Her Majesty's dragon boat arrived at Yangzhou, the first stop on the north, in the afternoon.

At this time, Yangzhou is still prosperous.

However, it can only be the last afterglow, because Yang Qing's salt industry reform will be carried out at the same time after the completion of the land reform, and the new salt industry system is the state-owned salt company. While it is true that this system has been criticized in modern times, salt must be treated with caution, and the best way is for the state to control it, or at least the wholesale rights must be vested in the state.

What's more, finishing can be done......

Although coarse salt can also be eaten.

But for the sake of the people's health, try to process it as much as possible!

Once the salt industry reform is completed, the salt merchants who act as wholesalers under the current system will completely withdraw from the stage of history, and the salt companies will replace them, but they will have to wait for the completion of the public land law. The reason for the emergence of salt merchants is that the state's administrative system is not enough to support the state-run salt companies, and these merchants with concessions must be relied on to ensure that the salt flows from the producing areas to all corners of the country, and the interests will drive the salt merchants to complete this process. If the state wants to realize the monopoly of the salt industry, then it must also have the ability to replace the role of salt merchants, that is to say, the state control must spread to every village, and the Huangzhuang and Gongzhuang system after the completion of the Gongtian Law can do this.

And, of course, transportation.

The steam ship solves the problem of inland water transportation against the current to the greatest extent, and the new national highway and highway plus freight carriage solve the problem of short-distance transportation by land.

And the railway.

Just because his railroad is slow doesn't mean he doesn't build it.

Railways still have to be built, especially east-west railways that are being built.

And communications.

The next cable telegraph will also begin, which will let him know where the supplies are lacking in the shortest possible time. In short, all these supporting systems can be completed before the reform can begin, otherwise the rash reform of the salt industry will definitely cause chaos in supply.

So the salt merchants can live happily for a few more years.

"Still happy! Don't you know how many salt merchants have been pitted by your railroad plans? ”

Her Majesty said.

"When I think about it, my mood gets happier and happier!"

Yang Qing said.

Then the whistle sounded outside, accompanied by the rising sun, and the huge paddle wheels on the left and right sides turned again, pushing the water of the canal and driving the ten-zhang long flat-bottomed boat slowly out of the dock.

The sound of the mountains on the shore sounding again.

In the crowd of people who saw off Her Majesty, the salt merchants, large and small, shouted the same, unaware that Her Majesty the Empress and the Lord Protector in the cabin had already rang the countdown bell for them. At the same time, the second paddle steamer also left the dock, and the former Ming Emperor on the deck, now Zhu Shuren, stood silently in the morning light, looking at the bustling city that was about to be far away......

His countdown bell rang as well.

Behind him is King Fu.

King Fu was in a very happy mood, and he was very happy about this long trip, mainly because he didn't have to be scolded when he went north, and he was scolded by the gentry during this time. Although the gentry also knew that he was just an ornament, these guys' anger had to find someone to vent after all, and they couldn't dare to find Yang Qing to vent.

Then who is not looking for him?

He's the secretary of the Ministry of Land!

On the fourth ship was the Tang King, who was still heroic in military uniform, and his military rank had been promoted to governor because of the victory in the conquest of Burma.

At this time, the Donghu people had already surrendered, after all, if they did not surrender, the Ming army should bombard Donghu, and the defeat of Ava decided their fate, and those Tusi were scrambling to surrender to the Ming army and happily lead the king's division. In this case, the Donghu people could only surrender, otherwise they would not need to do it with the Ming army, and these toasts alone would be able to wash Donghu in blood, and finally they would exchange their surrender for the golden seal of the king of Burma. However, a large area of land including Yangon and Awa was offered to Her Majesty the Empress, and the shipping of the Irrawaddy River was completely controlled by the Ming army, and the Tusi in the north, which was originally annexed by it, returned to the direct Ming Dynasty, in short, Donghu began a happy colonial life.

Such a victory of course had to give the commander of the theater of war a promotion, and the Tang king not only received the rank of governor, but also served as the newly established governor of Zhaonan after the end of the Yingzi Palace......

The Ming Dynasty set up Zhaonan Province to manage all the colonies currently obtained in Nanyang, although this name was used by the Japanese army, but I have to say that the name given by the Japanese is still very in line with the aesthetics of the protector.

The capital of Zhaonan Province is also in Zhaonan City, which is under construction.

That is, Singapore.

But this province is not under the governor's administration.

Nor are they all commanding and managing.

Instead, like Zhang Xianzhong's governor of Sichuan, the governor of Zhaonan was established to oversee all military and political affairs in Zhaonan Province, and all garrisons and immigrants in Zhaonan Province, including vassal states, must all be under the control of the governor of Zhaonan.

After all, it's too far away there.

This kind of colony, far from the mainland, must be given the most power to the ruler.

Even officials can appoint themselves.

Anyway, King Tang's expression was also very solemn at this moment, after all, he didn't know what this was, even when Daming was the ancestor of Yan back then, he didn't have such great power, and he was also very scared, even if he did have a clear conscience, but this position was too special after all.

Of course, he likes to think about it!

Her Majesty's fleet sailed out of Yangzhou, accompanied by the bows of the people on both sides of the river, and moved forward at full speed on the canal, opening all the locks along the way and clearing the channel before it arrived, and thus quickly passed through Gaoyou and Baoying, and arrived at Huai'an in the evening. The next day she set off again, albeit at a slight slower pace, and then anchored in Suqian that night, arriving in Xuzhou on the afternoon of the fourth day of her departure from Nandu, and Jining on the fifth day......

"That's your ideal?"

Her Majesty the Empress stood in the north of Jining City, in a vast farmland, speechlessly looking at the busy scene in front of her.

It's a cotton field.

But unlike the traditional small farmland, this cotton field is more than four miles long, almost invisible at a glance, and the rows of cotton are quite wide, but they all grow very well. The cotton trees that are in the flowering stage show a nutritious dark green, and the flower bells point to the sky, and there are a few cracked pinks.

But Her Majesty is not looking at cotton, but at the people who work among it.

A low slave, holding a hoe and hunching their waists, sweating to hoe the cotton weed, they are all bare-chested, wearing only a pair of pants underneath, but these pants are very new, it should be to cope with the empress's inspection just issued, after all, the empress's inspection of a group of crotch cloths is still too exaggerated, but it has also been soaked in sweat. None of the slaves dared to raise their heads, they all kept their heads down and worked hard, and no one dared to be lazy, for among the cotton ridges there were several overseers on horseback, with flintlock pistols on their shoulders in one hand, and coiled leather whips in the other, and they watched them as they went. Occasionally, there were Japanese slaves who were not serious about their work and were immediately reprimanded by them, but fortunately, they all knew that Her Majesty did not dare to be too savage when inspecting, otherwise the leather whip in his hand would have been drawn, and judging from the performance of those Japanese slaves, they must have done this on weekdays.

"It's not something I taught them, it's a profit drive, and as long as it's profitable, those plantation owners will get to this point."

Yang Qing said with a hint of relief.

It is clear that the merchants of Shandong have set an excellent example in this regard, and this area is full of such cotton fields, as a no-man's land that was artificially cleared during the previous confrontation, and after the confrontation period ended, those merchants in Shandong immediately took a fancy to this place. It is impossible for the original inhabitants of this land to come back, they have already lived happily in the imperial villages in the south at this time, and they will not return to this land that has always been shrouded in the shadow of the Yellow River. As a result, merchants from Shandong came to reclaim wasteland to establish plantations in the form of leasing land to open up wasteland, including some retired officers of the Ming Army, who also took a fancy to this area. The end result was that the original no-man's land of Heze, Jining, Dongping, was turned into a cotton plantation, and these people invested in the purchase of Japanese slaves, repaired water conservancy facilities, and purchased new pumping machines, and learned the economy of large plantations without a teacher.

This doesn't need to be taught.

Interests will drive themselves to this point.

They have even begun to abandon the relatively inefficient cattle farming, buy shire horses from Yang Kyung's horse farm on Jeju Island, and then use these giant horses to plow the land, which is much more efficient than cattle.

As for the Japanese slaves, it is easy to feed.

Cultivating some wasteland nearby, and then planting sweet potatoes and corn, etc., is enough to feed these slaves, who are actually eating better than they are in their hometown. In this era, it is absolutely impossible for the lowest-level filthians in the country to have enough to eat, not to mention the filth, even the people of Wamachi and even the low-level samurai are difficult to really eat. After all, there is no real food crop for them except rice, and the only place where they can grow rice is that plain, but now Japan is the third most populous country in the world.

Twenty million level.

It's impossible to have enough to eat!

Otherwise, until World War II, the Japanese were still pitifully short, and in addition to genetic factors, they were mainly hungry for generations!

But when they were slaves in the Ming Dynasty, they were absolutely able to eat enough, after all, the plantation owners had to rely on them to make money, and slaves were bought with money, and there was no second generation of slaves under the Ming system. On the contrary, they were fed not only to work better, but also to work as long as possible, even if they were injured or sick, and the plantation owners would treat them as much as they could.

Of course, if you can't do it, you will definitely leave it aside to fend for yourself.

It's nothing, though.

At this time, the Wa Kingdom itself was like this, and for the relatives who were old and unable to work, they also directly left the mountains to fend for themselves.

"Your Majesty, the Japanese slaves are really good laborers, they work diligently, they are docile and easy to discipline, especially they eat less, although they have little strength, but they don't need to exert too much effort to grow cotton. Over the years, the small people have made some money by relying on the Japanese slaves, which are all the wise leaders of Her Majesty the Empress and the Protector of the Country, and those who oppose the Gongtian Law do not understand the good intentions of the Protector. Xiaomin didn't understand it before, but after planting cotton here for a few years, he suddenly understood that the Protector seemed to treat the gentry harshly, but in fact, the Protector was really far-sighted and thought about the long-term of our gentry. ”

The plantation owner in the back was accompanied by a smiling face.

"I'm glad you understand that!"

Yang Qing patted him on the shoulder and said.

And the Protector sighed with emotion.

"The gentry all say that I am not good to them, but I am really wronged at this point, and it is not good for me to do this to myself, I am nothing more than for the long-term peace and stability of the Ming Dynasty. As long as the Ming Dynasty is stable for a long time, you will still make a fortune and live a good life of fine clothes and food, and continue to be the same as back then, what good life will the gentry have?

The land is there.

The wasteland here has been reclaimed, and there is also the wasteland in eastern and western Liaoning, and King Gui planted potatoes in western Liaoning last year to yield several thousand catties per mu.

The reclamation of eastern and western Liaodong has been completed, and there are also Hetao and Guanxi.

No matter how much it is not enough to have Zhaonan, our navy has found a big island in the south of Zhaonan, which is larger than our thirteen provinces, all of which are plains that can be reclaimed into fertile land. As long as we can live in peace and stability for a long time, as long as everyone can have food and clothing, all that remains is to let those yeoman farmers go out as soldiers and occupy them piece by piece. They gave you to open up the territory and catch slaves, and you followed behind to build plantations, mines, and factories, and at the same time support them to continue to expand the territory and keep catching slaves for you.

How good are these days?

Why do you want to hurt each other in such a small place as in the thirteen provinces as in the past?

The world out there is vast!

Countless lands, countless minerals, countless slaves, countless markets, you armed the yeoman farmers with plantations and factories, and made weapons, and conquered country by country, land by land. Forcing them to open their markets to us, arresting them as slaves, and bringing over all their wealth, you are still rich and rival the country, how much property can the richest people in the Ming Dynasty have in the past? How much property does the richest person in the Ming Dynasty have today? In the future, I can guarantee that it is not uncommon for a rich man to have 10,000 taels of silver!

This is the real future! ”

Yang Qing said.

"Lord Protector, how can the land of the colony be reclaimed?"

Another plantation owner said.

"Private, the province of the Ming Dynasty will be separated in the future, and the land of all inland provinces will be state-owned, but the border province will be set up in the newly developed land, for example, Zhaonan Province is now the border province, and the Kansai Province will also be established, and the land of the frontier province will be privately owned, and whoever opens up the land is who's, and whoever discovers the minerals is who's.

Of course, you have to pay taxes. ”

Yang Qing said.

"Pay your taxes, pay your taxes absolutely!"

The plantation owner, or rather, the slave owner, patted his chest and said.

The empress who was ignored on the side looked at the faces of these guys speechlessly, it was obvious that she, as the empress of the empire, was leading the Ming Dynasty to an unprecedented prosperity. It's just that this prosperous era is going farther and farther on the road of the evil empire, completely destroying the outlook on life and values she has cultivated since childhood.