"Big brother, this car ......"

"Don't be afraid, you just listen to me, I will step on you if you want to step on it, don't worry, I am in charge of the faucet!"

In the small mountain village of Yanshan County, when Zhu Ciran's ill-intentioned voice sounded, in front of them were Zhu Ciyan and Zhu Cijiong with frightened expressions.

The three of them are standing in the square at the left gate behind the palace at the moment, where Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao used to practice equestrianism together, but the object has changed from a horse to a four-wheeled bicycle that can be ridden by four people.

This bicycle is very similar to the four-wheeled bicycle of later generations, with a shed on the head, handlebars for the two faucets in front, and a chair that is also horizontal and padded with cotton, making it very comfortable to sit on.

All four positions can be pedaled, and there is also a place to put luggage behind the back of the car.

Zhu Ciran has tested that this car can pull 200 catties of goods while sitting four adults.

In addition, the rain shelter has also been changed by him, if it is raining, untie the four leather bags of the canopy, and you can put down the waterproof rain cloth.

However, because there is no plastic, you have to stop and rest after putting down the tarpaulin.

"Get in the car!"

Zhu Ciran sat in the front row, because he was afraid that his two younger brothers would interfere with his direction, he let the two sit in the back row.

They only need to pedal, and Zhu Ciran can pedal, but with his character, he will definitely not pedal, he will only enjoy.

Put on the crystal sunglasses of smoke quartz, Zhu Ciran put his hands on the handlebars, and Zhu Ciyan and Zhu Cijiong could only get into the car hard, and then began to step on their calves and stomp hard.

As the two of them pedaled, Zhu Ciran felt the comfort of driving this four-wheeled bicycle.

His feet were trampled from time to time, but most of the time he followed them, and he didn't exert much effort.

The bicycle drove up in the square at the rear left gate, and the speed was not very fast, and at this speed, it was estimated that it could only advance more than 30 miles per hour.

This speed is already very good, as long as the problem of the road is overcome and only the cement road is taken, it can be said that it is green and natural and pollution-free, and five steamed buns are consumed in a hundred miles.

But looking at Zhu Ciran's clever posture, I'm afraid it's impossible for him to ride a bike by himself.

"Woohoo......"

Feeling the speed of the car, Zhu Ciran simply drove the car out of the square at the left door of the back and started walking around the entire palace.

With the sound of the bicycle jolting on the gold bricks, Zhu Ciran went all the way north to bypass the inner court separated by a wall, and then went around to the Xuanwu Gate, and then went around a big circle to the back right gate, the Wuying Palace......

After crossing the Sanlong Bridge, he drove out of the right Shun Gate, passed the Huangji Gate and the Five Dragon Bridge at the same time, rushed out of the Zuo Shun Gate, came to the Sanlong Bridge in front of the Wenhua Palace, and also had to bypass the Three Dragon Bridge and the East Palace, and returned to the left gate.

Wenhua Hall is no different from other places, many officials are working, so after Zhu Ciran's behavior was seen by the ministers, everyone couldn't help but shake their heads:

"Alas...... It's out of character...... It was His Royal Highness and Long Live that year, he was only riding a horse at the back left gate, how could he ever be rude in front of the Wenhua Palace? ”

"The prince is not right, and he should blame Na Chengde for teaching without a way......"

"Offensive ......"

A group of civil officials in the Wenhua Hall looked at Zhu Ciran and others who were "racing" in front of the Wenhua Palace, and everyone was complaining, but they also knew that as long as Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao did not speak, then according to the "Emperor Ming Ancestral Training" and "Daming Huidian", no matter how noisy Zhu Ciran was, he would still be the prince of the Ming Dynasty.

The ministers shook their heads, and when Zhu Ciran and they went around the second circle, the generals of the Wuying Hall also walked out of the palace with frowns, looking at Zhu Ciran who was galloping by, and sighed.

"It's good if you put this strength on the battlefield."

"I'm afraid it won't work, I heard that Chengde took the prince's military test, but he only got a Ding rank, but he was just a defender."

"If you don't have a general, it's better to stay in the palace honestly to avoid ......"

Some generals were halfway through their words, and when they found that some of them had overstepped, they immediately shut up.

They watched Zhu Ciran go around and around until the sun was in the sky at noon, and the heat was unbearable, and they returned to the hall.

After all, it's summer, and the heat is inevitable.

It's just that compared to them, they still have the heart to chat and ride, and the Qi Wangfu can be said to be busy with their feet not touching the ground.

"From August to May last year, the two prefectures and four prefectures of Shanxi did not rain a drop of rain throughout the year, and after the summer, they suffered a locust plague.

"Shaanxi, Ningxia, Shuofang, and the two prefectures have been covered with yellow sand since May, and I am afraid that the grain output from the fields in various places will be reduced, and the prefects of the two prefectures will remind."

"Henan suffered a locust plague, but fortunately the local government raised properly and exterminated the locusts in time, so the disaster was not large, and only Kaifeng Prefecture was affected by more than 400,000 acres of rice fields."

"Nanzhili Suzhou, Changzhou, and Songjiang Prefecture suffered floods, seawater inflow, and millions of acres of rice fields were ......"

"Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Taizhou, Ningbo encountered dragon hanging ......"

"Jiangxi ......"

"Fujian ......"

"Huguang ......"

In the palace of the king of Qi, one after another officials came to report the disaster situation in various places, and in their mouths, the Ming Dynasty was already in a situation of flooding in the south and drought in the north.

Although Zhu Youzhen is very helpless about the endless disasters, he still has to provide disaster relief, and the immigrants still have to emigrate.

"By May, how was the train built? What about migration? ”

Sitting in the position of the carrier hall, Zhu Youzhen didn't think it was troublesome to deal with so many government affairs, and asked Bi Ziyan, Wen Tiren and others in the palace.

"Your Royal Highness......" Wen Tiren stepped forward and held the wat board as a gesture: "The Beijing-Liao Railway has been repaired to Daning County, only 200 miles away from Shenyang, and is expected to be completed in February next year, and the whole process will be opened to traffic in March and April." ”

"The Jingxi Railway has arrived in Wuyuan County, Ningxia Prefecture (Bayannur), which is still 1,200 miles away from Xining, and is expected to have three years to build."

"The Beijing-Jiajia Railway has reached Tianshui, which is 1,800 miles away from Jiayuguan, and the construction period is less than six years."

"There are still more than 3,200 miles of the Beijing-Long Railway, the construction period is nine years, and the Qinling section is currently being built, and it is expected that the remaining 500 miles will take three years."

"The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway has been repaired to Xuchang, and there are still 2,300 miles left, which is expected to take six years."

"The Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is still 1,300 miles away from Bozhou, and it is expected to take four years."

"The Kunzhan Railway has been repaired to Jiaozhi Port, and the remaining railway from Jiaozhi to Cham is still 2,000 miles, and it is expected to be completed in five years."

"In addition, the Liaomo Railway and the Liaobei Railway in the Northeast have been repaired to Kaiyuan, leaving 2,000 and 3,000 miles of projects respectively, which are expected to be completed in five and eight years."

"As for the Yunlu Railway in Yunnan and Luchuan Port, and the Western Railway in Luchuan to Massa, there are 1,200 miles and 2,000 miles left respectively, and they are expected to be completed in three and five years."

"According to the original plan, the above 11 articles can be completed sequentially within nine years."

Wen Tiren finished his report and did not forget to add: "The budget of the Ministry of Industry can probably be reduced to 19 million taels next year. ”

"In the seventeenth year of the Apocalypse, it was reduced to sixteen million taels, in the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse it was reduced to fourteen million taels, in the nineteenth year of the Apocalypse it was reduced to ten million taels, in the twentieth year of the Apocalypse it was reduced to seven million taels, and in the twenty-second year it was reduced to four million taels."

"In about 23 years, all 11 railways were put into operation."

Wen Tiren is very good at reporting work, and now everyone knows how big the financial problems of the Ming Dynasty are, and the annual deficit of more than 4 million taels makes everyone speechless.

But according to Wen Tiren, if there is no problem with taxes, the deficit can be reduced to 3 million next year, hundreds of thousands after three years, and a surplus after four years.

It seems that in the blueprint drawn by Wen Tiren, the days of Daming will get better and better.

It's just that in the face of people like Zhu Youzhen, Wen Tiren is still too young to want to paint.

In this year's situation of flooding in the south and drought in the north, Daming's annual income may not even be 70 million taels, and the deficit can reach 12 million taels in one go.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but if it is evenly distributed to the more than 160 million people of the Ming Dynasty, it means that the Ming Dynasty has to collect an additional 75 Wen taxes from each person to make up for the deficit.

The tax of 75 wen does not seem to be much, but for a family of five who only have men and women weaving and occasionally work, 5 75 wen is 375 wen.

Three hundred and seventy-five wen, this is the income that the male owner can earn for more than ten days to go to work, and they have to be people who have been divided into official fields by the imperial court.

If there is no official land of three acres for one person, the output of two or three acres of thin land for many families of five is only three or four stone rice a year, and they can't even support their own families.

Even if the men go out to work, and the women weave at home, men and women work all year round, and they can earn at most four taels of silver.

Four taels of silver bought enough rice for the family to eat, and it was only two or three taels, and the seemingly small amount of three hundred and seventy-five wen was actually equivalent to taking one-tenth or more of the silver from the annual income of an ordinary family of five.

Moreover, the number of people who have been affected by the disaster is no less than 40 million, and among the 160 million people in the Ming Dynasty, there are still more than 25 million people who have not been naturalized and have no money to spare.

In real terms, it is not more than 160 million people who pay taxes, but less than 100 million people who can pay taxes, a total of 120 yuan per person, and a family of five has to pay 600 yuan, and those who have more children have to pay 600 yuan.

If the more than 900 million acres of land in the hands of the Ming Dynasty were evenly distributed to the people, then for the people, 600 wen is indeed not much.

But now, after Zhu Youzhen's 14-year policy of equalizing the wealth and the poor, a large amount of wealth of the Ming Dynasty is still in the hands of the gentry and nobles, and the fields in their hands alone are as much as 300 million mu, and the remaining 600 million mu is the land that the 160 million people want to share.

Not to mention that of these 600 million mu, about 200 million mu is still in the hands of small and medium-sized landlords, and only 400 million mu of land is actually in the hands of rich peasants and poor peasants.

Excluding the 10 million small and medium-sized landlords, that is to say, the remaining 400 million mu of land will be equally distributed to 150 million people, and even if the young people in Luchuan, Jiaozhi, and Yingzhou are excluded, there are still more than 12 million.

For an era when at least four acres per capita can only be fed, and the means of production cannot be obtained, then a large number of people must be tenants for the gentry and nobles.

In fact, according to the 500 million mu of land in the hands of the gentry and small and medium-sized landlords, at least half of the people in the Ming Dynasty are working as tenants for them.

Even if the Ming Dynasty divided three acres of official land for one person, in fact, the ordinary people still had to rely on the tenants who were gentry and landlords to support themselves.

Although the Ming Dynasty has implemented a new policy, and as long as the measurement of acres of land and the completion of the household arrangement of Qi people, according to the total grain output of more than one billion stone in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty, the state treasury can receive 100 million stone field rations, but the problem is that the drought is still there.

From the fourth year of the Apocalypse to the fourteenth year of the Apocalypse, there was no year in the Ming Dynasty that could collect all the taxes paid by the provinces, either here or there.

Not to mention the fact that the new policy has not been fully implemented, the number of fields that need to be exempted from disasters this year alone has directly reached more than 260 million mu, even if the yield of more than 260 million mu is only one stone, two or three buckets, then Daming has directly evaporated nearly 40 million stone fields.

In this case, it is really hell that Daming's income can be increased.

This is only the beginning of the second stage of drought, and when it comes to the thirteenth year of Chongzhen and the most serious three-year disaster in the twentieth year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youzhen himself doesn't know whether he can resist it with his brother's ability.

"How many fields can be harvested this year......

Zhu Youzhen thought about this pile of bad things, and couldn't help but look up at Bi Ziyan, who was standing on the hall and was very thin.

In the face of the inquiry, Bi Ziyan also trembled and raised the wat board as a gesture: "Under the condition that the disaster does not spread, the household department estimates ...... About 80 million stones. ”

"What about tax silver......" Zhu Youzhen sighed.

"If nothing else, it should only be about 35 million taels, and the total number of the two will not exceed 70 million taels." Bi Ziyan's voice responded a little weakly, but he still thought of a way:

"If the grain is transported to the disaster area, it will not only stabilize the price of grain, but also increase the tax and silver by about 10 million taels."

"However, in this way, it will be difficult for the relocation department in some disaster areas."

Disasters and migration coexist, because when the disaster is too big to eat, people will be willing to leave their homes and migrate.

Although transporting grain to the disaster area for sale can earn money and stabilize the price of grain, if they have enough to eat and live, the victims will not think of relocation, which is contrary to Zhu Youzhen's new policy.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen could only frown slightly.

He wants the people to live and to let the people move, and the two seem to be neither in conflict nor contradictory, but once the victims are fed, they would rather work as low as five or six cents a day than leave their homes.

So, there is actually some conflict between the two.

"After the autumn harvest, let's sell it in small quantities."

Zhu Youzhen still made a compromise in the face of reality, moved and let the people live, but he still chose to let the people live.

Sometimes he thought that he could be like Zhu Yuanzhang, who forcibly relocated the people with ropes.

But when he thought of that picture, he couldn't help but feel a little unbearable.

"How many people have migrated this year......

Zhu Youzhen leaned back in the chair a little tiredly, Bi Ziyan also did his homework, and looked at the answer on the wat board and reported:

"Since the beginning of summer, the number of immigrants has been increasing for thousands of miles in the north, so that the train with the roof is crowded with the victims."

"People in Henan, Shanxi, and Shandong have moved more than 700,000 people by train or boat in just four months, or one-thirtieth of the population of the three provinces."

Bi Ziyan's words are appalling, you must know that even under the situation of regional drought in the five provinces last year, the number of immigrants in Jiangxi, Sichuan, Beizhili, Shanxi, and Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty was only more than 1.8 million.

This year, the number of immigrants in just four months in three provinces has reached more than 700,000, and if this scale can be reached every four months, more than 2 million people will have to flee to the northeast in that year.

You must know that even if the Guandong at the end of the Qing Dynasty was the largest, it was only an amount of more than 1.3 million, although it was the result of the people's spontaneous recruitment and local government recruitment, which was different from the migration of the imperial court organization like the Ming Dynasty, but it was enough to show the extent of the situation in the three provinces.

"Chen Qiyu, Wang Wei, and Fan Jingwen have anything to say?"

Knowing that more than 700,000 people had migrated from the three provinces in four months, Zhu Youzhen took advantage of his temperament to inquire about the attitude of the political envoys of the three provinces.

In this regard, although Bi Ziyan knew that sighing hurt morale, he still couldn't help but sigh and said: "Chen Yuxuan (cousin) and Wang Zhaotang both said that they were ashamed, and they didn't expect the disaster to be like this, so that the treasury was not enough. ”

"As for Fan Mengzhang, he is also ashamed, saying that he has no shame to serve as the political envoy of Shanxi."

In February, Chen Qiyu and Wang Wei kept saying that Henan and Shandong could not only provide disaster relief on their own, but also transfer grain to borrow from abroad.

As a result, the drought broke out completely, and the two were immediately dumbfounded.

How did they know that the disaster in Henan and Shandong would be so serious all of a sudden?

Zhu Youzhen does not blame them for this, after all, the great drought in history this year directly turned Henan from per capita prosperity to a tragic scene of "cannibalism".

Zhu Youzhen remembers very well that when he read the "Henan Miscellaneous Records" at the end of the Ming Dynasty, as an author who likes to record the lives of small people in the countryside, he was still writing about the old peasants attending wedding banquets in the village in the first year, and with a wave of his hand, he was a gift of dozens of yuan, but in the second year, a famine broke out in Henan, and it became a scene of "no grass on the ground, no water in the river, no skin on the trees, and cannibalism among people".

Originally, it was just a piece of text in a book, but now it broke out in front of Zhu Youzhen, and he needed to deal with it patiently.

Chen Qiyu has done a good job, at least Henan has not yet broken out of the tragedy of "cannibalism".

"Fortunately, the people of Henan have been relocated for several years, so everyone moved at the beginning of the drought, otherwise I am afraid that it will be ...... now."

Bi Ziyan's words expressed Zhu Youzhen's heart, and Zhu Youzhen, who heard the words, could only say:

"The policy of relocation outside the border continues to be promoted, and if possible, people can choose to move to the village, and the train fare on the road is free of charge, and there is no need to relocate the iron plate."

Zhu Youzhen was afraid that it would be too late to make an iron plaque for relocation, after all, the relocation of more than 700,000 people in four months is equivalent to the relocation of thousands of people every day.

At this time, you can only take a car with an iron plate, which is to force the people to walk to the northeast.

It's May right now, so it's good to take a car to at least settle down before winter, but if you walk, it's already late autumn or even winter by the time you get to the northeast.

At that time, when I went to the Northeast, I was either starved to death or froze to death.

Zhu Youzhen believes that there is also an upper limit to the number of paddy fields in the three provinces, and although the drought is serious, at most it will make the dry fields become drier, the irrigated fields become dry fields, and the paddy fields become irrigated fields.

With the scale of paddy fields in the three provinces, even if they are converted into irrigated fields, they can feed no less than 10 million people.

In addition, there will be a buffer period for the drought next year, and I think that the situation will not be as bad as it is now next year.

"What happened to the population of the three provinces outside the Guanwai Province."

"There are more than 2.6 million people in Modong, Beishan remains unchanged, more than 2.7 million people in the East China Sea, and more than 200,000 on the way."

Zhu Youzhen asked, Bi Ziyan replied, the words of the two were straightforward and concise, but they were also full of many questions.

Not counting Beishan and Liaodong, the cultivated land area of Modong Province and Donghai Province is only more than 8.4 million mu, and due to the Xiaoice period, the local grain yield is only seven buckets.

Although the population of the two provinces is 5.6 million at the moment, it is not surprising that the population of the two provinces exceeded 6 million by the end of the year, judging from the drought situation in the Kannai.

In the case of the rations of the Ming disaster relief, three catties for a large mouth and one and a half catties for a small mouth, then the rations of these six million people must be at least 22 million stone to ensure that they have the strength to reclaim and survive.

However, the cultivated land of Modong and Donghai provinces is only more than 8.4 million mu, with a yield of seven buckets per mu, and then the total output of the two provinces is less than 6 million stones, and there is still a gap of 16 million stones.

"This year...... How much grain can Yingzhou, Jiugang and Jiaozhi squeeze out. ”

Zhu Youzhen asked Bi Ziyan, Bi Ziyan did his homework, and knew that Zhu Youzhen would inquire about these three provinces, so he looked at the three provincial political envoys on the wat board and calculated the amount and said:

"Yingzhou can squeeze out 8 million stones, Jiaozhi can squeeze out 10 million stones, and the old port can squeeze out 13 million stones, but in recent years, Jiaozhi's grain has been supplied to the southern provinces, plus the floods in the south of the Yangtze River, I am afraid it will be difficult to extract."

"As for the old port, although there is a lot of grain, it is too far away from the north, and I am afraid that before the grain arrives in the north, it will already be moldy and rotten."

"The only way is to transport the grain from the old port to Jiaozhi, and then buy additional grain from Jiaozhi and ship it to Guangdong, and at the same time transport the grain from Guangdong to Nanzhili, and buy grain from Nanzhili and ship it to Lushun, Liaodong."

"In this way, the food in each place only needs to drift at sea for more than half a month, which is enough, and it will not affect food."

"The only drawback is that since then, the original 23 million stone grain in the two provinces will be consumed by 3 to 50% in the continuous resale, and less than 10 million stone can be transported to the north."

Bi Ziyan gave Zhu Youzhen a plan to consume up to 13 million stone rice and wheat, but Zhu Youzhen looked at Wang Chengen, who had been listening to the deliberations in the palace.

"Cheng'en, how many steamwood ships have been launched?"

"This ......" Hearing this, Wang Chengen hesitated for a moment, and then said cautiously: "Only the twenty steam ships used by the Armaments Institute for experiments can be launched to transport goods, but the capacity of ten ships is less than 30,000 tons, about 200,000 stones. ”

"How long does it take to transport grain from the old port to Lushun?" Zhu Youzhen asked directly.

"Counting the time to replenish coal water, it will take about twenty days to ......" Wang Chengen's response made Bi Ziyan, Wen Tiren and others in the palace unbelievable.

You must know that if the ships of the Ming Dynasty want to go from Lushun to the old port, it will take two and a half months, that is, more than seventy days.

Now as soon as Wang Chengen opened his mouth, it was directly twenty days, how could they not be surprised?

Just without waiting for them to be surprised, Zhu Youzhen stretched his brows and ordered: "Call the ships of the Armaments Institute to participate in the transportation of grain, order the old port to transport grain to Jiaozhi, exchange grain from Jiaozhi and transport it to Guangdong for hoarding, and wait for the ships of the Armaments Institute to transport grain to the north." ”

"Your Highness, even if these ships are fast, their capacity is too small......" Bi Ziyan hurriedly interrupted when he heard this, but Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and said:

"The small volume can be transported slowly, and the grain in Beizhili, Liaodong and Yingzhou provinces is enough as long as it can last until the end of winter."

After that, Zhu Youzhen no longer said, and Bi Ziyan no longer questioned it.

To put it bluntly, it is better for the victims to have food than not to eat......