Chapter 595 Natural disasters and man-made disasters

Author: Beicheng 2,000

"Dingling--"

"Don't squeeze, don't squeeze!"

In March, the incident in Yiling was soon reported by all officials. For this reason, many small and medium-sized gentry whose property is easy to be cashed in began to sell their property to the imperial shop to make up enough money and grain to move.

In terms of migration, gentry and powerful people from all over the country chose different places.

For these gentry and powerful people in the central and western provinces, they were not worried about being moved at all, because the main target of the Ming Dynasty migrated the population was the central and western provinces.

They are even less afraid of the gentry and powerful people in Northern Zhili, after all, they were originally grown in Northern Zhili.

The main ones that resist the migration are Huguang, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Nanzhili, Henan, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangxi, etc.

For this reason, the migration directions they chose were also different.

Shandong and Henan's migration directions are mainly in Anxi, Beiting, Modong, Donghai and other provinces. After all, these places do not have miasma. Although they are cold, they can also hire people to help them reclaim a large amount of land with their money.

The migration targets of Huguang are mainly Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou.

The remaining provinces such as Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang all chose Nanzhou and Jiaozhi in the south.

Even they were afraid that the miasma in the southwest would not be enough.

They would rather go to the distant Nanzhou and Yingzhou than choose Old Port and Luchuan. Although Jiaozhi is within the selection range, there are still relatively few people going there.

"We have booked this ship!"

"Where is the reason to charter a boat?!"

"My master has money! If you want to charter a boat, you can charter a boat!"

In just one month, the storm began to ferment, and ships in the southeast were rented and sold out.

Tens of thousands of gentry and powerful people migrated to Nanzhou and Yingzhou, but because their families have a great career, they often need to rent a large ship for their family to move.

The ships that could have transported thousands of people were instantly chartered and rented by the gentry. Faced with such a situation, many people who simply wanted to migrate could only be left behind.

Since the government will stop immigration in June, people who do not want to immigrate with debt can only choose the farther State of Qi, because there are at least ships to sit on.

This storm did not feel like it stopped, but was getting worse.

The migration of gentry and powerful people caused unknown tenants and people to panic, and they also began to compete for ships.

When many gentry saw this, they cursed, thinking that these foolish people were out of reach, and scolded them for delaying their own escape.

But no matter how much they scold, it does not affect their actions of scrambling for ships and fleeing overseas...

"In just two months, Huangdian has received more than 26 million acres of listings, and the immigrant population has exceeded 1.8 million. This is indeed..."

On the third day of the fifth month, when Hong Chengchou, who was sitting in the Chengyun Hall of the King of Qi's Mansion, didn't know what to say, Zhu Youjian, who was sitting in the upper position, blew the tea in front of him, took a sip, and said slowly:

"Escape well. If they want to escape, let them escape. The court cannot kill so many people."

"They all escaped, and the people who stayed in the Central Plains would have a better life."

Zhu Youjian's words made Hong Chengchou look slightly, but he then looked up and said:

"Recently, most Yanshan officials have become cautious, and it seems that they were frightened by His Highness's move."

"However, if these more than 26 million mu of land are purchased at a normal price, the imperial shop will at least be no less than 150 million taels of silver."

"Can I get the imperial shop?" Hong Chengchou asked carefully, and Zhu Youjian also looked at Cao Huachun when he heard this.

Cao Huachun shook his head, obviously unable to eat the big piece of cake spit out by the gentry.

Hong Chengchou also saw his expression and actions, so he couldn't help but put down the memorial in his hand and bowed to Zhu Youjian:

"Your Highness, these land is less than one-tenth of the land in the hands of the gentry. Now the gentry sells it like this. If the dynasty wants state ownership, then the land cannot be sold to the people, and can only be divided."

"That big amount of money is probably hard to make up even if you add a bank."

"The suggestion of the Xiaguan is that perhaps the land in Nanzhou, Anxi and other places can be rented and sold to the relocated gentry and exchanged land for land?"

Hong Chengchou's idea was based on his observation of the land in Luchuan. Compared with the land in most of the two and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the land in most areas of the two capitals and thirteen provinces in the Ming Dynasty has been fully developed, and the land in overseas and the three central and southern provinces has basically not been developed.

In this case, it is better to hand over the land to the gentry for development.

However, Zhu Youjian did not agree with this and was still preparing to trade with the gentry according to the state-owned land system.

“No need…”

Zhu Youjian put down the teacup and then said:

"How much land can a gentry reclaim belongs to the court. The gentry has the right to use it but has no right to sell it."

"However, the court can replace labor reform workers with them as tenants."

"Nanzhou has 540,000 labor reform workers, and 1.69 million labor reform workers in the old port. Including Luchuan and Jiaozhi, there are a total of 5 million labor reform workers in these places."

"Take it to them at the price of one acre of land and one person, and the remaining royal shop exchanged them with oxen and horses."

"One ox is three acres of land, and one horse is two acres of land."

The prices used by Zhu Youjian were all the prices of cattle, horses and livestock in Jiangnan. At this price, if the Ming Dynasty paid some money, it would be possible to take down this batch of land.

"How much gold and silver are there overseas this year?" Zhu Youjian asked Cao Huachun, and Cao Huachun bowed and said:

"About 120,000 taels of gold, 6.720,000 taels of silver, and copper ingots worth 600,000 taels of silver."

The Ming Dynasty poured nearly 14 million taels of gold and silver into overseas every year, of which 8 million taels were mined by themselves, and the remaining 6 million taels were obtained from trade.

Judging from the current population situation of the Ming Dynasty, such input cannot cause inflation in a short period of time.

"There are more than 173 million people in the dynasty this year, and this amount of money should not affect it."

"How much money does the Royal Store come to? Where is the bank?"

Zhu Youjian continued to inquire, and Cao Huachun needed to check some documents.

After spending a few minutes, Cao Huachun walked back from the table with the booklets, bowed to Zhu Youjian and Hong Chengchou and said:

"When you go back to Your Highness, you will have a total of 150 million taels, a bank deposit of more than 70 million taels, and the imperial store's grain sales earned 80 million taels, but after excluding expenses, the profit is about 30 million taels."

Zhu Ciran's new policy has caused grain prices to soar. As the largest institution responsible for grain trade, there is no need to say much about the profits of Huangdian.

From this point of view, there is still a lot of money that Ming Dynasty can use.

"Your Highness..." When Zhu Youjian was thinking this way, Hong Chengchou suddenly bowed:

"This year, there are droughts in all regions. Not only are the three provinces in Jiangnan affected the disaster, but Huguang, Sichuan, Guangxi and Guizhou were all affected by the disaster."

"In addition, the Great Wall in the Northern and Yellow Rivers also encountered droughts. In addition to Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan and Sichuan, all the former thirteen provinces encountered droughts."

"In this case, is it necessary to open a regular liquidation position to stabilize grain prices?"

There were more than 130 million stones of old grain stored in Changping warehouse, which Hong Chengchou only found out after he arrived in the capital and entered the cabinet.

He didn't care about the lives and deaths of the people, but he also knew that if he continued like this, there would be chaos in the Central Plains.

Hong Chengchou thought that his words would make Zhu Youjian make some adjustments, but...

"The situation of the migration of the people has explained everything. In two months, 1.8 million people were moved, and 900,000 were moved in the three provinces of Jiangnan."

"This year is the best opportunity to solve the problem of densely populated Jiangnan."

Zhu Youjian made up his mind. He had long known that this year and next year would be the most difficult two years of the Ming Dynasty, and this was his last chance to solve Jiangnan.

The 20th and 21st year of the Tianqi revelation, which corresponds to the 13th and 14th year of Chongzhen.

Zhu Youjian is very familiar with the reason why these two years are because these two years are a critical moment for Li Zicheng's rise and a critical moment for the Battle of Songjin in the Ming army.

These three things seem to be unrelated, but they are actually related.

Although the Battle of Songjin was defeated by Chongzhen's urging war, the bigger reason lies in the internal situation.

Most people in later generations mistakenly thought that after Hong Chengchou arrived, Chongzhen urged him to fight quickly, but this was not the case.

The Battle of Songjin started in February of the 12th year of Chongzhen and continued until Hong Chengchou was captured in April of the 15th year of Chongzhen. It lasted for more than three years.

Chongzhen urged Hong Chengchou to start the war in July of the 14th year of Chongzhen. It had been two and four months since Hong Chengchou supervised Liaodong. In other words, Hong Chengchou led an army of more than 100,000 to stop in Ningyuan for two and a half years.

Chongzhen showed his greatest trust in this battle and was persistent enough. The last person he gave him two years was Yuan Chonghuan.

Therefore, when Hong Chengchou was given two years and four months to prepare, he found that when Hong Chengchou was not ready, it was normal for Chongzhen to be anxious, and the reason for his urgency was within the pass.

In the 13th year of Chongzhen, nearly 80% of the country suffered drought in the 14th and 2nd year. Not only did a large number of people follow the thief, the Ming Dynasty's finances also began to collapse.

The land tax that was highly valued could no longer be collected. Deserts appeared in the four northwest towns responsible for encircling and suppressing bandits, and all the deserters surrendered to Li Zicheng's command.

As bandits, Li Zicheng and others were lucky in disguise. They used the Northwest Frontier Army that they defected to form an old camp, and relied on the tactic of "three walls" to defeat the Ming Dynasty's field army.

By January of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng conquered Luoyang, killed King Fu Zhu Changxun, and besieged Kaifeng.

The drought in the 14th year of Chongzhen did not diminish, so the Ming army could not collect food in the Central Plains, and the soldiers were hungry and horses were exhausted. Li Zicheng relied on strangling the landlords to obtain food and joined forces with Luo Rucai.

Two men had millions of mercenaries, killed the Ming Governor Fu Zonglong in Xiangcheng, killed 60,000 Ming troops, and conquered more than 40 prefectures and counties including Shangshui and Nanyang.

Taxes cannot be collected and land taxes cannot be collected. Nearly one-third of the Central Plains Field Army was wiped out.

This is why Chongzhen urged Hong Chengchou to send troops. Because if he did not send troops to fight the Battle of Songjin, Li Zicheng would become emperor, and he could only carry out the encirclement and suppression of him within one or two years.

Therefore, Chongzhen needed Hong Chengchou to win the Battle of Songjin, and then lead his troops back to the pass to encircle Li Zicheng.

The 13th and 14th years of Chongzhen, the two years with the worst drought, were the two years when the Ming Dynasty could not collect taxes, the most painful two years for the people, and the two years when Li Zicheng rose and Hong Chengchou suffered a crushing defeat.

This natural disaster directly led to the failure of the Ming Dynasty on both inside and outside the Great Wall. If it were on the front line, then the Ming Dynasty would last for a few more years, but the key was that both sides failed.

This was the only time that the Ming army was defeated in two groups, and the result of the defeat of the two groups was doomed to enter the countdown to the Ming Dynasty's national destiny.
To be continued...