Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 387 Zhu Chongba's Thoughts
Taking over the civil and military officials under Fang Guozhen gave Lu Jin several more talented people at his disposal, allowing him to realize some of his previous ideas.

Especially in the South Seas, contacting Java now can at most bring back some oil, what’s the use?

To be honest, it is really useless. At most, it can refine some kerosene and gasoline, and the quantity will not be large. It can only be used to light kerosene lamps, or make some gasoline incendiary bombs, and used for arson during wars, that's all. But this does not prevent Lu Jin from starting to make plans now. Just treat it as a spare piece.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it was relatively easy for China to control Southeast Asia, at least easier than for that bunch of white devils in Europe. There were basically scattered Han immigrants on each island in Southeast Asia, some of whom had escaped from the former Song Dynasty, some were sold by the Yuan Dynasty, and some were left behind during wars. These were the basis for infiltrating the islands. As long as China behind them was willing to intervene and provide support, the European barbarians would have no chance.

But if you want to control Southeast Asia, there is one thing you need to pay attention to, and that is the religious issue.

In the original history, the Ming Dynasty's voyage to the West made a very big mistake, which led to dire consequences. That is, Zheng He should not have been used as the chief envoy to the West. This was mainly related to Zhu Yuanzhang's ethnic policy in the early Ming Dynasty.

First of all, one thing we need to make clear is that Zheng He was a descendant of the Semu nobles of the Muslim religion.

During the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of Semites from Central Asia followed the Mongols into China. After several decades of reproduction, some of them had fallen into lower social class and split into civilian Semites and aristocratic Semites who retained official positions.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang treated these Semites by allowing civilian Semites to continue living in China, but not allowing them to intermarry among themselves. They had to intermarry with the Han people in order to change their customs and habits and accelerate their sinicization.

As for the remaining noble Semu people who held official positions in the Yuan court, such as the high-ranking Semu official like the Pingzhang of Yunnan Province, Zhu Yuanzhang's method was to kill all the adults and only keep the Semu children, and castrate them all into eunuchs. Zheng He's grandfather was a high-ranking official of Yunnan Province in the Yuan Dynasty. If he was not Pingzhang, he would have been prime minister.

Although Zheng He became a eunuch, he was always a Muslim. On his way to the West, he relied on the national strength of the Ming Dynasty to do many private things, such as missionary work.

Wherever he went in Southeast Asia, he built Muslim temples there, supported local Muslim forces, and was very enthusiastic about missionary work.

There is also the Old Port Xuanwei Office established by the Ming Dynasty in Malacca, and the appointment of the first Xuanwei envoy is also something worth studying.

At that time, there were two groups of Cantonese in Malacca. Among them, Chen Zuyi, a Han Chinese from Chaoshan, Guangdong, was defined as a pirate. Zheng He killed Chen Zuyi with the help of intelligence provided by the leader of another group of Han Chinese immigrants on the island of Sumatra. This person was Shi Jinqing, who was also from Guangdong and was the first envoy of the Jiugang Xuanwei Office. Shi Jinqing happened to be a Muslim like Zheng He.

Is Chen Zuyi a pirate? And did Zheng He deliberately favor Shi Jinqing because he was a church member? Do you dare to say that there is no connection at all?

Anyway, no matter what, Zheng He has an unshirkable responsibility for the greening process of Southeast Asian countries. This can be confirmed by the fact that during his subsequent voyages to the West, he took advantage of the opportunity of official business to go on pilgrimage to the Middle East.

If China wants to control Southeast Asia, it must of course spread Confucianism. If Lu Jin is allowed to lead the development of Southeast Asia and the great voyages of discovery, he will certainly not condone things like Islam and allow it to expand wildly around China.

Especially during this period at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a famous event, the Yisibaxi Rebellion in Fujian, which was comparable to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Hui Rebellion in the Qing Dynasty. The Lu brocade is still fresh in people's memory.

In simple terms, the Yisibaxi troops in Fujian were similar in nature to the militia organized by Zhu Liangzu and Chen Yexian. They were originally formed to help the Yuan Dynasty suppress the rebels. However, the special thing was that the Yisibaxi troops were composed of Semites, especially the Pu family in Fujian. Once these people had military power, the consequences could be imagined.
The relationships in this entire incident were extremely complicated. There was the struggle between the Semites militia and the Han rebels, the influence of the power struggle between the Yuan court, the emperor and the crown prince, and the local ethnic hatred in Fujian. All these conditions mixed together and eventually led to a large-scale warlord melee that lasted for ten years.

During the war, the Seljuq militia, the Yisbaxi Army, massacred the Han people in Fujian. They even wanted to set up a country within a country in Fujian and establish a Muslim country on Chinese soil. This was simply outrageous.

The outcome of this great melee was that Chen Youding, a local Han warlord in Fujian, won the final victory and slaughtered all the Semites. After Chen Youding pacified Fujian, Zhu Yuanzhang sent troops to attack Fujian. In the end, Chen Youding was defeated by the Ming army, and the Ming army occupied the whole of Fujian.

It was equivalent to Zhu Yuanzhang picking up a great bargain. When the Ming army occupied Fujian, almost all the Semites in Fujian had been killed.

In this time and space, Lu Jin's advancing speed is much faster than that of Zhu Yuanzhang in the original history. The Yisibaxi rebellion in Fujian has not even started yet. This means that Lu Jin has no advantage to gain. I'm afraid he has to do it himself in this time and space.

Fujian at this time can be described as an XX museum, with Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Judaism, blacks, Persians, Semites, and all kinds of monsters. There are only those you can't name, but there is nothing you can't find in Fujian. You definitely have to clean it up thoroughly!
Lu Jin kept Fang Mingshan and Fang Mingqian, and asked Wang Dayuan to tell them about his experiences in Southeast Asia. They also carefully read Wang Dayuan's book "A Brief Account of the Islands and Barbarians" to learn about the customs and practices of Southeast Asia, India, and Persia. At the same time, the two of them, together with Wang Dayuan, studied astronomy and geography with Lu Jin, and only then did they learn about the heliocentric theory, the relationship between stars, planets and satellites, the North and South Poles, the equator, magnetic declination, longitude and latitude, tropical, subtropical, temperate, frigid, monsoon and Mediterranean climates, ocean currents, planetary winds and other knowledge.

This learning experience also opened the eyes of the two men. Previously, Lu Jin asked Bai Guangtai to take a letter to Fang Guozhen. In the letter, Lu Jin said that he knew the four polar sea charts by heart, and asked Fang Guozhen not to run away, because he would be able to catch him no matter how far he ran. It turned out that he was not bragging.

From then on, the two of them were even more in awe of Lu Jin, and felt that this great commander was unfathomable.
At the same time, the decrees that the Marshal's Office had developed during this period were also issued in batches. The first batch was a notice about military pensions and rewards, and solicited the soldiers' opinions on whether to collect the money themselves or have it sent home. The garrisons in various places were also notified not to leave the camp without permission, to be vigilant, and to be ready to cooperate with local authorities at any time to maintain public security and stability.

In terms of civil affairs, local government officials in the newly annexed territories were required to take up their posts as soon as possible. After completing the handover between the old and new governments, they began to register the population, measure the land, and replace land deeds. If there was a shortage of staff, they could be transferred from the original local intelligence system.

By the time this phase of the operation was completed and the government staff in eastern Zhejiang were put into order, it was already the end of the first lunar month.

Seeing that both the military and political teams were ready, the order on tiered taxation and military reorganization was officially issued on the second day of February in the 13th year of Zhizheng. As soon as the news came out, it caused an uproar among the people in eastern Zhejiang.

First of all, there was the reaction of the army. After the Battle of Eastern Zhejiang, the two imperial guard divisions of Zhu Shou and Zhang Wen had regrouped and were currently stationed in Hangzhou and Jiaxing respectively. As the main mobile force, they could not only suppress possible civil unrest in Eastern Zhejiang at any time, but also take the waterway of Taihu Lake and quickly maneuver back to Jiankang to defend the Marshal's Mansion.

The military system of the First Imperial Guard Division stationed in Hangzhou was the first to receive the tiered tax order, asking them to be on high alert and prepare to deal with civil unrest.

When they learned the news, the most depressed person in the Hangzhou camp was probably Zhu Yuanzhang, the commander of the vanguard regiment of the 1st Imperial Guard Division.

Because when he first joined the army, Lu Jin allocated him 350 acres of land. Later, when he captured Nahachu alive, Lu Jin rewarded him with another 16.6 acres of land. Now he had 20 acres of land. According to the latest tiered tax rate, he was in the fifth category, with a six-to-one tax on land between and acres. He had to pay a land tax of %, plus corvée and head tax, the total could reach %.

This tax was quite outrageous, and Zhu Yuanzhang was a little confused.

But if you say that Lu Jin is targeting him, that is not the case. This decree has been issued to all places, and all territories of the Shengwu Army will collect taxes according to this standard.

Especially after this Eastern Expedition, Lu Jin gave a very high reward. Even ordinary soldiers had one stone of rice, twenty catties of salt, a piece of cloth, and a salt and iron coupon worth twenty taels of silver. It was said that they could buy salt and iron at the supply and marketing cooperatives in various towns. As long as they could exchange for real salt and iron, it would definitely be valuable. Therefore, the soldiers were confident in the salt and iron coupons. Zhu Chongba was the commander of the first landing group and had made contributions to the first landing. On this basis, he could also be rewarded with an additional 500 yuan of salt and iron coupons, which was a huge income.

When he attacked Dangtu and captured Nahachu alive, Lu Jin had already rewarded him with three hundred taels of silver. He kept twenty taels for himself and divided the remaining 280 taels among his classmates. After all, without their help, he would not have been able to capture Nahachu alive. Zhu Yuanzhang was very good at dealing with people, otherwise he would not have come to prominence so quickly in history.

The original historical records say that he was the first to charge into battle, and he shared the rewards with his comrades and subordinates, and he was the first to hand over the spoils. In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly stood out among the rebels and was appreciated by Guo Zixing.

Although he only had 520 taels of silver left, he had no use for the money as he usually spent money on food and lodging in the army, so he kept it. This time he was given a total of yuan, so he went to the instructor to apply for all of it. Anyway, he had not yet started a family and was a bachelor, so he had no place to send money back home.

It was precisely because Lu Jin's reward was so generous that he couldn't complain even if he wanted to. The Marshal rewarded him so much, and it was just a few more buckets of grain tax. If he felt resentful, it would be too ungrateful.

Zhu Yuanzhang was strolling alone in the military camp, thinking about taxes, but he heard other soldiers of the vanguard regiment also discussing taxes, but they were all laughing and looking at it for fun.

As the main attacking force in every siege, the vanguard regiment had more soldiers who made contributions and were killed or injured. However, they also received the most rewards, which were dozens or hundreds of times more than ordinary soldiers. Therefore, even if some soldiers were injured or killed, the others never complained.

To put it bluntly, in the late Yuan Dynasty, the death of a person could be exchanged for two cows, earning hundreds of taels of silver and dozens of pieces of cotton cloth and silk for the family. Where could you find such a good thing? If they had not served as soldiers for Lu Jin, they would probably never see so much money in their entire lives.

Most of these soldiers were poor and owned only 50 acres of land, which was allocated to them by Lu Jingang when they joined the army. So when they saw the tiered tax amounts, they did not think there was anything wrong with them. On the contrary, they felt a kind of gloating pleasure in collecting more taxes from the landlords.

After all, most of them were originally tenant farmers and had all suffered oppression from the landlords to some extent. Now that they could see the landlords being humiliated, of course they were happy.

Zhu Yuanzhang was passing by and happened to hear a few soldiers talking about this matter together.

One of the squad leaders said, "You still don't understand. Who said that the big households must pay heavy taxes? The tax is collected based on nine levels of households, and the nine levels of households are divided according to the amount of land. If the big households can just divide the land under their names among their children and grandchildren, reducing the amount of land in each household, they can pay less tax, right?"

Several soldiers around opened their mouths, then reacted and immediately complained, "This is a bargain for them, but it's not right. What is the purpose of the Marshal collecting so much tax?"

The squad leader then said, "What's the purpose? I don't know, maybe to increase the number of registered residents and collect more taxes?"

At this time, the deputy squad leader also interrupted and said, "You are wrong. If it is just to collect more taxes, then why not just let them separate households and directly collect heavy taxes? Wouldn't you be able to collect more?"

At first, the squad leader scratched his head when he heard this, and couldn't figure it out. "We don't know about this. This is what the Marshal and the gentlemen in the Marshal's Mansion think. We don't understand these things. Anyway, the Marshal deliberately collected it this way, so there must be a reason."

After hearing these discussions, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to understand Lu Jin's intention. Lu Jin was targeting those large households with a lot of land. His purpose was not to collect more taxes, but to allow them to have more household registrations. He, Zhu Yuanzhang, was just accidentally hurt by Lu Jin's policy.

But what is the purpose of doing this? In other words, what benefits will it bring to Lu Jin if those large households with more land are allowed to divide up more property and more land?
Zhu Yuanzhang was a man who was good at learning and thinking. He used to be a monk and beggar, and had never thought about these things. But now he was an earl and a mid-level military officer, and slowly began to get involved in military and political affairs. Some things could not be muddled through as before, and he wanted to get to the bottom of this matter.

At this moment, he glanced at the soldiers and saw a company commander of the vanguard regiment discussing the reorganization. He heard that they were going to expand a few more guard divisions. If they followed the previous expansion method, these grassroots officers would have the opportunity to be transferred to the new troops and promoted one or two levels.

When Zhu Yuanzhang heard about this, he suddenly thought of many generals in the army, such as Zhu Liangzu and Guo Zixing. These people were originally local tycoons and powerful families. When times were turbulent, they could mobilize thousands of troops by simply selling their property. The Yuan Dynasty court could not control these military leaders.

Could it be that Lu Jin was worried about a rebellion by some powerful people, so he forced them to divide the family property? Well, that is very possible.
"Heavy starling."

Just as he was thinking this, two thousand-household battalion officers of the Xiandeng Regiment, Zhu Yuanzhang's former classmates, Qian Hui and Wei Jia, also came over. Seeing that he was frowning and thinking, Wei Jia immediately asked, "What's wrong, Master Zhu? You have made meritorious service and received awards. What else can make you frown? Is there any gossip that you didn't get promoted in this army expansion?"

Zhu Chongba shook his head, "That's not it."

"Let me guess, it's not because of the taxes, right? I think it's unnecessary for you to worry about this, why don't you just divide the land among your sons?" Qian Hui next to him guessed immediately.

Zhu Chongba complained, "We haven't gotten married yet, so what should we do before our son gets his share of the land?"

Qian Hui immediately said, "Before you gave birth to a son, you were always a general in the army. How come you, the Earl of Danyang, are planning to go to the fields and plant rice yourself in the future?

"Even if you go back to get married, you will definitely hire tenants to farm the land. You will split the harvest with the tenants 50-50, and take 20% of the tax, which will leave 30%. You can act like a master and get 30% for free without doing anything. Isn't that good?
"Besides, you are the Lord, and there will definitely be other rewards in the future. Do you really expect to make a living from those three hundred acres of land?"

Zhu Chongba was also amused when he heard this, and immediately smiled and said, "That's not the case, but after I joined the army, the commander-in-chief gave me land, Zhou Tong promised his sister to me, and I also got a title. Since then, I have had a wish.

"You say we are suffering so much. I am the only one left in my family. I must pass on the family line. The Marshal gave me so many rewards, but I have never spent them. I am waiting for the future when the world is pacified. I will use the rewards to go home and buy thousands of acres of land, build a farm, and build a large courtyard with three entrances. I will also become a big landlord and have a lot of children to carry on the Zhu family's lineage and expand it. I will also pass on the title that I earned with my life to him.

"This way, I can bring honor to my family and live up to my deceased parents and brother. When I die, I can close my eyes.

"But now, the Marshal has made such a tax law that the more land you own, the heavier the tax. We have carefully calculated that according to this tax law, if the land exceeds one thousand acres, it will be extremely uneconomical. Even if we recruit tenants to cultivate the land, after deducting the tenants' share and the taxes, there will not be much left. The Marshal's method is clearly to prevent us from purchasing more land, so our wish will be dashed.

"If we are not allowed to buy land, what can we do with all the rewards we have received in the future to pass on this family business?"

Qian Hui and Wei Jia looked at each other in surprise. They didn't expect that Zhu Chongba was actually thinking about how to manage his family wealth.
But this is indeed a problem. They have never thought about it before. They are both children of poor families and don't have much knowledge. Even now that they are officers, their vision still hasn't caught up. If you ask them to give advice on how to fight a war, they may be able to say a few words, but if you ask them how to manage the household and finances, it really stumps them.

The two immediately started scratching their heads along with Zhu Chongba.
(End of this chapter)