New Shun 1730

The trafficker said helplessly: "If this man dies, there will be no descendants. Who will pay the debt? If he doesn't go to Southeast Asia, how many people will be alive?"

The county magistrate said: "Didn't the court prepare 600,000 shi of rice for relief? It's not so easy to starve to death. It's better to live than to die. As long as there is a way to survive, who would be willing to die?"

"Or, go back and talk to the Duke? I guess it's not just this county, it's the same in other places."

The county magistrate has made up his mind. He won't be a guarantor for this matter.

Anyway, this county is like this. As a county magistrate, he is not very greedy and has some prospects. As an official in a county where disasters occur frequently, as long as he does a good job, he can be evaluated.

Now the disaster victims are not eating his rice, not even the rice from the county's charity granary. They are eating the county's rice for the time being, and the imperial court will make up for it next year.

He is not in a hurry anyway.

Whoever pushes this matter, push it to whoever pushes it.

Otherwise, the court should issue a clear document: all debts will be forgiven for those who go to Southeast Asia. That would be fine.

The traffickers knew that it was not that simple when they saw that the county magistrate was not willing to give in. They also believed that this was definitely not unique to one county, and that such things might happen everywhere.

After thinking about it, they had to say, "Then I will give this rule to you, sir. You can talk to these disaster victims these days. Count the people who are going to go first and divide them up. I will come to select them."

"Then I will go back to Songjiang Prefecture first. Where is the Duke? I will go back and talk to him first?"

The county magistrate nodded and said, "Don't worry about that. I also know that going to Southeast Asia is a move to save the poor, so I have to do it with all my heart. The Duke can go to the governor, the prefect, or the governor directly. There is always a clause, and it will be easy for me to handle it."

The traffickers had no choice but to know that it was not a solution to rely on it like this. He repeatedly asked the county magistrate for help and hurried back to the prosperous Songjiang Prefecture.

Hundreds of miles apart, one is prosperous and the other is like a ghost. Even though these human traffickers have been on the battlefield, they are not used to it for a while.

When the human traffickers asked to see Liu Yu, Liu Yu was busy discussing the formulation of the bank. After listening to the general idea, he only cursed and had to put down the things in his hands.

Relocation is not as simple as a few words. It is not as simple as saying that Nanyang is good and everyone will swim over.

This year's disaster in Jiangsu is bigger than before. People were collected from various counties, food was guaranteed along the way, sent to the port, cleaned and vaccinated.

Then people from different counties and villages had to be dispersed to avoid people from the same village and surname from sticking together.

All these needed to be arranged in advance.

This was an unprecedented "merchant disaster relief". As a duke, he had to make good friends with all places with his official status.

He had to deal with the affairs of the court every few days and prepare for the purchase of next year's grain. He didn't want to officially abolish the grain next year, but the rice would have problems in the first year.

I was already in a bad mood. I thought it was a simple matter, but it got stuck here. I was extremely upset.

None of the human traffickers who came back from northern Jiangsu... or southern Jiangsu had a smooth journey.

In short, it was just one sentence.

The court changed the head tax, and the officials certainly didn't care.

However, the court pretended to control all the people. In fact, most of the people still belonged to a special "feudal" system and could not be moved at all.

There was indeed a big disaster this year.

It is true that people died and the debt was gone.

But the court made a big fanfare to rescue and exempt the debt, and the emperor directly exempted it for three years.

For a while, people would not die, and there would be a lot of money after the exemption.

Those who were most willing to leave must be very poor and had been tied up by debt. Anyone who could survive and did not owe debts would not be willing to go to an unknown foreign land.

When the Dashun Dynasty was founded, rent and interest were reduced, but after these years, the rent has returned to a level that even the feudal lords in Japan who practiced the public-private ratio of 4 and the private-private ratio of 6 would envy.

After listening to the questions raised by the traffickers, Liu Yu was annoyed, but he could only suppress his anger in front of them and said, "I didn't worry about this matter."

"So, you go back first and count them. Whether you are in debt or have disputes in the fields, as long as you are willing to go and qualified, register first."

"I will do the rest."

"Time waits for no one. The wind is just right in November, but it will be no good in March next year. You are all from the navy, and you know that in April, it will be the rainy season in Nanyang. Now there is no hair, even if it is hot there, you have to build a house to shelter from the wind and rain. People must be sent there before the end of the year. This matter cannot be delayed."

"You go first. But don't... uh... don't be stubborn. After all, you are from the navy. If the gentry of several counties jointly accuse me of being domineering and condoning your domineering behavior, I will have a lot of trouble again."

These officers who retired for various reasons were not high-ranking officers, and they belonged to battalion and company-level officers. They are called the navy, but they are mostly marines, most of whom were picked from the disaster victims.

In fact, they all have bad tempers, and most of them have fought their way out of the bloody sea, and they are assigned this job with missing limbs.

Liu Yu could only remind them carefully, don't take out the battlefield style when there is a disagreement, take out the gun and hit them, then there will be a lot of trouble.

After hearing Liu Yu's instructions, several human traffickers couldn't help muttering: "It's better to go to Nanyang. Things over there are simple to handle. Either use a gun or a knife..."

Liu Yu curled his lips and thought, isn't this nonsense? Otherwise, why do I have to go abroad? Land reform can be carried out in places like Banten, but there are a lot of troubles in China.

If I can solve the problems at home, what's wrong with me? I have to go abroad? As long as the domestic problems are solved, just this scale, this internal market, is there any need to worry about this and that?

"Okay, we are not in Southeast Asia or Japan now. The Celestial Empire has its own national conditions here, so don't talk about this or that."

"You can go first. Time is tight, and I won't keep you."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. Once you start, it will be easier in the future. Although you are no longer officers, but human traffickers who work for others for money, you should also know that doing this is a great act of benevolence and kindness in private; in general, you have also contributed to the expansion of the Celestial Empire in Southeast Asia."

"Go, go."

All the human traffickers stood up and thanked and left. They did not dare to delay their business, and returned to the "area" originally arranged.

After these people left, Liu Yu walked around the room with his hands behind his back for a few times, and couldn't help shaking his head.

Indeed, he thought it was simple.

The system of contract labor in later generations could prevail because the contractor paid money and contracted people. In the future, the wages of the contract workers will be given to the contractors, and most of them recruit female workers, who are "money-losing goods kept at home", so it is better to sell them for a few dollars.

Now when going to Southeast Asia, they recruit young and strong laborers. This departure basically means taking the whole family away. Those who really rule the countryside will definitely not let people go.

The basic unit of Dashun is the family, including debts, etc., all of which are the same.

And even if there is no debt, or the debt problem is solved by oneself, it is estimated that there will be incidents of parents jumping into the river to commit suicide so as not to be a burden to their children, and mothers throwing babies to death to ensure that they are eligible to board the ship and escape from the sea of ​​suffering.

At present, this matter is difficult and simple.

The simplest way is the particularity of the Dashun system.

Although local officials have connections with local gentry and are insiders. But because of the system of being responsible to the upper level, as long as the upper level has something to say, the lower level will be easy to say. Officials will not care about so-called friendships. After all, they are not feudal lords, but floating officials. Who the hell recognizes who after working for a few years?

If I want to solve this matter roughly, I can just go to the superior official directly. The superior official said a word, and the subordinates suppressed it.

However, to be honest, this matter is essentially the first confrontation between the bourgeoisie of Dashun and the landlord class of Dashun.

Who should pay this money?

Logically, whoever hires people should pay this money. Since the emerging class hired people to develop Nanyang and settled the debt in advance, it is not impossible to let people work to repay the debt.

This is one reason.

There is another reason, that the money owed is not reasonable at all. Did you grow the grain? Did you harvest the wheat? If you don’t work, why do you occupy the fruits of your labor for free? Just don’t pay it back, burn the loan note, and it’s over.

But Liu Yu certainly didn’t dare to say this reason at this time.

Since he didn’t dare to say it, he had to argue according to the existing reason.

According to the existing reason, no matter how the lawsuit goes, the emerging class should pay this money, and then work a few more years to repay the debt.

But the problem is that the mortality rate of going to Nanyang is high, and they know this in their hearts.

When Batavia was first built, the annual mortality rate was almost 60%. Batches of people came and died. The mortality rate did not drop until the city was built, the swamps were cleaned up, and the urban system was built.

Now, if we start to develop plantations from scratch, the mortality rate will inevitably be ridiculously high, especially for some people from the Huanghuai area, which is considered to be the north, who go to Southeast Asia.

This makes it impossible for the emerging class to accept this seemingly reasonable condition: pay off the debts of the hired workers first, and the hired workers have to work for ten more years, which seems to be a win for the emerging class.

As a result, people just arrived and suddenly contracted malaria, dengue fever, fever, hemorrhagic fever, cholera, measles, rubella, dysentery, etc. and died. Isn’t this a loss?

If they don’t accept it, they can continue to delay.

This is not like setting up a Western trading company, which seems to know how to make money, but there is no chance if you go too late.

Rather, the opportunity is there, and many people are eager to see whether others make money or lose money before following up.

Liu Yu finally used various means to create such a craze, and he must maintain it.

Now there is a struggle.

Naturally, Liu Yu must be on the side of the emerging class now.

No matter if it is reasonable or not.

He has to pretend, at least make a gesture: Don't be afraid if there is a dispute, I am on your side. I will protect you. Be bolder and take bigger steps.

Without this gesture, things will be more difficult in the future: the emerging classes will see that it seems safer to buy land and hoard land and pass on the imperial examination.

The struggle between the two sides has just begun.

If the industry develops in the future, there will be no struggle between the two sides under the contract labor system; this kind of thing that requires the development of Nanyang to rely on young and strong labor and disintegrate the old rural system will cause struggle between the two sides.

This matter, since it must be solved by playing rogue and letting the emerging class see that he is on their side, there is only one way left.

"Come on, prepare the carriage. I'm going to Nanjing to visit the Jiedushi."