Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 411 Crisis and Outlook

"Your Majesty, in fact, there are many signs of this happening in Tianjin right now."

Chen Qiyu hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the emperor truthfully what he was thinking about, because he found that there was a big discrepancy between what he had learned and what he knew and some changes in Tianjin. It was difficult for Chen Qiyu to understand this. phenomenon.

"Tell me."

Zhu Youxiao said with a serious expression.

"One is food and the other is land."

Chen Qiyu thought for a while, then faced Zhu Youxiao's gaze and said in a serious tone: "Your Majesty also knows that under the rule of Tianjin, there are not only unemployed craftsmen and apprentices, but also a large number of people who work for relief. The largest among the former A part of the group was selected from those with outstanding performance and then transferred to government-run factories."

"But the scale of the latter is larger. They are divided into many major projects in Tianjin, such as Tianjin water conservancy regulation, Haihe River system Tianjin area, Tianjin Acropolis construction, etc., according to the various levels of labor-relief, speaking of which , they work very hard, but the results are very cheap.”

"Although Yousi has been controlling this matter, there are still some people with ulterior motives who secretly instigate this contradiction, which has led to resentment among some people. This resentment is not only reflected in the latter, but also in the former."

Zhu Youxiao was not in a hurry to say anything, but continued to listen to Chen Qiyu's story.

"In the same context, Tianjin Yousi is also doing another thing, which is to reclaim wasteland under Tianjin's control and gradually include it under the category of official land."

Chen Qiyu continued: "According to His Majesty's original decree, this part of the land that was included in the official land will be used to divert and resettle the groups who receive work-for-relief, that is, the same intensity as the Imperial Village tax will be used to ensure that these groups The efforts made in the past will not fail to receive corresponding protection.”

"But the crux of the problem now is that the price of grain under Tianjin has increased by nearly 3% compared to half a year ago. This is because of the affordable grain sold by convenience cooperatives. This does not include the various industries under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu in Tianjin. Workshop, this part of the food supply will be handled by Shaofu Yousi."

"The price of land in Tianjin is even more exaggerated. In less than half a year, the most common dry land in Tianjin has caught up with the land price in Tongzhou. Even the price of high-quality irrigated land has exceeded the land price in Tongzhou. This has also led to private ownership in Tianjin. Land trading is becoming increasingly active."

"It seems like someone wants to fish in troubled waters behind the scenes."

Zhu Youxiao showed a faint smile and said, "It has only been a long time since Tianjin opened the sea for trade. I have used internal funds to release money to raise fish in the water. I want to cultivate a stronger foundation for Tianjin, but now there is a phenomenon of casting the net to kill fish."

"This is what I'm most worried about."

Chen Qiyu said sternly: "When all the people who have received work-for-relief services finish working in many major industries, there will be two places for them to go. One is to join industrial workshops as part-time craftsmen's apprentices, and the other is to rent government land to grow food. But with the development of Tianjin, a new contradiction will inevitably arise, that is, the disparity in treatment between workers and farmers."

"But the crux of the problem is that they all belong to the lower class and earn wealth through hard work. They are obviously the ones who should help each other, but the powerful, gentry, merchants and other groups who are hidden behind the scenes continue to sow discord behind the scenes. To talk about what the order under Tianjin will be like, let’s just say that the contradiction between these two groups is constantly amplified, which will inevitably affect the normal development of the industrial workshops under Tianjin’s jurisdiction, and even in serious cases, all official fields under Tianjin’s jurisdiction will be abandoned.”

"Why do you still have to work hard to farm when you can obviously earn more by working in an industrial workshop? In addition to paying per capita tax, you don't have to pay taxes such as land tax. You don't even have land to your name. In what name do you pay taxes?”

"However, Tianjin's industrial workshops can only accommodate a limited number of people who are out of work. One is that development is here, and the other is that food supply does not allow it. But if there is really a large-scale wave of people who are out of work, I think of many thorny problems that are difficult to solve. .”

"One is that food prices will be driven up, one is that monthly labor wages will be reduced, one is that abandoned official land will be forced to be sold by people with ulterior motives, and one is that Tianjin's order will collapse. Once all the above problems arise, Tianjin will open up to the outside world. Hai's policy will inevitably run aground, and more seriously, it will aggravate the contradictions between the central government and the central government, and even lead to the separation between the central government and local governments!" This is a serious thought.

It’s also done with care.

Zhu Youxiao felt deep in his heart. He had considered what Chen Qiyu said before. This was an inevitable law of development.

Once capital targets areas where they can benefit, they don't care about what impact or turmoil they will have on the local area. What they care about is harvesting wealth. After harvesting wealth into their own pockets, at worst, they can just leave and go. Continue to reproduce elsewhere.

But from the perspective of the court, this kind of thing will never be allowed to happen!

"I am very happy that the Qing family can tell me this."

Zhu Youxiao calmed down, showed an expression of approval, looked at Chen Qiyu and said: "These problems cannot be effectively solved, no matter how many Xiyi groups come to Tianjin in the future, or how many other maritime merchant groups there are, there will be no more than three In five years, Tianjin will definitely experience a great chaos."

"I can clearly tell the Qing family that this is because Tianjin is different from the existing system. If we want to solve these problems, Tianjin must continue to change."

"As for how to change, this is a question worth pondering, but now I can make it clear that the tone of Tianjin's three guards is no longer enough. Tianjin will withdraw its guards and establish a government, and it will not be affiliated to Beizhili, but Zhili It is under the jurisdiction of the central government.”

"Originally, I planned to wait until next year to clarify the matter, but now it seems that the matter will be clarified now, and it will be called Zhili Tianjin Prefecture."

Directly under the Tianjin Prefecture? !

Chen Qiyu was shocked. It was not that there were no Zhili prefectures in the Ming Dynasty, but they were all Zhili prefectures. Their grades were the same as prefectures, and they were directly under the jurisdiction of a province, but they were named after a certain Zhili prefecture.

At the same time, in order to strengthen local governance, there will also be separate patrol roads, garrison roads, military preparation roads, sea patrol roads, etc. However, in Zhu Youxiao's eyes, local administration is too chaotic and the division of powers is too vague.

The Zhili prefix proposed by Zhu Youxiao represents transcendent status and authority. Zhili Tianjin Prefecture is just the beginning, and other Zhili Prefectures will be established in the future. This is to give more space and ensure that these special regions can better developed.

"I will handle this matter."

Seeing Chen Qiyu like this, Zhu Youxiao continued: "As a special arrangement of the Zhili Tianjin Prefecture, I will bring Wuqing, Baodi, Xianghe, Dong'an, Yongqing, Jinghai and other counties under the jurisdiction of the Zhili Tianjin Prefecture. They If you don’t want to fish in troubled waters, then I will expand the scope of Tianjin and see if they can eat it!!”

"The Qing family will stay in the capital these days to attend the imperial meeting to be held by the Young Mansion. There are many things that require the Qing family to understand the situation."

"!!!"

Chen Qiyu was completely shocked. He never thought that the emperor would use this method to solve the problems Tianjin is facing now and in the future.

But if we really do this, no matter whether Tianjin will get better or worse, at this moment, once such news spreads, it will definitely cause an uproar.

After all, there has never been such a precedent in Ming Dynasty!

What's more, if Tianjin like that really develops, will it be good or bad for the court? If there is a situation where the tail is too big to be lost, how should the court solve it? After all, Tianjin is the gateway to the capital and Gyeonggi!

(End of this chapter)