Chapter 866 0861 [The country’s population is less than 90 million]
"Dangdangdangdang..."
The constant sound of banging and banging made Fujiwara Tadamune unable to sleep in at all.
Luoyang Sifang Pavilion is located next to Luoyang Imperial College.
It took half a year. Although Taixue has been built, other nearby institutions are still being demolished and constructed.
The construction of the Sifangkan, which is used for the residence of envoys from various countries, has not even begun. Fujiwara Tadamune is currently living in the monk's residence in Fushengin.
This place used to be called Taiping Temple and Taiping Chanyuan, and was built with funds from Princess Taiping.
In the fifth year of Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty, Taiping Temple was annexed by Fusheng Temple next door.
After the merger of the two, it immediately became the second largest temple in Luoyang.
Alas, I don’t know when it will be completed.
Fujiwara Tadamune, who likes to sleep in, has almost suffered a neurasthenia from the noise at the construction site.
He got up, washed himself carefully, and brushed his teeth again and again.
When he lived in Japan, he was proud of his jet-black and shiny teeth.
After living in Daming for several years, I became deeply ashamed of it.
Not to mention the Chinese, even the envoys from foreign countries made fun of his black teeth. Now Fujiwara Tadamune can only smile without showing his teeth.
After brushing his teeth for seven or eight minutes, Fujiwara Tadamune spit out the mouthwash and looked at the glass mirror for a while.
Well, it seems that my teeth are whiter again.
Calling a servant to tie his hair and put on his hat, Fujiwara Tadashi carefully put away the glass mirror.
He bought this thing with his own money, not provided by Sifangkan. Although it is said that glass mirrors are poisonous, Fujiwara Tadashi didn't mind. A glass mirror cost him a lot of money.
Walking to the temple canteen, the Xixia envoy was already having breakfast.
Since the Sifang Pavilion stipulates a free reception period, envoys who exceed the time need to pay. The Korean envoy could not bear it anymore and returned home after offering prisoners last year.
However, the Xixia envoys were stationed in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, always monitoring the movements of the Ming Dynasty court, for fear that the Ming Dynasty would suddenly launch an attack.
"Fujisaburo is here, today's breakfast was good." Li Zhengchun greeted with a smile, obviously he was very familiar with Fujiwara Tadamune.
Fujiwara Tadamune bowed and greeted: "Good morning, Brother Atsushi."
Fujiwara Tadamune now imitates Ming Dynasty officials in everything, and even lets others call himself "Fujisaburo".
The two of them chatted while eating.
While chatting, Li Zhengchun lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know, Sanlang, that the Annan envoy stayed at the Sifang Pavilion yesterday?"
Fujiwara Tadamune nodded: "I heard about it."
Li Zhengchun said: "The Annan envoys who have moved in are actually just minions. The chief and deputy envoys have been taken to prison."
"Why?" Fujiwara Tadamune asked in confusion.
Li Zhengchun said amusedly: "Annan donated a rhinoceros, and even drew scales on the rhinoceros, claiming that it was a unicorn presented to the emperor of tomorrow."
Fujiwara Tadamune was stunned when he heard this: "Does the Annan envoy regard the Ming emperors and ministers as fools?"
"A country of barbarians, who knows what they think?" Li Zhengchun said that he could not understand, and by the way he despised Annan.
Xixia regarded the surrounding small countries and tribes as barbarians, and they viewed Annan the same way.
It just so happened that Annan also regarded the surrounding small countries and tribes as barbarians, and also tried to build his own tribute system.
Fujiwara Tadamune asked: "Where is Annan?"
Li Zhengchun said: "In the south, they called themselves Dayue and Tiannan Little China. A few decades ago, they sent 100,000 troops to attack the Song Dynasty. In the end, the Song Dynasty counterattacked and killed them in the capital."
Fujiwara Tadamune said with disdain: "You are overestimating your capabilities. How can China be provoked by these small countries?"
Fujiwara Tadamune had not yet become a Ming Dynasty citizen. He had only lived in Kaifeng and Luoyang for a few years, and he had already developed a fanaticism for converts.
He doesn't even want to go back to Japan, he hopes to live here for the rest of his life.
But Li Zhengchun's thoughts were much more complicated. He came to Luoyang last year for a shift change, and the previous envoy had returned to Xixia.
Li Zhengchun's task was to observe the movements of the Ming Dynasty and make friends with ministers to speak favorably for Xixia.
But after coming to Luoyang, Li Zhengchun found that he couldn't do anything, so he simply stayed in Luoyang and enjoyed life all day long.
If the Ming Dynasty did not attack Xixia, Li Zhengchun would naturally have nothing to say.
If the Ming Dynasty attacks Xixia, he has decided to lead the way. Xixia will definitely be destroyed anyway. Depending on the connections he made in Luoyang, he might be able to continue serving as an official by betraying the country.
Be a great official!
Two energetic Ming Dynasty people, after eating breakfast, ran together to watch the excitement.
Arriving at the monks' compound of the Annan Mission, they soon discovered that entry and exit had been banned.
Fujiwara Tadamune bowed to the gatekeeper: "Goro has been guarding here?"
"It turns out it was Fujisaburo, Mr. Li, in person," the official said with a smile. "These Jiaozhi barbarians have eaten the heart of a bear and dared to pretend to be a unicorn to pay tribute. Their chief and deputy envoys have been arrested and interrogated in Dali Temple, and the rest have been imprisoned.
Come in here and keep a close eye on me."
Fujiwara Tadamune asked: "Will the crime of deceiving the emperor be beheaded?"
The official shook his head: "I don't know."
…
At the imperial meeting, the cabinet ministers were also discussing.
"The two countries are at war and they haven't killed the envoy yet," Prime Minister Zhai Ruwen said. "Dali Temple has already investigated clearly. Annan lied about offering Kirin in order to show the sincerity of the tribute. In this case, release the envoy and question King Annan.
That’s it.”
Huan Guo, the Minister of Rites, said: "What the Prime Minister said is in line with the etiquette of diplomatic relations."
Zhang Bor said: "Since the imperial court has no plans to attack Annan for the time being, it can release the envoys for a while. Nowadays, regulating the Yellow River consumes a lot of money and food, so we should not start a war with Annan again. After Dali is destroyed, it will not be too late to attack Annan."
"
Qian Chen said: "Within five years, it is best to maintain peace with Annan. Even if we have to fight, we can only fight in a small way. A big fight is too expensive!"
Since the ministers all said not to cause trouble, Ju Ming was too lazy to go his own way.
"We won't discuss this matter anymore. Let's stabilize Annan first," Zhu Ming said. "The nationwide distribution of people and households has ended, and the latest census has been sent to the capital. Fang Shangshu, please give us a brief introduction.
.”
Fang Mengqing stood up and said: "There is a service money law in cities and towns, and in the countryside there is a law that allows people to share their household registration. In addition, the household registration system has been abolished in cities and villages, and taxes are based on the area of residences, shops, and farmland. Therefore,
Many people took the initiative to register with the government. They also vigorously inspected temples and ordered monks who had not given ultimatums to return to secular life..."
"My Ming Dynasty's household registration is different from the statistics of the previous dynasty, covering all households and populations. Of course, children are prone to die young, and only men and women over 15 years old are included."
"Our Ming Dynasty has Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Huainan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Liaoning, totaling one Beijing and fifteen provinces. In addition, Andong,
Monan, Linhuang Sandu Protectorate."
"There are no statistics yet for the three capital cities and fifteen provinces. The total population over the age of 15 is more than 89.31 million."
"Based on the ratio of cultivated land to population, the most densely populated provinces are Jiangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, Zhejiang, and Huainan. The most sparsely populated provinces are Hebei, Liaoning, Hubei, Hunan, and Shaanxi. There are too many barbarians in Guangxi, and effective statistics are temporarily impossible.
Guangdong is also special, with Guangzhou Prefecture alone accounting for a quarter of the province’s population.”
"Let's talk about the number of households..."
The population still has not recovered, it is far worse than in the middle period of Song Huizong's reign.
At that time, there was a large hidden population, but judging from the number of households, it was most likely in the hundreds of millions.
First, Fang La revolted in the south of the Yangtze River, and then the Yellow River burst caused chaos in Hebei and Shandong. Then the Jin people ravaged Hebei, and Zhong Xiang ravaged Hunan. There were also some wars, such as the Lunan barbarians swept through southern Sichuan, and there were uprisings in Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Huainan.
.
This does not include the battles fought by the Zhu family and his son.
The population distribution of Guangdong is quite ridiculous. 25% of the province's population is crowded in Guangzhou. The closer the other state capitals in Guangdong are to Fujian, the more densely populated they are - caused by immigrants from Fujian.
After Guangzhou, Yingzhou (Yingde) ranks second in tax revenue in the province.
But Yingzhou had the slowest population growth in the Northern Song Dynasty: negative growth!
The transportation there is convenient and suitable for collecting commercial taxes, but the farming environment is relatively poor. The industrial, agricultural and commercial taxes are ranked first in the province, and the tax network is ranked first in the province.
Ju Ming knocked on the table and said: "The checkpoints in Yingzhou must be abolished until only the city is left!"
Before Fang Mengqing, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, could speak, Qian Chen said: "Your Majesty, goods from Jiangxi and Hunan provinces can be transported to Guangzhou through Yingzhou. Setting up a few more checkpoints there will not affect business.
Prosperity. If you want to increase the population, you only need to reduce agricultural taxes."
"Short-sighted!"
Ju Ming criticized: "The customs canceled in Yingzhou can be restored in all walks of life. It can prosper the industry and commerce in the three provinces and allow more people to have work. A small Yingzhou, only two counties, the former
The Song Dynasty actually set up 25 tax stations! It seems that the government tax collection has increased, but in fact, the population of Yingzhou has become smaller and smaller!"
These 25 tax sites also include some mining tax authorities.
But it still seems outrageous. It only covers two counties, and it is a mountainous and narrow place. Inland river merchant ships passing through here may be charged two or three taxes and fees in the same township.
Ju Ming continued to give instructions: "Jiangxi and Fujian provinces are too densely populated, and the government must continue to organize immigration. Jiangxi is immigrating to Hunan, and Fujian is immigrating to Guangxi. Officials in every prefecture and county must be alert. It is necessary to immigrate quickly, but it cannot
If we cause trouble, we still have to ensure the safety of immigrants!"
I want it, I want it, I want it...
The cabinet ministers expressed sympathy for the officials in Jiangxi and Fujian.
Of course, as long as it is linked to political performance, no matter how difficult the task is, officials will do it.
Under normal circumstances, local officials do not care about immigration, or even obstruct people from immigrating, mainly because they consider their own political achievements.
They don't care about the shortage of land resources. They only know that if the number of registered residents within their jurisdiction increases, they will get good reviews in the performance evaluation. Once the number of registered residents decreases, it will affect the performance evaluation.
They will do whatever the court wants to do when assessing political performance.
Ju Ming said: "The chief envoys of these four provinces, Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangxi, and Hunan, will go to Jinling for a meeting this summer. The Ministry of Husbandry and the Ministry of War will each send a right minister to Jinling to preside over the meeting. The minister of war will mainly arrange for the inter-provincial Cao Army.
Regarding the immigration work in the four provinces, everyone sat together to discuss how to connect the immigrants to ensure that the immigration work was carried out in an orderly and rapid manner."
All the important officials here are shocked, how can you play like this?
Local officials were strictly prohibited from leaving their jurisdiction without permission, so Ju Ming actually asked the chief envoys of the four provinces to leave the country for a meeting, and also sent the ministers of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War to preside over the meeting.
After discussing the national work arrangements, Ju Ming said: "Huan Guo will stay, and the rest can go."
Huan Guo sat where he was, knowing that it was related to the Annan mission.
Ju Ming said: "Send an envoy to Annan to question the crime and order Annan to hand over the territory they occupied in the former Song Dynasty. As for the Annan envoy, he was reprimanded and released. On their way back to the country, they no longer receive free reception at the inns along the way, and they have to pay for food, drink, accommodation and travel!
"
"yes!"
Huan Guo wanted to laugh, this emperor was really a loser.
The Annan envoy brought rhinos and elephants with them. Without the help of the post station, it would be difficult to feed the animals along the way.
They have only one choice: sell the tributes to raise their own travel expenses and return home!
