"Ah...... Autumn! ”

In mid-September, when Zhu Youzhen and Zhu Youxiao were a little free, far away at the head of Yanran City in Mobei, Li Dingguo sneezed uncontrollably.

"It's about to change......

Rubbing his somewhat itchy nose, Li Dingguo continued to look at the scenery in front of him.

In mid-September, Mobei has entered late autumn, and the temperature is also hovering around minus 5 degrees to minus 10 degrees.

Yanran City is two hundred miles west of Anbei City, the whole city is backed by mountains, facing the grassland on three sides, and the scenery is beautiful.

The water source of the city comes from several rivers in the mountains, and the flow of the rivers is not very large, but after converging, it also forms a lake with a circumference of more than ten miles, which is enough for Li Dingguo to arrange people to cultivate some fields here.

It doesn't take too many people to cultivate the fields, and in addition to the more than a thousand Han herdsmen who graze their herds, there are also more than a thousand exiled criminals in Yanran City.

Although they are criminals, most of them are only guilty of theft, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, gathering crowds to fight, and other crimes.

As for the herdsmen, Li Dingguo did not arrange for them to do anything, but only let them graze their cattle east of Yanran City to avoid being attacked by the Zasaktu tribe in the west.

However, for the exiled prisoners, Li Dingguo was not so polite.

After 3,000 tractors arrived in Anbei City in May, Li Dingguo's Yanran City received 500 tractors.

Using these tractors, Li Dingguo reclaimed 2,000 acres of cultivated land on the basis of the original more than 2,000 acres of cultivated land in Yanran City, and after three and a half months, he is still cultivating it.

So the scenery in front of him, in addition to the more than 2,000 acres of wheat fields that had been harvested, there were also more than 2,000 acres of land that had been reclaimed and fattened, as well as many exiled residents who had been cultivated by the lake.

Li Dingguo promised to hand over all the fields to them, but they had to obey the management of Yanran City and pay taxes on time.

There are 500 tractors, and at the current rate, it will take at least a month to reclaim, and another 5 or 600 acres of land can be reclaimed.

However, after this reclamation, winter will come, and when the snow melts, it will already be March next year.

The latitude here in Yanran City is about fifty degrees, which is similar to Hulunbuir in later generations, but the situation is even worse, and it is only above zero for seven months a year.

In the south, you can reclaim 20 acres of tractors a year, and here in Yanran City, you can get a maximum of 10 acres a year.

The only good thing is that the land here is fairly level, and the stones can be cultivated in a few months after being fattened with various ploughs and nets to filter the stones.

In terms of the various climate, geography, population, water sources and other knowledge that Li Dingguo learned from Zhu Youzhen, in his opinion, Yanran City will raise 50,000 people at most, and if there is more, the small lake in front of Yanran City will disappear.

However, even 50,000 people may have to move over many years before the train is built.

Therefore, Li Dingguo is not worried about the population issue, but is more worried about the food issue.

"This year, Yanran City harvested 1,800 stone wheat and 2,000 stone sweet potatoes."

Looking down at the more than 2,000 acres of cultivated land left by the original Mongols, Li Dingguo said to the deputy thousand households next to him, and also said:

"There are more than 4,200 soldiers and civilians in Yanran City, and the 3,800 stone of grain, plus the 2,000 stone of rice transported from Anbei City at the beginning of the month, there should be no problem in eating until the beginning of spring in March."

"However, in order to avoid a white disaster this year, in the end, it is better to save a little, after the winter, each person's ration is based on one and a half catties of sweet potato porridge per day, and one meal of meat is eaten in five days."

"Yes!" The deputy Qianhu next to him responded, and Li Dingguo also inspected Yanran City when he saw this.

The city wall of Yanran City is surrounded in all directions, and because there is a difficult river as a waterway, the cement can be transported all the way to Dingyuan Station, which is about 150 miles east of Anbei City.

Although it is three hundred and fifty miles from Dingyuanyi to Yanran City, it is not difficult to transport hundreds of tons of cement.

With cement, the construction problem of Yanran City is not very big, the whole city is built with scattered stones broken and mixed with cement, the circumference of the whole city is four miles, one zhang five high, one zhang two thick, there are four gates in the east, west, south and north.

This city can only live 5,000 people at most, although it bears the name of Yanran County, but in fact, as the junction of the Ming army and the Mongols, conflicts will break out from time to time, so it is mainly a military county.

Unless the Zasaktu Department is destroyed and Mobei is completely taken into account, the scale here will basically not expand.

Li Dingguo walked around on the city wall, and when he saw this, Deputy Qianhu also said:

"There are only 50,000 or 60,000 people in this Zasaktu department, but there are no more than 10,000 people who can go into battle, if His Highness gives an order, with hundreds of my Han cavalry, it is enough to attack tens of thousands of Hu cavalry."

"It......'s easy to fight," Li Dingguo responded, "It's hard to govern." ”

"It takes 3,200 miles to build the Liaomo Railway here, according to the railway that has been repaired now, plus the construction speed of 400 miles per year, it will take at least three years to build Hanhai Mansion and seven years to Yanran City."

"It's easy to send troops, and it's easy to destroy the Zasaktu department, but how to govern it is a problem."

"Jin Yiwei and our Tang Qi have also seen what the local situation is, except for the two places of Helin City and Zasaktu City, which have less than 20,000 acres of cultivated land, there are only grasslands in other places."

"If you want to fight Zasaktu, you must at least let the railway be repaired close to Hanhai Mansion, and then you can use the Nanhe River to transfer machinery."

"Otherwise, the only way to do this is to increase the number of machines that are not in the province."

"This year, we got the machinery a little late, and if we can get the machinery in March, we can reclaim more than 4,000 acres of arable land in seven months."

"Looking at it this way, counting grazing, in two years at most, our more than 4,000 soldiers and civilians here will be self-sufficient."

Li Dingguo said, and Deputy Qianhu also smiled when he heard this:

"If the dynasty brings in more tractors, then we may be able to double the size of Yanran City in two years."

"It's almost, but it's just a mechanical matter, His Royal Highness King Qi has his own certainty." Li Dingguo opened the kettle and took a sip.

While he was drinking water, a pond rider appeared on the horse road at the head of the city, and he rode his horse towards Li Dingguo's side, and reined in his horse when he was about to arrive.

"A thousand households! There is good news from Anbei City, the imperial court has decided to relocate 5,000 people and 2,000 tractors to Yanran City in March next year! ”

Tang Qi turned over and dismounted, talking excitedly, and Li Dingguo and Deputy Qianhu were also slightly stunned when they heard this, but they quickly reacted.

Li Dingguo first motioned to Tang Qi to flatten himself, and then said to Deputy Qianhu:

"Looking at it this way, it is estimated that in the next two years, the imperial court will take action against Moxi or the Western Regions."

"The Western Regions?" Deputy Qianhu only dared to think of Moxi, but did not dare to think of the Western Regions.

"Well...... Li Dingguo nodded: "Move 6,000 people and 2,000 tractors at once." ”

"If they arrive in March next year, then before October, the cultivated land in Yanran City will definitely exceed 30,000 mu, and 5,000 people will not need 2,000 tractors, so it seems that next year we will have to let herdsmen or brothers in the army help with farming."

"The imperial court can move 6,000 people, and the reason why it doesn't have it is because it wants to save the rations of those more than 1,000 people."

"If nothing else, I suspect that in the second half of next year, the imperial court will move thousands of herdsmen to Yanran City, and then rely on the three cities of Anbei, Yanran, and Shan Yu in Anbei Mansion to support the cavalry's westward expedition."

"If that's the case, we'll have to plan ahead." Deputy Qianhu frowned, but he was uncertain: "But we can't ask directly......"

"You don't need to ask directly, just ask General Cao for 500 tons of cement and expand Yanran City." Li Dingguo shook his head and said:

"If you want to fight, Mr. Cao will definitely agree!"

"Then I'll write now." When Deputy Qianhu heard this, he immediately retreated, and as for Li Dingguo, he also looked at the grassland, lakes and cultivated land outside the city after Deputy Qianhu retreated.

A few days later, it turned out that they had guessed correctly, because Cao Bianjiao had happily granted them 500 tons of cement, and at the same time asked them to expand the military camp outside the city, but they were not allowed to cut down wood, and they needed to use rammed earth to build it, and it did not have to be very high.

This reply letter basically made Li Dingguo determine the matter of the imperial court's upcoming expedition to the west.

He and Deputy Qianhu began to gather the sergeants of the army to repair the military camp and prepare for the upcoming western expedition.

At the same time, Zhu Youzhen in the south also spent a month of events in leisure, and received a note from the household department in mid-October.

"This year, the population of the country has reached 172.76 million, and the amount of cultivated land has also increased sharply to more than 1 billion and 3 million mu."

"After the annual income and tax are discounted, it is more than 7,364,000 taels, the expenditure is more than 74,000,000 taels, and the accumulated debt to the Ministry of Industry is more than 3,636,000 taels."

Bi Ziyan in the carrying hall briefly talked about the situation of the Ming Dynasty before October of the seventeenth year of the Apocalypse, among them, the news of the sudden increase in the number of people by more than 4 million made Zhu Youzhen more happy, but he also seemed worried.

"Of the 4.71 million people who have surged to the population, 2 million are the result of the formation of households by the Qi people, and 2.71 million are the new population of the provinces."

Bi Ziyan explained the new population, which also made Zhu Youzhen more happy.

The population of Jiangnan is a bad debt, and he knows it better than anyone else.

In the thirteen-year census, the Ming Dynasty has found out the population of other places except the three provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, as long as there is a newly found population in the households of Qi people, it is all found out from the south of the Yangtze River.

The population identified in Jiangnan is all Han Chinese, which makes the status of the Han people as the main ethnic group more stable.

However, judging from Zhu Ciran's travelogue in Jiangnan, perhaps Zhu Youzhen himself underestimated the population of Jiangnan.

In his estimates, the population of Jiangnan should have been about 70 million in the first year of the Apocalypse, while it was only 32 million on paper.

Over the years, the number of people on paper in Jiangnan has been improved to about 60 million, which makes Zhu Youzhen think that the population of Jiangnan is about to be clear.

As a result, Zhu Ciran's travelogue told Zhu Youzhen that the population of Jiangnan was more than 70 million at all.

Because Zhu Youzhen has been reducing taxes since the first year of the Apocalypse, and at the same time, he also opened an official school five years after the Apocalypse, promoted Chen Shigong's surgery, and increased the local Huimin pharmacy.

To put it bluntly, these things are means to promote the population, and Jiangnan, as a prosperous place, has never fallen behind in various new policies that benefit the people.

After receiving policies such as Huimin Pharmacy, government education, tax reduction and exemption, and factory recruitment, the population of Jiangnan naturally ushered in an explosion.

According to Zhu Ciran's estimates, the population of Zhejiang alone is more than 30 million.

Not only that, when he passed through Nanjing, he also heard that Jiangxi businessmen had said that after Jiangxi experienced the disaster migration in the 14th year of the Apocalypse, a large number of Jiangxi people divided the land and then began to give birth again.

The population of Nanzhili and Jiangxi, according to Zhu Ciran's estimates, will not be less than 50 million.

Therefore, the real population of the three provinces south of the Yangtze River will not be less than 80 million, and the maximum can even reach 90 million.

Originally, the three provinces accounted for one-half of the population of the Ming Dynasty, and the population of other places in the Ming Dynasty was slightly subtracted from some of the local people of Yingzhou, Luchuan, and Jiaozhi, and the population of the three provinces was obtained.

90 million is not an imaginary number, and the population that is not counted in the household registration statistics is at least 30 million people.

However, Zhu Youzhen knew that these 30 million people would not be hidden for too long, because the landlords and gentry would not be able to give the descendants of these people official qualifications.

As long as they take the initiative to organize households, they are the Ming people with identity, children can study, and they can divide the land themselves.

What Zhu Youzhen has to do is to publicize the benefits of Qi Min's household over and over again.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen closed the note of the household department and looked up at Bi Ziyan:

"Tell Li Changgeng that the bank will borrow 30 million taels of silver from the Huangdian without interest, and hand it over to the Huangdian to buy grain from the south and overseas first."

"At the same time, the royal store sells the old grain that was often closed last year in the winter to stabilize the grain price, and then returns the silver earned to the bank."

Zhu Youzhen finally used the deposits of the people in the bank, but he didn't dare to use too much, and only dared to take out 30 million taels.

Moreover, while the 30 million taels of silver were being transported, the grain from the northern Changping warehouse would be sold and returned to the bank.

"The arrears of the Ministry of Industry ......" Bi Ziyan cautiously asked, and Zhu Youzhen also responded:

"The arrears of the Ministry of Industry will be paid clearly before the lunar month."

"Yes......" Bi Ziyan knew that Huangdian had earned 20 million taels of silver by selling grain last year and this year, and he originally wanted Zhu Youzhen to allocate 20 million taels of silver, but it seemed impossible now, because Zhu Youzhen still had to keep this batch of silver to buy grain.

Thinking of this, Bi Ziyan returned the salute and withdrew from the carrier hall.

After he left, Zhu Youzhen also asked Cao Huachun:

"What is the profit of the imperial store this year, how much silver is deposited, and how much grain can be bought when the price of grain in the south rises by 10%?"

Seeing Zhu Youzhen asking, Cao Huachun also took the abacus in his hand and beat it, and only then did he raise his head and say:

"Back to His Highness, the profit was more than 28 million taels, but from the beginning of the year to August, several sums of silver were intermittently allocated to the household, and the silver deposit was only more than 15 million taels."

"Counting the loans and liquid funds, we can redeem 90 million taels of silver and buy more than 190 million stone rice and wheat overseas and in the south."

"However, this year's rice and wheat were discussed last month, and the provinces can only squeeze out 110 million stone rice and wheat."

Cao Huachun talked about the reality, that is, although there is a lot of silver in the imperial store, it cannot buy so much grain without affecting the price of grain in various places.

"Layue began to release 40 million stone aged grain in the north, which was released at a price one percent lower than the market price to stabilize the grain price before and after the New Year's Day."

After Zhu You listened to the problems, he couldn't help but take the initiative to talk about the solution:

"Secondly, 110 million stone rice and wheat will be transported to the three provinces south of the Yangtze River in 50 million stones, and 60 million stones will be transported to the northern provinces."

"The slave maid takes the order......" Cao Huachun saw that Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, and immediately responded.

After Zhu Youzhen finished speaking, he also continued to deal with the music, but compared with the previous two years, he was not so panicked in the face of food problems.

In the final analysis, now that there is enough food for three years in the north and enough food for one year in the south, he really doesn't have to worry so much.

Not only that, but with the continuous application of tractors in the north and the continuous advancement of railways, the food problem will only be solved gradually.

Zhu Youzhen did not dare to guarantee that all the people would be fed, but he could guarantee that all the people would survive.

There are still six years, and after surviving these six years, he can retire successfully......

Thinking like this, Zhu Youzhen was in a much cheerful mood, but his cheerfulness was based on the sadness of his eldest nephew.

Maybe the East Palace is too stuffy, or maybe Zhu Ciran wants to be spiritual, in short, in this winter weather, Zhu Ciran actually took the song and rode the four-wheeled bicycle he hadn't ridden for a long time to the city wall of the capital.

He gave a makeover to the quad bike, lengthened the body a little, and then made a desk in the back that could be stowed.

He sat in the back row like this to review the recital, and at the same time let the two little eunuchs ride slowly, not too fast.

Fortunately, the capital in October has not yet entered below zero, and the temperature during the day is still hovering around seven or eight degrees, otherwise Zhu Ciran will definitely be blown cold.

It's just that dealing with the notes in an active environment makes Zhu Ciran deal with the notes a lot faster.

Occasionally, his eyes ached, and he pedaled his bicycle with both legs while looking at the scenery under the city walls.

Since it was almost noon, the streets were filled with people who went to the imperial store to buy groceries.

Trains from the south continue to transport all kinds of vegetables to the north, and many people carry vegetable baskets containing all kinds of vegetables sent from Guangdong, Sichuan, and Jiangnan.

Looking at this scene, Zhu Ciran remembered Luojiawan Town in Shaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong.

"I don't know how the old man and the old woman are doing, their lives are better after the train is opened......"

Zhu Ciran sighed a little at the people in the city, and his thoughts had flown to Luojiawan Town, thousands of miles away.

He didn't want to be locked in the Forbidden City, especially when he heard him say that many of the Shanxi villages he had been to had moved after Zhu Youzhen returned, Zhu Ciran had an indescribable feeling in his heart.

If he could, he would like to travel south again to see the places he had experienced and see if the lives of those people had improved.

Thinking so, Zhu Ciran looked at the music in front of him.

What the book represents is not a troublesome matter, but whether people's livelihood can be improved.

Zhu Ciran knew this very well, so even though he was scolding, he was still dealing with it.

"That's it...... It's a little tough......"

sighed, Zhu Ciran continued to bow his head and deal with the music.

Just when he and Zhu Youzhen were dealing with the sparseness, Zhu Youxiao, who had a small workload, had already taken the train south.

The sound of the whistle and the sound of the train broke into Zhu Youxiao's ears, sitting in the empty carriage, Zhu Youxiao was not bored, but leaned on the chair, looked out the window, and laughed from time to time.

"Bell ......"

When the bell rang for entering the boundary of Henan, Zhu Youxiao smiled even happier.

This was the first time in his thirty-three years of life that he had crossed one province in the territory of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces, and in the next few days, he would cross another province and then go to the city of Nanjing, which he had been curious about for a long time.

Unlike going to Guanwai, Kaiping and Duoyan, this is a cross-province.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't stop being happy, and the regressive Henan scenery outside the window also made him feel particularly beautiful.

"Hooray, the seafood stew is coming!"

With Wei Zhongxian's flattering voice sounding, Zhu Youxiao also hurriedly turned his head to look, and sure enough, he saw Wei Zhongxian, who was stewed with seafood, coming over.

He put the seafood stew on the table, and then flattered: "Hooray, this is made by the slave maid herself." ”

"Well, well done, there's a reward." Zhu Youxiao gave a wooden carving he carved to Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian took it with a smile, and at the same time flattered:

"Long live, your craftsmanship is ingenious, the slave maid was embarrassed at home last time, and sold a Xuanwu wood carving, but it was actually sold for two hundred taels of silver."

As soon as Wei Zhongxian spoke, Zhu Youxiao immediately stopped his actions and frowned: "There are so many?" ”

"That's long live, you don't know how good your craftsmanship is, in the eyes of the slave, even a thousand taels can't be bought."

Wei Zhongxian patted the horses, he knew that Zhu Youxiao liked to hear this kind of words that recognized his skills.

Sure enough, Zhu Youxiao also smiled after hearing this: "Well, I will give you a few more in the future, in case you get old in the future, you can also rely on these wood carvings to support your old age." ”

"Slave and maid Xie Long live Longen......"

Wei Zhongxian knelt down appropriately to thank him, but Zhu Youxiao waved his hand: "I'll eat, you can retreat first, and then you will come to close the meal." ”

"By the way, how are the three of them? Still experiencing motion sickness? ”

Zhu Youxiao remembered the three concubines who accompanied him, and because Zhang Yan was reluctant to go south, he could only take Fan Guifei and them south.

"After sitting for a while, I got used to it, and now it's much better." Wei Zhongxian responded with a smile, and after hearing this, Zhu Youxiao also nodded and said no more.

Seeing that Zhu Youxiao didn't speak, Wei Zhongxian also signaled to retire, and at the same time turned around and walked out of the carriage.

When he returned to his car, he looked at the regressing scenery outside the window, and rubbed his hands a little obscenely.

"Nanjing, Qinhuai River...... Hey hey ......"

Wei Zhongxian rubbed his hands, but the next second he was hugged by his waist, so frightened that he almost jumped on the spot.

"What? Forgot about me when you have a new love recently? ”

When the familiar voice sounded, Wei Zhongxian turned his head to look, only to find that the person who came was actually Hakka.

At this time, Hakka's eyes were like silk, and his hands unconsciously walked under Wei Zhongxian.

It's just that since he was castrated, Wei Zhongxian didn't like others to touch him very much, so he grabbed Hakka's hand.

"It's still daytime, you and I are not as good as before, and being honest is better than anything else."

Wei Zhongxian has not lost his mind because of the Hakka family, and although he is nearly seventy years old, he is still old and strong.

"Humph! You have come to Henan, you are still so afraid, and the king of Qi is not here, what are you afraid of? ”

The Hakka clan withdrew his hand from Wei Zhongxian's hand and grabbed Wei Zhongxian's underneath it fiercely.

It's a pity that without those two treasures, Wei Zhongxian didn't hurt much, so he grabbed Ke's waist, and after looking at the front and rear carriages without moving, he said viciously:

"King Qi's eyes and ears are everywhere, you'd better be careful when you speak!"

After speaking, Wei Zhongxian was afraid of hurting the Hakka family again, so he pinched her waist:

"I'll clean up your ...... in the evening"

"Humph!" was inexplicably beaten by Wei Zhongxian, and the Hakka expression was a little bad, but after snorting, she still looked at the front and back of the carriage, and then whispered:

"I'll come to you at night......"

After saying that, she turned around and shook her body and left, and Wei Zhongxian couldn't help but feel a little back pain when she saw this.

People say that thirty is like a wolf, forty is like a tiger, how is the fifty-one-year-old Hakka this year, only those who have experienced it know.

Even a sixty-nine-year-old person like Wei Zhongxian is still old and strong, every time he experiences a night, he can't help but rest for more than ten days to recover his energy.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian immediately touched his waist, then sighed, turned around and returned to his room on the carriage......