In the thirtieth year of Shaowu's reign, it was the second month of spring.

The capital city of Nuoda is bustling with activity.

The royal driver left the capital and plowed the farmland himself.

This activity has been carried out for more than 20 years, and the emperor has never stopped it, so that all civil and military officials have become accustomed to it.

The cold spring breeze still carries a chill, and the branches and leaves on the roadside are covered with frost and water, looking sick and sick, as if they have not recovered from winter.

Zhu Yixi leaned against a soft pillow, with glasses hanging on the bridge of her nose at some point. On her right hand, she was holding a two-year-old child wearing a bright red coat with a thin face.

On the left hand is a one-year-old child with a red face, a yellow short coat, and a bulging belly. He is giggling non-stop under the teasing of his nephew.

The two of them were making fun of each other, which was quite interesting.

The two-year-old is the prince's youngest son, while the one-year-old is his forty-second son, who was born last year and looks cute.

Her mother came from Central Asia and was an Arab beauty presented to her by the fourth king of Liao.

Originally, the number of princes born was over fifty, but there were too many diseases and more than ten died in infancy.

Those who are less than twelve will not take turns, so they can only be forty-two.

She had so many sons that Zhu Yixi became immune to premature death. She could only be sad for a moment and be over.

After all, feelings cannot be cultivated without seeing each other a few times a month.

He was much more concerned about the princes whose turns were within twenty, and he couldn't even remember the ones that followed, and he often needed reminders from the eunuchs.

"Master, we're here!" Men Dongzi's voice came from outside the car.

"Yeah!" Zhu Yixi snorted and ordered the maid in the car: "You stay in the car and take care of them. Don't get caught in the wind."

After saying this, the thick car curtain opened and he sped up and got out of the car.

Stepping onto the low stool, my steps were close to the ground, and my gold and silver deerskin boots were stained by mud.

He didn't care.

What appeared in front of him was a flat and square farmland.

The weeds on the ridges of the fields seemed to be neat and orderly.

The wheat roots and weeds in the fields have also disappeared.

This is a completely plowed land.

In an instant, Mendong noticed the change in the emperor's expression.

He has served for many years, how could he not know the emperor's thoughts? This group of people typically do bad things with good intentions.

"Master, why don't you change the land?"

"No need!" Zhu Yixi chuckled and looked back at the princes behind him:

"Today we will not farm, but open up wasteland!"

“Get your rakes and hoes ready and let the cows rest!”

At this time, the princes immediately started to cry in their hearts.

"Grandpa Huang, I also want to plow the fields!"

At this time, the emperor's eldest grandson, Zhu Fuyi (Tongguang), who was only ten years old, came with great interest and asked questions.

This is the first time he has been brought to this event.

"Okay, you are responsible for sowing the seeds, don't let your uncles be lazy!"

The nineteenth son of the emperor, King Guo, who was taking the lead, Zhu Cunqi, couldn't help but shrink his neck.

He is currently the eldest vassal king in Beijing, at the age of 18. The previous 18 princes were all assigned overseas vassals, and it took him less than two years to join his vassal.

A few years ago, the Dutch ceded the entire Nanyang to the Ming Dynasty, leaving only free trade and routes, and most-favored-nation status.

As a result, the twelve kings who were enfeoffed in the 23rd year of Shaowu basically all had vassal states and were waiting for them in the vassal state.

Of course, when the princes' abilities and ages were not up to standard, the time for the Prime Minister to farm and run the country was continuously delayed, from three years to five years, or eight years, or even two Prime Ministers.

After all, the current twenty-sixth son of the emperor, King Huo, is only fourteen years old, so he has to wait for a long time.

So, from the emperor's nineteenth son to the emperor's twenty-eighth, the youngest was thirteen years old, ten princes plus one grandson began artificial land reclamation on half an acre of land.

Collecting stones, weeding, plowing the ground, and working as oxen to pull plows, the hard work involved is indescribable. Everyone was sweating profusely and their clothes were soaked.

The emperor took advantage of the cool weather, ate melon seeds, and watched his sons work.

Similarly, standing in front of the emperor were five cabinet ministers.

The chief assistant is Yan Yingyuan, who has a thin face and a short beard and is described as smart and capable. He has a strong yet gentle personality and can compromise politically without causing chaos in the cabinet.

It can be said that his control over the cabinet is not much worse than that of his predecessor Zhu Mou.

The second assistant is Liu Xiangke, who has been an old man for many years and rose from the position of group assistant.

Among the group assistants, the third-ranked one is Yu Chenglong, who has served as governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and governor of Yunnan and Guizhou. He is tall and tall among them, and he also has the most beard.

Secondly, there is Zheng Sen, who has been wandering around the place for nearly twenty years.

Compared to the other four, he is the burliest. He does not look like a civil servant but a military general. He has a short beard on his upper lip, which shows that his mother has passed away and his father is still there.

Sitting at the bottom of the table was the famous scar-faced Jinshi Wang Fuzhi, who looked serious.

Yan Yingyuan, Liu Xiangke, and Yu Chenglong were all from the north, while Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Sen were all from the south.

It must be said that the emperor's thoughts are fully revealed in it.

After Zhu Mou served as the chief minister for several years, although he still looked young in age, he wisely resigned last year and returned home to retire.

The appearance of the cabinet also reveals the current situation in the court and local governments.

Chongzhen, a veteran of the former dynasty during the Tianqi period, mostly withdrew from officialdom, and the main force became the Jinshi during the Shaowu period.

For Emperor Shaowu, these Jinshi scholars during the Shaowu period showed his prestige.

You can directly control the official situation without even going through the cabinet.

"Your Majesty, the grassland white disaster was prevalent last winter. I am afraid that many cattle and sheep will starve to death this spring. The imperial court must prepare some food and grass..."

Yan Yingyuan cupped his hands and wrinkled the word "Sichuan" on his forehead, obviously feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"How much preparation?"

Zhu Yixi said casually.

"Thirty thousand shi from the Fu Kingdom and 40,000 shi from the Liang Kingdom."

"Then let's make arrangements! By the way, I'm afraid the Mobei area is also in trouble. Should we also provide relief?"

"Your Majesty, Beihai has stored a lot of food and grass, it should be enough!" Yan Yingyuan said with cupped hands.

Zhu Yixi nodded.

Conquering the grasslands is really a losing business.

In the Central Plains, good years and disaster years are rare, and ordinary years are common. However, on the grasslands, white disasters occur every three to five years, and relief is required every three or four years.

There is nothing we can do if we don't save them, otherwise they will have to rebel.

Of course, compared to the military disaster, this little food is nothing.

Therefore, although the ministers in the court were unhappy, they had to hold their noses and admit it.

Fortunately, the vassal state belongs to our own people. If this was a place of control, we would have ignored it long ago.

After reporting the bad news, Yan Yingyuan immediately talked about the good news:

"Your Majesty, after many years of migration, 400,000 people have moved into the three northeastern regions, two million acres of wasteland have been reclaimed, more than 2,000 villages have been built, and eight new counties have been established."

"Jilin has become self-sufficient in food, and Heilongjiang has also begun to achieve results."

Hearing this, Zhu Yixi nodded slightly and smiled: "That's right. We must continue to migrate in an orderly manner, so that the three northeastern regions can be developed as much as possible and become real granaries."

It is undeniable that this kind of semi-forced immigration is a harm to ordinary people, but this harm is allowed politically.

If this were not the case, unless the people in the mainland were so hungry that they would never be willing to break into Guandong.

After years of governance, Liaodong has developed the fastest, with a population exceeding 3.6 million, and the cultivated land area is at a medium level among the more than 30 provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

Over time, if the policy remains the same, it will be easy to break through to five million within ten years, and the rest will not need to move again.

Thinking of the population, Zhu Yixi frowned.

In just a few years, the population increased rapidly to 240 million.

An increase of 10 million in four years.

Wouldn't that mean an increase of 250 million in a hundred years?

And this is still an estimate. If the base is larger, the growth will be faster.

Maybe it only takes ninety or eighty years.

Before the 19th century, the total population of Ming Dynasty would definitely exceed 500 million.
To be continued...