Time never stops, and when it comes to the twenty-seventh year of the Apocalypse, the countries of the world seem to be more stable in this year.

After capturing half of the Crimean Khanate and its capital, the Mongols quickly slaughtered some men who were unwilling to convert to the Yellow Sect and gained huge wealth.

According to the accounts of the people who survived the incident, the Mongol butcher's knife slaughtered at least one-third of the population in the east and north.

While Lin Dan Khan slaughtered the population, he also moved the Mongols, who had already multiplied to 860,000 in the rear, to the territory of Crimea, which had been slaughtered.

Due to the lack of men, a Mongolian man could marry two or three women.

According to Lin Dan Khan's report, the population of Mongolia was about two million.

In order to digest this population, and to learn how to defend the city, Lin Dan Khan sent his youngest son Abunai and 300 descendants of the Mongol nobles to Beijing to study.

At the same time, Lin Dan Khan spent a lot of his wealth on the purchase of various materials such as firearms, food, and cloth.

Lin Dan Khan's westward expansion gave the Ming Dynasty more space for science and technology, and with the isolation of the Mongols, Zhu Ciran allocated 20,000 tractors to Xihai Province on the ninth day of March to engage in reclamation and farming.

On the tenth day of the fourth month, the Ming Dynasty signed a trade treaty with Mongolia as the suzerain.

It includes weapons and artillery that can equip 40,000 people, as well as an annual increase in the amount of food, as well as various daily necessities such as coal, cloth, and salt.

The signing of the trade treaty allowed the Ming to obtain the first market in Eastern Europe, which brought hundreds of thousands of taels of trade to the Ming Dynasty every year.

This is just a microcosm of a local area, and there is much more to really care about.

In May, the Ming army once again successfully moved south, further attacking the Mughal Empire, destroying most of the Mughal supply points in the border areas and killing more than 30,000 Mughal troops.

In July, the British royal army was supported by the Ming Dynasty, and Charles I reorganized his army, hoping to end the civil strife in England as soon as possible.

On 23 July, Spain attempted to attack France, but was defeated by Prince Condé.

In August, the slave hunting war initiated by the Tang State ended, and the territory of various countries successively penetrated into the Levian continent, hundreds of miles more, and more than 100 miles.

In September, the Qi army ended the counterinsurgency, and most of the cannibals in the Zhulin Province area were exterminated.

In October, floods broke out in the south of the Yangtze River due to heavy rains, and Emperor Zhu Youxiao ordered Sun Yuanhua, the secretary of the Ministry of Works, and Song Yingxing, the squire of the Ministry of Works, to visit.

In the winter months, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Industry, about ninety percent of the steam engines produced by the Armaments Institute were used in agriculture, and the remaining one percent was used to provide rotary power for textile mills, iron-making furnaces, flour mills, and other industries.

Since cotton spinning machines and steam engines and tractors required large quantities of iron, steel, and coal, the supply of these materials also increased.

This increased demand needs to be met through a series of improvements in mining and metallurgy.

It was discovered that coal could be turned into charcoal, and regular wood could be turned into charcoal, and coke proved to be as effective as charcoal, and much cheaper.

In April of the 28th year of the Apocalypse, the Armaments Institute developed the first mechanically operated blast furnace, which greatly reduced the cost of iron.

The new blast furnace ditched the bellows, made of leather and wood, and replaced them with a pump.

The pump consisted of four metal cylinders with pistons and valves, and was driven by a steam engine, while the Armaments Institute further improved the method of iron smelting in the blast furnace.

After adjustments, Daming's ironworks were able to produce hot iron that was tougher than the original fragile molten pig iron or pig iron.

In order to keep up with the rising needs of the iron industry, coal mining technology has also improved.

Daming introduced the safety lamp design of Qi State, which greatly improved the safety of miners underground.

As a result of these developments, in the twenty-eighth year of the Apocalypse, more coal and iron were produced than the rest of the world combined.

Daming's coal output rose from 32 million tons in the 25th year of the Apocalypse to 80 million tons in the 28th year of the Apocalypse.

Similarly, the iron output of the Ming Dynasty increased from 7.62 million tons in the 25th year of the Apocalypse to 12 million tons in the 28th year of the Apocalypse.

Behind such a huge production of coal and iron is a huge group of workers, and the coal and iron produced by 1.2 million miners and ironmakers have been abundant enough to be used for general construction.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty not only entered the age of steam, but also successfully entered the age of steel.

The mass production of steel allows Daming to no longer have to be tied up in local construction, and the cement exceeds 30 million tons, which is a declaration that Daming is about to enter a new era.

In October of the same year, Shen Tingyang, the secretary of the Ming Dynasty, hoped to print 30 million taels of banknotes to build local facilities, dig deepen, heighten, and widen local rivers and reservoirs, and distribute silver to the people.

After the song was handed over, the emperor, the East Palace and the cabinet approved the red, and it is expected that the construction will start after the 29th year of the Apocalypse.

According to the statistics of the Department of Finance, in the past 30 years, the value of gold, silver, copper and other minerals flowing into Daming has reached more than 370 million taels, with an average annual inflow of more than 12 million taels.

At the same time, the total amount of currency in circulation in the Ming Dynasty is about 4.7 billion taels, which means that the average Ming Dynasty is facing inflation every year, and the rate of inflation is 0.25% per year......

In comparison, the Ming Dynasty has added about 49 million people in the past decade, with an average annual population of 4.9 million, and the population growth rate is 2.23% of the total population......

Therefore, the financial department proposed to raise the minimum wage for employees in the imperial court to 15 wen, and to 20 wen in more economically developed areas.

At the same time, the imperial court printed 20 million taels of banknotes every year.

After this recital was played, Emperor Zhu Youxiao did not immediately approve it, but wrote a letter to send the situation and content to Qi State.

At the tail of the moon, the reply of Zhu Youzhen, the king of Qi, came to the hands of Emperor Zhu Youxiao.

At the court meeting on the first day of the first month of the 29th year of the Apocalypse, Emperor Zhu Youxiao agreed to the financial department's recital, but at the same time reduced the amount of 20 million taels of banknotes to 10 million taels.

At the same time, Shen Tingyang, the secretary of the household department, reported on the total number of acres of land and the number of people in the Ming Dynasty.

As of the 15th day of the winter month of the 28th year of the Apocalypse, the Ming Dynasty had a total of more than 1,184 million mu of cultivated land, about 6 billion mu of pasture, and a population of more than 214 million, of which 1922.4 million were Han Chinese.

Compared with the 23rd year of the Apocalypse, the Ming Dynasty increased by about 80 million mu of cultivated land and 20 million people.

Of course, in the past five years, the Ming Dynasty has also moved more than 3.72 million people, so the increase in population should be close to 24 million.

The five-year increase in the population of the dynasty is one-tenth of the population, and such population growth is inseparable from the medical care of the Ming Dynasty and the improvement of the quality of life of the people.

In every era, the cause of fertility difficulties is environmental problems.

In the semi-industrial and semi-agricultural environment of the Ming Dynasty, land was the means of production, and once a newborn was born, the imperial court would divide three acres of arable land as a gift.

Three acres of arable land is a huge wealth for a child, and in the context of a tractor going to the countryside, it doesn't take much effort to plant three acres of land, at least compared to the previous situation where people carry ploughs.

One acre of land is enough to feed a baby, so the three acres of land allocated by the government are equivalent to the income of adding two acres of land to a family.

This is just the beginning, and when the child enters the household register, he will be a member of the production team.

The land reclaimed by the production team every year also has a share of the children.

Normally, even if it is only divided into two acres of land every year, then by the age of fifteen, there will be three acres of land.

These three acres of land plus the three acres of land for the government's congratulatory gifts make a total of six acres of land.

The land is managed by the father until the child finishes secondary school, and after secondary school, the father has the right to use the land for another five years if he wants to go on to university.

Moreover, sending children to college is a process that can be most profitable.

As long as they go to university, the problems of accommodation and food are solved by the school, and the family only needs to pay for books and pen, ink and paper needed for study.

The cost of education in the Ming Dynasty was extremely low, and the imperial court had to spend 25% of its finances on education every year, which was the reason why education was cheap.

As for where the money came from, it was through overseas trade and overseas minerals, as well as huge agricultural taxes.

Therefore, for various reasons, there is no such thing as a foolish farmer not letting his children go to school.

Instead of increasing the burden on the family, the child's school attendance will reduce it.

This whole set of designs originated from the reign of Zhu Youzhen, the king of Qi, and Zhu Youxiao and the cabinet never made any changes, and the effect was surprisingly good.

For children who have experienced farm work in this era and do not have much entertainment, schools with various interest classes are the places they want to visit.

In addition, Qi Guo does not have the so-called midterm exam, but only the final exam, and the children's academic pressure is not great.

Therefore, the court, adults, and children are willing to continue this system, and the only thing that is dissatisfied is the place.

After all, Daming's school is a farming system, and students need to grow their own vegetables, and they need to make arable land for the school.

If it is a rural school, it is not bad, it is enough to just draw a piece of wasteland, after all, the school can find its own production team to borrow a tractor.

However, if you are in the city, then the arable land needs to be relocated, the houses will be bulldozed, or part of the land to be built will be occupied.

These lands in the city are closely related to the local finances, so the local government has not been less than a cabinet to request that the schools be relocated outside the city.

However, the local power is too small, and even if they are unwilling, they will not affect the decision of the center in the slightest.

In the long run, in order to make up for the finances, the local government will naturally do many illegal things.

On the second day of the third month of the 29th year of the Apocalypse, "Daming Daily" reported a news in Mayi County, Shuofang Prefecture, Shaanxi.

The content is mainly the chaos of the Yamen of Mayi County fining and collecting taxes on the people under various names.

There is not enough arable land and the population of the city is small, so in order to meet the expenses of the government, the people of Mayi County may face fines even if they go out on foot.

The common people feel that the Yamen is poor and crazy, not only Mayi, but the entire Shuofang Mansion is being fined everywhere, and they may be fined if they go out and walk.

One penny for firewood, one penny for carriage and horses, and five pennies for river tax......

Taxes such as these are reasonable, but many of them are frightening.

Among the taxes and fines exposed by the newspapers, some vegetable farmers had better vegetables than other villages, so they bid 10 catties more than the neighboring villages, but the Mayi County Ya fined the village three taels of silver for price gouging.

Three taels of silver doesn't seem like much, but you need to sell 30,000 catties of vegetables to earn it back.

The point is that after the fine was collected, the government did not let the vegetable farmers return to normal prices, but ignored them.

In this way, the normal transactions of vegetable farmers and vegetable merchants were obtained by the Mayi County government, and this was only a phenomenon of one village.

This phenomenon also exists in the villages of Mayi County.

According to the report of "Daming Bao", the officials of Mayi County have collected 4,200 taels of fines in the past year by various means, while the number of ordinary people in Mayi County is only 30,000.

In other words, the people of each Mayi County bear an average of 140 fines and indiscriminate taxes.

Even with the latest wage in the Ming Dynasty, this fine would require them to work for ten days to earn it.

The appearance of this report made many people who already regarded the newspaper as a form of entertainment, and what followed was a scramble in the Daming Daily about the indiscriminate collection of taxes in various places.

Peasants in Shanxi and Henan were all taxed by the local yamen, and the tax was a land reclamation tax that was not available in the Ming Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, since the fifth year of the Apocalypse, the people have never had to pay taxes when they open up the wasteland, and now this tax has actually revived.

"Isn't this a blatant robbery for money?"

"Do you need to charge 100 yuan tax money for one acre of wasteland? The Ming Dynasty opened up tens of millions of acres of wasteland every year, wouldn't it cost to pay nearly one million taels of silver? ”

"The "Da Ming Law" clearly encourages the reclamation of wasteland without collecting taxes, and the yamen in these two places are too rampant, right?"

"Alas...... It's still good when His Royal Highness King Qi is here. ”

"Huh...... When this kind of official was placed in the presence of His Royal Highness the King of Qi, he would have been beheaded a long time ago, and the three clans were exiled! ”

"It's a pity that Your Highness ......"

On the tea stalls on the streets of Beijing, some people discussed the contents of the "Daming Pao" newspaper, and the owner of the tea stall also put a few steamed dumplings on the table, sighing:

"Where do you think there is? We have a lot of harvest under our feet. ”

"Sewage tax, industrial tariff, gate tax, city tax, passenger tax, ......"

"These miscellaneous taxes, I have to pay two or three hundred yuan every month for this small tea shop."

"Two or three hundred wen?!"

"Why don't they rob it?"

"The Son of Heaven dares to collect taxes like this?!"

As soon as the words of the tea stall owner were spoken, everyone was in an uproar, and one of the younger workers couldn't help but wonder: "Can't you report to the official?" ”

"Reporter? Hahahaha......" Everyone burst into laughter, and there was a bit of bitterness in their smiles.

A worker in his forties helplessly explained: "In these years, if you want to report to the official, it's really not that you can report to the official." ”

"The official has to write a pleading, and the writing pleadings must be fixed by the yamen, and you will have to be charged fifty yuan for a copy of the pleadings."

"That's not all, with the paper, you still have to go to the yamen to line up, don't care if there is anyone in front, anyway, you have to line up."

"Want not to be in a row? Then pay 50 wen to the official at the door to help pass it on, and then you can get the number. ”

"This is only a part, if you really want to report to the official, go down all the steps, don't think about it without three or four hundred yuan."

The Forty-Year Worker explained, and the person next to him also mocked:

"And it doesn't necessarily work if you report it, in case you meet an official who protects you, not only will you not help you, but you will also tell other yamen your paper and the name of the store."

"At that time, I'm afraid it won't be a problem that can be solved by two or three hundred wen a month......

"In this world, just make do with life, at least in terms of land distribution and wages, those corrupt officials still dare not do it."

"The day when the land and wages were really divided......"

Everyone didn't say anything more, but shook their heads and sighed.

At this time, they felt the difference when King Qi was there.

Everyone bowed their heads to eat and drink tea, but the two young men sitting in the corner got up and left the tea shop.

The young man at the head was handsome and beautiful, and he was tall, so the tea guests couldn't help but look at the two of them a few more times.

When the two of them walked away, the tea guests withdrew their gaze and continued to discuss work and life.

"The eldest brother's judgment is really not wrong, the people of the world have long been complained about by miscellaneous taxes, this time I cleaned up this group of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and it is estimated that some of the people's grievances can be quelled!"

Walking on the street, Zhu Cihong, who was dressed in an azure round-necked robe, said to the people around him, and next to him, it was naturally Xia Wanchun, who was waiting for him to graduate before he could return to Qi together.

Although nineteen-year-old Xia Wanchun is two years older than Zhu Cihong, his height is only five feet five inches, far inferior to Zhu Cihong, who is already five feet seven inches (182).

In addition, Xia Wanchun is just handsome in appearance, so once he goes out, he looks a bit like a follower.

However, he didn't care about these, but more about the content of Zhu Cihong's words.

"Daming Daily" is a state-run newspaper, and it is a sharp weapon to grasp the public opinion of the Ming Dynasty, so the news above can only appear after the emperor, the prince and the cabinet have read it.

This time the miscellaneous tax matter is so big, in the final analysis, it is Zhu Ciran who wants it to make such a big fuss.

A month ago, Zhu Ciran received a letter from Qi Guo, and the letter was naturally written by Zhu Youzhen.

The content of the letter was very brief, and Zhu Youzhen mainly told Zhu Ciran about some economic problems.

When the economy rises, many things and contradictions will be suppressed, so many emperors do not care about things, thinking that future generations have their own ways to solve them.

In this way, when the problems accumulate and the economy is in a downturn, then the problems will be detonated because they cannot be solved.

Zhu Youzhen's meaning is obvious, that is, after five years of peace, Daming has accumulated a lot of problems.

He didn't say what the specific problems were, but Zhu Ciran, as the supervisor of the Ming Dynasty, how could he not know what was wrong with the Ming Dynasty?

The reason why he didn't deal with it was because he felt that these were minor problems, and he could deal with them later.

has been in power for many years, and Daming has no opponents, so it is normal for him to slack off for a moment.

However, when Zhu Youzhen's letter was placed in front of him, he knew that he could not do this anymore.

Therefore, this "miscellaneous tax" incident was only the first shot of Zhu Ciran's preparation to rectify the rule of officials.

Next, he still has a lot of tricks to use one by one......

"The next is an opportunity, we can see how the prison country deals with this group of corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and if Qi Guo encounters these in the future, we can also have some ideas."

Xia Wanchun reminded Zhu Cihong, who also bowed his head slightly and glanced at the stalls around him.

Seeing that the diners in those stalls were discussing the "miscellaneous tax" incident, Zhu Cihong also thought of the group of Gonggong princes above the temple:

"Qi shares the world with the people, not with the scholars......"

(End of chapter)