Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 460: The Great Migration of Population
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of the report on last year's revenue and expenditure. The Ministry of Revenue will spend another month or so sorting out various bills and procedures, and will be ready to accept inspections from the Censorate and other ministries at any time."
After seeing everyone nodding, Zhu Youdong said, "Well, let's stop here for the time being. Next, let's talk about this year's work plan. According to the proposals submitted by various ministries in advance, there is a major event to be started this year. Ministry of Revenue, please talk about the placement of the canal workers first."
"As you wish." Xu Honggang, who had just sat down, stood up again and said, "Everyone, the Ministry of Revenue plans to start this year and spend three to five years to divert at least 90% of the existing canal workers and their families."
"Hiss~" The conference hall, which had just been quiet for a while, became noisy again.
The overall transportation situation in the Chinese Empire during the Middle Ages was poor, especially on land. Most of the so-called official roads were rammed earth roads with an average width of less than three meters. Moreover, the quality of these rammed earth roads was far from comparable to the straight roads of the Qin Dynasty: dust flew on sunny days, and muddy legs on rainy days was the norm.
In addition, in ancient times, there were no tunnels when crossing mountains, and there were few bridges when crossing water. Therefore, before the Republic of China, China's transportation was relatively fast and safe by water, and the cargo capacity of ships was much higher than that of two-wheeled carriages.
As a result, the Grand Canal connecting the economically developed areas of the eastern part of the Chinese Empire to the north and south became particularly important. Since its opening in the Sui Dynasty, as the economy of the south surpassed that of the north, the imperial court became increasingly dependent on this economic artery.
Specifically speaking, in the Ming Dynasty, starting from Zhu Di's relocation of the capital to Beijing, a large amount of grain and taxes were transported to the north through the Grand Canal every year. The economic exchanges among the people were also mainly realized through the Grand Canal.
The transportation through the Grand Canal was called Caoyun, and the porters, craftsmen, boatmen, etc. who depended on Caoyun for their livelihood were all called Caogong.
"Everyone, since Emperor Chengzu established his capital in Beijing, the canal has flourished. More and more people have relied on the canal for their survival. Through the yellow book, the Ministry of Revenue has learned that there are about 170,000 boatmen on both sides of the canal, with more than 19,000 large and small boats. There are more than 130,000 river workers who are responsible for embankment maintenance, weir dredging, and more than 95,000 porters who are responsible for loading and unloading along the way. This group of people controls more than 300 large and small private warehouses along the river. In addition, there are all kinds of hangers-on and waiters, and there are more than 50,000 people in total. The above 44 or 5 people, together with their families, are about 2.3 million people. They all rely on this canal for their livelihood."
As Xu Honggang reported the data, many officials present felt increasingly nervous.
As I said before, officials who can sit in the State Council meeting will be exposed to all aspects of the country through such high-end meetings every ten days, and they all have a certain understanding of the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time.
There are economic reasons for the scale of the canal transportation, but more of them are historical reasons: after Yongle, the foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty became more and more closed, maritime trade shrank, and navigation technology regressed, making the communication between the north and the south extremely dependent on the canal transportation. During the Jiajing period, the entire sea was occupied by the Ming Dynasty's own "sea merchants" and Japanese pirates, and the canal transportation became an irreplaceable choice. As a result, the scale of the canal transportation became larger and larger, which not only made the economy of the areas on both sides of the canal abnormally prosperous, but also more and more people relied on this canal for their livelihood.
There were many people from all walks of life. In order to avoid being bullied and to gain greater benefits, they naturally formed gangs. Then these gangs colluded deeply with the Lianghuai salt merchants, forming a huge interest group.
This group was closely attached to the Grand Canal, and survived by exploiting many merchants on this economic artery: their ships had to be used to transport goods, and their warehouses and workers had to be used for unloading and loading. Even worse, some even colluded with local officials to block some special sections of the canal and force passing merchants to pay dredging fees.
It can be said that by the Wanli and Tianqi years, the efficiency of the Grand Canal had become very low, and the public security problems along the river were extremely serious. In addition to the Lianghuai salt merchants, merchants from all walks of life had long complained. Even the officials of the Ming Dynasty were extremely dissatisfied with the slowness of the canal transportation.
Now, Japan has completely surrendered, Korea has become a blessed country, and the Nanyang region has become the Governor-General's Office of Central and Southern China of the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that the coast of the Ming Dynasty is now calm and extremely safe. If we look at it purely from the perspective of economy and efficiency. It is very feasible to completely change the canal transportation to sea transportation - the shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty at this time has not only been revived, but also far exceeded that of the Chengzu period. By sea transportation, the cargo capacity of a single ship is five to ten times that of canal transportation, and the time on the road can be shortened from two or three months to more than ten days. Many Ming officials have successively written to the court, requesting to change the canal transportation to sea transportation.
However, this is a major issue involving the livelihoods of more than two million canal workers and their families. Can it be changed at will? Not to mention that behind the canal workers, in addition to the Lianghuai salt merchants, there are more than 10 million ordinary people on both sides of the canal: Don’t you see that in the historical plane, once the Beijing-Kowloon Railway was built, the economy on both sides of the canal immediately stagnated?
"Ladies and gentlemen, the canal is only a river after all, and its carrying capacity is limited. With the liberalization of steam engine technology, the exchange of materials between various places has become more and more frequent. One canal can no longer meet the demand for the flow of materials between provinces in the country. Therefore, sea transportation must be liberalized. However, once sea transportation is liberalized, grain transport will decline sharply. Therefore, we must plan ahead and think of a good place for these two million grain workers.
After the Ministry of Revenue conducted a simulation, we estimate that after the complete liberalization of sea transportation, the volume of grain transport will drop by 60% in the short term. If the highway from Jinan to Nanjing is completed in two or three years, the volume will drop by another 20%. If the railway between Beijing and Beijing is completed in five to ten years, the volume of grain transport will be reduced to one tenth . Therefore, in the short term, the Ministry of Revenue plans to relocate one million grain transport workers and their families to other places. In the next five to ten years, another million will be relocated successively. "
After talking about the issue of the canal workers, Xu Honggang changed the subject: "Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the canal workers who need to be resettled, the resettlement of the military households is also imminent. At present, my Ming Dynasty has more than 800,000 old-style combat soldiers, including their families, a total of 3.1 million. Ladies and gentlemen, because the military yellow book has not yet been re-counted and rebuilt, the Ministry of Households estimates that after General Cao returns from the northern expedition and re-counts the military yellow book, the actual number of people obtained is estimated to be around 4 million."
As soon as these words came out, the Minister of War Wang Xiangqian raised his eyebrows, but he didn't say anything after all - the officers of the local guards were actually similar to the civilian literati, and they concealed the population in large quantities. What Lao Xu said just now was already very polite. According to what he knew, if he really wanted to rebuild the civilian yellow book as seriously as the emperor did a few years ago, I'm afraid the population of the military yellow book would swell to more than five million.
"After the Northern Expedition, according to the Emperor's order, the court will reduce the garrisons in the nine important border towns in the north. The plan is to reduce the number of combat troops from 500,000 to 100,000. Currently, there are 1.9 million military households on the books of the nine important border towns. If the number of combat troops is reduced by 80%, the number of military households will also be reduced by 80%. That will involve the relocation of at least 1.5 million people. Including the canal workers and their families, that is to say, starting from this year, within five years, the Ministry of Household Affairs will relocate more than 2.5 million people. This year is the first year, and the Ministry of Household Affairs plans to complete the relocation of at least 300,000 people."
There is no need to emphasize that such matters are of utmost importance to the country.
Needless to say, the military households in the nine border towns have been fighting against the Mongols for many years. Even if they are not soldiers, the old, weak, women and children here are quite combat-capable. And what about the Huaihe River area? Historically, the north and the south were divided, and although the southern regimes generally had their capitals south of the Yangtze River, in terms of national defense, they basically relied on the troops in the Huaihe River area to fight against the north.
Therefore, the areas affected this time are all those with tough folk customs and strong fighting power. If this is not done carefully, it will provoke a large-scale civil uprising, and the whole country will be shaken.
"My Lords." Just as the ministers were thinking with heavy hearts, Zhu Youdong spoke up: "The migration of the people in the Nine Borders and Lianghuai is imperative. I won't talk much about the general principles. According to the results of my discussion with the ministers, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Works . In the third year of Tianqi, we will try to migrate 300,000 people. For these 300,000 miles, 50,000 to 60,000 people will be absorbed in sea transportation. The engineering teams in various places, as well as the cement plants and steel mills supporting the construction of roads and railways, will absorb 50,000 to 60,000 people. The rest are planned to be arranged in Taiwan Prefecture and the five states in Central and South China. This is a long-term and arduous project. It is also a major project that involves the long-term stability of our Ming Dynasty, and even the rapid sinicization of the newly incorporated territories, and then become the stable inherent territories of our Ming Dynasty. My Lords, all departments, must attach great importance to it, unite sincerely, and do a good job at all costs."
"I, your servants, will do our best to obey your orders!"
