Chapter 394: The Peasants Hold Up the Country
Goxinga is not an idealist, and he knows that he is doing this, taking too big a step and making it easy to pull the egg, but he has to do it. After crossing over, Guo Xing'a experienced a lot of things, and he gradually felt something called qi number, although he himself felt very ridiculous, but this invisible force seemed to really exist around him.
The establishment of the Qing Dynasty is a typical example, and the Manchu Dynasty did not have the ability to dominate the world from various angles. Even the rulers of the Qing Dynasty themselves did not believe that they could sit firmly in the Central Plains, and when it came to Yongzheng, they were still ready to retreat to Guanwai when they encountered problems from time to time. But it just sat firmly in the world, and broke the curse of Hu Yunwu for a hundred years, and the entire Manchurian nation was integrated with China. From the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the change of regime in Dashun, to the struggle of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui's army against the Qing Dynasty, there have been many very coincidental things in the middle, any place can develop according to the normal model, and the Qing Dynasty will be wiped out. But these bizarre coincidences all happened, and the luck of the Qing Dynasty was almost extremely good in the first hundred years of the founding of the country. Guo Xing'a and Pi Runmin have talked many times, but they can't find a reasonable explanation at all, it's just luck.
In the past few years, the Qing Dynasty seems to have begun to repay the overdrafted character, all kinds of strange and unfortunate things have happened one after another, and many battles that must be won will have some particularly magical problems, and then they will be defeated. Hong Xiuquan was arrested by the government not long before the incident, but he was released in a daze. When Lin Zexu went to Liangguang, the Worship of God was already preparing to disperse, but Lin Zexu happened to die of illness on the road. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, which consumed nearly half of the vitality of the Qing Dynasty, may have been nipped in the bud countless times, but it still happened because of various coincidences.
Guo Xing'a also personally felt this mysterious power, Monk Greenqin inexplicably gave up Beitang, and the mentally deranged Shengbao during the Battle of Bali Bridge, as if God was going to play the Qing Dynasty to death. If it weren't for Guoxing's interference, Yixin might have given the Outer Northeast to Tsarist Russia because of Lao Maozi's false words and intimidation. However, when Guo Xing'a went to northern Xinjiang in person, he only kept part of the territory such as Vladivostok, and a large area north of Heilongjiang was still bitten by a woolly bear. The strength of Tsarist Russia in the northeast is far less powerful than that of the British and French coalition forces, but Goxinga just can't do anything about them. Although the actual reason is because of China's weak industrial base and the barren land of Northeast China, Guo Xing'a still feels that there are some strange forces intervening in the dark, and some things are destined to happen, and it is inevitable that manpower can reverse it.
The Traveler Goxinga also knew some things that others did not know, such as the Westernization Movement and the Meiji Restoration, such as the Sino-Japanese War. The failure of China's Westernization Movement and the success of Japan's Meiji Restoration, many people who judge heroes by their successes or failures conclude that Japan has reformed more thoroughly than China's, and that there is a whole nation to support it. But Guo Xing'a doesn't see it that way, it's a matter of contrast, if China had won the war at that time, these reasons would still be true in reverse. The results of the Westernization Movement were no less than those of the Japanese, but they were defeated in a vague way. The First Sino-Japanese War was also lost inexplicably, and there were indeed some institutional reasons, but the performance of weapons was superior to that of the Japanese Qing Army, and there were many battlefield generals who played a serious role from time to time. Ye Zhichao, who ran 500 miles in Pyongyang, was a fierce general who rushed into battle in his early years, and he was able to come out and lick the blood a little bit, but he ran away inexplicably in North Korea. Some people say that he is old and greedy for pleasure, but how can it end well if he abandons the army and flees, he was also sentenced to be beheaded when he escaped, why bother! As for the real reason for his escape, no one knows at all, and Ye Zhichao, who has become a flat-headed common man and lost everything, has never mentioned it again. After another month, the Japanese government will have to go bankrupt, and as a result, the Qing Dynasty, which clamored for moving the capital to resist the war, suddenly sued for peace, allowing the little devils to get a huge advantage in vain.
After the First World War between China and Japan, the Qing Dynasty entered the fast lane of death. The young Emperor Guangxu believed the nonsense of a few scholars, and he wanted to besiege the garden and kill him, which made the government and the opposition miserable. The old queen mother, who created Tongguang Zhongxing, suddenly went insane, declared war on the eleven countries in one breath, and was full of nonsense after fleeing to Xi'an. The Qing Dynasty, which had always refused to fully westernize, made the last effort before the destruction of the country by completely Westernizing and holding provincial elections, which not only caused the destruction of the country itself, but also dragged China into years of warlord warfare. Guo Xing'a couldn't think of a reasonable explanation for all this, and it could only be attributed to the saying that the Chinese often said, and the number of qi was exhausted. China, which seems to have led the world for thousands of years, must suffer some big losses in this new era and make up for the law of clouds and sunny days.
What Goxinga has to do now is to reverse the crisis in which the Chinese nation has fallen into infinite suffering, that is, to act against the sky. Although Goxinga is confident that people will win the sky, he is still afraid of unknown mysterious powers. He himself was also disturbed by this mysterious force, and in the second Battle of Bali Bridge, before the victory was locked, Goxinga suddenly fell ill and almost died in Yizhuang. During the Battle of the Old Summer Palace, it was also possible to gather and annihilate the British army, but it was suddenly disturbed by the common people. Guo Xing'a also doesn't know if some strange things will happen the next time he stands at the turning point of history.
It was out of fear of this unknown force that Goxinga planned such an almost impossible plan for rapid development. He will do his utmost to improve the people's living standards and promote the progress of the agricultural industry, and only in this way can he ensure the absolute support of the people. He had to make every effort to develop his heavy industry and transportation base, to ensure that his army was strong, had an absolute advantage in the face of the enemy, and could achieve victory even if it was disturbed by some accident. He vigorously developed education, not only to provide impetus for the development of various undertakings, but also to prepare for failure. If he really loses the favor of God and inevitably fails, he must also leave enough talents for China, so that China can quickly stand up again like Germany and Japan that were defeated.
Guo Xing'a thought that he had taken all aspects into account, but Xuan Suning's basin of cold water was still unceremoniously splashed on his face. Goshinga's plans are all feasible, and even a transportation network large enough to deter the world's leading power, Britain, could become a reality, but this is when they are viewed in isolation. Together, none of these plans work. Each of Goxinga's plans for heaven on earth requires a huge amount of money, and if one is implemented individually, it is possible, to implement all of them, there is simply not enough money.
Xuan Suning calculated a very simple account, Guo Xing'a could get an allocation of 50 million taels from the imperial court in the next five years. At the current scale, even if the arms revenue is tripled, it will be at most 20 million taels in the next five years. Zhiyuan raised donations in Nanyang, although the benefits are significant, but after all, it is not sustainable, and it is best estimated that in the next five years, it will be able to get back 8 million taels. Chen Sanhe's No. 4 business is a million profits, and the scale is gradually expanding, and its power is expanding rapidly in the rivers and lakes in Guannei, and there will be additional income increases, but after all, it is not a serious business, and its total income will not exceed 10 million taels in the next five years. Although Guoxinga also set various taxes such as corporate tax, personal income tax, and stamp duty, North Manchuria's population is sparse and the scale of trade is limited, so it is good that this money can meet the government's official expenses. Therefore, not counting the income from agricultural production at present, all the income of the North Manchurian government in the next five years is only about 88 million taels.
At present, the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing government is only more than 60 million taels, and the income of 88 million taels in a corner of North Manchukuo in five years is already very good, even if it is divided according to the head, each person can get 15 taels of silver. But if Goxinga's perfect plan is carried out, Xuan Suning estimates that in the next five years, Northern Manchuria's fiscal expenditure will reach a terrifying 200 million taels, more than double the total revenue. Although Xuan Suning did not calculate the output of the land in the North Manchurian region, at this scale, unless silver can be grown directly in the land, the money is definitely not enough.
Moreover, Goxinga has not yet mentioned the plan for the army, and the government of North Manchuria, which is based on the military, will inevitably implement the policy of the first army, and the investment will inevitably be very huge. Even if the current scale of investment is maintained, the number of troops will have to increase, and the Gu'an army has only more than 20,000 people in total, and it is too difficult to control such a huge territory. The most conservative estimate is that the army will have to be expanded to 100,000 people, how much will it cost to feed these 100,000 troops, and how much will their equipment and ammunition consume. Therefore, even if the output of the land is good, it would be good to be able to equal the expenditure of the army.
After Xuan Suning understood the account, everyone began to persuade Guo Xing'a to reduce the plan, but Guo Xing'a still refused to give up after thinking about it for a long time, and finally had to find a way to get money. If you want to make money, there are only two ways to open up sources and reduce expenditure. There is no need to think about throttling, the things in the plan remain unchanged, and the North Manchurian government will hardly spend anything. There are only a few people in the bureaucracy, and even if everyone eats for five years, they can't save a few dollars, so open source has become the only way.
Guo Xing'a scraped away 100 million taels of silver from the imperial court in ten years, which has already touched the bottom line of the imperial court, and the imperial court will not be able to take out a penny more. If Guo Xing'a persecuted the imperial court again, the result could only be a decisive battle between the two sides, so the imperial court would definitely not be able to move again. The matter of fundraising should not be overdone, and the financial resources of the Nanyang Chinese are also limited, unless they directly send troops to rob them, they will definitely not be able to get more money. In the end, we had to find a way to deal with arms and heroin No. 4, which is now expanding rapidly, and if it can break into the European market, it will definitely have a considerable income. But Chen Sanhe's ability is limited after all, and it is possible to enter Europe in five years, but it is unrealistic to get the money back immediately. Guo Xing'a knew that the United States was fighting a big war, but how to buy arms was also a problem, although Guo Xing'a had good things, but he had no channels.
After thinking about it, Guo Xing'a thought of the great pipe comrade, and in desperation, Guo Xing'a could only lay a black hand on the peasants, and it became the only choice for Guo Xing'a to support industry with agriculture and infrastructure with agriculture. When it was difficult, Goxinga could only sacrifice the interests of most of the people at the bottom in exchange for the opportunity for the country's development, and only when the country developed, he could compensate them. There were 6 million peasants in the North Manchurian region, but there were less than 100,000 workers, including the possible new recruits, and Guoxinga had to use 60 or even 600 peasants to feed one worker and ensure that the industry and the base could develop.
In fact, if Xing'a had been able to slow down the plan and extend the implementation time to 10 or 20 years, the financial difficulties would not have been so great, but Guoxing'a really couldn't wait. In five years, Tsarist Russia will bite the Outer Northeast even harder, and after ten years, it will even swallow it completely, so Goxinga must take back the territory as soon as possible. And in addition to the European powers, the small neighbors to the east are also about to develop, and the little devils have been lucky enough to be out of the charts in the forty years since they started, and they can meet any good thing. So Goxinga can't wait long, he must be ahead of all of them.
After the introduction of the new agricultural policy, the always tough Pi Runmin could not stand it, because this was not a government tax, but a raid by bandits. Goxinga's re-enacted agricultural policy was no different from robbery, and from now on, each peasant must reclaim 100 acres of wasteland every year, and if he fails to meet this standard, he will only receive 10% of his land, and the rest will be confiscated. Even if the peasants achieve this goal, they will only get 20% of the profits, and the rest will be nationalized. Only the top reclamation champion in each village will receive preferential treatment, but only half of the income will be obtained. Moreover, Goxinga's goal was set by the head, including the elderly, women, and children, and if a family of five had only one strong laborer, he would have to open up 500 acres of wasteland by himself, and he would not want to rest for a day of the year, and he would almost use people as livestock.
The meanest landlord in the world only takes sixty percent of the profits, but Guo Xing'a wants to take eighty percent. Although the Goxinga would provide the farmers with farming tools and livestock, these things were actually bought with the farmers' money. In Goxinga's new rural distribution plan, the local government and farmers each receive 20 percent of the benefits, while the central government in Goxinga takes 60 percent. Guoxinga wants to use this 60 percent to complete the construction of heavy industry, education, chemical industry, military, railways, etc., and projects such as roads, water conservancy, farm tools, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, livestock, building houses, and breeding farms are all coming out of the local government's 20 percent. As soon as Guo Xing'a made a move, he tightened the belts of the entire people of North Manchuria, turning everyone into machines.
Moreover, the peasants are destined to be even worse than those designed by Guo Xing'a, how can the local government's 20% income cope with such a huge plan. But the soldiers had to carry out the orders of the generals, and they had to find ways to save money on their own, and the only way to do so was to the peasants. There is no way to input materials, they can only find a way in labor costs, so in addition to clearing the wasteland day and night, the peasants must also bear extremely heavy forced labor to serve as free coolies for the government.
There is only one way to curb the discontent of the peasants, and that is to continuously strengthen the education of political workers and make the peasants sacrifice with hope. The only thing that went on was a promise from the peasants that after 30 years of dedication, the farmers would distribute the land in the village to their private ownership, according to the output of each of them for 30 years. The simple peasants felt that it was very cost-effective to exchange 30 years of hard work for dozens of dumps of land, but Pi Runmin and others knew that the world would definitely not be the way it is now in 30 years.
Then Xuan Suning poured cold water on Guo Xing'a's head again, this plan can support the finances, but where can Guo Xing'a get so many livestock. If the peasants do not have enough livestock and farming tools, such a large-scale land reclamation will definitely exhaust them.