"Sigh the law ......"

"Zhang Zhongwu, your rice is growing well!"

"What's the use of being good-looking? It's still not as delicious as the rice in our lake! ”

At the end of October, when the people of the Central Plains were facing a natural disaster situation of flooding in the south and drought in the north, the people in the fields of Meng-Myanmar Province in Luchuan Province were discussing the taste of rice.

In October of the fourteenth year of the Apocalypse, nearly two years had passed since the fall of the Donghu Dynasty.

On the plains of the Dajinsha River, what catches people's eyes is an endless array of golden rice fields.

In the field, the golden rice grains are full of grains, and they exude an intoxicating direction.

Under the sunlight, the rice in the field is golden and bright, and the long rice leaves lined with golden grains of rice look particularly beautiful.

As far as the eye can see, the yellow and clear rice fields are shining like gold, and a breeze blows, smelling the fragrance of rice, turning up layers of golden waves, at this time the ears of rice are bent over like pregnant women waiting to give birth, waiting for the farmers to harvest them.

If this scene is placed in the territory of the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, it is estimated that tens of thousands of peasants will be happy, but in the Meng-Burma Mansion in Luchuan, it is just an ordinary scene.

Although this paddy field is tens of thousands of acres large, there are not many people working in the fields.

Compared with tens of thousands of acres of paddy fields, there are less than 2,000 peasants working in the fields.

Some of the children went down to the ground with the elders of the family, and they felt a chill coming from under their feet, and they felt that they were slowly sinking, and they were about to be melted by this golden yellow.

"Brother Tiger, how is it? Didn't let you run in vain, did you? ”

In the field, a young man was still lamenting the vast rice field when a twenty-five or sixteen-year-old man next to him patted him on the shoulder.

"Didn't run in vain!" The young man looked back and immediately laughed when he saw the man.

The two of them went down to the field, grabbed the rice with their backhands and the sickle with the other, and cut off a handful of rice with a squeak.

In this way, in just a quarter of an hour, a lot of rice was cut.

When he turned his head and looked at the rice that covered the ground, the young man couldn't help but sigh:

"Thanks to Luchuan, I heard that there is a flood in Jiangxi this year, if I stay in Jiangxi, I am afraid that I will become a homeless."

"It's not that it's a loss, it's a loss to the government, and it's really a matter of giving so much land." The man next to him smiled and spoke, and the young man nodded with a smile when he heard this.

He looked at his land and said with a smile: "Twenty acres of land, it will take a long time to complete the work." ”

"Do it well, sell the rice to the emperor after this year, and then build a new house with silver, and work for another year next year, and you can have a daughter-in-law."

The man next to him was working hard while greeting the young man, and the young man also smiled and chatted: "What kind of daughter-in-law?" Local daughter-in-law? ”

"Don't look down on the local daughter-in-law." When the man heard this, he also quipped: "I heard from them that the local daughter-in-law is quite obedient." ”

"Those who are disobedient have been reconciled, who dares to be disobedient, hahaha......" The young man responded with a smile, and the other men not far away also laughed.

"I'd rather find a young girl from Yunnan than a native daughter-in-law from Luchuan, at least I can understand what I can say."

"The young girl is no worse than you, and they are also twenty acres of land, so you have to coax them to come."

"Coaxing, coaxing, anyway, it's a good hand at work."

"Don't be beaten up by the young girl when you quarrel!"

"Hahahaha......"

In the rice fields, a group of immigrants from the mainland, most of whom have been migrating for more than a year, are smiling.

Although they are immigrants, their lives are not bad.

The village in the distance of the rice field is the village they built under the leadership of the officials of the Mengmen-Myanmar Yamen, and the buildings of the whole village are the traditional buildings of Jiangyou in Huguang and Jiangxi, with a simple layout, simple and elegant.

The courtyards in the village are all blue bricks and gray tiles in the architectural style, the pattern is mostly two into three bays, one hall and one hall structure, the whole is made of bricks, wood, stone as raw materials, and the wooden structure is the mainstay.

If you look closely, all the courtyards have blue brick courtyard walls, gray tiles, and carpentry carving skills.

Such a courtyard, if it is placed in Jiangxi and Huguang, I am afraid that there are no twenty or thirty taels of silver, and Ken will not be able to get it, but in the land of Luchuan, it only takes less than ten taels of silver to get such a small courtyard covering an area of four points.

Not to mention anything else, in this Luchuan land, labor can be described as extremely cheap.

Although Hong Chengchou also gave land to the people of Luchuan, compared to the Han immigrants, their land was not much, and they could only barely support themselves.

Therefore, in order to supplement some meat and cloth, oil and salt needed for life, most Luchuan men can only look for casual workers everywhere.

Cement yards, brick factories, tile yards, stone yards, mines, construction sites, ......

These are the places where they are fighting for their heads, even if the wages of each factory are only eight cents a day, they still rush in.

A large amount of cheap labor has led to a sharp drop in the price of various materials.

In Daming, a penny can buy up to three green bricks, or ten gray tiles.

However, in Luchuan, one penny can buy ten green bricks, or thirty gray tiles.

As for the wood, it is cheaper, and most of the wood that has been concocted is at the end of ten cents, and it is only a dozen square meters of wood at most to build a house.

The craftsmanship of the people of Luchuan is not good, but the discerning Han craftsmen will rent their land to others to plant, and they will take a dozen Luchuan men to act as the township workers, building houses for people everywhere.

The delicate work is done by the craftsmen themselves, while the brick-laying, mixing the Sanhe soil, building the main body and some things that only use brute force are on the Luchuan men.

In this way, the price of houses in the countryside can also be reduced.

However, it is useless to just have cheap labor and materials, and the most important thing is that the people have money.

Although Luchuan does not have a policy of exemption, it cannot support the many fields in the hands of the people.

The Han people who emigrated, even if they were an old bachelor, could be allocated 20 acres of land according to the policy, and 20 acres of land could bring seven or eight taels of silver to the immigrants every year with the grain price and yield per mu of Luchuan.

A single person may need to work hard for two years, but if it is a husband and wife, or even the kind of family that migrates, their income in the first year of coming to Luchuan can build a courtyard with three entrances and three exits, and there is still a lot of silver left.

"It seems that we can't finish the harvest this year, so we have to hire a few Luchuan helpers."

"How much does it cost to hire a day?"

"It's almost seven, but you have to take care of the rice, no matter how much the rice is ten."

"That's pretty cheap."

The chatter among the immigrants continued, and the grain from the autumn harvest was being sent to Huangdian in one stroke.

Most of the grain was purchased by Huangdian and transported to Longchuan in the north, and unsurprisingly, the grain would be transported to Yunnan, and then to the wharf along the Yangtze River, where it would be transported down the Yangtze River to the Jiangnan region.

These grains delivered out also represent Hong Chengchou's exploits in Luchuan, so he naturally has to pay more attention to it.

】

"This year, a total of 5,694,300 stones were collected from the field, and the emperor purchased a total of 33,270,000 stones of grain, spending more than 8,317,000 taels of silver."

"Intercept 20 million stones and sell them in Luchuan Huang Store, and it is expected to sell 6 million taels, with a loss of more than 2,317,000 taels."

"13 million stones are divided into two batches, the first batch of 8 million stones, sold to Jiangnan together with Tian Fuliang, the loss is about 30%, and the profit after deducting the loss is about 4 million taels."

"The second batch of five million stones was sent to India to fight, with a loss of about one percent and a profit of about two million taels."

"The two are combined, this year's Luchuan Yamen Tian has an annual income of 2.6 million taels after the grain is folded, and the annual income of the Huangdian is 3.4 million taels."

On the fifteenth day of the winter month, when all the taxes in Luchuan were collected, Xu Chao, the head of the Luchuan Imperial Store, was discussing with Hong Chengchou.

The two sat in the Yamen of the Political Secretary in Luchuan County, Mengmyanmar Prefecture, and sat on the main seat on the left and the right to talk about things.

Although the Buzheng Division and the Huangdian belong to two different systems, one is subordinate to the Sixth Ministry and the other is subordinate to the Imperial Horse Supervisor, the Tian Fu grain of the Buzheng Division often needs to be sold through the channels of the Imperial Store, so there is naturally an exchange.

For example, at present, after the calculations and estimates of the Xu Dynasty, the more than 5 million stone fields of the Luchuan Yamen became more than 2.6 million taels of silver.

At the price of grain in Luchuan, these fields were worth 17.8 million taels at most, but through the channels of Huangdian, the grain was sold to the Jiangnan area, where the price was higher, and then it became 2.6 million taels.

These 2.6 million taels are all real achievements, plus Luchuan's commercial tax and mining tax, this year's Luchuan can be said to have gained a lot.

"This year, Luchuan should be able to earn four million taels a year, and in addition to the expenses of Luchuan Prefecture and railways, it can also pay 600,000 taels to the imperial court."

Hong Chengchou looked at the document book, and after making sure that there was nothing wrong, he closed the paperwork, and Xu Chao also said to him:

"Nan Anbo's exploits, all officials see it, and it will not be long before I return to Beijing."

"Hehe, Cheng Xu's manager Ji Yan." Hong Chengchou responded to Xu Chao's flattery, and Xu Chao saw that Hong Chengchou had nothing else to say, and also said that the affairs of the imperial store were complicated, and then got up and left.

In the process of his departure, Hong Chengchou did not make any substantive moves except to get up and send him to the door.

Perhaps in his opinion, the head of the imperial store of a province is not worth his personal wooing at all.

The object he wants to win over is no longer ......

"Uncle!"

Before the thought fell, Mu Yi's voice came from outside the yamen, and then Mu Yi, who was dressed in regular clothes, trotted all the way into the yamen.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing him like this, Hong Chengchou couldn't help frowning, and Mu Yi also stepped forward and said:

"There is news in Beijing, I heard that Yuan Liqing is ill and intends to be a minister."

Mu Yi's news shocked Hong Chengchou Tong Kong, but he quickly calmed down, stroked his beard, and then analyzed:

"Yuan Liqing is the second assistant, if he is a minister, he will have no influence or benefit to me."

"It's Sun Chuanting, if it's Yuan Liqing, I'm afraid Sun Chuanting will be the first to ascend to the position of second assistant."

"So what to do?" Mu Yi was a little anxious, but Hong Chengchou raised his hand to signal him not to get excited:

"It's okay, there is still a Bi Ziyan in the court, if Yuan Liqing is a minister, and Gu Bingqian does not retreat, then it should be Bi Ziyan who ascends to the auxiliary position."

"Sun Chuanting and I must return to Beijing together to enter the cabinet."

"Instead of worrying about Yuan Liqing's Zhishi, it's better to think about what Long Live and His Royal Highness King Qi want to do."

Hong Chengchou brought the topic back to Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen, because even he could feel that there were some problems with the two brothers.

It has been almost two years since Zhu Youxiao left Beijing, an emperor who has not returned to the capital for two years, if he is not able to meet the courtiers in the Midsummer Palace and Dading Palace normally, I am afraid that all the officials will think that he is imprisoned.

The emperor did not return to the capital, and everything was thrown to the king of Qi, at first glance, those who didn't know thought that the king of Qi was the emperor.

As he grew older, Hong Chengchou could probably guess Zhu Youzhen's thoughts.

I would definitely go to the domain, but the reason why I haven't been there is a lot of reason.

First, if he leaves, then there will be no auxiliary ministers to assist the left, with Zhu Youxiao's political means that like to play balance, can he control the court and make the officials honest and obedient?

The way to crack this first point, Hong Chengchou has already thought of it.

To put it bluntly, it is to pull him Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, Wu Aheng, and Yang Wenyue into the cabinet as auxiliary ministers, at most plus Shen Tingyang in the old port, and Lu Xiangsheng in Xiaoxiyang.

Among these six people, the first four people were too deeply involved in the army, Shen Tingyang was hated by the Jiangnan gentry because he presided over the city and opened the sea, and the last Lu Xiangsheng was basically in Liaodong and Xiaoxiyang since he became an official, and had a good relationship with the vassal king.

Although all six of them were involved in the gentry, most of the forces behind them had no common interests with the gentry.

Without common interests, naturally they will not be idle and have nothing to do to change the national policy formulated by Zhu Youzhen.

As long as the positions of the cabinet and the six ministers are held by the six of them, at least during their tenure, there will be no change in the national policy, unless Zhu Youxiao himself abolishes the policy left by Zhu Youzhen.

However, Zhu Youzhen's policy was, on the whole, a natural help to the imperial power.

For example, the current division of the treasury and the internal treasury has led to Zhu Youxiao no matter how he repairs the palace, as long as the treasury is not used, then no one can say anything about him.

Compared with Zhu Houzhao, the emperor who built a 240,000 taels of leopard room with a flower in the house, and was poked by civil officials for a hundred years, his life is the envy of many Ming emperors.

In addition, the national focus is only one aspect, and there are many advantages of six people serving as ministers.

Among them, the army that Zhu Youzhen is most worried about, if there are six people in charge, it will basically not be a big deal.

Hong Chengchou can influence the southern army and the western army, Sun Chuanting can influence the northern army, Wu Aheng and Yang Wenyue can influence the eastern army, and the navy is controlled by Shen Tingyang, and the overseas vassal kings have a good relationship with Lu Xiangsheng.

In this way, except for the Shangzhi Governor's Mansion, the rest of the army can be controlled by this team of ministers.

This is a stability plus, but it is also a disadvantage.

As a cabinet minister, he is so close to the army, if there are one or two ill-intentioned people, then the Ming Dynasty will be in danger.

However, these six cabinet ministers are all more than ten years older than Zhu Youzhen, and as long as Zhu Youzhen is still alive, no one will not think of rebellion, unless he feels that his influence and military ability surpass Zhu Youzhen.

Otherwise, once Zhu Youzhen returns to Daming, the rebellion may soon be suppressed.

Trending towards this, Zhu Youzhen dared to let the six people enter the cabinet with confidence.

Therefore, there will basically not be much variability in the team of auxiliary ministers, and the conditions have been met, and Zhu Youzhen can leave.

The reason why he did not leave was because of the second point.

The second problem is that even with the auxiliary ministers, the bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty is still in the midst of party struggle.

The reason why the current party struggle does not seem to be fierce is because Zhu Youzhen is pressing on it, otherwise with the size of the Yanshan faction, Shi Fenglai, Gu Bingqian and other conservative parties would have been swept out of the court long ago.

Gu Bingqian and the others were all so embarrassed, not to mention that the governance of his subordinates all relied on the six auxiliary ministers of Yanshan officials.

If they ascend to the throne, they will definitely not be able to control the officials of the Yanshan faction, and even in order to better govern the Ming Dynasty, they will have to deign to become a member of the Yanshan faction.

If you want to reduce the influence of the Yanshan faction, you must join the emerging officials, and the emerging officials, to put it bluntly, are the students of the Ming Dynasty who do not have the symbol of Yanshan.

At present, Daming's government students are divided into two stages: junior high school and middle school, and the study time of the two stages is ten years.

For example, the beginners in Beizhili have graduated, but the students in Shanxi are still studying, and the students in Huguang, Jiangxi and other places are even in the first grade.

In this case, although they are huge, their knowledge is too superficial, and they are the same as Yanshan students.

The only thing that made Zhu Youzhen interested was the Fuxue students who joined the middle school stage.

Daming's Fuxue students have a wider range of knowledge and more time to learn and precipitate.

Just as the Yanshan faction looks down on the old school, after they enter the officialdom, they are also destined to look down on the Yanshan faction.

However, at present, the fastest students to graduate from Fuxue will not graduate until the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse.

It is now the fourteenth year of the Apocalypse, and there are still four years left before the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse, that is, the counterattack against the Yanshan faction will start in four years.

The Fuxue students are the official system that Zhu Youzhen gave to Hong Chengchou and other six auxiliary ministers to maintain stability, and once this system is mastered, the old school will be swept away.

Once the old school is swept away, there will be a rivalry between the Yanshan faction and the official school above the temple.

In this way, Zhu Youxiao, who likes to play balance, can come to power in person.

In terms of playing balance, even Hong Chengchou thinks that Zhu Youxiao has done a good job.

Therefore, to sum up, the reason why Zhu Youzhen released him to leave in the twenty-third year of the Apocalypse was actually an answer after careful consideration.

In the twenty-third year of the Apocalypse, the official school system of the Ming Dynasty was close to maturity, and the number of students graduating from junior schools could reach tens of millions, and the number of students graduating from government schools as middle schools could probably reach millions.

Using millions of students to squeeze the officials of the Yanshan faction, I am afraid that the officials of the Yanshan faction will not last for many years.

However, since Zhu Youzhen has formulated the junior high school and middle school, there must be a higher stage of official school in the future, and I am afraid that it will be another reincarnation at that time.

"It's just...... How many times can this Ming Dynasty withstand a few tosses......"

Thinking of Zhu Youzhen's secret hand and his age, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but secretly exclaim in his heart, "This son is so wise, almost a demon."

However, after this analysis, he was not so resistant to becoming an auxiliary minister of the Apocalypse Dynasty.

In the final analysis, with a team under his command, he is not afraid that the emperor will liquidate himself like Wanli liquidates Zhang Juzheng.

It's just that the emperor's character is destined that he is unlikely to be responsible for some political failures, which Hong Chengchou needs to be vigilant at all times to avoid helping the emperor carry the black cauldron.

After thinking about it clearly, Hong Chengchou was not so urgent about entering the cabinet.

Although you can enjoy fame when you enter the cabinet now, there are also a lot of bad things.

Wait until the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse to enter the cabinet again, and that time is the time to sit firmly in Diaoyutai.

"Okay, just inquire about the affairs of the capital."

Hong Chengchou walked out of the analysis and explained to Mu Yi, and Mu Yi also responded when he heard this.

At the same time, Mu Yi couldn't help but continue to report other news.

"Uncle, over there in Wusizang, I heard that more than 400,000 people have moved out last month, and now only five cities, including Sanzhujie, Lasa, Bolu, Nagqu, and Qamdo, have soldiers and horses stationed in them, and 120,000 exiled criminals."

"Sun Chuanting is still stationed in Lasa with troops, do you think he has received any will from His Royal Highness?"

"How can there be so many wills...... Hong Chengchou glanced at Mu Yi and explained his doubts:

"That Sun Boya's temperament is like this, although Uszang has 120,000 exiled criminals, but the place is dangerous, and if you are not careful, you will die."

"It's true that 120,000 people entered Usizang, but they didn't make Usizang's soldiers and horses self-sufficient."

"The imperial court stationed five battalions of soldiers and horses in Wusizang, and only these five battalions of soldiers and horses have to eat 70,000 stone of rice and wheat every year, and counting these 120,000 prisoners, they need nearly 700,000 stones."

"If you want to rely on Sichuan to supply these seven stones and ten thousand stones of rice and wheat, according to the yield per mu of Wusizang, you must cultivate at least 800,000 mu of arable land."

"At present, there are 2 million acres of arable land in Wusizang, and if the standards of the country and the dynasty are used overseas, there must be at least 300,000 people in Wusizang."

"Now there are only 120,000 people, do you think Sun Chuanting will leave?"

Hong Chengchou asked Mu Yi rhetorically, but Mu Yi was speechless: "Are you saying that Sun Chuanting will not leave until there are 300,000 people in Wusi?" ”

"I can't leave Luchuan for three years, why shouldn't he?" Hong Chengchou did not respond positively, but his words were enough to explain everything.

"The railway, immigration, cultivated land, and culture in Luchuan are more difficult than the emptied Wusizang, and Sun Chuanting is difficult, so why am I not difficult?"

"Go to the court for me, just say that it will take three years for the work of Luchuan to be completed, please let the court let me continue to act as the town for three years!"

Now that he knows that entering the court in the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse is the best choice, Hong Chengchou naturally cannot enter the court in advance to work himself.

He wants to re-enter the court in the seventeenth year of the Apocalypse, counting the time to travel, he can almost survive until the graduation of the Fuxue students.

At that time, his position as the first assistant will not only be secure, but he will also be able to sit very easily.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou turned around and walked back to the yamen with a smile, but Mu Yi was a little stunned when he heard this, but when he thought that it was Hong Chengchou's arrangement, he could only respond honestly.

After seeing Hong Chengchou leave, he found the officials in the yamen and drafted a note in Hong Chengchou's name.

As the fast horse rushed out of the Luchuan Yamen, this note was also sent to the capital in an expedited manner......