New Shun 1730

The Royal Zoo is one of the achievements of Dashun's foreign exchanges. It is easy for Portugal to catch lions and ostriches in Mozambique. After figuring out the difference between the Son of Heaven and the Emperor and the King, they have sent many exotic animals in recent years.

They also caught up with the temptation of "distribution monopoly" and worked hard to win it.

The name of ostrich has existed since the Tang Dynasty, and it continues today. This story of the ostrich mentality was the first to spread on the land of Dashun.

After the emperor talked about this ostrich mentality, he took advantage of the topic and raised it from the grain transport to the various policies of Dashun.

"People who cover their ears and steal bells are laughed at by the world. Foreigners also laugh at an ostrich burying its head in the sand. However, if we only look at the policies of this dynasty and the previous dynasty, how many cases of covering one's ears and stealing bells and burying one's head in the sand have there been?"

"The annual tax revenue of this grain of rice is 5 million dan, but everyone knows that during the collection of 5 million dan and the transportation to the capital, the loss, deduction, accidents and expenses during the period are as high as 30 to 50 million dan."

"The court only said that the tax rate is 30%, which is a benevolent policy."

"But the expenses and losses are not included in the regular taxes of the court, but only levied by the local governments. Are the local levies levied on the gentry? Isn't it borne by the people?"

"Both sides of the canal have suffered a lot, and some people even choreographed lyrics saying that the Dashun and Ming dynasties are the same... I don't want to mention the rest of the words, it's really unpleasant."

"The court pretended not to know, but asked why the people are still dissatisfied with the 30% tax in our dynasty, and the vast areas only collected 5 million shi of grain. With such a light tax, why are the people still dissatisfied?"

"What's worse, some people think that I collect 30% tax anyway. The increase in taxes for the lower classes is the lower class's business and has nothing to do with me. Is this considered covering one's ears and stealing the bell, or an ostrich mentality?"

"But I'm not an ostrich!"

These words were tough, but Liu Yu just wanted to laugh in his heart.

I thought to myself that as expected, such tough words must be strong to be tough. Before the navy took over Southeast Asia and expelled Western forces to ensure that there was no risk in sea transportation, you didn't dare to be so tough.

When the Jiangsu Jiedushi wrote a letter to abolish the grain transport and change to the sea, you hesitated and acted like mud. Compared with the toughness now, it is really interesting.

"Duke Xingguo?"

After saying these tough words, the emperor directly called Liu Yu's name.

"I am here."

"My dear minister, you know the most about maritime affairs. If I abolish the grain tax and replace it with silver tax, according to the current market price, I will give you 6 million taels of silver. Can you guarantee 5 million shi of rice in Beijing every year?"

This is obviously a deliberate scare. Even if there is a reform, it is impossible to do it so drastically right from the start. The lives of so many people on both sides of the canal and the attitude of officials are the big problems. As for transporting rice to Beijing, it is actually just a small matter now.

Liu Yu thought, if you give 6 million taels and ask someone to contract it, the threshold will be squeezed out.

If you buy some rice from Japan, Siam, or even India, and transport it to Beijing, you can still have one or two million left from the 6 million.

But how can this be about rice?

But since the emperor asked this, Liu Yu had to respond: "I... dare to guarantee it."

And then he thought, not only dare to guarantee it, but if he really does it, he can also play with flowers.

After the distribution and order booking, a large group of people will go to Nanyang to open rice plantations. Even if they go to Taiwan, there are only a few harvests a year and the labor is cheap, it is very profitable, and the annual return rate is definitely not less than 30%.

And give 10,000 taels, and 10,000 taels a year, requiring a guarantee of 10,000 shi of rice every year, and guarantee a group of people to take the money, recruit refugees, sign slave labor, and go to Taiwan and Nanyang to open up land. Invest a little in the early stage, get 30,000 to 50,000 acres of land in the later stage, and receive silver every year. Is there any money not to make money?

There have been wealthy merchants specializing in rice plantations in Japan for a long time. What is lacking in Dashun? Is it lack of population or lack of technology?

Moreover, capital contracting is also guaranteed. If you really encounter a disaster and can't get out of your plantation, the court will not care, just buy it yourself. Can't buy it? Confiscate the house and confiscate the land. The monk can run away, but the temple cannot. I am really not afraid of these rice plantations.

If there is really an influx of 6 million taels of hot money every year, it will definitely become a "Southeast Asia Development". By the way, a large amount of capital can be concentrated in Songjiang, and the money earned can be invested in Songjiang.

But the emperor's words now are probably just a scare.

Besides, there is not much rice in the capital now. Liaodong has been developed very well in recent years, and Dashun has no willow border. The population is increasing day by day, and the land is being reclaimed. Every year, the grain is transported to the mouth of the Liaohe River through the Liaohe River, and can be transported to Tianjin by large ships.

A large amount of soybeans has even led to soybean futures trading in Songjiang Prefecture. The capital is backed by Liaodong, and Liaodong is still after Dashun's large-scale immigration. Will there be a shortage of food? Indeed, there is a barrier between the Songliao watershed, and the current productivity is not enough to develop the black fertile soil, but Liaodi also produces grain.

A group of nobles whose ancestors are from Shaanxi, and the descendants of old soldiers from Shaanxi and Henan, who are good families, prefer white flour or rice?

I kept complaining in my heart, but I also knew that I was now too busy with lice and too many debts to pay. If the emperor offended anyone, he would have to find me to take the blame.

Since my reputation was already bad, I would just take the blame.

"Your Majesty, I think that abolishing the canal and changing to the sea will benefit the country and the people."

"Now that the South China Sea is under our control, although there are still British, Gay, Spanish, and Portuguese in the South China Sea, they are not to be feared."

"A few years ago, the British expeditionary fleet stopped at Lingdingyang. If the Celestial Empire was interested, they could be wiped out overnight."

"The Japanese surrendered, and the Japanese did not dare to harass them. Even if they were escorted by two battleships and ten cruisers, they would only allow tens of thousands of Japanese pirates to ride on their small boats, and they would not be able to get close. If two battleships and ten cruisers were actually robbed by pirates Now, all naval officials, including ministers and subordinates, can commit suicide."

"Besides, today's fleet can go to Europe, the Southern Ocean, and reach the capital through the Blackwater Ocean. How is it different from having the courage to climb mountains and ask if it is possible to lift a broken ship?"

"If we use the buying and selling method to contract large merchants, we can not only ensure the quantity of rice harvested, but also enable countless people who are short of land to go to Nanyang to make a living."

"If you don't buy rice, if you buy wheat, you can open up countless large fields around the Whale Sea, Ezo and other places, and the Liaodong-Mongolia border."

"If Your Majesty abolishes water transportation, I guarantee with my head that there will never be a shortage of food for the capital. The Tianjin Guard battleship group is still there, and there is no danger that the South will not listen to the North."

"The common people in the Jianghuai River area will not only save on taxes, but also on the labor of transporting grain. It will also lay the foundation for the future management of the Huanghuai River."

"That's why, my minister, I support the abolition of canals and the reform of seas."

"My lord, I don't want to do what the gentleman did by cooking far away and squatting in the capital. As long as I don't see the suffering of the people of Huanghuai, I just pretend it doesn't exist."

A kind of official is used to Liu Yu's behavior of shooting guns in his mouth. No matter how outrageous his thoughts are, if he talks nonsense, Duke Xingguo also said, what does this mean?

Let’s talk about the original thing. The abolition of water transportation is closely related to the rise of the navy. If the navy is not prosperous and cannot reach Nanyang, why should we talk about abolishing the canal system and replacing it with the sea?

The navy has a close relationship with you. In the future, if shipping is changed, the most popular people will be your navy people, or those big merchants in Songjiang Prefecture, and those who really go to develop Nanyang. Should we drink the northwest wind?

An official who was born said: "Your Majesty, Su Ziyun: My hair is innumerable, and the pores on my body are also innumerable. Pull one hair and my head will move, pull one hair and my body will change, but all the hairs will be on my head, and Every pore is in my body. This means that one hair affects the whole body.”

"The quantity of rice harvested is not an issue. However, the food and clothing for millions of farmers must not be touched lightly."

"The hair is on my head, and the pores are on my body. So are the millions of laborers not the subjects of the imperial court? The palms and backs of my hands are all flesh!"

"What Duke Xingguo said is beneficial to merchants, but it harms millions of water workers; what we think is beneficial to water workers, but it does not harm merchants."

This is very well said.

It is said that Liu Yu's method has one benefit and one harm.

Not abolishing water transportation is useless and harmful.

Liu Yu's method killed the water workers, but the merchants benefited; and with his own method, although the merchants did not benefit, there was no harm; the water workers were not harmed either.

One is beneficial and the other is harmful; comparing it is useless and harmful.

It seems that it is better to have no benefit and no harm.

Any change will touch the interests of some vested interests, so most of the time we choose methods that are neither beneficial nor harmful.

However, before Liu Yu could refute, the water conservancy official who just spoke uprightly and hoped to clarify the purpose of water control said angrily: "What your Excellency said is simply ridiculous!"

"Are the millions of people on both sides of the Huanghuai River human beings? Are they the people of Dashun?"

"If they are not human beings or subjects of the imperial court, then they are naturally harmless and harmless. But if they are considered human beings and subjects of the imperial court, how can they be said to be harmless and harmless?"

"The loss of rice is all added to them; the pain of corvee is several times the national tax."

"Although the national tax is light, the people are suffering. Do you really not know these truths? Or are you deceiving others as your Majesty said?"

"I hold the "Dashun Rules" or the laws of the country all day long, and say that the taxation of this dynasty is as light as the early Han Dynasty when it was recuperating. Isn't this something that only bookworms can say? My lords, really don't Cannibalistic fireworks?"

"Public tax, fire expenses, corvee, and labor are not national taxes. They are not named as taxes, so they are not taxes? Tomorrow, if I change the name of a horse to a cow, will it not be a horse?"

"Are the millions of people on both sides of the Huanghuai River not even counted as human beings? Shouldn't their interests be taken into consideration?"

"If we don't just count the national tax, because the national tax is simply not enough. If we count all the extra work, corvee, etc. as taxes, the country will need more than 100 million taels of tax a year. We have agreed to a whip and to recruit conscripts, but are we actually doing it? Collection and distribution People, does it count as money?”

"Only a small part of the 100 million taels is on the heads of the gentry, and the rest falls on the heads of the common people."

"Now the imperial court has spread the poll tax to the land, and has put all the taxes on the land on the peasants. In this way, it won't be long before the annexation is so harmful that it will destroy the country!"

"This matter is too big to be radical. Can't we first solve the loss of tens of millions of stones of grain transported by water and reduce the burden on the people on both sides of the Huanghuai River?"

The roar of the Yellow River cannot conceal the truth of his words.

When the emperor heard this, he couldn't help but frown.

He could hear the official's loyalty, but the problem was that it was not a good idea to say this in this situation.

Everyone knows the truth, but you don’t necessarily have to listen to whoever has the right to do things. This is the end of the matter, and we should not continue to refer to the national fiscal policy.

This can be said in the Tianyou Hall, and it can be said in private discussions with Liu Yu and others. Even the emperor could just symbolically talk about the ostrich mentality, deceiving one's ears and stealing the bell, etc.

But in front of hundreds of officials, saying this so clearly, didn't this force the emperor to express his position?

If this matter is not urgent, you can start by hammering on these officials, take your time, and make changes slowly. At least the money for Southeast Asian and Western trade is in place. Only when you have money can you do something drastic.

It is useless to force the emperor to express his position now.

There is not so much money, and the words have been so intense. If the emperor does not agree, doesn't it mean that the emperor does not treat the millions of people on both sides of the Yellow River and Huai River as human beings?

If he agrees, the rice for the canal is not a problem. The problem is that there are so many people on both sides of the canal, so many officials, so many canal workers who rely on the canal for their livelihood, as well as restaurants, inns, businesses, hotels, peddlers and so on. How to settle these people?

Qingkou now has a population of hundreds of thousands. If the canal is abolished, this place will be a city of at most 70,000 to 80,000 people. How many people are there in Amsterdam, a prosperous city in Europe? One Qingkou has the population of three or four Amsterdams.

All these need to be considered, and these require money to solve.

Moreover, even if these are not considered, only consider water control. Well, these water conservancy technical officials started thinking about it when the Jiangsu Jiedushi wrote a letter a few years ago. If they really agree, the plan will be snapped out and money will be asked.

Can they afford it now?

If they can't pay, won't they be laughed at by the officials who oppose the reform of the grain transport?

Just when he was depressed, he heard the sound of an urgent report from afar. Several post horses were running towards this side, and the messenger holding a small flag was visible in the distance.

Many officials were shocked, thinking that something had happened in the capital? Could it be... Could it be that the prince who was the regent...

The emperor looked indifferent. Since he dared to tour the south, it would be ridiculous if he had troubles in the inner circle or the Shaqiu Rebellion during the tour.

Looking at this urgent report, either something happened in the northwest? Or something happened in Korea or Japan? Or the snowy mountains? Or the chieftains in the southwest?

As long as there was nothing wrong in the capital, these were all trivial matters.

Order a general to lead 10,000 new troops, and they were all trampled.

Soon, the messenger came and said, "Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from the Duke of Qi in Europe. The messenger could not wait for the monsoon, so he returned from the country of Luosha."

The emperor was moved, not knowing whether he was happy or worried.

He quickly unfolded it and took a look, and felt relieved. He secretly said, "Good!" He thought that next year, he would have an extra three to five million taels of spice money to spend! It really solved the urgent problem!

Although he was happy in his heart, he did not show it on his face. To show that these were all foreign affairs of the Western barbarians, not comparable to the major events of millions of people being discussed at the moment, he casually handed the letter to Liu Yu and said casually, "Such trivial matters of the Western barbarians will not be handled by the Tianyou Hall of the Six Governments as usual. The Duke of Qi in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not here, so the Duke of Xingguo will take the charter first."

Then, he pretended to be worried about millions of people, as if he didn't care about the news at all. Compared with the affairs of the Western barbarians, the people of his own country are more important... At least, it looks like that.