In Fengtian Hall, all the officials were in court, reporting to the emperor about the world's major events. The Minister of Revenue had just finished reporting on the drought in Shaanxi when Xue Guoguan walked out and said,"Your Majesty, General Lin Feng of Tianjin has requested for the lifting of the ban on the sea and the establishment of a maritime bureau. We will use the silver earned to fill the national treasury and encourage merchants to do business overseas. We will pay one-tenth of the commercial tax every month, reduce agricultural taxes, and develop irrigation projects to enrich the country and the people.
Although the officials below the stage were unwilling to collect business taxes, Lin Feng also gave the merchants the opportunity to go out to sea to do business. They could not find any problems for the time being and even praised him. The household division official walked out with a tooth card in his hand and said loudly,"This matter is very good. It is beneficial to the country and the people."This plan is very good! "Your Majesty, this matter is feasible.”
"I agree!"
"We agree!"
For a moment, more than a hundred civil officials in the court raised their placards and persuaded Zhu Youjian to act.
Zhu Youjian said happily:
Lin Feng immediately ordered people to lead 16 merchant ships to sea for trade and set up the Tianjin Business Bureau. He also allocated ten million silver to the emperor to prove his loyalty.
In the Hall of Heaven's Tribute, Fu Xue Guoguan walked out and raised his token."Your Majesty, yesterday, General Lin Feng of Tianjin took out ten million taels of silver from his treasury to fill the national treasury. When Zhu Youjian heard this, he was even more happy and praised Lin Feng as a loyal minister. Lin Feng led the gongs and drums to send the first batch of people to Dagu Port. Before boarding the ship, he reminded Zheng Hui,""There is a lot of malaria in Little Ryukyu. When building a settlement, we have to burn the surrounding vegetation to avoid large-scale mosquitoes and remove the water beside the settlement. They had to build a toilet as soon as they arrived on the island. After the settlement was built, they would dig wells to get water to avoid drinking dirty river water.”
Although Zheng Hui was slightly older than Lin Feng, he had been following Lin Feng for many years and was already used to listening to Lin Feng's orders. He nodded and said,"Alright, Viceroy. I will pay attention to hygiene and build the first settlement.”
"If there are barbarians harassing us, the soldiers will kill them without mercy.”
"I understand, Viceroy."
"If you succeed in clearing the wasteland this time, I'll promote you next year."”
Zheng Hui was a man of ambition. His eyes lit up when he heard Lin Feng's words. He said loudly,"Don't worry, Viceroy. I will definitely not fail my mission. I will build a big house there and wait for you.”
"There are many deer in Little Ryukyu," Lin Feng said with a smile."You can hunt a few wild deer to improve your diet when you have nothing to do.”
Zheng Hui and the others laughed and boarded the ship.
Three large ships rowed out of Dagu Harbor with oars. Steam engines were ignited outside the harbor, and they headed east, spewing thick black smoke. He only returned to Tianjin after the ship was out of sight.
After sending Zheng Hui away, he began to recruit tenant farmers in Tianjin..
Now, the people of the dozen prefectures and counties near the Fan manor knew that they would have a good life if they followed Lin Feng. The first two groups of tenant farmers who followed Lin Feng to open up the Fan manor and Jinghai County had now lived like nobles. They had enough to eat, warm clothes to wear, and lived in brick houses. They had meat to eat, cigarettes to smoke, and tea to drink.
Even for the new tenant farmers that the Great General recruited in Wuqing and Baodi counties this year, their good days were about to arrive. The general's dry land had perfect water irrigation facilities. Every five people borrowed a cow. The wheat in the newly opened fields grew very fat and green. It looked like there would be a bumper harvest.
The nearby commoners were all waiting to recruit new farmers with red eyes. They were all worried that they had no relatives in the Fan manor and no one to vouch for them. This time, they heard that the general wanted to hire people to explore Little Ryukyu, and that they didn't need relatives to be the guarantor. They all rushed to sign up, afraid of falling behind.
In just ten days, the officials sent to various places to recruit tenants had received 50,000 applications from farmers. If it wasn't for the fact that the officials no longer accepted new applications, the number of people who signed up would be even more. Even 100,000 people wouldn't be enough.
The farmers only recognized what they could see. Over the years, they saw that there was meat to eat, so they recognized the principle of following.
The farmers didn't think much about the fact that they were going to Little Ryukyu. Anyway, it wouldn't be wrong to follow the general. Even if he went elsewhere to explore, his life wouldn't be bad.
After learning that the recruitment of tenant farmers was going so smoothly, Lin Feng was rather emotional. Now that his reputation had been established near Tianjin, when the people nearby heard that Li Zhi had gathered people to do something, they tried every means to join in. They did not doubt that there would be a bad outcome. Now, in Tianjin, it could be said that a single call would have hundreds of responses.
Tianjin had become their base. No matter how prosperous the overseas colonies were, they would never leave this base camp. Its factory was here, its army was here, and its relatives were here. The construction overseas was just a icing on the cake.
After receiving 50,000 tenant farmers, Lin Feng asked the officials to select 5,000 healthy tenant farmers who were already married but under the age of 30 as the first batch of immigrants. These tenants were young and strong, which was beneficial for the entire wasteland to survive the high period of malaria during the initial reclamation. At the same time, they were already married, so there would be no difficulty in finding a wife for them in the future.
Marriage nowadays was all about matchmaking, and a young lady would not go to Taiwan on her own. If the men who were transported to Little Liuqiu did not have wives, it would be a long journey for them to go back to Tianjin to matchmake. Married farmers did not have such a problem. Moreover, married couples would soon have children, which was also beneficial to the population growth of the entire colony.
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