Ming East India Company

After reaching a consensus internally, the next step was to determine the specific organizational structure of the new government.

First, a political reorganization was needed. The new Ryukyu government set up several basic functional departments. Bai Wenzheng's Ministry of Revenue was responsible for the island's normal finances, taxes, household registration, and land management; Bai Jingxing was in charge of the Ministry of War, responsible for managing the garrison soldiers who were about to be relocated to the island; and Bai Wenyue was in charge of the Ministry of Works, whose core task was to keep an eye on the artisans of the thirty-six families of Fujian on the Ryukyu Island.

The above is based on Baiye's positioning of Ryukyu. In Baiye's view, Ryukyu is only the basic foothold for the future development of the family. A small Ryukyu cannot support the Bai family's great maritime business.

Based on this, Ryukyu only needed to be responsible for two things: settling garrison troops and building ships.

As for the Ryukyu fleet and shipyards, Shirano intends to manage them independently.

After the initial formation of the new government was completed, Bai Ling, who had remained silent until now, began to complain:

"You really don't need to give those servants so much. They've always been very honest. Now that they've suddenly received so much silver, we don't know if they'll go back and work as servants for us obediently."

Baiye shook his head:

"Giving them money is to show the garrison soldiers that they can get more by following my Bai family, so that they will obediently become our servants."

"Now that we have just conquered Ryukyu, we need enough manpower to guard it. These garrison soldiers are strong, healthy, and experienced in combat; aren't they the most suitable candidates?"

Bai Ling asked, puzzled:

"But if that's the case, why don't you choose our own servants? They've been with us for so many years, aren't they much more loyal than these garrison soldiers?"

Baiye shook his head:

"No, those with permanent property have permanent intentions. These servants all own land within the Ming Dynasty. Although they are nominally from the Bai family, the Bai family has signed perpetual lease agreements with them. They would never abandon their centuries-old family property to come here."

On the contrary, these garrison soldiers, nominally listed as having land in the garrison's register, had already had most of that land seized by the officers. In essence, they were no different from serfs. For them, coming to Ryukyu Island to reclaim wasteland still offered some hope.

Then Bai Ye turned to look at Bai Wenzheng:

"How's the real estate investigation going?"

Bai Wenzheng shook his head:

"I don't know what's wrong with the Ryukyuans. Their land registers don't use acreage or yield quality to classify land; they calculate it directly by the number of shi (a unit of dry measure)..."

Shirano is not surprising; Ryukyu is close to the East, so using the shigao system can be considered as learning from the locals.

"The total stone weight of the entire island is approximately 130,000 shi..."

Shirono mentally calculated that these farmlands were equivalent to approximately 80,000 to 100,000 mu of land. According to the standards of neighboring Japan, this would be enough to support at least 2000 soldiers.

"What is their tax rate?"

Bai Wenzheng sighed:

"The government collects about 40% of the land, which is roughly equivalent to the people collecting 60% and the government collecting 40%."

"Forty percent?"

The Bai family members present all gasped in shock.

"Our Ming Dynasty usually only collects three to five fen of silver in land tax. Even if we encounter a blind official who embezzles, the tax is at most one-tenth. These monkeys collect forty percent of the land tax alone. How do the Ryukyuans survive?"

Shirayuki remained silent. Under the system of small countries with few people, the tax revenue from grain did not require transportation, thus allowing for a high tax rate. The neighboring Eastern Kingdom was still operating on a 40% civil-to-government ratio! Compared to those daimyo, Shōei could already be considered a "benevolent ruler."

"So, is there any spare wasteland?" Shirano asked.

Bai Wenzheng thought for a moment and said:

"This booklet doesn't mention it, but I guess it probably doesn't. The island isn't very big, but there are a lot of people. The land must have been fully developed."

The typical characteristics of the East Asian monsoon region are high yields from intensive farming, but the negative impact is extremely high population density.

The flourishing of maritime trade in Ryukyu was also related to the early development of agriculture and the high population density.

"It seems there isn't enough land to divide up in Ryukyu!" Bai Ling said slowly.

"Why don't we just kill some of the Ryukyu natives? Anyway, their fighting strength is no different from that of ducks."

Bai Jingxing had developed a deep contempt for the Ryukyuans' fighting strength since arriving on the island, and therefore did not regard them as human beings at all.

Baiye shook his head:

"No, the reason we haven't provoked a large-scale rebellion yet is only because we haven't excessively robbed the Ryukyu farmers. If we suppress them too much, they will rebel sooner or later. They may fear our cannons now, but that doesn't mean they will still be in the same situation ten or twenty years from now."

"Then where are you going to find the land for these garrison soldiers?"

"I will give them all the land rent and taxes directly. If we pay 40% of the taxes each year, we can basically support a garrison soldier with just a dozen or so shi of grain."

"What shall we eat?" Bai Ling asked.

"With the fleet and so many shipwrights in Naha Port, I don't care about this little bit of land rent. I'd rather use it to win people's hearts."

……

Once he had made up his mind, Shirano immediately went to the garrison camp and read out his policy.

The garrison soldiers originally had reservations about the division of Ryukyu territory. After all, moving their entire families to settle on a deserted island was unacceptable to the Ming people who were "attached to their homeland."

However, upon hearing that they could go from peasants to small landlords overnight, the soldiers of the garrison immediately changed their attitude and expressed their agreement.

Shirayuki actually had another intention: to transform these garrison soldiers into his own standing army.

From the Tang Dynasty's military garrisons to the early Ming Dynasty's garrison troops and then to the Qing Dynasty's Eight Banners, the small landowners who owned land and were no longer employed had the strongest fighting power and loyalty. Land tied their future and that of their families to them, while being no longer employed ensured that they had enough time for military training.

For Hakuno, exchanging this small piece of land in Ryukyu for a combat-ready army was a very worthwhile deal.

Therefore, he deliberately set a land allocation quota of 10 shi for each garrison soldier. This allocation quota was just enough to make ends meet. Even those who made great contributions, such as Feng Luzi and Pang Shipu, could only receive more silver but not more land.

The allocated land was strictly prohibited from being sold, mortgaged for tax purposes, or having its tax rates arbitrarily changed. Garrison soldiers could collect taxes in rural areas and, if necessary, use swords to "urge payment," but if a murder occurred with the Ryukyu islanders, they had to report to the Ministry of War's law enforcement officers for handling; they were not allowed to kill arbitrarily.

This not only allowed a group of low-level officials to work for free without pay, but also meant that the only way for the garrison soldiers to obtain extra income was through rewards from war.

With them, Shirayuki had a standing army that could be drawn up at any time and was extremely loyal.

Finally, Shirano also explicitly forbade the garrison soldiers from engaging in business without authorization, and even if they were to go out to sea for business, they had to obtain Shirano's personal approval.

After all the policies were read aloud, the garrison soldiers present were overjoyed, except for the meticulous Pang Shipu, who offered his opinion:

"Master, everything you've said is good, but what about Garrison Commander Zhang? Will he let our families come to the island?"