New Shun 1730

Seeing these practical things, the wealthy merchants felt more at ease.

If the development of Ezo was just a call from the imperial court, the wealthy merchants and landlords in various places would have to think again. It was just because of the example of the trading company that some people had some trust in similar models.

Several leading figures of the gentry and merchants whispered to each other for a few words, then pushed one of them out and said, "Since the Whale Lord has taken all this into consideration, we are relieved."

"Let's not beat around the bush. Now the court wants to cancel the head tax. In fact, we all know that the land price and farm price will go down."

"Taxes are collected by acre. I buy land and collect rent. In fact, the money is not paid by me, but by the tenants."

"Now that the head tax has been canceled, the labor service is included in the tax according to the previous dynasty's one whip law. Silver is collected and people are hired to do labor service."

"But now that the head tax has been canceled, the labor service is not assigned according to the head, but according to the acreage. In fact, the small households with a little land have a harder time."

"For example, Henan. It is close to the Yellow River and needs to build a levee. In the past, it was We all have to go to the corvée. Now that we have implemented the "benevolent government", the court pays for the corvée, but the wool still comes from the sheep. "

"In the past, part of the wool was collected per person. Now it's all on the land, you can imagine. So we discussed it before, waiting for the land price to drop, so that we can buy land and collect rent. "

"But when we heard about the Ezo, we actually had some doubts in our hearts, whether to invest this money in Ezo or keep it to buy land. Today, I saw this booklet, which shows that the Whale Marquis is serious and the court really did it. Moreover, it seems that the court is also trying to make money from the corvée from overseas, so the land price may not drop, and we feel at ease. "

This wealthy merchant is a real person. In fact, the situation of low selling price and high rent of land has existed in the previous dynasty. Especially in the later period, people fled from famine, and the land was left there, because the tax of a county is fixed, and if others fled, they would have to be levied on those who did not flee.

This is an important reason why Dashun and the former Ming Dynasty could not have "national debt". For the wealthy farmers and landlords who have strong disaster resistance, can "reasonably" avoid taxes, and can afford national debt, the interest paid by buying national debt is not as good as buying land in the disaster year, which is very profitable.

Today's court policy is completely continuing Zhang Juzheng's "one whip method". Decoupling tax silver from population, the problem is that as a unified empire, water control itself is one of the pillars of legitimacy and orthodoxy.

Should we repair the Yellow River? Should we protect the canal? Should we build seawalls? Should we transport grain?

Either spend money.

Or corvée and conscription.

The former is very harmful to self-cultivating farmers who have land but not much; the latter is a disaster for the lower class who are lower than self-cultivating farmers.

The root cause is that taxes and land are too heavily tied together, otherwise the emperor would not support overseas expansion so much, all of which were forced out by the stinky thing "money".

These gentry have many years of experience in dealing with land and are very clear about the impact of the court's policies on land prices. Unless the court finds other ways to make money.

Merchants with a keen sense of smell have already noticed that the court is trying to get money from places other than land, which should be the general direction of the court in the future. Then it is worth considering to invest money in the development of Ezo.

Especially the profound meaning contained in this booklet shows that the court really attaches great importance to this matter and will not go back on its word.

In addition, there is a lot to learn from the experience of the Virginia Company in the booklet, which can indeed avoid a lot of detours.

Although Ezo can't grow tobacco, after the development of shipping in recent years, the concept of beet head sugar extraction in Vladivostok has been tried, which is also a failure - the sugar content is still low. The sugarcane sugar in Fujian and Guangxi is still cheaper than beet sugar after more than 10,000 miles of shipping.

However, Ezo has fish, shrimp, kelp and seaweed, which can also be compared to tobacco. In theory, people will not starve to death if they only eat fish and shrimp, but people are monkeys after all, and they can't live without food.

The booklet clearly describes every step from collective labor at the beginning to the later transition to the contract rent collection system.

At least it proves that the court did not make a whim, but really considered it seriously.

Liu Yu sighed at the money sense of these businessmen, and it was not easy to comment on the court's policies on such occasions. He only said: "The matter of buying land... is actually similar to the Virginia Company's tobacco planting in the pamphlet. It's just profitable. I can't say anything, and it's useless to say it. Since Grandpa Yue died in Fengbo Pavilion, people have been saying that being a traitor is not good, and I haven't seen Wu Zetian and Hong Zetian not become a traitor."

"My coming today is also an attitude of the court. You haven't been to Ezo, but you trust me, and I think you know the situation there. The local Ezo people... Actually, you don't have to worry about it at all. It's not the chieftain of the southwest. Having three to five hundred soldiers is enough."

"So in the end It's still a question of whether you can make money or not."

"I have discussed this with the Japanese. The Ezo's treasures can be transported directly to Yonago. The Japanese also have merchants who used to travel from Osaka to Yonago. They sold cloth and other miscellaneous items when they went there, and brought fish and shrimp treasures when they came back."

"You don't have to worry about the sale of grain. The court allows grain to be sold to Japan, and the Privy Council will also guarantee that you will not be suppressed by the Japanese. I have also talked to the grain dealers in Japan."

"The grain price in Japan is average, but Ezo has more land and fewer people. Small profits but quick turnover."

"Let me do the math for you."

He is practical and profit-oriented. These wealthy merchants like people who don't care about morality and only care about profit.

Hearing that they were going to settle accounts, they all put down their books and listened attentively.

Several orphans from the charity school unfolded a huge scroll. There were naturally no slides in this era, but as long as there were people, similar methods could still be used.

After the huge scroll was unfolded, the characters on it were revealed. The merchants were very sensitive to these numbers. They looked at the contents themselves and figured out whether there was any deception.

The accounts were very simple.

Hiring people from the Huaibei area to go to Ezo basically did not cost money, and some were poor and struggling to make a living. The canal transport was still continuing. The influence of the canal transport and the diversion of the Yellow River during the Song Dynasty made the fertile land before the Tang Dynasty a cancer of the empire.

Loading ships at the ports in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu and transporting them to Ezo, the average price of surviving in the first year was only five taels of silver.

Because of the employment of immigrants, there were no old, weak, sick or disabled people, and they were actually all labor.

In recent years, the development of trade around the Whale Sea and the Songhua River has led to the emergence of some large-scale ranches there, especially in the important horse-producing areas of the Eastern Lu in the past, such as the Muling River and Wandashan Mountains, where large-scale cattle and horse breeding has been attempted.

Vladivostok already has a huge cattle and horse market, and a cattle and horse trade route from Vladivostok to the Ningguta area has been laid for ten years.

There is no shortage of cattle and horses, and the price is not expensive, because there is a shortage of silver in the local grain.

Ezo has large plains, and some places have thick volcanic ash, and the climate is good. The overall land quality is similar to that of the upper land in Jingxiang and other places, and the fertility is sufficient. The key is that the east and west are not swamps, but dry grasslands, which are easy to develop.

Some workshops in Weihai have also introduced Western ear cutters and horse-drawn threshers, which are not used in places in the mainland where the per capita land is a few acres. But in places like Ezo, they are of great use.

Including fallow, pasture, grassland, livestock fodder, etc., plus the introduction of new machinery, a small farmer can take care of 100 to 150 acres of land. Of course, it is impossible to plant all of it, but it includes fallow and livestock pasture, but a household of 50 acres of grain fields is still possible with large livestock and horse-drawn machinery.

There is no need to learn the British system of "poor people eat potatoes and produce grain to sell" in Ireland. Even if they eat wheat, according to the land rent standard of 30%, which is considered a great benefactor in the mainland, an immigrant can guarantee 15 shi of wheat and bean rent every year in three years at most.

Wheat in Japan is cheap, about six or seven coins of silver per shi. Beans are slightly higher than rice, and Japan has a great demand for soybeans, about one tael of silver per shi.

In other words, starting from the third year, each person can create a profit of about 10 taels of silver per year. During this period, the investment was four people per household, and the three years included cattle, horses, livestock, grain, cloth, etc., which was only 40 taels of silver in equity.

Moreover, with the increase in grain production and the development of local animal husbandry, the cost of immigration will continue to decline in the future.

Counting only grain, the average annual return rate is 30%, which is not low. It is not as good as usury or hoarding land to collect rent, but it is worse than having enough money to eat, even if you have 100,000 taels, you are not afraid of not being able to eat. And the silver in the cellar is not necessarily enough to eat 100,000 taels when it is stored to buy land.

In addition to grain, there are also fish, shrimp and other goods, which can make a profit in the same year. Many local Ainu people were hired by Japanese merchants, and they are experienced. Dashun abolished the status of low-class Tanka fishermen, etc., and their fishing skills are not necessarily worse than those of the Japanese. They are all experienced and can learn at a glance.

In addition, the gold mines and timber in Ezo, especially the high-quality oak trees needed by the shipyard, are of similar quality to those along the Heilongjiang River. However, if the timber in Heilongjiang is to be transported out, it must be rafted to the river mouth, dried in the shade, and then shipped back to Weihai. The distance is too far, so it is not as good as Ezo, which is closer.

And the wood tar industry that Mantou brought back from the previous negotiation in Sweden can also be developed there.

All kinds of cakes are drawn. The annual contract fee for Ezo, which is similar to Yunnan, is only 40,000 taels, and it will remain unchanged for at least 60 years.

The return rate drawn by the big cake is at least around 30%, and various plans are listed on the scroll. Including the map of the exploration that was sent to stay in Ezo before, the exploration that Du Feng and others did as a gift to please Liu Yu, etc., it is very detailed.

It is not an empty thing. Even if many people think that only good things are picked up here, they are still bewitched by this kind of rhetoric that is almost like pyramid selling.