Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 948, Suffering (additional meal)

"Sell newspaper~sell newspaper~"

"The imperial court issued a recent decree, requiring the state capitals of Daming to conduct a comprehensive and systematic census. All people, regardless of status, high or low, must accept the census."

A few days later, in the streets and alleys of the capital, newsboys waving newspapers in their hands kept yelling, and immediately a large number of newspaper buyers gathered around them.

Reading newspapers has become a daily habit of Daming people. Waking up every morning, drinking tea and reading newspapers has almost become a normal life of people with status and status in Ming Dynasty.

With the launch of the Ming Morning Post, young and old in the entire Beijing-Tianjin area began to discuss heatedly again.

"Why does this good court want to conduct a census?"

"Oh, of course it's for tax collection."

"What kind of tax is levied? Didn't the emperor have exempted the population tax and corvee not long ago? What's more, didn't the newspapers say that the tax money of the imperial treasury exceeded [-] million taels last year, and the saved silver exceeded Twenty million taels of silver."

"Now, the imperial court no longer cares about our people's population tax."

"That's right, did you see what the newspaper said?"

"This census is also to find out the population situation of each state capital. Only when the population is clear can we better formulate relevant policies."

"For example, for immigrants, of course, the priority is to immigrate from the state capital with a large population to the outside of the customs and overseas, and the newspaper also said that the imperial court encourages childbearing. If someone cannot marry a wife, the imperial court may give them for free. Send you a daughter-in-law."

"Anything like that?"

"Of course, it's just that the daughter-in-law posted here is most likely not our Han Chinese, but a foreigner. I heard that in the Western Regions, the chief envoy of the Western Regions is here to encourage births. All people who immigrate to the Western Regions, as long as they don't have a daughter-in-law You can go to buy a daughter-in-law, and you only need to pay one-tenth of the price, and the rest will be paid by the chief envoy of the Western Regions."

"I've also heard about this. I have an old brother who immigrated to the Western Regions. I bought two Western Region women a while ago. Although they are not as good-looking as our Ming women, they are tall and have big butts. They are easy to give birth to and have strength in doing things. .”

"The imperial court will not deceive people. Isn't it just sending out women? There are many women outside of Ming Dynasty. Once our Ming Dynasty army arrives, we will sweep all directions, and we can capture hundreds of thousands of slaves every time."

"In the last Central Asian War, my Ming soldiers brought back hundreds of thousands of women. Now, among the brothels and Chu houses in Beijing and Tianjin, who doesn't have some dancers from the Western Regions?"

"That's right, that's right, there's also Tianzhu's side, the slave trade is very popular now."

"There is such a good thing, but unfortunately, I have already married a wife."

"What a pity, I've heard people say that the emperor intends to encourage childbirth. At that time, there may be an imperial decree requiring my Ming men to take foreigners as concubines in addition to marrying regular wives. At that time, you will be able to take concubines in a legitimate way. Don’t be afraid of the tigress in the house anymore.”

"Really?"

"Of course it is true. I heard that it was brought up by Mr. Liu Jin and Mr. Liu. He said that the current territory of our Ming Dynasty is vaster than that of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the number of subjects and tribes under our rule exceeds that of any country in history."

"With such a huge territory and so many tribes, the most important thing is our Han people. The more Han people there are, the more stable we will be, so naturally we want to encourage childbirth. This encourages childbearing, which naturally encourages us to take more concubines. gone."

"That is, that is, as long as there are enough women, one person is enough to reproduce a group."

"Haha, I'll make you happy. Be careful not to be found out by the tigress in your house. When the time comes, go home and kneel on the washboard."

"Am I afraid of her? It pissed me off. I've been divorced and divorced her."

"Haha, do you dare?"

"That's right, bragging is fine~"

"..."

The young and old in the Beijing-Tianjin area were the first to know the news, and immediately fell into heated discussions.

And the government offices in various parts of the Ming Dynasty also received orders from the Ming court in the shortest possible time, requiring the state government offices in various parts of the Ming Dynasty to complete this census, and this census will also be included in this year's examination results. middle.

Tian Muming, the magistrate of Jinshan County in Beiting Prefecture of the Western Regions, couldn't help but frown with the latest imperial decree. He has only been here for a few months as the magistrate of Jinshan County, and he is still in a position where he is familiar with Jinshan County. In the process, however, a difficult matter came down from the imperial court.

Tian Muming is a Jinshi of the new department in the [-]th year of Hongzhi this year. Of course, he participated in the newly established Dongbang. Everyone knows the situation of the Dongbang. It is very powerful and can write exquisite articles.

The main reason is that he is an aborigine in Nanyang Province. In order to show his favor to these places, the imperial court gave some preferential treatment, so that some aborigines in Nanyang also participated in the imperial examination and were elected as officials.

Coming to Daming from Nanyang, and then being dispatched to the Western Regions to become an official, Tian Muming is considered a legend.

"My lord, I don't know why you are frowning?"

Beside Tian Muming, Ouyang Yun, the magistrate of Jinshan County, looked at Tian Muming's appearance and asked curiously.

Ouyang Yun didn't have a Jinshi, he was just a Juren, but now all parts of Ming Dynasty needed officials, so there were officials to do Juren, and he was sent to Jinshan County to be the county magistrate.

"Look at it~"

"The imperial court has issued an order requiring our state capitals to complete the census work within two months of receiving the order. We have just arrived in Jinshan County not long ago, and we are not familiar with anything here. , it is not an easy task to complete this census.”

"And it's also related to this year's exam results."

Tian Muming showed Ouyang Yun the order from his superior, and said helplessly.

He is a local native of Nanyang, and Ouyang Yun is an upright Ming Han, so even though he is the county magistrate and Ouyang Yun is the magistrate, basically he will discuss with Ouyang Yun about anything, negotiate with each other, and get along well. Also happy.

"Census?"

When Ouyang Yun heard it, he immediately looked at it quickly, and soon frowned.

"If you just count the population of our Jinshan County, it's not difficult."

"Our Jinshan County is located on Tianshan South Road. Although the scope of jurisdiction is relatively large and there are many tribes, the total population is not large. It is still possible to dispatch the county government officials and officials."

"But now it's not just statistics, but more importantly, there are also statistics on gender, age, tribe, property, beliefs, etc. This is a huge workload."

"What's more important is that the situation here is different from that in the customs. The farmers in the customs are all farming, and they all live in the same life. It is not difficult to count."

"In our Jinshan County, there are not only Uighurs and Hui people who plant agriculture, but also nomadic Turks, Uzbeks, Mongols, Wusun people, etc. They are nomadic everywhere, and they don't know where The grassland is preparing for winter, and it is very scattered, so it is difficult to conduct a census, let alone complete it within two months."

Ouyang Yun also said with a sad face, this job is really difficult.

It’s already October of the fifteenth year of Hongzhi, and it’s already snowing in the Western Regions. It’s okay for the farming tribes who live in fixed-points to say, this nomadic tribe, you let them go all over the grassland to find it?

"It's difficult to do, but you have to do it. There is no way. The imperial court's decree is also related to the success of the exam. No matter how difficult it is, you have to complete it."

Tian Muming said with a helpless sigh.

"Now we can only worry about the leaders and heads of the various tribes, discuss this matter with them, and let them assist in completing it. Otherwise, if we are close to the dozens of yamen servants in our yamen, I am afraid that there is no way to complete the task at all."

Ouyang Yun thought about it and suggested.

"That's the only way to go. If these tribal leaders and chiefs are asked to help, will they truthfully report the population of their respective tribes?"

"Although the imperial court has now exempted the population tax and corvee, these tribes have just been included in our Ming Dynasty for a short time, and they may not be able to fully trust the imperial court."

Tian Muming thought for a while and then said: "The decree above is very clear, requiring us to be accurate and complete, and the yellow book will be sent out for spot checks. At the same time, the counted population will be unified by the court when the time comes. Issuance of identification."

"Many policies of the imperial court in the future will be formulated and implemented based on this demographic figure."

"Well, that's a big problem."

"It hasn't been long since the Western Regions came under my Ming's rule. At present, everything is still unstable, and people's hearts are fluctuating and panicking. It is true that there may be cases of concealing the population."

Ouyang Yun thought about it and nodded solemnly.

As a native of Jiangnan, it was only after he became an official in the Western Regions that he saw a different world. The Western Regions were a completely different world from Jiangnan.

"First, the leaders and leaders of the ruling tribes come to our county government and ask them to help. The final statistics still depend on the servants of our county government."

"In addition, we can also formulate some policies to punish the tribes who conceal and fail to report. I think they should not dare to say no to our government now."

The two pondered for a long time, and after thinking about it, Ouyang Yun also said confidently.

Although the Western Regions had just been brought under the rule of Ming Dynasty not long ago, the ruling power of Ming Dynasty here is unprecedentedly strong. All the local governments have appointed officials to manage them. At the same time, there are still Ming troops stationed in various places, and they have been constantly attacking Disobedient tribes, attack bandits, thieves and the like.

The tribes of all sizes in the Western Regions are now in awe of Daming.

(End of this chapter)