Chapter 1356: Send Them All Off to America

Chongqing Prefecture, Chaotian Palace.

Its master had now become the Ming dynasty's foremost filial son, Zhu Cilang. Li Laiheng had left in such a hurry this time that he had not even had time to do a proper job of wrecking the place, so Chaotian Palace, which differed little from a bandit stronghold, had now become Zhu Cilang's temporary residence in Chongqing.

The Crown Prince Zhu Hexing, Crown Princess Ding Yuying, Prince of Shen Zhu Hehao, Princess of Shen Wu Ahuan, and the Prince of Shen's secondary consort Ahai, along with others, had all arrived at Chaotian Palace in Chongqing together with the Zhu Emperor.

The few of them were now clustered around Zhu Cilang, walking atop the walls of Chaotian Palace. Ding Yuying, Wu Ahuan, and Ahai were all pregnant. But these three were none of them delicate women, and they had felt no discomfort after becoming pregnant, so they could still stroll about freely. As for Zhu Hexing and Zhu Hehao, both had recently been on the battlefield and had served as county officials.

The battlefields Zhu Hexing and Zhu Hehao had been on were all for suppressing the remnants of the roving bandits; they could not be called intense, but they had still greatly tested the two men's military ability and political skill.

And the territories they governed were all prefectures and counties along the Yangtze. Zhu Hexing and Ding Yuying had served for several months as County Magistrates of Fengdu — they had performed adequately, held the civil examinations, distributed land, trained local militia, and suppressed bandits. Not all of these matters had gone smoothly; quite often they had been thrown into a flurry! But in the end they had managed to cope, and had come to understand that holding office was no easy thing.

Zhu Hehao, for his part, had served a term as County Magistrate of Wan County, with Wu Ahuan and Ahai likewise assisting at his side. Before that, the three of them had been "interning" at Yong'an. Although Zhu Hehao was several years older than Zhu Hexing, and also cleverer, more tactful in dealing with people and affairs, and highly gifted in matters of wealth,

Wan County under his governance was nevertheless not as stable as Fengdu. The local officials and common people had kicked up trouble several times, and he had even been complained about by the county yamens of neighboring Shizhu, Zhongzhou, Kai County, Yunyang, Liangshan, Xinning, and other places. Fortunately, all the various troubles had in the end been smoothed over by the Tycoon King himself, without requesting the great Zhu Emperor to step in and settle them.

And the reason Zhu Hehao had been the target of so many malicious complaints was not that his administrative ability was particularly poor. Even if it truly had been poor, people would still have had to give this Tycoon King some face. But during his term in Wan County, the Tycoon King had done one thing that forced the surrounding County Magistrates to lodge complaints — he had offered amnesty to the remnants of the roving bandits who had taken to the hills!

This was something that drew hatred!

The common people of every county in eastern Sichuan hated the roving bandits to the bone, wishing they could exterminate them to the last man — how could amnesty possibly be offered? And Zhu Hehao had not only offered amnesty within the territory of Wan County under his own jurisdiction, but had also gone into the territories of several neighboring prefectures and counties to offer amnesty.

For example, the roving bandits at Dafeng Fort in Shizhu had all been won over by Zhu Hehao's amnesty — they had been driven into a corner with no way out, when suddenly a king of the United States sent men to offer amnesty, promising to take them to the New World to live a good life. Naturally, that crowd did not keep holding out stubbornly on the mountain, but came down one after another and joined Zhu Hehao's command, becoming "soldiers of the United States government," all destined to go to the New World and get their "green booklets."

At this, the local officials of Shizhu, Zhongzhou, Kai County, Yunyang, Liangshan, Xinning, and other places all refused to stand for it, and jointly filed malicious complaints against the Tycoon King!

Of course, these prefectural and county officials did not truly wish to make trouble for the Tycoon King; rather, it was the Tycoon King's own retainers who had told them to lodge complaints with the throne in order to appease public anger — in truth, the Tycoon King's amnesty was beneficial to these local officials. Otherwise, if it really came to fighting, these men might not necessarily win, and might well get themselves killed. Was it not far better to have peace and quiet?

As for public anger, appeasing it a little was enough. How many officials of the great Ming feudal dynasty would truly stand up for the people?

And after Zhu Cilang received the memorials of complaint from the officials below, far from reproaching Zhu Hehao, he openly issued an imperial edict publicly praising Zhu Hehao's benevolence, lauding him as a benevolent and righteous ruler. He also required local officials everywhere to learn from him, and to treat the remnants of the Shun government soldiers who had taken to the hills with a lenient and benevolent heart — the New World was so vast, there would always be a place for them!

As for the resentment of the Sichuan people, Zhu Cilang, that enlightened ruler, did not care in the slightest. Because he felt that the people of Sichuan had lived quite well under the rule of the Shun dynasty — the fact that the population had increased by so much proved the point! That was not restorative growth after a great massacre, but high growth achieved on top of an already high base.

This showed that Sichuan under the roving bandits' rule had, as far as possible, achieved an equal distribution of grain!

This point alone was better than the great Ming. The great Ming's per capita arable land was several times that of Sichuan under the roving bandits' rule, and every year it imported more than ten million shi of rice, yet great numbers of people still could not eat their fill and had to go to the United States to become indentured laborers. Moreover, the population growth rate was far lower than that of the Shun — this showed that the Shun state, which took all government soldiers as its foundation and completely sealed off the common people's channels of advancement, actually surpassed the great Ming state, which stressed free competition and getting rich by one's own ability and luck, in terms of social fairness!

Standing at a high point on the walls of Chaotian Palace and gazing across the Jialing River, where many farmers were turning over the soil of the winter-fallow land on the opposite bank, the Zhu Emperor suddenly grew somewhat emotional: "Before long, the farmers of Sichuan will probably come to miss the roving bandits who ran off, won't they?"

Zhu Hexing, beside him, laughed: "Imperial Father, that cannot be possible, can it? The people of Sichuan already hate the roving bandits to the extreme; your son saw it with his own eyes in Shizhu and Fengdu. Now everyone in Sichuan loves the great Ming and hates the roving bandits; there will be no mistake."

Zhu Cilang turned his head to look at Zhu Hehao on the other side. The Tycoon King laughed: "Imperial Father must have his reasons for saying so, and therefore we ought all the more, before people's hearts change, to offer amnesty to more of the bandits in the mountains and send them all off to the New World."

Zhu Cilang smiled: "Are you not afraid they will stir up trouble again once they reach the New World?"

"Not afraid!" said Zhu Hehao. "The New World has very few people and a great deal of land, and it is also very rich. There is no shortage of places for them to open up, so there is no fear of them making trouble. Besides, there are also many warlike Indians there, and these government soldier households will be just the ones to deal with them."

That was true — in the New World, the meat-filled buns really were made with two pieces of meat sandwiching one piece of bread!

And with the development of the United States of the New World, grain production had also risen. Not only was there more meat than could be eaten, there was likewise more than enough grain.

For the government soldier households and farming households here in Sichuan, that place was simply heaven!

Of course, even a heaven-like territory had its vexations. As the United States of the New World continued to expand into the interior, the conflicts between the United States and the Indian tribes in the Stone Mountains (the Rockies) grew ever more intense.

According to reports already received from the parliamentary government and executive government of the United States of the New World, in the great plains region east of the Stone Mountains there still lived many powerful Indian tribes.

Moreover, most of the Indian tribes were very difficult to deal with — they did not know much about farming, were not much good at herding, and had little commerce. Their food came mainly from hunting, and most of them were warlike and fierce, and had come into violent conflict with the Han pioneering groups pushing deep into the great Stone Mountains!

Several outposts established by pioneering groups had even been besieged by large numbers of Indians, and had nearly fallen with everyone inside killed!

It was precisely because of these reports that the Tycoon King wanted to offer amnesty to more of the Shun government soldier households remaining in Sichuan — the fighting strength of these people was not at all the same as that of the bankrupt peasants of the southeast.

The Zhu Emperor nodded and smiled: "Then offer amnesty to more of them. Later We shall issue an edict ordering every prefecture and county to do their utmost to offer amnesty to the roving bandits' government soldier households. After amnesty, they are to be guarded by the Imperial Guard and the New Army, and all sent to Chongqing Prefecture. Tycoon boy, these people will be handed over to you! Can you manage them?"

The Tycoon King laughed: "Imperial Father, rest assured, your son has a way."

Zhu Cilang asked with a smile: "Tell me, what way?"

Zhu Hehao said: "These roving bandits are actually not hard to control, because they are not true roving rebels, but military households long accustomed to hierarchy and military discipline. Moreover, the younger ones, both men and women, can read and write and understand reason. Your son plans to organize civil examinations for the United States and let these people take them. Through the examinations, a batch of Centurions can be selected, and they can be left to govern themselves."

These people were organized and disciplined, cultured and skilled in martial arts, and moreover they were mixed men and women, with more women than men! For the Tycoon King, they were absolutely a fortune!

Zhu Cilang laughed: "Tycoon boy is indeed full of wisdom and stratagems. We are reassured!"

(End of Chapter)