"There was reported by Mr. Suchen of Liyang to investigate the location of Laian and others. The Ministry of Revenue has been divided into the military and civilians and collected taxes to prepare for national reserves. How can it be allowed to be a private place? The Ministry of Revenue is inappropriate in its decision. The emperor issued an edict to investigate the idle land in the southern part of the Ming Dynasty. Now the cabinet has approved it, and the emperor granted it to the new land in the Temuke in Chile in southern America, and it is recommended that it be given 260 hectares of land in the new Laian and An area in Chile in southern America!"

After receiving the order, Suchen, the Marquis of Liyang, was very shocked. He thought when the Ming Dynasty had an Americas, Chile, Temuke, and Xinlai'an, where was Xinlai'an? But he had to accept the emperor's edict. He had to ask the official for a moment: "I dare to ask, where is Xinlai'an given by Your Majesty? Is it Fengrun or Baoding or Hejian?"

The peddler hurriedly said, "Your Majesty knew that Liyang Hou didn't know this new land, so I specially asked our family to bring you the map. You see, the land in the world is from my Ming Dynasty, this continent is America, and this place was ordered by Your Majesty to be Chile, this part of Chile is Temuke. Temuke has a coastal land, which is this area. According to the report of Jianchang Hou, there are huge trees to be harvested in this area, and there are countless rare beasts, which are treasure lands. You are blessed by Liyang Hou. Most people want to have such a piece of land but can't get it."

The Marquis of Liyang thought that this place was not a treasure land, it was just a forest land without people. What's the benefit of getting it? It would be better to give yourself a piece of forest land within the pass. This forest land is far away from the other side of the ocean. Even if he wanted to log and sell it, he would have to spend a lot of money.

"If Marquis of Liyang wants to develop this place, he can borrow from the imperial bank. No matter what, this place is now yours. If you don't go, no one will care. The Folang Ji people are developing in this area. If they occupy your land at that time, it will be troublesome!"

After the official said the news, the Marquis of Liyang had to smile awkwardly: "Yes, Su understands!"

After the reign of the Fengguan, Su Chen, the Marquis of Liyang, showed a look of depression, but as a nobleman of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was unwilling to give him the land of the people, and he could not do anything to the emperor.

Zhu Houzhao knew that the emperors before regarded the world as their private property, and these noble and noble vassal kings were their relatives. As the emperor, giving some of their own land to their relatives seemed to be in line with human ethics, and noble and noble vassal kings would also ask the emperor for a certain piece of land without hesitation.

Even the emperor would take the initiative to give a large amount of land to these noble vassal kings. For example, in history, Wanli gave King Fu 20,000 hectares of land, salt entrusted, and the national treasury was empty. The fiefdom was not enough and he had to be collected in Huguang, Shandong and other places.

This undoubtedly aggravates the empire's land annexation phenomenon, promotes the luxury of the vassal kings and nobles, and leaves the poor without a land to rely on.

Nowadays, Zhu Houzhao dares not regard the world as his own private property. Although in terms of the system and the consciousness of the world, the world is still his own private property.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that everyone had the right to be respected by private property and the need to own private property. He could exploit the ruled, but he could not be deprived. Deprivation would make everyone in the world resist him.

Next, Zhu Houzhao did this. As long as he was a royal relative who filed for the fief, Zhu Houzhao directly circled some places in South America, Africa, and Australia to give them, because there were no people in the Ming Dynasty, and giving them to the royal relatives would not infringe on the interests of the people.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao knew that he did this, and these royal relatives would naturally have some complaints, but if there were complaints, there would be complaints. Zhu Houzhao didn't believe that these royal relatives could do anything. The nobles of this era were not aristocrats before the Song Dynasty, and had no tribes or fiefs. Not to mention his own emperor, sometimes these royal relatives could not even fight against a civil servant.

Moreover, facts have proved that even vassal kings like Ru Ning could not rebel successfully.

Now that the empire has come to this day, Zhu Houzhao seems to have no clear direction to improve the empire. He seems to be doing the same thing every day. Officials at all levels are routinely handling every matter, and his emperor also approved it procedurally.

However, the minor changes are still very obvious. Now the empire is launching a large-scale military force to the north, causing a sharp increase in military spending. The empire's wealth is used as military expenditure.

At the same time, the trade in border towns has also suffered a great loss, and the tax and commercial income of border trade has also dropped sharply, which the officials in the north cannot bear.

Kang Hai, the chief assistant of the cabinet, also discovered this phenomenon: "Your Majesty, this year's border trade income has been greatly reduced. From Datong to Liaodong, Shanxi merchants who mainly engage in border trade have suffered the most losses, and have also caused a sharp drop in sales of southern silk cotton and silk, and military expenditure has increased a lot. In the short term, the current situation in the north is quite unfavorable to our Ming Dynasty!"

"This is not the reason why these Shanxi merchants and the Tartars blame themselves. If these Shanxi merchants do not smuggle the Tartars, contact the Tartars to plunder the border, intend to destroy the normal border trade, and do not pay tariffs, but make huge profits through smuggling. Now I have sent a large army to sweep the Tartars and make no trade market in the north, they finally know that it is painful, right!"

Zhu Houzhao also knew that hundreds of thousands of troops were stationed in the north for a long time, and even continued to increase troops, which almost made it difficult for a large area outside the Great Wall from south of Lake Baikal to north of Zhangjiakou today to find Mongolian tribes. Some of them were destroyed or driven away, and some were forcibly immigrated overseas by the Ming Dynasty. Now, there is no commercial market in this area.

As Shanxi is closest to this area, the main commercial activities of Shanxi merchants are naturally in this area. Therefore, the commercial markets in this area disappear, and Shanxi merchants naturally suffer the greatest losses.

But as Zhu Houzhao said, this was also the fault of Shanxi merchants themselves. They were unwilling to trade through formal channels of the court to avoid taxes by smuggling, and to make the court lose its ability to control border trade, they could only collude with the Tartars to plunder the border.

But what the Shanxi merchants miscalculated was that with the advancement of the industrialization of the Ming Dynasty, the military war model of the Ming Dynasty had changed, and the Taurus cavalry could no longer pose any threat to the Ming Dynasty, which had advanced muskets and artillery.

Moreover, with the great increase in the empire's income after the Ming Dynasty opened its sea, it was not difficult to destroy the northern Tartars on a large scale.

It is precisely because of this that the interests of Shanxi merchants have been greatly damaged and they have to start to surrender to the court, hoping that the court will stop sweeping outside the border and restore peace in this area.

"Your Majesty, the Shanxi merchants who do evil have been severely punished, but the court cannot ignore the lives and deaths of the entire northern merchants and travelers. Moreover, travelers in the north must have understood the intention of colluding with the Tartars to disrupt the world. This problem must be solved now. Moreover, if the military expenditure of our Ming Dynasty continues to increase at this rate, it is not a long-term solution," Kang Hai said at this time.

Zhang Cong couldn't help but stand up: "Your Majesty, as the Prime Minister said, although the national treasury reserves are becoming more and more abundant, they are only used for military expenditure, which is quite suspicious of being powerful and powerful, which is not conducive to the country. As Your Majesty said, the wealth of the national treasury comes from the people, and applies it to the people, such as building bridges, building dikes and promoting education, are all things that benefit the country and the people. However, now the wealth of the national treasury is only used for the people, and I am afraid that the people will not take this as a need. Therefore, I also believe that the north will send hundreds of thousands of troops, and an inch of land will be taken. It is not a long-term plan, and a land without a man will be a waste of money after all."

Zhu Houzhao nodded, and admitted that what Zhang Cong and Kang Hai said were right. He could not blindly advance north because of some Shanxi merchants. Perhaps this was also the helplessness of the Central Plains dynasty.

The promising kings of all dynasties naturally did not want the empire to have a vast territory, but running an empire is like doing business, not to say that the more land the better. It is better to leave some valuable land in your hands, except for spending money and food to defend it, so as to save money and increase people's livelihood.

"According to your opinion, the Ming Dynasty should now discard all the land outside the border, and don't have all the land from Helin to Daning (equivalent to Mongolia and Inner Mongolia today), and the army will withdraw?"

After Zhu Houzhao asked this, the officials in the cabinet remained silent. After all, they did not dare to say that all these lands were abandoned.

However, Yang Yiqing walked over with a wooden wheelchair at this time: "Your Majesty, I think it is not possible. This vast land is occupied by the entire Guards for countless efforts. It is a pity that the money and food alone are spent. Now it is rashly discarded!

What I want to ask is that these hundreds of thousands of guards can still play a defensive role now in the area outside the border, but if they are withdrawn from the pass, how can the court support them?"

"It is naturally impossible to withdraw. What I am confused about is that since the Tartars can survive in these places, why can't we Han people? Could it be that we Han people can't shepherd sheep? Since it is land, there is always a promising future. I think the court should think of how to use these lands instead of abandoning them. If it is abandoned, the Tartars who fled north will inevitably come back, and the Tartars who go east will also advance east, and there will still be border troubles! All the things they do today will be wasted!"

Xia Yan also took over the words at this time and said.

"The land outside the border cannot be abandoned! I will explain this first. In a peaceful era, the population will only increase. If the land is abandoned because it is useless now, it will only intensify the dispute between people and land within the empire. Although the north is bitter and cold, it is not completely unsuitable for people's lives. Xia Qing said right, the future of land is not only about whether it can be cultivated. Different lands have different prospects. The court should find a way to use these lands instead of abandoning them!"

After Zhu Houzhao said that, Kang Hai and Zhang Cong quickly declared the order.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and began to think carefully with these court officials how to use the newly occupied land in the north.

There is no doubt that in addition to the Great Wall, winter wheat can be planted, most of the land outside the Great Wall can be used for agriculture. Moreover, Zhu Houzhao also knew that in fifty years, the climate of the Little Glacier will become more and more obvious, and then the places in the north of the Great Wall will become colder. In the long run, it is not suitable for the development of agriculture. Even in later generations, areas such as Liaodong and Nuergandusi are still the main rice production areas.

The only way to consider at the moment is industrialization, striving to find the value of these lands in industrial utilization. Of course, traditional industries such as animal husbandry in these lands can still be developed, and even the development of the food industry can be used to promote animal husbandry. After all, if everyone in the Ming Dynasty drinks milk every day in the future, there will definitely be a lot of demand for dairy cows, and the animal husbandry in these grasslands outside the border will undoubtedly have a lot of room for development.

Of course, the problem is that no one has drunk milk in the Ming Dynasty, and dairy products are just becoming popular in the aristocratic class.

Zhu Houzhao felt that the most immediately reflecting the value of the land outside the border was the rich mineral resources contained outside the border. Zhu Houzhao vaguely remembered later generations that from Helin to Daning were areas with abundant mineral resources in later generations.

In later generations, Inner Mongolia was the home of the world's "open-pit coal mines". Later generations of Mongolia also had rich coal, silver and copper content.

The Ming Dynasty has now implemented steam mechanization in the textile industry, and the demand for coal is accelerating. What Zhu Houzhao can predict is that since the Ming Dynasty has started steam mechanization in the textile industry, mining, transportation, military, navigation, water conservancy and other aspects will definitely start steam industrialization quickly, and the demand for coal will definitely be greater at that time.

In the future, the places outside the Ming Dynasty now occupying their own Ming Dynasty will undoubtedly provide the Ming Dynasty with abundant mineral resources.

Zhu Houzhao convened a court meeting again.

"These places outside the border are naturally not very meaningful to farm for farmers. I thought about it and could be distributed to herders and livestock, and also contracted to merchants to start mining. The latter should be the most effective way at the moment. I remember that the Ministry of Works has just submitted a memorial, and the coal output of the official coal mine in Zhengde in the 19th year was four times higher than that in Zhengde in the 18th year! This shows that as the steam engine began to appear in the Ming Dynasty, the demand for coal was increasing sharply."

Zhu Houzhao said.

After hearing this, Zhang Cong nodded. He was in charge of the Ministry of Works and naturally knew how much coal was in demand in the Ming Dynasty. However, he had to remind him: "Your Majesty, I have been in the border town for a long time and found that the merchants were not willing to mine in places like Hetao, the newly occupied Ming Dynasty, and the northern part of the Seitao."

"Why is this? Most of the coal mines in Hetao and Saibei are open-pit mines, which are difficult to mine and have cheaper labor. Mining in the pass can destroy people's ancestral property. Moreover, I have not yet issued an order to allow private mines in the pass. It can be said that private miners are still illegally mining," said Zhu Houzhao.

"Because the mines in the pass do not collect mining taxes, because the imperial court explicitly prohibited mining, there is no tax supervision tax. However, in Hetao and northern Seita, the court was a military farm and mine, but would collect mining taxes and land taxes. Therefore, merchants are still more willing to start mining in the pass. As for labor, the people of the Ming Dynasty have always had low wage requirements, and some even only require three meals a day to satisfy. Moreover, most of them are Han people in the pass, and Han people can tolerate them, and most of them are Mongolian people outside the pass, and Mongolian people cannot be deceived. Therefore, merchants who start mining would rather exploit Han people of the same clan than exploit Mongolian people. Therefore, in terms of employment costs, it is also more cost-effective within the pass."

Zhang Cong replied.

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao was stunned for a moment: "I didn't expect that the Han people are easily bullied and more easily bullied by their compatriots. This has been the case since ancient times;

But at present, as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and as important officials of the court, what you think and think must be beneficial to the country of the Ming Dynasty and the national interests of the empire. We must start from this point of view. It is naturally better for merchants to mine outside the pass than for merchants to mine inside the pass!

What's more, coal mines in Guandi are difficult to mine and have a high degree of damage to land. According to the investigation by Dongchang, it is estimated that more than 10,000 people died in the mine accident in Zhengde in the 17th year, and the arable land was destroyed by more than 50,000 mu. There is no doubt that mining in Guandi is not conducive to the country!"

After hearing what Zhu Houzhao said, the officials in the cabinet could not help but nodded and said yes.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but look at Kang Hai and others: "You are all cabinet ministers in charge of internal affairs. Speaking of this, I want to ask, do you know how many mines are in the pass under the ban on mining, what is the actual coal output of the Ming Dynasty every year, how many arable land is destroyed by mining, how many people die in the mine disaster every year, and how many treasury assets of the imperial court are lost? Do you know?"

"This, most of the miners are nobles and gentry. It is as difficult as banning mines and banning private salt, and I am powerless!" Kang Hai couldn't help but reply truthfully.

"It is difficult to ban it, it cannot be a reason to ignore it. So far, I have not remembered that a court official asked me to open a mine and ban the collection of mine taxes, and no court official asked me to strictly prohibit the civilian mining! No minister noticed these problems. Instead, the East Factory is doing it. What are you civil officials doing? This is a manifestation of inaction! You used to say that you are worried about the country and the people, where are you worried about the country and the people?" Zhu Houzhao asked seriously.
Chapter completed!