"Wuchen, the locusts in Lu'an Mansion in Shanxi cover the sky, please live the ......"

In Layue, when the capital was already covered in silver, Zhu Ciran, who was wearing a scarlet round-necked robe and a winged crown, was reading aloud in the carrying hall of the Qi Palace.

It's just that his emotionless reading is destined to become an orator in this life.

He sat on a chair in the hall, with a mountain of music in front of him, and Zhu Youzhen, who was his uncle, was wearing a azure round-necked robe at the moment, wearing a black gauze winged crown to listen to Zhu Ciran's "voice and emotion" reading.

Zhu Ciran read aloud, and suddenly felt someone pull the hem of his clothes, he read aloud, looked down, and saw a child as white as a jade doll pulling himself.

In the palace, the doll who can walk around at will in the carrier hall is also Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Ciran likes to rub Zhu Cihong's face very much on weekdays, after all, he is too good-looking, but today he has to help deal with government affairs, so he naturally doesn't dare to be busy, so he no longer looks down at him, but continues to read aloud.

When Zhu Ciran finally finished reading, Zhu Youzhen, who closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, slowly spoke: "What should I do?" ”

"Officials from the Nanzhen Fu Division, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Household Department should be sent to verify, and if it really suffers a disaster, it should be spared for one year."

Zhu Ciran has been in the Qi Palace's mansion for two months, and he knows how to deal with the government, so he doesn't have any questions to answer, and he basically follows Zhu Youzhen's methods.

"Continue to ......" Zhu Youzhen opened his mouth to ask him to continue, Zhu Ciran also began to continue to read the next note, and Wang Chengen next to him took over the previous note, according to the two of them said the reply.

"Daddy......"

Maybe he couldn't find anything to play on Zhu Ciran's side, and Zhu Cihong began to walk towards Zhu Youzhen step by step.

After Zhu Youzhen heard the title of "father", he also opened his eyes, bowed down and hugged Zhu Cihong, who came over.

Most of the physiognomy descriptions that can be left in the history books are handsome, and Zhu Cihong's appearance has been recorded in many historical books of the late Ming Dynasty.

Among them, the most representative ones are "Ming and Qing Testament" and "Slender Words".

In the "Ming and Qing Testaments", it is recorded that Zhu Cihong "is fair-skinned and beautiful, good at coping, his feet and bones are double, and he loves him very much"

"Slender Words" is a more specific record: "The prince can be seventeen or eighteen years old, with a cloud crown, a green silk robe, white fiber socks, a long demeanor, a slender and fair-skinned person, a head like a cut hair, hands and claws like spring onions, and the language is like a cave flute, and the person who sees it is suspected of being a fairy, which is beyond the reach of an ordinary good son." ”

In history, Zhu Cihong's appearance basically inherited Zhou's appearance, and the only fly in the ointment was that his figure was not tall.

However, unlike history, Zhu Cizhen was born a few years later, and Zhu Youzhen also grew taller than Chongzhen in history because he exercised and supplemented meat since he was a child, so in terms of eating and drinking, Zhu Youzhen also compared the eating and drinking of Zhu Cihong's four brothers.

As Zhu Cihong grows up, the characteristics of "fair and beautiful" still exist, and the baby's fat little face is matched with black and white, and her eyelashes are long, I am afraid that she will become a popular children's clothing model in the future.

looks like this, no wonder Zhu Ciran didn't pinch his brother's face, but came to the Qi Palace's house to pinch Zhu Cihong's face.

"Hungry?"

Zhu Youzhen held Zhu Cihong in his arms, lowered his head and asked him, with a smile hidden at the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not hungry, I want to play ......" Compared with Zhu Ciran's fuss, thanks to the teachings of Yuan Xifei and Zhou Sujie, several children in the Qi Palace's mansion are relatively quiet and very dignified.

Zhu Cihong rarely makes trouble, but he likes to come to see Zhu Youzhen, and he doesn't understand why his father doesn't go out to play, but faces this mountain of "books" every day.

"How about I let Sister Yang take you to play?" Sister Yang in Zhu Youzhen's mouth is naturally Yang Rushi in the palace.

However, in this regard, Zhu Cihong shook his head: "Sister Yang wants to read and write poetry, and she doesn't want to take me to play." ”

"Then I'll ask Cheng'en to send you to the inner court to play with Brother Yan and Brother Jiong?" Zhu Youzhen thought of a lot of ideas, but he didn't expect to take Zhu Cihong out to play.

"No, I want to go out with my father......" Zhu Cihong looked up at Zhu Youzhen with black and white eyes, and Zhu Youzhen was a little speechless when he heard it.

He looked at the music on the table, and could only comfortably touch Zhu Cihong's hair: "Dad is a little busy today, and I will accompany you to play tomorrow?" ”

"Oh......" Zhu Cihong lowered his head with some loss in his eyes, he knew that his father would not take him out to play tomorrow, because he agreed to this yesterday.

There are two kinds of children who have a temper, one is uncomfortable with themselves and the other is uncomfortable with others.

Zhu Cihong belonged to the former, so after he was unhappy, he just buried his head and didn't speak, so he sat quietly in Zhu Youzhen's arms.

After a long time passed like this, it was not until the Cunxin Palace sent Yang Yuanai to ask Zhu Cihong to return to the Cunxin Palace for dinner, and Zhu Cihong left the Carrier Hall with anger.

Zhu Youzhen naturally knew that Zhu Cihong was resentful, but he was also very helpless.

It is impossible for him to let Zhu Ciran deal with the music here alone, so take Zhu Cihong to play by himself.

Besides, there really isn't much fun in this era.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen could only paint a painting with his own hands, and add color during the period, and asked Wang Chengen to send it to Zhu Cihong.

After finishing everything, he continued to sit down and listened to Zhu Ciran's report.

"On the fifteenth day of the twelfth month of the 14th year of the Apocalypse, after six months, more than 324,000 households and more than 1,516,000 households were counted in the world, and the number of people in the country increased to more than 16,33,792,300."

Zhu Ciran reported the number of household censuses, and after reporting it, he couldn't help but say:

"Uncle, this household has investigated the population from the sixth year of the Apocalypse to the fourteenth year of the Apocalypse, and it stands to reason that it should also come to an end, how do you feel that the more you check, the more you check?"

"It is normal for the population to increase more and more, and the specific tracing should be to the national policy formulated by Emperor Taizu Gao." As soon as Zhu Youzhen returned to the chair after washing his hands, he began to answer Zhu Ciran's question:

"The investigation of the land in the dynasty is very strict, so the number of acres has not changed much so far, and the new fields are basically obtained by foreign conquest and internal reclamation, but the population is different."

"The population of the dynasty is related to the tax problem before the Apocalypse Dynasty."

"You are too late to be sensible, you only know Tian Fu, but you don't know that in addition to Tian Fu, there is also forced labor."

Zhu Youzhen took out a book to read, and at the same time continued to explain:

"The higher the household level, the higher the various types of forced labor, because many of them are converted into payment in kind, often much heavier than the field tax, and the payment in kind of these forced labor is also an important financial source of the dynasty."

"Conscription is reported according to the household and the Dingkou, and if you report more to the Dingkou, you will collect more taxes, and if you can't collect it, you need local officials to be responsible, and you will also be responsible for collecting more taxes and forcing the people to rebel."

"Therefore, the officials below don't dare to check people too clearly, and the officials don't dare to check, even if the officials want to check, they can't check, because the officials are outsiders, so they naturally can't fight the local officials."

Zhu Youzhen explained to Zhu Ciran, Zhu Ciran nodded as if he didn't understand, and couldn't help but continue to ask: "So the population problem is the problem of Xu officials?" ”

"It's not all ......" Zhu Youzhen shook his head: "If the dynasty wants to levy forced labor, then naturally there must be household registration and Dingkou, in order to avoid forced labor, many people spontaneously joined the door of the landlords and gentry. ”

"The dynasty had a Atlas of Fish Scales, and the management of land was much stricter than that of the population."

"But for tenants, the land they cultivate is the landlord's land, and the landlord is responsible for paying the land endowment, so they become hidden households, and they don't have to bear the land endowment and all kinds of errands."

As for forced labor, the forced labor in the "Da Ming Law" is usually distributed according to the difference in the assets of the "household", and the tenant families are poor, so most of the tenant farmers do not have to serve the forced labor, and the objects of the forced labor are mostly ordinary rich peasants and wealthy landlords. ”

Zhu Youzhen's words made Zhu Ciran more and more confused the more he listened, and he couldn't help asking:

"The landlord has a lot of money and a lot of assets, so doesn't he have more servitude?"

"Hmm......" Zhu You replied, and Zhu Ciran asked again:

"Can the landlord pass on the conscription to the tenant peasants, so that the tenant farmers can perform the conscription?"

"No......" Zhu Youzhen shook his head: "Emperor Taizu Gao was born poor and knew that tenant farmers were the most miserable, so he abolished the evil law of tenant slavery since the Song and Yuan dynasties in the "Da Ming Law". ”

Among the stipulations were: "The rich man's house shall serve the tenant to carry the sedan chair", "sixty rods", and "sixty wages for each day."

"In addition, the gentry and landlords of the national dynasty were not allowed to manipulate tenants at will, as they were in the Song and Yuan dynasties, nor were they allowed to beat them."

"If a tenant farmer is beaten, he can report it to the official and let the official punish him according to the law."

"In addition, in order to prevent the landlord from passing on the official labor to the tenant peasants, and the tenants did not get anything for their work, Emperor Taizu Gao specially stipulated that 'if a tenant is used as a servant for all fields, the landlord must pay one stone of rice to finance his expenses.'" ”

"In this way, the tenant farmers of the national dynasty got rid of the personal dependence between the tenant farmers and the landlords in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and the tenant farmers themselves could terminate the lease contract according to their own wishes."

"At the same time, Emperor Taizu Gao also vigorously encouraged the reclamation of wasteland, stipulating that all land that was cleared could be exempted from taxes for the first three years."

"Against this backdrop, tenant farmers have left the landlords to reclaim the land on their own, and the number of tenants has also greatly decreased."

"It's just that with the development of the dynasty in the later period, land annexation and man-land contradictions increased, and tenant farmers naturally became more and more."

"Since the Hongzhi period, a large number of yeoman farmers have become tenants, and the dynasty has abandoned the statistics of the tenant farmer population, so the gap between the paper and the actual population can often reach more than three times."

"This cannot be said that Emperor Taizu Gao's national policy is wrong, after all, at the beginning of the dynasty, the abandonment of counting the population of tenant farmers was to reduce the burden of tenant farmers, which was conducive to agricultural production, and the loss of benefits was also limited."

"It's just that this practice of treating the people well and strengthening the tax burden on the rich people, in the context of land annexation in the later period, was gradually exploited by the local landlords and gentry, so that the dynasty had to use the taxes of 60 million people to support tens of thousands of people."

Having said this, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but shake his head, looked at Zhu Ciran and said: "National policies are not unchanging, as a prince, you need to know when the national policy should be maintained and when it should be changed. ”

"Like my uncle?" Zhu Ciran didn't seem to understand, and Zhu Youzhen nodded without hesitation:

"What does the national policy look like if it remains unchanged, you should still remember what the people's livelihood is like when Kim Hyun takes you to see, and what is the people's livelihood like now, right?"

"Why was there no catastrophe in the country, but the people lived in such hardship, but now that natural disasters are all over the north, the dynasty can be stable."

"It's not impossible for people to die and the government rest, but we must see clearly which policies should be extinguished and which policies should be maintained."

Zhu Youzhen has already given up on his brother, and he is ready to focus on cultivating Zhu Ciran, the eldest nephew.

At least from the current point of view, compared with his brother's "monarch and people", Zhu Ciran can at least achieve "equality between the monarch and the people".

With the implementation of basic education for the whole people, the people's folk minds will be liberated, and if they use the idea of "the king values the people over the people," they will sooner or later send themselves to a dead end.

Zhu Ciran received a different education, and he saw more people's livelihood and sufferings than Zhu Youxiao, although he could not achieve absolute equality between the monarch and the people, but at least he could treat the people as equals.

This is not a good thing for the king, but if the king's thinking under the feudal system is not changed, then going to the guillotine is the final result.

Under the new system, the king must have new ideas that are in line with the new system.

"Is there anything that needs to be changed in the new policy that my uncle has set now?"

Zhu Ciran's inquiry made Wang Chengen, who had just returned to the Carrier Palace, feel tight, like a man's back.

"Naturally, there are ......" Zhu Youzhen did not say what they were.

"Then before my uncle is in the domain, I have to remember to tell my father about these new policies that need to be changed."

Zhu Ciran opened his mouth with a big heart, and said with a smile afterwards: "Although my father doesn't say it, I went to Midsummer Palace this time, and I feel that he still misses his uncle." ”

"How's he doing?" Hearing about Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youzhen took it to heart.

"Recently, ......" Zhu Ciran thought about it for a while, and then said with a bitter face: "I have gained a lot of weight, about 160 catties (96kg)." ”

"One hundred and sixteen ......" Zhu Youzhen frowned slightly, based on Zhu Youxiao's height, this weight is obviously overweight.

"What happened to your invented quad bike?"

Zhu Youzhen did not discuss Zhu Youxiao's matter again, but instead asked about the four-wheeled bicycle that Zhu Ciran made by himself, and Zhu Ciran was also interested when he heard this, and put down the song and gushed:

"My car is good, but the chain and tires of the car have to be changed every 3,000 miles."

"I want to wait until next summer vacation to ride it to Jiaozhi to see it myself."

"Going to Cochin?" Zhu Youzhen was a little speechless, and couldn't help but interrupt: "It's five thousand miles to Jiaozhi here, even if you take the train, it will take seven days, and the train has not been repaired yet." ”

"yes!" Zhu Ciran said excitedly: "So I'm going to take the train if there is a train, and ride a car if there is no train." ”

"I want to take Li Yongzhen, Li Chaoqin, and Lu Yuangao to set off."

"Lu Yuangao?" Zhu Youzhen paused in his movements, frowned and looked at Wang Chengen, Wang Chengen also replied after feeling his gaze:

"Back to His Highness, Lu Yuangao is the son-in-law of Commander Lu."

"I said it's so ......familiar," Zhu Youzhen retracted his gaze, and asked instead, "How did you and Lu Yuangao meet?" ”

"Lu Yuangao and Li Dingguo are classmates, in addition to him, I also know many people, among whom there is a person named Zhou Boqian who is also quite interesting."

Zhu Ciran explained with great interest, but it was the first time that Zhu Youzhen knew that Lu Wenzhao's son was actually in the same class as Li Dingguo.

"Which school are Lu Yuangao and Zhou Boqian studying in right now?"

Zhu Youzhen asked Zhu Ciran, and Zhu Ciran also knew everything: "Lu Yuangao seems to be the sociology of Shuntian Academy, and Zhou Boqian is the law of Shuntian Academy." ”

"Hmm......" As soon as he heard that Lu Yuangao studied sociology, Zhu Youzhen frowned.

Obviously, Lu Wenzhao's son has his own little Jiujiu, as for Zhou Boqian, Zhu Youzhen has learned about this child, and in general he is an ordinary person with good talents.

If he enters politics, according to his learning ability, according to Zhu Youzhen's standards, he will serve as a county magistrate at most.

However, there are no absolutes in the world, and in case Zhou Boqian suddenly opens his mind, it is not impossible to take charge of a government or even a province.

In short, this person's moral character is good, influenced by his family, he is not contaminated with so much worldliness, and he doesn't have to care about being by Li Dingguo and Zhu Ciran's side.

It's just that Lu Yuangao, Zhu Youzhen is going to let Wang Chengen check afterwards.

If he just wanted to get close to the prince, then Zhu Youzhen would not be good, but if he had thoughts that he shouldn't have, then I am afraid that Zhu Youzhen would have to ask Lu Wenzhao to personally send Lu Yuangao to Qi State.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen also smiled and said: "It's okay to go out for a walk, don't hide it from Jinyiwei, let Jinyiwei protect you." ”

"Since you're going, then Gu will also give you the next homework."

"Homework?" Zhu Ciran swallowed his saliva, and had a soul fear of these two words.

"How about writing a Travelogue?" Zhu Youzhen asked with a smile, and Zhu Ciran nodded immediately when he heard it: "This is okay!" It's not tiring to write this! ”

After all, he was doing something he was interested in, and of course Zhu Ciran would not resist writing "Travelogue", and Zhu Youzhen also made a request for his travelogue that he had not yet started:

"You have to write this travelogue truthfully, and you have to write down the lives of the people and send them to me and your father to see, so that we can see what the lives of the people are like."

"Not only us, but also you yourself must look carefully, so that you can understand the people's hardships in handling government affairs in the future."

"Don't worry, uncle, I'm sure what I'm writing is true." Zhu Ciran responded with a smile, and the whole person seemed to be full of enthusiasm because of this, and even the work in hand was much faster.

Just an hour later, Zhu Ciran helped Zhu Youzhen finish all the slack.

Zhu Youzhen wanted to leave Zhu Ciran to eat, but he said that he was going to eat on the street, so Zhu Youzhen waved his hand and went with him.

It was only after he left that Zhu Youzhen frowned at Wang Chengen and asked, "Go check on Lu Yuangao's kid and see if he is coincidental or deliberate." ”

"Your Highness, is this matter ......" Wang Chengen wanted to say whether this matter should be investigated by Lu Wenzhao himself, but halfway through his words, he saw Zhu Youzhen's unhappy expression, so he stopped saying this.

】

"How many tractors, ships, trains can be produced in the industrial zone next year?"

After talking about Lu Yuangao, Zhu Youzhen asked some questions about Daming Industry.

In this regard, Wang Chengen is also honest: "As soon as the year is over, the annual output of tractors should reach 20,000 units, which is higher than the estimate of the Armaments Institute, and by the end of the year, it should be able to produce 23,400 units with the commissioning of other industrial zones." ”

"These tractors are still sent to Qi State, Jiugang and Beishan in a three-point ratio."

"However, the demand for tractors in Beishan has been reached, and the extra 4,000 tractors can be sent to Donghai Province?"

"As for the steamships, of the 230 ships ordered last year, 47 have been launched, 13 have been put on trial, and six have returned to the factory for reconstruction."

"The Tianjin Shipyard has delivered forty-seven ships with no problems to Huangdian, and now Huangdian is using them to transport grain from Nanyang and the old port."

"At present, the capacity of steamships has reached more than 62,000 tons, about 400,000 stones."

"Excluding the time of supply and maintenance, it can go back and forth to Nanyang nine times a year, and go back and forth to Jiaozhi 15 times, and the transportation capacity of the two provinces is more than 3.6 million stones, and about 6 million stones."

"It is expected that 40 more ships will be launched next year, and the capacity can be increased to 95,000 tons, about 600,000 stones."

"The output of the last train, the locomotive, basically reached 400 cars per year, with a total of 927 cars."

"The Ministry of Industry responded to meet the current demand for the next thirteen railways of the country, at least 3,000 vehicles."

Wang Chengen answered many questions and raised many questions, for which Zhu Youzhen needs to digest them first and then respond.

From back to front, Zhu Youzhen roughly calculated the railway demand mentioned by the Ministry of Industry.

The capacity of 3,000 trains is 390,000 tons, but this is a full load of one train, in fact, with the station, the goods will continue to move up and down, and the real capacity is often much larger than this.

According to the data of previous years, these 3,000 wagons have to transport at least tens of millions of tons of goods every year, which is indeed the limit of the current 13 railways.

However, what Zhu Youzhen wants to build most at present is the Beijing-Jiajia Railway from Beijing to Hetao, then south to Ningxia, and then to the Hexi Corridor to Jiayuguan.

Only when the Beijing-Jiajia Railway was built, the military supplies of the Ming Dynasty could be continuously transported to the local area, and then the army expedition was organized to recover the Western Regions.

The recovery of the Western Regions and Mobei was completed by Zhu Youzhen in the twenty-third year of the Apocalypse.

Judging from the current progress, there should not be much of a problem.

As for the progress of the steamers, it is indeed slow to produce forty ships a year, but there is no way to do it.

Besides, the capacity of forty steamships is good enough, if it is used for immigration, then going back and forth between Nanzhili and Jingzhao Mansion of Qi is actually a matter of two months, and a year, excluding the maintenance time, can run at least four or five times.

A ship loaded with water, food, and fuel can carry at least 1,500 people, and 40 ships can carry 60,000 people, and 44 to 300,000 people can be transported on four or five trips a year.

Such a scale is enough, and by the time the Apocalypse is about twenty years old, if the Qi State can afford it, Zhu Youzhen can requisition most of the country's steamships to transport immigrants.

In one year, with the national strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to transport millions of people.

In just a few years, the population of Qi will exceed five million.

The last tractor about agriculture, according to Wang Chengen, next year's tractor output is 24,000, and Beishan has completely realized the semi-mechanization of agriculture, and the next step is to start from the East China Sea, the largest cultivated land to be developed in the three provinces.

"Beishan's tractor, since it has met the demand, the tractor in the future will be sent to the East China Sea."

"According to the rules formulated before, it will be issued to the people who have settled down first, and it will be issued in the form of one for three households."

"Yes!"

After Zhu Youzhen's words were finished, Wang Chengen hurriedly responded, and after he responded, a horse and a horse also rushed out of the Qi Palace, bringing the news to the yamen of various ministries and provinces.