Chapter 582 Forcing the government to collect taxes, I have never seen such a weird request in my life
"The imperial court wants us to go to the islands in the South China Sea to live as people. It's too far." After sitting on the ship for more than ten days, the refugees realized that they hadn't arrived yet. Only then did they realize that they hurriedly went to inquire.
Where exactly were they going to be sent? This inquiry made my heart freeze. It turned out that they were going to be sent to an island opposite Fujian.
The frustrated immigrants complained all kinds of things on the boat. The accompanying officials could only endure the pain of seasickness and go to work for the immigrants to make them understand that no matter where they live, the imperial court would be with them. No,
We officials are just like you, and we want to go to Dajuan Island to open up wasteland, right?
In fact, although the officials are doing their work, they are also in a state of uneasiness. Anyone who wants to go to a barbaric land thousands of miles away will not feel good. But there is no way, who made them a ship now?
Where is the big man in the team? He must step up and take charge!
In order to stabilize the mood of the immigrants in the fleet, the officials on board the ship made various plans, and only described Damuan Island as a better place than Jiangnan. There are three crops a year, and there is plenty of land.
In the past two years, it is no problem to start a family business, and it is definitely much better than staying in the Central Plains where disasters are constantly happening. The imperial court has organized you to become senior officials just to make you suffer less and live a good life as soon as possible. In short, this is
Being selected as a senior officer for the first time is definitely a blessing. Most people are not lucky enough to go to such a good place.
The more the officials boasted, the more excited they became. In the end, they even believed what they were saying. Maybe the senior officials were really as good as they boasted. Anyway, none of them had ever been to the senior officials, so no one knew where they were.
What is the situation in the place?
It floated on the sea for nearly a month, passing through a series of port stations such as Songjiang, Zhoushan, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Penghu, before arriving at the destination of this trip, Taiwan City on Taiyuan Island.
When Huang Chao got out of the sea-going ship and stepped onto land, his legs were dangling. A month's experience on the ship was a bit overwhelming for him, even though he had been on a sea-going ship.
Looking at the Taiwan City on the shore, Huang Chao felt a little better. This place was better than he imagined. At least the city looked like a city, unlike when he went to Hongzui Fort in southern Liaoning, which was purely shabby.
A mound of soil.
The military personnel have already done some work on Da Yuan Island, sorting out the Governor's Mansion, the city, and the nearby fields that were handed over by the Dutch. When Huang Chao and the others came here, they were not in poverty, and there were ready-made offices and accommodation places.
available.
"Huang Zhizhou, I will now give you a brief introduction to the overall situation of Damuan Island. Damuan is a large island. In terms of area, it can be equal to four or five inland prefectures. However, the developed land that can be developed is currently
, there are about one or two counties near Taiwan City, and the rest need to be developed slowly! In the north of the island, there is also a small developed land development zone called Chicken Coop, which is still occupied by Kazuo, and we are developing it.
Negotiate with them and we will be able to recover it in the near future." Commodore Liu Fangchao, who was staying on Taiyuan Island, quickly introduced the situation to him after picking up Huang Chao from the dock and entering the city.
"General Liu, how many people are there on the island now?"
"Well, the situation is a bit complicated. If we only count the Han people, there are less than 30,000. Most of them were moved by Zheng Zhilong from Fujian more than ten years ago. Of course, some people escaped across the sea. It's hard to say the specific time. Except
In addition to the nearly 30,000 Han people, there are also many natives in the mountains on the island. It is difficult to count how many they actually have. As for the previous He people, we have all taken them to Xiamen and are currently fighting with them in Java.
Let’s negotiate and see how we can get rid of them.”
"Nearly 30,000 Han people? This is not a small number. This year, the imperial court plans to move more than 50,000 people from the north. This will bring the number of Han people on Taiyuan Island to nearly 100,000. Does the general know if there are any suitable people on Taiyuan Island?
Land cultivated by millions of people?”
"In the Taiwan city and surrounding areas we control, it is no problem to develop more than one million acres of fertile farmland. The situation in the chicken coop in the north of the island seems to be better, and it is no problem to develop millions of acres of farmland. On Da Yuan Island
It shouldn't be difficult to raise hundreds of thousands of people. Back then, Zheng Zhilong had the idea of immigrating hundreds of thousands of people, and it was certainly not something he thought up out of thin air."
"Oh, I will try to find out more about the situation in the next few days. What is the attitude of the native people on the island towards Ming Dynasty?"
"How should I put it? They are not civilized enough. Most of them are organized in the form of tribes. Since our army regained control, they have not done anything major. Instead, they have done a lot of transactions with us. They can be considered peaceful."
"If we open up fields on a large scale, will it encroach on their fields or pastures?"
"Most of their bases are in mountainous areas. At present, most of the land opened on the island should be on flat land, which should not cause major conflicts. Of course, as time goes by and there are more immigrants, conflicts may arise."
After learning some information from the officers who stayed behind, Huang Chao took the officials who came with him to organize the first batch of immigrants to resettle in the city. In the next few days, other officials were responsible for resettling the immigrants, and Huang Chao took a few
Accompanied by the soldiers left behind, the attaché went to visit the Han people who lived near Taiwan City before.
On the one hand, this is to declare the power of governance to them and let these people know that the government established here by the Ming Dynasty has been officially operational. On the other hand, it is to understand the situation from their mouths and clearly divide the interests of the new and old immigrants. The old immigrants have already
For the fields that are opened, the land deeds must be filled in. The court's policy must also be made clear. This year it will be tax-free, but next year the old immigrants will need to pay taxes.
Huang Chao originally thought that these old immigrants would hinder the payment of taxes and the confirmation of rights. However, after meeting some leaders, he found that these people did not mind the collection of taxes and the confirmation of rights. On the contrary, they were quite supportive of what the court wanted to do.
Regarding these matters, many people even suggested that agricultural taxes can be paid this year instead of waiting until next year.
What does this mean? In other places, you pay less if you can. The court has policies and you don’t have to use them in vain. It’s good for them, they don’t want to take advantage of the court at all.
"Farmers and islanders are looking forward to paying royal grain, paying national taxes, and contributing to the country for a long time. Now that the imperial court has traveled thousands of miles across the sea to govern the people, the farmers are extremely happy and hope that the governor will fulfill our wishes. Let us first let you
We pay a quarter of the royal grain, so that we can feel more at ease." Huang Chao said that this year's taxes would be exempted, but the leaders of the old immigrants actually organized an organization and insisted that he wait until this year's taxes were paid.
Forcing the government to collect taxes, Huang Chao has never seen such a weird request in his life!
Is this a strange request? It may seem strange to Huang Chao, but for the old immigrants living in Dayuan, it is a very reasonable and urgent matter. Paying taxes is not their request. Through paying taxes, they formally established a relationship with the Ming Dynasty.
Their demands are to improve the relationship between the government and the people and to obtain a serious status. What they fear most is that after the court has been here for a while, seeing that it has no meaning, it will withdraw the bureaucracy and abandon them again.