Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Even Zhu Youjian was quite surprised that the land in the Liaohetao region could sell for such a high price.

Because he still has many tricks up his sleeve and hasn't even properly outlined his plans:
"Construction of the Liaodong Border Wall, irrigation canals along the Liao River, unified purchase and sale of grain..."

"We haven't even gone into details yet, so why are they so excited about 'Little Jiangnan'?"

He had seen many tricks for selling land in his later life and planned to use them all.

Unexpectedly, none of these were necessary; the mere mention of "Little Jiangnan" was enough to excite the merchants of Suzhou and Songjiang.

This, in turn, spurred merchants from Beizhili, Shanxi, and other regions to seize land, eager to follow suit.

These days, many people have been subtly hinting at it. Even noble families and powerful relatives want the land in the Liaohetao region.

Zhu Youjian, puzzled, summoned Liu Lishun, Zhang Pu, and others to inquire about the reasons behind it.

Zhang Pu was from Suzhou, so he naturally knew what his fellow townsmen thought. He said:

“In the Jiangnan region, land is scarce and people are densely populated; a typical household usually has less than ten mu of land.”

Even wealthy families always complained that they didn't have enough land, as countless tenants were willing to cultivate their land.

"Because of this, many tenant farmers were considered slaves in the past. They had no land to cultivate after leaving the wealthy households, and their status was naturally like that of servants."

"For this reason, wealthy families in Jiangnan have never paid much attention to tenant farmers. If they hadn't risen up in rebellion last year, they wouldn't have been able to fight for their rightful place."

This explains why people from the Jiangnan region are so enthusiastic about the Liaohetao region, based on population and arable land area.

When the term "Little Jiangnan" was coined, those big investors compared the conditions of the Liaohetao region with those of the Hetao region and immediately felt that "Little Jiangnan of Liaohetao" had far more potential than Jiangnan in the north.

In particular, these lands were hereditary lands, requiring only an eleventh of the land tax to be paid to the emperor. The land limit was also changed from one hundred mu in the interior to one hundred square li outside the pass.

They were so eager for it that they were willing to buy land in the Liaohetao region at the price of developed land in Liaodong.

This was also a point of doubt for Zhu Youjian. He did not believe that the marshes of the Liaohetao region could be compared to the cultivated land of Liaodong.

Why would those merchants choose to buy swamps instead of fertile, cultivated land?

Liu Lishun analyzed this matter and even consulted his teacher, Yuan Keli, who replied:

"There are very few Liaodong land certificates circulating in the market; most of them were sold by court officials who received them as rewards."

"The people of Liaodong are all willing to become soldiers, holding tightly to the land certificates they have been issued."

"The same goes for meritorious soldiers; they don't want to sell the land they earned with their lives, especially since they have priority in land allocation."

"Most of the arable land in Liaodong has been taken by them. Even if others have land certificates, they can still choose mountains and grasslands."

"The Liaohe River bend was so sought after, perhaps for this reason. The land on the east bank of the Liaohe River was chosen by meritorious soldiers of the Guan-Ning Army, who believed that the land on the west bank would not be inferior to that side."

"Especially since His Majesty gave priority to meritorious officials to purchase the goods, they believed that the court would not treat them unfairly."

This is probably the most likely explanation: those merchants believed in the court's preferential treatment of meritorious officials.

This left Zhu Youjian both amused and exasperated, finding it somewhat comical.

Some ministers in the imperial court were already thinking of selling the Liaohetao region first, rather than letting meritorious officials buy it first, because of its high land value.

Unexpectedly, one of the reasons why those merchants were so eager to buy was their belief in the court's treatment of meritorious officials.

If the meritorious officials don't own land there, how can they believe that the imperial court will put a lot of effort into developing the Liaohetao region?

Therefore, this preferential treatment will continue.

Zhu Youjian mentally estimated that he would sell at most half of the land to merchants. This was to ensure the court's control over the Liaohe River basin and prevent future policies such as unified purchase and distribution from failing. Then, he heard Liu Lishun say:
"After Suzhou Prefecture strictly limited land use, in addition to hired laborers, some people lost their jobs and had money but nowhere to go."

"I wonder if Your Majesty is aware that in Jiangnan, many fields have more than one owner, with one field having two or even three owners. This is very common in Jiangnan."

“They divided the land into the bottom and the top. Some people rented land from the landlords and then sublet it to tenant farmers. They were responsible for managing the land and paying taxes to the government, so the landlords could earn profits without having to do anything.”

"After His Majesty reorganized the official and private lands in Suzhou, remeasured and reconfirmed land rights, and strictly enforced property taxes, most families' private lands were less than 100 mu, and the rest of the land was transformed into public lands such as sacrificial lands and school lands, which were then leased to clansmen for cultivation."

"Most families can cultivate their own 100 acres of land without having to rent it out."

"As a result, many tenant farmers in Suzhou lost their jobs. The new district has been able to recruit workers every year, and many people have even emigrated overseas."

"The same applies to tenant farmers and landlords who rely on leasing land for their livelihood; they have money but no land to lease."

“They are naturally very eager to buy land in the Liaohetao region this time.”

These words were a bit convoluted, but Zhu Youjian understood them perfectly.

Having rented a house in later generations, he naturally knew the infamous "sub-landlord".

These landlords who lease land for business operations are similar to sub-landlords, or "second landlords."

The commodity economy in Jiangnan was indeed highly developed, and many economic relationships that would later emerge had already appeared at this time.

Thinking of those wealthy sub-landlords and property speculators, Zhu Youjian sighed:
"I see. No wonder those Suzhou and Songjiang merchants could come up with so much money."

"Will some people who buy land lease it to them?"

"As I said before, government-owned land that has been rented out is not allowed to be sublet; it should be rented to those who need it as much as possible."

"The land outside the pass is state-owned, and the same applies. Their permanent land is actually the permanent tenancy right of the government land, which cannot be leased again."

“These second landlords should not exist; we cannot allow them to hide in the middle and profit from others.”

This would obviously affect land prices in the Liaohetao region, but Liu Lishun didn't care. He quite agreed with the concept of "second landlords," understanding it immediately and concurring:
"That is indeed the case. The landlords deceived their superiors and misled the people, and were a great scourge to the common people."

"What should be done about some landlords who buy land but don't know how to manage it?"

"Moreover, land development always requires tenant farmers; we can't expect them to cultivate tens of thousands of acres of land on their own."

Zhu Youjian considered it for a moment, and thinking that tenant farmers would definitely appear in Liaodong, he nodded and said:
"Land outside the pass may be leased to tenants again, but the lease relationship cannot be extended."

"If they really can't manage it, they can be allowed to open agricultural companies and recruit some landlords who know how to run businesses to serve as managers."

Then, he turned to Zhang Pu and gave the instructions:

“Agricultural companies specialize in agriculture and should be treated specially.”

"Find some second-hand landlords to understand the situation, summarize the articles of association for managing the agricultural company, and hand them over to Chief Minister Han for implementation."

“An agricultural company can have multiple shareholders, and can include landlords, second-hand landlords, and farm laborers. However, the company must operate in accordance with regulations and pay taxes according to law.”

"Furthermore, we need to summarize the methods of operating companies, explain to landlords how to manage land with agricultural companies, and encourage them to establish companies."

The plan is to use the Academy of Sciences, which is headed by Zhang Pu, to promote the transformation of agricultural production relations.

He didn't want to retain the outdated landlord system and planned to replace it with more standardized agricultural companies. Furthermore, he would use administrative power to grant these agricultural companies the authority to collect taxes on behalf of the landlords; otherwise, the landlords had to pay the taxes themselves.

Having returned from the Tongzhou Arsenal with a wealth of management experience, Zhang Pu was clearly well-suited for this job.

He will switch from industry to agriculture, and study agricultural production relations. (End of Chapter)