Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 278
"Long live agreed, how?"

In the Mansion of the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies, Sun Yingyuan and Man Gui, who were seated at the head seat, frowned as Lu Wenzhao brought the news.

"If Long Live is sincere, we will be safe, at least for twenty years..."

Man Gui unconsciously rubbed his fingertips, obviously anxious.

Regarding his words, Sun Yingyuan and Lu Wenzhao also nodded in unison.

Twenty years, this is the time for Zhu Ciran to grow up. Obviously, although they believe that Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao's brothers and friends are respectful, they don't believe that Zhu Youjian and Zhu Ciran's uncle and nephew are harmonious.

After all... Daming's uncles and nephews have no example of harmony.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Wenzheng, Zhu Di, Zhu Yunqi, Zhu Gaoxu, Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Changxun, Zhu Youxiao...

Maybe in the future, His Royal Highness and the future prince will be added.

After all, at least Zhu Youxiao still has the identity of his elder brother, but Zhu Ciran can be said to be suppressed by Zhu Youjian in all aspects.

Twenty years later, Zhu Youjian will only be thirty-six, an upright man in his prime, who knows what Zhu Ciran will think then.

However, it is too far to talk about those right now, if we want to talk about it, we still have to talk about Zhu Youxiao's attitude.

Did he sincerely want to forgive the generals?This is the key question.

On this kind of question, Sun Yingyuan suddenly had an answer, and he analyzed solemnly:
"No matter what Wansui's thoughts are, as long as we take a step back, even if Wansui wants to do something later, His Highness will not sit back and watch us be slaughtered."

Sun Yingyuan's words can be said to have grasped Zhu Youjian's character. Zhu Youjian is too affectionate. If the generals take a step back, even if Zhu Youxiao personally takes action later, he will stand up to persuade Zhu Youxiao.

In the end, the worst outcome for everyone is to go to Qi country.

When they arrived in Qi State, Zhu Youjian would still let them fight in Levia by means of "catch up seedlings and expand their careers".

Man Gui and the others are also confident in themselves. As long as they have enough population, they can completely take down most of Leviathan.

At that time, they will still not be far behind. Even if Zhu Youjian goes to Qi State, Man Gui and the others have confidence in him, and Qi State can be equal to Daming within a few decades.

"For the matter of Levia, let Huanglong send people to explore it."

Man Gui opened his mouth and decided the position of the group of them. Although they all knew that such a position was temporary, it was better than fighting against each other.

The weird atmosphere during this period made everyone breathless, so they should take a good rest.

"Let's start the matter of sweeping the north. Since we have to choose to go dormant for a while, we should not get too involved in the affairs of the court."

As soon as Sun Yingyuan opened his mouth, everyone nodded slightly in agreement.

Afterwards, the three left the Five Armies Commander's Mansion respectively.

While they were leaving, Gu Bingqian also took a document to find Zhu Youjian in Prince Qi's mansion.

[At the age of the year, the number of household registration land tax, official and private land is [-] hectares, [-] mu, [-] cents and [-] cents, and households are [-] Six households, with a population of [-] million and [-] people. 】

[Half wheat four million three hundred and eighty-two stones...]

The long five-year summary of the apocalypse was handed over to Zhu Youjian. Among them, it is worth noting the issue of Daming's land and population.

In the first year of Taichang, Daming had only [-] million hectares, more than [-] million households, and a population of more than [-] million.

In just five years, Zhu Youjian found out a large number of acres and population through the means of military garrison, migration, and reclamation.

Compared with the first year of Taichang, Zhu Youjian found out that the real population of Daming was more than [-] million people in five years, and increased Daming's land by more than [-] million mu through conquest, investigation, and reclamation.

However, this is not his greatest achievement. Perhaps in the eyes of Baiguan, his greatest achievement is to rectify Daming's armaments and raise Daming's financial revenue to a historical peak.

But in Zhu Youjian's own opinion, his greatest achievement is immigration...

[The population of Liaodong is [-], with [-] acres...]

[The population of Ryukyu is [-], and the fields are [-]...]

[Old Port has a population of [-] people and [-] acres of land...]

Looking at the population and the total number of acres in these three places, Zhu Youjian nodded slightly.

Zhu Youjian is very clear about why the final population of Old Port was only over [-].

He told Shen Tingyang before that there is no need to count the number of local natives in Jiugang, so all the people reported here are Han people.

However, a quarter of them were Chinese who had migrated before Ming took Nanyang, and only less than [-] immigrants were the result of migration last year and this year.

"It is necessary to intensify the relocation of the old port. Even if it is based on the level of ten mu per person, more than [-] people will be relocated, let alone the speed of reclamation..."

Zhu Youjian muttered to himself, and then looked up at Gu Bingqian: "How much money and food is there after the Ministry of Households is distributed?"

"Your Highness, after paying the salary and military pay, and the [-] million stone grain transferred to the Old Port and the Ryukyu Mansion, there is still a balance of more than [-] million stone wheat." Gu Bingqian flatteringly returned the salute, and opened his mouth to respond.

After hearing what he said, Zhu Youjian nodded, and then picked up the military newspaper sent by Shen Tingyang on the table.

This year, Daming harvested nearly [-] million shi of grain in Jiugang. Except for the more than [-] million shi that have been transferred to the people of Nanyang, which cannot be collected, other grains can be transferred at will.

However, the premise of mobilization is to leave [-] million stones for the local indigenous people to eat.

But even so, Jiugang can produce tens of millions of shi of grain. Counting the grain allocated last year and the grain allocated this year, Jiugang should be able to make up [-] million shi.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to Gu Bingqian:
"Has there been any statistics on the number of hungry people in Shandong?"

"Returning to Your Highness, there are a total of about [-] million people, and the specifics cannot be counted." Gu Bingqian was very efficient in handling affairs, and he quickly had a rough count of the number of hungry people in Shandong.

His statistical method is also based on the model of food stamps based on human hair, so the calculation is relatively accurate.

These [-] million people are basically the approximate population of Shandong people.

Thinking of the [-] million Shandong people in later generations, there are only less than [-] million in this era, Zhu Youjian couldn't help sighing, and then he said:

"I will ask Shen Tingyang to mobilize the cargo ships and merchant ships of Huangdian, and move the hungry people from Shandong to Liaodong from Denglai, Shandong. From the surplus grain of the household department, another three million shi will be transferred to Liaodong, and the rest will be handed over to Yuma. Just make up for it.”

"Yes..." Gu Bingqian responded with a smile, not caring what the relocated person thought.

After all, the people in Shandong right now are said to be hungry, but they are actually no different from "livestock".

Go wherever there is food, if you don't go, you will starve to death before next year's autumn harvest.

This is a bit harsh to say, but it is the truth.

This year's locust plague, without Zhu Youjian's active distribution of food and Yuan Keli's overall planning and orderly development, it would not be surprising that it would develop into "human cannibalism".

Right now, there are not many people starved to death during the famine in Shandong, which proves many things.

"Your Highness, how many hungry people from Shandong do you want to move to Liaodong? The fields of these people, this..." Gu Bingqian asked, mainly because he coveted the land in the hands of the hungry people.

But for the fields of the hungry people in Shandong, Zhu Youjian has already had his own ideas:
"How many people can be relocated, at least two million people, as for the fields in their hands..."

"Tell them that the government distributes cattle, farm implements and food. After they go to Liaodong, each person will receive two catties of rice a day. From today onwards, the same will be true for people relocated from various places."

Zhu Youjian reduced the rations of the people who opened up the new land, and this reduction brought the lives of the migrant people from a well-to-do life to the level of food and clothing.

"Your Highness... In this way, I am afraid that there will not be many people who take the initiative to relocate."

Hearing Zhu Youjian's new policy, Gu Bingqian carefully put forward his ideas, while Zhu Youjian said calmly:
"I know, you can just do it like this. According to the original ration standard, the Ming Dynasty can't move many people in a year. You just do it, and the people will choose to move."

Zhu Youjian's words are three points true and seven points false. The real reason is that after Daming paid military salaries and salaries, there was really not much food for large-scale migration.

What is false is that he says that the people will choose this for themselves.

It has been five years since the apocalypse, from the first year of Taichang to this year, what Zhu Youjian can feel is that there are more and more disasters, and the scope is getting bigger and bigger.

Shandong has not calmed down for three consecutive years. Man-made disasters and natural disasters have severely damaged Shandong.

If Zhu Youjian remembered correctly, Liaodong was a little more stable at this time, so he moved the people to Liaodong.

As for the choice of the people, in fact the people have no choice at all.

Based on the people's own ability to resist disasters, they can withstand half a year or a year at most, which is considered a good situation.

But the current situation is not one or two years of disasters, so in order to survive, the people can only chase relief food and leave.

Although Zhu Youjian knew that it was immoral to do so, he had no choice but to do so for Daming and the common people to survive.

Under the drought, the ability of the imperial court is also limited, so it is necessary to save more people with limited food.

"The old port must be well developed..."

Zhu Youjian narrowed his eyes, and then said to Gu Bingqian: "You step back."

"Your official resigns..." Gu Bingqian left tactfully, and Zhu Youjian wrote back to Shen Tingyang immediately after he left.

The content of his reply letter is very simple, that is, no matter how much consumables are consumed, Jiugang must cultivate [-] million acres of arable land by the end of next year, and do so every year thereafter.

The area of ​​easily reclaimed arable land along the Jiugang coast exceeds [-] million mu, and the next-best ones are [-] to [-] million mu.

But even if it is second-class, it is still easier to cultivate than Daning Mansion, especially Nanhai Mansion (Java Island).

The cultivated land in Jiugang has three crops a year, with an yield of three or four stones per mu. Even if it is only intensively cultivated for one year and immediately planted in the second year, the yield per mu can be at least seven or eight buckets, and it will not be as low as Liaodong and Ryukyu.

As long as the old port is properly reclaimed and Annan is recovered, then the grain from the old port can be shipped to Annan, the food from Annan to Guangdong and Guangxi, and the food from Guangdong and Guangxi to the southeast, and so on.

The coastal provinces moved by sea, and the inland by horse-drawn carriages. Daming could always survive.

If Daming, which has Jiugang, Annan, and Hetao, can't survive, then let alone other countries in the world.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian also finished writing the reply letter, and then sent someone to send the reply letter to Nanyang quickly.

After arranging the old port, Zhu Youjian took another look at the military newspaper sent by Sun Chuanting.

Sun Chuanting first talked about Dogan. Basically, two-thirds of the Tibetans in Dogan were relocated by him to the area around Hexi Township for grazing and reclamation. He and Xu Guangqi moved [-] affected people to Dogan for some suitable places. living valley.

As a result, the proportion of Han people in Duogan is as high as [-]%.

Zhu Youjian was quite satisfied with this method and method, but after he looked down, his brows frowned involuntarily.

The number of people affected by the disaster in Shaanxi far exceeded their estimates, reaching more than [-] million.

Among them, more than [-] million people moved to Shuofang, Dingxiang, Jiuyuan, Wuyuan and other places in Hetao. Sun Chuanting implemented their resettlement according to the policy left by Zhu Youjian.

Build water conservancy, then reclaim arable land, and finally plant trees in the main canals during the slack period. Trees are planted from the north of Datong Prefecture to Daqing Mountain, Yin Mountain, Lang Mountain, and Helan Mountain.

There were still many "lakes" in Monan in the [-]th century, and it was not too late to plant trees there.

As for the desert in the central and western part of Hetao, Zhu Youjian can only rely on the windbreak belt of straw to fix the sand.

Insert the straw into the sand with a shovel to form a well-shaped field. This is the knowledge Zhu Youjian learned from the poverty alleviation cadres in the Northwest, and it is very useful.

Not only that, the common people are also prohibited from cutting down trees, but burning briquettes.

Zhu Youjian didn't want to eat sand in the capital every year when the wind was strong. He had been eating sand for five years, and he really couldn't eat it anymore.

If he doesn't make a move, it is estimated that he will have to eat for another forty or fifty years.

Although the main task of the people is to plant the land, they can't concentrate on planting trees, but after all, they have contributed, and the rest depends on the number of days.

Thinking this way, Zhu Youjian continued to scroll down, and then turned to Sun Chuanting's resettlement plan for other disaster-stricken people.

The first is to relocate [-] people to Hexi for reclamation, while the remaining more than [-] million people in northern Shaanxi are still farming in the vast northern Shaanxi.

But the good news is that, after relocating a large number of people, under Sun Chuanting's arrangement, the people in the six prefectures in northern Shaanxi got the treatment of six acres per person.

This move made the people in southern Shaanxi jealous, but they had nothing to do. After all, the imperial court had no policy against southern Shaanxi.

However, the policy of southern Shaanxi was set by Zhu Youjian from the very beginning, and Sun Chuanting also knew about it, so he sent a notice to appease the people.

There are nearly two million people in southern Shaanxi, and they will move to Sichuan one after another at that time. According to Zhu Youjian's estimation, the number of people in Sichuan will not exceed ten million, or even only six or seven million.

After all, the Mongols rushed to Sichuan, which led to a [-]-year recuperation in the early Ming Dynasty, and Sichuan only recovered to a population of [-] million.

Although two hundred years have passed, according to the situation of each province, the population of Sichuan has quadrupled at most.

As for the so-called Tuchuan [-] million or [-] million in later generations, most of them are nonsense...

According to Zhu Youjian's plan, the people in Sichuan will unconditionally move to Yunnan, Toungoo Burma, and Annan once they encounter a catastrophe.

Even if all six million were moved away, Zhu Youjian felt that it was not enough.

After all, the combined population of Toungoo and Annan is at least [-] million.

It is very difficult to use [-] million Han people to rule [-] million other ethnic groups without resorting to violence. Fortunately, Ming needs their labor force...

"We have to settle the steel issue first."

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian asked Jin Yiwei at the door:

"Didn't the salt merchants and tea merchants from all over the place take any action?"

Hearing Zhu Youjian's inquiry, Jinyiwei Qianhu, who was on duty at the door, trotted into the study immediately, and bowed:
"Without much action, the two companies have taken over salt and tea farms everywhere."

"..." Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard that the salt and tea merchants hadn't moved.

It is normal for salt merchants and tea merchants not to dare to move. After all, the imperial court has soldiers and horses everywhere, and whoever dares to incite the people will be the first to die.

The second is that Zhu Youjian won the hearts of many locals by distributing troops to garrison fields, which in disguise increased the cost of the two merchants in agitating the people.

Zhu Youjian is not afraid of salt merchants and tea merchants at all. To put it bluntly, the so-called merchants are just fish on the chopping board in the face of the army and strong centralization.

However, there are hundreds of salt merchants in Daming, each with assets ranging from tens of thousands of taels to millions of taels. In addition to the large number of private salt dealers, if these guys can be ransacked, the treasury will be filled a lot .

Although tea merchants are not as good as salt merchants, their assets are not small.

Zhu Youjian currently holds the accounts of San Niangzi, which records merchants from Qin and Jin, as well as a large number of criminal records of officials.

But this thing can't be moved now. The most important thing is that Zhu Youjian doesn't have so many people to take over the market and official positions after they are dealt with.

He still needs to wait for a year, when the war against the North is over and the second batch of students from Yanshan graduates, then it will be time to deal with the northern salt merchants, tea merchants, and many officials in one go.

However, compared with the north, the salt merchants in the Huaihe River and the tea merchants in the south of the Yangtze River, cloth merchants, and miners have a large number of them, and they have the most resources, and there are countless officials and subordinates who protect them.

The house raiding in the north will at most let Daming recover for a year or two, but if the large number of Jiangnan officials, merchants, gentry, and subordinate officials colluding with officials and businessmen can be solved, Zhu Youjian can start to promote the state-run policy of "salt iron ore tea".

First unify the state-run business, help Ming Dynasty and the people survive the next [-] years, and then slowly separate the private market, and finally form a harmonious competition between the state-run and private companies.

This is the preliminary tax reform that Zhu Youjian wants to carry out, and if this step is done well, it will not be a problem for Ming to survive the severe drought.

It's just that right now, neither the salt merchants nor the tea merchants in the north and south have moved, as if the reaped benefits are not theirs.

"It should be waiting for me to go out..."

Zhu Youjian frowned again, and he could almost figure out the thoughts of these merchants, gentry, and subordinate staff.

However, Zhu Youjian is not afraid of their tricks, but he is afraid that they will not.

With the means, Jin Yiwei can do it directly, but without means, Jin Yiwei still needs to investigate the evidence by himself.

Therefore, from this point of view, the state-run price increase of salt tea seems to be on the right track.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youjian said to Jin Yiwei: "Go and invite Bi Shangshu from the Ministry of Accounts to discuss matters between the two departments."

"Yes!" Qianhu bowed in return, and then sent someone to find Bi Ziyan.

However, after all, Bi Ziyan was handling the case in the Sixth Department, and the Sixth Department was in the inner city, and the Prince Qi's Mansion was in the East City, so a lot of time was wasted.

By the time Bi Ziyan arrived at Prince Qi's Mansion, an hour had passed, and when Zhu Youjian saw him, he motioned for him to take a seat, and then said:
"I plan to sell all the salt prices of the two companies to the Huangdian, and then the Huangdian will set the salt price according to the income of the people in each province."

Zhu Youjian didn't beat him to death with one shot, even if he knew that doing so would make it easier to collect taxes, and it would also prevent people from reselling official salt.

"How much is your Highness going to set?" Bi Ziyan didn't feel that Zhu Youjian did something wrong, but asked him the salt price he wanted to set.

Regarding this, Zhu Youjian said without hesitation:
"Based on the income of farmers, and based on the fact that each person in the province has only three acres of land, the price of salt should be one percent of the price of grain."

"For example, if you produce two shi per mu in North Zhili, you can earn six shi for three mu. After handing over the grain to the Imperial Horse Supervisor and the court, the average common people can have an income of four shi and two buckets."

"Four shi is calculated according to the price of grain, and it is one or two nine yuan, so the price of salt in Beizhili should be nineteen yuan a catty."

"Ordinary people eat only three catties of salt per person for a year, so the people in Beizhili spend fifty-seven yuan on salt every year."

"In this way, the annual salt tax can reach between seven and ten million taels."

After Zhu Youjian finished speaking, he quietly waited for Bi Ziyan's answer, but after thinking about it, Bi Ziyan could only frown and say:
"With such a salt price, I am afraid that the common people will rush to buy private salt first."

"I will let the inspection department crack down on the private salt matter, and it will not take up too much market share after all." Zhu Youjian replied:
"The collection of these money does not mean that it is not flowing, but that it is a way of recruiting workers, and the imperial court will take the lead in building roads, ditches, and dams during the slack season."

"In a disguised form, it will also flow into the hands of the people."

Zhu Youjian's words were talking about slack farming, but in fact they were mainly aimed at the hungry and refugees after the catastrophe.

Use money to buy grain to relieve disasters, and work to relieve disasters.

Whether it is building railway tracks or concrete roads, or water conservancy projects, or renovating houses for the people in some places, in short, it is what Zhu Youjian wants to do to improve the local environment while feeding the people.

The reason why poor households are poor is mostly not that they are lazy, but that they do not have a job that can guarantee their own livelihood.

It is possible to develop such a thing, but the problem has no effect under the severe drought of the Little Glacier.

Under the severe drought in the Little Ice River, Zhu Youjian decided to turn severely affected places like Shanxi and Henan into permanent workers' families.

As long as there are one million workers, one million families can be solved, and one million workers is just a drop in the bucket for the projects that Daming needs.

But if too many workers are recruited, Daming's finances will inevitably collapse, so it is necessary to find enough financial resources.

Only when Daming has enough silver can it carry out grain transfer from east to west and from south to north during the drought.

　Four o'clock and one more

　　
　
(End of this chapter)