Chapter 550 Jiangbei Camp
Chapter 550 Jiangbei Camp
This is the cleverness of Yang Lihua. She knew that if she wanted to live a good life in Jiangnan, the key was whether her nephews and their wives were filial to her.
It was difficult for her to give benefits to her nephews and their wives openly, so she gave them to her children instead, which would have a better effect.
Yang Lihua's generosity really shocked the women. Even Lu Xieting from the Lu family had never seen such a gift before. Five thousand taels of gold! The official price was 50,000 strings of cash, and the black market price was 80,000 strings of cash.
The mothers were of course delighted that Yang Lihua gave their children such a valuable gift, and they gathered together to bring Yang Lihua into the Prince of Jin's Mansion like a star surrounding the moon.
Since his wife had taken care of his aunt, Xiao Xia didn't care about anything else. He returned to the palace. After three years of diligent work, Jiangnan Road gradually entered a rare period of stable development. Business flourished, people lived and worked in peace and contentment, the population increased by 50%, and a large number of civilians and farmers came from Jianghuai and Central Plains to make a living.
Commoners working as waiters or bartenders in the city could earn three strings of coins a month. A daughter of eleven or twelve years old was sent to a wealthy family to work as a maid, earning one string of coins, five hundred coins a month. With a little income from part-time or side jobs, a family of four or five could earn five strings of coins a month. After deducting various rent and food expenses, they could save one or two strings of coins a month, and their annual savings would be more than ten or nearly twenty strings of coins.
After saving for five to eight years, you can buy an acre of land in the suburbs and settle down in the south of the Yangtze River.
Farmers are more goal-oriented, so farmers who come to the south of the Yangtze River are scrambling to rent government farmland. Renting 20 acres of government farmland can easily support a family of five, while in the Central Plains, at least 50 acres are needed.
The biggest advantage of renting official land is that the taxes on official land in Jiangnan Province are borne by the government. In total, 70% of the crops belong to the government every year, while in the north, only 40% of the land rented belongs to the government. Coupled with the high grain yield per mu, the difference is far more than 30%.
Of course, there is a more important reason, which is stability. Stability has two meanings. One is that grain production is stable and there are basically no disasters. The drought that farmers fear the most does not exist, and the grain production is almost the same every year. The second meaning is social stability, without bandits and thieves.
There were countless thieves in Jianghuai, Central Plains and Hebei provinces. Farmers lived in fear every day. Those with money were afraid that their money would be robbed, those with children were afraid that their children would be robbed, and the landlords were even more afraid. The thieves' primary target was the landlords. In Jianghuai and Central Plains, the landlords suffered the most. The landlords sold a large amount of land, causing the land price in Jianghuai and Central Plains to drop by 30%. On the contrary, the land price in Jiangnan doubled, whether it was residential land or farmland.
In the official room, Liu Wenjing said to Xiao Xia: "Your Highness, the princess's coming to Jiangnan to retire this time will definitely cause a stir in the court and the public in Luoyang. I'm afraid it will be an important turning point."
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "The princess's visit to Jiangnan was not a sudden decision. She was going to come here three years ago to accompany the emperor on his southern tour, but the emperor canceled the tour, so she had to postpone her plan for three years. The princess's health is getting worse and worse, and she was afraid that if she didn't come, she would not be able to run, so she finally came this year. She told the emperor all this, and the emperor also supported her coming to Jiangnan, so the chief historian's words were a bit heavy."
Last year, Gao Jiong unfortunately suffered a stroke and became paralyzed on one side. He also officially retired. Xiao Xia appointed Gao Biaoren as the governor of Danyang County so that Gao Biaoren could take care of his father. His daughter, whom Gao Jiong had always been worried about and the concubine of the former crown prince Yang Yong, was also brought to Danyang County. Gao Jiong could then spend his last years in peace in Jiangnan.
Liu Wenjing was appointed as the Chief Clerk of the Prince of Jin's Palace and the Chief Clerk of the Jiangnan Circuit's Executive Office, replacing Gao Jiong. Wei Zheng was appointed as the Sima of the Executive Office, replacing Liu Wenjing's previous position.
Liu Wenjing smiled and said, "Actually, Your Highness didn't understand what I meant!"
Xiao Xia also smiled apologetically and said, "Master, please tell me in detail!"
"Your Highness, the population loss in Jianghuai, Central Plains and even Hebei is very serious. The Jiangnan Road has increased by 1.3 million households in three years. From the beginning of this year to now, it has increased by 600,000 households. For us, the western part of Jiangnan Road has been greatly developed. The population of Xuancheng County has increased by 150,000 households, and the population of Poyang County and Yuzhang County has increased by more than 100,000 households. Even Jian'an County has increased by 30,000 households.
As for the six major counties of Danyang, Yanling, Piling, Wujun, Yuhang and Kuaiji, their population has increased by one million households in the past three years.
Our population increase means a decrease in the population of the north. The most direct impact of population decrease is taxation. I heard that the court has long had complaints, especially this year it has reached the point where it can no longer tolerate it. Now all it needs is a fuse to cause the court's dissatisfaction to explode."
"You mean to say that the princess's visit to Jiangnan will be the fuse for the court's dissatisfaction?" "I think so. I am more worried that the three years of peace between us and the court may end because of this incident."
Xiao Xia frowned, "Is the immigration problem so serious?"
"Your Highness, go to the Jiangbei camp west of the city and you will know!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "I haven't cared about it for so many years, let's go and take a look!"
The two men left the governor's mansion and took a carriage to the west of the city.
The Jiangbei Camp in the west of the city is not a military camp, but an immigration camp. There are three immigration camps in Jiangnan Road, one is the Jiangbei Camp in Jingkou County of Yanling County, one is the camp in Nanling County in the west of Xuancheng County, and one is the camp in Xiakou County of Jiangxia County, corresponding to the eastern part of Jiangnan, the western part of Jiangnan and the Dongting Lake area respectively.
Among them, Jiangbei Camp was the largest immigration camp, with tens of thousands of tents, divided into ten areas, corresponding to the ten counties of Jiangdong. Two hundred officials and three thousand soldiers were responsible for managing Jiangbei Camp.
The entire camp is like a huge county town. There are not only tents for the people, but also commercial areas in each district, which are mainly grocery stores and snack shops. Of course, there are also gambling houses and secret prostitutes. These are not allowed openly, but still exist in secret. Where there is demand, there is business.
The Jiangbei Camp has always maintained an immigrant population of more than 100,000 households, and now it has 120,000 households. The first step for all immigrants who come to Jiangnan is to report to the Jiangbei Camp and register, otherwise they will be illegal residents and will not be able to rent a house, find a job, or lease land.
Only after registering and obtaining a temporary household registration can you live in various places in Jiangnan Province. The household registration needs to be verified once a year. After five consecutive years of verification, it can become a permanent household registration.
The current chief officer of the Jiangbei camp is Fang Xuanling. Fang Xuanling currently serves as the assistant general of the Ministry of Revenue of the Xingtai Shangshu, a fifth-rank official. His superior is Sima Wei Zheng, who is in charge of the entire immigration affairs. He also accompanied Xiao Xia.
The camp is very clean and tidy, which is the result of continuous improvement in management over the past three years. The tents are neatly arranged in order, like a network. There are main streets and side streets in the camp. The main roads connecting various districts are the main streets, and the roads within each district are the side streets.
People were coming and going in the camp, and patrol teams could be seen from time to time. Everything seemed to be in order.
Fang Xuanling introduced Xiao Xia, "Your Highness, don't be fooled by the surface calmness. In fact, there are many conflicts. Some of them are old grudges, and some are new conflicts caused by the competition for resources. Our biggest task every day is to mediate conflicts."
"Be a peacemaker?" Xiao Xia asked with a smile.
Fang Xuanling shook his head. "I don't have that much energy to persuade them. If I find a conflict, I will solve it immediately. I will quickly assign the family with the conflict to a new place. The farther the better. I will never see them again in my life, and the conflict will naturally disappear."
Xiao Xia laughed, "This is a good idea. We can solve the problem by changing our thinking."
Liu Wenjing asked with a smile: "Since your biggest task every day is to mediate conflicts, then what is the root cause of the conflicts? Can it be resolved at the root?"
(End of this chapter)