Chapter 8: Imperial Estate 4

Wang Cheng'en followed him into the room, and Liu Chao hurried to fetch brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. He had studied at the Inner Palace School after entering the palace—not what one would call deeply learned, but his writing was passable enough. Luo Yangxing, meanwhile, was led by the estate head to the north wing with great deference.

Chongzhen entered and settled himself into the armchair. Wang Cheng'en hastily took the teapot, poured tea for the Emperor, and presented it to him with both hands. Chongzhen accepted it and took a sip. The tea leaves had naturally been brought from the palace; the water was from the village well. In this age without industrial pollution, the well water was cold, sweet, and delicious—the tea brewed from it slipped down smoothly and left a fragrant aftertaste.

Liu Chao came trotting in with the four treasures of the study. Chongzhen set down his teacup, pointed to a chair at the side, and said, "Sit!"

How would Liu Chao dare sit in the Emperor's presence? Waving both head and hands, he said, "There is no seat for a slave before His Majesty—you would be the ruin of me!"

Chongzhen said impatiently, "If I tell you to sit, then sit! In a moment I'll be dictating things you must write on paper—how can you write standing up?"

Only then did Liu Chao find a seat and sit down, his backside barely touching half the chair. He set brush, ink, and paper on the small table beside him and, twisting his body around, reported, "His Majesty, your slave awaits your sacred words!"

"How many granaries are there on the estate? Has this summer's grain shipment to the palace been carried out?" Chongzhen asked.

"To answer His Majesty: the estate has three granaries, each holding roughly ten thousand dan of grain. Because the summer harvest was only recently brought in and part of it has not yet been dried, the grain collected is all stored in the granaries. Including what has not yet been dried, the total comes to about twenty thousand dan—all wheat and barley, no coarse grains," Liu Chao replied.

"I recall you said there are over thirty thousand mu of fields in total. What is the yield per mu? How can the grain tribute be so much?" Chongzhen asked, puzzled.

"To report to His Majesty: the average yield is about one dan per mu. The palace collects rent at seven parts in ten. Since this is an imperial estate, no taxes are levied," Liu Chao answered.

Chongzhen's brows knit together. "How can the land rent be so much? Calculated per person, wouldn't the grain left to the farming households be barely enough to fill their stomachs?"

"To answer His Majesty: this rule has been in place since the reign of the Longqing Emperor. Because the estate is not far from the capital, during the slack farming season the able-bodied young men of the estate go into the city to take short-term work, earning a little silver to supplement the household. The old, the weak, women, and children raise chickens and ducks, and a few households keep pigs. In the past, when the river had more water, they could also catch some fish and shrimp. So the tenant households manage to get by well enough and have no complaints."

Exploitation—bare-faced exploitation! A man grubbing in the soil toils a whole year, and seventy percent of his harvest is taken away; with the remaining grain plus coarse grains he can barely avoid starving to death—and even so, everyone takes it as a matter of course. Chongzhen sighed inwardly.

"From today onward, the land rent is changed to four parts in ten. Let this be the standing rule from now on!" Chongzhen commanded.

"Ah? This, this, this—is His Majesty not being too generous? The land rent is a major source of income for the palace! If the income diminishes, the noble ladies of the palace will grumble and make a fuss!" Both Wang Cheng'en and Liu Chao were greatly startled. In their hearts there was only the interest of the imperial house—when the imperial waters rose, their boats rose with them. As for these poor, lowly tenant households, having a mouthful to eat was already the imperial family's grace.

Chongzhen had no intention of explaining to the two of them such later-age values as civil rights or equality. He simply waved his hand decisively and said, "My mind is made up—no more of your prattle! Whoever in the palace dares to make a fuss, I'll send them to Fengyang to guard the imperial tombs!" The two men shrank their necks and dared not utter another sound.

"I have a plan: I intend to turn this place into a military logistics base. From now on, the clothing, hats, military grain, and other army supplies for Ming officers and soldiers will all be produced here!" Chongzhen continued.

"Begin recording now!"

Liu Chao quickly dipped his brush in ink and looked toward the Emperor.

"Arrange for people to select large tracts of connected open land and build workshops. First, to produce military grain; second, to make clothing and hats. The rest I haven't thought through yet. The workshops must be built spacious enough to accommodate a thousand laborers working at once. As for the design of the workshops and how construction should proceed, I will notify the Ministry of Works to send the relevant people. Your task is to muster the able-bodied young men of the estate for construction. This is not corvée labor—they are to be provided two meals, and they must eat their fill!" As for wages, Chongzhen had no intention of paying them, because there were too many places needing money. If silver were allocated from the state treasury, those civil officials would surely argue with the Emperor until the sky turned upside down.

The silver in the privy purse had more important uses. In truth, for farming households, working hard was the most ordinary thing in the world—and if they could also get two filling meals, then their families saved that much. During the slack season, going to the capital for short-term work didn't mean finding a job every day; sometimes days on end passed with no one hiring them. Where else could one find such a good thing as working at one's own doorstep without leaving one's family?

Liu Chao hastily wrote it all down. Though inwardly he grumbled about providing two meals, he dared not voice any objection.

"After the workshops are completed, build the wall protecting the estate. It needn't be as tall as a city wall—about nine chi will do." Chongzhen intended to make this a logistics base, and the primary consideration was safety.

This place lay to the southwest of the capital, about thirty or forty li away. If the Jianzhou barbarians breached the pass and attacked the capital, their main thrust would come from the northeast or due north. The roving bandits were currently active mostly in Henan, Shaanxi, and Huguang—they lacked the strength to break into North Zhili. Historically, it was only in the final year of Chongzhen that Li Zicheng led his men to the capital. As for building the wall, it was merely to guard against the unforeseen.

"Send people to purchase chicks and ducklings and distribute them to every household free of charge, mobilizing the old, the weak, women, and children to raise them in free range. Build several large pig farms, each capable of raising about three hundred pigs. The households on the estate that already raise pigs have experience—let them each serve as the Bureau Secretary of a pig farm. As for piglets, go buy them in the capital or elsewhere."

Chongzhen picked up his tea and took a sip, then continued: "Send people to purchase paddy rice, various kinds of beans, millet, and foxtail millet. After buying them, grind them separately into flour together with the wheat and barley, mix them together, and stir-fry in large woks with an appropriate amount of oil, salt, and sugar. Then have the women sew cloth into long, thin sausage-shaped bags, each capable of holding about five jin of this stuff!" Five jin of such military grain, because it contained high-calorie ingredients like salt, sugar, and oil, would—if eaten sparingly—suffice one soldier for seven days.

"Next, have people purchase cotton and cotton cloth in preparation for making winter uniforms for officers and soldiers. I will allocate one hundred thousand taels of silver to cover the costs of the above. If it's insufficient, tell me, and I'll find another way. If there's a surplus, buy grain with all of it; if the granaries aren't enough, build more as circumstances warrant. That's all for now—have you recorded everything?" Liu Chao nodded and acknowledged.

Last time he had allocated four hundred thousand taels to Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng; this time he was allocating another hundred thousand to Liu Chao. Though it was all for the sake of the Zhu family's realm, even this silver couldn't withstand such spending.

After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he had gone along with the civil officials' wishes and abolished the mining and tax inspectors across the provinces, earning a flood of praise from the civil officials and the gentry of Jiangnan. Looking back now, he knew he had been duped. The revenues of the mining and tax inspectors all went into the inner treasury; since the Wanli era, these had been the primary source of imperial household expenditure. Those who had beguiled the Emperor into abolishing the mining and tax inspectors were in fact the spokesmen in court of the Jiangnan gentry whose own interests had been harmed.

Now he knew he had been taken in by them—but to send out mining and tax inspectors again would be very difficult, and would surely meet fierce opposition from court and country alike. With the roving bandits within and the Jianzhou barbarians without, he could not afford to stir up unnecessary trouble—and this would be a great trouble at that. He could only swallow this anger for now and reclaim the field once internal and external threats were swept away.

He still had to find ways to open new sources of income! At the thought of making money, Chongzhen grew agitated—he was a liberal arts student; in his previous life, when had he ever done business?

He had read plenty of time-travel novels. Watching those protagonists who traveled back in time easily rise from commoner to wealth overnight, then recruit troops and buy horses to overthrow feudal rule—he was deeply envious. Look at them, tsk tsk—if he hadn't traveled through time, maybe by a young age his wealth could have surpassed Ma Yun's.

Complaints were complaints; the time travel was already reality. Lack of money was the pressing concern, and he still had to find ways to get funds. Making glass, making soap, making perfume, issuing bonds, speculating in stocks—these could indeed amass wealth quickly, but as a liberal arts student he knew nothing of any of that.

The only thing with any prospect now was the Eight Great Merchant Houses of the early Qing. He could only hope they had accumulated enough wealth over these many years—once the Embroidered Uniform Guard had thoroughly investigated them, he would show no courtesy. Heaven gives and one does not take—that itself brings calamity!

Then there were the salt merchants of the Jianghuai region—all million-wealth magnates. But behind each of them stood vast networks of connections, and it would be hard to find a pretext to move against them.

Another figure Chongzhen harbored fantasies about was Zheng Zhilong—now there was a man truly wealthy enough to rival a nation. Historically, Zheng Zhilong's pirate organization collected enormous protection fees, and combined with his own vast fleets engaged in trade, his annual income reached ten million taels of silver.

Zheng Zhilong's greatest weakness was his profound fear of overwhelming force—perhaps related to his wish for stability after years of struggle amassing enormous wealth. The older the hand in the rivers and lakes, the smaller the courage. Back when he was drifting through the underworld he had nothing, but after making his great fortune, who wouldn't hope for descendants to enjoy wealth and honor peacefully forever? It seemed that only after he, the Emperor, could wipe out the roving bandits would Zheng Zhilong truly bow his head to the court. To forge iron, one must be strong oneself.

He sat there lost in thought, saying nothing for a long while. Wang and Liu did not dare make a sound to disturb him. After a moment, Chongzhen came back to himself and asked, "Have you recorded everything? I'm returning to the palace tomorrow, and I don't know when I'll next have time to come. You must fully understand all these plans of mine and carry them out to the letter. If there's anything you don't understand, ask until it's clear—do you hear me?"

"Your slave has recorded everything and understood it all. Whatever His Majesty has charged me with, I will surely accomplish completely!" Liu Chao reported to Chongzhen solemnly.

"Good. I'll await your good news. Also, I'll have Wang Cheng'en select some people from the palace to come assist you—after all, there are many matters, and you can't manage them all alone. Those estate heads have no vision or brains and won't be of much help to you," Chongzhen said. Wang Cheng'en hastily acknowledged.

As they were speaking, Luo Yangxing requested an audience from outside the room. Entering, he presented the memorial in his hands with both arms raised. It seemed the new plan for reorganizing the Embroidered Uniform Guard was complete. Chongzhen took it and looked it over—it was essentially no different from what he himself had described.

"Not bad. Let it be as is for now—implement it immediately upon returning to the capital!" Luo Yangxing bowed in acknowledgment.

The hour had reached shen. Chongzhen and the others ate their evening meal, and feeling weary from the day's travel, each retired to rest. Zhu Zhenqing slept under Wang Cheng'en's attendance until dawn, then, seeing him off with Liu Chao's respectful farewell, set out on the journey back to the capital.