the largest population in the form of work-for-relief, so the construction of the railway embankment in Shaanxi and Shanxi can be said to be very fast.

Under the construction means of multi-point construction, the roadbed starting from the capital has been fully connected to Mayi County, Shuozhou, with a whole journey of more than 800 miles.

The fact that there are iron cars running in the capital has spread all over the provinces near Beizhili, especially after the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin railway, its popularity has become more and more hyped.

Therefore, the construction of the roadbed, which was only a construction site in the past, has also attracted many people to watch.

Mayi is not far from Zhenwu County, so when he learned that the roadbed construction had arrived in Mayi, Sun Chuanting took his eldest son, Sun Bingwen, to come and watch on horseback.

came with him, as well as Zhou Ying, who followed him when he was in Jingluo Mansion.

The three of them looked at the construction site in the distance where the blasting task was in full swing, and they were full of emotion.

"I heard that the railway in the north has been laid to Zhangjiakou, and it is estimated that it will only take about one or two months, and it will only take five or six hours to travel from the capital to Zhangjiakou."

Although Zhou Yi and Sun Chuanting returned home together, after all, Sun Chuanting's foundation was still there, and it was very easy to inquire about some news.

The railroad was not too difficult for them to inquire about.

"Railroad ......"

Sun Chuanting looked at the construction site in the distance, and sighed after muttering:

"No matter what, it is still given to the disaster workers, and the work-for-relief can continue, and the people will not go hungry."

"It's just ten dollars a day's wages, or it's too low......"

Sun Chuanting looked at the workers in tattered cotton clothes on the construction site with some unbearable feelings, but he also knew that one person a day for ten Wen was already the best treatment that the imperial court could give to the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi for work.

After working on the construction site for a month, the wages earned are enough to buy 100 catties of rice, or 400 catties of sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Although the food is poor, one person can barely ensure that a few people in the family do not starve to death.

"Your Highness also wants to increase the wages of the victims, but it is just ...... Alas......"

Zhou Yi shook his head, knowing in his heart how much pressure the imperial court was under to provide relief for work.

Not to mention anything else, the cash-for-work project in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces alone requires more than 20,000 taels of silver per day, or more than 7 million a year.

In addition to them, there are also victims from other provinces, and the imperial court has to take out tens of millions of taels every year to provide relief from work.

This is not to say that the imperial court has much kindness, because in real terms, the cash-for-work is actually to take what everyone needs.

If there had been no catastrophe, the imperial court would not have been able to use such cheap workers.

It's just that if there is no catastrophe, it is impossible for the imperial court to organize millions of people to build infrastructure in one go.

Although there are many people and the project is completed quickly, the construction period can be greatly shortened, but for the imperial court, the financial pressure to do so is also very great.

If there is no catastrophe, the Ministry of Industry can hire tens of thousands of people at will, as in the late Qing Dynasty, and a railway can be built for more than 10, 20, or even 30 years.

However, with the catastrophe, the people's fields dried up and could not be planted, and a large number of unemployed people emerged.

If the court doesn't care about them, they will have nothing to eat, and if they don't have food, they will starve to death, and they will have to rebel.

In order to settle them, the imperial court could only launch a large infrastructure.

Cash-for-work, Zhou Ji and Sun Chuanting also often used it when they were passing through the northwest, but he didn't understand why His Royal Highness King Qi was in such a hurry......

"I heard that His Royal Highness is preparing to use troops against Jianyu, and is ready to fight a battle."

"In the southwest, I heard that the road is almost built, and it is estimated that Hong Jingluo will also go up to prepare for the recovery of Sanxuan and Liufu in the coming year."

"This south and north add up to at least 500,000 soldiers."

"Can the local government guarantee the continuation of cash-for-work during the war......

Zhou Yi's words were very shallow, and Sun Chuanting looked at him after hearing it: "Do you think His Highness is in too much of a hurry?" ”

"Xiaguan...... I really feel a little ......" Zhou Yi nodded hesitantly, but Sun Chuanting shook his head and said:

"But I thought that His Highness was not in a hurry, and even eased up."

Sun Chuanting's words made Zhou Miao puzzled, and in the face of Zhou Chuanting's puzzled eyes, Sun Chuanting gave his own explanation:

"Do you know how many soldiers and horses there are in the country?"

"About ...... More than 900,000 ......" Zhou Ji hesitated for a moment and responded.

"It's more than 956,000 people." Sun Chuanting said the number, and then looked at the construction site in the distance:

"The reason why there are so many people is because the imperial court has to fight abroad and defend the land."

"The word defending the land occupies more than 600,000 soldiers and horses."

"It's just that if you really discuss it, you only need less than 100,000 soldiers and horses to defend it, but in the current situation, the defenders outside the gate actually have 70 battalions and more than 200,000 people."

"Among them, there are less than 20 battalions defending Mobei Tiger Rabbit Dun, and the remaining 50 battalions are all defending Jianyu."

"Therefore, if the captives are not destroyed, these fifty battalions cannot be taken out."

Speaking of this, Sun Chuanting looked at the group of ragged workers, and his eyes showed unbearability:

"In such a situation, even I, maybe I will ignore the hungry people for the time being, and take the lead in destroying the Jianyu."

"If Jianyu is destroyed in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, then the dynasty can save more than 20 million taels of silver over the years, leaving five or six million taels of silver every year."

"But in this way, the millions of hungry people in the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi that year ......" Zhou Wei frowned, and couldn't bear to answer.

"Will ......die," President Sun Chuan exhaled, "But if Jianyu is destroyed, he can give an extra five or six million taels every year for disaster relief." ”

"Can't we stop fighting abroad?" Zhou was puzzled.

"If the foreign war is stopped, then the dynasty is really full of wolf smoke......"

Sun Chuanting knew very well that external conquest and internal disaster relief were complementary to each other.

"Dad, why?"

Sun Bingwen, who was sitting in Sun Chuanting's arms, looked up at his father, and although Sun Chuanting felt that it was too early to talk to his son, he still patiently explained:

"For the early days of a dynasty, because of the previous troubled times, the population withered and the number of people in the land was small, so it was natural to stop the war when there was no external threat and recuperate honestly."

"But the current dynasty is not the initial ......," Zhou replied to Sun Chuanting's words with a heavy heart, and then looked up at the workers in the distance.

Sun Chuanting bowed his head slightly in approval, and tightened the reins:

"At the beginning of the country, the land was vast and sparsely populated, so it was necessary to recuperate, and when the dynasty reached its peak, it was generally the time when land annexation was most serious."

"Actually, land annexation existed from the beginning, only because the number of people was small in the beginning, so even if the aristocracy annexed land, there was no problem."

"But with the arrival of the dynasty at its peak, the number of the common people increased, and a large amount of land was in the hands of a small number of nobles."

"At such times, it is necessary for the king to use means to ease the land annexation."

"Whether it is an external war or an internal attack on the strong, this is a necessary means."

"So we're in our prime, aren't we, Dad?" Sun Bingwen rushed to answer, but his question stopped both Sun Chuanting and Zhou Meng.

Although everyone in the world says that it is a prosperous era of the apocalypse, it is actually not a prosperous era, and their group of officials knows best.

At present, in the Ming Dynasty, the land annexation of many provinces is still serious, and the expansion of territory presided over by the King of Qi seems to have indeed laid down a territory that is twice that of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, but the problem is that these places have not been developed.

Taining Sanfu, Duogan, Yingzhou, Ryukyu, Xiaoxiyang, South Kunlun, Nanzhou, Jiugang, Cochin......

This long list of place names does represent tens of millions of square kilometers of territory, but so what?

In this territory of tens of millions of square kilometers, there are less than 400 million mu of arable land, and more than 200 million of them belong to the Indian vassals.

In fact, Zhu Youzhen has expanded the practical land for the more than 130 million people in Daming, and there are only hundreds of millions of acres of grassland in the three prefectures of Taining and hundreds of millions of acres of cultivated land in Yingzhou and Jiugang.

This bit of grassland arable land can only alleviate land annexation and allow conflicts to erupt in the future.

If the territory is not expanded, even if there are so many cultivated lands and grasslands, it can only last for the Ming Dynasty for a few decades.

If you want to continue your life for the Ming Dynasty, you have to always develop practical land.

Zhu Youzhen started the agricultural tractor because he wanted to turn the useless land in the northeast and overseas into practical land.

As for why Zhu Youzhen gave 200 million mu of cultivated land in India to the vassals, it was also considered from a practical point of view.

Is it necessary to issue the land to the feudal domains? In Sun Chuanting's view, it is necessary.

The tens of millions of acres of local cultivated land handed over by the feudal domains were exchanged for more than 200 million acres of cultivated land in India.

The Ming Dynasty did not have so much energy to control the Indian clan, and in the past, the feudal kings were divided, and in terms of the Ming Dynasty's vassal system, the place where the vassal kings were located was the territory of the imperial court.

For the sake of his vassal state, the vassal king will inevitably exert enough strength to suppress the local natives and carry out population migration.

Once the vassal king gained a firm foothold in the local area and the number of Han people gradually increased, the imperial court could rely on trade to obtain the resources it needed.

With the progress of the times and science and technology, India is still the territory of the Ming Dynasty in the end, which will not change.

The only thing that needs to be paid attention to is to prevent the barbarism of the Han people who migrated to the past.

But this problem requires the vassal king himself to "drive the seedlings and expand the industry" and consolidate the national heritage and national bloodline of the vassal state.

The feudal clans of India are equivalent to the power bank of the Ming Dynasty, and the grain grown by the natives on it will be imported into the Ming Dynasty at a low price, and the rebellion of the natives is suppressed by the vassal king.

The Ming Dynasty itself will not be able to control such a large territory, and it is unlikely that it will be at least in the next thirty years, because even Donghu Burma, where the two countries meet, will take decades before the Ming can smoothly digest it.

Jiugang, Sanxuan Liuwei, Yingzhou, Nanzhou, Jiaozhi......

After digesting this circle, it can basically extend the life of the Ming Dynasty for a hundred years, and it is only a hundred years, and the premise of this continuation of life for a hundred years is that the Ming Dynasty cannot come out of the faint king.

In other words, in a hundred years, the Ming Dynasty needs at least three generations of Ming monarchs.

Is the current Zhu Youxiao considered a Ming Jun?

Naturally, it can be calculated, but this is under the condition that Zhu Youzhen is in charge of the government.

Although Zhu Youxiao is only twenty-six years old at the moment, according to Jiajing and Wanli, he will be in charge of the government for another 30 years at most, and the crown prince Zhu Ciran, according to Sun Chuanting's understanding, actually does not show any characteristics that a Ming monarch should have.

Even if Zhu Youzhen can help Zhu Ciran run government affairs, how long can Zhu Youzhen live? Sun Chuanting didn't dare to think about this question.

He knows Zhu Youzhen's workload, which is comparable to the workload of Ying Zheng plus Li Shimin and Zhu Yuanzhang.

The longest lifespan of these three people is only Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Yuanzhang lived to be sixty-nine years old.

In other words, even if Zhu Youjian survives to Zhu Yuanzhang's age, it will only be forty-nine years later.

If forty-nine years later, Zhu Ciran also died in his fifties, then there will be two generations of Ming monarchs at most.

In the remaining fifty years or so, can the Ming Dynasty be sure that there will be two or even three more generations of Ming Jun?

Five generations of Ming Jun ......

Except for the Qin State and the Western Han Dynasty, no country has ever had such a situation.

Having said so much, it is actually enough to show that the contradiction of the Ming Dynasty is extremely dependent on the ability of the monarch, and once the monarch's ability is stretched, the fall of the Ming Dynasty will be a matter of just ten years.

Such as natural and man-made disasters in the past four years, if it weren't for Zhu Youzhen's efforts to turn the tide, Sun Chuanting really couldn't imagine what the current situation would be like in the Ming Dynasty.

He has always supported Zhu Youzhen's new policy, not only because the two have the same ideas and political views, but more importantly, Sun Chuanting can see that the two of them are on the right path.

The matter of Sichuan, Sun Chuanting did not do it as soon as his head was hot, but after careful consideration.

He wanted to use Sichuan to test the gentry's reaction, and it turned out that the gentry's reaction was great, but their energy was also limited.

What Sun Chuanting did in Sichuan could be regarded as exploring the way for Zhu Youzhen to see how much the gentry's strength had weakened compared with that year.

Zhu Youzhen also saw the weakness of the gentry, so he dared to promote official learning to the northern provinces in one go.

With the success of the promotion of official learning, the gentry will withdraw from the stage of history.

Sun Chuanting didn't know what kind of new force would come up after the gentry withdrew from the stage.

But he knew very well that with Zhu Youzhen's ability, at least when he was in the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible for this force to be integrated.

As long as this force is not integrated, the people of the Ming Dynasty will be able to live a good life for decades.

"Without the gold and silver fields and grain obtained from foreign conquests, the dynasty cannot support it."

"I said that His Highness was doing things lightly because he had endured it for three years for the sake of the people, and it was not until the current drought narrowed that he did not take action against Jianyu, and if he was a bystander, he might not be able to endure it for a day."

Sun Chuanting did not answer Sun Bingwen's question of whether it was a prosperous age at the moment, but Zhou Yi next to him was very clear.

Zhu Youzhen is here, Daming is the prosperity of the apocalypse, if Zhu Youzhen is gone, then Daming ......

"Go back, knowing that the people have not been deducted from their wages, I am satisfied."

Zhou Meng didn't finish thinking about it, Sun Chuanting turned the horse's head and left with Sun Bingwen.

Seeing this, Zhou Wei also rode his horse to follow, and his figure gradually disappeared at the end of the road.

"Your Highness's move is more dangerous, but the more dangerous the better, only if Your Highness's chess is eaten, then I can get to the pavilion early......"

When Sun Chuanting and Zhou Ji returned to Zhenwu, Longchuan County, Yunnan Province was busy and in full swing.

Hong Chengchou sat in the temporary economic strategy mansion, holding the news of the military situation in the north and the progress of the train in his hand, and talked eloquently.

In the hall in front of him, Wu Bikui, Mu Qiyuan, Long Zaitian, and Mu Yi all listened attentively to what he said.

After he finished speaking, Mu Qiyuan said:

"After a while, although the six million stone rice of the imperial court has been handed over, some people have begun to starve to death below."

"Too many civilians starved to death, if it is known by the imperial history of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, I am afraid it will ......"

The words are three, but the meaning in Mu Qiyuan's words is enough to be seen.

"How much is the price of rice?" Hong Chengchou absentmindedly put the military information and news in his hand on the table next to him, picked up the teacup and took a sip, Wu Bikui said uneasily:

"The price of rice in the south of Cochin has risen to 700 wen and one stone."

"Would you like to get some rice from Kamp and Siam?" Long Zaitian is considered to be relatively normal among the four, so he made a slightly unbearable proposal.

"I've already asked people to buy it, but the rice of Siam and Gan Po Chi has been almost bought, and the price of their own rice has risen to 500 wen, and they don't sell it anymore."

Mu Yi's face was not very good-looking, but Hong Chengchou asked, "How many natives died of starvation?" Are there any immigrants who are starving? ”

His inquiry made Wu Bikui and Mu Qiyuan, the two more brutal guys, uneasy, and Mu Qiyuan swallowed his saliva:

"The immigrants did not starve to death, and the natives did not find any starving to death for the time being, but if the campaign to level Burma was to be launched again, there might be a food shortage......

】

"Just make sure that the immigrants don't starve to death, and as for the natives, don't worry about them." Hong Chengchou's mind was on the tea in front of him, and after drinking it, he praised:

"The tribute tea in the palace is really fragrant, and when you leave, you will each take a catty away, and this time His Highness asked someone to send ten catties to me."

"Yes......" The four of them responded first, but Long Zaitian hesitated and asked:

"After a while, His Royal Highness is going to launch a plough to sweep the caves, so should the war in Pingma be delayed?"

As soon as he spoke, the other three looked at Hong Chengchou.

In their opinion, under such high pressure, if the campaign to level Burma is also launched, resulting in an increase in grain prices in Yunnan and Jiaozhi, then it is no joke that people will starve to death.

"There is not enough food to eat, it is normal to starve to death, and it is enough to ensure that the migrants and the people of Yunnan have food to eat."

Hong Chengchou still said the old saying that it is enough to ensure that immigrants live, but after he finished speaking, he took the initiative to say:

"But it's still necessary to prepare in advance......"

"Yes!" Hearing Hong Chengchou say this, the four of them thought that Hong Chengchou wanted to let Jinglue Mansion buy food from other places with money, but ......

"You asked the inspection of Jiaozhi to report to the imperial court, and it was said that the price of rice in the Cham Mansion had skyrocketed, and more than 100 natives had starved to death."

"Huh? This ......" Hong Chengchou's words made the four of them speechless, and they didn't know what they meant.

If someone in the jurisdiction starves to death and is stabbed to the capital by the patrol imperial history, it is no joke.

Not to mention the four of them, Hong Chengchou may be taken down.

The reason why the four of them tried their best to prevent it was that they were worried that there would be a phenomenon of starvation death in Jiaozhi that there would be a phenomenon of starvation in Jiaozhi that there would be no long-sighted patrol in the imperial history.

But when it came to Hong Chengchou's mouth, it was clear that no one had starved to death, but he took the initiative to let hundreds of people starve to death in the Imperial History.

What is this? Provide yourself with the unfavorable handle of the ruling and let the emperor masturbate himself?

"Jingluo, are you wrong......

Mu Yi is the person Hong Chengchou relies on the most in the southwest, so he can only question Hong Chengchou's words.

"That's right, you just report it like this."

Hong Chengchou is light-hearted, as if this kind of thing can't affect his career at all.

If it weren't for Mu Yi and the others knowing that Hong Chengchou had never fought uncertain battles, they would even suspect that Hong Chengchou didn't want to be an official and didn't want to be an official.

"You guys......"

Looking at the unenlightened appearance of the four people, Hong Chengchou was very helpless.

He likes to use this group of martial artists, because he is upright and easy to control.

But sometimes, he dislikes them for being unenlightened and stupid.

In order to let the four of them go to work with peace of mind, Hong Chengchou could only put the teacup in his hand on the table and said with a flat face:

"If you want to pacify Burma, you must let the imperial court know that there are difficulties in Jiaozhi and Yunnan in difficulty."

"They know that there is a difficulty, so they will not rush to calm Burma."

"Even if I go to war later, they won't rush the war, so we can slowly pacify Burma."

"As for Shangshu starving to death, this is to test the reaction of the group of people in the imperial court."

"If they don't react, it means that starving to death doesn't matter."

"If they react, then even if we can calm Burma, we can't calm Burma."

Hong Chengchou is very clear about the reason why the large armies of the Wanli Dynasty and the Taichang Dynasty always fail in battles, and to put it bluntly, it is to urge the rear to fight.

As long as he creates the illusion of difficulties in Yunnan and Jiaozhi, the six ministries and cabinets who are reluctant to pay for money will not urge him to calm down Burma.

When the time comes, he himself will go to Shuping Burma, even if there are some defeats on the way to the battle, the people of the Sixth Ministry and the cabinet will also know the embarrassment of Jiaozhi and Yunnan, so they will not criticize him too harshly.

Of course, Hong Chengchou is not worried about the harsh criticism of the cabinet and the Sixth Ministry, because as long as Zhu Youzhen does not speak, the cabinet and the Sixth Ministry will have nothing to do with him.

Therefore, the matter of him starving to death was not for the cabinet and the Sixth Ministry, but for Zhu Youzhen.

He wanted to see Zhu Youzhen's attitude towards the lives of the natives, because if he wanted to use the financial resources of the imperial court in the Battle of Ping-Burma, he had to squeeze Yunnan and Jiaozhi as much as possible.

If Yunnan and Jiaozhi are squeezed, there will definitely be a local riot and starve to death.

Hong Chengchou was unwilling to give up the campaign to level Burma next year, because if he wanted to ascend to the cabinet in three years, he would have to win peace with Burma and succeed in governing Burma.

The death of some natives is nothing to him, even if tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of civilians are dead, it is nothing to him, so he wants to test Zhu Youzhen's attitude towards the natives.

As long as Zhu Youzhen doesn't care, then he can rest assured that he can boldly squeeze the natives to pacify Burma, govern Burma, and finally successfully ascend to the cabinet.

But if Zhu Youzhen cares about him and scolds him, then he will be honest, like a toad, and when Zhu Youzhen calls him, he will be slow and try not to find trouble for Zhu Youzhen.

The two are nothing more than a few years faster and a few years slower.

"After a little high-level observation, let's go find someone to do this!"

After being taught by Hong Chengchou, Mu Yi and the four of them understood the reason for doing this, so they all stood up and acted together.

However, Long Zaitian, Wu Bikui, Mu Yi and others were still a little unhappy.

Obviously, they are dissatisfied with Hong Chengchou's practice of not treating the lives of the natives as human lives, which may have something to do with his status as a young citizen.

Watching the natives being squeezed, as the objects that were once "driven to expand the industry", the three of them were somewhat sad.

"Alas......"

It's a pity that the three of them want to play tricks with Hong Chengchou, but it's really too tender.

Their dissatisfaction was seen by Hong Chengchou, but he also knew that except for Mu Yi, the other two of the three were simple-minded and easy to coax, so he got up and pretended to sigh compassionately, and then turned his back to the four of them:

"The court is difficult, and only by suffering the local people of Jiaozhi can the people of Yunnan not be bitter, and the young people of Yunnan will not be bitter."

"This move ......" Hong Chengchou turned half of his face sideways, his face was unbearable, and after being seen by the four people, he hurriedly turned his back and sighed: "It's not what I want......"

"Omitted ......"

When he said this, he immediately made the three of Long Zaitian, who were young people in Yunnan, a little ashamed.

They thought that Hong Chengchou was suffering for his own merits, but now it seems that he was suffering for the sake of not suffering the young people of Yunnan.

This move made Long Zaitian and the others feel ashamed, and they only felt that Hong Chengchou was thinking about their Yunnan Shaomin, but he lived the belly of a gentleman with the heart of a villain.

"That's it, if the natives spit on me in the future, I just hope that the four of you will not be implicated by me."

"Stand down......"

Hong Chengchou said, shook his head and walked into the hall, not giving the four of them a chance to stay.

Long Zaitian, Wu Bikui, and Mu Yi, the three generals from Yunnan Shaomin, heard this, and they all lowered their heads in shame, only Mu Qiyuan was Han and didn't care about Hong Chengchou's performance.

But in any case, Hong Chengchou was able to solve their confusion, and after a short silence, the four of them left Jingluo Mansion one after another and went to do things according to Hong Chengchou's instructions......