Chapter 800 797 [The Governor of Luzon returns to Beijing]
Chapter 800 797 [The Governor of Luzon returns to Beijing]
A fleet of ships sailed on the Yangtze River, and boatmen kept pushing away ice floes with long poles.
The boat sailed very slowly for fear of colliding with the ice floe.
Zheng Guozhong stood on the deck with his sleeves folded, shivering from the cold. He looked at the frozen Yangtze River: "Why is it colder than during the Chongzhen period? Is it like this every year?"
Zhang Xiong, the general of the Yangtze River Navy, said in a joking tone: "General Zheng is really lucky. He has been out at sea for many years, and the Yangtze River froze as soon as he came back. It was not so cold in the past few years, but this year is really weird. Our Yangtze River water
Division, the entire army was dispatched some time ago just to open up the Yangtze River waterway. But fortunately, we can earn some hard money, and there are rich people along the river buying ice."
"Ah sneeze!"
Zheng Guozhong sneezed and hurriedly got back into the cabin to hide. Unfortunately, he had served as the governor of Luzon for several years. Now that he had resigned and returned to Beijing, he suddenly came from the tropics to the frozen Yangtze River.
Zheng Guozhong said with emotion: "Fortunately, when I was supplying supplies in Fujian, it snowed in Fuzhou, so I bought two sets of cotton-padded jackets, otherwise I would have got sick from the cold."
He returned to China from Luzon all the way, riding on warships. He rode on navy warships at sea and on navy warships on the Yangtze River. Such a grand and high-profile trip was not only for his safety, but also to ensure the safety of the gold and silver on board.
When we arrived in Nanjing, it was almost the winter solstice.
Looking at the long-lost Nanjing City Wall, Zheng Guozhong was filled with endless thoughts.
As soon as they heard that he had returned to Beijing, officials from various ministries, including minister-level officials, came to the dock with great fanfare to warmly welcome him.
Similarly, it's not that Zheng Guozhong is very arrogant, it's just that he brought gold and silver treasures with him on the ship - all the yamen in the imperial court can get a share of the pie!
After debriefing, Zheng Guozhong was summoned by the emperor.
"Your Majesty, Zheng Guozhong, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor!" Zheng Guozhong's excitement was not faked. He had overstayed his tenure in Luzon and had been the governor for seven years. He had long wanted to return to Beijing and missed the emperor.
"Give me a seat."
Zhao Han smiled and said, "Thank you, Zheng Qing."
Zheng Guozhong said quickly: "It's hard to do things for the country and share the worries of the king."
Zhao Han said: "If there is anything else that needs to be changed in Luzon, Zheng Qing might as well speak freely."
Zheng Guozhong said: "Everything has been straightened out, and Luzon will definitely become more prosperous in the future... However, there are more and more big landowners there. Although the more land, the more taxes, but the landowners can find ways to avoid taxes. The court stipulated that Luzon
Landowners with landholdings of less than 100 acres are taxed normally. For every 20 acres more, the tax rate increases by one level. But now all landowners have landholdings of 100 acres, and I have never seen a landowner with more than 100 acres."
"Fields exceeding a hundred acres are registered in the name of the tribe?" Zhao Han asked.
Zheng Guozhong said: "Yes! There are many barbarians in Luzon, and the Han people must stick together, so the clan and fellow villagers are very powerful. When something goes wrong, clan law or rural rules are used, and the government is rarely invited to intervene to resolve the case. Therefore, the tribesmen who have been entrusted with their land
, although I own the land in name, I have never thought of actually getting it through a lawsuit. Once I fall out with the owner, after the government intervenes, I may be able to get the land, but I will be ostracized by my tribe and fellow villagers."
Zhao Han didn't hate this phenomenon, he just said: "There are too few Han people in Luzon. Let's take it slow in the future."
In another twenty years, when the Han people in Luzon have multiplied more, we can start to deal with this matter. At that time, a comprehensive inventory of the land acres will be carried out - the land that has not been registered with the government will be directly returned to the state. The land that is entrusted to other people's names
For land, whose name is registered by the government, the land will be awarded to the person according to the land register.
After all, it is a colony, and land administration cannot be the same as that of the mainland. This will greatly hinder the development of the colony.
However, land annexation needs to be restricted. Each person can own no more than 100 acres of land, and a family of ten can own no more than 1,000 acres of land. If there are more than ten people, they will be divided into families. If the land exceeds 100 acres, there will be no forced acquisition.
Go ahead, it’s just a step-by-step tax increase.
If there are no restrictions, there will be two consequences:
First, the land annexation in the colonies was serious, and many large overseas families emerged. In the end, they were even able to control the local area and ignored colonial officials. Until the colonial independence movement broke out!
Second, if land annexation is not suppressed, the big landowners in the colonies will not first think about how to develop, but how to annex the land of their compatriots. After all, annexing land from Han compatriots is easier and safer than asking for land from indigenous barbarians.
.In this way, a large number of landless peasants will appear in the colonies! The peasants are forced to break out in uprising. If the governor can suppress it, the big landowners will benefit.
.The big landowners would guide public opinion, throw dirty water on the court, and then take the opportunity to seize the fruits of the uprising. The big landowners would become the actual rulers of the colonies after independence.
Zheng Guozhong began to report on his work:
"In the first year when I took office in Luzon, I mainly registered and settled the Han people and confirmed the ownership of the land. The Spaniards left a lot of land, and every Han citizen can be allocated land. Even some indigenous people who have made meritorious services can also be allocated land.
To some of the land. In the first year, there was no profit, and the military expenses of the three thousand Datong troops stationed in Luzon had to be borne by the court."
"In the second year, there was a balance in land tax and commercial taxes, especially the port customs revenue. The military expenses of the Datong Army and the salaries of Luzon officials were able to be borne by themselves."
"In the third year, the tax revenue increased, and the minister began to organize the expansion of the port and began to increase the number of schools in Luzon."
"In the fourth year, I began to organize people to build roads and encourage landowners to dig canals. That year, I sent 10,000 taels of tax money to the court."
"In the fifth year, a large number of spontaneous immigrants came from Fujian. These Fujian immigrants not only had household registration in their hometown, but also had temporary household registration in Luzon. The minister proposed to create two more counties and start to educate the nearby indigenous people. The governor-general's office allocated silver coins.
He hired scholars to teach indigenous children to read, and also hired Han farmers to teach indigenous farming techniques. In that year, he sent thirty thousand taels of tax money to the court."
"In the sixth year, all Pampanga people around Manila gave up Christianity and converted to Mazu Taoism. So far, more than 2,000 Pampanga people have learned simple Chinese and registered with the government as naturalized Han Chinese. At that time, Xiang
The imperial court sent 110,000 taels of tax money."
"In the seventh year, I dispatched the Datong Army stationed in Luzon and sent 800 troops to help the Ifugao people in northern Luzon Island fight. Six Ifugao tribes supported the government and agreed to the government establishing schools in their tribes. These
The Ifugao people know how to develop terraced fields and irrigation, and their rice yields are extremely high. In addition, there are three tribes in central Luzon. Because they have been in contact with the Han people for hundreds of years, they are close to the Han people and have learned to grow food.
Many indigenous people can even speak Fujian dialect, and all three tribes are subject to government governance."
"This year, I brought back 240,000 taels of taxable silver, as well as many Luzon specialties. There are pearls, tortoise shells, spices, corals, etc."
After seven years of governance for such a large island, Luzon only brought back a total of 390,000 taels of tax money.
Compared with the Spanish colonial government, to be honest, it is a bit too little.
But fortunately, it is doubling year by year. In the seventh year alone, the tax money is as much as 240,000 taels, and it will definitely increase in the future. Moreover, the salaries and military pay of officials at all levels in Luzon and the Datong Army stationed in Luzon are all from Luzon.
Song Dynasty took the responsibility on his own and did not need any more blood transfusions from the court.
In addition, Zheng Guozhong's governance of the colonies was obviously different from Spain.
Whether it is the natives of Luzon or the Han people in Luzon, the Spanish governor is crazy about exploiting them. As long as they are not exploited to death, they will continue to exploit them to death!
And what about Zheng Guozhong?
Most of the time, they are building ports, roads, water conservancy, promoting education, and disseminating farming techniques... The relationship between the government and the indigenous people has obviously been greatly improved. There is no need to guard against the indigenous people all day long, no need to fight every now and then, and military expenditures are far lower than
Spain.
The schools built by Spain in Luzon were all missionaries who came forward and led the army to conquer a piece of land. The missionaries became the largest landowners there, captured the indigenous people as slaves, and then built schools in the villages. When Zheng Guozhong built the school, he built it directly to the indigenous people.
In the tribe, scholars are hired to serve as teachers in the indigenous tribes.
Zheng Guozhong was not engaged in colonization at all. Instead, he regarded the indigenous people of Luzon Island as ethnic minorities in the Yunnan-Guizhou region, and completely treated the colonies as native lands to govern!
This is the traditional thinking of Chinese officials. It has been engraved in the bones and integrated into the blood, and it is difficult to change it.
Zheng Guozhong cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have a request."
Zhao Han said: "But it doesn't hurt to talk."
Zheng Guozhong said: "The children of the leaders of the Luzon indigenous tribes who are friendly to the government can study at Jinling University for free. Moreover, the expenses for travel and study period are all borne by the Luzon government. Once the children of these tribal leaders meet
With the prosperity of the Celestial Empire, I must admire the Celestial Empire even more. I feel that the natives of Luzon are no different from the natives of Yunnan and Guizhou. As long as there is no discrimination and oppression, they can be justified."
"According to what you said, this is feasible," Zhao Han asked. "The tribal leaders in Luzon, are they willing to send their children to Nanjing? Will they think they are hostages?"
Zheng Guozhong said: "No. I have made an agreement with the leaders of various ministries and they believe in the imperial court."
Zhao Han asked: "Are the natives of Luzon really that easy to talk to?"
Zheng Guozhong said: "There are also people who are hard to talk about. In the past seven years, the Luzon Datong Army has only been dispatched once. In that expedition, several tribes were wiped out, more than a thousand people were killed, and more than 2,800 people were captured. All the prisoners were captured and sold to the Han people.
The landlords were tenants (actually serfs).”
This is right, this is like a colony, Zheng Guozhong is not a corrupt scholar.
Zheng Guozhong added: "The eldest son of Tie Hong, the commander-in-chief of Luzon, has completed the middle school course. There is no entrance examination in Luzon, and there is even only one middle school. Tie Hong requested that his son be sent to Jinling University to study."
Tie Hong is that black guy who was sent to Luzon to lead the army for several years.
Zhao Han nodded and said: "It should be so. I will inform the officials of the Ministry of Rites that the places where there will be no entrance examination in the future are not only the overseas territories, but also the Protectorate in the north. As long as the civil and military officials serving in those places are above the seventh rank
, can recommend a child to study directly in a university in each province."
Zhao Han asked: "How many Han people are there in Luzon now?"
Zheng Guozhong replied: "There are more than 63,000 Luzon household registrations (Han people over 12 years old, including indigenous spouses of Han people). More than 50,000 Han people who hold domestic household registrations but have settled in Luzon for a long time have voluntarily registered with the government.
In addition, there are more than 3,000 indigenous people who have learned Chinese, changed their Chinese names, and have become Han Chinese."
Such a small population is still too small.
Luzon's taxation is not mainly based on land taxes, but commercial taxes and customs duties are the real big ones.
Luzon is a testing ground. The tax money brought back to the imperial court every year has been re-demarcated: the royal family only gets 40%, 30% is managed by the Ministry of Finance, and the remaining 30% is thrown to other ministries and yamen.
Anyway, everything can be divided into money. The royal family is rich, and the ministries are also rich.
In order to make more money, the emperor and ministers will work together to create more colonies in the future.
In the first three to five years, the ministers in the DPRK were not very interested in Luzon.
When Luzon's tax money came in at 110,000 taels a year, the ministers finally took it seriously.
I also heard that Luzon’s tax revenue has doubled this year compared to last year. My dear, each ministry directly sent officials at the level of minister to Nanjing to warmly welcome Zheng Guozhong back to the capital.
If Luzon's annual tax revenue exceeds one million taels, it is estimated that all the ministers will personally come out to welcome him.
