Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 477: Big Development of Beiming (Special thanks to book friend daddycool for 2 monthly tickets!)

Li Hang said:
"Your Majesty, I second the proposal of Wang Cifu.

Over the past decade, in compliance with Your Majesty's order, the court has sent prisoners to the North Sea for development, and over the years more than two million people have been exiled.

However, the land of Beiming is too vast, more than three times the area of ​​the hinterland of our Great Zhou, and the development progress is still too slow.

The imperial court has currently built more than 300 cities in Beiming, basic transportation routes have been opened, and the total area of ​​fertile fields and pastures has exceeded 10 million acres.

However, most of the plains and fields are still deserted.

Among these more than 300 cities, only four cities with a population of over 200,000 are relatively prosperous: "Longxiang City" in the west that guards the "Longxiang Mountains", "Zancheng" in the middle, "Renzhao City" in the east, and "Yuxun City" in the south.

I think that our Great Zhou is now thriving in population. In last year's national census, the total population exceeded 150 million. We may be able to recruit people to immigrate to Beiming to speed up the development of the area."

The Land of the North Sea refers to the entire Siberia plus Outer Northeast in Chai Zongxun's previous life, with an area of ​​about 20 million square kilometers. Today, the population, including the hundreds of thousands of local barbarians, is less than three million. It is a vast land with few people and is unable to be developed.

In those days, Huyan Zan and other generals led three Longxiang Army corps to capture the entire Beiming territory, ending in a mountain range running from north to south in the west.

In order to reward the Longxiang Army and all the soldiers for their contributions, Chai Zongxun ordered that the mountain range be named "Longxiang Mountain Range" and a large city be built at a strategic location on the mountain called "Longxiang City". The rest of the newly built cities were also named after the meritorious soldiers who conquered the Beiming Sea.

Chai Zongxun was very pleased and said:
"You two are both very resourceful and wise, and truly loyal ministers to the country!

In this case, I will accept Jingqiong's surrender and discuss with the ministers tomorrow about recruiting immigrants and speeding up the development of Beiming."

That afternoon, Chai Zongxun personally summoned the envoy sent by Jing Qiong, accepted the gifts he brought, and ordered him to convey the imperial decree to Jing Qiong:
As long as Jing Qiong can make great contributions in the war of Great Zhou against Fusang, he will not only be spared, but also be granted a title according to his merits.

The envoy was overjoyed, thanked Chai Zongxun profusely, expressed his loyalty, then took his leave and left the hall, and rushed to Fuso that same day.

Chai Zongxun gave all the treasures in the gifts to Shu Guifei, Yelu and Gudian. As for the Fuso beauty who was presented as a gift, she was produced in several states of the Mori family after all, and was not very beautiful.

Chai Zongxun selected two of the most beautiful ones to taste the beauty of Fusang, and then gave the remaining eight to the princes who were married but not yet established as fiefdoms.

The next day, February 26, the 34th year of Kaixi, there was an early morning court session.

After the emperor and his ministers discussed some daily political affairs, Chai Zongxun said:
"The ten Dragon-Xiong Army regiments that went on the Western Expedition will soon return to the capital, and the national treasury expenditure will be greatly reduced, saving more than 60 million taels of silver each year.

Taxes are collected from the people and should be used for the people.

After seven years of development, the basic development of Beiming has been completed. The Longxiong garrison, with more than two million prisoners, has built more than three hundred cities on the vast territory of Beiming that can be used for people's living and production.

In order to consolidate the rule of our Great Zhou over the vast territory of Beiming and make this place an eternal territory of our Great Zhou, I have decided to recruit immigrants from among the people to go to Beiming and implement the national policy of "great development of Beiming".

This national policy concerns the fate of our Great Zhou, so it should be well planned and flawless. You, my dear ministers, can offer your suggestions. "The ministers in the Chuigong Hall discussed for a while, and then the Minister of Works Guo Zhi came out and said:
“Your Majesty, although the climate in the North Sea is cold, it is mostly flat land with many rivers and lakes and lush forests. It has great potential for development.

After years of trial and error, technical officials from the Ministry of Industry who were engineering scholars have developed types of grain suitable for growing in the vast areas of the Beiming Sea.

Although rice and wheat are not suitable for cultivation due to the cold climate, crops such as oats, barley, beets and flax grown by the local indigenous barbarian tribes are resistant to low temperatures, can grow well and have a short harvest cycle.

After several years of practice, technical officials sent by the Ministry of Industry have selected several local oat and barley varieties with the highest yields.

Your Majesty, it is a good opportunity to vigorously develop Beiming by relocating people there now!"

Minister of Rites Kou Zhun came out and said:
"Your Majesty, the climate in the Northern Ocean is worse than that in the heart of our Great Zhou, and the work is more difficult.

I think that in addition to providing the people with sufficient land and encouraging them to develop the Beiming, the court can assign a Japanese couple to each immigrant family as domestic slaves, which will greatly increase the people's enthusiasm for developing wasteland. "

The rulers and ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty have all determined that the conquest of Fuso will be victorious.

Although the war of the Emperor's navy against Fuso has just begun, the Great Zhou royal army, which has many magical weapons such as the Shenbi bow, the Hukan cannon, the Yansu cannon, the "Kaixi No. 33" musket, etc., has just defeated the Star Sect World Coalition Army of more than 3 million soldiers, most of whom are in plate armor. Fuso, with less than 800,000 soldiers, all of whom are non-professional soldiers armed with swords, guns and arrows, is a piece of cake for the Great Zhou!
Chai Zongxun was very pleased and clapped his hands and said:
"Rewarding the captured Fusang people who rebelled against our Great Zhou as slaves for immigration will surely encourage more people to immigrate to the North Sea to develop it!"

Thinking of attracting more people to immigrate to Beiming, having a way to make money is more motivating than farming. Chai Zongxun suddenly had an idea and said:
“I have heard that there are many lakes and rivers in the North Sea, rich in a variety of cold-water fish, among which the meat of a sturgeon that is more than one meter long is the most delicious, and its caviar can prolong life.

In order to encourage more people to immigrate to the North Sea for development, I hereby announce to the whole country that the Imperial Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty shall purchase "North Sea Sturgeon" at the price of fifty coins per catty every year.
Buy caviar at a price of one hundred coins per pound!"

At present, the price of fish in the Great Zhou Dynasty is cheaper than that of pork. Most river fish cost 7 to coins per catty, and sea fish cost to coins per catty.

In order to stimulate the people to migrate to Beiming, Chai Zongxun offered a price three to eight times that of ordinary fish, and the price of caviar was more than ten times that of ordinary fish.

When Li Hang and other ministers heard this, many of them understood Chai Zongxun's intention and immediately praised the emperor for his wisdom.

The emperor and his ministers finally agreed on a policy to encourage immigration:

The imperial court gave each household ten taels of "settlement silver" and sent troops to escort them all the way. It encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland as their own land after arriving in the cities of Beiming, and exempted them from taxes for the first three years, after which the tax rate would be the same as in the inland areas of the Great Zhou.

And after conquering Fuso in the future, every household will be rewarded with two Fuso slaves.

After the imperial edict was issued nationwide, it immediately caused a sensation among the people.

Seeing that the immigration policy given by the imperial court is so generous, and the Imperial Household Department is also purchasing Beiming sturgeon and caviar at high prices, this is a good opportunity to make a fortune!
Therefore, although the people all knew that Beiming was a desolate and cold place, in less than half a year, more than two million households and tens of millions of people from the mainland had voluntarily immigrated to Beiming.

(End of this chapter)