If I fail to overcome the tribulation, I can only return to the Ming Dynasty and become a prince.

Chapter 169 Land Inspection

Although he was very covetous of Zhu Zhanjun's Qingyu Guards, in the end King Ning only borrowed the troops of Tianjin Zhongwei. In the end, he only took his own Duoyan three guards and Tianjin Zhongwei, a total of four guards, across the Kanmon Strait and began to attack the Japanese country. The Honshu Island launched a strategy.

Because of Zhu Zhanjun's previous plan, the armies of the other four vassal kings were raging on Honshu Island of the Japanese country at the moment, making it impossible for the shogunate to organize an effective counterattack. Therefore, when King Ning also attacked Honshu Island, there was no way in front of him. There was no enemy worth mentioning, and the army marched all the way to Iwami Silver Mountain almost without any hindrance.

After occupying the largest silver mine in Japan, King Ning had achieved his biggest goal of conquering Japan. All that was left was to expand the area he occupied and carve out a larger fiefdom for himself.

As for Zhu Zhanchun, after taking Kyushu Island, he finally ended his hot spring bathing state and began to seriously manage this newly conquered land.

The first is of course the restoration of agricultural planting. At this time, the main crop of the Japanese country was rice, and even the farmers of the Japanese country paid taxes on rice.

However, the Japanese country was different from the Ming Dynasty. The land did not belong to individuals, but all the land belonged to the lords, and the lords belonged to the daimyo, highlighting a feudal ownership system.

Because of this, the taxes that Japanese farmers had to pay were very terrifying. More than 200 years later, at the end of the Warring States Period, the Hojo family collected a [-]% tax from six public servants and four citizens, which was regarded as benevolent government.

The most extreme one is the eight-gong-two-min rule, which requires [-]% of the land's output to be handed over to the lord as tax.

Under such harsh tax rates, the people were basically like the landless tenants of the Ming Dynasty. They became completely vassals of the lord and were firmly bound to the land.

It's just that in the Ming Dynasty, people still had the opportunity to own their own land, but in the Japanese country, unless they became samurai and obtained fiefs, it had nothing to do with the land.

Of course, there is another exception in Japan, which is to become a monk or a priest in a shrine.

The monks of the Japanese country were different from those of the Ming Dynasty. They could not only get married and have children, but they could also transform themselves into local tycoons or even daimyo themselves. Not only could they own large tracts of land, but they could also be passed down from generation to generation just like the daimyo.

So for Zhu Zhancheng, the first issue he has to solve is the issue of land and tax rates.

"You all understand what Gu means, right? Do you have confidence in the inspection of the entire Kyushu Island this time?" In the hot spring villa, Zhu Zhanyu looked at the group of royal officials and Xu who finally came to him. Bin, asked them.

After Zhu Zhantun captured Fukuoka, a group of royal officials asked Zheng He to send a boat back to pick him up. Hu Shanxiang and a group of maids serving Zhu Zhantun also came with the boat.

So at this time, the people serving Zhu Zhanjuan were finally replaced by palace ladies instead of all eunuchs.

Although Zhu Zhanjun was not a person who discriminated against eunuchs, and he was also served by eunuchs in the past, the palace maids were always more pleasing to the eye than the eunuchs, and at the same time they made him feel more at ease.

After all, in the Ming Dynasty, there were too many things caused by eunuchs, while the palace maids were relatively calm.

However, at this time, Zhu Zhanquan didn't care whether the person serving him tea was a palace maid or a eunuch. He just stared at the palace officials in front of him, waiting for their answers.The task that Zhu Zhanqun had just given to a group of royal officials was to ask them to conduct an inspection of the entire Kyushu Island, that is, to find out how many fields and people there were on the entire Kyushu Island.

This is a very important thing no matter which dynasty it is in.

Even with the Ming army's conquest of Kyushu Island, not counting the Japanese lords who were annihilated, the various farms and fields there actually presented Andu documents, which were account books recording land acres and population, and pledged their allegiance to Zhu Zhanquan. At the same time, it also allowed him to grasp the general population and land situation on Kyushu Island at this time.

But these can only be regarded as a general understanding. After all, whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Japanese country, land concealment can almost be said to be a traditional art.

The landowners and nobles of the Ming Dynasty hid their fields in order not to pay taxes to the country. The lords and middle- and lower-level warriors of the Japanese country also hid their fields in order not to pay taxes to the daimyo. Therefore, it was imperative for Zhu Zhanquan to inspect the fields. .

And the people he can use are naturally his palace officials.

However, none of the royal officials expected that their first official meeting with Zhu Zhanyu, Prince Zheng, would be such a big job as inspecting the land.

For a moment, both Zuo Changshi, the leader, and other officials of the palace were at a loss as to how to proceed.

This was in the Japanese inspection area, which was no better than the mainland of Ming Dynasty. They were not familiar with the place and they didn’t know how to start if they wanted to work.

"Your Majesty, it is imperative to inspect the land. However, we do not know the customs and customs of this Kyushu region, nor do we understand the situation of the land and population. Moreover, we do not understand the language. If we want to conduct an inspection, we will definitely need the assistance of the local people. But what should we do? We still need the prince's instructions on how to treat these local people." Zuo Changshi bowed to Zhu Zhankun, and then raised the issues that need to be faced in inspecting the land.

Regarding the question raised by Zuo Changshi, Zhu Zhanquan nodded in agreement.

Although the prince's subordinates assigned to him by his father are all smart and capable people, this is the country of Japan after all, not the Ming Dynasty. No matter how talented these people are, facing the strange land of Japan, they are not familiar with the place and are not familiar with it. It is said that just the language barrier is enough to prevent them from doing anything.

Therefore, the problems raised by Zuo Changshi at this time are also real problems. If these problems cannot be solved, let alone inspecting the land, it will be a problem for the decree issued by Zhu Zhanqun to be communicated up and down, let alone governing this area. land.

"Your Majesty, can you please listen to me?" Xu Bin, who came with the ship, originally only came to deliver food and report to Zhu Zhanyu, but seeing the situation in front of him, he couldn't help but put forward his own suggestions to Zhu Zhanyu. .

Zhu Zhanjun glanced at Xu Bin, nodded and said, "But it doesn't matter."

"Your Majesty, regarding the land inspection, Wei Chen thinks that the army should be dispatched." Xu Bin opened his mouth and looked at the matter from a different angle: "Wei Chen has studied the situation of the Japanese country. All the land in this country belongs to the famous owner. Now, The prince conquered this place, and all the famous lords on Kyushu Island were defeated and punished by the prince. The rest also chose to join the prince, so the prince's soldiers are still very intimidating on this island. The dispatch of sergeants can ensure the inspection of the land. It goes smoothly, but if someone makes trouble, it can be suppressed directly.

As for the language barrier, the prince can recruit Japanese people who are proficient in Sinology to serve the prince. This inspection can be a test for these people to determine whether they are qualified to serve the prince. "

(End of this chapter)