But even such a superior place was not very developed before 1980. In the Tang and Song dynasties, it was always used as a place to exile prisoners, which shows how backward it was at that time. In the Ming Dynasty, it was slightly better, at least it was not a place to exile prisoners.
It is the first choice place, but the people are still poor.
Yunxi has never understood this very well. Therefore, Yunxi specially arranged to stay in Qiongzhou for a few more days during this southern tour to explore the reasons.
Li Shuli introduced: "Your Majesty, during the time of the Three Emperors and the Five Emperors in ancient times, Qiongzhou was the land of "Southern Conqueror and Wasteland", a land that transformed foreign lands; the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were the southern descendants of Yangyue."
“In the 33rd year of the First Emperor (214 BC), he sent Zhao Tuo (Weita) south to unify the Lingnan area, established Guilin County, Nanhai County and Xiang County, and moved hundreds of thousands of people from the Central Plains to these areas.
Subsequently, war broke out in the Central Plains, and Longchuan ordered Zhao Tuo to proclaim himself the King of South Vietnam and also rule over Qiongzhou."
"In the sixth year of Yuanding, the sixth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (111 BC), Fubo General Lu Bode, Louchuan General Yang Pu and others led their troops to pacify South Vietnam; in the first year of Yuanfeng (11 BC, the year of Li Shuli), the establishment of Qiongzhou was
Zhuya County, Dan'er County, is under the jurisdiction of the governor of Jiaozhou. In the spring of the third year of the Yuan Dynasty (46 BC), Zhuya County was dismissed and Zhulu County was established, under the jurisdiction of Hepu County in Jiaozhou."
"During the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Later Han Dynasty,..., during the reign of Emperor Wu (Sun Quan) of the Three Kingdoms,..., during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the land of Qiongzhou belonged to the Southern Dynasty,..., during the Datong period of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty (535-546 AD), Yazhou was established and unified
In Guangzhou. This is the first time since Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty dismissed Zhuya County that prefectures and counties were set up in Qiongzhou to govern this area."
"During the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty..., the Tang Dynasty changed counties to prefectures, and established 5 prefectures and 22 counties including Yazhou, Danzhou, Zhenzhou, Wan'an Prefecture, and Qiongzhou, which were under the jurisdiction of Lingnan Road. The current name of Qiongzhou
That is, it comes from Qiongzhou in the Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and this place later belonged to the Southern Han Dynasty."
"In the fourth year of the Kaibao reign of Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty (971 AD), he pacified the Southern Han Dynasty and established a state and three armies in Qiongzhou... After the former Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Song Dynasty, in the 15th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1278 AD), Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty established
Qiongzhou established the Qiongzhou Road Appeasement Department, which was affiliated to Huguangxing Zhongshu Province... In the second year of Wenzong's Tianli calendar (1329 AD), it was changed to the Qianning Military and Civilian Appeasement Department. Soon after, Ding'an County was promoted to Nanjianzhou. Yuan Huizong
In the late Zheng Dynasty, Hainan was transferred to Guangxi Xingzhongshu Province?"
"In the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD), I sent my troops to the south in March and surrendered to Guangdong and Guangxi in June; in October, I changed the Qianning and Appeasement Department to Qiongzhou Prefecture, and changed the Jiyang Army to Yazhou... and established three states here.
Thirteen counties (three counties were later abolished in the fourth year of Zhengtong (1439 AD)) still belong to Guangxi. In June of the second year, Guangdong Road was changed to Guangdong Province, Haibei and Hainan Road were changed to Guangdong, and Qiongzhou was transferred from Guangxi to Guangdong. Nine
In 2007, Qiongzhou Prefecture belonged to Hainan Province."
"Qiongzhou Prefecture is the southernmost territory of the Ming Dynasty, and even of all dynasties. It is bounded by the Qiongzhou Strait to the Guangdong proper in the north, the Beibu Gulf in the west facing Annan, the Nanyang in the east facing Taiwan Town, and the southeast and south are the lands of barbarian countries.
In the 26th year of Hongwu's reign, there were more than 47,000 households in Qiongzhou, a population of 195,000, and more than 5 million acres of farmland..."
Hearing this, Yunxi asked: "The land of Qiongzhou is about 15% of the size of Guangdong Province. In the 26th year of Hongwu, there were only more than 190,000 people. Did Guangdong as a whole have a population of more than 3 million at that time?"
"There are too few fields. The entire Qiongzhou Prefecture has hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. How come there is only such a small amount of fields?"
"Your Majesty, Guangdong Province has ten prefectures and prefectures under its jurisdiction. Half of the population is in Guangzhou Prefecture and Huizhou Prefecture, followed by Chaozhou Prefecture. The people in the above three prefectures account for more than 60% of the people in the entire Guangdong Province. The other prefectures and prefectures are nothing. population."
"Among them, Qiongzhou Prefecture is located in the south of the sky and is remote. Even though the officials of successive dynasties have encouraged people to migrate to Qiongzhou, most people are still reluctant to come, so the population is so small."
"As for the fact that there are so few fields, it is naturally because the population here is too small and no one is cultivating wasteland." Li Shuli said.
"But I heard that the climate here in Qiongzhou is humid. It is like spring and summer all year round, with no winter. Although the fields are not very fertile, it is very easy to survive whether growing fruits, vegetables or grain. Why don't the people want to come here?" Yunxi was a little puzzled. You said that people in modern industrial society can just go to big cities. What kind of land did farmers in ancient times farm? Why not come to Qiongzhou? Especially the local food is very easy to survive, and farming is very easy. .
"Your Majesty, I think there are several reasons." Li Shuli said: "First, Qiongzhou is too remote. Since ancient times, it has been used as a place to exile prisoners. The people in the Central Plains have no idea that it is easy to grow food here and will not come here. to here;"
"Secondly, when ordinary farmers migrate, they naturally move from a land with barren land to a land with fertile land. Although it is easy to grow grain in Qiongzhou Prefecture, it is still not as fertile as the land around Guangzhou Prefecture. Moreover, Guangzhou is the seat of Guangdong Province and is very wealthy. , so if people move, most of them will move to Guangzhou, not Qiongzhou;"
"Thirdly, Qiongzhou is separated from the mainland across the strait. Farmers have been farming all their lives. When they heard that they had to cross the sea to come to Qiongzhou, they were afraid that their legs would tremble and they would not want to come. They would rather stay in Leizhou Prefecture opposite."
"Fourth, the roads are inconvenient. Although Qiongzhou Island is large, it is mountainous. More than 60% of the island is mountainous. Except for the area near Qiongzhou Fucheng in the north, people and fields in other places are along the coast. Except for Anding County, All counties and towns are also on the seaside, and there is only one official road around the island. Even the imperial court's inns are located along the coast and cannot enter the interior."
"Can't they take the sea route?" Yunxi interjected. It is said that the most convenient road for an island like Qiongzhou is the sea route. There are no trains in this era, and the sea transport speed is not necessarily much slower than the land transport.
"Your Majesty, it is necessary to have a ship to travel by sea, but it is not easy to build a ship, and it is also very difficult to build a dock. There were no local craftsmen who could build large ships before. Ordinary small boats can easily capsize in the wind and waves of the South China Sea and cannot go to sea. Only large ships can be used. Moreover, the port is not It is difficult for people to take the sea route. This situation has only been alleviated after His Majesty established the Nanhai Navy Squadron here in the past two years." Li Shuli explained.
Seeing that Yun Xi didn't ask any more questions, Li Shuli continued: "The fifth one is the local barbarians. Qiongzhou is mountainous and there are many barbarians in the mountains. The local Li people live in dense mountains and forests and are barbaric by nature. From time to time they come out of the mountains to harass nearby people." Common people; many local mountains spread to the seaside, not far from the county seat, and the common people had no way to escape except entering the city. In the Yuan Dynasty BC, the government also organized soldiers to go into the mountains many times to clean up, but the mountains were high and the forests were dense, so they could only capture a few If you don’t have a good eye, it will be difficult for you to achieve full success, and you will have to give up in the end.”
"After the late emperor pacified Qiongzhou, he set up a Qianhu Station to suppress Li Qiongzhou and guarded all the main roads leading out of the mountain, thus saving the people from the harassment of Li people."
In fact, what Li Shuli said in the last paragraph is very biased. Originally, the entire Qiongzhou Island belonged to the Li people, and the Han people were foreign invaders. From the Li people's perspective, it was natural for them to harass the Han people. But Li Shuli was an official of the Ming Dynasty, and he As a Han Chinese, he naturally had to look at issues from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty and the Han people; as Yunxi was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the same was naturally true.
"Barbarians are a problem." Yunxi thought to himself: "Although there are many barbarians such as Yao people and Li people in Guangdong Province, they are all far away from the city. But the barbarians here in Qiongzhou are almost under the noses of the Ming Dynasty local officials. Indeed, Not easy to deal with.'
'The first four problems are indeed difficult to solve. It is indeed not easy to allow people to move here freely. But if I really want to solve it, of course I can solve it. The government will forcibly move people here and build more docks and docks. This can solve these problems.'
'But now the population of the Ming Dynasty is too small, and there are too many places that need people. Is it cost-effective to forcefully move people here?' Yunxi thought again. Now the Ming Dynasty needs to move to the northwest, northeast, southwest, Nanyang and other directions at the same time, to many places. Migrant population, now at least hundreds of thousands of people, voluntarily or involuntarily go to settle in the above-mentioned places every year.
If Qiongzhou is to be developed, at least hundreds of thousands of people will have to move here. Although not so many people will move here in a year, at least tens of thousands of people will have to move in a year. If he can squeeze out tens of thousands more every year, what will he do? Must it be placed in a place like this?
Yunxi was already somewhat reluctant to develop Qiongzhou at this time: the value of using tens of thousands of people here may not be higher than moving to other places; but he also felt that Hainan's geographical location is so good and its resources are rich. If It always feels bad if you don’t develop it.
If you wait to develop it later, it will probably take many years. You may not have the time to develop this place in your lifetime. After you die, who will know that Qiongzhou is a good place? It will not be developed, and it is estimated that you will have to wait hundreds of years to visit. Development will only be possible if the industry develops greatly, or if Lushan Iron Mine is discovered and exploited.
He struggled for a moment and thought to himself: 'Let's ask about other situations here. If there are other reasons that restrict development, then the development of Qiongzhou will be postponed.'
He then talked to Li Shuli about the local situation. "Li Aiqing, are the local people living a prosperous life?"
"Your Majesty," Li Shuli hesitated for a moment before saying, "The people near the capital of Qiongzhou are living a relatively healthy life. The people in the cities in other places are still living and working in peace and contentment. The farmers in other prefectures and counties can always have enough to eat."
"Huh?" Yunxi was a little surprised again: You want to say that because there are too few people and they are not backed by a vast area, it is understandable that the economy is underdeveloped. However, the land here is so easy to grow, and the people's lives should be in an uncomfortable state. They are too wealthy but have no worries about food and clothing; but now, listening to Li Shuli’s words, the local people are struggling to even have food and clothing? What is going on?
"Your Majesty, the land of Qiongzhou is indeed very good for planting, but except for food, vegetables, fruits, etc., there is no local production here. Everything needs to be shipped from the mainland, so the price is high. Not to mention anything else. , the price of an iron hoe is five times that of Guangzhou Prefecture and twice that of Leizhou Prefecture opposite."
"There is also water conservancy. Even the rich families in Qiongzhou don't have much money at home, so they can't save much money apart from paying taxes. However, ordinary small households have no ability to build water conservancy projects, so the government can only organize large families to provide money.
To renovate large areas, large families organize small households to renovate small areas. However, because the local large families do not have much wealth, it is difficult to renovate water conservancy projects."
"Your Majesty, if you want this kind of land to be highly productive and the people to save labor, you also need to have suitable farm tools and water conservancy. Now that we don't have both, how can the fields be highly productive? The people cannot serve more fields."
"So although the people of Qiongzhou don't have to worry about starvation, they are not rich either." Li Shuli explained.
After hearing this, Yunxi suddenly remembered a memorial he had seen before, in which the Nanhai Navy reported one year's expenses. At that time, Yunxi immediately checked some of the accounts and found that the average expenses of the squadron and docks stationed in Qiongzhou Prefecture were higher than the annual expenses.
The squadrons stationed in Guangzhou and other places are taller, even taller than those in Leizhou Prefecture opposite. He inquired about it at the time and learned that many items in Qiongzhou Prefecture could not be produced by themselves, so the cost was higher.
Because the expenses of the Qiongzhou Squadron in that account were only 50% more than those of Guangzhou. He had a lot of things to do at that time, so he forgot about it. Only when he arrived in Qiongzhou in person did he know the prices in Qiongzhou.
It's not 50% higher than Guangzhou, but several times higher.
