The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 235 Immigration cannot stop!
August 1730, 8, Qingchuan, Fort Wanqiu (now Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, Canada).

The State of Chen was a vassal state with the surname Gui from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period. It was a descendant of Emperor Shun and one of the twelve vassals of Sanke and the Spring and Autumn Period. It had its capital in Wanqiu and its largest jurisdiction was 1046 cities. From BC In 478, Gui Man was enfeoffed. Until 25 BC, when Duke Chen Min was killed by King Hui of Chu, the Chen Kingdom had a total of 568 generations and the year of Zuo was years.

According to legend, Wanqiu, the capital of the Chen Kingdom, had tall walls and a moat. The terrain was low in the center and high on the surrounding sides. There is a poem "Chen Feng·Wanqiu" in "The Book of Songs·Guofeng" which describes its topography:

"The son's soup is on top of Wanqiu. It is full of feelings but hopeless.

Kanqi beats the drum, under the Wanqiu. There is no winter and no summer, it is worth its egret feathers.

Hitting the fou is the way of Wanqiu. There is no winter and no summer, just like the egret. "

The newly built Wanqiu Fort in Chenzhou is completely different from the Wanqiu City of the ancient Chen State that had been buried in the dust for thousands of years. It is a remarkable seaside port city.

It is located on the southeast coast of the central part of the Qingchuan Peninsula (Nova Scotia Peninsula). It strangles the southern gateway of Qingchuan and is the key to controlling the northeastern route of North America. In terms of strategic location, it is extremely important.

The port where Wanqiu Fort is located is a drowned valley-shaped bay. The entrance is more than 20 meters deep, and the shallowest part of the harbor channel is 15 meters. It does not freeze in winter, and the tidal range is large, averaging more than eight meters. The outer harbor is nearly 10 meters long. It is ten kilometers long and more than one kilometer wide. The inner harbor, Wanqiu Bay, is six kilometers long and four kilometers wide. It is a rare and excellent haven and is also a natural deep-water port.

Since last June, Prince Chen's Mansion sent people to inspect the entire Qingchuan, and after many comparisons and discussions, this place was finally selected as the future seat of Chenzhou.

Although the Huayang Valley (i.e. Annapolis Valley) with Huayang (now Annapolis Royal Town) as the core is relatively maturely developed, with contiguous streets and relatively complete water conservancy facilities, the area The Acadians of French descent were too powerful, with more than four to five thousand people in number. King Chen really couldn't feel at ease among them.

Because His Royal Highness King Chen personally promised that the land allocated to all immigrants will be "Yongye Field" and can be passed down to future generations.

After three to five years of hard work, as long as we work hard to cultivate the fields, life will get better day by day.

Although most of the land granted was woodland, meadow, or rugged mountain slopes, it would take several or even ten years to clear a field suitable for farming. But everyone is extremely satisfied with this and full of endless hope.

For the immigrants who had almost no place to stand in their hometown, they were all ecstatic to be able to obtain so much land at once, and everyone was grateful to King Chen.

Each immigrant will receive 150 acres of land, and if there is a family, an additional 30 acres of land will be added.

Chen Wang Qiwei Jun walked on a piece of newly reclaimed land with one foot deep and one foot shallow. From time to time, he had to be careful to avoid the huge tree roots dug out by the immigrants. But he didn't care about it at all. He waved to the farmers around him with a warm face and talked to Wangfu Duzhidian Zhengdai Wenxun.

Not to mention, during the period when the land was temporarily unproductive, King Chen also purchased a large amount of wheat and corn from the French, and shipped boatloads of dried cod from Changxing Island to sustain the daily consumption of all immigrants.

Therefore, after obtaining two groups of more than 400 immigrants in succession, King Chen immediately settled most of them in Wanqiu Fort. While building settlements, he cleared forest land and opened up more land.

On the other hand, a large area of ​​fertile land in the Huayang Valley has long been occupied by the Acadians. If it is forcibly deprived and allocated to the new Han immigrants, it will inevitably create ethnic tension and be detrimental to the unity and stability of Chenzhou.

"Oh, in less than two years, more than half of the palace's treasury has been spent." After hearing this, Prince Chen was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Then at this rate of spending, wouldn't it be less than three years before our Prince Chen's Palace is emptied out?"

Of course, these materials allocated to them must be registered by the local government and will need to be repaid to Prince Chen's Mansion year by year. However, deep down in their hearts, every immigrant is still full of confidence in a better life in the future.

In order to boost the morale of the people, King Chen not only awarded large tracts of land to the officials and servants of the royal palace who came with him, but was also extremely generous to the new immigrants.

"Your Highness..." Dai Wenxun hesitated for a moment, then said bravely: "Your Highness, I am afraid that the money in the palace's account will be spent in less than two years, or at most more than a year."

"How much money do we have on our account?"

"Huh?" King Chen suddenly became anxious after hearing this, "How could this be? When we first arrived in Chenzhou, the palace had more than 700,000 yuan in its account. With such financial resources, it was more than the annual income of the New France Territory. There are a lot of them in Chenzhou, which only covers Qingchuan and Changxing, and has only a few hundred people. Even if it consumes a lot of money, it will not be completely spent in three years... Dai Dianzheng, you have made a mistake in your calculations! ?”

"Back to Your Highness, as of the end of August, the palace still has 320,000 yuan in its account." Dai Wenxun replied respectfully.

"Your Highness, I did not make a mistake in my calculation." Dai Wenxun said with a bitter look on his face: "Your Highness needs to know that in the past two years since we settled in Chenzhou, we have had almost no income, but have consumed a lot every day. Since then, we have had almost no income. Hanzhou purchased several batches of supplies in succession, and the cost including transportation along the way was 100,000 yuan... In August of last year, His Highness paid tribute to the officials and servants of the palace, and another 100,000 yuan was spent. … From last year to June this year, three groups of more than 400 immigrants were recruited from the mainland and mainland Qin, North Korea, and Japan. The required fees and expenses during the journey exceeded 30,000 yuan. When they arrived in Chenzhou, they still needed to be resettled and supported. Every month It’s around 1,500 yuan, which is nearly 20,000 yuan a year, and that doesn’t include the cost of two more batches of hundreds of immigrants that will arrive in the second half of the year.”

"In addition, the crown prince and his delegation went to New France to purchase grain, farm tools and other daily supplies, which cost more than 20,000 yuan. They also ordered five fishing boats and ancillary fishing gear, and recruited fishermen, which cost nearly 10,000 yuan. ...Oh, Two months ago, two 800-ton armed sailboats were ordered locally, and technicians and sailors were recruited, which cost another more than 25,000 yuan...the construction of Wanqiu Fort and the port fort. equipment, as well as the coal mine development in Anlu (now Amherst, Nova Scotia), the construction of the Changxing Island cod processing plant, two batches of immigrants arriving in the second half of the year, transportation costs and resettlement costs, and the cost of each official and subordinate staff. Monthly salary, purchasing cattle, horses and livestock from New England..."

"Okay, okay!" King Chen suddenly felt his head pounding and his face fell. He ignored the immigrants around him who came to pay their respects and greeted him, and asked with a ferocious face: "In other words, Prince Chen's Mansion In the next year and a half, if there is no more input, will Chenzhou face financial depletion? "

Are you going to touch my "small treasury"? !
"...That's true, Your Highness." Dai Wenxun swallowed and nodded with difficulty, "Unless we in Chenzhou stop official immigration activities from the mainland and Qin, North Korea, Japan and other places, and also reduce it slightly The resettlement treatment, and the other thing... is to stop free compulsory education in order to save limited financial funds, plus collect sufficient taxes on the Acadians as much as possible to increase the fishery income of Changxing Island, maybe it can also Barely maintain it so that the finances will not be exhausted. "No, the immigration cannot be stopped!" King Chen said firmly: "You have to know that there are nearly 6,000 Acadians in Qingchuan, and there are also English and Scottish people in Changxing Island. , and more than 2,000 French immigrants, plus an unknown number of Indians and Inuit indigenous people in the two places, the number of us Han people is too small to suppress them. How can we Chenzhou be stable and safe in the long run? How can it be guaranteed?”

"However, Your Highness needs to know that whether immigrants are recruited from the mainland or from Qin, Korea, or Japan, it costs a lot of money. The cost of transporting almost one immigrant to Chenzhou is as high as thirty or forty yuan, plus the subsequent resettlement. The expenses and material subsidies are almost fifty yuan. Even if these immigrants are properly resettled, they will not be able to provide any tax contribution to Chenzhou for at least three years. Instead, they will need to continue to be supported by the local government every month. If it comes down, I am afraid it will eat up more than half of our finance in Chenzhou. In the past, when our Qi State was founded, the annual cost of immigration accounted for more than 30 to 40% of our finance. If not for the discovery of several rich gold and silver reserves in Hanzhou. I am afraid that the mine will not be able to sustain such huge expenses for decades.”

At that time, Hanzhou immigrants were not only closer to the mainland, but also had mines at home. In addition, Emperor Taizu's ability to turn stones into gold allowed them to maintain long-term official immigration activities. This was the foundation for the tens of millions of people in Qi.

But what do we have in Chenzhou?

wood?

Cod?

Or promise to allocate 150 acres of land free of charge?
"No matter how high the cost of immigration is, we in Chenzhou must struggle to survive." King Chen looked at the immigrants scattered in twos and threes on the wilderness and said in a deep voice: "In this remote land of North America, surrounded by barbarians, If we in Chenzhou do not have enough dominant ethnic groups, let alone future development, we may not even be able to keep the land we hold when local disputes suddenly arise. Looking at the centuries-old battle between Britain and France on the North American continent, it is clear. We can appreciate the advantage of a large population. The French were repeatedly defeated by the English. In addition to their poor maritime strength, the small scale of immigrants in their colonial territories was definitely one of the most critical factors if I wanted to go to Chenzhou. To gain a foothold, if you want to be able to protect yourself, you must have tens of thousands of people!”

In the competition between Britain and France for more than a hundred years on the North American continent, although the French nominally occupied vast areas of the St. Lawrence River and the Mississippi River Basin, their population size has always been a flaw and has always remained at a very low level. Level, this is caused by their long-term mistakes in colonial policy.

Throughout the century and a half of the French expansion in North America, we will find that they paid great attention to commercial plunder and mainly pursued the interests of the fur trade.

That is to say, it has always stayed at the stage of commercial colonial companies in England, the Netherlands, and even Spain and Portugal in the 16th and 17th centuries.

England's colonial activities in North America began to focus on agricultural colonial development long before competing with France for Canada (with the exception of the Hudson Company). In 1641, there were only a pitiful immigrants in New France, while the English colonies in the south, New England alone, had as many as , far more than New France.

Of course, after Louis XIV took office, he was proactive and aggressive. He changed the previous tradition of attaching great importance to the fur trade and despising agriculture. He reformed the colonial development model and transformed it from a company colony to a provincial system consistent with the local area, trying to promote local agricultural colonial development. However, with the great success of the Sun King, in order to compete for the European continent, he played several rounds of "3P", "4P", and "5P" in a row, which led to the loss of financial resources and the failure to last.

By 1663, the number of immigrants in New France had only increased to , while the number in New England had increased to .

Colbert, the French finance director who was troubled by finance at the time, wrote to Talon, then a senior official in New France, saying not to rely too much on immigrants from the mainland, but to educate the local indigenous people to expand and consolidate the colony.

It is precisely because of this weakened immigration policy that so far, the immigrant population of New France is only 35,000 to 36,000, and it relies on endogenous growth of its own weak population base. At this time, New England had a population of more than one million, overwhelming the New France Territory.

The size of the population means the strength of the colony's economic strength, and also means the amount of military power that can be mobilized and assembled.

Chenzhou occupies Qingchuan and Changxing Island, with a combined area of ​​more than 150,000 square kilometers, which is considered a vast territory. But if there is not enough population to fill it, then it is impossible to completely control these lands in one's own hands.

"However, the financial resources we have do not allow us to carry out such expensive official immigration activities." Dai Wenxun said helplessly: "Otherwise, this will bring down our entire Chenzhou in a short time. ”

If there is no money by then, even if we get people here, will they all go drink the northwest wind?

Even though Changxing Island is extremely rich in cod resources, we can’t let all the immigrants live on eating dried fish!
"If cutting expenditures doesn't work, then we will increase revenue."

King Chen stood on a field ridge and watched several farmers in front of him tie nooses to tree stumps, then waved their whips and tried hard to drive the horses away, trying to drag out the tree stumps buried deep in the ground, but after several attempts, times without success. Immediately, the farmer cursed and picked up the pickaxe on the side and continued to dig deeper.

"Open source? Your Highness means..."

"Establish a trading company and do some business to supplement financial needs." King Chen said: "As for the initial capital for the start-up, except for the Chenzhou government to bear half, we can call on people from all walks of life to raise funds to invest in the rest. 100,000 yuan, and go all out to engage in lucrative overseas trade. By the way, when the two armed sailboats we ordered from Chenzhou arrive next year, they can go to the waters of Changxing Island for armed patrols, and we will pack up the fishery resources there piece by piece. In the auction, whoever pays more will occupy the best fishing spot. If he doesn't pay, he will be kicked out. In this way, he should be able to collect more money. "

"Your Highness, aren't we already collecting fishery taxes?" Dai Wenxun reminded carefully: "If the fishing grounds are auctioned again, forcing fishermen from various European countries to pay another fee to fish cod, I'm afraid... It will annoy them and start a dispute with me, Chenzhou."

"It doesn't matter." King Chen waved his hand and said: "Before next year's fishing season, we in Chenzhou will try our best to persuade the navy to send two warships to sit here. In this way, we should be able to suppress the objections of the fishermen."

"..." Dai Wenxun was about to say something, but after thinking about the dwindling financial funds, he sighed and remained silent.

"You don't need to worry too much." King Chen said with a smile: "Back then, when the English controlled the fishing grounds, they also sold cod fishing concessions to fishing companies, and also dispatched naval warships and armed merchant ships to maintain the operating order of the fishing grounds. However, during the Qi-British War, the English no longer had time to take care of the management of the fishery, which not only allowed those fishing boats to take advantage of it for several years, but also made those fishing boats think that the fishery was still ownerless. "

Well, when we bring a few naval warships over, we will naturally reestablish who the owner of this fishery is!
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(End of this chapter)