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Chapter 455: People are embarrassed

"Get ahead of the way! Let's get it! ”

At the beginning of February, when parts of the south had warmed up, the north was still cold, so pedestrians were dressed very thickly.

But it's not so much pedestrians as workers.

As Zhu Gaoxu and his team entered the territory of Shandong, the population on the streets gradually increased.

By the 16th year of Yongle, Shandong's population had regained stability at the level of more than 6 million after several migrations and more than ten years of stability.

At the same time, Shandong's cultivated land area has also increased a little, from more than 54 million mu in the past to more than 59 million mu today.

It is believed that in another two or three years, Shandong's cultivated land area will certainly exceed 60 million mu.

It's just that Shandong's per capita cultivated land seems to be a lot, but in fact it is not balanced, and the Confucian family and their in-laws still control more than 3 million mu of cultivated land.

"How many students have signed up for this class in your school?" Zhu Gaoxu looked sideways at Zhu Zhanyan again, and Zhu Zhanyan said without thinking: "Seventy-two." ”

For this kind of thing, as long as they don't go too far, Zhu Gaoxu can also choose to turn a blind eye, after all, the quality of the current officials is not good, and more than ninety percent of them have graduated from primary school.

Although they already know that science and technology are productive forces in the learning process, compared with science and technology, they are more concerned about whether they can eat enough and be warm, and whether they can become officials and take power.

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu shook his head, although he was not disappointed, he was indeed a little unhappy.

"More than 1,000 people have signed up for Taixue on 72 people, and it seems that they still want to be officials."

Zhu Gaoxu didn't force everyone to study Taixue, after all, he did this before, and as a result, when he had a clear direction and the basic materials were satisfied, he hadn't arranged the steam engine to enter the market for seventeen years.

When the time comes, Zhu Gaoxu will let them know what money can be taken and what cannot be taken can't.

"Tell Wang Fu that for some people who have no effect on the experiment, arrange a deserted position for them."

But before that, Zhu Gaoxu still has to see how the people of Shandong have been doing these years.

Zhu Gaoxu led the team to continue to travel north by land, inspecting different scenery and people's conditions.

The word power has been deeply ingrained in people's bones, and it is not so easy to change.

As those people passed, they thanked Zhu Gaoxu and his party.

Sitting on horseback, Zhu Gaoxu hadn't opened his mouth yet, and Yishaha next to him had already opened his mouth to explain.

"I will take the initiative to participate in the research and practice of the subject, which is better than many bachelors."

"Your Highness Mingjian, it really takes a year." He replied, and then continued: "As for the wages, it is basically fifteen yuan per person per day. ”

Zhu Gaoxu invested dozens of times more resources, but it took seventeen years to get it to appear on the railroad tracks.

After receiving the explanation, Zhu Gaoxu also bowed his head and said: "It will take about a year to prepare this material, what is the wage of the workers?" ”

"Yes......" Yisha agreed, and at this time the wagons carrying the supplies also went away.

On the official road, six- and eight-wheeled carriages full of goods rely on multiple horses to pull goods, and remind the team ahead from time to time.

Without this group of people, the officials alone would definitely not dare to be seriously corrupt, after all, they are rogue officials, and they do not have the hard background of a rich squire behind them, but they still can't avoid petty things.

But the direction of the steam engine has long been pointed out by him, and nearly a thousand people have dozens of times more resources than Newcomen, Watt, and Stephenson, and they haven't even made this thing out, which is enough to show that many people in the team of nearly 1,000 people are indiscriminate.

Zhu Gaoxu, as the party who was reminded, led people down the official road and came to the side of the road to wait.

Taixue is the most important place in the Ming Dynasty, and students who have graduated from high school, but those who join Taixue, will go to various research institutes to study and participate in research according to their interests and hobbies.

Judging from the current situation, even students who have received primary and secondary education do not like the profession of "craftsman" in the name of bachelor's degree.

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu breathed a sigh of relief:

"Dad, there are people here who grow sweet potatoes too!"

Zhu Gaochu asked Yifuha, and Yishiha knew what Zhu Gaochu meant, and immediately nodded:

What Taixue needs must be the kind of people who are interested in research and can devote themselves to research.

"This is supposed to be a worker who is carrying supplies to a railway warehouse."

All the way from Nanjing to the north, many of the buildings you see are basically built in the past ten years, whether it is a canal or a sluice, because the cement building is still relatively conspicuous.

You know, the Voyager locomotive didn't receive much funding at all, and there were only a few dozen people working on it.

Even if they were doing such a simple job, they could still get hundreds of annual salaries from the imperial court every day, which made Zhu Gaoxu suppress the idea of forcing everyone to enter Taixue.

Zhu Gao went in to study too much, and some people were only responsible for serving tea and water, and they were not interested in research at all.

If it goes too far, it is no different from the former group of officials, and there are more students who have graduated from middle school, so this group of guys should be explained.

Zhu Gaoxu has been waiting to clean up the Confucian family in Shandong all these years, and now that the implementation of the new policy is over, I believe that it will not be long before he can completely clean up the Confucian family and end their 2,000-year-old privileged life.

"Let the one in front, this carriage is loaded with a lot of things, and you can't avoid it!"

As for the life of the people, it can only be said that it is much better than in the Hongwu period, after all, during the Hongwu period, the officials need to collude with the rich squires to help the court collect taxes, and at the same time they will also distribute the taxes of the rich squires to the people, and at the same time they will be corrupt.

Because Zhu Gaoxu put Guo Yan and most of the children's entourage on the boat heading north through the canal, there were only more than 100 cavalrymen in regular clothes around him at this time.

"How did those classmates of the emperor and grandson do after they entered Taixue?"

"How many Taixue scholars have come to guide you?" Zhu Gaoxu inquired and lost his head: "More than 600 people." ”

If the study is of explosives, rifled guns, and other topics that require high requirements for basic materials and are difficult to figure out, and it costs so much money and food and so many years of friction, Zhu Gaoxu can understand.

The steam engine, which cost millions of dollars and nearly 1,000 scholars to work together, was not as good as the "Voyager" locomotive operated by the British in 1825 in terms of thermal efficiency.

On the way forward, Zhu Zhanqi suddenly spoke, Zhu Gaoxu reined in when he heard this, and then glanced at the direction pointed by Zhu Zhanqi.

Not far away, dozens of acres of sloping land were almost planted with sweet potatoes, Zhu Gaoxu turned over and dismounted when he saw this, and walked over with a horsewhip.

There were many people chatting and resting together in the field, and Zhu Gaoxu approached and asked, "Uncle, you got this sweet potato from the Yamen Guantian, right?" ”

"Well, what's wrong?"

Facing Zhu Gaoxu, the group of old farmers sitting on the ridge looked very cold, and Zhu Gaoxu smiled when he heard this:

"We are the investigators from Jiangnan, just want to ask how much yield these sweet potatoes grow per mu, eat them or sell them, don't worry, don't ......ask in vain."

Zhu Gaoxu said, and Yizha also followed, throwing nearly 100 copper coins with a small denomination and one penny at them.

The eyes of the old peasants lit up, and the one who answered the question snatched it and put it in his arms, and then his expression was eager, he patted his ass and got up and said: "It turned out to be the official, the grass people have eyes and don't know Mount Tai, please forgive ......"

The old farmer returned the salute, and Zhu Gaoxu also chuckled: "There is no sin, just answer my question." ”

"Okay...... the old farmer nodded with a smile and hurriedly put on his clothes.

In this era, working will also wear out clothes, so it is normal to work shirtless, even if it is still a little cold in Shandong in February, but they obviously have just finished their work and sat down to rest, and their bodies are still hot.

Zhu Gaoxu was not in a hurry, and saw him get dressed, and then saw him say:

"This sweet potato is a good thing, we didn't want it originally, but the officials of the yamen said that this thing is good for feeding pigs and eating, so we took some of it to cultivate last year."

"I didn't plant it well last year, but the yield per mu is more than four stones, and its vine can also be eaten, so I ate it myself first, and after feeling that the taste is good, I don't want to feed the pigs, and I make sweet potatoes according to the practices taught by the village officials on weekdays."

When the old farmer said the yield per mu of sweet potatoes, Zhu Gaoxu nodded slightly, and then asked him how to cultivate it, and taught him how to detoxify, and finally continued to ask: "Do you understand the tax collection now, will there still be the same set of kicking and drenching as before?" ”

"Now there is no more, and other villages have not heard of it, but when the grain is handed over, you have to get a few catties of grain for the officials, and it is not easy to say twice."

The old farmer confessed truthfully, and he was not afraid of offending people, after all, this is something that everyone knows about all over the country.

As for the ten miles away, it was too far, and he had never been that far in his life.

"There's work to do in the west, didn't you go?"

Zhu Gaoxu continued to ask, and the old farmer nodded when he heard this: "Go, I'll go after the farm is busy." ”

"Do you know how much the wage is?" Zhu Gaoxu asked, and the old farmer continued to nod: "Fifteen Wen, but in the past, the first day's wages generally have to be honored to the people in charge of the construction site." ”

"......" Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised at all, frowned slightly, but calmly continued to ask:

"This means that as long as you are filial to the master, you can continue to work on the construction site?"

"What's the matter...... the old farmer reacted a little big, shook his head and said: "Pay a day's salary, and give you a month to work there, the past construction sites are like this." ”

"Well, I understand, then uncle, you can continue to rest, we are also on our way."

After roughly understanding the following cats, Zhu Gaoxu said goodbye to this group of old farmers, leaving them still arguing over the dozens of texts.

Zhu Gaoxu took Yishiha and Zhu Zhanyan and they walked back to the official road, and Zhu Zhanyu saw that he was far away from the group of old farmers, so he was dissatisfied:

"Dad, this group of people are stealing down there, don't you care?"

After all, Zhu Zhanyan was only sixteen years old, and he was still a young man who couldn't tolerate sand in his eyes, and after learning about the situation here, he broke out immediately.

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him when he heard this, and then continued: "Do you dare to guarantee that if you change a few people, this kind of thing will not happen?" ”

"I don't dare, but I think it should be changed, if you don't punish it, this phenomenon will only increase!"

Zhu Zhanyan's tone was neither humble nor arrogant, and he insisted on his own ideas, which made Zhu Gaoxu a little stunned.

He was stunned for a moment, and then continued: "It's easy to change, but the people you can exchange, are you sure that you won't be corrupted by the environment, and you will become more corrupt than these people in the future?" ”

"The current group of people at least knows their bottom line, and they can still do things."

Zhu Gaoxu felt that as long as he could do things, it was not a big deal to be greedy and small, after all, no one knew better than him how difficult it was to rectify the rule of officials.

During the Hongwu period, the rule of officials was even more corrupt than it is now, and it took him 16 years to rectify it to its current level.

It's not impossible to go any further, but it's too difficult......

"Why can you be greedy if you can do things?"

Zhu Zhanyan asked Zhu Gaoxu rhetorically: "As long as you can do things, can corruption be tolerated?" ”

"You said step by step, step by step, five cities are cut today, and ten cities are cut tomorrow, then you should understand this truth better than me."

Zhu Zhanyan didn't understand, Zhu Gaoxu was silent for a moment when he heard this, and finally sighed:

"After you finish five years of military school and three years of decentralization, you will know why I will tolerate it."

"This time I went north, you followed Dongchang and took a boat back to Nanjing to prepare for school."

Shaking the reins, Zhu Gaoxu continued to move forward, and seeing this, Yisha also passed by Zhu Zhanyan and comforted: "Imperial grandson, you will understand His Highness's intentions in the future." ”

"Brother, let's go......" Zhu Zhanqi didn't expect his brother to be so bold and dare to confront his father.

"Let's go......"

Zhu Zhanyan still maintained his own spirit and did not think that he was wrong.

At his age, black is black, white is white, and evil can never prevail over good.

Shaking the reins of the horse, he kept up with Zhu Zhanyan's footsteps, and compared to him, Jianghuai has a lot of sophistication.

By the time Zhu had followed Zhu Gaoxu to Dongchang Mansion and returned to Nanjing, Jianghuai had already arrived in Xuzhou, Sichuan, by boat, and rode back home.

Because the Wumeng Mountain where the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan are handed over is not peaceful, he specially prepared long knives and riding bows and arrows.

As a first-class existence of the Nine Branches, Jianghuai can completely open the bow left and right in equestrianism, so he is not worried about encountering robbers.

In order to transport materials into Yunnan to change the land and return to the river, the people of Sichuan and Yunnan built an official road from Xuzhou to Kunming under the recruitment of the government.

This official road is not wide, but it is a long way, with high mountains and cliffs on one side and rushing rivers on one side.

On horseback riding, from time to time you can see gravel falling from the high mountain cliff wall on the road.

Jianghuai did not ignore these gravels, but after confirming the safety, he threw all the stones into the river.

When encountering hundreds of pounds of stones, he waited for the pedestrians behind him to clean up the stones after persuasion.

Because of this move, when he came to Wumeng Mansion, many people already knew that a young man in a scarlet robe in his early twenties, with a white and delicate face, and a tall figure, was riding a horse towards Wumeng Mansion.

On the way, I met a caravan, and some people talked with Jianghuai while hurrying on the road.

However, Jianghuai, who was in a hurry to go home, often chatted with each other for a while, and then rode his horse to Kunming Mansion.

There are 3,000 miles of waterway and 2,000 miles of land from Nanjing to Xijiang Town, which is far farther than going from Nanjing to Beijing.

However, because Jianghuai set off before Chinese New Year's Eve, when Zhu Zhanyan returned to the capital south, Jianghuai had already arrived in Kunming Province.

For Jianghuai, who grew up in western Yunnan, Yunnan is not hot this season, but it can't stand the scorching sun.

After studying in middle school for five years, he knew that Yunnan was located on the plateau and the ultraviolet rays were strong, so he prepared a hat early, wearing a hat and carrying a waist knife, bow and arrow, and after simply signing up for the township examination in Kunming Prefecture in August, he rushed to Xijiang Town.

It's a pity that Yunnan's land reform and return to the river is more intense than Jianghuai thought, and Jianghuai, who rushed to Xijiang after signing up, was blocked before he left the scope of Kunming Mansion.

"There is no traffic ahead!"

"Appeal ......"

Jianghuai's way home was stopped by the roadcard of the Ming army on the road, he dismounted from the reins, and said to the soldiers who set up the card:

"Sergeant, under the rule of Longchuan, Xijiang Town, a student Jianghuai, specially went home, please let the sergeant pass it conveniently."

After making a move, Jiang Huai took out half a piece of money from the leather bag next to the saddle and handed it over, and the hundred officials also took Jiang Huai's road guide and half money when they heard this.

After glancing at it, he turned around and waved his hand: "Let go!" ”

With his words, the rejected horse was moved, and Jiang Huai thanked him again, then turned over and continued to march towards Xijiang Town.

Zhu Zhanyan has a strong background and knows the world but not the world, but Jianghuai uses standards to restrain himself and abide by the rules of the world.

It is a pity that the wars in Yunnan are indeed very frequent, and Jianghuai, who walked out of Kunming and hurried for three days, heard the deafening sound of artillery before entering Taihe County, Dali Prefecture.

Such a change made his heart tighten, and he hurriedly climbed a low hill with the telescope that Zhu Zhanyan had given him before, and looked at Taihe County in the distance with a telescope.

As he expected, Taihe County was under siege by Tusi, and Tusi also consciously released Tang Qi to the south.

"Drive!"

Seeing Tang Qi running towards this side, Jianghuai could only give up the route from Taihe County to Yongchang Mansion and take the trail south to Menghua Mansion instead.

He made his way south, alerting many untold merchants on the way, and retreating south with them.

"The doll is still young, who has a spare place for him to sit in the car!"

"Don't squeeze! Don't squeeze! ”

"Mother......

The three-zhang wide official road became crowded in an instant, and everyone fled south in embarrassment.

Jiang Huai and more than a dozen caravan guards organized the people to evacuate to the south, but unfortunately they walked less than ten miles to the south before they saw billowing dust coming from the south.

"It's over, they said before that the Menghua Mansion in the south had rebelled, shouldn't it be to break through the Menghua Mansion and kill Dali!"

Among the more than 200 teams, the head of a caravan with a good identity turned pale, and Jiang Huai next to him frowned, looked at the situation ahead with a telescope, and then said firmly:

"Don't scare yourself, this billowing smoke and dust must be the traces of a large group of cavalry rushing away, there are few Tusi in Yunnan who have so many cavalry, and it is even more impossible for Menghua Mansion to be in the Hello!"

"You protect good people, stop the villagers who want to go to Dali, I'll go to the front and have a look!"

Before Jiang Huai's words fell, the man in charge grabbed the reins of the horse: "Don't trick us into running away by ourselves here." ”

"My name is Jianghuai, a student of Xijiang Town, if I run away, you send someone to break through and sue me!"

Jiang Huai understood the worries of the manager, after all, if he hadn't stopped them by himself, they would probably have left their goods and ran away on horseback.

"Okay, JAC, I remember you......"

The head of the charge released the reins with a pale face, and Jiang Huai rode his horse and galloped towards the official road to the south.

After galloping for miles, he saw more than a dozen cavalry running towards him in front of him.

They were wearing a lot of armor and looked like they were fleeing, which made Jiang Huai hurriedly rein in their horses.

"Suffered ......"

Jiang Huai Le Ma sighed secretly, and at the same time saw that the group of people also stopped their horses.

They were looking at Jianghuai, and Jianghuai was also looking at them.

Although the armor of the Ming army is not as good as the armor of the Ming army, it is not something that an unarmed person like Jianghuai can deal with.

Although he is good at riding and shooting, he is not a fierce general like Ping'an and Qu Neng, and he can't fight more than ten armor soldiers without armor.

Not to mention one to ten, even if it is one-on-one, he doesn't dare to say that he can kill a soldier.

Because of this, beads of sweat could not help but flow from his forehead.

At the same time, the Hello on the opposite side also saw that Jiang Huai was unarmed, and he rushed to kill in an instant.

At this moment, apart from scolding a few times in his heart and waving a horsewhip to escape for his life, Jianghuai seems to have nothing to do.

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the hundreds of people, Jiang Huai had no choice but to shout: "They are being chased by officers and soldiers, cooperate with me to stop them!" ”

As the words fell, Jiang Huai dropped his horsewhip, stretched his bow and arrows on horseback, and kept shooting arrows behind him.

In the face of his arrows, more than a dozen Hello did not evade it, but also opened their bows and arrows and shot towards Jianghuai.

The distance between the two sides was only fifty or sixty paces, and when he saw them raise their bows, Jiang Huai immediately lay on the horse's back, constantly urging the war horse to flee for his life.

Fortunately, his crotch was not an ordinary horse, and those who rode were not good at running Dian horses, so the arrow failed to hit Jianghuai.

But even so, it scared Jianghuai into sweating.

He almost confessed here just now......

"Beep-"

Suddenly, a piercing whistle sounded, and before Jianghuai could react, there was a sudden sound of dense fried beans behind him.

"Crackle!!"

"Wow!"

Turning his head hard, Jiang Huai immediately grabbed the reins.

In an instant, the more than ten people who were chasing after him all fell to the ground, some with people and horses, and some were lying motionless on the back of the horse.

Behind them, the cavalry rode up, but the cavalry that appeared this time was no longer a lo, but a cavalry of the Ming army wearing armor and holding a banner with the word "Xi".

"Woo......"

Exhaled, Jiang Huai felt prostration, quickly dismounted, and sat on the ground, not caring whether it was dirty or not.

"The officers and soldiers are coming!"

"Great!"

"Daming Wansheng!!"

Looking at the hundreds of Ming cavalry that appeared, hundreds of people and caravans cheered, and at this time, the cavalry team also came to Jianghuai.

Dozens of cavalry surrounded him, and out of it came a general dressed in mountain armor.

He took off his face armor and revealed a face that stunned Jiang Huai.

"You're that kid from Xijiang Town?"

"Shengyuan Jianghuai, see Longchuan Bo!"

When the two sides recognized each other, Wang Xuan had forgotten Jiang Huai's name, only remembering that he was a student of Xijiang Town, and Jiang Huai immediately got up and waved towards Wang Xuan on horseback.

Neither of them expected that they would meet again in such a situation.

(End of chapter)