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Chapter 974 Changes with each passing day 2
"What do you think, gentlemen?" After receiving such blatant praise from two important ministers in a row, the emperor smiled more, but it seemed that it was not enough, and turned his gaze to the others.

"That should be the case. I agree with it!" If you are not a fool, you will not come out to refute it at this time. In fact, there is nothing to blame.

During the inspection, they met two special immigrant families in a small village. Both of them were demoted convicts, and their families were well-known ministers in the court twenty years ago.

After the 15-year hard labor was over, the two families were arranged to settle in the Luzon Special Zone and became new immigrants. At first, they certainly had a lot of discomfort, but after a few years, they got used to it and formed a small farm with two other immigrants from Jurchen and Yunnan. They used loans to buy 200 acres of irrigated land to grow rice.

They had a bumper harvest in the first year, and now it is the sixth year. Not only has the loan been repaid, but they have also bought oxen and horses, and found wives for their two children.

When asked whether they wanted to return to their hometown, the two families shook their heads without hesitation. Why go back? The family of the demoted official has a bad reputation and their property has been confiscated. It is better to start a new business here.

Although two generations of people cannot enter the officialdom, their grandchildren can still take the imperial examination when they grow up. There are always people who pass the high school entrance examination in the Luzon Special Region. It is much better to live by one's own ability than to rely on charity and mercy from others.

Another question is whether they hate the emperor. Although they didn't say it explicitly, there is no hatred in the conversations and expressions of the two families. Instead, they are grateful for the new policy. If it were in other dynasties, people who were demoted, confiscated and exiled would have a problem whether they could survive, let alone make a comeback.

They were demoted because of the new policy, and they were given a new life because of the new policy. Whether they should hate or be grateful, not only the two families could not tell, but few of the court officials present could tell either.

"Well, in that case, I will accept it reluctantly. But Minister Liu is right. What affects the development of Luzon and other special zones is not the land, climate, or products, but people.

The abandoned fields here are not because people don't want to cultivate them, but because they are unable to cultivate them. With so few people and so much land, it would be difficult to maintain them even if they were to cultivate them. So they simply planted half and left the other half uncultivated, and then switched back next year, which would at least increase the soil's fertility.

In contrast, in other provinces, some have insufficient water resources and some have unfavorable terrain. Some families cannot even get a few acres of land, let alone dozens of acres per household. But they would rather guard a few acres of thin land than become landlords in the special zone, which makes me really helpless! "

Hong Tao accepted all the compliments with a little modesty, then sat down on the high-backed chair provided by the Spanish governor, put on a sad face and continued to worry about the people under his rule.

"Uh..." As soon as these words came out, all the ministers shut up immediately. The issue of immigration was discussed several times almost every year, but there was no significant result.

The Han people have a strong sense of local roots and would like to return to their roots. As long as there is a way out, they are unwilling to travel across the ocean to start a new life, even if it means suffering a little more.

In this regard, the emperor was indeed quite merciful. He only sent away the convicts, beggars, and vagrants, and the rest of the people were left entirely to their own volition and were never forced.

But as identity cards became more and more popular, there were fewer refugees and beggars, and the number of convicts alone could not be increased by many people each year. The largest export destinations of immigrants were Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, and the people in other provinces had neither the habit of going out to make a living nor the desire to do so.

"If Your Majesty does not have drastic measures, large-scale immigration will be extremely difficult!"

Seeing that no one was talking and wanted to leave the emperor hanging, the Minister of Personnel Liu Fuli quickly threw a brick. Whether it was useful or not, he would listen to the sound first, maybe it could lead to the jade.

"During the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Emperor Chengzu, there were quite a few migrations, with many surnames migrating en masse, numbering no less than one million people. But there has never been a large-scale migration overseas, which is indeed not easy."

Sure enough, there was jade, thrown by Tongzhengshi Xiong Wencan. But the quality of this jade was a bit inferior, somewhere between stone and jade. It seemed to say something, but also seemed to say nothing. "This is not appropriate... During the reigns of Taizu and Chengzu, it was done out of necessity to fill the land of long-term war. Now that the people are living and working in peace and contentment, forcing them to move to a foreign land will inevitably cause unrest."

But someone heard the meaning of this and quickly stood up to oppose it. Yuan Yingtai knew that the emperor was playing a trick again, and he might catch someone's words and make a big fuss about them.

But as for the issue of large-scale immigration, he thinks it is better to go slow than to take risks for the sake of speed. The current situation has taken thirty years to sort out, and we should focus on stability and not rush.

"Uh... can we relocate the victims to a special zone? This way, the court can save money on relief, the victims can still make a living, and there will be no excuse for them to accuse us."

With the preparations made in the previous sections, the ministers had a rough idea of ​​what the emperor wanted to do. They stopped defending and began discussing with each other in low voices. Soon, someone stood up and offered suggestions.

"Oh, Master Xi, this idea is interesting. I think it is feasible!"

Hong Tao had not expected Silva to make any suggestions in such an occasion. He appointed him as the Grand Secretary purely to find a secretary who was familiar with economics. It was also a kind of encouragement to repay them for their hard work in the Sun Moon Bank and the Taxation Department over the years.

But maybe it's because bystanders see more clearly, or maybe it's because one is not in the position to interfere in other people's affairs, the fat black man is more forward-looking than others when he speaks.

Since he ascended the throne, various natural disasters have continued for the past 30 years, and disaster relief alone consumes a huge amount of manpower and material resources every year, especially in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces.

It is not that we have not thought about relocating the population from disaster-prone areas to other provinces. Even if the cost of relocation and settlement were all paid by the court, it would be a hundred times easier than disaster relief and assistance year after year.

But they couldn't find a suitable place to migrate to. Why move to a place with fewer people? The answer is very simple and unique: it is not suitable for farming.

It would be better to let a group of farmers starve to death without any relief than to let them live in a place where the climate, soil and environment are not suitable for farming. It also saves money and food from moving back and forth.

It seems impossible to move to a more populated area. There are dozens of families in a village who were living well, and the imperial court suddenly forced a few families to move in. There must be a place to live, but where can they find farmland?

It is impossible to ask the dozens of households that came before to contribute a little to free up some land for the newcomers. That would just be waiting for the fight to break out. As a result, when we counted the people, we found that more people were killed than those who suffered from the disaster.

But now it seems that the conditions are in place. Not only does the Luzon Special Region have a large amount of land to be distributed, but the Annan Special Region also has it. The infrastructure of these two special regions has reached a certain scale and has the capacity to accommodate a large number of new immigrants.

Are the people affected by the disaster willing to come? This is true. People are almost starving to death. They are willing to sell their children to get food. Will they still complain that the distance to their new home is a little far?

Ancestors? Forget it. The ancestral tombs have been flooded so many times. If you want to follow the ancestors, you have to go to the seaside to look for them. The bones have long been washed into the sea. Maybe they have been carried to Luzon Island by the ocean current. It's a good opportunity to come and look for them.

(End of this chapter)