Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 866 0861 [The country’s population is less than million]

"Dangdangdangdang..."

The constant sound of banging and banging made Fujiwara Tadamune unable to sleep in at all.

Luoyang Sifang Pavilion is located next to Luoyang Imperial College.

After half a year's work, although Taixue has been built, other nearby institutions are still being demolished and constructed.

The construction of the Sifangkan, which is used for the residence of envoys from various countries, has not even started. Fujiwara Tadamune is currently living in the monk's residence in Fushengyuan.

This place used to be called Taiping Temple and Taiping Chanyuan, and was funded and built by Princess Taiping.

In the fifth year of Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty, Taiping Temple was annexed by Fusheng Temple next door.

After the merger of the two, it immediately became the second largest temple in Luoyang.

Alas, I don’t know when it will be completed.

He paid for this thing, not provided by Sifangguan. Although it is said that glass mirrors are poisonous, Fujiwara Tadashi didn't mind. A glass mirror cost him a lot of money.

While chatting, Li Zhengchun lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know, Sanlang, that the Annan envoy stayed at the Sifang Pavilion yesterday?"

Fujiwara Tadamune, who likes to sleep in, has almost suffered a neurasthenia from the noise at the construction site.

After brushing his teeth for seven or eight minutes, Fujiwara Tadamune spit out the mouthwash and looked at the glass mirror for a while.

Well, it seems like my teeth are whiter again.

However, the Xixia envoys were stationed in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, always monitoring the movements of the Ming Dynasty court, for fear that the Ming Dynasty would suddenly launch an attack.

"Why?" Fujiwara Tadamune wondered.

Fujiwara Tadamune now imitates Ming officials in everything, and even lets others call himself "Fujisaburo".

Li Zhengchun said amusedly: "Annan donated a rhinoceros, and even drew scales on the rhinoceros, claiming that it was a unicorn presented to the emperor of tomorrow."

Calling a servant to tie his hair and put on his hat, Fujiwara Tadashi carefully put away the glass mirror.

When he was living in Japan, he was proud of his shiny black teeth.

"Fujisaburo is here, today's breakfast was good." Li Zhengchun greeted with a smile, and he was obviously very familiar with Fujiwara Tadamune.

Since the Sifang Pavilion stipulates a free reception period, envoys who exceed the time need to pay. The Korean envoy couldn't bear it anymore and returned home after offering prisoners last year.

Li Zhengchun said: "The Annan envoys who have moved in are actually just minions. The chief and deputy envoys have been taken to prison."

After living in Daming for several years, I became deeply ashamed of it.

Fujiwara Tadamune nodded: "I heard about it."

Fujiwara Tadamune bowed and greeted: "Good day, Brother Atsushi."

Not to mention the Chinese, even the envoys from the foreign countries made fun of his black teeth. Now Fujiwara Tadamune can only smile without showing his teeth.

The two chatted while eating.

Walking to the temple canteen, the Xixia envoy was already having breakfast.

He got up, washed himself carefully, and brushed his teeth again and again.

Fujiwara Tadamune was dumbfounded when he heard this: "Does Envoy Annan treat the Ming emperors and ministers as fools?"

"A country of barbarians, who knows what they think?" Li Zhengchun said that he could not understand, and by the way he despised Annan.

Xixia regarded the surrounding small countries and tribes as barbarians, and they viewed Annan the same way.

It just so happened that Annan also regarded the surrounding small countries and tribes as barbarians, and also tried to build his own tribute system.

Fujiwara Tadamune asked: "Where is Annan?"

Li Zhengchun said: "To the south. They called themselves Dayue and Tiannan Little China. A few decades ago, they sent 100,000 troops to attack the Song Dynasty, but they were eventually counterattacked by the Song Dynasty and killed them in the capital."

Fujiwara Tadamune said contemptuously: "You don't know your own capabilities. How can China be provoked by these small countries?"

Fujiwara Tadamune had not yet joined the Ming Dynasty. He had only lived in Luoyang, Kaifeng for a few years, and he had already developed a fanaticism for converts.

He doesn't even want to go back to Japan and wants to live here for the rest of his life.

But Li Zhengchun's thoughts were much more complicated. He came to Luoyang last year to change his duties, and the previous envoy had returned to Xixia.

Li Zhengchun's task was to observe the movements of the Ming Dynasty and make friends with ministers to speak favorably for Xixia.

But after coming to Luoyang, Li Zhengchun found that he couldn't do anything, so he simply stayed in Luoyang and enjoyed life all day long.

If the Ming Dynasty did not attack Xixia, Li Zhengchun would naturally have nothing to say.

If Ming Dynasty attacks Xixia, he has decided to lead the way. Anyway, Xixia will definitely be destroyed. Depending on the connections he made in Luoyang, he might be able to continue serving as an official by betraying the country.

Be a great official!

Two energetic people, after having breakfast, ran together to watch the excitement.

Arriving at the monastic compound of the Annan Mission, they soon discovered that entry and exit had been banned.

Fujiwara Tadamune bowed to the gatekeeper: "Goro has been guarding here?"

"It turns out that it was Fujisaburo and Li Xianggong in person," the official said with a smile. "These Jiaozhi barbarians dared to pretend to be unicorns and pay tribute. Their chief and deputy envoys have been arrested and interrogated in Dali Temple, and the rest have been imprisoned. Please be under strict supervision when entering here." Fujiwara Tadamune asked, "Will you be beheaded if you are guilty of deceiving the emperor?"

The official shook his head: "I don't know."

……

At the imperial meeting, the cabinet ministers were also discussing.

"The two countries are at war and they haven't killed the envoy yet," Prime Minister Zhai Ruwen said. "Dali Temple has already interrogated clearly. Annan lied about offering Kirin in order to show the sincerity of the tribute. In this case, release the envoy and ask King Annan for his crime. That’s it.”

Huan Guo, the Minister of Rites, said: "What the Prime Minister said is in line with the etiquette of diplomatic relations."

Zhang Bor said: "Since the imperial court has no plans to attack Annan for the time being, we can release the envoys for a while. Nowadays, regulating the Yellow River consumes a lot of money and food, so we should not start a war with Annan again. After Dali is destroyed, it will not be too late to attack Annan." "

Qian Chen said: "Within five years, it is best to maintain peace with Annan. Even if we have to fight, we can only fight in a small way. A big fight is too expensive!"

Since the ministers all said not to cause trouble, Ju Ming was too lazy to have his own way.

"We won't discuss this matter anymore. Let's stabilize Annan first," Ju Ming said. "The nationwide distribution of people and households has ended, and the latest census has been sent to the capital. Fang Shangshu, please give us a brief introduction. ”

Fang Mengqing stood up and said: "There is a service money law in cities and towns, and in the countryside there is a law for tenants to work per mu. People no longer deliberately conceal their household registration. In addition, the household system has been abolished in urban and rural areas, and taxes are based on the area of ​​residences, shops, and farmland. Therefore, Many people took the initiative to register with the government. They also vigorously inspected temples and ordered monks who had not given ultimatums to return to secular life..."

"My Ming Dynasty's household registration is different from the statistics of the previous dynasty, covering all households and populations. Of course, children are prone to die young, and only men and women over 15 years old are included."

"Our Ming Dynasty has Gyeonggi, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Huainan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Liaoning, totaling one Beijing and fifteen provinces. In addition, Anton, Monan and Linhuang protect the three capitals."

"There are no statistics yet for the three governorates. For the remaining 15 provinces, the total population over the age of 8931 is more than million."

"Based on the ratio of cultivated land to population, the most densely populated provinces are Jiangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and Huainan. The most sparsely populated provinces are Hebei, Liaoning, Hubei, Hunan, and Shaanxi. There are too many barbarians in Guangxi, and effective statistics are temporarily impossible. Guangdong is also special, with Guangzhou alone accounting for a quarter of the province’s population.”

"Let's talk about the number of households..."

The population still has not recovered, and it is far worse than during the middle period of Song Huizong's reign.

There was a large hidden population at that time, but judging from the number of households, it was most likely in the hundreds of millions.

First, Fang La rebelled in Jiangnan, and then the Yellow River burst causing chaos in Hebei and Shandong. Then the Jin people wreaked havoc in Hebei, and Zhong Xiang wreaked havoc in Hunan. There were also some wars, such as the Lunan Barbarians sweeping across southern Sichuan, and uprisings in Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Huainan.

This does not take into account the battles fought by Zhu and his son.

The population distribution of Guangdong is quite ridiculous. 25% of the province’s population is crowded in Guangzhou. As for other state capitals in Guangdong, the closer they are to Fujian, the more densely populated they are - caused by immigrants from Fujian.

After Guangzhou, Yingzhou (Yingde) ranks second in the province in terms of tax revenue.

But Yingzhou had the slowest population growth in the Northern Song Dynasty: negative growth!

The transportation there is convenient and suitable for collecting commercial taxes, but the farming environment is relatively poor. The concentration of industrial, agricultural and commercial taxes ranks first in the province, and the density of the tax network ranks first in the province.

Ju Ming knocked on the table and said: "The checkpoints in Yingzhou must be canceled until only the city is left!"

Before Fang Mengqing, the Minister of Household Affairs, could say anything, Qian Chen said: "Your Majesty, goods from Jiangxi and Hunan provinces can be transported to Guangzhou for sea through Yingzhou. Setting up more checkpoints there will not affect business. Prosperity. If you want to increase the population, just reduce the agricultural tax."

"Short-sighted!"

Ju Ming criticized: "The customs canceled in Yingzhou can be restored in all walks of life. It can prosper the industry and commerce in the three provinces and allow more people to have work. A small Yingzhou, only two counties, the former Song Dynasty actually established 25 tax stations! It seems that the government collected more taxes, but in fact, the population of Yingzhou became smaller and smaller!"

These 25 tax sites also include some mining tax authorities.

But it still seems outrageous. It only covers an area of ​​two counties, and it is also a mountainous and narrow place. Inland river merchant ships passing through here may be charged two or three taxes and fees within the same rural boundary.

Ju Ming continued to give instructions: "Jiangxi and Fujian provinces are too densely populated, and the government must continue to organize immigrants. Jiangxi immigrate to Hunan, and Fujian immigrate to Guangxi. Officials in every prefecture and county must be vigilant. It is necessary to immigrate quickly, but also cannot If you cause trouble, you still have to ensure the safety of immigrants!”

I want it, I want it, I want it...

The cabinet ministers expressed their sympathy to the officials in Jiangxi and Fujian.

Of course, as long as it is linked to political performance, no matter how difficult the task is, officials will do it.

Under normal circumstances, local officials do not care about immigration, or even obstruct people from immigrating. They mainly consider their own political achievements.

They don't care about the shortage of land resources. They only know that if the number of registered residents within their jurisdiction increases, they will get good reviews in political performance evaluations. Once the household registration is reduced, it will affect the performance evaluation.

They will do whatever the court wants to do when assessing political performance.

Ju Ming said: "The chief envoys of these four provinces, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangxi, and Hunan, will go to Jinling for a meeting this summer. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War will each send a right minister to Jinling to preside over the meeting. The minister of war mainly arranges for the inter-provincial Cao Army. Regarding the immigration work in the four provinces, we all sat together to discuss how to connect the immigrants to ensure that the immigration work proceeds in an orderly and rapid manner.”

All the important officials here were shocked, how could you play like this?

Local officials were strictly prohibited from leaving their jurisdiction without authorization. Ju Ming actually asked the chief envoys of the four provinces to leave the country for a meeting, and also sent the ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War to preside over the meeting.

After discussing the national work arrangements, Ju Ming said: "Huan Guo will stay, and the rest can go."

Huan Guo sat where he was, knowing that it was related to the Annan mission.

Ju Ming said: "Send an envoy to Annan to question the crime and order Annan to hand over the territory they occupied in the former Song Dynasty. As for the Annan envoy, he was reprimanded and released. On their way back to the country, they will no longer receive free reception at the inns along the way, and they have to pay for food, drink, accommodation and travel! "

"Yes!"

Huan Guo wanted to laugh, this emperor was really a loss.

The Annan envoy brought rhinos and elephants with them. Without the help of the post station, it would be difficult to feed the animals along the way.

They have only one choice, sell the tributes to pay their own way back home!
(End of this chapter)