Chapter 301 Solving the Problem (VI)
"Every revolutionary soldier must bear in mind the three major disciplines and eight points of attention..."
This song was heard everywhere in Hangzhou. Not all the singers were soldiers, and most of them were not. Zhejiang Governor Gong Yu ordered that the song be taught in all the cities in Zhejiang that he had controlled. In addition to posting the lyrics on the streets, residents of each city were also required to come and learn.
The troops were responsible for carrying out these tasks, and Gong Yu had to face more complicated tasks. However, Gong Yu did not expect that the group of wealthy people who surrendered in front of him would actually ask Gong Yu why he took the initiative to "take this bridle".
In response to such a question, Gong Yu responded straightforwardly, "Our army has always enforced such discipline, so how can it be called a bridle? The reason why we let the people know is to allow them to supervise our military discipline."
The wealthy people were not too surprised when they heard this. Even if a few of them smiled, it was a bitter smile.
Gong Yu added: "Our army has just arrived in Zhejiang, and the people don't know our purpose. The Three Disciplines and Eight Points of Attention are all about real things, and the people can understand them. If you insist on saying that we are trying to win people's hearts, I admit it."
The wealthy man with the wry smile was named Li Fengtai. He put away his wry smile and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Gong, do you know where the important business in Zhejiang is?"
"The point is that farming is not as profitable as raising silkworms. However, raising silkworms takes too much effort, and you can lose money if you're not careful."
After the simple and clear answer, the big investors fell silent.
Li Fengtai's eyes widened in surprise. After a moment, he continued to ask, "Since the governor knew about this situation, why did he insist on taking the land?"
"My master is not a liar. He said that after the Chinese Dynasty unified the world, no inch of Chinese land would belong to private individuals. I believed him. My master did not just say this to me. Just like the song, the whole army and even the people of Shandong knew it. So although the management of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is different from that of Shandong, it has nothing to do with nationalization of land. If we cannot nationalize all this land while we are fighting for the country, and then take back the land after we have fought for the country, it will be forcing people to rebel."
The wealthy people all understood what Gong Yu meant, and their expressions became even bleaker.
Gong Yu looked at the expressions of these people, wondering how many of these guys who relied on selling out the rebels for personal safety would also join the rebellion. For a moment, the meeting place fell silent.
It was Li Fengtai who broke the silence, "Governor, what will we get after handing over the land?"
"You can sign a land use agreement and operate the land in accordance with the agreement. Before this trip, I consulted my master, and the rules he set are very interesting. You can take a look." After saying that, Gong Yu ordered his men to send a rural land contracting guide to each large household.
The wealthy were all literate, and the guide itself was written in vernacular Chinese with punctuation marks, making it quite easy to read.
Li Fengtai frowned as he read. When he finished, he asked in confusion, "Does the imperial court have the final say on how to farm?"
Gong Yu was really satisfied and nodded repeatedly. After expressing his approval, he looked at the other big households. Most of them looked horrified, and several even looked angry.
Gong Yu explained: "The so-called agreement does not mean that the court wants to pry into your private affairs. There is no private matter in production, and there is no need to hide it. More or less, your families have some raw silk business, you may wish to take a look at this document."
The printed version of the Rural Land Contract Guide was distributed to the wealthy households. Some wealthy households frowned and asked, "Excuse me, Governor, this doesn't look like a woodblock print. I don't know how it was printed."
"Do you want to learn?" Gong Yu asked with a smile.
"Will the court teach us?" the wealthy families asked back with some disdain.
Gong Yu called his secretary and asked him to bring the screen printing equipment. Before long, the big households saw the screen printing equipment push and produce a rather rough print, and some were already amazed.
"You have already seen what happened. Take a look at what I gave you first." Gong Yu ordered.
The wealthy people then lowered their heads to read. Some of those who were not too curious had already finished reading and asked first, "Sir, is this true?"
"Whether the mulberry planting process is true, you can go back and ask the people who grow mulberry trees and raise silkworms to find out. As for whether the input-output calculation is true, you can ask the manager and they will tell you."
At this time, Li Fengtai had finished reading several pages of paper. Although the weather was not hot, Li Fengtai's forehead was already sweating. Wiping his bald forehead with a handkerchief, Li Fengtai asked in panic: "Governor, who wrote this?"
"Our court has published the process of planting mulberry and raising silkworms written by the technicians of the Textile Department, and the cost accounting method of mulberry and silkworms written by the Commerce Department of the Ministry of Revenue. What advice do you have, Brother Li?"
Li Fengtai wiped his forehead again and said, "Governor, I don't know why the court wrote this..." After saying that, Li Fengtai looked at one of the pages again and read, "Why did they write that selling this commodity in exchange for silver was a thrilling experience?"
"The Manchu government is just talking nonsense if it doesn't manage the business. This is the main point of my master's lecture. You have invested a lot of costs before producing raw silk. If you turn a blind eye to this investment, you are a bastard. The Manchu government only cares about making money and putting money from other people's pockets into their own pockets. They don't care how much effort you put in. If they see you making money, they will pounce on you like hungry wolves, wishing to eat you alive. We in the Chinese court don't do such things. If we don't know your hard work, how dare we ask you to sign the land contract agreement. You have seen the agreement, and we have to undertake the purchase task."
Li Fengtai felt that he understood, but also felt that he did not understand at all. He made up his mind and said, "Please explain it in more detail, sir."
As soon as the words fell, other wealthy families who surrendered echoed, "Sir, please explain in more detail."
Gong Yu thought that this was a good thing, but he was a little uneasy, so he called Zhao Ming, the head of the Zhejiang Economic Bureau, to explain.
Zhao Ming, speaking Mandarin with a Shandong accent , began to explain to these wealthy people.
This kind of thing requires no simple discussion, so Gong Yu asked Zhao Ming to teach the class while he went to the troops.
The results of the interrogation have come out, and half of the people who rose up in rebellion were family members of Qing officials. These people knew that their land would be confiscated, so they naturally fought hard.
The leader was a Manchu who did not escape, which made Gong Yu very interested. But looking at the number of the rebels, less than one-tenth were Manchus, which means that 40% were neither Manchus nor relatives of officials.
Looking at the interrogation records of this group of people, they were just hooligans instigated by scholars.
"Are these people crazy?" Gong Yu expressed his opinion.
