Chapter 219 The Problem of Fugitive Slaves
Wuhai City in the Hetao is the new city in the Hetao area closest to the border with the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Cong, who has been promoted from county magistrate to governor, gathered business groups from the mainland here to prepare to sell the land in the Shajing area. This was his recent The new method that came to mind to increase military spending and infrastructure funds is to pre-sell land and then annex the land to obtain the funds needed to launch the war in the early stage, and it has been tried and true.
"I have received your Majesty's permission to establish a new county called Shajing. A city will be built soon. The area under the jurisdiction of the Hetao will be expanded to serve as the guard of Wuhai City, and Wuhai will be promoted to a prefectural city. At present, the geographical outline of Shajing has been determined by the Ministry of War. Kanyusi's investigation revealed that there were There are five iron mines, nine coal mines, 36,74 hectares of pasture land, and more than 10,600 hectares of fertile land. Legal business groups registered with the Ministry of Household Affairs can now go to the Wuhai Commercial Center and find the first manhole Ren Zhixian Liu Gui subscribed for auction! ”
Not long after Zhang Cong, the governor of Hetao, said this, wealthy businessmen swarmed into Wuhai Commercial Building.
Nowadays, these wealthy merchants of the Ming Dynasty are no longer as conservative as they were when Yulin City was first built. After seeing the first batch of business groups heading north to make fortunes by mining, farming and border trade, more and more wealthy merchants of the Ming Dynasty are rushing to the Hetao. In addition, Once the Kaizhong law was changed, a large number of giant Huaiyang merchants also rushed to the Hetao. As a result, more and more merchants in the Hetao area were trying to find ways to make profits when the empire moved north.
Naturally, the imperial court also had to make money, otherwise it would not be able to maintain military expenditures in the Hetao area. Therefore, Zhang Cong, the governor of the Hetao, thought of pre-selling land.
As Zhang Cong, who was personally taught by Emperor Zhu Houzhao at the Capital University, it is not surprising that he would think of obtaining capital for external expansion by pre-selling overseas land, and he could even do it very well.
After Zhang Cong took office as the governor of the Loop, he publicly sold the undivided official land that had not yet been divided after the immigration of the Loop. However, because these undivided official lands were all at the border of the Loop and were often harassed by Tatar rangers, he did not do so at the beginning. How many merchants are willing to buy.
But there are always a few who dare to be the first to eat crabs.
When Zhang Cong, the governor of Hetao, issued an order stating that the imperial court was preparing to build a new city and pre-sell the land for the new city, some businessmen with long-term vision or confidence in the empire's military capabilities bought the land.
When General Yang Yiqing led the Guards to defeat the Tatar nomadic tribes in the new city's target area and built the city, these businessmen who had purchased the land in the new city all got the land as they wished.
According to Zhu Houzhao's plan, Guan Nei must prevent land annexation.
This does not have to be the case outside the customs. In order to consolidate the foundation of rule and increase the enthusiasm of merchants to develop new territories, these merchants can naturally be encouraged to purchase land.
After all, the land outside the customs is barren and sparsely populated. Even if the court holds it in its hands, it cannot make money. It even has to send troops to garrison. It is a waste of money and food. It is better to let businessmen develop it.
These businessmen who obtained the new land did have their own methods in developing the new land. As long as the imperial army could give them a stable environment and protect their property, they could make profits through mining and other methods.
Because the imperial government only participates in the form of certain shares, these businessmen who mine in the border towns do not have to worry about being exploited by local officials and eunuchs. They only need to pay dividends to the households regularly every year.
This dividend profit is actually Zhu Houzhao's disguised increase in commercial tax.
After all, the Ming Dynasty collected too little commercial taxes, and if you wanted to directly increase commercial taxes, you would naturally encounter obstacles at all levels. The newly opened areas in the border towns had not yet had the interference of larger civil servants and gentry forces. Zhu Houzhao could naturally take advantage of this. Various methods provide the court with weight in the distribution of commercial interests.
But in general, because the government only collects a certain share of equity dividends and does not pay for other miscellaneous taxes and overt or covert extortion, these businessmen still make a lot of profits. In addition, due to the advancement of steel smelting technology and the The increase in military industry and infrastructure construction projects caused a sharp increase in Ming Dynasty's demand for iron ore.
These first batch of businessmen who mined in the newly opened territory made a lot of money, and also attracted more businessmen to go north to dig for wealth.
In the later period, basically as soon as the Hetao court government issued the investment invitation letter to build a new city, countless businessmen rushed to buy it. As a result, the land price in the Hetao continued to rise, which not only benefited from development but also from investment.
As a result, the Hetao government naturally had a large amount of income before external expansion, and even implemented a model of local infrastructure construction without the need for government funding. This changed from thousands of years of abandonment of border towns, but it was a pity that there was no one to occupy them. It felt useless to spend money on food, and there was a tax surplus that did not require any funding from the court.
Of course, the Ming court had to do something after receiving the money. Even if the court did not want to send troops to build a new city, the businessmen who paid to buy the land would force the court to send troops. After all, they spent the money and were waiting for the court to tell the outside world. Divide the land for expansion and build new cities, so they can recover the cost through development.
What's more, many businessmen have military backgrounds. The real force involved in external expansion and plunder is the Ming Guards and border troops. Naturally, they all want to share the benefits of external expansion. Naturally, those whose interests were harmed were the Tatar nobles. Their living space was thus reduced. Even the lower-class Mongolians and slaves they could exploit became hired workers of the Ming merchants because of the large number of Ming merchants who settled in the border areas.
Because agriculture outside the customs was originally underdeveloped, and the Tatar nobles exploited the people at the bottom to the same extent as the Ming landlord class exploited the people, many Mongolians were also very poor. Even if they worked hard in the hands of Ming merchants, their income It was better than just being slaves of the Tatar nobles. Naturally, more and more Mongolians smuggled themselves to work under the Ming government. With the government's deliberate guidance, they were gradually assimilated into Han people.
The life of the Tatar nobles has naturally become more and more difficult and cruel. On the one hand, they have increased the intensity of plundering the border towns of the Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, they have increased internal control over the escaped slaves. They were beheaded directly, but even so, they could not stop a large number of ordinary Mongols from migrating to areas controlled by the Ming Dynasty.
"Master Futai, the first batch of land in Shajing County has been pre-sold. This is the amount of silver earned, which is more than 1.2 million taels more than when the first batch of land in Tongda County was sold!"
On the night after the third day, Liu Gui, the magistrate of Shajing County, braved the wind and snow and came to Zhang Cong's inner hall.
As a county magistrate who had just been promoted from Jurong County, a wealthy county in the south, Liu Gui saw for the first time that a small border town that was countless times poorer than Jurong could realize so much money at once, and even It is still a county that has not yet been placed under the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Liu Gui couldn't hide the excitement on his face. He came to Zhang Cong with a pile of bills issued by the Royal Bank and began to explain them carefully.
Zhang Cong was already used to it. He took a brief look at the bills and the cooperation contracts signed by the government and major commercial banks, and just smiled lightly: "Why did Jiao Ge's hometown business group buy so much land again? He wants to come to Shajing County for retirement. No! ”
After Zhang Cong said that, he added: "According to the rules, in addition to part of it being handed over to the Ministry of Household Affairs and part of it being kept in the government offices at all levels in Hetao, you keep part of it for yourself, which is estimated to be a million taels of silver;
At that time, once the Guards occupy Shajing, you, the county magistrate of Shajing County, will need to organize manpower to build the city and build roads. You must build a road from Shajing County to Wuhai Prefecture. You are responsible for it within Shajing County. The other sections are the responsibility of each county. The roads must be repaired and the city must be solidly built. As long as the roads are repaired, it is equivalent to establishing a connection with Wuhai;
By then Wuhai's Third Guards Division will arrive at dawn and dusk, so naturally there is no need to worry about being attacked by Tatars! His Majesty the Ming Emperor formulated the general military and political strategy! It must be strictly implemented. You can estimate whether the money you retain in Shajing County is enough to build roads and build cities. If not, I will allocate more money to you. After all, Shajing County really wants to build a city on the grassland. There are plenty of places to spend money in the city. ”
"I have been a county magistrate for many years. I have only known about the subordinates remitting money to their superiors. I have no idea that the superiors have allocated funds to the subordinates. But now, Your Majesty feels the hardship of local governance and cannot bear the local government to impose additional taxes on the people, so he orders the local governments to self-govern." Leaving a part of the treasury money is unprecedented in the reign of a saint! More than a million taels is enough, and the subordinates dare not ask for more."
Liu Gui smiled and said that for him, one million taels was already a huge sum of money. If he was asked to take another amount of public funds, he himself would not know how to use it in practical ways. Moreover, he also knew that today’s officials The inspection was extremely strict. He was always cautious and did not want to cause a lot of trouble because of too much public funds in his charge, so he rejected Zhang Cong's good intentions as a superior.
"In this case, you can come back to me when you need to pay more money. There is too much money in the Royal Bank now. According to the wishes of the Ministry of Accounts, it must be spent as much as possible. It cannot be kept in the hands of the court. Your Majesty is not willing to build a large number of palaces. We have to help the people first, so spend more. It can also make the border residents have more money, and then more people will be willing to come to the north to make a living. To immigrate to the border, you have to make the people see the benefits of having money, so that they are willing to stay away from their homeland and settle here. .”
When Zhang Cong said this, Liu Gui also nodded: "Xiaoguan will remember Master Futai's teachings, but what he is worried about is that our Ming Dynasty has built cities and roads in Hetao and expanded too fast. Now most of the people in Wuhai Mansion are Hu There are a lot of people. Do you think these barbarians will take the opportunity to cause trouble? I would also like to ask your Excellency how to control these barbarians."
"Although they are not of my race, their thoughts must be different, but after all, we, the Ming Dynasty, are the kingdom of heaven and cannot do things that destroy humanity. Moreover, these barbarians were also poor people enslaved by the Tatars, and many of them were plundered by the Tatars. Hu after the past The Han people who have transformed themselves come here voluntarily to work as coolies, and we also need them to build cities, build roads, transport mines, etc. As long as their lives are better than when they were slaves, they will naturally not want to go back;
However, we must take this opportunity to change customs and make them Chinese. It is enough for these lower-class Hu people to have enough to eat. Naturally, they don’t care what kind of culture they receive. But we must instill etiquette in them so that they forget that they are Hu people. I only know that I am a wise man, and through trade, work, Cultural propaganda and entertainment methods have gradually made them accustomed to speaking Chinese. Gradually, they will forget that they were Hu people. For example, there was a Huns named Liu who established a Han country. You Liu Gui may be a Huns. You said yes or no."
As Zhang Cong spoke, he teased Liu Gui. Liu Gui smiled awkwardly: "Although I don't know whether my ancestors are Han or Yi, I know that I am a minister of the Ming Dynasty."
Zhang Cong nodded and continued: "You are right. Those who are loyal to His Majesty the Emperor are all subjects of our Ming Dynasty! You must remember one thing when the time comes. These barbarians must be prohibited from living together, and Han and barbarians living together. , and it is forbidden to marry within the tribe to form alliances, and to form gangs, and those who want to be the leader of other Hu people will not be spared!
Use the methods in the "Foreign Regulations" issued by the General Political Department of the Guards. When promoting their Chineseization, tell them about the crimes of the Tatar nobles when they enslaved them, investigate a few of the more miserable ones, and give them the opportunity to fight in various major barbarians. People working in the settlement talked about their painful experience of being enslaved, and by the way, how good it was to live in the Ming Dynasty! The effect of this will be very good, and it will even make these barbarians defend the city even harder than the original Han people when they encounter Tatar cavalry attacks in the future! ”
As soon as Zhang Cong finished speaking, Wang Xi, the magistrate of Wuhai Prefecture, and Gui Yong, the deputy commander-in-chief, suddenly and hurriedly reported: "Futai! Wuliangha's cavalry is attacking, led by Daha, the son of Wuliangha's leader. According to our Jinyi Guards In return, they still came to ask the Hu people to go back, saying that we had robbed their tribesmen."
"It's ridiculous! These barbarians all escaped on their own, how could they be plundered by us?"
I'm sorry. I lost my manuscript yesterday and couldn't find it. I also had a bad cold, so I didn't update it. I'll update it today. I took some medicine and I'm feeling better. I'll try to update it as much as possible. The author will try his best to update it in the future. The time is fixed, and it is tentatively scheduled to be updated every morning at 8:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 4:00 pm. Three more updates are guaranteed to be done. We can’t fall back!
(End of chapter)