I

   Chapter 667 664 [Troublesome Marriage]

   Imperial Garden.

  Zhao Han flipped through the front-line report sent by Tainan, but he really didn't care about Zeelandia City.

   Two thousand Datong troops are stationed in Chixian City, and the Taiwan fleet goes on patrol every day. The Dutch in Zeelandia couldn't go ashore or go out to sea, so they were all held back on the island.

  Even the Han people in the residential area, who thought they were good at water, secretly left the island at night and swam to the shore to join the Datong army. These Han Chinese are not all the hooligans of the Dutch, many of them just work on the island, such as barbers, shoemakers, tailors, cooks and so on.

  More and more Han Chinese escaped from the island, and those with poor water skills also ran away. They removed the door panels and rowed to the opposite bank.

   Until the end, the Dutch sent troops to guard and forbid anyone to leave.

   But the soldiers have long lost their will to fight, and those Dutch soldiers are too lazy to guard and patrol. They took out their stocks one after another, smoked and drank while on duty, and guarded like a sieve, and the Han people ran away within a few days.

  On the entire island, only the Dutch and slaves remained.

   No one to shave their heads, no one to mend their shoes, no one to clean up their shit. The castle and ghetto stinks, and the little arable land is lying waste, and the slaves are useless.

   If this continues, even if the Dutch don't starve to death, they will have to be suffocated.

   "Bring a pen." Zhao Han said.

  Li Xiangjun immediately brought a pen and paper.

  Zhao Han wrote an order and handed it to the female officer in charge of ceremonies: "Let the cabinet be transferred to the Ministry of War and the Governor's Mansion."

   This order is very simple, let Li Dingguo go to the north to train a cavalry division after the spring of next year, and Huang Fei will be transferred to Taiwan to take over the post of division commander.

   There is a reason for the transfer.

   Transferred Li Dingguo to the south, it was his division with the most Fujian and Guangdong native places.

   Transferring Li Dingguo back to the north means expanding the army again!

   Cavalry is very important to fight on the grasslands. Currently there is only one pure cavalry division. Zhao Han decided to train a second one. War horses are enough. There is an official horse farm in Liaodong, and the Mongolians on the grassland have often gone south to sell horses in the past two years.

  Before, there was not enough food, and a large number of immigrants consumed too much, so the army had to save some money.

  Next year, it will be slowed down. In Shandong and Henan provinces, the land tax reduction and exemption period has passed, and the land tax will be collected in full next year. Moreover, the Datong Bank in the north, and the money and grain exchange points are gradually spreading out, the population of Shandong and Henan provinces has also been enriched, and more and more abandoned land has been reclaimed.

  Shandong and Henan have recuperated for several years, and finally blossomed and bore fruit.

   Even Zhao Han guessed that the actual population of these two provinces must have exceeded the previously reported numbers, and many people who hid in the mountains came out again.

   In addition, each division of the Datong Army will increase to 11,000 people next year.

  The increase of 1,000 people can probably be understood as a regular engineering unit. In addition to being an engineer, they also occasionally acted as civilian husbands, helping to transport luggage and so on. They were also in charge of the military convoys—before they were paid to recruit farmers and soldiers to do things.

  Da Ming also has this kind of arms, and they choose from the army.

  In those military households in the Ming Dynasty, the eldest son was a soldier and had military membership. The other brothers in the family are designated as military surplus, and they can find things to do on their own. But if there is a war, some soldiers will have to be recruited to help the main soldiers carry armor, help the main soldiers wash clothes, etc., and even serve as auxiliary soldiers.

  In addition, select 3,000 elite troops from various armies and recall them to Nanjing to serve as Imperial Guards. The number of imperial guards will reach 5,000.

  After the military reform next year, plus the newly formed cavalry division, the number of regular troops nationwide will be close to 250,000.

  If you count the patrolling soldiers (armed police) in each province, excluding the urban police force, the total strength is about 400,000. Like the police, most of the inspectors are veterans. They are mainly slightly disabled and slightly older soldiers. Their combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of the regular army.

  In the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, there are a lot of inspectors. To put it bluntly, it is to prevent the remnants of chieftains from causing chaos!

  Continue to expand in the north. To be honest, Zhao Han is not enthusiastic because the time is not ripe.

  Looking at Zhu Yuanzhang's previous Northern Expeditions, we can see that the first two hurricane advances, due to the unstable foundation in the north, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately stopped after learning the lesson. At that time, the north was completely destroyed, and there was not much population at all. All the military supplies had to be transported from the south, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive.

  So, Zhu Yuanzhang immigrated to farmland in large numbers, and after eight years of operating in the north, he started the third Northern Expedition. This is much easier, the population in the north is more substantial, and it is also convenient to collect civilian husbands and military rations on the spot.

   Zhao Han is facing a similar situation at this time. The population in the north is too small, and even if the grassland is knocked down, it will not be easy to hold. Even if it could be defended, troops would have to be stationed on the grassland, and rations would have to be transported from the south. The huge amount of money and rations consumed could drive Fei Chun to death.

  For today's plan, while training cavalry, develop the north.

  When the cavalry is ready and the north has slowed down, it is the real time to go north to the grassland.

   "Your Majesty, the brothers and sisters of the Zhu family are here. Are you summoned?" The female officer reminded.

  Zhao Han said: "Let them come in, and call Concubine Tian to the Imperial Garden."

  Tian Xiuying arrived first, and the brothers and sisters of the Zhu family had to walk slowly through the Forbidden City.

   "Meet Your Majesty!"

   "Excuse me, sit down."

  The brothers and sisters of the Zhu family were quite cautious, Tian Xiuying greeted them warmly, and personally pulled Aimee Zhu to sit down.

  Zhao Han asked: "How about work and study?"

Zhu Cihong replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I am the Chief of the Ritual Department in Jiangning County. Last year, the county government gave me a worrying evaluation. Cijiong is studying at Jinling University, and his grades were 69th in the whole class last semester. Cizhen has no intention of official career. He also doesn't want to study, he is currently an apprentice at Cifang Publishing House, and he plans to open a bookshop to live in the future. As for Aimee, he is a math teacher at Xuanwuhu Primary School."

  Xuanwuhu Primary School is already in the outer city. It is estimated that when Aimee Zhu applied for the job as a teacher, she failed to get into the school in the city.

  Being a teacher is the profession that is most easily accepted by society for today's highly educated women. After all, Fei Rulan, who is a queen, was also a teacher at Luling County Girls' School.

  After Zhao Han listened, he looked at Zhu Cizhen with a smile: "Your ambition is to open a bookstore to live?"

  Zhu Cizhen replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, it is enough to read miscellaneous books every day."

  Zhao Han said: "Then there is no need to open a bookstore yourself. There are countless miscellaneous books to read in the library buildings of the Imperial Academy and Qintian Academy. You can choose one by yourself and become a librarian."

   "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Zhu Cizhen was overjoyed.

   After chatting about some gossip again, Zhao Han asked, "Why are you looking for me?"

   "I dare you, Your Majesty, please marry my third younger brother." Zhu Cihong described the situation at home.

  Zhao Han asked Zhu Cijiong: "What does the woman's family do?"

  Zhu Cijiong replied: "She is from Anhui, her family is in business, and an uncle is a prefect in Shanxi."

   "No wonder I dare not marry my daughter to you," Zhao Han asked, "Do you agree with each other? Is the woman willing?"

  Zhu Cijiong quickly said: "Yes, Xiaomei is willing. We both decided to end in private... We hit it off and often read books together at school."

   "As long as the woman is willing, it's okay to give a marriage," Zhao Han said, "Let's do this together. Does Cihong have a woman he likes?"

  Zhu Cihong replied: "I have asked someone to make a matchmaker. She is the daughter of the owner of a grocery store outside the city."

  Zhao Han asked Zhu Cizhen again: "What about you?"

   Zhu Cizhen seems to be very salty, usually likes to read miscellaneous books, and has no other hobbies, not even a sweetheart. He shook his head and said, "I haven't thought about getting married yet."

   "Then we'll talk about it later." Zhao Han was too lazy to be a matchmaker.

   Finally looking at Aimee Zhu, Zhao Han asked, "Where's Aimee? Is there a man you like?"

  Zhu Yu said: "Return to Your Majesty, there is nothing."

  Auntie Zhu is the one who is most worried about marrying, because the brothers and sisters went south, and it was because she was married to Zhao Han by Chongzhen. There is no way to publicize this matter, and there is no intention to keep it secret, but it has long been known to the world.

  The princess of the previous dynasty almost married the current emperor. Who would dare to marry a leopard who had a bear's heart?

  Zhao Han thought carefully, and it was really not suitable for a minister's son to be married. But folk men can't marry at will, and I really don't know what to do about it.

  Besides, Zhao Han felt a little awkward, purely from a man's point of view, if he stood up to marry Aimi Zhu, it would be as if he had given himself a green hat.

  Thinking about it, not knowing what to do, Zhao Han said: "When you have someone you like, I will give you a marriage."

   "Thank you, Your Majesty." Aimee Zhu was neither sad nor happy, she was already used to it.

  At noon, the brothers and sisters of the Zhu family were left for dinner, and were invited by Tian Xiuying to visit the Imperial Garden in the afternoon.

When leaving the Forbidden City, Zhu Cihuang scolded: "You are nineteen years old, you are really an old girl if you don't get married. Your Majesty bestows a marriage on you, and you should accept it. Why do you answer so casually? After returning, I will Just let the matchmaker help you find someone, you can always find someone who is both talented and virtuous, and then you can't push back."

  Zhu Wei smiled wryly and said, "Brother, have you forgotten that Mr. Li back then?"

   "Why are you mentioning him? It happened three years ago, don't you remember it?" Zhu Cihong said depressedly.

   Zhu Wei said: "It's not that I can't forget it, but I'm discouraged."

  At that time, Zhu Cihong was still studying at Jinling University, and Mr. Li came to Nanjing to visit relatives. Once, Zhu Cihong took Zhu Aimee and met Mr. Li while visiting a bookstore.

   Talented and beautiful, fall in love at first sight.

  After Mr. Li left Nanjing, he still kept correspondence for a long time, saying that others would not dare to marry the princess of the former dynasty, but he, Mr. Li, would dare to confiscate his family and wipe out his family, and would return to Nanjing soon to propose marriage.

  Suddenly, the communication was cut off, and there was no more audio.

   There is a high probability that Mr. Li explained Aimi Zhu's identity when he asked his parents to send someone to propose marriage, and then everything came to naught.

   Zhu Yuxi has been waiting for a letter from the other party, one year, two years... Just last year, the letter finally came, but it was Mr. Li who had already married a wife, so she asked Zhu Yuxi not to wait any longer.

  Since then, Aimee Zhu no longer trusts men, thinking that men are big pigs.

  Zhu Cijiong suddenly said: "It's fine for my sister to marry His Majesty, anyway, Dad agreed at the beginning."

  Zhu Cizhen became impatient: "How can I do that? My mother is His Majesty's concubine, so does my sister also become His Majesty's concubine?"

   "That's right, it's out of order." Zhu Cijiong scratched his head, looking not very smart.

  (end of this chapter)