Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 856, this is a good thing

In Emperor Hongzhi's study in Qianqing Palace in the capital, Emperor Hongzhi was discussing with several ministers about consolidating Ming's rule in the Western Regions and the Hezhong region.

"Your Majesty, if the Western Regions and the Hezhong region want to rule stably for a long time, immigration is essential. I think a million immigrants may not be enough."

"The fertile Hezhong region alone is enough to support tens of millions of people. The entire Western Region is vast, and our Han people are very small. We still need to immigrate in large numbers to enrich the Western Region and Hezhong region."

Li Dongyang is the minister responsible for the affairs of the Western Regions. What he is most concerned about now is the issue of immigrants from the Western Regions. The imperial order has been issued to the three provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan. The three provinces are now organizing immigrants to the Western Regions in an orderly manner.

For this matter, Li Dongyang has been very busy recently.

Carrying out large-scale immigration in this era is not an easy task. The board and lodging of the immigrants is still a trivial matter. The real big thing is how to quickly take root and grow after the immigrants migrate.

The Western Regions and the Hezhong region are far away from the Central Plains. There are many tribes here and the folk customs are tough. There are too many things to consider.

This is completely different from immigrating to the Liaodong area.

The Liaodong area is actually very close to Beizhili, and you can go there by boat, which is very convenient for the transportation of personnel and materials. More importantly, the Jurchens in the Liaodong area were almost wiped out by the Ming army. The grassland became Daming's grassland province again.

It can be said that the Liaodong area is very stable and safe. Immigrants migrated there. As long as they can solve the problem of food and accommodation, they can settle down in Liaodong after a year of reclaiming land and planting food.

The situation in the Western Regions is more complicated. Although the Ming army pursued an iron-blooded policy in the Western Regions and the Hezhong region and wiped out many tribes, large and small, the Western Regions and the Hezhong region are still surrounded by wolves, and there are large and small, various tribes inside. Various tribes.

All these pose a threat to immigrants.

Of course, this is a trivial matter. The [-] troops of the Ming Dynasty stationed in the Western Regions and the Hezhong area are enough to easily suppress everything. The real difficulty is that the Western Regions and the Hezhong area are too vast. However, there are very few Han people here. The Liaodong area used to be good or bad. There are also hundreds of thousands of Han people who have certain basic conditions.

"Mr. Li, we must stop large-scale immigration from the three provinces of Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi."

As soon as Li Dongyang's words fell, Liu Jian, the chief assistant of the cabinet, couldn't help but say.

"Why is this?"

Li Dongyang asked a little strangely, insisting on relocating people from the Central Plains to overseas. This is a national policy that was formulated several years ago. The phenomenon of eating children and fighting everywhere.

Through immigration in recent years, a large number of people from these three provinces have been relocated to other places, which has gradually eased the conflict between people and land in the Central Plains. The effect is very obvious and the effect is also great.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"

"This is the memorial from Henan that I just received. There are not many people in Henan Province who can move out."

Liu Jian took out a memorandum that had just been delivered from Henan in a hurry, and said anxiously.

"There are not many people in Henan Province who can move out?"

When Emperor Hongzhi, Li Dongyang, Xie Qian and others heard this, they immediately became suspicious.

"If I remember correctly, Henan Province has relocated a million people."

Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and said, some of the immigrants organized by the government moved to Liaodong, and some moved to Nanyang. The total number is about one million, and the situation in Shaanxi and Shanxi is similar.

"Your Majesty, among the immigrants organized by our imperial court, [-] people migrated to the Liaodong region, and about [-] people migrated to the Nanyang provinces. A total of one million people migrated from Henan."

"But this is only the scale of out-migration organized by our imperial court. The scale and number of people who spontaneously migrate out of the country are several times this amount!"

"According to Gao Bin, Henan's chief envoy, people in various parts of Henan were extremely reluctant to immigrate at first, because it was difficult to leave their homeland, and many people were unwilling to move to other places."

"However, since the immigrants from Liaodong and Nanyang have gradually sent news back, everyone knows that after living in Liaodong and Nanyang is rich, there have been a large number of spontaneous immigrants from all over Henan to Liaodong and Nanyang."

"The most serious one is Lin County, Henan Province. There used to be a total of about [-] households and about [-] people in Lin County, but after learning the benefits of immigrating to Liaodong and Nanyang, the entire Lin County is now ten households and nine empty, almost all spontaneously. Sexual migration to Liaodong and Southeast Asia."

"A large number of abandoned villages have appeared throughout Henan, and some villages, towns, and even entire villages and towns have spontaneously moved out."

"It seems that spring is about to begin, but the landlords and gentry here in Henan have discovered that no one is renting their land, because too many, too many people are migrating to Liaodong and Nanyang."

"This time the imperial court encouraged migration to the Western Regions, and another wave of large-scale immigration was formed. A large number of people spontaneously migrated to the Western Regions."

Liu Jian said worriedly.

He is from Henan, and he also has a lot of fields in his hometown in Henan. Although the income of the fields is already low for him, it is a pity if the fields are barren and no one cultivates them. After all, since ancient times , Daming people have a deep affection for the land.

Not to mention the barren fields, even the fields in the mountains must be reclaimed and planted. The barren fields are a scene that only appears in times of famine and troubled times.

Due to the loss of a large number of people in Henan, the land of the landlords and gentry has no one to cultivate. This is very anxious for the landlords and gentry in Henan. No one is planting their land. What do they eat?What to drink?
Therefore, the gentry and landlords all over Henan are also trying to put pressure on officials at all levels in Henan to ask the government to stop people from moving and emigrating.

This matter naturally also came to Liu Jian. He is the chief assistant of the cabinet and a native of Henan.

"Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi are my homeland in the Central Plains, and my ancestral land of China. If there are no people in this ancestral land of China, it would be disrespectful to our ancestors."

"I, the Han people, rose from the land of the Central Plains and continued to expand until we have our current territory. The land of the Central Plains is our root and our source. We must never give up!"

Liu Jian said with some grief, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan are the ancestral lands of China and the origins of the Han people, but now, people in these places are extinct on a large scale, and millions of people are migrating out. Henan is almost empty.

Hearing Liu Jian's words, Emperor Hongzhi's expression couldn't help changing slightly.

"Has the matter become so serious?"

Emperor Hongzhi frowned and said.

"Your Majesty, the matter may be more serious than what I said. With the loss of a large number of people, the whole of Henan is like a year of famine. The fields are barren, the villages are abandoned, and it is in depression."

Liu Jian nodded solemnly and said.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Liu, I think this is actually a good thing."

At this time, Li Dongyang smiled and said.

"Is this a good thing?"

Liu Jian widened his eyes slightly, looked at Li Dongyang in disbelief and said.

"Yes, of course it's a good thing!"

Li Dongyang nodded and said: "The large-scale spontaneous immigration from Henan to Liaodong or overseas shows that our immigrants in Liaodong and overseas live a very good life, so we can attract a large number of people to move out. If there are not enough The attractiveness is that it will certainly not form a large-scale spontaneous immigration.”

"You have to know that we have always been unable to leave our homeland, and we don't like to move out, unless it is a forced move by the imperial court's order."

"Spontaneous large-scale immigration has now formed, which is enough to show that in Liaodong, Nanyang and other regions, the immigrants we migrated to live a prosperous life, have no worries about food and clothing, and are full of hope. Otherwise, no one would spontaneously migrate to these areas. somewhere."

Li Dongyang was in charge of resettlement work, so he naturally meant to ask for credit from Emperor Hongzhi. Of course, what he said was very reasonable, and Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Zhang Mao and others nodded their heads when they heard this.

This is not good enough, who wants to leave their hometown to emigrate?

I am sure that the immigrants are doing well, so they immigrate with their relatives and friends, which forms an immigration wave, which leads to a large loss of population in Henan.

"What Mr. Li said makes sense~"

"According to the first statistical data from the Ministry of Household Affairs, the population growth of Liaodong and Nanyang provinces is very rapid, the tax revenue is correspondingly soaring, and the food production is increasing rapidly. The immigrants who migrate to these places are very prosperous. own land, livestock and houses."

"This is enough to show that the immigration policy formulated by His Majesty is very successful."

The Minister of the Household Department, Zhong Zhong, also followed up and said that Liaodong is developing rapidly, and the tax revenue in the first few months of this year has increased very rapidly.

"But the Henan side is already empty!"

After listening to Liu Jian, he said helplessly, even though this is the case, there is no one in Henan, what should we do?
"It's not a good thing anyway!"

"Liu Gong, of course this is a good thing."

"Take the Lin County mentioned by Liu Gong just now as an example. As far as I know, Lin County is the poorest place in Henan. Lin County is very dry, with nine droughts in ten years, and severe droughts year after year. Let alone growing food, Sometimes even the water that people drink is precious."

"People in Lin County are very poor. They can't even drink water in Lin County, but they moved to Liaodong. They not only have their own fertile land, but also live a rich life. Do you think this is a good thing?"

"A place like Lin County is actually not suitable for living. The environment is too harsh. Living in a place like Lin County, no matter how hard you work, it is useless, because the hard work is not enough to support yourself, and you can't even drink water. , such a place should all move people to a place with a better environment.”

"The people who migrated spontaneously are all poor people in Henan. In Henan, they can only farm land for landlords. Because there are too many people and little land, they often rent very little land, and the landlords are very exploitative. "

"However, when they migrate to Liaodong and Nanyang, they can not only own their own land, but also have a good environment. With their own hands, they can live comfortably and live a prosperous life. That's why there are large-scale spontaneous migrations to The reason for going to Liaodong and Nanyang."

"Liu Gong, do you think this is a good thing?"

"Could it be that it is a good thing to let them crowd people here in Henan, endure the exploitation and oppression of the landlords, and work so hard that they can't even get enough to eat?"

Li Dongyang's words pointed to the essence of this matter. In the final analysis, it was because he moved out, he could live a more relaxed life, live a better life, and be able to eat and dress warmly, while staying in Henan could not even eat enough. Naturally, this person walked to a higher place, and the water flowed to a lower place.

(End of this chapter)