In Chengdu, Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin were wearing plain clothes and walking very casually on the streets of Chengdu.
Different from the bustling, noisy, lively and modern atmosphere of the Beijing-Tianjin area, the streets of Chengdu are almost like the Beijing seen 20 years ago.
Most of the houses are still low-rise brick buildings, with blue and gray as the main color. It is rare to see the high-rise buildings in the Beijing-Tianjin area. The roads are basically paved with cement roads, but there are few visible ones on the roads.
The number of cars, motorcycles, and bicycles is relatively far lower than that in the Beijing-Tianjin area.
Look at the pedestrians on the street. Their clothes are far less fashionable and good-looking than those in the Beijing-Tianjin area. They are basically wearing clothes made of the cheapest cloth, with single colors and old styles.
Fortunately, the face is still rosy, and at least the people here can still have enough to eat. After all, sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes and other high-yielding crops have been promoted here, and food production has increased significantly. At least, there is no problem in eating.
But apart from food, there are still big differences in housing, clothing and transportation. Compared with the Beijing-Tianjin area, the gap is huge, and development is seriously lagging behind.
“Chengdu is an important area in southwest China.”
"This land of abundance has fertile, open and flat land. It has always been a big granary in the southwest."
"But today it seems that the development of Chengdu is far behind that of other parts of the Ming Dynasty. It cannot continue like this."
Emperor Hongzhi looked worried.
Emperor Hongzhi, who loved his people as his own son, could not bear to see such a scene. The Ming Dynasty had developed rapidly over the years, and the living standards in various places had risen sharply. However, in Sichuan, the changes so far have not been too big.
"Sichuan, a land of abundance, is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is blocked. It is very inconvenient to communicate with the outside world. Especially when opening a factory, it is difficult for the large number of machines needed in the workshop to come in."
"Therefore, the development of Sichuan is very lagging behind. Even with machines, it is difficult to transport the products produced and the raw materials are difficult to transport in."
"This is the main reason why Sichuan, and indeed the entire southwest region, lags behind in development."
"Yunnan, Guizhou, and Chongqing are all similar. They have many mountains and little land. Transportation is extremely difficult, external exchanges are very inconvenient, and economic development lags behind. More importantly, these places have many minority tribes who are not willing to accept the enlightenment of the imperial court.
Unwilling to cooperate with our court’s policy.”
"In terms of immigration, it would be best to move all the mountain people in Guizhou, Chongqing, Xiangxi and other places overseas to places outside the customs."
"However, it is difficult for the imperial court to carry out the immigration work in these places. They are unwilling to leave. No matter how good we say, they do not believe it and are even less willing to leave."
"If you want to develop, ideological concepts are also a very important factor."
Liu Jin also nodded and replied: "In our Beijing-Tianjin area of the Ming Dynasty, the salary of an ordinary worker has reached almost 6 taels of silver per month, and the annual income is almost 80 taels of silver."
"If the two couples work hard, their annual income will exceed 160 taels of silver. With this income, based on the current price level in our country, there is no problem in living a prosperous life."
"Even in Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, Jiangxi and other places, the per capita monthly income can reach the level of 4 taels and 5 taels of silver. It is no problem for one person to work to support a family of seven or eight people."
"But in Sichuan, based on the tax collected by Sichuan last year and the population of Sichuan, the per capita monthly income in Sichuan may be less than 2 taels of silver, which is far behind other regions."
"The main reason for this is that Sichuan lacks industry and is still an agricultural-based area. Most people are still engaged in agricultural production, which is different from Liaodong, Hezhong, Black Earth Province and other regions."
"There are many people here but little land, and farmers have a limited area of land to cultivate, so no matter how hard they try, their income will never be able to increase."
“If Sichuan wants to develop, it must attach great importance to the development of industry and use industry to attract more people out of agriculture.”
"In this way, the income of workers will be higher, and the remaining people can cultivate more land, and it will naturally develop rapidly."
"In addition, Sichuan has a large population. The imperial court should carry out vigorous immigration in Sichuan and move a large number of people outside the customs and overseas to reduce the contradiction between man and land here."
"At the same time, the excess labor force here can be used to develop overseas and land outside the customs, so we can achieve multiple benefits with one stone."
"When Chengdu develops, we will focus on the degree of development to drive the development of the surrounding Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing regions and attract people from these places to work here in Chengdu."
"Only when they get out of the mountains and live a better life in the city, and see the prosperity outside, will they no longer feel that they are in the mountains, and will they gradually be willing to move out."
"As for the mountains, I don't think it's suitable for any kind of development planning. The investment is huge and the income is very small. It's better to find a way to move all the people out."
Liu Jin expressed his views.
Thinking about future generations, it will be difficult to develop mountainous areas, and no matter how large the investment is, it will be of no use.
Due to geographical restrictions and inconvenient transportation, it is possible to build ten roads in plain areas to build one road.
Later generations had no conditions, limited land, and limited financial resources. It was different in the Ming Dynasty. Those who wanted money and land, the best way was to relocate these people.
The Ming Dynasty now requires a large amount of labor force. The development of capitalism and industrialization, labor force and market are the most important things.
However, the population of the Ming Dynasty is now very small. More than 200 million people are spread over a vast land. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and the labor force is very scarce. Overseas vassal states and colonies are still robbing people.
These mountain people and minority tribes who are nesting in the mountains just refuse to come out. No matter what conditions your court imposes, if I don't come out, what can you do?
There are many reasons for this.
One reason is the long-standing hostility to the imperial court, especially the original chieftain system in the southwest. Under the governance of the chieftains, the people of these minority tribes only saw the chieftains and no imperial court at all, and they were even hostile to the imperial court.
There is simply no way you can collect any food, taxes, etc. from these people. The imperial court even subsidizes a lot of food and money every year.
The second reason is also because these mountain people and people from minority tribes often have little education, disobey discipline, and are used to being free.
The third reason is because there are very few external exchanges, and I don’t know what the outside world is like. Without communication and contacts, there will naturally be no changes. I don’t know the prosperity of the outside world, and I always think that I am a big mountain.
It's the best inside.
It was nothing originally. In the past, the court would have been too lazy to care about this. As long as you didn't rebel or make trouble, the court wouldn't have bothered to care about your life or death.
But that's not possible now. All parts of the Ming Dynasty are developing rapidly. If the southwest cannot develop, it will always be a hidden danger and imbalance.
The southwest is also a very important area. It can radiate not only to the southeastern peninsula, but also to Myanmar and the Indian Ocean. If it can be developed, the environment in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River can also become better, and the environment will not be like that of later generations.
The damage was serious.
"What you said makes sense."
"Today's Sichuan and southwest regions are just like they were 20 years ago, with more people and less land, and the contradiction between people and land is acute, so we still have to stick to the methods we have always implemented."
"Immigration and Development of Industry."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded and said.
"Your Majesty, Holy Ming!"
"Agriculture has natural limitations. If it is just traditional farming methods, a farmer can only cultivate a dozen acres of land, even if he is exhausted."
"The grain produced from a dozen acres of land cannot be sold for a few dollars at all. The output is very limited, and the wealth growth of the entire society will be very slow."
"Moreover, agriculture depends on the weather. If there is a famine year and the food harvest fails, this life will be unsustainable."
"Only industry can solve the problem of labor in large quantities, greatly improve productivity, and use various tools and machinery to improve work efficiency. In this way, the wealth and output of society can be greatly increased."
"Not only can the court collect more taxes, but the people can also have more food to eat, more cloth to make clothes, and more houses to live in."
Liu Jin replied with a smile that his years of hard work were not in vain. Emperor Hongzhi now clearly understood the limitations of agriculture.
There is no future in engaging in agriculture, especially for a country, where agriculture is just a basic means of providing enough food, and if it wants to become rich, it still needs to engage in industry and business.
"In your opinion, how should Chengdu and Southwest develop industry?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded, then thought about it and asked.
"We can encourage Ming Dynasty's commercial firms and factories to set up factories and commercial firms here in Chengdu. The court will provide certain benefits in this regard, such as tax exemptions within five years."
“In addition, the imperial court can also continue to increase investment in Southwest and Sichuan, build roads, and build railways to various parts of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing, etc., in order to promote the development of Sichuan and Southwest regions.
"
Liu Jin thought for a while and replied.
This set of methods is also used by later generations to promote the development of certain places. If the basics and policies such as taxation and transportation are well done, development will naturally occur.
Now that the train is connected, travel is more convenient and faster. It is still possible to develop. Unlike before, no one came to invest in Sichuan even if there was no tax, because the machines could not come in and the products could not be sold.
