Fang Yuegong, who has been working in the local area for more than ten years, is unforgettable for the problem of Tian Fu's arrears. In particular, the southeast region is the source of wealth of the Ming Dynasty, and the tax of a county here is equivalent to a province in the north or even more. But in the same way, the total amount of land arrears in the southeast region has reached more than one-third of the world's arrears.

Fang Yuegong, who can be said to have gone deep into the grassroots at the local level, believes that the biggest problem caused by the accumulation of arrears in the field is not the arrears themselves, but a series of social problems brought about by the arrears.

For example, for those households with arrears, in order to prevent the court from using violence to clear up the arrears, they often spread their own means of coping with the government's tax difference, try to expand the arrears of the surrounding neighbors on the land dues to the court, and even openly prevent others from paying taxes in full according to the regulations, so as to kidnap the local people and make the local officials dare not check the arrears of the old years.

Once these families have tasted the benefits of arrears, they will drag more people into the water in order to ensure that the law does not hold the public accountable. And over time, even if future generations want to be law-abiding and good citizens, they will give up the idea of paying taxes to the imperial court because of the huge amount of accumulated money and grain.

In addition, those who can delay the payment of large taxes to the government must be the local gentry and even some families of generations of eunuchs. Although there are a large number of farmers who are unable to pay their taxes and have to pay their taxes, the total amount of money and grain owed is less than one-third of the former.

It can be seen from this that what was supposed to be the cornerstone of the imperial court's rule at the local level has now become a banner for shaking the ruling power of the local court because of its own selfish interests. And the richer the area, the less the local gentry and the court were of the same mind.

The evil consequence of these local gentry's arrears of taxes was that the local officials had to loot the wealth of the middle and lower classes more severely, which further pushed the middle and lower classes to the local gentry, thus exacerbating the rise of local power, and finally forming an independent local kingdom.

Whether it is building a sea pond or building a water conservancy project, Fang Yuegong first faces these gentry who control the place, these people for their own small profits, even if they know that they can also benefit from the sea pond and water conservancy projects, they will also obstruct these projects that benefit the country and the people, and even do not hesitate to find someone to frame him.

Although under the strong protest of the people of the southeast, the local gentry had to give up and frame him. But Fang Yuegong saw very clearly that if the imperial court had not directly sent someone down to investigate, even if he could restore his innocence, a large amount of fertile land reclaimed after the construction of the sea pond project and water conservancy project over the years would have been divided among the gentry one by one in the days he was imprisoned, and this was probably the main purpose of the gentry to frame him.

Whether it was to protect his hard work for more than ten years from being forcibly taken away, or as a loyal official, Fang Yuegong could not allow the order of the imperial court at the grassroots level to get out of control, turning the countryside into an independent kingdom of gentry and power.

After being promoted by the emperor to the position of the head of the household, Fang Yuegong realized that he finally had the title and power to solve these problems. After consulting a large amount of information stored by the household department, he aimed his first fire at the long-standing problem of local arrears.

For Chongzhen, he naturally appreciated Fang Yuegong's proposal very much, and since he ascended the throne, he has been thinking about starting with the problem of arrears, not so that he can get a lot of money and food after clearing the arrears, but to suppress the unrestrained privilege of the gentry.

Whether it was in the northern provinces, or in Suzhou and other places, he sent people to try to clear up the arrears. But in reality, the results achieved are not significant. As a result of a series of policies such as successive disasters and land reform, the northern provinces reluctantly eliminated the problem of arrears by reducing and confiscating the property of the rebellious gentry.

However, compared with the south, where the amount of arrears is huge and the social contradictions are relatively relaxed, especially the Jiangnan region, which is known as the southeastern half of the country, it is somewhat inappropriate to use the strong-arm measures of the north. What's more, the southern guards have long been rotten, not to mention suppressing the riots of the southern gentry, even for the ordinary southern water fighting villages, it may not be able to calm down peacefully.

Therefore, Chongzhen had to put the problem of arrears on hold until now. Now that Fang Yuegong, who is familiar with the situation of the people in the southeast, has raised this matter, it naturally arouses his interest greatly.

So just around how to solve the problem of arrears, Zhu Youzhen talked with Fang Yuegong for nearly an hour. This conversation was satisfactory for both sides, and Chongzhen was worried about how to distinguish between the gentry and the common people's debts; whether the local officials would misinterpret the policies issued by the imperial court and cause unrest among the people; or the gentry colluded with the local officials to pass on their debts to the common people, and so on. On Fang Yuegong's side, he was convinced of a solution.

For Fang Yuegong, the first time he reported to the emperor on his work, he was able to have such a smooth communication with the emperor, and it was obvious that the breakthrough he chose for the work of the household department was to choose the right direction. Moreover, the many questions raised by the emperor about the problem of arrears also show that he has been watching the problem of arrears for a long time, so that when he does this, he no longer has to worry that the emperor will withdraw his support for him at any time.

Since Chongzhen's ascension to the throne, he has always said that as long as he can get the support of His Majesty the Emperor, there are few things that give up halfway. Even if he fails in the end, Chongzhen will keep the principal from being implicated. In this respect, it is much more comfortable to work under this emperor than under his brother and grandfather.

After making a good start to this conversation, Fang Yuegong's mood was obviously much more relaxed, so he made a second suggestion to the emperor in one go, "... According to these figures, the areas around the industrial centers and cities that the imperial court has been striving to develop in the past decade have been far better off than other regions in terms of resisting the natural disasters of the past three years.

For example, Luoyang and Kaifeng, located in the Kaifeng area near the canal, surpasses the Luoyang area in terms of population and economy. However, during the three consecutive years of drought, Kaifeng suffered far more demographic and economic losses than in Luoyang, and social order was out of control for a time.

On the other hand, in the Luoyang area, even during the most severe period of the disaster, the basic social order was maintained at the local level, and the losses were almost minimized. Last year, the climate in Luoyang began to return to normal, and the economy of the entire region began to improve, except for locust infestations in several counties near the Yellow River.

According to the research of household officials such as the minister and the servant, the reason for such a gap between the two places is that one is the organization; The second is the plan..."

After listening to Fang Yuegong's detailed comparison of Kaifeng and Luoyang's organizational ability and planned economy, Zhu Youzhen asked him with a little curiosity: "So what is the purpose of Fang Qing telling me so much?" ”

Fang Yuegong observed Ji Jiliang, who had been silent beside him, with the corner of his eye, before he replied to the emperor: "After summarizing the data of these years, the colleagues of the Food Bureau have made a proposal to the minister. The minister thought it was very interesting, so he brought the servant with him, wanting him to explain this idea to His Majesty. ”

Under Chongzhen's nod of agreement, Di Jiliang pondered for a while, and then slowly reported to the emperor: "Several colleagues in the Food Bureau do have such an idea, but the minister does not approve of this idea, but since Fang Shangshu insisted, the minister had to ask His Majesty to listen to it."

In the past three years, all parts of our Ming Dynasty have been affected by natural disasters to varying degrees. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it can be said that such a large area and serious losses have been extremely rare.

However, my colleagues at the Food Agency are also aware of the following facts. Although in the past three years, natural disasters in the Ming Dynasty have emerged one after another, but if you look at it in a broader area, this kind of disaster is obviously local.

For example, Shaanxi was affected by disasters in the past, but the neighboring Henan, Shanxi and other places were still in good weather, so the imperial court was able to allocate grain from the normal harvest area. Although there are frequent disasters in the Ming Dynasty, it is not for nothing that the southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty have good weather conditions, but the local food is insufficient, and it is difficult to meet the needs of the disaster-stricken areas in the north.

However, if we look beyond the Ming Dynasty, the climate in the Western Regions, Central Asia, and the South Seas is still quite normal. The Western Regions and Central Asia are too far away from China's hinterland, and it is too expensive to transport grain back, but if some of the victims are relocated, it will not only reduce the burden on the disaster areas, but also take this opportunity to enrich the border areas, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Although the distance between Nanyang and China is not close, because of its proximity to the most densely populated southeast coast and the cheapest transportation cost of sea transportation, it is feasible to move people to Nanyang or transport grain back to China from all over Nanyang, and it has been proved in the past three years.

In addition, there are many areas and wastelands suitable for rice cultivation in the Nanyang region, among which the lower reaches of the Red River, the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya River, the lower reaches of the Mekong River, and the central part of Luzon Island are the most suitable for large-scale cultivation. Except for the lower reaches of the Red River, the other three places are less than half developed, as long as the imperial court controls them, these areas will definitely be the best granary of my Ming Dynasty in the future...

Based on the above reasons, colleagues in the Food Bureau believe that even if the climate change in Daming begins to improve, the control over these spare granaries overseas cannot be weakened in the slightest.

According to surveys of the affected areas in the past three years, the ability of organized and planned areas to resist disasters in the process of disasters is far greater than that of rural areas controlled by the gentry. In particular, as an industrial center, the self-relief ability of the city is far greater than that of ordinary cities without the existence of an industrial economy, and the ability of the industrial city to control the surrounding countryside is not comparable to the connection between the old city and the traditional village.

Therefore, the Food Bureau wants to draw up a regional plan for agricultural planting, break the current old rural self-sufficiency business model, and implement planned planting in a certain area according to the climatic characteristics and the fertility of the land, so as to ensure that more villages join the rural-urban exchange system..."

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