Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 412 0407 [Current Situation of Nanyang Xiangyang]

The official ship docked in Yunxiang County, and Zhu Ming called the county magistrate to inquire about the basic situation, and learned that the people at this time mainly lived on the banks of the Han River.

And the area in Shiyan is completely undeveloped primitive forest.

Including the entire Shennongjia, it was developed from the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty.

The Nanxiang Basin was full of refugees in the Yuan Dynasty. The Yuan Dynasty was afraid that the refugees would go into the mountains and rebel, so they strictly blocked Shennongjia.The Ming Dynasty inherited the Yuan system and continued to implement the blockade policy.

Until the Mingbao sect lost its troops and lost its land, and the northern army was in trouble. The refugees from the three provinces gathered in Nanyang and Xiangyang, and flooded into the Shennongjia area like a tide.At the peak, there were as many as 150 million refugees, and two major refugee uprisings with a scale of tens of millions broke out.

Emperor Chenghua changed his strategy. After suppressing the uprising, those who were willing to go back to their hometowns returned to their hometowns, and those who could not go back to cultivate in Shennongjia, and gave unprecedented preferential policies for reclamation.

From then on, Yunyang Mansion was established and Yunyang Fuzhi (same rank as governor) also became the top governor of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with jurisdiction covering 65 counties in four provinces, five provinces, eight prefectures and Kyushu.Xiangyang, Nanyang, Hanzhong, Kuizhou, Xi'an... are all under the jurisdiction of Yunyang Fuzhi.

Compared with the more than 100 million people in the mid-Ming Dynasty, there are only 30 million people today.

We can only wait for the population to increase naturally. It is impossible for the Zhu family and his son to immigrate to Shennongjia, because there are too many places that need to be reclaimed by immigrants.

"Dong dong dong dong..."

The official ship continued to go southeast, and the sound of the qin sounded in the cabin. It was Li Shishi playing the qin, but it was Pei Chang'e who sang.

Ju Ming leaned on the chair and closed his eyes to listen, while other wives and concubines also came to enjoy the performance.

Especially Zheng Yuanyi, who nursed the child while listening to the music.Although there was not enough milk, a nanny was hired, but she occasionally nursed it herself.

Zhu Ming's third child finally didn't wear a handle, which made him very happy.

He even paid more attention to the name. Zhu Ming read the "Book of Songs" himself and named his eldest daughter "Zhu Youyi".

Youyi was originally used to describe the decent, handsome and virtuous national scholars.

From this boudoir name, it can be seen how much Zhu Ming likes his daughter.So the wives and concubines also like it, and they have to tease it from time to time, but Zhu Ming can't stop it, so it can't be said that adults have too many bacteria, right?
After singing a song, Zhang Jinping's hands were itchy, so he borrowed Li Shishi's instrument to play.

Her piano skills belong to the amateur level, which cannot be compared with Li Shishi's playing level. After playing a piece, she felt a little embarrassed: "You're showing your ugliness!"

Li Shishi said: "My wife is very gifted, but she just neglects to practice."

"Don't flatter me, I'm far worse than my teacher," Zhang Jinping said with a smile, "Little sister Pei is a good singer, how many years have you learned to sing?"

Pei Chang'e quickly replied: "I entered the Jiaofang Division at the age of 12 and studied for less than two years. After entering the palace for less than a month, I went to Hanzhong with my senior sister."

Zhang Jinping asked in surprise, "You're only 14 years old?"

Pei Chang'e said, "I will be 15 next month."

Zhao Fujin clapped his hands and said: "But he is the same age as me, only one month older than me."

They were on the boat all the way, and the relationship between the women was close and warm, and many things happened that at least didn't compete for favor so far.

Pei Chang'e behaved the most humble, she was young and did not have a prominent background, and she was not as talkative as Li Shishi, and she was cautious when dealing with anyone.

Zheng Yuanyi asked: "Why did my sister join the Jiaofang Division?"

Pei Chang'e said: "Daddy was a Kaifeng general. He was framed because he offended someone. He lost his military funds and couldn't afford compensation. Both slave and mother went to the Jiaofang Division."

"It's also a poor person." Zhang Jinping sighed.

The women were still chatting, and Ju Ming had already fallen asleep leaning on the chair.

Between Laohekou and Danjiangkou, the Guanghua Army was set up in the Northern Song Dynasty to hoard heavy troops to deter the Shangyong area.Now that the Guanghua Army has been disbanded, there is only one Gande County left, and this year more than 600 refugees were assigned to it.

The number of displaced persons resettled in the downstream Gucheng County is only a few hundred.

The two counties are mountainous and are not key reclamation areas.

Further downstream in Dengcheng County, there are more immigrants, mainly in the northwest of the county, with more than [-] people.

Zhu Ming let his wives and concubines continue to go by boat, and he took a few entourages and rode to the countryside to check.

Ask along the way to find one of the reclamation points.

There are only more than 400 people here, and all of them are local refugees. For the convenience of management, they were resettled together and formed a new village called "Fengyu Village".

The beans planted have grown seedlings. The villagers live in temporary shacks and are currently building permanent houses with rammed earth.

Zhu Ming inquired carefully and found out that these 400 people could only share four cattle.

A large amount of wasteland outside the village has not yet been reclaimed, and thorns and weeds are everywhere as far as the eye can see.

Baochang is an old man in his 40s with gray hair. He said with a smile, "The official is a general from Hanzhong, right? We can finish farming here in two or three years, and it will become mature in four or five years. It's better."

Zhu Ming asked, "Did the county magistrate inform you of the tax exemption this year?"

The Baochang replied: "As I said, I will not pay taxes this year. Next year, I will collect [-]% of the land survey and other taxes. The next year's income will be [-]%, and the next year's income will be [-]%. Everyone in the village is very happy. Marshal Hong Fu can finally survive."

"Is there enough food for this year?" Zhu Ming asked again.

The Baochang said: "It is enough to save some food. I heard from the officials that the food distributed to us by the government was borrowed from wealthy households in Hanzhong by Mr. Jinglue. Mr. Jinglue is really a good man. He borrowed grain from rich households." If you want to pay interest, but you don’t charge interest for lending it to us, and you have to transport it from Hanzhong, isn’t it a loss inside and out? I’ve only heard of corrupt officials who stripped skin and drank blood before, but never seen good officials who lost their money and cared for the people. .”

Zhu Ming said with a smile: "There are too many lice to worry about, and there are too many debts to not itch. Mr. Jinglue will find rich households to borrow food this year. There is no need to transport it from Sichuan. There are many rich households here."

After asking a few more questions, Zhu Ming went to the next reclamation point.

Perhaps it was because the execution and exile of dozens of corrupt officials last year had a huge deterrent effect, and officials restrained themselves a lot when they were corrupt.

In the several villages in Dengcheng County, food distribution is relatively normal.

Someone must reach out, officials are not greedy, officials are also greedy, as long as they can be suppressed to a certain extent, this stuff can't be eradicated in ancient and modern China and abroad.

In order to appease the landlords, we continue to issue bonds to rich households. This year, the rent for the land has been reduced again, and only [-] Wen is required for each bucket.This thing is the transportation fee when the people pay the land tax, but the people have to bear it themselves.

The loss of money and food transportation, that is, the fire consumption of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Zhu Guoxiang did not return to the public for the time being, which is equivalent to allowing local officials to legally embezzle.

However, the tax must be collected in full, and it is no longer enough to collect [-]% like the Song Dynasty (the remaining [-]% is distributed by officials, and it can be stuffed directly into their pockets).

Zhu Ming rode to the county seat again, and asked about the price of food here.

Food prices are still high, but have been suppressed a little.At the turn of spring and summer, when grain prices are the highest throughout the year, the price of rice and wheat in Dengcheng County is about [-] Wen.

This thing should be reduced to three to five hundred Wen to be normal!

The reason for the soaring price of food is not only because of wars and natural disasters, but also because of the excessive spending of money by the imperial court in the past few years.

This year, it will be announced that when more than ten big coins and tin coins are invalid, the government will not care about private transactions, and there is no way to control them at all.However, when the government collects taxes, it will not collect more than ten big coins and tin coins, so as to prevent Song Huizong from continuing to issue coins indiscriminately.The influx of money through foreign merchants will disrupt the economic order of the rebel territory.

The existing iron coins will gradually be phased out, and the money casting supervisor in Sichuan is casting more exquisite iron coins.

These high-quality iron coins will definitely be collected by wealthy households, and they will use low-quality iron coins to pay business taxes.

While cracking down on private casting, the government took back the bad money for smelting. If you lose money, you will lose money, and gradually it will be replaced.Sichuan has a lot of iron mines. According to the amount of bad money destroyed, a limited number of fine iron coins will be issued to ensure the smooth transition of coins.

When the value of iron coins stabilizes and the government's warehouses are full, they can try to issue banknotes.

There are only more than 3000 troops in Xiangyang, and all of them are Ju Ming's relatives.Not only did these soldiers not get any land, but they were only allowed to bring their wives and children, and they were not allowed to move with their whole families.Because the surrounding area of ​​Xiangyang is highly developed, there is not much land for distribution.

The treatment of pro-military soldiers is more generous, and the land given is converted into money and distributed, which eliminates the imbalance in their hearts.

More soldiers were stationed in Jingmen and Xinye.

Because of the vast land and sparse population, there was not even Xinye City in the Northern Song Dynasty, only a small commercial town, and the large area was so sparsely populated that it was impossible to set up a county.

A total of more than 6000 soldiers, with their whole families, moved to Xinye to settle down.

At the same time, [-] refugees were allocated for reclamation.If the land of soldiers and their families cannot be cultivated by themselves, refugees must rent a certain amount of land, giving priority to ensuring that the soldiers' land can be cultivated.

I believe that within ten years, Xinye City will reappear in China.

When Zhu Ming came to Xiangyang, an official ship also came from Nanyang.

The magistrate of Nanyang urgently reported that there were too many refugees there.Every month, refugees from Henan came in groups from the territory of the Song Dynasty. Officials from various counties in Nanyang received several groups, adding up to more than 5 people.

"Marshal, you are finally here!"

Zhang Tong said anxiously: "The magistrate of Fangcheng urgently reported that there was a leader of the rebel army named Cui Dalang who took 30 troops across the border to seek refuge. The magistrate of Fangcheng was so frightened that he was at a loss and ordered him to stay at the border to wait for the reception."

"30 people? You're just fooling around," Zhu Ming said with a smile, "What about Cui Dalang? If there were 30 troops, he would have gone straight to Tokyo."

Zhang Tong said: "30 people is definitely an imaginary number, but counting the old and the weak, women and children, there are probably [-] to [-] rebels. They came from Ye County in the Song Dynasty. I heard that they were still passing through the Lianghuai River. They dare not stop them, and even wish these insurgents would come to us. I heard that when Cui Dalang led his troops out of Ye County, the county magistrate even asked the wealthy households to distribute [-] stones of grain, and sent them out of the country as soon as possible with a smile on their faces."

"Take it, we've broken up the resettlement," Zhu Ming said, "We don't have enough food, so we can only borrow food from wealthy households in Nanyang."

What's wrong with this?
The rebel army in the imperial court swaggered towards the bandit battle zone, and local officials even raised food to see them off.

(End of this chapter)