"Dong, branch, Qi, fish..."
"These twenty-two tones are flat tones. Read it with me again..."
In early May, when the sound of reading aloud could be heard in Jilin City, the two academies originally built were already full of seats.
The two academies are divided into children's school and military school, but whether it is children's school or military school, everyone is learning Han culture starting from the most basic "Hongwu Zhengyun".
The two academies are more than 200 steps apart, and simple tree trunks are used to form a fence to isolate the communication between the two academies.
But although the academies are isolated, their structure and design are the same.
Each academy covers an area of ten acres and has eleven classrooms. Each academy has as few as seventy or eighty students and as many as nearly a hundred.
There was no way out why it was so crowded. After all, there were only 22 people in the guard who were literate and had time. It was not enough to divide them equally among the more than 1,500 soldiers and more than 900 children.
In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu could only make changes to the curriculum.
Every morning, the two academies study "Hongwu Zhengyun" and "Kuiben Xiangxiang Siyan Zazi" together.
In the afternoon, Tongxue began to study "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", "Mengqiu of the Past Dynasties", and "Summary of History", while the military school went outside the city to prepare for training.
In this way, by the afternoon, the nine hundred children of Tongxue can be divided equally among the twenty-one officials, and on average, every forty-five students can receive the guidance of one official.
Facts have proved that although Zhu Gaoxu's method is a bit rigid, the effect is good.
Military education requires both training and drills, but children's education can be attended all day long.
But even so, Zhu Gaoxu still stipulated that the soldiers should have five days of bathing and one day off, and the children's school, except for the five days of studying metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, the rest of the days should be two days of rest.
Against the background of such lessons, in just over half a month, the children of Tongxue often said that the pronunciation of the Central Plains began to gradually develop into the Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty, and the literacy level basically reached the number of 200 characters per person.
Although later generations have been saying that Chinese characters are the most difficult characters to learn in the world, in fact, compared with English, learning Chinese and Chinese characters is not difficult.
The vocabulary of English is upwards of 600,000. If you want to learn English and be able to use it proficiently, you must at least memorize more than 50,000 words.
In comparison, although the total number of Chinese characters has exceeded 80,000 in later generations, you only need to master 3,000 individual fonts to skillfully use and assemble them into vocabulary and sentences.
English becomes more difficult to learn, but Chinese and Chinese characters become easier to learn.
The Hebei area in the Central Plains suffered destruction and changes in culture, customs and phonology at the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, so it was very different from Nanyin.
Not only is this the case in the north, but the phonology of places such as Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian is also quite different from that of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
The differences in accents and languages gave several prefectures in southern Zhili, Jiangxi and Zhejiang coastal areas an advantage in the imperial examination.
Before the appearance of "Hongwu Zhengyun", the two provinces of Beijing accounted for half of the world's imperial examinations. The remaining half was occupied by Fujian and Huguang for 20%, and the remaining 30% was divided among eight provinces.
Since the appearance of "Hongwu Zhengyun", the three capitals of the five northern provinces have gradually stabilized at 30%.
Although the Sandusi of these five provinces only accounted for a quarter of the population of the Ming Dynasty, their potential was not inferior to that of other provinces.
It is a pity that the entrepreneurial team of the Ming Dynasty was ultimately composed of Jianghuai and the Jiangnan and Zhejiang factions who came later. There was no place for northern literati. Therefore, northern officials often found it difficult to be promoted in the officialdom.
During the Hongxi and Xuande years, the children of military households among northern literati were suppressed and subsequently lost much of their right to speak.
Eight years after the orthodoxy, Jiangnan was already in charge of the temple, and it was not the turn of northern literati to get involved.
The chief ministers of the Ming Dynasty served a total of eighty-seven terms from Yongle to Chongzhen. However, among them, 41 were appointed in the Jiangnan area of the capital and two provinces, 26 were appointed in the three capitals of the five northern provinces, and 20 were appointed in the remaining provinces.
This was the result of Zhu Di moving the capital to Beijing, making Peiping Zhili, and then becoming powerful.
If we exclude Beizhili and the abolition of the parallel capitals of Peking, there are only 15 chief assistants in the second capitals of the four northern provinces, accounting for less than 20%. Only by adding Beizhili can we barely get close to 30%.
It can be said that the future situation of Ming Dynasty is already obvious. Although Lao Zhu and Zhu Di tried their best to improve the status of northern literati, they were still defeated in the infighting with Jiangnan literati.
If the proportion of ministers in the cabinet is also included, the northern provinces of Beijing and four provinces can be regarded as a complete failure.
In Zhu Gaoxu's heart, what he hopes more is that the north will be in power. After all, after the northern literati take power, they will understand the importance of the northern territory in terms of geography and their own interests, and will not shout "those who dare to repeat the same thing will be killed."
Of course, in order to cultivate northern literati, the financial resources handed over by the south must be invested in the north, which is in desperate need of development.
In Zhu Gaoxu's view, such a "payment transfer" is necessary, but politicians in the south do not think so, especially in Jiangnan.
All he can do is continue in the footsteps of Lao Zhu and his father, and continue to develop the north. Even if it cannot reach the level of Jiangnan, it must be self-sufficient.
Only in this way can officials from the north not have to look at the faces of officials from the south to live their lives.
"call……"
Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing on the city wall, exhaled a breath and moved his eyes away from the academy where readings were being read loudly, looking towards the vast mountains on the other side of the Songhua River.
At this time, footsteps sounded behind him.
He turned around and saw the person he wanted to see.
"Your Highness, the grassroots are late..."
Following Yi Shiha, the person who appeared in front of Zhu Gaoxu was Yang Bin, who had come from the south of the Yangtze River.
Facing him, Zhu Gaoxu also motioned to the soldiers to bring out a chair for him, and he took advantage of the situation and sat on the chair.
"You came a little late. It's already the ninth day of May."
"The road is rugged, and the cargo we brought was quite large, so we were delayed for a while in Liaodong Dusi. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
Yang Bin told about his difficulties. A businessman like him could not go to any province at will, even with Zhu Gaoxu's Bohai Palace token, so he had to buy some goods and sell them to Liaodong.
Processing these goods delayed him a lot of time, but he also earned a lot of money and food.
"Have you been to the warehouse? How is the quality of the goods?"
Zhu Gaoxu did not hold Yang Bin responsible for being late, but talked about business.
Hearing this, Yang Bin also took a deep breath: "I've seen it, the quality is good and bad, but the quantity is huge enough, I'm afraid ordinary people will not be able to eat it in one bite."
Yang Bin sighed at Zhu Gaoxu's handiwork, and Zhu Gaoxu also smiled and looked sideways through the female wall to see the lively scene outside Jilin City.
Outside the city, hundreds of cattle and draft horses were working with thousands of healthy women to clear land, and the fields they had cleared were no less than 3,000 acres.
During the month of waiting for Yang Bin's arrival, Zhu Gaoxu did nothing. First, he received the materials sent by Liaodong Dusi, and secondly, he used all the excess grain in his hands for trade.
More than 8,000 stones of grain, 1,000 jins of tea, and 1,000 iron pots were quickly exchanged for 300 cattle, 150 draft horses, and more than 3,000 pieces of tea. Fur-like fur, two hundred pounds of ginseng.
If you add in the furs successively exchanged from Shanchu Fort, the current treasury can produce more than 4,000 furs and 300 kilograms of ginseng.
The oxen and horses in front were used by Zhu Gaoxu to reclaim wasteland and transport cement raw materials.
But the furs and ginseng in the back are goods purely used for trade. Because Zhu Gaoxu bought all the furs and pelts of cattle and horses in Futigin City, many merchants in Liaodong this year cannot buy enough furs and ginseng. Bin knew.
But he didn't expect that His Highness could actually eat so many furs, apparently spending all his salary.
When he thought about taking over such a large business, Yang Bin couldn't help but wipe the non-existent sweat on his forehead.
Zhu Gaoxu also smiled and said: "I said that you gave me the benefits of Yanyin, and I will definitely pay you back in the future. Now is the time to pay you back."
"If these more than 4,000 furs and 300 kilograms of ginseng were sold in Jiangnan, they would be sold at least 28,000 guan at last year's price. I bought these furs and ginseng for about 3,000 guan, so I can sell them on credit for 20,000 guan. Wan Guan will sell it to you."
Zhu Gaoxu's words were something Yang Bin didn't expect. After all, if it weren't for Zhu Gaoxu, with Yang Bin's previous connections, he could only resell a few hundred furs and it would be a coffin cost.
Now, with a wave of his hand, Zhu Gaoxu not only allowed himself to get credit, but also directly gave him eight thousand guan of profits.
Such a huge profit was something Yang Bin would never dare to dream about in normal times.
Eight thousand guan, even after excluding the cost of making ready-made clothes, he can make a net profit of 77,800 guan, enough to buy several streets in Nanjing city.
Yang Bin was not a fool. Zhu Gaoxu had given up so many benefits, so it was impossible to simply repay him, so he asked cautiously:
"I wonder if there is anything your Highness needs help from the common people?"
"Food..." Zhu Gaoxu put one hand on his leg, leaned forward and said:
"I want you to divide the 20,000 yuan in half, bring half back to me, and buy me food from Huai'an Prefecture and Shandong area."
"As long as the fuel consumption on the road does not exceed 30%, I can accept it. In addition, you can hire fifty more officials for me, each with a salary of twenty guan."
As soon as Zhu Gaoxu said his words, Yang Bin's mind started spinning.
At the current price of food, ten thousand gu can buy at least more than 28,000 shi of grain. Even if 30% of the fire consumption is deducted, 20,000 shi of grain can be transported to Jilin City.
Thinking of this, Yang Bin quickly apologized and said, "Your Highness has given me favors, how can I still ask His Highness to pay for the fire?"
"Let's do this. The grassroots will return to Jiangnan tomorrow with fur ginseng, and they will be able to bring back food to His Highness by the end of August."
At this point, Yang Bin bowed again and said: "It's just that the amount of food is too large, and the road from Thirty Thousand Guards to Jilin City is not peaceful, so I hope that Your Highness will dispatch troops to protect us."
"That's easy to say..." Zhu Gaoxu looked at Yi Shiha: "You ask Zhang Chun to take two hundred brothers and accompany Yang Shanren to take the goods south."
He did not let Lin Su follow Yang Bin south because Lin Su was still studying. Instead, Zhang Chun could take this opportunity to go south for a walk.
"In this case, then the common people should resign..."
Yang Bin knew that a person like Zhu Gaoxu had many things to deal with, so he did not stay after the business was negotiated, but wisely prepared to leave.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu also asked a soldier to take him back to his residence to rest. At the same time, after he left, he asked Yishiha: "How is the cement field?"
"Back to Your Highness..." Yishiha bowed and replied: "Now every five days, the horse team goes to three mines to haul materials, and each time they can pull back 500 stones."
"When the site hired 200 strong women and used 60 oxen to pull it, it could grind and prepare three thousand kilograms of cement every day. Each time the material can be used for twenty-five days, and now more than forty thousand kilograms of cement have been stored. "
"Okay!" Zhu Gaoxu also smiled when he heard the cement production and inventory.
Although according to the current production, the annual output of Jilin City's cement plant is not as much as the daily output of a small cement plant in later generations, it is enough for Zhu Gaoxu and Jilin City.
In his plan for the Jilin City Reclamation Canal, the total length of the canal is 26 miles, which can irrigate 150,000 acres of cultivated land. It requires 780,000 kilograms of cement. Calculated based on 1,000 people, the construction period will take a full nine months. moon.
As long as there is cement, river sand and gravel can be obtained from the nearby Songhua River. By the way, the Songhua River can be simply dredged to prevent the river from overflowing in the coming year.
In this era, snow will not fall in Jilin City until the end of September, which means Zhu Gaoxu and the others have almost three and a half months.
Judging from the current situation, construction will have to start in mid-June. By then, 150,000 kilograms of cement can be saved, and a five-mile canal can be built to irrigate at least 30,000 acres of cultivated land.
This kind of irrigation area is more than enough to handle the 30,000 acres of cultivated land in Jilin City this year.
The only thing that made Zhu Gaoxu a little anxious was that the soldiers' learning progress was too slow, and the infrastructure in Jilin City seriously delayed their training progress.
Therefore, Zhu Gaoxu is still hesitant to postpone the action against Xiyang Ha before the autumn harvest to the beginning of next spring.
He couldn't remember when the Uliang Hanan invaded Daning next year. If it was autumn, it would be okay, but he was afraid it would be early spring or summer.
With this uncertainty, Zhu Gaoxu could only bite the bullet and carry out the plan.
He must defeat Xiyang Ha before the autumn harvest and obtain enough livestock and manpower from Xiyang Ha.
"Your Highness, you don't need to disturb yourself..."
Yishiha suddenly spoke. Although he didn't know why Zhu Gaoxu was so eager to arrange various things, he could see the pressure Zhu Gaoxu was under.
"Then if Xiyang Ha comes to invade, I will risk my life to kill him for His Highness."
Yishiha assured Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu smiled, but he did not hit Yishiha. He just stood up and patted him on the shoulder: "I believe you."
After the words fell, Zhu Gaoxu was also ready to go back home for dinner.
However, before he and Yi Shiha could walk down the city wall, he saw horses galloping towards the palace.
Not long after, Zhang Chun appeared in front of Zhu Gaoxu on horseback and reined in his horse in time.
"Your Highness, good news. The Duke of Wei and the generals put down Nong Zhenyou's rebellion on April 17th. Nong Zhenyou died in the battle, and the entire Guangnan army of seven thousand Luoyi was wiped out!"
Zhang Chun's face was filled with a happy smile, and his eyes were filled with excitement.
Not only him, but also Yi Shiha looked at Zhu Gaoxu excitedly when he heard the news. After all, in their view, Wei Guogong Xu Huizu was Zhu Gaoxu's uncle.
But compared to them, the smile on Zhu Gaoxu's face was a bit stiff.
He did not expect that the rebellion of the three chieftains in Yunnan lasted less than ten months before being put down. Although he knew that Qu Neng, Muchun, Song Sheng, He Fu and others were all famous generals today, the news of the rebellion in Peking was still It made him a little dumbfounded.
After a while, he pretended to be happy: "In this case, I'm afraid my uncle will be praised by His Majesty."
While pretending, Zhu Gaoxu was uneasy. He didn't expect that Luchuan would calm down and not take advantage of the fact that all the elites of Yunnan were in Guangnan and raise troops brazenly.
He clearly remembered that Lu Chuan fought against the Ming Dynasty several times in the late Hongwu period, but why is there no movement at all now...
There was no time to guess, Zhu Gaoxu could only wave his hands and laugh: "Ask Fu Rang and they will have a few banquets at the palace today to enjoy themselves!"
"Yes!" Zhang Chun and Yi Shiha bowed happily, and then followed Zhu Gaoxu back to the palace.
Soon, the palace became busy.
While everyone was busy, Zhu Gaoxu returned to the study and took out the Yunnan map he had drawn and unfolded it.
He frowned as he read the map and analyzed the current situation clearly.
"After this battle, if Luchuan and the other chieftains don't respond, I'm afraid Song Sheng and the others will continue to be sent to the northwest, and He Fuquneng will also return to Sichuan and Guiyang, but..."
Zhu Gaoxu set his sights on Sichuan Xingdusi and Wumeng Three Mansion.
His second mine map was prepared for the current situation.
As long as the people sent by the imperial court find gold, silver and copper mines, Zhu Gaoxu doesn't believe that Zhu Yunwen will not be tempted.
He needs Jiangnan's support, so he must continue to use banknotes to offset taxes. Otherwise, it will be difficult to maximize the benefits of the banknotes in the hands of these wealthy gentry households.
Since he wants to use Jiangnan's power, he must give them benefits, otherwise he will only be the one to be counterattacked in the end.
Zhu Gaoxu figured out what Zhu Yunwen was thinking, and it was exactly as he thought. At this moment, Zhu Yunwen was looking at the second mine map in the Chunhe Hall of the East Palace, frowning.
"To be born in such a poor and remote place..."
Nanjing was already a bit hot in May, and this heat made Zhu Yunwen even more depressed.
"Your Highness, Chief Qi, Mr. Huang Taichang wants to see you."
Li Quan, the eunuch in charge of the East Palace, stood at the entrance of Chunhe Hall and bowed to Zhu Yunwen from a distance. After hearing his words, Zhu Yunwen responded without raising his head: "Xuan..."
After his words, Li Quan left the palace gate.
Not long after, Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng, who had just attended the afternoon court, walked into the hall, bowed to Zhu Yunzhen as usual, and sang: "Great grandson Qianfu."
For the two of them, it seemed that because Zhu Fan was no longer in power and Zhu Ping died unexpectedly in the mansion, Zhu Yunwen was much calmer than before. He just looked at the mine map and said to the two of them:
"Both gentlemen should know about the new mine. In their opinion, should we continue as agreed upon before?"
Zhu Yunwen's words did not make Huang Zicheng hesitate at all. He said decisively: "Now that the rebels have been put down, and since Yunnan is safe, it is natural to seek the land of the six prefectures in southern Sichuan."
After he finished speaking, Zhu Yunwen raised his head and glanced at Qi Tai. Qi Tai was not rash about this, but thought carefully before speaking:
"The difficulty in Liufu Land is not how to mine, but how to maintain the operation of the mine after mining."
"In the previous incident regarding the gold and silver mines in Yunnan, many chieftains believed that the imperial court used the big ones to bully the small ones and took the mines as their own without giving them any favors."
"If we use troops against Luoluo in the mountains of the six prefectures in southern Sichuan at this time, I am afraid that some Yunnan chieftains who are ready to move will rebel again."
When Qi Tai said this, he couldn't help but mention the latest news.
"Three days ago, the barbarian bandit Tian Dachong in Songnong Chadong, Sichuan took the opportunity to cause trouble. Although the Sichuan capital commander sent Luzhou guards to suppress the bandits, the Naxi chieftain refused to allow the officers and soldiers to cross the border..."
"Two days ago, there was a conflict between Qianhu Luoding and Naxi Chieftain. The army was unable to advance. Tian Da Chong took the opportunity to plunder the countryside, killing and injuring hundreds of people."
"Fortunately, Xu Nanwei sent troops to quell the rebellion and surrounded Tian Da Chong. Otherwise, I'm afraid this time..."
Qi Tai did not continue speaking after he finished speaking, but both Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng heard what he meant.
The current southwest is becoming restless due to various gold, silver and copper mines. Since March, the number of chieftain rebellions in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guangxi provinces has become more frequent. The reason is that the main forces in the southwest have been transferred to pacify Nong Zhenyou. .
What we should do now is to get all the troops back to their bases as soon as possible to intimidate the chieftains everywhere.
However, faced with such a situation, Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng were still thinking about developing the Liufu gold, silver and copper mines in southern Sichuan. It is no wonder that Qi Tai reminded them in such a subtle way.
Qi Tai's idea is right, but Zhu Yunwen and Huang Zicheng also have their own difficulties.
Now that the summer tax has passed, this time the tax offset by cash has not achieved the results that everyone wanted, because since the land in the south of the Yangtze River switched to Japonica rice, the summer tax is no longer the target of everyone's attention.
What everyone cares about is the autumn tax, which accounts for the bulk of the tax bill.
Whether this year's autumn harvest will be offset by cash is a matter of concern to everyone, but this matter has been stuck between the emperor and the Minister of Household Affairs Yu Xin, and has been unable to move forward.
The reason given by Yu Xin is very simple, that is, the use of banknotes to deduct taxes last autumn has caused the court to lose more than 2 million yuan. If it happens again this year, it will be Yin eating Mao Liang, and one day the money and grain saved by the court over the years will be lost. Eat it all.
His memorial was mentioned many times by Zhu Yuanzhang in the April court meeting. Obviously, Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not intend to use banknotes to offset taxes again. At least before the output of Yunnan gold, silver and copper mines was imported to the court, he was not prepared to use banknotes. Tax deductible.
In this way, this stumped Zhu Yunwen. After all, the reason why he was able to attack Zhu Fan's forces with thunder and lightning was all because he made some compromises with that group of people.
Compromise is now so far off that it’s impossible to predict what will happen after that.
Although Zhu Yunwen thinks that his current position is very stable, he is not willing to take any risks.
Therefore, he not only wants to open gold, silver and copper mines in Yunnan, he also wants to open gold, silver and copper mines in southern Sichuan.
"The Ministry of Revenue has calculated that if gold, silver and copper mines are mined in Yunnan and southern Sichuan, the imperial court will be able to harvest at least 500,000 gu before the autumn harvest this year."
Zhu Yunwen expressed his opinion, and Huang Zicheng, who saw that he had an idea, also said calmly: "With the copper mine in Jiuhua Mountain, it should be able to reach 800,000 yuan."
"But if there is another rebellion, these 800,000 yuan may not be enough to suppress the rebellion." Qitai frowned. He really did not want to start another war at this impetuous moment in the Southwest.
Moreover, he had a hunch that not only did he not want to continue the war in the southwest, but the emperor was probably a little tired of it as well.
A Yunnan gold, silver and copper mine was enough for the Ming Dynasty to relocate its people for five or six years, and then continued to expand production and start construction.
Although tens of thousands of people have immigrated to Yunnan in the first half of this year, it is not an exaggeration to say that this population is a drop in the bucket compared to the gold, silver and copper mines that Yunnan needs to mine.
The potential of Yunnan's mines has not yet been fully exploited, and his great-grandson wants to take action in southern Sichuan. This approach is a bit impatient.
Qitai's thoughts were racing, but facing his reminder, Zhu Yunwen was unhappy.
Although there was no fluctuation on Zhu Yunwen's face, he felt in his heart that Qi Tai was a little hesitant and not decisive enough.
Zhu Yunwen was like this before, but now that he saw Nong Zhenyou's three tribes being pacified so quickly, he suddenly felt a little more confident.
"Yunnan toast is nothing more than that..."
With this idea in mind, Zhu Yunwen waved his hand: "This matter is really serious. I will ask Grandpa Huang in the afternoon. You two gentlemen, please go down and rest first."
"Your Majesty, please retire..." Seeing that Zhu Yunwen had already said this, Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai didn't have much to say, so they bowed in return and exited the Chunhe Hall.
But after they left, Zhu Yunwen could not take his eyes away from the mine map.
Compared with Yunnan, southern Sichuan is backed by the Chengdu Plain, and the speed of mining gold and silver mines is much faster than that of Yunnan.
As long as this matter is completed, my position will be more stable...
(End of chapter)
