Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 315 Auction for land in front of Taimiao
"When it comes to harvesting and buying grain, the higher-ups only need one result, and the process is not important..."

Fengyang Mansion, on the edge of Luohe Town under the rule of the Imperial Horse Supervisor Nanchang, when a eunuch spoke resentfully, more than a dozen merchants around him nodded and flattered:
"If it weren't for Zhang Lishi, how could everyone in Luohe Town grow sweet potatoes, and everyone grow potatoes?"

"Yes, yes, if Cao Bingbi from Nanchang learned about Zhang Lishi's hard work, he might have to promote Zhang Lishi to be a secretary."

"Thanks to Zhang Lishi, otherwise, how could I be proficient in the method of growing sweet potatoes?"

Everyone's flattery and boasting made Zhang Shu, who was only a wrestler in his thirties, a little elated.

Since the reorganization of the Yumajian, the internal official positions of the Yumajian have become eight levels from high to low: palm print-admiral-prime minister-management-supervisor-qianshu-lishi-carry-on.

The palm seal is responsible for managing the entire Yumajian, and the admirals are divided into the north field admiral and the south field admiral, who manage the north, one capital, three prefectures and six provinces, and the south, one capital, one prefecture and ten provinces.

The prime minister eunuch is in charge of a province, the management eunuch is in charge of a government, the inspector eunuch is in charge of inspections, the eunuch Qianshu is in charge of a county, and the eunuch Lishi is in charge of a town.

As the Lishi eunuch of Luohe Township's horse supervisor, Zhang Lishi has ten eunuchs to help him with his affairs.

Although it is only a small town, the sweet potato fields in Luohe town are [-] mu.

Daming has no officials at the town level, and is almost managed by the soldiers and horses of the Bingbei Dao and the subordinate officials of the county government. Lux eunuchs contend.

Because of this, Zhang Shu became the local emperor of Luohe Town, and the indicators of the sweet potato fields brought him endless benefits.

The land in Luohe Town is fertile and used to grow rice, with an annual output of about three stones, and the price of rice purchased by Huangzhuang is three hundred yuan.

If it was in previous years, these merchants and local tyrants would definitely not bow to Zhang Shu.

But since the prices of sweet potatoes and potatoes have risen this year, they have started to think differently.

In Luohe Town, about [-] mu of land was farmed by the army, which was distributed to more than [-] households for farming, and the remaining [-] mu was all land owned by local gentry and powerful.

The quota of [-] mu of sweet potato fields actually ensures that these more than [-] households and more than [-] people can be benefited.

However, the increase in the price of sweet potatoes and potatoes, coupled with the fertile land in Yumajian South Farm, produced more sweet potatoes and potatoes than in the north.

Therefore, even though the price of rice is still high, in order to save trouble, and planting sweet potatoes can reduce the number of tenants, the gentry and powerful people still began to bribe Zhang Shu.

In the end, they transferred all the sweet potato fields that originally belonged to the people in the army to their own hands, and Zhang Shu reaped a lot of money.

In just one year, Zhang Shu earned more than one hundred taels of silver, which was the salary he could only earn in fifteen years.

With so much money, it stands to reason that the gentry would lose money, but things are not that simple.

When planting rice, in the absence of cattle, three to five acres can be planted in spring, and eight or nine acres can be planted for sweet potatoes.

In other words, one person can completely do the work of two people, and at least half of the manpower can be saved on five thousand acres of land.

The manpower saved is all wasted money.

To recruit a tenant in Fengyang Mansion, one would have to take four-tenths of the yield per mu in a year. Five mu of land would be sixteen stones of sweet potatoes, and selling it to Huangzhuang would cost one tael or six taels of silver.

After switching to sweet potatoes, the number of tenants on the [-]-acre land dropped sharply from more than [-] to more than [-], saving nearly a thousand taels of silver.

Some people may think that even if only [-] people are used, the [-] people are still tenants, and they still have to share four-tenths of the yield per mu of the field.

But the problem is that when the gentry abolished a large number of tenants, when someone proposed that only three-tenths or even two-tenths of the mu yield should be kept, a new kind of involution occurred.

As a result, in the end, the gentry not only reduced the number of people to more than [-], but also reduced the grain that the tenants needed to distribute to two-tenths.

Nearly a thousand taels of silver were saved in this way, and in the final analysis, the tenants took the initiative to reduce the share because they had no land to grow.

The army garrisoned the land and divided the fields, which benefited tens of millions of people, and the relocation also truly benefited tens of millions of people.

However, compared with the huge population base of Ming Dynasty, in the situation where the gentry occupied nearly [-]% of the resources in the [-] provinces of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty, no land to farm was the survival situation of the majority of the people.

However, this situation will naturally be broken with further reforms, such as...

"This year, the imperial court is going to establish breweries, fertilizer factories, and textile factories in various places. You guys, it's better for your tenants..."

Zhang Shu's sudden opening made many gentlemen at a loss for words.

opening...

This has been the court's favorite thing to do since the first year of Taichang, or Zhu Youjian's favorite thing to do.

The establishment of each textile factory, fertilizer factory, and brewery will absorb hundreds of local people into the factory to become workers.

Although this kind of establishment appeared in the form of one prefecture and one county, as Zhu Youjian gradually expanded his basic base, the scale of this form would increase dramatically.

For example, in the first year of Tianqi, there were only about [-] workers in the hands of the Yumajian.

It can be developed to April of the seventh year of the apocalypse, and the Yumajian already has Huangdian, Huangzhuang, Salt Farm, Tea Farm, Textile Farm, and Official Market...

If you add the brewery and the chemical fertilizer field, the number of direct or indirect workers in the Yumajian has actually reached more than [-].

The wages of these more than [-] people range from seven taels to eleven taels a year. It is not only the individual who is blessed, but also the family behind the individual.

The establishment of a factory is actually robbing the feudal landlord class. The landlord class needs tenants, while the factory needs workers.

However, on this issue, Zhu Youjian added another problem, that is, the landlord class still needs to rob people from the court.

When the imperial court set out three mu, five mu, ten mu, or even twenty mu of land for relocation.

The material attractiveness that the landlord can give to the tenants is greatly reduced, and when there are two better options than being a tenant, relocation or a factory, the tenants will not be foolish to continue farming.

Zhang Shu's words reminded the gentry, and the gentry also had cold sweat on their foreheads when they heard the words.

Compared with the factory's wages of [-] cents a day and seven taels of silver a year, the wages of tenants are outrageously low.

If the imperial court really wants to step up efforts to build factories, then they must not be able to grab the imperial court.

Thinking of this, a gentry stepped forward and bowed:

"What Zhang Lishi reminded is that we will take care of the following matters."

The so-called following things are nothing more than readjustment and adjustment and the sharing of tenants.

However, if they want to make money, they will naturally not increase the share too high. Zhang Shu understands this truth very well, so he just glanced at it and said:

"It's up to you, don't worry about our family not reminding you when the time comes..."

After all, Zhang Shu turned around and was about to leave, but before he could walk back to Luohe Town, three young men on rough horses appeared on the road leading to Luohe Town, which made Zhang Shu vigilant.

In the small Luohe Town, those who can ride rough horses are not ordinary people. He doesn't know these guys at all, and they are obviously not from Luohe Town.

Sure enough, when the three naive horses came to Zhang Shu, the leader of them immediately took out the token from his bosom, raised his hand and said:

"Liu Ji, Chief Banner Officer of the Fengyang Hundred Households Office of Nanzhen Fusi, and Zhang Shu, a strong man, please come with us."

"Let's pack up our things..." Zhang Shu cautiously probed, but Liu Ji grinned:
"You don't need to clean up, there are things in the hundred households for you to use."

After saying a word, Zhang Shu only felt his legs go limp, before he collapsed to the ground, two Jin Yiwei got off his horse, tied him up with ropes, and led him towards Luohe Town.

Such a scene not only happened in Luohe Town, but also in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Huguang and other places.

But when things were happening, at the entrance of the Taimiao in Beijing, many princes and county kings in ordinary clothes also entered the Taimiao under the arrangement of the Minister of Honglu Temple.

"Hey!"

"Long live the emperor, long live, long live..."

Pushing the Jinshan Mountain down the jade pillars, all the vassals knelt down to salute one after another, while Zhu Youxiao sat upright in front of the Taimiao, and all the vassals sat under the Taimiao.

In front of Zhu Youxiao, there was still Bi Ziyan, the Secretary of the Household Department, but Bi Ziyan was very helpless at the moment.

Originally, the meeting of the feudal vassals was about to be held, but the emperor suddenly proposed to observe it.

As a result, his appearance disrupted Bi Ziyan's arrangement, and he had to temporarily arrange the feudal clans to salute the emperor.

However, the appearance of Zhu Youxiao made many weak feudal clans breathe a sigh of relief.

Everyone knows that this vassal meeting is a land distribution meeting. If the emperor is here, then the strong vassals will not dare to bully the weak too much.

Therefore, the weak vassals are willing to sing and salute, but in comparison, the strong vassals are a little reluctant.

Among them, especially Fu Wang Zhu Changxun, who has an ugly face, can be thrown to the south as a Kunlun slave.

"rise--"

"Snapped!"

The net whip exploded, and all the vassals slowly got up amidst the singing of the minister of Honglu Temple.

"Entry!"

With the sound of entering the class, all the vassals took their seats one after another, and Bi Ziyan also turned around and bowed to Zhu Youxiao. After Zhu Youxiao nodded, he turned around and said:
"This Taimiao court meeting is mainly to make adjustments to the division of overseas feudal domains, the number of relocated people, and the number of troops requested to be allocated."

"Before the court meeting begins, one thing needs to be announced..."

"Adjusted by His Royal Highness King Qi, the Twelve Guards of the Navy will no longer be in the ranks of troops. In the ranks of troops, only the Governor's Mansion of the Western Army, the Governor's Mansion of the Southern Army, and the Governor's Mansion of the Eastern Army will participate."

"Each battalion has [-] soldiers. Yanshan has fifty five-pound cannons, five ten-pound cannons, one whistle for cavalry, two whistles for riflemen, one whistle for swordsmen, and one whistle for gunners."

"Each battalion pays [-] taels of silver a year, and [-] taels per sentry. If one person dies in battle, the feudal king will pay two hundred taels of silver as a pension."

"Two hundred taels?!" Hearing Bi Ziyan's words, as Zhu Youjian expected, many county kings began to whisper.

After all, the county king is the descendant of the prince, so the property he owns cannot be compared with the prince.

Take the present as an example, among the richest county kings under the strong vassals such as Qin, Chu, Zhou, and Zhao, the rich are only more than a hundred thousand taels, and the poor are only a few thousand taels.

There are less than [-] people in the guard battalion, and the cost of hiring them for one year is [-] taels, and the average expenditure for each person is close to [-] taels of silver.

While such a fee made the county kings speechless, what was even more surprising was the pension silver of two hundred taels of silver per person.

If the whole army is wiped out at one post, the pension will be close to [-] taels of silver...

Not to mention the county king, even many princes can't come up with so much.

However, Zhu Youjian and Bi Ziyan also came up with a plan after several days of discussions.

"After discussions between the Ministry of Household Affairs and His Royal Highness King Qi, the treasury will evaluate the assets of some vassal kings, and then propose a loan five times the assets of the particularly difficult vassal kings."

"The interest rate of the loan is [-] per year, [-] per annum. Of course, it is only for vassals whose assets are less than [-] taels of silver."

Fifty times fifty one, is equivalent to borrowing five hundred thousand taels and repaying five hundred and one thousand taels after one year, which is not too much, at least in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, after hearing the news, many county kings also breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter how poor the county king is, he can still afford a palace and thousands of acres of land.

According to the current market price, these assets fixed in the Ming Dynasty that cannot be taken away are at least [-] to [-] taels of silver. If a loan is provided at five times the assets, it can be close to [-] taels of silver.

In this way, it is possible to hire the two sentry arch guard battalion and at the same time keep tens of thousands of taels of silver for the follow-up migration of the people.

This policy is basically aimed at weak feudal clans. Therefore, after the policy was put forward, the financial resources of weak feudal clans increased by five times. Similarly, the number of mercenary soldiers and horses also increased, and the threat to strong feudal clans also became greater. .

Therefore, many Qiangfan's faces were not good-looking, but Zhu Youxiao looked at the scene in front of him and found it very interesting.

"The silver of the relocated people is still paid to the court at the price of ten taels of silver per person. When the feudal king relocates the people, he needs to invite officials from the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Department to inspect the feudal land and check the acres."

"The feudal land has [-] acres of cultivated land, one cattle, and one person can apply for relocation..."

Bi Ziyan continued to speak, but the content made many people frown.

Twenty mu for one person, and at least one hundred mu for a family of five. Although they all know that there are tens of millions of cultivated land in the land of Tianzhu, according to this standard, even if the feudal land has [-] mu of cultivated land, it can only be relocated. Only a hundred people.

"Is twenty mu for one person too much? Besides, one cattle per person is too much..."

Shu Wang Zhu Zhishu couldn't help but speak, and this also won the support of many vassal kings.

Regarding their booing, Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, while Bi Ziyan said unhurriedly:
"This standard is calculated by His Highness King Qi according to the speed of land acquisition. If each person is guaranteed [-] mu of land, it will take at least [-] years for the land to reach the upper limit."

"That is to say, this standard is actually formulated to maintain the rule of the vassals overseas."

Twenty mu per person, this is an amount calculated by Bi Ziyan and Zhu Youjian based on the military system of the Tang Dynasty and the military household system of the Ming Dynasty.

One cattle per person, twenty acres of land, this is already the limit of personal productivity, and it is a policy that can ensure that they can fallow in the local area.

That is to say, [-] mu of land, one-third of the field is fallow every year, so as to ensure that the land will not be salinized.

For the feudal vassals, they couldn't understand this, but when they heard that it was Zhu Youjian's policy, for Zhu Youjian personally, they were still a little afraid, so even if they were dissatisfied, they still endured it.

Zhu Youjian is like a timed dynamite. He stayed in Daming, civil and military officials were afraid of him, and his status and ability as a vassal king made the vassals afraid of him.

To put it bluntly, as for Zhu Youjian, if he chooses to go to Tianzhu, the sum of all the feudal clans is not enough for him to fight alone.

What Zhu Fan is afraid of now is to make Zhu Youjian anxious. This guy directly declares that he is going to surrender Fan Tianzhu, so there is nothing to play.

The premise that they agree with Zhu Fan's vassal in Tianzhu is that Zhu Youjian has said that he will not go to Tianzhu to become a vassal. If Zhu Youjian wants to go to Tianzhu, Zhu Fan probably would rather stay in Daming.

Therefore, they chose to shut up and not provoke Zhu Youjian, and Bi Ziyan continued after seeing this:

"In the rules of land distribution, it is necessary to ensure that each domain has ports, minerals, and cultivated land."

"After successfully gaining a foothold in Jiufan, the fleet of Daming Huangdian will go to Zhufan to relocate people there, and buy minerals locally for mutual benefit, so that Zhufan can collect taxes."

"In terms of crops, some spices and precious trees are also on the trade list. In addition, the feudal lords need to abide by the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" and must not lower the price of saltpeter mines to the Europeans without permission."

"The price of saltpeter mines needs to be consistent with the price of Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commission."

"As for the profit of the saltpeter mine, you already have detailed information on your desk."

"If it is confirmed that there is no problem, then the vassals will choose the place of vassal according to the plan of His Royal Highness King Qi."

"If the domain does not meet the wishes of the domains, you can also not participate in the domain, and wait for the second voyage to the West to explore the Levia mainland and then become a domain."

"The lost vassal land will be auctioned by the vassal king who chooses Tianzhu vassal in the second round of auction."

"The selection of the domain will be done through bidding. The starting price for each area will range from [-] taels to [-] taels."

"The feudal vassals that do not participate in the auction will be divided by lottery according to the places of the vassals that were not selected."

Bi Ziyan said Zhu Youjian's first step in making money, that is, the land that has not yet been settled actually needs to be auctioned.

This kind of method made many feudal kings who were drinking tea cough, and then they saw a big Han general handing out maps one by one.

The map shows the entire South Asian region, and the coastal areas are divided into more than one hundred large and small places.

The most damning thing is that this map also shows where there are mineral deposits, where there is cultivated land, as well as the local terrain, population, and city size...

In short, if you look at it from the perspective of future generations, this is the same as choosing a house.

"After a cup of tea, there will be auctions for the feudal land from one to one hundred and forty-five yuan. The feudal kings who need to bid can prepare."

After Bi Ziyan finished speaking, he turned around and walked up to the Taimiao, standing beside Zhu Youxiao, leaving behind the various feudal clans whose faces were getting darker and darker looking at the map.

The ancient economy was mainly supported by agriculture and handicrafts, including farming, textiles, and mining, the three most profitable industries.

As for how to rule a feudal country, most of the feudal kings are actually blind. After all, they can't even manage their own palaces well, let alone manage a feudal state.

However, it's okay if you don't know how to manage it yourself, they can copy it.

1 For them, the best copy answer is Daming, especially Daming after Zhu Youjian's initial reform.

Zhu Youjian put salt, tea and wine into three types of official operations, which means that these three industries must make money, but they can't touch tea, so salt and wine are the biggest income they can get.

It's just that these two things are consumables, and consumables need to be consumed by people, so someone must be able to consume these things.

Most of Tianzhu's population is located in the coastal plain and the Ganga River plain, so the northeastern part of Tianzhu at the mouth of the Ganga River is particularly important.

According to the mark on the map, the estimated population here is [-] million, and this area is divided into three large vassal lands, each with a starting price of [-] taels of silver.

"Zhu Youjian..."

Looking at those three places, Zhu Changxun, Zhu Suqin and the others almost gritted their teeth, thinking that Zhu Youjian really knows how to make money.

This is true for the strong vassals, let alone many weak vassals, especially the county kings.

Before the auction started, nearly [-]% of the county kings had already given up the first round of bidding, and were going to compete for some lands that the strong feudal vassals did not want.

As for some vassal kings, they were more Buddhist and simply chose not to go to Tianzhu. Now Daming honestly received the county king's salary and silver, and he would go to the vassal when he had enough money.

After all, people have brains, no matter how stupid they are, they still have their own little thoughts.

Right now, the competition for the domain land for the first time is bound to be very fierce. Even if the competition is won, Tianzhu in the future may not be much better than the Spring and Autumn and Warring States.

Weak vassals with insufficient strength are forced to relocate. I am afraid that the vassal state will perish in a few decades.

It's just that although they didn't go, many county kings couldn't help drooling looking at Tianzhu, which was depicted as having a huge amount of cultivated land.

As a place whose arable land area is not inferior to that of Ming Dynasty, or even exceeds it, Tianzhu is indeed very attractive to the Han people, a nation that hides their farming attributes in their bones.

But if you like it, you like it, and the money is not enough, so many county kings still put down the map.

Compared to them, the thirty-two vassal kings including Zhao from the Qin, Chu, and Jin dynasties were carefully observing the map.

It's just that among them, even King Rui, King Hui, and King Gui who were not strong enough also participated.

It is said that the strength is not enough, but it is not as good as the strong clan, but compared with the weaker clan, their strength is still relatively sufficient.

When Wanli was in power, the three of them made a lot of money. In addition, after Zhu Youjian's innovation, he gave these three uncles a salary of [-] taels a year. In fact, they accumulated a lot of money.

This time it's a feudal clan, they don't want to fight for any rich land, they just need to fight for a big piece of land.

In such a situation, the prince and the powerful county king were both studying, and after they studied a cup of tea, Bi Ziyan suddenly said:

"The time is up, and the auction for the vassal lands No. [-], [-], and [-] in Eastern Tianzhu will begin!"

Land No. [-], [-], and [-], these are the lands that Zhu Changxun and the others most wanted. No one expected that Bi Ziyan would bid for this kind of land as soon as he came up, so all the feudal lords also raised their signs one after another...

(End of this chapter)