The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 853 Is this heaven really peaceful?
After hearing what Prime Minister Gladstone said, Edward Reid, the director of naval shipbuilding, could only sigh and pull out a stack of drawings from his briefcase: "Since Your Excellency is determined to move forward, let's take a look at this." He unfolded a design drawing of a slender ship, "15-ton high-speed armored ship, 000 horsepower, theoretical speed of 20 knots, equipped with four twin 4-inch rapid-fire guns, 6-inch waterline armor, and 14-inch turret front."

Gladstone's eyes lit up: "20 knots? We can finally catch up with that Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's high-speed ship!"

Reed smiled bitterly. "The price is weak armor and insufficient firepower. This ship can't last more than half an hour on the battle line, but it runs fast enough and is suitable for commerce raiding. It can also fight a chase battle with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's commerce raiding ships."

Gladstone slammed the table. "That's enough! How much does it cost?"

"£60 million."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer gasped: "It's £12 more expensive than the 'Devastation'!"

"Haven't we already sold the Devastation?" Gladstone smiled like an old fox. "We are using this money to build a test ship. If it can really catch up with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's commerce raider, it will be of great use!"

Earl Derby was playing with a blue and white bone china cup produced in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, and chuckled, "You are right. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's advantage lies in its size and population. But its fatal weakness also lies in its size and population! With a population of 6 million, once they are blocked on the East Asian continent by us, without external markets and resources, how long can they last?"

Gladstone slammed the table and said, "That's right. The size and population of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom are both advantages and fatal weaknesses! The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's industry is still far behind that of our British Empire, and maritime hegemony is the most dependent on industrial strength. As long as we can lock the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the East Asian continent before it has stronger industrial strength than us, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom will be finished!"

The wilderness of Liaoning Province awakens in the early spring sunshine. Luo Yaoguo's special train rolls over the rails, and outside the window is the endless black land, the newly turned soil is shining with oily light.

In the distance, there are villages with green tiles, smoke from cooking fires rising along the low ridgelines, and occasionally the sound of brick school bells echoing across the plains - this is a sign of what Zeng Tianyang, the governor of the three northeastern provinces, called "the three provinces as stable as a rock."

Inside the carriage, a land book was spread out on a teak table, and the numbers with wet ink recorded the changes of this land. Zeng Tianyang said in a steady voice: "Since the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the area outside the Great Wall has been a place where refugees have filled the ravines. Now, in the 16 years of the operation of the Heavenly Kingdom, 120,000 households of meritorious people have been granted land, occupying 14.5 million mu of land, all in the fertile land along the railway. In addition, there are 10 million poor farmers who have moved from the Great Wall to the outside, and each household has been granted 5 to 30 mu of land - it depends on the population of the household and the location of the land grant. A total of more than 180 million mu of land has been sold! In addition, there are more than 1 million households of people who originally lived outside the Great Wall. Now there are more than 11 million households outside the Great Wall, and more than 200 million mu of arable land!"

Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile, seeming very satisfied: "There are at least 400 million mu of arable land in the three provinces of Northeast China, right? There are still more than 100 million mu that can be granted?"

Zeng Tianyang stroked his white beard and said, "In the past two years, fewer people have gone out to make a living. There are only about 100,000 people a year."

"Why is it only this much?" Luo Yaoguo asked.

Wu Ruxiao, the governor (equivalent to a high-ranking official) in charge of the people's livelihood in Liaoning Province, took over the conversation, speaking with pride in his mellow Cantonese accent: "Look, Prime Minister, the situation in the interior of China is good now, and brokers from foreign companies are everywhere, recruiting workers in Southeast Asia and building roads in America. Who would want to bring their family to the Northeast when they can earn a living at home?" He glanced at Ma Baocai and hesitated to speak, and hurriedly added, "Of course, it is all thanks to your good governance that the people can live in peace."

Ma Baocai couldn't help but sneered, "Six hundred million people are crowded in eighteen provinces in the interior, and each person has less than three mu of land! The so-called good harvest is just that people will not starve to death." He pointed to a group of shacks passing by the window, "Teacher, look at those newly built shacks - this is one of the few flat lands in the world, how come people live in houses like this? If it were really good, why would it be like this?"

Ma Baocai's senior brother Wang Yan frowned and coughed when he heard this, but Luo Yaoguo smiled: "What we have seen along the way is real prosperity and real hardship." He suddenly stood up and said, "Let's go down to the next station and change into casual clothes. Let's go to the nearby farm to ask for a bowl of water."

As the four of them walked along the ridges of the fields and entered the village, the sun was climbing up the tops of the poplar trees. An old man squatted by the threshing floor, smoking a pipe, his patched cotton jacket cuffs revealing his dark wrists. Luo Yaoguo stepped forward and bowed, "Brother, passerby, please give me some water."

The old man squinted at their military boots under their woolen coats, responded vaguely, and led them into the adobe courtyard. The kitchen was dim, and the old man scooped a bucket of well water and handed it to them: "You gentlemen look like officials? Are you here to check the land reclamation certificates?" He suddenly became nervous, "The deed to my 20 acres of land is stamped with a red seal!"

"You are overthinking, old man." Luo Yaoguo took the broken ceramic bowl and said, "I heard that life outside the Great Wall is better than inside the Great Wall?"

"Strong!" The old man's voice brightened, "During the Qing Dynasty, Liaoyang collected three dou of grain per mu, but now it's only one dou and two!" He counted on his fingers, "Five people in my family planted twenty mu of bean fields, and in a good year we could earn dozens of silver dollars. But last year, we had to pay three dollars for the construction of the township office, two dollars for the training of militia, and another dollar for the school donation..." He suddenly lowered his voice, "These are fine, but I'm most afraid that the grain dealers will lower the price - they say something like 'the Shanghai futures market has fallen', and we don't understand it!"

Ma Baocai sneered: "Futures are the sickle used by Shanghai profiteers to harvest farmers." The old man nodded blankly, then shook his head: "It's better than the Qing Dynasty! Back then, the head of the banner and the village rode on my head and shit on me, but now at least I can curse the tax collectors."

Suddenly, there was a cry outside the courtyard. On the street, a woman in a gray cloth coat knelt down in front of a tax collector in a red robe and said, "Sir! The money for spring planting seeds has not been collected yet, so can I not buy the bonds?"

The tax collector kicked the copper coin she was holding away with the tip of his boot: "You don't want to buy it? If you fail to complete the task of subscribing to railway bonds, my job will be ruined first!"

Luo Yaoguo clenched his hands in his sleeves. Wang Yan gave a look, and Wu Ruxiao quickly stepped forward and showed his badge. The tax collector was so scared when he saw the provincial governor in person that he knelt on the ground and sifted the chaff. Zeng Tianyang's face was livid: "Which law in Liaoning Province allows you to apportion the railway bonds?"

The tax collector trembled as he took out a piece of official document, at the end of which was clearly stamped the official seal of "Liaonan Railway Supervisor".

On the way back, the carriage bumped along the muddy road. Luo Yaoguo stared at the endless fields in silence for a long time, then suddenly asked, "What about the railway bonds?"

Wu Ruxiao's forehead was covered with sweat. "Your Highness, this is all because of my incompetence. I will immediately ask people to stop the apportionment and find another way to raise money to build the Liaonan Railway."

Luo Yaoguo understood that Wu Ruxiao had instructed him to do this. To get rich, you must first build roads! The business of building railways also depends on the location. There is no shortage of investment for railways like Beijing (Tianjing)-Shanghai, Jinpu, Yuehan, Beijing (Beijing)-Han, and Longhai. But it is hard to say for branch lines like Liaonan - the investment prospects are unclear, and businessmen are unwilling to invest. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's court has only so much money for railways, so it has to be spent wisely. Local branch lines can only be raised by the provinces themselves, and what else can the provinces do? Isn't it just the apportionment of railway bonds?

The interest rates on these railway bonds were generally not high - if they were higher, they would definitely not be able to pay them back! There were even precedents of defaults, so the people were not very welcoming.

"But these railway bonds shouldn't be distributed to the poor!" Luo Yaoguo complained to Wu Ruxiao, and then asked, "The 120,000 meritorious people in the three northeastern provinces occupy the best land. The completion of the railway will be most beneficial to them! How much grain tax do they pay now? How many railway bonds have they subscribed for?"

Zeng Tianyang's Adam's apple rolled: "According to the Order on Granting Land to Meritorious Service Members, their per mu tax is reduced by half, as for the railway bonds..."

He didn't dare to say any more. Allocate the bonds that no one wants to the meritorious citizens?
"The taxes paid by our countrymen are too light." Luo Yaoguo's voice was not loud, but it shocked Wu Ruxiao so much that he almost dropped his pipe. "There are 240 million mu of cultivated land in the Northeast, and merit accounts for one sixteenth of it, but the tax is less than one thirtieth. If this continues, the land in the Northeast will probably be concentrated in the hands of a few people again."

Ma Baocai took the opportunity to say, "Teacher, the situation in the Northeast is still good. After all, there are few people and a lot of land, and the rent is cheap! But in many provinces within the Great Wall, the situation of annexation is already very serious! In many places, one-third or even half of the farmers who once received land have now become tenants again. This year is only the 22nd year of the Tianli calendar! And at least 30% of those landlords who annexed land are our meritorious compatriots!"

"Cough cough cough" Wang Yan coughed! While coughing, he glared at Ma Baocai - what nonsense is this guy talking about? It's no secret that meritorious people have annexed land, everyone knows it! Doesn't our teacher know? It's just that it's hard to manage and he doesn't want to manage it.

Besides, this is not illegal!
In the revised version of "The Land System of the Heavenly Kingdom" in the second year of the Tianli period, there was no clause prohibiting the buying and selling of land!

This revised version was jointly drafted by Luo Yaoguo and Feng Yunshan.

This Ma Baocai is talking about land annexation. Isn't he criticizing the teacher and the King of the South? He is getting bolder and bolder.
"This matter really needs to be taken care of!" Luo Yaoguo said with a frown.

Wang Yan gently reminded: "The meritorious group has deep roots, and disturbing it may damage the foundation of the country..."

"The land must be limited! But there is no law to rely on right now." Luo Yaoguo lifted the curtain of the carriage, and the spring breeze with the smell of manure filled the carriage, "Let's put it this way, there should be many people occupying public land in the three northeastern provinces, right? Starting from today, the three northeastern provinces will survey the land, and all privately occupied land except for meritorious land, reclaimed land, and ancestral land will be returned to the public. The right to reduce or exempt the meritorious land tax is limited to the first generation." He turned around and stared at Wu Ruxiao, "As for you - go to the Liaonan Railway Supervisory Office in person and sort out the issue of apportionment of railway bonds! Even if you have to apportion, it should be apportioned by mu, not by head!"

(End of this chapter)