Chapter 21 The Hardships of People's Livelihood in the North

Since everyone has decided, the governance of the entire water system should be carried out in the order from north to south.

Zhu Qizhen immediately made a final decision and said, "Let's start with Shuntian Mansion." ”

Yu Qian said: "It's just that if you want to start well from Shuntianfu, there is a big problem. That is near the Jingshi, all of them are noble Zhuangzi, but the construction of water conservancy cannot bypass them. ”

Zhu Qizhen immediately understood what Yu Qian was worried about.

At least now Da Ming Xungui still holds the handle of the knife in his hand. It is one of Zhu Qizhen's most reliable reliance. But with Beijing as the center, a large amount of land was either given to the nobles by the emperor or occupied by the nobles themselves.

It has only been 70 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

All land annexations are not serious.

But in addition to the north and south of Beijing.

There are a large number of noble lands in the north and south of the capital, and it is impossible for Yu Qian to build a lot of construction in Shuntian Mansion without touching the interests of these nobles.

Zhu Qizhen pondered for a while and said, "I will take this matter to heart." The British Duke understands the righteousness, so naturally he will not embarrass Mr. Yu. ”

Fortunately, it was the Orthodox period.

Although the authority of the Ming Dynasty is still there, in terms of land annexation, it is not very powerful, and a considerable number of them still want to gain fame on the horse.

Instead of camping for wealth.

And the Ming imperial family only had Emperor Renzong when he was the crown prince, there was a Zhuangzi, as Huangzhuang, that is, Renshou Huangzhuang. Other relatives were also under the restraint of the Empress Dowager and did not dare to act rashly.

Without the royal family taking the lead, the land annexation situation in Suncheonfu has not yet reached the point where there is almost no ordinary people to the point of inching an inch of land.

Moreover, the British Duke Zhang Fu is also a reasonable person, when Xuanzong cleared the land of Shuntianfu, the British Duke gave up all the land except for the imperial court, which was tens of thousands of acres.

Emperor Xuanzong naturally didn't want it, but except for the 30,000 acres of land awarded to the British public by the imperial court, all the rest of the land had to be levied.

Looking at the British public, no one in the Shuntian Mansion dares to make a mistake.

Moreover, water conservancy and water conservancy, although the water conservancy is greatly developed, it is inevitable to requisition land and plan the river, which has disadvantages and natural advantages, and the slight inclination of the river channel can turn a large area of dry land into watered fields, and everyone knows the pros and cons. Although Yu Qian is upright. But also in the local mix for many years. It's not a stunned young man, and naturally knows what to do.

Although it is impossible to give all the benefits to Haoqiang, it will also be soft with one hand and hard with the other, so that they can be honest.

Yu Qian said: "In this way, there is no problem with the various projects in Shuntianfu, and the ministers should let all parts of the country start one after another within mid-February, but it is just a matter of money and food?" ”

Zhu Qizhen listened to Yu Qian's words and turned his head to look at Cao Nai.

Cao Naili

That is, he said: "The minister immediately returned to the cabinet, discussed with Lord Shoufu and Liu Shangshu of the household department, opened Taicang, and never let the project be stopped." ”

"Okay." Zhu Qizhen said: "The three of you cooperate sincerely, and I won't be worried about this catastrophe." ”

Yu Qian suddenly said: "Your Majesty's love for the people, the minister's sense of guilt, but the minister thinks that His Majesty's policy of working for relief is just to stop the boiling soup, and he can't take a salary from the bottom of the kettle." ”

Zhu Qizhen was a little strange and said, "What did Mr. say this? ”

Zhu Qizhen thought he knew the situation in Hebei very well.

He pondered it carefully and felt that the reason why Hebei is like this is that the overdevelopment of Hebei for thousands of years, coupled with the flooding of the Yellow River since the Northern Song Dynasty, various problems have gathered together to form a comprehensive ecological problem.

In the summer, when it rains a lot, the flood breaks out, but the flood time is not long, and it recedes, forming a large tidal flat, and under the dry season that lasts for several months, it is extremely conducive to the breeding of locusts.

So, water, drought, and locusts form a cycle, and the three interact with each other, and so on. It turned into a difficult collar.

Zhu Qizhen wants to exert his strength, even if he uses the military funds reserved for the tile spur, he must control the water well, just to untie this loop.

Only by curbing the flood flow can large tidal flats be reduced. Let a large number of areas be covered with vegetation and maintain water and soil. Only by reducing the locust plague can grain production in the north be put on the right track.

But Yu Qian suddenly said that Zhu Qizhen's strategy, but the strategy of raising the soup and stopping the boiling can only alleviate the suffering of the people, but it cannot really relieve these things.

But it made Zhu Qizhen feel slightly uncomfortable in his heart.

It's just that Yu Qian didn't get angry because of the slight changes in Zhu Qizhen's face, if Zhu Qizhen knew about natural disasters before, then what Yu Qian said now is **.

Yu Qian said: "The south of the Huai River transports four million stone grain to Beijing, while the five provinces north of the Huai River have to supply eight million stone grain to the nine sides. ”

"Your Majesty has studied the fundamentals, and now the river is governed by the Zheng Guoqu of Qin, but am I short of food? Although the water and drought are now connected, the minister still has to say that there is no shortage. ”

"Taizu's heart of love for the people, the blessing of the world, there is a fixed amount of tax burden in various places, not much work for the people, but the taxes of the people in the north, to be transported, to the nine sides of the road is far away, the movement is over the years, the cost of the road, there are ten times the positive amount."

"The minister once patrolled Shanxi, and the people of Henan wanted to transport grain to the side pass, and there was only one stone to transport seven stones, although the local tax amount was not much, but it was seven times, and it was also a small life."

Zhu Qizhen listened, his lips were slightly dry. Turning to Cao Nai, he said: "Cao Qing is a northerner, what Mr. Yu said, is it true or false?" ”

Cao Nai said: "What Lord Yu said may be exaggerated, but most of them are true, but not every person has to go so far. It's just that the people of Henan want to transport

A little farther away. ”

Zhu Qizhen secretly said in his heart: "Emperor Taizu, you really have a big problem. ”

If before, Zhu Qizhen touched the place, Zhu Qizhen could still fool the past. even used the ancestral system to argue, but now what he has touched is the real Ming ancestral system.

Emperor Taizu was born in the people, and he was accustomed to seeing corrupt officials, and he had a deep sense of distrust of officials. Therefore, when he formulated taxes, it was interesting to reduce the interference of the government in the people.

Can you imagine? The taxes paid in various parts of the Ming Dynasty were not directly transported to Beijing, but after being distributed layer by layer, there were not many to Beijing.

That's why.

The system of the Qing court was not much different from that of the Ming Dynasty, and the fiscal revenue of the Qing court was several times that of the Ming Dynasty. It is not that the Qing Dynasty was more economically developed, but that it was a matter of tax distribution.

The Ming Dynasty did not pay much to the central government.

More often than not, it is directly connected to the financial units at the county level.

For example, if this county supplies military rations to a certain guard, the grain chief of this county will send the taxes of this county to this guard.

At the time of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu's planning was okay, and the burden of each county must be about the same, and the general allocation is also the principle of proximity.

But Emperor Taizong caused two major problems and disrupted Emperor Taizu's plan.

These two major problems, one is to move the capital, and the other is the heavy army on the nine sides.

The national capital is the place that consumes the most materials, and when Nanjing is the capital division, there is no need to worry about these expenses, after all, it is too close to the south of the Yangtze River.

But after the capital was moved to Beijing, the problem came to the fore.

So Taizong repaired the canal during the year, so that the north and south were the same, the grain from the south of the Yangtze River was supplied to Beijing, and the grain from the five northern provinces was supplied to the border gates.

The formation of this pattern looks good.

But with the formation of the Nine-Sided Heavy Army, a large amount of grain was transported north. From a macro point of view, it is good, but I don't want to be from the perspective of the people, not to mention a few hundred miles more, that is, one or two miles more, which is a very big project for those who transport grain.

Only hand-pushed horses transported dozens of stones and hundreds of stones of grain to the border gates. The consumption of this is even several times that of the imperial court.

Even many people are puzzled that the taxes in the Ming Dynasty were not high, even if it was the notorious three salaries, it was distributed to each mu, and it was not too many buckets of grain.

Why can't anyone in the world bear it?

It is for this reason that if only a few buckets of rice are produced, it will be fine, but to transport this grain will never be completed.

Yu Qian also continued, it seems that the most ruthless side is cruelly exposed in front of Zhu Qizhen. said: "If it is several times more than Zhengfu, it is okay, the people can still support it, but they are afraid of accidents, and if there is an accident, their lives will be lost." ”