Chapter 472: Red Barbarians Arrive in Port, the Crown Prince Returns in Triumph (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Just as Li Yan was saying this, Minister of Rites Qian Qianyi and Hanlin Academician Bi Jiucheng arrived together and were waiting outside the main hall for an audience.

"Master Qian, Academician Bi, come in quickly." Zhu Cilang had sharp eyes; before the eunuch on duty outside could come in to announce them, he spotted the two of them and called out with a smile for them to enter.

Qian Qianyi and Bi Jiucheng had come to report to Zhu Cilang on the Grand Secretariat's deliberations — during Zhu Cilang's campaign, the Grand Secretaries and senior ministers remaining in Nanjing still had to keep the court functioning, so the Grand Secretariat's meetings continued as usual. Decisions made at those meetings were then sent to Zhu Cilang's army.

In addition, one or two Grand Secretaries and Hanlin Academicians accompanied Zhu Cilang on campaign, and they were responsible for handling the Grand Secretariat memorials sent to the front.

After Qian Qianyi and Bi Jiucheng had saluted Zhu Cilang, they took their seats separately and began their routine report.

Before the report began, a box containing memorials had already been brought in by a eunuch and placed on the table in front of Zhu Cilang. A small table had also been set before Bi Jiucheng, on which were laid the four treasures of the study and a stack of blank memorial forms.

"Your Highness," Qian Qianyi began his report, "Governor Gao Hongtu of Shandong has memorialized that the eastern barbarians have settled tens of thousands of households of so-called Plain Green Banner troops across the three prefectures of the Eastern Depot, Yanzhou, and Jinan, enclosing several hundred thousand qing of good farmland. Except for the lands south of the Tu River in Jinan Prefecture, east of Qufu in Yanzhou Prefecture, and the Taiyi mountain region, everything has fallen into the hands of the so-called Plain Green Banner troops!

Moreover, across the Northern Metropolitan Region and Henan, the eastern barbarians are now carrying out a policy of land allotment by headcount! Each person is allotted ten mu; a household of five receives fifty mu. After the allotment, each mu pays an annual rent of four sheng."

Zhu Cilang waved his hand: "Already know about it. This Dorgon moves fast — swift and decisive!"

When Jin Zhijun secretly visited Fengyang last time, he had already mentioned the establishment of the Green Banners and the land allotment by headcount. It had been expected to drag on for a while, but under Dorgon's urging, progress had turned out to be very quick and smooth.

Li Yan said, "The eastern barbarians no longer employ the scholar-officials, and the northern gentry have either fled or died, so naturally nothing can stop Dorgon from enclosing land and allotting it."

Zhu Cilang's brow furrowed. This was indeed somewhat unexpected — so the Qing did not necessarily need a bunch of traitorous scholar-officials to prop them up after all!

With their help, the Qing troops would have an easier time marching south — they would have guides. But on the other hand, it also tied Dorgon's hands, preventing him from enclosing more land or carrying out land allotment by headcount.

Qian Qianyi sighed and continued his report: "Your Highness, Prefect Du Yinxi of Jingzhou has memorialized that the roving bandits at Xiangyang have recently shown unusual movements, seemingly intending to march south into Jingchu. In recent days, bandit spies have been active in all the cities and towns of Jingzhou Prefecture, posting notices proclaiming that they will take Huguang and then 'divide the land equally.'"

"What?" Zhu Cilang was startled. "Li Zicheng also wants to allot land by headcount? Why are they all doing this at once? Did they arrange it together or what?"

"Your Highness," Li Yan interjected, "Li Zicheng has always had this idea, but in the past no one would carry it out for him, and he did not know how to go about it. Now that he has enclosed the land of the three prefectures of Xiangyang, Yunyang, and Nanyang and distributed it, his followers are finally satisfied and willing to help carry out the task of land allotment by headcount."

So that was how land allotment by headcount worked — first your own people had to enclose enough land, and only then could you allot land by headcount to the common folk! Otherwise no one would help carry it out, and nothing could get done!

The reason Dorgon could accomplish this now was, first, the "Thanos mode" in the north — the population had dropped by eighty percent! And second, he had enclosed land twice over, and now there were nearly two hundred thousand households of the Eight Banners and Green Banners (excluding the Bordered Green), so he had people to help get things done. Li Zicheng's situation was much the same — he too now had a reliable feudal cadre force.

"When will Li Zicheng march?" Zhu Cilang's brow furrowed.

Li Yan thought for a moment. "After autumn. He is short of grain too! Before autumn, he cannot possibly gather enough provisions for a southward advance. Besides, the officers and men who have just received land surely want to enjoy a few good days, don't they?"

Zhu Cilang let out a breath: "Then there is still some time. At worst he will march before the New Year. As long as we seize Wuchang Prefecture before Li Zicheng does, that will be enough!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Qian Qianyi. "Master Qian, is there anything else urgent?"

If there was nothing else, Zhu Cilang wanted to discuss with Li Yan and Wu Xiang how to deal with Li Zicheng!

"Your Highness, there is one more matter," Qian Qianyi continued. "County Magistrate Luo Dagong of Shanghai has memorialized that a governor of the Red Barbarian country, Fan Damen, has arrived at the port with an embassy and merchant delegation totaling several hundred people, aboard two great Red Barbarian ships, accompanied by Adjutant Chen Ding of the Duke of Quan's household."

"Fan Damen?" Wu Xiang could not help laughing when he heard Qian Qianyi's report. "What kind of name is that?"

Qian Qianyi said with a smile, "Luo Dagong's memorial says this Red Barbarian governor's surname is Damen, and his given name is Edongni. 'Fan' means 'Mister' in the language of the Red Barbarian country. If translated by meaning, it would be 'Mister Damen.'"

"'Mister Damen.'" Zhu Cilang nodded repeatedly. "Good, this Luo Dagong is not bad — he has found out the details quite clearly."

Qian Qianyi continued, "Your Highness, this subject has heard that these Red Barbarians do not submit to royal civilization; they fear force but do not cherish virtue. Should we not first display force to them, and only afterwards treat them with virtue?"

"Displaying force is easy to say," Zhu Cilang looked at Qian Qianyi. "What does treating them with virtue mean?"

"That is..." Qian Qianyi frowned deeply, thinking: treating them with virtue is just a stock phrase, the sort written in the histories. Besides, we are the great Ming, a land of rites and propriety, so of course we must conciliate distant lands. Mister Damen of the Red Barbarian country has come such a long way, which is no easy thing, so naturally he must be well entertained. Moreover, if the barbarians have brought tribute, the Ming must give a return gift commensurate in value, and it must be a case of meager tribute and generous return!

Zhu Cilang said, "Issue an edict to Luo Dagong: have him escort Mister Damen and his retinue to Nanjing by land without delay, and be sure to arrive before... the first day of the eighth month!"

"Before the first day of the eighth month?" Qian Qianyi did not quite understand. "Why the first day of the eighth month?"

Zhu Cilang said in a deep voice, "Because We shall return to court in triumph on the first day of the eighth month, and on that day a grand military review ceremony will be held!

We want the people of the Red Barbarian country to see with their own eyes the magnificent martial bearing of Our Hard-Won New Army!"

The Red Barbarian country was the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, also known as the Dutch Republic — the greatest maritime power of this age, and at the same time a strong land power! Although in the coastal waters of China, the Zheng family's fleet did not fear the Dutch, and had in fact won several naval victories in history.

But that was in nearshore waters where the hydrology and winds were extremely complex. The Liaoluo Bay where Zheng Zhilong won fame in a single battle was a bay south of Jinmen Island. Once truly out on the open ocean, the Zheng family's fleet was still not much to look at.

Otherwise, the historical Zheng Ming would not have been trapped to death on the island of Taiwan.

And Zhu Cilang now very much wanted to expand southward along the sea routes. With eighty to a hundred million people crammed into this little patch of southeastern Ming territory, the food supply and living space were both extremely tight, and going to Southeast Asia to find something to eat was unavoidable — the country of Vietnam was currently playing a "four-nation war," its own people fighting with great relish, while that great stretch of the Mekong River basin was almost entirely "ownerless."

If the Ming could go there by sea, even reclaiming a million mu of paddy fields and shipping one or two million shi back to Fujian each year by sea (Fujian was desperately short of grain) could feed several hundred thousand to a million more people!

Moreover, ten thousand li away there was still the continent of Australia lying waste with no one claiming it!

His Highness the Crown Prince was quite eager to enclose it and set up something like an "Australian Ming," but to run that far, even the Zheng family's nautical skills were not enough, so for now he did not want to fall out with the Dutch.

But he also had to make the Dutch know how formidable he was — to know that the present Ming could take the two Dutch footholds on Taiwan at any time, and that it had a land army strong enough to defend itself against invasion from the sea or from the north.

Only in that way could the Ming and the Netherlands possibly reach an equal and mutually beneficial trade and diplomatic agreement.

(End of Chapter)