The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 173 Window

January 1728, 1, Penglai.

Within the Qin Dynasty, if there was any place with the largest number of Qi people, apart from Nanjing City, it would be Penglai, the seat of Dengzhou.

Seven miles south of Penglai County, there used to be a village called Qilizhuang. In the second year of Jianping in the Ming Dynasty (1675), when Qi Yuanshan, the special envoy and deputy prime minister of the Qi State, visited the mainland, he was entrusted by Emperor Taizu of Qi State to search for the burial place of his ancestors.

After confirming the remains and tombs of their ancestors, the State of Qi invested huge sums of money in extensive construction and began to build the imperial mausoleums of the ancestors of Qi in a few miles around Qilizhuang.

Sun Kewang, the king of Qin who was in power at that time, also very generously allocated the villages, mountains, wasteland and some cultivated land within ten miles around the imperial mausoleum of Qi's ancestors to Qi for the construction of the imperial mausoleum attached to the tomb. The city includes palaces, buildings, mausoleums, stone carvings and many other buildings.

In order to build the mausoleum of the ancestors of the Da Qi royal family, the Qi royal family invested more than 2.5 million Hanzhou silver dollars in the construction process for more than five years, and successively recruited more than 200,000 people to support the entire landing. It has a positive role in promoting and improving the economic and people's livelihood development in the state capital.

Building mausoleums, imperial mausoleums, palaces, and buildings requires a large amount of masonry, cement, and wood. To this end, the people of Qi invested in the construction of more than a dozen brick kilns, cement kilns, stone processing plants, wood processing plants, furniture production plants, ceramic casting processing plants, iron processing plants and other construction-related workshops near Huangling City.

Later, the people of Qi used coal from Xishan and Yunzhou in Beijing to build several coal processing plants and iron furnace manufacturing plants to process briquettes and coal blocks for heating local houses.

Before the time came, the people of Qi extended the coal industry chain downwards, built several coking coal yards, and sold a large amount of refined coke to the two iron smelting centers of Zunhua in the north and Foshan in the south; the dyes extracted from them were sold in There are many cotton textile factories in the south of the Yangtze River; the gas they draw is sold to the luxurious and wealthy households in Shandong and surrounding provinces for lighting.

The establishment of these factories can be said to have opened up the earliest modern chemical industry in mainland China.

In order to facilitate the transportation of goods, the people of Qi not only renovated and upgraded the original Penglai Port, greatly improving the port's berthing and loading and unloading capabilities, but also used the coal pitch produced after coal refining to lay the first road in the mainland. Asphalt roads have laid a solid foundation for improving and enhancing local traffic conditions.

In view of the fact that the number of civilians used to build the imperial mausoleums remained at tens of thousands every day, in order to ensure their daily food needs, the people of Qi would ship several ships of food every ten days from Korea, Yunzhou, Annan and other places. food. Accordingly, some businessmen took the opportunity to establish more than a dozen grain processing plants, oil processing plants, and fish product processing plants.

Merchants and vendors from Penglai and Dengzhou Prefecture also settled near Huangling City, providing various daily necessities for Qi people and tens of thousands of migrant workers. Various commercial facilities such as inns, wine shops, restaurants, hospitals, and garment shops were gradually established, and many craftsmen such as masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, barbers, goldsmiths, and silversmiths also arrived.

Up to now, Penglai and Huangling City have been connected together and evolved into a medium-sized industrial city with nearly 250,000 residents. It is home to hundreds of factories and workshops of various types, as well as numerous street-facing shops, attracting countless people. Businessmen traveling from north to south stopped here.

Driven and influenced by the people of Qi, Penglai City and Qi Huangling City are like the two most dazzling economic "pearls" under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou Prefecture. They are not only the largest building materials production and processing center in the north, but also the most important in the north. grain and oil transit trading center.

Merchants from Qi State also transported various precious furs to this place from Zhenzhou (the area east of today's Ussuri River), Kuye Island (today's Sakhalin Island) and Lingbei area in the Northern Ming Dynasty. After simple processing, Exported to the prosperous Jiangnan, the area became the largest fur distribution center, trading center and processing center in Qin.

The booming industry and commerce has greatly contributed to the recovery of various people's livelihoods in Tengzhou Prefecture, and has also effectively promoted the prosperity of the local economy.

At present, Dengzhou Prefecture, with only 9 counties and 1 scattered prefecture, with a population of less than one million people, has generated nearly million silver dollars in tax revenue for the entire Shandong Province, accounting for more than % of the province's total tax revenue. Almost one government supported the fiscal revenue of the entire Shandong Province.

In the entire Dengzhou Prefecture, there are more than 280 various factories and trading companies invested (or jointly owned) by businessmen from Qi State. In addition to most of them concentrated in Penglai County and Huangling City, Huang County, Wendeng County, Fushan County, etc. County, Rongcheng County, Ninghai Prefecture, Haiyang County and other coastal counties are also distributed, which not only brings a large number of employment opportunities to the local area, but also allows countless people here to get rid of a little ignorance and backwardness.

According to rough statistics, there are more than 10,000 Qi people of various types who live and work in Daqin all year round, and Dengzhou Prefecture accounts for nearly 40%, with more than 3,800 people. It is the largest city outside Nanjing. A gathering place for Qi people.

Recently, two noblemen from the Daqi royal family came to Penglai to pay homage to their ancestors' imperial mausoleums, which really made the entire Penglai county lively and noisy.

According to custom, whenever representatives of the Daqi royal family come to the imperial mausoleum to pay homage to their ancestors, they usually distribute benefits to the people in the city. Without exception, they are either some non-staple food such as rice, flour, oil, meat, eggs, and poultry, or cotton, linen, silk, and soap. Small gadgets such as hardware tools, and sometimes even money will be given out directly.

Although the materials and money distributed rarely fall into the hands of each household, they always make the residents of Penglai City happy and full of gratitude to the Daqi royal family.

To say something disrespectful in private, the imperial family of Da Qi treated the people of Penglai City much better than the current imperial court.

"In fact, while land annexation has begun to expand in the south, the entire northern region has rarely maintained a large-scale small-scale peasant economy, with a large number of homesteaders and no serious land annexation. If the weather is good, after paying After receiving the taxes from the imperial court, most of the people are living a pretty good life. Although they are not as wealthy as the people in the Jiangnan area, at least they are not exposed to cold and hunger and can live a comfortable and comfortable year."

In a luxuriously decorated carriage, Qi Dexuan, the guardian of the imperial mausoleum town of Qi State, saw his grandson Qi Zexuan looking at the villages on the side of the road through the car window. He seemed to be a little surprised by the dilapidated houses, so he explained softly.

"Compared to other places, the life of the people in Dengzhou is pretty good. At the very least, during the off-farm season, they can go to Penglai City or Huangling City to do some odd jobs and earn some cash to pay taxes to the court. . This has to be put aside in other parts of the Qin State. The interest collected throughout the year refers to the crops grown in the fields, and there is no extra money at all. For taxes in summer and autumn, we can only sell a small amount of the harvest for money, and finally leave it to They didn't have much food left for the winter. Fortunately, the people of Qin were hardworking and diligent, and they could plant some potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes in the fields. Mixed with a small amount of rice and wheat, they could also fill their stomachs. .”

Compared with the densely populated areas in the south of the Yangtze River, where the people are prosperous and peaceful, the northern areas appear to be sparsely populated and economically depressed.

Gein, after decades of wars such as the refugee riots in the late Ming Dynasty, the invasion of the Qing Dynasty, and the Northern Expedition of the Qin Dynasty, not only did the entire northern region become a wasteland, the economy was completely destroyed, and the landlord class was almost wiped out. Huge population losses.

After the Second Northern Expedition of the Qin Dynasty, the Qing captives were expelled and the north was recovered, they actively restored local people's livelihood and distributed a large amount of ownerless land to farmers. For a long period of time, most areas in the north were basically sparsely populated and plentiful, and many places were even desolate and inhabited, which also alleviated class conflicts to a certain extent. In addition, in order to guard against the forces in Beiming, Dongdan, Bohai and other northeastern regions, Daqin also continued to move people from the interior to Liaodong to immigrate to the border areas and enrich the population in the border areas. Immigration from Monan, Mobei, Qinghai, Hexi (Corridor), Western Regions and other regions also diverted a large number of surplus manpower from inland areas to a large extent.

Under such circumstances, although the population of the northern region has almost doubled compared with forty years ago, it still appears to be somewhat sparsely populated.

Not to mention, there are many overseas Xia countries who come to the mainland through various channels to recruit or "abduct" people. In addition to operating in the narrow and densely populated Jiangnan area, they also work in the northern coastal areas to encourage those who want to The people of Qin who were seeking a better life went overseas to pan for gold and make a fortune.

That's right, in addition to the news of gold or silver mines being discovered somewhere in Qi's mainland and overseas territories from time to time, Beiming also categorically said that huge reserves of gold or silver have been discovered in Zhenzhou, Kuye Island, Yinzhou and other places. Gold mines, the Zheng family and Weiguo of Luzon immediately followed up and promoted it. There were also many gold mines and copper mines on the islands under their control. Naturally, Shunguo, Ha Tien, and Liangguo were not to be left behind. of gold and silver minerals.

For a time, it seemed that except for the mainland of China, there were gold mines everywhere overseas, attracting the people of Great Qin to yearn for them.

His grandma’s will suffocate the brave to death and starve the timid to death!

If you go overseas and find some gold and come back, wouldn't it mean that you can step into a wealthy family in one step, where you can be well-liked and drink hot food? Not only can you change your own destiny, but you can also blessed your descendants.

With the dream of finding gold and wealth, many people secretly boarded immigration ships sent by overseas countries and embarked on a dream-seeking journey without hesitation.

"Our Qi State will pull at least tens of thousands of immigrants from Penglai Port every year." Qi Dexuan said with a smile: "Almost 80% of the people will be sent to Hanzhou mainland and Nanyang territory, and the rest will be transported to Yinzhou Several viceroyalties (in America).”

"Didn't the Qin court strictly prohibit the people of the country from traveling abroad at will?" Qi Zexuan heard this and couldn't help but asked curiously: "In that case, how come Penglai alone attracts tens of thousands of immigrants every year?"

"Your Highness is unaware of something." Qi Dexuan said: "Now in the Qin State, the practice of overseas migration has been turned into an industry. In Penglai County alone, there are no less than a hundred people organizing immigration and intermediaries, and among the participants In addition to local tyrannical forces, there are also government officials, town soldiers, naval forces, and some evil gangsters. In addition, various overseas businessmen, plantation owners, mine investors, and Nanyang vassal governments participated, making the Qin State Immigration activities have taken off without any prohibitions. It is very annoying to say that the Nanyang vassals always secretly recruit immigrants in the name of our country of Qi. After coaxing the immigrants onto the ship, they all take them to their own homes. The territory is gone, and it’s too late to make people cry.”

"Even if the Nanyang vassals deceive people, they won't treat them harshly." Qi Zexuan couldn't help laughing after hearing this, "At least we have to give them land and houses, so that they can have a good life for two or three years. People cry and regret. They also know that those who are not of my race must have different hearts. They are all from the same Chinese race and can be relied on as their own. Only when the number of Han people is large can we completely suppress the natives in their respective countries. and barbarians.”

"Having said that, the people of Qin State have always known that our country of Qi is rich and treats immigrants very well, and they all yearn for it. But who knew that after all the hard work and a lot of money, they were deceived by the Nanyang vassals After passing the past, it is inevitable to feel disappointed. Speaking of which, those tongues and intermediaries are too evil. Whoever offers more benefits will use all means and deception to get uninformed immigrants onto the ship. Well, as long as After the immigration ships left the port, they had no choice but to do everything themselves. In order to prevent accidents, the immigration ships of various vassals would not stop too much along the way, let alone sail into the ports and territories along the way of Qi State, or even It will sail directly back to its home port in one go.”

After hearing this, Qi Zexuan just smiled and stopped talking.

As the guardian envoy sent by the royal family to Huangling City, Qi Dexuan must have used the influence of Qi State and the network he built locally to participate in this kind of immigrant smuggling and transshipment activities, and made a lot of profits.

Although Qi officials had stopped large-scale active immigration decades ago, the Hanzhou mainland and various governor-general territories in Nanyang will provide corresponding financial subsidies (mainly) to immigrants arriving through various channels. Provide loan guarantees for immigrants) to increase the population of the jurisdiction.

If those businessmen who invest in plantations and mines in the Nanyang Territory can attract a large number of immigrants, the local government will also provide some degree of tax relief to encourage them to import valuable immigrant populations into their jurisdictions.

It can be said that the Nanyang vassals are definitely the main competitors of Qi in terms of introducing immigrants from the mainland. They all hope to obtain more people and enrich their country's strength.

"Your Highness, after the port thaws, do you really not consider going to Ningzhou (today's Sapporo, Hokkaido)?" Qi Dexuan hesitated and asked softly.

"I won't go." Qi Zexuan shook his head and said: "The war between Qin and Ming Dynasty is about to break out. Beiming invited me to visit Ningzhou with the obvious intention of giving the Qin court an illusion. Our stance on this war is to To them. Thus, Qin State was wary of using rat weapons to fight against the Northern Ming Dynasty."

"Then what is our attitude?"

"People from Beiming asked you to ask?"

"..." Qi Dexuan smiled awkwardly and said: "They have no idea. They are a little worried that... because they actively provoke a war, our Qi State will give up its support for them on the grounds that it does not comply with the "Security and Mutual Assistance Treaty". ."

"The Qin court has always maintained the greatest degree of restraint and restraint against Beiming's provocations. They just don't want to open a second battlefield when the war in the northwest is in full swing, thus affecting their overall strategy." Qi Zexuan sighed. tone, "But Beiming wants to take advantage of the fact that Qin's military deployment in Liaodong has not yet been completed, to preemptively attack the entire Northeast, thereby delaying Qin's immigration to the border and ensuring the security of their Zhenzhou territory. If our Qi State Volume Entering war and then breaking out into conflict with Qin is very inconsistent with our current national interests."

When Qi Dexuan heard this, he immediately understood.

This war is not impossible to fight, but don’t make things too big.

We, the Qi State, don’t want to end up falling out with the Qin State yet.

(End of this chapter)