I

A fleet of ships sailed on the water of the Yangtze River, and boatmen kept pushing away ice floes with long poles.

The speed of the boat is extremely slow, 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 everywhere: "Why is it so colder than during the reign of Chongzhen? Is it like this every year?"

Zhang Xiong, a general of the Yangtze River Navy, said in a joking tone: "Zheng Zongxian is really lucky. He has been out at sea for many years, and when he came back, the Yangtze River froze. It was not so cold in the past few years. This year is really weird. Our Yangtze River Division, some time ago the whole army was mobilized just to open up the waterway of the Yangtze River. But fortunately, I can earn some hard money, and there are rich people along the river to buy ice cubes."

"Ah!"

Zheng Guozhong sneezed and hurried back to the cabin to hide. God is sorry, he served as the governor of Luzon for several years, and now he has resigned and returned to Beijing, and suddenly came from the tropics to the frozen Yangtze River.

Zheng Guozhong said with emotion: "Fortunately, when it was snowing in Fuzhou when I was resupplying in Fujian, I bought two sets of padded jackets, otherwise I would be sick from the cold."

He returned home from Luzon all the way, taking a warship all the way. Sailing on a navy warship at sea and a navy warship on the Yangtze River, such a grand and high standard is 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 full of thoughts.

As soon as they heard that he had returned to Beijing, all the ministries sent officials one after another, and they were officials at the rank of minister, and they came to the dock with great fanfare to welcome him warmly.

In the same way, it's not that Zheng Guozhong is so arrogant, it's just that he brought gold and silver treasures with him on board - every government office in the imperial court can get a share of it!

After the debriefing, Zheng Guozhong was summoned by the emperor.

"Chen Zheng Guozhong, pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor!" Zheng Guozhong's excitement was not feigned. He served in Luzon for an extended period of time and served as the governor for seven full years. He wanted to return to Beijing and missed the emperor a long time ago.

"A seat."

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Zheng Qing has worked hard."

Zheng Guozhong quickly said: "Doing things for the country and sharing worries for the king, I don't feel hard."

Zhao Han said: "There is something that needs to be changed on Lu Song's side. Zheng Qing may wish to speak freely."

Zheng Guozhong said: "Everything has been straightened out, and Luzon will inevitably become more and more prosperous in the future... However, there are more and more big landlords there. Although the more land, the higher the tax, the landlords can find ways to avoid taxes. The court stipulates that Luzon Landlords with less than 100 mu of land usually collect taxes. For every 20 mu more, the tax rate will increase by one class. But now all the land is 100 mu, and I have never seen a landlord with more than 100 mu of land.”

"The land that exceeds one hundred mu is registered under the clan's name?" Zhao Han asked.

Zheng Guozhong said: "Yes! There are many barbarians in Luzon, and the Han people must be united, so the clan and fellow villagers are very powerful. When something happens, the patriarchal clan or the village rules are used, and the government is rarely invited to intervene in the case. Therefore, the clansman entrusted with the property , although he owns the property in name, he never thought of actually getting it through a lawsuit. Once he falls out with the main family, after the government intervenes, the property may be obtained, but he will be rejected by the clan and fellow villagers."

Zhao Han didn't hate this phenomenon either, he just said: "There are too few Han people in Luzon, so let's take it slowly 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, the situation of the acres of land will be thoroughly checked-the land that has not been registered with the government will be directly nationalized. For the land entrusted in the name of others, whose name is registered by the government, the land will be awarded according to the field book.

After all, it belongs to a colony, and Tian Zheng cannot be the same as the local government, which will greatly hinder the development of the colony.

However, it is also necessary to restrict land mergers. Each person can own at most 100 mu of land, and a family of ten can own at most 1,000 mu of land. If there are more than ten people, the family will be separated. More than 100 mu of land will not be confiscated by force, but the tax will be increased step by step.

If not restricted, two consequences will result:

First, the land mergers in the colonies were serious, and many overseas big families emerged, and in the end they were even able to control the place, and the colonial officials were not taken seriously. Until, the colonial independence movement broke out!

Second, if land annexation is not suppressed, then the big landlords in the colony will not first think about how to develop, but how to annex the land of their compatriots. After all, it is easier and safer to annex land from Han compatriots than to claim land from native barbarians. In this way, there will be a large number of landless peasants in the colonies! The peasants were forced to revolt, and the governor was able to suppress it, which benefited the big landlords, and the people were at odds with the court. If the governor can't suppress it, then the colonial uprising will succeed, and it will be the big landlords who will benefit. The big landlords will guide public opinion, pour dirty water on the court, and then take the opportunity to seize the fruits of the uprising, and the big landlords will become the actual rulers of the colony after independence.

Zheng Guozhong began to report on his work:

"In the first year of my tenure in Luzon, mainly the Han people registered and settled down to confirm the ownership of the land. The Spaniards left a lot of land, and every Han people can get the land. Even some indigenous people who have done meritorious service can also share To part of the land. In the first year, there was no income, and the military expenses of the 3,000 Datong troops stationed in Luzon had to be borne by the imperial court."

"In the second year, the land tax and commercial tax had a surplus, especially the port tariffs received a lot. The military expenses of the Datong Army and the salaries of Luzon officials can already be borne by themselves."

"In the third year, the tax revenue became more, 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 landlords to dig water canals. In those years, I sent 10,000 taels of tax money to the court."

"In the fifth year, there were quite a lot of spontaneous immigrants from Fujian. These Fujian immigrants had household registrations in their hometowns and temporary household registrations in Luzon. I suggested that two counties should be added and the indigenous people in the vicinity should be educated. The governor's office allocated silver taels, Hired scholars to teach indigenous children to read, and hired Han farmers to teach indigenous farming techniques. Back then, 30,000 taels of tax money was sent to the imperial court."

"In the sixth year, all the Pampanga people around Manila gave up Christianity and converted to Mazu. So far, more than 2,000 Pampanga people have learned simple Chinese and registered as Han Chinese with the government. The imperial court sent 110,000 taels of tax silver."

"In the seventh year, I dispatched the Datong Army stationed in Luzon and sent 800 troops to help the Ifugao people in the northern part of Luzon Island to fight. Six Ifugao tribes supported the government and agreed to the government to establish schools in their tribes. These The Ifugao people know how to open up terraced fields and water conservancy irrigation, and the rice yield is 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 grain. Many aborigines can even speak Hokkien, and all three tribes are governed by the government."

"This year, I brought back 240,000 taels of tax silver, as well as many special products from Luzon. There are pearls, tortoise shells, spices, corals, etc."

Such a big Luzon Island, after seven years of governance, only brought back a total of 390,000 taels of silver.

Compared to the Spanish colonial government, it's a bit too little to be honest.

Fortunately, it has doubled year by year. In the seventh year alone, there are as many as 240,000 taels of tax, and it will definitely increase in the future. Moreover, officials at all levels in Luzon, the Datong Army stationed in Luzon, their salaries and military salaries are borne by Luzon themselves, and there is no need for blood transfusions from the court.

In addition, Zheng Guozhong's governance of the colony is obviously different from that of Spain.

Whether it is for the natives of Luzon or the Han people in Luzon, the Spanish governor is crazily exploiting. As long as he has not been squeezed to death, he will continue to squeeze to death!

And what about Zheng Guozhong?

Most of the time, they are building ports, building roads, building water conservancy, promoting enlightenment, and disseminating farming techniques... The relationship between the government and the aborigines has obviously improved greatly. There is no need to guard against the natives all day long, and there is no need to fight every now and then, and military expenditure is far lower than that of Spain.

The schools built by Spain in Luzon were all missionaries who came forward and led the army to lay down a piece. The missionaries became the largest landowners there, captured the aborigines as slaves, and then built schools in the village. And when Zheng Guozhong built schools, he built them directly in the indigenous tribes and hired scholars to be teachers in the indigenous tribes.

Zheng Guozhong did not intend to colonize at all, but regarded the aborigines of Luzon Island as ethnic minorities in the Yunnan-Guizhou area, and completely treated the colonies as native land to govern!

This is the traditional way of thinking of Chinese officials. It has been ingrained in the bones and has been integrated into the blood. It is difficult to change it.

Zheng Guozhong cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I have a request."

Zhao Han said, "But it's okay 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 cost of travel and the expenses during the study period are all borne by the Luzon government. Once the children of these tribal leaders meet After seeing the prosperity of the Celestial Dynasty, one must admire the Celestial Dynasty even more. I feel that the natives of Lu Song are no different from the natives of Yunnan and Guizhou, as long as they do not discriminate and oppress, they are all reasonable."

"According to what Qing said, this matter is feasible," Zhao Han asked, "The tribal leaders in Luzon, are they willing to send their children to Nanjing? Do they think they are hostages?"

Zheng Guozhong said: "No. The minister has made an agreement with the leaders of the ministries, and they trust the court."

Zhao Han asked, "Are the natives of Luzon so 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. Landlords are tenants (actually serfs)."

That's right, this is like a colony, Zheng Guozhong is not a corrupt Confucian.

Zheng Guozhong also said: "The chief soldier of Lu Song, Tie Hong, his eldest son has finished his middle school courses. There is no entrance examination in Lu Song, and there is even only one middle school. Tie Hong asked his son to be sent to Jinling University to study."

Tie Hong is that black buddy who has been thrown to Luzon to lead the army for several years.

Zhao Han nodded and said: "That should be the case. I will pass the decree to the officials of the Ministry of Rites. In the future, there will be no places for entrance examinations, not only in overseas territories, but also in the Northern Protectorate. All civil and military officials who work in those places, as long as they 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 Lu Song now?"

Zheng Guozhong replied: "There are more than 63,000 Luzon household registrations (Han people over the age of 12, including the indigenous spouses of Han people). There are more than 50,000 Han Chinese who hold domestic household registration but have settled in Luzon for a long time, and have voluntarily registered with the government. In addition, there are more than 3,000 aborigines who have learned Chinese, changed their Chinese names, and have naturalized as Han people.”

Such a small population is still too small.

Luzon's taxation is not based on land tax, but commercial tax and customs duty are the real big ones.

Luzon is an experimental field. The tax money that is shipped back to the imperial court every year is now redefined: the royal family takes 40%, 30% is managed by the Ministry of Finance, and the remaining 30% is thrown to other ministries and yamen.

Anyway, all can get money, the royal family has money, and the ministries also have money.

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 of the DPRK and China were not very concerned about Lu Song.

When Luzon's tax money was sent to 110,000 taels a year, the ministers finally took it seriously.

I also heard that Luzon's tax money will double this year compared to last year. Good guy, all the ministries and institutes directly sent officials at the rank of minister to go outside Nanjing to warmly welcome Zheng Guozhong back to Beijing.

If Luzon's annual tax silver exceeds one million taels, it is estimated that all ministers will come forward to greet them in person.