Chapter 439 Local Economic Crisis

[Today's second shift, there will be a third shift in the evening]

The news of the joint operation of the two fleets of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire to destroy the Dutch East India Fleet and the occupation of the Dutch East Indies by the Imperial Army reached China, and a new wave of immigration frenzy among the Imperial people was immediately formed.

It seems that the Chinese people are less interested in the American colonies than in the Southeast Asian colonies, perhaps due to the influence of geopolitical affairs, and the Chinese people are far more familiar with Southeast Asia than they know about the Americas. Although the American colonies of Mexico and Peru had large gold and silver deposits, the first choice for Chinese colonies was the Southeast Asian colonies close to the empire when choosing to colonize overseas.

The occupation of the Dutch East Indies by the Chinese Empire and the change of name to the colony of Java immediately attracted a large number of nationals. Only 30 per cent of the total number of native nationals went to the Java Islands, and about 70 per cent of the nationals entered the Java colonies directly from the colonies of Luzon, Guinea, New Zealand, Kalimantan and Singapore, near the Java Islands.

The nationals of these colonies had already tasted the sweetness of colonial plunder, and they already owned a large number of assets and slaves in the colonies, so they immediately applied to the local colonial authorities to enter Java when they learned that the empire had opened up the colony of Java.

It was thanks to the impetus of these early Chinese immigrants that the occupation of the new colonies progressed smoothly. The Javanese colonial authorities only had to sell the looted property to the Chinese at a low price, and the Chinese themselves handled the rest. If you need additional help from the government, you only need to pay a certain amount of additional service fee.

Of course, the mines, real estates, estates, shops, etc., looted by the Javanese colony, can also be sold to foreigners after being examined by the colonial authorities, but the price is not low. Foreign merchants complained about the unfairness of the Chinese Imperial government, but in the face of the fact that the Dutch had left Java and Java was in a vacuum in commerce and finance, it was a good time for the primitive accumulation of capital, so they were willing to pay for the acquisition despite the high price.

There were also many Dutch people who, having lost their property in Java, fled to foreign countries, and then hired others to redeem their assets. After the Chinese Empire's purge of the Java archipelago was over, they would be able to renew their own industries.

After the Dutch East India Company lost the East Indies, some of the remnants of the power drifted at sea and came to the island of Australia opposite the Java archipelago.

The Chinese Empire's development of the island was very limited, mainly because only some indigenous people lived on the island, their culture stayed in a primitive society, the economy was none, and there was no looting and no oil and water, so the imperial colonial army could not fight at all.

Of course, the Imperial Government will not give up the island of Australia, and it would be a shame to give up such a large island. The Imperial Government established a number of colonial settlements in the plains surrounding Australia, but few Imperial nationals came to settle there. As a last resort, the Imperial Government had no choice but to amend the Penal Code and exile criminals to Australia, in order to increase the population of the region and control Australia.

Tens of thousands of people were exiled to Australia each year, initially concentrated near a few ports in the eastern region, where the Imperial Navy's supply base was built. Criminals exiled to Australia were simply not allowed to leave Australia, so their lives on the island of Australia were one qiē free.

The Imperial government armed these criminals and sent them deep into Australia for armed exploration, seizing the villages and resources of the indigenous people. Of course, weapons and ammunition need to be paid, and these criminals are very aggressive, so the money spent on weapons and ammunition is extremely expensive, and the Imperial government also earns a lot of money for this.

Of course, in addition to the exiled convicts, expeditions, missionaries, and military personnel from within the empire entered the coastal plains of Australia.

In addition to exploring and searching for treasures, they also enslaved the local natives, captured the local natives as slaves, and then sent them to manors, farms, and docks to do hard labor.

With the high development of the imperial handicraft industry, the demand for silk and wool expanded dramatically, and these Chinese in Australia also planted a large number of mulberry trees to raise silkworms, or raise livestock, as a way to earn money.

The remnants of the Dutch East India Company were by this time the world's beaten water dogs, and the Dutch government banned the East India Company and froze all of its properties, so these people became beggars.

As the Chinese Empire's purge in Java intensified, many homeless Dutch people were forced to cross the ocean to Australia to earn a living.

In Australia, the Chinese Empire has very light restrictions on foreign immigration, allowing 10,000 foreigners to immigrate to Australia every year. This was the largest number of foreign immigrants in any of the other colonies, mainly because very few Imperial nationals were willing to immigrate to Australia, and in order to develop Australia, the Imperial Government had to develop immigration controls for foreigners. Foreigners will develop first, and after the scale is formed, Chinese people will naturally flock in.

The Chinese Empire claimed sovereignty over Australia, and marked Australia on the map of the Chinese Empire and informed the governments of the world. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the idea of other countries to attack the Australian colonies.

After foreigners immigrate to Australia, their nationality also becomes the Australian nationality of the Chinese Empire, and they become a member of the Chinese Imperial family. Foreigners are clearly experienced in raising livestock to develop the wool industry, and their participation has contributed to the rapid development of the Australian wool industry. Due to the high quality of the wool produced in Australia, it soon entered the domestic market of the Chinese Empire, triggering many domestic textile industry companies to invest in Australia and send more personnel into Australia to engage in the wool industry.

The biggest advantage of the Chinese people is to follow the trend, when Australia's wool enters the country on a large scale, it stimulates the rapid development of the domestic textile industry, and a large number of textile products enter the market, and the price is getting cheaper and cheaper. Originally, many domestic families pursued the traditional lifestyle of male farmers and female weavers, and in the face of the collapse of textile prices, this kind of personal textile goods was quickly squeezed out of the market.

In the previous way of life of the Chinese people, farming has been replaced by slaves, and a large number of slaves are engaged in farms, pastures and other jobs, and the Chinese people have become landlords.

In this way, the feudal economy that underpinned the traditional Chinese empire was quickly replaced by a capitalist economy and a slave economy.

In the eastern and southern regions of the empire, capitalist industry was highly developed, and the rapid development of industry and commerce was driven by maritime trade and shipbuilding. In the northern and western regions, the slave economy dominated. The vast and sparsely populated area of arable land, pasture land, and deep forests needed to be developed, so a large number of slaves became the main labor force in these areas, and the manor economy began to flourish.

Raw materials from the west and north were continuously transported to the eastern and southern industrial regions, contributing to the rapid development of the empire's economy as a whole.

The war-ready road network built by the Chinese Imperial Government at great expense was the first contributor to the economic development of the western and northern regions, and through the guò road network, the agricultural, animal husbandry and forestry products of the western and northern regions could quickly enter the industrially developed areas of the east and south in exchange for capital.

However, the cost of road transportation in the empire was still too high compared to sea freight. With the rapid development of industry and commerce in the east and south, the demand for industrial raw materials has increased exponentially, and relying on domestic supply is no longer enough, and the cost is high.

As a result, industrial raw materials began to be imported from the colonies on a large scale, with heavy industrial raw materials basically shipped lead and silver from Mexico, and saltpeter and iron ore from Luzon. The raw materials for light industry are basically purchased from cane sugar from Hawaii, spices from Papua, raw silk from Taiwan, jade from Myanmar and Vietnam, and wool from Australia.

Since the colonies of the Chinese Empire pursued a slave system, the colonial economy was also dominated by a slave economy. Plantation economic zones such as mines, farms, pastures, forestry farms, and fishing farms, where a large number of slaves worked, produced a large number of cheap raw materials, which were basically transported to the country.

In this way, the eastern and southern regions of the empire, where industry and commerce were most prosperous, could directly obtain cheaper industrial raw materials from the colonies, resulting in a large number of plantations in the western and northern regions of the empire losing money, and even many raw materials were stranded and could not be shipped out.

The cheap raw materials of the colonies were an impact on the plantation economy in the empire, and senators from many provinces had brought the issue to the local councils for consideration, and reported it to the Imperial House of Lords, who had convened a meeting to discuss the issue.

Gu Mingzhe, the newly appointed first and auxiliary minister of the cabinet, has recently been overwhelmed by a series of economic problems, and the empire has a clear government and a strong military, so the cabinet has never worried about national defense issues. In a country that does not have a strong rival, its economic problems become the primary problem.

The empire's economy was now at a critical juncture, with a traditional feudal economy, in which men were self-sufficient and did not need to be bothered by the government. The government only collects taxes, and nothing else has to be worried.

But not anymore, as the empire launched a series of colonial wars and plundered a lot of wealth back home, the people of the empire became the highest people in the world. Under the strict hierarchy, the citizens of the empire were no longer engaged in lowly occupations, and all were replaced by slaves. As a result, the traditional feudal economy was transformed into a combination of a capitalist economy and a slave economy.

In the fifteenth year of Shenwu, after the House of Lords of the Chinese Empire requested the emperor to issue a decree to abolish agricultural taxes forever, industrial and commercial taxes became the backbone of the empire's fiscal revenue.

The cabinet has to make an annual budget every year, and the budget funds depend on the financial revenue of industry and commerce in that year, if the industrial and commercial economy is prosperous, then the fiscal revenue will naturally be high, and if the industry and commerce encounter difficulties and the development is sluggish, then it will directly affect the financial revenue of the empire.

As a result, the Cabinet had to worry about the development of industry and commerce in the country, and because of this, the topic of the provincial and local senators and the central lower house basically revolved around the word "economy".

"Inner Mongolia, Central Mongolia and Outer Mongolia are expected to have more than 10,000 tons of unsalable wool this year, and the grain backlog in the six northeastern provinces and four northern China provinces is more than 5 million tons, and the grain price has dropped to 50 silver dollars per ton, and no one wants to ...... it."

Gu Mingzhe took a report from the House of Commons and held a separate meeting with Chengji, Ni Yuanlu, and Wang Chengen to discuss countermeasures.

Cheng Ji said: "According to the report of the Liangjiang Senate, this year and next year will gradually reduce the purchase of wool from the three Mongolian provinces in China and abroad, mainly because the wool from the Australian colonies is of good quality and cheap, and the grain backlog problem in the six northeastern provinces and the four northern Chinese provinces is actually not an isolated case.

Ni Yuanlu said: "The empire has not levied agricultural taxes since the founding of the country, and recently it has been directly abolished, and agricultural taxes will never be levied again. At present, which of the citizens of the empire is not a hundred acres of fertile land? There is no tax on this, and it is normal for there to be a surplus of food"

Gu Mingzhe sighed: "Having said that, if things can't be sold, if they continue to be unsalable, not to mention the huge losses, which will affect the central and local fiscal revenues, we have to think of a way."

Wang Chengen said at this time: "Local governments should solve the problem on their own, and we can only regulate and control macroeconomically. At the moment, it is the competition between the local government and the colonial government, the palms and backs of the hands are full of meat, and it is not good to talk about which side is hurt, and the taxes paid by the colony can be a lot, and you can get a bowl of water to level it out, otherwise it will be noisy to the emperor."

Gu Mingzhe nodded and said, "What Lord Wang said is right, but after all, this colony is not as close to us as the local government, even if they are all sons of their own sons, the treatment may not be the same."

The crowd hurriedly asked, "What do you mean—"

Gu Mingzhe said: "After all, the colony is not the legitimate territory of the empire, so I think we should take care of the country and control the import of raw materials from the colony."

Wang Chengen listened to it and said with a smile: "Don't say what you say outside, otherwise you will offend people and you won't know."

Gu Mingzhe asked, "How do you say this?" ”

Ni Yuanlu said at this time: "Didn't Master Gu forget? Which colonial governor and officials were not all sent by the imperial court? Although they are overseas, their performance evaluation is the same as that in China. If you move their economy and make their performance not up to standard, you will suffer."

Cheng Ji explained: "Besides, have you forgotten Jì, the governor of Mexico, Huang Dahai, who is the emperor's brother." Huang Zupei, the governor of Peru, is an old and senior minister next to the emperor. Not to mention anything else, then Zhao Chuanfeng, the governor of the Luzon colony, is the current lord of the country, with Concubine Duan as the backstage, if you quarrel with the emperor, you can't eat and walk around."

Gu Mingzhe suddenly realized, no wonder Wang Chengen reminded him not to offend people. The origin of the governor of this colony is not small, and each of them is a trusted cronie and important minister of the emperor, and if he really gets up seriously, he will obviously protect them when he comes to the emperor.

"But among the unsalable wool in the Mongolian province, a considerable part of it is from Zhaisang" Gu Mingzhe said: "This Zhaisang is also the head of the country, and Concubine Xiao in the harem is also very powerful."

Wang Chengen nodded and said: "So this problem is quite tricky, if it is not handled well, it will cause trouble in the harem, and it may cause disputes in the harem."

Then Gu Mingzhe asked again: "Didn't the emperor delegate power to the cabinet and the three ministries?" I don't think so."

Several people sank their eyelids, and their expressions were obvious to Gu Mingzhe, you don't know the emperor too well, you will believe whatever he says? It's silly

Several people were obviously not happy to discuss this issue, Ni Yuanlu suddenly asked Wang Chengen, and said, "By the way, Lord Wang, you are a close minister of the emperor, I want to inquire with you about the news, I heard that the emperor has not been in the palace recently, but it is true?" ”

As soon as he heard the gossip news, Cheng Ji suddenly became interested. Especially about the gossip about the emperor, their ministers were very happy to inquire about it, and they were happy to do it.

"That's right, Lord Wang has leaked * some inside information, and I also heard that the emperor has been on patrol recently."

Wang Chengen is the iron brother of the current emperor Shenwu Emperor Deng Haonan, which is something that all ministers know, and it is precisely because of this that Wang Chengen will not provoke the envy and opposition of others as the head of the household department and the financial power of the empire. Because to oppose Wang Chengen is to oppose the emperor, and to be jealous of Wang Chengen is to be jealous of the emperor, obviously no one has that guts.

"Where, where" talked about gossip, Wang Chengen was also interested, smiled modestly, and said: "Inside information"

Cheng Ji and Ni Yuanlu immediately pricked up their ears, and Gu Mingzhe forgot about his business at that moment.

I only heard Wang Chengen say mysteriously: "Recently, the emperor often does not return to the palace, and I heard that he was fascinated by a woman named Chen Yuanyuan."

"Isn't it the Oiran in the capital?"

"No wonder the emperor repaired us fiercely that morning, it turned out that we had committed a taboo in heaven"

"He who does not know is not guilty"

"But now that I know, I won't go there in the future"

"That's that"

"I heard that this Chen Yuanyuan is also the daughter of an official eunuch, and her father was the magistrate of Shaoxing, Hangzhou Prefecture, called Xing Zhihua."

"Xing Zhihua? It seems that not long ago, the emperor overturned the case of some officials during the previous dynasty and the Apocalypse, and there seems to be Xing Zhihua among them."

"That's a certainty" Cheng Ji said: "This Chen Yuanyuan climbed the dragon body, it is not a piece of cake to turn his hands into clouds and hands to rain, and it is not a piece of cake to turn over a case for his father."

Ni Yuanlu said at this time: "It's nothing for Chen Yuanyuan to overturn the case for his father, after all, most of the people who died unjustly in the hands of Wei Zhongxian are good people, it's just that the emperor was angry that morning, and it seems that many ministers secretly helped Chen Yuanyuan to make trouble for Lai Youguang, the governor of Zhili." This shows that the relationship between Chen Yuanyuan and Lai Youguang does not seem to be so peaceful."

Wang Chengen nodded and said, "It seems that it is not very peaceful."

Cheng Ji said: "Chen Yuanyuan is young and beautiful, and he will be favored by the emperor when he enters the palace as a concubine, so Lai Youguang will definitely not have good fruits to eat."

Ni Yuanlu frowned and said, "I'm afraid the capital is not peaceful."

Several people hurriedly asked, "Why do you say this?" ”

Ni Yuanlu said: "You see, if the emperor favors a woman, the Security Bureau will definitely investigate it thoroughly, and Chen Yuanyuan's ancestors will be turned out for eighteen generations." If Chen Yuanyuan and Lai Youguang have a grudge, then the emperor has no reason not to know. But this time, Lai Youguang obviously has no advantage in running for the governor of Zhili, but the emperor appointed him as the governor of Zhili, don't you think there is any flavor in it? ”

A few people, you look at me, I look at you, all frowning, but I don't know why for a while. Of course, they are all old fritters, and even if they know or guess anything, they won't say anything.

"Okay, okay" Gu Mingzhe interrupted the speculation of several people in time and said: "We are talking about business, don't talk about some gossip news, think about how to solve the problem in your hand first" A