"East, Branch, Qi, Fish ......"

"These twenty-two tones are flat, read them with me......"

At the beginning of May, when the sound of reading aloud came from Jilin City, the two academies that were built at the beginning were already full.

The two academies are divided into children's studies and military studies, but whether it is children's studies or military studies, everyone is learning Han culture from the most basic "Hongwu Zhengyun".

The two academies are separated by more than 200 steps, and a simple tree trunk is used to form a fence to isolate the communication between the two academies.

However, although the seowon is isolated, their structure and design are the same.

Each college covers an area of 10 acres, and 11 classrooms are built respectively, and each college has as few as 70 or 80 students as many as nearly 100 students.

The reason why it is so crowded is that there is no way, after all, there are only 22 people who are literate and have time in the guards, and it is really not enough to divide them equally among more than 1,500 soldiers and more than 900 children.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu can only make changes to the curriculum.

Every morning, the two academies study "Hongwu Zhengyun" and "Kuiben Couplet Four Words and Miscellaneous Characters" together.

In the afternoon, the children began to study "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", "Mengqiu of the Past Dynasties", and "Summary of Historical Studies", while the military school went to the outside of the city to prepare for training.

In this way, by the afternoon, the 900 children would be able to divide the 21 orders equally, and on average, every 45 students would receive the teachings of the officials.

Facts have proved that although Zhu Gaoxu's method is a bit dull, the effect is good.

Military studies should take into account both training and drills, but children's studies can be taught all day long.

However, even so, Zhu Gaoxu still stipulated that the soldiers should have a day off on the fifth day, and the children's school should be closed on the second day of the sun and the moon in addition to the five days of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth.

In the context of such a lesson, in just over half a month, children often say that the Central Plains pronunciation began to gradually develop into the official dialect of the Ming Dynasty, and the literacy has basically reached the number of 200 characters per person.

Although it has been said that Chinese characters are the most difficult script in the world to learn, in fact, compared to English, Chinese and Chinese characters are not difficult to learn.

The vocabulary of English is above 600,000, and if you want to learn English and be proficient in using it, you must be able to memorize at least 50,000 words.

In comparison, although the total number of Chinese characters has exceeded 80,000 in later generations, it only takes 3,000 individual fonts to skillfully use and assemble words and sentences.

The more you learn English, the harder it becomes, but the more you learn Chinese and Chinese characters, the easier it becomes.

In the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, the Hebei region of the Central Plains suffered from the destruction and change of culture, customs and phonology, so it was very different from the southern sound.

This is not only the case in the north, but also in places such as Liangguang and Fujian, which are quite different from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The difference in accent and language gave Nanzhili, Jiangxi and the coastal provinces of Zhejiang the advantage of the imperial examination.

Before the appearance of "Hongwu Zhengyun", the two provinces of Beijing occupied half of the world of the imperial examination, the remaining half was occupied by Fujian and Huguang, and the remaining three percent were divided into eight provinces.

Since the appearance of "Hongwu Zhengyun", the five provinces and three capital divisions in the north have gradually stabilized in the position of Sancheng.

Although these five provinces and three capital divisions only account for a quarter of the population of the Ming Dynasty, the potential it shows is not inferior to that of the provinces.

It's a pity that the entrepreneurial team of the Ming Dynasty is Jianghuai and the Jiangnan and Zhedong factions that came later, and there is no place for northern literati, so it is often difficult for northern officials to be promoted in the officialdom.

During the reign of Hongxi and Xuande, the children of military families among the northern literati were suppressed, and then lost many of their right to speak.

Eight years after orthodoxy, Jiangnan was already in power above the temple, and it was no longer the turn of the northern literati to get involved.

The first assistant of the Ming Dynasty served a total of 87 terms from Yongle to Chongzhen, but among them, 41 were appointed in the Jiangnan region of one Beijing and two provinces, 26 were appointed in the three capital divisions of the five northern provinces, and 20 were appointed in the remaining provinces.

This is also the result of Zhu Di moving the capital to Beijing, making Beiping a direct subordinate, and then sitting on a large scale.

If you exclude the Northern Zhili and the abolished Northern Parallel Division, there are only 15 chief assistants in the two divisions of the four northern provinces, accounting for less than 20 percent, and only with the addition of the Northern Zhili can it barely approach 30 percent.

It can be said that the situation of the Ming Dynasty in the future is already obvious, although Lao Zhu and Zhu Di tried their best to improve the status of the northern literati, they still lost in the involution with the Jiangnan literati.

If we add the proportion of cabinet ministers, the one capital and four provinces in the north can be regarded as a complete defeat.

In Zhu Gaoxu's heart, what he hoped more was that the north would take power, after all, after the northern literati took power, they could know the importance of the northern territory from the geography and their own interests, and they would not shout out the words "those who dare to repeat the rules will be killed".

Of course, in order to train literati in the north, it is necessary to invest the money handed over by the south to the north, which is in ruins.

In Zhu's view, such a "payment transfer" is necessary, but politicians in the south do not think so, especially in Jiangnan.

All he can do is to continue in the footsteps of Lao Zhu and his father, and continue to develop the north, even if it can't reach the level of Jiangnan, but he must be self-sufficient.

Only in this way can officials of northern origin live without looking at the faces of officials in the south.

"Hoo ......"

Thinking like this, Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing on the city wall, exhaled a turbid breath, took his eyes away from the academy where he was reading aloud, and cast his eyes into the vast mountains on the other side of the Songhua River.

At this time, footsteps also sounded behind him.

He turned his head to look, and sure enough, he saw the person he wanted to see.

"Your Highness, the grass people are late......"

The person who appeared in front of Zhu Gaoxu with Yishiha was Yang Bin, who came from the south of the Yangtze River.

Facing him, Zhu Gaoxu also motioned to the soldiers to bring out a chair for him, and he also sat on the chair.

"You're a little late, it's the ninth day of the fifth month."

"The road is rugged, and the goods brought are relatively sufficient, so I have been delayed for a while in the Liaodong Dusi, please forgive me."

Yang Bin told that it was not easy for him, a merchant like him could not go to any province casually, even if he had Zhu Gaoxu's Bohai Mansion token, so he had to buy some goods to sell in Liaodong.

It took him a lot of time to deal with these goods, but he also made a lot of money.

"Have you been to the warehouse? How is the quality of the goods? ”

Zhu Gaoxu did not hold Yang Bin accountable for his late arrival, but talked about business.

Yang Bin, who heard the words, also took a deep breath: "I've seen it, the color is good and bad, but the quantity is huge enough, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the grass people to eat it in one bite." ”

Yang Bin sighed at Zhu Gaoxu's handwriting, and Zhu Gaoxu also smiled, and saw the lively scene outside Jilin City through the female wall.

Outside the city, hundreds of ploughing oxen and horses were clearing the land with thousands of healthy women, and the fields they had opened up were no less than 3,000 acres.

In the month of waiting for Yang Bin's arrival, Zhu Gaoxu did not do nothing, first of all, he received the materials sent by the Liaodong Metropolitan Division, and secondly, he used all the surplus grain in his hand for trade.

More than 8,000 stone of grain, 1,000 catties of tea, and 1,000 iron pots were quickly exchanged for 300 ploughing cattle, 150 horses, more than 3,000 pieces of various furs, and 200 catties of ginseng.

If you add the furs that have been exchanged from Shanchu Fort, you can take out more than 4,000 furs and 300 catties of ginseng in the current treasury.

The cattle and horses in front were used by Zhu Gaoxu to reclaim wasteland and transport cement raw materials.

But the furs and ginseng in the back are purely used for trade, because the furs of Futijin City and cattle and horses were all bought by Zhu Gaoxu, so many merchants in Liaodong this year could not buy enough furs and ginseng, which Yang Bin knew.

However, he didn't expect that His Royal Highness would be able to eat so many furs, apparently taking out all his years.

As soon as he thought that he was going to take over such a large business, Yang Bin couldn't help but wipe the sweat that didn't exist on his forehead.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled: "I said, you let me salt the profits, I will definitely pay you back in the future, now is the time to pay back." ”

"If these more than 4,000 furs and 300 catties of ginseng are sold in Jiangnan, they can be sold at least 28,000 guan at last year's price, and I spent about 3,000 guan to buy these furs and ginseng, so I can sell them to you on credit for 20,000 guan."

Zhu Gaoxu's words were something Yang Bin didn't expect, after all, if there was no Zhu Gaoxu, with his Yang Bin's previous ways, at most, reselling a few hundred furs would be considered a coffin.

Now Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand, not only allowing himself to take credit, but also directly giving up 8,000 yuan of interest to himself.

Such a big profit, put on weekdays, is something that Yang Bin never dreamed of.

8,000 guan, even if the cost of making ready-to-wear is excluded, he can make a net profit of 77,800 guan, which is enough to buy several streets in Nanjing City.

Yang Bin is not a fool, Zhu Gaoxu gave up so many benefits, naturally it is impossible to simply repay him, so he asked cautiously:

"I wonder if Your Highness needs the help of the grass people?"

"Grain ......" Zhu Gaoxu propped himself on his lap with one hand, and leaned forward and said:

"I want you to divide the 20,000 yuan into two halves, bring half back to me, and buy half of the grain from Huai'an Mansion and Shandong Province for me."

"As long as the fire consumption on the road does not exceed 30%, I can accept it, and you can hire me some 50 officials, each of whom will be 20 yuan."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu's words came out, Yang Bin's mind spun around.

At the current price of grain, 10,000 yuan can buy at least more than 28,000 stone of grain, and even if 30% of the fire consumption is deducted, 20,000 stone of grain can be transported to Jilin City.

Thinking of this, Yang Bin hurriedly smiled and said: "Your Highness has given me a favor, how can I still let Your Highness spend the money on fire." ”

"In this way, the grass people will return to Jiangnan tomorrow with fur ginseng, and they will be able to bring back grain to His Highness at the end of August."

Speaking of this, Yang Bin said again: "It's just that the amount of grain is too large, and the road from 30,000 guards to Jilin City is not smooth, so I hope that His Highness will send troops to protect it." ”

"This is easy to say...... Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yishuha: "You asked Zhang Chun to take two hundred brothers to accompany Yang Shanren to bring goods south." ”

He didn't let Lin Su follow Yang Bin south, because Lin Su was still studying, but Zhang Chun could take this opportunity to go south.

"In that case, the grass people are ...... to retire"

Yang Bin knew that Zhu Gaoxu's existence was full of opportunities, so he did not continue to stay after the business was negotiated, but prepared to leave with interest.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also asked a soldier to send him back to his residence to rest, and at the same time asked Yizha after he left: "How is the cement field?" ”

"Back to Your Highness......" Yi Chuan replied: "Now every five days, a team of horses is sent to three mines to haul materials, and each time 500 stones can be brought back. ”

"At present, 200 healthy women are hired in the field, and 60 cows are used to pull them, and they can grind and configure 3,000 catties every day, and the material can be used for 25 days each time, and now more than 40,000 catties of cement have been stored."

"Good!" Hearing the output and stock of cement, Zhu Gaoxu also had a smile on his face.

Although according to the current output, the annual output of the cement yard in Jilin City is not as much as the output of a small cement yard in later generations, it is enough for Zhu Gaoxu and Jilin City.

In the diagram of the reclamation canal in Jilin City, the total length of the canal is 26 li, which can irrigate 150,000 mu of cultivated land, and needs to use 780,000 catties of cement, which is calculated by 1,000 people, and the construction period takes a full nine months.

As long as there is cement, the river sand and gravel can be obtained from the nearby Songhua River, and by the way, the Songhua River can be simply dredged so that it will not flood the embankment in the next year.

At this time, it would not snow in Jilin City until the end of September, which means that Zhu Gaoxu and them had almost three and a half months.

Judging from the current situation, construction will have to start in mid-June, and by then 150,000 catties of cement will be saved, and about five miles of canals can be built, which can irrigate at least 30,000 acres of cultivated land.

Such an irrigated area is more than enough to deal with the cultivated land in Jilin City, which is difficult to break through 30,000 mu this year.

The only thing that made Zhu Gaoxu a little anxious was that the soldiers' learning progress was too slow, and the infrastructure construction in Jilin City seriously delayed their training progress.

Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu is still hesitating to postpone the action of Xiyangha before the autumn harvest to the beginning of spring next year.

He didn't remember when next year's Uliang Hanan invasion of Daning would be, and if it was autumn, it would be fine, but he was afraid that it would be early spring and summer.

With this uncertainty, Zhu Gaoxu can only stubbornly carry out the plan.

He had to crush Xiyangha before the autumn harvest and get enough livestock and manpower from him.

"Your Highness, you don't have to bother yourself......

Although he didn't know why Zhu Gaochu was so eager to arrange various things, he could see the pressure Zhu Gaochu was under.

"If Xiyang Ha comes to attack, the slave and maid will fight to the death for His Highness."

Yishaha made a promise to Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaochu smiled when he heard it, but he didn't hit Yishaha, just got up and patted him on the shoulder: "I believe in you." ”

The words fell, and Zhu Gaoxu was ready to go back to the house for dinner.

However, before he could walk down the city wall with Yishaha, he saw horses galloping from the direction of the palace.

Not long after, Zhang Chun appeared in front of Zhu Gaoxu on a horse, and reined in time.

"Your Highness, good news, the Duke of Wei and the generals put down the rebellion of Nong Zhenyou on April 17, Nong Zhenyou died in the battle, and the entire army of 7,000 Luoyi in Guangnan was wiped out!"

Zhang Chun's face was filled with a happy smile, and his eyes were full of excitement.

Not only him, but even Yishuha looked at Zhu Gaoxu excitedly when he heard the news, after all, in their eyes, Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, was Zhu Gaoxu's uncle.

It's just that compared to them, the smile on Zhu Gaoxu's face is a little stiff.

He didn't expect that the rebellion of the three Tusi tribes in Yunnan would only last less than ten months before it was put down, although he knew that Qu Neng, Mu Chun, Song Sheng, He Fu and others were all famous generals today, but the news of this rebellion in Beiping still made him a little dumbfounded.

After a while, he pretended to be happy: "In this way, my uncle is afraid that he will be praised by His Majesty." ”

In the camouflage, Zhu Gaoxu was unsettled, he didn't expect Luchuan to calm down, and he didn't take advantage of the fact that the elite of Yunnan were in Guangnan and brazenly raised troops.

He clearly remembered that Luchuan had fought several battles with Daming in the late Hongwu period, why didn't there be any movement now......

didn't have time to guess, Zhu Gaoxu could only wave his hand and laugh: "Call the master to let them, and they will have to set up a few tables of banquets in the palace today to have fun!" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chun and Yisha were happy, and then followed Zhu Gaoxu back to the palace.

After a while, the palace was busy.

While everyone was busy, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the study and took out the map of Yunnan he had drawn and unfolded it.

He frowned and read the map, and also analyzed the current situation clearly.

"After this battle, if Luchuan and the other Tusi don't react, I'm afraid Song Sheng and they will continue to be sent to the northwest, and He Fuqu Neng will also return to Sichuan and Guiyang, but ......"

Zhu Gaoxu set his sights on the Sichuan Xingdu Division and the Wumeng Three Mansions.

His second mine map was prepared for the current situation.

As long as the people sent by the imperial court explored the gold, silver and copper mines, Zhu Gaoxu did not believe that Zhu Yunwen would not be moved.

He needs the support of Jiangnan, and he must continue to use banknotes to offset taxes, otherwise it will be difficult for these squires and wealthy families to maximize the benefits of the treasure money.

Since he wants to use Jiangnan's momentum, he must give them benefits, otherwise he will only be the one who will be counterattacked in the end.

Zhu Gaoxu figured out Zhu Yunwen's thoughts, and as he thought, at this moment, Zhu Yunwen was looking at the second mine map in the East Palace Chunhe Palace, his brows furrowed.

"I was born in such a poor place ...... mountains and rivers"

Nanjing in May is already a little hot, and this heat makes Zhu Yunwen's mood a little depressed.

"Your Highness, Director Qi, Huang Taichang Siqing asks to see you."

Li Quan, the eunuch with the class in the East Palace, stood at the gate of the Chunhe Hall and looked at Zhu Yunwen from afar, and when he heard his words, Zhu Yunwen answered without raising his head: "Xuan ......"

After his words, Li Quan left the temple gate.

Not long after, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, who had just participated in the noon dynasty, walked into the hall, saluted Zhu Yunwen as always, and sang: "Taisun Qianfu." ”

For the two of them, it seems that it is because Zhu Li is no longer in the climate, and Zhu Fan is dead in the house, so Zhu Yunwen is much more plain than before, just looking at the mine map and saying to the two:

"The two gentlemen should know about the new mine, so according to the two gentlemen's opinion, do you want to continue according to the previous discussion."

Zhu Yunwen's words did not make Huang Zicheng hesitate, he said decisively: "Now that the traitors have been pacified, Yunnan is safe, and it is natural to seek the land of the six prefectures in southern Sichuan. ”

After his words were finished, Zhu Yunwen glanced up at Qi Tai, who was not reckless about this, but thought twice before speaking:

"The difficulty in the land of Liufu is not how to open the mine, but how to maintain the operation of the mine after the mine is opened."

"In the previous Yunnan gold and silver mines, many Tusi thought that the imperial court bullied the small and took the mines for themselves, and did not give them any favors."

"If you use troops against the mountains of the six prefectures in southern Sichuan at this time, I am afraid that some Yunnan Tusi who are ready to move will rebel again."

Speaking of this, Qi Tai couldn't help but mention the latest news.

"Three days ago, the Sichuan Song Nong Tea Cave barbarian thief Tian Da Worm took the opportunity to make a rebellion, and although the Sichuan Metropolitan Command Department sent the Luzhou Guards to suppress the thieves, the Naxi Tusi refused to allow the officers and soldiers to cross the border......"

"Two days ago, there was a friction between Qianhu Luoding and Naxi Tusi, the army could not enter an inch, and Tian Daworm took the opportunity to plunder the countryside, and hundreds of people were killed and injured."

"Fortunately, the southern guard sent troops to quell the rebellion and encircled and suppressed Tian Da Worm, otherwise I am afraid that this time I am afraid ......"

After saying three points, Qi Tai did not continue, but Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng both heard what he meant.

Since March, the number of Tusi rebellions in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangxi provinces has become more and more frequent, and the reason for this is that the main forces in the southwest have been transferred to pacify Nong Zhenyou.

What should be done now should be to let the troops and horses return to the garrison as soon as possible to deter the local Tusi.

However, in the face of such a situation, Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng were still thinking about the development of gold, silver and copper mines in the six provinces of southern Sichuan, and it was no wonder that Qi Tai would remind them so vaguely.

Qi Tai's idea is right, but Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng also have their own difficulties.

Now that the summer tax has passed, this time the tax deduction with money has not achieved the effect that everyone wants, because since the land south of the Yangtze River has been changed to japonica rice, the summer tax is no longer the target of everyone's attention.

What everyone cares about is the autumn tax, which is the largest part of the tax.

Whether this year's autumn harvest will be deducted from taxes with banknotes is one thing that everyone is concerned about, but this matter is stuck in the emperor and Hubu Shangshu Yuxin, and it has been delayed.

The reason given by Yu Xin is very simple, that is, last year's autumn tax deduction with banknotes has caused the imperial court to lose more than 2 million yuan, if this year comes again, it will be Yin eat grain, and one day will eat up the money and grain accumulated by the imperial court over the years.

Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not intend to use banknotes to offset taxes again, at least before the gold, silver and copper minerals of Yunnan were imported into the imperial court, he was not prepared to use banknotes to offset taxes.

In this way, this stumped Zhu Yunwen, after all, the reason why he was able to thunder the thunderbolt against Zhu Li before was because he made some compromises with that group of people.

Now that compromise is far away, it is impossible to predict what will happen after that.

Although Zhu Yunwen thinks that his position is very secure at the moment, he is not willing to take any risks.

Therefore, he not only wanted to open gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan, but also gold, silver and copper mines in southern Sichuan.

"The household department has calculated that if Yunnan and southern Sichuan mine gold, silver and copper ore together, the imperial court will be able to harvest at least 500,000 yuan before the autumn harvest this year."

Zhu Yunwen expressed his opinion, and Huang Zicheng, who saw that he had an idea, also said calmly: "With the copper mine in Jiuhua Mountain, it should be able to reach 800,000 yuan." ”

"But if there is another rebellion, these 800,000 are probably not enough to quell the rebellion." Qi Tai frowned, he really didn't want to start another war at this impetuous juncture in the southwest.

Moreover, he had a hunch in his heart that not only did he not want to continue the war in the southwest, but the emperor was probably a little tired of it.

A gold, silver and copper mine in Yunnan is enough for the Ming Dynasty to spend five or six years to relocate the people, and then continue to expand production.

Although tens of thousands of immigrants have migrated to Yunnan in the first half of this year, this population is not a drop in the bucket compared with the gold, silver and copper mines that Yunnan needs to mine.

The potential of the Yunnan mine has not yet been fully tapped, and his grandson wants to do something to southern Sichuan, which is a bit impatient.

Qi Tai's thoughts were flying, but in the face of his reminder, Zhu Yunwen didn't like it in his heart.

Although Zhu Yunwen did not have any fluctuations on his face, he felt in his heart that Qi Tai was a little forward-looking and not decisive enough.

Zhu Yunwen was like this before, but now that he saw that Nong Zhenyou's three divisions were so quickly pacified, he suddenly felt a little more confident.

"Yunnan toast, it's just ......"

With this thought, Zhu Yunwen waved his hand: "This matter is indeed a big matter, I will ask the imperial grandfather in the afternoon, the two gentlemen will go down and rest first." ”

"The ministers are retiring......" Seeing that Zhu Yunwen said this, Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai didn't have much to say, and after returning the salute, they withdrew from the Chunhe Palace.

It's just that after they left, Zhu Yunwen's eyes couldn't take his eyes off the mine map.

Compared with Yunnan, southern Sichuan is backed by the Chengdu Plain, and the speed of gold and silver mining is much faster than Yunnan.

As long as this matter is completed, his position will be more secure......

(End of chapter)