After Du Yinxi and his party received Chongzhen in Xia Town, they walked south along the canal.
He actually saw a lot of wasteland along the way, which made Chongzhen frown.
"Qing Du, what's going on?" Chongzhen pointed to the uncultivated land beside the canal and asked, "Why is no one cultivating these irrigated lands next to the canal?"
"Your Majesty, we really can't recruit refugees to farm."
"Can't recruit refugees? Then you can waive the land rent for one year."
"I have exempted myself from the land rent for three years, but I still cannot recruit refugees."
"What? You can waive the land rent for three years and still can't recruit refugees? That's not it, right?"
Chongzhen was also a little surprised at this time. Although the long-term wars caused a large loss of population in Henan and Shandong, many people still fled to Jiangnan. Therefore, as long as Henan and Shandong provide sufficiently generous conditions, such as rent exemption or rent reduction,
, it can still attract escaped refugees to return to their hometowns to farm.
"It's really hard to recruit." Du Yinxi said with a bitter smile.
"Because even if the land rent is free for three years, it is not cost-effective for the refugees to return home."
Hearing this, Chongzhen reacted: "It would be more profitable to stay in Nanzhi and work, right?"
"Yes." Du Yinxi nodded and said, "When an adult returns to his hometown to work in the wilderness, he can plant up to ten acres. If he grows sweet potatoes, he will earn about four stones per mu on average. Each stone of sweet potatoes is worth 1 yuan, even if he doesn't have to pay a cent of tax.
, it’s only 40 yuan for a year of extreme work, but now in Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou and other places, small workers can earn 5 yuan a month!”
"Five yuan?" Chongzhen was shocked. Has the salary in Nanzhi increased so high?
In his impression, the wages of small workers in various factories and workshops are 1 to 2 yuan, and 3 yuan is enough for skilled workers. Only master craftsmen can get high wages of more than 5 yuan.
Du Yinxi added: "That's why the refugees are not willing to come back to farm."
"This won't work." Chongzhen frowned and said, "Everyone is going to work in the city, so won't there be no one farming in the countryside? If farmers don't farm anymore, where will the food come from? Then there won't be a food shortage?"
Chongzhen immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.
This is also a sequelae caused by the rapid development of industry: there is not enough labor.
According to the figures from the sixth year of Wanli, the total population of Nanzhi is about 20 million. Considering that many textile factories, knitting factories, printing and dyeing workshops and other workshops employ female soldiers, the available labor force of the entire Nanzhi is at least 15 million.
, at least one-third of them have been concentrated in major cities, that is, 5 million!
Chongzhen could not imagine that such a huge labor resource was not enough.
You must know that the total population of the British Empire during this period was only 6 million.
Unknowingly, has the industrial population of Nanzhi expanded to this size?
Insufficient labor in cities will inevitably lead to rising wages, and rising wages in cities will inevitably have a siphoning effect on the rural labor force. The direct consequence is that no one is willing to stay in the rural areas and farm the miserable land.
Although there are only a few signs showing now, Chongzhen is already aware of the danger.
It was very troublesome for the Ming Dynasty to have no one farming, because the agricultural production of the Ming Dynasty had not yet advanced to the extent that only a small amount of labor could feed a large population.
This issue must be paid attention to.
There seem to be only three solutions.
One is to reverse history and restore the Lijia household registration system of the Taizu period, locking farmers in the countryside and not allowing the free flow of labor. In this way, there is no need to worry about no one cultivating the rural fields.
The second method is to use administrative means to forcibly increase the purchase price of grain.
As long as the price of grain goes up and it is profitable for farmers to farm and collect grain, they will not think of moving to the city. After all, to work in the city means leaving your hometown and being separated from your wife and children.
However, these two methods only treat the symptoms but not the root cause.
Because the urban labor shortage is not resolved, capitalists can only attract rural labor by raising wages, which will then produce a large number of illegal workers and even trafficked people.
And it will seriously hinder industrial development.
Therefore, it is best to use the third method, which is to provide sufficient labor.
At present, the reason why wages in Nanzhi have risen so high is because things are scarce and labor is not enough. However, if a large number of cheap labor can be released to the Jiangnan market in a short period of time, the high wages will be brought down immediately.
, then the scissor gap between urban and rural areas will no longer exist, and there will be no siphon effect on the rural labor force.
Du Yinxi also said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, I am also worried about farming."
After a pause, he continued to ask: "Didn't we capture a lot of prisoners of war when the Manchus were wiped out this time?"
"We captured a lot of prisoners of war," Chongzhen said with a smile. "There are more than 200,000 Manchu women and children, more than 200,000 slaves, more than 100,000 Eight Banners Han troops, 20,000 Eight Banners Mongolians, and nearly 400,000 trainees.
Yong, there are more than 900,000 prisoners of war in total, what? Mr. Du, are you targeting these prisoners of war?"
Du Yinxi said with saliva on his face: "Your Majesty, let's forget about the Manchus and Mongols, but those Bao Yi, Lian Yong and the Eight Banners Han Army are also Han after all. Otherwise, they can just give it a small punishment, and then send Henan breeders
Official land? As a punishment, the land rent for these criminals can be set higher, for example, at one dou per mu?"
Chongzhen flatly refused: "No, this is too cheap for these slaves."
These slaves who have forgotten their ancestors are only qualified to build railways for the rest of their lives, and they will never want to be human again.
The Ming Dynasty is currently short of population, but no matter what, there are hundreds of millions of people, and there is no shortage of these 900,000.
Du Yinxi sighed and said, "Your Majesty, if this happens, there will be even fewer strong laborers in Henan next year, and the fields that have been cultivated again with great difficulty will probably be abandoned again."
"This won't happen, I will find a way to solve it."
After a pause, Chongzhen continued: "It will definitely be solved before the end of the year."
While the monarch and his ministers were talking, they had already arrived outside Xuzhou City. They saw that the atmosphere of Xuzhou City was completely different from that of two years ago. Even the outside of the city was full of houses and there were a large number of vendors on the streets.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! As the war subsided and the economy recovered, especially after the Ming Dynasty returned its capital to Beijing, Xuzhou was quickly restoring its commercial status as a north-south thoroughfare, and business soon became prosperous again.
…
Chongzhen did not stay too long in Xuzhou.
Without even meeting any of the officials in Xuzhou, Chongzhen passed directly through Xuzhou and headed south.
Five days later, Chongzhen rushed to Pukou with the imperial guard brigade. Chen Liangbi, the iron censor, had been waiting here for five days. He hurried to Pukou to meet the saint after receiving an urgent message from the cabinet.
Chen Liangbi came to Chongzhen for one thing - iron material!
"Chen Liangbi, I don't have time to listen to your nonsense. Please give me a proper reason. Other workshops only sell wrought iron for 5 yuan per hundred catties. Why does Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop sell it for 15 yuan per hundred catties?"
"Because the railway construction workshops need too much iron."
Chen Liangbi said calmly: "If it is tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of kilograms, Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop can also sell it to Daming Railway Construction Workshop for 5 yuan per hundred kilograms, but Daming Construction Workshop wants 300,000 tons."
Iron materials, in such huge quantities, can no longer be sold at a low price of 5 yuan."
"The reason is very simple."
"With the current productivity of Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop, we simply cannot provide it."
"So in order to take over the big business of the Daming Railway Construction Workshop, the Daming Smelting Iron Workshop needs to invest a lot of money in digging more mines, build more furnaces and other facilities, and also need to
The workers sent to Jiangnan have all been taken back, but we have signed contracts with various workshops in Jiangnan. Once the labor contract is terminated, we will pay three times the loss. All the above costs will eventually be divided into the price of the imported iron materials.
middle."
After a pause, he continued: "15 yuan per hundred catties really can't be lower."
"Did you sell the craftsmen from the Hanyang iron smelting workshop to Jiangnan for work?"
Chongzhen felt like his head was buzzing, he was such a talent.
"Yes, starting from the end of last year, labor wages in Jiangnan began to skyrocket. I felt that the craftsmen in the Hanyang iron smelting workshop were just eating for free, so I sold them to Jiangnan for work, and each worker was paid 5 yuan per month!
"
"There are 100,000 craftsmen in the Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop. How many of them have you sold?"
"I sold 80,000 craftsmen here, but Your Majesty, there are no longer as many as 100,000 craftsmen in the Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop. When I took over, there were only less than 90,000 people left."
The shortage of more than 10,000 craftsmen probably either died of exhaustion or were buried alive in the mine collapse.
Chongzhen did not worry about the number of craftsmen, and continued: "In other words, in terms of labor alone, Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop can earn 400,000 yuan a month? Chen Liangbi, you are really a capable official."
There is no irony in this statement. Chen Liangbi is indeed very good at calculating economic accounts.
From this point of view, Lu Zhenfei really did not hire the wrong person, Chen Liangbi is indeed good at making money.
But there is no doubt that Chen Liangbi ruined the Chongzhen event, because the original intention of Chongzhen when he asked Wu Jinxi to establish the Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop was to hoard a large amount of iron materials for the future construction of ironclad ships.
Nowadays, not only does the Navy need a large amount of iron materials to build ironclad ships, but also to build railways. However, the Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop, which Chongzhen had placed high hopes on, was almost completely shut down by Chen Liangbi.
In Chongzhen's heart, ten thousand grass and mud horses galloped past.
At that moment, Chongzhen said patiently: "Have you received the urgent delivery from the cabinet?"
"I have received it, but please forgive me for not being able to do it." Chen Liangbi said without being arrogant or humble, "I just said that I have signed contracts with every workshop or factory in Jiangnan. If you break the contract, you will have to pay compensation.
Unless the Ministry of Household Affairs can pay this compensation, I really cannot redeem these 80,000 craftsmen to the Hanyang Iron Smelting Workshop."
Chongzhen's words were almost blurted out.
But the words came to his lips and he swallowed them back. The emperor had to pay attention to his image.
"I will take care of the compensation matter." Chongzhen said with a dark face.
"You are only responsible for bringing these 80,000 craftsmen back to Hanyang, as soon as possible!"
Chen Liangbi immediately bowed his hands and said, "In that case, I would like to receive the imperial edict."
After Chen Liangbi finished speaking, he turned around and left happily, but Chongzhen was almost so angry that he ran away.