"Put!"

"Boom, boom—"

On the seventeenth day of the third year of Yongle, when the salute of the east gate of Nanjing Jiangdong rang out, one by one the dragon boats sailed into the ship's position.

In the sound of salutes, thousands of officials in Beijing shouted long live, ushering in the Yongle Emperor, who had disappeared for nearly a year.

On the dragon boat, Zhu Di, who was wearing regular clothes, walked down the ladder of the boat, and waited for Queen Xu to get off the boat, and helped her to get on the big wheel first.

"Son-in-law, congratulations on Your Majesty's triumphant return!"

"Congratulations to Your Majesty on your triumphant return......"

When the crown prince Zhu Gaochu and the Han king Zhu Gaochi sang the salute, the ministers followed the salute.

Facing everyone, Zhu Di didn't have a happy expression, but raised his hand directly: "Let's all be flat." ”

"Tomorrow morning, the prince and the king of Han will go to the Wuying Palace to wait for me."

Zhu Di didn't show that he was very happy, but he couldn't tell if he was angry.

Seeing this, the ministers looked at each other, and could only give way, watching Zhu Di walk on the big wheel and return to the palace under the escort of the brocade guards.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaochi immediately pestled Zhu Gaochu with his elbow, and the chicken thief said, "Second brother, what's wrong with Dad?" ”

"Maybe it's because you're angry that you didn't let him go north." Zhu Gaoxu was also confused, but this did not prevent him from teasing the boss.

"How can you say that?"

Zhu Gaochi saw that Zhu Gaochu was not telling the truth, so he turned around and got on his elephant chariot, and Zhu Gaochu also got on his own golden chariot.

What had been a grand welcome became deserted, and the ministers returned to the inner city to take duty on errands.

An hour later, when Zhu Gaochu and Zhu Gaochi arrived at the Wuying Hall and sat and waited for Zhu Di, Zhu Di, who had sent Empress Xu back to the Qianqing Palace, walked into the Wuying Palace.

Seeing him coming, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaochu got up one after another to prepare to make a move, but they didn't want Zhu Di to stand directly in the hall, looking at the two of them with unkind eyes:

"I know about the burning of the Ouning Palace, did you say it yourself, or did I say it for you?"

Zhu Di didn't call himself me, which made him a little strange, but Zhu Gaoxu said directly: "This matter has nothing to do with my son, and it has nothing to do with my eldest brother." ”

"If you want to ask, you might as well ask Ji Gang."

"Yes, yes, yes......" Zhu Gaochi saw that the second child helped him exonerate, and nodded hurriedly.

"Okay" Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu, who was picking his head, and said directly:

"Second brother, do you feel uncomfortable sitting in the position of the crown prince, and want to change your position to be the emperor?"

"Dad, that's not what the second brother meant." Zhu Gaochi also excused Zhu Gaochu, Zhu Di showed a satisfied look when he saw this, but he still pretended to be fierce:

"It's only been how long I've been on the northern expedition, and there have been so many things in the capital."

"Second brother, tell me, how is your country imprisoned?"

"Just keep it in prison." Zhu Gaoxu watched the old man's performance, and spread his hands: "You want to march north, and there is another war in the southwest, and you see that you are going to start negotiating quotas at the end of the year, so there will definitely be trouble." ”

"Anyway, my son thinks it's not terrible to make trouble, as long as there are no problems with our own family."

"Yes, yes, yes......" Zhu Gaochi nodded frequently, Zhu Di became angry when he looked at him, pointed at his nose and scolded:

"Yes, yes, yes, what?"

"Look at your appearance, how much weight you have gained in a few months."

"How did I explain to you before my expedition to the north?"

"Do you think it's great to be the king of Han, or do you think that the second child is protecting you, and you and the second child can join forces to deal with your father?"

"Huh?" Zhu Gaochi was puzzled by Zhu Di's scolding and scolding, and only after reacting did he say helplessly:

"Dad, can you still not know me?"

"The second child is just speaking fairly, how dare we deal with you."

Zhu Gaochi replied honestly, Zhu Di was angry when he looked at his nest of strength, but when he thought that the boss had lost the position of the prince, it was not easy to catch him and scold him alone, so he simply set his eyes on Zhu Gaoxu:

"If the boss doesn't have the power, I won't talk about him, you have the right to have soldiers and food in your hands, and I will approve Yu Xin's resignation without going through."

"What? Going to make a big fuss? ”

"Daddy......" Zhu Gaoxu said helplessly: "If you stay in Yuxin again, it will depend on him being exhausted in two years." ”

"Besides, although Yu Xin is gone, Guo Zi is also a good talent, and the imperial court can still operate stably, you finally went to the north and cleaned up Wuliangha, why are you still so angry when you come back now."

Zhu Gaochu's words were full of complaints, and the flesh on Zhu Gaochi's face trembled when he heard it.

"Boss, you go to the Qianqing Palace to see your mother first."

Zhu Di supported his waist with both hands and motioned for Zhu Gaochi to go first.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaochi hurriedly made a move, turned around and walked all the way quickly, and walked out of the Wuying Palace, and his skills can be called vigorous.

As soon as he left, Zhu Di immediately stretched out his hands and pressed Zhu Gaoxu back to his position.

Zhu Gaoxu was still thinking about what medicine was sold in the old man's gourd in a daze, and saw Zhu Di sitting next to him, with a worried expression about the country and the people:

"I'll not talk about the affairs of the capital first."

"I have recovered Modong in the north this time, and I have also found a mountain road that can open up to the east of Mobei."

"I saw that mountain road, all the way is basically a river valley, and it only takes a few hundred people to slowly repair it for three or five years, and it can be directly repaired to the eastern part of Mobei."

"The reason why Uliangha is easy to deal with this time is mainly because of the contribution of artillery and muskets."

"It is true that the Tatars and the Warat are more difficult to fight, but they are not impossible to fight."

"I've thought about it, it's really not easy to supervise the country, it's normal for you to have some omissions in the south, I'm actually still very satisfied with you, that is, for your investment in Modong, you're still too petty."

"In this way, the imperial court will migrate 300,000 people from Liaodong to Modong next year, and open up the official road between Modong and Mobei as soon as possible."

"When the time comes, I will order 100,000 soldiers and horses, take the official road to Mobei, and take the opportunity to clean up the Tatars."

"Second child, Dad, I'm almost forty-four, and I don't know how many years I can live."

"These Tatars and Warats, I have to pack them up before leaving, so that you can sit still."

"You believe Dad, migrate 300,000 people to Modong, and three years later, Da will take 100,000 troops to clean up the Tatars."

"There is also a way to deal with Warat in the west, but it will take a little longer, five or six years at most."

"When Tatar and Warat are almost cleaned up, and Annan is stable, I will be almost fifty-two or three by then, and you can almost start to ascend the throne."

A stick and a jujube were played well by Zhu Di, and he scolded the two brothers for a long time at the beginning, and then suddenly took Zhu Gaochi away, leaving Zhu Gaochu to give him jujube to eat.

According to Zhu Di, Zhu Gaoxu will be able to ascend the throne in ten years.

Ten years after a cake was painted directly, Zhu Gaoxu was amazed by the skill.

"How did you manage to keep your eyes open and still blushing?"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di, and couldn't help complaining, Zhu Di was also stunned by his straightforward words, but he didn't admit it, but continued:

"I know you won't believe it, but after all, you are my son, and you are so similar to me, my position will be yours one day."

"The matter of immigrating to Modong Sanwei, Erchen has already talked to Yu Xin." Zhu Gaoxu said after Zhu Di's voice fell:

"Within five years, 200,000 people will be emigrated one after another, and only in this way can we control Modong and at the same time, let Modong not put too much pressure on the imperial court."

"200,000 is fine, but five years is too long." As soon as Zhu Di heard that Zhu Gaoxu had discussed everything, he was immediately unhappy.

"Three years, three years to move 200,000 people, it's okay to spend a little more."

He walked to the side and stroked his beard, then looked back at Zhu Gaoxu and complained; "You have weakened Uliangha too much, and it is not very interesting for me to go north to Uliangha this time."

Zhu Di said his true thoughts, but because Wu Liangha was too weak, he couldn't be interested at all.

If it weren't for the lack of food and grass, he would have been ready to clean up Arutai.

"My son has good and bad news for you."

Zhu Gaoxu looked at Zhu Di's appearance, and immediately patted the desk next to him.

It was only then that Zhu Di saw several thick books on the table.

After seeing the "Yellow Book" on the first booklet, Zhu Di's eyes lit up, and he immediately sat back in his chair and opened these books one by one.

"The quota of 35 million stone remains unchanged, and the number of households this year has reached more than 11.96 million, more than 70,000 and more than 240,000."

"Compared with last year, the seed grain of Juntun has declined, but the scale of the decline is not large, and there are still as many as 2,640,000 stones."

"On the side of the Western Fleet, Zheng He and they have recruited and replenished sailors, and they have already set off half a month ago, and it is estimated that they will arrive in Zhancheng in a few days."

"This year's income of the Japanese City Shipping Division is 1.86 million yuan, and the southwest government mine is 2.55 million yuan."

"This year, the world's tea and salt mines, as well as all kinds of silk and silk and other miscellaneous items, are folded to four million yuan."

"If we detain the retention and maintenance, there are 39 million stones and 6 million guan that can be transported to Nanjing."

"But ......"

Zhu Gaochu reported the account while deducting the account, Zhu Di heard the end, only to hear Zhu Gaochu say: "The balance is 400,000 stones, more than 176,000 yuan." ”

"I'll take a look!" Hearing Zhu Gaoxu say this, Zhu Di flipped through the book in disbelief, and the final result was really what he said.

This year's Ming Dynasty basically has no progress.

"How are you imprisoned in this country?" Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaochu in disbelief, after all, in his opinion, Zhu Gaochu was an expert in financial management.

However, in the face of his words, Zhu Gaoxu could only spread his hands: "There are too many places that need to be immigrated this year, and the cost is too great." ”

"The law and order war in Annam, the land reform and return to the river in the southwest, as well as the Mobei campaign of your old man, and the rebellion of the Tartar officials and Semu officials in Shaanxi and Beiping."

"Over the course of the year, there have been more than 300 battles in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies alone, and there are battles in almost all parts of the year."

"You can't blame me for this thing, the imperial court has eaten so many places, and it is normal to fight a lot, I don't believe you look at the "Fish Scale Atlas".

Zhu Gaoxu took out the "Fish Scale Atlas", and Zhu Di also took it and looked through it.

There were no surprises, and this year, the population and cultivated land of the Ming Dynasty exceeded 70 million and 500 million, as estimated by Zhu Gaoxu and Yu Xin.

The land reform and repatriation in the southwest has increased the cultivated land in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangxi provinces a lot, not to mention the number of people.

In addition, Annan's situation also made Zhu Di look straight at his beard.

"It's only been three years, and I have 70 million people in Daming, and more than 500 million acres of arable land?"

Zhu Di sighed, and at the same time a sense of pride rose in his heart.

Take this merit as an example, even if he goes down in the future, he will be able to please his father.

"Yu Xin and I estimate that there are about 10 million hidden households in the dynasty, or even more."

"As for the amount of cultivated land, there should be little change in the local area, mainly because the quality of cultivated land is difficult to judge."

Zhu Gaoxu did not have too many doubts about the amount of cultivated land, after all, 80 million people would have cultivated 400 million mu of cultivated land by manpower, and if other animal power was included, 500 million mu could barely be used.

The only thing he cares about is how many of the 500 million mu of land are high-grade, how much is average, and how much is inferior.

"The problem of land is indeed."

Speaking of land, Zhu Di's expression gradually became solemn, and he said about his experience and investigation results of this northern tour:

"Your new policy is doing well, I think it can be promoted in the future."

"I made a comparison with the people of Henan, Beiping, and Shandong, and the quota set by the imperial court for the people of the three provinces is not high, and it is basically no more than fifteen catties if you count miscellaneous items."

"It's just that when the group of corrupt officials below collects it, fifteen catties of tax grain can be stripped out of thirty or forty catties."

"If your new policy can be promoted, then the 500 million mu of cultivated land in the Ming Dynasty can at least hand over 60 or 70 million stone fields."

Speaking of this, Zhu Di patted Zhu Gaoxu's shoulder: "Second child, you really look like me." ”

"Are you complimenting me or yourself?" Zhu Gaoxu looked puzzled, but still replied to Zhu Di's words:

"I also want to promote the new policy, but there are not enough village officials at the bottom now, so even if the new policy is implemented, it will not change the current situation."

"The number of students graduating this year can only maintain the second batch of teaching and learning in Shandong government schools and ensure the reading of the second batch of enrolled students."

"What about the students in Liaodong?" Zhu Di asked about the key, that is, compared with Bohai overseas, there are more Liaodong students.

"As far as I know, there are more than 100,000 students in the first batch of students in Liaodong, right?"

Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaochu shook his head when he heard this: "There are more than 100,000 people, but only more than 60,000 of them are over 16 years old." ”

"They will graduate at the end of next year, but at the same time, the number of students enrolled in Shandong will reach 240,000 in February of the fifth year of Yongle."

"Of these 60,000 students, 30,000 need to be left to teach in Shandong, and the remaining 30,000 will be sent to Sichuan."

"Sichuan?" Zhu Di was stunned for a moment, and Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "Yes, Sichuan." ”

Taking this opportunity, Zhu Gaoxu sent Jian Yi to Sichuan, preparing to tell the story of Sichuan as a pilot of the New Deal in the south.

"Jianyi remembers that person, it's very good, and he is also very honest as an official, which is very rare."

Zhu Di remembers Jianyi clearly, mainly because Jianyi was famous for his honesty in the Hongwu Dynasty.

It's just that the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is not so easy, except for people like Hai Rui, the rest of the people will be tainted even if they are clean officials, even if they are like Jian Yi, sometimes they still have to compromise with some officials who have formed gangs.

This time, Jian Yi agreed to be a new policy official, which means that he wants to break off his relationship with those who used to be.

Judging from his approach alone, it is very admirable.

"There are only more than 2 million people in Sichuan, and you want to send 30,000 officials?"

Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaochu suspiciously, but Zhu Gaochu said: "This is to let Sichuan return to the prosperity of the Two Song Dynasty as soon as possible." ”

"In addition to serving as local officials, these 30,000 people also need to visit the mountains and rivers, record the abandoned water conservancy situation in various places, and lead the people to reorganize and repair these abandoned water conservancy."

"If Sichuan can return to the situation of the Song and Song dynasties, it will be able to pay at least 3 million stone taxes and grains every year, which can support Yunnan's continued development to the southwest."

The current Sichuan is equivalent to excluding Sichuan in western Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou, and Yunnan and northeast Yunnan.

According to the experience of later generations, 178 million mu of cultivated land can be reclaimed in such a large area, and 80 million mu of paddy fields alone can be cultivated.

However, at present, it is only more than 13 million mu, and the annual tax grain is fixed at 2 million stone by Zhu Gaoxu.

"You can do this thing, in short, if you want to send this student, it is best to clean up for the north first."

Zhu Di personally still likes to stay in the north, so after learning about the exploitation methods of low-level officials and officials, what Zhu Di wants to do now is to take out all the things they eat from their mouths.

Even if it is divided into three or seven points with the people, the situation in the north will be much better, let alone in half.

"The north must change, and my idea is that the north and the south will set up pilot projects respectively, and then reform the grassroots officials in the north and south from east to west and from west to east respectively."

"But this is too much work, and even Erchen is not sure if he can complete it in his lifetime."

Zhu Gaoxu sounds a bit modest when he says this, after all, there are 900,000 students in Liaodong and Shandong provinces alone, which is enough to replace tens of thousands of officials and millions of village officials such as lieutenants and grain chiefs.

However, people will become, and if you want to maintain an efficient and honest team, you have to raid the team from time to time.

From this point of view, 900,000 people cannot support it for a long time, and not everyone among these 900,000 people is suitable for teaching.

At first, Zhu Gaoxu had no choice, so he treated all literate students as teaching.

However, the problem lies in the fact that they themselves are "quick lessons" that Zhu Gaoxu has fostered and cultivated, and many of them have not consolidated their own knowledge enough, and if they continue to maintain this method, there will definitely be things that go wrong.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Gaoxu will open Taixue and impart new knowledge in Taixue.

What he hopes now is for Taixue students to grow up, and then lead the education system of Daming back to the right path as the highest institution of continuous improvement in the Ming Dynasty.

"After there are more students, the expenses of the imperial court will gradually increase, and now it is necessary to spend nearly one million yuan every year to maintain the education of students in Shandong and Liaodong."

"Therefore, Erchen thinks that the teaching and learning should be more refined, so that the students who have graduated from Taixue can build middle schools in the local area, and adopt five years of education to further cultivate students."

Zhu Gaoxu said his thoughts, but Zhu Di frowned after hearing it: "According to what you said, it will be ten years since I finished this official school and middle school. ”

"In ten years, how many families can support students who have not worked for ten years?"

Zhu Di doesn't understand the education system, but he knows the situation of the people.

It is very difficult for a family to train a student who has not worked for ten years, although the official school of Daming does not need tuition, and the middle school in Zhu Gaoxu's mouth is most likely not needed, but the problem is not the tuition fee, but the cost of paper, pen, ink, ink, etc.

According to the current price, a student in the last year of study has to invest three to five hundred yuan in paper, pen, ink, and ink.

This money does not seem like much, but it is the harvest of one or two acres of land.

There are so many people in the world, how many of them can take out one or two acres of land to feed a student while having enough to eat.

"Erchen knows, so Erchen will find jobs for this group of graduates."

"Whether it is the lieutenant chief, the grain chief, or the officials, according to the salary given by the new policy, their salary is not low, enough to feed the family."

"Erchen knows that the people can't afford to raise it, but if the people can raise one, then the whole family will not have to worry about eating and drinking."

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di looked at each other, but Zhu Di hesitated: "Driven by profit, it is easy to be victimized by it." ”

Zhu Di said it quite euphemistically, if it is ugly, these students are easy to become disposable consumables, because the poverty caused by the perennial exhaustion of family wealth to maintain their studies is easy to make them greedy and shameless after becoming grassroots officials.

"There are always people who can keep their hearts, and there are always people who will follow suit."

In the face of Zhu Di's worries, Zhu Gaoxu's words made people like Zhu Di couldn't help but have a dry mouth.

Co-authored in Zhu Gaoxu's heart, these students who have spent ten years of hard work to cultivate only have a few years of "life", once they can't control themselves, then they will also be abandoned by Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu didn't need literati who could recite poetry, he wanted a large number of grassroots officials who could be produced and replaced by flowing water.

As long as the clean and honest team is maintained and the financial situation of the imperial court is maintained, then the imperial court will have enough money and food to improve the lives of the people, and it will be possible for the people to live better and better.

This is a bit far-fetched, after all, productivity is here.

But Zhu Gaoxu also has his own self-confidence, that is, he believes that the Ming Dynasty will cultivate scientific talents under this kind of education system and scientific attention, and then produce scientific and technological products such as steam engines and internal combustion engines, and change the existing productive forces.

Zhu Di couldn't understand it, so in his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's move was very dangerous.

"I have to think about this matter again, you go back to the East Palace first."

"The retainers retired."

Seeing that Zhu Di was a little hesitant, Zhu Gaoxu did not chase after the explanation, but got up after finishing speaking, and slowly walked out of the Wuying Palace.

Looking at his back, Zhu Di also began to face up to this son who has changed since he went south to Nanjing to study.

Sometimes Zhu Di is very suspicious that his second child is a different person, if the change in personality can be explained by the prodigal son, then the brain learning, and the kind of detached from this era, even Zhu Di seems to be a little dangerous The idea is inexplicable.

Looking at Zhu Gaoxu's disappearing back, Zhu Di's face was solemn, and he couldn't help muttering something.

It's just that because the voice is so small, these words can be heard by no one but himself.

(End of chapter)