Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1077: Questioning the Government
Du Yinxi boarded the ferry from Mengjin. Before boarding the ferry, Du Yinxi asked his old servant to take the carriage to the post station at the ferry, and obtained a notice of immigration to Taiwan issued by the court some time ago from the post station.

After reading the notice, Du Yinxi felt relieved. Just as he had expected, this notice was issued by the court a few days ago. It was a notice issued by the emperor and the cabinet, and the Henan local government was instructed to convey it to the people.

The establishment of a prefecture in Taiwan was not only about setting up government offices and appointing officials, but more importantly, how to govern Taiwan. Taiwan is vast and sparsely populated. The Ming people in Taiwan, including the local indigenous Yi people, only numbered a little over 110,000, and most of them were Yi people. The Ming people who actually governed Taiwan were only 50,000.

Even if the officers and soldiers stationed in Taiwan and Penghu are included, the number does not exceed 60,000. Such a small number of people is only the population of a small county in the Ming Dynasty, and Taiwan has too few people as a prefecture.

Without sufficient population, all governance would be extremely difficult, and just reclaiming wasteland and cultivating the land would be difficult. If Taiwan were to develop gradually based on its current population, who knows how long it would take, perhaps decades or even hundreds of years? This would be too long.

Moreover, the number of Yi people now exceeds that of Ming people, which is not good for the stability of Taiwan's local rule. Therefore, immigration from the inland to Taiwan is inevitable under this circumstance. Only by relying on immigration can the proportion and number of Taiwan's population be changed, and there will be sufficient manpower to open up Taiwan.

In order to immigrate to Taiwan, Zhu Shenzhu first thought of Henan, located in the Central Plains. Compared with other provinces, Henan has always had the largest population, and land annexation in Henan is also relatively serious. Unlike Jiangnan, Jiangnan is prosperous in commerce, with the development of local mulberry silk weaving industry and handicrafts, and also has the support of foreign trade. Although there is also serious land annexation, the people's lives are relatively better and social contradictions are not so intense.

In Shaanxi and other places, the population dropped sharply due to the previous bandits. In addition, most of the bandits captured when the bandits were suppressed were sent to Mongolia by Zhu Shenzui and came under the jurisdiction of Tumed and Chahar to increase the number of Ming people in the Mongolian region south of the desert.

For these reasons, it was most appropriate to immigrate from Henan to Taiwan. Zhu Shenzhu did not want to do large-scale immigration at the beginning. After all, the imperial court could not afford too many immigrants at once. How could so many people survive on Taiwan Island? How could they live there? How to develop the island in the future would be a problem. Therefore, immigration should be done step by step. First, it would take one year to immigrate 10,000 households, or nearly 50,000 people. After these people have gained a foothold in Taiwan and the development has been effective, they can continue to immigrate gradually. This would be much more appropriate.

When he knew he was about to go to Taiwan to take up his post, Du Yinxi had considered the problem of insufficient population in Taiwan, but he did not expect that the court had already thought of this and had started making arrangements in advance. After reading this notice, Du Yinxi was very pleased and could not help but secretly admire Zhu Shenzhu's foresight. With these measures, he would be able to show his talents and do things more conveniently when he went to Taiwan.

After crossing the Yellow River by boat and arriving at the north bank, Du Yinxi, who had originally planned to travel slowly all the way, changed his mind. He simply sped up his journey and headed straight for the capital, arriving there safely more than ten days later.

After arriving in the capital, he found a place to stay and submitted a memorial to the palace. That evening, someone from the palace came and told him that he would be allowed to meet the emperor in the Palace of Heavenly Purity the next day.

The next day, after changing into official uniform, Du Yinxi went to the palace. After his identity was verified at the palace gate, he was led into the palace by guards and eunuchs, and soon arrived at the Qianqing Palace.

In the side hall where the emperor usually worked, Zhu Shencui was already waiting for Du Yinxi. In fact, it was the first time for both Zhu Shencui and Du Yinxi to meet each other.

Du Yinxi was over 40 years old, of medium build and thin face. If he was not wearing official uniform, he would look like an old country scholar. But his eyes were unusual, very bright, and his gestures were measured and calm.

When Du Yinxi saw the emperor, he was also secretly sizing up Zhu Shencui. He had seen Emperor Chongzhen before, but this was his first time seeing Zhu Shencui. Compared with Emperor Chongzhen, the Emperor Yongming in front of him was not only more dignified, but also looked more like the portrait of Emperor Taizu. It seemed that the rumored emperor was the descendant of Emperor Taizu's third son, Prince Jin, and it would not be the case otherwise.

Zhu Shenzhu not only had an emperor's demeanor, but also had no airs of an emperor in his words and attitude. He was very polite when he met Du Yinxi. He not only gave him a seat, but also asked about his well-being and the hardships he had experienced along the way. This alone touched Du Yinxi's heart. After answering the emperor's words, the two of them started chatting about his initial position in Nanjing, then his transfer to the position of banknote customs, and later his position as prefect and education commissioner, as well as the political affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in recent years.

"My dear Minister Du, you have great talent!" Zhu Shenzhui praised sincerely. Long before he came to Beijing, Zhu Shenzhui had carefully learned about the other party's situation. The more he learned, the more he felt that the person recommended by Sun Chuanting was indeed very good. This minister was both civil and military. Although he was not as famous as Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, he was more suitable for the position of Taiwan prefect than the two of them.

He had served in the six ministries, was the chief of the banknote customs, and was also a prefect. He trained soldiers and cooperated with the imperial court to eliminate bandits. In recent years, he assisted the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Sun Chuanting, in local governance and served as the education commissioner. It can be said that this person is almost a jack of all trades. He did a great job in every position and was the most suitable person to go to Taiwan.

"I dare not ask Your Majesty to praise me so much. I just did what I should do."

"Haha, it's not easy to do well what you should do. There are so many officials in this world, but how many of them can really do what they should do? You have served in many local positions over the years, and you have done your best for the country and the people. It's not an exaggeration to say that you are a capable official."

"Your Majesty..." Du Yinxi stood up and was about to say something else, but Zhu Shenzhui waved his hand and asked him to sit down, and continued: "You already know about the establishment of a government in Taiwan. I think you should have understood why I asked you to come to the capital. Do you have any thoughts on this?"

"I have no idea. Your Majesty setting up a government in Taiwan and stationing officials there is a good thing. I agree with this. As for sending me to Taiwan, I have no objection." "Good!" Zhu Shenzhui laughed and asked, "Since you think so, I am very pleased. So, have you ever thought about how to govern Taiwan after you go there?"

"I have considered it a little, but I don't know much about Taiwan after all. What I know now is just the basics. Although I have some ideas, whether it can be implemented depends on whether I can go to Taiwan to see it and then govern accordingly."

"It's okay. Just tell me what you want to say now. I will listen to your plan."

“Yes…” Du Yinxi agreed and started talking immediately.

As Zhu Shenzhu judged, Du Yinxi had been thinking about how to govern and manage Taiwan after leaving Shaanxi.

Du Yinxi had rich experience in local affairs. He had not only served as a local official but also led troops to fight in battles. He also had a good understanding of other things. However, Taiwan was not the same as the Ming Dynasty after all. Taiwan was overseas, and the customs and habits of Taiwan were very different from those of the mainland, so Du Yinxi considered a lot.

Now that the emperor asked, Du Yinxi naturally did not hide it and told the emperor his thoughts in front of him.

Regarding the issue of immigration, Du Yinxi originally planned to make the suggestion after meeting the emperor, but he did not expect the court to take this step in advance. This made Du Yinxi surprised and relieved. It seemed that the emperor was still very concerned about Taiwan, otherwise he would not have introduced such an immigration policy. With this policy, plus the population immigrating to Taiwan, it made his governance much easier.

In response, Du Yinxi gradually explained his plan, starting with the household registration, then talked about the immigrants' reclamation of wasteland in Taiwan and the construction of roads and water conservancy, and then talked about people's livelihood security and trade. After all, Du Yinxi had worked in the bank, and unlike other officials, although he was a genuine Jinshi, he understood trade and finance and was well aware of the huge profits and benefits of maritime trade.

Moreover, with the establishment of a new prefecture in Taiwan, the entire Taiwan can be said to have been built from scratch. Although the imperial court provided policies and treatment, if Taiwan wanted to rely solely on itself to develop under normal circumstances, the cycle would be too long.

In addition, there is another important factor, which is that the imperial court exempted immigrants from taxes for five years and reduced them by half for three years. That is to say, in the next five years, the local government will collect almost no taxes, and in the three years after five years, the tax collection will only be maintained at half. In this case, not only is it impossible for the Taiwan government to pay taxes to the imperial court, but even maintaining normal expenses requires continuous transfusions from the imperial court.

Du Yinxi was well aware that it was better to rely on oneself than on others, and he knew even more that without a reliable source of finance, even he could not do anything. As the governor of Taiwan, he had too many things to do and too many places to spend money, especially for a government that was built from scratch, how could he have the money?

So after much thought, Du Yinxi came up with the idea of ​​maritime trade and commercial taxes. Taiwan is located in the South China Sea and is an important sea route. If it can take advantage of its geographical location to serve as a transit port for Southeast Asian maritime trade and rely on maritime trade to act as a middleman, then the Taiwan government will have a stable financial income by taking this opportunity.

As long as there is this fiscal revenue, Taiwan’s finances will be guaranteed, and Du Yinxi will have more confidence.

Zhu Shenzhu had not considered Du Yinxi's request before, which made his eyes light up. Zhu Shenzhu had already had people calculate the continuous investment in Taiwan in the next five years. Although Taiwan is just a small country, the future investment will be considerable. After all, Taiwan not only has one prefecture, but also three counties, plus the troops stationed in Taiwan and Penghu, which are all actual expenses. In addition, in order to develop Taiwan, the court has given many policies, which also require financial support. When Taiwan cannot generate its own blood, it can only be subsidized by the central government, and this expenditure is not a small amount.

But once the transit trade is carried out according to Du Yinxi's idea and the ports are opened appropriately, then Taiwan's status will be obviously different. Taiwan has an excellent geographical location and controls the South China Sea route. Once this method is successful, the central government's investment pressure on Taiwan will be greatly reduced. Isn't this a win-win solution?

"Write a memorial about this matter. The court recently issued an order to set up the Zongli Yamen, with Zhang Xijun as the Prime Minister, who is in charge of trade and foreign affairs. If this matter is to be done, it is not only the responsibility of the Taiwan government, but also requires the cooperation of the Zongli Yamen."

"I understand. I will prepare a memorial to the emperor after I return. I will also go to the Zongli Yamen to discuss the matter with Lord Zhang and seek his opinion." Du Yinxi was relieved to see that the emperor did not reject it outright and said so, so he quickly replied.

Zhu Shenzhui nodded slightly, looking at Du Yinxi with admiration in his eyes. How could such a capable minister be overlooked before? But it is not too late now. Let him go to Taiwan to be the prefect for a few years, and then promote him when everything in Taiwan is on track. He can be reused in the future.

(End of this chapter)