Time Bandit

In one month, the anti-corruption campaign in the capital had already been completed, and a huge amount of unidentified property of more than 6000 million taels had been harvested. A large number of convicted officials, royal relatives, and nobles were punished as they should.

And the anti-corruption campaign that was later expanded to the whole country has harvested a huge amount of unknown property worth more than one billion taels of silver.Silver is only a part of it, a small part is gold, and most of it is land, houses, factories and mines.The value of more than one billion taels of silver, one can imagine how horrible the corruption of officials, royal relatives, and nobles in this era is.

Of course, where there are officials, there are businessmen.During the anti-corruption campaign, countless giant businessmen were sacked. These guys who have no money and no fat can be said to have achieved an extreme level of collusion between the government and businessmen.

Here, I have to mention Jinshang Group.

The fortune of Shanxi merchants is not a history of blood and tears, but a history of traitors!The history of blood and tears of [-] million Han Chinese!If there were no Shanxi merchants acting as traitors to sell strategic materials, Ji Qing might not have been able to enter the customs in that time and space.During the hundreds of years of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, technology, culture, and economy did not make any progress compared with the end of the Ming Dynasty.

In the early years of Chongzhen, the famine brought by the Little Ice Age had completely collapsed the livelihood of the people in the Northeast. Although the Houjin ruled area had only 70 people, the people had to change their sons for food. The price of rice was as high as 80 taels a stone, and cloth cost 20 taels a stone. match.Shanxi merchants who were attached to the Houjin regime in history provided all of Huang Taiji's gunpowder, [-]% of the grain and more than [-]% of the metal.

Through Shanxi merchants, it was possible for Hou Jin to turn looted property, antiques, gold and silver into food to feed the millions of people who were looted.The price of rice in Liaodong finally fell to one or two or four shi, and the population increased several times, but the price of grain fell to a few hundredths of the peak.The eight Shanxi merchants hoarded tens of millions of silver taels in Chongzhen 15 years ago, and because of these achievements, they were granted the status of imperial merchants by the Qing Dynasty, creating a legend that Shanxi became rich and famous for more than 270 years.

According to the "Records of the Qing Dynasty", in the third year of Destiny (1618), there were 16 traders in Fushun from Shandong, Shanxi, Hedong, Hexi, Suzhou and Hangzhou. repatriation".The trade activities of Shanxi merchants inside and outside the customs gave great support to the Later Jin regime in terms of materials, and the Later Jin regime also gave Shanxi merchants courtesy and attention.Shanxi merchants cooperated with the Qing rulers in strengthening their rule over Mongolia.

In the third year of Chongde in the later Jin Dynasty (1637), Huang Taiji ordered Manchu nobles to lead 100 inland Han merchants to carry goods to Guihua City for trade.When the Qing soldiers entered the customs, military expenditures soared, and finances were very difficult. In this regard, Zu Kefa and Zhang Cunren, who participated in politics in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, once suggested: "Shandong is the way of grain transportation, and Shanxi is the way of merchants. It is urgent to recruit. If the two provinces If the soldiers and the people belong to our territory, then there will be wealth and wealth, and there will be no shortage of national use." Therefore, the Later Jin regime adopted a policy of appeasement for Shanxi merchants.

In the early years of Shunzhi, the Qing government summoned Fan Yongdou, a wealthy businessman from Shanxi Province to Mongolia, as an imperial merchant of the House of Internal Affairs.In the process of unifying the country and the large-scale military operations of the past dynasties, most of the Qing Dynasty received financial support from Shanxi merchants.

In the middle of Kangxi period, the Qing government organized some Han merchants to trade with the army during the period when the Qing government quelled the feudal turmoil of the Junggar tribe.They followed the Qing army and went deep into the Mongolian grasslands, trafficking in military supplies such as military rations and horses, and doing business with the Mongolians at the same time.Most of these "traveling Mongolian merchants" were Shanxi merchants who were named "imperial merchants" by the Qing court, and some were Han merchants from Zhili (Hebei) and other places.They ensured the logistical needs of the Qing army's military operations.Of course, the Qing government also gave these businessmen exclusive business privileges, which made them a lot of money.The unusual form of friendship between the Qing government and merchants naturally had a considerable impact on the formulation of the Qing government's political and economic policies.

Not only that, but in the documents of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi merchants provided Houjin with detailed information on Gyeonggi, including the names of the guards at each pass, the number of soldiers, and details of equipment, and even a considerable number of military intelligence pond reports.

The businessman has achieved such a level that the country has been sold, which can be regarded as reaching an extreme, shameless to the extreme.

Of course, the traitorous activities of the Shanxi Merchants Group are not something they can do by themselves. For this reason, they naturally recruited many civil servants, generals, and royal families.Although these officials and nobles did not directly participate in it, their behavior is actually no different from that of traitors, they just turned a blind eye to it.Conscience is long gone.

For Jinshang Group, the treatment is very severe.Chongzhen knew before that there was such a traitorous Shanxi Merchants Group, but he couldn't move it at that time.Now with Ji Qing's help, Jinshang Group naturally became Chongzhen's ghost.Tracing the family and exterminating the family is all light.

Regarding this, Ji Qing didn't ask any questions, and the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs didn't offer a lenient punishment. It was really because the Shanxi Merchants Group was too insignificant, and what they did was unacceptable.

It is anti-corruption, liquidation, and various new systems that break the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, there are many voices of opposition.However, Chongzhen, who was once a lonely family, once faced with subjugation, and now Chongzhen with Ji Qing's help, would not care about these things.If the propaganda is done boldly and resolutely, those so-called civil servants who still oppose it for their own selfishness will only be bulldozed and swept away.

The foundation for the growth of the civil service group, the imperial examination system, was also abolished by Chongzhen.In the future country, there will be a brand-new official selection system, and the cultivation of talents will no longer be the original private schools, but various schools under the brand-new education system that will be established in the near future.

It can be said that so far, Chongzhen has completely defeated the civil official group, fulfilling his wish for many years.From the smiles on the ministers who opposed for the sake of opposing when he contacted Ji Qing, we could see how proud he was.

But now the immortal officials and generals under Chongzhen made Chongzhen extremely satisfied.Although he didn't know how to kneel down and salute Chongzhen, Chongzhen had never seen such a good helper in governing the country and dealing with problems, and it can be said that all of them were much better than those so-called famous officials before.

Chongzhen also had to sigh, he is indeed a fairy.In his eyes, only immortals can do this.

After eradicating corruption, defeating the civil servant group, and leveling the military attache group, the domestics are not completely alive, but they have changed, and they are full of vitality everywhere.

The internal instability of the Ming Dynasty was mainly due to the lack of food and clothing for the people at the bottom. The hard-working Chinese, who could eat and drink enough, would not rise up to resist and go into banditry.

Ji Qing brought a lot of high-quality grain seeds from his time and space. He did this in the anti-Japanese time and space before, and he will do the same when he comes to Daming. He wants the farmers of Daming to grow high-yield crops and avoid starvation. .

Improved corn, rice, and wheat are the three main crops, coupled with ecological agriculture technology, will provide enough food for Daming in the future to meet the needs of the people of Daming.At least, the existing arable land can meet the needs of one billion people.

Of course, land had to be redistributed before agricultural technology could change.These measures were all taken from the time and space of the Anti-Japanese War. Although the major landlords had various dissatisfaction, under the state apparatus, nothing could hinder them.

So far, nearly [-] million farmers in Daming have obtained enough land to start a new life and a bright future.

Nearly [-] million farmers? !Is it wrong? !

That's right!

According to Ji Qing's time and space data, there were about [-] million people in this period.

The population of China in the Ming Dynasty, the last national official statistician, was in the first year of Ming Guangzong Taichang. (Volume 4 of the Veritable Records of Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty).The above population figures are of course incomplete.Because the population is largely concealed.It is generally believed that the population of the Ming Dynasty is actually only the tax population held by the government.

很多人口学者（包括海外学者）认为，明代实际人口，大约在1亿到2亿（高王凌：《明清时期的中国人口》（《清史研究》1994年第3期）和葛剑雄、曹树基：《对明代人口总数的新估计》（《中国史研究》1995年第1期））。

In particular, Ge Jianxiong, an authority on demography, emphasized in the "History of China's Population Development": "In the 28th year of Wanli (1600), there should be 197 billion people. After the 28th year of Wanli, the total population may still grow slowly, so the population peak of the Ming Dynasty was close to Two hundred million."

However, some optimistic Western scholars estimate that around 1600, the population of the Ming Dynasty was 23 billion, and there was even an estimate of 2 million at its peak, but it was obviously too high.In general, it has become the mainstream view in the field of population history to determine that the population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was around [-] million.

Compared with the population of the Ming Dynasty, in terms of official statistics, the first national census of the Manchu Qing Dynasty (more than 4000 million fewer than the first year of Emperor Guangzong of Ming Dynasty) was in the eighth year of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty (Vol.

而在满清控制全国后的清圣祖康熙21年（1682年，入关后第48年），全国人口也只有1人。仅相当于明光宗泰昌元年人口的3625！

As many scholars have pointed out, the population of the early Qing Dynasty also had serious shortages before the Yongzheng Dynasty.Scholars have also made estimates of China's population around 1650, but the values ​​vary greatly, at around 4000 million to 1 million.

Among them, the highest figure of 1 million was calculated by He Bingdi based on his estimated population growth rate from 16501700 to 16501670.Judging from the overall demographic statistics after the Manchu Qing made changes to the population statistics and taxation system, He Bingdi’s estimate was obviously too high, and he ignored an important factor: between 16501700 and [-], the brutal wars on the mainland and the massacres of the Manchu Qing, In other words, the population growth rate during this period cannot be the average level of [-]-[-], but should be much lower than this level.

Based on the analysis of the above situation, around 1660 (the Manchu Qing basically controlled the mainland), the highest value of China's population could not be higher than 50008000 million people.Compared with the recognized population at the end of Ming Dynasty, it has decreased by about 1 million to more than 00 million.If the new population is taken into account, the total loss is even greater.

Of course, a large number of people died of famine, but because the Manchu Qing controlled the whole country, the reduction in population due to out-migration was almost negligible.In consideration of the above factors, it is well-founded to presume that tens of millions or even more than 1 million people were massacred by the Manchu Qing.It can even be said to be extremely conservative.

Ji Qing came here and confirmed this number after launching the satellite.At least before the Manchu Qing entered the customs, Daming still had a population of more than 2 million.

However, after Ji Qing controlled the whole country in time and space, the population decreased so much. The war was one aspect, and the massacre by the Manchus was the main factor.Even Zhang Xianzhong was given the notoriety of a butcher to share Bo Jiading's crimes. It is conceivable how many people the Manchu Qing killed. . .

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