Chapter 35: Dilemma (2)

Zhu Zhi returned to the vassal state, Liaodong was revitalized, Jinzhou sailed to the sea, and the people welcomed each other from a hundred miles away.

Zhu Zhi's ship sailed outside Jinzhou Port and got an anchor. The Clippers had already reported that they had entered the port. On the morning of the next day, Tie Xuan, who had moved to Jinzhou early in the name of supervising the navy, was the commander of Jinzhou Guards, and Han Bing, the commander of Jinzhou Guard, drove out to greet him.

I don’t know who revealed the news. When Zhu Zhi’s ship approached the port waterway, the people of Jinzhou reappeared in the scene of seeing off the past. Thousands of sails covered the sun and rushed out to welcome him.

As the "Taishan" with the royal flag passed by, fishing boats, merchant ships and warships sounded the bells on the boat together. The bells of the big boats were eternal and melodious, and the bells of the small boats were crisp and pleasant, and they shone together between the sea and the sky.

The sailors and people on the boat all bowed to the deck and saluted to the flagship.

There were overlapping masts in the distance. The yellow flag on the top of the mast was a battleship, the green flag was a cruiser, and five yellow flags and nine green flags were dotted. The first fleet of the Liaodong Navy's main force joined forces here.

When the royal flag of the "Taishan" appeared at the entrance of the waterway, the first fleet's salutes sounded, four hundred naval guns roared at the same time, and seagulls were startled, and the heaven and earth were moved.

Zhu Zhi and Atractylodes stood on the bridge, waved slowly, and accepted the worship of the military and civilians. This was a major turning point in Zhu Zhi's life, with thousands of sails competing, hundreds of boats competing for the current, clear water and green mountains, and vast sky.

Guo Xiu's eyes were so heartbreaking. During the two years of separation, she missed her husband all day long. It was two autumns after seeing him today.

As early as when Zhu Zhi informed that he was about to return to the vassal state, Guo Xiu had already crossed the sea from Guangning to the Jinzhou Palace. He had been waiting for two months before seeing his husband's royal flag.

A large number of royal palace officials, Guo Ming, Qu Yuan, Yao Shan and other civil officials came to greet him. Zhu Zhi was embarrassed to be too intimate with the princess in front of everyone, so he just gently pinched her hand.

Guo Xiu raised his eyes and saw Atractylodes behind Zhu Zhi, and hurriedly went up to meet him. Atractylodes said a lot of blessings. Guo Xiu knew the pain in his sister's heart, so he quickly grabbed her hand. There was only one sentence left in a thousand words: "Thank you for your hard work, sister.

"Atractylodes have been feeling unhappy since Atractylodes left Yingtian. Although Zhu Zhi tried to comfort her along the way, for a mother who left her son, no comfort can satisfy her depression.

When I saw Guo Xiu, Bai Zhu felt aggrieved and broke out in her heart, "Sister..."

The two sisters were hugging their heads and crying. Two children turned out from behind everyone, and a boy jumped and ran towards Guo Xiu: "Mother's Concubine. Mother's Concubine." It was the prince Zhu Guiyan.

Guo Xiu looked at his son who had been thinking about day and night, but his tears were stopped and he said sternly: "Kneel down to your concubine Bai!"

Gui Yan didn't know why his mother, who hadn't seen for a long time, suddenly became so strict, so he had to kneel down in grievance, kowtow to Bai Zhu, and then kowtow to Guo Xiu: "The child has met his mother, Concubine Bai."

Bai Zhu was embarrassed, knowing that this was a scene where Guo Xiu was polite to her and was unwilling to let the mother and the two of them meet again; it stimulated herself. She hurriedly helped the child on the ground up and said, "Sister, don't be so strict."

I haven't seen you for two years, I have to miss you so much." With such help from Bai Zhu, Zhu Guixuan's tears that had been dripping in his eyes for a long time finally came out of his eyes.

A girl from the corner hid behind her nurse and poked her head out to look at the few people, her round eyes were full of curiosity. Zhu Ye was only five years old when he left Liaodong, and two years later. Where can he recognize his mother?

The nurse took her little hand and asked her to kneel down, but Zhu Ye ran behind Bai Zhu and grabbed her clothes. It was also in Beijing for two years that Zhu Ye had been taking care of Bai Zhu, so he naturally became closer to her.

Seeing that his daughter was unwilling to recognize him, Guo Xiu burst into tears and rushed forward regardless of his identity and hugged his daughter.

The ministers around him looked at this touching scene of the mother and daughter meeting each other, and were sighing in contact with the Liao King's two years of ban career. Zhu Zhi coughed and whispered: "Everyone is watching, let's talk about family affairs when they go home.

"As he said that, he turned around and walked towards the car that was greeting. The two mothers then left the dock with their children.

Zhu Zhi returned to the palace and saw his third son Zhu Guixuan for the first time. The first time he saw this son, he felt sad and intimate. After arranging the family affairs in the harem, Zhu Zhi came to the front hall.

The officials of the Liao Palace had been waiting for a long time, and they were sitting on chairs and chatting with Yang Rong. Seeing Zhu Zhi enter the hall, everyone immediately stood up and waited for the lord to sit down. Everyone knelt down at the same time and performed the courtesy of the minister.

After seeing all the etiquette, Zhu Zhi quickly asked everyone to get up quickly. After everyone sat down, Zhu Zhi said, "After leaving for many years, even the seafood in Liaodong has forgotten what tastes, but I want to die.

"Zhu Zhi is from the modern era and never likes to call himself a lonely person. Everyone has long been accustomed to his self-proclaimed "I, I". Now Zhu Zhi suddenly said "Lonely" and made the officials present feel much more relaxed.

Guo Ming smiled and said, "Your Highness likes seafood. I have ordered people to go into the sea early in the morning to get a lot of things, so I can have a meal later."

Qu Yuan said: "Brother Jianzhi, look at you. You have gained a lot in two years. Why do you want Your Highness to accompany you? Haha." When Zhu Zhi saw that Guo Ming had indeed become much more potent. When Qu Yuan said this, he was embarrassed to twist on the chair.

Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter when they saw him.

Zhu Zhi hurried out to smooth things out for his brother-in-law and said, "Our Lord Dianbao has always been keen on gluttony. Food is the most important thing for the people. Isn't I thinking about the delicacies of Liaodong every day?"

Everyone laughed for a while, and the atmosphere became much more harmonious. Zhao Yu suddenly said: "The day before yesterday, Lord Guo went to Jinzhou and immediately took Beizhi to the beach to fish. Only then did Beizhi realize that Lord Guo has developed a good fishing place now."

Guo Ming said: "How is it not good? Now there is nothing to do, so I can only go to the beach to fish every day. In fact, Bei Zhi found that Brother Yunhan's skills are also quite good. It seems that Brother Yunhan often runs to the beach."

Tie Xuan said: "Don't you know it's not Jiang Taigong fishing?" Everyone burst into laughter again. Zhu Zhi could hear that the words of several royal officials had a helpless smell.

Judging from the news conveyed by Tie Xuan, Liaodong government affairs have been heavily influenced by the Liaodong Dusi, where Yang Wen was under the jurisdiction of Yang Wen, especially the salt administration. Since the salt induction was directly obtained from the Liaodong Dusi, Yang Wen took all the salt administration income to the Dusi on this ground. The results of Liaodong Salt Administration, which Zhao Yu had worked hard for several years, were usurped by a document from the Ministry of War. How could there be no complaints below?

The lack of income from the Salt Administration directly affects the operation of the Navy. In the past, 80% of the military expenditure of the Navy came from the Salt Administration. Now that more than 100,000 taels of silver are gone, Tie Xuan can only tap the tariffs of the City Bosi to the Navy, and in addition, the land silver from Mongolian treasures barely supports the past.

Thinking of these, Zhu Zhi couldn't help but feel angry and said, "Have you been much idle in the past two years in Liao Gong?" Everyone saw Zhu Zhi's serious expression and laughed.

Tie Xuan said: "Since Governor Yang arrived in Liao, he has been particularly concerned about military and political affairs. In addition to the salt administration, there is also taxation. Now the Tax Silver Palace of the Dushi Department has no right to interfere.

So now everyone is very leisurely, not that they don’t want to do things, they really have nothing to do.”

Zhu Zhi frowned, but the laughter and scolding of the people could not hide the facts of Liaodong's military and political conflicts.

Guo Ming sighed and said, "In the past two years, the salt tax and customs tax and commercial tax transferred to Liaodong Dusi are no less than 500,000 taels of grain, and Liaodong government affairs can only operate at the lowest level.

If His Highness had not been repeatedly instructed to fully support Dusi, Beizhi really didn't want to serve Yang Wen, the greedy man."

Yao Shandao: "In the past two years, immigration work has also come to a halt due to the reduction of budgets, and the number of immigrants has dropped from 30,000 in the past to only 10,000. The government lacks supplies, who would like to come to Liaodong, a bitter and cold place?"

Listening to the complaints from these people under his command, Zhu Zhi was also irritable. He could have ordered the Liaodong government to resist Dusidi insatiable, with 500,000 taels of grain?! It was a 100,000 taels more than Zhu Zhi's military expenditure when he was in power, and the additional 100,000 taels happened to be the share of the salt administration.

In the past, 400,000 taels were enough to deal with the war, but now it is required 500,000 taels? In addition to the increased output of military garrisons in the past two years, Yang Wen did not believe that he had not embezzled Zhu Zhi to death.

However, Zhu Zhi considered that most of the money and grain were used on the Liaodong Army, in his heart, this army was always created by himself, just like his own son, how could he bear to starve them?

Besides, Zhu Zhi has always had a belief that this army will return to his own command sooner or later.

Tie Xuan said: "But fortunately, in addition to collecting taxes, Yang Wen did not interfere with the civil affairs of Liaodong, so the annual income in Liaodong has not only not decreased, but has increased.

Since the year when His Highness left, taxes have suddenly increased, and have risen by 20% in the past two years. By May, 320,000 taels of grain have been earned, and by the end of the year, it is expected to reach the record of 720,000 taels of grain.

In addition, in the years since His Highness ruled Liaodong, Liaodong has been in good weather. Last summer, there was a little drought and it helped more than 200,000 shi of grain. The reserves of money and grain in the Liaodong treasury have not decreased but increased, and now they have accumulated more than 600,000 taels of grain.

Guo Ming said: "The increase in taxes started the year before yesterday was mainly due to the smooth maritime trade routes. After the navy wiped out all Japanese pirates in the East China Sea in the 29th year of Hongwu, sea merchants from Goryeo, Japan, Ryukyu, Jiangnan and even from South China all came to Liaodong to do business.

Nowadays, ironware, medicinal materials and luxury goods in Liaodong have become things that merchants are rushing to.

Yao Shan sighed and said, "Although industry and commerce are prevalent in Liaodong, according to the perspective of Beizhi, there are still many hidden dangers. The main situation is that industry and commerce and agriculture compete for labor. Jinzhou shipyards, Tieling iron factories, Guangning wood factories, and furniture factories all need manpower everywhere.

Nowadays, the children of farmers are willing to work in the city. The work income in the city is better than farming. Now the phenomenon of labor shortage in the farmland has emerged.

Since the 29th year of Hongwu, the growth of agricultural taxation has reached a stagnation stage, with about 1.5 million stones of grain being produced every year, and the population of Liaodong is nearly 800,000. If it is only based on Liaodong's annual grain production, there will be famine.
Chapter completed!