Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 627
"It's strange for me to say that group of natives, they will fight us when they meet, and lose all courage immediately after losing."

"That's not their problem. It's just the way they are in this area. The natives who are defeated in war are often killed. We just let them work in labor for ten years, which is considered benevolent."

"Speaking of which, the learning ability of this group of natives is still good, comparable to that of our Han people."

"It's really fast to learn official Chinese, and so are Chinese characters. Some flags are quite similar to ours. Maybe they really are tribes that migrated thousands of years ago."

"Maybe, come on! Have a drink first!"

"Cheers!"

At the house of Ruan Jin, the sixth household of the fifth lane, third street, Hubenfang, Xijing City, the front yard of the four-fen courtyard was very lively at the moment.

The 17 people including Zhang Huangyan and Ruan Jin sat in front of a large table made up of four tables. The dishes on the table can be described as rich.

Stir-fried mashed potatoes, fried sweet potato chips, pickled cabbage, sour bamboo shoot chicken, wind-style chicken, steamed grass carp, garlic sprouts bacon, cold beef, chilli beef mince, shredded goose powder soup, three delicacies soup, minced pepper mutton...

A total of twelve dishes were eaten on the table, and there were two large pots of rice wine on the table, which looked like at least seven or eight catties.

The cost of ingredients and drinks for these dishes cost Ruan Jin more than 200 Wen.

Although he talked about asking Zhang Huangyan to pay the bill, it was only a joke. When he actually paid the bill, he paid for it himself. Even if Zhang Huangyan insisted on paying, he stopped him.

"Such a table of meals, in Daming, might cost seven or eight hundred Wen..."

While eating, a younger team was speaking.

He joined the army last year, so his rank is a bit low. As a captain, his salary is 100 taels per year.

Such a high salary was beyond his imagination, and Qi State gave him this opportunity.

"Shang Xing, don't worry, now that we have come to Qi, no one will starve to death."

"Yes, Captain Xiaoqin, please relax."

"You boy, mother-in-law, mother-in-law, according to what I said, you find a mother-in-law to have ten or eight children here, so that you can be worthy of the spirit of your parents in heaven!"

The team is only 20 years old, named Qin Shangxing, who is from Qingzhou, Shandong.

Originally, there were five people in his family, including parents and brothers, including six.

It's just that his two elder brothers died of starvation in Huaibei that year, and then Xu Hongru's White Lotus Sect rebellion broke out in Shandong, resulting in the unfortunate death of his other elder brother.

His parents brought him up with great difficulty. As a result, in the 14th year of Tianqi, there was a severe drought in Shandong, and the price of rice rose sharply. His father worked day and night as a tracker to make money.

In the 20th year of Tianqi, his mother also died of illness because of missing her dead husband and children.

So far, Qin Shangxing has become a lonely family.

As the drought continued, he simply sold the land to the government, and took the food stamps to the state of Qi by boat.

It happened that Qi State recruited soldiers in the 21st year of Apocalypse, so he enlisted in the army and took [-] acres of enlisted land, and now he is handing over the land to a neighbor next door to cultivate.

The 21 mu of enlisted land and the one mu of land allocated this year amount to 27 mu of land, which can produce [-] shi of rice and wheat every year.

Once the rice and wheat are sold and taxed, [-]% is Qin Shangxing's rent, and [-]% is the output of neighbors.

Since tractors are used for farming outside Xijing, farming is much easier than before. Even if there is only [-]% of the grain, there are still people rushing to rent it.

With the output of more than [-] stones of rice and wheat, Qin Shangxing can still earn eleven or two taels of silver every year.

Even if he didn't become the team leader, his life was quite comfortable, not to mention that now he was promoted and became the team leader, with a salary of 100 taels a year.

Qin Shangxing is very satisfied with his current life, and he also smiles back his concern for his colleagues who are "swearing".

Seeing his appearance, Zhang Huangyan took a sip of the rice wine, not knowing what to think.

Those who came to Qi State, except that most of the officials were idealists and had no shortage of gold and silver, the common people basically had no choice but to leave their homes.

Among the people who came to Qi State, before coming to Qi State, which one was not a white body without three taels of silver?

Now that they have come to Qi State, as long as the people who have lived steadily for more than three years, not to mention three taels of silver, even 30 taels of silver, they can grit their teeth and give it out.

Because of this, the people of Qi State regard "distribution of origin" as the most severe punishment in Qi State.

"Tuk-tuk-"

"Is Mr. Ruan at home?"

When everyone was comforting Qin Shangxing, there was a knock on the door suddenly.

Hearing the knock on the door, Ruan's father and Ruan's mother who were eating in the backyard also came out, and Ruan Jin got up quickly to open the door.

It was dusk right now, and there was still some time before the curfew. Ruan Jin didn't know who came back home to find someone.

He came to the door and opened it, and there were three neighborhood officials in gray uniforms from ninth-rank officials.

They didn't expect Ruan Jin to go home, so they were stunned when they saw Ruan Jin, and then they saw many people wearing mandarin ducks and jackets along Ruan Jin's back. The official came back to his senses and said:
"Ruan Dalang, it's just a coincidence that you came back. We came here to inform the people of Xijing City about the happy events."

"What happy event?" Ruan Jin asked curiously because he had only drank half a catty of rice wine and his head was still clear.

Not only him, even Zhang Huangyan and others in the room couldn't help turning their heads to look at the good news.

In front of everyone, the chief officer of the ninth rank said with a smile:
"Early this morning, the Changshi Mansion issued an order to reclaim a lot of land this year, so each citizen of Qi State will be divided into one mu of new land."

"I came here this time to exchange three acres of land between your family and the neighbors."

Ruan Jinxi smiled when the Chief Ninth Grade official told him a piece of good news:

"It's another three mu of land! Good thing! Good thing!"

"Come, come, come in and have a drink."

Ruan Jin happily invited the three officials, but the three waved their hands quickly when they heard the words:
"Forget it, I still need to tell the news from door to door, so I don't want to disturb you."

"This is the land deed after your family changed the land. The three mu of land deed must be collected."

As he said that, the chief officer took out a thick stack of land deeds from his arms, found three new land deeds and handed them to Ruan Jin.

Seeing this, Ruan Jin laughed from ear to ear, and the three officials also left after telling the news, and went to the neighbor next door to Ruan Jin to tell the good news.

Holding the three-acre land deed, Ruan Jin smiled like a split watermelon, but everyone in the courtyard was not much better at the moment.

The naturalized people laughed heartily and drank three cups.

Zhang Huangyan, who didn't know the land rules of the Qi Kingdom, asked curiously, "Won't it be a waste of manpower to change the land every year?"

"Hey..." Ruan Jin laughed at Zhang Huang's incomprehension, handed over the Tian Qi to the second elder who was grinning from ear to ear, and then sat beside him and explained to him:

"This land deed, each family has a "wooden mold seal". These seals are placed in the Fangshi Yamen of each fang. It’s enough for the officials to stamp it.”

"This process is not complicated. As for how to recognize the fields in private, that is all discussed."

"Although his family exchanged three acres of land for my family, but his family can also get other new fields at the same time."

"It sounds troublesome to change fields from house to house, but if the most troublesome step of field identification is left to the farmers themselves, then it will not be troublesome."

"You dislike the trouble of changing fields, because you don't know the difficulties of the poor."

"If you give him three acres of cultivated land and let him return two acres of land at the same time, you can get one for nothing, do you think he will be happy?"

After all, Zhang Huangyan came from a family of officials and gentry, and he didn't understand how much wealth one mu of land could bring to farmers.

Changing fields, returning fields, planting new fields...

This sounds very troublesome, but for the five or six acres of newly cultivated land for five or six people in each household, who would dislike trouble?

Zhang Huang thought it troublesome, so Ruan Jin laughed that he didn't know the peasants' suffering.

As he said this, Zhang Huangyan also reflected on his thoughts.

But when he was reflecting, there were some neighbors singing all around.

"When the sun rises in the east, the king of Qi will drive the country and the country will be established. The wars and chaos in the world will be pacified, and the people will be hungry and hungry..."

Zhang Huangyan was very familiar with the singing voice. It was "Qi Feng Taikang Le" compiled by unknown folks imitating the "Book of Songs".

This Fu is not very good, it is very saliva, but because of enough saliva, it gradually evolved into a folk song.

There are many other "saliva Fus" like this, all of which were performed and sung spontaneously by the common people. After being recorded, they were selected and compiled into "Qi Feng".

"Qi Feng" is rich in content, including ballads of war and love, oppression and resistance, customs and marriage, ancestor worship and banquets, praising the king and satirizing the king, etc.

"Taikangle" is a folk song that can best express the gratitude of the people of Qi State to Qi Wang Zhu Youjian, and singing this ballad on the day of dividing the fields is probably the only time when the people of Qi State can boldly express their gratitude .

"The common people sing in peace, the barn is spacious and there is enough food, the soldiers guard the land and sing, and the officials rule the country..."

The long singing, lingering in my ears...

Listening to the sound of "Tai Kang Le" in Xijing City at dusk, the four people in Changshi Mansion walked out of the high-rise building and looked down at the entire Xijing City, feeling an indescribable feeling in their hearts.

"Sure enough, it's still the most comfortable to go back to my own home!"

Looking at the faint cooking smoke over Xijing City at dusk, and the singing singing in his ears, Huang Long called Qi State "home".

With the same idea as him, there are also Sun Yingyuan and Man Gui who arrived in Qi State for a month.

The three of them regard Qi as their home, at least the people of Qi respect soldiers and officials, and there are not so many intrigues in the temples of Qi.

Whether it's because the Qi State is too small and no conflicts have occurred, or because the Qi State has few people so the conflicts are not obvious.

In short, the current state of Qi has given the three of them a "hometown" that is warmer than that of the Ming Dynasty.

Feeling this kind of comfort, even Huang Long, who is over 40 years old, can't help but have the idea of ​​fighting for Qi for another [-] years.

He is like this, let alone Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan.

Seeing the appearance of the three of them, Xia Yunyi, who walked out together, knew that most of her mission had been completed.

The three most difficult people all accepted the Qi State, let alone the other arrogant soldiers who stayed in Daming.

For the rest, it's up to King Qi...

"Mom... I'm so hungry..."

"Hey... it's our turn soon."

At the same time, Zhang Huangyan and the others were still drinking and partying, but the people in Datong Prefecture, Shanxi were starving to death.

The dry and cracked riverbed has not yet been flooded. Although it has rained a few times in Datong this year, it has come and gone in a hurry, and there is no way to keep water.

The weather in Datong in the early morning is gray, and the people in the city are wearing clothes that have not been changed in years, and their faces are only numb.

They walk around the city like walking dead, busy with their own livelihood.

Those who have no ability to survive gather in the porridge sheds around the gates of the city, begging for a bowl of porridge to hang themselves.

There are not a few people like this, and there are no less than a thousand people under the Qilin sect in Datong New City.

Among the more than 1000 hungry people, the elderly can still have tattered clothes to cover their bodies, and those five, six, seven or eight-year-old dolls are basically wearing adult clothes, not even trousers.

"Didn't it mean that Datong can still persist? Is this called persistence?"

Inside the Qilin gate tower, Zhu Youxiao looked at the group of hungry people in scanty clothes, and couldn't help questioning Zhang Mingzhen, the magistrate of Datong.

Zhu Youjian and Lu Wenzhao stood aside without making a sound.

Regarding this, Zhang Mingzhen, the magistrate of Datong, also calmly explained: "Long live, this is already an excellent situation."

Zhang Mingzhen's answer was a bit bold. For Zhu Youxiao, who couldn't tolerate any stains on his "Governing the Prosperous Age", if Zhang Mingzhen couldn't explain why, then his assignment was probably a certainty.

"Long live, Datong is the driest place in Shanxi. There are neither big rivers nor large rivers. Some small rivers can't support hundreds of thousands of people."

"I said that I can still persist because there is sufficient food in Shanxi right now. As long as I wait patiently for the drought to recede, the people will be able to live and work in peace and contentment immediately."

"Long live is the lord of the world, it is human nature to want the common people to have enough food and clothing, but the conditions of Datong Mansion are just like this."

"At present, there are not a few silver taels owed by the imperial court. It is a blessing for the people of Datong to have thick porridge to drink. I really dare not burden the imperial court any more."

"Besides, even if the imperial court allocates money, there is still a severe drought. Even if the money is sent, it will not be enough to buy things. It is better to transport food."

"As for food, the Datong Mansion just received [-] shi of wheat from Beizhili last month, and it's still enough for now."

"In the end, the clothes of the people have already been dispatched by the household department, but they have not yet arrived."

Zhang Mingzhen explained to Zhu Youxiao why the Datong Mansion didn't play to him. After hearing the explanation, Zhu Youxiao frowned, but didn't say anything more.

He turned to look at Zhu Youjian, hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Brother, this drought..."

"According to the astrology, it is estimated that the drought in the north will end this year." Zhu Youjian took the initiative to answer without waiting for him to finish speaking, and at the same time looked at the people under the city gate:
"Datong has no less than 200 million mu of arable land. Once the drought is over, more than 160 million mu of irrigated and dry fields can resume production."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he turned his head to look at his brother Zhu Youxiao, and said seriously:

"Currently, Guochao has four industrial zones with an annual output of 24 tractors."

"If these tractors are used to restore production after the drought in the north and south, it can restore more than [-] million mu of arable land."

Zhu Youjian's remarks were astonishing. No one thought that the number of tractors had reached this level.

Although it is only the initial version of the tractor, the efficiency of arable land is not as terrible as that of later generations, but the quantity has undergone a qualitative change. The annual output of 24 tractors is enough to allow the Ming Dynasty to continue its national fortune for a hundred years.

If these machines are used to reclaim new land, Daming will have to increase the cultivated land by nearly 500 million mu every year on the basis of the original increase.

"How many tractors does Guochao have now? How much land is reclaimed each year?"

Zhu Youjian looked at Lu Wenzhao. He asked on purpose, using Lu Wenzhao's words to appease Shanxi's people.

"Long live, Your Highness..." Lu Wenzhao bowed back knowingly:
"Guochao currently has more than 62 tractors, which can reclaim more than [-] million mu of new land every year."

"Of the 24 tractors this year, 16 are shipped to Qi, and the remaining 78 are used domestically. The number of tractors can be increased to more than 600, and nearly [-] million mu of arable land can be reclaimed."

Qi developed rapidly, but Ming was not bad either.

It's just that after the development of Qi State, it is easy to reflect that Daming cannot intuitively feel the changes because of its large size.

For example, the cultivated land in Qi State went from nothing to more than 300 million mu in ten years, which is a change from zero to more than 300 million mu.

What about Daming?Ten years ago, there were more than 4000 million mu, and now it is more than 4000 billion [-] million mu. The total amount is very large, but the increase is not much compared to the population.

The difference between Qi State is that the population is too small and the resources are too much. For Qi State, the population is the most important resource.

Because of the lack of population in the early days, even if Qi State could afford tractors, no one used them. This is why Jin Xuan and Xia Yunyi urged Zhu Youjian to open immigration.

If Qi State had a sufficient population from the beginning, the current amount of cultivated land would probably already be tens of millions of mu.

The reason why Qi's cultivated land has increased so much in the past two years is because of the continuous influx of people, and this trend has not yet ended.

This momentum is very strong, but for the current Daming, this momentum is already a bit too strong.

Especially when Zhu Youjian said that the drought would subside soon, and Lu Wenzhao said that Qi State would buy [-] tractors this year, the faces of many accompanying officials in the tower changed.

Under the severe drought, too many people are negative assets, because the people need relief from the court, so letting them move can be regarded as reducing the mouths that eat food from the court.

But if the drought ends, the people will be positive assets.

And there is still a lot of land in Daming that needs to be recultivated. That year alone, the annual output of 10,000+ tractors may be more than 10,000, and [-]+ tractors need to be controlled by people.

The more fields are cultivated, the more people will multiply and the more taxes will be paid.

Therefore, once the drought is over, the population migration will be an unbearable pain for Ming Dynasty.

Even though the state of Qi would pay one tael of relocation silver for every commoner who migrated, but that one tael of silver was nothing more than the tax money of the people for several years.

The officials communicated with the link, and immediately subconsciously looked at Zhu Youxiao, who is the emperor.

What disappointed them was that Zhu Youxiao's expression was calm, without a trace of worry.

Officials don't believe that Zhu Youxiao doesn't know the link!

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao's expression can only be boiled down to his feelings for Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youxiao had seized Zhu Youjian's power many times, especially in the fifth year of Tianqi when Donglin and Qi Chuzhe Xuankun were all defeated.

However, Zhu Youxiao's choice surprised everyone. He chose to help his younger brother and destroy the eunuch who was still obedient.

The destruction of the eunuch party is a good thing for Daming, but not for Zhu Youxiao.

It can be said that since the eunuch party was destroyed and Wei Zhongxian was "closed" by Zhu Youxiao, Zhu Youxiao has no chance to fight Zhu Youjian.

His throne depends on Zhu Youjian's face, including himself.

Seventeen years have passed since this opportunity, and now, as the Qi Palace is relocated to the Qi State and its power is weakening, the East Palace is gradually gaining momentum. The officials also believe that Zhu Youxiao will not choose wrong again.

It's just a pity that they also said that they made a mistake in their judgment, and Zhu Youxiao still wasn't going to restrain his younger brother.

Maybe a hundred years from now, his descendants will scold him for cultivating a monster-like powerful vassal of Qi, but he knows that, not to mention the population, even his throne is given by his younger brother.

This is the result of his finally letting go after so many days of entanglement.

He no longer worried that Qi would be stronger than Daming, but chose to let nature take its course.

"younger brother……"

Zhu Youxiao suddenly opened his mouth and looked at Zhu Youjian with mixed feelings.

"Before the drought is over, the relocation needs to be done properly..."

Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth to set the tone for the immigrants, which made the surrounding officials at a loss for words, not knowing what to say.

They wanted to remonstrate, but King Qi was standing beside him, and the people in Prince Qi's mansion would miss him if he spoke, so they could only look at each other with helplessness in their eyes.

"Brother, lead the decree..."

Zhu Youjian bowed to accept the order with his hands together, feeling very uncomfortable.

How could he not know that the relationship between Qi State and Daming would be difficult, but he couldn't cut off the development of Qi State by himself.

If the Qi State does not develop, how can he convince the arrogant soldiers of the Qi Palace who are still in the territory of Daming?

If they don't leave, Daming will still be in turmoil.

If you want them to leave, you can only give them the status and power of a powerful country.

To be honest, Zhu Youjian sometimes admires his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang, and of course he admires him more.

I admire him for cleaning so many problematic civil servants and military generals without blinking his eyes, even if they once fought side by side with him.

It is very difficult for Zhu Youjian to do this.

He knew that as long as he dared to do something, a civil war would break out in Ming Dynasty. Even if the scale of the civil war would be brought under control soon, that was not what he wanted.

The people of Ming Dynasty have suffered from drought for more than ten years, how can I let them suffer from the war again?
With the passage of time, Zhu Youjian understood Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, but he also knew the consequences of Liu Xiu's actions, so he couldn't ignore the arrogant soldiers because of the people.

To end with a compromise between the two parties and go to Qi State, this is the best way Zhu Youjian can think of.

"Brother, don't worry too much, you should put your body first."

Looking at Zhu Youjian's frown when he bowed, Zhu Youxiao didn't know his brother's difficulties.

My younger brother and myself have never been able to control everything as we like.

As long as you are a person, whether you are a trafficker or an emperor, there are times when you need to compromise.

That's all Zhu Youjian's review of hundreds of officials, and Zhu Youjian's review of generals.

"Let's go, I've finished reading Datong, please ask my brother to take me to Taiyuan to have a look."

Zhu Youxiao squeezed out a smile, hoping that his brother would not be too worried.

Seeing him trying to liven up the atmosphere, Zhu Youjian also squeezed out a smile:
"I dare not refuse what the imperial brother wishes..."

(End of this chapter)