In the spring of the tenth year of Shaowu's reign, the second dragon raised its head in February, and the whole city of Beijing became more and more lively. Temple fairs came one after another, which contributed to the prosperity of Beijing.
Most of the dust and yellow sand in previous years has been reduced this year. With the help of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses, we can save some effort when sweeping the floor.
A low-key and luxurious carriage, escorted by more than a dozen people, drove slowly along the right side of the road, almost as if it were walking.
At this time, a corner of the curtain was lifted, revealing a young and immature face, but his eyes were full of maturity.
The noisy sounds on the street also found a gap and slipped into the carriage.
"Otherwise, if you don't cultivate the trees well, you won't have to take any dust at all throughout the winter—"
"Hey, isn't it? The Beijing camp mobilized 100,000 people and worked hard for a whole year. Look, isn't this effective..."
"Good guy, that's a sapling worth one million yuan. I heard that people who transport saplings from Shandong have made a fortune——"
"This deep well water is delicious and cheap..."
"It's stronger than the previous two-character water, but the price is the same. How good do you think it is-"
After listening for a long time and looking at the busy streets, the young man lowered the car curtain.
"Your Highness?"
The spacious carriage had an area of five to six square meters, and sitting next to the young man was a middle-aged man.
His name is Shangguan Yong, a Jinshi in the 13th year of Chongzhen, and now he is King Fu of Qin.
From the second rank, the future is unpredictable.
In fact, after the Shaowu Dynasty, Wang Fu became the title of many recent ministers, but the only one who actually performed his duties was Shangguan Yong.
The emperor personally selected it and made the choice after careful consideration.
In fact, Shangguan Yong was also confused.
He feels comfortable working as an inspector and is suddenly promoted to Prince Fu of Qin. Good guy, isn't this going to cause trouble for his future?
Once the new king takes the throne, will he be able to do well?
However, looking at the young yet mature face of the twelve-year-old boy in front of him, he was quite satisfied.
King Qin entered school at the age of six, and was familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics when he was about ten years old. Now that he is in the Spring and Autumn Period, he is also familiar with a few miscellaneous studies. If he is among the people, he can even directly participate in the children's examination.
With King Qin's talent and learning, it should be very easy to become a scholar in the north.
"Wang Fu, this protective forest is really good."
Zhu Cunmai looked at Shangguan Yong and showed a smile: "Beijing is also very good this spring. It is suitable for outings and outings without being disturbed by the dust."
"It's just that this money is really too much." Shangguan Yongze sighed: "I heard that the number of officers, soldiers and civilians participating in tree planting reached nearly 500,000, just a hundred miles north of the Great Wall."
"The forest is six hundred miles long and more than ten miles wide."
"The Ministry of Household Affairs spent 3 million yuan of silver and 5 million shi of grain. The expenditure was so huge that it is rarely seen in the world."
There was another sentence that he kept in his heart and did not say.
The money spent on planting trees is enough to rebuild the city wall of Beijing, which sounds like such a waste.
But there is no way, the emperor, officials and nobles all have to enjoy it. A green belt will allow many people to breathe fresh air.
Zhu Cunmai shook his head and said: "It's worth it."
"Beijing has a population of nearly one million, and there are millions of people in Gyeonggi and Xuanfu. For them, what does this little money and food mean?"
"Your Highness is benevolent." Shangguan Yong praised: "It is for the benefit of the people, so it is mixed with other things, but in the end it is good."
"Master Wang, what about the well water?"
Zhu Cunmai rarely left the house and was curious about many things.
"This well water is really true." Shangguan Yong sighed and said.
As the capital of the country, Beijing has a huge amount of food and drink for millions of people every day.
Food is supplied by the south, firewood is supplied by coal mines, and salt is supplied by Changlu Saltworks. However, the most important and inseparable aspect of water is extremely embarrassing.
The largest river in the surrounding area is just the Haihe River. How can it meet the needs of the two major cities of Beijing and Tianjin at the same time?
Naturally, the nobles only ate mountain springs transported from the Western Mountains, while ordinary people could only eat convenient and fast well water.
As a result, the streets and alleys in Beijing are dotted with water wells. There are many Beijing hutongs named after wells. The famous Wangfujing is named after an ancient well. It is said that the water from this well is "sweet and usable".
Someone counted and found that there are more than a thousand wells in and around Beijing.
Due to the different depths and different directions and locations of the excavation, the taste of the well water is naturally very different.
It is divided into three types, namely sweet water, bitter water, and the two-nature water in between.
Ordinary people use amphoteric water for eating and drinking, bitter water for washing and watering flowers, and sweet water, which is expensive and can only be used to make tea and soup when entertaining guests.
Sweet wells are rare in Beijing. People naturally love them like treasures and even cast the wellheads out of copper.
"The best sweet well in the capital is located in the Temple of Heaven. It is said that the water tastes clear and refreshing, and a spoonful of it can be sold for hundreds of dollars."
Shangguan Yong said with emotion.
"Oh?" Zhu Cunming opened his eyes.
Even though he has been staying in the palace for a long time, he still understands the prices of goods among the people.
Maritime transportation has been smooth in the past two years in the capital, and a large amount of grain has poured in from the south. The price of grain has dropped to about 5 cents per stone and is no longer a burden.
Therefore, the value of one silver dollar has remained at one thousand copper coins for a long time. An ordinary man can only earn thirty or fifty copper coins a day to support his family.
A spoonful of well water is so high.
"How much is ordinary dimorphic water worth?" Zhu Cunzhang asked curiously.
"A barrel costs about five cents."
"You don't have to worry about eating, but you do worry about drinking." Zhu Cunming sighed, with a look of worry that didn't belong to a young man on his face.
"Last year, His Majesty paid a private visit incognito and observed the sufferings of the people. He found that the water in all bitter wells is only two or two feet deep."
Shangguan Yong cupped his hands in the direction of the palace, with a look of admiration on his face: "From this, let the Ministry of Works dig deeper until about four feet, and the water suddenly turned from bitter to normal."
"Since then, the water of the two natures has dropped to one penny per barrel, and the people no longer worry about it, and no one in Beijing drinks the bitter water anymore."
Hearing him praising his father, Zhu Cunming became interested and hurriedly continued to ask: "Then why is the money not free? Wouldn't it be better to let the people save some money?"
Shangguanyong felt very pleased when he saw King Qin's studious look on his face.
He is worthy of being the eldest prince. Although he is a little immature, he has a kind heart for the people that cannot be bought with money.
He stroked his beard and understood that this was a good lesson, so he couldn't help but said seriously: "Your Highness, think twice before you act."
"After this incident, many people from the Supervisory Office went to court and asked for the water money to be waived, but the emperor refused to do so and the matter was ignored."
"Your Highness, in this huge city of Beijing, do you know how many people make a living by selling water?"
Zhu Cunmai frowned and asked tentatively: "Three thousand people?"
"No, it's five thousand people." Shangguan Yong looked at his disbelieving eyes and taught: "There are 6,000 alleys and alleys and 1,300 wells in Beijing."
"Behind these 5,000 people are 5,000 families. Once their livelihoods are cut off, I don't know how many families will be without food."
"Besides, if this water is free of charge, no one will care for it, and there will be a lot of waste, so why not spend some money to not only maintain their livelihood, but also let them take care of the well——"
"Father still has the foresight." Zhu Cunming couldn't help but applaud.
Seeing him like this, Shangguan couldn't help but feel happy in his heart. He was indeed a virtuous king.
As the carriage entered the inner city, its speed suddenly became faster and more stable.
While the two were chatting, they arrived at Prince Qin's Mansion.
Since the death of King Zhu Cunmu of Qin three years ago, the eldest prince inherited his title and inherited his vassal, and the entire palace has undergone drastic renovations.
The expenditure in the past few years has reached 100,000 silver dollars, which fully demonstrates the emperor's generosity.
Because of this, many people in the court were dissatisfied, but there was no way. The emperor used money from internal funds, and the Ministry of Revenue only provided 10,000 yuan.
The already luxurious Qin Prince's Mansion became more and more splendid. Although it did not exceed the rules, it was dizzying for everyone.
However, although King Qin Zhu Cunmei has been out of the palace for two months, he still adheres to the diet and daily life in the palace and has not made any changes.
"Your Highness, there is news from the palace that we will be traveling to Yuquan Mountain at the end of the month——"
As soon as he entered the mansion, the chief manager of the mansion couldn't wait to come up and report the urgent news.
"Then just follow the previous rules!"
Zhu Cunmai nodded slightly: "Don't make it too extravagant. It should be similar to an ordinary palace."
"yes!"
Speaking of which, inheriting the title of King Qin is not only a very prominent title, but the legacy is even more amazing.
Not to mention some gold, silver and jewelry for the moment, on the land, not only was the two hundred hectares of land granted by the emperor, but now that he had left the palace, the emperor also granted him another two hundred hectares.
Forty thousand acres of land, the annual rent can be ten thousand silver coins.
In addition, all the money and food accumulated in the past three years from the year he was granted the title will belong to him.
The emperor gave him a hundred eunuchs, twenty maids, and a hundred palace guards.
Of course, what Zhu Cunming valued most was the connections in Prince Qin's palace.
To be precise, there are more than 10,000 households in Xi'an Youwei who have been attached to it for hundreds of years.
Although the health office has been changed to a county now, the affiliations that have existed for hundreds of years cannot be easily changed.
After many children from military households became successful, they basically had to give the King of Qin some respect.
You must know that during the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, Jinshi from military households accounted for about 20% of the total number. Many talents from Youwei were the most important connections.
On the surface, officials who went to Xi'an to take up posts would come to visit him, the King of Qin.
Without him, King Qin's vassal territory is in Xi'an Prefecture. Although he has no jurisdiction and can't say anything, it is the vassal state of King Qin in name. It can't be justified not to visit.
After a while, the chief historian of the Prince of Qin's palace also came over to greet him and talk about the situation of the palace.
Chang Shi was the steward of the palace and the person trusted by the emperor. He was responsible for supervising the daily study of King Qin and managing the land, property, personnel, etc. of the palace.
In the palace, everything about King Qin's conversation today has been presented to the emperor.
Obviously, Zhu Yixi is not at ease with this young son.
Although he had the intention to stay for a few years, there was a lot of discussion between the government and the public, and he had to let him go for the sake of King Qin and the prince.
With no worries about food and clothing, the twelve-year-old child has begun to grow and is old enough to carry on the family line, and is no longer suitable to stay in the palace.
Leaving the mother-in-law and the emperor to go to a strange place is also a kind of exercise in a sense.
Zhu Yixi felt that even though he had too many sons to take care of, he still had to pay the necessary attention. He did not want to raise a group of beasts.
If he really doesn't succeed, he has no problem with just eating and waiting to die, but just don't become a beast, otherwise he will only have Fengyang to serve him with high walls.
"Yes!" After a cursory glance at these remarks, the emperor nodded with satisfaction.
Compared with their peers, princes are more politically sensitive and more mature. This is inevitable, but it is also a good thing.
"Your Majesty—" At this time, Liu Afu placed a stack of question books on the table in front of him.
Apparently, the cabinet hasn't taken a break either.
"Put it down!" Looking at a pile of question books, Zhu Yixi turned her head again. There was a basket of secret boxes over there.
This is really hard to do.
After thinking for a while, he turned his attention to the secret box.
Soon, a wooden box was opened.
The secret fold here comes from Tiannanxingdusi.
Since the conquest of Southern Xinjiang three years ago, the entire Western Region has immediately shown changes.
First, the three Oirat Mongol tribes began to split.
The three tribes are from north to south, namely the Dulbert tribe, the Heshuote tribe, and the Junggar tribe.
Since there was a vacancy in power in the Yinli Basin, the Heshuote tribe, together with Junggar, annexed the fertile Yinli Valley and greatly increased their strength.
As a result, when facing foreign enemies, the Junggar tribe is inclined to negotiate peace with Russia and prepare to deal with the ambitious Ming army, because it is closest to its territory; the northernmost Duerbot tribe is closest to the Russians and feels threatened.
, demanding a unanimous response to Russia.
As for the Heshuote tribe, which is in the middle zone, it is wavering.
In this case, diplomacy is crucial.
Li Ding was competent in affairs but not in diplomacy, so the imperial court sent another candidate to serve as chief envoy, responsible for civil affairs and involving Russia.
As a result, the imperial court naturally chose to lean towards Dulbert's tribe, instead of flirting with them.
However, the Heshuote tribe and the Junggar tribe did not give up, and continued to secretly fire muskets to instigate the two sides to confront each other.
The power of muskets has long been witnessed in the Western Regions. Their quantity represents strength, and it also stimulates the ambitions of both parties.
The emperor even felt that this was too slow, and even went along with the trend and proposed the rumor that only by uniting Oirat and Mongolia could they resist Russia and the Ming Dynasty.
Now, cold water is put into the hot pot and boils.
"Oh, Junggar actually united with the Russians to eliminate Heshuote——"
The emperor was a little surprised when he saw the news, but he accepted it easily.
After all, there is no blood feud between the two parties, so it is quite appropriate to join forces.
"It looks like this is another proxy battle."
Zhu Yixi approved the word, put down the secret letter, and came to the map.
There is no doubt that I support Heshuote.
But at the same time, no matter who wins between these two parties, they will inevitably unify the entire Oirat Mongolia, that is, Desert Mongolia.
This was unacceptable to him.
Therefore, at this time, it is necessary to strengthen the strength of southern Xinjiang, so as to take the opportunity to eat the three Oirat Mongols.
And they are not blind. How can they fight as soon as you increase your troops?