"Crackling—"

In mid-July, with the crackling of firecrackers, two couples also walked up in the canopy hall.

Zhu Di was dressed in a red round-necked robe and a winged crown, and sat in the main seat very satisfied.

Beside him, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaochu were dressed the same, and there was tea next to them.

In the colorful Wuying Palace, the father and son all had smiles on their faces.

Compared with the three of them, Zhu Zhanyan, who had just rushed to Beijing from Nanjing, was stunned.

He looked at Zhu Zhanji, who was smiling brightly beside him, and then looked at himself, even at this time, he had not accepted that he was about to get married.

Compared with his confusion, the official of Honglu Temple who was in charge of the wedding of the emperor and grandson was very sloppy, and he saluted and invited His Majesty.

He also arranged for the guide, music, and furnishings as usual, arranged civil and military officials to wear court uniforms, and saluted Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanji, the two couples, four times.

When all this was over, the official of Honglu Temple stepped forward and knelt down to give a speech: "Ministers, I congratulate the emperor Sun Jiali and the blessing of the head of the Yimian Sect." The minister was so stunned that he should celebrate. ”

The voice fell, and he bowed to the two couples four more times with the hundred officials, and then finished the salute.

"Feast!"

Zhu Di sat in a high position and spoke, and the ministers also sat in the banquet on both sides of the main hall.

However, this did not end, so after the hundred officials sat down, the women of the court came to the front of the long road one after another and saluted Guo Yan, who was temporarily in charge of the harem.

"See the crown princess, Gong Wei Emperor Sun Jiali is completed, and the blessing of the head of the Yimian Sect."

"Give a banquet" Guo Yan chuckled lightly on his face, and the first generation of Queen Xu issued a decree to give a banquet.

When the wait-by woman entered the banquet, Guo Yan stepped forward and saluted Zhu Di: "The emperor's grandson Jia's dowry ceremony is complete, and it will benefit Mian Jingfu." ”

"Feast!"

Zhu Di continued to speak, and this time the banquet was Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Zhanyu, Zhu Yueying and other clans.

As they entered the banquet, Zhu Zhanji took the lead in carrying the Sun family forward as the eldest grandson, and then handed tea to Zhu Di and listened to Zhu Di's lecture, then handed tea to Zhu Gaochi, listened to Zhu Gaochi's lecture, and finally handed tea to Zhu Gaochu.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, please drink tea......"

Zhu Zhanji and Sun handed over the tea, and Zhu Gaoxu took the tea, not knowing what emotions to drink.

"You can't raise a god of war this time......

Looking at these little couple, Zhu Gaoxu was a little apprehensive.

When he finished drinking tea, he said a few words casually, and then let the couple get up and go to the banquet.

After Zhu Zhanji, it is naturally Zhu Zhanji and his concubine Mu.

Compared with Zhu Zhanji, who can choose by himself, Zhu Zhanji does not have so many possibilities.

His concubine had already been set by Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, that was the thirteen-year-old Mu family.

Mu is the daughter of Mu Chun, in the history of Mu Chun died of illness at the age of thirty-six, several of the heirs basically died young, so there were no descendants.

However, in this life, Mu Chun not only has an heir, but also two sons and a daughter.

Although Mu is only thirteen years old, he is slim, and although his skin is not as fair as that of a woman in the Central Plains, he is better than his facial features.

Li Wenzhong and Mu Chun, both of them are famous teenagers and representatives of handsome appearance, Mu Chun was also very handsome when he was young, and his daughter was naturally tall and beautiful.

"Grandpa, you drink tea......"

Zhu Zhanyan knelt in front of Zhu Di in a daze and handed over the tea, Zhu Di smiled very happily and said to Zhu Zhanyan:

"When Mu Ying was still called Zhu Wenying, I was teased by him a lot, and now if he knows that his granddaughter is married to my grandson, I don't know what his expression will be."

"Haha...... You have to respect each other like guests, this little woman of the Mu family is also my nephew, you have to treat her well, if she is uncomfortable, I will not spare you. ”

Zhu Di remembered his relationship with Mu Ying at this time, and at the same time did not forget to teach Zhu Zhan Yan a lesson, for fear that this guy would not be good for Mu's.

"Grandpa, don't worry, the grandson has a pure temperament, so he naturally won't ...... right"

Zhu Zhanyan scratched his head as he spoke: "Grandpa, what do you call this imperial grandson's concubine?" Also a princess? ”

"Uh......" Zhu Di paused and glared at him: "Ask your father yourself!" ”

"Oh......" Zhu Zhanyan got up embarrassedly, walked to Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan with Mu and knelt down, bowed five times and bowed three times.

"Daddy, you drink tea."

Zhu Zhanyan and Mu successively handed tea to Zhu Gaoxu and Guo Yan, Zhu Gaoxu took a sip, ignored Zhu Zhanyan, and looked at the heroic Mu face between his eyebrows.

"Marrying my naughty son is a grievance against you."

"Where is Your Highness...... Mu replied generously: "Being able to marry the emperor's grandson is the blessing of the concubine." ”

When Zhu Gaoxu heard this, although there was a smile on the corner of his mouth, he shook his head and said:

"This guy has to study in a military academy for three and a half years, then practice on the battlefield and enlist in the army for three years, and then have to be sent to a local government to be a clerk for three years, which is almost ten years."

"In the past ten years, if you are willing, you will go around with him, if you are unwilling, you will rest in the palace and wait for him to come back."

"Uh...... The concubine ...... "The Mu family obviously didn't expect that Zhu Zhanyan, as the emperor's grandson, would have to go through so many things.

In her opinion, it is already very good for an imperial grandson to study in middle school for five years, and now he still has to study in military school, join the army and decentralize the locality.

For a while, Mu didn't know how to evaluate his father-in-law, and he didn't know what to say.

She is also a woman who has been pampered since childhood, if she follows Zhu Zhanyan around, she really doesn't know if she can accept it.

"It doesn't matter, just go back and think about it slowly."

Guo Yan saw that Mu was asked, and hurriedly smiled and opened his mouth to play a round.

"Okay, let's go and hand your uncle tea."

"Yes......"

Under Guo Yan's reminder, Zhu Zhanyan took Mu Shi to hand tea to Zhu Gaochi, who had an old neck stretching out next to him.

Zhu Gaochi took it with a smile, and praised Zhu Zhanqi with a smile, and after the Mu family knew the knowledge, he let them enter the banquet.

Zhu Gaochi actually likes the Mu family, but their Han Mansion and the Qianguo Mansion need to check and balance each other, and it is impossible to marry, so in the face of the current result, he can only choose to accept it.

"Let's pass the meal!"

Zhu Di looked sideways at Wang Yan, Wang Yan nodded hurriedly, and then sang and passed the meal.

The father and son sat on the main seat with Guo Yan for dinner, and after a simple meal, Zhu Gaoxu took the lead in leaving the Huagai Palace.

The old man can eat in peace, but he can't.

As he expected, as soon as he returned to the Spring and Peace Palace, he saw a mountain of nearly 300 pieces of music.

"Now there are more and more recitals."

Looking at this pile of notes, Zhu Gaoxu sighed at Yizha beside him, and Yizha also smiled: "The territory has become larger, and naturally there are more things." ”

"The current situation of the Israeli dynasty, even the Han and Tang dynasties are not as good as the two."

"Well......" Hearing Yishaha's words, Zhu Gaoxu didn't refute it, after all, in his eyes, the current Ming Dynasty has become the so-called "sun never sets".

From the Americas in the east to Africa in the west, whether on land or sea, you can find the goods and flags of the Ming Dynasty.

The land under actual control and restraint is only less than that of the Mongol Empire, and even the largest territory of the Tang Dynasty is not as large as the current Ming Dynasty.

However, compared with the northwest territory, the Ming Dynasty is still slightly weaker, so the northwest railway must be through.

Zhu Gaoxu had to build the railway to Ili in his lifetime, so as to ensure that the Ming Dynasty could control Central Asia.

As long as the railway is built to Ili, then the existence of the Timurid state is not so important.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu began to immerse himself in the handling of the song, and Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanyu also got drunk and got off the table during the banquet for a few hours, and were helped back to the Han Palace, Shiwangfang, and the Longevity Hall in the Chunhe Hall to rest.

The two couples stayed warm for a few days, and then they were notified to accompany Zhu Di north to Yanshan to hunt.

However, before leaving, there was not good news from the north.

In mid-June, Mahamu and Taiping, Bald Polo and Alitai broke out in Kulan Suan, and each side led 30,000 cavalry in Kulan and fought fiercely for three days, Yan Ran commanded Wang Rong to lead 3,000 horsemen out of Hailaer City, rushed to Hulan Suan, and ordered both sides to stop.

Seeing this, Mahamu and Alitai had no choice but to stop and return to their division.

In this battle, although the troops were comparable, and the Tatar tribe had far more ordnance and equipment than the Warat department, the Tatar Alitai was completely suppressed and beaten by Mahamu, so Wang Rong's move was undoubtedly biased towards the Tatar department.

After Mahamu and others returned to Moxi, they were very dissatisfied with Wang Rong's move and sent envoys south to play the matter......

"I know about you, you are all ministers of the Ming Dynasty, I don't want to see you two fight."

Sitting in the Wuying Palace, Zhu Di sat on a chair and comforted the envoy sent south by Mahamu:

"In this way, the imperial court will allocate 500 catties of tea and 2,000 iron pots for you to take back, and you tell Mahamu that this is the imperial court helping the Tatar Ministry to pay compensation to you, and this matter will be settled."

"In addition, the imperial court has already built a city in Yijinai, and in a few years, you can go to Yijinai Mutual Market and temporarily endure two more years of grievances."

As soon as Zhu Di spoke, the messenger reluctantly knelt down and kowtowed: "Obey the holy decree of His Majesty the Emperor." ”

"Okay, you go and rest first, and I'll ask the officials of the Ministry of Rites to take you for a good walk in Beijing."

As soon as Zhu Di spoke, the messenger could only leave helplessly, and Zhu Gaoxu, who was sitting on the side and watching the whole scene, sighed:

"It's a pity that Alitai is not capable enough, otherwise in this war, Warat should lose a lot."

"It's okay, when the time comes, I'll personally lead the troops to conquer Warat." Zhu Di was very confident in the face of Mobei.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu could only sigh that Mahamu was lucky, if Zhu Di had not captured Arutai, then Mahamu should have been severely injured and killed by Tatars.

"Warat has suffered heavy losses, but its strength has recovered faster than that of the Tatars, and I am afraid that it has absorbed some of the tribes that have migrated east."

Zhu Di knows the situation in Mobei very well, and under normal circumstances, Wara's strength will definitely not recover so quickly.

Now it seems that there is no other explanation for this situation than that the riverine tribes moved eastward and were bargained for by Mahamu.

"Your Majesty, the head of the household department Guo Zi asks to see you."

The voice of the eunuch on duty interrupted the conversation between father and son, and Zhu Di also bowed his head when he saw this: "Xuan!" ”

As Zhu Di spoke, the figure of Guo Zi, the head of the household department, also appeared in the Wuying Palace.

He walked towards the father and son, and finally knelt down five times and bowed three times, and stood up with a salute.

"Your Majesty, the tax and grain books of the various political envoys and the capital have been handed in, this is a summary ......"

Guo Zi presented a book with both hands, and Wang Yan stepped forward to take it when he saw this, and handed it to Zhu Di.

Perhaps it is more comfortable in Beijing, and Zhu Di's spirit of governing in Beijing has also improved a lot.

He opened the book and couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

Zhu Gaoxu thought that the old man would directly hand the book to himself after reading it, but he didn't want him to say directly:

"You are in charge of this family, what do you think of the situation this year?"

Zhu Di didn't show Zhu Gaoxu, but asked him to guess, but Zhu Gaochu could roughly guess the situation this year, so he said:

"The land endowment should be about 60 million stones, the seed grain of the military tun should be less than 3 million stones, the commercial tax, miscellaneous items, and mining taxes should be about 12 million yuan, and the annual income of this year should be about 42 million yuan, including the trade profits of the official business."

"In terms of population, it should not exceed 90 million, about 89 million, and there should not be too many changes in cultivated land."

Zhu Gaoxu told his estimate, Zhu Di looked at it when he heard it, and said: "It's about the same as you estimated, but the expenses are also a lot." ”

He handed the book to Wang Yan, who handed it to Zhu Gaoxu to read.

Zhu Gaoxu reacted simply, and indeed found that all kinds of situations were similar to what he said, but at the same time, the expenditure was also very large.

The transportation of materials is undoubtedly the biggest expense of the two railways at the same time, and in comparison, leveling the foundation is not so troublesome.

There was enough manpower in the places where the Liangjing Railway passed, and it was not difficult to recruit workers.

As long as enough money is given, at most half a year, the road foundation of the Liangjing Railway can be excavated and leveled and built.

The real challenge is transporting and laying rails, as well as obtaining sleepers.

The sleepers were obtained from Liaodong and Ryukyu Prefecture, and were transported to Huai'an Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture for processing, and the rails were cast and transported by provinces.

In just over seven months, 800,000 yuan has been spent on the railway, and 1.5 million yuan a year is normal.

However, at this rate, the Liangjing Railway may not take seven years.

"To what extent has the railway progressed, and what are the reserves of rails and sleepers in various places?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Guo Zi, and Guo Zi also said when he heard this: "The minister is about to report this matter." ”

"The Liangjing Railway has been taken over by the Railway Soldiers and Horses Division, and there are 252 warehouses along the border, and 16,000 tons of rails of the four-foot-5-inch standard and 720 tons of sleepers have been reserved."

"According to estimates, about 90 tons of rails are laid every mile, and 178 miles can be laid at the moment."

"In view of the difficulty in transporting iron materials in many places, the minister wanted to ask if he could coordinate with the Ministry of Industry to take the lead in some areas to start construction first, and first ensure that the railroad tracks can be transported to warehouses in some areas to reduce the cost of transportation on the road."

"In this case, the cost can be reduced by about half."

Guo Zi asked Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu closed the above book when he heard this: "If it is indeed beneficial to the imperial court, then you can discuss it with Huang Fu, in short, the construction period cannot be delayed." ”

"The minister orders ......" Guo Zizuo responded, and at the same time presented a document with both hands.

"This is the Northeast Railway document submitted by the Ministry of Industry to the Ministry of Households, this is the first section from the east of Beijing to the west of the Liaohe River, and the minister has confirmed that it is correct, please read it Your Majesty."

"Leave it to the prince." Zhu Di is not interested in auditing, he likes to make money and spend money, but he does not like the process.

According to Zhu Di's instructions, Wang Yan handed the book to Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Gaoxu frowned after reading it, this is the first section of the Northeast Railway, the whole journey is 880 miles, and the cost is 3.26 million yuan.

"In the past six months, how much has the number of miners increased and how much has the output increased?"

The Ming Dynasty had the money and grain to build the railway, and the only thing missing was iron.

Zhu Gaoxu has invested a lot of money to start increasing steel production, and now that more than seven months have passed, he is curious to know how the situation is.

"With an increase of 36,400 people, it is estimated that this year it will increase by 12,000 tons."

"In addition, the industrial zone in Fangshan has begun to have machinery entering, that is, is the wage of workers too high?"

Guo Zi asked Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu asked him rhetorically: "It is not easy to find workers who have graduated from middle school, is the annual wage of 50 yuan per worker considered high?" ”

"It's not a ......" Guo Zi is embarrassed, and he is fifty years old, which is about to catch up with the eighth-grade officials.

Zhu Gaoxu's wages for government workers are very high, even for miners, regardless of region, and at the same time they are fed and sheltered, and the daily wage is 50 yuan.

In addition, if a mining accident unfortunately occurs, it is a bereavement pension, excellent treatment, and the recruitment conditions are not high, just be obedient.

He did this to let the private mines improve their salaries, and he didn't want the industrial start of the Ming Dynasty to be based on the blood and tears of the workers.

If he had done so, the miners' revolt in the Orthodox years would have erupted decades earlier.

"At present, how many craftsmen are subordinate to the government in the country, and is there a record on the part of the household department?"

"Yes!" Seeing Zhu Gaoxu's inquiry, Guo Zi said without hesitation: "There are more than 744,000 people in various workshops such as tea mines, textiles, porcelain, and ordnance. ”

During the Hongwu period, there were 250,000 artisan households, and now it has more than tripled, but the treatment is very different.

One is desperately fleeing out, the other is desperately squeezing in, and after only a few decades, the workers have become fragrant and sweet.

"More than 654,000 people are men?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked, but Guo Zi shook his head: "There are also more than 60,000 female workers in charge of weaving, mainly weaving mandarin duck jackets and serial armor. ”

"How's the new crop rollout?" Zhu Gaoxu set his sights on the promotion of sweet potatoes and corn, and Guo Zi also said respectfully:

"According to the instructions, sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes, peanuts and other crops have been promoted in the southwest and northeast regions."

"But in the south of the Yangtze River, people are not very interested in these crops, but they are more interested in many of the new crops, vegetable seeds."

"However, in the mountainous areas of the southwest and the northeast, these crops are spreading faster."

After Guo Zi explained, Zhu Gaoxu also explained:

"It's not surprising that Jiangnan and Huguang are not short of staple food, so they naturally don't care if they can eat enough."

"On the contrary, there are many mountains in the southwest and open land in the northeast, so it is easy to accept these crops."

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, the price of rice was very balanced across the country, but there were many records of cannibalism, which was not because of the poverty of the Ming Dynasty, but because of the climate, the agricultural economy of the Ming Dynasty was very fragile.

The number of disasters in the Ming Dynasty was very high, so many farmers were still eating big fish last year, and the next year they may be ruined by a disaster and leave their homes.

Among them, Zhu Gaoxu's deepest memory is the "Henan Miscellaneous Records" during the Chongzhen period.

When there was a famine in the northwest, Henan peasants could still go in and out of the countryside and give away dozens of yuan during the banquet.

As a result, only a year later, those peasants who had spent dozens of dollars died of hunger due to the great drought, and even Xiucai, who recorded this miscellaneous book, almost starved to death at home.

The local government has the intention to provide disaster relief, but there is no grain and rice in the granary, and the fragile agricultural environment makes people unbearable to look at it directly.

For Zhu Gaoxu, he is now very optimistic that the Ming Dynasty can cross the thirty-year mark of 1620~1650.

After all, in his memory, the past 30 years were a period of nationwide drought, which lasted for more than a decade, and there were tsunamis and floods during the period.

The land south of the Yangtze River is flooded by seawater, many lands have become saline-alkali land, the northwest land suffers from drought, and there is no rain for up to nine years......

Shaking his head and throwing out these future things, Zhu Gaoxu instructed Guo Zi:

"Before Chinese New Year's Eve, it is not necessary to make a summary of the output of steel, textiles, new crop promotion, coal, cement and other industries of the imperial court, but at least the household department should know the situation of these things."

"The minister leads the decree ......" Guo Zizuo responded, and then saw that Zhu Gaoxu had nothing to say, so he bowed down and withdrew from the Wuying Palace.

Seeing him leave, Zhu Di asked Zhu Gaoxu: "You have to hide this steam engine, don't let others find it." ”

"Don't worry." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and smiled: "The steam engine also has many difficulties, otherwise we wouldn't have spent sixteen years unable to apply it to the people. ”

This is really not Zhu Gaoxu's boasting, even if it is given to other countries' steam engines, they can't imitate them one by one.

In metallurgy, the Central Plains was not kept up by the West until the Kangxi period, and it was not overtaken until the Qianlong period.

Historically, the metallurgy of the Central Plains has been able to achieve such results, not to mention the Daming metallurgy that has undergone several improvements and has used modern blast furnace technology.

The current Daming is not that the blast furnace is not enough, but that the iron ore mining speed is too slow.

The reason why the mining speed of iron ore is so slow is because gunpowder has not yet made any phased progress, but this is not in a hurry.

Zhu Gaoxu only knew smokeless gunpowder, but he didn't know what the composition of smokeless gunpowder was, so the matter of gunpowder could only be studied by the Taixue Taishu himself.

At present, the mining speed cannot keep up, and Zhu Gaoxu can only increase the pit to increase production, which is also a helpless move.

"Okay, you pack up tomorrow, before the school starts, our fathers, sons, grandchildren and grandchildren will go to Yanshan to hunt and see if there are any new prey in this Yanshan for 16 years."

Zhu Di waved his hand to signal Zhu Gaochu to rejuvenate the palace, and Zhu Gaochu heard the words: "Are you going to go too?" ”

"Of course, no one is missing." Zhu Di's tone was resolute.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu could only respond with a hard head, and then walked out of the Wuying Palace, making people prepare for a few days of patrol hunting.

(End of chapter)