Chapter 62 Five Mu of Land per Person

  （0062）

  "As long as there is enough profit, businessmen will certainly be willing to pay taxes. If the mine is not developed by others, we will develop it ourselves. The profit from mining is so great that no one can remain unmoved. Alright, let's take a simple example: rough salt is now unwanted, refined salt is in short supply, and green salt is even more scarce. As long as we have the ability to produce both refined and green salt, we don't need to worry about businessmen not flocking to us."

  Wang Mingyu nodded and said: "Exactly. As long as there are benefits, how can businessmen not come?"

  Liu Hang said solemnly, "Yulin, the salt business is still stable for now. But if war breaks out and the officials seal off Jimo, Jiaozhou, and Laiyang, how can we possibly transport the salt? Which salt smuggler has the ability to ignore the impact of the battlefield and continue doing private salt business?"

  Zhang Zhun said confidently: "Don't we still have sea transportation? I don't believe that other places won't want refined salt."

  Wang Mingyu asked doubtfully: "Yu Lin, are you really sure that even if a fight breaks out, the salt business will not be affected?"

  "Yes." said Zhang Zhun firmly.

  The four of them had no disagreement anymore.

  Zhang Zhun was silent for a moment, then decided to lay out his thoughts. He said in an orderly manner: "Actually, our main source of income is still overseas. Shandong has experienced so many upheavals and is already very weak, with limited market digestion capacity. Everyone knows that the wealthy people in Shandong are mainly concentrated on both sides of the Grand Canal, concentrated in Jining, Linqing, Dezhou and other places, which is really too far from our Laizhou."

  "In such a situation, it is very difficult to develop business channels on the road. However, water routes are different. Laizhou Prefecture and Dengzhou Prefecture have many ports along their coasts, with Liaodong in the north, Korea in the east, Japan in the southeast, Taiwan Island (also known as Dongfan Island) in the south, and the vast Jiangnan region in the southwest. Further afield are Southeast Asia, Manila, Jakarta, etc. These places are our trade focus."

  "Of course, we are now talking about maritime trade, which is still a bit premature for us, and we do not yet have the capability. However, everyone must have such ideas, such thinking, and such development paths. Perhaps in the near future, some of you present here will appear on the high seas, commanding and directing. In the future, I will gradually explain the basic knowledge of the ocean to everyone."

  Looking at the bewildered crowd, Zhang Zhun understood that they couldn't digest so much information for the time being, and said: "Alright, these are things to be done later, there's no rush to implement them now. Let's continue discussing the land issue."

  All four of them secretly let out a sigh of relief.

  This Zhang Quan is really astonishing, their thinking can't keep up for now.

  Then, the four of them began discussing how to allocate the land.

  Liu Hang and Wang Mingyu both believe that for each household, with a population of three to seven people, allocating thirty mu of land is a more suitable number. The military households in Fushan City, allocated according to the three-to-seven-person standard, are roughly around one thousand households. It just so happens that Fushan has about 30,000 mu of land, and with each household getting thirty mu, it can basically guarantee that every family can get a share of land.

  If everyone feels that the thirty mu of land is not enough, they can work hard to reclaim the wasteland. The land reclaimed belongs to the reclaimer. In fact, around the Hutou Mountain, there are still many lands that can be opened up as arable land. For example, the north side of Zhaojiatun is a vast plain area, where tens of thousands of mu of land can be reclaimed without any problem.

  In the past, even if the military households reclaimed and opened up land on their own, it would be taken away by officials, so everyone was lazy about reclamation. However, if it is announced that the ownership of the reclaimed land belongs to the reclaimer, it will definitely stimulate everyone to work hard to open up wasteland. Within one or two months, an increase of tens of thousands of mu of farmland is not impossible.

  The two also agreed that there should be clear regulations, land cannot be bought and sold, transferred or abandoned. After the death of the owner, his heirs should have priority in choosing the original land as inheritance. In the past, military households were often deprived of their land by officials through various means, either by being forced to sell at a low price or having it taken away. Prohibiting land transfer can effectively avoid similar drawbacks.

  Liu Hang also proposed that the household registration system should be abolished, and the different identities of military households, artisan households, fishing households, music households, business households, and yin-yang households unique to the Ming dynasty should be completely abolished. Everyone is equal, and you can engage in any industry you want. This measure may also be a small stimulus for business households. After all, current business households are very wealthy and live a rich life, but their status has never been promoted in a legitimate way.

  Hou Shanping then proposed that after the re-allocation of land, great efforts should be made to develop water conservancy, agricultural science and technology, and increase grain production. At the same time, more private schools should be opened to allow more children to go to school and learn to read. As a scholar himself, he naturally attaches great importance to this. He also suggested that there should be clear regulations, farmers with surplus grain can only sell it to the guards

  The team cannot be privately sold to outsiders.

  "Yu Lin, what do you think?"

  Liu Hang finally consulted with Zhang Zhun.

  Zhang Zhun shook his head and said slowly, "Everyone's suggestions are very good. I have an idea, which is not to allocate land according to households, but according to population. My intention is that regardless of gender, as long as the height is above three feet, each person will be allocated five mu of land."

  Hou Shanping hesitated and said: "In the past, it was allocated according to the number of households..."

  Zhang Zhun shook his head and said slowly, "We should encourage population growth, encourage more births. Don't you think our population is still a bit small?"

  Hou Shanping thought for a moment and had no objection.

  Since the decision to redistribute land has been made, how it is distributed is no longer important. Allocating thirty mu of land per household and five mu per person only makes a slight difference. Relatively speaking, Zhang's suggestion is more reasonable and easier to implement.

  Wang Mingyu immediately proposed that if land is allocated according to population, another provision should be added, which is that the maximum amount of land under one person's name cannot exceed 50 mu. This is also a necessary measure to prevent land annexation.

  Liu Hang also had no opinion, and cautiously said: "Yulin, will the outsiders' words be implemented according to this standard as well?"

  "No problem. We have enough wasteland to provide for them to reclaim, as long as they are willing to come, we will set aside a piece of land for them and let them reclaim it themselves. Anyway, no taxes will be levied, just let them fend for themselves."

  Before that, Zhang Zhun had actually made a serious calculation. The area around Qingdao is roughly over 2,000 square kilometers of land, which is equivalent to nearly 3 million mu (a unit of area in China). Except for Laoshan, the vast majority are plains areas. As long as there are enough laborers, it would be no problem to reclaim about 800,000 mu of farmland. Such a large area of land can support tens of thousands of people.

  In fact, the current population of Fushan is less than 10,000 people. It can be said that there is a lot of room for Tongnuo to accommodate tens of thousands of floating populations, which is not a problem at all. If he didn't remember wrong, after Kong Youde's turmoil, the population of Dengzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture combined should be less than one million. During the Wanli period, the actual population of Shandong Province was said to have exceeded 10 million. However, during the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods, Shandong was plagued by war, and the population must have decreased. Currently, the actual population of Shandong is at most around 70-80 million.

  "Why isn't it specified as a certain age? Three chi and above?"

  "It's easy to operate and clear at a glance, with no possibility of cheating."

  Zhang nodded in agreement with Peng Feizai's words.

  Age is invisible, many military households are not even registered as "black households", who knows how old they really are, but judging by height, as long as you stand there, whether or not you reach three feet, unless you're blind, anyone can see. Generally speaking, five- or six-year-old children already have a height of three feet, this standard should be acceptable to everyone. If any younger, then it's just a baby.

  Liu Hang is a thoughtful person, after thinking for a moment, he said: "Yulin, re-allocating land is not just about Fushan City, but also Mo County and Lai Prefecture will be overturned. It seems that all the fields in our Fushan are far away in Pingdu Prefecture!"

  Zhang Zhun said calmly and slowly: "Are you afraid?"

  Peng Fei's blood rushed to his head, and he immediately said: "What are we afraid of? If they dare to come, we'll counterattack! Ah, no! Even if they don't come, we still have to go find them!"

  Liu Hang calmly said, "Yulin, relying on the Yangjia Village Escort Team's current strength, can't stop Jimen County and Laizhou Prefecture's counterattack? We don't understand military affairs very well, so let you say something about this."

  Zhang nodded and said calmly, "That's right. This is the second issue we need to discuss. I plan to select people from each of your village's guard teams, along with Yangjia Village's guard team, to form a floating mountain guard team."

  On this matter, the three of them had no right to speak, so they quietly listened to Zhang Zhun's explanation. In fact, each village had successively established its own guard team, and Liu Hang and Peng Fei were the captains of their respective village guard teams. However, they lacked professional training and sufficient weapons, and the combat effectiveness of the guard teams was obviously not comparable to that of the Yangjia Village Guard Team.

  "If you agree, I'll take full responsibility for the Fuyama Protection Squad's matters."

  Zhang Zhun said in a low voice.

  The three of them naturally had no objection and agreed on the spot.

  Later, the five of them reached a consensus on the formation, personnel, command, training and source of weapons for the guard team. After the basic agreement was formed, all the remaining matters were left to Zhang Quan to handle, without needing to consult with the other four people. In fact, they couldn't come up with any good suggestions in military terms either. Of course, in order to better coordinate with the guard team, it is necessary to hold an exchange meeting every month.

  The number of guards is fixed at four hundred.