The Rise of the European Emperor

In fact, besides recruiting refugees, there are other ways and means to gain population. For example, Zhang Cai's son, Zhang Jiafu, gave Marin an idea-go to a tooth shop to buy slaves.

In fact, even though those refugees were in distress, they were still people with status. And the servants in the dental shop who are waiting to be sold are all slaves who don't even have the status of ordinary people.

It should be pointed out that the law of the Ming Dynasty prohibited ordinary people from keeping slaves privately. Because the increase in slaves will reduce the number of good people who pay taxes to the country, which will affect the country's tax revenue.

However, this policy was only seriously implemented during the Hongwu period in the early Ming Dynasty. But with the passage of time, by the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it had loosened too much.

During the Hongwu period, only those top wealthy families who were honorable and high-ranking officials were eligible to raise slaves and maidservants. Others are not eligible. Merchants are useless even if they have money. Not only are they not allowed to wear silk, they are also not allowed to buy slaves. The phenomenon that an ordinary businessman can buy slaves on TV does not exist. Of course, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, businessmen could do the same. During the Hongwu period, if a businessman dared to do this, he would be imprisoned.

It is the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Yuanzhang's population policy has been loosened. However, it has not yet spread to the common people. Small folk landlords and businessmen are still not eligible to buy slaves. But they also have countermeasures. For example, ordinary people can avoid legal restrictions through the method of "accepting adopted sons and adopted daughters". Alternatively, enter into an employment contract directly to circumvent legal restrictions.

But there is a kind of people who can legally buy slaves, and that is the scholar class with officials as the main body...

As long as you have fame, there are no restrictions. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, only nobles and third-rank officials were allowed to raise slaves. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, even officials and scholars with high reputations were allowed to raise slaves freely. And at the end of Ming Dynasty, ordinary wealthy households were able to support slaves...

Why? In addition to the loosening of policies, the large increase in population is also an important reason.

The Ming Dynasty had a stable society and a prosperous economy, and the population naturally increased year by year. In the early Ming Dynasty, the population was only about 60 million, and natural labor was precious. And Zhu Yuanzhang would never allow wasting precious population on slaves. Therefore, he restricted the existence of slaves in every possible way and liberated a large number of slaves.

But in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, that is, during the Hongzhi Dynasty, the population of Daming reached 80 to 90 million, and some say it reached 100 million. Because there are a large number of hidden people among the people.

The population has increased so much, but the land area has not increased, so there will naturally be a large surplus of labor. Many poor families simply cannot afford to raise so many children. In order to keep their children alive, those poor families voluntarily sent their children to rich families as slaves. Because only in this way can children be fed. Moreover, the money from selling the children can also support the children left in the family.

The middle period of the Ming Dynasty was not too serious. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population of the Ming Dynasty had reached about 150 million. At this time, the court had to turn a blind eye. At this time, ordinary people can legally buy slaves as long as they pay...

...

It is now in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and the population is neither too large nor too small. Ordinarily, ordinary people are not allowed to buy slaves. However, Marin is no ordinary person. He is the Lord of the Beihai Kingdom and also the Consolation Envoy of the Eastern Faction. He belongs to the imperial court and just belongs to the class that is allowed to buy slaves.

So, Marin took Zhang Jiafu and others directly to the tooth shop to buy slaves...

It's just that Marin's handwriting was a bit big, which alarmed the court...

In just three days, Marin swept across the tooth shop in the capital, and bought 3,500 slaves at a low price of a few taels of silver per slave, including 2,000 male slaves and 1,500 female slaves. Moreover, most of the slaves are adults. After all, these are all used to reclaim wasteland, and children are not good at it.

Such a huge handwriting naturally aroused the idea of ​​the Ming court. So, on behalf of the Ming court, Li Dongyang interviewed Ma Lin...

"Master Ma, why did you buy so many slaves?"

"Dongfan Island needs to be developed, so naturally it needs a large number of people. I don't know how many people can be recruited, so buy some people first."

"Ahem..." Li Dongyang coughed twice, and continued:

"It's right for you to buy slaves, and it's okay as the owner of the Ma Kingdom. However, your hand is too big, and you have 3,500 people in one shot. It's too eye-catching. The influence is not good, the influence is not good... "

It is true that the influence is not good, and the people of the Ming Dynasty are very conceited. For a Fangui king who bought a large number of Ming Dynasty people as slaves in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, it really hurt the feelings of the Ming Dynasty people. Therefore, Li Dongyang interviewed Ma Lin and asked him to stop. It's not that I can't do it, but that it's too arrogant to influence...

"I understand..." Marin is a smart person, so he naturally understood Li Dongyang's meaning - don't be too ostentatious, work quietly...

"After that, I quietly bought people in Fuzhou, Ningbo and Guangzhou?" Marin asked.

Li Dongyang shook his head and said:

"You can't talk about buying people, or the people will not be happy. You have to say—hire people...for example, hire female weavers in the name of hiring boatmen..."

Marin understood in seconds—it was to save some face for the Ming Dynasty...that is to say, slaves would be bought normally at that time, but when they reported to the Shibo Department, they had to be reported as "hired workers". In this way, the face of the Ming Dynasty will not be hurt...

...

Seeing that he could not continue to buy slaves in the capital, Marin had to temporarily stop. Anyway, the future is long. Moreover, Li Dongyang also pointed out the direction - continue to buy in the name of "hired workers" in the future...

But now that things are basically done, we can't just sit around in the capital. Europe is still waiting for me to go back, and what's more, Daming's affairs are not finished yet...

For example, one very important thing—after Zhang Cai bought Taihu pig and Biluochun tea seeds in the Taihu area, how should he transport them to Keelung?

Fortunately, tea species do not take up much space. But those Taihu pigs take up a lot of space...

After much deliberation, it is most appropriate to let your own ship transport it...

...

Moreover, Marin also plans to go to Anhua in Funan to buy black tea seeds and hire craftsmen who know how to make black tea. Then, it is planted in places such as Taiwan Island and Cuba, and tea is produced.

It's not that Marin likes to drink black tea, but that black tea has a long shelf life, so he doesn't worry about the tea leaves being spoiled. Moreover, the requirements for making tea are lower than those for brewing tea. It is more appropriate to use black tea bricks to make milk tea.

In addition, Ma Lin plans to go to Fubei, central Sichuan, and southern Yunnan to buy coptis, Youyang Artemisia annua, Panax notoginseng, and other medicinal materials that are very useful, as well as the seeds of medicinal materials, for their needs.

Coptis chinensis can be extracted in a simple way, and it is a good medicine for treating chronic diseases such as dysentery, tuberculosis, pneumonia, typhoid fever, and diphtheria. Moreover, the extraction method is super simple, and it is a good thing that travelers must use.

Needless to say, Youyang Artemisia annua, artemisinin started...

And Panax notoginseng is the main drug of the famous Baiyao for bruises, not to mention...

Anyway, these are all things that need to be obtained. However, the Ming Dynasty only allowed trade in the ports of the three cities, and it was difficult to purchase these medicines in large quantities. Therefore, this time, Marin plans to run around in person this time, and get as much as possible. But first, he must have the qualifications to go to various places in Ming Dynasty...

Therefore, Marin sent Zhengde a letter and asked to go to various parts of Daming. As for the reason, it is very strange - Daming is so big, I want to go and see...