Daming Crazy Emperor

How much land does Xiber Province have?
According to the unit of measurement of later generations, Xibo Province has more than 1000 million square kilometers!
And one square kilometer is roughly [-] mu.

In other words, Xibo Province has more than 200 billion mu of land!
Although mountains and forests account for more than half of this, the plains also cover about 100 billion mu.

If all the plains are reclaimed as arable land, then there is no problem in attracting 6000 million people. Even if only half of the plains are reclaimed as arable land and half are used as grasslands for grazing, then [-] to [-] million people can be recruited.

As for the mountains and forests, they are actually quite attractive.

After all, the mountains and forests are full of wood. As long as they are harvested reasonably and planted while cutting, they are inexhaustible resources.

Calculated in this way, it is not a problem at all to recruit 8000 to [-] million ordinary people.

If 8000 to [-] million people can really be recruited, the development of Xibo Province will naturally not be a problem.

The problem is that the local population of Ming Dynasty is only over 1 million at the moment, and there are still tens of millions of people scattered in overseas provinces and even various dependent countries. The remaining population is estimated to be 8000 to [-] million.

Could it be that all the local people of Ming Dynasty were recruited to develop Xibo Province?
This is obviously unrealistic, let alone recruiting all of them, even if half of them are recruited from the Ming Dynasty, there will be big problems.

So, what to do?

When Taichang and Yuan Keli combined, it was a bit difficult again.

If only 2000 to [-] million people are recruited here, it will still not be able to develop here. If too many people are recruited, there will be big problems in the local development of Ming Dynasty.

As for the people from the overseas provinces, both Dongnancheng and Nanyangcheng announced that they had mobilized a large number of people this time, and it was impossible for the imperial court to reward them if they were not the families of the soldiers of the Southeast and Nanyang camps.

Although the Mughal Empire has a large population, it cannot be used to it, and it is even more impossible to reward people with land, cattle, sheep, and horses.

This discussion came and went, and it seemed to have entered an endless loop.

They have a way to recruit the local people of Ming Dynasty, but they can't recruit too many people, and the people in other overseas provinces can't give them rewards for nothing.

With such a large-scale recruitment, they will eventually be able to recruit 2000 to [-] million people, and the Xibo Province still cannot be developed.

What's the point?

Yuan Keli frowned and pondered for a while, then suddenly had an idea and said: "Your Majesty, we can actually do something about scholars, candidates, and Jinshi."

Uh, are you also recruiting scholars?
They just study, so you ask them to farm and graze?
is it possible?
Taichang was quite puzzled and said: "Liqing, what can be done about scholars, Juren, and Jinshi?"

Yuan Keli quickly explained: "The imperial court didn't have a rule. Those who have made a scholar can have [-] mu of tax-free cultivated land, those who have made a career can have [-] mu of farmland tax-free, and those who have made a scholar can have [-] mu. Tax-free arable land.

This was originally to encourage scholars to make progress and work hard to obtain fame.

However, this moment has brought a certain burden to the court.

After all, now the admission quota for Jinshi has become more than 3000 per session, and the average is more than 1000 per year.

That is to say, every year, there will be more than 200 million mu of tax-free cultivated land under the name of this new scholar.

There are also scholars, although there are not many tax-exempt lands, there are more and more scholars. It is estimated that there will be at least 600 million mu of tax-free land for newly promoted scholars every year.

Calculated in this way, there will be more than 1000 million mu of tax-free land in the Ming Dynasty every year.

Although the tax-free land will be canceled after these people pass away, the arable land in the Ming Dynasty cannot withstand such a rapid increase in the number of scholars, Juren and Jinshi!

How much arable land does Ming Dynasty have?

Statistics over the years have not exceeded one billion mu.

Calculated in this way, after a hundred years, almost all the cultivated land in the Ming Dynasty will be tax-free!
Your Majesty, we have to solve this problem too.

Isn't there a lot of land here?
We can definitely divide all the tax-free lands for scholars, candidates and Jinshi here! "

Uh, this question was indeed overlooked!

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help but have a serious look on his face.

What Yuan Keli said was only the amount of tax exemption.

That's not the main problem at all.

Why did Ming Dynasty perish in history?

One of the main reasons is the seriousness of land mergers.

Most of the cultivated land in the Ming Dynasty was annexed by the royal family, powerful officials and eunuchs, and scholars. The common people rebelled when they had no land and no way of life!
Now, the problem of the royal family is solved by him.

The fiefdoms of all the vassal kings were either cut by him, or they were replaced by him to overseas provinces. There is no fiefdom of the royal family in the Ming Dynasty.

If a scholar occupies most of the land again, wouldn't he be working in vain?

If things go on like this, it won't take a hundred years, maybe 50 years, there will be big problems.

Thinking of this, Taichang couldn't help nodding solemnly and said: "Well, Li Qing, your question is very good, I really ignored this question.

If it continues like this, sooner or later there will be big problems in the Ming Dynasty.

We must allocate all tax-free land for scholars to this side!
However, not to mention the cold weather here, and only one season can be planted each year, would scholars be willing to allocate tax-free land here?
Even if I took the risk of offending all scholars and allocated all their tax-free land here, most of them would not be able to come and take care of it! "

Yuan Keli also thought of this.

He carefully suggested: "Your Majesty, we can only plant one season a year, and we can make up for it with quantity.

For example, the tax-free land under the name of a scholar can be counted as two hundred acres.

The tax-free land under the name of a person can be counted as one thousand mu.

The tax-free land under the name of Jinshi can be counted as [-] mu.

This tax-free land has more than doubled, so they should have nothing to say. "

This is true, I have more than doubled the tax-free area for you, if you are not satisfied, then you will have trouble with me!
However, there is still a problem!
Taichang thought about it carefully, and then asked again: "It's so cold here, and it's so far away from Daming mainland, how could they come to take care of these lands?"

Yuan Keli explained in detail: "Your Majesty, in fact, even in the mainland of Ming Dynasty, it is impossible for scholars to take care of the tax-free land under their names, and they usually send their relatives to take care of it.

After all, the goal of scholars is to be named on the gold list, and after being named on the gold list, they will basically be assigned official positions. It is impossible for them to take care of those tax-free land.

If their relatives come to take care of them, it doesn't really matter if they are far or near.

We just need to find a way to save them the trouble of transporting food back and forth.

This is actually a good solution.

We can completely let Western merchants buy grain here at a low price, and exchange it for silver or even bank notes directly for them, so they don't have to worry about the back and forth transshipment. "

It turned out to be the case.

It seems that there is really no problem.

Taichang was about to make a decision, when suddenly he asked in a daze: "Li Qing, there is one more question that you have considered.

How many relatives can they have?

Not to mention the scholar, how many people are needed to plant a thousand acres of tax-free land?
Jinshi is even more serious, five thousand acres of tax-free land, how can people have so many relatives!

Besides, relatives of other people can apply to farm here. Not only will we give them housing for free, but we will also provide them with cattle and daily necessities for farming. Why do they plant so much land for their relatives? "

Yuan Keli smiled slightly and said: "Your Majesty, their relatives don't know how to farm the land by themselves, usually these people hire tenant farmers to farm the land.

We can let them go to the Mughal Empire to hire tenant farmers.

As a result, the population here has increased a lot invisibly?

Moreover, these hired people are still laborers and have no land at all. Generally, as long as they are not too lazy, they will find work to supplement their families.

In this way, is it more beneficial to the development here? "

Hearing this, Taichang couldn't help giving a thumbs up and praised: "Liqing, I didn't expect you to be so insightful about the way of governing the country.

Why didn't you tell me earlier that if I knew you had this ability, I would have let you be a cabinet assistant to help me! "

Yuan Keli hurriedly said humbly: "Your Majesty, I don't have much ability, I don't know how to govern the country."

Taichang couldn't help shaking his head and said with a smile: "You don't know how to govern the country. How many Ming officials are better than you?"

Yuan Keli said in embarrassment: "Your Majesty, you may have forgotten that my minister is actually a scholar, and my minister is also a Jinshi. As for how to take care of this tax-free land, my minister is naturally very clear."

Uh, yes!

He is also a Jinshi, so this set is naturally clear.

Taichang nodded slightly, then couldn't help sighing: "Li Qing, you have done me a great favor this time.

Land annexation is a disaster for a country. If this problem is not handled properly, a dynasty will perish sooner or later.

Well now, the land annexation problem in the Ming Dynasty has been completely resolved.

As for this side, it is estimated that no one is willing to engage in land mergers in this bitter cold place.

Even if they wanted to engage in land annexation, they didn't have the ability.

Here is at least 60 billion acres of arable land, who can annex it?
If anyone can annex hundreds of thousands of mu or even millions of mu of cultivated land, it is definitely a corrupt official.

Lang'er, you have to remember, whether it is in the Ming Dynasty or here, whoever dares to take advantage of his power to annex land frantically, will be cut off directly! "

The problem of land annexation has been completely solved, and the next step is about the development of Xibo Province.

Taichang thought for a while, then slowly said: "Li Qing, I think the distribution of land here still needs to be adjusted.

We can stipulate that the people who migrated from the Ming Dynasty, including the tax-free land distributed to scholars, are all cultivated land. With so many people farming, the families of soldiers in the North Camp and Southeast Camp don’t need to farm.

I think we can allocate more grassland and mountain land to the families of soldiers in the North Camp and Southeast Camp, and give each family a thousand acres of grassland and mountain land.

The grassland is used for grazing, cattle, sheep and horses.

Mountains are used for logging, as long as they cut and plant, it is not a problem to cut [-]% a year.

Of course, they can also cultivate land, which they can choose themselves. "

Yuan Keli nodded slightly upon hearing this, and carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, is there still a problem of mining?"

Taichang has actually considered this.

He thought about it carefully, and then slowly said: "The issue of mining depends on what kind of mine it is.

Coal and iron ore can be mined by conscripting labor from the Mughal Empire.

As for gold mines, silver mines and copper mines, they cannot be mined by random people, they must be the soldiers of the North Camp and Southeast Camp and their families.

We can equip more large mining machines to make mining easier for them. "

They chatted for nearly an hour.

Looking at the sky, Taichang couldn't help but patted his forehead and said: "Oh, I'm talking about the greenhouse.

Cheng En, quickly send someone in to see how hot it is inside. "

Soon, several Wu eunuchs ran out to report that it was still about 35 degrees inside.

It seems that there should be no problem with this greenhouse.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang issued a decree, ordering all the newly built cities in the Xibo Province to vigorously build this kind of greenhouse.

All roads must have this kind of warm passage, every residential area in the city must have a large warm trading market, and more such greenhouses should be built outside the city to grow melons, fruits and vegetables while ensuring the safety of cattle, sheep and horses winter.