Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 459

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is getting hotter.

The wheat planted in the previous winter has basically been harvested. However, due to the current situation, the population of Shandong has been lost in large numbers, and many people have fled the famine. The area of ​​wheat planted in the previous winter is very small.

Ten mu of land is less than one mu of winter wheat.

After the beginning of spring, although some spring wheat was planted, the yield of spring wheat was lower than that of winter wheat, and because of the impact of the war, the Shandong government taxed Latin severely, and many people went bankrupt and fled famine again, so there was very little spring wheat planted.

After Zhu Yihai captured the two cities of Denglai, he quickly divided his troops and wiped out the counties on the peninsula.

The Ming army did not encounter much resistance. Before Kong Geng moved to Denglai, Denglai was already riddled with holes. The government’s excessive taxation also led to continuous uprisings by the hungry people. The original Green Camp was almost destroyed, and Kong Geng was annihilated and incorporated. After that, the following counties and townships basically had no resistance.

Facing the Ming army with the fierce dragon crossing the river, the county magistrates and subordinate officials of various counties either hung up their seals and fled, or greeted the king's teacher directly. , is also a rare welcome attitude.

It's really been a hard time for everyone in the past two years.

The Ming army, Shun army, and Qing army, together with bandits and hungry people, repeatedly ravaged this land. Especially after the rise of Zhu Yihai, the people of Shandong also suffered bad luck under the oppression of the Qing army, supplying military food, building ships, All kinds of tasks had to be done to build dikes to connect the river, and the family was ruined, and ten rooms were empty.

Everyone used to scold the Ming Dynasty behind their backs every day, but after two years, everyone misses the Ming Dynasty. Even the most turbulent Chongzhen Dynasty is stronger than it is now.

During the Denglai Rebellion, they had never experienced such misery.

"It's a pity that such a large area of ​​land is barren."

Zhu Yihai rode a horse and inspected the fields outside Laizhou City. There were large areas of fields and weeds growing as high as half a person.

"The people should be organized to resume farming as soon as possible. Food is the most important thing for the people. In times of war, food is even more precious." Huang Zongxi, who had just been summoned, felt very heartbroken when he saw the deserted scene.

"Do you have any good plans?"

The emperor summoned Huang Zongxi to give him the title of governor of Shandong. This famous scholar in the south of the Yangtze River, who had failed many times in the imperial examinations, stepped forward when the two capitals fell and the country was in danger. The martyrs of the battalion have performed very well over the past year.

From Zhejiang patrol, to serving as a branch patrol, then the chief envoy, and now being called to Shandong, in troubled times, he showed his talents.Whether it is the admiral of military affairs to suppress bandits and the people, or the formation and training of the Baojia militia for self-defense, or the inspection of officials, and the supervision of tax reform, they are all very dedicated and perform well.

Although he said some of his thoughts, Zhu Yihai actually didn't quite agree with them, even Zhu Yihai objected to some of his unique views on taxation, and as a member of the Socialist Party, he has always held some sect prejudices against Ruan Ma and others. , but under the current situation, it is still very rare for him to be able to temporarily stop the party struggle at the request of the emperor and concentrate on developing the local area.

Calling Huang Zongxi here also showed some thoughts of the emperor, that is, to guard Shandong, at least to guard the Denglai Peninsula.

To defend Denglai, relying on naval forces at sea, it can defend militarily, but it must be self-sufficient in terms of money, food and military pay, otherwise it will all depend on Jiangnan transshipment, and the burden will be heavy and unrealistic.

"In the past, people in Shandong mostly planted winter wheat. After spring, they would interplant some corn in the field, so that when the wheat was harvested in summer, the corn in the field could continue to grow, and then another crop of corn could be harvested without delay. .

However, after I came to Shandong, I visited around and found that the main problem here is actually instability. The population flow is very large, and a large number of people are fleeing outside. Especially the food shortage is huge, food prices remain high, and many counties with severe famine , No one has escaped, and the price of grain exceeds ten taels of silver a stone, and there are even two or three taels of silver a bucket of grain. "

Huang Zongxi has been in Zhejiang for more than a year and has been transferred to various positions. He has been in the local area and has accumulated good experience.

As for how to restore the Denglei Peninsula, after some on-the-spot investigations, he came up with several results, "First of all, the hungry people must be relieved. If the people are hungry, they will become bandits, and they must take out food to relieve the disaster."

In troubled times, food is always the most difficult problem.

"I can take some out of the military rations, and the grain ships from Jiangnan will continue to bring in rations. Kim Sang-heon has returned to North Korea. It is estimated that the next batch of North Korean rations will arrive soon.

I will raise food. "

The wheat in Jiangbei is being harvested one after another, which can relieve the famine to some extent, and the rice in Jiangnan is about to be harvested.

Huang Zongxi was relieved to hear this.

Without food, nothing can be solved.

With food, there is an entrance to solve the problem.

He proposed to provide food relief with one hand, and at the same time use labor as relief, and at the same time send troops to recruit security and encircle and suppress bandits and bandits in various places.

"How about a work-for-relief method?"

"There are too many hungry people now, and most of them are fleeing from the famine. It is unrealistic to let them return to their hometown at this time. Therefore, I suggest that we can set up disaster relief centers in various places and collect food for disaster relief. The victims in various places can provide relief on the spot. The people who provide relief must temporarily accept the arrangement of the imperial court.

For example, organize the hungry people to re-cultivate the land on the spot. "

Nowadays, there are abandoned fields everywhere due to fleeing famine. At this time, it doesn’t matter who owns the landowner. First, the government organizes the hungry people to recultivate and plant.

Although the spring sowing season is over, after the summer wheat is harvested, some corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes can still be planted, and winter wheat, radishes, etc. can be planted later.

As long as it is edible, it can be grown, regardless of whether it is coarse grains or fine grains, they are all life-saving grains.

The government provides rations, organizes everyone to cultivate the fields collectively, provides seeds, etc., and after the harvest, part of it is distributed to the people in the village according to the proportion, and part of it is included in the official warehouse.

Or after the harvest, the people will be able to return to their hometowns and start a new life.

If the harvest is average this year, then we can plant another season or two until everyone can return to their hometown to resume production.

This kind of farming requires the imperial court to have a lot of organizational ability. At the same time, it is obvious that the land of the landlords is temporarily appropriated. However, Huang Zongxi bluntly said that under the current situation, it should be changed expediently.

Since the land of the landlords is unused, they can first use it for farming, or even refuse to rent it first.

Of course, after the event, the land can be returned to the landlord, and even their original taxes can be exempted during the emergency.

While garrisoning fields for disaster relief, it is also possible to check the situation of the land, and some unowned land caused by wars, etc., should be collected.

"Denglai is now dilapidated, and I have a special decree to exempt Ding Yin from the two-year land tax."

Although Tian Fu Ding Yin is the big head, Zhu Yihai has now decreed to waive it, and even added a decree, all the previous taxes, etc., have also been written off.

Regardless of whether there is arrears or not, the previous ones don't matter.

Anyway, from next year, that is, from the third year of Shaotian, Shandong's taxes will be collected again, and the previous ones will be ignored.

Moreover, starting from the third year of Shaotian, taxes will be collected with the brand-new tax system of the Shaotian Dynasty, that is, according to the new tax law in Zhejiang, where the people are allocated to the mu, and the officials and gentry pay the grain together.

Although the privileges and exemptions for the gentry have now been abolished, Zhu Yihai does not completely deprive them of their privileges. For example, although officials do not have the privilege of exemptions, they have increased their salaries.

Scholars did not become officials, but because the burden of Yao service and other services has been completely cancelled, they are all directly converted into silver and distributed to the fields. At first, the gentry was preferentially exempted, but it was originally only exempt. It was only the loss of the corresponding level of service, but it was later extended to exempt part of the land tax.

Now that Zhu Yihai directly distributes the food to the mu, and the officials and gentry pay the grain together, it is no longer preferential or exempt.

But the salary increase of officials is a direct increase in treatment. At the same time, due to the needs of the situation, the conditions for the appointment of scholars as officials are relaxed, which is also preferential treatment.

Judging from the current situation in Zhejiang, the burden on both the common people and the gentry has been greatly reduced.

Although some bureaucratic landlords used to evade taxes and other methods to plunder the imperial court, but this is no longer a normal preferential treatment, it is completely messy.

Withdrawal of guards, abolition of military households, artisan households, abolition of craftsmen's silver, and no need for officials and gentry to work together, and after the implementation of new laws such as returning fire consumption to the public, compared with the various new policies and chaotic policies implemented by the Qing court in Shandong, the common people The burden is much lighter.

Especially now that the joint tax system in Ming Dynasty has been cancelled. For example, if your neighbors in the same Baojia did not pay enough taxes, the people in the same Baojia have to help make up for it first.

But now Zhu Yihai doesn’t do this kind of thing. If you pay the personal tax, you just need to pay your personal tax in accordance with the law. Other people’s tax arrears has nothing to do with you.

"One thing to note is that whenever there is a famine and the government fails to provide relief, there will always be some unrighteous people who will take the opportunity to oppress the people, lend usury, and even force the people to sell their land at extremely low prices, or even sell their children to sell their land. female, sold wife,
The government has to play a role, not only to relieve the hungry people, but also to supervise these situations, to crack down on usury, and even more to crack down on this kind of selling of children and girls. Whoever dares to commit crimes against the wind will directly raid his house and use his money and grain to pay for it. Relief for the people. "

"It is even more forbidden to take advantage of the famine to force the people to serve as slaves, and it is also forbidden to use high rents to recruit tenants to oppress the people."

"Draw a red line to stipulate the maximum interest rate of private lending and the maximum rent, and severely punish those who exceed it."

"There is another key point. All the money and food for disaster relief must be used for the common people. Corruption and embezzlement are absolutely not allowed. This is a red line that must not be trampled on. Whoever touches it will die!" Zhu Yihai sternly emphasized.

In this troubled world, if the government does not act, then some traitors will do anything without a bottom line, and such bad things will often lead to intensified conflicts between social classes and cause greater turmoil.

"I will find a way to adjust the grain for you, and you will find a way to provide relief to the people, resume production, resume farming and replanting, even fishing and hunting, mining and drying salt, etc., so that the people can settle down, and at least they can satisfy their hunger. They can't be left wandering around hungry anymore."

Huang Zongxi was a little worried.

"Can there be so much food relief?"

"Let's find a way to survive first, even if you have a mouthful of porridge to hang your life first, we will tide over the difficulties together."

"Your Majesty, the Tartars will definitely not sit back and watch my Ming occupy Denglai. If the Qing army comes to attack, what will your Majesty do?"

"It's nothing more than soldiers coming to block, water coming and soil flooding," Zhu Yihai looked at the field, "Actually, I'm really not afraid of them coming to take Denglai. Here, we have the advantages of water and sea, the power of naval guns, and defend the city by the sea. Water and land are connected, if the Tartars come, I will take the initiative and have the advantage!"

If the Tartars concentrated their troops and horses to attack Denglai, then Xuhuai Lufeng would be empty. If they went straight south from Liaodong, Geng Zhongming could wreak havoc in Liaodong.

Even if Geng Zhongming doesn't believe it, Zhu Yihai can send a force across the Bohai Strait to fight Lushun.

"I have read Sun Tzu's Art of War for a long time. Sun Tzu talks about a word of power throughout the whole article. I have pondered for a long time, and I have understood the way. It is a sentence from left to right. Establish an absolute advantage, and then you can win. If you cannot establish an overall absolute advantage, then establish a local one. Absolute advantage, war is like this, through various methods, establish absolute advantage, and then you can win."

In terms of the current overall situation, Ming Dynasty experienced the fall of the two capitals, the original upper-level organization completely collapsed, Zhu Yihai reorganized and recovered, and now half of the country is stable, but the momentum is still weak.

In this case, we have to find a way to establish a local advantage to fight the Tartars.

The Tartars have an absolute advantage on the western front, so Zhu Yihai will go to the eastern front to establish an absolute advantage.

War is just like playing chess, no matter how fierce your chariot is, through mobilization, pawns can still eat chariots and cannons.

It is necessary to grasp the initiative in war and establish an absolute advantage. You cannot fight hard without a slight chance of winning, let alone be led by the nose to fight passively. That is the way to defeat.

Zhu Yihai stationed 5 soldiers in Denglai. Before the [-] raided Kong Youde Dengzhou with [-] soldiers, a hundred times the advantage, plus the cover of North Korean ships, so he could easily capture it.

Then with tens of thousands of troops encircling Laizhou Geng Zhongming with [-], it is still several times the absolute advantage, plus surrender, and then another city.

Now the [-] troops are all based in Denglai, and they have just broken through Tiemenguan and Haizhou, occupying the advantage of victory.

When the Qing army came to attack, they could only draw troops from Huainan and Beizhi, but if they drew troops from Huainan, the troops on the front line in Huainan would drop sharply, and the central and left troops of the imperial camp would establish an absolute advantage.

Zhu Yihai not only occupies Denglai, but also has a partial division in Haizhou and Tiemenguan, which can be rare soldiers.

The strange soldiers at Tiemenguan can go straight to Jinan along the Daqing River, threatening the capital of Shandong, and the soldiers in Haizhou can also threaten Huai'an and Xuzhou.

"All kinds of craftsmen from the hungry people in various places are selected and sent to Changdao first, and then to Zhoushan, Yuhuan and other places in the rear, or to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. These craftsmen are all talents, and they cannot be regarded as ordinary farmers. , have to treat them favorably.”

"Students among the hungry people should also be treated preferentially and used only as much as they can."

Huang Zongxi nodded in response. It seems that the emperor is determined to fight a Denglai defense battle this time. This is a battle that the Ming army has never fought before. In the past, it was mainly a guerrilla movement. For example, in the last Northern Expedition, even though Changping was fought, it was captured. Xuzhou Huai'an and other places, but they also quickly voluntarily evacuated and did not defend.

But now, the emperor wants to guard Denglai.

"I'm guarding Denglai, but I'm actually looking for Xuhuai Lufeng."

(End of this chapter)