Lu Ming

Chapter 480 Land Purchase Policy
Is Macau small?very small.

But this piece of land the size of a palm has now become an ink spot on the face of this giant, Daming.This is called toad crawling on the feet, not biting people, but responding to people.

It would be a bit unfair to say that the monarch and his ministers do not have the concept of "maintaining the territorial integrity of the country". The concept of "Jin Ou Wu Que" has existed since ancient times.Otherwise, why did the imperial court beat the Dutch to death in Penghu?You must know that Penghu is in the middle of the strait, and its distance from the mainland far exceeds that of Macau.

The key question is: the Portuguese used the "insert" method correctly.

From the beginning to the end, the attitude of the Portuguese in dealing with Ming officials was very low.

From the beginning of "borrowing land to sell goods" to the later construction of Macau City, no matter how strong the Portuguese are behind the scenes, they have always maintained a humble attitude on the bright side.Using this kind of diplomacy is very effective when dealing with bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty who think they are in the sky.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty did not hesitate to mobilize the army to fight against the hard-line Dutch, but relaxed its vigilance against the Franji people who were close at hand, and was "kicked" by the camels a little bit under the tent of Macau.

However, to this day, when the emperor and ministers of the Ming Dynasty discovered that Franji's ghosts and animals were already too big to lose in Macau, I'm sorry, it's too late!

In fact, at the end of the Wanli period, officials of the Ming Dynasty had already realized this trend: the Ming Dynasty used it to guard the capital and Ningyuan, and the red-clothed cannons that were regarded as treasures can be seen everywhere on artillery factories, forts and warships in Macau.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty were not stupid, so they naturally understood at this time that it was unrealistic to forcefully drive away the Frangji people.Even after the Ming Dynasty adopted soft measures such as cutting off food and terminating trade, this just showed that the court lacked confidence.

It is impossible to say that the emperor and his ministers did not know the situation in Macau.The memorials sent from various channels in Guangdong often mentioned Macau, and whenever the Portuguese made troubles, the posts of Yushi and Sansi would be sent to the capital as soon as possible.

Everyone now knows that that piece of land has in fact been self-governed by the Portuguese.Daming's feeble jurisdiction is not so much jurisdiction as the Portuguese deliberately lowered their heads in order to take care of the face of the "sovereign country".

So when Uncle Zhongyong brought up the matter of Macau, the expressions of those present were inevitably a little strange.After all, someone has uncovered the scars, so it's not enough to pretend that you can't see them lightly.

From the first reaction, the emperor had no reason to reject the proposal.According to Uncle Zhongyong, he went to Macau to contract labor and materials by himself, and was also responsible for handing over the house after the renovation. Where did he find such a good boss?
But the emperor thought about it again, and felt that this matter should not be so hasty - easily allowing someone Cao to use weapons in a distant place, and the court was too far away, would it lead to a series of follow-up reactions such as this person's arrogance and domineering in Guangdong in the future?

In addition, although this matter does not seem to be a big deal, after all, the Franji people must be uprooted, and the opinions of the court, including the official circles in Guangdong, must also be considered comprehensively.Thinking of this, Chongzhen's expression became hesitant.

Zhou Yanru, the chief assistant at the side, saw the emperor's face, and he came to power relying on his own thoughts, and immediately expressed his thoughts on behalf of the emperor: "This is a big matter, and we still need to discuss it with the courtiers, and we will discuss it later." discuss."

When the emperor heard this, he nodded in time, and the matter was temporarily shelved.

Cao Zongbing didn't say anything when he saw this situation.Originally, this proposal was just to say hello in advance, and it could also be said to be an act of courtesy before soldiers—on the day when the time travelers want to deal with the Portuguese, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, who cares whether Chongzhen agrees or not?
Afterwards, casually writing a memorial to the imperial court that "a small friction led to a sudden war" is considered a face-saving. Could the emperor still let Cao Zongbing return Macau to Franji?Aren't you afraid that the Tartars are coming, and Cao Zongbing won't go to serve the king?

Today is different from the past, the importance of Cao Zongbing is no longer something that the emperor can handle casually.Therefore, as long as you think about it afterwards, the emperor will definitely not slap himself in the face and quarrel with Cao Zhongchen over such a trivial matter.

Besides, it is now April 1630, not long after a certain governor of Guangdong died of overwork.At that time, the newly appointed governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Xiong Wencan, and the local hardline officials in Guangdong who have always advocated driving away the Franks will launch a wave of petitions. How can the court stop it?
Cao Zongbing's visit to the palace this time, after the consultation on the Macau issue, it was considered a successful conclusion.

Generally speaking, the atmosphere of the tea party in the imperial garden was quite harmonious between the guests and the host. It can be said that the emperor himself did his best to win over Cao Zhongchen.From the perspective of the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, Chongzhen's posture is very low today, which is quite rare.

Cao Zongbing basically got what his family wanted.The most important point is to get out of the mess in the north and return to a detached strategic position where you can advance, attack, retreat, and defend, while getting the results planned by King Qin.

After the tea party, Cao Zongbing had the honor of being treated to dinner by the emperor.After being half full on the imperial banquet, the three courtiers bid farewell to His Majesty with expressions of gratitude on their faces, and went back home.

From the moment he left the palace, Cao Zongbing entered the countdown to go home, but before that, there was still a lot of work to be done.

For the next period of time, although Cao Zongbing said that he would go to court every day, no one paid any attention to him at this time.If the civil servants don't talk about generals, then according to the rules of the court, this general is really a human background board, and he has no right to speak on world affairs. This is an unspoken rule.

But every day when he goes to court, after Cao Zongbing returns home, the old man is very busy.

Due to the previous land purchase policy, Zhongyongbo's mansion was crowded with people.Honorable officials from all walks of life came to visit one after another, and then Cao Zongbing had no choice but to feast wildly, drinking from get off work until late at night, explaining the land purchase policy to the guests over and over again.

Within a few days, Uncle Zhongyong, who is honorable and noble in the whole capital, has almost made friends with half of them. The "older brother" and "brother" have recognized countless, and Uncle Zhongyong has completely turned into a sweet pastry.

At the same time, large-scale renovations have also begun on the street frontages of Uncle Zhongyong's Mansion: Zhezifang and the head office of commerce will be opened here.

Zhezifang is the Beijing office of later generations.Local officials at the level of Uncle Zhongyong usually set up an office in the capital to send and receive letters and documents on weekdays, as well as complete other tasks assigned by the boss.

Zhezifang in Uncle Zhongyong's Mansion and Northern Commercial and Trade Corporation have two teams and one team, and the host is Xue Haiyuan, the head of the Beijing Station, who has a very inconspicuous official position.In other words, there are actually three sets of teams here, and outsiders of Beijing Railway Station will naturally not know.

Although Xue Jingjing's official position is small, he is also very popular at the moment - it is impossible for civil servants in the capital to openly visit a Qiu Ba, so he had to send his confidantes or family members to visit Xue Jingjing.

Those who can find Xue Jing are naturally not those poor Beijing officials who can't afford to change their official robes.

Generally speaking, those who dare to take out 5 taels of silver to test the water must be those wealthy gentry who have been wearing hairpins for many generations.As for the first-generation family formed by Xinke Scholars, these people have not accumulated enough, so they cannot get involved.

Xue Haiyuan naturally treated all the stewards who came to him to clear the account of the master.Even though the owner of this family was still spraying his own adults in the hall before, Xue Jing still greeted these people with a smile on his face, and held several business promotion meetings in succession, and publicly explained Tainan's land purchase policy to all gods.

All in all, the land purchase policy launched by Travelers is still very appetizing to Ming people.

First of all, the first point, which is also the point that everyone is most concerned about, in terms of taxation, Xue Jing has publicly made a promise: no matter what the harvest after everyone buys the land, the Zhongyong Bofu will not collect a penny of agricultural tax, this promise will always be valid!
In traditional agriculture, apart from the hidden fields, the landlords have to pay agricultural tax on the fields that are revealed.This tax was the most important tax in the feudal dynasty, and it rose step by step at the end of the Ming Dynasty. The three additional rates collected by Chongzhen were all scraped from the world's agricultural taxes.

After confirming that there is no taxation, the gods of all walks of life are full of confidence in this investment plan: this is equivalent to buying [-] mu of hidden land, and all the harvest only needs to be shared with the tenants.

And in front of such a huge force, Uncle Zhongyong would not dare to speak out even if he thought about it.

The people who participated in the purchase of land this time were almost all bigwigs from the capital and powerful gentry from all over the country, including civil and military officials from the Manchu Dynasty, and even top relatives such as the imperial concubine Guozhan—this force can basically represent the imperial court , didn't you see the emperor and didn't say anything?Therefore, it is impossible for Uncle Zhongyong to renege on his debts.

However, the time-traveling crowd will never talk without counting.

Today's Tainan has long been built into a standard industrialized society by the time traveler.The gentlemen in the capital do not understand the horror of industrialized society at all. As long as the government is willing, there are countless channels to collect those agricultural taxes in disguise.

However, the old men can be thankful that in order to avoid fishing from exhaustion, the crossing crowd will not do that.As long as someone is willing to invest in Tainan at this point in time, the people who are hungry for resources must ensure that the investor is profitable.

This guarantee is very precious.In fact, at the investment promotion meeting held by Xue Haiyuan, he not only promised not to collect agricultural taxes, but also promised that all farmland public facilities, including reservoirs, roads, canals, etc., would be built and repaired by Uncle Zhongyong. at this point.

Hearing this policy of supporting agriculture, which is very common in later generations, the gentry from all over the country who are often "persuaded" by local officials to donate money to build roads are also very happy, and finally they have been taken advantage of!
After the benefits are given out, the next condition, the cross-travelers showed their fangs: Every land buyer must be in Tianjin or Shanghai, and in the future, Shandong and other places, and transport them to the private port opened by Zhongyongbo enough to cultivate [-] yuan. Acres of prime labor.

These laborers have to be trained in the quarantine camp before being transported away.

This number is calculated based on the fact that each strong laborer cultivates 20 mu of land.That is to say, every household who bought land had to hand it over to 500 strong men of Uncle Zhongyong, not including the family members of the strong men.

As for whether these people will hire big iron cattle to plow the land because of the huge cost after they go to Tainan, they don't care about it. Anyway, if they want to buy land, the supporting tenants will send it to Lao Tzu first.

(End of this chapter)