"Really fragrant~~~"

In the field, Liu Shun sat in the shade of a tree with his trouser legs in his hands, carrying a bowl of rice full of vegetables.

Although Zhu Ciran said that there was no need to kill chickens, the old man's wife still cut a piece of bacon.

Freshly picked garlic sprouts and bacon smoked for years can make your tongue eat even if you don't put oil, just rolling it in a pan, not to mention the pickled radish that is used to cool the side of the bowl.

This big bowl of dishes is simply a delicacy in the world for Liu Shun and others who have worked for an hour and a half.

It's not just him, but even Zhu Ciran keeps picking up rice in his mouth.

A bowl of two-pound vegetable rice was eaten by them in this way, and they did not forget to lick the bottom of the bowl at the end.

It's not that the food is delicious, it's that they're hungry.

I got up early in the morning for more than 40 miles, half of which was uphill, and finally stopped, and I worked for another hour and a half, and it was normal to be hungry.

However, Zhu Ciran didn't speak, and Liu Shun and the others were embarrassed to ask for a second bowl.

"Okay boss, it's getting late, it's time for us to go."

Zhu Ciran was full because of his young age, so he got up and wiped the oil on his mouth before signaling to leave.

When the old man heard this, he hurriedly said to his wife: "Go to the house and bring a piece of bacon." ”

"Huh!" When she heard this, she quickly got up, put the bowl away, and put it in the basket and turned her back to the house.

"Then we'll wait for the bacon to come, and then we'll do some work for you."

Seeing that it would take time to wait for bacon, Zhu Ciran immediately jumped off the field and began to harvest cabbage skillfully.

"I haven't eaten yet......"

Liu Shun complained in his heart, feeling that his stomach was only five or six points full, Liu Shun wanted to cry without tears and took two brocade guards to follow and work.

When they had harvested half an acre of cabbage, the woman returned to the field with an arm-thick and long bacon.

After a few simple greetings, Zhu Ciran said goodbye to his uncle with ten catties of cabbage and bacon.

It's just that he made a heart, and when he passed by the woman's back, he threw a small piece of silver coin into it.

This coin is expected to be found when the woman was drinking from the kettle with a basket.

"Gone!"

After doing this, Zhu Ciran walked to the village road with a cabbage in his hand and bacon in his hand.

Their bikes were unattended, but no one stole them.

Zhu Ciran put the cabbage in his hand on the shelf, and then continued to sit on the cushion, used his feet to exert force, and stepped on the car again.

As the car drove along the village road, there were many fewer vegetable vendors on the road, and many vegetable fields were also harvested.

Some farmers who finished selling vegetables did not leave because they ran out of vegetables, but became helpers in other people's homes, taking half a day's wages and harvesting cabbage for others.

Of course, there are also some farmers who are on their way home.

When they saw the four-wheeled bicycle they were riding, they all cast curious eyes, and when Zhu Ciran and they were far away, they pointed to the car and began to discuss the practicality of this thing.

In just five minutes, Zhu Ciran and the others rode from the fields to the town, and most of the residents in Luojiawan Town were farmers, and they were basically in the fields at this time, and there were only some vegetable merchants in the town waiting to collect vegetables to eat at roadside stalls and restaurants.

Liu Shun saw the familiar imperial shop, and saw a steamed bun shop next to the imperial store.

After saying "confession", he stopped the car, and then ran to the imperial store to buy more than a dozen steamed buns.

After returning, he shared steamed buns with three brocade guards, during which Zhu Ciran inevitably complained that they had a "big appetite".

He was embarrassed to say this, but Liu Shun and the others could only swallow it with tears in their eyes, broken teeth, and swallowed it in their stomachs.

"Eat, I'll just walk around the street."

Zhu Ciran looked at the three people who were sitting in the car eating steamed buns, got out of the car with a disgusted face, and looked around Luojiawan Town in the car.

Luojiawan Town, like many market towns in Daming, is basically a town built on the left and right of the cement road.

Cement Road seems to be a commercial street in many market towns, and Luojiawan is no exception.

Rows of shops stretch along the sides of the concrete road into the distance until they end a mile away.

Some of these shops are private houses, and the people rest on the second floor, and open a small shop on the first floor, or open the door to breathe.

On a street, there are as many as 20 shop signs in the picture scroll, similar to cloth shop Fa Hui, Yonghe Bu Zhuang, net towel dealer, shoes and boots old shop, famous tea dealer, Fa Hui Guanyan, Zaozhuang, bathhouse and so on.

It can be imagined that there are many shops, a wide variety of categories, and active business transactions in this Luojiawan market town.

"Woo-"

In the invisible place, the whistle sounded, Zhu Ciran didn't pay much attention, but looked around.

In the chat with his father-in-law, he already knew that there were more than 3,000 people living in Luojiawan Town, but most of them were farmers.

Therefore, during this season, most of the people who can shop on the street are vegetable vendors and some children who are not yet seven years old.

They watched around the four-wheeled vehicle, and some of them were lying on the glass door of the imperial store, looking inside.

Zhu Ciran also walked over, but he didn't lie on the door, but pushed the door open and walked in.

The area of this imperial store is not large, but it is about 184 square meters, and the store is against the wall on the left and right, and there are two glass windows on the roof as a lighting surface.

Walking in the store, the center is the grain and oil area, where lard, rapeseed oil, peanut oil, soy sauce, aged vinegar, rice, wheat and bean noodles and other goods are placed.

Closer to the inside, there are white cloths and floral cloths, as well as two bicycles and a pedal sewing machine.

In addition to these, there are also white sugar, brown sugar and other goods that are more "luxurious" for the people.

After going around, Zhu Ciran didn't find any difference between this imperial store and other imperial stores, and then walked out with no interest.

Compared to the Imperial Store, the nearby shops are much more interesting.

Some flower shops have their doors open, and there are a variety of potted flowers in the shop, as well as some flower seeds.

Zhu Ciran went in and smelled the flowers, then walked out again and went to the bookstore next door.

There are all kinds of books in the store, from serious classics and classics, entertainment gods and demons, world affairs and public eucalyptus, to improper pornographic picture books, in short.

Among these books, except for pornographic picture books, Zhu Ciran has mostly read them, and he left without any interest.

Then he went to the other shops, but none of them were new, and after a quarter of an hour he was back on his bike.

Lately, it has been so hot that they tend to ride until the evening before camping, so it's not too late for them.

The sun gradually slanting to the west became the background board, and with the feet of the four people, the four-wheeled vehicle also continued to rush towards Guangzhou.

Since there is no country road to the south, there is only one county road, so there is no doubt that after riding for a while, they can gradually see the railroad tracks not far to the west.

During the ride, trains with whistles appeared on the tracks from time to time.

It's just that the speed of the train is not fast, at most it is faster than Zhu Ciran and them, and this is still when Zhu Ciran is lazy.

"You say, if my car is equipped with a steam engine, can it run faster than this train?"

Looking at the train with a speed similar to the four-wheeled car under his feet, Zhu Ciran opened his mouth "whimsically".

Normally, Liu Shun should have dissuaded him at this time, but after a few months of cycling, Liu Shun nodded immediately the moment he heard it, and kept nodding:

"Naturally! This four-wheeled vehicle can hold coal, so it can definitely move too! ”

"Hmm......" Zhu Ciran bowed slightly, and after thinking, he raised his head and said to Liu Shun seriously: "What you said is good, it makes sense!" ”

"Uh......" Liu Shun only felt that he seemed to have said something wrong.

He wanted to test whether he had said something wrong, but in the following journey, Zhu Ciran didn't say a word, leaving him with nowhere to vent.

From Shen Shi to Xu Shi, as the sun became more and more westward, dusk and sunset, they rode more than 120 miles today.

When they finally saw them riding horses and rushed to the camp set up by the brocade guards in front, Liu Shun only felt that his nose was sore, and his eyelids were drooping and he could barely open them.

On the other hand, Zhu Ciran's laziness along the way made him energetic.

When Liu Shun and the others went to sleep without even eating, this guy also went to ask the other Jinyi guards if there were any villages around.

If it weren't for the fact that there were no villages around, maybe Zhu Ciran would really go to see the appearance of the village again.

After a tired night, Liu Shun slept until the early morning, and it was not until the Jinyi guards who patrolled the camp woke him up that he rubbed his eyes and crawled out of the tent in a daze.

When he climbed out, Zhu Ciran had already packed everything and was sitting in the main driver's seat looking at Liu Shun.

Liu Shun dragged his tired body, which had slept for five hours, and looked around.

Around him, there was not a fat man among the more than 100 brocade guards, all of them had mantis legs and wasp waists.

This scene made Liu Shun subconsciously touch his general's belly, but unfortunately he touched it empty, and the former general's belly had become very flat.

"Liu Shun!"

Zhu Ciran and Liu Shun were a little impatient, so they urged.

Liu Shun had no choice but to get up and take the two brocade guards, and walked tragically towards the four-wheeled vehicle that they all felt very novel at first.

Get in the car and pedal......

The movements of the three of them skillfully made people feel distressed, but fortunately, just as they were about to set off, a pond rider rushed out of the dense fog of the county road ahead.

He rode his horse to the front of the carriage, then turned over and dismounted, and made a report:

"Your Highness, there is a turmoil in the Jiaozhi labor reform, and the Duke of Feng Guo has taken General Qi Wulong to quell the rebellion."

"General Qi Wulong ordered to come back and forth to His Highness, and I don't want His Highness to be disappointed."

"Rebellion?" Hearing Tang Qi's words, Zhu Ciran frowned at first, and then asked, "Where is the rebellion?" What is the scale? ”

"Returning to His Royal Highness, it was the rebellion of the labor reformers of the Champa Mansion in Jiaozhi, about 60,000 labor reformers rebelled, and the Duke of Feng Guo requisitioned ten steamships that transported grain from the imperial store, and led two battalions of soldiers and horses to quell the rebellion."

Tang Qi replied in detail, which made Zhu Ciran nod.

Ten steamships were not a problem to transport 6,000 men, and at the speed of the steamships, it would take at most three days to reach Cham to quell the rebellion.

Zhu Ciran didn't think it was because Qi Yuangong felt that he would win him over and deliberately make excuses, because he had seen the deployment and equipment replacement of the Southern Army before.

At present, only the 12 battalions of soldiers and horses in Guangdong and Fujian have completed the rifle reloading, and other soldiers and horses such as the 15 battalions of soldiers and horses in Jiaozhi, Jiugang, Nanzhou, and Ryukyu Prefecture, and the 13 battalions of soldiers and horses still serving in India are all using rifles.

Jiaozhi currently has only three battalions of soldiers and horses, although it can suppress the rebellion of 60,000 labor reformers, but who knows whether the scale of the rebellion will expand because of the stalemate.

In this case, Qi Yuangong personally led the troops to quell the rebellion was the safest way.

Zhu Ciran expressed his understanding, and a smile appeared on Liu Shun's sunken cheeks next to him: "Your Highness, in this way, it seems that there is no point in going to Guangzhou again......"

"Nope! I haven't visited Guangzhou last time, but I went to Chungju, and I heard that Guangzhou is prosperous, so I will definitely go to see it and go! ”

Zhu Ciran's words instantly made Liu Shun and the others sitting in the car as uncomfortable as their own mother.

In the face of this discomfort, they can only be a silent cow and horse, silently pedaling bicycles......

At the same time as they were heading south, information about the Jiaozhi labor rebellion was also sent by train from the railway station in Shaozhou to the city of Beijing.

In just four days, Zhu Youzhen, who was far away in the capital, received a note from Qi Yuangong.

"The rebellion of the labor camp in the Cham house, have you found out the reason?"

As soon as the concert arrived, Zhu Youzhen's subconscious was to ask Lu Wenzhao, to which Lu Wenzhao also replied:

"Returning to His Royal Highness, according to the news of the local Jinyi Guard, it seems that Zheng Fangke, the prefect of Champo, detained Mi Mai, a labor reformer."

"Withhold rice and wheat?" Zhu Youzhen frowned, unable to understand this reason.

After all, there is plenty of rice in Cochin, and it's not worth it to start a riot for a little bit of rice.

"Who is this Zheng Fang?" Zhu Youzhen leaned back in his chair and asked, and Lu Wenzhao also hurriedly replied: "It's an official of the sixth phase of Yanshan." ”

"Cheng'en!" Zhu Youzhen raised his voice and looked at Wang Chengen, who was dealing with the music not far away: "Go and ask Chengde about the whole story." ”

"Your Royal Highness......" When Zhu Youzhen asked, Cao Huachun walked in from outside the hall, bowed respectfully, and then got up and replied:

"There is news from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, this rice and wheat deducted by Zheng Fangke seems to be to complete the Changping grain of the Cham Mansion."

"......" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen was silent for a moment.

Changping grain, to put it bluntly, is the disaster relief grain of the Ming Dynasty, and this year, due to Zhu Youzhen's order, the Jiangnan side must definitely prepare enough 130 million Shichang Pingcang grain, so the grain task falls on the officials and Huangdian in various places.

In other words, Zheng Fang of this Cham Mansion did things for the order issued by Zhu Youzhen, but the means of doing things were a little stupid.

However, are the people who can get into the prefect really that stupid......

"Check it out again." Zhu Youzhen felt that this matter would not be so coincidental.

However, when Zhu Ciran was about to visit Qi Yuangong, the Cham was in turmoil, but after the Cham turmoil, he did not seek help from Guangxi and Yunnan, but from Guangdong.

Although it is most convenient to ask Guangdong for help from the point of view of the speed of the steamer's movement, the support on land is not slow for a few days, and it is difficult that the soldiers and horses on the toes cannot hold on for even a few days.

"Retirement ......"

Lu Wenzhao responded, and then slowly withdrew from the carrier hall.

At the same time as he withdrew, Zhu Youzhen also asked Wang Chengen sideways: "How about the breeding of big horses, big white pigs, and Western cattle in the officialdom?" ”

The reason why Zhu Youzhen asked this question was because Zhu Ciran's handwritten travelogue wrote about the weight of southern pig breeds.

In this regard, Wang Chengen also smiled and replied:

"There are more than 126,000 horses, the big white pigs are basically promoted in Beizhili, the number is no less than 3 million, and the Western cattle are also bred in the grasslands of Modong, East China Sea and other places, with no less than 100,000 heads."

Wang Chengen smiled and spoke, and Zhu Youzhen also nodded slightly when he heard this, and asked, "What is the weight of the hybrid white pig left over from breeding?" ”

"About 500 pounds." Wang Chengen replied and explained happily:

"Due to the large number of breeding pigs, after crossbreeding with several local large pigs, it can basically meet the needs of one hundred and fifty catties for six months, two hundred and forty catties for one year, and five hundred catties for two years."

Due to trial and error in history, Zhu Youzhen exempted many trial and error costs and directly selected the best breeding objects.

Five years may not seem like a lot of time, but for thousands of breeding pigs, with 20,000 breeding sows, this combination is enough for them to breed millions of offspring.

It's just that millions of pigs just look at a lot, and they don't have as much feed as in later generations, and they will grow up slower.

At present, most of the little white pigs are only about 100 catties, and if you want to ensure subsequent growth, you can only add costs.

As Wang Chengen said, it takes two years to raise 500 catties, and in these two years, they can eat more than 20 million stone feed.

Counting the other cattle, horses and livestock of the Ming Dynasty, in the grain of the livestock, there is no less than 200 million stone per year.

If it is placed in the previous Ming Dynasty of Wanli, or the Chongzhen period of the Xiaoice River period in history, then let alone for livestock, these feeds are for people to eat, and the group of hungry people will also eat.

But now it is different, Daming's livestock feed is basically purchased from India and processed in Luchuan, and then transported to China by rail and water.

In Zhu Ciran's travelogue, Yunnan and Liangguang eat the most meat, and the reason why they eat meat most frequently is that they are one of the most recent provinces to come into contact with feed.

"How's the preparation for the grain purchase?"

Knowing that the introduction of new species had been successful, Zhu Youzhen was not so concerned, but asked about the most critical things.

"Until now, Huangdian has transferred 6.37 million stone of grain from various provinces to store in the three provinces south of the Yangtze River."

"Layue should be able to adjust more than 9 million stones, and then continue to adjust grain, counting the local Changping grain, it should be able to reach 50 million stone Changping grain on the eve of the New Year's Day."

Cao Huachun answered Zhu Youzhen's question, but Zhu Youzhen did not stretch his brows, obviously not very satisfied.

"Before the first day of the first month of June, the local grain should reach about 90 million stones, and before the autumn harvest, it should reach 130 million stones."

Cao Huachun then added, which made Zhu Youzhen's brows stretch slightly.

Daming's maritime capacity can transport hundreds or even tens of millions of stone materials every month, which is already a remarkable feat.

Of course, compared to the total tonnage of ships that have been launched in the past 16 years, this capacity is nothing.

With the old port and the Northeast, large wooden cargo ships could be launched a hundred times a year, and all of them were ships with a displacement of more than a thousand tons, enough to transport thousands of stone of rice and wheat.

These cargo ships can actually carry tens of millions of stones, plus other small and medium-sized cargo ships, Daming's annual sea capacity is very terrifying.

The reason why it is not fully used at the moment is because ships have to carry not only grain, but also trade and goods.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty's treasury can have such a high income is that the Ming Dynasty almost monopolized all kinds of raw materials and bulk commodities in the territory, and only kept small commodities and part of the market to private merchants.

This is a helpless move, because if he didn't do this, Zhu Youzhen would not have been able to let Daming develop into what it is now in sixteen years.

For example, at the moment, it is said that it takes more than 5,000 or nearly 60 million taels of silver to buy 130 million stone of grain.

With such a amount of silver, only a state-owned institution like Huangdian can take it out and fill in the account.

Similarly, only when these grains are in the hands of the imperial court, can they remain "flat" rather than "speculate" when they enter the market.

】

"Judging from the current drop in grain prices in Nanzhili and Zhejiang back to about 500 Wen, these 300 Wen and 400 Wen bought grain, after arriving in Jiangnan, basically can't make any money."

Cao Huachun was giving Zhu Youzhen eye medicine, after all, he was also worried that Zhu Youzhen would be carried away by the benefits of this year's Huangdian grain trade.

However, his worries are useless, not to mention that Zhu Youzhen's concept is to save the people, not "financial management", just next year's situation, he is not worried that the imperial store will not be able to make money.

There are still 50 million stone rice and wheat in the northern Changping position, and if they are sold at this year's price, then the imperial store will immediately be able to regain millions of taels of silver in net profits.

But the problem is that next year, the north, including the southern Zhili region, will experience a very widespread drought......

Nanzhili, the most densely populated place, will experience a long drought in the next three to six years, while nearby Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces will also suffer from provincial disasters from time to time.

The southern part of the country has a dense water net, and it will certainly not turn into dry fields like the north, but it is inevitable that the paddy fields will become watered and irrigated.

Paddy fields become watered fields, which means that the grain yield per mu will be discounted, and for Jiangnan, which is densely populated and already short of food, even a 10% discount can make millions of people not have enough to eat.

"This year's drought in Zhejiang, how much has the yield per mu decreased, have you calculated?"

Zhu Youzhen played with the Zhu pen on his fingertips, and asked Cao Huachun without raising his head.

Cao Huachun didn't know why Zhu Youzhen asked this, but he still explained truthfully......

"According to the report of Jinyiwei and local officials, it should range from two to forty percent, and some dry land has no harvest and can only be used as vegetable fields."

"Two to four percent ......" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen thought about the food he had prepared.

Except for the two years when the three provinces were in a severe drought at the same time, they should be able to survive the rest of the time.

When did those two years come...... Is it the twenty-first year of the apocalypse, or the twenty-second year......

Zhu Youzhen calculated the time, and then calculated the speed of railway construction and the development of cultivated land in Northeast China.

Zhu Youzhen's face showed a solemnity, which made Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun puzzled.

It's just that in the face of their incomprehension, Zhu Youzhen muttered to himself: "It should be too late to ......"