Chapter 1556 Shangtou Village, which is not hazy at all
Through the rent-to-purchase order, Li Xuan initially solved the problem of whether there is enough land for farmers across the country to support themselves.
To really solve the land problem, Li Xuan has to rely on a series of measures to encourage reclamation, especially for the development of Huguang and Huguang provinces, Liaoxi, Liaodong, Northeast and other northeastern provinces, as well as several provinces in the south!
These measures of resettlement and settlement are actually the real solutions to the land problem.
After all, in most places where land conflicts are prominent, land annexation is actually just a symptom. In essence, it is because there are more people and less land.
After all, the relationship between landlords and tenants is actually a market supply and demand relationship. There are few local landowners. In order to find enough tenants to rent land, landlords will naturally give a lot of discounts on land rent because they cannot find enough tenants.
, these landowners will still lose money, because the government does not care whether your land is rented out or abandoned, but the annual agricultural tax will be collected, and the amount is fixed.
Datang's agricultural taxes were levied according to the classification of land, with a fixed amount, and were levied in a stepped manner. Basically, if large landowners wanted to retain a large amount of land, they would have to pay a very heavy agricultural tax every year.
In some places with fewer people and more land, the rent collected by many super-large landowners is just enough to pay the agricultural tax!
Therefore, in these places, the life of tenant farmers is relatively easy, and the rent paid is basically not too high, and is generally the same as the agricultural tax.
And similarly, in these places, except for families who have a special attachment to the land and are unwilling to give up the land, many landowners, especially the big landowners, have sold off their land one after another in the past twenty years or so.
The returned funds were invested in industry and commerce.
But in a place with many people and little land, this situation is impossible!
With more people and less land, land has become a scarce resource. Even with rent-to-purchase orders and reclamation collars, a large number of farmers still need to rent land from landlords to survive.
Tenants in these places generally have higher incomes, and farmers' lives will be even more difficult.
The Tang Dynasty's immigration and reclamation policy was to move people from places with many people and less land to places with less people and more land!
The effect of the immigration and reclamation policy over the years has been quite good. Not only has it effectively solved the land conflict of Jiangnan and other areas with more people and less land, but it has also moved a large number of people to Huguang, Northeast and other areas for development.
Not to mention that today's Huguang provinces have become the new granaries of the empire, even Liaodong and Liaoxi provinces, which are traditionally regarded as bitter and cold places, have gradually become grain producing areas.
The grain produced in the Liaohe Plain is already supplied to the outside world on a large scale!
Twenty years of continuous reform and self-cultivation have brought about tremendous changes within the empire. Such changes can occur even if Li Xuan is sitting on the train, even if Li Xuan knows that sometimes the things he sees are local officials.
It was disguised, but Li Xuan could still feel the huge changes in the land of China.
This change is not a change of the developed industry and commerce in Shanghai, but a change of ordinary people in China, or more accurately, ordinary farmers.
When the special train left Songjiang Prefecture, it entered the jurisdiction of the Zhejiang governor. A large number of Zhejiang military and political officials also came to Jiaxing Prefecture from Hangzhou in advance to greet the special train.
But this time, Li Xuan surprisingly did not stop at Jiaxing Railway Station, a relatively large railway station. Instead, he crossed Jiaxing Railway Station and stopped at a small railway station called Tongxiang.
This train station is just a small train station. There is not even a train parking lot large enough in the train station to support such a large group of special trains. Many special trains are actually parked directly on the railway line.
Naturally, Li Xuan specifically ordered this!
He wanted to find an opportunity to personally see the lives of ordinary people today!
To be honest, this kind of opportunity would have been impossible to see if he had not specially arranged it himself. For example, from Jinling City to Shanghai and even to Jiaxing Prefecture, most of the things he saw had been processed by the military and government.
Carefully selected by officials.
Even along the railway lines, many local officials have evil intentions and deliberately create some messy things.
In this case, it is actually impossible for Li Xuan to see something real and original.
But now in Tongxiang, Li Xuan deliberately stopped the car temporarily and did not give the local officials the time to arrange in advance.
As soon as the special train stopped, a large number of Zhejiang military and political officials thought something had happened, such as a train failure, a railway blockage, or simply some kind of rebellion.
When these people were uneasy, they were called to the royal train by Secretariat officials, and then stayed with a group of officials.
Li Xuan did not give these civil servants any time to prepare. As soon as the imperial train stopped, he took more than a hundred imperial guards and set off under the escort of the First Guards Cavalry Regiment.
Of course, I also brought more than a hundred officials with me!
Li Xuan himself mounted his horse and rode away!
After a group of thousands of people came out of the train station, Li Xuan randomly picked a direction and then hurried on.
The cavalry of the Guards and the imperial guards had long known that the Holy Emperor wanted to see the pristine countryside, but those officials were made a little uneasy by Li Xuan.
They have already guessed that the Holy Emperor is probably going to fight a surprise battle!
Among them, the officials in Zhejiang, especially the local officials in Jiaxing Prefecture, are all on tenterhooks at this time!
Although they had made preparations in advance, the preparation work was done in Jiading City, Hangzhou City and Ningbo, because only these three places could usher in a large-scale inspection by the Holy Emperor.
As for other places along the railway, necessary preparations will definitely be made, but they are also concentrated in some counties, at most within a few hundred meters of the railway.
For example, many of the farmers along the railway line that Li Xuan had seen before were either poor and miserable, or they were all in good spirits and living a prosperous life.
However, this kind of arrangement is generally limited to some farmland areas that the railway passes through. As for places farther away, well, it doesn't need to be that far, so it is basically impossible to arrange places even a few hundred meters away.
At most, it’s just a security alert!
Otherwise, no matter how much manpower and financial resources the local government has, it is impossible to whitewash such a large place.
As for Li Xuan, he directly took the imperial guards and the Guards cavalry and ran out for five kilometers in one breath, and then he saw a village.
Of course, even if it is a temporary on-the-spot inspection, necessary security work must be done. The Guards have been mobilized urgently to surround and blockade the village in advance.
And he followed Li Xuan's order and immediately imposed martial law, without giving local officials any extra time to prepare.
Li Xuan didn't think that if he picked a village randomly, there would be assassins or people wanting to rebel, so he wasn't too cautious.
When people arrive, they enter the village directly.
At this time, the civil servants who came with him all looked very ugly, especially the governor of Zhejiang and other local officials, because the village they saw now was really not suitable for the Holy Emperor to see.
arrive.
This is a village with a population of about four to five hundred people, and it is not a direct concentrated residence, but rather scattered, and the village is surrounded by farmland.
And this is not the point. The point is that most of the houses in the village are simple and dilapidated. Only a few are decent brick and wood tile houses, and most of them are earthen and tile houses, and there are even some houses with tiled roofs.
The top is still thatched.
Although there is a small river next to the village and there are many willow trees on the riverside, there is no doubt that this village is definitely not the Jiangnan water town mentioned by the literati.
Not hazy at all, not beautiful at all!
This kind of village is not the Jiangnan water town they planned to show to the Holy Emperor!
Hangzhou has already made arrangements in advance, because the industry in Hangzhou cannot be compared with Shanghai. Although there is industry and commerce, the Holy Emperor has just seen the high-rise buildings and busy traffic in Shanghai. This will make the Holy Emperor look at Hangzhou again.
I'm afraid I won't be able to gain anything with that little bit of industry and commerce.
So the Hangzhou side was prepared to let the Holy Emperor experience the Jiangnan water town style in Hangzhou.
For this reason, they started to carefully select Zhouzhuang on the outskirts of the city last year!
There is nothing to say about Zhouzhuang. The scenery is picturesque. Although the buildings in the village cannot be said to be gorgeous, they have an ancient charm. In addition, the residents of Zhouzhuang are mainly homesteaders, and their lives are relatively decent, and they are decorated appropriately.
One or two, it would be best to use it to receive the Holy Emperor and let the Holy Emperor see the rural scenery of Zhejiang.
But as you can imagine, the Holy Emperor came up with an impromptu idea, and then he saw such a village in front of him!
It is also located in northern Zhejiang, and it is also a rural area, but the village in front of us called Shangtou Village is very different from Zhouzhuang!
Look at the muddy road at the entrance of the village. If you step on it, you will sink into the muddy water. There are stone paths in Zhouzhuang that make people feel relaxed and happy.
Look at the dilapidated thatched house, which looks like it will collapse if the wind blows. It doesn't have the special cultural atmosphere of the traditional classical Jiangnan garden-style old houses in Zhouzhuang.
Look at the old woman in the dilapidated thatched house, wearing tattered clothes, trembling all over as she looks at Li Xuan and a large group of people outside the house, and the two also wearing tattered clothes, huddled behind the old woman, with dirty faces.
Poor children.
How can there be a clever boy in Zhouzhuang who rides an ox, holds a reed flute, and is always ready to point the finger at Xinghua Village for the Holy Emperor?