"Daming Wansheng!"

"Daming Wansheng!"

On August 27, the 22nd year of the Apocalypse, with the sound of cheers outside the city of Khiva, the city of Khiva was finally captured.

At this point, the 130-year-old Khiva Khanate was destroyed, and Li Dingguo immediately ordered the expulsion of the Turkmen southwest of Khiva City, and at the same time encircled and suppressed the Khiva who did not surrender in the territory.

On the first day of September, the Hezhong region was established as a province in Hezhong, and five prefectures were set up in it.

To the east of the Ural River, to the west of the Aral Sea, to the south of the Ural Mountains, and to the north of Persia is the West Sea Province.

The unrecovered Kandahar region is Ximoi Province, the Fergana Valley is Hazhong Province, Bukhara and other places are Xisha Province, and the remaining area is Muongchi Province.

Although the five provinces in the river are vast, due to the uncontrolled grazing of nomadic peoples such as Turkmen, Khiva, Bukhara, and Kazakh, coupled with the decrease in precipitation during the Xiaoice period, the Gobi desertification is serious, so there are not many places to live.

There are only a few more than 20 cities suitable for survival, and the population of the five provinces in Hezhong is even less than 500,000 at present.

Among them, these 500,000 people also include more than 200,000 Mughals living in the Kandahar area, as well as more than 200,000 wandering Turkmen and Khivans.

These populations are fleeing south to Persia or the Mughals, and the Lands of the River are becoming empty with visible conditions.

In the case that the railway has not been repaired to this place, I am afraid that the five provinces will exist in name only, and the five provinces in the river can only be reduced to a military town in the river.

In this regard, Zhu Youzhen, who only received the news on 15 September, also carefully studied the situation in the river.

"Woo-"

The whistle of the train represents that Zhu Youzhen and they are still on the journey, and at the moment, they have indeed just walked out of Kunming Mansion.

Sitting on the train, Zhu Youzhen was reading the military newspaper in the river, and Zhu Youxiao was talking about the life of the people in Kunming.

"The people of Yunnan are only 3.06 million, but there are more than 18 million acres of arable land, so it's no wonder that life can be so good."

Zhu Youxiao looked at the fruit fields and flowers outside the train, and couldn't help laughing:

"If the train is faster, I'm afraid Yunnan will be the "garden" of the dynasty, don't you say? Brother. ”

Zhu Youxiao happily looked back at Zhu Youzhen, and when he saw that he was still holding the Hezhong Military Newspaper in his hand, he couldn't help complaining:

"My brother didn't accompany me to visit Kunming this time, he only sent Wen Zhao to accompany me, which is really boring."

"Huh?" Hearing what Zhu Youxiao said, Zhu Youzhen raised his head in confusion, looked at Zhu Youxiao who was full of complaints, and couldn't help asking:

"But I heard that my brother was very happy to shop, and he couldn't miss it......"

"That's just a gloss for my brother's absence." Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth hard, which made Zhu Youzhen cry and laugh:

"So, it's really mine."

"I can't say that, but my brother himself says so, so that's the only way."

Zhu Youxiao also laughed and joked, and the two brothers looked at each other, and when they saw their respective expressions, they laughed one after another.

It's just that after laughing, Zhu Youxiao still got down to business:

"At present, we have also visited the five provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan......"

"Walking through these five provinces, we know that it is not easy for the people."

"In these five provinces, plus the two capitals and Henan that I have traveled, the peasants in their rich places only earn twenty-five or six taels per household."

"Those peasants in the poor land of Shanxi have an annual income of only twelve or three taels of silver."

"Jiangnan, Northwest, Southwest, these places have an average of seven or eight people per household, and twenty-five or six taels are still stretched thin for seven or eight people, let alone twelve or thirty taels?"

"I heard farmers in Shanxi say that when the drought was at its worst, the annual income of each household was only five or six taels."

"Alas...... This natural disaster is really harmful. ”

Zhu Youxiao sighed, but he didn't think about his own problem, he just felt that the natural disaster was too ruthless.

But even so, the situation along the way can make an emperor like Zhu Youxiao, who re-controls the people, sigh at the suffering of the people, and it is not in vain that Zhu Youxiao will go away.

"Brother, did you say that the art of controlling the people is really no longer applicable?"

Zhu Youxiao asked suddenly, but in the face of this question, Zhu Youzhen shook his head decisively:

"It's not useless, it's just that it needs to change."

"In the past, the art of controlling the people was to fool the people and tire the people, so that the people were ignorant and tired."

"In the future, the art of controlling the people should be to make the people obey the normal rules and give the people dignity, rather than stubbornly treating them as fools."

"Throughout the ages, emperors have regarded the people as slaves, and even more so as livestock."

"Treated like this, the people are rich and can eat enough and have nothing to do, but once the people encounter difficulties, the court still does not show mercy, then it is no wonder that the people revolt, and the dynasty will naturally be overthrown by the people."

"The dynasty used to be the same, and this has not changed for thousands of years."

"However, since the advent of the steam engine, the dynasty will face a great change that has never been seen in the ages, and if it does not change, the dynasty will only suffer retaliation."

"The civil and military officials can still withstand this retaliation, but the person sitting in the position is not necessarily."

"The younger brother divided the feudal domains overseas, in order to protect the future descendants of the elder brother's lineage."

"With the vassal domain, no matter how the dynasty changes, the successor will never be able to go too far, so the descendants of the elder brother and the overseas vassal can save their lives."

"If my life is saved, then I will talk about how to maintain the rule of the country."

"The younger brother said a long time ago that the times have changed, and the attitude of the dynasty towards the people must also change, and the needs of the people must also be recognized."

Zhu Youzhen made a pot of tea for Zhu Youxiao, and said slowly:

"In the past prosperous times, as long as the people can eat a full meal, it is a prosperous age, even if they only eat sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines, as long as they can eat enough and can survive, it is a prosperous age."

"However, the times have changed for a long time."

"During the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, it was still slash-and-burn, but now it has used machines."

"The dynasty has suffered 15 years of natural and man-made disasters, and of the more than 700 million mu of arable land at present, 200 million mu are peanuts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, jade wheat and other ......."

Zhu Youzhen picked up the tea and took a sip of tea:

"Are these things delicious? Not necessarily...... They are eaten just to survive. ”

"When the drought passes, the people will want to eat rice and wheat and eat refined grains, which is what people yearn for, and naturally cannot be stopped."

"But ......" Zhu Youzhen had just stopped sipping tea, and Zhu Youxiao frowned and said:

"If chemical fertilizers are used, sweet potatoes can yield seven or eight stones per mu, potatoes can yield three or four stones per mu, and jade wheat can also yield two stones per mu."

"This acre of sweet potatoes can be worth four or five acres of rice and five or six acres of wheat."

"If the people stop planting these and eat rice and wheat instead, the land of that kingdom will be enough for them to eat rice and wheat, and the price of some things such as meat and mulberry miscellaneous will rise......

"I can't summarize ...... one penny" Zhu Youzhen shook his head and interrupted:

"As my brother said, the country has more than 170 million mu of cultivated land, and most of the yields per mu are one stone, and only Jiangnan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places can produce two or three stones per mu."

"In this way, the annual output of more than 1.7 billion mu of cultivated land, excluding the acres of melons, fruits and vegetables, is only 1.4 billion stones, rice and wheat."

"1.4 billion stone rice and wheat, milled and husked, can only eat 11.2 billion stone, and the people of the country and dynasty directly ate 600 million grain."

"The rest of the grain, no matter how much you do it, is always enough and rich."

"In the early years of the Wanli Dynasty, most of the people were comfortable because of this, and they will be like this in the future."

"Besides, as long as there are machines, fertilizers, and as long as industry continues to develop, the problem of food and clothing is not a problem."

What needs to be solved is to add some things on the basis of the original "not starving to death", such as meat, silk and other things, and these are also the things that the people of the country pursued before the natural disaster came. ”

"The good is like water, and the people are water."

"Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize a boat."

"The Ming Dynasty is not the world of my Zhu family, although it used to be, it can't be in the future."

"Daming is the Daming of the people of the world, and my Zhu family is just a repairer of the ship Daming."

"The people's criticism is like a boat with a hole and leakage, solve the problem and repair the gap."

Zhu Youzhen said his thoughts, and Zhu Youxiao frowned:

"But if the water becomes turbulent, I don't know what to say, what if I ask for it."

"Know it with affection, move it with reason." Zhu Youzhen took a sip of tea and said indifferently:

"If you really can't persuade it, then it will be tightened according to the situation, but the issue of principle cannot be regressed."

"As long as we do a good job in education, temper the idea of unity, and improve the education received by the people of the country, the successors can still listen to the needs of the people, and the Ming Dynasty can be passed on for a hundred years."

"The important thing is nothing more than eight words...... Adapt measures to local conditions and keep pace with the times. ”

Speaking of this, Zhu Youzhen's face showed a trace of bitterness:

"You and my brother are not God-men, how can we predict the events of a hundred years?"

"A generation does a generation's thing, you and I have done what it takes several generations to do, enough is enough......"

Zhu Youzhen's words made Zhu Youxiao nod his head, but he asked:

"My brother thinks that if the people of the country want to have meat to eat and new clothes every year, then what should I do?"

"Xiao Gui Cao follows, my brother only needs to follow the steps step by step and persist for ten years." Zhu Youxiao replied resolutely.

"Just ten years?" Zhu Youxiao couldn't believe it, but Zhu Youzhen said:

"Ten years from now, there will probably be no less than 1.8 billion arable land, and no more than 300 million people."

"At that time, the people will have six acres of cultivated land per capita, and the yield per mu will be one stone, four or five buckets due to chemical fertilizers, and eight or nine stones of rice and wheat will be produced every year."

"If such a grand occasion can be achieved, the people of the country will be able to eat and drink without worry, and eat meat for meals."

Zhu Youzhen did not underestimate the potential of Daming, in his opinion, although Daming has a large population, there are also many places suitable for reclamation.

Although the current tractor is primitive, as long as the output is large and the quantity is large, it can also make the agriculture of Daming qualitatively change.

What's more, there are too many people in the Ming Dynasty who receive basic education, and once someone improves the tractor a little in the future, so that it can reach the efficiency of the early 20th century, the Ming Dynasty can use the huge industrial capacity to reclaim billions of acres of arable land.

With the current territory of the Ming Dynasty, even if it has not entered the second industrial revolution, it will be no problem to feed one billion people after the popularization of chemical fertilizers.

It is precisely because the problem of eating for the common people has been solved and basic education has kept up that Zhu Youzhen is worried about the conflict between imperial power and civil power caused by the emancipation of the mind.

Imperial power and civil power can certainly coexist, but it is very difficult to operate in concrete terms, and it is impossible for Zhu Youzhen to do it himself, because civil rights and civil thinking have not yet been completely emancipated.

He bet on when this point in time would come, so it was impossible for him to spend all the time in Daming and keep aggravating the political problems he left behind.

There is nothing wrong with getting out as soon as possible, even if he goes to Qi State, he can write to his brother to help him solve the problem.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen looked at Zhu Youxiao and smiled:

"Brother, don't worry too much, if there is really something that needs to be changed urgently, I will also write to inform you."

"Don't forget, there are steamships right now, and it's only a month to send a person from Qi to Daming, let alone a letter?"

"It's also ......" Hearing Zhu Youzhen's words, Zhu Youxiao was also relieved.

"That's right, I still have a younger brother, I may not be able to figure out a way, but my brother can definitely do it."

"Woo-"

While Zhu Youxiao was thinking, the whistle of the train sounded, which meant that they were not far from the station in front.

This made Zhu Youzhen step up his explanation of other serious matters, and among them was the Hezhong Song that he had just put down.

Listening to the end of the whistle, he picked up the recital and explained to Zhu Youxiao:

"Brother, although this land in the river has been recovered, it is not so easy to govern."

"Not to mention the great influence of local religion, the local environment and situation alone are enough to make you pay attention."

"It is only a matter of time before Li Dingguo and Li Zicheng take Kandahar, the space for the southern captives will be further compressed, and the dynasty and Persia will also be directly bordered."

"This is not a good thing, because we cannot compromise on the religious beliefs of the Persians, and the dynasty has no spare strength to continue to take Persia, so the river is already the limit."

"In the future, the border conflict between the dynasty and Persia will always exist, and my brother must have enough concentration to not start the war easily."

"The land in the river is larger than the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Central Plains, but when it is pacified, the population within its territory may not even be 200,000."

"Therefore, the dynasty must prepare to build a railway to the north and south of the river to run through the east and west ends of the dynasty."

Zhu Youzhen's words made Zhu Youxiao bow his head, and he asked:

"It's going west along the current Jingxi Railway, right?"

"Yes!" Zhu Youzhen nodded, and Lu Wenzhao also handed over a map when he saw this.

Zhu Youzhen opened it, unfolded it and spread it on the table, and what appeared was the basic railway map of the Ming Dynasty.

He put his hand on the railroad that had been built to Luntai County (Urumqi), slid all the way to the city of Talas, then slid first to the southern plains of the Ural Mountains, then back to Talas, and then to the north of Kandahar in the south.

"The dynasty needed to build two railways in the Hezhong region, the railway went all the way west from Luntai, and after arriving at Talas, one went northwest to Xihai Province in Hezhong, the future Xihai City."

"One from Talas to the south, to the present Kandahar, the western city of the future dynasty."

Zhu Youzhen said the route, and after letting Zhu Youxiao observe, he got out of the way and continued:

"The construction period of these two railways is 13 years and 15 years respectively."

"According to the current situation, it is expected to be completed in the thirty-fifth or thirty-seventh year of the Apocalypse."

"At that time, the dynasty will be able to relocate the people without any pressure."

"However, before that, Hezhong was still operated in the form of military management, and although the Political Envoy Department and the Inspectorate Department existed, they tried not to interfere with the operation of the Governor's Mansion."

Zhu Youzhen said this, which is also his confidence that it is difficult for the Hezhong region to break away from the Ming Dynasty.

The lifeblood of the rifle is the bullet, and now in the whole world, there are only two major arsenals that can produce rifle bullets, Suncheon and Yingtian.

More importantly, one of the two major arsenals is responsible for the production of mercury thunderate, and the other is responsible for the production of primers.

In other words, even if Hezhong wanted to break away from the Ming Dynasty and become independent, they would run out of food and die in the offensive of the Ming army.

Now it is the era of thermal weapons, and a rifle without bullets is a short spear.

It is impossible for any army of the Ming Dynasty to divide the place, unless they have a complete bullet production line.

"That being said, if the drought is coming to an end, as my brother said before, the people inside the country will probably not be willing to go to the land in the river."

"Even if the three clans exile corrupt officials and corrupt officials, the number is only tens of thousands every year, and they can't be used much."

Zhu Youxiao expressed his worries about the relocation, but Zhu Youzhen was not worried about it at all.

"Tens of thousands a year, hundreds of thousands in ten years."

"The land in the river doesn't need too many people, and too many people can't support it, which is similar to Lingbei, Anxi, Beiting, Mobei, and Wusizang."

"Now that the land of Lingbei has distributed more than 300,000 corrupt officials and corrupt officials, it is almost the turn of the river."

"In the next ten years, the dynasty will not launch too much war, so it will be fine."

Zhu Youzhen said, and the train also arrived at the Xiangyun Town station in Dali Prefecture.

When he saw the words "Xiangyun Site" outside the window, Zhu Youxiao knew why his younger brother was in such a hurry to explain things.

There are people he wants to meet, and there are people he doesn't want to meet.

"In addition to these two railways, the dynasty also needs to add a new railway from Anbei City in the province to Luntai County, and the construction period is expected to be ten years."

"In addition, there is the coastal railway of Yingzhou Island, the Nanhai Railway of the old port and Nanhai provinces, and the Zhejiang Jiaotong Railway connecting Jiaozhi from Zhejiang."

"Finally, the elder brother can also carefully study the railway from Kunming to Siam City, from Shenyang to Pyongyang", Busan. ”

"Siam and Korea are both vassal states of neighboring dynasties, and building railways to connect them will help the dynasty control them."

"These eight railways are the follow-up railways that the dynasty needs to build in the next 20 years."

"Although the investment has now reached more than 160 million taels, with the subsequent reduction of material costs, the actual investment should be less than 120 million taels."

"I have calculated the taxes of the dynasty, and from the next year, even if so many additional railways are built every year, the net income will be about 10 million taels."

Zhu Youzhen almost explained the follow-up work of the Ministry of Engineering for more than ten years.

In the future, if there are no engineering accidents, the Ministry of Industry will have to be busy maintaining the water conservancy projects, road projects, and railway projects left over from the Zhu Youzhen administration, and building new roads and railways.

Zhu Youxiao looked at his younger brother who was telling the story, and at the same time, he was very relieved, but he was reluctant again.

He has always been a human being, and human beings have feelings, and this is the reason why he alone cannot become the master of ZTE.

He couldn't watch his brother go to power, and although it would make his position more secure, he didn't want to.

"Brother really doesn't want to stay?"

"It's okay to teach me Brother Yin again......" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help blushing when he listened to his words.

Zhu Heyin is only one and a half years old, and he is still the eldest grandson of the emperor, with his age, I am afraid that he will not be able to start cultivating until nine years later, even if he only cultivates for six years, it will be a full fifteen years later.

Fifteen years later, at that time, Zhu Youzhen was seventy-seven out of forty, close to half a hundred.

"Brother is not ashamed of this......"

Even Zhu Youzhen couldn't help laughing.

"Woo-"

Fortunately, the sound of the train whistle broke the embarrassing scene for Zhu Youxiao, and he waved his hand in embarrassment:

"It's just that I can't bear my brother."

"It's okay, maybe I'll come back and walk around a lot in the future." Zhu Youzhen comforted Zhu Youxiao, and at the same time folded the railway map and pushed it in front of Zhu Youxiao:

"My brother is going to Luchuan to inspect, this drawing can just relieve my brother's boredom, and I can think about how to repair these eight railways in my spare time."

Zhu Youxiao was very clear about the fact that Zhu Youxiao secretly built a small train and a steamer, so he deliberately explained the matter of the railway to Zhu Youxiao in such detail.

What he wanted was to let Zhu Youxiao supervise the construction of the railway by the Ministry of Engineering, so that there would be no quality problems.

Although there have been no major accidents in water conservancy, roads, and railways since the 22nd anniversary of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youzhen is still not at ease.

Since his brother knows how to do it, let him keep an eye on it, and I feel that he will have a better time.

"Hehe, then I'll be disrespectful."

Hearing his younger brother's words, Zhu Youxiao also regarded the railway drawings as a treasure and received them in his arms.

That action was three points more precious than when he received the emperor's seal, and Lu Wenzhao, who saw it, was secretly amazed.

"In that case, the younger brother is here waiting for the elder brother to come back in a month."

Zhu Youzhen stood up, and Zhu Youxiao saw the same.

"I'll send my brother."

Without saying a word, he took Zhu Youzhen's wrist and walked out of the train carriage that had stopped for a long time with him.

The two came to the platform, but they didn't see any merchants and pedestrians, only rows of Yiluan guards and horses.

"My brother has been going south with me recently, and he has lost a lot of weight along the way, and I hope that the next time I come back, I can see my brother fatter."

Zhu Youxiao's eyes were concerned, he could feel his younger brother's much slender wrists, and the very thin figure under his clothes.

"Brother just send it here, the train fuel has been prepared, it's not a matter of occupying a railway all the time, brother let's go first, my brother can't run."

In the face of concern, Zhu Youzhen smiled, and then reversely appeased Zhu Youxiao, and used "busy line" to force his brother to get in the car early.

Zhu Youxiao, who heard this, did not complain that he was in a hurry to catch up, but nodded with a smile and responded very obediently:

"In that case, then I'll go first, and my brother will be here for the rest of the road in a month."

"The imperial brother invited, the younger brother didn't dare to resign......" Zhu Youzhen bowed his hand and saluted to signal that he could leave.

Looking at his actions, although Zhu Youxiao was reluctant, he still let go of his hand, and his eyes did not intend to take his eyes off.

It was only when he saw that Zhu Youzhen didn't get up for a long time, so he reluctantly turned around and got on the train slowly.

Seeing him get into the car, Zhu Youzhen also straightened his back, and at the same time, Yiluanwei also got into the car.

At the same time that everyone got into the car, Zhu Youzhen also saw Zhu Youxiao, who was sitting back in his position and was still looking at him behind the car window.

He smiled, and at the same time the train whistled "whin".

In the sound of the whistle, the train started slowly, and then with Zhu Youxiao's reluctant gaze, he forcibly took him to Luchuan from here.

Looking at the train that was getting farther and farther away, Zhu Youzhen withdrew his gaze and walked to the door of the train station with Lu Wenzhao and more than a dozen brocade guards.

Outside the door, more than ten miles away, there was an old friend Zhu Youzhen who wanted to talk all night.

At this moment, he just wants to see him, because after this meeting, I am afraid that the two will never have a chance to see each other again......