There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 373 Many Beggars in Jiangnan

Nanjing.

Because the Han dynasty captured Nanjing so quickly and in such an unbelievable way, it caused almost no damage to the city walls.

Even the tunnels that were dug were not fully excavated; only part of the moat was filled in, and laborers are currently being organized to clean it up.

The Great Han could not have imagined that the Qing army in Nanjing could be so elusive. The Eight Banners garrison wanted to escape, and on the way back to suppress them, the Jiangning General was captured by the guards of wealthy and powerful families because he was outnumbered and outmatched.

However, for the Han Dynasty, it was indeed a good thing. Nanjing was not only an important city in Jiangnan, but also the political, economic and cultural center of the south, far more powerful than Nanjing, the capital of Anhui Province in later generations.

It would be a great loss if such a magnificent city, which could be used as a capital, were to be severely damaged in war.

Of course, even though it escaped the destruction of war, the city of Nanjing still needed large-scale demolition and reconstruction.

There was nothing they could do; those damned Manchu puppet Qing dynasty had somehow managed to create this illogical city-within-a-city architecture in Manchuria.

The Manchu city of Nanjing was based on the Forbidden City of Nanjing.

"Your Majesty, this is a draft of the regulations for the demolition and reconstruction of the Manchu city of Nanjing, prepared by the Ministry of Works. Please take a look!" Minister of Works Yao Hongyi respectfully handed over a memorial.

After receiving the memorial, Nie Yu didn't look at the demolition and reconstruction project; he immediately flipped to the financial statements at the back: "So high?"

Yao Hongyi explained: "Your Majesty, the Manchu city of Nanjing was originally built on the site of the Forbidden City left by the Ming Dynasty. Over the years, the puppet Qing Dynasty has repeatedly stolen various materials from the Forbidden City site, including glazed tiles and dragon pillars, to repair temples. If it were to be completely demolished and restored to the Ming Dynasty period, the amount of silver and grain required would naturally be enormous."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, this money has to be spent, as His Majesty has decided to ascend the throne. This coronation ceremony of the new dynasty is not only His Majesty's ceremony, but also a celebration for all the people of the Han dynasty, and it must not be neglected."

"Therefore, the entire city of Nanjing must be demolished and rebuilt, at the very least, restored to the state of a palace. This is the dignity of our new Han dynasty!"

Having said all that, even if Nie Yu felt it was too much money, the entire city of Nanjing would inevitably be demolished, and at the same time, it would be rebuilt into a basic palace.

This palace was not only for his residence, but also symbolized the ceremonies of the founding of the new dynasty.

When Nie Yu was the Prince of Han, he could change the nameplate of the Liangjiang Governor-General's Office of the puppet Qing Dynasty and use it as a temporary residence for the prince. Outsiders couldn't gossip; on the contrary, they had to praise him for being too frugal.

But if he were to become emperor and still live in the Viceroy of Liangjiang's mansion, what kind of scene would that be?
It's like the US president of later generations living in a small apartment before becoming president, and still living in a small apartment after becoming president, while not having a place to live in the White House. What kind of president is that?

Nie Yu nodded slightly: "In that case, let's do it this way! But there's no need to rush this matter. The national treasury is not exactly well-funded. Just training troops, maintaining officials, and governing the people will require a lot of money and grain. The demolition and reconstruction of the palace can be done slowly. I'm not in a hurry!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Yao Hongyi readily agreed.

He made a special trip to ask the King of Han for permission to build a palace for the establishment of the capital; the rest could be done gradually.

The construction of the imperial palace was not for extravagance and debauchery, but for the dignity of the country. Even in terms of financial expenditure, the money for building the imperial palace came from the national treasury and had nothing to do with the Han King's own private treasury.

Because the imperial palace represents the dignity of the country, once the imperial palace is completed, if the King of Han wants to continue building new palaces or even embark on large-scale construction of temples and Taoist monasteries for his own enjoyment, the money will have to come from the King of Han's own private treasury.

These rules and regulations for fiscal expenditures were formulated by Nie Yu in the first year of his reign, after repeated discussions with various departments of the cabinet.

The sole purpose was to leave a legitimate source of royal funds for future generations, and then use laws to control the royal family's unreasonable spending on national finances.

Whether it works or not, having rules but being unable to control things is one thing and not having rules at all.

Having resolved the troublesome matter of dismantling the Mancheng, Minister of Revenue Lin Wenchang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, after summarizing the situation in Nanjing during this period, I have basically clarified the current population and tax situation in Nanjing. Although Nanjing is a large city with a large population, there is also a large surplus of people."

"How so?" Nie Yu asked.

Lin Wenchang said, "This brings us to Jiangnan. Since the Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan has been renowned as a prosperous region, with its famous Yangzhou 'slender horses' and the 'Eight Beauties of Qinhuai.' However, this prosperous era in Jiangnan was rewarded with resentment among its people and a proliferation of vagrants and beggars..."

Nie Yu frowned and interrupted, "Wait, putting aside the people's resentment, what's going on with the prevalence of beggars?"

He could understand having many beggars in other cities. But Nanjing was a major city, a key town along the Yangtze River, and the capital since the Ming Dynasty. Where did all these beggars come from?
Lin Wenchang replied, "Because the people can't survive, they resent it, and they become vagrants and beggars!"

"..."

"anything else?"

Lin Wenchang continued, "Since the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing has been a prosperous metropolis, and being close to the Yangtze River, it has always been a wealthy city. However, it also had the presence of Manchus and Bannermen, and supporting them inevitably meant squeezing Nanjing's finances. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty continued the Ming Dynasty's policies, and as the rear area for Beijing's grain transport, Jiangnan naturally maintained high-pressure rule and imposed heavy taxes and corvée labor on Nanjing. Including Nanjing, the entire Jiangnan region had the heaviest taxes and corvée labor in the country."

This is true. Since the Ming Dynasty, the taxes and corvée labor in Nanjing have only increased, not decreased.

Even in years of famine or during festivals, when the emperor was in a good mood and granted the emperor the privilege of exempting the entire country from taxes, he would always add the extra note that "Nanjing is an exception."

This was also a political inertia of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties established their capital in Beijing, they needed a continuous supply of resources from the canal transport in the south, which meant that they had to continuously impose heavy taxes on the south.

Although Jiangnan is a region for growing cotton and producing silk, it is also a place where grain is collected for the imperial tribute.

The Qing dynasty was actually considered relatively good because it had already established silver as the main form of taxation, whereas the Ming dynasty did not use silver and collected taxes solely from grain.
In the Jiangnan region, cotton farmers had to sell their cotton first to get money, and then use that money to buy grain and pay taxes. The price difference could be devastating.

Moreover, even now, the pseudo-Qing dynasty seems to have used silver to replace taxes.

But is it really fair?

Fairness my foot! Cotton farmers no longer need to sell cotton to buy grain, but the money they earn from selling cotton has decreased, while the amount of tax they have to pay has increased.

It wasn't just increased by a few percent, it was increased by dozens of times.

After all, our Great Qing is still collecting the Liaodong tax from the former Ming Dynasty (a tax imposed by the Ming Dynasty on the Qing Dynasty after fighting against the Manchus).

This resulted in an overwhelming burden on cotton farmers, leading to a rapid expansion of land annexation in the Jiangnan region starting in the early Qing Dynasty.

Even if Yongzheng implemented reforms, the actual effect was merely patching things up, and Yongzheng only reigned for thirteen years.

After Yongzheng's death, the reforms immediately stopped, and by the time of Qianlong's reign, it had become a celebration for the gentry and landlords of Jiangnan.

Nowadays, taking Nanjing as an example, 70% of the land here is in the hands of large landowners and gentry, while the remaining 30% is divided among officials and bannermen.

Farmer?

Farmers don't need land; they should just obediently be tenants.

Moreover, even if one became a tenant of a landlord, one still had to pay both grain tax and rent for the land's produce.

Cotton prices have been suppressed, and we can't easily switch to planting grain. If we switch to grain, the land tax for cotton fields will still be high, resulting in a pure loss.

Especially in recent years, the Han dynasty occupied the granaries of Huguang, causing food shortages for the puppet Qing dynasty. The government in Jiangnan forced cotton farmers to switch to growing grain to support the northern grain transport.

The taxes were not reduced; on the contrary, they became heavier, forcing many cotton farmers to abandon their land and flee to the cities to beg for a living.

This was all thanks to the reforms of Emperor Yongzheng, who abolished the strict travel permit system and allowed people to move freely into the city.

The flow of population to cities can promote the flow of the urban market economy and lay the foundation for the next stage of industrialization.

However, the influx of too many people in a short period of time, coupled with the long-standing local repression policies implemented by the Qing dynasty, made the situation unfavorable.

Instead, this prevents these people from securing a place in the competitive urban environment, forcing them to become a massive beggar group.

(End of this chapter)