Chapter 556: Eating from the Big Households, Seizing Territory

What do you mean, "eating from the big households"? Isn't that just begging? And not even begging properly — a whole mob of people begging under arms! That's the sort of thing you'd send Li Zicheng to do. I'm the Crown Prince of the Great Ming!

Zhu Cilang said thoughtfully, "The military advisor's plan is good, but isn't the biggest household under heaven my own family? For me, the Crown Prince, to lead refugees out to eat from the big households — that doesn't seem quite proper, does it?"

As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward Wei Zaode — the Crown Prince was of imperial blood, not suited to leading refugees out to eat from the big households, so you, the Grand Secretary, should step forward at once!

Wei Zaode, catching Zhu Cilang's look, knew he had to step forward and speak, so he said with a smile, "It is proper — how is it not proper? Such things happened in both the Sui and Tang dynasties. According to the histories, in the fourteenth year of Kaihuang, a great drought struck the Guanzhong region and grain ran short, so Emperor Wen of Sui led his hundred officials, his kin, and several hundred thousand Guanzhong refugees to Luoyang to seek food. For this, Emperor Wen of Sui earned the fine title of 'the food-seeking Son of Heaven'!

Later, when Emperor Gaozu of Tang became emperor, he too, because Guanzhong lacked grain, led his hundred officials and starving people to Luoyang to seek food. Because preparations were inadequate, quite a few people starved to death along the way."

What "fine title of the food-seeking Son of Heaven" — doesn't that just mean "the Beggar Emperor"? Zhu Cilang thought to himself: I've been going around all this time peddling that "the Great Ancestor, the Exalted Emperor, reborn" routine to fool people, and now it's come back to bite me — I really am going to have to go begging, just like Zhu Yuanzhang!

But Hunan was the home of his previous life! People always talk about returning home in brocade robes, yet now he was going to return home to beg.

At that thought, Zhu Cilang sighed, thinking: how is it that there isn't a single famous minister who can go begging in my place?

"Your Highness, Crown Prince!"

Just as Zhu Cilang was thinking this, the deputy military advisor Cao Youyi stepped forward.

Excellent! Zhu Cilang looked at old Cao and felt his appearance was indeed well suited to begging! Do a good job, and your name will go down in history — you'll be the Beggar Commander!

Cao Youyi said, "This subject believes that for Your Highness to lead people to Hunan to seek food is still too close. Better to go a bit farther — make a trip to Guangdong."

What? We have to go begging in Guangdong too! Zhu Cilang kept a smile on his face, but inwardly he was already furious. His gaze slid across the hall, searching for the Chief Censor, Duke of Ying, Zhang Shize — this Cao Youyi really looked like a corrupt official! He must be thoroughly investigated!

Cao Youyi had no idea that disaster was about to befall him, and was still there offering advice!

"Thousand Years, leading the northern refugees south to seek food is an opportunity to seize control of the wealthy lands of Hunan and Guangdong!"

What? Zhu Cilang's expression shifted slightly. "Speak quickly!"

Cao Youyi said with a smile, "This subject has often heard it said that Guangdong is wealthy, no less than Jiangnan. Its territory is vast, with many paddy fields and a warm climate that allows three harvests a year. Moreover, the provincial capital Guangzhou has been a commercial port for a thousand years and is extremely prosperous. Foshan, near Guangzhou, is one of the Four Great Markets under heaven, rich in ironware and firearms. How can such a wealthy and vital place lack our own people to hold it? The Crown Prince can take this opportunity of going south to seek food to bring one or two hundred thousand people with him, settle them near Guangzhou, grant them land, and then select the able-bodied among them and organize them into a new army. In this way, the wealthy land of Guangdong will be firmly in Your Highness's grasp!"

Isn't this just the method the Eight Banners used, stationing troops at strategic points in every province? Zhu Cilang's imperial countenance was already beaming with delight — he had very nearly wronged a loyal minister just now.

Besides worrying about the food problem, the Crown Prince had also been worrying about how to deal with the people of Guangdong!

Guangdong's registered farmland amounted to nearly twenty-six million mu, only a little over three million mu less than Shaanxi (and if one checked carefully, Guangdong probably had more fields), yet its total land tax was only 999,900 shi — more than 700,000 shi less than Shaanxi's total land tax!

Who knows how the Ming court ever set the tax quotas for each region? Guangdong's taxes were actually so much lower than Shaanxi's! How could the people of Guangdong ever agree to such a thing? In later ages, a single Shenzhen would be worth two Shaanxis! There may be no Shenzhen now, but Guangzhou is the number one commercial port under heaven!

Guangdong's taxes ought to be tripled — no, quintupled — before they'd be anything like proper!

And besides, there are still the customs duties and commercial taxes!

Guangzhou has been a great port for foreign trade since the Han dynasty, and has flourished for over 1,400 years now! To this day, Guangzhou remains the number one commercial port of the Great Ming — yet what about the commercial taxes and customs duties? Wouldn't it be embarrassing if they didn't amount to several million taels a year?

But several million shi of grain and several million taels of silver could never be collected from the people of Guangdong merely by issuing a few decrees and executing a few corrupt officials. Because in these times, the people of Guangdong were still quite fierce — conflicts and armed feuds between the native and Hakka populations had been occurring since the middle of the Ming dynasty!

Although the native-Hakka feuds of the Ming could not yet compare with those of the Qing, especially the mid-to-late Qing, they had nonetheless fostered a certain military tradition in the Guangdong region.

According to what Zhu Cilang had learned from his Guangdong-born confidants Huang Jiang, Su Guansheng, Li Shichun, and others, in many parts of Guangdong the native and Hakka clans had already coalesced through years of feuding. They mostly lived together by clan, built fortified strongholds, trained clan soldiers, and forged weapons — just like the powerful clans of the late Eastern Han through the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

And between the native and Hakka clans, fierce clashes still broke out from time to time. It was not unheard of for both sides to field several hundred or even a thousand men, draw up battle formations, and fight one another — the local authorities were utterly powerless to stop it.

If they couldn't even stop feuds between native and Hakka clans, how were the Ming local officials in Guangdong supposed to collect taxes? Those powerful clans, constantly clashing and brawling, were nothing like the gentry of Jiangnan!

Setting aside the fighting ability honed through long conflict, even the scale and cohesion of the clans far exceeded those of the southeast. In the southeast, lacking the pressure of native-Hakka conflict, the internal cohesion of the clans was very weak, and the only obstacle to tax collection was gentry power.

The southeastern gentry generally had no military force. If Zhu Cilang truly turned hostile and began a massacre, they would be nothing but fat pigs awaiting slaughter. But Zhu Cilang was still a reasonable man. However much the southeastern gentry might cheat, the Ming court could still collect six million shi of land tax from the Southern Metropolitan Region each year, plus a good deal of commercial tax. Huguang only gave two million, Sichuan only one million, and Guangdong a mere 990,000. By comparison, these southeastern gentry were relatively conscientious, so one couldn't be too brutal with them.

But Guangdong was a different, far darker story. Collecting taxes and surveying land in Guangdong was not a contest against the gentry — it meant going head-to-head with the native and Hakka clans, all of them powerful lineages! The Ming troops in Guangdong could never handle them, so no matter who had been sent to Guangdong before, it had all been for nothing.

To collect sufficient tax revenue from the people of Guangdong, a truly effective new army had to be sent there!

But Zhu Cilang did not have enough new army troops on hand.

So Cao Youyi's plan solved a major problem that Zhu Cilang was facing!

"Minister Cao!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile. "You are indeed a pillar of Our court!"

Since he was a pillar, then the corruption investigation could be dropped. Zhu Cilang had already made up his mind — he would have Cao Youyi appointed "General of Guangzhou" and send him to Guangdong to beg, and while he was at it, seize Hong Kong and Shenzhen too — what a lucrative post!

"Your Highness, Crown Prince," said another of Zhu Cilang's confidants, the Minister of Works Lin Zengzhi, seizing the chance to offer advice, "the northerners now in flight number in the millions — in truth, over ten million — and among them there are great numbers of able-bodied men. The court could distribute them among strategic points in the various provinces, and then select the able-bodied from among them and organize them into armies. If the northerners gain food and the court gains soldiers, our control over the various regions will also be greatly strengthened."

"That is exactly how it should be!" Zhu Cilang smiled. "The Ministry of War and the Grand Marshal's Office are to draw up a plan immediately. Nanjing and Wuhan will naturally be the places where the most northerners are settled, followed by Fengyang, Yangzhou, Huai'an, Zhenjiang, Songjiang, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Jiujiang, Jingzhou, Xiangyang, Changsha, Guangzhou, Guilin, and other places, all of which are to receive their assigned settlements."

In one breath, Zhu Cilang named sixteen prefectures. Excluding Nanjing and Wuhan, if each prefecture took on an average of a hundred thousand or so refugees, then two million northerners would have places to go and eat from the big households!

And if a hundred thousand or more able-bodied men could be selected from among these refugees, then the Ming court's control over Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and other provinces would also be greatly strengthened!

In addition, Nanjing and Wuhan must together take in at least one million able-bodied northerners — they would be the most important source of manpower for the new army to overcome all difficulties.

Zhu Cilang paused, then continued, "Dispatch one battalion of the new army to each place where refugees are gathering, to take charge of assembling the refugees and sending them on to Jiangdu. In addition, the navy is to find ways to muster ships to assist the refugees in coming. Once the refugees have all reached Nanjing, We shall personally lead them to Huguang and Guangdong to seek food."

(End of Chapter)