Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 373
"Invasion of the clan's Zhuangtian?" Chongzhen sneered, "Who lent them the courage?"

Du Yinxi said: "If you want to say, many farmlands were indeed originally owned by the gentry of various prefectures, and they donated them to the names of the feudal lords just to avoid taxes. The right to take it back, they can take it back if they want, as long as they make up for the tax that escaped after being invested in the names of the feudal clans."

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's inappropriate to do this?" Zhang Kuang's face turned pale with fright.

Because if you do it like this, the scope of attack is too wide, and the landlords and gentry in Huguang are afraid that the sky will be turned upside down.

"They can't turn the sky." Chongzhen snorted and said, "Zhang Kuang, you just need to tell me, can you do this matter? If you can't do it, I will let others do it, but this matter must be done. done."

Chongzhen even thought of a candidate, that is Yingtian governor and admiral Caojiang Military Jin Xuan.

After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "Huguang is cooked, and the world is full. Huguang is the granary of our Ming Dynasty. I will never allow those silverfish to endanger the food security of Ming Dynasty."

Seeing Chongzhen's determination, Zhang Kuang gritted his teeth and said, "I can do it!"

"It's good if you can do it." Chongzhen said happily, "It's already past the Jingzhe, and this year's spring plowing is about to start, so you need to hurry up on this matter. After taking back all the farmlands of the feudal clans, they will all be used as official lands of the imperial court and distributed to those in Huguang. When the common people go to farm, the land rent will be based on the amount set by Emperor Taizu Gao, five liters, three infusions and five teaspoons per mu!"

After Zhang Juzheng cleared Zhang, Huguang has a total of more than 9100 million mu of arable land.

During the reign of Chongzhen, the feudal vassals invaded and the landowners and gentry of the various prefectures donated, and the farmland under the names of the feudal clans was at least 8000 million mu, and the cultivated land left under the names of the landlords or common people would never exceed 500 million mu .

Even if it is calculated on the basis of 8000 million mu, it is amazing that 428 million shi of grain can be collected in one year!

This is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that it can greatly promote the increase of food production.

Everyone is familiar with the story of Xiaogang Village's household contracted production. In the same land and the same people, why can a household contracted production increase the grain production significantly?

The reason is simple, that is, the enthusiasm of farmers has been raised.

In the same way, the enthusiasm of tenant farmers and self-cultivated farmers is also completely different. Because tenant farmers are tenants of other people's land, they will not be very dedicated to tending it, because no one knows whether the landlord's family will give up tenants in the coming year?But if it is their own farmland, it is different. It must be digging deeper, and they will definitely get up early in the dark to pick up dung and fertilize their own land.

In a word, if more than 9000 million mu of arable land in Huguang were allowed to stay in the names of the gentry in various prefectures, and then leased out to tenant farmers, it would produce [-] million shi every year if it was exhausted!But if the self-cultivators are allowed to cultivate, at least [-] million shi of grain can be harvested, which is an extra [-] million shi of grain out of thin air, which is enough to ensure the food supply in the south of the Yangtze River.

Of course, the above assumptions are just an ideal state. In fact, due to repeated military turmoil in Huguang and a large number of population loss, at least half of the arable land is now abandoned, so it is enough to produce [-] million shi of grain every year. But even so, Changing to farming by self-cultivators can also save [-] million shi!

With these [-] million shi grains, it is also enough to ensure the supply of Jiangnan.

Therefore, it is not just a proverb to say that Huguang is familiar with the world, it is really based on facts.

"Your Majesty is saying that the farmland under the vassal king's name will be used as official land, and then distributed to the common people for farming?" Zhang Kuang almost suspected that his ears had auditory hallucinations.

Du Yinxi is not surprised.

"Yes, I don't care about other provinces, but Huguang is the granary of Ming Dynasty. We can't let the bad government of the vassal king continue, but we must show the determination of a strong man to cut his wrists and scrape the bones to cure the poison!" After a pause, Chongzhen said again, " Fortunately, most of these vassal kings entrusted in Huguang have been killed by intruders and Zhang Xianzhong, so there is no big problem."

In the future, Chongzhen will definitely extend the Huguang model to the entire Ming Dynasty.

Because of the vassal king's encroachment on cultivated land, except for Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangnan, the whole of Daming is a hard-hit area. As long as the whole of Daming follows Huguang's method, there will be no food crisis in Daming.

Of course, you can't take such a big step in one go, otherwise you will be scratching your head.

As far as the moment is concerned, it is still a priority to deal with Huguang, after all, this is a big granary.

"The Holy Majesty's move is indeed beneficial to the country and the people!" Zhang Kuang was greatly moved, and bowed deeply to Chongzhen.

Standing up again, he said, "However, if this policy is carried out seriously, it will definitely greatly offend the gentry in Huguang. I worry that these gentry will collude with foreign thieves, and their desire will not benefit Daming."

"I still say what I just said, they can't turn the sky." Chongzhen said coldly.

After a short pause, he added: "Of course, it is still necessary to take precautions before they happen. I am determined to set up another town in Wuchang, with [-] to [-] troops, so I have to set aside four million acres of official land for me to build. To appreciate the land, ordinary cultivated land is not enough, it must be the most fertile farmland by the Dongting Lake."

Zhang Kuang said happily: "The Holy One is going to select [-] to [-] soldiers from the rebellious soldiers to serve as soldiers in Wuchang Town? And then reward [-] mu of Entian per person?"

"Zhang Kuang, what are you talking about? There is no such good thing in the world."

Chongzhen said: "These rebels assembled a crowd to mutiny, set fire to kill people, and even killed my Huguang governor of Ming Dynasty. Instead of severely punishing them, I want to reward them with grace. Do you think this is appropriate?"

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "He Teng Jiaoquan Xia Youzhi will probably be so angry that he will come back to life again, right?"

"This is because I didn't think carefully enough." Zhang Kuang quickly apologized to Chongzhen, "I also ask His Majesty to punish him."

"Punishment will be avoided." Chongzhen snorted, "Zhang Kuang, it is good to have a benevolent heart, but if you are too kind, you will become a bad person, and those who have received your favor will not think of you. "

"Sir, I would like to accept the teaching of the Holy One." Zhang Kuang bowed again.

Chongzhen went on to say: "However, I listened to what you said just now."

"I won't kill the [-] rebels indiscriminately. The [-] who haven't done any evil can stay in Wuchang Mansion to farm. You can give them [-] mu of land for every centimeter, and they need to hand over [-]% of the harvest in the first three years. After that, it will be reduced by [-]% every year until it is reduced to five liters, three in one, and five spoonfuls per mu, and the grain tax will be collected according to this amount from now on."

"As for the remaining [-] rebels, they must serve hard labor for life."

"I plan to set up a large-scale iron smelting factory in Xiangtan County, Changsha Prefecture. These [-] rebels will smelt a lifetime of iron there for me and the imperial court."

This time Zhang Kuang was really impressed.

There is no better punishment than this.

But Zhang Kuang is still worried about Huguang's safety.

Zhang Kuang said: "Your Majesty, where did the soldiers in Wuchang Town come from?"

Chongzhen said: "For the time being, there will be no soldiers in Wuchang Town. As for safety, you don't have to worry about it. I will transfer all the 27 new troops from Nanjing to Wuchang for long-term training."

Hearing this, Zhang Kuang was completely relieved.

Zhang Kuang, the new army recruited by the imperial court, has already seen it. It is said that less than 27 new troops defeated more than [-] elite rebels. Now the Holy One wants to send [-] new troops to garrison Wuchang for a long time. What can happen? ?There is nothing to worry about even if it is hypocrisy or the establishment of slaves and the whole country's soldiers go south.

After a pause, Chongzhen said again: "Zhang Kuang, before the spring plowing has started and the people are still idle, hurry up and organize the young men to build water conservancy projects. As for the money, as far as I know, there is plenty of money in the household department. If you open your mouth and go Asking for a million taels may be difficult, but hundreds of thousands of taels should not be difficult."

"The minister leads the decree." Zhang Kuang rushed away excitedly with a bow.

After sending Zhang Kuang away, Chongzhen sent someone to call Wu Jinxi to Xingyuan.

After Wu Jinxi paid his respects, Chongzhen asked, "Wu Jinxi, I heard from Du Qing that you are quite dabbled in gold and stone mining and metallurgy?"

"I don't dare to say that I have dabbled in it, I can only say that I understand it a little bit." Wu Jinxi replied with a humble face, but it can be seen from the expression that this gentleman should really understand the way of mining and metallurgy.

Chongzhen decided to test Wu Jinxi.

"Have you read Song Yingxing's Heavenly Creation?"

"Returning to the Holy Spirit, I am honored to have read the book Tiangong Kaiwu."

"Can you tell me where pig iron, wrought iron, and steel come from?"

"Borrowing from the original text of Tiangong Kaiwu, all iron is divided into raw and cooked. It is raw when it is not fried. It is cooked when it is fried. It is made into steel when it is raw and cooked. However, I think its steelmaking method is not good enough. .”

"Oh?" Chongzhen asked, "Do you have a better way?"

"There is indeed a method, but it was not created by me, but I got it from an ancient book." Wu Jinxi said, "Since pig iron can be fried into wrought iron, it can also be fried into steel without tempering!"

Chongzhen said with a smile: "You are talking about the method of frying steel, right? It existed in the Han Dynasty."

"Your Majesty has read that ancient book?" Wu Jinxi couldn't help being a little surprised.

Speaking of this, it can be confirmed that Wu Jinxi has dabbled in mining and metallurgy and is a technical official.

Immediately, Chongzhen said with a straight face: "Wu Jinxi, I want to set up a large-scale iron smelting factory in Xiaxiangtan County, Changsha Prefecture, to smelt pig iron, wrought iron and steel for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Now I need an iron smelting censor to be in charge of this matter. Would you like it?" To take on this important task for the imperial court? If you are willing, I propose to the cabinet to promote you as the censor of the capital of Youqian and the censor of iron smelting."

Wu Jinxi couldn't help being a little confused when he heard this, a large iron smelting workshop?Iron censor?

But I have only heard of Tuntian censors, never heard of iron smelting censors, but Youqiandu censors are pretty good, the fourth-rank officials of science and Taoism, and one step further, they will be important officials of the court or officials of the frontiers .

After a long while, Wu Jinxi asked, "My lord, the cost of building the iron smelting workshop and mining..."

"You don't need to worry about expenses." Chongzhen immediately interrupted, "The Ministry of Internal Affairs will provide all expenses."

Wu Jinxi thought for a while, and then said: "How big is the scale of this iron smelting workshop? How many catties of iron are produced every year?"

"The larger the scale of the factory, the better, and the more annual iron output, the better." Chongzhen said without hesitation, "I won't set an upper limit for you, but the lower limit must be agreed, and the annual iron output should not be less than [-] million catties!"

(End of this chapter)