Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Agriculture needs land and water, and so does industry and commerce.

After Zhu Youjian proposed building high-standard farmland and restricting water use for industrial and commercial land outside of Shuntian Prefecture and the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area, some officials who had just been advocating that agriculture was the foundation of the nation began to oppose this.

They are not only speaking up for industry and commerce, but also worried that they will not be able to use arable land to build houses and gardens in the future.

Zhu Youjian hadn't initially considered this point, but after they reminded him, he immediately said:
“At the beginning of the dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty was about 60 million. Now it is at least three times that number.”

"Such a small and densely populated area is also the reason why natural disasters cause widespread famine."

"High-standard farmland must be protected, and the Ministry of Revenue should pay special attention to this."

"Whether it's houses, gardens, or building kilns and tombs, everything must be planned in a special way to reduce the occupation of arable land."

"Soil and water sources must also be protected to prevent damage."

These restrictions existed previously and were scattered throughout the relevant policies of the Property Tax and the City God Bureau.

Now that they have been consolidated, they are under the management of the Land Administration Department of the Ministry of Revenue. Even if the use of every piece of land cannot be controlled, high-standard farmland and land within the city must be strictly managed.

Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, naturally supported this, and he also opposed the occupation of arable land.

However, considering the circumstances in some areas, he believes that generalizations cannot be made, and suggests:

"Although agriculture was the main industry in most parts of the Ming Dynasty, places like Linqing, Jingdezhen, and Foshan were engaged in brick making, ceramics, and ironware production."

"I believe that special policies should be formulated to prevent the development of these areas from being restricted."

Shang Zhouzuo, the Minister of Works, also said:

“Shaoxing and other places also have industries, and I think it would be appropriate to establish an industrial park there.”

"This will both restrict the use of arable land for industrial and commercial development in various places and prevent places that originally produced industrial products from being abandoned as a result."

Zhu Youjian, considering that a complete ban on the development of industry and commerce in all regions was unrealistic, nodded in agreement and instructed the two men:
"You need to thoroughly investigate the industrial and commercial situation across the country, and establish industrial parks in areas with industrial advantages as appropriate."

"This makes it easier to collect taxes in a centralized manner and also allows for unified planning, so that heavily polluting factories can be built downstream and downwind to avoid polluting water sources and air."

"We also need to coordinate with waterway and highway planning to make it more convenient for the industrial park to transport raw materials and products."

It opened up small loopholes in various regions, allowing scattered industries to be relatively concentrated.

That way, if another war breaks out in the future, officials can be directly sent to the industrial park to mobilize troops.

For this reason, the Ministry of Equipment was also required to participate in this matter, and like the Ministry of Revenue, it sent people to join the industrial group to plan the development of the equipment industry and the dual-use military and civilian industry.

After discussions between the emperor and his ministers, the two major industrial bases of Beijing-Tianjin-Pinggu and Suzhou-Songjiang-Xingtai were officially established, supplemented by characteristic industrial parks in various regions.

The imperial court will focus its efforts on developing two major industrial bases, while local governments will focus their efforts on developing local industrial parks.
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To prevent a future rush of industrial parks across the country, which would lead to relaxed requirements and widespread construction, Zhu Youjian proposed another concept, instructing the Ministry of Revenue to conduct thorough statistical analysis:
“After Shuntian Prefecture and Susong New Area focus on industrial development, they will inevitably occupy a lot of arable land.”

"Grain production will naturally decline, and it will be necessary to transport grain from other places."

"The Ministry of Revenue must carefully compile statistics on grain production and grain self-sufficiency rates in various regions."

"For areas with insufficient food self-sufficiency and no source of supply, farmland policies should be more stringent."

"Furthermore, the governor-general should establish a local immigration committee to relocate the surplus population as soon as possible."

This was clearly a new concept, and it took Bi Ziyan a while to understand what the emperor meant.

This kind of data is obviously very troublesome to collect, since the Ministry of Revenue doesn't even know the total output or average output of various regions.

He now understands the emperor's temperament and knows to speak up when there are difficulties.

After hearing this, Zhu Youjian pondered for a moment and offered his suggestion:

"Officials and grain merchants should know where the grain was transported from and where it came from."

“We should start from these aspects and see where grain is sold and where it is bought in large quantities.”

"Another measure is to establish the Great Ming Grain Association, bringing grain under control and overseen by the National Congress's Agriculture Committee and the Citizens' Survival Committee."

"Anyone who operates in the grain industry and buys or sells more than 10,000 shi of grain must join the association."

"This year, the wartime-style grain price control measures have not been implemented very well in some places."

"To reform the administration, Prime Minister Han must continue to investigate this matter. We cannot allow resources crucial to national stability to be controlled by businessmen."

This gave Han Kuang another troublesome task, causing him to complain endlessly.

However, under the banner of "agriculture is the foundation of the nation," he dared not refuse.

In order to be re-elected as prime minister next year, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and agree.
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Then Zhu Youjian arranged for grain sources for the two industrial bases respectively.

He addressed his ministers:

"The grain transported to the capital has always relied on the Jiangnan region."

"But the grain in Jiangnan actually comes from Huguang now."

"It took a huge amount of money to transport it all the way here, going through such a long and roundabout route."

“From now on, grain from Hubei and Hunan will be the source of grain for the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area, and Beijing will need to select another grain base.”

Rumors of this matter had been circulating for some time, and the court officials all knew that the emperor intended to reduce his reliance on grain transported from the south and instead rely on the northeast.

This is one of the reasons why land in the Liaohetao region is so sought after.

Everyone knows how important this matter is and how much benefit it contains.

If they could control the food supply in the capital, they could exert influence over the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian certainly didn't want this area to fall into the hands of merchants, so he only planned to sell half of the land.
"The Liaohe River area has flat terrain and abundant water resources."

"The east bank has long been developed, while the west bank is mostly swamps and wetlands."

"This area is called the Liaohetao, covering approximately 20,000 square li."

"I intend to take out 10,000 square li, and sell them off in units of 10 to 100 square li." This was a rumor that had been circulating for some time, and now that the emperor had said it in front of his ministers, his mind was clearly made up.

Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan said happily:
"Businessmen from all over the world are eagerly anticipating this."

"Their bids were getting higher and higher, even reaching two thousand taels per li."

"Could we sell more land to raise more funds?"

Zhu Youjian shook his head in denial:

"The Liaohe Plain will become the grain base of the capital in the future, and it should be controlled by a trustworthy person."

“A garrison was set up on the east bank of the Liao River, and half of the 20,000 square li of land on the west bank was auctioned off to merchants, while the other half was given priority to be purchased by the families of meritorious officials such as ministers.”

This was clearly a preferential treatment for meritorious officials, and the ministers in the court all wore smiles.

They had previously been granted numerous land certificates in Liaodong by the emperor, and now they had the right of first refusal to purchase more. Almost everyone with spare money wanted to buy as much as possible.

Even meritorious officials with fiefdoms were subject to the same rule; their fiefdoms were located overseas or beyond the Great Wall, and were not necessarily comparable to the lands of the Liaohe River bend.

Therefore, they enthusiastically supported the emperor's arrangement.

However, they disagreed with the land price.

Officials who had previously sold land certificates for two or three taels per mu were now filled with regret, as they were trying to buy them at that price.

However, things were clearly not going to turn out so well. Zhu Youjian said:
"The current market price for land in the Liaohetao region is four or five taels of silver per mu."

“You are all meritorious, so sell it at the lowest price of four taels, which is 1,500 taels per square li.”

"Once purchased, the land becomes permanent property and cannot be resold; it can only be passed down to one's descendants."

"The Ministry of Revenue should formulate a plan as soon as possible regarding how many square li of meritorious officials of each rank can purchase at preferential prices."

This greatly disappointed the officials who wanted to take advantage of the situation, but when they heard that the emperor had the Ministry of Revenue compile statistics on the purchase intentions of officials at all levels, they immediately became nervous again.

Now is not the time to haggle; it's time to confirm eligibility to purchase.

After all, the emperor only offered 10,000 square li of land, and if each family offered 100 square li, it could only be sold to 100 households.

Indeed, almost all the officials who attended the meeting expressed their willingness to pay for the purchase.

With the addition of the four ministers, they could divide up ten thousand square miles of land.

So much so that some officials even suggested selling another 10,000 cubic meters to them at a preferential price.

Zhu Youjian, of course, disagreed. He wanted to sell it for more money and instructed Bi Ziyan:

"The officials who purchased the land were instructed to hand over the silver as soon as possible and deposit it into the Ministry of Revenue's bank account."

"This money is the imperial court's revenue, used to repay war bonds and reward meritorious officials in Liaodong."

"The remainder will be set aside as reserves to ensure strict implementation of the budget and final accounts next year."

Bi Ziyan was overjoyed, and Han Kuang was much less troubled.

With this injection of funds, the enthusiasm of various government departments in formulating budgets will certainly increase.

They will actively develop a budget and divide the money among themselves.

Once the budget is finalized, they can check its execution and conduct a final settlement at the end of the year.

In this way, the new fiscal system of the Ming Dynasty was established, and they all had their share of the credit.

Therefore, Han Kuang actively offered his advice:

“Some officials may not be able to come up with so much money at the moment, but they cannot postpone payment. Could they use this land as collateral to borrow money from Shuntian Bank?”

"One hundred square li is worth 150,000 taels of silver, which not every family can afford."

Zhu Youjian nearly burst out laughing upon hearing this, never expecting that some officials were considering delaying the payment of taxes. Han Kuang already knew this, and now that he didn't want these people to delay payment, he planned to have them borrow money from Shuntian Bank.

Zhu Youjian initially intended to firmly refuse, but considering that these officials might seek help from merchants and exacerbate collusion between officials and merchants, he ultimately decided:

"I will allow the Sihai Bank to provide loans and the Sihai Grain Company to establish an agricultural company to manage the land and repay the loans."

"However, the interest rate for this loan will be relatively high, and will be entirely based on market conditions."

"Before the principal and interest are repaid, the management rights belong to the agricultural company of Sihai Grain Store. Sihai Grain Store has the right of first refusal to purchase the grain produced thereafter."

He gave these ministers preferential treatment, paid for them to buy land, and colluded with them on behalf of the merchants.

This involved more political considerations, aiming to ensure that the officials enjoyed the benefits of territorial expansion.

But it's also a good project for Sihai Bank; there's no need to worry about these people being unable to repay their loans. Zhu Youjian and Zheng Zhilong have earned a considerable amount of money in recent years through their collaboration, and they have enough to lend to them.

Sihai Grain Company can take this opportunity to penetrate deeper into Liaodong and establish relationships with the owners of these lands.

Using this policy, Zhu Youjian successfully won over the court officials, making them have no more doubts about developing the Liaohetao region.

Many people even planned to sell it to merchants for a high price and use the money to build the Liaodong border wall and repair the Liaohe River water conservancy project.

Ultimately, Zhu Youjian and his ministers decided on a policy of splitting the land revenue equally. The 10,000 square li of land sold to merchants in the Liaohe River Basin would be split equally between the court and the three Liao regions.

Of the three Liao provinces, Liaoxi province, where the Liaohetao region is located, is divided in half, while Liaodong province and Liaoning province share the other half.

However, in reality, the division wouldn't be so clear, because this money needed to be used first to repair the Liaodong border wall and the post roads outside the border wall to ensure the safety of the Liaohetao region.

The remaining money will be used to repair the Liao River's navigation channel and water conservancy, and even extend upstream and to its tributaries. There is virtually no possibility of saving; any amount of money will be spent on this bottomless pit.

However, the expenditure was unavoidable, as Zhu Youjian did not want to destroy the Liao River's ecosystem while developing it. The Liao River already had tributaries of the Hun River, and it couldn't be allowed to become like the Yellow River.

Conserving water and soil and constructing water conservancy projects are both necessary measures. Zhu Youjian also proposed the concepts of vegetation coverage and protective forests such as water conservation forests and soil and water conservation forests, urging the Liaohe River Inspection Office to pay attention to soil and water conservation and reduce soil erosion caused by the reclamation of farmland.

In particular, Zhu Youjian planned to plant many windbreak and sand-fixing forests on the Daning Grassland north of Shuntian Prefecture to reduce sandstorms affecting the capital. (End of Chapter)