With Lan Yu's analysis, Zhu Quan gradually became clear about the current situation.

The rebels are hiding in the mountains, which are easy to defend but difficult to attack, so we can only take them by strategy.

Now it is nothing more than a matter of secretly passing the money.

It is conceivable that among so many civilians, there will definitely be many who will choose to abandon darkness and join the light.

It is not so urgent to completely deal with the traitors now. We can take our time. After all, spring ploughing has already begun and the farmland has not been damaged.

This side of the capital.

As time passed, the cement pavement of Zhengzheng Avenue began to solidify gradually.

However, in order to ensure that the disease could be cured thoroughly, Zhu Ying still issued an order that it would take a full month before the patient could walk.

The Imperial Palace in Beijing.

"Brother, come and have some hot tea. It's still so cold even though it's already the beginning of spring."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang and Tang He drank tea and chatted together.

Tang He came to the palace because Zhu Yuanzhang specially summoned him.

After taking a sip of hot tea, Tanghe felt that the coldness in his body was much dispelled.

Although he lived in the inner city, the last time he came to the palace was when Crown Prince Zhu Biao passed away.

Zhengdan's illness relapsed and he had to stay in bed to recuperate. He has only recently recovered.

"Brother Tang He, I have heard about what happened in the court recently."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a smile and a look of great excitement.

Tang He was startled and said hurriedly, "I have been lying in bed recently and have not heard anything about the court."

Zhu Yuanzhang said with some displeasure: "Zhengyang Avenue is being rebuilt. Don't you know about such a big thing, old brother?"

Tang He quickly replied, "I did hear this from my servants, but I was confused at the time and didn't hear it clearly."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "Then you should have seen it when you entered the palace."

Tang He said again: "The wind is not strong, but my body cannot bear it. Since I got into the sedan chair at the door of the room, I have not looked outside."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. He really had no way to deal with Tang He.

I had no choice but to explain: "Our eldest grandson found a group of craftsmen from Obaro and developed something called cement."

"After mixing with sand and gravel, this thing becomes like mud, but within two hours, it will become as hard as rock."

"So we used this method to rebuild Zhengyang Avenue, from Zhengyang Gate to Chengtian Gate, and widen it by thirty feet on both sides. At first glance, it really has the flavor of the original trip to the grassland."

"It's a pity you didn't see it, old brother. But don't worry. You must take a good look when you go out later."

When Tang He heard this, he was obviously shocked, and then he bowed and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. Your Highness is so smart, and he understands the benefits of both China and foreign countries."

"In the future, the Ming Dynasty will prosper and last forever."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang burst into laughter and was very happy.

Then he couldn't help but say: "Old brother, you still understand me."

Tang He is worthy of being the only founding hero in history who had a good ending.

This ability to understand other people's minds is not something that ordinary people can match.

Zhu Yuanzhang clearly talked about how good and wide Zhengyang Avenue was, and only mentioned it briefly to his eldest grandson. If it were any other minister, he would have praised Zhengyang Avenue.

Tang He grasped the key point at once. He did not mention Zhengyang Avenue at all, but only talked about the excellence of the Crown Prince and his vision for the future of the Ming Dynasty.

This move hit Zhu Yuanzhang's heart exactly.

"It is truly a blessing for the Ming Dynasty that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can return." Seeing that His Majesty was in a good mood, Tang He added an appropriate sentence.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with emotion: "It is indeed something we never expected that our eldest grandson would be able to come back."

"It's just that I feel guilty for so many years. If I had done a thorough checkup, my grandson wouldn't have to suffer the pain of wandering."

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang sighed.

Seeing this, Tang He hurriedly comforted him, "Your Majesty, misfortune often brings blessings, and blessings often bring misfortune. Your Highness's achievements today are probably inseparable from his wanderings in the frontiers."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Old brother, you have some truth in what you said, but our eldest grandson is too outstanding, and we don't know how to make up for him."

"Look, recently, since our eldest grandson entered the palace, the Ministry of Revenue has become more and more prosperous, and the treasury has an endless supply of silver."

"In previous years, the capital was never this lively. Our eldest grandson is impeccable in governing the country and the army."

"That leaves us with nowhere to put our strength."

Tang He listened to this and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, don't blame me for being too talkative. For His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince is so good that others can't even ask for help. Now that you have the Crown Prince to help you, Your Majesty should just enjoy your old age."

"Then arrange the marriage of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as soon as possible. Wouldn't it be great to hold his great-grandson in his arms?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard his great-grandson's words, he said with a smile, "Old brother, what you said makes sense. Come, let's drink tea instead of wine together."

Tang He picked up the teacup: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Yuanzhang's tea tasted sweet and delicious.

The soup here is very bitter.

Tang He had five sons. The eldest son, Tang Ding, died while accompanying the army to fight in Yunnan, and the rest also died young.

The youngest son, Tang Li, successfully rose to the position of commander-in-chief of the Left Army through his efforts, but died during the expedition against Wu Kai.

It means that all the sons are gone, and only two grandsons are left, which can be said to be the end of the family line.

In front of His Majesty, I can only put on a forced smile.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang became interested and pulled Tang He aside to talk about the past.

As far as Zhu Yuanzhang was concerned, the only elderly person around him who could chat was Tang He.

This was also the biggest reason why Zhu Yuanzhang placed Tang He in the inner city of the imperial palace and specially allowed him to enter the palace in a sedan chair.

At the door,

"Who is grandpa talking to in there?" Zhu Ying asked the young eunuch.

The young eunuch said, "Your Highness, His Majesty is drinking tea with Duke Xin."

Zhu Ying hesitated for a moment and decided not to bother him anymore. It was rare for the old man to be so interested.

After returning to Kunning Palace, Zhu Ying took out the first edition of the Ming Dynasty's official bulletin and looked at it.

After several days, with the hard work of Yuan Jiachi and others working day and night, the first edition of the official bulletin was finally completed.

As long as Zhu Ying confirms it, it can be printed in large quantities and distributed immediately.

At present, there are already twenty stores in the entire capital, all of which are prepared for the official report, and all the personnel have been arranged in place.

The production of copper movable type templates was also being accelerated. With just Zhu Ying's order, 200,000 copies of the court bulletin could be produced in two days.

The official bulletin is the most powerful tool for controlling public opinion, and Zhu Ying naturally cares very much about this.

Even if it means losing money, we must popularize it.

Just as I was thinking about the next step in the study, a voice came from outside the door.

Guo Zhong came in and reported, "His Highness Yunxun wants to see you."

Zhu Ying nodded.

Then he saw Zhu Yunhuan coming in and asked with a smile, "Why did you come to my place today?"

"Did something happen again?"

Zhu Yunxun said a little embarrassedly: "I miss my elder brother."

Zhu Ying said, "Come on, how can I not know what you are thinking? Tell me, what is it?"

Zhu Yunhuan said somewhat embarrassedly: "My sister instigated me to come here. She wanted to ask my elder brother for permission and also wanted to see Zhengyang Avenue."

Zhu Yunhuan can currently leave the palace at will, but Zhu Mingyue, as a woman, does not have this power.

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "You're not going to see Zhengyang Avenue, you're just thinking about meeting your lover."

At this point, he pretended to be serious and said, "Geng Xuan, that kid, must have given our sister some kind of magic potion. If I remember correctly, I saw him during the Lantern Festival last month."

"How long has it been? Are you thinking about me again?"

"Maybe you have a lover and have forgotten about me."

"And you, you knew about this long ago, and you helped her, and yet you deceived me."

Zhu Yunxun quickly protested: "Brother, it was my sister who forced me to come here."

Seeing this, Zhu Ying smiled and said, "Okay, I still have some things to deal with here. You can ask her to come over in person later."

After hearing this, Zhu Yunhuan could only leave dejectedly.

After Zhu Yunhuan left, Zhu Ying smiled and continued reading the court newspaper.

If the court bulletin is to be disseminated throughout the country, it currently mainly concerns the post stations.

The current post station system of the Ming Dynasty was established by Zhu Yuanzhang and was basically used for 500 years during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who came from a poor family, lived in the Yuan Dynasty for more than 30 years, and the Yuan Dynasty was a very important link in the history of the development of the post station.

The post stations in the Yuan Dynasty were very different from those in the Jin and Song Dynasties. The most notable feature was that their scope expanded rapidly and their organization and operating procedures were improved.

In the same month when Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he ordered the reconstruction of the post stations that were spread across the country during the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the Ming Dynasty had not even conquered the Yuan capital.

After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he believed that sedan chairs were "using people as livestock", so there was a rule for riding sedan chairs in the Ming Dynasty that "only those in the capital who are of the third rank and above can ride in sedan chairs, but the managers of the five ministries, internal and external garrisons, garrisons, as well as dukes, marquises, earls, and governors, regardless of age, are not allowed to ride in sedan chairs."

In the Ming Dynasty, sedan chairs were not part of the post station system. Only officials of the third rank and above in the capital could ride in sedan chairs. Civil officials below the third rank and all military officers had to ride horses when going out.

Therefore, in later movies and TV shows, a seventh-rank official like the county magistrate should mount a horse and go to the crime scene instead of riding in a sedan chair.

There are three or four types of post stations. The three types are water horse post stations, express post stations, and delivery stations.

There are four types because Shuima Station can be further divided into Shui Station and Ma Station.

At present, Zhu Ying is preparing to start with the express delivery shop.

The establishment of the north-south official road also requires an expansion of the post station system. It would be best to build a fast straight road for the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty at this stage.

This project can completely serve as a continuation of the North-South Official Road.

Among all these, Zhu Ying’s next preparation is to use the post station for civilian purposes.

There were many post stations in the Ming Dynasty, but most of the time, they were all idle.

The most commonly used place is the express delivery shop, where mainly memorials from local officials and military intelligence are transmitted.

The expenses of the post station itself were all borne by the imperial court.

If it were placed in later generations, it would be hard to imagine such a huge system that had no self-sufficiency and was completely burdened by the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty.

The annual expenditure is simply incalculable.

Zhu Yuanzhang's military household system transferred the food supplies of the soldiers, but the burden of the post stations took away nearly 30% of the Ming Dynasty's annual revenue.

This is why the Ming Dynasty has been running at a deficit every year since its founding, and has needed to print large amounts of banknotes to make up for the shortfall, until the banknotes collapsed.

Of course, it is impossible to say that all post stations are for civilian use, so a dividing line needs to be drawn here.

Make a distinction between civilian and official use.

After the distinction, the next step is how to make money.

Zhu Ying has to be very cautious about this at the moment.

Because this has touched the old man.

If you want to make a profit, you have to change the policies set by the old man.

That is the career allocation system established by Zhu Yuanzhang.

The occupational allocation system restricts the mobility of the entire Ming Dynasty's population, and now Zhu Ying wants to find a way to make the population move.

Zhu Ying knew that in the old man's view, the stability of the Ming Dynasty was if the people stayed in their hometowns and did not run around.

But Zhu Ying was very clear about the disadvantages of this. If it were at the beginning of the founding of the country, the advantages would naturally outweigh the disadvantages. However, after 26 years of recuperation, it has become an obstacle to the development of the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention that the emergence of new crops such as sweet potatoes will greatly free up the labor force, which means that more labor will appear.

After having enough food and clothing, these idle laborers will definitely think about earning more.

This is especially true for the younger generation that has grown up.

Just as Zhu Ying was thinking about how to tell the old man, there was a noise outside the door.

Zhu Ying looked up and saw the old man appear with Duke Xin Tang He.

"Grandson, why don't you come to see me even though you're at my doorstep?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said somewhat unhappily.

Naturally, it was impossible to hide the fact that Zhu Ying had arrived at the gate of the Qianqing Palace from Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Ying quickly apologized with a smile: "Grandpa, I heard your laughter at the door. It's rare to see you so happy, so I couldn't help but not disturb you."

Zhu Yuanzhang heard this and said, "What else can we be happy about, kid? Aren't we just talking about you?"

As Zhu Yuanzhang spoke, he sat down next to his eldest grandson and invited Tang He to take a seat.

Zhu Ying could only smile awkwardly.

"What kind of rules are you writing, grandson? Bring it over for us to see."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the desk and saw some of Zhu Ying's own records, and then he spoke casually.

Zhu Ying's heart skipped a beat.

The written records on the desk were about Zhu Ying's renovation of the post station, as well as plans for the civilian use of the post station and how to make a profit.

Seeing that his eldest grandson didn't move, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't think much about it. He just stood up, took it and started looking at it.

As he watched, his brows began to frown.

Tang He sat next to him, very quiet, like a transparent person.

It took Zhu Yuanzhang a long while to finish reading the records.

To Zhu Ying's surprise, the old man did not get angry this time. Instead, he asked, "The post station is for civilian use. Grandson, have you thought about it?"