"Bell... Clang... Bell ......"

On the first day of the first month of the thirteenth year of the Apocalypse, with the arrival of the annual New Year's Day, when the bell tower in the capital began to ring the bell, the capital and the imperial city began to open the city gates before dawn.

New year, new atmosphere, with the implementation of last year's new policy, the population of the two capitals and 24 provinces of the Ming Dynasty was more completely displayed in front of the Ming court in paper form.

With a population of 7.26 million, Beizhili seems to have a large population, but like all previous dynasties, the people of Shuntianfu alone reached 3 million, and the population of the capital and its vicinity was as high as 1.5 million.

Such a large population created a thriving economy, and with the expulsion of the northern Mongols to Mobei, a stable environment led to a steady stream of people who traveled to the capital every day to catch the market.

Although it is said to be the Spring Festival, there are still a lot of people going to the capital today.

After the city gate was opened, hundreds of soldiers and horses who inspected the household registration book came out to inspect them separately.

Because it is a great court meeting, some expatriate officials will also return to the court today to hold a court meeting, so the officials who want to participate in the court meeting entered the capital early through the Anding Gate in the north of the capital, and then took the Xuanwu Gate, spared the detour and first came to the big kitchen in the outer court.

After having a good breakfast in the big kitchen, when the time came, the officials were already standing in accordance with the order of the previous year's court meeting.

"Wow......"

"Stop the sound ~ sing the salute!"

"Greetings to the Ministers, Long live, Long live, Long live......"

In the Huangji Palace, when the Honglu Temple rang the bell and spoke, the officials immediately quieted, and then began to sing in unison when the Honglu Temple rang the bell for the second time.

Zhu Youzhen, who was dressed in the crown dress of the prince, together with the hundred officials, saluted the empty dragon chair, and then got up.

Wang An, who was standing next to Honglu Temple, saw that a chair was brought up and placed on the platform under the dragon chair.

Zhu Youzhen also walked up the steps as a prisoner, and then sat down.

He faced the hundred officials, his eyes scanning the crowd.

Because all the wars ended one after another, in addition to the governors who led the army, like Li Zicheng, who was waiting in the capital to change the garrison after the New Year's Day, all participated in the court meeting.

The Governor's Mansion is considered to have participated in the court meeting relatively rarely, so Li Zicheng and a few people are not comfortable standing in the court clothes of military attachés standing in His Royal Highness.

However, they respected Zhu Youzhen very much, even if it was uncomfortable, they still endured it, holding the wat board and lowering their eyes.

Except for the rare participation of the military attaché of the Governor's Office, there was not much change in this year's court meeting.

"The Winter Solstice Dynasty Meeting was held last year, and if there is a particularly urgent matter among the six departments, you can report it, and the household department is fully prepared, and the population, finance, and cultivated land of the last year are all prepared!"

"......" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, the six Shangshu took a look at the others, and finally it was Wen Tiren from the Ministry of Industry who took the lead in saying:

"Back to His Royal Highness, the Ministry of Industry spent more than 2,340,920,000 taels last year, built more than 4,300 miles of railway embankment, laid 2,800 miles of railroad tracks, built more than 9,600 miles of provincial roads, government roads, county roads, and township roads, and started construction of more than 2.9 million yuan before and after."

"At present, there are more than 5,300 miles of railways in operation, and more than 44,000 miles of provinces, prefectures, counties, and township roads in the country."

"In addition, the Ministry of Industry has also built government schools, dams, canals, ......"

Wen Tiren talked eloquently, and told his achievements one by one, which attracted people's attention.

It's just that everyone knows that these exploits are not his, but Zhu Youzhen's, he is just the name of a Ministry of Industry, and in fact, most of the things are handled by Zhu Youzhen himself.

No one knows more about the affairs of the Ministry of Industry than Zhu Youzhen.

On paper, the Ministry of Industry started construction with more than 2.9 million yuan, but in fact, Jiugang, Jiaozhi, Yingzhou, Luchuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and other places are using labor reforms, and the number is as high as more than 6 million.

More than 5,000 miles of railways and more than 40,000 miles of cement roads sound like a lot, but in fact, when converted into a whole, they are only 3,200 kilometers and more than 20,000 kilometers.

This data is insignificant for such a vast territory as the Ming Dynasty, and it has not even reached the mileage at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Fortunately, there are still many opportunities for "cash-for-work" in the next 11 years of drought, and the infrastructure that should be there will continue to rise.

In addition, the fourth version of the steam engine was continuously used in minerals, iron and steel plants, and various factories, and Zhu Youzhen was still sure that by the end of the 15th year of the Apocalypse, the railways would break through 8,000 kilometers and the highways would exceed 50,000 kilometers.

The infrastructure of the Ming Dynasty is different from that of previous dynasties, whether it is the post road of the Qin Dynasty, the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty, the canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, or the water conservancy projects of the Song Dynasty...... These infrastructures are all on the basis of launching conscription, and the Ming Dynasty is not.

The infrastructure of the Ming Dynasty is to give money and food, which belongs to the category of cash-for-work.

Therefore, as long as the drought does not stop, the infrastructure of Daming cannot be stopped.

"I have already approved the Ministry of Industry this year, and the Financial Department will first release 10 million taels of silver and hand it over to the Ministry of Industry to implement the construction of railways, roads, and government schools."

Zhu Youzhen didn't let Wen Tiren continue to perform, but interrupted his report, so that Wen Tiren could only return to his post in disgrace.

After he was forced to report, the other six ministers could only bow their heads and reply one by one.

"The Criminal Department has nothing to do......"

"The military department has nothing to do......"

"The officials have nothing to do......

"The Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies is fine......

"The Cabinet ...... Nothing"

"The Ministry of Rites ...... Nothing"

Seeing that all the ministries said that there was nothing wrong, Zhu Youzhen felt that it was quite normal, after all, the Winter Solstice Small Dynasty Meeting was held more than a month ago.

However, compared with other yamen, even if it was fine, he had to say that there was something, so he had to stand up and say respectfully: "There is something wrong with the household." ”

"Last year, the household department found more than 3,276,000 hidden households, and more than 2,396,000 acres of hidden fields."

"The Relocation Department issued a total of 1.47 million iron plates for relocation and more than 15 million stone of food stamps overseas."

"Therefore, this year's six provinces, including Luchuan, Jiaozhi, Jiugang, Yingzhou, Donghai, and Modong, all need to deduct a part of the field grain."

He was not very satisfied with the number of people migrated, but he also knew that this was already the peak of productivity in this era.

Even if it is a 9,000-material cargo ship of the Ming Dynasty, it can only transport 2,000 people, and there must be at least more than 700 cargo ships of more than 9,000 materials to transport more than 1.4 million people.

Although it is true that there are so many cargo ships in Huangdian, if all the cargo ships in Huangdian are used to transport people, then I am afraid that this year's tax revenue will be greatly discounted.

Therefore, the ships of Huangdian were still mainly transporting goods, and five or six hundred people were transported incidentally, so the migration speed could not be fast.

However, when the steam engine ship can be mass-produced, the capacity of Daming can more than triple.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen slightly bowed his head to indicate that he knew, and Bi Ziyan also retreated to his position when he saw this.

Next, after Zhu Youzhen and the hundred officials said some words about the implementation of the new policy, they didn't say anything more, but announced the dissolution of the dynasty.

The hundreds of officials left the venue in turn, but Zhu Youzhen sat on the chair and never left.

It wasn't until the cabinet finally withdrew that Zhu Youzhen slowly got up and looked at the empty dragon chair above him.

On the New Year's Day, the most important day of the year, Zhu Youxiao still did not return to the capital, but ran back to the Midsummer Palace in Fangshan from Dading Palace in Yanshan.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't figure out whether his brother was afraid of himself or just playful.

In fact, he had the answer in his mind, but he didn't want to admit it.

"Let's go......"

After a final glance at the dragon chair, Zhu Youzhen explained to Wang Chengen, who walked next to him, and then walked out of the Huangji Hall in Wang Anzuo's gift.

On the way back, the streets and alleys of the capital were covered with shattered firecracker paper, and the air was filled with the smell of sulfur.

When I came to Dongcheng, every household on the street had people carrying buckets and large wooden basins to fetch water from nearby rivers and wells.

Zhu Youzhen asked people to stop the car, and he looked at the people under a bridge from a bridge.

The rivers in Dongcheng are all man-made rivers, and the river water is basically transported from the Jade River and Yongding Canal outside the city.

In later generations, there was a shortage of water in Hebei, mainly because of the large number of people.

Even if you compare the current population, the population of Hebei in later generations is ten times that of the current Beizhili.

As long as Zhu Youjian controls the population problem well, the problem of water shortage in Hebei will not exist.

There are many people around the artificial river, some of them fetch water, some slaughter chickens and cut fish, but more of them wash vegetables.

Wash cabbage radish, wash celery and garlic, wash sweet potatoes and chives...... The riverside has never been so lively on weekdays.

During the Chinese New Year, it has become a good place for neighbors to gather and chat about family life.

Zhu Youzhen watched them wash their own vegetables while commenting on other people's chickens and ducks.

While saying that the grass carp in this house is round and can make good fish balls, he also said that the old hen of that family is fat and strong, and will definitely be able to stew a good pot of chicken soup.

From the materials to the craftsmanship of cooking, here it is said that the Zhang family's head bowl is full of material and full of sharp bowls, and there is that the Li family's small fried is fragrant, which makes people drool.

In later generations, the New Year is better than the car, the house is better than the work, and it is not bad here, but the things are different.

Whose chickens and ducks are stronger than others, whose meat and fish are more than others, will arouse everyone's envy and praise, and the praised people will also politely greet "Come to my house for a drink!" ”

Looking at the life of this small people, Zhu Youzhen had a little smile on his face.

When he saw that everyone consciously took away the chickens, ducks, goose feathers, and offal leaves, Zhu Youzhen also asked Wang Chengen: "Is there a rule in the capital that you can't lose things?" ”

"Out, if someone throws something by the river, even if it is chickens, ducks and goose feathers, the whole party will be punished, and each family will be fined a penny."

"One article?" Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly, but quickly stretched his brows.

Indeed, for the common people, a penny is a bit much, but for the people of the capital, it is not so much.

Only when there is a heavy penalty will people be vigilant, and the whole party will monitor each other, after all, no one wants to pay that penny.

"This rule is good, but it can curb some shrews, but we have to do a good job of supervision, and there should be no arbitrary punishment."

There are more than 10,000 people in a square city in the capital, and thousands of widows, and each family is fined a penny, which adds up to several taels of silver, and Zhu Youzhen doesn't want to see anyone take advantage of the loopholes.

In this regard, Wang Chengen bowed his head, while Zhu Youzhen continued to look at the scenery under the bridge.

Firecrackers during the Chinese New Year are children's favorites, so Zhu Youzhen can see that some children went to buy firecrackers and set off firecrackers at the entrance of the alley.

A dozen children gathered around, they bought a firecracker, dismantled it and divided it equally with the others, and put it one by one.

Some of the children were too timid to let them go, but all the half of the firecrackers he got were given to the older children.

It's not just them, it's the adults who buy firecrackers, and they also put them in a small envelope, usually only one at a time, and the sound is not as loud as firecrackers in later generations.

For the common people, firecrackers are to a large extent a carrier of entertainment, as well as a link of communication and friendship between each other.

No matter who it is, whether they know each other or not, whether they come and go or not, as long as the firecrackers go off, groups of children will swarm to the Lord's house as if they were flying.

Firecrackers are the rallying cry for the owner's invitation, and whoever firecrackers are set off for a long time, the more children at the door of the house, and the happier the host's family is.

As long as the host family is happy, they will start to return the gift.

For children, one is to get some peanuts and melon seeds, and the other is to pick up "blind cannons" that have not exploded, and then show off to each other who picks up more firecrackers and who picks up the firecrackers.

On the bridge, Zhu Youzhen could see groups of children busy visiting the east and west to pay New Year's greetings, enjoying it and gaining a lot.

Compared with the colorful fireworks in its previous life, the crackling firecrackles, the mouth-watering New Year's money, and those delicious big fish and meat, it is this kind of small fireworks that can make him feel the flavor of the New Year.

"Let's go back."

Zhu Youzhen asked Wang Chengen to drive away, and Wang Chengen also ordered someone to drive away.

The horse-drawn carriage drove on the concrete road, except for the "tapping" of horses' hooves, only the distant sound of firecrackers and the lively sound of pedestrians on the street.

After a long time, when the sound of the firecrackers began to subside, the carriage stopped after traveling some distance.

Zhu Youzhen got up and got out of the car, and almost all the lights in Baiwangfang were bright.

Although all the vassal kings and county kings have already become vassals, their heirs are all studying official studies in the capital.

The vassal kings are not stupid, even if Zhu Youzhen did not ask for it, but in order to show their innocence, they still left the child as a hostage.

"Please ...... Your Highness"

"Lonely ......"

The soldiers of the Daxing camp at the door saluted, and Zhu Youzhen answered and walked into the palace of King Qi.

The palace is also lit up with lights, and it is very lively.

It's just that Zhu Youzhen's mind is not on this, and after he returned to the Cunxin Palace, he buried himself in the song.

With his fatigue, as the sky gradually darkened, fireworks began to appear in the capital, and the Qi country on the other side of the ocean had just lit up.

"Crackling ......"

At the end of the Qi Kingdom, the sky was foggy and bright, and the sound of firecrackers also sounded in Xijing on the other side of the ocean.

Kim Hyun was woken up by the sound of firecrackers, and when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the top of the Babu bed.

He struggled to get up, sat and sobered up for a while, and then walked out of the stepping bed in his middle coat.

Walking out of the stepping bed, what catches your eye is the standard northern compound layout of the Ming Dynasty.

Wooden chairs with white walls, screens and potted plants......

The furniture is carved with common bird and animal patterns, obviously with the legacy of the statues of the pre-Qin and Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, which is majestic and broad, which reminds people of the profound simplicity of the palace of the Han Dynasty and the unrestrained and vigorous demeanor of the stone beasts of the mausoleums of the Six Dynasties.

The auspicious patterns of floral figures on the beds and windows inherit the legacy of the Tang Dynasty and fully reflect a strong aesthetic pursuit of grace and luxury.

The ornaments in the house are also landscape figures painted by Kim Hyun himself, with a high artistic conception.

At first glance, those who don't know thought that Jin Xuan was in the city in the north of Daming, but only when Jin Xuan washed up, dressed neatly and walked out of the northern compound and came to the street, it proved that this place had nothing to do with Daming itself.

The streets are paved with cement roads, and the neighborhoods are all in the unified northern architectural style of the Ming Dynasty, so it is easy to mistake your own house if you are not careful.

The soldier at the door brought the horses, and Kim Hyun turned over and rode away.

Even on New Year's Day, he still hasn't forgotten his job, and he still conducts daily routine inspections and patrols the city.

It has been fourteen months since Kim Hyun landed in Xijing City, and in these fourteen months, Kim Hyun has also exerted his ability to run the Qi Kingdom in an orderly manner.

Although Kim Hyun's ability is good, limited by resources, Xijing City is currently not enough to bear the word "Jing".

After a year-long event, Xijing City, which was initially completed in the month of Layue, was actually just a fang market in the real Xijing City.

This square city is 300 steps long from east to west, 400 steps wide from north to south, the wall of the square city is poured with concrete, the whole height is one zhang, the width is eight feet, the circumference is three and a half miles, covering an area of about 270,000 square meters.

It is not so much a square city as a complete castle-like building.

Although the city is not large, the main buildings in the city are divided into two streets from east to west and nine lanes from north to south.

The main buildings in the city include official buildings such as the barracks, the Yamen of the Supervision Mission, the Yamen of the Xijing Division, and the Yamen of the Terracotta Division, as well as the residential buildings of the eastern and western cities and their streets.

In addition to this, Kim Hyun also built public facilities such as temples and government schools.

The streets and alleys in Xijing City are "five vertical and three horizontal" chessboard pattern, however, most of these streets and alleys are straight and perpendicular to each other, so they are obvious people's livelihood cities, which are different from military cities.

Kim Hyun rode his horse up the city wall from the horse road, and rode along the city wall to inspect the small city of Xijing.

Looking at the neat streets and neat streets, he felt a sense of pride in his heart.

"Kim Changshi! Kim Changshi! ”

When Kim Hyun was inspecting Xijing City, an official approached Kim Hyun and handed out the document in his hand:

"Jin Changshi, this is ...... Call...... This is a summary of the documents submitted by the counties of Qi this year, please take a look. ”

The official exhaled as he spoke, and after a pause, he explained the purpose of looking for him.

It seems that because of Kim Hyun's personality problems, in short, the people who work under him avoid hypocrisy and nonsense as much as possible, and go straight to the point in doing things and speaking.

"Good work." Kim Hyun turned over and dismounted, took the book and comforted him in return, and then opened the booklet.

In fourteen months, the number of cities in Qi was still the original five counties, but the quality was not the same.

In the five counties of Qi State, there are currently four garrison battalions with 12,000 people, more than 3,700 craftsmen, 26,000 Yingzhou labor reformers, and 14,000 North Asia Molijia labor reform workers.

In addition, there were many tribes who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, or surrendered under the city.

These tribes totaled more than 32,000 people, and they were all counted as citizens of the Qi State.

Jin Xuan asked them to teach them to cultivate the land, and let the officials of the Siyi Pavilion serve as official teachers, teaching the children of these citizens to speak the official language of the Ming Dynasty and learn the culture of the Ming Dynasty.

From the perspective of race, they are not much different from the people of the Ming Dynasty, and they are not as short as the people of Yingzhou, so the acceptance of them by the officials of the Qi State is quite high.

These citizens were now responsible for cultivating the land cultivated by the labor reformers, and the amount of cultivated land in the entire Qi country was 63,727 mu.

Because it is the first year, last year's yield per mu was basically only more than 40 catties of rice, or the yield after using soil and chemical fertilizers.

Many Qi officials and soldiers were very negative about this yield, but after Jin Xuan told them about the yield of some Liaodong people in the first year of land reclamation, they regained their confidence.

The land in North Asia Melica is not fertile, but in Kim Hyun's opinion, as long as the land is completely cultivated and then used soil and chemical fertilizers, it is still very easy to produce one stone and two or three buckets per mu.

"The amount of cultivated land this year should exceed 150,000 mu."

Looking at the arable land on the books, Jin Xuan counted the number of tractors sent by Daming this year, and couldn't help but be optimistic.

There are a total of 87,824 troops, craftsmen, nationals, and labor reformers in Qi State, and 150,000 mu of cultivated land, even if the yield per mu is only about 40 catties, at least the cultivated land of Qi State can meet their rations for two months.

This is much better than last year, when only one month's ration was met.

Moreover, by next year, I am afraid that with the blessing of nearly 10,000 tractors, the Qi State in the fourteenth year of the Apocalypse will be able to break through 300,000 acres of cultivated land.

Under the condition that the number of Qi people remains unchanged, Qi can be self-sufficient for four or five months.

If the production of the fields increases, I am afraid that they will be able to feed themselves for six or seven months.

Six or seven months' rations, which was enough for the Qi Kingdom, because Jin Xuan found many bison in the plains east of the Eastern Mountains according to the map given by Zhu Youjian.

These bison are so large that they only need to send a thousand people to harvest the carcasses of tens of thousands of bison, which are enough for the Qi country to eat for several months.

Therefore, six or seven months' rations can be saved, and with bison meat, it is basically self-sufficient.

In this way, by the fifteenth year of the Apocalypse, I am afraid that he will be able to ask the King of Qi for emigration.

Thinking of this, Kim Hyun closed the booklet with emotion and handed it over:

"Send the document to Yingzhou, hand it over to Yang Bu's political envoy to his Royal Highness, and ask Yang Bu's political envoy to transport 30,000 labor reformers and 200,000 stone rice and wheat to Jingmen Port."

"Yes!" The official responded, then took the book and turned to go down the city wall.

However, Kim Hyun looked at Xijing City, which is composed of bricks, earth, and concrete, and his confidence in Qiguo was even greater.

"As long as it continues to develop and let the Qi State surpass Jiangnan, there should be some people who are willing to come over to the Yanshan faction officials and the military generals of the Five Armies Governor's Mansion within the Naguo Dynasty."

"It's just the rest of the ......" Kim Hyun's face showed a hint of worry, and finally shook his head and didn't say anything more, but turned around and went to the door, continuing to patrol Xijing City.

(End of chapter)