Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 305 Reign of Apocalypse
"Down, down, down...stop!"

"One two... La!"

"One two... La!"

On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, when there were only four or five days left before the annual Zhengdan Spring Festival, the Ming Dynasty had already fallen into a joyous atmosphere.

Fireworks and cloth made in Jiangnan, food from Huguang and Sichuan...

These things are being transported by sea one by one, and they are constantly being transported to Tianjin.

Under the auspices of Xu Guangqi and Wang Shunding, and under the supervision of Jin Yiwei, the Yellow River was gradually dredged, and most of the sand in the Huitong River and Tonghui River in the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal section were also cleaned up by them.

Therefore, after the sea transportation was opened, the river channel from Tianjin to Beijing was wider and the traffic was more convenient. Most merchant ships from all over the country entered Beijing through the Tonghui River, and even commodities as far as Guangzhou could appear in Beijing's market.

Its ten thousand countries are sailing, and the scales have been gathered. However, the shops are traded and moved, and all the goods are from four distant places. They are all the people of the five directions.

Coupled with the existence of Huangdian, Beijing City has also regained its status as a distribution center for commodities in the Ming Dynasty.

Along with the transportation of materials, a large number of people also migrated from south to north.

According to the Yellow Book, the population of Beijing in the [-]th year of Wanli was more than [-] million. If counting the counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, the population was more than [-] million.

But according to this year's Yellow Book statistics, the population of Beijing has reached more than [-] people, including the counties under the jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture, the population has reached more than [-] people.

Coupled with the division of responsibilities between the Army and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs, the current market in Beijing City is divided according to Zhu Youjian's order.

There are rice markets, sheep markets, pig markets, fruit markets, grain markets, coal markets, flower markets, oil markets, etc. in the city...

Due to the prevalent business model of "shops in front and workshops in the back" in the capital, Zhu Youjian concentrated many workshops in the same industry in one place, forming Maoer Alley, Pawn Shop Alley, Coffin Alley, Qianshi Alley, Coal Shop Alley, etc. Hutong market.

Not only that, but with the distribution of military farmland, corvee service began to be abolished in the form of payment of wages.

In fact, through Zhu Youjian's hands, the imperial court distributed wages and silver to the people, which is constantly enriching the lives of the people.

The improvement of living standards has made it popular among Beijing people to grow flowers, and flowers have also become a special commodity in Beijing.

Every April and May, there are people in the market who sell jasmine, which is fragrant in Qingyuan.

Even in winter, florists still plant lilacs in pots. The flowers are small and fragrant, and the fruit is fragrant.

However, lilac flowers are unbearable, so jasmine flowers are more popular with the people in the capital. Even from the third year of the apocalypse, elegant guests order tea with jasmine, and women show their heads with jasmine.

In any season throughout the year, flowers are sold in shopping malls in Beijing.Flowers adorn the daily life of common people.

Compared with the false prosperity of the Wanli period, the prosperity of the Tianqi period is healthier and more real...

Zhu Youjian, who was sitting on the carriage watching the market, closed the window, but Lu Wenzhao next to him asked doubtfully, "Your Highness, don't you want to look any more?"

"I've already seen it. You can tell how the people live with their eyes." Zhu Youjian shook his head and sighed:
"There are tens of thousands of civil servants in the world. During the Wanli period, they did not report to the people's livelihood, but in recent years, they have begun to recruit workers, and they regard the policies of the imperial court as their own merits."

"Although it's a bit annoying, doesn't it also explain that the life of the people is not bad?"

"It's really good..." Lu Wenzhao nodded slightly, and said based on what he knew:

"When I was a humble official in the banner, the common people often scolded Jin Yiwei when they saw Jin Yiwei, and secretly spit at the court officials, and regarded the clothes and beasts as derogatory..."

"It's just that in recent years, the imperial court has distributed a large amount of land and allocated government funds to support the relocation of the people. The people are aware of these things, and naturally there are fewer people who scold them."

"Right now, the most scolding is that salt tea is too expensive."

Lu Wenzhao mentioned one point that most people are tired of, that is, with the establishment of the two departments, the people began to feel uncomfortable after the state-run Yancha.

Although for the people of the Ming Dynasty at present, the people of each family of five only need to spend about [-] yuan a year on salt and tea, and their income from farming only is [-] taels, and the most is more than [-] taels.

Logically speaking, they should think that this salt tea is not much money.

But after all, they have experienced the flood of illegal salt, and the period of five or six yuan per catty of illegal salt is naturally dissatisfied with the price of official salt ranging from twelve to twenty-four.

Zhu Youjian understands it very well, but he also knows that if he does not do this, it will be difficult for the domestic economic operation to be dominated by the imperial court.

In the current environment, the Ming Dynasty must survive first in order to better benefit the people.

The Thirty Years War broke out in Europe, which led to a decrease in the amount of ocean trade between the East and the West, and Ming's tariffs will also decrease year by year as the Thirty Years War intensifies.

This is an economic trough, but it is an opportunity for expansion.

Just as the Ming Dynasty entered Ceylon Island this time, it can be seen that the Portuguese and other officials and businessmen on the island retreated to Tianzhu.

Throughout Europe, the Thirty Years War involving more than [-] countries is constantly holding them back.

As a result, their declining power in the Far East is destined to be difficult to replenish.

For example, the Netherlands and Spain, after failing to fight the Ming army, their military strength has not recovered until now, and their momentum is not as large as Portugal, Britain, and France.

However, this momentum will soon change as overseas vassals become vassals.

From the seventeenth century to the twenty-first century, it is destined to be a time when coastal countries beat inland countries.

As long as the vassals of the Ming Dynasty occupy the coast, the inland countries will be gradually wiped out under the continuous support of the Ming Dynasty.

This is actually a question of why the Qing Dynasty was able to develop so much land inland.

In the era of the rise of sea power, sea power countries must have access to the world and the weapons of various countries earlier than landlocked countries.

It is normal for an inland country like Junggar to be wiped out without even being able to pull out thirty twenty-four-pound guns.

Even if the Ming Dynasty is gone and a Han Dynasty is replaced, even if it does not expand its territory to the west, Junggar will be crushed.

After all, at the peak of Junggar, there were only five or six hundred thousand people, and [-] standing troops. Among them, there were more than [-] troops equipped with firearms, and the heaviest firearms were only twenty ten Russian pound mortars.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian didn't bother to take care of the current Wala and Junggar. Even if Junggar annexed the tribes of Wala as in history, Zhu Youjian would not take it to heart.

It is really not difficult for Daming to fight a Junggar. After all, the number of ten-jin (twelve-pound) guns in the Ming army has broken through to six thousand.

The number of twenty-jin guns, counting only the army, reached [-].

In addition, there are nearly [-] five-jin cannons in number, and the number of artillery pieces in the Northern Army's Governor's Mansion alone is as many as [-].

If Junggar dared to invade, without Zhu Youjian or even Man Gui speaking, Mei Zhihuan, Li Rubai, and Li Ruzhen in Hexi would be able to defend against the enemy outside the Gobi Desert in Jiayuguan.

In the era of sea power, there was nothing to brag about fighting landlocked countries. Zhu Youjian paid more attention to Indochina and Tianzhu.

Thinking of this, he said to Sun Shoufa who was driving in front of the carriage, "Let's go to the Military Armament Academy."

"Yes..." Sun Shoufa responded in a low voice, and Zhu Youjian also leaned on the carriage and began to fall asleep.

In recent days, he has stabilized a lot, and the rest time has also increased as Zhu Youxiao slowly processed the memorials.

However, those memorials that Zhu Youjian can solve in one hour will take three hours to be processed in Zhu Youxiao's hands.

The perspectives of the two are different. Zhu Youjian has his own set of rules of conduct, which is to focus on the common people.

If any party engages in party disputes under his nose, he raises his hand and releases some black material to clean up these parties.

Compared with him, Zhu Youxiao needs to start from the perspective of the dynasty, so most of the policies are stable.

This is the malpractice of the times, not the malpractice of Zhu Youxiao.

After all, he is the emperor, and he needs to look at the problem from the emperor's point of view, but Zhu Youjian doesn't have so many worries.

Zhu Youxiao was still reviewing memorials in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, but there were only a dozen military reports on Zhu Youjian's case.

It wasn't until the carriage left the capital that Zhu Youjian began to read the pieces.

First of all, the most eye-catching thing is the graduation memorial of Yanshan Military Academy.

Counting the descendants of the clan, there are a total of [-] soldiers who graduated this time.

The first time Zhu Youjian opened it, he saw the names of Li Zicheng, Cao Bianjiao and others.

Not only that, but he also saw many familiar names.

Wang Ziyong, Liu Zongmin, Dang Shousu, Liu Xiyao, Liu Fangliang, Xin Sizhong, Liu Rukui...

A series of familiar names of the generals of the northern Shaanxi uprising army made Zhu Youjian dumbfounded and full of emotion.

What made him laugh and cry was that so many people came to Yanshan to enter the Military Academy, and what he felt was that this was their best destination.

Zhu Youjian never felt that the rebels in northern Shaanxi made mistakes at the beginning. To put it bluntly, they all rebelled because they couldn't survive.

It's just that the corruption was too fast later, not to mention the failure of the peasant uprising, and it also implicated the Han people into a trough.

If the imperial court had money and food for disaster relief, they might work in an unknown place or concentrate on farming like Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai, Sun Kewang and others whose names have not yet appeared.

Zhu Youjian can raise a knife against the rebels who lost their nature after the uprising, and they can also raise a knife against demagogues like Xu Hongru.

It's just that in the face of the skinny and hungry people rising up to resist, maybe he will choose to appease, just like Chongzhen.

But one thing he is tougher than Chongzhen is that if the opponent is not honest after beckoning, then the iron hooves of the top four cavalry guards will let them know what thunder's fury is.

"Li Zicheng, Li Zijing and the other top [-] disciples from northern Shaanxi, let's send them to the Confederate Governor's Mansion first."

"Cao Bianjiao, Cao Dingjiao and the other top [-] disciples will stay in the Shangzhi Governor's Mansion."

"The rest are looking at the Navy first, the Northern Army, and then the Western Army."

Zhu Youjian put down the document and gave the answer, but Lu Wenzhao asked curiously, "Isn't the Eastern Army Governor's Mansion making arrangements?"

"The Eastern Army's Governor's Mansion is fighting against Jianlu. The scene is the most vicious, and it is not suitable for this group of students." Zhu Youjian shook his head and said:
"After all, it took six years of painstaking efforts to cultivate people. If they are sent to such a tragic battle between the Eastern Army's Governor's Mansion and the Battle of Raiders, they will be lucky if they can survive one-third of them."

"Sweeping Ping'an South is more suitable for them. Cao Bianjiao and the others from Shangzhi will also be sent to the Shangzhigong Guard Camp in Duoyan Mansion to study first."

The establishment of the Three Guards in Monan made the Great Walls in Beizhili, Shanxi, and Liaodong useless. The Shanxi Waigong Guards took over the Kaiping Guards, the Shangzhi Gong Guards took over the Duoyan Mansion, and the Liaodong Gongwei Guards took over the Taining Mansion.

In short, the capital is located under absolute security, and the construction of the three mansions has basically reached a scale.

Since the great victory in the war, coupled with the exile of the family members of corrupt officials, more than [-] people have been relocated from Duoyan Mansion, Kaiping Mansion has more than [-] people, and Taining Mansion has more than [-] people.

There are nearly [-] people in the three prefectures, and this number will gradually increase in the future, reaching the level of one million people in the three prefectures. It will be much easier for the Ming army to carry out the North Sweeping Operation in the future.

Especially in Taining Prefecture, if a large amount of arable land can be reclaimed on both sides of the river in the Horqin Grassland, the cost of sweeping north in the future will be reduced to one-third of the current cost.

As long as Taining Prefecture is rich, it is only a matter of time before the entire Monan and Mobei are ruled by Ming.

Zhu Youjian continued to deal with the military situation, and time passed little by little.

Until the last military report was opened, they were not far from the Armament Academy.

Coincidentally, this military information was handed over by Sun Yuanhua, and the inside matter was also about the feasibility of guano fertilizer.

This answer made Zhu Youjian frown, because what Sun Yuanhua said was not feasible...

However, when Zhu Youjian saw the unfeasible problem, his brows slowly relaxed.

Sun Yuanhua used bird droppings as fertilizer to grow vegetables, but the vegetables began to get sick and eventually died.

Zhu Youjian looked at his process, only to find that he did not dry and disinfect the bird droppings, and did not mix and ferment the litter, which is why the fertilizer damage was caused.

"Is Sun Yuanhua in the Armament Academy?"

Zhu Youjian raised his head and asked Lu Wenzhao, but Lu Wenzhao shook his head and said, "Sun Shilang has been at the experimental field in Yongping recently."

"Hmm..." Knowing that Sun Yingyuan was not in the Armament Academy, Zhu Youjian also wrote down the process of how to deal with bird droppings.

He saw this set of procedures in the poverty alleviation books on indigenous methods and fertilizer techniques, and he remembered it clearly.

Soon he wrote everything out, and handed over the memorial to Lu Wenzhao, and continued:

"If the experiment is successful, immediately place an order for three thousand guano ships to all shipyards."

"The silver is allocated from the Yumajian, and the silver is distributed one by one."

"Yes!" Lu Wenzhao agreed, and Zhu Youjian also started to get off the carriage slowly.

The cost of the [-]-material cargo ship is more than [-] taels of silver, and the load is about [-] tons. However, to build so many [-]-material cargo ships at once, whether the shade-dried timber of several major shipyards is enough is a problem.

However, this is not a problem for them. If it is only used to make cargo ships, it does not need such strict requirements as warships.

Shade-dried wood can be used in one year, and a ship can be repaired for more than [-] years.

As for but many years later?According to the current progress of Song Yingxing and the others, Zhu Youjian felt that seeing the steam engine was just a few years ago.

As long as the steam engine comes out, steam boats and steam locomotives will not be far away.

The only problem now is the problem of steel, and the explosives and pumping technology needed to mine iron ore have not yet been developed.

If the steam engine appears, the problems of pumping water and transportation in the mine can be greatly improved.

As for gunpowder, we have to wait and see when the mercury fulminate they researched will appear.

For now, they can be said to be doing their own research, and Zhu Youjian only asked them to add mercury, nitric acid, ethanol, copper and other things appropriately.

Zhu Youjian didn't know how to match it. He didn't listen carefully to the questions about the process of gunpowder in chemistry class and history class back then, but he just remembered something.

Of course, he may have forgotten something wrong.

Zhu Youjian is not sure whether the mercury fulminate is formed, but with various ratios, he can always research a gunpowder that is stronger than the current black powder.

Even if only [-]% of the power can be deducted, it will be a great improvement for Daming's military industry and industry.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

After passing the inspection of the Armament Academy, Zhu Youjian re-entered the Armament Academy after a few months. However, compared with the empty space last time, the Armament Academy has built several branches covering an area of ​​more than [-] mu.

Zhu Youjian walked in and took a look, and they were basically some branches that had already become large-scale.

For example, there are agricultural colleges for chemical fertilizers and grafting technology, breeding technology, and military colleges for basic military technology.

Zhu Youjian didn't go to see the Agricultural College, because he has been concerned about the progress of the Agricultural College, and even a few days ago, he wrote to Huang Long, asking Huang Long to order Huang Fei to contact the Anelia (British) businessman on Tianzhu and company.

He hopes to introduce the other party's native white pigs and cows, as well as large draft horses and other species.

There is no ban on these species. The only thing to pay attention to is whether the other party can transport them over the tens of thousands of miles of sea.

As long as the British native white pigs are brought in and then bred with the native white pigs, Zhu Youjian believes that the Ming Dynasty can breed Yorkshire pigs with strong fertility, heavy weight, and fast fattening in advance.

Once Yorkshire pigs are bred successfully, the price of pork in Daming will drop to a terrifying amount.

As long as meat and oil keep up, the people's demand for staple food will be reduced, and it will be much easier to survive the Little Ice Age.

Thinking this way, Zhu Youjian walked into the Military Industrial Academy, and as soon as he entered the door, Zhu Youjian was asked by two receptionists to put on paper armor made of pure paper.

Since the Military Academy still focuses on gunpowder research, anything that might trigger static electricity cannot be brought in.

However, Zhu Youjian didn't want to observe at close range. After he changed into paper armor, he watched some research from a hundred steps away. During this period, Bi Maokang also came to his side in disgrace.

"Your Highness Chitose..."

The disheartened Bi Maokang still paid great attention to etiquette, but Zhu Youjian couldn't help laughing when he saw his old face, and said:

"Bi Shilang, how are you?"

Zhu Youjian's smile made Bi Maokang respond with a wry smile, and he answered the question with a sad face:
"The research on this gunpowder is a bit difficult. Among the raw materials you mentioned, your Highness, we quickly obtained mercury, nitric acid, and ethanol. The formula for hydrochloric acid was also obtained from the Frangji people, but there is still a big problem with the ratio."

"Sometimes if the ratio is not successful, it will cause an explosion, so we are very careful."

Hydrochloric acid was first developed in the last century, but it is not considered pure hydrochloric acid with extremely high purity.

Among the Portuguese craftsmen in Haojing, there are also some people who know the formula of this thing, after all, it is not a secret.

After getting the hydrochloric acid formula, Bi Maokang, Song Yingxing, and Sun Yuanhua improved and optimized the formula. Although the produced hydrochloric acid is not high-purity, it can still be used to make mercury fulminate.

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly after listening to Bi Maokang's words.

From this point of view, the raw materials of mercury fulminate are basically produced, and what is needed now is to prepare it step by step in proportion.

As long as mercury fulminate is researched, all kinds of firearms and industrial progress will be leaps and bounds.

"How's the research on blast furnaces and steam engines?" Zhu Youjian knew that mercury fulminate needed time now, so he asked questions about steam engines and blast furnaces with confidence.

Bi Maokang has participated in these studies, so he probably knows the progress. He bowed and said:
"The blast furnace has been improved according to our method. The furnace has been raised to a height of one foot, and coal has been used."

"However, although the output of iron has increased by [-]%, it is still not up to the level that His Highness said that one furnace can produce hundreds of thousands of catties. At best, one furnace can produce about two thousand catties."

"That's not bad." Zhu Youjian nodded slightly: "Where's the steam engine?"

"Steam engine, Chang Geng (Song Yingxing's word) has improved it. Although it can pump out the water in the two-zhang mine, the sealing problem can only be said to reduce leakage, but it cannot be completely sealed."

"Only when the sealing problem is solved, can the power transmission that your Highness mentioned, and the use of steam engines on vehicles and ships, be possible."

Bi Maokang's discourse skills are getting closer and closer to those of modern people. I don't know if it is because of too many materials and topics written by Zhu Youjian in vernacular.

Staying away from the court's intrigue allowed him to immerse himself in research, and he also made some achievements.

"However, Your Highness, although the gunpowder has not researched the mercury fulminate you mentioned, but the structure of the breech-loading percussion gun, the lower officer has roughly figured it out."

"It's a bit difficult to mass-produce, but if you invite skilled craftsmen to make it, you can make it, but there are some problems with the quantity."

"And without mercury fulminate, firing with black powder as a primer would be underpowered."

Zhu Youjian nodded in agreement with Bi Maokang's words. He didn't think that the craftsmanship of breech-loading guns could be that difficult. As long as you give money and silver, not to mention Ming Dynasty, even Europe today can be manufactured by skilled craftsmen.

But the problem is that it is just an exquisite breech-loading percussion gun, which is useless to the Ming Dynasty and a country.

It is necessary to realize standardized production, unify standards, and then produce mercury fulminate, in order to achieve a leap in the rifle process.

"However, Your Highness, for the textile machine technology you mentioned, we refer to the hydraulic technology of the textile machine and steam engine in Nanchang, and roughly produced a batch of improved textile machines with twice the output of the current large hydraulic textile machine."

Bi Maokang brought good news to Zhu Youjian, which made Zhu Youjian sigh "I didn't make a trip in vain".

"Can it be mass-produced?"

"can!"

Zhu Youjian's inquiry received an affirmative answer from Bi Maokang, and Zhu Youjian who received the answer also said to Lu Wenzhao beside him:
"People brought the drawings back to Nanchang, and the textile factories replaced them with new textile machines."

"Tell Huachun to run the textile factory well..."

"A lowly official takes orders." Lu Wenzhao responded, and then arranged for someone to pick up the blueprints and sent a message.

After all this was arranged, Zhu Youjian followed Bi Maokang to visit some other studies.

Although they are all research topics of Zhu Youjian, more than [-] students in the Armament Academy also study his textbooks.

But for some breakthrough research, Zhu Youjian was basically unable to intervene and could only listen silently.

After finally spending an hour visiting all the studies, Zhu Youjian could only leave a sentence "Tell Cheng En if you need money", and then walked out of the Armament Academy and returned to the capital...

　I have to do some work in the afternoon, and the chapter in the afternoon should be postponed to between five and six o'clock.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)