After Liu Yan returned to Jinan Fucheng, he was blocked by Xun Jingyun, deputy minister of the shogunate's Ministry of War: "Supervisor, the new army and garrison officers and soldiers in various places are not allotted enough cultivated land. Some military members are even only allocated more than ten acres of cultivated land. This is a big problem. !”
"When the New Deal was implemented before, didn't the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Household Affairs take over a large amount of cultivated land from gentry, officials, and merchants from all over the country? Some purchased it at a low price, some recovered it, and some gave it up voluntarily. Why is there not enough cultivated land now? ?”
Xun Jingyun said: "My subordinates have verified with both the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Household Affairs. It is true that a lot of cultivated land has been obtained. However, there have been serious disasters in various parts of Shandong, and there are countless refugees and victims in various places. To resettle people and resume production, those confiscated The cultivated land has been distributed continuously, and it has been basically distributed for a long time. When it is the turn of the New Army and the garrison soldiers to distribute cultivated land, there is not much cultivated land transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Household Affairs."
Liu Yan frowned. The promise he had made must be fulfilled, otherwise he would break the trust of the people and deal a heavy blow to the morale of the military.
So Liu Yan said: "Immediately send someone to Qingzhou Fucheng to call Zhang Lei back."
"In addition, the shogunate's military department immediately raised some money and grain, calculated based on the amount of fifty acres per household, and distributed the income from the fifty acres of cultivated land on a monthly basis to those military dependents who were not allocated cultivated land."
"yes."
Xun Jingyun suddenly had an idea and said: "Master Governor, I think what the Governor said is a good way to directly solve the current problem. If there is insufficient farmland, just give money and food to the military subordinates on a monthly basis."
Liu Yan shook his head and said: "I have thought of this method before, but in the end
Later he denied it himself. "
"Why?"
"Think about it, the new army and the garrison have 150,000 troops. Even if one-third of the military dependents are not allocated farmland, the shogunate will have to bear the expenses of 50,000 households. And in the future, as the army continues to expand, this amount will Expenses will continue to increase and the burden will become heavier and heavier.”
"In addition, directly distributing money and food to military dependents will also arouse the jealousy of those who are allocated farmland, and will also make the military dependents accustomed to reaching out to the shogunate for money, creating inertia."
"The most serious thing is that using this method means that at least 50,000 households will no longer farm and produce, and will be completely dependent on them. This will also be a huge blow to the recovery of people's livelihood in various parts of Shandong!"
Xun Jingyun couldn't imagine that this seemingly good method had so many drawbacks, and he was frightened for a while, so he immediately said: "I understand. I will prepare money and food now. I will deal with it temporarily and wait for Minister Zhang to come back." "
Six days later, Zhang Lei rushed back to Jinan Fucheng. In the governor's palace, Zhang Lei learned about the shortage of cultivated land in various places. He was not too surprised. Instead, he said: "Master Governor, I thought that various places were not There is not enough cultivated land, but most of the cultivated land in the six prefectures of Shandong is still concentrated in the hands of officials, gentry, and merchants from various places, and the cultivated land they handed over is only a small part."
"My subordinates believe that there are two ways to solve the current problem of insufficient cultivated land. One is to continue to seize cultivated land from officials, gentry, and merchants from various places. The other is to mobilize money and grain, recruit civilians, and start to reclaim wasteland throughout Shandong."
Liu Yan sighed and said: "Of course I know that the cultivated land is
In whose hands is it? The governor has also thought about continuing to get farmland from the hands of those powerful officials and gentry, but it is not practical at the moment. "
Liu Yan is indeed powerless now. Although the New Deal has been steadily implemented and people's livelihood and tax revenue have improved significantly across Shandong, the external environment has become increasingly bad.
According to the newspaper sent by the imperial court, the names of Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu Town, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong Town, Tang Tong, the chief soldier of Miyun Town, Ma Ke, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan Town, and Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of Dongxie Town Soldiers and horses have been moving south one after another. Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, was also appointed by Emperor Chongzhen as the governor of the three sides, taking charge of military and political affairs in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Xuanda.
However, Li Zicheng's momentum was even greater. Only the city of Kaifeng in Henan was still struggling to hold on. Gao Mingheng and Chen Yongfu were besieged by an army of bandits and unable to move in the city, just like in history.
As for Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, most of them have been lost due to the rampage of Li Guo, Li Dingguo and other troops.
Immediately afterwards, Li Zicheng left a band of bandits to continue to besiege Kaifeng City. He led the main force of hundreds of thousands of bandits to threaten Tongguan and blocked Sun Chuanting's Supervisor Camp in the pass. The rest of the Ming army rushed to support, but were constantly defeated by the bandit army. check.
Up to now, the Ming army's soldiers and horses in various towns are still fighting separately, and they are gathering towards Tongguan with great difficulty. They have not completed the gathering at all, and they will be defeated by the army of thieves at any time!
Therefore, under the current situation, Liu Yan could no longer touch the "cake" of the powerful officials and gentry, and could not destabilize Shandong. He must always maintain the best condition to cope with the current situation.
Seeing that Liu Yan was unwilling to continue to seize farmland from the powerful hands of the officials and gentry, Zhang Lei also understood that
Seeing the difficulty, he just sighed and said: "I understand the difficulty of the governor, so I can only reclaim wasteland. However, it will take a few days for me to calculate the required manpower based on the actual situation in various places grasped by the Ministry of Agriculture." , financial and material resources, and then report to the governor after accounting."
Liu Yan nodded and said, "Okay, just as soon as possible."
Three days later, Zhang Lei came to the Governor's Mansion and handed Liu Yan a Shandong reclamation strategy.
Liu Yan took the strategy and looked at Zhang Lei. He saw that Zhang Lei had a full beard and a lot of bloodshot eyes, so he said, "You haven't slept much in the past three days, have you?"
Zhang Lei said with a wry smile: "My subordinates basically haven't slept. There are too many things to do. The entire Ministry of Agriculture has been busy with this strategy for the past three days. The basic situation and distribution of farmland in various places in Shandong can be The distribution of reclaimed wasteland, which wastelands can be reclaimed, and which wastelands require too much investment and are too far away from towns and are temporarily unsuitable for reclamation, all these situations must be sorted out one by one."
"Fortunately, in recent years, with the implementation of new policies in various places, officials at all levels have been forced to go out and conduct on-the-spot inspections in their jurisdictions. The Ministry of Agriculture has successively obtained a large amount of data on cultivated land. Otherwise, the governors would not be able to produce it even if they forced their subordinates to death. This strategy.”
Liu Yan said: "This is the benefit of data storage. Okay, let me take a look at this strategy first. You don't have to do anything today and go back to sleep. Anyone in the Ministry of Agriculture who is as tired as you will also take a day off and go home. Go to sleep."
After Liu Yan "driven away" Zhang Lei, he looked at this strategy.
The Ministry of Agriculture divides the reclaimable wasteland in Shandong provinces into three categories. The first category is close to cities, villages and towns, and the soil fertility is relatively good.
It can be cultivated by investing in the construction of water conservancy facilities; the second class is close to cities, villages and towns, but the soil fertility is average or very poor. Even if money and grain are invested in building water conservancy facilities, there will not be much output.
The third level is that it is far away from anywhere and is surrounded by deserted people. Even if the soil fertility is very good, it is difficult to cultivate such cultivated land unless the people are moved over and new villages are built around it. However, this would not only require a huge investment, but also involve too many factors such as farming season and household registration, making it unrealistic.
Zhang Lei made statistics on the amount of cultivated land in the third class. The first class only accounted for 20%, the second class accounted for 40%, and the third class accounted for 40%.
Liu Yan shook his head after reading this. According to the number of military households lacking land given by the Shogunate's Ministry of War, even if all the first-class and second-class cultivated land were cultivated, there would still be some shortcomings.
"Then change your thinking. Those military families can also be arranged to work in various workshops and shops to have a stable income."
So Liu Yan wrote instructions in the strategy and ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to coordinate with the Ministry of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce, so that the Ministry of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce would arrange as many military dependents as possible to replace fifty acres of cultivated land with work in workshops and shops.
Liu Yan naturally knew that based on the current ideas of the people, it is estimated that not many military families would be willing to give up fifty acres of farmland to choose jobs in workshops and shops, so he would increase publicity.
By working in workshops and shops, you can learn a craft and increase your knowledge. Maybe in the future, the next generation will not have to face the earth with their backs to the sky, etc.
Liu Yan also spelled out the importance of publicity in his instructions, asking the Ministry of Agriculture to increase publicity efforts.
Early the next morning, Zhang Lei received Liu Yan's instructions and immediately came to the Ministry of Commerce
, negotiated with Song Gongming.
"Haha, that's no problem. Could you please Minister Zhang to give me a list of military dependents that need to be arranged by each government, state, and county? I can also contact local workshops and shops."
Zhang Lei said: "Okay, I will send someone to deliver it early tomorrow morning. I will thank Minister Song for this."
"Haha, what are you and I being polite about? We are just trying to relieve the governor's worries. But it may be difficult to implement it at this time. After all, the most important thing for the people now is land. In troubled times, only land is the most real thing. Without land, there is no food, and there is no guarantee of survival. This concept is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people."
Zhang Lei said: "This is natural, but it is much better in Shandong. With the governor here, who can cause trouble in Shandong? If there is a disaster, the shogunate will also provide relief, so the possibility of fleeing from famine is very low. The Ministry of Agriculture will step up As for the big propaganda, today I will mobilize people to go to various places to preach."
"Okay, our Ministry of Commerce will also mobilize some manpower to cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture to mobilize those military families."
"Okay, that's settled the matter, I have to rush back."
Song Gongming said with a smile: "Minister Zhang, don't be in a hurry to go back. We haven't seen each other for a long time. Today I will be the host and go to the Yuanyang Tower in the city for a banquet."
"Haha, Minister Song is so cheerful. But right now, the Ministry of Agriculture has a lot of affairs, so I really can't leave. Let's do it next time. I have to go back to arrange the reclamation of wasteland. In the afternoon, I have to go to the Ministry of Finance to ask for money and food from Minister Yue. Woolen cloth."
Song Gongming sighed and said: "I think in the entire shogunate, you and Minister Tian from the Ministry of War are the most busy. You are all working hard. Some things need to be handed over.
Just let the people below take care of it, don't do everything yourself, it will make you exhausted. "
Zhang Lei said goodbye with a smile and clasped his fists.
Three days later, the Ministry of Finance allocated a large amount of money and grain, and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture began to dispatch in batches to various parts of Shandong to hire civilians, reclaim wasteland on a large scale, and at the same time settle the military civilians who had not yet been allocated land.
This reclamation can be said to be the largest one in Shandong in the past century. It was so huge that even Kong Yinzhi, the Duke of Yansheng of Qufu, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, and Zhu Youshu, the king of virtue, heard the news. Everyone was amazed and shocked Liu Yan. financial resources and mobilization capabilities.
You must know that for the simultaneous large-scale development of wasteland in Shandong, a huge amount of civilians need to be recruited, manpower needs to be organized, and materials need to be mobilized.
This is just reclaiming wasteland, what if it is a foreign war?
It can be said that this great development not only allowed the people of Shandong to see Liu Yan's determination to serve the people wholeheartedly, but also made all parties realize that the power of Liu Yan, the governor of Shandong, was no longer controllable by the imperial court.
Soon the news reached the capital. Hong Chengchou sighed after hearing the news and said to his surroundings: "Liu Yan has a powerful army and is good at buying people's hearts. His ambition is by no means small, and his power can no longer be controlled!"
After Emperor Chongzhen heard the news about the great development of Shandong from Wang Chengen, he sat alone in the imperial study for a whole day, silent.
