Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 80 Under the Purple Mountain
In the carriage, Guo Ying said disrespectful words, but Zhu Yuanzhang didn't take it seriously. Instead, he chuckled:
"He wasn't scared by me, he was scared by himself."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the car window. Although he couldn't see anything, he could roughly imagine Zhu Gaoxu's appearance.

After saying this, he no longer discussed Zhu Gaoxu's affairs with Guo Ying, but instead talked about some things about Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and others;
"Don't talk about this, tell me some interesting stories about how you went north to fight with Tiande and the others. I haven't heard enough yet."

"Yes..." Seeing that he didn't want to continue, Guo Ying had no choice but to follow his words and talk about some interesting things on the Northern Expedition.

Although the two have known each other for many years, they couldn't keep up with their busy schedules, so they couldn't talk about many things.

Compared with Feng Sheng, Fu Youde and others, Zhu Yuanzhang was closer to Tang He and Guo Ying, although their abilities were not as good as the first two.

Not long after, hearty laughter could be heard in the carriage, and Zhu Gaoxu, who was following the carriage, was thinking about some of the things he had learned these days.

When he came to his senses, he had already followed the team through the Chaoyang Gate of the inner city and turned towards the Purple Mountain in the north.

When you come to the outer city, especially after crossing the moat and the city gate market town, you will see large rice fields and working farmers.

Perhaps because this road leads to Purple Mountain, even though it is only a rammed earth road, it is very smooth and has no potholes.

When the farmers in the fields saw the convoy, some bowed from a distance, and some simply turned their backs.

On crisp autumn days, with the gentle autumn breeze, the rice fields undulate like a yellow-green carpet, which is particularly beautiful.

"It will be harvested in a few days."

Xu Zengshou finished his work and returned to the big rice cooker. Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also looked at the rice fields and asked him.

"The rice is not completely yellow yet, but it is estimated that it will be completely yellow in early August, and then it will be ready for harvest."

"But it also depends on the weather. If God is kind and we can survive until the end of August, the harvest can reach two stones and seventy-eight dollars per mu."

As he said that, Xu Zengshou looked back at Zhu Gaoxu: "You didn't pay attention to these before, why are you paying so much attention now?"

What he said made Zhu Gaoxu's heart skip a beat, but Zhu Gaoxu quickly put on a smile:
"I have been dealing with more government affairs recently, and I feel more and more that it is difficult for the people. I also feel that what I did before is really ridiculous, so I am more concerned about farming."

Having said this, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the stone canals in the rice fields: "Are these canals built with money from the imperial court?"

"Of course..." Xu Zengshou said without thinking, "Not only in these places, more than [-]% of the canals in the country were built with money from the court and work by the people."

"But it's not easy to build. It's easy to build in places south of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. Once you cross the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, it will be difficult to build in the north."

"How do you say that?" Zhu Gaoxu asked curiously, but Xu Zengshou faced him with a confused look:
"You grew up in the north. Do you still want me to remind you of these things?"

"It's true that I grew up in the north, but I have never paid attention to farming before." Zhu Gaoxu couldn't laugh or cry. The memories he obtained from his predecessor were not complete, or his predecessor was simply too lazy to pay attention to them, so he retained very few memories in this regard.

"Well..." Although Xu Zengshou felt something was wrong, he still didn't have too much doubt. He just responded and explained:
"Most of the people north of the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers only know how to raise horses and herd animals, and have no knowledge of farming at all."

"Even though the imperial court had previously immigrated from Shanxi and Shandong to Beiping, Shaanxi, Henan and other places, many people still could not change Hu Feng. It was okay to let them herd, but it was difficult for them to farm."

"You don't even know how to farm?" Zhu Gaoxu was dumbfounded, but Xu Zengshou nodded and continued:

"Because they don't know how to farm, even if the court issued farmland, most of them sold the land to buy cattle and sheep for grazing. When the court imposed corvees and asked them to build canals and wells, most of them found ways to escape, so... "

Xu Zengshou was also very melancholy, and he didn't want to talk any more.

Not only him, but Zhu Gaoxu also felt a headache, but he could understand it very well.

Since Mongolia moved south, the people in the northern provinces have suffered bloody massacres. It is not an exaggeration to say that ten houses and nine empty houses were empty.Although the population briefly recovered in the early Yuan Dynasty, by the end of the Yuan Dynasty within a few decades, while the Yuan Dynasty aristocrats were struggling in the north, farmers in the Central Plains also revolted.

Henan, Shaanxi, Beiping, Huguang and other provinces were all attacked by peasant armies and Yuan armies, and their populations were once again depleted.

Today's Ming Dynasty, except for Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhang Shicheng's Jiangnan, which can be called rich, other places are simply poor.

This kind of poverty does not refer to food and daily life, but to culture and life.

As Xu Zengshou said, many people in the north do not know how to farm and can only live like nomads. Nomadism is one of these phenomena.

However, after he reminded him, part of the memory in Zhu Gaoxu's mind became much clearer.

In the memory of the predecessor, some of the people in Peking could only live as herders, and most of the people who planted crops learned from the military families who migrated from the south of the Yangtze River.

In the memory of his predecessor, he never seemed to care about the lives of those people. On the contrary, his father, mother and elder brother loved to hang out with them.

Either he takes his third son to ride horses and hunt, or he plays around in the house.

"Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Gaoxu, as long as you know a little bit about how to win over people's hearts, you won't be so virtuous by your eldest nephew..."

Zhu Gaoxu shook his head secretly in his heart, and at this time, a wooden whistle sounded beside him.

"Beep-"

Zhu Gaoxu was startled and looked sideways, only to see Xu Zengshou galloping forward on horseback.

Following his back, Zhu Gaoxu also saw a hill standing on the plain.

"This Purple Mountain...why is it like this?"

Zhu Gaoxu, who was on horseback, was slightly surprised, and his surprise came from the appearance of the Purple Mountain in this era.

In his previous life, he had also been to Nanjing and to Purple Mountain to see the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty.

In his memory, the trees at Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and Purple Mountain were lush and green, creating a scene full of greenery.

However, when the memory overlapped with the picture, the Purple Mountain that appeared in front of Zhu Gaoxu at this moment was bare. Although there was some green on the mountain, it was sparse and pitiful.

"What are you looking at!"

Xu Zengshou had already returned on his horse. Seeing Zhu Gaoxu staring blankly at the Purple Mountain, he couldn't help but pat Chi Huan's butt, causing Chi Huan to run forward a few steps, shaking Zhu Gaoxu back to reality, and then pulled him back. Reining the horse, he comforted Chi Huan with his hands.

"Why is this Purple Mountain so bare?"

After comforting Chi Huan, Zhu Gaoxu turned his horse's head and asked Xu Zengshou. Xu Zengshou also smiled when he heard this:
"From Nanjing City to the north, there is no mountain that is not bare."

"This Purple Mountain is quite good. The trees on the mountain have been planted for 12 consecutive years. If it continues for another seven or eight years, it will probably become a green mountain."

Xu Zengshou responded. At the same time, the window of the large vehicle was also opened. Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting in the car, looking towards the Purple Mountain with complicated eyes.

"Sister, I'm here to see you again..."

　The fifth update is over. It will be the fifth update at [-] o'clock tomorrow morning.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)