"The old man is thinking about his railroad again......"

After the Lantern Festival, Zhu Gaoxu, who was in the former dormitory, had a toothache and looked at this handwritten letter from Beijing and written by Wang Yan, and couldn't help but think of the old man's honest and treacherous expression.

He withdrew his thoughts and his gaze fell on the table in front of him.

In addition to a table of delicacies, the rest are a few concubines headed by Guo Yan, as well as seven men, six women and thirteen children.

Among these children, Zhu Gaoxu gets along with Zhu Zhanqi and Zhu Zhanqi the most, so his eyes stay on the two of them more.

Zhu Zhanqi is ten years old, the age of the third grade of primary school, and is currently studying in Chaoyang Primary School, with several younger brothers.

Although everyone at the school knew their identities, Zhu Gaoxu arranged for them to study there and sent additional troops.

Most of the people who studied there were mainly the children of officials, and Zhu Zhanqi was not the focus of Zhu Gaoxu's training, so the children of officials did not have much of a burden.

In comparison, Zhu Zhanyan is more difficult, he needs to hide his identity well wherever he goes, and now he can hide in Jiangning Middle School for so long because Zhu Gaoxu has given strict orders.

"After graduating next year, I want to arrange for you to go to the National Defense University, what do you think?"

Zhu Gaoxu talked about Zhu Zhanyan at the dinner table, because he knew that Zhu Zhanyan was interested in the military school.

"Okay, I'm studying in Nanjing, and you go to Beijing, so what should I do alone?"

The more Zhu Zhanyan grew up, the more he admired his father, especially his calmness in the face of the throne, so coming home from school every week to meet Zhu Gaoxu was basically the happiest thing for him.

Now they are going to Beijing soon, so they will be the only ones left in Nanjing.

"You're fifteen years old, it's time to be independent."

Zhu Gaoxu said, and at the same time continued: "There is no one in Nanjing, I am always not at ease, you are good here, I will let Zheng He stay in Nanjing at that time, if there is anything, he will look for you." ”

"But you don't have to worry, your grandfather and father and I are in the same year, you can study with peace of mind."

Zhu Gaoxu has no problem with this, as far as his observation is concerned, Zhu Di definitely lives longer than in history, although he is tired, he has no hidden physical diseases, and there is no problem in staying up until Zhu Zhanyu graduates and studies.

Zhu Zhan was only 22 years old after graduating from the military academy in five years, and if he counted three years of local study, he would be 25 at most.

In history, Zhu Di lived to Yongle for twenty-two years, and there was no reason why he couldn't bear that time if he had his own burden.

Moreover, the current medical technology is much better than in history, and now the medicine of the Ming Dynasty has basically reached the level of the mid-nineteenth century, and all kinds of science and technology have basically reached the level of the late eighteenth century.

The difference is that in terms of per capita resources, they are still at the beginning of the fifteenth century, so many domestic contradictions have not erupted.

Not only that, the import of silver and copper coins from overseas has solved the problem of money shortage during the Yongle period, and various water conservancy facilities built in the past ten years have ensured that the people are difficult to encounter floods.

At least since the first year of Yongle, the local floods have become smaller and smaller, not to mention large-scale floods.

Although it cost nearly 10 million yuan to control the Yellow River, as far as this project is concerned, it will not be a problem to persist for 50 years under the condition of good maintenance.

These things are all Zhu Gaoxu's future legacy to Zhu Zhanyan.

"Brother Qi'er is young, and he will also study in middle school and military academy in the future, otherwise he will be in the local area, and I am afraid that he will be easily deceived by gangsters."

Zhu Gaochu continued, and Zhang Fengyi, who heard the words, looked at Zhu Gaochu cautiously: "Your Highness, the concubine wants to ask Brother Qi where they are ......."

As soon as Zhang Fengyi's words were spoken, everyone looked at Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement of the vassal king is very obvious, mainly biased towards the southwest, which is undoubtedly a very terrifying place for the concubines who have never set foot in the southwest.

"Hue in the south of Cochin, Cheli, Jingding, Mengyang, Jiangtou in Yunnan, or Ceylon, Luzon and other places overseas need to be guarded by vassal kings, and these places are all good places to go to the domain."

"Now that you have antimalarial powder, it's hard to get sick in those places, so you don't have to worry too much."

"If you're really worried, then the North Continent Propaganda Division and the East Continent Propaganda Division are also a good place to go."

"You don't have to feel far away, when the steam engine ship comes out in the future, it will only be a month to go from Beijing to Beizhou Xuanwei Division."

"You definitely don't have to worry about these places, the civil and military officials below will run the local area well."

What Zhu Gaoxu decides, others cannot change, and all his future sons must be canonized overseas and in the southwest, in order to consolidate the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Such remarks obviously hurt the hearts of Zhang Fengyi and others, and they each bowed their heads and wept.

"Mother, don't worry, I think those places are pretty good."

Zhu Zhanqi is still as sensible as ever, although he is only ten years old, he comforts:

"I've read it in books, those places are good, I'll come back to see you then."

Zhu Zhanqi thought that the steam engine ship could be studied quickly, so he coaxed Zhang Fengyi and them.

The atmosphere of the family banquet was a little depressing for a while, and Zhu Gaoxu also got up after eating and explained:

"You eat more, dad is going to deal with government affairs."

"Yes......"

The children nodded, and Zhu Gaoxu also left the former dormitory, and returned to the Chunhe Hall to deal with the music after a while.

It's a pity that he just came here and received not very good news.

"Gu Cheng, Marquis of Zhenyuan, died on the ninth day of the first month of the first month at the age ......of eighty-five."

When Zhu Gaoxu came to the gate of the Chunhe Palace, he received the news of Yishaha, which made him a little trance.

Gu Cheng is undoubtedly a pillar of the place for Daming, without him, Guizhou may not be able to sinicize so smoothly.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu took over the song and read it all, and when he saw the list of his heirs, he was relieved.

Because of himself, Gu Cheng did not participate in the Battle of Jingjing, so his heirs were not slaughtered by Zhu Yunwen.

"To Your Majesty, please ask Gu Tong, the eldest son of Gu Tong, to inherit the Marquis of Zhenyuan, posthumously present Gu Chengxia Guogong, and give him Wuyi."

"The rest of the Gu family's heirs are all given the four grades of martial arts......"

Zhu Gaoxu arranged for Gu Cheng's death, because he had already given the copper mountain to the Gu family earlier, so he didn't give much material help.

Gu Cheng's heirs did not have the ability to lead troops to fight, and in the early years, Gu Cheng wanted to stuff his heirs into the National Defense University, but the heirs couldn't bear the hardships and dropped out.

Sending them into battle is irresponsible to them and irresponsible to the sergeants.

Let's arrange it like this, if the children of the Gu family have military talents in the future, they can also study at the National Defense University with their casual status.

After explaining everything, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the Chunhe Hall and sat down.

It's a pity that the bad luck didn't leave from the Chunhe Palace, counting from Gu Cheng's death, but three months, bad news came from the southwest again.

He Fu, Marquis of Ningyuan, died at home at the age of seventy-four, and his son He Zhen was knighted and posthumously presented to Cai Guogong, nicknamed "Loyal Martyr".

In the same month, Qiu Fu, the Duke of Qi, died at the age of seventy-two, and his son Qiu Song became the lord and posthumously presented the king of Shucheng with the nickname "Zhongxiang".

The following month, Baoding Marquis Mengshan died at the age of seventy-one, and his eldest son Meng Ying attacked the Marquis of Baoding, posthumously presented Teng Guogong with "loyalty and bravery".

In just half a year, four veterans died during the Hongwu period, which seemed to announce the end of the old era.

Due to the death of He Fu and Gu Cheng, Zhu Gaoxu could only transfer Xu Sheng, Liu Zhen, Zhang Chun, Zhang Fu, Chen Mao, Meng Ying and others to the south and go to Yunnan to prepare the army to reform the land and return to the river.

It was not until the winter of the same year that more than 100,000 troops began to carry out a thorough reform of Yunnan.

Compared with the southwest, overseas is very lively.

"Last year, a total of 64,237,27 cents of gold were panned, and 190,000 catties of copper ingots were purchased overseas, which could mint nearly 40,000 yuan, but the people circulated more coins of the Celestial Empire, so it was ......."

In Seoul, in Changdeok Palace, listening to the words of the Hucao official, forty-nine-year-old Li Fangyuan nodded with satisfaction, and then clenched his fists.

"These gold can be exchanged for 640,000 copper coins, but how long can this alleviate the money shortage?"

Li Fangyuan slowly opened his eyes and asked Jin Huan, the minister of Hucao in front of him, and Jin Huan was the minister he sent to Daming to study for many years.

Jin Huan was sent to Shandong eight years ago and entered primary school for five years, but because he was unwilling to stay in Daming as an official, he could not continue his studies in middle school.

After his return, he immediately rectified many of Hucao's systems for Li Fangyuan, and actively sent gold panning teams to Kunlun to occupy an area.

Although he was a civilian official, the civilian officials regarded him as a military attache faction in the two classes, just because he supported the expedition to Kunlun.

In the past few years, the Chungwuwei of Kunlun Continent have earned at least 160,000 taels of gold for North Korea, that is, at least 1.6 million taels worth of wealth in three years.

You must know that the tax revenue under the Korean aristocratic system is corrupt, and the grain income is more than 2 million stone at most, and in the worst year, the annual income is about 400,000 stone according to the standard of 4 buckets per knot.

Due to the increase in the land of the temples of the two classes of nobles and monks, the arable land area of Korea increased significantly, but the income from food decreased.

Before Kim Hwan took charge of the Joseon family, the worst year in the DPRK, the national income was only 354 taels of gold, 233,600 taels of money, 339,129 stones of rice, and 15,501 stones of rice in the fields.

Such a treasury could only support 20,000 soldiers and horses at most, and this was the reason why the Ming Dynasty was reluctant to attack Korea.

As far as North Korea's finances are concerned, at most it can maintain the strength of the three guards, and the domestic food is also insufficient, and it also needs to be imported from the Ming Dynasty, which is equivalent to poverty alleviation in the Ming Dynasty, and at least hundreds of thousands of yuan and millions of stone grain are posted every year.

Fortunately, all this was finally alleviated, and after Jin Huan's group of more than 100 students who returned from the Ming Dynasty implemented reforms, many of Hucao's systems were improved.

Although Li Fangyuan did not have the courage of Zhu Di's father and son, and did not dare to completely overthrow the former system, but now North Korea, all kinds of taxes have reached 400,000 yuan every year, counting the overseas gold, at least out of the range of poverty.

However, as time went on, Li Fangyuan also saw the flow of gold and silver in North Korea.

In addition to a few thousand taels of gold in its own Changdeok Palace, the rest of the more than 100,000 taels of gold have flowed into the official trade with the Ming Dynasty.

This time, the gold can be exchanged for 640,000 guan, but it won't be long before it will flow to Daming again.

Li Fangyuan knew very well, but he couldn't do anything, because the current Ming Dynasty only needed one Liaodong Metropolitan Division, which was enough to destroy North Korea.

"With China's trade deficit with the Celestial Empire and China's per capita grain volume, we need to import at least one million stone of grain and millions of catties of oil from the Celestial Empire every year."

"These 640,000 yuan, even if they are distributed in the form of work-for-relief, can be used for about a year and a half at most, and the final result will still be that the people will buy grain and oil, and finally flow to the Celestial Empire."

"But please rest assured, as long as Kunlun Zhou's investment is large enough, the minister believes that this situation will soon get rid of it."

Jin Huan's eyes flickered, and Li Fangyuan calmed down when he heard this: "You can watch it." ”

"Yes!" Kim Hwan bowed his head and bowed, then exited Changdeokgung Palace and returned to his own house.

When he returned to the house, he didn't have time to take off his official uniform, but hurried to a courtyard in the backyard.

In the courtyard, a man was quietly making tea.

Seeing Jin Huan coming, he poured a cup of tea, stretched out his hand and motioned for Jin Huan to drink, and then continued: "What's the news?" ”

"The king is indeed dissatisfied with the Celestial Empire, but North Korea is poor in materials and lacks military strength, so even if he is dissatisfied, it is useless."

Jin Huan explained everything, and then spoke: "Hu Yanshi, I need more New Deal North Korean officials to fight against the two classes." ”

"Hmm......" Hu Ji responded when he heard this, and took a sip of the teacup before he spoke:

"You choose 500 people, and I will arrange for them to study in the primary school in Denglai Erzhou."

"But I want to remind you that North Korea must closely follow the footsteps of the imperial court, otherwise I dare not guarantee when the group of people in the Governor's Mansion of the Six Armies will make a move against North Korea."

"Yes! I understand......" Jin Huan lowered his head very low, and then saw that Hu Ji did not speak, so he got up and withdrew from the courtyard.

After he left, several Xichang wrestlers walked out of the main house behind Hu Ji, and they sat around Hu Ji, looking at the direction of Jin Huan's departure.

"This guy, in his heart, is mainly North Korea, followed by the imperial court, or there is no imperial court at all, it is nothing more than wanting to use the power of the imperial court to move down the two shifts, reform the system of North Korea, and then enrich and strengthen North Korea."

Liu Mian made a judgment, and Hu Ji also bowed his head and said: "Your Highness said that as long as he doesn't do anything that harms the interests of the imperial court, we can still cooperate." ”

"North Korea and Japan, as well as those countries in the South Seas, are the greatest help of the imperial court to the development of Kunlun Continent."

"It's better to put their strength in Kunlun Continent to consume than for them to fight around by themselves, and in the end, the court needs to mediate itself."

"It's a pity that Japan's Ashikaga Yoshitsugu is too timid, otherwise North Korea's development of Kunlun can go further."

The vassal state is undoubtedly the biggest thug of the Ming Dynasty in Kunlunzhou, the Ming Dynasty does not need to contribute population, no need to pay money and grain, only needs to contribute resources to cooperate, you can get a steady stream of gold and silver, and use commodities to penetrate countries, so that the handicraft and military industries of various countries are dependent on the Ming Dynasty to complete the deep binding.

The combined population of these vassal states is 20 to 30 million, and the terrain is very complex.

The current territory is enough for the Ming to spend time digesting, and if you continue to eat, you will only vomit out indigestion.

Supporting them to develop Kunlun Continent is indeed a good move, at least from the perspective of the Korean Kingdom, the Ming Dynasty only needs to give materials to exchange for gold, which is a good deal.

Now the Ming Dynasty is not short of grain, and it can even be said that the grain price is cheap, and the grain in the south of the Yangtze River has dropped to the level of 320 wen per stone, and the peasants' ten acres of land are only three or two, and they have to spend a year to buy a few good-looking ready-to-wear clothes.

Instead of leaving the grain alone, it is better to sell it to Japan and Korea at a high price, so that they can rely on the Ming Dynasty for food.

"Ambassador Hu will do the things on the Japanese side, and I believe that it will be difficult for Ashikaga Yoshitsugu to resist the temptation."

Hu Ji's voice fell, and his thoughts flew to Kyoto City, which was nearly a thousand miles away.

As he guessed, Hu Ji has indeed been busy easing the relationship between the shogunate and Kansai and Kanto over the years.

After several years of running, Kansai, which relied on the Ming trade to earn the price difference, was the first to be stabilized, followed by the unprofitable Kanto.

Fortunately, with the discovery of the gold mine in Kunlunzhou, Kanto was also faintly moved, and Hu Hu was now preparing for them to go to Kunlunzhou.

Kyoto Castle, once the prosperous capital of Japan, I don't know when it began, and the style gradually moved from imitation Tang to imitation Ming.

In the streets and alleys, the Van Gaomen compound is basically the architectural style of the south area of the Ming River, and this is the latest trend in Japan.

The Golden Pavilion, once Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's favorite residence, was demolished and rebuilt and replaced with a Ming Dynasty high-rise building.

Due to the use of cement donated by Hu Hui, this high-rise building is four floors high, and the space is huge, sitting on the highest floor, you can overlook most of the Sanjo Fangmen Mansion.

In the past, it was mostly populated by shogunate officials, but today it is dominated by the Kwantung princes.

Envoys sent by the Uesugi family, Takeda, Oishi and other families in the Kanto region now sit in it, and it is no longer a traditional kneeling sitting, but a Daming style sitting.

In the face of this group of guys, the five-foot-tall Ashikaga Yoshitsugu has natural pride, but when he looks at Hu Hu, who is more than half a head taller than him, he faintly reveals his inferiority.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe you have received the news from North Korea that North Korea is panning for gold in Kunlun Continent, otherwise you would not have come here."

Sitting on the chair next to Ashikaga Yoshitsugu, Hu Hu said to the more than ten Kanto guardians in front of him:

"As I said, I came to Japan to bring peace to Japan, and I know that the people of Kanto did not benefit from the mutual trade."

"For you, the gold mine in Kunlun is undoubtedly an opportunity, an opportunity that can be mutually beneficial."

"I summoned everyone here today to discuss the gold panning and the dispatch of troops."

"I know you can't trust the Lord of Ashikaga Kingdom, but trust me and believe in the Celestial Empire."

"This time, I applied to the imperial court for the amount of twenty five thousand horses, horses, and horses, which can be used for you to choose in a balanced manner, and then we will determine how many troops each country will send to avoid the balance being disturbed."

"In addition, Kansai has no need to worry, if there is a rebellion in Kansai, the Celestial Army of the Celestial Empire will send troops to suppress it, so as to maintain peace in Japan."

Hu Hu finished saying everything, and finally looked at the representative of the Uesugi family.

"We want five!"

As soon as the Uesugi family opened their mouths, they occupied five ships, which instantly embarrassed the guards of the Kanto countries.

They have nineteen people here, and Uesugi has won five, that is, eighteen people are vying for fifteen.

"We want two!"

"Three of us!"

"We ......"

In the middle of a few words, the envoys sent by the guardians of various countries competed against each other, and the twenty horse ships were snatched up in an instant, and the number they reported was added up, making a total of thirty-two.

"It's a bit difficult, the number of thirty-two, this ......"

Hu Hui's face was embarrassed, and Ashikaga Yoshitsugu immediately smiled when he saw this: "Please ask the ambassador to tell the imperial court that Japan really needs these thirty-two ships to maintain peace." ”

"This ......" Hu Hu's face was ugly and said: "Although the power of the horse boat is not as great as the Dafu ship and the treasure ship, but thirty-two horse ships are enough to destroy some small countries, even North Korea only has a quota of fifteen ships, your country wants thirty-two, that is really ......."

"Besides, your country still has five ships left by the previous lord, a total of thirty-seven, which is too much."

Hu Hu expressed his resistance, and Ashikaga Yoshitsugu immediately bowed his head and sobbed when he heard this: "Only in this way can we make Japan peaceful, and I hope the ambassador will understand Japan." ”

"Please be considerate of the ambassador!" The envoys sent by the guardians of various countries stood up and knelt down, prostrated and pleaded.

"I'll have to discuss it with the Ministry of Rites, but I'm afraid it will take a lot of money to get in touch......"

Seeing that Ashikaga Yoshiji and other countries are guarding this, Hu Hu can only remind everyone euphemistically, and everyone is willing to contribute money and efforts when they see this.

After a period of arguing, everyone presented more than 4,000 pieces to Hu Hui, although for a country, this is not much, but for an individual, it is definitely a lot.

"Then I'll work hard, I hope I won't disappoint you."

Hu Hu got up, and the guards of various countries also breathed a sigh of relief, got up and sat back in his place.

Seeing this, Hu Hu also said: "Each horse boat can basically carry 500 people, take a look at ......"

"No problem!" After all, it is the guardian of a country, and it is not a problem to send 500 samurai.

Similar to Uesugi and the shogunate, sending 2,500 samurai is nothing.

The more samurai you send, the more slaves you capture, and the more gold you can find.

For the guardians of the Kanto countries, who lack gold, silver and means, overseas gold mining is indeed a way out, and it can also open up territory, and no one will want to refuse.

After deciding everything, Hu Hu and everyone pushed the glass and changed the lamp during the banquet, and finally returned to his home in Kyoto drunk.

He vomited all over the ground, and his body was very embarrassed, but fortunately, after the maid changed his clothes and served and washed with his own hands, he was a little sober.

One of the thousand-household officials who guarded him watched the maidservant leave, and sat beside Hu Hu until he woke up.

"Ambassador, those guys in Kansai, don't we continue to incite?"

Qianhu Guan asked Hu Hui, Hu Hu took a sip of sobering tea, and after feeling a little comfortable, he got up, swayed to the desk, and began to study ink and pick up the pen after settling down.

While he was writing a note, he said to the thousand-household official:

"Although Kansai has silver mines, they are not fools, as long as Kanto's strength in Kunlun Continent is greatly increased, they will naturally follow them to Kunlun Continent."

"The key now is whether we can grasp this degree in the future, so as to prevent Japan from becoming strong in the future and endangering the coastal ...... of our Celestial Empire."

Hu Hu endured the discomfort and finished writing the song, and after writing down the affairs of Japan clearly, he handed the song to the Qianhu official.

"You let people send me to Nanjing, I can't do it, I have to lie down and rest, don't call me tomorrow."

"Good!"

After helping Hu Hu to get on the bed and lie down, Qianhu Guan left his bedroom with the song, and this song was also escorted by the sea ship to Nanjing in the Ming Dynasty......

(End of chapter)