Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 606

In August of the 21st year of the Apocalypse, it seems that as autumn enters, some small areas of rain have also ushered in all parts of the country.

It's just a pity that compared to the crop failure and production reduction encountered in this drought, this rain can't bring anything.

"This year's land tax is estimated to be only more than [-] million stones, perhaps even less than last year."

"It's just that the price of food is high right now. After selling it and turning it into silver, I think next year's income will not be much less than last year."

Entering August, in fact, the specific grain production and land tax in various places can already be estimated, so when Li Changgeng approached Zhu Youjian to report, Zhu Youjian was not surprised.

"The porridge sheds at the local relocation sites must be well run, and strive to relocate more than [-] million people within two years."

As Zhu Youjian spoke, he was not worried about the migration of more than seven million people.

After all, most of these more than 700 million people migrated to Luchuan, Jiaozhi, Jiugang, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou.

These places are either near the railway, or the railway runs through the whole province.

Daming's railway capacity is sufficient to move them to the southwest within two years and enrich the population of the southwest.

"At present, there are still more than 640 million people who have not migrated, and among them, there are more than 130 million people who are going to the various feudal clans."

Now that Zhu Youjian talked about the relocation, Li Changgeng also followed up his topic and said:

"In the past month, more than one million people have been transported to Sichuan, Yunnan, Luchuan, Jiaozhi and other places by taking the Yangtze River and railway."

"The corresponding tractors have also distributed more than [-] units, and the remaining more than [-] tractors have been sent to Anxi and Beiting provinces to prepare for the western expropriation and restoration of Hezhong next year."

"At present, there are not a few people in the south of the Yangtze River who want to migrate. It is estimated that there will be no less than 300 million new immigrants before the twelfth lunar month."

"Now the Songchuan Railway is only built to Nanchang, Jiangxi. If people want to use trains to relocate people, they can only take a detour to Nanjing, and then take the Shanshan Railway from Shandong to Shaanxi in Zhengzhou, Henan."

"It's just that the Shanshan-Shaanxi Railway has only been built to Luoyang, and it is more than [-] miles away from Xi'an that requires walking. Once the people get off the train, it will be difficult to control."

"The best thing to control is water transportation. With Guochao's ship capacity, people in the south of the Yangtze River can be transported to the three southwestern provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou."

"But in this way, only more than [-] people can be relocated every month."

"Besides, they still need to go ashore in Yibin and take the train to Luchuan and Jiaozhi."

"This..." At this point, Li Changgeng took a deep breath: "The relocation cost is a bit high once calculated, and the national treasury may not be able to afford it."

There is no money in the treasury, and Zhu Youjian knows this.

It seems that since he came to Daming, Daming's treasury has never been filled, and the finances dry up from August to September every year.

Fortunately, there are banks and trains now. Judging from the situation, various places will use trains and ships to transfer taxes to the capital at the end of August.

"Have the taxes been fixed everywhere?"

Zhu Youjian asked about the progress of his New Deal after tax sharing, and Li Changgeng bowed to this:
"The ones from Beizhili have already come out. Basically, in the normal years and normal income of the prefectures and counties, [-]% of them will be transported away, and [-]% will be left."

"Slightly poorer counties, especially those that continue to improve people's livelihood, will transport [-]% and leave [-]%."

"There are more than 690 million mu of cultivated land in the whole of Beizhili. In a normal year, each mu is at least one stone and five buckets. Beizhili can pay 300 million taels of land tax and commercial tax, and the local government can hold back 80 to [-] taels. "

"In addition, these two small taxes, such as booth fees and store taxes, can also contribute more than [-] taels to the Beizhili Yamen."

"Calculated, after the imperial court takes away 300 million taels, the nine prefectures of the two prefectures and nine prefectures in Beizhili can leave 110 to [-] taels of taxes as government expenses and invest in various places."

"In addition, the archives of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Modong, Liaodong, Donghai and other places are also in the final stage of compilation."

"These provinces should be able to implement tax sharing starting next year."

"As for the other provinces, they also demand that the tax be shared first and then the tax be paid."

When it comes to relevant interests, the enthusiasm of local officials can always surprise people.

On weekdays, they were able to do foreign work according to the statistics of the entire population. When they heard that the local government had more money at their disposal after the tax distribution, they all held their breath and went to check the shops, fields and markets with all their strength.

However, the prerequisite for Zhu Youjian to increase local disposable income for them is that they first abolish the miscellaneous and chaotic taxes.

"Let the cabinet draw up a note and distribute it to the chief ministers and government offices, prefectures, counties, and towns."

"If there is another tax disorder in another place, if the local officials know about it and don't report it, the whole family will be distributed to Donghai County in Lingbei, and I will be beheaded!"

Zhu Youjian is about to kill people. Donghai County in the north of Lingbei is a ghostly place that is in winter for eight months all year round. Let alone old people, young people are sent to these places. I am afraid they will not live for a few months before they will be acclimatized and die.

Zhu Youjian wants to reduce the burden, not to increase the burden on the people. If anyone gets benefits and still collects miscellaneous taxes from the people, he will kill people.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian squinted his eyes, and Li Changgeng didn't want to ask the southern provinces to ask the southern provinces to "divide taxes first and then aggregate".

If Zhu Youjian didn't answer, his answer was obviously already obvious, that is, this matter would not work for him.

"What about the population and the number of acres of land in the provinces outside the Northern Pass? Has Kecheng made any statistics?"

Zhu Youjian asked him about the issues outside the customs that he was more concerned about, to which Li Changgeng quickly bowed and said:

"The seven provinces of Anxi, Beiting, Lingbei, Shanyu, Modong, Donghai, and Beishan outside the Northern Pass are now self-sufficient."

"Anxi North Court has a population of more than 36 and a population of more than 32 respectively. The cultivated land is more than 190 million mu in Anxi and more than 150 million mu in Beiting."

"Lingbei and Beishan have a population of more than 57 and 26 respectively, and the cultivated land is more than 190 mu in Lingbei and more than [-] million mu in Beishan."

"Shanyu and Modong have populations of over 46 and 220 million respectively, and arable land of 96 mu in Shanyu and more than [-] million mu in Modong."

"The last Donghai Province has been developed for nearly ten years, with a population of 630 million people and more than [-] million mu of arable land."

"The total population of the seven provinces is 10,000+, and the amount of arable land is close to 470 million mu."

The end of Li Changgeng's report made Zhu Youjian's heart sink.

With a population of 1000 million and more than 5000 million mu of arable land, this is a land that cannot be abandoned for all dynasties.

Counting from the establishment of the three prefectures of Taining in the sixth year of Tianqi, it has been 15 years since Daming opened up the seven provinces north of the Great Wall.

In 15 years, with a population of 1000 million and more than 5000 million mu of arable land, this is the answer sheet that Zhu Youjian handed over to the people in northern Daming.

Under this answer sheet, it is also the result of halving and then halving the population of the six provinces of Beijing and Beijing in the Northern Pass of the Ming Dynasty.

"What about the population and arable land of the six provinces in the northern pass?" Zhu Youjian was already satisfied with the situation outside the pass, and he wanted to ask how the situation inside the pass was.

Facing his question, Li Changgeng spoke without hesitation, because he was already prepared:

"Hexi and Shaanxi have populations of 490 million and 310 million respectively, and arable land of more than [-] million mu and [-] million mu."

"Shanxi and Henan have populations of 410 million and [-] million respectively, and cultivated land of more than [-] million and [-] million."

"Shandong and Liaodong have populations of 620 million and 430 million, respectively, and arable land of more than [-] million and [-] million."

"In the end, the population of Northern Zhili was more than 570 million, and the arable land was more than 690 million."

"The provinces have a total population of 370 million and more than [-] million mu of arable land."

"After the people in various places divide the land, it is basically about seven acres per person, and the rest of the land is in the hands of small landlords and rich peasants."

After Li Changgeng finished speaking, Zhu Youjian was rarely in a happy mood all the time.

In the first year of Taichang, there were more than 700 million people in the north, more than 600 million mu, and the per capita cultivated land was less than [-] mu.

Up to the 21st year of the apocalypse, there are more than 400 million people in the north, 3000 million mu, and nearly [-] mu per capita. Only the starving people know all kinds of sadness.

Although there is still a severe drought right now, although Zhu Youjian's ambition of ten acres of arable land per capita has not been achieved.

But for the people of Ming Dynasty, this is already an extremely comfortable period for them to live.

Calculated from the situation in the north, Zhu Youjian can also know the specific situation in the south.

At present, the number of people in the south and overseas is more than [-] million, with more than [-] million mu of arable land, and the per capita arable land is just over [-] mu.

However, there were more rich peasants and small landlords in the south, and Daming did not deal with them because it was unnecessary.

The so-called rich peasants are no more than peasants with seven or eight mu of land, and small landlords are no more than a few dozen mu.

They are essentially farmers who started their careers through their own hard work or other means. Zhu Youjian aimed at the gentry and middle and large landlords, not them.

Similarly, because they are peasants struggling to rise, their base is much larger than that of gentry and Zhongdadi.

The land they control is not inferior to this group of people.

Excluding the land in the hands of this group of people, the per capita arable land of the people in the south and overseas is only about four mu.

Although soil-based chemical fertilizers have been developed, as well as phosphorus and potash fertilizers, under normal circumstances, the output of an acre of land can increase by at most 30%.

For the situation in the north where the yield per mu is basically one stone and five buckets, the effect of using chemical fertilizers can achieve the effect of two stones per mu, but Daming's current production of chemical fertilizers is seriously insufficient.

Daming's fertilizer output can only satisfy one-tenth of the country's arable land. If there is no severe drought in the north, the yield will still be one stone and five buckets per mu.

Therefore, for Daming and Zhu Youjian, the food and clothing line for the common people is two acres of land, and three acres of land is needed to feed themselves, because oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea are things that need to be paid for.

While Sanmu can eat enough, he can also sell hundreds of catties of grain in exchange for these things.

Three mu is just enough to feed the whole family. Even if the people can eat enough, they still have nothing to cover their bodies. And from three mu to four mu, the extra mu is like two horses of cheap linen for the common people. , four sets of cheap linen trousers.

If you use it to buy white cloth, you can only make three sets of clothes.

Of course, more farmers basically don't wear shirts when they work, one is afraid of wear and tear, and the other is afraid of getting dirty, so the skin of old farmers is always dark.

But this is not the reason for Zhu Youjian to comfort himself. He wants the people to have enough food, clothing and spare money, and to be able to eat meat, which means that he still has a lot to do.

However, right now he has made all the preliminary preparations, and now he only needs one person to follow the steps and continue to do what he does every year, and the people of Daming will one day become rich.

Even if there is no internal combustion engine, no diesel tractor, only the tractor that looks like a big square at the moment, Daming's arable land will continue to increase.

Regardless of whether farmers have so much land, as long as there is more land, the price of food will not be much higher, and the commodities grown on other land will not be much higher.

In such an era, the more land there is, the lower the cost of living for the common people.

Zhu Youjian has already arranged for Zhu Ciran to supervise the country, as for his good brother...

"Ugh……"

Thinking of Zhu Youxiao's character, Zhu Youjian felt somewhat tired.

------

"Don't miss it when you pass by!"

"The spices from the Old Port smell really good!"

Just when Zhu Youjian felt a little tired because of his brother's personality, Zhu Youxiao, his good brother, changed into a normal uniform, and boarded a black-covered boat that is common in the south of the Yangtze River with Wang Tiqian and Wei Liangqing. Amidst the misty rain in Nanjing during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

The city of Nanjing is very large, more than two and a half times the size of Chang'an City in Tang Dynasty, so there is no need to go into details.

Even though Zhu Youxiao has been in Nanjing for several years, he has not finished visiting the scenery and streets of Nanjing until now.

For example, on this day, they first went to the Longjiang Wharf in Nanjing. After seeing that there were still so many people in ragged clothes, Zhu Youxiao could only shake his head and leave.

He returned to the city of Nanjing by boat, but compared to the tens of thousands of ragged people outside the city, the people inside the city were wearing long silk and satin gowns, chatting and laughing, as if they were in a prosperous age, while the refugees outside the walls were like illusions.

Xizhi in Yecheng and Jixue in Shicheng are the earliest memories of Nanjing.

Mochou Lake in the west of Nanjing is a royal garden, which was called "Xiyuan" during Zhu Yuanzhang's period.

This Xiyuan is equivalent to the South Garden of Beijing City, and further away from Xiyuan is "Egret Island where three mountains and half fall outside the blue sky, and two waters divide it."

Zhu Youxiao and the others entered and exited Nanjing City mainly by taking this Wupeng boat.

Under the control of the punters, the boat gradually arrived at the legendary ten-mile Qinhuai River.

In the past, half of Qinhuai River was full of wit and half of beauties. Rich people gathered here, there were many brothels, and there were many beautiful boats in Lingbo. It became a land of beauties in the south of the Yangtze River.

In addition, on the other side is the Jiangnan Gongyuan, and most of the officials of the Ming Dynasty were from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and southern Fujian. If they went to Beijing to rush for the exam, they would have to study hard in this Gongyuan. Therefore, there are often stories about brothel girls and scholars.

The story of a talented man and a beautiful woman made Zhu Youxiao lean out and sit on the stern of the boat when passing by.

"Patriarch, it's not safe to sit outside the boat, why not..."

Seeing Zhu Youxiao sitting on the stern of the black-covered boat without any cover, Wei Liangqing was a little worried.

But his worry was stopped by Zhu Youxiao raising his hand.

Zhu Youxiao raised his hand and said with a smile: "Both sides of the Qinhuai River are your people, are you still afraid that someone will assassinate me?"

"Don't dare..." Wei Liangqing blushed and responded with a slight bow.

Seeing what Wei Liangqing said, Zhu Youxiao smiled and said loudly to the boatman at the bow: "Boatman, please let us dock!"

"Okay..." Upon hearing Zhu Youxiao's words, the boatman in civilian clothes carefully avoided Zhu Youxiao, and then punted the boat to the shore, allowing Zhu Youxiao and the three of them to climb the stone steps proudly.

Zhu Youxiao was wearing a net scarf and a jade hairpin. Although he was not particularly handsome, he was still handsome after losing a little weight.

In addition, he is still wearing high-quality Suzhou silk, so when others look at him, they will subconsciously think that he is a student who traveled far away with friends, and he is from a well-to-do family.

"Patriarch, let's run slower." Seeing Zhu Youxiao jump up the steps in three steps and two steps, and came to the Qinhuai River paved with blue bricks, Wei Liangqing greeted loudly.

But Zhu Youxiao paid no attention to him. He lifted his robe and walked through the crowd. After a few strokes, he ran to the arch bridge, overlooking Qinhuai Fengyue.

"Wan... Patriarch, you should run slower..."

Wang Ti was a little tired from running, and almost called out the word "long live" in a hurry, but luckily the topic changed quickly enough.

"Isn't today the Mid-Autumn Festival? Why are there still people selling lotus lanterns on both sides of the strait?"

Zhu Youxiao supported the guardrail of the arch bridge, pointed to the people selling lotus lanterns on both sides of the Qinhuai River, and asked Wei Liangqing and the others:
"Patriarch, although today is Mid-Autumn Festival, you can put lotus lanterns on Mid-Autumn Festival, Lantern Festival, and Qiqiao."

Wei Liangqing wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, Wang Tigan beside him was also panting heavily.

"Go, take a look!" Zhu Youxiao ran towards the bridge, and Wei Liangqing and Wang Tigan had to follow.

Shili Huaihe, although his brothels are extremely famous, it doesn't mean that he only has brothels.

Zhu Youxiao was walking on the street. There were a lot of people on the road, but it was not blocked, because the road was about [-] meters wide, not to mention very spacious, and the shops on both sides were also small.

"Gauze hat helmet", "bright dyeing workshops of various colors", "classic clothing store", "tailor store", "official salt store", grain store, shoe store and all kinds of shops, there are all kinds of strange things.

Most of them are dyeing workshops and calligraphy, painting and poetry shops. Dyeing workshops also include laundry, which costs a penny per item, which is not unacceptable to the people of Nanjing who spend a lot of money.

"Draw a sugar figure~ Draw a sugar figure~~"

"Put his eyes in! Poke in his eyes!"

"Dengdengdeng! Don't miss it when you pass by~"

"The child has a cold, just go back and take the medicine a few times and it will be fine."

Walking along the Qinhuai River for ten miles, there are candy sellers, maltose sellers, and people playing sumo wrestling and watching sumo wrestling around the roadside.

In addition, there are acrobats in Mongolian costumes, with a stack of three or four meter tall hats on their heads, walking around, beating gongs and drums, which is very stable.

The roadside Jimin Pharmacy, which treats children's diseases, is full of parents taking their children to see a doctor. Instead, the children are alive and kicking and wrestling with other people's children. They don't look sick at all.

Several old people in their 50s and [-]s were still walking, shaking the rattles they just bought, and teasing the grandchildren who followed behind them.

The most coincidental thing is that Zhu Youxiao saw a shop called "Dianche", which actually rents tricycles and bicycles to drive people around Nanjing city. "Daming taxi".

There are not all shops on both sides of the road, there are also courtyards where people live, and today there are still people getting married, and the welcoming team is beating gongs and drums, and the doors of the courtyards on the side of the road are immediately opened.

A few brats stood at the door, with their fingers in their mouths, they rushed up to the welcoming team, mouthing a hundred-year-old white head, their mouths were as sweet as honey.

The bridegroom riding on the back of the donkey was so happy that he grabbed a handful of bamboo candy from his bosom and handed it to a few kids.

Looking at this scene, no one would have imagined that there were 10,000+ starving people in poor clothes on the Longjiang Wharf a few miles away from them.

For the hungry people, the attitude of the traditional people of Ming Dynasty is that they have nothing to do with themselves.

Regional discrimination exists no matter what era it is, and allusions about urbanites looking down on countrymen have been passed down for thousands of years.

In Daming, these allusions are still useful.

Zhu Youxiao took a stroll around, and took the opportunity to watch the singing opera and other sumo wrestling, wrestling and other things.

After shopping for more than two hours, I felt that it was a little late, and I was a little hungry, so I found a shop selling pigs and mutton, sat down and yelled.

"Shopkeeper, how much is cooked mutton a catty?" Zhu Youxiao said loudly, he hadn't been out shopping for a long time.

"The price tag is hanging there, sir..."

While the shopkeeper scooped up the meat from the pot, he handed it to the man who was next to him to cut the meat. Zhu Youxiao turned his head and saw the wooden price tag immediately.

Cooked mutton costs 26 renminbi a catty, cold pork [-] renminbi a catty...

"Hey, store, it's been 21 years since Tianqi, why is pork still more expensive than mutton?"

Looking at pork, which is half as expensive as mutton, Zhu Youxiao asked curiously. After all, since Daming introduced the Great White pig, the price of pork has plummeted.

In addition, he is not angry that people write the character pig. After all, it is not a day or two for the people of Ming Dynasty to do their own way. In the late Ming Dynasty, the atmosphere was open, and the emperor himself called pigs pigs. Except for Zhu Houzhao, no emperor thought it was bad. .

"boom!"

The kitchen knife chopped on the meat, and the shopkeeper explained after cutting up a piece of meat:

"In a catastrophe year, it's normal for meat to be expensive, and mutton is cheap because the Yumajian Nanchang in the north raises 10,000+ sheep in the flatlands of the Jianghuai area, and the people keep their big white pigs for themselves, so it's naturally cheaper .”

"Then give us two catties of mutton and two catties of pork knuckle, do you have dipping sauce?" The apple muscles on Zhu Youxiao's face slowly bulged, and the smile on his face also represented that he was very happy talking.

"Your Majesty, what you said is that we are such a big shop, how can we run out of dipping sauce?" As he said that, the shopkeeper was ready to fish the meat, and then asked the shop waiter to serve Zhu Youxiao and the others with dipping sauce.

A large bowl of old soy sauce and chili sauce was brought up and placed on the table. The shopkeeper was also fast, and within a few breaths, two full plates of meat were brought up.

"My lord, we also have Yangchun small noodles here, five yuan a bowl, if you don't have enough to eat, feel free to order!"

"Understood..." Hearing the voice of the store in his ear, Zhu Youxiao responded with a smile, but turned his head and explained to Wei Liangqing and the two of them:
"The price of this small noodle has more than doubled in three years. With this price, can the people of Nanjing survive?"

"This..." The two of Wei Liangqing looked at each other with embarrassment.

As soon as their expressions came out, Zhu Youxiao knew that he had guessed right, so he couldn't help frowning:

"Say!"

　Chapter 2 at [-]pm
　　
　
(End of this chapter)