Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 365
"Come and take a look when you pass by! Fresh fruit!"

"Vegetables and fruits, dried vegetables and salted fish, everything is available, cheaper than those in the imperial store..."

"Flower lantern, don't miss it, don't miss it!"

The Shangyuan Festival is not only celebrated in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, but also in the overseas provinces of Ming Dynasty.

Kuching County, Zhongshan Prefecture is located in the west of Borneo where Zhongshan Prefecture is located. There are many rivers and canals in the territory, and the green water is long, and the boats loaded with coconuts and fruits pass through it. It is an important seaport county connecting Daming and Boni Kingdom.

Today is the sixteenth day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of Tianqi. Unlike usual times, Kuching County has become much more lively due to the return of Xu Xiake's fleet from the Western Ocean.

The harbor is full of vendors selling things, and the people in the imperial shop don't drive them away, because most of them are farmers, and they only come to sell coconuts and fruits in their spare time.

These commodities will not affect the trading status of Huangdian in Kuching.

"How much is this coconut?"

"Sanwen, my lord..."

"Come to six."

On the cement-built port, when Xu Xiake's voice sounded, he was buying coconuts with an official and four guards.

After readily taking the eighteen coins, Xu Xiake looked around while the coconut was being disposed of by the vendor.

In his eyes, Kuching is a city repaired with cement.

The official standing next to him is the county magistrate of Kuching County, named Zhou Qi.

Zhou Qi is the second batch of students who graduated from Yanshan Academy in the sixth year of Tianqi, so when he was sent to Kuching, he immediately used his knowledge of civil engineering to re-plan Kuching County.

In general, he took advantage of the advantages of the seaport city in Kuching County, and because Kuching County was in a wasteland at that time, except for the city walls with rammed earth, there were only more than 1000 poor Han immigrants in the city, with a population of more than 6000. , and less than 15 mu of arable land.

After sorting out the ideas of how to lay out Kuching, Zhou Qi applied for [-] prisoners from the Zhongshan government office, and used the [-] stone cement and [-] catties of pig iron allocated by the Zhongshan government office every year to build the current Kuching city.

The current Kuching City, after two and a half years, the layout of the city is similar to the layout of some counties in Daming.

The two-foot-high concrete city wall is made of cast iron, sandstone, and cement. It is two feet wide at the bottom, eight feet wide at the top, and six miles in circumference.

The city is divided into five squares: the official square, the county government square, the soldiers and horses square, and the east market square and the west market square.

Dongshifang and Xishifang occupy two-thirds of the city's area and are the living areas of the common people, while Bingmafang is a military center for soldiers and horses and troops stationed in the Gongwei Battalion.

The county government square is mainly the residence of the county government and various local departments of the imperial court, while the official square is the accommodation area for officials.

The only places where concrete buildings are used in the county are roads, ports, city walls, and city walls. As for the construction area, it is basically left untouched.

The construction of the entire county was not completed until March of the eighth year of Tianqi. In the next nine months, Zhou Qi unified the house and the shape of the shop, and the government contributed to the construction.

The house basically has two entrances and two exits, enough to accommodate more than ten people. The yard covers an area of ​​half an acre, and the shops are on both sides of the street in Fangshi.

Zhu Youjian had re-issued the road standards a long time ago. In a county like Kuching, the two main roads must be [-] feet wide, the auxiliary roads in Fangshi City must be [-] feet wide, and the alleys in residential areas must also be [-] feet wide.

Therefore, Kuching County is also planned in the same way.

"Zhouzhi County, this Kuching seems to be densely populated."

After getting the coconut, Xu Xiake drank it through a bamboo tube and asked Zhou Qi who was next to him, and Zhou Qi also said with a smile:

"When I came down here, the household was no more than [-] people, the population was no more than [-] people, and the arable land was more than [-] mu."

"It took two and a half years, thanks to the court's ability to relocate the people. Now there are 35 households in Kuching, more than [-] people, and [-] mu of arable land."

"By the way, why don't you see prisoners in labor camps?" Xu Xiake was very curious. After he came to Kuching, he didn't see prisoners in labor camps reclaiming fields.

Regarding his confusion, Zhou Qi explained with a smile:
"The government ordered to build a road around Zhongshan, including Sulu and Boni, which is nearly [-] miles long and has a ten-year plan."

"Two thousand three hundred miles? Is there so much cement and pig iron in Zhongshan Prefecture?" Xu Xiake was a little surprised.

But facing his surprise, Zhou Qi said as he walked:

"Master, don't underestimate Zhongshan Prefecture. Although Zhongshan Prefecture has only more than [-] Han people and lacks mineral deposits, it produces a lot of pepper."

"The common people produce and sell pepper to Huangdian every year, which is nearly [-] catties."

"The Old Port collects [-]% of the tax, and the government can collect [-] catties of pepper for [-] catties. Although the price of pepper has dropped after the imperial court took over the Old Port, it still costs [-] yuan per catty."

"This 5000 catties of pepper is 2 taels of tax silver, plus other land taxes. After the taxes of Zhongshan Prefecture are reduced, there will still be more than [-] taels of silver."

"The imperial government has different detention policies for different regions. In the two capitals and [-] provinces of the Central Plains, [-]% of the imperial courts are basically sent to the capital and [-]% are detained."

"However, since Jiugang started to pay taxes last year, such as Jiugang and Yingzhou, basically the county, prefecture, and provincial levels each withhold [-]% and send [-]% to the imperial court."

"That is to say, the county can leave more than 2000 taels of public funds, but there is actually no money to spend here."

Zhou Qi explained: "The cement, pig iron, gold, silver and copper mines in Jiugang are comparable to those of the two capitals and [-] provinces in the Central Plains, especially the output of cement, which is as high as more than [-] million stones this year."

"The more than [-] million stones are enough to build [-] miles of provincial roads, more than [-] miles of government roads, or [-] miles of county roads, and [-] miles of rural roads."

"In the seven prefectures of Old Port, various resources are divided into ten parts, one part each for Nanhai, Zhongshan, Sanshan, and Dongshan, and two parts each for Luzon, Old Port, and Palembang."

"It's just because most of the minerals and cement are produced in these three prefectures, so the distribution is more."

"But even so, Zhongshan Prefecture can get more than [-] million stones of cement and nearly one million catties of pig iron every year."

"Zhongshan prefecture has [-] counties, and each county only has a quota of [-] shi."

"Not surprisingly, if the quota does not increase, it is estimated that all the allocated cement and pig iron will be used to build government roads in the next ten years."

What Zhou Qi said was very optimistic, and Xu Xiake also asked curiously: "Wouldn't it be impossible to use cement to develop people's livelihood? Why is Zhouzhi County so calm?"

"Huh?" Zhou Qi looked at Xu Xiake after hearing the words, and continued to laugh:

"I forgot that the person in charge is not from Yanshan Academy."

"The reason why I am calm is because I believe that the output of cement and pig iron will continue to increase."

"When I came to Jiugang two years ago, the total output of cement in Jiugang was only more than [-] million stones, and the output of pig iron was only more than [-] million catties."

"By now, the output of these things has more than doubled."

"Sir, tell me, if it takes a few more years, how much will the output of these things be?"

Zhou Qi smiled heartily, while Xu Xiake felt the cement road under his feet, looked up at the scenery of the cement road, and couldn't help laughing:

"If the country can produce tens of millions of stones of cement and pig iron every year, I am afraid that everyone in the world will be able to step on this cement road."

"That's right! This is what I want too." Zhou Qi was fascinated, and he seemed to see the scene of the heyday of the Ming Dynasty more than ten years later in his eyes.

Maybe they didn't dare to think that the tens of millions of stones they hoped for was only one percent of the output of future generations, let alone tens of millions of catties of pig iron, which would not even be able to reach one thousandth of the production of steel in future generations.

But even so, even if it can reach [-]% of the output of future generations, Daming can build tens of thousands of provincial and government roads every year.

"I don't know how many Ming people are there in the old port?"

After looking forward to it for a long time, Xu Xiake returned to reality and asked Zhou Qi, but Zhou Qi didn't think it was a secret, and said with a smile:

"About 370 million people, but it is said that starting from this year, the number of people who will be relocated from the Old Port will not exceed 50 people, and the excess will be relocated to Nanzhou and Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner."

From the October of the fourth year of the Apocalypse to the first month of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, in four years and three months, Daming moved 370 million people south to the Old Port.

Of course, this does not include the immigrants from Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Division and Nanzhou. If these places are added, the migration is about 390 million.

Although the imperial court was able to relocate so many people, the real reason was that many people in Fujian and Guangdong provinces could no longer survive.

It is precisely because of the efforts of the imperial court, there are enough ships in Huangdian, and the people in Fujian and Guangdong are miserable, so Ming can maintain the frequency of nearly one million immigrants going south every year.

As long as the emperor is not afraid of infamy, as long as the people are willing to move, and the court has money and food, it is actually not difficult to emigrate.

For example, during the Hongwu period, millions of people were relocated to Yunnan at one go, and they traveled by land, and it took only eight years.

At present, most of the immigrants in Old Port are from Fujian and Guangdong. In Fujian province alone, more than [-] million people have migrated, Guangdong has more than one million people, and the rest of the provinces have less than one million people.

But even so, after the severe drought in Fujian and Guangdong in the seven years since the apocalypse, people are still fleeing famine.

It is not difficult to imagine how horrible the local land annexation and poor environment have reached.

Even after several relocations, the current Fujian and Guangdong provinces still have no way to implement the policy of three acres of land per person, and it is even very difficult for one person to one mu of land.

This is not to say how many powerful gentry there are in Fujian and Guangdong, but that the local population is really too large.

In the ninth year of the Apocalypse, the total population of the two provinces was 690 million and 420 million in Fujian and 550 million respectively, and the land was 920 million mu and [-] million mu respectively.

It seems that two acres per person can be achieved, but in fact, even if Zhu Youjian cut off the powerful guards, the local gentry, who only accounted for 5.00% of the population, still occupied nearly [-]% of the arable land.

If there is no relocation policy, there will be at least nearly 600 million people in Fujian, and at least [-] million people in Guangdong.

This is only on paper, and it is unknown how many hidden households there are.

Not surprisingly, they will still be the main force of immigration in the next ten years.

If they can relocate one-third of their population, the local people will be able to live a very good life.

"By the way, although I've heard that Nanzhou is vast, I don't know what's going on in Nanzhou right now. Can you tell me about it?"

Xu Xiake was very interested in Nanzhou, and Zhou Qi, who was curious about him, was also happy to explain:

"Nanzhou is indeed vast. To go here, you must first go to Dongshan Prefecture, and then take a boat from Funan County in the south of Dongshan Prefecture to cross the sea for five days before arriving at Beihai County in the north of Nanzhou."

"However, although Nanzhou is vast, the only suitable places to live are the southeast, southwest, and eastern coastal areas."

"Are there no natives on the island?" Xu Xiake asked curiously, while Zhou Qi nodded and said:

"Naturally there are, but compared to its vastness, the number of natives on it is too few."

"Since Governor Huang landed in Nanzhou and explored the major islands until now, in the past two years, only more than 24 people have been relocated in Nanzhou, most of them are prisoners, and the number of natives captured there is only [-]. Yu Wan."

"The population is sparse, and the development of Nanzhou is naturally slow. At present, it only occupies the northern and southeastern coastal areas, with seven counties and hundreds of market towns."

"It is rumored that Mimai on the island is still not self-sufficient since the relocation. Although millions of acres of new land have been reclaimed, it will take at least three years to see results."

Zhou Qi's words basically explained the situation in Nanzhou thoroughly. Xu Xiake couldn't help nodding when he heard the words, but then he thought of the incident with Xiao Xiyang's Supervising Commissioner, and said again:
"It is estimated that there has already been a fight with the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner. I am afraid that the imperial court will increase the immigration of Ceylon Prefecture, and then prepare to divide the feudal vassals."

"So fast? Did His Highness order it?" Zhou Qi didn't know that Xiao Xiyang was already fighting, and Xu Xiake also explained for Huang Long and others:
"His Highness's order has not yet arrived, but it is not a solution for more than [-] soldiers and horsemen to eat horse chews. Governor Huang has to share the worries of the court, so he is planning to attack several southern states."

"This... without the order of the imperial court and His Highness, sending troops easily, I'm afraid it will lead to impeachment by the courtiers, and I will be dissatisfied for a long time..." Zhou Qi was able to be a magistrate, so he naturally had his own political vision.

His analysis was actually not wrong, but Xu Xiake could only sigh after hearing this:
"Thousands of miles away, if we wait for the letter from the imperial court, I am afraid that half a year will be wasted."

"This is really..." Zhou Qi was in the old port, feeling a lot of emotion.

Even in Zhongshan Prefecture, it takes one and a half months to travel to the capital to send a memorial, and it takes three months to go back and forth, not to mention Xiaoxiyang, which is thousands of miles away from Zhongshan Prefecture.

"The imperial court probably also knew that it would be difficult to govern Tianzhu in person, so it would divide the enfeoffment."

"It's just that I have some doubts about whether these feudal clans can gain a firm foothold in the local area."

Zhou Qi shook his head and sighed. Xu Xiake didn't know much about military affairs, so he didn't interrupt, but changed the topic:
"With the taxation of the old port this year, I am afraid that the national money will be safe and stable for a year."

"I'm afraid it's hard to say..." Zhou Qi shook his head:
"A few days ago, I heard that the imperial court had sent troops to support Yan Jinglue of Yingzhou since the twelfth lunar month of last year. Although Yingzhou is rich in mineral resources, I am afraid that this fight will not end in two or three years."

"Besides, the current enemies of the imperial court are still the northern captives of Mobei and the Jian captives of Nuerqian."

"I just want to say that the barren land in the north is actually not as good as developing Jiaozhi, Jiugang and Nanzhou, or using troops against Toungoo."

"Your Highness and Long Live should have their own considerations." Xu Xiake responded, and the two also walked to the place where Xu Xiake's fleet was docked.

The two stopped and bowed to each other:

"Farewell tomorrow. I don't know when the next meeting will be. Unfortunately, the matter is urgent. His Highness sent me a letter to come to Beijing quickly. Otherwise, I will drink three hundred cups with Zhou Zhixian."

"I think so too." Zhou Qi replied with a smile.

"let me go!"

"What do you want, boy? Can you get on this boat?"

"I'm here to work, I want to be a boatman!"

"What kind of boatman can you be with such a small body? If it weren't for the fact that you are Siamese, I would have thrown you into the sea to feed the fish."

While Zhou Qi and Xu Xiake were bowing to each other, a group of people walked out on the deck of the warship. Three Ming soldiers led a thin young man down the ladder and threw him on the concrete floor.

Although the boy was thrown on the ground, he didn't feel any pain, but got up immediately and said that he wanted to be a boatman.

However, only civilians of Ming Dynasty can work as shipwrecks on Ming's warships, so Siamese like him naturally cannot be shipwrecks.

Xu Xiake and Zhou Qi were attracted by the noise, but because the county government still had something to do, and such things happened frequently, Zhou Qi apologized and left the pier.

Instead, Xu Xiake walked over with frown, and said to the boy:

"You want to be Daming's boatman?"

"Master..." Seeing that it was Xu Xiake, the three Ming soldiers saluted immediately, and the young man also knew that a big man had come, so he said:
"I have relatives in the capital. I want to go to the capital but I don't have money, so I want to work as a boatman and go to the capital to join relatives."

"You speak the official dialect well." Xu Xiake couldn't help but nodded when he heard the young man's relatively standard Daming Jianghuai official dialect.

After all, in the land of Nanyang in this era, there are very few people who understand Mandarin, and even fewer people who can speak such standard Mandarin.

"Where does your relative live in the capital?" Xu Xiake asked, obviously wanting to help the young man.

"Live... next to Fahua Temple!" The young man naturally understood Xu Xiake's words, so he quickly gave an address.

Xu Xiake nodded slightly when he heard the words, but said:

"Although the old man also wants to help you, but your identity is indeed not allowed to board the warship of Ming Dynasty, but you can still board the supply ship."

"Thank you, my lord!" The young man who heard the words knelt down and kowtowed, and Xu Xiake also nodded slightly, and said to the soldiers next to him:

"Put him on a supply ship as a boatman."

"Yes..." The three had no choice but to agree, and Xu Xiake also walked towards the main ship's ladder, leaving the young man alone to watch his back, silently grateful.

Xu Xiake returned to his cabin, which was not small, covering an area of ​​more than [-] square meters, enough to accommodate a group of soldiers.

However, although the cabin is not small, there are too many things piled up inside.

Ore, stone, soil, and some plant seeds from all over the place, as well as a wall full of manuscripts and a table full of unfinished paper.

He went back to the desk and sat down, sorted out the papers on the desk, put the written ones together, and put them in an oiled paper bag with "Journey to the West".

Then he continued to study ink and write, writing out his own experience along the way.

He has been writing this book since he set out, and now he has written twelve volumes, with a total of more than 12 words.

Not surprisingly, this travel note should end at 13 words, and Xu Xiake needs to sort it out when he returns to the capital to report on his work, and ask Zhu Youjian if he can publish it as a novel.

Of course, in this travel note, he concealed the location of all gold and silver mines, and removed many resource records that could be easily used by interested people.

"I don't know if I can go there for the second time in my lifetime..."

Looking at the organized travel notes, Xu Xiake felt a lot of emotion.

He is now in his forties. For people of this era, it is normal for people in this era to be born, grow old, get sick and die between the ages of forty and sixty. However, he is not reconciled because he still has many places to go.

For example, Nanzhou on the sea, as well as Europe, North America and South Asia in the east of Ming Dynasty, and even the Western Regions, Yunnan and Guizhou, etc., he wants to explore one by one.

"Is the master sorted out?"

When he was sighing, a person knocked on the door and walked into the cabin with a smile. Looking at the travel notes that Xu Xiake had compiled, he asked with a smile, while Xu Xiake said worriedly:
"Muzhi, you are here..."

"I don't know if this travel note can be published."

"Your Highness is open-minded and supports immigration, so he will naturally support it." The official found a place to sit down by himself, and congratulated him:

"After returning to Beijing this time, the principal should be promoted."

"I don't want to be promoted, but I just hope that the imperial court will send me to go west again, preferably to Europe."

Xu Xiake looked out of the window, looking at the magnificent sea outside the window with some emotion, and the official nodded and said:

"It's natural. After all, we have gained a lot this time. Although we have spent a lot of money from the court, overall we must have made a profit."

What the official said was quite restrained. In fact, the few gold mines that Xu Xiake and the others found were enough to make Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao support them to go to the West again.

Not only to go to the West, but also to the East, to the South Seas, and even let them go to the Western Regions, Hezhong (Central Asia) and other places.

In the wave of colonization around the world, Ming will not drink poison to quench thirst like Europeans consume colonies, but will directly occupy the land, spread kingship, and bestow civilization.

"When will the fleet return to the capital?"

Xu Xiake asked, and the official responded:

"If we leave tomorrow, we will arrive in Luzon in [-] days, Ryukyu in [-] days, Zhejiang in late February, and Tianjin in late March."

"According to what His Highness wrote in his handwriting, after arriving in Tianjin, all officials above rank nine will go to Beijing to report on their duties, and then I will be given a leave of absence."

"I'm guessing that the vacation time will probably not exceed two years."

"Why do you know?" Xu Xiake asked puzzledly, because he didn't have so much insight into officialdom and military affairs, and the official also laughed and said:
"In two years, the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner may have subdivided the southern state of Tianzhu, and the Ceylon government should also relocate hundreds of thousands of people."

"At a time like this, the imperial court will definitely not give up mining Levia's gold mines. If there is no accident, the imperial court will send us as guides to lead the army to the south of Levia."

"There is a lot of miasma and disease along the eastern coast of Levia. If His Highness asks the master, where does the master think he wants to set up an official factory?"

This question made Xu Xiake think for a while, and after thinking about it carefully, he said:
"If you want to dig the gold mines in the south, the safest course is to take the coastal waterway, but if it is the fastest waterway, and can supply for a short time, it is natural to go to Wandao County (Maldives) in Ceylon Province and go south to Pingdao (Chago Islands), and then go south and southeast, you can reach Xianlao Lengzu Island (Madagascar) directly.”

"Xianlao Lengzu Big Island can be cultivated and reclaimed. If we take this place and then control the southern part of Levia and mine gold mines, it will be much easier."

"However, the best thing is to establish market towns and supply points along the eastern coast of Leviathan, and go south step by step."

"Establishment must be established, but not the establishment of the court..." The official smiled and shook his head, and Xu Xiake nodded slightly.

Obviously, they all saw the clue from Zhu Youjian's reply.

Their King Qi seems to have decided to give up and settle here after knowing the difficulty of agriculture in Levia.

Once King Qi is not here, he will be a vassal, then this will undoubtedly be the place where the imperial court's unenfeoffed vassal kings will live.

"It will cost too much to reclaim Levia. I am afraid that it will take millions of people and decades to reclaim tens of millions of acres of good land..."

Xu Xiake couldn't bear it, but the official said: "This is the matter of the feudal lord, it has nothing to do with us and the court."

"It is better to suffer from this group of barbarians than to suffer from the common people."

"That's true..." Xu Xiake felt relieved, and then said to the official:
"I don't understand the matter of going to Beijing, so I'll leave it to you, Muzhi."

"Principal, please rest assured..." The official smiled and bowed in response, and after Xu Xiake said something on his mind, a smile also appeared on his face.

The two looked at each other, then took out the chessboard and Go, and prepared to play a few games, and the Siamese boy who was sent to the supply ship touched his arms at this moment, looking at the sea, he didn't know what he was thinking ...

　There is one more at eleven o'clock in the evening

　　
　
(End of this chapter)