Chapter 784: Letter from Luzon
I've done it all this day, are others embarrassed not to do it? You must know that in this era, public opinion and morality can affect the law more, for example, children and grandchildren are not filial, so as long as you report to the government, it is light to go to Luzon for five years of labor reform, and if it is heavy, you will be thrown directly to Luzon to open mines, as for the elderly, what should you do? Simple, the government pays for it.
Of course, there will also be punishments for some lazy or idle, husbands who beat their wives and children, what is difficult for a clean official to decide on family affairs, it is completely, remember that in later generations, those children were abused by their parents miserably, but what did the government do? In addition to standing up and speaking out when public opinion is exposed, educate parents, children, and continue to let those evil fathers and mothers raise.
In the country of the Western Barbarians, if parents abuse their children, then not only education, but go to prison, and lose custody and control of the child, and the child will be adopted by the state. At least, with such parents, the children must have a very difficult life, and it is better to hand it over to the government, at least the government can let the children live happily in this society.
If there is a suitable family, then these children can be given to these people to raise, of course, the applicant must be strictly vetted, and it is also necessary to ask the neighboring couple about their usual behavior. There is no problem in handing over the child who is willing to be adopted by them, but there are two or three irregular visits a year until the child is eighteen years old to make sure that the child is well cared for.
Social harmony comes from the joint efforts of all strata, and nowadays, whether it is Guanzhong or Bashu, Lingnan or Jiaozhi, Longyou or Jiangnan, they are all proud to be a child of the Chinese Empire.
For today's social development and progress, Xiao Mill, who has become a commoner, can only bow to the shame of being inferior. However, he still stubbornly believed that the idea and idea of raising the industrial and commercial people was wrong, but after more than a year of observation and investigation, he finally had to admit that although the Chinese Empire's tax revenue was so high, the most important contributors were indeed the industrial and commercial people, not the peasants.
After all, the land was so large and the output was limited, but the problem was transformed into a piece of production and a high value-added luxury by the skillful hands of the workers, and after being circulated by the merchants, the quality of life of the common people was greatly improved, and at the same time, the tax revenue of the empire increased amazingly.
The agricultural tax, even in today's Chinese Empire, only levied a tax equivalent to about two million guan, and the rest, almost all of which were provided by industry and commerce, the reason why the agricultural tax was so low was naturally because the court further reduced the tax on the peasants, for example, no longer levied silk cloth, and no longer levied forced labor
In other words, in the past, only about one-third of the taxes were collected, but the problem is that because the land of the Saga Gate Valve also needs to be collected, the agricultural tax is about the same as that of the previous dynasty in this respect.
In terms of industry and commerce, foreign trade alone is enough to account for more than one-third of the empire's tax revenue, that is, more than 500 or nearly 6 million guan, because many things in the Chinese empire are unique products, whether it is porcelain or silk, or glass mirrors and glass products today, or tea
These things, in the Chinese Empire, are already ordinary luxuries, of course, glass mirrors are not, glass products are not, but other things, after being transported to the Red Sea, are definitely more expensive than gold.
Whether it is tea or silk, it can be exchanged for the same weight of gold, and as for porcelain and glass products, they are also warmly sought after by those countries in the Western Regions and the Western countries, and even think that the countries from which these things are imported must be as magical and full of surprises as heaven.
The visual enjoyment of brewing tea with crystal clear glassware or porcelain as white as milk is enough to make the nobles and princes of the Western Thai countries instantly feel that they have suddenly become high-end and high-grade.
Especially when the merchants from the mysterious Chinese Empire personally demonstrated how to make tea and how to use tea to greet guests, it made these people from the Western Thai countries feel that the Chinese Empire can even come up with so many truths and rules to quench their thirst, which is absolutely admirable.
As for the countries of the Western Regions, as well as the surrounding vassal states of the Chinese Empire, needless to say, they have been completely bought by these high-end luxury goods of the Chinese Empire, and even some tribal leaders are proud of the glass or porcelain in their homes than other tribal leaders.
Through trade, a large amount of wealth began to concentrate on the Chinese Empire, and the prospecting teams of the Chinese Empire were like groups of locusts with their fangs exposed, scattering them to the surrounding countries of the Chinese Empire to help them discover mineral deposits.
After the discovery, the Chinese Empire had the right to mine for 50 to 100 years, and of course, the various metals mined would be converted into money and exchanged for various products of the Chinese Empire.
This may be another more peaceful way of plundering capital, at least willingly on the part of those who are plundered. There were even many vassal states that wished that all the mineral deposits within their borders would be discovered and mined, so that they could get more benefits from the hands of the Chinese Empire.
The expedition fleet of the Chinese Empire had already discovered the mainland island last year, which was later Australia, but Ben Gongzi liked to use Chinese to name it, and would not continue to call it Australia.
After the discovery of this island, more than 15,000 indigenous laborers and 2,000 soldiers of the expeditionary force have been sent to build a harbor and a city in a suitable location for the construction of a port.
Today, more than 20,000 families and more than 100,000 Chinese people have migrated to Luzon, where they will receive free houses and all the tools of life and production, each of them can get more than 100 acres of paddy fields, and the ten-year tax holiday, during which the grain they produce will be purchased by the court at market prices.
Ten years later, the tax will only be equivalent to half of the past field tax, and it is precisely because of these large number of preferential policies that it can attract ordinary people who are eager to own their own land, plus the millions of land sold before, it will also be able to attract more than 100,000 to 150,000 people to live and reproduce here.
It is estimated that in three years, nearly 500,000 Chinese people will be working and living on Luzon Island. This is by far the largest and most important migration operation of the Chinese Empire, and with a successful precedent, it will set a model for the future immigration work of the Chinese Empire.
It is expected that 100,000 to 200,000 immigrants will be immigrated every year in the future, and a large number of preferential policies will be used to attract the Chinese people to go out and turn the Pacific Ocean into the backyard of the Chinese Empire.
Moreover, among the immigrants, many of them are Guanzhong people, compared to other areas, the people of Guanzhong today are really a bit dense, and there is enough farmland, and then digging new fields will make Guanzhong will become dilapidated in hundreds of years.
Therefore, it is necessary to prepare in advance, carry out soil and water conservation, and leave a beautiful home for future generations.
In addition to the city dwellers, many people who have lost their land will be persuaded to leave Guanzhong and go to the Luzon Islands, where they will get their own land and homeland, where they will become their second home, and their future will lie beyond the ocean.
Every half a month or a month, I receive letters from Luzon, all of which are handwritten letters from Lao Wu Wuyi, most of which describe the current situation in Luzon, what is happening, and how he dealt with it.
There are also others, that is, he hopes to get the idea of guidance, of course, this son will not be stingy with guidance to his family, and even sometimes the things I can't solve are brought to the court to discuss, and after getting a proper strategy, I will be sent to Luzon.
On the island of Luzon today, there are two divisions of expeditionary force officers and soldiers, as well as 150,000 indigenous laborers. The island's smelter has been expanded and two hundred-ton open-hearth furnaces have been built, and now it can supply more than 350,000 catties of refined copper and 600,000 catties of steel to the Chinese Empire every month.
Because there is also coal on Luzon, there is no need to carry heavy ore across the ocean, but after it is mined locally, it is transported to a smelter to smelt copper and iron, and then transported, which greatly reduces the cost of transportation.
Today, the capacity of our carriers has also increased dramatically. The largest Luoyang-class transport ship has a displacement of 1,200 tons, and she can already carry 400 tons of cargo for thousands of miles.
Because of its carrying capacity and convenience, as well as the speed of the ship, the importance of shipping is becoming more and more prominent, and the powerful Chinese Imperial Navy has become the greatest support and guarantee for shipping.
The Imperial Chinese Navy now has two 1,000-ton warships, 15 700-ton warships, 70 500-ton warships, and nearly 200 warships of 300 tons or less.
“…… There are two 1,000-ton warships, seven 700-ton warships, 500-ton warships, 100 warships of 300 tons and below, and 25 500-ton transport and supply ships. It is expected to bring 100,000 heavily armed soldiers and three months' worth of supplies to Kyushu at a time. ”
"In addition, Jeju Island has been expanded many times to accommodate more than 200 large warships at the same time, and in addition, 300,000 soldiers and horses have been stationed here for a year's supply baggage. We have stationed more than 50,000 troops here, and we have trained more than 30 large-scale landing battles alone, and it is expected that as long as Your Majesty's will is issued, we will be able to concentrate 100,000 elite divisions to attack the surrounding countries of Jeju Island within half a month. ”
"In other words, whether it is Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje, or the Wa Kingdom, or the Iwo Islands further south, they are all within the range of the Jeju Island garrison."
Hearing this, people couldn't help but be a little excited, or more expectant.