The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 722 The Hard Times Are About to Pass
Beijing, Shuntian Prefecture.

When the Northwest Army that established a vassal state in the Dayuan Basin, Chen Guangyao's Western Expedition Army and Dong Jinfeng's Western Determination Army had all begun to mobilize, the fourth group, which was also the elite of the real Dayu Army that was going to make the final decision, also began to mobilize.

Mozibu attached great importance to the Battle of Transoxiana, which he attached much more importance to than North America, and even more so than the occupation and development of Australia and New Zealand.

This is because, for Dayu now, half of North America and Australia and other places will not run away if they are left there, and no one else can resist Dayu.

In these places, things wouldn't get out of control even if it were ten or twenty years later.

But Hezhong is not an option, as this place has too much influence on China, and it is where the eradication plan is being carried out.

If we don't take advantage of the European war to do our best, once the Europeans come to their senses and start to provide strong support to Transoxiana and make things difficult for Dayu, it might end up being a messy war that will drag on for decades.

Although Dayu is powerful enough, precisely because of its power, it should be more careful about fighting a war at this time and in this place. This is something that has been fully verified by countless great empires.

Therefore, Mo Zibu was fully prepared for the battle of Anxi in Pingmiehe.

“After this battle, the people of Northwest China will finally have a peaceful day. They have suffered for the country over the years.

When the war is over, I will exempt every citizen in Shaanxi and Gansu from paying land tax and grain tax for three years."

Although Yongzheng's policy of equalizing the land tax and the poll tax was not as miraculous as described in history books, because when it was actually implemented, especially at the end of Yongzheng's reign, only a castrated version was implemented, it can indeed be regarded as a benevolent policy of no small magnitude and a far-reaching historical event.

Because even this castrated version is still progressive, at least the head tax has been abolished on the surface.

Of course, unlike what later generations imagined, the land tax was paid according to the acreage. At that time, the money and goods were still paid separately, so there were two types of land tax: silver and grain.

After Mo Zibu established Dayu, he did not make many adjustments in this regard, because the abolition of the head tax by equalizing the land tax objectively freed farmers from the constraints of a certain amount of land, which was beneficial to the development of the commodity economy and also beneficial to capitalism's demand for the labor force.

"Your Majesty is benevolent and kind. On behalf of the people of Shaanxi and Gansu, we bow to thank Your Majesty for your compassion for our children."

Hearing what Mo Zibu said, Shaanxi Governor Chen Guan and Gansu Governor Sun Xingyan were immediately grateful. They knelt down and kowtowed three times to Mo Zibu on behalf of the people of Shaanxi and Gansu.

This was no ordinary grace. With the land tax exempted for three years, the people of Shaanxi and Gansu could finally breathe a sigh of relief and begin to resume large-scale production.

The reason why Mo Zibu exempted the land tax in full instead of leaving some tail, such as exempting half or something, was because the two northwestern provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu, including the Guanzhong region, now have no upper limit on the amount of land and no restrictions on mergers.

Because at that time, what the Northwest lacked was not arable land, but population.

In order to support the war to eliminate the Three Khanates, known as the Battle of Anxi, the imperial court needed to intensively cultivate the land in the Guanzhong region, standardize the use of oxen, cast iron farm tools, and allocate seeds.

In order to produce more food to support the Anxi Campaign, no upper limit on land ownership was set even in Guanzhong.

As a result, land is highly concentrated in the richest areas of Shaanxi and Gansu, such as the Guanzhong Plain, and medium-sized landlords with land holdings of 500 or even 1,000 acres are common.

Of course, the largest landlord was actually Mo Zibu, who controlled an imperial farm covering more than 9 million mu of land in Shaanxi province alone.

However, more than half of the land was leased to the Guanzhong Yicong, that is, the Guanzhong imperial Han warriors recruited by Crown Prince Mo Zhousen in Guanzhong.

After these brave men of the imperial family achieved merit in Hezhong and were awarded titles, Mo Zibu would take back the land they rented and give them a settlement fee based on the number of acres of land, so that they would have start-up capital to quickly gain a foothold in Hezhong.

I, Emperor Mo Da, sniffed lightly. There are probably not many emperors in history who can do such a thing.

They occupy nearly 10 million acres of land, but only harvest a few fruits every year. Not only do they have to give it all away at once, but they may even have to pay for it.

Of course, it was precisely because of this that the court officials were not dissatisfied with the emperor's large-scale land occupation, because this imperial farm was actually a place where the emperor concentrated his efforts to accomplish major tasks, and it was a state-owned enterprise controlled by the supreme leader.

"As for the salaries of the Shaanxi and Gansu government officials, as well as some necessary expenses, they can be paid from my imperial estate, which will pay taxes as usual.

If you want to exempt us from taxes, do it completely. Don't collect any more miscellaneous taxes from the people. All the taxes and grain that our imperial farms pay will be transferred to the government offices of the two provinces to maintain their operations."

The emperor was really kind. Sun Xingyan and Chen Guan looked at each other, and their expressions of gratitude and admiration could not be concealed. Chen Guan even cried in the imperial study.

In recent years, the people of Shaanxi and Gansu have had a really hard time. Almost all of their production surpluses have been handed over and shipped to the Western Regions.

For example, in Shaanxi, landlords with 500 acres of land are on the verge of having to eat coarse food, at least they cannot eat white rice and white flour freely.

Moreover, they undertook the vast majority of the transportation work. Over the past five years, more than 20,000 young men and women died in the transportation.

Throughout Shaanxi and Gansu, the saying that children are used as women, women are used as men, and men are used as animals is by no means an exaggeration.

Later, the emperor's second son, Prince of Hanchuan, Mo Zhouxu, served as the supervisor of the Hexi Railway. At the cost of sacrificing more than 2,000 people, he spent a lot of money to build the railway from Lanzhou to Dunhuang.

In addition, an intermittent railway was laid from Yili to Dihua. The section that crossed the Tianshan Mountains was not repaired. Instead, a military station was built to transport grain using mules and horses. As a result, the burden on the people of Shaanxi and Gansu was greatly reduced, and the burden of transporting grain was reduced by at least 50%.

Therefore, without the full efforts of the Northwest Mission in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, the Western Regions and Hezhong would not have been so smooth. You have to know that this was a super project involving more than 100,000 troops and millions of immigrants.

"In the past two years, the rubber harvest in Southeast Asia has finally begun, and the harvest is very good. I have made a lot of money, so I have withdrawn about six million silver dollars. This money will be used to increase the salaries of officials in Shaanxi and Gansu.

From this year onwards, all officials, regardless of rank, will have their salaries increased by one level."

At this time, Dayu began to implement a salary hierarchy system for officials, with a total of twenty-one levels. The advantage of this was that even if you were a clerk at the lowest level, as long as you had served long enough, your salary would be comparable to that of some officials.

With this money as a foundation, at least some of the vicious corruption can be avoided, that is, the kind of corruption that deceives superiors and subordinates and plunders the passing geese.

This also ensured that the officials in Shaanxi and Gansu maintained basic moral qualities and administrative capabilities when supporting the Anxi War in recent years.

As soon as Mo Zibu finished speaking, Shaanxi Governor Chen Guan and Gansu Governor Sun Xingyan knelt down again. In recent years, life in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces has not been easy, from governors to clerks.

Not only did they have to organize a transfer of this scale, but the Prince of Ningxia and the Crown Prince also had to take turns in charge.

They control the soldiers of the Western Army. If anyone is so bold as to embezzle things given to the Western Army, there is no need for the Inspectorate General, the Provincial Censor or the Imperial Censorate to intervene. They will be dealt with according to military law.

Now, these officials have finally made it through, and the two believe that after the salary increase, it is only a matter of time before most of those who perform well are promoted.

But their surprise wasn't over yet. Mo Zibu continued, "I have already ordered the Internal Court Transportation Department and the External Court Revenue Department to prepare sufficient supplies to compensate the court for the money and grain it has borrowed from the people of Shaanxi and Gansu over the years, in twelve installments over three years."

Of course, the Dayu Dynasty issued IOUs when collecting grain in Shaanxi and Gansu. Although it was semi-forced, it was impossible to empty the wealth of the people of Shaanxi and Gansu without even writing an IOU.

"At the same time, I will order government offices at all levels to block trade between Shaanxi and Gansu. Except for materials from other provinces used to compensate the people of Shaanxi and Gansu, no other goods will be allowed to enter Shaanxi and Gansu within three years.

Of course, you also need to do a good job of supervision to ensure that those who receive compensation materials will never raise the price when selling the goods.

Even your government should organize the circulation of these goods, and don't let my good intentions turn into policies that harm the people.

I can tell you that the Jinyiwei will definitely keep a close eye on this. I have given such a huge benefit, who would dare to mess around? Mao Xiangsheng is going to Zhanzhou again, so it's a good opportunity to take their whole family with him!"

What Mo Zibu did was to exchange all the food and other supplies originally borrowed from the people of Shaanxi and Gansu for goods produced in Jiangnan and Lingnan, ranging from hardware to cloth, and even framed items and dried seafood from Japan.

This can not only avoid the fluctuations in grain prices caused by directly repaying money and grain, which would lead to low grain prices and harm to farmers, but also avoid the current shortage of materials in Shaanxi and Gansu, which would cause the prices of these commodities to soar.

Finally, it can also allow the factories in Jiangnan and Lingnan that produce materials to receive a large order, thereby revitalizing the economy.

As for prohibiting merchants from other provinces from selling goods directly to Shaanxi and Gansu, this would definitely not work in later times, but it was still possible when transportation and other aspects were far from reaching the new era.

This is also the reason why Mo Zibu wants tax exemption. Most of those who were issued IOUs are large landowners with hundreds of acres of land. After the tax exemption, they will definitely receive a large amount of compensation goods.

Only by exempting ordinary people from tax can they sell the compensation materials they received smoothly.

Governors Chen and Sun immediately and solemnly promised Mo Zibu that if they failed to implement the emperor's benevolent rule, they would take their entire families to Zhanzhou and leave their provinces.

After expressing their loyalty, the two men walked out of the palace and met Mao Xiangsheng who was waiting outside the palace to be summoned.

Brigadier General Mao had a long scar on his face, which made him look a bit fierce, but he was still quite kind and took the initiative to greet the two men.

After Mao Xiangsheng left, Sun Xingyan sighed and said to Chen Guan, "Brigadier General Mao is really unlucky. Who would have thought that he would encounter so many problems just by going to Zhanzhou?"

Mao Xiangsheng was indeed unlucky. He took 600 soldiers and 3,000 captured soldiers from Samui Island (Sumatra Island) to explore Zhanzhou, but encountered a storm halfway.

By the time they managed to get to Perth in western Australia, there were only more than 400 soldiers and more than 2,000 prisoners left.

Then they continued eastward, finally bypassing the arid and barren areas of western Australia and arriving near what would later become Melbourne. However, before they could settle down, the British arrived.

It turned out that although a treaty was signed between China and Britain, the British had a trick up their sleeve. Their colonists in New South Wales near Sydney did not evacuate, and even conquered some indigenous tribes, becoming relatively powerful.

The following year and a half was a time of brutal fighting between the two sides on this land. Mao Xiangsheng relied on a base that did not even have any farming facilities to fight against the English who had already established themselves.

The extremely harsh conditions resulted in a large number of casualties in his army. During this period, some captured soldiers colluded with local natives to rebel. During the rebellion, Mao Xiangsheng was hit in the face by a strong native man, and at one point his entire army was almost wiped out.

In the end, it was the English tradition of being inhumane that helped Mao Xiangsheng.

These guys were just as wicked as their North American brethren. They first tricked the natives with glass beads, buying them large quantities of food and land. Once they had recovered, they launched a massive attack, enslaving and killing the natives. Mao Xiangsheng capitalized on this by raising a banner to recruit the natives of Zhanzhou and eventually gaining a foothold. He waited until the second wave of imperial supply ships and troops arrived, and after three years of fighting, he finally defeated the English.

"Your Majesty, I secretly killed all 3,100 British who had surrendered. This is a serious crime. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

In the main hall, Mao Xiangsheng was apologizing. This Hunan boy, who originally had a kind heart, had a huge change in his character after experiencing the Aceh massacre and almost being killed.

At least before that, he would not do such a thing as burying all 3,100 British colonists, regardless of gender, age or status, in the desert and drying them alive.

"Get up." Mo Zibu waved his hand, "I understand your feelings at that time, but it is obvious that these people will be of greater use if they stay, even as slave laborers.

I won't punish you for this, but when you go again this time, you must do your job well."

What a waste, because the white skin at this time is very hardy and quite useful.

Just think about it, if white people were all lazy, no matter how advanced Western science and technology, especially navigation technology and weapons, were, it would be impossible for them to colonize the world.

Therefore, Mo Zibu really likes to use European whites. They are also top-level cattle and horses. They do not recognize countries but only nobles. They are very, very useful.

Mozibu would rather have 100,000 white people in Australia than 100,000 more lazy and stupid natives.

Then the emperor held up two fingers to Mao Xiangsheng and said, "This is the maximum amount I can accept."

At this time, the indigenous population of the entire continent, that is, Australia, is about 700,000. Although it seems quite small compared to the area of Australia, it is relatively concentrated and is also a force that cannot be ignored.

Although Dayu did not want to kill them all like the English, it would not use too many conciliatory policies on these natives.

“Although the imperial court’s laws have been revised repeatedly over the years, not many people will be exiled to Zhanzhou in the short term.

As for exiling criminals, not many people are willing to go to Zhanzhou, a place that is even more desolate and barren than Nanyang.

I only have tens of millions of people, and the natives have hundreds of thousands. So it's not us assimilating them, but we're going to be their hired tenants."

Mo Zibu explained the reasons in detail to Mao Xiangsheng. What he meant by extending two fingers was that he could accept the surrender of a maximum of 200,000 natives and was only prepared to assimilate this many.

"I understand that the natives are already quite numerous. If they learn the skills of us Han people, their population will explode soon. Therefore, we must assimilate them completely before such a thing happens."

There are two types of assimilation. The milder one is assimilation in bed, but before it becomes mild, it must be bloody. The assimilation speed of swords and guns is the fastest.

"It's good that you understand. I can also tell you that although Zhanzhou is currently the poorest region in our Dayu territory, it is not even as good as Hexi and is almost the same as the Hui people.

But in the future, this place will become a treasure trove because it has rich coal, iron, and large mineral reserves such as gold."

Mao Xiangsheng nodded repeatedly, with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He always believed in the emperor's words, and he also hoped that the big island he explored was not as barren as it seemed.

"I heard that you have three daughters?" Mo Zibu was also very confident in Mao Xiangsheng. This man was mentally strong and had a certain level of ability in leading troops in battle and governing the local area.

Although his character has changed for various reasons and he has become more ruthless, he is still a very capable, loyal and reliable general.

"Yes, I have three daughters. After I came back last year, I took the time to plant an egg. I wonder if this baby will be a son."

Mao Xiangsheng replied with regret that he was almost forty years old, and if this baby was not a son, the probability of having a son in the future would become smaller and smaller.

"My daughter is good, she's not bad!" Mo Zibu laughed and said to Mao Xiangsheng in his puzzled eyes:

"Next month, I will have your three daughters come to the Imperial City to attend elementary school, so that they can be classmates with my sons and daughters.

When they grow up, if they like each other, I will grant them marriage and then enfeoff them to Zhanzhou."

Mao Xiangsheng was overjoyed and kowtowed on the ground, tears of emotion streaming down his face. This meant that he would be the father-in-law of Prince Zhanzhou from now on, and his grandson would be the King of Zhanzhou in the future.

This way, all the suffering he has endured will not be in vain.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will do my best to govern Zhanzhou for Dayu!"

After Mao Xiangsheng left, Zhu Shedou, Yang Fang, Luo Siju, Gui Han, Mo Gongleng and other new and old generals of the Dayu Guards, as well as Mo Zibu's sixth brother Mo Ziling, came to the palace to meet him in the latest cars.

For cars powered by small steam engines, vulcanized rubber, which was recently developed by Mo Zibu himself and whose inventors also included the names of Crown Prince Mo Zhousen and Crown Prince Zhaorong Wang Zhenyi, is the most important driving force.

The emergence of vulcanized rubber improved the sealing defects of steam engines. More importantly, the rubber tires invented based on this technology enabled cars to truly have the ability to travel long distances.

Otherwise, with the old wooden tires, or even the very heavy iron tires, you wouldn't be able to run very far even if the steam engine was powerful, because the tires couldn't withstand such long-term high loads and high-intensity exercise.

Moreover, cars with wooden and iron tires were too bumpy and more painful than horse-drawn or ox-drawn carts.

This means that the car not only has no cost-effectiveness advantage, but also lacks comfort, completely losing the possibility of further development.

So it was only with the emergence of vulcanized rubber and rubber tires that automobiles achieved a leap forward.

Nowadays, in the two capitals of the north and the south, Guangzhou, the southern capital, as well as major cities such as Suzhou, Quanzhou, and Jiading, cars have begun to become standard equipment for noble families and the upper class.

"Now is the best time for us to resolve the root cause of the chaos in the northwest once and for all, so I have summoned you here.

Zhu Qingjia, you are a veteran who has fought many battles. You should set a good example for these younger generations. Luo Siju, you have been in the northwest for a long time. You should take the initiative to assume responsibilities with the cooperation of all parties.

Yang Fang, I have high hopes for you. When it is time to be ruthless, you must be ruthless!
Guihan, I know that you are a straightforward person who likes to stand up for the weak, but you must remember that kindness must be reserved for those who deserve it.

This battle is for the sake of eternal peace for our descendants, so that Dayu will not repeat the mistakes of the Tang Dynasty and the tragedy of fratricide in the northwest will not happen again. You must be determined to bear the sins of future generations and become a butcher! "

Zhu Shedou, who was old at Feng Tangyi, finally won the favor of Mo Zibu after the Battle of Jintang City. At the age of seventy, he was admitted into the 12th Army of the Guards as an exception and became the deputy commander of the Longxiang Guards.

Luo Siju was later transferred from the Xia clan to the central government. After completing two years of study, he officially became the commander-in-chief of the Jinwu Guards.

As for Gui Han and Yang Fang, they are the new generation of outstanding generals trained by Mo Zibu himself.

However, although they have sufficient capabilities, they have never fought such a war of annihilation, so Mo Zibu paid great attention to laying a psychological foundation for them.

"Thirteen, you are a member of the royal family. This time when you go to Hezhong, you should be brave and take on the responsibility. I, the fifth uncle of the emperor, am willing to take the blame for this. You, the nephew, should be more courageous and have the courage to set an example for the generals."

Mo Gongleng is the fifth son of Mo Zibu's second brother Mo Zihuang. He ranks thirteenth among Mo Tianci's descendants excluding Mo Zibu's line. He is also the most militarily gifted commander in the Mo royal family and is currently the commander-in-chief of the Yulin Guards.

"Your Majesty, rest assured. This trip to the river was all instigated by my nephew. It has nothing to do with your fifth uncle. Your Majesty, I will handle it beautifully."

Mo Gongleng was certainly aware of this, and he was even prepared to take the blame himself.

"You kid, you don't have to be so eager to become a duke." Unexpectedly, as soon as Mo Gongleng finished speaking, his sixth uncle Mo Ziling rolled his eyes and teased him.

This was also what Mo Zibu promised. If Mo Gongleng could perform well in the Battle of Hezhong, he would become the first Duke in the Mo family's Gong generation.

"Brother Your Majesty, as the military supervisor, I should set an example for my brothers and nephews. As for matters in the river, I, the military supervisor and Duke of Wu, will have the final say."

Historically, Mo Ziling was the youngest son of Mo Tianci, born to a concubine given by Taksin.

In this mysterious time and space, when Mo Tianci was ordered by the Prime Minister of Nanyang to go to Siam to quell the rebellion of Thong (Rama I), he met Mo Ziling's biological mother again, and took her as a concubine and gave birth to Mo Ziling.

In history, Mo Ziling was the son who succeeded Mo Tien Ci as the king of Ha Tien. He was also the savior of Nguyen Phuc Anh and Nguyen Xiaoqiang. He once sent Lin Tong as an envoy to Beijing to ask for help from the Qing Dynasty on behalf of the Nguyen Dynasty.

This person's ability is above average, and he belongs to the category of kings who are more capable in maintaining the status quo. Therefore, Mo Zibu also values him as his sixth brother.

But Mo Ziling didn't know that he felt very uneasy, because the fuse that led to the conflict between Empress Chen and Emperor Mo Tianci was that Mo Tianci took his mother as a concubine when he was over 80 years old.

This led to the Empress Dowager Chen being very dislikeful to the emperor's younger brothers.

You have to know that after Mo Tianci passed away, there were a lot of rumors that Empress Dowager Chen wanted to kill the mothers of these evil sons and bury them alive with him, which scared Mo Ziliang and his mother to tears.

But in fact, Mo Zibu would never engage in burial alive.

In particular, the mother of the seventh brother Mo Zijun was from the Owari Tokugawa clan, and the mother of Mo Zitian was from the family of Tagawa Shichizaemon, the younger brother of Koxinga Chenggong. They were tools that were very easy to control and win over the Japanese. How could they possibly bury their mothers alive with them?

So after the others left, Mo Zibu kept Mo Ziling behind, "Ah Ling, I said that to Thirteen and the others because they are military commanders. If they don't let go, things won't go well, so I have to stimulate them.

But you are different. You cannot be as bloodthirsty as them. You must keep a cool head.

After going to the river, he discussed with his brother-in-law who should be killed and how to kill them, so that the soldiers could enjoy the fighting without getting things out of control.

Especially regarding how to utilize the White Lotus Sect, you can make the final decision on this matter!"

Mo Ziling finally understood what his brother meant and quickly accepted his orders. "I will definitely live up to your expectations and handle the river affairs properly, solving the hidden dangers for our descendants once and for all."

　Thank you all for your concern and understanding. Tiger was finally discharged from the hospital today. It turned out it wasn't gastroenteritis, but rather severe influenza A. After the cold symptoms subsided, he suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. On the worst day, he had diarrhea over 20 times, so much so that he couldn't even speak. Everyone should also be aware of this influenza A outbreak. Wear a mask when in crowded places; it's incredibly toxic!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)