Ming Zuo

Chapter 732 Redistribution of Wealth
Shandong's treatment of Xu Erxuan and others has aroused huge heated discussions.

Among them, the move to pardon the families of these criminals has had the greatest impact.

After all, according to the legal system of feudal society, if one person commits a crime, the whole family will be implicated, and no one can escape.

This has also led to a more miserable life for the families of many criminals.

Although such an approach is conducive to deterring criminals and increasing their crime costs.But looking at the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, there are not a few people who should be evil.

On the contrary, innocent people are implicated everywhere.

Compared with Ming Dynasty, Shandong's method not only embodies severe punishment, but also takes into account human nature.

For a time, Shandong received a lot of praise for this matter.

Even within the rule of Ming Dynasty, many people feel that Shandong's approach is better, and even yearn for it.

With the liquidation of the old forces, a huge gap appeared in Songjiang Prefecture.

These gaps are enormous wealth.

"Every one of these big landlords is so fat, the Xu family alone is so terrifying."

Chen Zhi came to see Zuo Menggeng with the documents.

Inside it is a list of properties confiscated after the old forces were liquidated.

Among them, the Xu Erxuan family is the most amazing.

According to statistics, the Xu family occupies a total of [-] mu of land.

This is in Songjiang Mansion, where every inch of land is expensive.

The value of the [-] mu of land here is far more than several times or dozens of times that of other places.

Although it can't be compared with the more than [-] mu at the peak of Xu Jie's life, it is enough to see that the Xu family is rich and unkind.

In addition to land, other properties confiscated are also expensive.

There are as many as seven houses covering an area of ​​more than [-] mu.

The rest of calligraphy and painting antiques, gold and silver jewelry, expensive furniture, silk and satin, etc., are piled up like mountains.

The Xu family hated the new textile technology, but the Xu family had more than ten workshops.

It's just that Xu's workshop still focuses on traditional textile crafts, and is completely at a disadvantage in the competition with textile factories.

This is the reason why the Xu family acted brazenly.

Now through liquidation, these wealth must be redistributed.

All of a sudden, people from Songjiang Mansion were moved by the news and came one after another, all hoping to take over.

"These lands are fertile fields, and they are perfect for growing cotton."

Qu Yin prepared enough silver and put forward his own ideas.

Others were similar to him, agreeing one after another, waiting to buy the land from the government.

But when Zuo Menggeng heard this, he couldn't help frowning.

"Everyone, let's make it clear in advance that if these lands are handed over to you, they can only be used to grow food and not to grow cotton."

As soon as a word is said, there are turmoil everywhere.

Everyone is stupid.

Pan Yunlong raised questions on behalf of everyone.

"Zhongheng, is this regulation unsatisfactory? In today's world, everyone knows how much you can get from growing grain? How much can you get from growing cotton? There is absolutely no reason for everyone to lose money!"

Zuo Menggeng was firm.

"Of course, planting cotton will make more money, and it will also benefit the development of Songjiang Cotton Spinning. But everyone, is cotton edible? What's the use of having more cotton when you're hungry?"

"This……"

His persecution left everyone speechless.

Everyone knows that people depend on food, and people will die if they don't eat.

But seeing that so much land cannot be used to make money, everyone is still very entangled.

Xu Ji's thinking is similar to everyone else's.

"Since a hundred years ago, Songjiang Mansion was not self-sufficient in grain and had to purchase it from outsiders. Even if the land is used to grow grain, it may not be able to meet the needs."

"That's right. After all, Songjiang Mansion has limited land and it's only used to grow grain. It's just a drop in the ocean, so it's better to change to cotton."

This reason does not convince Zuo Menggeng.

"You living here, I am afraid that you still lack the necessary understanding of the situation in the world. In the past two years, there have been frequent disasters in various parts of the world, alternating droughts and floods, and endless locust plagues. In many places, there is no harvest at all. Even Huguang, the former granary It will be greatly affected. What will happen in the future is still unknown. As an important strategic resource, food can always be counted on to be delivered from the outside? If the foreign food is cut off, won’t we be under the control of others?”

Zuo Menggeng spoke out the truth, and finally let everyone understand the crux of the problem.

Although Songjiang Mansion is rich and can buy food with money.Other places are also willing to sell grain to Songjiang Prefecture in exchange for money.

But the problem is that there have been too many disasters in recent years.

Not only the north, but even places south of the Yangtze River have been hit by disasters repeatedly, and food production has been reduced from time to time.

Under such circumstances, even if you want to buy food, there is no food to buy.

If you don't want a food crisis to happen, the best way is to have a certain amount of independent output.

Speaking of the food crisis, Zuo Menggeng already has a detailed plan after more than two months of investigation.

"Songjiang Mansion seems to have a lot of people and little land, but in fact there is still a lot of wasteland that has not been developed. If all these lands are developed, it will be enough for local use, and there may even be a surplus."

This is not his nonsense, but the fact.

Today's Songjiang population is mostly concentrated in the west of the Huangpu River, while the areas east and south of the Huangpu River are sparsely populated and wilderness is everywhere.

These places can completely reclaim a large amount of fertile land.

But when it comes to land development, everyone in Songjiang Mansion also has difficulties.

"In today's situation, growing cotton has benefited a lot, and growing food is barely sufficient for food and clothing. Not many people are willing to reclaim wasteland. Not to mention, there is still a shortage of manpower in various places."

This is also the predicament of Songjiang Mansion.

Obviously there is wasteland that has not been developed, but because of the relationship between cost and benefit, local people are not willing to do it.

Moreover, with the vigorous development of the cotton spinning industry in Songjiang Prefecture, the industrial field has absorbed a large number of people, and there is no extra manpower to farm.

Later, the Manchu Qing conquered the world, and the cotton spinning industry in Songjiang Prefecture was completely destroyed. Many people had no food and clothing, so they had to return to farming to make a living, and then gradually developed those wastelands.

No matter how many people there are in Songjiang Prefecture, it is not enough to fill the cotton spinning industry. There is really no manpower left for farming.

This situation has to be coordinated by Zuo Menggeng.

"That's all right, let the food planting be left to professional people."

He gave an order, and the order was quickly conveyed back to Shandong.

Soon after, Shandong Agricultural Reclamation Group sent a large number of people to Songjiang by sea boat.

When it comes to farming, the Land Reclamation Group is definitely the most professional.

Not only the Agricultural Reclamation Group came, but Chen Zilong also returned to his hometown.

As a local, Chen Zilong knows the situation here best.It is naturally foolproof for him to personally preside over agricultural production.

"If you want to farm, build the pond first."

As soon as Chen Zilong came, he proposed a direction.

Farming here in Songjiang Prefecture is not afraid of drought, but waterlogging.

In particular, frequent sea storms often lead to seawater intrusion.

When Fang Yuegong was the magistrate, he organized the local villagers to build seawalls, which really alleviated the problem of seawater intrusion.

That's why he had a good reputation in the first place.

But in Chen Zilong's view, such a project is not enough, and it needs to be improved.

(End of this chapter)