"Crackling ......"

On March 13 of the 16th year of the Apocalypse, when the sound of firecrackers sounded in the Qi Palace, I don't know if Zhu You's archery skills were superb or how, anyway, he hit the target again this time, or hit the second target in a row......

The pregnant people are Wei Pingyang and Li Shaoxi, who are concubines, and the pregnancy time between the two is not much different, and the lucky day is also right.

The second daughter is pregnant, which is a great joy for Zhu Youzhen and Qi Wangfu.

Although he already has four sons and three daughters, in this era, the more male heirs there are in the Qi Palace, the more reassuring the generals who bet on the Qi Palace.

Zhu Youjian stood at the door of the side hall of Yuntai Palace, and watched Wang Kentang diagnose their pulses and prescribe a few pairs of medicines to stabilize the fetus.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Kentang told the female official what the two of them were taboo about, and then they saluted and left with Zhu Youzhen's consent.

Zhu Youzhen didn't know what to say to these two concubines, it seemed that he was born with no skills in facing women's words, and he held back for a long time before he held back a sentence:

"Take good care of yourself, the orphan society will come to see you from time to time, and if you need it, you can confide in the princess."

"Concubine Xie En......" Wei Pingyang and Li Shaoxi saluted slightly, and Zhu Youzhen nodded and was about to go out, but at this time, the voice of a female official suddenly came from outside the hall.

"The princess is ......" probably didn't expect her prince to come so quickly, and the female official who sang the salute was immediately stunned when she saw Zhu Youzhen at the door, and did not read out the following words.

"Let them in." Zhu Youzhen, who heard the sound outside the door, signaled to Wang Chengen, and Wang Chengen also nodded and signaled to the brocade guard at the door to let him go.

Yuan Xi Concubine took Zhou Sujie, Tian Xiuying and Agarwood Jun, Zhu Cihong, Zhu Cixuan, Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Cijiong, Zhu Yuanyuan, Zhu Yuan, Zhu Yuyu and others to the Yuntai Palace.

"Daddy!"

They also carried some gifts in their hands, and when they saw Zhu Youzhen, the four sons and three daughters rushed up and surrounded Zhu Youzhen.

"Hehe......" Faced with such a scene, Zhu Youzhen seemed to have dealt with it many times, and pulled their hands with a smile.

There are more than a dozen small hands, and Zhu Youzhen can't pull them for a while.

"Your Royal Highness...... Yuan Xi and the four concubines stepped forward, saluted Zhu Youzhen dignifiedly, and then led the children back.

Seeing Yuan Xi's concubine, Zhu Youzhen had to smile and say: "As the master of the harem, you have to take more care of the other concubines." ”

"The concubine obeys the order......" Concubine Yuan Xi replied honestly, and Zhu Youzhen was not afraid that there would be any palace fights in the harem where she would affect the heir.

Yuan Xi Concubine has a weak temperament, and many times she stands up as a peacemaker to relieve the concubines.

Competing for the position of the prince, not to mention that she has no male heir at the moment, just her status as a princess, as long as a male heir is born, there is no competition for the throne of the prince in the Qi Palace.

Instead of worrying about Yuan Xi's concubine, it is better to worry about the two protagonists just now, Wei Pingyang and Li Shaoxi

One of the two was born in a Korean family, and the other was born in the Xunfu Lady, I hope the two of them don't have a hot temper......

After thinking about it, Zhu Youzhen sighed in his heart before he said to Yuan Xifei: "These days are busy with government affairs, so you don't have to wait for me to rest." ”

"Concubine obeys the order......" Concubine Yuan Xi responded with a touch of disappointment, but she didn't say much.

As for Zhu Youzhen, he just glanced at Wang Chengen, and then took Wang Chengen out.

"Sending His Highness ...... from the palace"

In the voice of everyone, Zhu Youzhen led people out of the harem.

After leaving the harem, Zhu Youzhen went to the carrier hall as he said, and he still had a lot of things to do today.

If it weren't for Wei Pingyang and Li Shaoxi's pregnancy, he would have probably finished processing dozens of books by now.

"It's always good for people to be prosperous, but the affairs of the court can't be left behind."

While Zhu Youzhen was happy that he had descendants, he did not forget his own state affairs, and it was also a very important matter...... Run a newspaper.

The importance of newspapers is self-evident, and at the same time it seems very simple, the reason why Zhu Youzhen did not run a newspaper at the beginning of his arrival in Daming was mainly because the literacy rate of Daming was not good at that time.

For example, the literacy rate in the middle of the Qing Dynasty was 3% and 20% in the late Qing Dynasty, but in fact, the literacy rate depends on the literacy standard.

In the study of ancient literacy rates, one of the misunderstandings that has always been to simply discuss literacy rates without discussing literacy standards.

In his survey, the author paid special attention to the distinction between academic qualifications and actual literacy skills, and he found the following:

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, 60% of the population was illiterate, and 40% of the population was literate.

It may seem high, but if you break it down by the standard, 60 percent of the population knows only names, and 20 percent of the population knows more than 200 words.

Only 15% of people can keep accounts, only 5% can read the Three Kingdoms without the help of a dictionary, only 3% can write letters independently, and only 1% can write articles.

It can be seen that in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, where the literacy rate seemed to be as high as 40%, in fact, no more than 10% actually had the ability to read and write.

The situation in the Ming Dynasty was similar to this survey, but the situation was somewhat better than in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.

First of all, thanks to Zhu Yuanzhang and the emperors of the Ming Dynasty to promote official learning and private schools, the number of such basic literacy classes was very large, resulting in many people in the late Ming Dynasty knowing a little word.

According to the statistics of the officials' talents over the years, the people who used to be in official schools and private schools, about 80% of the population could write their names in the first year of the Apocalypse, and about 40% of them were literate or more than 200.

About 30% of the population can keep accounts, about 20% can write their own letters, 15% can write letters independently, and the basic people who can make articles are children or above, accounting for about 5% of the population.

Such a literacy rate, especially the children who know how to make a fuss, are basically people who are related to the squire.

It is of no use to them to run a newspaper, because they often only read the official newspapers that are beneficial to them, and most of the people do not see them, or they cannot read them.

Classical Chinese is bitter and difficult to understand in later generations, and it is the same in this era.

Only about 10% of the population can read classical Chinese.

In such a situation, Zhu You's procuratorate ran a newspaper and propagated what spirit and what policies were not for the people, but for the gentry.

As long as the gentry want to distort some facts a little, the newspapers in various places will wait to be smashed, just like Jiangnan resisted taxes.

If you want to promote newspapers, you must first ensure that the literacy rate goes up so that the people can understand the newspapers, and this is the reason why Zhu Youzhen has been engaged in basic education for 15 years.

For example, at present, the number of students who have gone through the stage of Yanshan official school and Daming official school has reached more than 33 million.

Not counting those who are still literate in the first grade, there are more than 24 million people.

By the beginning of the fifteenth year of the Apocalypse, the two capitals and twenty-five provinces of the Ming Dynasty had already arranged official schools.

In terms of this volume, according to the standard of being able to write letters independently, Daming has reached the level of about 16%.

As long as this level is reached, the distribution of newspapers will no longer be a game between the court and the gentry, but a game between the court and the commoners and the gentry.

Speaking of which, an artifact like a newspaper is really a good thing for a ruler!

For rulers, the most intolerable thing is the collusion of those below who have blinded their own ears and eyes.

Therefore, most rulers will have a spy force in their hands, so as to ensure that the emperor has a more realistic understanding of the situation below, such as the Song Dynasty Imperial City Division and the Ming Dynasty Jinyi Guard.

Although Zhu Youzhen has a brocade guard, but after having a newspaper, it can also play a certain auxiliary role.

The most important responsibility of a newspaper is to convey information.

Therefore, after Zhu Youzhen returned to the carrier hall, he explained to Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun what a newspaper was.

"Your Highness's meaning is to issue a newspaper that the people can read, right?"

Cao Huachun's reaction was very sensitive, after all, the Han people have been playing this kind of thing for two thousand years, and no one knows it better than the Han people, but it is just that the population of the dynasty is too large to implement.

"If this newspaper wants to convey its proper meaning, it must not lack the person who writes it, otherwise no one will read it, of course, the person who writes the newspaper needs everyone in the literary world to ......"

"I want to establish a national newspaper bureau, and the head of the state newspaper bureau is served by Ni Yuanlu, a member of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhang Maocai and Li Wanquan are in charge, who are in charge of newspapers and periodicals and compile court policies."

Seeing Zhu Youzhen say this, Lu Wenzhao, who was the commander of the Jinyi Guard, was a little worried, and said in a low voice:

"Your Highness, although this move is good, it will inevitably be used by some people, and if it falls into the hands of traitors, I am afraid it will cause chaos."

Zhu Youzhen smiled slightly, of course he understood that if the newspaper was not controlled well, the consequences would be very serious, but he had already taken relevant measures.

"Lone is determined to set up a Verification Department under the State Newspaper Bureau, which is responsible for the publication of books and the distribution of newspapers and periodicals throughout the country.

"The department is also responsible for reviewing its contents, and you can recommend officials together with the secretary."

What Zhu Youzhen said about the recommendation was actually to ask Lu Wenzhao to select a few good officials from the brocade guards of the Supervision Department.

After Lu Wenzhao heard it, he also saluted at the moment: "Weichen obeys the order." ”

"The front of this newspaper can mainly focus on the decrees of the imperial court, and these decrees promulgated by Gu are broken and crumpled one by one, and everyone will be told in detail, and then some major events that happen in the imperial court can also be registered......."

"Of course, a lot of things are immature now, but they can be published once a month and added as appropriate in the future."

Zhu Youzhen tirelessly instructed, he didn't want this first thing to be done, and this newspaper was not all at the moment.

In the future, journalism will be gradually liberalized, so that more non-governmental newspapers can participate in it on the premise of meeting the requirements, so that there will be a few more ways to speak.

"The ministers know, but they also ask His Highness to give a name for this report."

"This newspaper is for the people of Daming, just call it "Daming Daily", and the people may not remember it if there are many words." Zhu Youzhen said casually.

After all, for Zhu Youzhen, now it is more about solving the problem of whether there is or not, only if there is an easy-to-understand newspaper first, can it be disseminated among ordinary people, even if the people are illiterate, it doesn't matter, as long as they have children, their children who go to official schools will read and write to them.

Strictly speaking, what Zhu Youzhen has to do now is to tear a hole in the discourse of traditional Confucian scholars.

Tearing the opening, you can also instill something different in the future, as long as the time is long enough, then sooner or later, the right to speak among the people will be completely held in the hands of Zhu Youzhen.

However, if a newspaper wants to be founded, it will not be possible in a day or two.

First of all, the local printing house had to be acquired, and then the preliminary preparations were made.

Even if a large number of new officials are pouring in at the moment, the efficiency of the imperial court is not low, but no matter how you look at it, it will take about a year.

A year later, almost when Zhu Ciran returned to Beijing, when Zhu Cihong was six years old, Zhu Youzhen could also take a few of their brothers and sisters out for a walk, see the great rivers and mountains of the Ming Dynasty, relax and rest.

Thinking so, Zhu Youzhen also lowered his head to deal with the music, and at the same time, Zhu Ciran also arrived at Lin'an Mansion in Yunnan Province on his bicycle, and was about to go to Taiping Mansion in Guangxi.

"I'm tired and hot...... ...... again"

"It's March...... Why is it so hot......"

On a long slope in a rugged area, Zhu Ciran and Liu Shun were desperately pedaling on their bicycles, and two sturdy brocade guards had been replaced behind them.

But even Jin Yiwei, who has practiced martial arts since childhood, is still so tired and out of breath that they don't want to speak when facing the uphill pedaling bike.

Zhu Ciran was like a dead dog, pedaling the bicycle in a trance, and there were white white clouds hanging in the clear blue sky, as if they were within reach.

If it had been three months ago, when Zhu Ciran had just arrived in Yunnan, he would have stopped to admire the scenery and the four seasons like spring.

However, at the moment, he just wants to step on this uphill as soon as possible and enjoy the cool breeze on the downhill.

Fortunately, the slope in Yunnan is high but not long, so when a long slope is crossed by them, it is greeted by a long downhill of dozens of miles.

The four of them were rested, and they were blown by the cool breeze, and they immediately felt a lot more energetic.

"The wind and the sun in Yunnan are definitely not born by the same father."

Zhu Ciran put his hand outside the car, and the hot air blew, and when he put it in the shadow of the car, it blew a cool breeze.

Feeling this fantastic phenomenon, Zhu Ciran's speech became more and more vulgar.

Liu Shun, who was next to him, didn't say so much, but he kept looking around, but there was nothing around except for green waters and green mountains and some small hills in karst landforms.

"Everything is good, but there are too few people......"

Liu Shun's words made Zhu Ciran nod uncontrollably.

Yunnan and Guizhou provinces are Zhu Youjian's key targets for migration, for the simple reason that the mountainous areas are actually unsuitable for human existence.

Whether it is to reclaim the fields, build transportation, or set up government schools, the cost of construction in the plains is much cheaper than in the mountains.

Therefore, Zhu Youzhen's relocation of Yungui basically requires that ten acres per person be distributed according to the cooked land.

If the local fields are not enough to divide the local population equally, then the population will be migrated to Luchuan, Cochin, and other places.

Under such a policy, starting from the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Yunnan and Guizhou naturally could not allocate 50 million mu of cultivated land to distribute to more than 5 million people.

Therefore, the population of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces has dropped to 3 million, but the cultivated land in the two provinces is still only more than 16 million mu.

Hong Chengchou is a person who makes Zhu Youzhen feel at ease, because he is quick and does not make trouble for Zhu Youzhen.

This is not only the case in marching and fighting, but also in governance.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou prescribed the relocation conditions of 20 mu per person to the people of Yungui and let them move to Luchuan.

Under such a call, the population of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces further dropped from 3 million to 2.7 million in a whole year last year.

Of course, there are many ways to "call", and Hong Chengchou's method is forced immigration.

For the few people living in the mountains, those who do not accept the migration are often called upon to cut off the water and destroy the roads.

For the Han people living in the high mountains and small plains, once the fields are not enough, then directly send soldiers and horses over and forcibly help you move to Luchuan.

Under Hong Chengchou's means, by March of the 16th year of the Apocalypse, the population of the entire Yunnan was less than 1.4 million.

1.4 million people, distributed in more than 300,000 square kilometers of Yunnan, live in more than 20,000 square kilometers of high mountain dams (plains).

Although this has made the lives of the people who stayed behind better, it has also made Yunnan more sparsely populated.

Zhu Ciran and the others rushed all the way from Lin'an Mansion to Guangxi, and finally arrived at Guangnan Mansion in Yunnan, which is only about 200 miles away from Guangxi, but there are no people at all for more than 100 miles along the way.

If it weren't for the abundance of rivers in Yunnan, it is estimated that they would die of thirst on the road.

"There you have it!"

Far away, when Zhu Ciran saw smoke drifting out of the mountain in front of him, he immediately stepped on it harder.

Like him, Liu Shun and the two brocade guards also stepped up their stampede, as if it was a luxury for them to see the people.

With this excitement, the speed of the bicycle suddenly soared, so that the brocade guards who were still riding behind the horses, as if they were watching the horses, had to increase their horse speed.

The sound of wheels, chains, and pedals filled their ears, until a turn passed, and Zhu Ciran's expressions instantly became crazy.

"Finally seeing the living!"

After turning the corner, what appeared in front of Zhu Ciran and others was a dam, Yunnan people call the alpine plain a dam, but in fact, strictly speaking, this should only be counted as a relatively low hill.

At the dam, many paddy fields have already been planted with seedlings, indicating that it is now past the time for farming.

However, instead of resting at home, the people here cut down trees near the paddy fields and set fire to the barren land under the scorching sun.

It's not a family doing that, it's every family doing that.

Zhu Ciran, who has been accustomed to hundreds of miles of uninhabited people, suddenly saw the scene of thousands of people working, and it was inevitable that he would be a little excited.

Although their group was very conspicuous, the people of this town did not pay much attention to them, just glanced at Zhu Ciran's bicycle, with some curiosity in their eyes, and then continued to bury their heads in work.

It is now four o'clock (16 o'clock), and Zhu Ci is thirsty and hungry at the same time.

As usual, he took Liu Shun and the others to prepare to greet the people, but the people couldn't understand what they were talking about.

At the critical moment, the official of the Siyi Pavilion, who had been with the team, walked up and started the translation for the two parties.

"This old man, is there a stall in the town where I can eat?"

"No, they're all working now, and no one is doing business anymore."

Zhu Ciran's dialogue made Zhu Ciran a little speechless, he came all the way from the capital, such as Shanxi, where there is a drought, as long as there is a town to eat, but Yunnan is now sparsely populated, the land is huge, and it looks so rich, how can there be no stall to eat.

"This ...... What about the stalls? Zhu Ciran hesitated to speak, and the translator of the Siyi Pavilion also translated his words.

The old man in the field saw that Zhu Ciran and they didn't leave for a while, so he rested on the spot with a hoe, and explained by the way:

"The people in the town are clearing the wasteland, and if the 1,630 acres of land are not completed by the end of the year, more than 20 families in the town will have to move out."

"The mayor asked the big guys to come and make a contribution to open up the wasteland for themselves, so that the people who moved away would not be themselves."

The old man's words made Zhu Ciran speechless, he came to Yunnan for more than two months, of course he knew the migration rules of Yunnan, but this town was the first he saw and took the initiative to open up the wasteland in order not to be relocated.

"Maybe I'm watching too little."

Zhu Ciran muttered to himself, and then asked cautiously, "Aren't you angry that the government forcibly relocated you?" ”

"Angry?" The old man looked vigilant: "Who are you?" ”

While speaking, the old man no longer held the hoe, but grabbed his hand on the hoe handle, as if Zhu Ciran did not answer well, he wanted to knock Zhu Ciran to the ground with a hoe.

Seeing this, Liu Shun immediately touched his waist, but Zhu Ciran stood between the two and said with a smile: "I am a student who has just graduated from Beizhili, and I am now preparing to go to Jiaozhi to take office." ”

"Ah...... My lord. Hearing Zhu Ciran say that he was a student, and seeing that Zhu Ciran did have a sign of a village official hanging on his waist, the old man stood in place at a loss.

"It's okay, be relieved." Zhu Ciran smiled when he saw this, showed his affinity, and then whispered:

"You whispered to me, what do you think about the government doing this, I don't mean anything else, I just want to know how to solve the problems of our peasants after Jiaozhi takes office."

Zhu Ciran's cautious appearance made the old man can't help but be careful, as if the two were whispering.

However, such a gesture did make the old man let down his vigilance a little.

If Zhu Ciran is a village official in Yunnan, then he still has to be vigilant, but Zhu Ciran openly and honestly said that he is an official of Jiaozhi, so the old man is fearless.

Therefore, in the face of the inquiry, he could only sigh:

"Alas...... This...... I don't know how to say it......"

"I'm glad to divide the land for us anyway, but ...... But to migrate...... Which brings us ...... Haha......"

"Forget it, anyway, we are a group of peasants, and we will do whatever the court says...... Hehe......"

The old man smiled awkwardly, his dark skin and his restraint in the face of Zhu Ciran's identity as a village official made Zhu Ciran deeply impressed, and he didn't know what to say for a while......