Daming Military Empire

Chapter 604

The first snow in the 15th year of Chongzheng was bigger than in previous years. As soon as November entered, the capital began to snow heavily, and it lasted for a few days. It has been more than a foot deep and has not stopped.

Such heavy snowfall has never happened in the capital or even in the whole of the north for decades. This indicates that the Little Ice Age, which rarely occurs once in a thousand years, has finally passed. In other words, the drought in the north will come to an end.

Why is it said that the heavy snowfall in the capital indicates that the Little Ice Age has passed? This is mainly judged from the amount of snowfall. The biggest disaster during the Little Ice Age was the drop in temperature and the southward shift of the precipitation belt, leading to drought in the north.

In the past at this time of year, it should be snowing heavily in the south of the Lingnan, but there is little or no snow in the capital, but now it is snowing heavily in the capital, and there is no news of snow in the south of the Lingnan.

This natural disaster did make the Ming Dynasty miserable. In the Chongzhen Dynasty, it can be said that the drought caused by the Little Ice River directly led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. Daming also included the entire South Asia and Southeast Peninsula, but this natural disaster had a great impact on Daming.

First of all, there is basically no food in the warehouse of the Ministry of Households. This has caused the Ministry of War to be in a hurry when preparing food and grass.

Then, due to the dry land and low yield per mu, most of the population was dragged on the cultivated land, and the population engaged in other industries was relatively small, which was not conducive to economic development. Even if Daming invented the steam loom , and invented the earth-digging dragon again, realizing the transformation of the first industrial revolution in advance, but the private economy has not developed by leaps and bounds. The main economic pillars of the Ming Dynasty are still a few royal firms. It has something to do with the unfair competition of the Royal Firm, but this is not enough to cause the economic aggregate of hundreds of millions of people to be lower than the 10 people of the Royal Firm.

Finally, the most important point is that the population of Ming Dynasty has been limited, so many new territories have been occupied, and so much cultivated land has been increased, but the price of grain in Daming has not been reduced, which is enough to prove that the grain output is still not enough.The rice can only be enough to eat, so naturally no one dares to live like crazy. Therefore, the territory of the Ming Dynasty has expanded nearly four times, but the population has only increased by less than two times, and most of the new population is in the areas occupied by the Ming Dynasty. The population of Ming Dynasty has hardly increased much.This is also a huge hidden danger. You must know that the current territory of Ming Dynasty has exceeded 3000 million square kilometers, but the population is only a little over 2 million. This is extremely unfavorable to the development of the territory and even the development of Ming Dynasty.

In short, although the drought in the Little Ice Age did not lead to the demise of Ming Dynasty in the Chongzheng Dynasty, it became a huge shackle that fettered the development of Ming Dynasty. Now this shackle will finally be loosened, and Ming Dynasty will surely enter a period of rapid development.

Of course, some foreign experts believe that the Little Ice Age lasted until 1680, that is, the 19th year of Kangxi. They were all less than 6000 million, and by 1660, the 17th year of Shunzhi, the official population had reached 500 million. After the change of dynasty, the population not only did not decline, but exploded immediately, which is extremely abnormal. , can only show that the Little Ice Age ended at the end of Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Zhu Cijiong didn’t know this. He only knew that it was snowing heavily in the capital, and the drought in the north should have passed. Looking at the snowflakes all over the sky, he couldn’t help being excited. This excitement reminded him of building snowmen and pulling sleds.

Of course, his family in the previous life was not a wealthy family. The snowman was really a pile, and the sled was pulled by a hemp rope to pull a wooden plank. One person pulled in front, and the other pushed behind. People laugh haha.

This should be the favorite game for children, and it just so happens that he has a lot of children now, more than ten. Zhu Shuxin and the second princess are also one and a half years old, and it is the best time to move. Playing in the snow is definitely one of the most interesting things for them.

Just do it when you think about it, he is the emperor, such a small thing as playing with the snow should not be too simple, it just so happens that the heavy snow has not stopped, and the snow in the large square in front of the Huangji Hall has not been cleared. Cao Huachun said hello and asked him not to send someone to clear the snow in the square in front of the Huangji Hall. Then, he found a few old eunuchs who could do carpentry and asked them to make a dog sled. Yes, it’s enough to be strong. Anyway, at most one adult is allowed to play, and children are mainly playing.

It didn't take a day for this thing to be ready, and it happened that the snow stopped the next day, so Zhu Cijiong directly called all the empress dowagers and concubines of the two palaces, and set up the Huangji Hall, ready to play with the snow.

Now the front of the Huangji Hall is bustling, surrounded by tall and strong military eunuchs, five steps, one post, ten steps, and one post, and there are rows after rows of colorful court ladies in the middle, more than the officials of the previous court .

On the square in front of Huangji Hall, there are even more beautiful beauties gathered. The empress dowagers of the two palaces were originally stunning young women, and Qin Mingyue, Chen Yuanyuan and others were even more beautiful. They were all wearing exquisite cotton jackets and mink fur capes. Charming, it is simply a group of fairies descending to earth.

Zhu Cijiong's more than ten princes and princesses also came, all wrapped in mink fur coats, so cute, the big ones are like Zhu Heji, Zhu Hezhen, Zhu Shufan, and Zhu Shuxin each holding a huge The huskies, standing on the snow, are eager to try. The little ones are basically held in the arms of the concubines, and the two youngest princesses are held by the empress dowagers of the two palaces like darlings, babbling, so happy.

The most conspicuous among this group of people are the four huge huskies. Their height has already surpassed the first prince Zhu Heji, and their size is as big as an adult. Among them are the first prince's favorite pets, There are also three strong huskies, one male, two females, selected by Zhu Cijiong specially from Siberia. Zhu Cijiong named them respectively, Wangcai, Ahuang, and Ahua. Small, but not small at all.

Among the four huskies, Ahuang and Ahua are considered normal, except that one of them has a pink bow tied around their necks. Choihuo and Wangcai are a bit funny. They even carry a pair of small saddles on their backs, or Dog saddle, it seems that the two little princes Zhu Hezhen and Zhu Hezhen often ride them as horses. Well, judging from their huge size, it should be easy to carry a child.

After this group of people entered the snow field in the square, they quickly divided into two parts. A group of concubines started to build snowmen under the command of the empress dowagers of the two palaces, while Zhu Hedun, the four of them, the queen, Princess Anna and others started to build snowmen. Wow around an exquisite sleigh.

Although this sled is only made of wood, it is covered with thick cotton cloth and precious snow fox fur. The entire frame is also painted white. It looks like an exquisite handicraft, and it is even softer to sit on. Yes, it was so warm and so comfortable that Princess Anna didn't want to get off after trying it on.

(End of this chapter)