The primary problem Zhu Cixi faces now is not Dorgon or Li Zicheng, but the problem of feeding the 100 million people in the southeast. Among them, the problem of feeding the more than 10 million refugees from the north is even more top priority!
And the land he can use to solve the problem of food, even taking into account the recovery of most of the territory in Huguang, is only about 400 million acres. The per capita amount is just over two and a half acres...if all of it is used to grow food, it would be enough to eat.
But the problem is that hundreds of millions of people can’t bare their butts! You still have to wear clothes, you have to dress warmly, it’s a cold little ice age now! Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had to export silk cotton in exchange for silver. In fact, the amount of silk cotton exported was not very large compared with the domestic consumption of tens of millions of people. Even if trade was banned, it would not save much.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty society is also full of injustices - it is the end of feudal society and the primary stage of capitalism, so what the heck if it can be fair!
Therefore, food, which is already relatively tight, cannot be distributed evenly. For the people at the bottom, it is even more difficult to have enough to eat.
Zhu Cihong had only two ways to solve the people's problem of feeding. One was to try to import and encourage colonization - by charging "tariff grain", Chinese and foreign merchant ships entering the southeast trade ports could import rice from Shuichenla and Champa. At the same time, by creating demand for rice imports, maritime merchants participated in the movement to colonize Shui Chenla or Champa.
The second is to destroy the mail-in system in the southeastern rural areas - that is, to deprive scholar-officials of their tax-free privileges, thereby increasing the marketization of agriculture!
The marketization of agriculture sounds like a scourge. However, when the tax-free privileges of scholar-bureaucrats, clans, and nobles are deprived, and unfair means of annexing land such as delinquency and donation are eliminated, and farmland transfer based on oral plans cannot be implemented, then agriculture has actually become market-oriented. Now that marketization has been achieved, of course there will also be land mergers and bankruptcies of farmers due to competition!
In fact, external "rice colonization" and internal agricultural marketization are complementary to each other.
Without domestic annexation and bankruptcy, who would go to the miasmatic land in the south to cultivate land? Moreover, those that could carry the "rice colonization" movement promoted by maritime merchants could only be farms operated in a capitalist manner, not the estates of feudal lords.
Similarly, if there is no agriculture that is more market-oriented and adapted to competition, once "rice colonization" develops, it will in turn impact the small farmer economy in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty...
In short, in order to eat, Nanming now has to embark on the road of capitalism, and also has to plunge into the Age of Discovery when colonialism was rampant.
It’s so hard and so evil!
...
"Your Majesty, now the entire De'an Prefecture and the entire Hanyang Prefecture have been captured by our army. Chengtian Prefecture is only one short of Jingmen Prefecture City, and the rest is our Dashun territory. Jianli of Jingzhou Prefecture County and Yuan'an County are also in our hands.
Now Jingmen Prefecture has been surrounded by Bohou's army, three layers inside and three layers outside! There are also many people from Jingmen Prefecture who took the initiative to serve in front of the army and help dig trenches and siege the city!
Jiangling County and Yiling Prefecture are under the control of Zuo's army, but Zuo Liangyu's life and death are unknown now, and Zuo Menggeng does not dare to test the front of their Dashun Tianbing soldiers, so the city in Jiangbei is only heavily defended. "
Inside the Hanyang magistrate's office, Li Zicheng was listening to Tian Jianxiu's report on the war situation.
The situation seems to be favorable to Dashun Dynasty! Li Zicheng's first goal of invading Huguang southward has basically been achieved. Only Jingmen Prefecture in Chengtian Prefecture, Jiangling County and Yiling Prefecture in Jingzhou Prefecture, and Huangzhou Prefecture in the easternmost part of Huguang have not yet been captured.
"Hahaha," Li Zicheng laughed, stroking his beard with satisfaction and said, "Finally, we have won a lot of extremely rich territory! We in Dashun will not have to worry about food problems this year and next year!"
The "eating problem" he refers to is not a problem of filling the stomachs of ordinary people, but a problem of how his Dashun court spends its money.
It’s true that every family has its own sutras that are difficult to recite! Li Zicheng did not have to worry about the problem of eating for tens of millions of people, but he was worried about the expenses of his court and army day and night.
It's still the same old problem - his emperor has suffered a loss again! Even if you become an emperor and lose money, then there is really no one left!
The last time it was due to the "three years of no conquests", but this time it was due to the "enclosure and granting of land". Among the five prefectures owned by Li Zicheng, Xi'an Prefecture is fighting against the Shun, Qing, and Wu families, and Hanzhong Prefecture is the base camp to support the Xi'an Prefecture battle and the future Sichuan War. Neither of these two prefectures can contribute to the Xiangjing Prefecture court. Money and food. The three prefectures of Xiangjing, Yuanyang, and Nanyang lost their income because of enclosing and granting land to the "old camp warriors".
Not only was there no place to collect land tax, but even the business taxes that had been paid in small amounts could not be collected. It was the enclosure and conferment of land that directly destroyed the private commerce of Xiangjing, Yuanyang, and Nanyang. In the Ming Dynasty, rural commerce and finance were all controlled by the landlords and gentry. After the encirclement of land and conferral of land, the collapse of the landlords and gentry in the three prefectures, Running away, business circulation and financial lending have been suspended, so what taxes are still collected?
Without commercial taxes and land taxes, could Li Zicheng, the emperor, not suffer losses? These days, he, the emperor, is relying on the old foundation brought by Beijing to maintain the situation, but there are not many old foundations left. If he does not make up for it, Li Zicheng is likely to follow in Chongzhen's footsteps and become a poor man. The emperor!
"Zuo Fu," Li Zicheng smiled and said to Niu Jinxing, "hurry up and send someone to take charge of the planning of the three prefectures of Chengtian, De'an and Hanyang. How many acres of land is suitable for one allocation? Can you calculate it? Already?"
"Reporting to your Majesty," Zuo Fu of the Dashun Dynasty, the Prime Minister Niu Jinxing, said with a smile, "I have asked Niu Quan (Niu Jinxing's son) to take people to look through the household registration files of the three prefectures, and also found the three prefectures. After asking the old officials from various states and counties, they roughly got some numbers. These three prefectures are very prosperous, with flat land and close to the Han River. Half of the farmland is paddy fields, and the population is considered large. If you want to count the dictated fields , one should be granted three to six acres...it can be increased or decreased according to the quality of the land received, and the average number should be no less than four acres."
Li Zicheng said: "Four acres per mouth is not too much!"
"Your Majesty," Niu Jinxing smiled, "the fields between Jianghan and Han are not comparable to the land in Shaanxi and Henan... If we are familiar with Huguang, we will have enough in the world!"
"That's right," Li Zicheng smiled, "I've heard people say that, so how much land tax should we receive?"
"There are fat and thin fields, so we cannot generalize. If we take the middle number, it should be no less than three bushels." Niu Jinxing said, "If it is calculated as 25 million acres, the annual income should be no less than 7 million shi of white rice!"
"How much can we collect this year?" Li Zicheng asked with eyes wide open.
"At least five million stone white rice."
"Okay!" Li Zicheng rubbed his hands, looking like he was scared of poverty, "With five million dan, I will be worthy of being the emperor this year!" He paused, and suddenly asked, "Zuo Fu, guys Did you collect too much? How much did the red thieves collect in the three mansions of Jianghan in a year? It couldn't be five million stones, right? Did you collect less?"
After hearing this, Niu Jinxing quickly said to Li Zicheng in a flattering tone: "Your Majesty is indeed a benevolent and righteous king. The total tax and grain allocated to Huguang by Zhu Thief is only more than two million dan, even including various assessments and tax discounts." Se Huanxian, the common people would not be able to produce more than 10 million dan. Divided into the three prefectures of Jianghan and Han Dynasties, the maximum amount was only two to three million dan. However, at that time, most of the land did not pay taxes, and it was either a military camp or a farm. Wang Tian, is either Shen Tian or Hidden Tian. Is there twenty million acres of land in Huguang that is actually subject to tax? Therefore, the burden on ordinary small farmers is not light... But even so , the ground in Huguang is relatively calm, and there are no rebels rising from Huguang."
Li Zicheng nodded and took a long breath: "Okay, just five million stones... There are a lot of places to spend money now. The Workers' Government and the Military Government have a lot of expenditures. Xi'an Prefecture Bian also sent people to urge for money and food, but now we are just pointing to Huguang for food!"
