"Recently, the price of Beizhili has risen by about 20% due to the relief of Shanxi and Shaanxi, and the people have complained that it is the price rise caused by the Tianqi Tongbao issued by the imperial court."

"Your Highness...... Does the issuance of this currency need to be stopped......

In the transportation hall in July, when Zhu Youzhen was slightly irritable because of the hot weather, Li Changgeng's words and the notes handed over to him made him slightly unhappy.

In the hall, Li Changgeng sat on a chair, waiting for Zhu Youzhen to speak, and Zhu Youzhen was frowning with the note about prices in his hand.

[By June 30, the price of rice in Beizhili is 600 wen per stone, 15 wen for water chicken, 17 wen for fish and shrimp, more than 200 wen for goose, more than 50 wen for chicken, more than 30 wen per catty for pork, 20 wen for salt, 200 wen per stone for bran, and ...... sesame oil]

This book on prices made Zhu Youjian feel the changes brought about by the drought more intuitively.

If he remembers correctly, when he trained in Yanshan in the first year of the Apocalypse, each stone of rice was only 550 wen, water chicken, fish and shrimp were 67 wen, pork was 212 wen per catty, and bran was only 150 wen and one stone.

In this way, the price of meat has basically risen by 30% to 50%, especially the cheap fish and shrimp have risen to 17%.

Back then, he used fish and shrimp to use Tengxiang Siwei as meat, at this price, if he used fish and shrimp for the Ming army as meat, it would have to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

"Why is the price of fishing so high?" Zhu Youzhen put down his song, knowing in his heart that the coastal people relied on eating fish, and if the price of fishing was too high, they could only eat and continue to eat rice.

"It is very expensive to transport grain from the north to the south, and many ships have been requisitioned to transport grain, otherwise it will not be enough to maintain the price of rice in the provinces at the current price."

"There are more than 38,000 fishing boats in Huangdian, and those with a tonnage of more than 500 tons have been requisitioned, and less than 13,000 are fishing at sea."

"In addition, the winter has become longer in recent years, and fishermen can only go to the deep sea in winter, so the price of fishing will not come down."

"According to the statistics of the Ministry of Households, there are nearly 200,000 fishermen inside and outside the country, most of whom live in Jiangnan, Liangguang, Jiaozhi, and Jiugang, and less than one-third belong to Beizhili, Liaodong, and Yingzhou."

"The price of fishing in Yingzhou is cheap, but the price of fishing in Liaodong and Beizhili is very expensive."

"If it ......"

"Alright." Zhu Youzhen interrupted Li Changgeng's words, he only needed to know roughly why fishing prices were soaring.

After all, according to the historical trend, if Zhu Youzhen had not vigorously developed sea trade and fishery, the fishing price of Beizhili during the Chongzhen period could reach the level of more than 20 Wen a catty of fish.

Although the price of fishing has risen at the moment, it is generally due to the fact that the price of other meat is too expensive.

If it is true that the people can't even afford to eat fish and shrimp, then the price of rice will not increase so much.

"What happened to the immigration situation in Shanxi?" Zhu Youzhen asked about the immigration in Shanxi, but not Li Changgeng, but Wang Chengen in the corner.

"Since the beginning of the year, more than 300,000 people have been relocated from Pingyang Prefecture, Zezhou, Qinzhou, Lu'an Prefecture and other places, and according to the situation that there has been no rain in southern Shanxi since the beginning of summer this year, it is estimated that 200,000 people will be able to move away in the second half of the year."

Wang Chengen rummaged through the notes of the Migration Division, and after finding it, he responded to Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen also bowed slightly:

"In other words, the population of Shanxi is less than five million at the moment?"

"Back to His Royal Highness, it's true......" Wang Chengen returned the salute, and Zhu Youzhen also looked at Li Changgeng: "Have the prices in Shanxi come down?" ”

"Back to His Royal Highness, compared with last year, it has dropped by about one to two percent, mainly because of the rain in Datong, Taiyuan, Liaozhou, and Fenzhou, and there is grain in the fields, and the people's hearts are stable."

Li Changgeng answered Zhu Youzhen's inquiry, and further made a summary of the prices in various provinces:

"The prices of Shaanxi, Hexi, and Sichuan provinces are now all maintained by railway transfer materials in Luchuan, Shandong, Huguang and other places, and there is no change from last year."

"In terms of rice prices, Shaanxi has 600 wen per stone of rice, Hexi has 700 wen per stone of rice, Sichuan has about 480 wen per stone of rice, and Shanxi has reduced it to about 760 wen."

The income of the people of the Ming Dynasty has not changed much in recent years, and it has basically remained at the income of the year when Zhu Youzhen divided the army in Tuntian, but the price has risen by four or five percent compared with that year.

The only thing that can be controlled is the price of rice, but it is difficult to control it with the current industrial volume.

If the number of steamships and tractors can be increased by more than ten times, it is possible to restore the price of rice in the north of the Ming Dynasty to the four years of the Apocalypse.

Now the embarrassment of the Ming Dynasty lies in the lack of transportation capacity and the speed of reclamation is not fast enough, so that the development of cultivated land in the northeast is too slow, and the excess grain in the three provinces of Jiugang, Luchuan, and Jiaozhi cannot be transported.

The price of rice in the three provinces of Jiaozhi is basically around 300 wen per stone, and the price of rice is gradually decreasing as local labor reformers continue to cultivate new fields.

If this goes on for a long time, even if the price of rice in the three provinces drops to 200 wen per stone, Zhu Youzhen will not feel strange.

Increasing the capacity of this kind of thing is not something that Zhu Youjian can improve with a single tap of his head, and Daming doesn't have so many skilled technicians for him.

Therefore, in the face of soaring prices, Zhu Youzhen had no other solution except to be anxious.

"After the completion of the second batch of industrial zones this year, the investment and construction of the third batch of industrial zones and the fourth batch of industrial zones will be started immediately."

Zhu Youzhen gave an order to Wang Chengen, and at the same time said to Li Changgeng: "The Financial Department will transfer 12 million taels of silver to the Armament Institute to build the fourth batch of industrial zones. ”

"The lower official received the order...... Li Changgeng responded, while Zhu Youzhen was calculating when the fourth batch of industrial zones would be fully put into operation.

The construction of industrial zones in Daming is based on three years, and often after one industrial zone is put into operation, the second industrial zone will follow.

In the context of the smashing of silver and the fact that government students have become workers, the next industrial zone is often three times the output value and output of the previous industrial zone.

For example, at present, with the second batch of industrial zones fully put into operation at the end of the year, Daming's six-year industrial production capacity is 2,400 large high-pressure steam engines, 7,200 industrial steam engines and 24,000 agricultural tractors per year.

Large high-pressure steam engines are basically used on ships and trains, while industrial steam engines are used in various factories, and tractors are needless to say.

In addition to the one-third that needed to be sent to the Qi State every year, the number of machines left in Daming was 1,600, 4,800 and 16,000 respectively.

The locomotives are still being assembled and used, but the annual use is only about four or five hundred, so the rest can be used as ships.

"After the technicians of Tianjin shipyard mature, they can be sent to several other major shipyards, and the fourth batch of industrial zones can also be considered to be arranged along the coast and in Sichuan, Huguang and Jiangnan."

"Except for the machines needed for trains, all other machines were put into the construction of steamships."

Daming's steamship is actually a wooden steamship, and if you want to build a steel steamship, Daming's technology is not up to it at present.

Whether it is welding technology or steel production, Daming has not reached the level of using steel to build ships.

At present, the construction of railways has consumed more than seventy percent of the steel of the Ming Dynasty, and the steam engine ships that want to make steel are either to reduce the speed of railway construction or to increase steel production.

The former Zhu Youjian could not do it, so he could only wait for the industry to continue to put into production, and then increase the steel production.

At the current rate, the third batch of industrial zones can be waited for in the eighteenth year of the Apocalypse, and the number of all machinery will increase by three times, and the fourth batch of industrial zones will be ushered in in the twenty-first year of the Apocalypse, which will increase by three times again.

If Zhu Youzhen Tianqi only became a feudal lord in the twenty-fourth year of Tianqi, then he could see that the fifth batch of industrial zones were all put into operation.

At that time, the industrial capacity of the Ming Dynasty will reach the United States in the sixties of the nineteenth century, or even higher.

Every year, tens of millions of acres of cultivated land can be cultivated by machinery alone, and only 20 million farmers are needed to plant and harvest more than 900 million acres of cultivated land in Daming.

However, by that time, the cultivated land of the Ming Dynasty may be far more than this amount.

Zhu Youzhen was still imagining the future, but Li Changgeng saw that there was nothing to do, so he retired.

Wang Chengen watched him leave, and after a moment he spoke: "Your Highness, after this year's tractors are sent to Qi State, the number of tractors in Qi Country will reach more than 21,000 units. ”

"In the next year, the industrial zone of Qi can also be put into production, with an annual output of 6,000 tractors, is it ...... on the side of the country?"

"Go on." Zhu Youzhen glanced at Wang Chengen, but Wang Chengen's face was embarrassed: "According to the price of machinery, the silver deposit in the palace is less than one million taels, and it will be spent at most next year." ”

Wang Chengen said the reason why he asked if he wanted to stop the transportation, because Zhu Youzhen once said that the things that the Ming Dynasty shipped out of the Qi State had to pay gold and silver to transport them away.

In this way, the industrialization speed of Qi is naturally very fast, but the silver deposits of the Qi Wangfu are consumed faster.

Zhu Youzhen is used to spending money lavishly, and his mind is often on the treasury, and he has not paid much attention to his own Qi Wangfu treasury.

After Wang Chengen's reminder, he found that his Qi Wang's treasury was actually empty.

Normally, the income of the Qi Wangfu is Zhu Youzhen's hundreds of thousands of taels, and then plus Zhu Youzhen's post-war capture and reward after the war.

However, Zhu Youzhen has not fought in the past few years, nor has he fought in name, so the income of the Qi Wangfu is naturally only the hundreds of thousands of taels, plus the gold and silver mined by Jin Xuan on the side of the Qi State.

The speed of gold and silver mining in Qi has not been able to go up, and in summary, there is still a shortage of labor reformers, and the output of gunpowder has not increased.

As long as Zhu Youjian approves, the gold and silver production capacity of Dangqi will also increase.

"Let Kim Hyun free his hands and feet to mine gold and silver, Yingzhou's labor reformers, he can also call according to the situation, as for the matter of immigration, this year only the immigration of craftsmen and their families will be accepted."

"The gunpowder matter is also for Kim Hyun to watch by himself, in short, I have to see the output of millions of taels of silver every year."

"The slave and maid are ...... ordered," Wang Chengen responded when he heard this, but after that he still said: "Even if there is a million taels of output, I am afraid that I can't afford to ship tens of thousands of machines every year." ”

"Can't afford it?" The corners of Zhu Youzhen's mouth twitched: "My country is not for myself, but for the emperor's brother." ”

"Since there is no silver in the mansion at the moment, as an elder brother, it is impossible for the imperial brother to sit idly by, right?"

"If you let people run, you will say that the Qi Palace's mansion is unsustainable, please send two million taels of internal money as food silver."

"Two million taels of silver?!" Wang Chengen's eyes widened, who eats two million taels of meals a year, even if he holds shark fin and eats on bear's paws every day, he can't eat them all.

"Well, two million taels of silver." Zhu Youzhen picked up the teacup next to him and took a sip, looked at Wang Chengen, who was still in a daze, and couldn't help laughing: "Why are you stunned?" Go ahead......"

"Huh...... The slave and the maid take the command. Wang Chengen was called back to reality by Zhu Youzhen's voice.

With a hint of embarrassment, he walked out of the carrying hall, and then wrote a book of crying poor notes in his own voice, and entrusted a eunuch to send it to Dading Palace.

He told him that this eunuch must not be curious to open the music, otherwise he would ask for his head.

The eunuch was taken aback, and hurriedly nodded in agreement, and then took a team of brocade guards out of the capital and rode towards Dading Palace.

Although the train has been repaired, the speed of the 800-mile rush is still much faster than the train.

Before dark, Wang Chengen's recital was sent to Dading Palace.

In the summer hall of Dading Palace, which was full of sawdust, Zhu Youzheng, who was a little obese, sat on a chair, eating seasonal fruits while holding a copy of "Travelogue" in his hand.

The author of this travelogue is not surprisingly Zhu Ciran, the eldest son of Zhu Youxiao.

He has been reading Zhu Ciran's travelogue for the past few months, feeling the high spirits from Zhu Ciran's departure, to the helplessness of the hungry people in Shanxi, and then to the self-sigh of being slightly poor in Shaanxi......

Zhu Youxiao can always feel the changes in the world between the lines of Zhu Ciran's words, and right now, Zhu Ciran is about to arrive at Jiayuguan in Hexi.

Thirty thousand miles of road, ten months is obviously not enough, after all, Zhu Ciran has taken five months at the moment, but he has only walked less than 4,500 miles.

Compared with him, Zhu Youxiao has also been reading Xu Xiake's travelogue, and Xu Xiake is slower than Zhu Ciran, and has just entered the Hexi territory.

"Ten months is still too short, Brother Ran has to visit the people's livelihood, and my brother should add more time."

Zhu Youxiao looked at the five months that had passed, and he couldn't help but complain to himself that his younger brother had given Zhu Ciran too little time.

"The slave also thinks that at this rate, it should be given two years to complete the journey."

Wei Zhongxian flattered him, Zhu Youxiao listened very useful, and at this time, Wang Tiqian also walked into the Dading Palace and said:

"Long live, a note from the Qi Palace, sent by the King of Qi in his private capacity."

"Private status? Fast! Pick it up! As soon as he heard that this note was sent in a private capacity, Zhu Youxiao was worried that this was Zhu Youzhen's note to be sent to the domain, so he couldn't help but get anxious.

Wang Tiqian didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward and handed over the music with both hands, and Zhu Youxiao also hurriedly opened it and read it.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he found out that this was not a shut-up, but he became worried again when he saw that the Qi Palace's mansion was unsustainable.

It's just that all the worries disappeared when he saw the line "Brother Begging Emperor allocated two million taels of food silver", not only was it gone, but Zhu Youxiao almost had an increase in blood pressure.

"Two million taels of silver?!"

He was almost on the verge of breaking the sound, and his words also stunned Wang Tiqian and Wei Zhongxian.

Two million taels? It's not that expensive to eat dragon meat, is it? This is enough for more than 200,000 people to eat meat for a year.

What kind of dietary silver, this is clearly a silver grab!

"......" Zhu Youxiao's hands were shaking, he thought that he would be comfortable when he got rid of the household, but he didn't want to have a younger brother who ate a big household again this time.

Two million taels of silver...... His internal income is only 4.2 million taels a year.

"Hooray...... Or...... Refuse His Royal Highness King Qi? Although Wei Zhongxian didn't read the content, he could see the pain on Zhu Youxiao's face.

He asked tentatively, but Zhu Youxiao raised his hand twitching out of the corner of his eyes: "No...... Need not...... Give it to him. ”

"But right now, I can't get two million taels of money......" Wei Zhongxian was a little embarrassed, but Zhu Youxiao's next sentence made him drip blood.

"Stop the construction of Huayang Palace and Hanhai Palace, and raise two million taels of silver for the Qi Palace" after the autumn harvest."

"......" Wei Zhongxian's heart is dripping blood, you must know that Huayang Palace and Hanhai Palace, the construction of these two palaces, he can earn at least 10,000 taels of silver.

Now that the palace is gone, his money has to be lost.

"Yes...... The slave and the maid take the command. Wei Zhongxian, who was wailing in his heart, could only respond with tears and laughter in the end, and Zhu Youxiao also shook the music in his hand:

"In addition, tell Cheng En, let him make a list of what Qi Wangfu eats every day, and tell my younger brother by the way, and give Brother Ran another year of vacation."

Wang Chengen's handwriting is very similar to Zhu Youzhen's, but Zhu Youxiao can recognize at a glance that this piece is from Wang Chengen's hand.

He said that asking Wang Chengen to make a list was obviously teasing Wang Chengen, and giving Zhu Ci a holiday was his purpose.

"The slave takes the command." Wang Tiqian hurriedly responded, and Wei Zhongxian next to him was already in a trance.

Putting Song Shu aside, Zhu Youxiao touched his fat chin.

He knew in his heart that if his appearance was seen by his younger brother, he might not be buried by his younger brother, so losing weight became his next topic.

"From now on, the dietary silver of the summer palace will be reduced to ten taels a day, and then tell my younger brother, saying that I am exhausted, my clothes are gradually widening, and I am losing weight, and the dietary silver has been cut in, and I hope my younger brother will eat more for me."

"Uh...... The slave maid received the order...... "Wang Tiqian didn't know what to say, and he was a little speechless, and he hurriedly responded after a while.

Soon, taking advantage of the night, Song Shu was approved back, and on the second day, the gate of the capital was opened and sent to the palace of King Qi.

At that time, Zhu Youzhen had just gotten off Yuan Xifei's bed, and after politely rejecting Yuan Xiconcubine's words to rest more, he washed up and prepared to go to the carrier hall.

As soon as he finished washing his face, he saw Cao Huachun walking into the Cunxin Hall with a strange face.

"Your Highness, this is a note from the long live reply."

Cao Huachun's strange hands handed over to the song, and Zhu Youzhen also wiped the water droplets on his hands with a towel, took the music and opened it.

When he saw Zhu Youxiao's approval of the circle red, he couldn't help but be happy, and then saw Zhu Youxiao's words that "the clothes are getting wider and people are thinning", and Zhu Ciran's words on the day of the Zhengdan Festival couldn't help but sound in his mind.

"My father gives people the feeling that he has been wronged, but in fact, I heard my mother say that he has a lot of fun in Dading Palace and Midsummer Palace."

Thinking of Zhu Ciran's words, Zhu Youzhen immediately laughed: "This father and son ......"

He didn't elaborate, but looked down, and when he saw Zhu Youxiao asking him to help him eat more, Zhu Youzhen knew that this guy was crying poor, for fear that he would find him again next time.

But his own brother is not slaughtered, and he is not slaughtered.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen also closed the note, and smiled at Cao Huachun: "Now the mechanical silver for the next eight or nine years is available." ”

"Yes, yes, but Your Highness, are you a little too bullying?" Cao Huachun opened his mouth cautiously, but Zhu Youzhen gave him a blank look:

"You really should go to Dading Palace to live for a few days, and see if my good brother is getting thinner and thiner, or if the jade belt around his waist is tight and out of breath."

"Ten taels of silver a day is enough to buy a cow to eat."

"Worry about him, you might as well worry about our meal at noon today."

Zhu Youzhen said Cao Huachun, but Cao Huachun knew that this was just a joke, so he couldn't help laughing: "If His Highness wants to, the carrier hall can also make three meals according to ten taels of silver a day." ”

】

"You know I'm talking about ridicule." Zhu Youzhen was being changed by the female officials, so he was very helpless about Cao Huachun's ridicule.

"Slaves and maids are also ......," Cao Huachun smiled and returned the salute.

However, when the two were teasing, Yuan Xifei also walked out of the dormitory in her middle coat and heard the conversation between the two.

"Your Highness's dietary silver should indeed be raised, the royal envoy said that His Royal Highness has been tired for a long time, and he has to make up for his body."

Yuan Xifei took over the work in the hands of the female official and dressed Zhu Youzhen.

Her words made Cao Huachun can't help but nod, because Zhu Youzhen's dietary silver is indeed too little.

"One or two dollars a day, four hundred wen per meal, which is already a lot."

Zhu Youzhen smiled and looked down at Yuan Xiconcubine who was changing his clothes, in his opinion, his diet was indeed a lot.

One tael or two yuan a day, it is more than four hundred taels a year, such a dietary standard, Zhu Youzhen is already very satisfied, after all, he can't eat too much.

"Four hundred wen is a lot, but you are His Royal Highness the King of Qi, and you can't even eat some rich merchants in Beijing, right?"

Concubine Yuan Xi dressed Zhu Youzhen, and the female officer also brought a chair for him to sit down.

While Yuan Xifei complained, she was also combing Zhu Youzhen's hair, tying her hair and wearing a crown.

"What about King Qi? It's not flesh and blood yet. ”

"If the people can eat, I can't eat it?" Zhu Youzhen smiled and comforted Yuan Xifei: "If you hadn't kept asking me to eat more, I would have imagined that I would have come from time to time to mix gruel with wild vegetables for a few days, just like what was written in Brother Ran's "Travels". ”

"If Your Highness eats like that, then the sisters and children in the harem won't even dare to touch the meat."

Yuan Xifei tied Zhu Youzhen's hair and wore a crown, Zhu Youzhen saw her stop moving, also stood up, turned around and hugged her regardless of everyone's eyes:

"Then Princess Qi has to appease them more, don't starve the lonely concubines and heirs."

After that, Zhu Youzhen took advantage of Yuan Xi's shyness, turned around and walked out of the Cunxin Hall with Cao Huachun.

When Yuan Xifei came back to her senses, she could only complain to Zhu Youzhen's back:

"Regardless of my body, I will be uncomfortable in the future, Your Highness, don't let me serve."

That being said, the female officials around Concubine Yuan Xi knew that if King Qi was uncomfortable, I was afraid that Princess Qi would have to wait for her every step of the way, so everyone couldn't help but bow their heads and smile.