For most people in the Ming Dynasty, eating meat was a luxury.

Even for ordinary families, they could only eat two bites of meat during the New Year.

The two bites of meat here are not a figurative reference but a real one.

It's really just two bites, any more and it's gone.

Because most families never have a child.

The government encourages childbirth, and the people also have a perception that having more children means more blessings, a prosperous family, and strength in numbers.

In the words of later generations, it means that if the quality is not enough, quantity will be used to make up for it.

The meat that is generally available is mainly from the six domestic animals, namely: horse, cattle, sheep, chicken, dog and pig.

A pig is a swine.

It is strictly forbidden to slaughter cattle, especially working cattle. Even if they die of old age or illness, they must be reported to the government for inspection before they can be slaughtered and eaten.

Not to mention horses, which are strategic materials.

Even a poor horse is still valuable, at least it can be used as a carriage.

Don't underestimate the coachman. Those who can own a carriage at home can already have enough food and clothing.

Sheep are good, but except for places suitable for raising sheep such as grasslands, most people cannot afford the expensive feed.

Therefore, the only animals that can be eaten are chickens, dogs, and pigs.

As the old saying goes, killing the chicken to get the eggs.

Hens lay eggs and roosters crow, how could ordinary people bear to do so?

Dogs can guard the house and are very useful because it is difficult to keep people at home, whether it is for farming or other purposes, so dogs are a strong example.

So the most likely meat to eat is pork.

Because pigs have no other purpose except to be eaten.

In most places in the Ming Dynasty, raising pigs was relatively cheap. Ordinary people raised a pig, sold it at the end of the year, kept some pork for themselves, and used the rest to exchange for money, which was considered a small fortune.

The main reason why Zhu Ying set his sights on white pigs was to allow more people to eat meat.

In terms of taste, white pork is not as delicious as black pork.

But the growth cycle of black pigs is too long.

Normally, it takes nearly a year, ten to twelve months, for a black pig to be ready for slaughter, and it has to be raised from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

White pigs are different in that they can be slaughtered in just three or four months.

That is to say, in a year, white pigs can be sold three or even four times, while black pigs can only be sold once.

This is a difference of three or four times.

Moreover, white pigs produce more piglets than most black pig breeds.

Naturally, Zhu Ying was not a pig farmer in his previous life, and he had no idea about the origin, breed, advantages and other data of white pigs.

But this did not prevent him from issuing an order to the Heroes Chamber of Commerce.

Large quantities of white pigs were purchased from all over Western Europe and brought to the Ming Dynasty.

…

"You and I do have some fate. I originally thought you followed my uncle, but I didn't expect that you would end up here as the editor-in-chief of my newspaper."

"Tell me what thoughts and suggestions you have for the official newspaper."

Zhu Ying smiled.

Sitting opposite was Yuan Jiachi.

Yuan Jiachi lowered his head slightly, not daring to look directly at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, for fear of breaking a taboo.

During this period, he was in high spirits.

As a guest of King Jin, at least he had no worries about food and drink.

After that, when I heard that the Dibao was recruiting editors-in-chief and editors, I went to take the test with the mentality of giving it a try.

I didn't have high hopes at first, but I suddenly became the editor-in-chief of the palace newspaper.

Now he has been personally received by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, which can be said to be the peak and highlight moment of his life.

The biggest change was that as editor-in-chief of the palace newspaper, he received a monthly salary of 20 strings of cash.

This is almost close to the monthly salary of a seventh-rank official.

Although there is no physical object, the price of Ming Baochao is still very valuable under Zhu Ying's constant control.

Hearing the question from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Yuan Jiachi seemed a little nervous.

After all, it’s because I haven’t seen the world.

With his mind completely blank, Yuan Jiachi replied with a trembling voice: "I will definitely not let your highness down."

Hearing this irrelevant reply, Zhu Ying was speechless.

He pulled out Yuan Jiachi's previous questionnaire from the desk, placed it in front of him, and said, "Did you write the story yourself, or did you hear it from someone else?"

Although he didn't act very serious, Yuan Jiachi was completely terrified.

In ancient times, cheating was not just a simple punishment.

Once involved, in addition to physical pain, the door to success will be permanently closed.

Yuan Jiachi had no other choice but to kneel down and kowtow.

"Your Highness, please spare my life! Your Highness, please spare my life!"

If it were someone else, or any official seeing this situation, they would probably conclude that Yuan Jiachi's answer sheet contained elements of plagiarism.

Zhu Ying knew, however, that this person was just trying to make him nervous.

Because the answers on the test paper are contrary to the current mainstream thinking of intellectuals, even if one is knowledgeable, one would not write such answers.

"Don't be nervous, just answer honestly. Am I a man-eating beast that scares you so much?"

"I asked you to come here this time because I wanted to have a good talk with you about the future development of the newspaper. If you look like this, I'm afraid you won't be able to be the editor-in-chief."

Zhu Ying's words were like a bucket of cold water poured on Yuan Jiachi's head.

He certainly knew what it would mean if his position as editor-in-chief was removed.

The consequences of this might be such that even the King of Jin might kick him out of the palace.

Forcing himself to calm down, Yuan Jiachi began to speak, "Your Highness, I am so grateful to God that I was so frightened and confused just now. I am sorry to have embarrassed you."

Zhu Ying nodded after hearing this, and said without arguing too much, "Okay, then tell me about the question just now."

Yuan Jiachi then began to talk about his views on the future development of the official newspaper.

Zhu Ying listened carefully.

In fact, Zhu Ying had already understood what Yuan Jiachi said, and had discussed it seriously with the old man before.

But this does not prevent other people from not having this awareness.

It can be said that most officials in the court have never thought about this matter.

"Your Highness, what I admire most is that you only charge three cents. The three-cent court bulletin can definitely let people all over the world know the information as quickly as possible. Even farmers can understand national affairs."

"According to my estimation, this cost alone is indeed a big deal. We can only find ways to make up for the deficit in other aspects in order to continue to publish the newspaper."

After saying this, Yuan Jiachi bowed.

Zhu Ying nodded with satisfaction. It was rare to be able to get to this point.

It seems simple, but in fact it has already surpassed the insights of the times.

After Zhu Ying pondered for a while, he said, "Zhengyang Avenue is the largest project in the Ming Dynasty at present, and it has a huge impact."

"Such a major event would naturally be highlighted in the first edition of the Beijing Gazette."

"Especially the invention of cement, its effect on the construction of Ming roads must be clearly understood."

"I have discussed this with Grandpa. After the Zhengyang Avenue is completed, the official road from Nanjing to Beijing will be widened to 40 feet wide with cement. It is planned to be completed by the end of this year."

"A monument of merit will be erected on this road for donations. At the same time, those who can stand on the monument of merit will be able to enjoy the right to walk on the official road as long as it does not interfere with military and national affairs."

"These three points will be the first edition of the Beijing Gazette. You and the editors should write a discussion as quickly as possible, stating the pros and cons, and then hand it over to me for the final decision."

"Remember, the text of the court report does not need to be elegant, it must be told in plain language, but understandable."

Yuan Jiachi bowed quickly and said, "I will obey your highness' orders."

…

More than a month.

The redress army led by Lan Yu arrived in Hanzhong.

However, when the army arrived, they saw a desolate scene.

Ten days before the arrival of the army, Tian Jiucheng and others took all the young and strong men and fled into the mountains.

All the valuable goods in the city were taken away.

Naturally, not a grain of food was left.

Perhaps they felt that there would be a chance to go down the mountain in the future, or perhaps it was because this was the hometown of the rebels, and most of the soldiers in the army lived here for a long time.

The city's buildings did not suffer extensive damage, they were just a little messy.

As for the elderly, the weak and the disabled, they will naturally stay.

They knew that the government troops would not do anything to them.

"As His Royal Highness expected, these rebels dared not defend the city and fled into the mountains."

Lan Yu snorted coldly.

The original plan was to eliminate the rebels as quickly as possible, but it obviously turned into a tug-of-war.

There are many variables in the mountains and forests, and the advantage in numbers becomes lower. Moreover, if the losses are too great, Lan Yu will also be to blame.

"Duke Liang, since the rebels have fled, the first thing we need to do is to distribute the various crops we brought and quickly resume farming."

"Some soldiers have investigated earlier and found that the farmland has not been damaged. However, due to the shortage of personnel, we can only mobilize from the surrounding areas."

Zhu Quan spoke.

Lan Yu nodded.

Spring ploughing cannot be delayed, so the only option is to speed up the migration of the people.

"In this case, let's act according to the strategy we made earlier."

Lan Yu said lightly.

The current situation had been taken into consideration before coming here, and countermeasures had been prepared long ago.

It is obviously unrealistic to launch a huge expedition into the mountains to hunt down the rebels.

At present, while protecting the spring ploughing, we are drawing forest maps and gathering forest intelligence.

Checkpoints were set up at various intersections, like catching a turtle in a jar, and the rebels' sphere of activity was gradually narrowed down step by step by gradually nibbling away at them.

Zhu Quan heard this and hesitated for a moment before saying, "According to the information we have now, the rebels' food supply is probably enough for two months. Even if they save money, they can only last three months at most before running out of food."

"We should quickly cut off their retreat, block all the main roads, and then slowly attack them."

The atmosphere was slightly stagnant.

Because what Lan Yu said before meant that the meeting could be adjourned.

But Zhu Quan seemed not to hear and continued speaking.

In the military, this is a challenge to the authority of the commander-in-chief.

All the generals looked towards the Duke of Liang.

At present, nine out of the ten garrisons have followed Lan Yu in battle, so it is no exaggeration to say that they are his direct descendants.

Only one guard post was different.

Most of the officers in this garrison are from the Black Armor Guards, and the commander was once under Xu Da's command and is now following the Crown Prince.

Naturally, he would tend to be closer to Ning Wang Zhu Quan.

Lan Yu turned her head and looked at Zhu Quan's young face. Zhu Quan was only fifteen years old now.

From Zhu Quan's eyes, Lan Yu saw not a provocation or a fight for military power, but a very serious suggestion.

Lan Yu smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness Prince Ning is right. Then we will follow your instructions and block all the main roads first."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the generals breathed a sigh of relief.

If the Duke of Liang and the Prince of Ning come into conflict due to their disagreement, people like Cao Zhen who are caught in the middle will be the most uncomfortable.

Although they can be said to be the direct descendants of the Duke of Liang, the side of Prince Ning can almost be said to represent His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

No matter who you help, it's difficult.

It is best to be peaceful and calm now.

…

Although it was February, it was still extremely cold in the mountains, and there was even snow on some mountain tops that had not melted.

The mountains are continuous and sparsely populated.

It is not easy to live in the mountains in this era.

Various wild beasts and poisonous creatures can take a person's life if one is not careful.

Moreover, living in the mountains for a long time is extremely humid and causes acclimatization, which increases the possibility of contracting diseases.

Tian Jiucheng and more than 30,000 people entered the mountain, but they were like a drop in the ocean and were not noticeable at all.

"Your Majesty, the spies reported that the Ming army has arrived, about 60,000 to 70,000 people. Now those government troops are blocking all the intersections and want to surround and kill us."

In the crudely built meeting hall, more than a dozen rebel leaders gathered together to discuss countermeasures against the Ming army.

Tian Jiucheng was sitting at the top. When he heard his subordinates calling him "Your Majesty", he couldn't help but twist his body, feeling a little uncomfortable.

At the same time, he began to regret that he should not have believed the deception of those businessmen and planned to ascend the throne and become emperor.

Now there are more than 30,000 people hiding in this mountain. They no longer have the momentum they had before.

"Now the Ming court is under siege, do you have any countermeasures?"

Tian Jiucheng said with gritted teeth.

Those sitting below, upon hearing the title of "My Lord", obviously felt the same as Tian Jiucheng.

Although Tian Jiucheng was speaking to everyone, his eyes were always on Gao Fuxing.

Currently, there are no more than three educated people in this meeting hall.

In addition to Gao Fuxing, there must be another official who took the initiative to surrender when Lueyang was captured.

The other person is a famous doctor in the city.

Obviously Tian Jiucheng also knew that there were no doctors in the mountains. If a disease like the plague broke out, the Ming court would not even have to take action, as they would die first.

Gao Fuxing looked at everyone in the hall, and felt a little sad when he thought about the current morale in the army.

Because everyone here, whether soldiers or others, lives in the local area.

It was okay when I first entered the mountains, it was quite fresh.

It's been less than half a month and people's hearts are already a little scattered.

There is no need to think about the land that was promised to us before, as it has all been taken back by the government troops, which means it is gone.

They said they would fight back, but with the 60,000 to 70,000 elite Ming troops coming from the capital and having superior firearms, it was obvious that they had no chance of winning.

Yesterday morning, Gao Fuxing heard his subordinates discussing spring ploughing.

There are more than 30,000 people, 90% of whom are of peasant origin. They have long been accustomed to spring ploughing and autumn farming. Now, seeing the busy sowing outside, they feel very uncomfortable.

Gao Fuxing has realized that in this situation, if no effective countermeasures are taken, there will be a large number of deserters.

After thinking for a while, Gao Fuxing said, "In my opinion, it is better to send a messenger to talk to the Ming court to see if there is any possibility of recruiting them."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire meeting hall fell silent.

There was a constant flicker in the eyes of many people.

At this point, many people no longer wanted to live a hard life in the mountains and began to miss life down the mountain more and more.

Tian Jiucheng looked at everyone, anger brewing in his eyes.

He doesn't believe in amnesty. According to the temperament of the current Ming Emperor, even if he is offered amnesty, he will definitely die.

Just when Tian Jiucheng was about to lose his temper, he suddenly found Gao Fuxing winking at him.

I immediately understood that this was Gao Fuxing's plan.