"Drive! Drive! ”

At the end of July, even in early autumn, there is still a slight chill in the Beijing area.

Since Zhu Zhan was going south in a few days, the place of this hunt was not very far, but in the hills south of Gubeikou.

This land was built as a reservoir in later generations, and in this era, it was an area where hills and water coexisted.

Nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses surrounded the radius of more than ten miles, and Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaochi, Zhu Gaosui, father and son, and grandchildren each led 1,000 cavalry, commanded the army to drive away the prey, and finally shot them to death.

Because of this, the emperors of the past rarely boasted of their strength in the hunt, after all, it was not a real safari, except for a certain rabbit killer.

"Bang!!"

"Erchen is ashamed......" Zhu Gaochi said breathlessly, and Zhu Gaosui was slightly panting, but not as terrifying as Zhu Gaochi, like a bellows.

Zhu Gaoxu wanted to lower the price of coal, but Xia Yuanji and others frowned and said:

"In the coal mining of the National Dynasty, each worker mined coal mines worth up to 200 wen per day, and the wage was nearly 130 wen."

Sitting in the Chunhe Palace, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the trade volume of Dongzhou indicated on the city's shipping company, and couldn't help but be a little speechless.

"With such a big profit, the minister suggested that Dongzhou City be set up as Dongzhou Mansion and send the prefect and the Soldiers and Horses Division to it."

Zhu Gaoxu shook the reins of the horse, rode the horse to keep up with Zhu Di's footsteps, and left the deflated Zhu Zhanyan behind.

"The production of iron, cement, coal and soil and fertilizer has increased, but I am not so satisfied with the growth rate of coal."

"These trees grow well, if such trees grow from Yanshan to Taihang Mountain, and even Yinshan in Hetao, then the land of Hebei will not suffer from sandstorms."

"What we want to do is to make the people of the world rich, so promoting industry is the road we must take."

"Take coal as an example, in the past year, although the output of coal in the imperial court has increased, not many may have entered the people's homes, and after a large amount of coal is produced, it is hoarded in the coal yard and cannot be digested."

"Let's go, let's go inside for three generations and see if we can hunt bears and tigers."

The extremely high mortality rate made the household department suspend the idea of migrating people from Beizhou, and the criminal department was willing to send people to Beizhou.

"If the coal drops to 30 wen per 100 catties, then the coal mines in various places will not be able to make ends meet, and the imperial court will need to allocate money and grain to maintain."

If there is no intention of annexation, then these countries can be relied on to prevent the emergence of some powerful countries in South Asia in the future.

"No matter how the imperial court calculates this deal, once the low-priced coal appears, with the train, it can greatly solve the firewood problem of the urban population of Daming."

Xia Yuanji questioned with a skeptical attitude, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled:

"I can't bear the wolf, a pump is only a few hundred times, but it can be used for many years."

"Not necessarily." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and said: "Cutting down trees, in the final analysis, is caused by poverty, the reason why the trees in Hebei have grown so well in recent years, in addition to the ban, is mainly due to the support of the imperial court, and after the felling of trees is punished, it is difficult to find a job." ”

"Take a pit as an example, 20 miners, at least 10 people need to pump water, and only 10 people can work."

As for Zhu Zhanchi, he was too young, only seven years old, and he also returned to the camp shortly after Zhu Gaochi left today.

"Appeal ......"

"You know the situation in the whole Jiangnan, at least thirty percent of the people lack firewood, that is, nearly fifteen million."

"I think we must wait for the Northwest Railway to connect the coal mines around the country and increase production little by little."

The difference between one acre of land is not big, but the difference between seven acres of land is very large.

"It's right to be steady and steady, but once the Liangjing Railway is completed, what Jiangnan urgently needs is coal."

Zhu Gaoxu's words are not a joke, after more than 100 years of normal development of the countries of the South Seas in history, they are still beaten by thousands of colonial teams of European countries equipped with arquebuses.

Seeing this, Zhu Zhanji gestured to the people beside him, and the guards of the Han Palace's mansion immediately turned their horses and sent nearly 100 people to escort Zhu Gaochi back to the camp.

Because of this, he also wanted Zhu Gaochi to accompany Zhu Di more, maybe this would be the last meeting between father and son.

In the past two years, the imperial court has exiled nearly 30,000 people to Beizhou, but less than 20,000 have arrived and survived.

In August, Zhu Zhanchi took the Mu family south to return to Nanjing, and Zhu Gaochi and the others continued to live in Beijing, because Zhu Gaochi saw that Zhu Di was a little reluctant to them, and Zhu Gaochi's body seemed to be getting worse and worse because no one suppressed him.

At least in the last sixteen years, the number of workers in the north has increased dramatically from 120,000 during the Hongwu period to 440,000 today, nearly 100,000 more than in the south.

"Since my father is so capable of fighting, why don't you bring troops to fight by yourself, I see that there are many kings in ancient times, and so is my grandfather, why can't my father."

In this era when the temperature has plummeted and grain production has decreased, the people of the north cannot be richer than the people of the south by relying on the small-scale peasant economy alone, and the gap between the two sides will continue to widen.

Even if the prefect rebelled with the people of the south in the future, as long as the Ming Dynasty could get enough profits, it would be absolutely impossible to give up the cornucopia of the south.

"You two can't ride and shoot, you have taken advantage of this horse pistol."

Most of the wild boars that were shot by his hands were adults, covered with resin and soil, and normally speaking, arrows with slightly weaker strength would definitely not be able to shoot through, but the bow and arrow in Zhu Gaoxu's hand could pierce the body of the wild boar with one arrow, and it was also castrated, and it was submerged in the soil until the arrow feathers, which showed its power.

"I'm just curious to ask......" Zhu Zhanyan rubbed his nose a little embarrassed, and then smiled:

The bear's paws of the black bear, as well as wild game such as yellow sheep, pheasants, and water birds, as well as many wild vegetables, are served.

Zhu Gaoxu rode a red horse slowly in the middle of the mountain and forest roads, and explained to Yizha beside him.

"As you say, send officials there, but do you have a candidate now?"

This group of civil officials, who used to be the most disdainful of them on weekdays, have now become the most despised warriors on weekdays, and have captured a large number of natives.

At present, there are many coal miners, but half of them are responsible for pumping water, and productivity is seriously delayed.

"That'...... That...... The son retired......"

If these miners can be released to mine and hand over the task of pumping water to the pumpers, then the coal mines around the country will reduce the waste of manpower.

"There is a shortage of materials in the northwest and a shortage of money in the southeast, only the northeast and southwest and the hinterland of the Central Plains are relatively even."

The better the governance of the southern kingdom and the more gold and silver are mined, the more the Ming will not give up here.

"Your Highness said that for generals, those who dare to fight can fight without saying a word, and they fight back and forth, and those who die are the sons of the people, unless necessary."

Xia Yuanji put the reason for the high price of coal in front of Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaochu opened his mouth when he heard this: "It is precisely because of this that we must improve the quality of mining." ”

Holding the reins, Zhu Di, dressed in armor, swirled in front of the fallen prey, holding a horse pistol in his hand.

Looking at the arrows he shot, Zhu Gaoxu said to Li Shi and Richard on the left and right, and Zhu Di took Wang Yan's loaded pistol and said:

"With this pistol, what more do you need with that bow and arrow."

Perhaps, they are nostalgic for the King of Bohai County.

"Besides, there are so many mines in the imperial court, how many pumping machines are needed to meet them, this is another expense......"

It's just that this is not enough to make Zhu Gaoxu happy, not to mention how many people there are in the entire north now, just the people along the border and next door to the desert, the number is not less than a million, and there are not many of them who can get jobs.

"Not to mention the whole territory of the south of the Yangtze River, Nanjing City alone, taking the data recorded by Shangyuan and Jiangning last year, the firewood transported into the city was as high as 800,000 tons throughout the year, while Nanjing only had more than 500,000 people last year."

On horseback, almost everyone looked at Zhu Gaoxu from time to time.

"I'm a little surprised by the amount of gold and silver ore trade in the Dongzhou Xuanwei Division."

In Zhu Zhanyan's opinion, Daming is already on the right track, and if his father wants to, then he can raise troops to find an opponent to clean up.

Now it seems that he is still the same person he was back then, just now, he held a bow and shot more than ten steps behind Zhu Di, killing several wild boars in a few breaths, and the shooting skills were appalling.

Zhu Gaoxu was very happy about their idea, but as for sending the prefect to the local area, Zhu Gaochu was worried that the so-called prefect would cause trouble for Daming in the future.

Leaving a comment, Zhu Gaoxu shook the reins of the horse and kept up with the footsteps of Zhu Di and the others who disappeared.

"In this case, if you continue to mine coal, you will undoubtedly be depleting the national treasury."

440,000 northern workers, with millions behind them, make them rich, and make them rich, which is equivalent to making those behind them rich.

"Dad, it's the first time I've seen you wear armor."

"Although the pumping machine has been experimented, a large number of applications have not yet been supported by data."

In addition, the North Continent Propaganda Division has begun to take shape, and its city is dominated by North Continent City (San Francisco).

"Junki, you can't be like Daddy." Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Gaochi helplessly, and then explained that Zhu Zhanji, who had performed well just now.

Zhu Zhanji said when he heard this: "My father likes to read, he doesn't like to ride and shoot, please don't blame grandpa." ”

Zhu Gaoxu's bravery is known to the world, but after all, he has been trapped in the deep palace for sixteen years, and it is difficult to say whether his skills have fallen.

"If you want to blame it, it's already over." Zhu Di was a little angry, but he still suppressed his temper and glanced at Zhu Gaochi distressedly.

"Even if the Liangjing Railway is opened, the people will only choose river firewood, not coal."

Wang Yance immediately came forward, took the pistol from him, and loaded him with ammunition.

At present, the 10,000 Ming troops equipped with flintlock muskets can indeed destroy any part of Mobei, and even go south to destroy Siam, Gan Pozhi, Champa and other countries.

Behind him, Zhu Gaochu and Zhu Gaochi also rode horses, except for Zhu Gaochi, the rest of them wore armor.

If the north wants to make money from agriculture, it can only build large farms, but Daming does not have so many large farms for the people in the north, so they only have the only way to work.

Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi would not let go of the gold, silver and copper mines that would be able to earn 7 million guan a year in five years, and he also felt that Wang Ren's methods of governing the southern kingdom were too rough, so he needed to send the prefect to govern the southern kingdom.

Zhu Gaoxu asked the two, and Xia Yuanji said when he heard this: "The ministers are ready to choose from the imperial examination in the next year. ”

Zhu Gaoxu sighed a few times, and Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi, who were sitting in front of him, said:

"According to Wang Ren, the envoy of Dongzhou, the mining volume should be increased by 40% next year, and the local mineral deposits will be able to maintain an annual trade import of 7 million guan in about five years."

This book records the production of the government-run factories of the Ming Dynasty, such as 70,000 tons of iron, 570,000 tons of cement, more than 19 million tons of coal, 14.32 million horses of textiles, 520,000 tons of soil and fertilizer, and gunpowder......

Zhu Gaoxu's words made Xia Yuanji and Guo Zi look at each other, and they understood what Zhu Gaoxu meant.

In the sixteenth year of Yongle, with the compilation of the documents of the two capitals and the fourteenth political secretary and the six military governors and the Xuanwei Division, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty has undoubtedly made a great leap forward.

"If we can continue to increase production capacity, once the coal is convenient, the price can be reduced to 30 wen per 100 catties, then will people in the north and south of the Yangtze River still choose Hechai?"

The existing industrial and handicraft output value of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu nodded sometimes and shook his head, which made Xia Yuanji and Guo Zixin hang in their throats.

Today's prey was cooked by the imperial kitchen of the army, and after the team picked up a lot of dead branches and threw in several insect-repellent herbs, Zhu Di and the others took off their armor one after another and ate and drank in front of the big tent.

"I thought I was young."

"Dad, are you still going to fight now?"

After Yi Shuha finished speaking, he also rode his horse to keep up with the team in front, Zhu Zhanyan frowned when he heard this, but he still wrote down the matter.

"At least five hundred!" Zhu Zhanyan raised his chin, and Zhu Gaoxu shook his head when he heard this:

"When will you be able to ask me this question again with 100,000 soldiers, when I am as old as you, I can already have nearly a thousand soldiers."

Just this piece can save at least half of the expenditure of each mine except for transportation, the amount of coal mining will increase, and the people can also enjoy low-cost coal.

"That's for posterity." Yishaha explained:

"Give future generations a place to live in, and leave enough money and food to fight the war in this generation, and then future generations can enjoy happiness."

Yisha turned over and dismounted, pulled the arrow out of the soil with great difficulty, and took it for Zhu Gaoxu to read.

Daming's productivity has not been improved at the moment, and the transportation is not developed, otherwise Zhu Gaoxu really wants to hire these people to plant trees.

"In this way, the efficiency of coal mining will naturally increase."

[Gold 52,652 23 cents, silver 623,416,23 cents 7 cents, copper ingots 2,164,305 catties]

In other words, although the price of grain in the south is cheap, one acre of land can be sold for seven or eight hundred wen, while although the price of grain in the north is expensive, one mu of land is at most 600 wen.

Yisha explained to Zhu Zhanyan, but Zhu Zhanyan didn't care: "Then what about our fighting?" ”

"Well, you can do it." Zhu Gaoxu bowed his head, and then picked up another book and flipped through it.

Li Shi, who was not far behind Zhu Gaoxu, sighed a few times, and Richard also touched his short beard: "Your Highness is still the same Your Highness, this armor is worn on your body, and this forest ...... I feel like I'm back in Bohai. ”

Beijing only produces 200 catties of actual grain per acre, while the rich land in the south is more than 300 catties or even 400 catties.

"Boss, you're not in good health, go back and rest first, just let Zhanji follow."

Zhu Di called Zhu Gaochu to his side and sat down, and said to Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanyan by the bonfire:

"These two boys are still good, hunting today, commanding his subordinates to have a set, although it can't be said that tens of thousands of generals, but it is not a problem to lead more than 10,000 troops in the future."

In the south, there are two wen per catty of rice, but in the north there are three wen.

Stopping in front of the trees, Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and touched these thick trees, and opened his mouth with a slight sigh.

Zhu Zhanji, who was not far from him, also heard these words and deeply agreed.

Although he is riding a horse, Zhu Gaochi is also tired and sweating, but although Zhu Gaochu has not played equestrian sports for many years, his riding skills are still exquisite, and although the red horse under his crotch is old, he still does not lose the sweat and blood horses around him.

At the same time, several arrows also hit the fleeing wild boars, and after more than ten paces of wild running, these wild boars lay on the ground.

Xia Yuanji wanted to make steady progress, but Zhu Gaoxu knew very well that once the railway was opened, with Daming's current output, it would not be able to solve the problems that Daming needed to face.

In addition to the fact that they were capturing the natives, the North Continent Guard was also capturing the natives who were attacking them and eating people.

Stepping forward, Zhu Zhanyan looked at Zhu Gaoxu with great interest, but Zhu Gaoxu glanced at him: "How many soldiers do you think you can bring?" ”

"If the people are rich, who will steal the railroad tracks and cut down the trees?"

Yishu Haze immediately stepped forward and chuckled: "Your Highness leads the troops, even Your Majesty does not dare to win lightly." ”

After much thought, Zhu Gaoxu decided to send the prefect to increase the output of local gold, silver and copper mines.

On horseback, when the gunshots rang out, a sika deer was shot and fell to the ground.

Zheng Jun, who organized the Oriental Waterway, named this place as Sandalwood Thousand Households, appeased the local natives, and built Tan Hong Kong on the island.

Zhu Gaoxu's voice fell, and Xia Yuanji had to bite the bullet and said: "Your Highness, all kinds of industrial output, if it is along the railway, it is fine, it can be directly transported to the construction site, but if it is far away, even if it is produced, it is difficult to transport it out and enter the market." ”

"I am in the prime of life, and my strength is at its peak, if it was more than ten years ago, I would definitely not be able to shoot such a powerful arrow."

The prince is very good, but he belongs to the people of the world, and only the king of Bohai County only belongs to Bohai.

"The amount of firewood needed by these 15 million people can be reduced by 50% by replacing it with coal, but even so, there is still a shortfall of more than 20 million tons."

In this way, if the Ming Dynasty has the population and strength to annex them in the future, it will also be much more convenient.

"Cutting down trees and stealing railroad tracks is the same thing, and it is because the people are poor that they take risks."

Yishaha, who was beside him, nodded when he heard this, and said at the same time: "If Shanxi also orders a ban on felling, the growth of trees should be good." ”

In the face of Zhu Di's understanding, Zhu Gaochi did not push and pull, but directly agreed, and then turned the horse's head and returned to the camp.

"If the people of the world want to live a good life, we must persevere and continue to develop."

"All of this adds up, it's almost 1.5 million, and that's just the beginning."

As soon as Zhu Gaochi left, Zhu Di shook the reins of the horse and led everyone to hunt deeper.

Although there were only 20,000 people, the 20,000 people did not have to work by themselves, because the Beizhou Guard equipped them with armor and weapons, and there were also fluent officers in this group, so they were quickly united.

Zhu Zhanji, who rode a horse from a distance, looked at his father excitedly, the same as him, and Zhu Zhanji, who had been watching Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Di said this, but Zhu Gaoxu chuckled and said: "With the current strength of the national dynasty, more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, as long as the supplies are abundant, it is enough to destroy Hu Ting and go south to destroy the country." ”

After a short time, Zhu Gaoxu closed the booklet, and then spoke:

"I know, so keep the price of coal down!" Zhu Gaoxu interrupted:

"In the past few days, you have personally walked around Datong to see how many trees I still have in the northern frontier."

"If a pump is installed to pump water, the 20 miners only need to send one person to pump the water, and the rest will only be in charge of mining."

The group hunted until dusk before returning to camp and discussing the daytime hunt.

Among them, the best performers are naturally Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, followed by Zhu Gaosui, Zhu Zhanji, and finally Zhu Zhanyu.

After all, the Ming Dynasty is still an agricultural society, judging from the data on paper, the Ming Dynasty seems to be able to achieve more than seven acres of cultivated land per capita, but the income gap caused by seven acres in the north and seven acres in the south is very large.

In a short time, they had already gone deep into the forest, and after years of forbidden felling, Yanshan could already see many thigh-thick trees, which were naturally invisible before.

They clashed with the natives of northern Northcontinent, capturing them to reclaim their land.

At the same time, as time passed, the Ming Dynasty's Oriental shipping lanes began to improve, and during this time, it even stopped in the Hawaiian Islands.

Yisha nodded when he heard this, and at the same time said: "I'm ashamed to say that in addition to letting the people work, the slaves and maids really don't know how to make them richer than they are now." ”

Zhu Gaoxu said, but Xia Yuanji said: "Your Highness, a load of river firewood is worth 33 Wen, and 50 catties of coal, although it is resistant to burning, is worth 65 Wen. ”

Thinking like this, Zhu Gaoxu continued to bow his head to eat, and time passed little by little.

He doesn't have any feelings for his eldest nephew, but he is still a little reluctant to be a good big brother.

These natives were not sent by Beizhou Wei to cultivate farmland, but were sent to pan for gold in the rivers near Beizhou City.

"However, the truth that happiness returns to happiness, and good war will perish, and forgetting war will be dangerous."

"Firewood in the north is more than 70 wen per load, and 33 wen in the south of the Yangtze River, while coal has been reduced to more than 70 wen per 100 catties in the north."

Li Shi and Richard's words represent the thoughts of most of the soldiers of the left and right guards in Zhaozhou at this moment.

The few days of safari soon ended, and the tree planting project in Yanshan also made Zhu Di, Zhu Gaochi, and Zhu Zhan Yan realize the benefits of tree planting.

Zhu Di held the grip in one hand and the wooden butt under the barrel in the other, and said to Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaosui:

When they finally equipped with arquebuses, the Europeans began to use flintlock pistols again, and one by one small countries were wiped out, only those countries in Indochina Peninsula lasted for hundreds of years because of their strong national strength, but they were still colonized by Europe.

"People are afraid to cut down trees because they are afraid of not finding a job, and as for the poorer, where will they care?"

These countries were all vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, and for them, Zhu Gaoxu still had the mentality of being greedy and chewing more, and adopted the means of cultural and commodity invasion.

"But you're right, you must do a good job of supporting transportation first."

"Before that, coal from coal mines around the country was temporarily stored to cope with the huge urban coal market in the future."

(End of chapter)