Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 399

"Clang... clang... clang..."

"Clap clap clap-"

On the first day of March, this was supposed to be a day for silk workers to worship Lei Zu and promote silkworms. However, due to the opening of the Beizhili Official School, this day has become a day worth celebrating.

The morning bell just rang at Maoshi, and in the towns of Beizhili, every household set up firecrackers one after another, and celebrated for their children amidst the sound of "cracking" firecrackers.

"Mom! I'm hungry..."

A seven or eight-year-old child dragged a rolling bookcase, stood at the gate of his yard, and looked into the yard aggrieved.

Hearing the sound, a woman walked out of the yard in a hurry, stuffed the white cloth bag in her hand into the child's chest, and urgently urged:

"Eat on the road, don't be late today!"

"Oh..." The little boy sniffed his nose, then pulled the tiger hat on his head, and dragged his empty bookcase towards the official school in Xuanbeifang, Nancheng.

Along the way, there were quite a few children dragging bookcases. These are all bookcases sold by the imperial store. Generally speaking, they are better than the bookcases carried on their backs.

The rollers of the bookcases rattled on the blue bricks of Xixie Street in Xuanbeifang. There were children dragging bookcases all over the street, but some [-]-year-old boys could also be seen.

Some bored people opened the door and leaned against the door, looking at the "mighty" army going to school, while others opened the windows on the second floor and lay on the window sill to look at them.

In short, the school-going army attracts all eyes wherever it passes.

Regardless of whether the heirs are over 15 years old or have no heirs, they are very concerned about how long the official school of the imperial court can run, and whether it will gradually fail to run like it did during the Wanli period.

It's just that their worries are unnecessary, because the imperial court has made great efforts to promote official learning.

The population of the capital city has been controlled at around 80 since the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty. By the Wanli period, the population of the inner and outer cities soared to 85.

Counting the population of the four bazaars outside the city, the total is close to 100 million.

However, with the construction of the east and west cities and the relocation of the entire family of officers from the local guards, the population of the capital suddenly soared to 120 million.

Afterwards, the five armies' governor's mansion was reformed, and the six armies fought separately. Many generals were promoted and transferred to the capital to serve, and they also brought their families.

Up to now, the population of the entire capital city has reached 130 million, while the population of market towns outside the city is still 22.

There are more than 780 million people in Beizhili, and the population inside and outside the capital alone accounts for one-fifth of Beizhili.

Of the 1506 million people, almost only 15 are engaged in agriculture, and the rest are day laborers, long-term laborers, or government servants.

Such a population not only makes it difficult to secure food in the capital, but also brings many governance problems.

For example, there are nearly 98 students in the entire North Zhili, and the capital alone accounts for a quarter of the number of students.

There are more than 380 government schools in Beizhili, and inside and outside the capital, there are [-] six government schools in one city alone, [-] in Nancheng alone, and eight in Xuanbeifang.

Each government school covers an area of ​​more than 1000 mu, and the school buildings can accommodate no more than [-] people. Of course, if there is a need, the open space can be used for construction.

The tiger-skin hat child and many students who are also the first government school in Xuanbeifang are on their way to the government school, but unlike other students, the tiger-skin hat child's father is not an ordinary person, but the general banner of the Northern Army Governor's Mansion who was injured and retired official.

After retiring from the military, he was assigned by the Dudufu of the Five Armies to the Bingma Division in the capital as the chief banner officer, with more than [-] people under his command.

Since school started today and the capital was under the emperor's feet, all the soldiers and horses in the capital went to work half an hour earlier to maintain order in the city.

After walking a few steps, the child in the tiger skin hat saw the pillar of his family going out early, and couldn't help but dragged the bookcase and ran to the other party:
"father--"

Seeing his father in a cloth mask, the little boy ignored the bookcase, let go of his hand and threw himself on the man's lap.

"I'm still dawdling here, hurry up and enroll me in an official school!"

Compared to the little boy's happy appearance, the Chief Banner Officer ruthlessly rubbed the little boy's head, laughed and scolded the little boy, telling him not to be late and to enter the official school quickly.

"Oh..." The little boy was scolded early in the morning, and he was wronged in his heart, and his face was also wronged. With a wronged face, he could only answer, and then dragged the box and walked towards the official school.

With his head down and dragging the box, he didn't walk very far when he bumped into a man in a round neck robe.

"Um..."

Clutching his head, it didn't hurt much, but the kid just felt pain, because he thought it would hurt if he bumped into something...

"Little student, if you complain about pain again, you will be late..."

Zhu Youjian, who was wearing a round neck robe, squatted down, helped the little kid put on the tiger head cap, and then helped him stand up.

On the contrary, the kid was very bold. Not only was he not afraid of the group of people following Zhu Youjian after he got up, but he gave him a "vicious" stare with aggrieved eyes.

Grievance and stare originally had two meanings, but the child actually showed it vividly, which made Zhu Youjian smile.

"Is this a compensation for you? I'm apologizing to you by buying caramel after class."

Zhu Youjian took out a copper coin and laughed at the kid in the tiger hat, but the kid in the tiger hat scolded immediately after seeing the copper coin in Zhu Youjian's hand:

"You are Chaoba (fool)!"

After cursing, he trotted into the official school dragging the bookcase, while Zhu Youjian couldn't laugh or cry with the coins in his hand.

What he had in his hand were copper coins and Daping coins. The child probably thought he was cheating, because one coin could not be worth ten.

As for the reason why Zhu Youjian took this Daping coin, it was also because he had just walked from the bank in Xuanbeifang.

The bank was not open, he just went to inspect it, because the workshop for making account books and passbooks was still under construction.

According to Li Changgeng's words, the factory will be put into operation in June, and then the machines will be distributed to the bank, so that the bank can process the account book and passbook.

Zhu Youjian is not in a hurry, because the mint is minting coins every day, and the current new coins are still somewhat insufficient.

Compared with the bank, he cares more about the official school.

Since Zhu Ciran couldn't study in government schools, Li Dingguo, who was his companion, naturally couldn't study in government schools.

This point makes Zhu Youjian a little regretful.

But thinking of Zhu Ciran's interest in machinery, Zhu Youjian felt that this matter was not so bad.

At least under his nose, Zhu Ciran still has to study all kinds of Chinese studies, political science, and war science honestly.

If he enters a government school, Zhu Youjian is afraid that this kid will fall into physics class, and he will not be able to pull him back.

"Your Highness, I'm afraid you need to know some news..."

Cui Yingyuan walked forward quickly from behind, and presented a piece of letter paper with both hands. Seeing this letter paper, Zhu Youjian knew what it was about without even thinking about it.

To him, official studies are very important, but in the eyes of others, the news last night is probably the most worthy of everyone's concern.

Knowing that his choice of concubine would bring about an uproar, Zhu Youjian hurried back to the capital early in the morning, leaving Zhu Youxiao still lying in bed in the Nanyuan Palace.

Things didn't go as he expected, there were countless people who wanted to climb the dragon and become the phoenix, and who wanted to stand on the sidelines.

With just the paper in his hand, hundreds of people's names appeared, and all of them were senior officials of the fifth rank or above.

On paper, most of the nobles are ready to climb the dragon and the phoenix, and most of the civil servants want to watch the show and stand in line.

The reason for this is naturally because of the unwritten rules of the Ming Dynasty, that is, after the crown ceremony of the feudal prince's wedding, most of them will be signaled to join the feudal clan.

Although all the officials knew that it was impossible for Zhu Youjian to become a vassal, they still wanted to see how the emperor would deal with this matter.

Most people take it as a joke, because everyone knows that Zhu Youxiao's power rests on Zhu Youjian.

However, if Zhu Youjian really leaves Jiufan, if he leaves today, all officials will celebrate with each other tomorrow.

When Zhu Youjian boarded the ship and went to Qi State, all the officials were about to start wooing generals.

In the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, apart from the king of Qi, there are only three families of Qin Qima who have the emperor's heart, and the three families are divided into two factions, namely the Western Army and the Southern Army.

The Western Army and the Southern Army are far away from the capital, with high mountains and long roads, while the Northern Army, the Eastern Army, and the Shangzhi Army are all descendants of King Qi. Once King Qi left, they were very embarrassed.

Therefore, all the officials basically guessed what the emperor would do. They just ordered that the country was unstable and that King Qi still needed to preside over the overall situation, and then they found an excuse.

This excuse can be a natural disaster or a foreign enemy, which is roughly the case anyway.

It's impossible to walk, it's okay to be a tortoise, this is the attitude of the civil servants at the moment.

Even though they all know that basic education is used against them and the gentry, they have nothing to do.

Zhu Youjian was very clear, so he glanced at it hastily and handed the letter back to Cui Yingyuan:
"Check out all the people, their family background, and hand over to Wang An well."

"Yes!" Cui Yingyuan responded quickly, while Zhu Youjian took a look at the official school in Xuanbeifang, and walked in as if no one else was there.

It is the same as Yanshan Academy. There are playgrounds, running tracks, corners, swordsmanship, archery, etc. inside the government school, as well as a library and student dormitories.

The dormitory is a two-story civil building, with sewage drainage, fire walls, floor heating and other heating facilities.

There are fourteen rows of dormitory buildings in Xuanbeifang No. [-] Government School, and there are several acres of open space beside it. Six rows of buildings can be built in the future.

Each row of dormitory buildings is divided into upper and lower floors, with twelve rooms in each row, 24 upper and lower rooms, each room has four people, and the space is [-] square meters, which is the unified standard of the country.

This is not because the court department is rich and powerful, but because there are many things that students need to place.

Personal bows and arrows, blunt swords, polo sticks, musical instruments, and clothing and so on, so personal space cannot be too small.

Housing prices in the Ming Dynasty were not high under the control of the government because Zhu Yuanzhang learned the lessons of the Song and Yuan dynasties.

For example, the acquisition of the more than 5000 mu of land by the Department of Justice would only cost [-] taels of silver.

If an individual buys a house, even at the foot of the imperial city, you can see the small courtyards in the Forbidden City, the price is only 20 taels, and the area is about half an mu.

According to the wages in the capital, even the lowest level of labor can afford it for ten years without eating or drinking, while some skilled craftsmen only need three years.

This is still at the foot of the Forbidden City. If it is like the three outer cities of the east, west, and south, a two-story building with two facades will cost no more than 30 taels of silver. Lifu can buy it for three years without eating or drinking, while craftsmen It only takes less than a year.

For the students, the per capita ten level is really not big.

The dormitory is like this, so the classroom can't be too small.

All the classrooms in the government school are built in the shape of "Hui", with an open space of about one mu in the middle, which is a place for relaxation.

There is only one floor of the classroom, which is made of brick and wood. Each room can accommodate 30 students, and the area is [-] square meters, which is relatively spacious.

Before the official school started, Zhu Youjian personally tested the sound insulation of some classrooms.

Since the thickness of the walls, glass windows, and blackboards are almost the same, the sound insulation is not bad.

For example, at the moment, when the students introduce themselves individually on the podium, Zhu Youjian on the wooden corridor can hardly hear the voices in the classroom.

Of course, if the whole classroom is reading aloud neatly, it can be heard very clearly.

"Masters, sons of civil servants, how many are enrolled?"

While walking slowly in the promenade to inspect, Zhu Youjian asked without answering.

Facing the question, Cui Yingyuan replied without hesitation: "There are less than 2000 people, and most of them are noble children. There are probably only... less than [-] civil servants."

"Heh..." Zhu Youjian sneered when he heard the number.

You must know that there are as many as [-] officials in Beizhili, and the [-] officials have nearly [-] children.

Under such a situation, many officials are still unwilling to send their offspring to government schools, obviously because they feel that the teaching quality of government schools is not good.

But Xungui, they were more or less beaten, and their memory improved.

As long as they listened to Zhu Youjian's words in the second year of Tianqi, they would not be so awkward now, unable to get up and down.

Now it seems that after discovering that the second generation has been abolished, many nobles put their minds on the third generation.

The children enrolled in this school are basically children of three generations.

This is not surprising, if the three generations of children can't make their mark, then the large number of "Uncle Mansions" will last for decades at most before they will fall into class.

Even the "Marquis Mansion" and "Gongfu Mansion" can't last long. After a hundred years, there will probably be only a few noble families, and most of them are scattered people who have lost their titles and received salaries.

"Didn't the nobles in the south send their children to go north?" Zhu Youjian asked, and Cui Yingyuan's words did not disappoint him:

"Give it off. Among the seven thousand honorable children, nearly four thousand are from the south."

The official school only opened in the north Zhili, which made the nobles in the south Zhili red-eyed, so as early as last year when the news was released in the twelfth lunar month, they had already arranged for their children to go north.

From this point of view, after Zhu Youjian's ten years of repeated kneading, this group of nobles has completely resigned to their fate and obeyed.

Zhu Youjian never wanted to completely kill the gentry and nobles. What he wanted was very simple, that is, to be obedient and follow the policies of Ming Dynasty.

As long as they are obedient, Zhu Youjian will not deal with them.

Just as Zhu Youjian wanted to buy land from responsible gentry, if the gentry was willing to sell, Zhu Youjian was also willing to sell, and he was willing to support them to go to Levia, Central Asia and other overseas countries to become capital.

It's just that his ideas are too advanced, and no gentry is destined to go the same way with him.

Since he didn't want to leave, Zhu Youjian had no choice but to drive them away.

The nobles are obedient, and Daming will not be stingy with the 10 taels of salary silver every year.

Daming can raise honorable men, but honorable men have to show some value, even if they can bring hundreds of low-level military officers to Daming steadily every year, this value is enough to satisfy the court.

It is a good thing for Daming if only one percent of the seven thousand noble children can become talented.

On the other hand, civil servants, if they have been standing still, Zhu Youjian will not show any pity when the flood of students participating in the imperial examination overwhelms them.

"Tell the Department of Justice that you can count the number of students enrolled in Beizhili next year. This rule can be maintained. Every year, the number of students in the next year will be counted in advance based on household registration."

Zhu Youjian reminded Cui Yingyuan that while Cui Yingyuan answered, he looked at the students who introduced themselves in the classroom, and then turned and left the official school.

He did not return to Prince Qi's Mansion, but took a walk in Xuanbeifang.

Due to the establishment of the Military Division and the Ministry of Criminal Justice, on the whole, some of the disadvantages of the capital are being corrected.

These disadvantages are basically divided into two categories, one is security issues, the other is health issues.

Among the public security issues, the largest proportion is nothing more than the local hooligans entrenched in the capital.

These local hooligans are either hunting porcelain in the outer city every day, or gathering people on the roads outside the capital to blackmail.

Zhu Youjian has learned specifically that the common people have a special title for these hooligans, called "Lahua".

The flood of lahua was basically during the orthodox years, after the quality of the Beijing camp declined.

As for why it is related to the Beijing camp, it is because the main force of the rogue group is basically military households, craftsmen and guard soldiers.

Relying on their backs to the Beijing camp, these people ran rampant in Beijing. In addition to asking the people for daily necessities such as flour and clothing, they also had non-essentials such as wine and sugar.

At the beginning, this group of people still used bitter tricks, saying that their family members were buried next to the war, but they had no choice but to beg.

Later, after Zhu Qizhen was reset, this group of people simply relied on their own identities to rob him directly.

Of course, not all military households in the guards are hooligans, they are more of a part-time small business, some selling noodles, selling sugar, selling buns and sesame cakes.

As for the craftsmen in the capital, they also run small businesses, such as opening a small hotel.

These people are basically a group of people who survived under the strict household registration management system during the social and economic rise of Jingtai and Chenghua.

Therefore, when Zhu Youjian abolished the military household and artisan household systems, they could use civilian households to do business and trade in an upright manner.

As for some local hooligans among them, they were arrested by the yamen servants of the Bingma Division, and all of them were sent to the cement field in the Yanshan Mountains to undergo labor reform for more than three years and less than seven years.

Without this group of hooligans, the security problem in the capital was immediately resolved. For example, the current Nancheng, which used to be the only outer city and the most chaotic area, is now very safe and peaceful.

Zhu Youjian was walking on the street, the pedestrians coming and going were chatting and laughing happily, and some vendors on the roadside paving were also sitting and doing business diligently.

When Zhu Youjian passed by a long street, he noticed that some yamen servants would come to some shops, and he had a bad feeling in his heart, and at the same time asked Cui Yingyuan;
"Street hawkers, what rules are the Ministry of Revenue managing them at the moment?"

Zhu Youjian's inquiry stopped Cui Yingyuan, so he could only turn around and call a Jinyiwei Qianhu who specialized in monitoring household officials to inquire.

This Qianhu is quite familiar with the management of the household department, so after hearing the question, he quickly explained:
"The Ministry of Households divides them into itinerant vendors, fixed vendors, and fixed shops. Itinerant vendors need to pay [-] Wen a month to the Yamen for a mobile tax and receive a business card before they can do business."

"If you are a regular vendor, you need to pay a stall tax of [-] cash per month to get a business card."

"Fixed shops are based on the type of business. Generally speaking, rice, wheat and grain shops pay one tael of cash per month, and shops such as gold and silver jewelry pay two taels of cash. The rest of the shops are different."

"These miscellaneous taxes are basically classified as city merchant tax, and the two county governments of Wanping and Daxing can collect city merchant tax of 3 to 20 taels in the capital every year, and Beizhili can collect less than [-] taels of city merchant tax. "

The Jinyiwei Qianhu confessed honestly, but Zhu Youjian frowned and said, "What about the other provinces?"

"This..." Jin Yiwei Qianhu hesitated for a moment, and then said:

"Although the Ministry of Household Affairs formulated it in this way, the total collection of this tax by the two Beijing and 120 provinces last year was less than 10,000 million taels, of which North Zhili and South Zhili paid three [-]+ taels."

"Huh!" Hearing this, Zhu Youjian snorted coldly, obviously very dissatisfied with the negative attitude of the provinces.

Whether this tax is collected or not is a question, or whether the people below fill their pockets is also a question.

But in the final analysis, the imperial court did not pay attention to it. In addition, the speed of the imperial court's control made the local area feel confident.

The population of North Zhili is only a quarter of that of South Zhili, and the urbanization is far less than that of South Zhili, but it pays more city business taxes than South Zhili.

In Zhu Youjian's view, nearly one million taels can be charged for just one place in Nanzhili, not to mention the populous provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

If the imperial court can transfer troops from the north to reach Jiangnan within ten days, then Jiangnan dares to act like this, and that is courting death.

Generally speaking, the control is still not strong enough. Although the Five Armed Forces Governor's Mansion has garrisoned troops in the local area, the number is too small to play any strategic deterrent effect.

But when the railway is opened to traffic, Zhu Youjian can make the merchants, gentry and officials in the south of the Yangtze River live in depression.

"The servants in the central government of the capital, are there any phenomena of bullying the people and extorting money..."

Zhu Youjian glanced at the two yamen servants who walked out of the gold shop with a smile, and asked Cui Yingyuan without looking back.

"This..." Cui Yingyuan had a headache. Although he knew that saying this would offend the Bing Ma Si, the Ministry of Punishment, and the local county government, he also knew that Zhu Youjian was very dissatisfied with him.

Lu Wenzhao was scolded by Zhu Youjian four times in ten years, and Cui Yingyuan was scolded by Lu Wenzhao at least four hundred times in ten years. He knew that Lu Wenzhao's status was not guaranteed right now, let alone him.

Therefore, even though he knew that he would offend people by saying this, he still had to say:
"Of course there are small things. This is not just in the capital city. This is the case with government servants everywhere. There are very few soldiers and horses. After all, they basically only patrol the main road and the city wall..."

"Small take and small take?" Zhu Youjian asked in a questioning tone, and then mocked Cui Yingyuan without waiting for an answer:
"Water drips through stone, day after day, even if you only take a few coins, you can make up a dozen taels in a year."

"This ten count is probably almost double their salary, right?"

"Patriarch Mingjian..." Cui Yingyuan lowered his head in response, and Zhu Youjian glanced at him, and said simply:
"Your people don't eat dry food. The imperial court spends millions of taels a year to raise Nanzhen Fusi. If you can't return valuable news to the imperial court, what will Long live think?"

"Yes..." Cui Yingyuan was sweating profusely, and nodded quickly:
"From now on, I will increase the investigation of various places, and bring this group of black sheep to justice!"

Cui Yingyuan responded humbly, but Zhu Youjian just glanced at him, then turned around and continued to wander.

Without wiping off his sweat, Cui Yingyuan hastily followed...

(End of this chapter)