Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2064 Poor Changes ([-])

On May 1689, 5, beside the expanding pier outside Haizhou City, Feng Yu, the prefect of Haizhou in the Qing Dynasty, had just returned from singing with a group of literati and gentry.

At this gathering of literati and scholars, Feng Zhizhou used "port" as the topic for the first time, allowing the young talents present to explain the great significance of Haizhou's opening of the port to the imperial court.Regrettably, there are many young talents in Haizhou, and even few of them are familiar with the scriptures. But if they are asked to write articles on the topic of port opening, it will be a bit embarrassing. .Occasionally, a few people who are proficient in current affairs can solve some problems a little bit, but it is not enough at all, and Feng Yu shakes his head when he sees it.

However, Feng Zhizhou was not discouraged. It hadn't been a few years since the imperial court was determined to reform, and there were not many officials in the local area who understood these things, let alone civilian scholars.Even Feng Yu himself met some Western missionaries when he was in the capital, and learned some new Western learning from them.Later, his mansion also hired a bankrupt captain who was said to be from "Italy", and learned a lot of information about the ocean and European countries from him. He is good at learning and has attracted the attention of some court officials.

This time, Feng Yu released Haizhou from outside the capital as the magistrate, which was also a test for Suoetuso Zhongtang to see what kind of achievements he could make in the expansion and opening of Haizhou Port.After all, what the court needs is not only the talent of talking, but also depends on the ability of people to do practical work.

Feng Yu arrived in Haizhou at the end of last year to take office.As soon as he took office, he summoned the business gentry from all over the state and asked each of them to contribute money and food, and built large-scale construction projects on the shore of Haizhou Port, building halls, warehouses, lighthouses, and horse infantry barracks.These facilities are necessary for every large-scale trading port. The original facilities of Haizhou Port were damaged in the earthquake that year, and those that were not damaged were unusable, and new ones had to be built.You must know that the great earthquake in Tancheng, Shandong, caused Haizhou to "retreat [-] miles behind the sea". Although some docks and storage facilities have been restored in recent years, it is far from enough, and funds must be allocated for reconstruction.

The imperial court paid some money, but only a mere 20 taels. Even with the cheap prices and abundant labor force in China, it was far from enough. Therefore, the imperial court ordered the Lianghuai Saltworks to allocate part of the tax that will be sent to the central government this year. The 20 taels of silver were handed over to Feng Yu nearby for his unified allocation and use.

Of course, 40 taels is still a bit tight, especially since Feng Yu invited several "experts" from the Netherlands and England to plan the port to be taller and more expensive than expected, so he plans to find wealthy businessmen and landlords in Haizhou For alms, try to send a donation of one hundred thousand taels of silver.Anyway, many people living in Haizhou are rich, and there is still a lot of potential to be tapped.

"Punish lightly, strengthen the foundation and support the people, and discuss the real side." After returning to the study room of the back house of the yamen, after drinking the soup prepared by Xinna's concubine, Feng Yu spread out the notebook refreshedly, intending to write own policy agenda.During the six months in Haizhou, he did not waste it. Instead, he traveled to many places and learned a lot of things.These accumulations, after corroborating with what he had learned in Beijing before, undoubtedly brought his understanding to a higher level, so he planned to write it down with a pen, check and refine it from time to time.

"...The land tax is the official offering, and it is the main source of the imperial court's income. In recent years, it has reached more than two-thirds. However, in recent years, the governors of several provinces have been entrusted with great power to teach the people arbitrarily and listen to them. The folks The harder it is to complete the payment, the more intense the pursuit of the subordinate officials, the more resentment the common people, and the refusal to accept the payment one after another, which often leads to huge cases. There are probably two cases here, one is that the payment is light, and the punishment is equal. Exhausting the wealth of the people, Xingping refuses to ruin the lives of the people."

After writing this paragraph, Feng Yu paused and began to think seriously.Once upon a time, land tax was the main financial source of "My Great Qing Dynasty", accounting for about 20% to [-]% at one time.However, after more than ten or [-] years of rapid development of foreign trade, the proportion of this part of the income has begun to decline significantly, and it is now less than [-]%. Spread out the area.

Especially in coastal ports such as Xiangshui and Haizhou, merchants gathered quickly, and various handicraft factories opened gradually.The increase of these workshops is still very beneficial to the increase of the country's fiscal revenue, so it is very important to the court. You must know that the court is very short of money recently.

However, the development of industry and commerce also brought many problems, such as driving more labor to work in factories, which caused certain conflicts with traditional gentry.Huai'an Prefecture has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times. The tradition of farming has been very deep, which has occupied a large number of labor force population.As a result, a few decades ago, the god-damned people on the east coast moved away 50 people. Although it has developed steadily since then, it still has not recovered the population of the heyday.Now because of the prevalence of sea trade, a large amount of labor is required to work in factories, which naturally leads to conflicts with traditional gentry.

In all fairness, the Manchu Qing court actually did not want to see such chaos in society.But the problem is that they urgently need money now, a lot of money, so they support the sea trade, and even support the merchants who process goods for the sea trade.What's more, these businessmen are not without roots. Behind many of them are big men from the DPRK and China, pointing to the huge profits from maritime trade to get a share of the pie. The central government did not play much role at all, causing local disputes to continue, making Feng Yu and other people who are worried about state affairs sigh.

Feng Yu, as a new official, naturally tends to be industrial and commercial people in his heart.However, as the chief official of the local government, he also knew that he should not be too biased, otherwise he was afraid that it would affect the overall situation, that is, he must firmly adhere to the principles of "light payment and punishment" and "equal punishment" and try everything possible to stabilize the court situation.Landlords and gentry families don’t cultivate their land, and if their income decreases, they will collect less tax; if there are various conflicts between the two sides, strictly follow the law, this is the right way.

Of course, Feng Yu also knows that this kind of thing is easier to know than to do. It is true in theory, but it is the same in practice.You see, after he himself went to Haizhou to take up his post, didn't he also upset the gentry and businessmen?How can this reflect the "lightness of endowment"?However, as small as a person or as large as a country, shouldn't everyone have a principle or program?Whether you can do it or not is one thing, but whether you can do it or not is another.

"...to strengthen the foundation and support the people, the most important thing is to reward the honest officials. Nowadays, the official career is complicated. Although there are many capable officials, there are quite a few honest officials. Most of them are in sick countries. Investigate the integrity of the officials, recommend them with Lu Zhang, and give special mention to the rest." After writing this paragraph, Feng Yu is actually quite complacent.Although he has received a lot of filial piety from his subordinates throughout the year, and some routine money is accepted as usual, but he thinks he is clean and honest, because these money are normal favors, and it is normal to receive them.

For example, during the holidays, if the subordinates send some money and things, is there anything to criticize for receiving them?For some regular money, if there is a little change left after doing something temporarily, according to the usual practice, after making up for the daily office expenses of the government office, you can seal a red envelope and distribute bonuses to everyone, and divide the balance .Theoretically speaking, this kind of money is public funds and cannot be used without authorization, but the problem is that it is handled in this way in official circles across the country, so there is nothing wrong with taking it, as long as it is not excessive.In addition, Feng Yu really confiscated any money, and it can be said that he is honest and promising, so he believes that rewarding honest officials is very important to strengthen the foundation and support the people.

Of course, his idea may be somewhat idealized.In fact, given the current situation of the Manchu Qing court, there were very few honest officials, pitifully few, and most of them were in the Qingshui Yamen, where they were full of complaints on weekdays.If the imperial court really relied on these people, it would be impossible to tell the truth. They could complain and fire guns, but they might not be able to do practical things, and they might cause a lot of losses to the country.However, this is the limitation of Feng Yu’s time. In the Qing Dynasty at the end of the 17th century, although most of the officialdom was corrupt, anti-corruption was also politically correct. Feng Zhizhou was immersed in it, and he didn’t collect much money. It can consolidate the illusion of supporting the people.

"... discussing real borders is especially important in this extraordinary world. Galdan's wolf is ambitious, spying on China, and the imperial court dispatched troops to encircle and suppress, but failed repeatedly. More than [-] elite and brave soldiers were exhausted, and the veterans were exhausted. Kuang Guo Expenditures are also enormous, and if things go on like this, the people will suffer greatly, so it is better to set up a large army near the border to save money in the treasury."

"...Mongolia has a vast territory, and there are many places for military settlements. Once the livestock are multiplied, the horses will be strong, and the farming work will be prosperous. Therefore, the recruiting army can train troops and save wages. It is a good strategy for consolidating the frontier. , break the root of Galdan."

Writing here, Feng Yu wisely did not mention the matter of the Manchurian military settlements, and the political risk is indeed a bit high.Although the imperial court always mentions Manchuria and Mongolian unity, but in the final analysis, the status of the Mongols is still not as good as that of the Manchurians. Therefore, it is possible to recruit soldiers and immigrants in Mongolia for military settlements, but it is very unwise to even mention Manchuria. .Feng Yu is not stupid, so he naturally knows where to step on and where is a minefield not to step on.

Moreover, there is also a practical need to recruit troops from the pass to the Mongolian military camp, which is the huge threat posed by the Mongolian Galdan in Moxi.This wolf of the prairie is really too cunning. Sometimes he sent people to attack Gansu, sometimes he personally led troops to attack Khalkha Mongolia, and sometimes he appeared on the border of Monan Mongolia again, exhausting the Qing court who wanted to encircle and suppress him. .A while ago, one of their lost troops was even surrounded and annihilated by Galdan in the desert, which greatly shook the morale of more than [-] Qing troops on the front line. Erdan.

More than [-] troops playing hide-and-seek with Galdan on the Mongolian grasslands is not a small waste.In fact, in order to maintain this huge consumption, the imperial court has already increased taxes nationwide and confiscated hundreds of thousands of civilians in the four provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu to transport food and supplies. The price paid is actually quite high .

Therefore, if the policy is relaxed at this time and the Han army in the pass goes to the border of Mongolia for military settlement, it should be able to solve considerable troubles.First of all, these people are Han Chinese, and they will not hook up with Galdan like those Mongols. It greatly reduces the fearless consumption caused by transshipment of materials from the mainland, and saves a lot of manpower, which is quite effective.

Feng Yu was not quite sure whether the court would agree to this proposal, but he tended to think it would.Some people in the DPRK have actually tested it on the sidelines before, and received a positive reply from the court. It can be seen that the upper echelons have no negative opinion on opening the Mongolian border. Therefore, this matter is actually imperative, and it may start this summer. get ready.

After writing these three articles, Feng Yu temporarily put down his pen, feeling a lot of emotion in his heart.The imperial court and the emperor are really worried about this country. I don't know how many ways they have thought of. Every time I think of this festival, Feng Yu can't help but shed tears. I wish I could share my worries for my father!Don't look at the imperial court now covering most of China, with tens of millions of people, and millions of armored men.But in fact, Manchuria, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places are invaded by pirates in yellow clothes, while in the south there are military forces resisting, and in the northwest there are Junggar and Mongols staring at them. These days are really difficult.

Even though peace is being negotiated with the people of the Eastern Kingdom now, and the garrisons in Qingzhou, Hangzhou and other places have been slightly reduced, the Junggar, Shunni, South, and North still make the imperial court frown, not knowing how to deal with it.Feng Yu also participated in the imperial court meeting. It is generally believed that at present, we should follow the strategy of first going north, then going south, and finally raising troops to go east, step by step.That is to say, they first tried every means to deal with the threat of Galdan, and finally completely defeated and captured him to let his power disappear, and then they could concentrate materials and military forces to deal with the growing strength of the compliant regime in the south.

The Qing side has also heard about what is happening in the south, and they have realized that this is a race against time, that is, whoever finishes the internal affairs first will have the upper hand.Feng Yu hopes that the imperial court will achieve a decisive victory against Junggar and Mongolia within this year and next, and then transfer the elite troops gathered in the northern desert to the south to solve the troubles of obedience and rebellion.

And after that, it's almost time to start solving the troubles of the pirates in yellow.Feng Yu felt that after the destruction of Shun and Ming, "My Great Qing" had a population of tens of millions, an army of more than one million, and countless supplies, money and food. After introducing these places, there is absolutely no reason to win.The only thing to worry about is that the people from the Eastern Kingdom had acted brazenly before this to prevent "My Great Qing" from dominating the world. This has to be guarded against.

"The road ahead is bumpy, and I should go forward with a heavy burden. I will share my worries for the court and my father. What regrets do I have?" Feng Yu finally shook his head and sighed. Before he knew it, his eyes were a little moist.

(End of this chapter)