amaotonovel Chapter 677 Packing up fellow Zhejiang natives and sending them to Liaodong
Chapter 677 Packing up fellow Zhejiang natives and sending them to Liaodong
People can't stand being talked about.
Just as Li Shanchang was wondering why Liu Bowen hadn't jumped out, Liu Bowen suddenly appeared.
"Your Highness, I think the Imperial Son-in-Law and Hu Weiyong are still too conservative."
Ok?
As soon as Liu Bowen finished speaking, Zhu Biao and Li Shanchang looked at him with complete bewilderment.
Do you want to listen to what you are saying?
It's one thing to say that Hu Weiyong is conservative, but the key point is that Yang Dianfeng is also conservative.
Li Shanchang began to examine himself three times a day.
Am I being too conservative in my calculations regarding Yang Dianfeng's men?
Is it too conservative of me to try to target those bastards by cracking down on their associations?
Compared to that old scoundrel Liu Bowen, am I too conservative?
Oh no, I've become a conservative!
Just as Li Shanchang was pondering this, Liu Bowen continued, "I have heard that the land of Liaodong is bitterly cold, deserted, and the roads are overgrown with weeds."
Zhu Biao felt that these words sounded familiar. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that this was the way his brother-in-law described how poor Ningyang County was in his memorial to the throne.
Li Shanchang also felt that these words sounded familiar, but instead of thinking about why they sounded familiar, he began to feel sorry for the barbarians of Jin and Yuan.
After all, the Jin dynasty originated in Liaodong, while the Yuan dynasty has now retreated to a place further north of Liaodong.
According to Liu Bowen, the Liaodong region was deserted and the roads were blocked by hay. What kind of miserable life must those barbarians be living?
Oh, and Hu Weiyong too.
Hu Weiyong has now been promoted by the court to Liaodong as its first provincial governor, and his future days are probably not going to be easy.
However, Hu Weiyong's fate was entirely his own fault.
But if he were to compete with me for the position of Left Chancellor of the Secretariat, I would simply give him the position. Why would he need to go to Liaodong?
Therefore, the suffering Hu Weiyong endured was of his own choosing, and he has no one to blame but himself.
Li Shanchang's thinking became increasingly skewed, and Liu Bowen continued, "How could simply relocating people from Ji'an, Jianyang, and Yuyao possibly cultivate the land of Liaodong in a short period of time?"
"Moreover, there are still unresolved debts left by Hu Yuan for the fourth class of people. If a large number of people are not relocated from Jiangnan to Liaodong, the antagonism between the people in the north and south will be difficult to change in the short term."
"Furthermore, considering that people are homesick, most of the people who migrated to Liaodong would also want to go back to their hometowns for a visit."
"Therefore, I believe that more people from the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang should be relocated there."
At this point, Liu Bowen first apologized to Zhu Biao, then got up and walked to a huge map, drawing a line across Liaodong and the Jiangzhe region.
"Your Highness, please observe that if there are seagoing vessels, the journey from Liaodong to the Jiangzhe region will not take long."
"If transit points are set up at the coast of coastal prefectures and counties such as Dengzhou and Jimo, people who have migrated to Liaodong can stop along the way when returning to their hometowns."
"Eating, resting, and buying some local specialties can not only relieve their travel fatigue, but also promote business in these transit points."
"To achieve multiple goals with one action."
Li Shanchang looked at Liu Bowen again.
It has to be you, Lao Liu. Are you planning to pack up all your fellow villagers from eastern Zhejiang and send them off to reclaim wasteland?
Tsk tsk.
Liaodong is bitterly cold.
Fellow townsman from eastern Zhejiang.
These two words combined, plus Hu Weiyong.
If I were Liu Bowen's fellow townsman from Zhejiang, I would be trying to find a way to invite Xia Yu for a drink right now, and at least arrange a minor crime for him to be sent to Dengzhou Prefecture to do hard labor. That would be better than being sent to Liaodong by Liu Bowen to reclaim wasteland!
While inwardly complaining, Li Shanchang said, "How can the people along the coast alone be enough?"
"Compared to the people in the Jiangnan inland areas, do the people in the coastal areas know how to farm?"
Li Shanchang turned his gaze to Zhu Biao, cupped his hands and said, "In my opinion, since we are going to relocate people to reclaim wasteland, and it is a large-scale and long-term process, we cannot just focus on the people along the coast."
Zhu Biao nodded directly.
Let's move.
Whether they were from the coastal areas of Jiangnan or the inland areas, as long as they were relocated to Liaodong, Hu Weiyong would naturally find a way to settle them properly.
Thinking of this, Zhu Biao smiled and said, "I remember now. My brother-in-law once said that although Liaodong is a cold and harsh place, the land is extremely fertile. If it is developed properly, it will become a land of plenty beyond the Great Wall."
"Since we're going to relocate people there, we might as well relocate more."
"Counselor Hu is a seasoned and prudent official. With him around, these people will surely be settled."
After discussing the relocation of "people" to Liaodong, Zhu Biao continued, "It suddenly occurred to me that if Dengzhou Prefecture can have settlement farms, can't Liaodong do the same?"
Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen were slightly taken aback.
The Dengzhou Prefecture Reclamation Farm was temporarily set up by Yang Dianfeng to accommodate soldiers from garrisons who were not suitable to continue serving in the army but did not want to leave, as well as those who wanted to leave the army but did not know where to go.
What about the reclamation farms in Liaodong?
Given the large-scale relocation of people from Jiangnan to Liaodong, establishing reclamation farms in Liaodong feels like a pointless exercise in vain.
If it wasn't because Vice Emperor Zhu had nothing better to do, then he was planning to drastically reduce the number of soldiers in the garrison.
Thinking of this, Li Shanchang couldn't help but exchange a glance with Liu Bowen.
Li Shanchang shook his head and advised, "Your Highness, please reconsider."
Zhu Biao said "Oh," and asked, "Why?"
Li Shanchang said, "Your Highness, after the soldiers in the garrisons in various places are dismissed, they can set up farms in the local areas. There is no need to send them all to Liaodong."
The key is whether people are willing to go to Liaodong.
After all, Liaodong is notoriously cold and harsh.
Before Liaodong became a land of plenty, how could those disbanded garrison soldiers have been willing to go there?
Besides, is it so easy to reduce the number of soldiers in the garrison?
The thought of those old soldiers in the garrison gave Li Shanchang a headache again.
This is fucking bizarre.
Really.
If you were to suggest allowing soldiers to leave the military and become civilians, I bet those soldiers would be incredibly enthusiastic.
But if you ask them to leave the military and live a semi-military, semi-civilian life on a reclamation farm, these old soldiers would probably politely decline.
I don't know how Yang the Madman persuaded those old men to agree to go to the reclamation farm.
Now, Vice Emperor Zhu plans to follow his brother-in-law's example and drastically reduce the number of soldiers in the garrisons. Will he succeed?
Li Shanchang's headache grew with each thought, and he advised, "In my opinion, why not first look at the Dengzhou reclamation farms, and then set up reclamation farms in Liaodong later? After all, it involves the garrisons in various places, and we are at a critical juncture in the Northern Expedition, which requires a large-scale reduction of soldiers..."
Before Li Shanchang could finish speaking, Zhu Biao laughed and said, "The Duke of Han has misunderstood. Who said I was going to drastically reduce the number of garrison soldiers?"