The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 455 Hayek is so great
Mo Zibu has always believed that the greatest manifestation of a king's power is that his channels for obtaining information are not blocked or controlled by a few people.

Because there are so many different kinds of people around the emperor, everyone has a purpose in approaching the supreme power, and his wife, sons and daughters are no exception. Everything they say will be biased.

Unless the emperor is a genius, other emperors will easily be deceived and make wrong decisions if their channels for obtaining information are slightly narrower.

Therefore, Mo Zibu had a wide range of channels for obtaining information in Hubei, a total of five lines.

They came from the local carriage and ship shops secretly recruited by the Jinyiwei Palace Front Division, such as Wu Sanniang who was already doing well in the Hunyuan Sect.

There were also spies and flag bearers from the Northern Pacification Division of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

A secret visit from the inner court attendants and civil officials.

Local gentry and former Qing officials from Hubei came to seek refuge one after another, and they could be won over.

Finally, there were the Hubei righteous men who had fled to Yingtian Prefecture with their families to seek refuge long before Mo Zibu entered Jiangnan. Although this group of people was very small, Mo Zibu trusted them very much.

After all, those who choose to seek refuge when the situation is not yet completely clear usually have some ideals, otherwise they would not do such a thing.

This also made the large-scale investigation carried out by Mo Zibu in Hubei very smooth, because the situation below was basically clear at a glance, and the biased information became quite clear through cross-verification.

However, in the specific operation, there was a big problem, that is, how to distribute the land equally.

According to Mo Zibu's theory, he wanted to implement land distribution on a scale of six mu per capita for upper-grade land or ten mu per capita for medium-grade land in Huguang and later Sichuan.

There is no other way around this. If we don't increase the per capita land area and allow the general public to have money to spend, it will be impossible to create a huge domestic demand market.

Without a huge domestic demand market, it would be impossible to take this relatively moderate path towards capitalism, and one could only engage in bloody primitive accumulation like Britain and France.

Mo Zibu felt his scalp tingling just thinking about the kind of martial arts that wanted to refine coal and iron but first harmed the people half to death.

However, the land in Huguang obviously does not meet the standards for land distribution, even if all the land is shared equally among everyone.

Not to mention that there are some gentry and landlords who have not been so cruel as to harm the people or oppose Dayu. You can't just divide up their land just because they help you stabilize the local area and have no bad record.

That would really mean making enemies with the whole world.

So the trouble comes. How to divide the land? Dividing it equally will not work. If it is not divided equally, who will get it and who will not?

For this reason, Mo Zibu convened another imperial conference in Wuchang, but no results were achieved.

Because the ministers under Emperor Mo are either from the Mo family like Lin Tong, who are good at economics, trade and diplomacy, but have never farmed and do not understand the situation below.

Either he came from a family of poetry and etiquette in Jiangnan like Liang Guozhi. Not to mention the difference between the situation in Jiangnan and Huguang, from Liang Guozhi's class standpoint, he would not devote his whole heart to this matter.

Although Liang Guozhi has always been kind and generous, caring for the people, living a simple life and not greedy for money, this is based on a prerequisite, that is, Liang Guozhi's family is a large landlord.

He was not greedy for money because his family was not short of money. They had more than 20,000 acres of fertile land, some of which were top-notch land in Shaoxing, with a total value of more than 600,000 taels of silver. What was the point of him being greedy for a few melons and dates?

Therefore, Liang Guozhi can help Mo Zibu formulate some policies that benefit the country and the people, but you should never ask him about equal distribution of land.

As for other ministers, most of them were unreliable. They were either meritorious officials or maritime merchants from Fujian and Guangdong, or big landlords and workshop owners in Jiangnan.

They can stand on the side of the common people in other matters, but they will never do so when it comes to equal distribution of land.

Finally, Mo Zibu suddenly remembered that Li Huang, who resisted the Hubei militia in Anlu Prefecture, was a local.

Li Huang's family is a small landlord with only a few dozen acres of land. These people are of the same class as the future self-cultivating rich peasants who own 20 to 30 acres of land. The issue of equal distribution of land should be asked to such people.

. . . .

Li Huang has been walking with the wind recently. He thought that he would reap great benefits after going through hardships, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly and easily.

Recently, not only Li Huang, but the entire Anlu Prefecture in Hubei, have been as proud as they can be.

It is said that after the two provinces of Huguang are stabilized, there will be at least twenty officials of the seventh rank or above from Anlu Prefecture in the special examinations and recommendations.

Just as Li Huang was about to enter the palace, a familiar figure stopped him. It was Zhou Xipu from Changsha.

Zhou Xipu had actually arrived in Wuchang a long time ago, but he did not go to meet Mo Zibu at all, and did not even reveal his identity.

Since arriving in Wuchang, Zhou Xipu has become increasingly clear that people like Chen Huizu are doomed to die. He dares to be a local tyrant in front of a ruthless person like Mo Guangzhong. If he doesn't die, who will?

However, Chen Huizu was doomed to die, and Hunan still had to find a way out, so these days, Zhou Xipu had been squatting outside the palace until he finally met someone he knew.

Although Li Huang and Zhou Xipu were not admitted to the imperial examination in the same year, they were both from Huguang. They had previously gone to Beijing together to take the provincial examination and both lived in the Huguang Guild Hall. Their relationship was not very good, but they were also acquaintances.

"Brother Wenyuan, why are you here in Wuchang Prefecture?" Li Huang was also surprised to see Zhou Xipu. What he actually wanted to ask was why Zhou Xipu appeared outside the palace.

But he immediately understood, "Did Chen Huizu ask you to come?"

Zhou Xipu bowed. He was one year older than Li Huang, but was his junior in the imperial examination, so he also called Li Huang "brother".

"Brother Yunmen, Chen Huizu is a greedy man. I don't want to be controlled by him, but the people of Xiang Province are innocent. We can't let them be buried with Chen Huizu and others."

Li Huang understood that the people would not be buried with Chen Huizu because it was impossible for the emperor to massacre the people of Hunan. Mo Guangzhong was the emperor of the Han Dynasty and would not be a murderer.

However, the gentry in Hunan, that is, small landlord families like Zhou Xipu and Li Huang who owned dozens to three or five hundred acres of land, might be regarded as accomplices by the emperor, and their property would be confiscated and used for equal distribution of land.

Since they were of the same class, Li Huang was not vague and immediately said, "Brother Wenyuan, I have been summoned by His Majesty and will be seeing the Emperor. How can I help you?"

After hearing this, Zhou Xipu bowed deeply and said gratefully, "On behalf of the Hunan gentry, I would like to thank Brother Yunmen first."

After expressing his gratitude and showing that he was a person who knew what was right and wrong, Zhou Xipu took a step closer to Li Huang and said in a lowered voice:

"Brother Yunmen, I've been waiting outside this palace for almost ten days now. I've seen all sorts of people coming and going, most of them from various prefectures and counties in Hubei. The conversations in the restaurants and bars around the palace are mostly about equal distribution of land.

Today I saw that my brother was summoned as a pillar of Hubei Province. I think it has something to do with the equal distribution of land.

I would like to ask, Your Majesty, have you encountered any difficulties with your land equalization plan?

Li Huang was shocked. "Boy, I never realized you had the ability to be a spy!"
This is the difference between the two people. Li Huang was a mathematician and astronomer. He also had good insights into music and liked to study. In the second half of his life, he served as an official, mainly in administrative bureaucracy such as personnel, financial allocation, etc.

Zhou Xipu was different. He did not achieve much in academic research. In history, he only served as a county magistrate for a few terms before returning home.

However, during his tenure as magistrate of Ningshuo County (Qingtongxia City) in Gansu Province and director of water conservancy in Ningxia Province, he made great contributions to this impoverished northwestern region.

As the county magistrate at the time, Zhou Xipu personally traveled through Ningshuo County, threatened by desertification, to oversee the construction of canals and rivers, control the rapids of mountain streams, and support the development of agriculture and animal husbandry, among other favorable local developments. He also advocated for easing the Qing Dynasty's extremely heavy corvee labor in the northwest, advising residents not to graze their livestock in areas already experiencing desertification, lest what was still barely pastureland be completely transformed into a Gobi desert.

In just three years, this Hunanese man drastically improved the situation in Ningshuo County, where the young and strong had fled, the old and weak were waiting to die, and the land was desertified. Even the local stubborn Muslims respected him as the true magistrate.

"Although Your Majesty did not say it explicitly, he did hint that the equal-field plan has indeed encountered difficulties." After hesitating for a while, Li Huang decided to help Zhou Xipu and told him the truth.

Zhou Xipu bowed to the ground and said, "Brother Yunmen, if you can see the emperor, please recommend me and say that Zhou Xipu from Xiangyin is willing to help your majesty.

Brother, the safety of millions of people in Hunan Province rests in your hands!"

This statement was quite morally blackmailing, and Zhou Xipu was helpless. He didn't understand Mo Zibu's temper, and was afraid that if he went up rashly he wouldn't be received or would mess things up.

Li Huang sighed. He was a man who had suffered since childhood and was able to turn danger into safety with the help of noble people. This made other tricks not so effective on him, but moral kidnapping would basically be useful.

"Brother Wenyuan, please wait outside. I am willing to give it my best shot!"

When Li Huang entered, Mo Zibu was already talking to a Hunanese man, who was Zhang Jiuyue, the magistrate of Nanfeng who had taken refuge in southern Jiangxi.

However, after talking for a while, Mo Zibu lost some interest. It turned out that his father Mo Tianci was good at judging people. As long as they met his taste, they were all people in the literary and artistic circles with great attainments in poetry, songs, calligraphy and painting.

Not to mention Yuan Mei and Yao Nai, Lu Wenzhi was like this, as were Qian Qi and Qian Shu, father and son, and Zhang Jiuyue. They all had good character, were good at poetry and prose, and had great attainments in history, but they were just not capable of being an official.

It seems that Zhao Yi was able to do a good job as the governor of Jiangsu and the inspector of the four prefectures of Yang, Huai, Xu and Si in Jiangbei. He might be the most capable among Ou Tianci's group of literary friends.

When Li Huang came in, Mo Zibu was finally able to end the awkward conversation with Zhang Jiuyue. Seeing that Li Huang was still wearing a green robe, he laughed and clapped his hands, then asked the eunuch to bring the scarlet robe and official hat of a third-rank provincial judge.

"Li Yunmen, you are a true hero. Are you willing to monitor the evildoers in Hubei Province for me?" Mo Zibu asked loudly.

Zhang Jiuyue was full of envy. He had defected before Dayu conquered Yingtian Prefecture, but until now he was only a Hanlin scholar and professor of the School of Literature of Yingtian Imperial College. Basically, he was just a hanger-on who played with the retired emperor.

And this Li Huang, Li Yunmen, was immediately promoted to a provincial censor of the third rank.

Li Huang took a look at the scarlet robe, the tall hat and the wide belt, the elegance and majesty, and his eyes turned red with excitement, and tears were about to roll down.

What is this? This is a person who has a keen eye for talent and values it highly. Li Huang could only be a Hanlin scholar in the Qing Dynasty.

But in Dayu, he was immediately promoted to the third-rank provincial judge, and Li Huang finally experienced the pleasure of being a bannerman.

Thinking of this, Li Huang fell to his knees with a plop, and took the official robe with trembling hands. "I thank Your Majesty for your grace. From now on, I will do my best to serve my emperor!"

After Mo Zibu helped Li Huang up, Li Huang continued, "When I was outside the palace, I met Zhou Xipu, a native of Xiangyin, Hunan.

This man has great ambitions and understands the sufferings of the people. He is an extraordinary person. I dare to ask Your Majesty to summon him. I will definitely be able to propose a solution to Your Majesty's policy of equal distribution of land."

Zhang Jiuyue was about to leave when he heard Li Huang mention Zhou Xipu and hurried over to recommend him:
"I didn't expect Zhou Xipu to come to Wuchang. Your Majesty, the brothers Zhou Xipu and Zhou Xiwei from Xiangyin are both talented, especially Zhou Xipu, who is a man of action. I beg Your Majesty to take the time to meet them."

Zhang Jiuyue had been around Mo Zibu for so long that he knew what Mo Zibu valued most, so he directly said the four words "talent for hard work".

"Alright, since you two have recommended me, then let's summon Zhou Xipu from Xiangyin to meet us!"

Zhou Xipu only waited outside for a while before he was summoned. The atmosphere of the summons was extremely relaxed.

Mo Zibu was only wearing a coarse summer cloth robe, and he also prepared a few plates of cakes and four bowls of tea. The four of them, the emperor and his ministers, sat there and talked like friends.

Zhou Xipu was even more certain that Chen Huizu was doomed. What kind of emperor could be so respectful and friendly while also building such a great foundation?

The answer is that it takes at least a king with the ability of Cao Mengde. This kind of temperament and bearing, which makes light of important matters and treats noble people as if they were neighbors, is not something that everyone can display.

After confirming that this was a true leader who could be relied upon, Zhou Xipu quickly proposed his own solution, which was to divide it equally.

"Hmm?" Mo Zibu was a little confused. "Please explain!"

Zhou Xipu only sat halfway and leaned forward a little, "Your Majesty, all the local tyrants and bullies who are committing evil in Hunan Province have been summoned by Chen Huizu. When the troops arrive, they will be wiped out directly.

But the rest of the landlords who own less than 1,000 acres of land mostly rely on the efforts of several generations to build their wealth. This wealth must not be touched, otherwise everyone in the society will definitely feel insecure.

Therefore, I suggest that Your Majesty directly order that their land not be divided equally, in order to appease those who have prestige among the people and hold the power of speech. The rest of the land can be directly divided equally."

Zhou Xipu smiled faintly as he spoke, "Not everyone can cultivate this kind of land well. For many people, even if you give them the land, they will eventually lose their property due to various reasons.

Those who really know how to farm, even if they become tenants, will be treated as half family members by the master and will be well treated.

Therefore, Your Majesty is now dividing the land equally, but at the same time not prohibiting land transactions, and setting an upper limit on the amount of land that one person can own, which is based on the standard of six mu of upper land.

I estimate that the current average land allocation per person is less than one mu, which is not enough to feed the people. In about ten years at most, the land will naturally return to the hands of rich farmers who know how to farm.

In this way, the current situation among the people that Your Majesty hopes for will naturally emerge."

Damn it, yes!
Mo Zibu suddenly realized that he didn't know how to farm before he traveled through time, but after traveling through time, he was in Southeast Asia. Farming in Southeast Asia, isn't it just about throwing rice seedlings into the fields?

Even if the yield is lower, the water and heat conditions are good, and the fields are everywhere. Just sow more seedlings. The yield per mu of one crop is low, so if we have three or four crops a year, the yield will increase.

In China, there are many people and little land, so we need to cultivate the land intensively. However, not everyone has the ability to do this.

Therefore, after the equal distribution of land is implemented, those farmers who do not have the ability or are unlucky enough to encounter natural disasters or man-made disasters will soon be eliminated from the farming industry.

Then they had no choice but to sell their land and go abroad to Southeast Asia, or to Sichuan, or to work in the city.

If land transactions are not prohibited and the upper limit is set at six mu per capita, those who can farm will quickly become the backbone of the countryside, owning thirty to fifty mu of land.

Wow, Hayek’s invisible hand is still useful in some aspects!

Zhang Jiuyue was also convinced. This person who can get things done is different. "I congratulate Your Majesty. In this way, the equal distribution of land can win the hearts of the lower-class people, ensure the property of the normal and polite families, and gain their loyalty.

This world will soon belong to Dayu, and Your Majesty will soon be in perfect order."

Mo Zibu also nodded with a smile. Although this approach still has some problems, such as the emergence of specialized land trading quotas, which will lead to the continued emergence of large landowners in the countryside.

But in this world, there has never been a policy that can solve the problem once and for all. The implementation process relies on official administration and patching to slowly repair the problem.

　I had an urgent business trip yesterday and drank too much last night. I didn't get home until 4pm this afternoon. I could have written the chapter tonight even without watching the national football team.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)