It turns out that Emperor Zhu’s intention was not only to raise some money for infrastructure construction in the north, but also to take the opportunity to promote land concentration and the development of capitalist farms in the north!
The benefits of infrastructure are obvious! Especially when building infrastructure when there is an extreme lack of infrastructure, the rate of return will definitely be satisfactory.
The Ming Dynasty is now in a period of extreme lack of infrastructure. The wealthy areas in the southeast are a little better. Emperor Zhu has spent a lot of money on infrastructure in recent years. In addition to the Huanghuai Transport Project, the Ming Dynasty also built all the dams of rivers in the south that are prone to flooding in the past ten years. It also built a large number of irrigation canals on both sides of the Huaihe River, turning a lot of land with unstable floods and droughts into stable and high-yielding land. paddy field.
The official roads, canals, and ports in various parts of the southeast have also received a lot of capital construction investment in the past ten years or so. Emperor Zhu would never dare to think of high-end railways and steam locomotives. All he can do is Let’s seriously renovate the official roads and water transportation network. Official roads should be paved with stones as much as possible, and large and small rivers should be dredged and opened as much as possible to increase the coverage density of the water transportation network... Before the popularity of railways, the economic value of inland water transportation was extremely high, second only to sea transportation.
Of course, most of the water transportation network and bluestone roads built by Emperor Zhu in the southeast were tolled! Therefore, these projects are not handled by the Ministry of Industry, but by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and sometimes they are contracted out to businessmen who undertake the construction.
Although these toll roads, toll canals, and toll bridges are hated by people, they are better than nothing at all!
However, the economy in the north is too sluggish now. There are not many roads and canals that can be used for tolls, but infrastructure still needs to be built. Otherwise, the economy in the north will not be able to get off the ground at all, and the gap with the southeast will become wider and wider in the future. If things go on like this, it will not be good for the Ming Dynasty. Domestic stability.
So Emperor Zhu discussed with Zheng Zhilong and Shen Tingyang all afternoon and planned to invest 100 million for the construction of cities, ports, roads, and canals in the north!
And this 100 million actually does not have to be raised by issuing bonds...Zhu Cihong, Zheng Zhilong, and Shen Tingyang still have ways to raise this money. They are the richest, the richest, and the second richest in the Ming Dynasty! Can you still stump a small target?
However, combining bonds and land certificates can help some northern soldiers or volunteers who are good at business to develop capitalist farms.
Capitalist farm!
What a hated thing...but this capitalist scourge has already appeared in Jianghu, Guangdong, Fujian and Guangdong!
Can Emperor Zhu still stop them from developing in the north? I guess there’s no way to stop this! The farmers in the southern United States tried to stop them, but what happened in the end?
Therefore, the peasant uncles in the north can only suffer this fate, so let’s join the capitalist road together! As for whether the hybrid farmers will go bankrupt or go bankrupt, it all depends on fate.
However, Emperor Zhu could ignore the lives of the good people under the Qing Dynasty, but he could not ignore the lives of the Northern Army and the volunteers who followed him. He could not let them blindly go northward - how good it would be to stay in the southeast! How happy is it to be a member of the Ming army, eat the emperor's food, and ride with Emperor Zhu on the heads of the working people in the southeast to dominate?
It's not easy to make money by going north to run a farm or something. Unless you are a northerner who can make a good family fortune in the southeast, otherwise going north will be like cannon fodder for capitalism!
Now it’s free capitalism, cruel competition, survival of the fittest!
So Emperor Zhu came up with this idea, combining debt notes and land certificates. Those who had already saved a family business in the south would buy other people's land certificates at a low price, and then go back to the north to get a large piece of land and become agricultural capitalists. ——According to Emperor Zhu’s vision, these land certificates only stipulate the size of the land (using medium land as the standard, if you get upper land, you will get a discount, if you get lower land, you can get more), and do not specify the specific location. Therefore, investors holding land certificates can receive large tracts of real estate, which is conducive to the development of horse farming and rotational farming.
As for those Northern soldiers and volunteers who have not made a fortune in the booming Southeast, don't mess around. Southeast has been able to make a fortune in anything in the past few years, but they have not succeeded in starting a business, and they have gone to the north to farm in the Little Ice Age. Damn it, you can't pay for it with death!
It's better to sell the land certificates for bonds, earn interest from the bonds, and then serve as an officer and soldier for Emperor Zhu peacefully!
To be honest, Emperor Zhu is so kind to his own people! I really think about them! Including the confused chief assistant Wei Zaode who almost surrendered.
As soon as the collegial meeting between the two governments ended on the third day of April, Emperor Zhu detained Wei Mingxiang in court!
"Long live my Lord, I, I, I, I was confused for a moment..."
Wei Zaode knew he was going to do something bad, so he didn't dare to sit or stand, so he knelt down with a plop.
Zhu Cixiang shook his head repeatedly: "Wei Tongzhou, how do you call it temporary confusion? You are obviously confused all the time!"
Can you be a "Zhuge" for so many years without being confused?
Now that "Sai Zhuge" has come to an end, who can replace him? Zhu Cihong started to think about it. Who else in the court was more confused? Not only do you have to be confused, but you also have to be obedient, and you have to be from the North! "Deputy Prime Minister" Zheng Zhilong is already a southerner, and he is also the head of the country. If there is another southerner as prime minister, the Northern Party will decline.
If the power of the Northern People's Party weakens, the Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen, and Zheng Jiangong families will definitely raise their tails...
So there must be a Northern prime minister to suppress Lao Zheng, but who can do it? Prince Fu is actually pretty good, but there was no precedent in the Ming Dynasty for letting clan members serve as prime ministers. Alas, this is really troublesome!
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true. I am confused, I am really confused..." Wei Zaode's voice came to mind again, "I am guilty, I only ask..."
"Stop, are you drunk?" Zhu Cixiang raised his hand and stopped Wei Zaode again, "Have I ever said you are guilty? Have I asked someone to check you?"
"No......"
Zhu Cixiang glared: "Then what crime are you guilty of? Even if you are really guilty, I have to protect you! You are the first prime minister I have ever used, and you have served for thirteen years, how can you be guilty?"
Wei Zaode was so moved that he burst into tears. The emperor was so kind, why couldn't he resist becoming a corrupt official for a while?
Zhu Cihong saw Wei Zaode crying and said quickly: "Don't cry, don't cry... let's think about how to deal with the aftermath! We can't be prime minister anymore, and it's not appropriate to be governor or governor. Wei Tongzhou, I have to find someone for you. A place to hide from the limelight.”
Wei Zaode thought to himself: Should I not be a governor or a governor... should I be a magistrate?
Zhu Cixiang was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "Why don't you go out of the country for me?"
"Going abroad? Where to go?" Wei Zaode looked at Emperor Zhu pitifully and thought to himself: Or exiled... I don't know where to go?
Zhu Cixi thought for a while, "Let's go to Japan first. Japan sent Tokugawa Mitsukuni to visit this time... and they protested to us again! They also threatened to cancel the right of our ships to dock at Uraga Port. We have to Let someone with enough weight explain it."
You have to explain it properly, and maybe even apologize - the Celestial Empire cannot be unreasonable! Nowadays, the Ming Navy flies the Japanese flag and engages in water wars with the Spaniards flying the Mongolian Navy flag in the waters around Japan. What kind of thing is this?
"Your Majesty, don't worry. I will explain it to the Japanese." Wei Zaode breathed a sigh of relief - Japan is not far away, and you can come back easily.
But Zhu Cixiang increased the price for him, "After going to Japan, go to the New World for a tour... Find a place to establish a stronghold in the northwest of the New World, and then stay there to avoid the limelight!"
Let’s go to the other side of the Pacific Ocean!
Wei Zaode was dumbfounded.
Seeing that he was silent, Emperor Zhu knew that he had agreed, and then said: "You can pay for the cost of establishing a stronghold in the northwest of the New World!
The stronghold established will be regarded as the internal vassal I gave you, and the lord of the vassal will be hereditary for three generations of your family. Don’t be the Duke of Tongguo anymore... Westerners call the New World America, then you should be the Duke of America who overcomes difficulties! "
From now on, Wei Zaode will be the governor of the United States, and it will be difficult for the United States to conquer it! This is a good job that will go down in history!
However, in the ninth year of Hongxing, this treatment was a disguised exile!
