"Between October and the lunar month, I will try to rush back to Fujian. When the time comes, please send a small number of capable warriors to wait for me at Xianxia Pass in northern Fujian, and I think it may be useful at that time. ”

As early as when he was separated from the guide, Chen Kai sent the personal soldier who was the guide in the Fujian area to return to the Zhongzuo Institute first. The plan needs to be constantly revised with changes, and he only has a general consideration. Whether it will really be useful, Chen Kai can't guarantee it. What's more, continuing this trip is far more important than these uncertain things.

Chen Kai's trip continued, and the soldiers hurriedly returned to the Zhongzuo Institute, so as not to delay the major event. However, today, the area controlled by the Ming army in Fujian has long been different from what it used to be.

In the first year or two, Zheng Chenggong's department pacified the chaotic place in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties due to the decline in organizational power at the end of the dynasty. After a period of fighting, the Chaozhou bandits represented by the seven great bandits of Chaohai were gradually suppressed, such as Wu Liuqi and Zhang Li, who were exterminated by the Ming army, and those who were like Yang Hu and Zhu Ayao who integrated into the Ming army in Fujian, and those who were like the Yellow Sea who first went along and then rebelled and were punished. Now, in addition to Xu Long, who has been killed by Chen Kai in Guangzhou, there is only the only remaining fruit left in the southeast of Huizhou like Jieshi Wei Suli, which Zheng Chenggong has not had the strength to exterminate.

With the restoration of local law and order, the people can settle down to produce and live, and business and travel will drive the prosperity of the town, and civil officials such as Ye Yiyun and Chen Ding are also doing their best to restore the livelihood of local people. For a time, the Chaozhou Mansion, in the last days of the Ming Dynasty like a sea of corpses and a sea of blood, was like a paradise in troubled times.

For officials such as prefect Ye Yiyun and Chen Ding, Zheng Chenggong also has plans to be promoted, but there is no suitable position for the time being. In this regard, Ye Yiyun and they are mostly not in a hurry, or they don't have time to worry about these at all. Not to mention, aside from the local civil affairs of Chaozhou, from the end of last year to the present, Chen Kai has added new tasks to them to manage those people in Guangzhou. This is both a resource and a burden.

At the end of last year, Chen Kai brought back more than 110,000 people from Guangzhou, including men, women, and children, including some military households in Guangzhou's four guards. Zheng Chenggong recruited 8,000 recruits from them, most of which were supplemented by garrisons throughout Chaozhou, and the rest were used to build new field troops. Of course, this is not counting the five hundred patrol standard battalions that Chen Kai recruited from them.

When these men enter the camp, their own army is responsible for their food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and their military pay can be used to feed their families. One stone per month, one or two or five dollars for the color, not much, there may be some deductions from the boss, but if you are thrifty, the women and children at home will do some scattered work to maintain a normal life.

In this way, the livelihood of 20,000 or 30,000 people will be secured. However, the total amount of 110,000 is huge, even if the Ordnance Bureau recruits the craftsman families among them, it is still an unbearable number that requires the hard work of Chaozhou officials such as Ye Yiyun.

"This year, the summer harvest and summer planting in the following counties have begun, and the specific situation of the summer harvest is unknown, but according to the several counties visited by the foolish brother, it should be almost the same as last year. In this way, as long as the two counties of Huilai and Chaoyang are dug out, the actual grain tax collected should be this number. ”

In the inner hall of the mansion, Ye Yiyun had just tried a difficult case, and he was resting here for a while, and his younger brother Ye Yijun brought the general information he had just obtained from several surrounding counties.

Summer harvest and summer planting, there is no delay in farming, God is also very face-saving, it is said that this year should be a good year. However, at this moment, Ye Yijun was frowning, and the word worry was almost written all over his face. In fact, it's no wonder that he has a grain output in Chaozhou, which is not low, but now the consumption is also extremely huge, especially in the absence of Huilai and Chaoyang, the two major grain-producing counties, which has exacerbated this situation.

Attrition, originally mostly in the supply of the army, a soldier's true color of one stone per month, a year is twelve stones, plus its consumption in the army and the rewards of the New Year's holidays, Zheng Chenggong's total strength of the land and water armies is no less than fifty or sixty thousand, that is, the consumption of more than one million stones per year.

At present, tens of thousands of people in Guangzhou brought back by Chen Kai have not been given job opportunities, and although their consumption cannot be compared with that of the soldiers, it is also a huge consumption according to the standard of drinking porridge and eating half full. Moreover, this kind of consumption, except for the stool will be bought, the rest is completely unprofitable, especially for them local officials.

"Brother, my foolish brother has visited me, and it seems that there is a compulsory apportionment in all counties to compensate for forced labor. This kind of thing can't be stopped, and there are too many people in Guangzhou, and we don't have so much to do for them. ”

Compensating for the conscription is a policy of letting the Chaozhou people who are unwilling to serve the conscription pay to hire the people of Guangzhou to serve the conscription on their behalf, and since he learned that Chen Kai got back more than 100,000 people, Ye Yiyun began to scratch his head about how to resettle them. This policy, according to the normal situation, can solve the employment of some people in Guangzhou, and second, it can reduce the forced labor of some Chaozhou people, which is a good law that is beneficial to both sides. However, good laws also need to be effectively enforced, Ye Yiyun did not foresee such a situation, but it is a pity that he still underestimated the desire of local officials to accumulate money, and now it has become a harsh government.

"Judging from the report you made, it's no longer a matter of thinking about choking on food, and if you continue like this, it will only be harsh and fierce."

Speaking of this, Ye Yiyun couldn't help but sigh, but Ye Yijun hung his head, but he said as if he was complaining: "It's good that Chen joined the army, someone sent it, but he slapped his hands and left." Well, by the way, he still doesn't let the land be divided, and he doesn't let these people in Guangzhou go to find work to do on their own, and I don't know if he is sincere enough to block us......"

"Enough, you become a gentleman, not as unbearable as you think!"

Chen Kai and Ye Yiyun have a very good personal relationship, it is not that Chen Kai gave him the official position of a prefect, for him who has been the head of the ministry, this four-grade official is not very tempting, it is Chen Kai's temperament, integrity and ethics that make him sincerely admire.

The younger brother's complaints, in fact, have no malice, brothers for many years, how can Ye Yiyun not understand. It's just that Chen Kai is his best friend, and he really can't tolerate this, so he immediately shouted.

Brother is like this, Ye Yijun can't continue to talk anymore. It's just that you can't complain, but the problem still needs to be solved: "Brother, Chen joined the army didn't say why he couldn't divide the land, and couldn't he let those people find work on their own?" ”

"No, I remember that at that time, the surname of the country specially sent someone to find it was urgent, and I didn't ask more later. Thinking about it carefully, the latter seems to have something to do with the Dengzhou Rebellion that was actually Cheng before, I remember that once he mentioned it when he was a monk and a foolish brother drinking, saying that it was the Dengzhou Rebellion, not only Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Li Jiucheng and other Dongjiang military generals, but also the imperial court for the livelihood of the Liao people after entering the customs is also mostly disregarded, at that time, the Liao people in order to ask for a bite to eat, often only ask for a very small reward, resulting in many people in Shandong at that time lost their livelihood because of this, and turned to the gentry of the whole Shandong, The common people are hostile and excluded from the Liao people. And the Dengzhou Rebellion was more of a general outbreak of contradictions between the two sides......"

Chen Kai has also chatted a lot with Ye Yiyun, Chen Ding and others on weekdays, which is nothing more than talking freely among friends and expanding their knowledge. At this moment, Ye Yiyun said eloquently, and he also thought deeply about it, but he was not allowed to divide the land, but he always felt that it was just raised for nothing, and it was really not a way to do it in the long run.

"Brother, let's divide the land. We are not collecting the land that has the owner and distributing it to the people of Guangzhou, but just letting them reclaim the wasteland, and the land is all over, it is better than letting them eat for nothing. ”

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the land area of Guangdong Province was more than 237,300 hectares. But in the Hongzhi period, due to mergers and tax evasion, it fell to more than 72,000 hectares. After Zhang Juzheng presided over the Wanli Qingzhang, Guangdong's land area soared again to more than 256,800 hectares.

This figure is for the whole province, and it is about the same when placed in Chaozhou Prefecture. But is the land area after Wanli Qingzhang the limit, but it is not. There is still a large amount of arable land in various prefectures and counties, and if all this can be utilized, then the grain production of Chaozhou Prefecture will be enough to support a larger army.

"What you said must be true, it's just ......" Thinking of this, Ye Yiyun was stunned, then thought about it, and then continued: "It's just that the national surname seems to be recruiting soldiers among these people, and this matter still needs to be reported to the national surname, and the national surname is decided." ”