The sixth lunar month in the capital is actually the seventh month of the Gregorian calendar. That is, summer has arrived. Compared to last summer's heat, this year's summer is much cooler.

After more than a year of governance, the Haihe River basin has finally revealed a rough framework of the water system. With the construction of reservoirs and irrigation channels to regulate river water, meadow areas in Gyeonggi that used to be only sorghum grown have been developed into rice cultivation areas.

In particular, the area around Haidian, northwest of the capital, was originally a swampy area with dense lakes, and there was basically no farmland except for reeds and wild ducks. But now the nearby villagers have carved out a large paddy field from this reed. The water conservancy and irrigation channels in the field are criss-crossed, and from a distance, there is a bit of a strange vertical and horizontal, wind-blown rice wave rolling scenery.

On some nearby hillsides, there are many corn and sweet potato fields. Millet and sorghum, which were originally common, have become occasional embellishments and can only be seen in some corner areas.

Zhu Youzhen, who was originally going to inspect the Naval Military Academy today, looked at the farmland and canals on the roadside, and his heart was greatly excited. He tightened the reins slightly, and stopped the red wind that was running, wanting to take a good look at the scenery here.

And Chifeng, who was difficult to get out of the city, obviously hadn't finished his fun, and was very dissatisfied with Chongzhen's sudden stop to stop it, shaking his head and turning in place, so that Chongzhen had to accompany it carefully to pacify it for a long time before it quieted down.

Several guards behind Chongzhen hurriedly dismounted and ran over, took the reins from Chongzhen's hand, and asked him carefully, "Does Your Majesty have anything to order?" ”

Zhu Youzhen motioned for a guard to walk in, then pressed his shoulders and got off the horse, moved a little before saying, "I've been riding for too long, my legs are a little numb, let's take a break here and walk." ”

When Lian Shanxiang was not in the capital, he was replaced by Liang Yongji, the commander of the pro-army. This pro-army commander was originally from the Jinyi pro-army for generations, but he has never liked to participate in politics and is very cautious and careful in everything he does, so he is not liked by his boss and Wei Zhongxian, and he is a marginalized figure in Jinyiwei.

Zhu Youzhen saw that he was cautious and cautious, and he had not participated in the Apocalypse Party Struggle, and helped Wei Zhongxian suppress the Donglin Party. Therefore, he was quickly promoted to the guard army.

He quickly took off the kettle from his waist and handed it to Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty, you drink saliva to moisten your throat first, or let's go to the gazebo in front of us to rest our feet, there is no direct sunlight there." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked up and saw that there was indeed a small wooden pavilion, and there was a locust tree like a big umbrella growing on the side, which covered the entire wooden pavilion under the shade. He nodded and said, "Okay, let's go and sit in the pavilion for a while, and you go and invite the farmer who is working in the fields over there, and I want to talk to him." ”

Although I didn't know what Chongzhen was doing with the old man who was working in the fields, he didn't ask much, but quickly followed the emperor's instructions and invited people over.

Look at the gray-haired, dark, thin farmer, with a face wrinkled like a knife, standing there helpless in front of him.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but say to him gently: "Don't be afraid, uncle, I just passed by here and was happy to see the scenery here, so I asked you to come over and ask a question or two, and there is nothing big about it." ”

Although the farmer was still a little timid and shrunk his neck, Dan also nodded and said, "Please also ask the noble person to ask, and the villain will say whatever he knows." Never dare to hide from the nobles.

Zhu Youzhen thought carefully before asking: "When I just passed here, I found that most of the fields were planted with corn, sweet potatoes, and some soybeans from overseas. I just want to ask, how much more can the yield of corn and sweet potatoes per mu be compared with the original sorghum and millet? ”

The old peasant didn't recognize that it was the Ming Emperor sitting in front of him, he thought that this was probably the son of the family in the capital who came to the countryside to relieve his boredom.

Chongzhen's pleasant face finally relieved the fear in the farmer's heart. And the question raised by Chongzhen happened to be one of the contents of his answer.

Therefore, he didn't think about it, so he blurted out to answer Chongzhen's question, "My family's fields are not fertile, and the best annual harvest of millet and sorghum in previous years can yield about 100 catties per mu."

However, the yield of corn and sweet potatoes is higher, and the corn planted in the next village last year was about 150 catties per mu, and the sweet potatoes were more than 300 catties per acre. Moreover, corn stalks can also be fed to livestock, and sweet potato leaves and vines can be used as both grain and vegetables, which are better than sorghum. So this year, many of our families have planted corn and sweet potatoes. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while and asked, "How many people are there in my father-in-law's family, and how many acres of land do you have?" Is there enough food to eat every year? ”

The old farmer curled his fingers and counted, and then replied: "My family of 6 people, an old wife, a daughter-in-law, a son, and two grandsons, have 10 acres of land in their own family, and they also rent 20 acres of land from Zhao Dong's family. Excluding taxes and land rent, you can barely get enough for a year.

As long as the drought is not as severe as last year, if the imperial court can wait for us to be more lenient, and don't send to the heavy army of transporting military rations to Liaodong, then we can still live that day..."

Liang Yongji, who was standing outside the pavilion, listened in amazement, and the emperor chatted with the old peasant and asked about some short affairs of the parents. It was the first time he had encountered such a thing, after all, except for a few more famous Qing officials, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were too lazy to understand what the people were suffering from.

Even if it were those Qing officials, they would not sit and chat with the same old peasant with such a pleasant face. Liang Yongji, who was guarding outside the pavilion, unconsciously straightened his body, as if he felt that the sun outside was not so hot.

After chatting for almost an hour, Zhu Youzhen ended the conversation. He felt in his pocket, but found that he had nothing with him, so he called Liang Yongji outside the pavilion and took a silver dollar from him.

Zhu Youzhen shook hands with the old farmer, then put the silver dollar in the palm of the old farmer's hand and said, "I have delayed my husband for so long, please drink a glass of wine to relieve your fatigue with this money." You can live with peace of mind, this heavy battle of transporting military rations to other places will not be there for the time being. ”

The old farmer was very hesitant, he wanted to refuse, but he was a little reluctant to hold the silver dollar. However, Zhu Youzhen did not continue to push back and forth with him, and after speaking, he turned around and left the wooden pavilion, and got on the red wind with the support of the guards.

After getting on the horse and running for a while, Zhu Youzhen said, "It seems that this year's harvest near Gyeonggi is still good, and if we can continue to improve water conservancy and irrigation, we don't have to worry about the severe drought like last year." ”

Liang Yongji, who was closely behind Chongzhen, subconsciously replied: "This all depends on Your Majesty's virtue and politics." ”

When Zhu Youzhen heard this, he turned his head to look at him, smiled and said: "How can Commander Liang learn to pat my ass, what credit do I have, this is all the credit of hundreds of thousands of people in Gyeonggi and Jiang Shenbao, how dare I be greedy for their hard work..."

After arriving at the Naval Officer Academy, the principal Zhang Xie accompanied Chongzhen, who arrived quietly, to inspect the naval school. At the current Naval Academy, except for a part of the area, you can no longer see the appearance of the famous garden of Kyoto.

About half of the flowers, rockeries, and trees in the courtyard have been bulldozed to form four playgrounds, one large, three and four small. A small bridge and flowing water, a garden deep in the woods, suddenly turned into a heroic barracks.

After Zhang Xie's arrival, the struggle among the students of the Naval Academy had taken a turn for the better. It's not that Zhang Xie is bitter, but that this Longxi is very stern in his actions. No matter what kind of background the student is, as long as he violates the school rules he has set, he will definitely be punished heavily.

This person is completely different from the weak Yu Dudu, and with Chongzhen's support, he doesn't have to worry about the family power behind these students at all. Because Chongzhen has in view of the fact that some nobles and generals bring their servants to school, he specially set up a stone monument at the gate of the military academy to prohibit all cadets from bringing servants into the gate of the military academy, and those who violate it three times will be expelled immediately.

In addition, Chongzhen also passed an order in the House of Nobles that before all nobles inherit the title, they must obtain the ** book of the Army Military Academy, the Navy Military Academy, Yenching University, any of the above three schools, otherwise they will not be knighted.

It is under this oppression that these students of the Naval Academy finally put their minds to their studies. And because of the difference in background, there are many fewer incidents of students fighting each other.

However, there is also the factor that the naval officer school has increased its learning tasks, if last year they only needed to learn some arithmetic, astronomy, and geography knowledge, and they also had to walk in a queue or something.

Then the arrival of the British captain and the Dutchman to teach gave the students of the Naval Academy a reason. That is, everyone at sea encounters the same risk, and hurricanes at sea will not give way to you because you are a king, nor will they find you because you are a sailor.

The British captain Andre and the Dutchman Edmond Dantès, having seen the naval officer school, were skeptical that this method could produce a good captain.

After all, in this era, every captain in Europe learned the ability to steer ships as an apprentice on a ship from an early age. There has never been a man who has learned the art of fighting with the sea on land.

However, considering the reality of Daming, these two experienced captains were still interested in making a lot of suggestions for this naval school, such as building two non-navigable training ships by the lake.

Familiarize the trainees with the structure of the ship and the life on board. Although it lacks the test of various sea conditions, it can also give them a basic concept of life at sea.

Zhu Youzhen quickly approved all the suggestions for improvement put forward by these two men, and in his opinion, since both of them had experience in ocean voyages, it was natural that their opinions should be listened to.