"I don't think it's strange that people from Jiangnan do such a thing......"

"Woo-"

At the beginning of February, Erlong raised his head, and when the day of this known as the Spring Ploughing Festival arrived, the peasants of the Ming provinces had already begun to work, and Zhu Youzhen was also on his way to Ningxia.

The whistle of the train indicated that they were not far from Ningxia, and Zhu Youzhen, who was in the position, took the content of "Travelogue" written by Zhu Ciran and watched it repeatedly, and had a general understanding of the situation in Zhejiang.

With a population of 30 million, nearly 50 million acres of land sounds very impossible, because later generations only reached this population in the 70s, and the amount of arable land is even more unattainable.

However, Zhu Youzhen did not find it strange, because the population situation in later generations was caused by the massacre in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, as well as the massacre of the Qing army in the middle and late Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.

Among them, especially the massacre of Zhejiang by the Qing army during the Taiping Rebellion.

Huzhou Prefecture, with a population of more than 2 million, only survived less than 700,000 after the war, and due to the untimely disposal of corpses, the local plague broke out, and the population of Huzhou Mansion remained only 120,000 after the plague ended.

Such population losses were not replenished until the Republic of China, and a large number of people from the north moved south to the south of the Yangtze River, and Henan people accounted for more than 40 percent, while local nationality accounted for less than 40 percent.

The influx of a large number of immigrants from the north has had a great impact on the local culture of Huzhou, the most typical of which is the formation of the official dialect area in the western part of Huzhou.

However, Huzhou is considered the core area of the Wu language after all, so some immigrants have been "Wuized".

In the past 40 years, the population has just improved a little, and as a result, it has ushered in more than 30 years of war.

In this case, it is strange that Zhejiang's population can increase.

As for the arable land, not to mention the many lands that have been returned to forests, the urban area of Zhejiang alone is as high as millions of mu, while the Ming Dynasty did not have such a large urban area.

It's just that 50 million mu of land sounds like a lot, but according to what Zhu Ciran wrote in his "Travel Notes", more than half of it is planted with mulberry trees, cotton and all kinds of fruits, so the food problem of the local population in Zhejiang is very serious.

More than 20 million acres of cultivated land are used to support 30 million people, even if Zhejiang produces two or even three stones per mu, the gap is as high as tens of millions of stones.

Last year's drought did not cause too many people to move out of Zhejiang, and at least the 560,000 population did not meet the standard that Zhu Youzhen wanted.

Who is blocking it, Zhu Youzhen knows very well.

If there are fewer cattle and horses, the most anxious ones are naturally the squires who can drive them.

The squire's violations, Zhu Youzhen also knew it in his heart.

However, he wasn't ready to clean up the group, at least not for now.

If they are cleaned up, there will be problems in Zhejiang's economic closed loop.

In this case, unless the imperial court has the means to appease people's hearts and take care of the livelihood of the people, it is easy to cause chaos.

What are the means of the Ming Dynasty? Naturally, it was the steam engine and the tractor.

At present, the production capacity of tractors is still insufficient, if the scale is larger, when it can provide 100,000 tractors per year, then Zhu Youjian can do it.

Daming's tractor is not difficult to produce, and later generations can run and move, ploughing hundreds of acres of land every day, thousands of acres of tractors are different, it is actually a farming cow that can continue to work, but the strength is greater than that of farming cattle.

The failure of basic physics and mathematics has made Daming's scientific and technological research reach a bottleneck, and it cannot make improvements.

But the current Da Ming doesn't need him to improve more, because it's enough now.

"By the end of the year, what will be the number of tractors?"

Zhu Youzhen put down the travelogue in his hand, and Lu Yuangao, who was sitting next door, also responded: "About 40,000 ......"

"Forty thousand ......" Hearing this scale, Zhu Youzhen nodded slightly, and at this time, the train also sounded the bell of Ningxia.

Soon, the train pulled into the Ningxia Railway Station outside the city of Ningxia.

After it was stable, Zhu Youzhen took Zhu Cihong and the other four little ones to get off the train with Zhou Sujie, and the people who came to greet him were Man Gui, Mei Zhihuan and others whom Zhu Youzhen had not seen for many years.

】

"Your Highness!"

Seeing Zhu Youzhen, 60-year-old Man Gui and 62-year-old Mei Zhihuan greeted them, followed by Cao Meng, Li Zicheng and other generals and officials.

Seeing the old appearance of Man Gui and Mei Zhihuan, Zhu Youzhen was in a trance for a while.

The battle of the first Northern Expedition seemed to be yesterday, but when I think about it carefully, it was thirteen years ago.

"Great work......"

A thousand words, not as good as the act of raising your hand and patting your shoulder.

Such an act may seem vulgar, but to the person being photographed, it is extremely honorable.

The generals such as Man Gui, Cao Meng, and Li Zicheng straightened their waists one after another, and even Mei Zhihuan, a civil official, gladly accepted this vulgar move.

In the crowd, Zhu Youzhen saw a fresh face, and couldn't help but ask Man Gui: "This is ......?"

"Back to Your Highness, this is Zhu Fuju, the newly promoted general of the Ningxia battalion this year, and a disciple of the clan who came out of the five suits in the Qin Wangfu, and participated in the bloody battle of Beishan."

"His Royal Highness Chitose ......"

Man Gui introduced Zhu Fuju, and Zhu Fuju also bowed.

Zhu Youzhen looked at him, he didn't expect that the old Zhu family would have a few generals, which can only show that as long as there is soil, the seeds can germinate.

"Lead the troops well." Leaving a word of encouragement, Zhu Youzhen and Man Gui walked out of the train station in Ningxia.

The wind from the northwest was strong, and there was still a hint of chill in the Ningxia wind in early February.

Walking out of the train station, Ningxia City stands on the horizon in the distance, and the city is surrounded by reclaimed paddy fields, and you can't see the edge at a glance.

Ningxia used to be a military town of the Ming Dynasty, and since it was a military town, it was impossible to have too many people.

Before the Apocalypse Dynasty, the peak population of Ningxia was more than 40,000 households in the Zhengde period, but after the Jiajing Dynasty, the armed forces in the northwest gradually weakened, and it was gradually difficult to protect the people, so many people continued to flee south.

By the forty-seventh year of Wanli, the population of Ningxia was only 20,000 households, less than half of the Zhengde period.

The turning point appeared after the first Northern Expedition of the Apocalypse, when Zhu Youzhen led his troops to destroy the three major departments of Hetao, and set up prefectures and counties in Houtao, Qiantao, and Juyanhai in Xitao, and Ningxia has since become the mainland.

In addition, northern Shaanxi suffered a snowstorm in the same year, and the following thirteen years of continuous drought, Ningxia, with its water network, ushered in its second spring.

At present, the Ningxia Prefecture not only controls the Xitao area, but also controls the Houtao area of Wuyuan County, with two of the three sets in its hands, so the number of people has reached 820,000, and the cultivated land is more than 6.6 million mu.

Because it is an important military town, after the dismantling of the guard, all the fields and pastures of the guardhouse were returned to the imperial court, so Ningxia can reach eight acres of land per capita.

"Ningxia Prefecture currently has 2.4 million mu of paddy fields and 4.2 million mu of irrigated land."

"Based on the local situation, we can continue to reclaim more than 20 million mu of irrigated land and more than 3 million mu of paddy fields."

Walking at the head of Ningxia City, Zhu Youzhen looked at the people who were plowing in spring outside the city, and the people were also looking at the city, as if they were thinking, "It seems that a big man has come."

"If you include dry land, Ningxia can reclaim at least 40 million mu of arable land."

Mei Zhihuan reported the situation in Ningxia, and Zhu Youzhen also stopped, turned around and asked, "Sun Chuanting is still in Lasa?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, Sun Jingluo is currently busy with immigration in Xining." Man Gui made a reply:

"This month, there are more than 10,000 exiled labor campers, and Sun Jingluo is ready to arrange for them to live in Bolu Mansion in order to send troops to recover the Western Regions in the future."

"What's going on with the situation in the three prefectures of Uszambi?" Zhu Youzhen asked, and Mei Zhihuan also replied familiarly:

"It has a population of more than 324,000 people, more than 3.6 million mu of cultivated land, and no less than 1.5 billion mu of grassland."

"Sun Jinglu tried to get the labor reformers to build a concrete road from Xining to Lhasa and Bolu, but after implementing it, he found that it was not possible at all."

"Therefore, at the moment, we can only clear some gravel under the condition of the original post road, and widen the road by the way."

Mei Zhihuan briefly described the situation of the three prefectures of Wusi and Tibet, which is naturally dominated by population.

Of the 320,000 people in Wusizang, 250,000 are Han Chinese, and the remaining 70,000 are nomadic Heshute Mongols living in Qinghai.

Such an ethnic ratio made Zhu Youzhen very satisfied, and Hexi was gradually sinicized under his religious suppression.

Compared with the more than 5 million Han Chinese, the hundreds of thousands of young people in Hexi are really insignificant.

"The grasslands of Wusizang are a great resource, and they should be used to raise enough cattle for the country, and then export them to the provinces that need to be cultivated."

"How to say, how to do it, I don't ask, you tell Sun Chuanting."

Zhu Youzhen explained his attitude towards Wusizang, after all, for the Ming Dynasty, Wusizang, where more than 60% of the grassland is in the grassland, is more suitable for animal husbandry than Mongolia.

Of course, this refers to the fact that Mobei has not been completely recovered.

If Mobei and the Western Regions are recovered, then there will be three large pastures in the Ming Dynasty, which can raise tens of millions of cattle and sheep.

Zhu Youzhen's words were responded to by Man Gui and Mei Zhihuan, and Zhu Youzhen also took them to walk the streets and alleys in Ningxia.

As they say, the people of Ningxia are indeed living happily.

Lots of men are working in the fields, and almost every household has at least one ox or horse.

Walking in the city, a strong northwest style was displayed in front of Zhu Youzhen.

When it comes to the northwest, many people's minds are full of words such as desert, few people, and vast land.

Ningxia is a standard ancient city in the northwest, walking inside the ancient city, most of the houses inside are made of local mud, and even white lime has not been painted.

The yellow mud of the house and the color of the surrounding land are inlaid together, which is very natural.

Despite its reliance on the Yellow River, the situation here is even worse than in Shuofang Province because it has not rained for several years.

At least some dry moss can be seen on the roofs of houses in Shuofang Mansion, but here in Ningxia, there are hardly any plants in the city, only some withered hay, sparsely growing on the ground.

Although the greenery in the city looks rather miserable, if Zhu Youzhen passes by the houses of local residents and looks into the courtyard through the open door, he finds that the inside and outside are completely different.

The potted plants planted in the courtyard are dazzling green, and the small courtyard is well organized by the owner, compared with the wind and sand outside, dead branches and leaves, the indoor scene is undoubtedly comfortable.

"How long has it been since it rained in Ningxia?" Zhu Youzhen smelled the smell of rice from a small courtyard and asked, Mei Zhihuan said without thinking: "The last rain was in June last year. ”

"Hmm......" Hearing that it had only rained in June last year, Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly, thinking that the situation in Ningxia was more serious than Shuofang.

The last rain in Shuofang was in September last year, and then a thin layer of snow fell, and it is no wonder that Ningxia not only did not snow last year, but even the rain was pitiful.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen motioned to the officials to ask if they could enter the house to observe, and the officials also knocked on the door and waited for the owner of the house to respond.

Soon a woman in a cloth garment came out of the house.

When she saw so many officials gathered at the door of her house, she was almost so frightened that she fell to her knees, thinking that the man in the family had committed something.

After the official's explanation, she hurriedly packed up her things and welcomed Zhu Youzhen and them into the house.

Zhu Youzhen did not take many people in, but walked in with Zhu Cihong, the four little ones, Man Gui, Mei Zhihuan, and Li Zicheng.

Zhou Sujie was arranged to go to the post station to rest, so they could move around unscrupulously, and with the energy of the four small ones, even if they finished walking around Ningxia City, they would not be much tired.

"Your Highness, there is only this little thing at home, don't dislike it......"

The woman solemnly ran the tea for everyone, and took out a plate of brown sugar cakes to serve everyone.

"Don't be nervous, I came this time to see how the people of Ningxia are living, and by the way, eat the same meals as you usually do."

"You just cook a meal for us according to the usual meal, don't be nervous, whether it's delicious or not, the ingredients will be paid, and I won't embarrass you."

"This, this, this ......"

Zhu Youzhen spoke very kindly, but the woman blushed nervously when she heard this.

Many people had never seen the King of Qi, and in their eyes, the King of Qi should be the same as the officials they could see, with a big belly and a very bloated body.

However, when they meet Zhu Youzhen, it is often difficult to speak.

This is not because of momentum, but because Zhu Youzhen is only twenty-seven years old, and he is young and prosperous.

Just like Zhu Youxiao's ridicule of Zhu Youzhen, like his younger brother's appearance, if it is the imperial examination, even if the literary style is not good, as long as he can enter the palace examination, he can win the champion by virtue of his appearance.

This sounds a bit sarcastic, but in this era when you have to look at your face more than later generations, Zhu Youzhen does have a great advantage.

The woman went to cook with a red face, and this scene made Man Gui and the others look at their Royal Highness.

I have to say that the twenty-seven or eighteen-year-old Zhu Youzhan said that his appearance is impeccable, and his figure and temperament are also outstanding.

Normally, with such a look and temperament, he should be a carefree prince, but he has become the pillar of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking so, Man Gui looked at the four small ones next to him again.

Although they are all boys, the appearance of the pink and jade carvings makes people want to knead it well, especially Zhu Cihong, who is so white that it shines.

It's just that she looks beautiful, the key is that Zhu Cihong is still very brother-like, and he doesn't cry or make trouble, he is very obedient.

Therefore, when they saw Zhu Cihong, Man Gui, Mei Zhihuan and others all thought of their children and grandchildren, and they couldn't help gritting their teeth for a while.

Just as they were gritting their teeth, the woman who was already cooking brought a plate of food to the table.

Sauerkraut potato soup, stir-fried cabbage, chili minced pork, stir-fried bacon with cabbage......

As soon as these four dishes were served, Zhu Youzhen could know without looking at them that the last meat dish must be a cabbage, because bacon, no matter where it is, is something that will only be eaten when entertaining guests and celebrating festivals.

Although today is a farming festival, one chili minced meat is enough for the festival, and it is impossible to eat two meat dishes on one festival.

"Bacon is an add-on, right?"

Zhu Youzhen glanced up at the restrained woman, and the woman could only smile awkwardly.

"If it's not a farming festival, can you have these two meat dishes? What should I eat on a weekday? ”

Zhu Youzhen kindly asked, and the woman looked at the officials around her, especially the officials who managed the neighborhood.

After seeing the man wink and tell her to tell the truth, she hesitated and said:

"On weekdays, it's just a soup and a pot of stew, and the food is a little rough, and only during the festival will a meat dish be made, and it will be eaten like this during the New Year."

"Well......" Hearing this, Zhu Youzhen also started to move quickly, but instead of eating, he opened the food box that the woman had prepared for the laborers in the field.

As he expected, each of the three food boxes contained less than one tael of chili minced meat, as well as most of the fried cabbage and pressed rice.

Those one or two minced meats are not enough for Zhu Cizhi, who is only four years old, let alone a man working in the fields.

Not surprisingly, the minced meat on the plate on the table should have been placed in this food box.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen picked up the bacon, put the bacon and minced meat into three food boxes, and left only a fried cabbage and sauerkraut potato soup that the people of Ningxia Mansion can usually eat on the table.

"That's fine, don't be nervous, go and deliver food to your family in the field first."

Zhu Youzhen closed the food box and smiled and motioned for the woman to leave.

The woman was really restrained here, so she didn't care whether the things in the house would be lost, so she could only put three food boxes and three bags of water bladders into the basket, and walked out of the house with the basket on her back.

After he left, Mei Zhihuan also spoke: "Your Highness, do you want to let the accompanying chef buy some vegetables?" It's a bit shabby. ”

"Yes, Your Highness!" Mei Zhihuan's words won Li Zicheng's approval, he could accept himself to eat like this, but he couldn't accept King Qi to eat like this.

After the two of them spoke, many people in the crowd followed suit, nothing more than persuading Zhu Youzhen to add some meat and vegetables, even if it was not for himself, but for the sake of the four little ones.

The only three who didn't open their mouths were Man Gui, who knew Zhu Youzhen, Lu Yuangao, who witnessed the way, and Zhu Fuju, who was standing in the corner.

If Man Gui and Lu Yuangao knew Zhu Youzhen, then Zhu Fuju felt that it was very false.

He didn't think Zhu Youzhen was fake, but he felt that this scene was too fake.

This kind of meal, even if Zhu Fuju ate it last time, it was six years ago.

After he was promoted from the bloody battle of Beishan, his meals often had a meat dish.

Even so, he was known for his simplicity in the army.

From thrift to luxury, from luxury to thrift, this kind of meal let Zhu Fuju eat, unless he is very hungry, otherwise he has no appetite.

But unlike what he thought, in front of everyone, Zhu Youzhen started to move quickly, he not only ate, but also ate very deliciously.

"This dish is not as bad as it looks like, and it still tastes good."

Zhu Youzhen ate with relish, and the four little ones also moved quickly.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the four little ones all ate very deliciously, and they were not picky when they were in Zhangjiakou Town.

In front of everyone, Zhu Youzhen, father and son, ate and wiped a dish and a soup, and only after Zhu Youzhen finished wiping his mouth did he say:

"I will come again in four years, and I hope that the people of Ningxia will be able to live with the two meats, one vegetable and one soup just now."

"Even if it doesn't work, it's not hard to eat a meat dish every day, right?"

Zhu Youzhen looked at Mei Zhihuan, but Mei Zhihuan smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, you are a little embarrassed." ”

"If you give tens of thousands of tractors to the lower officials, then the lower officials can definitely guarantee it, but for now, I'm afraid it won't work."

"There are no tractors, but there are 30,000 ploughing cattle, do you want it?" Zhu Youzhen was rarely joking, and Mei Zhihuan immediately showed a smile when he heard this; "Yes! Naturally! ”

"Then it's decided, I'll come back in four years, and I hope that the people will have a meat dish every day."

After that, Zhu Youzhen stood up, he asked Lu Yuangao to leave a Baiwen coin on the table, and then left with Baiguan, and when he left, he didn't forget to help the woman close the door, and it could be opened with a push.

Having eaten and drunk, they walked around the city, but compared to the few merchants and travelers in Fengzhou, there were very few people in the city of Ningxia who were not engaged in agriculture.

Because there were too few people, after walking around a few times, Zhu Youzhen came to the head of the city and looked at the people sitting and eating on the ridges.

Maybe it's not very interesting to look at it this way, Zhu Youzhen changed into a short shirt and blue pants for farming, and asked Lu Yuangao to send the four little ones to the post station, and he took Man Gui and a few people out of the city with farm tools.

Some of them had dark skin, so they didn't attract much attention.

Those who noticed them all teased them for going out to farm at this point, afraid that they would not be able to grow much grain in the autumn harvest.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen just smiled, and took people around a few times, found a group of farmers who were chatting, and sat down next to them.

The reason why they could talk was because a literate farmer was holding the Daming Bao and talking about all kinds of things on it.

When it was said that the king of Qi encouraged the peasants to rebel and gave an example of the Shaanxi people's uprising, they couldn't help but shout hello.

Perhaps for the people in Jiangnan, they don't know why they rebel and why they can't live a good life as farmers.

But for this group of people who migrated from northern Shaanxi, they only hated why they didn't rebel in advance, so maybe they could live a good life earlier.

Of course, in addition to applauding, many people also talked about King Qi and wondered if King Qi would come to Ningxia to see them.

The people who said these words did not know that King Qi was sitting behind them, and he laughed from time to time.

It wasn't until the hottest time of noon had passed, and the farmers were ready to return to work in the fields, that Zhu Youzhen got up and returned to the city with Man Gui and them.

He returned to the city gate, continued to look down at the busy people, smiled, and changed his clothes and returned to the post house.

This process had a great impact on Zhu Fuju, who had been following him all along, and he recalled the way he had come, as well as the new pawns who asked him if he had seen King Qi when he was at Zhenyuan Pass.

"Zhu Junjian, what do you say King Qi looks like......

"Zhu Junjie, have you seen King Qi?"

"Quartermaster Zhu, you ......"

For a while, the faces of the past appeared in Zhu Fuju's mind one by one, and even when he went home for the New Year, the pictures of his parents asking him about King Qi also appeared one after another.

At that time, his answer was very ambiguous, because he didn't know what King Qi was like.

He only felt the cruelty of the war, the struggle of the rulers, and the sorrow of the family after the war.

It's just that now, time has passed, and he has also seen the more real King Qi up close as a bystander.

There is no domineering of the superiors, and there is no corruption of high-ranking officials, there is just a mediocre demeanor except for appearance.

He doesn't seem to be the king of Qi, just a flat-headed commoner with more power......

With this feeling, if someone still asks him what King Qi is like, then Zhu Fuju's answer may change.

"King Qi, ......"

Looking at the back of King Qi who walked down the city wall and gradually drifted away, Zhu Fuju unconsciously looked at the people working outside the city.

Perhaps it is their blessing to have such a virtuous king in power......