Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 491
"boom--"

"bingo!"

"Supervision makes good marksmanship!"

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, when Ming Dynasty was in turmoil due to the New Deal and wars, Qi State, far away across the ocean, was extremely peaceful.

"I haven't played rifles for many years. I heard that rifles are better than rifles. I wonder if His Highness will distribute rifles to us."

Outside the Xijing City (Sacramento) of Jingzhao Mansion of the State of Qi, when Jin Xuan returned the rifle in his hand to the soldiers next to him, he also turned to look at the Xijing City that was being built.

Looking around, the so-called Xijing City is currently just a wooden camp, covering an area of ​​only three or four acres.

Around the camp, a large area of ​​forest has been cut down, and the soldiers are using the steel cables of the tractor to pull the roots buried in the soil and clear the land.

After arriving in Qi State on October 28, Jin Xuan did not go to Anling County (Seattle) where Yang Bingwen and the others first landed, but went directly to Xijing City according to Zhu Youjian's instructions.

Xijing City is a good place, with coastal mountains in the west and inland mountains in the east, and it is located in the central valley between the two mountain ranges.

This valley is more than 120 miles wide from east to west, and more than [-] miles long from north to south. There is also a wide river in front of Xijing City, which can directly lead to the bay area in the southwest.

If this place is properly developed, it can feed 1000 million people.

Therefore, Jin Xuan mainly regards the development of Jingzhao Mansion as a short-term goal, while Anling Mansion in the north is used as an auxiliary.

There are currently ten prefectures in the Qi Kingdom, but Jin Xuan does not intend to directly enclose the land, but to develop two prefectures that can be directly used.

Jingzhao Mansion and Anling Mansion are its short-term development goals.

He set up five county-level units for the two prefectures, namely Xijing City and Jingmen Port (San Francisco) in Jingzhao Prefecture in the south, Anling County (Vancouver), Changning County (Seattle) and Heqiu County (Powell) in the north. Tran).

These five gathering places are short-term county-level units, and Jin Xuan's goal is to develop these five counties within five years, and develop the gold mines in the Chengshan Mountains (Sierra Nevada) to generate income for Qi.

In the first five-year plan, all he needed to do was to bring the population of five counties to 10.

To feed 10 people, at least 50 mu of arable land is needed, and currently he has [-] tractors and more than [-] industrial steam engines.

Those twenty or so industrial steam engines are currently building factories in several places in Jingzhao Prefecture and Anling Prefecture, mainly cement plants, chemical fertilizer plants, steel plants, and brick factories.

According to the doctor of the Hanlin Academy of the Armament Academy, it will take about three months for the four factories to be built and put into production, but the output will not be very high, and they need to continue to transport machinery from Daming to gradually expand the production capacity.

Jin Xuan didn't know much about these things, and his main task was to develop forest land into fields.

At present, there are three battalions in Qi State, with more than 9000 soldiers and horses, plus more than 1000 craftsmen and [-] Yingzhou labor camps.

The craftsmen taught the reformed laborers and soldiers how to use tractors, and then put them into the construction of the factory.

Although only one month has passed, Jin Xuan has successfully used more than 9000 people and 4000 tractors to level more than [-] mu of forest land and wasteland in five counties.

Next, they need to spend a year repeatedly cutting down trees, building towns, digging out stumps and roots, burning them and stacking them aside, and then clearing out the stones in the land.

After all these are done, you can dump the plant ash on the land, and then burn the plant ashes to fatten the land until a year later, a fire will burn all the weeds on the land, and then the land can be cultivated.

According to Jin Xuan's estimation, Qi State will be able to reclaim at least 1 mu of arable land one year later and support at least [-] people.

"You can ask His Highness for some cattle, sheep and horses to graze here. It will probably relieve a lot of pressure."

Feeling the weather in Xijing where the temperature is still above zero even though it is the twelfth lunar month, Jin Xuan spoke to Tongzhi, the supervision department next to him, and the other party took down everything he said.

"Do the Franji people in the south know about our existence?"

Jin Xuan asked a Jinyi guard in a scarlet robe, who shook his head: "Their intelligence is not that sensitive, and there are still six or seven thousand miles from here to their city, so don't worry about the inspectors."

"It's not that I'm worried. If there's a big battle, I, Da Ming, won't be afraid. I'm just curious." Jin Xuan smiled, and then continued to inspect Xijing City.

In fact, he doesn't have any affairs or government affairs to deal with, because the current state of Qi only has two tasks, that is, craftsmen build factories and labor reform prisoners reclaim forest land.

Due to the dry climate, there is no miasma on the west coast. The only thing that Jin Xuan needs to care about is the mental problems of the guards.

The soldiers of the Gongwei battalion of Qi State are actually soldiers of Daming, and their families are also in Daming.

Therefore, it is impossible for them to stay in Qi State for a long time, so Zhu Youjian's idea is that each batch of soldiers and horses will be stationed in Qi State for one year, and then transferred back to their hometown to station for one year, and then transferred back to the original station.

However, even so, Jin Xuan still has to pay attention to the mental state of the soldiers.

Walking on the wasteland around Xijing City, in the distance are thousands of soldiers using tractors to pull tree roots and clear the land.

An ordinary and monotonous life is very precious for an official like him.

Staying away from Daming, he also stays away from intrigue.

"It's not bad if it goes on like this..."

With an exclamation, he expressed his thoughts, but compared to his leisurely manner, Daming at this moment was undercurrent.

The new policy of "ten gifts and one gift" was completely fermented, and it was spread to the world through the government's mansion newspaper.

The common people couldn't believe it, the gentry's faces were ugly, and the officials were in a dilemma. Only Zhu Youjian, who was sitting in the Chengyun Hall, could be calm.

"From the first day of September to the first day of the twelfth lunar month, 35 villages were established in the three provinces outside the customs, and 7000 people and 37 households moved in."

"The Ministry of Household Affairs distributed more than [-] taels of money and food in total by officials from the three provinces."

"The Ministry of Industry is planning to open up. Next year, the three provinces outside the customs are expected to build 30 market towns and [-] villages, which can accommodate [-] people to move in."

"Shangshu in the imperial shop..."

In the Chengyun Hall on the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, when Cao Huachun read out a copy of the memorials of the six parts and six subjects, Zhu Youjian closed his eyes and rested on the chair, with no expression on his face, which was unpredictable.

"The cabinet is on the top, and the balance of the country this year is 32 taels."

Daming, which originally had a balance of 200 million taels, could only have a balance of 32 taels after the Northern Expedition. If the Finance Department hadn't mobilized gold and silver to support the household department, Daming would have owed more than 600 million taels of silver this year.

"This year, Jiugang and Yingzhou escorted a total of 12 taels of gold, 3305 million taels of silver, and 33 tons of copper ingots."

"All the gold, silver and copper ingots have been escorted to the Finance Department. Li Changgeng, the Minister of the Finance Department, went to Shu. From next year to June 490, the Mint has accumulated 230 billion pieces of Tianqi Tongbao, with a denomination of [-] million taels."

After Cao Huachun finished speaking, he also closed the document, and everything on behalf of the court had been finished. After hearing his words, Zhu Youjian became more confident in the opening of the bank.

"Starting from March, the copper coins in the imperial store will be intercepted and shipped to the Finance Department. In addition, the Finance Department will be told that every version of copper coins in the past dynasties, all the unified dynasties, have accumulated 1000 million coins as collections, and the rest of the separatist forces only keep [-] million. pieces, and the rest are smelted into Tianqi Tongbao."

"The servants take orders..."

Zhu Youjian will start to smelt the copper coins circulating in the market into Tianqi Tongbao, and the previous copper coins will naturally not be able to be circulated as currency.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period, hundreds of thousands of copper coins have been produced on the land of the Central Plains, and each version is different.

It is impossible for Zhu Youjian to smelt all of them, so it is still feasible to keep [-] million pieces per edition as national collections.

There is no need to keep too many small coins, 1000 million is enough.

Calculated in this way, these coins used as collections will evaporate millions of taels of money in the market value of Daming.

However, with the continuous inflow of overseas minerals, Zhu Youjian is not afraid of causing a "money shortage".

On the contrary, his personal concern is that too much money will be released, which will cause inflation.

In order to alleviate this problem, he deliberately ordered the Ministry of Industry to increase the wages of the imperial court employees.

Fortunately, because of cost considerations, the wages of the court workers were basically much lower than those of the local government, so even if the wages were increased by two or three Wen, it was actually not much higher than the wages given by the local businessmen, basically the same .

In this way, the common people have made profits, and the merchants will not be affected, and the imperial court can also use this to increase the deposits of the common people.

The people have income, so they will naturally spend. As the Huangdian is a huge institution occupying half of the market in Ming Dynasty, almost half of the money spent by the people will be recovered by the court. way to release the coins.

As long as the millions of workers under the imperial court get used to this model, when their wages change from other copper coins to Tianqi Tongbao, their personal acceptance will be strengthened and they will not be so resistant.

As long as the workers do not resist, the private merchants can only bite the bullet and accept them.

At that time, the imperial court will rely on official schools and use the question of children's reading to start a population census, register and make a list, and the real population of Ming Dynasty will also surface.

As long as the population is checked clearly, then the cultivated land can be checked next.

If these two things are done well, Daming's finances can slowly return to the right track, but during this period, Zhu Youjian has to prepare for a few years of hard life.

Once the "Ten Taxes and One" new policy is issued on the first day of the first lunar month, Daming will directly lose a lot of taxes.

Miscellaneous items of more than 300 million taels will definitely disappear. In addition, the military farmland distributed by the imperial court will also change from ten Fu three, ten Fu two to ten Fu one.

The original 2000 million land tax will be cut down to 200 million shi in an instant. After removing the rice husk and fire consumption, the land tax income will be about 600 million shi.

After Hong Chengchou finished the battle and the taxes paid by Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to the four provinces continued to return to the household department,

Daming has more than 2000 million mu of arable land. Excluding the more than 8000 million mu of arable land in Shanxi and Shaanxi, there are still 4000 million mu of land tax to be paid, and the annual income is 400 million shi. After removing rice husk and fire consumption, the income of land tax will be reduced. To more than 800 million stone.

From an annual income of more than 800 million yuan to an annual income of more than 800 million yuan, Daming lost a total of 4000 million Shitian Fu, and the discount was at least 800 million taels of silver.

In this way, 800 million taels of tax was lost. It is a lie to say that Zhu Youjian does not feel distressed, but he knows very well who took the missing 800 million taels of silver from.

Take it from the people, use it for the people...

This sentence is quite true, but not entirely true.

At least at the moment when Daming is about to transform into semi-agricultural and semi-industrial, reducing land taxes is a must for ordinary farmers.

Zhu Youjian couldn't eliminate the agricultural tax, because Daming's technology has not yet reached that level.

But at the very least, he can control the agricultural tax at 10%.

However, according to his experience and memory, after the general agricultural tax is set at 10%, there will always be some insects below who will come up with hidden taxes, and the actual 10% agricultural tax will be 10% in name and 20% in actuality. 30% hidden tax revenue.

All of these extra revenues went into the local pockets, and none of them went into the national treasury.

Since the lessons of history are all there, he has to take good care of these insects.

"According to the calculation of the Ministry of Households, if one of the ten gifts is used, how much will the country's government be able to earn next year?"

Zhu Youjian opened his mouth pretending to be asleep, Cao Huachun took the initiative to look at Wang Chengen when he heard it, and Wang Chengen also opened the document summary of the household department, glanced at it and read:

"If the drought in the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi has not subsided for a long time, plus the taxes on the newly added cultivated land in Yingzhou and Luchuan, then the actual land tax in the next year will be about 6000 million shi, and the tax silver will be about 200 million taels. The folding color is about 7000 million taels."

7000 million taels of taxes, such an annual income, the Qing Dynasty did not reach it until the Tongzhi period, but the Ming Dynasty reached it more than 200 years earlier.

And unlike the Qing Dynasty's brutal exploitation of the people, the Ming Dynasty deliberately lowered taxes.

If the collection method of the Qing Dynasty is followed, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty can break through to [-] million taels.

Right now, the taxation of Ming Dynasty, especially the taxation of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces in China, actually only accounts for less than half of the total taxation, about 3000 million taels, while overseas accounts for more than two-thirds, about 4000 million taels .

The land tax of the three provinces of Yingzhou, Jiaozhi, and Jiugang alone reached 2000 million taels, and the value of color was more than 900 million taels, while the gold and silver mining tax accounted for more than 400 million taels.

There were more than 400 million local people in the three provinces, and they contributed more than 300 million taels in salt tax, wine tax, and tea tax.

The remaining 2000 million taels were contributed by the Ryukyu Mansion, Liaodong, Hexi and the Huangdian of India.

With the same population, the Qing Dynasty achieved a tax of 5000 million taels by means of internal squeeze, while the Ming Dynasty only received 300 million taels, and the total population of the Ming Dynasty was similar to that of the Qing Dynasty in the sixth to tenth year of Qianlong. In terms of the two capitals alone In the thirteen provinces, the population of Daming is not as good as that of the other party.

In the sixth year of Qianlong, the population of the two capitals and eighteen provinces alone reached 4000 million, while that of the Ming Dynasty was only 2000 million.

During the Qianlong period, each commoner had to pay at least three cents and five cents of silver in direct tax, while the people in the Tianqi period now only need to pay two cents and five cents of silver.

This is only direct income, and indirect income is not included.

The Qing Dynasty relied on "33 taels" to control the people. In comparison, according to the situation in the 11th year of the apocalypse, the annual income of a family of five people in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty was about 18 taels to 32 taels. The source of income is mainly the yield per mu and the quantity of the army's farmland, and the income from part-time jobs.

But in terms of expenditure, most of the expenditure of a family of five people in Tianqi 11 years was around 16 taels, which means that at least two taels of silver can be saved.

Of course, if you want to increase meat or other materials, it is basically difficult to save too much money.

However, if the new policy is successfully implemented, the income of a family of five people will reach 22 taels to 36 taels, and they can save at least six taels of silver.

Once the new policy is promulgated, Zhu Youjian dare not say that the common people can eat meat every meal, but there is no problem with eating one meal a day.

Moreover, with the development of cultivated land in the Northeast and the continuous migration of people, this situation will continue to improve.

According to the data at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the current data, roughly around 20 years after the apocalypse, under the condition that the price rise does not exceed 30%, the personal annual income of the people of Ming Dynasty will reach six taels of silver, and the annual income of a household can basically reach [-] taels.

However, this requires Zhu Youjian to step up efforts in supervision to avoid a comeback of the previous "missing imposition".

All in all, for the next ten years, the route that Daming will take has been decided. What Zhu Youjian has to do is to keep an eye on the road under his feet while Daming is advancing, to avoid stepping on some puddles and getting dirty...

"Where's Li Dingguo?"

After thinking about what he was going to do, Zhu Youjian slowly opened his eyes. He glanced at the clock and found that it was six o'clock in the unitary hour (18:30) before he realized that Li Dingguo's meeting was an hour later than usual. .

"Your Highness, that kid is going to rest at a classmate's house today, what does his name seem to be..." Wang Chengen thought about it carefully, and then thought:
"Zhou Boqian! I'm taking Brother Li to dinner."

When Wang Chengen said this name, a woman in the small courtyard in Changlefang, Dongcheng also yelled loudly into the ear room.

"coming!"

In the ear room, a boy of twelve or thirteen responded to the window, and then looked at Li Dingguo in front of him: "My mother is like this, with a loud voice, don't think she is angry."

"No, my mother is also very loud." Li Dingguo sorted out the homework on the table, returned to the bookcase, and walked out of the ear room with Zhou Boqian.

In front of Li Dingguo's eyes, what came into view was a small courtyard covering an area of ​​about [-] square meters.

The yard is very small, with only a main house, an annexe, and a kitchen.

The main house occupies an area of ​​less than twenty square meters, with a meeting hall of only ten square meters in the middle. There are two wing rooms on the left and right respectively, one is where Zhou Boqian's mother lives, and the other is where Zhou Boqian's sister lives.

As for the side room, it is for Zhou Boqian who is still studying, but it is only about ten square meters.

The three houses were very compactly surrounded by courtyard walls, leaving a seven to eight-square-meter patio in the middle.

The screen wall covers the doorway, and now a table is placed in the open space of the patio, and four stools are placed.

Zhou Boqian's mother is a 36-year-old ordinary woman, not tall, wearing a blue gown, her coiled hair is fixed by a wooden hairpin.

From her body shape and the marks left on her face by the years, it is not difficult to see that she may have been a rural woman.

As for Zhou Boqian's elder sister, she is a young girl named Zhou Xiniang. She has a slightly comely appearance, girlish double snail buns, and hands without frostbite. It can be said that the Zhou family has raised her fairly well.

"Brother Li, eat more. These are our Shandong village dishes. I wonder if you can get used to them."

After Zhou Boqian and Li Dingguo sat down, Zhou Wang greeted Li Dingguo with a smile. When she smiled, her eyes shone with kindness and kindness, which made Li Dingguo unconsciously think of his own mother.

It's just that it quickly came to its senses and turned its attention to the food on the table.

A simple plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes, and a plate of steamed carp, these two dishes plus a plate of river prawns, and a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes that are common on the dining table of the Ming Dynasty.

These four dishes plus a bowl of stewed chicken can already be regarded as a meal for entertaining guests.

This table of food cost about [-] yuan no matter what, so Li Dingguo couldn't help laughing after seeing it: "There are so many delicious dishes, so it's a natural habit to eat."

"Mother, Li Ding's family is also from the village, and the food is similar to what we eat."

Zhou Boqian muttered while picking up the rice, his restless appearance made Zhou Wang stare at him: "You can't stop your mouth with so much food?"

"Hehe..." Seeing her younger brother being scolded, Zhou Xiniang couldn't help but smile.

Unlike the Qing Dynasty, women in the Ming Dynasty could eat at the table.

Many people in the Qing Dynasty thought that Confucianism stipulated that women could not sit on the table, so they took the opportunity to follow suit, but they misunderstood due to their lack of education.

On the contrary, in the Ming Dynasty when official schools were prevalent, most common people could understand the meaning of the Confucian saying that "men and women do not eat at the same table for seven years".

The meaning of this sentence is not that men and women cannot eat together, but that the inner house needs to set up a separate table for female relatives.

In the Ming Dynasty, entertainment in the inner house of rich families or official women was a part of the human relationship and a necessary communication. The "table" of the women's family members was also full of various etiquette requirements. The degree of luxury is by no means lower than the "table" of the men in the outer hall.

Moreover, this rule is also aimed at scholar-bureaucrats and wealthy families, ordinary people like the Zhou family, unless there are many guests, they usually eat at the same table with men.

As for the "women don't go to the table" in the Qing Dynasty, it was actually caused by the misunderstanding of the people and the addition of "poverty".

But even in the Ming Dynasty, after a woman married, she still had to see who was at the table before deciding whether she could sit and eat with other men.

If it is the elders and juniors, it is okay. If it is the same generation, and it is the opposite sex that the female relatives are not familiar with, then the family needs to open a separate table for the female relatives to eat.

However, the Zhou family didn't seem to have this concern, because they didn't know many people in the capital.

"Boqian, you said that Uncle Zhou works in Shandong, and your family is also from Shandong, so why did you move to the capital?"

Li Dingguo suddenly asked Zhou Boqian at the dinner table, because he knew that Zhou Boqian's family was from Qingzhou, Shandong, and Zhou Boqian's father was also the chief banner officer of the Qingzhou Camp in Shandong, so why did they come to the capital?

"Of course I came here for this kid's studies. Three years ago, only the capital opened an official school, so naturally I had to send him here."

Mrs. Zhou Wang explained, and incidentally gave Li Dingguo a piece of meat with chopsticks, and said:

"Besides, the prices in the capital are pretty cheap, and it's also cheap to buy books and paper, and Boqian can teach Xi Niang to read in his spare time."

"Can't you go to a women's school?" Li Dingguo remembered that there were women's schools in some places.

"It's too expensive. You have to teach ten taels of silver a year. How can ordinary people afford it?" Zhou Wang explained with a smile, and said:

"This boy is only two or three taels of silver for one year of studying in the government school, and only twelve or three taels of silver after five years of study. This yard is only a little over twenty taels of silver. After finishing his studies, he can sell it. After five years, the three of us spent Up to 30 taels."

"If their siblings are all studying, they will get twenty taels a year, and if Xi Niang is studying, they will get five or sixty taels in five years."

"Many people are like this now. Sending the men in the family to study in cheap government schools, and then letting the men go home to teach their sisters to read can save a lot of money."

Mrs. Zhou Wang was very happy for his economic acumen, Zhou Xiniang didn't think there was anything wrong with it, and Li Dingguo also thought it made sense. Only Zhou Boqian, at the moment, was trying to stretch out his chopsticks with a sad face, but every piece he liked The meat was all given to Li Dingguo by his own mother...

(End of this chapter)