"Bell... Clang... Bell ......"

"Crackling!"

In the early morning, when the bell and the firecrackers rang out in unison, the third year of Yongle also arrived as scheduled.

In the streets and alleys, people set off firecrackers and covered their ears, and every household began to clean up their homes and buy chickens, ducks, cows, pigs and other meat to make Spring Festival delicacies at home.

On such a day, even the people living in the poor areas of the Ming Dynasty will not treat themselves badly, let alone Nanjing City, which is the most prosperous place in the world.

Since yesterday, tens of millions of livestock have been transported to the capital and dismembered and sold in the market in Fang City.

The strong smell of sulfur heralds the arrival of the new year, and the wisps of cooking smoke from each household also indicate the peace of the world.

Inside and outside the Fengtian Palace, thousands of officials in Beijing wore court clothes to worship Zhu Di, and Zhu Di, who was wearing a crown robe, also raised his hand to signal the ministers to get up.

As in last year, the Household Department and the Governor's Office of the Sixth Army respectively reported on last year's fiscal revenue, and then Zhu Gaoxu stood up to distribute this year's taxes in a fixed amount.

However, because there was not much success at the local level, Zhu Gaoxu did not increase and reduce the burden on the provinces, and still maintained a land quota of 35 million stones.

His peace of mind made the officials breathe a sigh of relief.

After Zhu Gaoxu finished the topic of quotas, the ministers also began to raise the list of Jiashenke imperial examinations launched this year.

In and out of the words, it was nothing more than that he didn't want the East Palace to be involved in the imperial examination, but Zhu Di ignored it and still maintained last year's decision.

What is rare is that in this initiation, Xie Jin, Yang Shiqi, Hu Guang, Hu Yan and others, who are scholars of the palace, did not speak, and Li Zhigang of the Ministry of Rites did not speak.

Chen Yingxing of the Metropolitan Procuratorate may not have gotten Zhu Di's understanding, so he did not impeach the ministers in such an atmosphere.

In short, the three-year Zhengdan Dynasty of Yongle will end on a strange and dull end.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu also changed into regular clothes after the end of the court meeting, and took the big chariot and the golden chariot to the Huagai Palace.

Inside and outside the Huagai Palace, the kings of Beijing and their princesses and children all appeared here, all because after the Lantern Festival, many vassal kings were going to go to the local domain.

These include the King of Lu in Jiading, the King of Qi in Guangzhou, the Dai King of Ensi, the King of Han in Chongqing, the King of Liao in Xuzhou, the King of An in Changde, the King of Shen in Hengzhou, and Zhu Gaoxu's younger brother Zhu Gaosui of Zhao, and Zhu Zanyi of the King of Jingjiang.

It can be said that in addition to Zhu Quan, the king of Ning, who was still on the border of Daning, and the king of Han, the king of Gu, and the king of Min, who was canonized to Yunnan, and the king of Min, who was too young, the king of Tang, the king of Ying, and the king of Yi, the rest of the vassal kings have taken up the domain.

As for Zhu Gaoxu's fifth uncle Zhu Hu, he had already become a feudal lord last year, after all, he was Zhu Di's younger brother, and Zhu Hu didn't dare to make trouble under Zhu Di's nose.

"When I go to the north, you have to think of a way to clean up the King of Qin and the King of Jin."

After getting off the big wheel, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochu walked into the Huagai Hall in the sound of the vassal kings, and Zhu Di took Zhu Gaochu to the corner and explained.

According to the brother and brother of "Zu Xun", the law of King Qin and King Jin on the throne is greater than Zhu Di, although the two brothers are dead, and the current Qin and Jin are all nephews, but Zhu Di knows very well that these two sons and nephews are not convinced.

"Erchen doesn't think they can make a fuss, if they can really make a fuss, it's actually good."

Facing Zhu Di's words, Zhu Gaoxu spoke calmly.

Zhu Di's idea he knew, that is, to use the internal contradictions between the Qin Mansion and the Jin Mansion to depose Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi as concubines and support their brothers to ascend to the throne.

Zhu Gaoxu's idea was even more radical, and he wished that Zhu Shangbing and Zhu Jixi would do something, and then take the opportunity to cut the feudal domain himself.

However, judging from the performance of these two brothers in the Battle of Jingjing, it is better to expect them to do something to cut the feudal domain, and it is better to fish and enforce the law in the future.

"You can do this yourself, in short, if they don't obey my father and son, you will find a way to clean them up."

Zhu Di is still very satisfied with Zhu Gaoxu, except for occasionally scolding him for not being like himself when he is disobedient, he slaps his face and says that the second child is like himself.

If Zhu Gaoxu felt that Qin Jin'an was divided, then he could also rest assured.

"Let's go, go out and drink and eat with these uncles, so as not to need their help in the future and become rusty."

After explaining his attitude towards Qin Jin, Zhu Di took Zhu Gaochu out of the side hall, called Zhu Gaosui, who was about to become a vassal, and Zhu Gaochi, who will only be a vassal next year, and began to visit the group of uncles along the table.

In fact, many of them were dissatisfied with Zhu Gaoxu, such as the acting king, the king of the valley and the king of Min who were canonized to remote places.

However, when facing Zhu Gaoxu, they still had to act with him with a smiling face.

Compared with the three of them, the attitude of the other vassal kings towards Zhu Gaoxu is very good, after all, the places where they were in the domain before were in the bitter cold land of the north, and now the place where they have changed the title is either Sichuan or Huguang, although it is not as prosperous as Jiangnan, but it is also second to none.

After going through the motions with them, Zhu Di returned to the throne with his three sons, and sat down to eat here with his three daughters-in-law, five daughters, and Queen Xu.

After Zhu Di took his seat, Zhu Gaoxu did not rush to take a seat, but walked behind Queen Xu and pinched her shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Queen Xu didn't say anything, but Zhu Di glared at him, as if asking what her daughter-in-law was doing.

Looking at his expression, Zhu Gaoxu was really speechless: "You don't know that my mother has a sore shoulder these days?" ”

"Huh?" Zhu Di immediately looked at Queen Xu when he heard this, but Queen Xu smiled charitentially: "It's just an old problem, it did hurt a little just now, but Gao Xu is much more comfortable after pinching it." ”

"You get up, I'll pinch it."

After receiving the answer, Zhu Di immediately got up, pushed Zhu Gaoxu away, and pinched Queen Xu's shoulders by himself.

As the emperor, pinching the queen's shoulders in the clan family banquet is the first scene in the past.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di's happy appearance, and also smiled and gave up his place to him, and sat next to Guo Yan.

"Dad loves my mother." Guo Yan looked at Zhu Di and Queen Xu enviously, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled when he saw this: "Otherwise, I'll get up and pinch it for you?" ”

"Then forget it, my body is not as good as my mother's mother, and I am not strong."

Guo Yan stretched out his sleeve to cover half of his face, and his eyes smiled like crescent moons.

"Where's Zhan Yan?" Zhu Gaoxu responded with a smile, and then found that his son was not around before asking.

"It's too noisy here, so I didn't bring him here, for fear that he would cry too loudly."

Guo Yan said, and then approached Zhu Gaoxu and whispered: "I chatted with my sister-in-law just now, and she said that my mother helped my father accept many show girls, but my father didn't give me a name." ”

"He's like this, can a childhood sweetheart not love him." Zhu Gaoxu didn't think it was strange, after all, Zhu Di's love for Queen Xu was a typical one in history.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Queen Xu with some concern.

It is now the third year of Yongle, but historically speaking, it should be the first year of Yongle, and Queen Xu died of illness in the fifth year of Yongle.

In other words, my mother-in-law has five years to live at most.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't know if Empress Xu's death was related to the hard work of defending Beiping, at least from now on, Xu's body is still healthy.

"Mother." Zhu Gaoxu shouted to the Xu family, and Empress Xu and Zhu Di both looked at him.

"Erchen wants to send a female medical officer into the inner court to check the pulse of the concubine after the New Year's Day every year."

Zhu Gaoxu actually wanted to directly ask the medical officials to diagnose the pulse of Empress Xu, but he felt that this was too deliberate, so he changed it to diagnose the pulse of all the concubines in the harem.

"This is a good thing, the female medical officer of your East Palace, I took good care of Yan when I saw them last time, and it is good to take care of the concubines."

Queen Xu didn't think much about it, and nodded directly in agreement.

"Second brother, you also send me a few medical officers, I always feel depressed and uncomfortable these days."

Hearing about the medical officer, Zhu Gaochi, who had been eating, opened his mouth and interrupted, and everyone also looked at him when they heard the words.

Looking at his fat body, even Zhu Di, a father, disgusted: "You know how to eat all day long, and you don't go for a ride and walk, look at your body." ”

"Big brother, you have to have two hundred pounds, right?" Zhu Gaosui also made a cheap opening.

"Erchen also has nothing to do, he can only satisfy his appetite."

Zhu Gaochi ignored the words of the third child, and replied to Zhu Di helplessly, Zhu Di also snorted when he saw this, obviously not liking Zhu Gaochi's weak temperament.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaochi couldn't continue, but Zhu Gaochu helped: "It's good to have a good appetite, as long as you don't be greedy." ”

Speaking of which, Zhu Gaoxu also began to talk about the diseases related to obesity, and gave examples of the diseases caused by obesity of some ancient emperors.

For example, the emperor of the Song Dynasty had a high incidence of heart and brain diseases, and Song Renzong often felt dizzy, and he needed a crown to reduce the burden when he was in the court.

Song Shenzong even directly told the ministers that he had a headache, and Zhenzong, Yingzong, Gaozong and others also had similar records.

In addition, Zhu Gaoxu also talked about the problem of recipes: "As far as medicine is concerned, grandpa and dad's recipes are very balanced, and the eldest brother's is not very good......

Zhu Gaochu said, everyone looked at Zhu Gaochi, even Zhu Gaochi felt that the meat in the bowl was not fragrant, and said weakly: "Why can't mine work?" ”

"Grandpa and Dad's recipes have coarse grains and more vegetables, but big brother, your ......" Zhu Gaochu glanced at Zhu Gaochi, no need to say it, everyone else knew what he wanted to say.

Zhu Gaochi's recipes are very fine in Beiping, and if you can eat meat, you will never eat vegetables, and the food is basically refined grain, which can be said to be the opposite of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di.

"In the future, the recipes of the palace still have to be changed, and we have to learn from Emperor Gao."

Zhang's family is still more concerned about Zhu Gaochi's body, and when she saw Zhu Gaochu say this, whether it was the scene or her heart, she echoed it.

"Gao Chi, listen to Gao Xu's words, eat more vegetarian dishes and drink less alcohol."

Empress Xu also showed a worried expression, and picked up chopsticks to pick up a plate of green vegetables for Zhu Gaochi.

Zhu Gaochi just wanted to thank him when he saw this, but he saw his father looking at him dissatisfied, obviously angry that his sister Xu's first chopsticks were actually serving him vegetables.

"This dad loves to eat." Zhu Gao anxiously sandwiched the dish from the bowl to Zhu Di's bowl, and then took a careful look at Zhu Di, and was relieved to find that he nodded in satisfaction.

"That place in Yunnan is higher than Jiangnan and Beiping, and you have to pay attention to your diet after you go, and don't eat things that are high in oil and salt."

Zhu Gaochi was still nervous, but Zhu Gaochu kept explaining to Zhang, and Zhang also wrote down all these words.

Zhu Gaochi heard his words loudly, but he was helpless, so he could only look at Zhang pitifully, hoping that she would remember less.

"A good recipe can make people live for years."

At the end of the topic, Zhu Gaoxu ended with this sentence, and Zhu Di also thought of the three brothers in front of him when he heard this, and couldn't help coughing:

"Wang Yan, in the future, my meals will be made according to my father's, but crucian carp cannot be missing."

"The slave takes the command." Wang Yan responded, and Zhu Di also began to pick up chopsticks to pick up dishes for Xu's, and at the same time said to Zhu Gaoxu: "Second child, if you have any health regimen, it will be a topic after tea and dinner." ”

"Yes......" Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and just wanted to speak, but saw that the vassal kings around him were all looking at this side, and seemed to have listened to what he had just said.

"In fact, the life expectancy of this person can probably be calculated, such as the age at which the elders die normally, and what diseases the elders are prone to suffer, etc., in fact, they may be presented in future generations."

"But this probability is not absolute, for example, marrying a wife and having children will affect it."

Zhu Gaoxu said, but Zhu Di didn't believe it: "What you say, why do I think the gods are chattering." ”

He grabbed his beard and said in a low voice, "Your uncle, second uncle, and third uncle are all ahead of your grandfather." ”

"They didn't die normally, either." Zhu Gaoxu couldn't cry or laugh, and Zhu Di reacted and nodded again and again.

The other feudal lords didn't think much about it, after all, everyone knew the causes of death of Zhu Biao, Zhu Zhang, and Zhu Li.

Zhu Biao died of a carbuncle on his back, Zhu Fan was poisoned, and Zhu Li died of depression, all three of which were not normal deaths.

Thinking about it like this, Zhu Di was a lot more relieved: "According to what you said, as long as I don't get sick, I can at least live to one age with Emperor Gao?" ”

"I guess so." Zhu Gaoxu replied with a weak heart, because he didn't know how long Zhu Di would live.

In history, Zhu Di lived for sixty-five, but with his own intervention, Zhu Di did not spend four years of energy in the Battle of Jingjing, and no one hindered him politically, so Zhu Gaoxu really can't say how much he can live.

Originally, it was sixty-five, but now I'm afraid it's sixty-five.

Zhu Gaoxu is not worried about how long Zhu Di can live, he is now worried that he will not survive Zhu Di.

"If that were to say, I would have lived to at least sixty." Zhu Gao opened his mouth happily.

"Okay, don't take this seriously, Gao Xu's this is just experience."

Empress Xu interrupted everyone's reverie and stretched out her chopsticks to clip a few pieces of crucian carp meat for Zhu Di, and everyone also discussed other topics when they saw this.

When the time came to noon, after the family banquet on New Year's Day, Zhu Gaoxu also returned to the East Palace with Guo Yan.

It's just that when he entered the East Palace, he heard Zhu Zhan's howling cry, Guo Yan heard the sound and hurriedly walked into the Chunhe Palace, and then saw Yizha and others who were hurriedly coaxing the children.

"Leave it to me to hug it."

Seeing Zhu Zhanyan crying, Guo Yan could only take Zhu Zhanyan from Yishaha's hand, and after coaxing him, his voice gradually became smaller.

Holding the child, Guo Yan apologized to Zhu Gaoxu, who came up: "This child is noisy, I will take him back to the former dormitory, Your Highness, you can handle government affairs here." ”

"Okay, call me if you need it." Zhu Gaoxu is not hypocritical, after all, his first identity is the crown prince, followed by Guo Yan's husband and Zhu Zhanyu's father.

If he neglects state affairs for the sake of his family, then he will not think about rebellion.

"The concubine retired."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu responded, Guo Yan hugged Zhu Zhanyu and left the Chunhe Hall with the female officials.

Seeing them leave, Zhu Gaoxu walked to his position, and Yishaha hurriedly followed.

"Your Royal Highness, Yang Zhan and Fu on Annan's side let them pass on the song, and now more than eighty percent of Annan's places are in the hands of the imperial court, and the remaining two percent are in the hands of the Hu family and Chen Jikuo and Jian Ding."

"There were civil unrest in Taiyuan, Haiyang and other places, but they were quickly suppressed, and the West Factory has not yet found out the intelligence, but in general, it should be something that Chen Jikuo and Jian Ding did."

After the report ended, Zhu Gaoxu also sat back in his place.

"Annan is not so delicious, I have prepared for this, have all the three thousand officials in Qinzhou arrived in Annan?"

Leaning back in the chair, Zhu Gaochu motioned for Yishaha to sit down and answer, and Yishaha sat three steps away and answered Zhu Gaoxu's question.

"They have all arrived in Annam, and have accepted the government and county government north of the Red River, and have begun to organize households, measure land, and spread the news of the equal distribution of fields."

"Judging from the situation on the ground, the people north of the Red River are probably not even half of what they were before the war."

War was undoubtedly the best way to wipe out the population, but Zhu Gaoxu did not expect that most of the 800,000 people north of the Red River would disappear.

"What are Mu Chun and Fu Rang doing?"

After learning about the situation north of the Red River, Zhu Gaoxu was not worried about the policy of migrating the population and dividing the land equally.

It is impossible for Chen Jikuo and Jian Ding to overthrow the local rights of the rich and powerful households in Annan, so the equal distribution of land is undoubtedly the best way to provoke contradictions between the people of Annan and this group of rich and powerful households.

Now the Ming army can still stay in Annan in the name of encircling and suppressing the Hu father and son, so Zhu Gaoxu doesn't want Mu Chun and Fu Rang to be stupid.

"After getting the will of the imperial court, they mainly fought to clear the Cheman in Changshan, suppress the local rebellion, and used the head of the Cheman to disguise himself as the Hu family's soldiers and horses, so that Chen Jikuo and Jian Ding had nothing to say."

"But Chen Jikuo and Jian Ding seem to be impatient." As he spoke, Zhu Gaoxu also asked, "Has the news of Chen Jikuo pretending to be the Chen clan been released?" ”

"Let it out." Yisha nodded: "It is precisely because of the rumors everywhere that Chen Jikuo and Jian Ding will not be able to bear it, and they will ask the Duke of Qianguo for the territory of the six roads in the south three times in the month. ”

"That's a good idea." Zhu Gaoxu chuckled, and finally understood why Jian Ding and Chen Jikuo would fail.

To put it bluntly, they don't know their advantages at all, if they go to Changshan to fight guerrillas like Li Li, then they will still have a headache, but now they occupy thirty counties in the middle and lower reaches of the relatively wealthy Red River Delta Plain, which is completely self-defeating.

"They're supposed to start recruiting, right?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, and Yizha also nodded:

"In the past month, 30,000 troops have been recruited, and 50,000 people have been recruited to defend the city, but they are short of money and food, and once they are unable to continue, they will inevitably attack our army."

"Then wait for them to make a move, first level them, and then kill the Hu family and his son."

Zhu Gaoxu gave his own answer, and then continued to ask Yisha: "What has Jian Yi been doing lately?" ”

He mentioned Jianyi, the "poor man" who was considered by the temple ministers to be sent to Sichuan.

"After I went to Sichuan, I didn't do anything, just visited everywhere and inspected the prefectures and governments under my rule."

"He also gave a note to the East Palace, which is on your case."

also lost his answer, Zhu Gaoxu also looked for it on the table, and soon saw Jian Yi's recital.

He opened it and looked at it, and the content was nothing more than the situation in Sichuan written by Jian Yi.

Among them, Jian Yi mentioned his hometown of Ba County.

He first affirmed that Sichuan is sparsely populated, but judging from the situation in his hometown of Ba County, the number of men must be much higher than when he left Sichuan 18 years ago.

According to his estimates, Ba County's population should have grown by more than 30 percent in the past 18 years.

If we put this proportion in the whole of Sichuan, that is to say, the whole of Sichuan has increased by at least 400,000 people, counting the people who have migrated into Sichuan since the Battle of Jingjing, I am afraid that there will now be no less than 2 million, and the "Yellow Book" of Sichuan only records more than 1,677,000 people.

As for cultivated land, as far as the situation in Ba County is concerned, it has increased by about 2 to 30 percent, and Sichuan's cultivated land should be more than 1.8 million mu on the "Fish Scale Atlas."

"That's pretty much what I estimated."

Closing the recital, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yishiha and asked, "Is this recital going straight to the East Palace, or has it gone through six parts?" ”

"Direct" also replied without thinking: "The political envoy of Jianbu sent his own cronies to personally send them to the capital from Sichuan, without going through any of the six ministries. ”

"I didn't choose the wrong person." Zhu Gaoxu bowed, and then analyzed the information given by Jian Yi.

If Sichuan's population really has 2 million, then at least 5,000 officials need to be transferred abroad to master the grassroots level, and if it is to be used as a pilot, I am afraid that more will be needed.

"What is the number of officials in Shandong now?"

Zhu Gaoxu raised his head and asked Yishiha, who got up and rummaged through the bookshelves behind him for a while, and then took out a Shandong booklet and opened it and replied: "It has increased to more than 8,200."

"However, at present, the official school teaching in Shandong is insufficient, but the school will start on the thirtieth day of the first month, you see ......"

Yizha mentioned the opening of the Shandong government school, and Zhu Gaoxu also asked: "What is the number of students?" ”

"Three hundred and sixty-seven thousand four hundred and twenty-seven, far more than we estimated." The amount given by Yisha gave Zhu Gaoxu a headache, and he couldn't help but hold his forehead and said, "How much is missing?" ”

"There is still a shortage of 23,000 students, and without this batch of teaching, at least 130,000 students will not be able to go to school." Yisha replied with a bitter face.

"There is no choice but to adjust the age and let those over the age of thirteen enter school first."

Zhu Gaoxu, who couldn't solve the problem of teaching resources, could only come up with this solution for the time being, and at the same time explained to Yisha:

"Let the Shandong political envoy tell the people of Shandong that there are too many students enrolled in the school, and only part of it can be satisfied temporarily."

"If they are not lined up this year, they will continue to be lined up next year, in short, the imperial court will definitely let their children go to school."

"Yes" Yishu nodded, stuffed the Chinese book back into the shelf, and said at the same time:

"It seems that only by waiting for the students in Liaodong to graduate at the end of next year, and then they can meet the needs of Shandong students in Yongle for five years."

"But Your Highness ......" Yishuha showed hesitation on his face, but in the end he still asked stubbornly: "Does the imperial court need so many scholars?" ”

"......" Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a moment, and then replied:

"At least for now, the imperial court needs ......"

(End of chapter)