"Good!"

On the fifth day of the lunar month, with a cheer in the Wuying Palace, the military newspaper in Yunnan was also delivered to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Looking at the military newspaper in his hand, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but nodded, obviously very satisfied with the content of the military newspaper.

He picked up the military newspaper and said proudly to the four grandsons in the palace: "20,000 and 5,000 are not enough to praise, but in a head-to-head battle, 7,000 and 5,000 are attacked, and in the end, less than 60 casualties are paid in exchange for a great victory." ”

"Beheaded more than 1,200 people, captured more than 3,700 people, and took advantage of the situation to take Yuezhou City, put down this barbarian rebellion, Yun Gong fought this battle beautifully!"

The four grandsons in the palace had already read the battle report, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not speak, and they never dared to express their opinions.

Now that Zhu Yuanzhang has spoken, they can express their opinions.

The first person to speak was not surprisingly Zhu Yunwen, and in the face of the evaluation that Zhu Yuanzhang had already given, he continued to add icing on the cake:

"In this way, Wei Guogong should soon be able to quell the rebellion of Ning Yuan Daobai and Guangnan Nong Zhenyou."

"No ......" Listening to Zhu Yunwen's words, Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, did not agree with his opinion, and even gave his own evaluation:

"The place where Dao Bai and Nong Zhenyou are located is different from this barbarian Azi, Ningyuan and Guangnan are high and densely forested, and they are full of miasma, so it is not easy for Yun Gong to find a few flat places for a decisive battle."

"Besides, as soon as this Ah Zi dies, these two thieves are afraid that they will withdraw their troops and hold on, relying on the high mountains and dense forests and miasma to drag Yungong and them."

Zhu Yuanzhang was not carried away by this small victory, he knew very well that the soldiers and horses of Yunnan Tusi were not strong, but the reason why they could keep giving the Ming army a headache until now mainly relied on geographical advantages.

In the face of the two places of Guangnan and Ningyuan, even if Zhu Yuanzhang personally led the troops, it was unlikely that they would be pacified in a short time, and they must be prepared for a fierce battle.

Thinking of this, he said to the eunuch who was attached to the eunuch: "Draw up an edict for me, tell Wei Guogong not to take the enemy lightly, only need to garrison troops in Vimo, the three divisions of education, Dawoguan and other places, and drag the two thieves to spring ploughing." ”

"Yes......" The eunuch with him responded, turned around and went to do it.

Watching him leave, Zhu Yuanzhang sat down satisfied.

He knew very well that most of the Tusi in Yunnan were limited to scarce arable land and few grain hoards, and even if there was grain hoarding, it could not support tens of thousands of troops to eat for half a year.

As long as they can't hold on, some of the native soldiers will definitely be sent back to their homes to cultivate in the spring ploughing, and then it will be the time when their troops are empty and the Ming army will take advantage of the situation.

"What is Gao Xue doing these days?"

seemed to be relaxed, Zhu Yuanzhang took the initiative to mention Zhu Gaoxu, listening to his words, Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi also looked at the eunuch who was the master of ceremonies.

Faced with the problem, the celebrant accompanied the eunuch to return the salute; "Listening to the people below, His Royal Highness has been humming in the house for the past few days, and has learned pipa, guzheng, guqin and other musical instruments."

"Hum and play the piano?" Hearing the answer, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned.

Not only him, but Zhu Yunwen and the four of them were also very shocked.

No matter how much they thought about it, they couldn't imagine that Zhu Gaoxu was holding the guqin and playing the pipa, humming a song in his mouth.

It's just that no matter how much they can't think of it, Zhu Gaoxu at this moment is indeed holding a pipa and playing it in the study.

He not only leaned back in his chair, but also crossed Erlang's legs and lazily played the brand-new lute in his hand.

This pipa is very ordinary, and it is a pipa that can be bought for a hundred dollars on the Qinhuai River.

However, compared with those musicians of this era, Zhu Gaoxu's pipa playing is very emotional.

Outside the house, Lin Wuliu and the others in the ear room were all lying on the couch, listening to Zhu Gaoxu playing in the main room next door, shaking their legs from time to time.

"I said, Your Highness, how can this pipa be the same as Chengjing, and the music played is different from what we heard when we went to Qinhuai River?"

"No matter what you do, it's good to have free listening."

"Anyway, I listen to this song, and His Highness seems to be quite happy."

"This is happy, the pipa is almost fine......"

Lin Wu or six people in the ear room shook their heads and patted their thighs from time to time.

Although they couldn't keep up with the beat, they couldn't stand listening to such a touching tune for the first time.

Not only them, but also the children and adults in the courtyards of several military households next door also quieted down, listening to the tunes of the "adult" in the courtyard next door, and they only thought it was very interesting.

They don't know the name of the song played by Zhu Gaoxu, but if they throw a future generation to stay here, they probably can't help but lie on the wall and shout: "Who played rock and roll!" ”

Pipa rock, this is Zhu Gaoxu's unique skill learned in his previous life, originally he learned it after watching the style of using people to play the pipa several times on the Internet, except for the freshman party, the days after that gradually fell into ruin.

I never thought that he would come to this Ming Dynasty, but he returned to his old business and played the pipa, and he also brought back a lot of songs from his previous life.

"This "Escape Train" hurts ......"

After a long time, Zhu Gaoxu opened his eyes and shook his hand at the same time.

Since the winter moon passed, after he consciously saved Fu Youde, he hummed back and forth happily every day.

Later, because the things that needed to be written had been written, he simply returned to his old business and asked Wang Jian and Lin Wuliu to get the guqin, guzheng, pipa and other musical instruments that were slightly involved in his previous life.

Otherwise, the days when this gate can't be released are really a bit torturous.

"Your Highness, it's time to eat!"

Listening to the sound of the pipa stopped, Lin Wuliu got up from the couch, carried the food box and walked to Zhu Gaoxu's study while shouting.

When he opened the door of the study, he saw the burly Zhu Gaoxu shaking his hands with Erlang's legs crossed, and holding a pipa in his hand.

Although he had been watching it for several days, Lin Wuliu still couldn't get used to it.

Zhu Gaoxu is growing up at this age, but in just three months, his height has risen a little, and when Lin Wuliu measured his clothes a few days ago, he found that Zhu Gaoxu was five feet eight (185cm).

A burly man with a height of five feet eight and a waist circumference of two feet nine is holding a pipa in his arms, how awkward this picture looks.

It's a shame that Zhu Gaoxu's armor was taken away, and if he put on the armor and played the pipa again, people who didn't know would think that it was the Oriental Heavenly King in the temple who ran out.

Of course, removing this discordant figure, it's still good to listen to this song alone.

"Your Highness, the brothers have all eaten, you can eat quickly."

Lin Wuliu took the food box to the desk and began to open it, but fortunately, Zhu Gaoxu has not practiced calligraphy in the past few days, so he can just set the dishes directly.

Normally, the desk must not be able to place this meal, even a rough man like Lin Wuliu knows it, but Zhu Gaoxu explained it like this, so he naturally did it.

It was just a few breaths, and when Zhu Gaoxu put the pipa and turned back, four meals with two meats, one vegetable and one soup had already been placed on the desk.

"Staying in this yard every day, except for taking care of the red donkey, is playing some tunes, it's really boring......"

Zhu Gaoxu sat down and said while eating, but Lin Wuliu smiled bitterly after hearing it.

In their opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's days are simply not too comfortable, even the group of people on their shifts feel that these few months are the most comfortable days since they became soldiers.

You don't have to drill, you can stand guard and you can take shifts, and the turns are fast.

Except when he was standing guard, he was either lying in the ear room to rest, or drinking and playing cards in the courtyard.

There is also a wall of fire in the ear room, warm, three meals a day, wine and meat, although you can't drink too much, but that day is the same as the New Year, comfortable and tight.

Such a comfortable day was uncomfortable in Zhu Gaoxu's eyes, and Lin Wuliu didn't know what to say, so he could only fool the past with a smile.

Of course, Zhu Gaoxu only complained, he knew that the life he lived was already a day that only rich people in the Ming Dynasty could enjoy, but he couldn't go out for a few months, and he still complained a little.

If it weren't for the fact that Fu Youde and Feng Sheng didn't have any bad news, it is estimated that he would not be so happy these days.

"This rice is very sweet, is it new rice?"

During the conversation, Zhu Gaoxu tasted the taste of the rice in the bowl, although it was not as good as the tribute rice in the palace, but the taste was no worse than some rice on the market in later generations.

"It's new rice." Lin Wuliu said with a smile: "This is the japonica rice that the brothers in the institute have just recovered, and I saw that the rice jar in the courtyard was empty, so I specially brought a hundred and ten catties from the institute." ”

"Did you keep any money?" Hearing Lin Wuliu say that this rice was brought by the brothers in the institute, Zhu Gaoxu's first reaction was not to give money.

Lin Wuliu and Zhu Gaoxu have been together for so many days, so they naturally know his character, so they nodded with a smile: "I kept them all and gave them according to the market price." ”

Seeing Lin Wuliu say this, Zhu Gaoxu also nodded, and while eating the rice, he also asked, "How is the yield per mu this year?" ”

"There are high and low, and basically you can collect 340 catties per mu." Lin Wuliu's words made Zhu Gaoxu nod, he was not surprised that the grain production capacity per mu in Jiangnan was so high.

He has been in Daming for more than a year, and he has basically learned about the existing crops in Daming and the yield per mu in various regions.

Taking rice as an example, the rice production capacity per mu in Jiangnan and Huguang is 3450 catties, Henan, Shandong, and Beiping Shanxi can have about 300 catties, and Shaanxi and Gansu are relatively poor, only 1670 catties.

In addition, the yield per mu of wheat is also decreasing from the northwest to the southeast, and the yield per mu is between 130 jin and 160 jin.

For example, barley, millet, and soybeans also have the same yield per mu, but the yield of sorghum called Shu millet is slightly higher, even in the north, it can reach 160 catties, and in the south, it can reach up to 200 catties.

Among the existing grain crops, the soybean with the highest economic value is soybean, and one acre of soybean can squeeze about 20 catties of soybean oil, which can be sold for 800 or 900 yuan.

Judging from the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, unless there is a famine, there is no situation where there is no food and meat.

Zhu Gaoxu remembered that although there were many records of cannibalism in the historical materials of the Ming Dynasty, this did not mean that the Ming Dynasty was worse than the previous dynasties, but that the literati of the Ming Dynasty recorded local affairs in more detail.

For the same thing, the Han Dynasty may write a sentence to end it, such as "so-and-so county, the people are hungry", but in the Tang and Song dynasties, it will begin to increase in length, and in the Ming Dynasty, it will be more complete.

In any case, cannibalism is a real occurrence, not only because of the collapse of the grassroots disaster relief system, but also because of the heavy local taxes and the disparity in food output.

The same tax is levied on the same acre of land, although it is 30 taxes and 1, but the people of Jiangnan produce 350 catties of grain per acre, and if they count the miscellaneous taxes, they can pay at most 50 catties of grain, and the peasants still have 300 catties of grain to eat.

However, in the north, even in places like Shanxi that have not suffered too many military disasters, the grain yield per mu is only 300 catties, and the same proportion of medicine handed over more than 40 catties of grain, leaving only about 250 catties to the peasants.

With the same taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the north only pays a few catties less than the south for one acre of land, but the grain output in the north is far inferior to that in the south.

This led to the continuous signs of the northern population of the Ming Dynasty fleeing south, because in terms of policy, they were only more comfortable during the Hongwu and Yongle years, and the more they undertook later.

If the imperial court wanted to attract people to the north, the most practical thing was to reduce taxes.

If a policy such as the fiscal transfer of later generations had been used in the Ming Dynasty to invest the taxes from the south of the Yangtze River in the construction of the north, the north would have been able to recover within a few decades.

It can't be said to return to the scene of the Tang and Song dynasties, but at least it will be much better than now.

However, if such a policy is really to be implemented, then the three factions in Jiangnan, Huaixi, Zhedong, and Jiangyou will definitely not agree, after all, their roots are all in Jiangnan, and it is impossible to help the imperial court draw blood from Jiangnan to the north.

It is not feasible to reduce the taxes of the northern provinces on the surface, and the only way to raise taxes in the south is by other means, and the tax increase must also be paid attention to.

For example, the six prefectures in Jiangdong, which currently occupy two levels of taxation in the world, already pay the highest taxes in the world, and they must reduce their taxes, and other taxes should be added to other places.

Zhu Gaoxu remembered that Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing and sent a huge number of officials in Beijing to Beiping, so that the province of Beiping became active.

But even so, Zhu Di had to compromise with Jiangnan, leaving Nanjing, a weakened version of the six-ministry team.

If Zhu Gaoxu wanted to be uncompromising, he would have to pull out enough scholars and retain the armed forces belonging to the imperial court in the local area to deter the gentry and wealthy households.

If you want to do this, you must change the guard system to a conscription system, and then transfer troops to garrison them in different places, and rotate them every few years, so that the cost of winning them over the rich local squires will be high.

But if he really wants to do this, Zhu Gaoxu will have to face huge financial pressure.

Even if he exploited the gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan, and even occupied the silver and copper mines in Japan, he could not completely solve the financial pressure.

If we want to solve the fiscal pressure, we must increase taxes, and if we want the support of the people, we must make the people's incomes higher.

In the face of the Ming Dynasty, which was an agrarian society, if you wanted to increase the income of the people, you had to start with agriculture.

In this regard, Zhu Yuanzhang has set an example for Zhu Gaoxu, that is, to send a large number of scholars and craftsmen to participate in local agricultural and water conservancy construction.

Correct water conservancy construction can increase the grain output of a place by 30%, and this point has been done by Zhu Yuanzhang, so the only way left for Zhu Gaoxu is new crops.

"America is a must-visit ......"

Eating the meal, Zhu Gaoxu made up his mind without hesitation.

There are many things in the Americas that he and the Ming Dynasty need, the most lacking of which are sweet potatoes and peanuts, in addition to these two, potatoes and corn are dispensable.

The yield of sweet potatoes is staggering even in this era, and the oil extraction rate of peanuts is ridiculously high, nearly twice that of soybeans and sesame seeds of the same era.

When he was in the unit, Zhu Gaoxu read some archives from the Republic of China, including records of the yield per mu of some grain crops in their county.

In the later generations of the 21st century, the yield of corn can reach more than 1,000 catties per mu, and the level of potatoes has reached the level of 3,000 or 4,000 catties, which is also the origin of the high yield of American crops in the eyes of many people.

However, this data is the yield of these crops after scientific breeding in modern times, and is not the original data of these crops.

In fact, before the improvement of modern breeding techniques, crops in the Americas were not as productive as many people thought.

Even in the Republic of China period, the yield of corn was only more than 180 catties per mu, and potatoes were only 300 catties.

This figure is far less than that of rice, which has been widely cultivated and has a yield of more than 300 catties per mu.

In comparison, even in the Republic of China period, sweet potatoes that have not been sown with chemical fertilizers can still maintain 900 to 1,200 catties.

Even though the water content of sweet potatoes is very high, it is a panacea for emergency use, and the sweet potato leaves of sweet potatoes are edible, which increases its yield per mu in disguise.

Sweet potatoes and peanuts are two crops that can save life during famine years and can be used as fodder in peacetime, while the latter are real cash crops.

The use of soybeans and sesame seeds to extract oil to meet the needs of more than 60 million people in the Ming Dynasty requires at least more than 40 million mu of land, but if peanuts are used, 20 million acres of land can be freed up to grow grain.

Not only that, the oil produced from peanuts could also be sold to various tributary states in the Ming Dynasty, after all, in this era of food scarcity, oil was a high-priced commodity no matter where it was placed.

As long as Zhu Gaochu has the opportunity, he must let Zheng He appear in the West, and this time the goal is not only to stop at the Cape of Good Hope, but to America further west.

In the Ming Dynasty, the most convenient route for sailing ships to the Americas was to follow the warm current of Japan and the warm current of the North Pacific Ocean to reach the Americas, but this route lacked supply points, and it took at least ten years to arrange if you wanted to advance this channel.

In contrast, the Indian Ocean shipping lanes, which have supply points all the way to Africa, are less expensive to travel and can be accessed from Arab maritime merchants.

He kept recalling the world map of his previous life, perfecting Zheng He's route to the West, hoping that Zheng He would be able to reach the Americas in one go.

However, he thought about it, this is too difficult, not to mention anything else, the sea area west of the Cape of Good Hope is so dangerous that it will take a lot of effort to find a safe passage.

"There are many good things, it's a big deal to go to the West a few more times, I still have time."

Zhu Gaoxu sighed, he still has confidence in his body.

The predecessor lived to be forty-six years old and died an unnatural death.

If calculated according to the age of death of his cheap father and Lao Zhu, as long as he does not take pills and does not die, he can normally live to be in his sixties after the Battle of Jingyan.

The only thing that made him a little jealous was that the eldest only lived forty-eight, and the third only lived fifty.

"I still have to take care of my body......" After eating, Zhu Gaoxu sighed.

While he sighed, the Yingguo Mansion, which was two miles away from him, was busy.

It seems that it is winter, and the cold begins to increase, so Fu Youde contracted the wind cold after the winter, and his body is getting worse day by day.

From his illness to the present, it has only been a month, and Fu Youde, who used to be old and strong, has lost a lot of weight at the moment, the skin and flesh on his face are sunken, and there is only a thin layer of skin and flesh on his hands.

"How?"

In the bedroom, as the imperial doctor withdrew his hand to diagnose the pulse, Fu Zhongfu asked the two brothers to hurriedly go up and ask, and the imperial doctor pondered for a while, and only after thinking about it did he say:

"The old man is weak due to old age, if it was placed ten years ago, this wind and cold would only need a decoction to solve it, but now it still depends on the old man himself."

As he spoke, the imperial doctor glanced at Fu Youde who was in a coma, and then sighed:

"In addition, to be honest with the two of you, Lao Guogong's illness is not only physical, but mainly due to heart disease."

"This heart disease can't go away, even if you take more decoction, it will be difficult for the old man to recover."

The imperial doctor said that he began to get up and pack his medicine box, while Fu Zhong and Fu Rang were stunned by his words.

After a while, when the two of them reacted, they both looked at Fu Youde who was lying on the bed with complicated expressions.

It stands to reason that he can live to be seventy years old, which is already the best among the generals, and they should be happy as their children and grandchildren Fu Zhong.

But Fu Zhong and the two of them both knew that if it weren't for these things in the past few years, their father would have lived longer.

They all know what their father's heart disease is, but they also know that this heart disease is not something they can solve.

Now Fu Youde has already had the will to die, maybe in his opinion, everything started because of himself, if he died, then the children of the Fu family would not be implicated, and Zhu Gaoxu, who had been grounded for several months for speaking for him, would also be released.

Fu Zhong and Fu Rang can understand his thoughts, but as a son of man, looking at his father's appearance, they really can't help him.

"This is the recipe for the decoction......"

The imperial doctor wrote the prescription and handed it to Fu Zhong, but his gaze stayed on Fu Youde on the bed.

He shook his head: "This matter, after the lower official returns to the outer court, he has to tell His Majesty, I hope the two of you will forgive me......

"Sir, don't apologize, the two of us are already prepared." Fu Zhong stopped the imperial doctor who wanted to make a move, and looked at Fu Rang next to him by the way: "Old five, send Imperial Doctor Zhang out of the house." ”

"Huh?" Fu Rang, who didn't react, looked at Fu Zhong suspiciously, but when he saw the appearance of Fu Zhong and Imperial Doctor Zhang, he reacted and motioned for Imperial Doctor Zhang to go with him.

Not long after, Fu Rang sent Imperial Doctor Zhang to the door of the Yingguo Mansion.

Since he couldn't leave the house, Fu Rang could only send him here, and then watch him get into the carriage and leave.

Following the direction of the carriage's departure, Fu Rang seemed to see the distant Forbidden City and the emperor sitting on the golden platform.

The ......

used to be his own respectable emperor, and from time to time he would talk to himself about family life.

It's just that this situation suddenly changed one day a few years ago, and he was grounded for two years, and finally reunited with his family, and it was possible to say goodbye to his father before half a year.

Fu Rang didn't know whether he should hate that person or not, he knew that he was also forced to be helpless, but what about their family, should they die......

(End of chapter)