Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 426 Crazy for Death
"Sister, I will leave you here. The next time I come again, it will be my time to accompany you..."

In the dark underground stone chamber, when Zhu Di said this while holding Queen Xu Zi Palace with both hands, he raised his hand to wipe his tears, took a deep breath, turned around and walked out of the stone chamber.

After passing through the long tomb passage, when he walked out completely, the green Tianshou Mountain also appeared in their sight.

The Shinto and Minglou combined with the surrounding trees make the entire Tianshou Mountain look much better than the Purple Mountain in Nanjing.

Although Zijin Mountain began to plant trees in the 14th year of Hongwu, and Xiaoling Guards were set up to guard Zijin Mountain to prevent people from cutting down Xiaoling trees.

However, because most of the trees planted in Purple Mountain are precious trees that grow slowly, even after thirty years, the trees in Purple Mountain are not as lush as those in later generations.

But compared to Zijin Mountain, Tianshou Mountain is much better.

Originally, Beizhili had a sparse population. Even if trees were needed for firewood, the quantity needed was not large. Moreover, there were few people around Tianshou Mountain, so not many trees were cut down.

In addition, since the construction of Beijing City, Zhu Gaoxu has ordered people to plant trees, and has banned the felling of trees in Tianshou Mountain in the north. Therefore, the greening of Tianshou Mountain still maintains a very high level.

I believe Empress Xu will be very happy to be buried in such a place.

Of course, the ban on logging only treats the symptoms, not the root cause, because people don't want to cut down trees, but wood is needed for houses and firewood, so cutting down trees is a last resort.

"There are only 200,000 people and it is so lively. It seems that Beijing will not be worse than Nanjing in the future."

They entered Andingmen with their wages in their pockets and smiled, planning to squander part of it in Beijing and then take most of it home.

Some civilian husbands are receiving wages and disbanding. This phenomenon is due to the rules for recruiting civilian husbands formulated by Zhu Gaoxu.

Most of the forests in later generations began to grow safely after electricity, gas, and coal entered people's homes.

If Beijing had been built in the same way as Nanjing, then who knows how many trees in the northern Yanshan Mountains would have been cut down. This would not be in line with Zhu Gaoxu's idea of ​​planting trees to prevent sandstorms.

"Beijing's inner city is enough to house half a million people. If the population grows in the future, the outer city can be built in the south. Anyway, now that there is concrete, building the city wall will not consume much food."

In comparison, the formula of cement is constantly being improved, its strength is also increasing, and it is not as expensive as glutinous rice mortar. It can be stored longer and is easier to store.

In addition to the civilians in Modong, the number of auxiliary soldiers recruited by Bohai and Liaodong was also as high as 120,000.

Not only that, after the capital is moved, many officials from Jiangnan will also move with the imperial court, which will bring hundreds of thousands of people to Beizhili.

Wang Yan, who had been with Zhu Di for many years, stood in front of Minglou and bowed. Zhu Di nodded in response, and then led Wang Yan and the others out of Tianshou Mountain.

Except for border areas, the distance for recruitment of civilians in the interior should not exceed one thousand miles. Many civilians in the Northern Expedition Army were recruited in the Qufu area. Assisting the army to reach Beijing was the end of their journey.

Therefore, after mass production of cement, it is more convenient and cheaper to use it as a building material than glutinous rice mortar.

He shook the reins of his horse and entered the Anding Gate under the guard of thousands of cavalry.

Passing through the corridor, what appeared in front of him was a courtyard under unified planning and construction, as well as a five-story Chinese-style high-rise building facing the street.

Of course, except for the houses facing the street that can be used as commercial products, which are built with five floors and made of cast iron concrete, the rest of the residential buildings are basically made of concrete, bricks and tiles.

Houses can be built with concrete, which not only saves wood, but also saves food.

"His Majesty……"

While riding on the cement road in the streets of Beijing, Zhu Di asked Wang Yan, who was riding a war horse beside him, and Wang Yan also replied:
"A few days ago, my servant asked Guo Ji, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. He said that there are more than 3,076,000 people in Beizhili, but most of them live in the south. Shuntian Prefecture has more than 373,000 people. , including more than 200,000 people in Beijing."

You must know that Beijing during this period had been invaded by wind and sand many times, so Zhu Gaoxu issued an edict banning logging in the Tianshou Mountain area.

The only food problem was alleviated by the development of Northeast China, and Zhu Di also heard about the arrival of Dongzhou crops in Nanjing.

"Those Dongzhou crops, what did the second child specifically say?"

Zhu Di nodded proudly. Only by moving the capital to Beijing would Jiangnan gain the advantage of being a political and economic center.

Without electricity, gas and coal, many forests would disappear.

After arriving at Baicheng Guard, the local people will add 20,000 civilians to help the army continue to move north, and then continue to add 40,000 civilians in Taining and Hecheng until the army arrives at Zhenlu Guard.

Using glutinous rice mortar is strong, but it is a waste of food.

The next day, they rushed back to Beijing before noon. By this time, a huge team of tens of thousands of troops and 100,000 civilians had gathered outside Andingmen in the north of Beijing.

These high-rise buildings are not traditional wooden buildings, but imitation Chinese-style high-rise buildings built with pig iron and concrete.

If you want to solve these problems, you must solve these problems.

However, judging from the lively situation outside the city, the 120,000 civilians had probably been gathered, which made Zhu Di, who returned to Beijing, very satisfied.

Zhu Di asked Wang Yan, and Wang Yan replied without hesitation: "His Royal Highness said that Taixue is cultivating potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes and other crops."

Moving the capital to Beijing is essentially to divide the investment that Jiangnan received as the political center and transfer this investment to the north.

The wages of twenty cents a day made many people who received their wages smile with joy.

In addition to the wooden structure of the cornices, helmet tops and extended double-eaves brackets, the main structure of these high-rise buildings is still cast iron concrete.

Of course, there are also many civilians who are unwilling to return to Qufu and want to continue voluntarily signing up. For this part, the military scribes happily accepted it.

The northern route of the Northern Expedition this time was still through Daning, but after arriving at Quaning Guard, they had to face more than 500 miles of no-man's land before they could reach Baicheng Guard.

As for firewood, coal mines in Shanxi and Beizhili can be mined, and the price of coal can be lowered than that of firewood. Then firewood will change from a daily necessity to a fungible product.

In other words, the whole outside the pass can gather 180,000 civilians, while within the pass only 120,000 need to be mobilized.

"Beijing is quite lively. How many people are there now?"

In order to recruit 120,000 civilians, Zhu Di was delayed in Beijing for nearly half a month.

Naturally, such a building cannot be as antique as Nanjing, but it is a trend that must be followed in the future.

"As long as good varieties can be selected and cultivated, and then promoted starting from the Bohai Sea, tens of millions of acres of cultivated land in the Northeast can be used, especially in the mountainous areas of the Southwest."

"However, this process of cultivating improved varieties may take several years, and promotion can take ten years."

After Wang Yan finished speaking, Zhu Di stroked his beard with satisfaction: "I feel more at ease with my second son in the south."

"You ask Ji Gang and Chen Ying to continue. Anyone who dares to impeach and move the capital will be punished by me."

"In addition, inform the three armies that the army will set out to suppress the prisoners in half a month. There must be no mistake."

"My slave, take your orders!" Wang Yan bowed in agreement, and then he and Zhu Di headed towards the palace.

Not long after, when they arrived at the Forbidden City in Beijing, they found that the appearance of this northern Forbidden City was not the same as that of the Forbidden City in Nanjing, mainly due to the color difference and scale of the buildings.

Due to Zhu Gaoxu's ban, many metallic dyes were banned, and Kuai Xiang could only use plant dyes to paint multiple times.

However, vegetable dyes are not as thick and solid as metallic dyes, so many buildings in the Forbidden City in Beijing are lighter in color and not as heavy.

Zhu Di was not very happy about this, but when he thought that his second son had said that inhaling too much of those metallic dyes would cause death, Zhu Di gave up the idea of ​​changing the dyes.

Of course, the Forbidden City in Beijing is not all disappointing. It also has its own advantages. The first advantage is its size.

Due to the use of concrete and pig iron construction methods, the main support of many palaces in the Forbidden City in Beijing does not rely on wooden gold pillars, but cast iron concrete stone pillars poured with concrete.

Compared with wooden gold pillars, the advantage of concrete pillars is that they can be increased in height. Therefore, the height of many palaces in the Forbidden City in Beijing is much higher than that in the Forbidden City in Nanjing.

As the height increased, the doors and windows also began to increase, providing more lighting.

Walking in the Fengtian Hall, which is fifteen feet high with the platform base, Zhu Di would feel a sense of pride no matter how many times he walked in. Especially when he sat on the golden platform and looked down at the guards in the hall, this sense of pride made him even more proud. Ecstatic.

"It's really nice to see the small mountains at a glance."

Zhu Di reluctantly withdrew his hands from the rosewood dragon throne, and finally went to the Qianqing Palace in the harem to rest with satisfaction.

When he happily moved into the Forbidden City in Beijing, Zhu Gaoxu from the south was standing in a bright classroom, using a rough microscope in his hand to observe a thinly sliced ​​corn kernel.

"According to the description of the soldiers, this corn has too many branches. If artificial intervention can be done to reduce the branches and control the branches within a reasonable range, the corn produced should be slightly larger than the current corn. "

Standing next to Zhu Gaoxu, Wang Bendao, the minister of the Department of Agriculture, was talking to Zhu Gaoxu about corn.

This kind of simple human intervention has been very popular in the Ming Dynasty, but there is no such technology in Dongzhou, so the local people basically stay in the period of slash-and-burn farming.

In comparison, the agricultural technology of the Ming Dynasty was much superior. After all, China has domesticated many crops over thousands of years. Even rice, which had a low yield at the beginning, has been domesticated into a "high yield" of two or three stone per mu. crop.

This kind of domestication still requires no microscope and various research foundations. Wang Bendao of the Department of Agriculture and others have deep memories of many crop breeding intervention methods in their minds, so they naturally know how to improve breeding.

"Specifically, your Department of Agriculture and the Bachelor of Agriculture will work together. I hope we can get a good result."

Zhu Gaoxu does not expect that the current scientific knowledge will be able to come up with any hybrid methods, but he is still looking forward to cultivating improved varieties and slightly improving the taste and yield of corn.

He has tried the taste of corn from this era just now. It cannot be said to be unpalatable, but it is definitely not delicious, and it is even slightly bitter.

If the taste cannot be improved, then corn may really only be used as feed in the Ming Dynasty, and due to the low yield, it may not even be used as feed. People will prefer sweet potatoes with high yield.

After all, both sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines are edible, as long as you master the methods of detoxification.

"Okay, you should study hard and try to select good varieties within the next few years."

Zhu Gaoxu moved his eyes away from the cells of corn kernels on the microscope, feeling a little proud in his heart.

Microscopes that can observe cells were not discovered by the British until at least the Kangxi period in the late seventeenth century. However, the Ming Dynasty had already mastered this technology more than 250 years in advance.

In addition, Ming Dynasty was two to three hundred years ahead of other countries in this era in scientific research and basic knowledge in various fields. The knowledge Zhu Gaoxu brought has been emptied out, so now he mainly focuses on cultivating basic science and mathematics.

In addition to practice, some of the Taixue scholars who graduated from Taixue and those who have made meritorious achievements also specialize in theory.

Although it seemed to outsiders that these people who studied theory were just squandering the court's money, they also slowly improved many of the topics proposed by Zhu Gaoxu and cracked them theoretically bit by bit.

All of this made Zhu Gaoxu very happy.

Of course, what makes Zhu Gaoxu even more happy is the steam engine laboratory after obtaining rubber.

"Okay, let me go to the steam engine first and take a look. You can study it yourself."

Zhu Gaoxu gave instructions and took Yishiha towards the steam engine laboratory.

It took him an hour to walk into the courtyard where the steam engine was being studied, and saw Dr. Wang Fu, who transformed into a craftsman and led the bachelors to install the steam engine by hand.

"I see you, Your Highness!"

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu's arrival, Wang Fu immediately led his fellow scholars to bow and salute.

"Okay, I'm not here to see you salute. I want to know if you have solved the transmission problem of the steam engine after getting the rubber."

Zhu Gaoxu came forward and took a close look at the steam engine made of brass. Upon hearing this, Wang Fu also took off his glasses and introduced to Zhu Gaoxu:
"This version of the steam engine has many more functions and better performance than the previous steam engine."

"After steam is introduced into the cylinder, the valve is closed, and then cold water is poured into the cylinder. When the steam condenses, it creates a vacuum, and the air pressure on the other side of the piston pushes the piston..."

Wang Fu said a lot, and Zhu Gaoxu himself was a little confused. Although he invented these words, why was it that he couldn't understand them when they were put together now?
"Just tell me the efficiency. Also, can it be used?"

Zhu Gaoxu interrupted Wang Fu, and Wang Fu nodded quickly after hearing this: "The efficiency is much higher than before, because the heat resistance of rubber is stronger than Eucommia gum."

“If a pump were driven by a rod connected deep into the shaft in a mine, the motion of the piston of the steam engine would be transmitted through the rod to the piston of the pump, thereby pumping water out of the well.”

"This time the power is greater than before, which can save more manpower and make mining in many coal mining areas easier..."

Wang Fu didn't talk about what Zhu Gaoxu wanted to hear, which made Zhu Gaoxu a little disappointed: "Can it drive a four-wheeled vehicle?"

"This..." Wang Fu was a little embarrassed. It was obvious that they hadn't reached that level of research yet.

"Okay, I understand. This thing doesn't need to be implemented in the mining area for the time being. I need you to continue to study it."

"The steam engine it has now is far from the one in my mind, but your contribution can still be affirmed."

Zhu Gaoxu looked back at Yi Shiha and told him: "Each of the Taixue who participated in the project will be rewarded fifty guan, and Dr. Wang Fu will be rewarded 200 guan."

"My slave, I accept your order." Yi Shiha agreed, and Wang Fu and others also bowed happily: "I thank you for your kindness..."

"Let's go." Zhu Gaoxu shook his head and left the steam engine laboratory, then got into his carriage.

He did not go to other laboratories, but asked Yishiha to send someone to inquire about the progress.

It is a pity that science is not achieved overnight. Whether it is gunpowder, agriculture, industry, or mathematics, chemistry and other practical and theoretical laboratories, there are basically no major breakthroughs.

After listening to everything, Zhu Gaoxu leaned on the car, closed his eyes and rested his mind, and signaled Yi Shiha to send him back to the palace.

On the way back to the palace, Yishiha looked at His Highness' disappointed look. In order to make him a little happier, he said:

"Your Highness, Chen Chang renovated all three cities in Donghai Mansion, and also sent Meng Brother Timur and his family to Nanjing. Take a look..."

Yi Shiha asked cautiously, but Zhu Gaoxu said indifferently: "Just punish him with death."

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu was not worried about any foreign invasion at all. He had the basic foundation of primary school, middle school and Taixue, plus the Nanyang and Xiaoxiyang waterways that had been developed by the Ming Dynasty. He was less worried about foreign invasion than whether the Han people would take advantage of him in the future. Lost my brain.

As New Deal officials came to prominence, the trend of resorting to violence began to intensify.

The main reason for this situation is that most New Deal officials are between the ages of 20 and 40.

Officials of this age group will naturally become arrogant if they have a certain amount of power in their hands.

In addition, the quality of the New Deal officials itself is not high, especially the thousands of officials recommended by Zhu Gaoxu after the Jingnan crisis. The quality is even more worrying.

In the past eleven years, not even half of the thousands of officials recommended by Zhu Gaoxu in secret have been retained. They were either investigated for corruption or impeached and exiled for seeking personal gain with power.

This was the case even if Zhu Gaoxu did not target them. If Zhu Gaoxu also started self-examination, then these thousands of officials would have to be reimbursed at least 90%.

"How many people in the New Deal areas have signed up for the imperial examination this year?"

Zhu Gaoxu closed his eyes and rested his mind, and at the same time he was confused when he asked.

Yishiha has worked with Zhu Gaoxu for more than ten years, so he naturally knows that he cares about these things, so he gets up an hour early every day to take a general look at everything in order to answer Zhu Gaoxu.

"Your Highness, there are about 760,000 people, but the quality is worrying. Many of them signed up for the imperial examination after graduation last year and have not studied the classics and history at all."

"These people probably won't even be able to pass this year's child exam..."

The classics and historical books mentioned by Yishiha were also part of the imperial examination. However, under the new imperial examination policy, the proportion of classics and historical books was decreasing year by year, while the proportion of policy essays was increasing year by year.

However, even if compared with policy theory, students from Jiangxi, South Zhili, Zhejiang and other places are not bad, and can even still dominate the New Deal students.

If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't conducted the "North, South, Middle School" divided imperial examination, Zhu Gaoxu wouldn't dare to imagine how the New Deal students would be squeezed out.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu glanced out of the car window and saw many students who had just returned home from school.

They were walking on both sides of the official road in the outer city. They were eleven or twelve years old, talking and laughing as they walked home, with a cross-body bag containing books on their shoulders.

As time passed, when the carriage entered the inner city, Zhu Gaoxu also heard the crackling sound of firecrackers, and couldn't help asking: "What day is it today? Can firecrackers be set off in the city?"

"Back to Your Highness, today is the day when the children's examination results are announced. Once you pass the examination, you will be a scholar (scholar)."

“Although under the New Deal, many of the benefits previously enjoyed by students were cancelled, but if you want to take the imperial examination, you must first obtain the status of a student.”

Yi Shiha explained, and at the same time thought of his previous words: "Of the 760,000 New Deal students who applied for the Children's Examination this year, I'm afraid not even 10% will be able to obtain student membership status."

"Yeah." Zhu Gaoxu nodded. He didn't think that New Deal students would be treated harshly. After all, officials were selected through the imperial examination, and officials needed to have sufficient abilities.

If you don't have enough ability in the imperial examination, then apply for the civil service examination. After all, the current civil servants are constantly updating their quality, and there is no shortage of drama about survival of the fittest.

"I hope that a group of talented New Deal officials will be released next year, which will make it easier for the court to govern Guangxi."

With a sigh, Zhu Gaoxu saw the carriage stopped at the door of Donghua Gate.

He got out of the car and took a carriage to enter the palace city, and returned to the Spring Harmony Hall not long after.

However, when he came to Chunhe Hall, Xia Yuanji, the Minister of Civil Affairs, was waiting at the gate of the hall for a long time.

"Your Highness, minister..."

"Go in and talk."

Xia Yuanji was about to bow from a distance, but Zhu Gaoxu interrupted him and motioned for him to enter the palace before talking.

The three monarchs and ministers walked into the hall. It was not until Zhu Gaoxu took a seat and gave Xia Yuanji a seat that he signaled Xia Yuanji to speak.

Xia Yuanji is now in his mid-forties, but his physical fitness is still very good, but at this moment, his face shows a bit of sadness.

"Your Highness, Guangxi Right Counselor Xie Jin has not yet arrived at the Chief Envoy Si Yamen..."

"Huh?" After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, then recalled the time when Xie Jin was ordered to rush to Guangxi to take office, and then frowned and said:
"I remember that the court asked him to leave before the tenth day of September. It is already February seventeenth. More than five months have passed. What has he been doing?"

"This...he..." Xia Yuanji couldn't say much, so he could only hand over a memorial.

Yi Shiha took the memorial and handed it to Zhu Gaoxu without thinking.

Zhu Gaoxu opened it, and the content was the impeachment of Xie Jin by the inspection censors of the New Deal faction of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

In the past five months, Xie Jin took a boat from Nanjing to Chongqing, and then took the land route to Guiyang. Along the way, he left a lot of poems and articles about visiting the mountains and rivers, and he often interacted with officials and people in the places he passed.

Now Xie Jin can only enter the territory of Guangxi. I am afraid that he will not be able to reach Si Yamen, the chief envoy of Guangxi, before March.

"Issue an order that he must arrive at the Governor's Office to report on his duties before February 25th!"

Zhu Gaoxu also admired Jie Jin's broad-mindedness, and at the same time silently praised his death-seeking behavior.

"Your Highness, won't you punish him?" Xia Yuanji was speechless. He thought Zhu Gaoxu would severely punish Xie Jin.

"I have always been lenient in governing the country. Although Xie Jin made mistakes, I am still willing to forgive him."

Zhu Gaoxu was very generous, but this was not his intention.

Although he could punish Jie Jin now, the guilt was not enough to kill Jie Jin.

But it doesn't matter. Judging from Jie Jin's current performance, he will definitely stir up bigger troubles in the future. When the time comes, he doesn't have to ask himself, the old man will find a way to deal with this guy.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu touched his mustache and couldn't help but wonder what bigger hole Jie Jin would poke in the future.

Of course, he was more curious about how the talented Zhu Di would behave after knowing what Xie Jin had done, and he was even slightly worried.

"Old man, don't be so angry with this guy..."

(End of this chapter)