There are many things that will make Prince Zhu of Fujun embarrassed, and the most troublesome thing is not money and food, but a flood beast called capitalism!

Now no one knows that this evil thing has actually been released from the cage by Zhu Cihong, and even Zhu Cihong, the initiator, didn't realize what he had done?

Oh, by the way, the germ of capitalism actually appeared a long time ago. The silk and cotton handicraft workshops in Nanjing, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Songjiang in the southeast, as well as the ironware factories in Foshan, Guangdong, can be seen as signs of the emergence of capitalism.

But this sprout has been very slow in China, and the small-scale peasant economy has always been dominant, even if Zhu Cihong has a series of operations in the southeast, such as the opening of the Salt Merchants Bank and the Maritime Bank; For example, the opening of Shanghai, Ningbo, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Dengzhou five commercial ports; For example, the interaction with the Dutch and Portuguese colonizers, the promotion of the Ming Dynasty into the Age of Discovery, etc., did not really touch the cage that trapped the budding capitalism of the Ming Dynasty - the small peasant economy ruled by the privileges of the gentry!

The reason is very simple: when Nanming, with a population of more than 100 million, begins to embark on the road of capitalism, the demand for agricultural products and the absorption of rural labor will grow at an extremely fast rate.

In other words, the efficiency of agricultural production in Nanming must be greatly improved! Only in this way can more agricultural products be produced with less labor, sufficient to satisfy the handicraft (industrial) production and the urban population.

Moreover, once the Nanming society enters the initial stage of evil capitalism, the population will maintain a relatively rapid growth for a long time!

Now it's 100 million, and in the future it's likely to be 200 million, 300 million, or even more!

It is necessary to provide enough food for such a large number of people, and at the same time to provide enough raw materials for the vast system of workshops and crafts. Nanming's agriculture must enter the capitalist stage!

Even if the Southern Ming Dynasty, under the leadership of Zhu Cihong, could obtain some rice colonies overseas, they would have to use capitalist methods to develop and set up capitalist farms in order to provide sufficient primary products for the domestic market.

Otherwise, how much rice can they be expected to produce from some feudal estates with low production efficiency? Moreover, to develop in the land of Shui Chenla (Mekong Plain) or Siam, it requires a large amount of capital investment and a high level of management. Where did the feudal lords have so much capital? Where do they manage overseas farms?

When the feudal lords came to power by cutting people, and did not rely on agriculture, can they run farms?

Therefore, if you want to turn the rich land of Nanyang into the granary of the Ming Dynasty, you still need many agricultural capitalists of the Ming Dynasty to go to Nanyang to set up farms!

But if there were no large number of capitalist farms in the Ming Dynasty, where would the agricultural capitalists in Nanyang come from?

According to the research of later historians, the first batch of agricultural capitalists of the Ming Dynasty appeared in the four prefectures of Hanyang, Jingzhou, Chengtian and De'an in Hubei Province in the nineteenth year of Chongzhen.

And their appearance was actually facilitated by the joint efforts of Li Zicheng and Zhu Cihong!

Li Zicheng's attacks on Jingzhou, Chengtian, De'an, and Hanyang, as well as the implementation of Juntian in Jingzhou, Chengtian, De'an, and Hanyang, as well as the enclosure of land in Xiangyang and Shenyang, all dealt a heavy blow and could even be said to have destroyed the rule of the gentry class in the countryside of these prefectures.

When the midsummer of the nineteenth year of Chongzhen arrived, there were no gentry and landlords in most parts of Hubei.

Of course, Li Zicheng only destroyed the rule of the gentry class who supported the Ming Dynasty in the countryside of Hubei, and he did not release the tiger of capitalism from the cage, but replaced it with a stronger cage - the old battalion soldiers of Dashun who turned over and enclosed the land!

In time, they will grow into a military aristocracy, replacing the original gentry class and becoming staunch defenders of the small peasant economy!

However, Zhu Cihong and his new army of overcoming difficulties made Li Zicheng's "cage" collapse before it had time to take shape.

However, Zhu Cihong did not intend to restore the old order, so before he left Wuchang and returned to Nanjing, he launched a "redemption land reform" Hubei aftermath plan.

The detailed rules of this plan were drawn up a few days before Zhu Cihong left Wuchang, and on the day after Zhu Cihong left, they were posted on the notice boards erected at the gates of various parts of Wuchang City.

Contrary to Zhu Cihong's own expectations, this "redemption-style land reform plan" will bring capitalism, a man-eating monster, to the rich countryside of Hubei. And once this monster has a firm foothold in the Hubei countryside, it will soon sweep the southeastern countryside with its own high efficiency...... Capitalism is coming!

......

The wharf outside Hanyangmen finally gained some popularity, not how many grain ships came along the Yangtze River and Hanshui, but a large number of military ships came from Xiaowuchang downstream, densely moored on the river outside the Hanyangmen wharf.

These warships pinned the hopes of many gentry and profiteers who had been exiled in Wuchang, so every morning, as soon as the Hanyang Gate was opened, many refugees-like gentry and profiteers would rush out to see if the fleet had already set out. Only by conquering the western part of Xiangyang Mansion and Jingzhou Mansion can the rule of these local tyrants and inferior gentry in Hubei be restored!

However, this morning, Yao Daqiao and Ye Jiaxin, who came out of Hanyang Gate, saw a scene that surprised them.

Not many people crowded around the Hanyangmen Gate pier to ask the soldiers on duty to ask questions, but everyone gathered around the newly erected sign outside the Hanyangmen Gate, chattering, and from time to time some people cried loudly.

What's going on?

Isn't the crown prince going to send troops to recover the land of Jingxiang?

Yao Daqiao and Ye Jiaxin were stunned, glanced at each other, and then walked quickly to the periphery of the notice board.

There are so many people here that you can't squeeze in. However, this is not difficult for Yao Daqiao, he travels extensively, and soon found a middle-aged man dressed as a scholar squatting on the side of the road and shedding tears, it is Peng Ziqin, a De'an lifter who was carrying a kitchen knife to "split Li Zicheng" last time.

He was much slimmer than last winter, his face was gray, and he knew that he was malnourished at a glance - from last winter to the present, most of these Hubei gentry and profiteers in exile in Wuchang were eating "relief porridge" to survive. If you still have some assets at hand, like Yao Daqiao, you can still live.

And Peng Ziqin almost escaped with two fists, there was nothing, the whole family could only drink porridge, and they were all so hungry that their eyes were green. When he was so hungry that he couldn't help it, he thought about selling his two little wives, but in the end, he couldn't be ruthless, so he had to starve his family together!

However, to the point of starvation, Peng Daju and most of the people and talents gathered in Wuchang City still refused to accept Zhu Cihong's "Wuchang Botian Replacement Plan" - Peng Daju still has a land deed of three or four thousand acres of De'an farmland in his hands! If he could get it back, he would still be a big landowner...... How can you let go?

So Peng Ziqin and the Hubei gentry who had a little face were playing scoundrels with Zhu Cihong these days, going to the Confucian Temple to cry for a while, going to the Taimiao Temple for a while (Wuhan is now Jiangdu, of course there is a Taimiao) to cry, and crying outside the Wuchang Palace for a while.

Crying and crying, I really stopped crying about the "land replacement plan" and replaced it with a food compensation plan. According to the fat and thinness of the land, two to four stones of grain per mu will be supplemented, and it will be paid in five years after Jingzhou, Xiangyang, and De'an are recovered. Of course, this grain was not taken out by the Ming court, but by the Hubei peasants who were allocated to the land - the peasants gave a little more, the landlords took a little less, and the peasants who were allocated to the official fields, military fields, and hidden fields also had to pay for the same grain redemption!

Peng Ziqin's family has 34,500 mu of land, most of which is dry land (he belongs to De'an, and the land there is poor in Huguang), but there is no problem in getting compensation of 7,000 stone and white rice. Even if it is paid in five years, there will be more than 1,000 stones to take in a year. Compared with the previous "land exchange plan", it is a little more. But ninety percent of his net worth is still gone...... At the same time, Peng Ziqin's fame will still be lost, his household registration will be moved to Wuchang, and he, his son and wife, will not be allowed to buy a house in De'an Mansion for life.

So he was so sad that he began to cry outside the notice board. However, when he told Yao Daqiao about the compensation plan given by Zhu Cihong, the profiteer suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, rich, rich...... This is a chance to make a fortune! ”