New Shun 1730

The Lianghuai region, a cancer of the empire that emerged from the Yellow River in the Southern Song Dynasty, is now really difficult to solve under the current system.

It is not just as simple as suffering from disasters every year, but it is almost like medieval serfdom.

In history, during the reign of Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, a minister reported the problem of Lianghuai. Of course, from the perspective of a great scholar, he pointed out that the relationship between the landlords and tenants here was abnormal, and the tenants had to give gifts to the main household to get married. If they did not give gifts, the tenants were not allowed to get married. The main problem was that "if you don't pay the marriage tax to the main household, you can't get married, but people can't resist the desire, so men and women run away, which is very immoral." But from the perspective of later generations, giving money and cloth to the master for marriage, isn't this a night power tax?

During the Beiyang period, the iron master here directly burned the county magistrate to death; during the Qing Dynasty, the county government here erected an inscription: Once the tenant is reported by the owner, he will be arrested immediately and dealt with severely. Even before liberation, the cadres of the land reform looked at Huanghuai and northern Jiangsu and sighed that "from the perspective of social form, northern Jiangsu and southern Jiangsu are one era apart."

There are special features that are completely different from other places. It is different from the problem of the rampant Nianzi caused by the Yellow River bursting northward in the late Qing Dynasty.

The problem that emerged in the Huaihe River region since the Southern Song Dynasty was the rapid differentiation of society. Without considering the wealth of the canal and commerce, only agriculture is mentioned.

Because of the perennial disasters, there is no living environment for rich peasants and small landlords. It is not just that small landlords and wealthy self-cultivating farmers went bankrupt due to natural disasters, tax systems, water transport, labor service, etc.

But once a disaster year comes, everyone can't survive, what should they do?

Eat the rich households, ask the rich households for the rice that Confucius borrowed when he was trapped in Chencai... However, the real powerful landlords have thugs and official connections at home, so unless there is a big uprising, they can't eat or eat.

So they can only eat the rich farmers and small landlords. As time went by, there were no so-called normal farmers or landlords here.

The big ones could not be moved, and the disasters became more and more serious.

The poor ones were still poor, and they could only eat a meal in the disasters.

The middle ones were completely wiped out.

They were wiped out by natural disasters.

They were swallowed up by the powerful.

They were impoverished by the bottom.

As a result, the Lianghuai area was either full of powerful people.

Or poor tenants who owed a lot of debts.

And they were basically transformed into inferior gentry, because good gentry could not survive here. Either they became inferior; or they slipped down the class.

The number of self-cultivating farmers was probably only about 20%, and there was no middle class in the empire. Just looking at the proportion in the Huanghuai area, it felt like Dashun was about to end. If the classical empire had less than 40% of self-cultivating farmers and semi-self-cultivating farmers, it could basically be declared that the cycle was over.

Because of the frequent natural disasters and the strange taxation "benevolent policy" of 30% tax, which was inherited from Ming and Shun, these tenants could only rely on the powerful landlords to live.

The big landlords also had to guard against the big landlords, so they had to build high walls and large courtyards.

The tenants were basically dependent on the landlords, otherwise there was no other way out except begging.

Because they could neither go to Guandong, nor cultivate Mongolia, nor drive the Miao people to expand their business, nor go to Southeast Asia on their own.

This was the heartland of China, and there was no open space around except the sea.

The personal dependence caused by survival has made the social relations here regress to the Middle Ages. For example, the landlords in Yantai dared to say that they would let me sleep with your wife before renting the land. The local tenants were determined and thought, screw you, I'm going to cross the sea to Guandong; for example, the landlords in the coastal areas near Guangdong dared to ask the tenants to be careful to avoid their own taboos when speaking. If they accidentally didn't avoid taboos, they would be tied up and beaten half to death. Most of the local tenants would be stabbed with a knife and go to Southeast Asia to Taiwan.

But where can they go here?

When the centralized power of the feudal court did not collapse, a basic order could be maintained here. Once the central power collapses, two patterns are most likely to emerge here: reactionary sects of religious organizations; or local tyrants and powerful landlords take the lead in becoming bandits and causing chaos.

This place is not only different from Jiangnan, but also different from Henan, Guanzhong, Jingji and other places at this time. At least, in the places where Dashun is the base, the proportion of self-cultivating farmers is still the proportion that should be in the heyday of the feudal dynasty.

This place is completely collapsed.

The frequent natural disasters caused by the southward flow of the Yellow River are an important inducement for all this. Opening the Jiangsu Chronicles, you can find that in the feudal dynasty, the northern Jiangsu region suffered disasters almost every year, exemptions every three years, exemptions every five years, and relief every seven years.

The court was also powerless to manage it. Even if it was just a simple natural disaster, with such a frequent degree, it is conceivable that self-cultivating farmers and small landlords must slide down.

To put it in a positive way, the environment here makes the people here the place with the strongest desire to go to Southeast Asia, without a doubt.

Give them a way to live, they don’t care about the life and death.

To put it in a bad way, this place has regressed to the personal dependence of the Middle Ages. If you want to use the manpower here, you have to spend a lot of effort.

Violence is the simplest and most effective way.

But under the premise of not rebelling, using violence to clean up this corrupt place requires some means.

Moreover, it also requires the right time, the right place, and the right people.

Even if you want to clean up the evil gentry and landlords here, you need the Dashun court to complete the Huaihe River management project and the abolition of the canal and the change to the sea.

Before that, detailed preparations are needed.

Although the number of people who died because of Liu Yu was as high as 100,000, he didn't care about the 50% mortality rate of immigrants to Nanyang, but he was generally a more kind person.

So either don't solve it, watch the magic here every year as usual, and pretend not to see it; if you want to solve it, do it ruthlessly, do the most involved case since the founding of Dashun, and kill tens of thousands of people.

When you should be kind, you must be kind, and you must be ruthless.

He listened to the traffickers in Songjiang Prefecture talking about the situation here, and when he was upset, he had already had the intention to kill. Now he came to ask the Jiangsu Jiedushi to do something with a pleasant face, and the Jiangsu Jiedushi explained the many difficult situations in the local area, and the murderous intention became stronger.

So his face became more pleasant.

Seeing that all parties had said what they could, and that the matter had reached an impasse, Liu Yu, who was determined to kill, smiled and said, "The Xuzhou Huanghuai area has been a difficult place to do business since the Song Dynasty. I also know that."

"Just now, the Jiedushi mentioned the problem of lending here. I have made some money over the years, so I want to do some good deeds. This requires the help of all the adults. Look after it."

"What do you think, in a few counties, we can follow the old example of Jing Gong and implement the Qingmiao Law? Of course, it is not the court that pays, nor the local treasury that pays. , I will solve the money problem myself. "

"Let's not talk too much, I should be able to take care of a few counties. I will recruit people myself, not using public funds. If the debt cannot be repaid in the future, how about going to Southeast Asia to work to pay off the debt?"

"Since the problem of going to Southeast Asia is the debt, and the canal transportation will be abolished in the future and the service law will not be enforced, it is nothing more than a debt problem. Instead of asking others to borrow money with a 90% interest rate and a 13% interest rate, it is better to borrow a low-interest Qingmiao loan with an annual interest rate of 15%. "

The governor of Jiangsu was stunned and frightened by this idea. For a while, he didn't know what to say.

Huang Huai Governor frowned and said: "Xing Gong, everyone knows that you are rich, but this is a bottomless pit. Even if you are rich, you can't fill it."

"Lending to small tenants and farmers will not be able to recover the principal. A flood will leave them with nothing. Even if they want to pay back the money, they can't."

"Moreover, if you don't need too much collateral for a low-interest loan of 15%, many poor households will immediately borrow money from here to repay their old debts."

"Can you make back the money by going to Southeast Asia? I don't think so. The pit here is really not fillable."

Liu Yu sighed and said: "Don't I know? But if the court handles this matter, it will definitely not work. The court may have a better way, but the court does not use it. This Qingmiao Law is even less likely to be used. If it is to make money by lending money with interest, it is difficult to handle the old system of "Zhou Li"; but if it is to help the people, it is only a temporary solution, and there is really not so much money."

The better way he said that the court did not use was nothing more than going back to the old way.

Or equal distribution of land.

Either permanent tenancy and tax reform.

Raising taxes can better maintain the stability of the small peasant economy. The national tax of 30% and the arbitrary local apportionment policy will only lead to the acceleration of small peasant bankruptcy. The court is not without people who understand this. Many people see it very clearly, but dare not say it very clearly.

Sometimes, the consequences of policies are often contrary to common sense and intuition.

The main problem that the court cannot use the Qingmiao Law is that small farmers have always been the worst lenders. Even in later generations, banks are more willing to deal with large enterprises rather than small farmers, and it is easy to have bad loans.

If the court implements the Qingmiao Law, what should it do if it cannot collect debts? The county magistrate takes the yamen runners to tear down the house and take away the cow? Even if the house is torn down and the cow is taken away, there must be cows to take.

Therefore, the court cannot use this method at all.

The Jiangsu Jiedushi was stunned just now, because of this.

This is obviously a pitfall, a pit where even a huge fortune will be lost. The governor never thought that Liu Yu was stupid. If he could figure it out, how could this millionaire who made a fortune from trade and industry not understand it?

If it is out of kindness, goodness, benevolence, etc., then it is really shocking.

Does anyone really believe in benevolence?

Or is it that they have money but nowhere to spend it?

Seeing that the governor of Huanghuai also advised him, the governor of Jiangsu seemed to have to show a proper attitude of goodwill.

"Duke, this is a good deed, but...poverty cannot be completely cured. Now the court needs money and grain from nearly 20 counties. If it is tried in these 20 counties first, it will naturally be a good deed that benefits the people. However, there are many disasters in northern Jiangsu, and I am afraid that the money will be wasted, and nothing will be solved in the end."

"I am telling the truth here. Although good deeds are good, they must be done within one's means. If the Duke thinks that he can really make money by going to Southeast Asia, then do it; if he can't make money, then don't do it."

"As for the Duke, if he does it, I will support it. Not only do I support it, but local officials will also support it. Such good deeds can also help the victims of the disaster to cultivate capital next year, which is a good thing."

"The annual interest rate is 15%, which is also a benevolent loan that has never been seen since ancient times."

"The Book of Zhou says: For the twenty and three remote suburbs, the interest rate of Wanquan is 1,500. Dian Shao County The people of the capital can get an interest of 2,000 yuan per month. Now the people of the capital in Lianghuai, Dian Shao County, can get an interest of 1,500 yuan per month, which is really a great act of benevolence and righteousness! "

"As for going to Nanyang to work and repay debts if you can't pay them back, this is also a matter of course. It does not violate the "Dashun Law" or the conscience of heaven and earth. It is natural to repay debts."

"Anyway... the Duke decides on this matter. As long as the Duke wants to do it, I will support it without hesitation. You can even ask each county to allocate granaries for temporary use, and make green seedling warehouses without charging a penny."

Liu Yu hurriedly said: "I feel relieved with this sentence. But this year's matter still needs to be resolved as soon as possible. Since the Jiedushi is worried about the forced repayment of debts this year, there will be a civil uprising next year when there is a shortage of food. If there is such a green seedling loan, there is no need to worry about next year's matter. Please handle this year's matter specially. "