On August 15th, the 17th year of Kangxi's reign, the autumn wind was blowing hard in Liaodong.
With a splashing sound, hundreds of horse hooves stepped across the river, and the first horse had already set foot on the south bank of Puhe River outside Shengjing City. Then hundreds of knights rushed over. The man on the horse wears a melon-edge Ruyi hat and a yellow silk robe with dark patterns of Kui, dragon and phoenix. He has a pockmarked face and is not angry but is proud of himself. He is none other than Kangxi Kangpazi, the most respected figure in the 95th year of the Qing Dynasty.
On both sides of the road on the south bank of the Pu River, there are endless golden wheat fields. It is now the spring wheat and autumn harvest season on the northeastern plains, so the wheat fields are full of farmers bending over to harvest wheat. Seeing Emperor Kangxi passing by, these Han tenants who had come from somewhere in the pass to this corner of the northeast to seek a living were all too angry to dare to say a word. Wherever Kangxi rode his horse, people of all ages, men, women, and children were lying down in the wheat fields.
When Kangxi saw this scene, he immediately felt much better. He reined in the reins of his horse, stopped on the official road, and said to the farmers who were kneeling before him: "Pingshen, Pingshen... harvest your wheat." Go ahead and harvest more, it is better than anything else. If you wait for the autumn rains, the wheat will rot in the fields. Then this winter, you will go hungry..."
Kangxi was telling the truth...the black land south of the Pu River was his imperial estate. 40% of the wheat harvested belonged to him, and the remaining 60% belonged to the tenants.
If the rent of 40% was placed in the Ming Dynasty or Wu Zhou Dynasty, which had already equalized the land, it would be a bit ridiculous. But for these Han people who fled from Shandong, Henan, Zhili, and Shanxi, it was really a great favor from the emperor. .
After all, the 40% rent is capped, with no apportionment, no miscellaneous items, no fuel consumption, no dimes, and of course no interest. Seeds, farm tools, and horses for plowing were also provided by Kang Mazi's Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they only needed to be borrowed and returned without any additional fees.
And in order to ensure that the servants of the Ministry of Internal Affairs do not mess around, Kangxi has spent the winter in Shengjing for two consecutive years... In order to collect more rent and promote the development of Northeast China, Kang Mazi really worked hard. .
The land in the Northeast is really fertile and has been cultivated, so it is easier to re-cultivate it. Before these tenants in the pass took over, because there was not enough labor for farming, they all planted pasture. Planting pasture in cold areas with no shortage of water sources was a way to "nurture the land". The land near Shengjing is originally black soil, and it has been cultivated since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs. It is almost producing "oil". Therefore, the yield is extremely high. Although it can only be planted for one season, you can easily harvest five to six hundred kilograms of wheat!
Although 40% of the five to six hundred kilograms of wheat must be given to Kang Mazi, a large landowner, the remaining three hundred kilograms are still far more than the total output of two seasons of one acre of thin land on the loess soil in Guan Nei.
Therefore, the income of being a tenant for the emperor's family for a year in the black soil of Northeast China is much higher than their income from cultivating their own land in the pass.
Moreover, the emperor's family thought they wanted nothing more than rent, and those "village sages" in the pass were as fierce as tigers and as evil as wolves. They used all kinds of cunning names to eat the peasants below alive... so these black men The farmers in Kang Mazi's family were very grateful to Kang Mazi.
Seeing the tenants go away with tears of gratitude, Emperor Kangxi sighed.
His former father-in-law, Gabra, the father of the late Queen Xiaochengren, saw him sighing, and immediately rode forward and said: "Your Majesty, the rent of the Liaodong Imperial Mansion this year should exceed 700,000 shi of wheat... ...It has almost caught up with the income from farming in Liaodong military towns during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, most of the Eight Banners' nobles in Zhuangzi in Liaodong also had a good income, and their total income should be more than one million shi.
If this trend continues, within ten years, the income of Liaodong Huangzhuang and Qizhuang will exceed 10 million dan! This Liaodong is really the treasure land of our Qing Dynasty! "
In fact, this corner of Liaodong was developing very well before the rise of Hou Jin in the Ming Dynasty!
At that time, the Han population in Liaodong was several million. If you count carefully, it may be in the tens of millions. Later, there were more than two million people who followed Xiong Tingbi and fled into the pass.
Although it was still in the midst of the Little Ice Age, the spring wheat in the Northeast still grew vigorously. The impact of the Little Ice Age on agriculture was mainly caused by drought in the northwest and central plains rather than cold. For the Northeast, which has no shortage of water at all, the problem is that winters are cooler and winter wheat cannot be grown, but spring wheat is no problem.
Some people may not believe it. At the same time, Lao Maozi was even growing food on the frozen soil of Yakutsk. The person who did this was Khabarov, whose surname was used to name Khabarovsk - this guy had people dig out the permafrost in spring and grow food on the land below the permafrost! This works, and growing wheat and soybeans in Liaodong, where the climate is much warmer, is not a problem.
"I used to know how good Liaodong is, but I never thought that the land in Liaodong is so fertile!" Kangxi looked at it and sighed, "But why is such a good place enclosed with a wicker wall? I, the Qing Dynasty, do it on the southeast coast. When the border is moved along the coast, the fertile land of twenty to fifty miles along the coast will be abandoned, and all the benefits of fish, salt, and sea trade will be lost. It will also force the people along the coast to have no choice but to become rebels. The hometown in the Northeast is said to be the foundation of the country. Why don't you let people farm in a circle? How can this be done..."
Gabra whispered: "This is not just to prevent the Han people..."
Kangxi sighed again: "It's a pity that we can prevent the obedient Han people, but we can't prevent the real rebels...Gabula, have you heard that if you want to destroy the Qing Dynasty, you must first recover Liaodong; if you want to recover Liaodong, you must first recover Liaodong." , Do you think that North Korea must be recovered first? The rebels are already targeting Liaodong!"
The passage Kangxi mentioned was obviously copied from the "Tanaka Memorial", but he had not read the original version. He only learned about this passage from the Confucian Main Hall and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is said to be from Zhuge Sanhe's "Faqing Chushi Biao"!
This "Fighting the Qing Dynasty" talks about a route to unify China... According to Zhuge Sanhe, "If you want to unify the world, you must first devour the Qing demon; if you want to destroy the Qing demon, you must first regain Liaodong; But if you want to recover Liaodong, you must first recover North Korea."
In other words, the route of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition did not start with crossing the Huaihe River. Instead, it first crossed the sea to recover North Korea, then used North Korea as a base to cross the Yalu River to compete for Liaodong. After capturing Liaodong, it then advanced to western Liaoning, and finally broke into Shanhaiguan and conquered the city of Beijing. !
As for the reason, Zhuge Sanhe also said it. That is, Liaodong and Liaoxi are the foundation of the Qingyao. Without Liaodong and Liaoxi, the Qingyao will become a rootless tree and will surely die!
However, Henan and Shandong were not the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. Losing Henan and Shandong, the Qing Dynasty still had Zhili and Shanxi, and could even withdraw from the customs and hibernate in Liaodong for the future.
In addition, North Korea, Liaodong, and Western Liaoning are all along the sea. If the Ming Dynasty did not have maritime advantages, it would naturally be impossible to cross Henan, Shandong, and Zhili and directly attack North Korea, Liaodong, and Western Liaoning.
But now the Ming Dynasty has a powerful navy, and conquering the dynasty across the sea is not a problem.
The reason for starting the attack from North Korea, Zhuge Sanhe also said in "Fighting the Qing Dynasty", is because North Korea has always been close to the Ming Dynasty and considers itself part of the great world. Moreover, the population of the North Korean Kingdom is large, with a registered population of four. Five million, including hermits and slaves, at least eight or nine million.
Considering that the current population of the territory under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty is less than 30 million, the value of these eight to nine million Koreans is self-evident.
With these eight to nine million, Ming Dynasty can deploy at least one hundred thousand troops in North Korea!
The logistical transportation of these 100,000 troops and even a considerable part of the military supplies can be borne by North Korea.
The population of the Qing Dynasty in eastern Liaoning and western Liaoning is currently only more than one million... The population is too small and naturally unable to support the logistics of the army.
Therefore, once North Korea is captured by the Ming Dynasty, Liaodong and western Liaoning will be in danger!
It was precisely because he saw a copy of the "Execution of the Qing Dynasty" that Kangxi was extremely worried and gave orders to Deng Guangming and Yu Chenglong to be careful.
But after the decree was sent out, Kangxi was still uneasy!
