1635 Han style rises again

On September 1682, 9, Zhongxing (now Ishikari City, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan).

Ningzhou Prefecture (now Ishikari Plain, Hokkaido), with an area of ​​about [-] square kilometers, is the largest plain area on Yunzhou Island.This is the alluvial land of the Changning River (Ishikari River) and its tributaries downstream. There are large areas of low-humidity peatland. The southern volcanic ash soil is widely distributed and the soil is fertile. The climate is warm in summer and cold in winter. Agriculture is developed, including rice, animal husbandry and forestry.

Ningzhou Prefecture was the Zhili Prefecture of the Northern Ming Dynasty, and the capital Changning was also located in the territory, so it became the economic, political and cultural center of the Northern Ming Dynasty.This is also the most densely populated area in Yunzhou, with a population of more than 30. Zhongxing, Changning, Xinyi (now Iwamizawa City, Hokkaido), Wen'an (now Ebetsu City, Hokkaido), and Yongsheng (now Tomakomai, Hokkaido) are distributed in the territory. City), Tsuruya (now Chitose City, Hokkaido) and more than a dozen large and small towns.Industries that have been established successively include food processing, wood processing, fur processing, hardware processing, paper making, wine making, and clothing making.

As the most important seaport in Ningzhou Prefecture, Zhongxing’s geographical conditions are far inferior to that of Changping Port (today’s Otaru City, Hokkaido, Japan), which is more than 30 kilometers southwest of it. There are mountains on three sides, and the harbor in the bay is wide and deep. It is a natural good port.

However, ZTE is located at the estuary of the lower reaches of the Changning River, and in addition to being close to the capital city of Changning, it soon became one of the main transit points for inland cargo.

Two armed transport ships flying the Great Ming Sun and Moon flag slowly docked at the pier. After a short exchange between a naval officer on board and the dock officials, a group of heavily armed Ming officers and soldiers arrived, carrying Fired a musket, and quickly cleared out all the idlers in the vicinity.

Dozens of North Korean coolies, under the watchful eye of the officers and soldiers, lifted boxes of well-sealed boxes and wooden baskets full of ore from the bottom of the cabin, and then stacked them neatly on the pier.

"There are 120 boxes and wooden baskets in total." An admiral of the Ming Dynasty stretched out his hand and patted the top box, grinning, and said, "The 26 boxes are golden sand, and the rest are selected. Silver ore that has been used. Well, this is almost all the production in the past half a year."

"Is the gold and silver reserves in the mines there still abundant?" A household doctor who received it nodded with satisfaction, "If we increase the manual collection, can the output be increased several times?"

"It's quite rich. However, the environment there is very harsh. It's not that more people can increase the output several times." The naval admiral said with a wry smile: "The more than 400 coolies that were recruited last year, have arrived. When we left, there were only 300 people left. Those who died of freezing, those who fell to their deaths, those who were taken away by bears, and those who died of various acclimatization diseases, etc., it was too labor-intensive!"

"It doesn't matter. In Japan, there are many wanderers and farmers who can't eat enough." The household doctor said indifferently: "As long as the production of gold and silver can be increased, many people can afford it! My court of the Ming Dynasty uses money now There are too many places. You may not know that ten days ago, His Majesty decided to build the railway from Changning to Qingyuan. A kilometer of railway will cost 250 to 300 million silver dollars, which is almost the same as my next year's fiscal year!"

"Hey! This railway costs so much? Three million silver dollars is enough to add more than a dozen professional gunboats to our navy."

"..." The household doctor took a deep look at the other party, and curled his lips slightly. These warriors are thinking about expanding their armaments and increasing their combat power all day long, and they don't even think about whether my Ming court's taxes can support them. Such a powerful army size.

At present, almost all the energy of the Qin State on the mainland is absorbed by the Tartars in the northwest and north, and has no intention of competing with Ming Dynasty for North Korea and the Northeast.Under such circumstances, there is absolutely no need to maintain a huge navy and army, and invest the saved tax revenue in the construction of people's livelihood to benefit the people. Only in this way can they win the support of hundreds of thousands of people in the country. Lay a solid foundation.At the same time, if the domestic construction is done well and the people's livelihood is developed, it will also attract many people from North Korea, Japan, and the mainland to join us. This will further enhance the strength of our Ming Dynasty and form the so-called "healthy development".

Furthermore, a few years ago, Da Ming and Da Qi signed the "Security and Mutual Assistance Treaty". If our Da Ming territory is invaded by foreign enemies, Qi has the obligation to send troops to protect our safety.

That being the case, is it really necessary for my Ming Dynasty to maintain a huge force?
Then the excess military force must be abolished!
In recent years, with the improvement of the new army's combat power and the gradual expansion of its scale, it has become the most important combat force in the Northern Ming Dynasty. Most of the public security police were dispersed and moved to Kuye Island or Mingzhou Governor's District (the part of the northern part of Japan that was ceded), and each person was granted [-] acres of land (including some forest land and mountain land) to reclaim and guard the border for the imperial court and open up the frontier .

In fact, with a population of more than 160 in Beiming District, the tax revenue is equivalent to more than [-] million silver dollars, which is already an existence against the sky.No matter from the perspective of per capita tax contribution, or from the comparison of tax collection efficiency, it has completely surpassed the surrounding countries such as Japan, North Korea, and Qin Dynasty.

As early as more than 20 years ago, during the reign of King Yong, under the guidance of Qi civil affairs consultants, the Northern Ming Dynasty completely abandoned the original tax collection principle, that is, "head tax". , simple, crude and efficient.

The government of the Northern Ming Dynasty apportioned taxes equally according to the number of acres of land owned by the common people, and divided the silver into the land tax collection. Those who assigned more people would have more land, and those who assigned fewer people would also have land. Tax".

If a certain emperor from the Qing dynasty saw Beiming’s taxation policy, he would clap his hands and shout, “I’m familiar with this policy, isn’t it just sharing the income of every individual!”

In the Beiming territory, which was almost entirely populated by immigrants, there were naturally no noble families, let alone gentry landlords who owned tens of thousands of acres of land.At the beginning of the establishment of the foundation and business, all immigrants also paid certain taxes and provided corresponding labor according to the number of acres of land they owned and the size of their property.

In addition, Yunzhou, Kuye Island, Jiangdong and other places are all sparsely populated, so that the Beiming regime has developed for more than [-] years, and there is no contradiction between anyone and everyone.The only factor that can limit the improvement of Beiming's national power now is the lack of people, the lack of a large population, to fill up the barren land in the territory, and to occupy the vast expanse of unowned land in the extreme north.

During the Chongzhen period, the crisis faced by the Ming court was essentially the government’s financial crisis. The financial crisis led to a military crisis, and the military crisis led to a greater financial crisis. In such a vicious circle, how can the country not collapse?

As early as when King Yong was in charge of Yunzhou, in addition to increasing immigration and quickly enriching Yunzhou's strength, what he did most was to actively improve the government's fiscal and taxation system, almost completely copying the local governance methods of the people of Qi, and establishing a comprehensive Grass-roots organizations extended kingship to the countryside for the first time.

The methods of evading agricultural taxes such as "flying", "guiding", and "false counterfeiting" that have been practiced for a long time in the Ming Dynasty have no room for use in the various territories of the Northern Ming Dynasty. At least 90.00% five or more.

The policy of preferential treatment for gentry, which had been enjoyed for hundreds of years in Daming, also tended to disintegrate and dissipate in Beiming. What followed was the policy of "officials and gentry work together, and one pays food", that is, the abolition of officials, gentry, Tax-free privileges for landowners.

Although, this policy will inevitably be secretly criticized by some gentry officials who followed King Yong to Yunzhou, and they firmly oppose it.However, in the face of a great survival crisis and the threat of the downfall of the Ming dynasty, King Yong still unswervingly carried out this policy to the end.

As for the commercial tax and city ship tax that were once ignored by the Ming court, the Northern Ming regime attached great importance to it. It not only promulgated and formulated various commercial tax collection laws, but also set up special tax offices in local counties and important ports. To achieve the purpose of "payable, mandatory and full payment" of commercial tax.

Back then, during the Chongzhen period, in a huge country, the total commercial tax revenue was a pitiful 300 million taels a year, and the city ship tax was only a mere 4 taels.Zhejiang is a big tea-producing province, but the tea tax is only 6 taels of silver, which is ridiculous!
At present, the commercial tax and city ship tax of the entire Northern Ming Dynasty collected a total of more than 60 taels of silver every year, accounting for nearly [-]% of the government's taxes.If Emperor Chongzhen knew about it, he would definitely sigh.

In order to obtain more financial resources, the Beiming government also listed salt and tea as government monopoly, from which it can obtain an income of about 10 taels of silver every year.

In addition, the coal mines, tin mines, forest farms, and pastures in Yunzhou, Jiangdong, Kuye Island, Gengluo Island and other places are mostly government-run or royal industries, which bring a lot of income to the Beiming government and royal family every year.

Three years ago, a small fleet of the Beiming Navy destroyed another stronghold established by the Raksha people on the coast of Lingbei. In addition to seizing a large amount of precious furs, they also got an unexpected news. There is a rich gold mine in the hinterland.However, due to the shortage of manpower, the Raksha people have not yet carried out large-scale development.

After hearing the news, Beiming immediately organized an expedition team of [-] people, and under the guidance of the Raksha captives, they found the gold mine.After several months of exploration, the expedition team was pleasantly surprised to find that the gold mines do exist and are widely distributed.There are a lot of gold sand in several streams in the valley, and there are many silver mine belts in the mountains.

Subsequently, the Beiming government sent five ships, carrying 400 troops, more than 11 Japanese coolies, local aborigines, and a large amount of supplies and building materials, stationed in that area, and planted the Great Tomorrow and Moon Flag, declaring that This place is an overseas territory belonging to Ming Dynasty, and it was named Yinzhou (now Magadan, Russia, which owns 15% of Russia's gold sand, 50% of gold ore and about [-]% of its silver reserves).

Unexpectedly, within a year of development, Yinzhou can produce more than 100 boxes of rich gold and silver ore (sand). It is conservatively estimated that pure gold and pure silver worth more than [-] silver dollars can be refined.

In addition, the Beiming government also wantonly exploited and plundered Koreans and Japanese from the three southeast provinces of North Korea and the Governor-General of Mingzhou. In addition to forcing a number of people from the two places to serve in the mines in Beiming every year, they also used various excuses to Confiscating the land of those local aristocratic families who do not accept the "kingdom" and selling it to landless or landless civilians and untouchables can not only make a lot of money from it, but also invite the local people to buy the hearts of the local people and consolidate Beiming's local rule order.

In general, the Beiming government's method of "making money" is definitely not a bit stronger than that of the Daqin government. With a population of just over 80, it can achieve an annual income of more than 160 million. If the royal family's income is added, it is likely to be close to 200 million.

This is where Beiming is very confident in planning to build the first railway in Northeast Asia.In their view, the investment budget of 250 million to 300 million given by the people of Qi may be a bit high.

The sleepers needed for the railway, whether they are local in Yunzhou or Bitter Leaf Island in the north, there are endless timber.As for the laborers who built the railway, it is absolutely possible to increase the "recruitment" in North Korea and the Governor-General of Mingzhou, and give them two full meals a day.The only things that might cost money are the rails and steam locomotives. Oh, yes, there are also Qi State railway engineering personnel who guide the construction, and they need to be served with delicious food and drink.

In order to save costs and consider further strengthening the domestic industrial strength, the Beiming government tentatively asked Qi State if it could help them build a steel factory in Zhenzhou, so as to use the local rich iron ore and coal mines to refine large quantities of iron and steel. Iron and steel to meet the strong domestic market demand.

It is said that the Minister of Qi State in Changning was very interested in this proposal, and expressed that he would return the request of the Ming government to the mainland as quickly as possible.If there are no accidents, it should get a positive response from the local people.After all, without a decent steel plant in the vast Northeast Asia region, it is indeed impossible to promote the construction and development of the region.

However, the country is undergoing vigorous railway construction and urbanization process, so that the annual new steel production is basically swallowed up by the rapid growth of infrastructure production.In order to ensure the needs of the market, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Qi State has issued a steel trade restriction order a few years ago, reducing or prohibiting the export of steel raw materials and giving priority to domestic supply.

As an important basic industry of a country's economy, the iron and steel industry is also a supporting industry for future industrialization. It has a wide range of applications in various fields of social production and life, and is an indispensable strategic basic industrial product.

As far as Qi is concerned, Beiming occupies a pivotal strategic position in the entire Northeast Asia region. It is the starting point of the North Pacific route, and it is also a strong support point for controlling Japan and North Korea. It is also the northern bridgehead for holding Qin on the mainland. If the strength is too weak, it will definitely not be able to perfectly achieve Qi's preset strategic goals.

In order to increase support for Beiming, there is no more effective way than enhancing its own industrial strength.Since it is possible to build a railway for Beiming and speed up the response speed of its material and personnel mobilization, it is also logical to help them build an advanced steel plant, further improve Beiming's economic development level, and enhance its comprehensive national strength.