In the Forbidden City, Fengtian Hall and Nuan Pavilion in Nanjing, Beiyang Governor Shen Tingyang was telling Emperor Zhu and the ministers of the two governments what he knew and seen in the north.
"... Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, as well as the northwest of Shandong and Shuntianfu are really poor! The cities are dilapidated, the fields are barren, the rivers are silted up, the roads are blocked, and all industries are withered. Most of the people in the north are hungry. With no clothes to cover their bodies, the weak are selling their children and daughters to beg for a living, while the strong are gathering in the mountains and forests in a lawless manner. Faced with this situation, all the prefectures and counties are helpless!"
What Shen Tingyang said is basically true!
The Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition to the Central Plains was not actually fought fiercely. In most places, the war was carried out by the Qing army's active shrinkage and the Ming army's rapid takeover. Only a few areas saw fierce fighting.
However, the southern profiteers who followed the Ming Dynasty into the northern war zone (actually most of them were northern businessmen who went south) seriously destroyed the small peasant economy in the north, causing a large number of bankruptcies in the northern small farmers. Even those who have not gone bankrupt, their living standards are not as good as before. It’s time to be ruled by the Qing Dynasty!
This thing sounds incredible, but as long as you understand a little economic history, you will know that it is inevitable.
Because there is no place where the small-scale peasant economy can withstand the scourge of capitalism with its door completely open!
Now the southeastern part of the Ming Dynasty has entered the primary stage of capitalism, with developed commerce and emerging finance. Handicraft production has reached the level of the late-stage handicraft industry. In particular, the competitiveness of the textile industry, which is closely related to people's livelihood, is one of the best in the world. When cotton, silk, porcelain, and ironware produced in the southeast entered the north with Wang Shi and southern merchants, they easily destroyed the weak private handicraft industry in the north.
The main body of the private handicraft industry in the north is not actually the craftsmen living in the cities, but the "female weavers" who play an important role in the small-scale peasant economy. Men's farming and women's weaving formed the basis of the economy of the Northern Qing Dynasty. The taxation in the Beiqing Dynasty was also based on the corresponding rent adjustment, and the adjustment was to collect cloth (cotton or linen). And cloth played the role of currency in the Beiqing economy, which was extremely short of silver and had too many low-quality copper coins.
In other words, the monetary income of small farmers in the Northern Qing Dynasty was the inferior cloth produced by women weavers! The wealthy households among the small farmers in the Beiqing also collected a large amount of low-quality cloth. These cloths were the capital for their commercial activities. Although the Beiqing suppressed business, it was not without commerce. There were also differences between the rich and the poor among the small farmers in the Beiqing. .
When low-quality cloth has a currency function, its price is of course raised. Therefore, faced with the flood of cheap and high-quality Songjiang cloth, the low-quality cotton and linen in the north completely lost their market overnight. !
This not only meant that women's weaving, which was an important part of the northern small-scale peasant economy, could not be sustained, but also meant that merchants who had stored large amounts of low-quality cloth went bankrupt overnight.
After losing these small businessmen, the northern trade network that had taken more than ten years to slowly establish under the rule of the Qing Dynasty completely collapsed. Businessmen from the south, with strong capital and the support of Wang Shi, quickly established their own sales network, and the handicrafts they sold all came from the southeast...
Without the "monetary" income provided by the tiny handicraft industry, the economy of the north will naturally be in decline!
In addition, the three-year offensive also had an extremely negative impact on agricultural production and social security. The land was barren, bandits were rampant, cities were destroyed, water conservancy facilities were not maintained, and the water transportation system was paralyzed on a large scale, all of which were expected.
In short, the current situation in the north can be summed up in one word: poverty!
They are almost dying of poverty!
"The imperial court is also poor!" Zheng Zhilong also began to cry about poverty. Old Zheng's face was drooping, as if he was about to go bankrupt. "Hundreds of thousands of troops have not returned yet, and military expenditures are staggering. Several northern The feudal towns still have to spend money to move or set up, and troops are expected to be sent to the grasslands. Beijing and Tianjin cities have to spend huge sums of money to repair, and the imperial mausoleums of Tianshou Mountain also need to be repaired... By the way, there are also the Yellow River, the canal, Daqing River, Yongding River, and Wei River must be repaired. Unless they are repaired, they will not be navigable, and floods will occur from time to time.
All these things added together, even hundreds of millions of dollars are not enough! If the imperial court still wants to return the capital to Beijing, then... I can't continue to be the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue! "
After Zheng Zhilong, the rich man, cried about being poor, it was the turn of Zhu Cihong, the richest man in Ming Dynasty, to cry about poverty!
Emperor Zhu also looked unhappy - how could he be happy if he was so poor?
He sighed first, and then said: "We still can't afford it... If we want to pay it back, we have to restore the Grand Canal, and if we want to restore the canal, we have to ruin the Huaihe River. We spent so much money on the Huanghuai Transportation Project , it took a lot of effort to turn both sides of the Huaihe River into a granary and a sea of rice. Are we going to return to the original situation of floods every two or three years? Now no food is grown in Jiangnan Province. There are cotton fields and mulberry trees everywhere, and rice and flour depend on both sides. The Huaihe River and the Two Lakes supply it. If the Two Huaihe Rivers are destroyed, how can one rely on the Two Lakes to supply it? Without the supply of rice and grain, the money tree in Jiangnan will be gone. How will the court survive then? What will the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the north eat? In the west? What can the rogue bandits do to suppress them?"
Before the Yellow River flowed south, there was no question of whether to protect transportation or to protect the Huaihe River, because the sediment from the Yellow River would never flow into the Huaihe River. But after the Yellow River flows south, there are two problems: let the Yellow River take over the Huaihe River or open a new river channel to enter the sea.
If the Yellow River is chosen to capture the Huaihe River, then the Yellow River sediment will accumulate in the lower reaches of the Huaihe River, so that the Huaihe River water cannot be smoothly discharged into the sea. When there is a little more rain, flooding is inevitable - how much water does the Huaihe River have? How can we avoid flooding if we don’t have an estuary?
If we choose to open a new way for the Yellow River to enter the sea, then the lower reaches of the Yellow River will intersect with the canal. The water flow in the lower reaches of the Yellow River is gentle and the sedimentation rate is very fast. If it intersects with the canal, the riverbed at the intersection will be lifted up in a few years. It's so high that the canal is blocked. This is also an unsolvable problem, and there is even no way to solve it by digging a new canal, because the ever-rising Yellow River bed is a high wall blocking the Grand Canal. It is impossible to overcome it with the engineering capabilities of the 17th century!
So the canal and the Huaihe River are the two choices!
And the supply of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people in the capital of Ming Dynasty must be guaranteed without any problems!
Therefore, we cannot rely solely on shipping to ensure supply - these days, shipping depends on wind. If there are a few more typhoons in the summer, Beijing's supply may be interrupted!
Therefore, since the capital is Beijing, the imperial court must protect the Huai River and abandon it... between protecting and abandoning it, the grain production will be reduced by an average of tens of millions of dan per year!
For Ming Dynasty, which has a population of nearly 150 million, this is a fatal choice!
"Your Majesty," Chief Assistant Wei Zaode reminded in a low voice, "Now the people's thoughts are at home..."
Zhu Cixiang glanced at this prime minister who was "wiser than Zhuge". He had a miserable face and was helpless.
Emperor Zhu sighed and said: "It's still not possible, but for the northerners who are willing to go home, we should still help them... But now that the northern land is dilapidated and people's livelihood is in decline, let them go back like this , I'm afraid I'll starve to death! So I'm thinking about whether I should first invest some money in the north to develop water conservancy projects, build roads, open ports, and build cities. After the north becomes prosperous, I can then organize the people to return home. Is this a good idea? ?”
"Okay, okay, but doesn't the court have no money?" Wei Zaode glanced pitifully at the wealthy Zheng Zhilong, who sighed - poor! They are almost dying of poverty!
"Then borrow money!" Zhu Cixiang, the richest man in Ming Dynasty, said.
"Borrow money?" Wei Zaode thought for a while, "Who should I borrow from? Didn't it mean that the Northern Expedition's public debt was not enough?"
Zhu Cihong looked at Wei Zaode and said, "Prime Minister Wei, do you have money? Can the court borrow money from you?"
"Me?" Wei Zaode trembled when he heard this - is this about bribery? No, how much was confiscated! It's less than 500,000 taels, why did this happen?
