After Yunzhi went to find Yunxi, Yunxi also left Kunning Palace and walked towards Qianqing Palace.
He wanted to go to the front hall where he usually handles political affairs, but after thinking about it, he turned around and went to his study room in the back hall. He took out the memorials sent from Yongfan that he had archived, and then took out some of his previous papers. I started reading some things I wrote last year.
Three quarters of an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Huang Fu walked in and said softly to Yunxi: "Your Majesty, His Royal Highness King Yong and His Royal Highness King Xiang have already entered the palace and are waiting in the side hall. Do you want to summon them now?" "
"Xuan and the others came to my study," Yunxi said. He paused and then said to Huang Fu, "Why are you the one who came in to report this matter? Where is Wang Xi?"
"Your Majesty, there seems to be something to be prepared for this year's clan gathering. The prince and the minister have already gone to work on that matter," Huang Fu said.
"Is it so troublesome?" Yunxi muttered, and said to Huang Fu: "I understand, please go and tell Yunxi and the emperor to come over."
Huang Fu retreated.
Yunxi put what he had written back into the bookcase, sorted out the memorials, and took out a pencil made under the imperial supervision and some pieces of white paper. When he took it out, he found that the lead of the pencil was broken. Ask the young eunuch standing aside to step forward and sharpen the pencil.
While the young eunuch was cutting, Yunxi heard the voice of the messenger, and then Yunzhen and Zhu Bai came in and saluted Yunxi.
After the three of them had finished their greetings, Yunxi was about to speak when he saw Yunxi looking at the pencil being sharpened from time to time, and said with a smile: "Why, fourth brother is very curious about this pen?"
"Brother Emperor, is this a kind of pen? As soon as my brother came in, he glanced at the object and started to guess what it was, but he never expected that it was a pen." Yunzhen said with some surprise.
"Yes, Your Majesty, is this also a kind of pen?" Zhu Bai also said.
Yunxi took the pencil from the young eunuch's hand and said to Yunxi and Zhu Bai: "This is a pencil invented by the imperial eunuch. The inner core is a mineral called graphite. There may be a little lead in it. How to make it? Emperor brother I don’t know that it can be used to write, which is much more convenient than a brush. The emperor sometimes uses it to write."
Yunxi took the pencil from Yunxi's hand, looked at it carefully, scratched his hand twice, and said with a smile: "This is very convenient. The brush needs to grind the ink. This one can be used immediately after picking it up. It is easier to use than the brush." too much."
"It's just not easy to make. You need graphite mines to make it, and the graphite is made so fine that it can't be broken before it's wrapped with wood on the outside. It's still a bit difficult. The ones the emperor has in his hands are all royal guards. I don’t know how much graphite was thrown away to make it." Yunxi said.
"That's it. My younger brother wants the emperor to give him some pencils." Yunzhen said with some regret.
"I'll give you this one. You can make it yourself in Yongfan later. There may be graphite mines in Yongfan, and there are many trees there. Maybe your craftsmen can work out a better way to make pencils." Yunxi said as he took out another pencil from the bottom of the drawer and put it on the table.
"It's hard to say," Yun Chen continued to look at the pencil in his hand and fiddled with it twice more, and said, "I don't have many craftsmen in my hands now. They are all exiled from Hebei, Shandong, and their craftsmanship is not very good. ."
"Brother Emperor will reward you with several craftsmen." Yunxi said.
"Speaking of wood, there is so much wood in Yongming territory, all the people should already live in houses made of wood." Yunxi changed the topic back on track, and took the time to check that there was nothing wrong with the pencil.
"We have already lived there. However, it is cold in Yongming. It is impossible to live in a house made of wood. The wood leaks everywhere, so we must build a fire kang. Now many people there have not been able to build a fire kang. I have beaten many furs
Distribute it to the people so that they can cover themselves and keep warm at night." Yunzhen also put the pencil into his pocket and said.
"Is there enough fur?" Yunxi asked.
"Enough." Yun Xun said: "The fire pits have been built in the guard barracks. The soldiers who came from Peiping are very experienced. They built all the fire pits before the Chinese New Year last year. They only need to distribute the furs to the ordinary people."
"And our brother Yongfan also knows that there are not many ordinary people. Most of the exiled prisoners have been summoned to the guard. The barbarians also have their own ways to keep out the cold. I don't need to worry about it. Those Han people who are not soldiers in the guard
It was easy to get enough furs."
Now the Ming Dynasty has two methods for immigrants from these vassal countries. The first is to exile the prisoners, and the second is to allow them to voluntarily go to the vassal country.
Several vassal states in the south have a large number of people who voluntarily go there every year, which already exceeds the number of prisoners who are exiled every year. After all, there are many people from the Guangdong, Guangxi, and Xingjian areas who go to Nanyang. We know that Nanyang is not a wasteland, and there are many people in Xingjian.
There is little land, and several vassal states in Nanyang have implemented a policy of preferential treatment for Han people, so farmers with few acres of land at home have fled to several vassal states in Nanyang. Officials of Yongjian have written several times to request population restrictions because the population is not increasing but decreasing.
Outflowed.
But the north is different. Many people who know something about the Northeast and Northwest have the impression that these places are deserted, with many and fierce barbarians. In addition, the population of the northern provinces in this era is not large, and Shandong has the largest population in the north.
In the province, the statistics of the 26th year of Hongwu's reign were only over 5 million, and now it will not exceed 6 million. Even the local area cannot fill the population. How can anyone have the intention to go to the vassal states in the northeast and northwest?
"Brother Emperor, think of a way to make the people in the southern provinces willing to go to Yongfan." Yunxi said.
"Brother Imperial, I have no hope for this. The main method now is to use Taoism to educate the barbarians. My brother has expanded the Taoist temple in Vladivostok and consecrated many local barbarians who believe in Taoism, and they are the main ones.
Missionaries go to the interior to preach." Yun Xun said.
"Speaking of which, how are you doing with your inland expansion? How many years will it take for you to border the twentieth uncle's feudal country?" Yunxi asked.
"It's not good. There are many more Jurchens in the inland than on the seaside. They are difficult to surrender, and Taoism will not work for a while. I am mainly pushing inland along a river, which the locals call Suifen River.
At any rate, our shipbuilding skills are much better than those of the Jurchens, and they don’t have any sharp weapons that can’t sink our ships; besides, there are plains along the Suifen River and are easy to occupy. Now I have built a ship more than a hundred miles north of Vladivostok.
Fortress, the locals said the name of that place is Shuangchengzi, I don’t know where the name came from, so I borrowed it.”
"Originally, I wanted to clear out the local Jurchens along the Tumen River, but after the army went dozens of miles in, they found that it was difficult to clear out the mountains. The Koreans who had made an appointment found various excuses not to join us in the attack. I
We can only build a fortress at the mouth of the Tumen River, set up a Han village, and a Jurchen village that has taken refuge with me." Yun Xun said.
"But Uncle Twenty's expansion in northern Liaoning was not smooth. He encountered a strong Jurchen tribe more than a hundred miles north of Kaiyuan City. Although there were no high mountains there, the forests were dense and the terrain was rugged. Twenty Uncle
My uncle has fought twice but failed to eliminate the tribe. Now he has changed his strategy and is clearing the nearby woods bit by bit to cut a road that can allow the army to enter and exit. It probably won't take more than a year and a half.
It can't be done." He said again.
Yunxi also knew what Yunxi was talking about. Zhang Shu, the left prime minister of Yingfan, was his confidant. He came to the capital to pay tribute on behalf of the British Dynasty last year, so he knew very well the setbacks encountered by King Zhu Song. Zhu Song originally planned to
He came to Beijing to pay tribute this year, but because he lost to this tribe for the second time in the second half of the year, many Jurchen tribes who had already surrendered to him were ready to move, so he had to stay in Kaiyuan to put out fires.
However, "Don't just look at the north direction. Uncle Twenty has already controlled Liaoyuan, Meihekou, Qingshi and other places in the northeast. If you want to bypass the due north direction and expand northward, the expansion may not be slower than you."
"Anyway, this place in the northeast belongs to you and Uncle Twenty. If Uncle Twenty takes more, you will take less," Yunxi said.
"I understand, Brother Huang. But now I have to be responsible for the affairs on the other side of the sea. There are only a few people. It is almost impossible to compete with Uncle Twenty."
"Now the Northern Navy, which was established by the Imperial Brother in conjunction with several garrison stations in Shandong, Hebei and other places, often stops at my port outside Vladivostok, patrols the Yongming Sea (Fuso Sea), and mediates between the Ainu and Fuso people.
The dispute. Several daimyo from the northern part of Fuso Honshu Island have sent people to me and asked me how I can be willing to give up supporting the Ainu people."
"That's all. I can ignore what they say, but when these naval forces are stationed, I have to provide supplies and drinks, which costs a lot of money." Yunzhen said.
"When did the navy go to Vladivostok without sending the people they wanted to send to you? When they returned from the northern and southern Ainu lands, they also brought the Ainu people who were willing to come to the mainland to your Vladivostok, and the soldiers on the ship often
I will bring you some urgently needed things from Shandong and sell them. Although the price is a bit high, it will be good for your vassal, so what do you have to complain about?" Yunxi laughed and scolded.
Yunzhen rubbed his head and pretended to be stupid.
"If you really don't want the navy to go to Vladivostok, the emperor will ask the Ainu people to expand the port of the southern Ainu land so that all ships can be stationed at the same time." Yunxi decided to scare him.
Yunzhen was indeed frightened, and he hurriedly said loudly: "No need, brother, there is no better port in South Ainu than Vladivostok. Let's just pass by Vladivostok."
Yunxi looked at Yunzhen's expression and saw that he didn't think he was joking, and he didn't expose it himself. He waited for him to plead for a while before relenting and said that the navy was still anchored in Vladivostok, which made Yunzhen breathe a sigh of relief.
He didn't see that Zhu Bai, who was standing aside with his head lowered, could hardly bear it anymore. Yunxi himself also had a hard time holding back his laughter.