I

  Chapter 614 611 [A lot of waste is waiting to be done]

  Compared with Yangzhou's affluence and congestion, Shandong is really withered.

  Zhao Han sailed all the way to the north, and found that the Shandong cities on both sides of the canal were not as prosperous as when he escaped. This is the result of insisting on immigration every year, otherwise, the cities and villages in Shandong will be even more dilapidated.

  Natural disasters, wars, famines, plagues, the four major factors of population decline.

   Especially the plague, one death is a street, and one death is half a city. However, there are still many common people who fled to the mountains to avoid the war, and have successively descended to the mountains in the past few years to organize households and divide the land. The population of Shandong is definitely more than the original statistics.

   Now that the country is basically unified, it is time for another census.

  When passing by Linqing, Zhao Han called Zhizhou over, and after some questioning, he learned that there were more than 80,000 permanent residents inside and outside Linqing City. This number is not bad, but compared to the early years of Chongzhen, it is not enough.

  Linqing may seem inconspicuous, but with the addition of merchants and waterworkers, the population approached one million during busy times, making it the most populous city in Shandong in the Ming Dynasty.

The evaluation of the missionary Matteo Ricci is: "Linqing is a big city, and few other cities surpass it in commerce. Not only the goods of this province, but also a large number of goods from all over the country are traded here, so A lot of tourists pass by here often.”

  In the Ming Dynasty, there were eight large-scale tax cards throughout the country, and Linqing was the largest one, even surpassing Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Huai'an and Jiujiang. That is: the Eight Great Banknote Passes, led by Linqing.

  In the future, Linqing will definitely not be as grand as Beijing is no longer the capital, and water transport has been completely cancelled.

   Hurry up and hurry up, and finally come to Tianjin.

  This year, Hebei was officially established as a province, and the administrative division has also undergone major changes.

  Shuntian Mansion was changed to Beiping Mansion, the government was located in Beijing, and the jurisdiction area was slightly reduced.

  For example, Baoding County and Wen'an County were separated from Beiping Prefecture and placed under the jurisdiction of Hejian Prefecture. Moreover, in order to prevent confusion between Baoding Prefecture and Baoding County, Baoding County was changed to Desheng County, named after Desheng Lake in its southeast.

   This kind of name change is more than one place.

   Tongzhou next to Beijing is still called Tongzhou. Tongzhou on the Yangtze River has been changed to Nantong.

  Peking Prefecture, like Jinling Prefecture, is under the direct control of the central government, and the rank of prefects is higher. In order to reduce the rapid decline of the Hebei region after losing the status of the capital, it also has the purpose of strengthening grassland control.

  Baanzhou (Zhuolu, Huailai) and Yanqing Prefecture are all under the jurisdiction of Beiping Prefecture.

  Xuanfu Town, one of the nine borders of the Ming Dynasty, will be changed to Xuanhuafu in the future, and the government will be located in Xuanhua. In the future, going north out of the Great Wall, Zhangbei County, Chicheng County, Shangyi County and other places will all be placed under the jurisdiction of Xuanhua Prefecture, so as to better control the grassland area.

  Chengde, Kuancheng, Qinglong, Xinglong, and Luanping in the later generations, the main population at this time was Mongolian, followed by Han, and Jurchen again. All were placed under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province and set up as Chengde Mansion. For the time being, there are still few Han immigrants, but there are two regular divisions stationed there.

  With this area drawn in, the territory of Hebei Province immediately became much larger.

  Shanhaiguan also belongs to Hebei!

  The Hejian Prefecture with a few more counties became the capital of Hebei Province. The government is still in Hejian, but the provincial capital has become Tianjin.

   That is to say, in the territory of Hebei Province, the political structure is relatively complicated. Beiping Prefecture was designated as a direct-administrative government, and Beijing has big bosses sitting in town; Tianjin became the capital of Hebei Province, and big bosses also sit in town. Hejian Prefecture is the capital of Hebei, and the magistrate does not need to be attached to the provincial capital of Guo, which is relatively comfortable.

  In addition, Tianjin Wei was changed to Tianjin County.

   "Minister Fang Shenghong, welcome Your Majesty!" Fang Shenghong, the Zuo Buzheng of Hebei, led local officials to greet him outside Tianjin.

  Brothers Fang Shengchang and Fang Shenghong brought two and a half counties and a half of territory to seek refuge after their own uprising, and they voluntarily gave up the army and became civil servants. Today, Fang Shengchang has become a minister, and Fang Shenghong has also been transferred from Fujian's chief envoy to Hebei to take charge of the government.

   This is the main reason for the formation of the Jiang You faction. There are too many heroes from Jiangxi.

  Fang brothers' territory back then, although relatively poor, was not much smaller than Zhao Han's. After they surrendered, the territory under Zhao Han's rule grew by one-third in an instant, and strictly speaking, they were regarded as entrepreneurial partners.

   Can you not give a high position?

  Currently, Hebei has a small population and only one chief envoy. Fang Shenghong has great power and heavy responsibility.

   "Your honor is free." Zhao Han nodded.

  The two princesses, Zhao Zhenlan and Zhao Zhenfang, and their respective husbands, have already arrived in Tianjin to wait for the royal driver.

  Zheng Sen has resigned from the prefect of Xuzhou and has no other official positions for the time being. He is responsible for supervising the construction of the cemetery of the late emperor and empress dowager. When Zhao Han ascended the throne, he gave his dead parents titles, and they were also the emperor and queen of the new dynasty of Datong.

   "How is the cemetery built?" Zhao Han asked.

  Zheng Sen stepped forward and replied: "In accordance with His Majesty's will, it has been built!"

  Zhao Han said: "Let's advance to the city."

  Revisiting the old place is quite embarrassing.

Zhao Han got off the boat on foot, and when he was about to cross the moat, he pointed there and said, "When I went south with my younger sister, I passed this bridge. There were hungry people outside the bridge. The smell of meat was full of boiled human flesh. I took He was holding a bamboo spear with half a pair of scissors tied to the tip, and was almost ransacked by hungry people. A ten-year-old boy had a fight to get over."

  Fang Shenghong sighed: "It's very difficult and dangerous."

  Zhao Zhenfang said: "At that time, I was terrified. I pulled the corner of Brother Huang's clothes and saw that everyone felt that he was going to pounce on people and eat people."

  Zhao Zhenlan was emotionally touched by the scene, thinking of her dead parents, thinking of the dangers of her younger siblings at that time, and remembering that she was taken to the south by human traffickers. Before she knew it, her eye sockets were already moist, and she wiped her tears as she walked.

   Came to the other courtyard in the city to stay, the concubines chose their own rooms, Zhao Han left the chief envoy and the prefect of Tianjin to stay.

  Zhao Han ate tea cross-legged, and asked, "How is the situation in Hebei?"

  Fang Shenghong said: "The population is still too small, and everything is waiting to be done. With the immigrants from the south, and the people who fled into the mountains, the population of Hebei Province is estimated to be one million."

  The one million people do not include Beiping Prefecture, which is directly under the central government.

  Currently, Zhang Tieniu is stationed in Beijing, Fei Ruhe is stationed in Taiyuan, Huang Shun is stationed in Shanhaiguan, Li Dingguo is stationed in Chengde, Wan Sitong is stationed in Xuanhua, and the northern defense line is full of the main force of the Datong Army.

  This situation also stimulated the economy in the north and along the canal, and most of the military supplies were transported north by merchants. Some medium-sized merchants even took the initiative to move to Hebei to settle down, because doing business in the south is too complicated, and they can still eat some leftovers from the army business in the north.

   "The merchants in Zhangjiakou haven't moved?" Zhao Han asked.

Fang Shenghong said: "When Li Zicheng left, he arrested all the merchants in Zhangjiakou and handcuffed them all. Li Zicheng beat at least half of those traitors who knew the Tartars to death, and spit out countless gold and silver treasures. There are no big merchants in Zhangjiakou anymore. They are some small businessmen, and we will have to rely on them to do business with the grasslands in the future."

  The area in Zhangjiakou, although it belongs to Hebei now, was occupied by Li Zicheng before.

  Li Zicheng is really ruthless, the torture is completely beaten to death, almost no businessman can support it, and he will use all the money hidden. Li Zicheng killed six of the so-called eight imperial merchants of the Qing Dynasty. When the head of the family dies, there are still some real estate left, and the children and grandchildren immediately enter the division mode.

Fang Shenghong said: "Now, the biggest merchant in Zhangjiakou is called Cao Fengji. He has always used the name of an imperial merchant to buy wool from the grassland and sell it to the south. He didn't have a license to specialize in tea and salt, so he bought iron pots from the south and shipped them back to the grassland for sale. In Zhangjiakou again Cooperate with tea merchants and salt merchants to control the wool of the grassland. Your Majesty, this imperial merchant...isn't it fake?"

  The reason why Fang Shenghong paid attention to Cao Fengji was that the name of Huangshang was quite scary, so he was really not sure.

"Fake, how can there be any imperial merchant?" Zhao Han laughed, "But, I did summon this person. If he dares to say that he is an imperial merchant, he will be arrested and locked up for a while, and he will be fined some money Yes. The wool business is good for controlling the grasslands, so he has served the country."

Fang Shenghong also said: "Most of the Datong army is stationed in the north, and the Zunhua Iron Works should be rebuilt. The minister suggested that a weapon station be set up in Zunhua, and let the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of War carry out this task. The people in Hebei also looted all the craftsmen from the Zunhua Iron Works. If you want to rebuild the Zunhua Iron Works, you have to emigrate artisans from the south, and many miners and charcoal burners have to immigrate here."

  Zunhua Iron Works is the largest iron factory in the north and the main weapon production base of Ming Dynasty.

Zhao Han said: "When the population recovers, it's time for the people to repair the post roads in Yanshan. Chengde Mansion is extremely important and must be firmly controlled. Every batch of immigrants who come to Hebei should be allocated to Chengde Mansion. etc. After the Chengde Mansion is consolidated, the Datong Army will be able to cross Yanshan Mountain to the grassland."

  The part of Chengde belonged to Daming in the early Ming Dynasty, but it was basically lost in the middle of Ming Dynasty. After the Tumubao Incident, the Mongols continued to go south to invade and occupy land, while the Ming Dynasty devoted itself to building the Great Wall. In the end, the two sides used the Great Wall as the dividing line.

   During the Tianjin War, the Mongols in the Yanshan area suffered heavy losses following the Tartars.

  Korqin, Karaqin and other Mongolian leaders left the Manchus and ran away halfway, and robbed them again on the way back. All the Mongols in the Yanshan area became beggars.

  Therefore, when the Datong army went north out of the Great Wall, the Mongolian tribes in Yanshan surrendered one after another.

  They belonged to the state of half-cultivation and half-grazing, and even more people were farming, and many of them were Han Chinese. Nowadays, regardless of whether they are Mongols or Han people, they all divide their fields and pastures according to their population, and all Mongolian nobles become commoners.

   No one resisted, and they couldn't resist, because this is not a grassland at all.

  Anyway, the establishment of Chengde Mansion went smoothly, and the Mongolian herdsmen also cooperated with the policy. It's just that the proportion of Han people is too small, at least tens of thousands of immigrants have to be relocated.

Fang Shenghong said: "Changlu Salt Field and its surrounding areas are currently the main immigration places, and a quarter of the immigrants are given priority. Changlu produces enough salt, so there is no need to rely on Huai salt. Hebei will use salt to control the grassland more easily. The minister believes that this policy cannot be changed.”

  The imperial families of the Ming and Qing dynasties all ate salt from the Changlu Saltworks. This is one of the three major saltworks in China, and it must be restored as soon as possible.

  Alas, everything needs to be restored, and everywhere needs population.

  (end of this chapter)