golden scales

The two eras of Chongzhen and Longjing may be the era most yearned for by civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty.

As far as civil officials are concerned, the Ming Dynasty expanded its territory year after year, annexed vassals almost like crazy, and attacked Mengta and Wala, creating an extra county or even a prefecture every month.These places need officials to govern, so that as long as they can read and write, they can eat imperial food.

For military attaches, the national policy of the Northern Expedition persisted until the third year, and the Ministry of War gave more establishments, and 80.00% of the officers' positions were vacant, so there was no need to worry about their own promotion.In particular, Ming's tactical weapons and equipment were not something the Mongols could resist at all, and there was no suspense in winning the battle.

For the common people, life may not be very comfortable.

According to the "Huang Ming Bulletin", the people of Daming got rid of the extreme poverty line in the third year of Longjing, and all of them entered the line of food and clothing. It was so beautiful that it was almost unbelievable.For this reason, the "Shilin Newspaper", which has always sang against Taiwan, deliberately went deep into the border areas of Shanxi, Shanxi and Gansu, but it did not find any poor families.

Since everyone can have enough to eat, why is it not comfortable?

Because under this dazzling halo, all the extremely poor families were forced to relocate to Hetao, Liaoning, Haixi, Taiwan, Australia, Annan-now the establishment of the Cochin chief envoy has been restored.

Scholars who support this approach believe that since some places are too impoverished to feed their people—some places haven’t rained for several years, and people can only drink a sip of water a day, let alone wash—the state pays for their relocation. , This is the eternal virtue.

This kind of view is mostly spread among herdsmen officials, because after they left, they found that if they didn't leave, they could only die in the local area.There is simply no other way to solve the problem-is it possible to make it rain?Everyone knows that praying for rain is just a psychological comfort, and it can't be taken seriously.

However, there are also many people who express their opposition, thinking that the plot of this hometown should be understood.Even if they die of thirst and starvation, they are seeking benevolence and gaining benevolence.The imperial court used coercive means to send them to the frontiers and wild lands almost in exile. This is not a benevolent government at all, but a tyranny!

Zhu Cihong didn't mind this kind of voice, but those who said such things were mostly idlers who didn't have resources.In this country, only those with military and people's livelihood resources are qualified and able to influence national policy.As for those noises.The right is to give them an outlet to vent their excess energy.

And once these people enter the officialdom and guard one side, they will immediately change their minds for the livelihood of the people.Or for the sake of their own political achievements, they escorted the poor people under their rule to the repatriation point designated by the court.

Under today's technical conditions, large-scale resettlement will definitely not be as happy and beautiful as the "Emperor Ming Bulletin" advocated, especially the people who go to Taiwan, Australia and Jiaozhi. Although most of them are southerners, they will still Died of endemic diseases and miasma, this kind of "labor pain" may not be relieved until the third generation of immigrants.

However, large-scale population migration, as well as strict immigration and exile standards.But it has brought social stability, almost to the point of not picking up lost things on the road-of course, this also has a lot to do with the phishing law enforcement adopted by the police department in order to complete the indicators.

Dilution of Ming's population.As land prices fell further, it seemed that the farmers continued to cultivate the middle and low-grade fields. They often spread a handful of the most viable alfalfa seeds in the fields, and then let them fend for themselves.If there is a good harvest, in addition to feeding the livestock at home, it can also be sold.It's also an extra income.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn, which were once only planted in the corners of wasteland, have now begun to occupy large tracts of land in a majestic manner.

Although their usefulness is no longer the original life-saving food.

Time flies.Zhu Cihong finally waited for the winter solstice under a series of good news.Many places still regard the winter solstice as the beginning of the new year, for Zhu Cihong.The winter solstice marks the end of a year of hard work.

In the three years of Longjing, the amount of money issued has finally been able to meet the needs of the vast land. Of course, this is also due to the contributions of North Korea and Japan.Daming imported a large amount of banknote paper from these two countries, and the quality was no worse than that produced by Daming itself, but the quantity was even greater.

As long as the banknotes can be stabilized, Zhu Cihong doesn't have to worry about domestic silver reserves.People in later generations only care about the banknotes in their hands. Who cares about the gold and silver in the treasury?As long as everyone forgets about gold and silver, then Daming will have a weapon to use in the external financial war.

Because Europe is still on the gold and silver standard now, and there is no sense of financial defense at all.It is not realistic for Ming Dynasty to send troops to fight there, but it is not difficult to plunder them bloodlessly through finance and trade.

After this important matter was over, half of Zhu Cihong's mind was put aside.

The remaining half is for the Supreme Emperor to go on tour.

Chongzhen and Zhou Hou waited anxiously for another year. Fortunately, there were emperor grandsons in the palace who could tease them, so they didn't feel bored.

"It's been another year, haven't you finished your weather forecast yet?" Zhou Hou urged Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong's main excuse for delaying Chongzhen and Zhou Hou was "weather forecast".In the beginning, we only collected meteorological information to find out the meteorological laws of various places, such as temperature changes, dry seasons and rainy seasons, and rainfall.According to Zhu Cihong, only by mastering this information can Nan Xing be safer and more comfortable. This is the filial piety of the emperor's son, and I hope it can be fulfilled.

In fact, the Meteorological Bureau was established to guide agricultural cultivation, and also to prevent local officials from indiscriminately reporting famines, using the sky high to deceive the imperial court and defrauding the relief food.

As for the forecast itself, it is purely based on experienced farmers and elders, with extremely low reliability, and it is also a work of "putting on airs".

"The climate problem has been solved, but my son thinks it would be better if we go south next year." Zhu Cihong said.

Zhou Hou was not a firm-willed person, so Zhu Cihong immediately diverted his attention and asked, "Why is it better?"

"My queen, next year the imperial court will introduce a big machine in the capital, it's worth seeing." Zhu Cihong laughed.

Zhou Hou had no interest in this, pursed his lips, and blinked for a long time, but his eyes had already flew out obliquely.Chongzhen was very curious about what kind of machine his son had made, so he kept asking.

"It is a plow machine driven by a steam engine. There is an iron hook under the belly of the car. After piercing into the soil, the plow machine starts, and the iron hook naturally plows out a row of field ridges. It can do twice as much work as cattle plowing in a day. "Zhu Cihong said.

In the field, two oxen plus a strong laborer can plow two or three mu of land in one day.If the workload is increased, the cattle will not be able to bear it.Now that the steam engine is replaced, although the plowing is slow, the plow is deeper, and there is no need to stop and rest, as long as the coal is continuously added, it can continue to work.

The reason why the output is only double is that the field is not big enough, and the steam plow machine eats coal and water, and it often breaks down.

"As long as there are two people, even a woman can control it." Zhu Cihong said.

Chongzhen was very excited when he heard this, and said repeatedly: "It's so good, it's so good. Let's discuss about Nanxing after seeing this plow machine."

Wang Chengen, who was on the side, cried inwardly when he heard this: The servants were pestered by those merchants all day long to ask when they were lucky, as if they had cheated them of their money.I beg the emperor to spare the slaves, let's end this experience as soon as possible!

Of course Zhu Cihong agreed.

In fact, the place where the steam plow really needs to show its talents is still in the black land of Haixi.

The land is vast and sparsely populated, and the permafrost has accumulated over the years. It is still wasteland, and the cost of manual reclamation is too high. Using machines to reclaim wasteland is the most cost-effective option.What's more, the advantage of the current steam plow machine is not obvious. In a familiar land like the North China Plain, it may be outmatched by cattle. Although cattle have to rest, they will not suddenly lose their chains.

Waiting for spring plowing next year is just to use a plow machine to make an experimental field near the capital to see the effect.

Although the steam locomotive can walk now, the speed is too slow, and it will completely collapse if it carries more things.After all, Ming scientists are no strangers to agriculture, so thinking of using its own weight to plow land and roll roads, it can be regarded as making the best use of everything.

After the promotion of mathematics education, the improvement of the steam engine has made gratifying progress, and the failure rate and power have made great progress.

As for whether His Majesty the Supreme Emperor will be disappointed after seeing it, that is his own business.Anyway, Zhu Cihong himself didn't expect this steam plow machine to solve the problem of Ming's labor shortage in an instant. This must be a long process that lasted several years, or even more than ten years.

The labor force on the land will not be completely liberated because Daming has not yet invented the harvester.They still need to work in the fields during the harvest season to compete with the weather.The only improvement is that Xiangyong has an extra month of training time every year, and the combat effectiveness of the militia has increased a bit-this training intensity has surpassed the three major battalions of the capital after Wanli.

Everything is moving forward slowly and orderly, and more and more farm children put down their hoes and step into the classroom.The vast majority of them entered technical schools to learn wood and iron skills and become future industrial workers.Children from rich families who have more advantages than them choose the Faculty of Law and Politics to embark on a broader career.

The scale of Xinglin University has also expanded year by year, training more doctors for the entire empire.It's just because Chinese medicine has too high requirements for practicing doctors, so the medical schools in various provinces can only train doctors at this level to solve common diseases, and doctors from Xinglin University can only rely on doctors for difficult and miscellaneous diseases.

If you only look at the capital and the Jiangnan area, Daming has indeed taken on a new look. It has completely emerged from the haze of the national change, showing a thriving posture.

"Their newborns don't need to worry about smallpox. Their elders are supported by the imperial court. Their young people can enjoy education and understand things just because they are citizens of this country. Even ordinary people are as well-mannered as nobles. If Let the nobles of Europe come here to see it, and it will definitely make them feel ashamed."

Blaise Pascal recorded in his diary. (to be continued)

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