Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 516 Raising the Bar
On the 13th of the 24th year of Apocalypse, Qi Jin, Duke of Fengguo, died of illness in Dingyuan Houfu, Guangzhou, at the age of 77.

In his life, he accompanied his uncles Qi Jiguang and Qi Jimei in bloody battles to wipe out the Japanese. The first generals ascended to Seoul.

After the defeat of Saerhu, he sold his property and volunteered to go to the battlefield. Under the turbulent situation in the first year of the apocalypse, he resisted the offensive of Houjin for Ming Dynasty, and gave Zhu Youjian the opportunity to launch the campaign to restore Liao Dynasty.

It can be said that without him, Zhu Youjian would have to postpone the destruction of Houjin for a few years.

It was him, Qin Bangping and others who defended Liaodong, and Daming had time for ZTE.

Therefore, when the news of his death spread to Beizhili, Zhu Youxiao decreed that he be buried with the ceremony of a prince, and posthumously bestowed on him as the king of Fengzhou, posthumously titled Wuxiang.

However, Zhu Youxiao was indifferent to Qi Jin's last request before his death.

The Jizhou mutiny can be said to be the most unwilling case in the history of the Ming Dynasty, except for the civil fort change, from the emperor to the officials and even the soldiers.

In order to cover up the person responsible for this incident, the civil servants could only blame the incident on the "historical grievances" between the emperor and the so-called "contradictions" between the northern and southern armies.

To make it clear, the Jizhou mutiny was directly suppressed by Wang Bao, the chief soldier of Jizhou, and Shi Xing, the minister of the Ministry of War, was the supporter.

The so-called Qi family army was actually collectively called the Southern Army before and after the Korean War, and the one who supported the use of the Southern Army was Song Yingchang, the right servant of the Ministry of War.

Regarding the process of the Jizhou mutiny, the records of the event during the Wanli period are still divided into two completely different directions.The "Records of Ming Shenzong", which represents the views of the central court of the Ming Dynasty on the Mutiny in Jizhou, criticizes the commander-in-chief Wang Bao for "wanting to make a big deal, hoping to invite rewards", and even describes this incident as "although Changping Xin'an's murder and surrender It is not an exaggeration to pit a pawn."

From the perspective of the cabinet and Emperor Wanli himself, the Jizhou Mutiny was a massacre of a vile nature. From another perspective of the incident, from the perspective of Sun Kuang, then Governor of Jiliao, and Yingxuan, who participated in the suppression, the matter seemed to be handled properly. Emotionally and rationally.

In their writings, they also tried to negotiate with Nan Bing, but broke up because Nan Bing insisted on asking for military pay.

Afterwards, the familiar Wang Bao deceived the Southern soldiers, and then ordered the slaughter of the Southern soldiers.

After beheading hundreds of unarmed southern soldiers, Wang Bao dismissed the rest of the southern soldiers, who only received half of the military pay that the imperial court promised them back then.

There was a big discrepancy between the records of Jizhen officials and the records of the central government regarding this matter.

Combining the political situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the main reason for such a big disagreement was likely to be caused by Sun Kuang, governor of Jiliao at that time, and Shi Xing, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, over whether the imperial court negotiated peace and paid tribute to Japan.

To put it simply, for the officials of the Ming Dynasty, the truth of the matter is not important, but the party struggle is important.

Shi Xing, who was then Minister of the Ministry of War, out of consideration for the interests of the Ming Dynasty itself, and based on his own knowledge of the Japanese military forces in North Korea and the situation in North Korea, Shi Xing, who was originally positive when sending troops to aid North Korea, turned his back on it now. In the past, it turned against continuing to fight in Korea and Japan.

Shi Xing believed that instead of continuing to consume the national power of the Ming Dynasty in North Korea, it would be better for the Ming Dynasty to make concessions on the issue of the relationship between the two sides and exchange tribute and negotiate peace in exchange for Japan's promise not to invade North Korea.

However, compared with Shi Xing, other ministers in the court advocated resolutely resisting the Japanese, so the two sides broke up unhappy.

Therefore, when Shi Xing received the news that the Southern soldiers were complaining about their wages, he did not deal with the memorial immediately, but dealt with it with a procrastinating attitude.

In this way, the matter of Nan Bing was pushed a little bit, until Wang Bao defrauded Nan Bing, and then led troops to suppress it.

In terms of cause and effect in the past, this matter was the fault of the court, but in this era, the court cannot be wrong, so even if the southern soldiers were owed wages, they could not make trouble.

As long as they complain about wages, it is a mutiny and can be suppressed.

The purpose of suppressing them is to make an example to the monkeys, to deflate the officials who used the southern soldiers and supported the main battle.

To put it bluntly, the Southern Army is a victim of party struggle, not a victim of the differences between the North and the South.

In short, this matter involves party disputes decades ago, and the events decades ago are too far away and too deeply involved, even if they want to investigate, they can't find anything.

Because having said that, Shi Xing, the mastermind in this case, was imprisoned by Emperor Wanli in the 25th year of Wanli, and died of illness in prison two years later.

Wang Bao, the commander-in-chief who mainly suppressed the southern soldiers in this incident, also died of illness after the Jizhou mutiny.

As for the other soldiers and generals who participated in the suppression, they were actually Southern soldiers, but their bloodlines were not as pure as the one that was suppressed.

Such a muddled account, it is too difficult to clear it up.

Not to mention that after this incident happened, Emperor Wanli himself also had a half-acquiescent attitude.

Qi Jin should know this. The reason why he asked Zhu Youxiao to investigate thoroughly was because he wanted to rehabilitate the southern soldiers who had mutinied in Jizhou.

But this matter is too involved, if Zhu Youxiao wants to rehabilitate the Southern Bing, that is to slap Emperor Wanli in the face.

What's more, if you don't make an example of such things as making wages, and some people deliberately follow suit in the future, can the emperor still govern the Ming Dynasty well?
Therefore, in the face of Qi Jin's request, Zhu Youxiao chose to remain silent.

However, his silence made the children of the Qi family in the southern army's governor's mansion feel dissatisfied.

Fortunately, after Zhu Youxiao noticed it, he still made up for it with an imperial decree, that is, to posthumously designate the 150 six soldiers who were killed in the Jizhou Mutiny as Lieutenant Zhaoxin of the sixth rank, and then posthumously confer the titles of the descendants of the disbanded Southern Army From Liupin Zhongxian Xiaowei, he calmed down the dissatisfaction of Qi's children.

During the whole process, Zhu Youjian didn't help a little, even though he knew that as long as he opened his mouth, the children of the Qi family would be honest in an instant, but he didn't do so.

He is very clear that he can no longer blindly regent and regent.

Although Zhu Youxiao's political ability is not top-notch, it is not bad among emperors, and his military vision is not bad.

In this incident, Zhu Youxiao did not help him, probably just to prove to the officials that even without Zhu Youjian, he is still the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.

He did a good job, which let Zhu Youjian know that it's time for him to hand over power a little bit.

Therefore, when the news of Qi Jin's death spread, the first thing Zhu Youjian did was to let Shen Tingyang of the Shipbuilding Department resign and let him concentrate on being his chief envoy in Jiugang.

As for the vacancy of the Shibo Department and the Shibo Envoy, he sent a memorial to Zhu Youxiao and asked Zhu Youxiao to fill it.

When this memorial was handed over to Zhu Youxiao, it was September 13th in the [-]th year of Tianqi.

Zhu Youzheng was on his way to Fangshan Nuange in the south by train.

Looking at the memorabilia in his hand and his brother's handwriting on it, Zhu Youxiao lowered his eyes and remained silent.

According to the customs of Daming, he is 29 years old this year, and he has also become the father of seven children.

Like him, his younger brother Zhu Youjian, who used to be inseparable from him, is now 23 years old and is about to become the father of six children.

"Ugh……"

Sitting on the train to Fangshan, Zhu Youxiao exhaled. He was sitting alone in a carriage, and no one knew what he was thinking.

If he wants to take power, this is a good opportunity, because the current Shibo Department receives nearly 400 million taels of tax money at sea every year.

Adding his internal money, he can hold 800 million taels of financial resources at once, accounting for one-tenth of Ming Dynasty's financial resources.

If he wanted to, he could just pick up a pen and write down the name of someone he could trust the officials with, but he didn't.

He put the memorial on the table, and half an hour later, as the train stopped, Wei Zhongxian carefully opened the door of the carriage, and then he got up and explained to Wei Zhongxian with no expression on his face:
"Return the memorial to the Qi Wangfu, and say that everything in the court will be supervised by the Qi Wang."

After all, Zhu Youxiao left the carriage, while Wei Zhongxian looked at the memorial and felt itchy in his heart.

"That's Shiboji..."

Wei Zhongxian had a toothache, and when he thought of Zhu Youjian, he immediately felt the feeling of being suppressed by someone's aura, and he could only reluctantly put away the small thoughts in his heart.

Holding this memorandum, when he walked out of the carriage, Zhu Youxiao, Zhang Yan and others had already got off the train and were about to take a carriage to the Nuan Pavilion of Zhongxia Palace.

On the contrary, Wei Zhongxian handed the memorial to Wei Liangqing with a face of pain after getting out of the car.

"Send this memorandum back to the Prince of Qi's mansion, and say "Long Live the King"

"This..." Wei Liangqing was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that the emperor, who seemed to be about to take power, could actually decline after deliberation when faced with the temptation of Shibosi.

Therefore, after he came back to his senses, he could only bow down and answer: "Yes..."

According to the emperor's will, Wei Liangqing sent people to take the memorials and words back in a hurry.

When this word was passed back to Prince Qi's mansion, Zhu Youjian was just as confused as Zhu Youxiao.

He sat in the hall without speaking for a long time, so Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen withdrew from the hall, and 13-year-old Li Dingguo also walked out of the hall with Zhu Cihong in his arms, giving Zhu Youjian his own space.

The three stood in the main hall of Chengyun Hall, looking at the closed doors and windows of the side hall, Li Dingguo frowned tightly:
"Your Highness has no intention of being in Daming, and Wan Sui has been reluctant to return to Beijing. Now His Highness handed over the power, but Wan Sui did not accept it. What is the reason?"

The 13-year-old Li Dingguo had some opinions of his own, but facing his words, Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen sighed and shook their heads.

Anyone can see that King Qi intends to hand over power, but Long Live has no intention of taking it.

On the surface, Zhu Youxiao did not return to the capital because he felt that his safety would not be guaranteed, but Zhu Youjian handed over power, and he refused to accept it, which made people unable to understand what the two wanted to do.

If the emperor really wanted power, he would take it quickly.

If you don't want power, then don't interfere too much in the government affairs of Prince Qi's Mansion.

Now the emperor does not want power, but wants to interfere in the government affairs of Prince Qi's mansion, which makes people puzzled.

"Long live to return the memorial, even His Royal Highness can't help it. You can't wait for His Highness the Crown Prince to tie his hair and then let him supervise the country?"

Wang Chengen looked worried, and the age of Shufa was 15 years old, and Zhu Ciran was only eleven years old, and even if he turned the years, he would only be twelve years old.

There are still three full years before he gets his hair tied. Is it possible that Zhu Youxiao will travel back and forth between Fangshan and Yanshan outside the capital for three years?
To be honest, Cao Huachun and others felt that this was useless work.

If someone wanted to kill Zhu Youxiao, no matter if he was in Fangshan or Yanshan, he couldn't escape.

On the contrary, if he is in the capital, as long as Zhu Youjian is around, no one can hurt him.

Now what he does is not like guarding against others, but like guarding against Zhu Youjian.

The emperor guards against the king of Qi...

If this kind of talk goes out, the people of Ming Dynasty will probably spit on it.

From the eyes of the common people, Emperor Tianqi and His Royal Highness King Qi have a very strong relationship, how could they be suspicious of each other?

Not only the common people, but also Cao Huachun and the others think so.

"Dingguo, come in..."

Suddenly, Zhu Youjian's voice sounded from the side hall, and Cao Huachun and others looked at Li Dingguo when they heard the words. Li Dingguo was also taken aback, but soon he hugged Zhu Cihong who was sitting on his arm to Wang Chengen, and walked towards He left the side hall and closed the door afterwards.

He turned around and saw Zhu Youjian sitting under the "General Map of Great Ming Kun Yu".

Since it was already October, the weather in the capital in winter was mostly gloomy, so the atmosphere in the whole hall was a bit bleak.

Zhu Youjian was sitting on the chair, looking straight at Li Dingguo. While making Li Dingguo's heart shudder, he couldn't help but stepped forward and walked only about three steps away from Zhu Youjian.

"Go forward..."

Zhu Youjian raised his hand to signal him to go forward, and Li Dingguo took two steps forward after hearing this.

In this way, there was only a table distance between him and Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian also took a good look at Li Dingguo.

Although he is only 13 years old, Li Dingguo is already five feet three inches (170cm) tall. In addition, he learned horseback riding and archery in the government, and he is busy with farm work when he returns home. His figure is a bit strong.

The northerner's tall nose bridge, thick eyebrows and big eyes are all well presented on his body, and he deserves the praise of "appearance and majesty".

"There are two months left, and I will graduate from the government school. Have you thought about which government school to go to?"

Looking at Li Dingguo who was raised by him, Zhu Youjian was filled with emotion.

"Your Highness, I want to go to Shuncheon Bingjiafu to study."

Li Dingguo's answer did not meet Zhu Youjian's expectations. The Shuntian Military Academy he was talking about, which used to be the Yanshan Military Academy, is currently the only official military school in Ming Dynasty.

In this regard, Zhu Youjian felt relieved. After all, as far as the current situation is concerned, the generals of Ming Dynasty are gradually getting old.

On the side of the civil servants, Sun Chuanting, Hong Chengchou, Yang Wenyue, Wu Aheng, Shen Tingyang, Lu Xiangsheng and others can still support a Taiping cabinet for more than ten years, but the military generals are not sure.

Without the tempering of so many wars, it is hard to say how many of those generals in the late Ming Dynasty in history can emerge.

As for Li Dingguo, judging from the abilities he has shown so far, he dare not say that he can surpass his historical self in military affairs, but he can definitely crush his historical self in politics.

"The military school is very good, but you should know that I hope you can become a good person."

Zhu Youjian has great expectations for Li Dingguo, and he is also a child raised by himself.

"The kid may not be able to do it..."

Zhu Youjian's words made Li Dingguo bow his head, which is not surprising, after all, he is just a 13-year-old boy.

But regarding this, Zhu Youjian shook his head: "Being close to Ran'er will be good for you in the future."

"Your Highness..." Zhu Youjian's words made Li Dingguo's mood sink to the bottom.

He had always thought about going to Qi State with Zhu Youjian, but now Zhu Youjian wanted to keep him in Daming and support Zhu Ciran.

"Oh..." Zhu Youjian sighed, leaned on the chair and waved his hands: "Forget it, it's too early to say this now, you should study hard."

"Yes..." Li Dingguo breathed a sigh of relief seeing Zhu Youjian stopped the topic, and raised his hand in return.

"Call Hua Chun and Cheng En to come in."

Zhu Youjian explained to Li Dingguo, and Li Dingguo also slowly withdrew from the side hall upon hearing the words, and called Wang Chengen and Cao Huachun in.

"Your Highness..."

The two entered the side hall and saluted immediately, but Zhu Youjian went straight to the point: "How is the matter in the industrial zone?"

"Two of the twelve industrial zones have already been put into production, and the third is almost halfway through. Currently, the annual output of tractors is more than 8000 units." Cao Huachun responded quickly after hearing this, and explained where the tractors went.

"By September 3000th, the Armament Academy had sent [-] tractors to Qi State, Beishan sent [-] tractors, and the remaining [-] tractors should be sent to Beishan and Jiugang respectively. In addition, Nanzhou was also distributed. Five hundred."

"After the twelfth lunar month of this year, Guochao's tractors should be able to produce [-] units."

"As for the number of places, there are currently [-] in Old Port, [-] in Beishan, and [-] in Qi."

Cao Huachun succinctly stated the number of steam tractors in various places, and Zhu Youjian relaxed a lot when he heard the words, and asked, "What about other production capacities?"

"The production of cement, steel, bicycles, clocks, textiles, minerals, feed, and chemical fertilizers has all increased by more than [-]%. In addition, the Agricultural Research Institute has produced the phosphate and potash fertilizers that your Highness mentioned."

"Three chemical fertilizer factories in Yunnan have been put into construction, with as many as 2000 machines installed. It is estimated that after the start of production in April next year, the annual production capacity will reach [-] tons, which can be used on [-] million mu of arable land."

"The owner of the local factory said that in about three years, the output can reach 24 tons, which can use 8000 million mu of arable land."

Cao Huachun explained to Zhu Youjian with a smile, as if congratulating him.

However, this news is indeed congratulations. After all, chemical fertilizers can affect an extra mu of land, and Daming's grain can be increased by forty or fifty catties.

If the 8000 million mu of land are all used with chemical fertilizers, including the soil and chemical fertilizers of other cities, Daming will have nearly 5000 million mu of arable land that can be used with chemical fertilizers, increasing production by [-] to [-] percent.

It doesn't sound like much, but if the yield of 5000 million mu is increased by 6000 to [-]%, it can produce [-] to [-] million more shimi and wheat, and can feed tens of millions more people.

"God bless Daming..."

Zhu Youjian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after he probably knew about the Yunnan Fertilizer Factory's contribution to Daming when it was put into operation.

But after recovering, he also asked about the railway: "How is the construction of the Kunzhan Railway?"

Although Yunnan is suitable for the construction of chemical fertilizer plants, transportation is a big problem. Although Hong Chengchou has more than 300 million labor reform workers, Zhu Youjian is still worried that the chemical fertilizers will not be shipped out after they are manufactured.

"There are many mountains in Yunnan. Although Hong Jinglue worked hard to manage the southwest, the Kunming-Zhanjiang Railway has only been built from Kunming to Beihe County, Beihe Prefecture. It will take about eight months to reach Jiaozhi Port."

"As for Champo in the south from Cochin, it will take about five years."

Cao Huachun knew what Zhu Youjian was worried about, but he also quickly mentioned the traffic between Yunnan and Jiaozhi, signaling Zhu Youjian not to worry.

Hearing this, Zhu Youjian also nodded slightly, and by the way, he also thought of how to use this batch of chemical fertilizers.

Needless to say, Zhu Youjian would rather use this batch of fertilizers in Jiaozhi and Northeast China as long as the transportation is available.

The reason why the two capitals and thirteen provinces were not chosen is mainly because every province in the next Ming Dynasty, except Yunnan, suffered from drought once or twice. It would be a waste to use Yunnan’s chemical fertilizers in these two capitals and thirteen provinces. .

In contrast, Jiaozhi, where there is no drought, has become the two major granaries of Ming Dynasty in the future.

After being exploited by labor reformers, the cultivated land in Jiaozhi has approached 4000 million mu of cultivated land. In the case of feeding more than 4000 million Han Chinese and more than 4000 million local people, these [-] million mu of cultivated land can be used to transport [-] million stones of rice to the outside world. .

Not to mention whether the people in the south of the Yangtze River can be rescued, it is also a merit to be able to rescue the people in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian.

If these three provinces can eat enough cochin rice, then the 5000 to 7000 million meters of wheat grown on the [-] million mu of land in these three provinces can be transported to the south of the Yangtze River as the rations of tens of millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River for the people of the south of the Yangtze River to survive.

As for the remaining 4000 million mu quota, it must be handed over to the four northeastern provinces.

There are now more than 4000 million mu of cultivated land in Liaodong, which is not a problem compared to breaking through [-] million mu in three years.

As for the other three provinces, according to the current reclamation situation, the people in three years' time should be basically self-sufficient.

As long as the Central Plains survives for another one or two years on the basis of three years, the three provinces outside the customs will be able to feed back the north, and the construction of the Northeast Railway will have been initially completed by then, so the famine in the north will stop.

As for the densely populated South...

"So far, what is the immigration situation in the south?"

Zhu Youjian stretched his brows, and Cao Huachun also bowed respectfully when he heard the words:
"As expected, after the drought in Nanzhili, Huguang, and Zhejiang stopped, many local hungry people returned to the fields to continue digging, and refused to move again."

"Only in Jiangxi, there has been a severe drought for two consecutive years. More than 2000 million mu have been affected, and more than 800 million mu have not been harvested. As a result, many more people have asked to relocate."

"Many more people?" Zhu Youjian became interested, and Wang Chengen also interjected and said with a smile: "Returning to Your Highness, there are more than 300 million more people!"

After Wang Chengen finished speaking, he explained that before the drought, Jiangxi had a population of more than [-] million on the Yellow Book, but the two consecutive years of severe drought caused many landlords and gentry to go bankrupt, and they could not afford to support their tenants. , they had to release the tenants.

The release of the gentry and landlords, together with the people who took the initiative to hide, increased the population of Jiangxi by more than 300 million people, reaching more than [-] million people.

Many of the more than 300 million disaster-affected tenants requested to relocate. In just half a year, Jiangxi issued a total of 72 yuan in relocation iron cards.

72 people requested to relocate. With Daming's shipping strength, although it could be done, it would take time.

Therefore, since the second half of the year, the ships of Huangdian have been escorting the migration. With the progress of relocating 10,000+ people per month, they have continuously taken people away from Jiangxi to Yingzhou, Jiugang, Luchuan, Jiaozhi and other places.

And because of this, populations everywhere are booming.

By September, the population of Han Chinese in Jiugang and Jiaozhi provinces exceeded 300 million, and the population of Han Chinese in Luchuan exceeded 40.

Counting Nanzhou, the entire Southeast Asia, the population of Han Chinese in Daming has reached more than 670 million, and it can be said that they are migrating at a rate of 10,000+ every year.

Right now, the entire Old Port and Nanzhou have been sinicized, and if Luchuan and Jiaozhi can continue to maintain it, it only takes 20 years for the proportion of local Han people to reach [-]% or more.

In 20 years, Zhu Youjian will be in power for most of the time, that is to say, even if the local area cannot be sinicized on a large scale by then, the Han people can be regarded as the main ethnic group in the local area.

Counting the Northeast region, it only takes ten years for the Han people to unify the dynasty, and I am afraid that it will be raised to 24 provinces in the two capitals, with an area far exceeding that of the Yuan and Qing Dynasties.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian's mood improved a lot, and he waved to Wang Chengen: "Let's pass on the meal."

"Yes!" Cao Huachun and Wang Chengen smiled one after another when they saw Zhu Youjian passing on the meal, and the stone in their hearts settled down a lot...

　PM update 05:30

　　
　
(End of this chapter)