In the Wenhua Palace, Huang Liji and other three former cabinet elders of the cabinet, as well as Xu Guangqi and Guo Yunhou, who had newly joined the cabinet, were discussing with Chongzhen the issue of setting up the newly established Taiwan administrative region.

Zhang Ruitu persuaded bitterly: "Your Majesty, the population of the Han people in Taiwan is less than 20,000, and the rest are local natives, so it is too wasteful to set up a government office with such a small population."

For example, Hainan Island is so close to the mainland, the Song Dynasty began to develop immigration, and the island is now prosperous in the north and west, with a Han population of about 200,000, which is why there is a government.

Compared with Hainan Island, the sea distance between Taiwan and the mainland is even farther, and it will take one or two hundred years to develop Hainan's population size. And these overseas isolated islands are high and densely forested, with many poisonous insects, snakes and ants, and miasma, it is not that they can't survive on the mainland, so who wants to move overseas?

The minister thought that it would be more appropriate to set up a county in Taiwan first, and it would be too late to upgrade the official office when the teeth prospered in the future. ”

Shi Fenglai also cautiously persuaded: "Your Majesty, this Taiwan is isolated overseas, and it is inconvenient to communicate with the mainland, and the imperial court can be said to be beyond its reach. If some people have delusional intentions on the island and want to break up the land overseas, will it not be a self-inflicted disaster for emigrating to Taiwan today? ”

When Guo Yunhou heard this, he also said slowly: "It's not a bad thing to open up Taiwan, the Ming Dynasty doesn't immigrate to Taiwan, and those big men at sea will also go ashore to recruit people to go to Taiwan for reclamation."

Rather than allowing these traitors to occupy Taiwan and do evil, it is better for the imperial court to organize personnel to develop Taiwan first, so as to eliminate the idea of traitors.

But there is only one point, the imperial court cannot afford to pay for immigration. A ploughing ox is about 8-10 taels, plus farm tools, seeds and housing, and the resettlement of a family of immigrants is about 25-30 taels.

If you want to make the Taiwan government have a rough scale, you need at least 10,000 households, that is, no less than 300,000 gold, which the Ministry of Households can't plan at all. ”

Zhu Youzhen had been quietly listening to the grievances of the elders, and after hearing what Guo Yunhou said, he interjected and said: "10,000 households are not enough, if you want to initially control Taiwan, at least 100,000 households are needed." Without this number, the natives and Westerners on the island would not have recognized the Ming Dynasty's right to govern Taiwan. ”

Guo Yunhou glanced at Chongzhen, and then said helplessly: "Then it is even more astronomical, Your Majesty just said before that it is necessary to reduce the salary, if this plan to develop Taiwan is started, I am afraid that the salary will not be reduced." ”

Zhu Youzhen frowned and said, "Fighting against Jiannu is not just to defend Liaodong. If Jiannu occupies Liaodong, won't he want to enter the customs? After entering the Guannai, won't you covet my fertile Central Plains? With the land of the Central Plains, wouldn't they want the rich Jiangnan?

Naming the military expenses used for Liaodong as Liaoyu is not severing the relationship between the Liao people and the people in other regions? Without an army to fight in front, can the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty enjoy peace in peace? This is the most selfish idea in the extreme.

Since New Year's Day, the name of the Liaoning tax has been changed to a special tax on national defense. It is forbidden for officials and officials in various localities to call it Liaoyu again, and if anyone dares to call it Liaoyu again, he will be removed from all posts for the crime of undermining national unity. ”

Several pavilion elders just looked at each other, and then nodded in agreement with Chongzhen's suggestion to change the name of Liaojiao.

Only then did Zhu Youzhen focus his attention on the Taiwan issue, and he thought for a long time before saying: "The Taiwan government must be set up, and the Taiwan government will not only govern Taiwan, but also govern the Penghu Islands.

In the future, the Taiwan government will no longer have to be under the jurisdiction of Fujian, but will directly accept the jurisdiction of the imperial court. The population of Taiwan is not large, so the subordinate officials can be reduced as much as possible, but the personnel must be carefully selected.

The Taiwan government can not only rely on immigrants to increase the population, but also educate the natives, and all the natives who are willing to accept our Ming culture and are willing to serve as soldiers and pay for food can be naturalized as Ming people.

As for the cost of immigration, I have a caveat. ”

After Zhu Youzhen glanced at the five officials on both sides of the long table, he said: "I think that it is better to leave the immigration issue to the private trading houses to handle, and the imperial court will only give preferential policies." ”

"Preferential policies? What is Your Majesty's thoughts? Huang Liji was finally raised by Chongzhen and asked.

Zhu Youzhen shook his hands tightly with each other, and said: "Give the power of Taiwan's reclamation to commercial companies, exempt Taiwan from land taxes for 30 years, and the government will only collect industrial and commercial taxes." ”

Huang Liji asked with some skepticism: "Your Majesty, does this commercial company refer to the companies established at the previous maritime conference?" These people were originally born as pirates at sea, and now that they have been recruited, the imperial court should move the people on the island back to the mainland, reduce their strength, and prevent them from becoming bigger. How can the power to reclaim immigrants be handed over to them again? ”

Zhu Youzhen bowed slightly: "Mr. Huang's statement, if you don't consider other factors, still makes sense."

For example, no one else is coveting Taiwan, or these immigrants who are already in Taiwan want to return to the mainland willingly.

Otherwise, what we do will either let Taiwan fall into the hands of others, or it will only make Taiwanese immigrants lose their allegiance to the imperial court and become completely traitors.

What's more, even if the imperial court does not come forward to organize immigration to Taiwan, will Zheng Zhilong not have the idea of treating Taiwan as a way out? If Zheng Zhilong and the others are allowed to organize their own immigration, will the people of Taiwan listen to the Zheng family or the imperial court in the future? ”

Zhu Youzhen's words made several ministers a little speechless, and after making eye contact with several other colleagues, Huang Liji's attitude softened a little and said: "Then what does Your Majesty mean to use other companies to disperse the control of Eighteen Zhi over Taiwan?" ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded and replied: "Yes, since Taiwan is to be included in the rule of the Ming Dynasty, you can't just let people from Fujian immigrate to Taiwan, otherwise Taiwan will really become a country within a country as Mr. Huang said."

The landless people of eastern Liaodong, the landless people of Shandong, and the displaced people of the southeastern provinces can all move to Taiwan. First, it can reduce the number of displaced people on the mainland, and second, it can also use them to develop Taiwan.

And if you want to preside over and manage such a huge immigration plan, it is obviously impossible for Taiwan not to set up a government office. ”

Among the ministers, only Zhang Ruitu is from Jinjiang, Fujian, while Xu Guangqi and Shi Fenglai are from Yunjian and Zhejiang, Huang Liji is from Yuancheng, Beizhili, and Guo Yunhou is from Caozhou, Shandong.

By the time of the Apocalypse, land annexation was already very serious. Industry and commerce are well developed in the Jiangnan area, and farmers who have lost their land can still work in various handicraft workshops or trading houses.

In the area north of Yangzhou, leaving the line of the Grand Canal, the peasants who lost their land had no way to make a living, either selling themselves to the wealthy as slaves or becoming homeless robbers.

After Nurhachi rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, millions of people in Liaodong fled back to Guannei, and it became a situation of fighting for land with the people in Beizhili and Shandong.

The gentry in Northern Zhili and Shandong were happy to select the strong men from among the refugees as their servants, but they would not welcome the Liaodong gentry to buy property in the local area to drive up the price of land and share the power to manage the township with them.

The direct effect of the Liao people's entry into the customs was that they generally lowered the price of slaves in the north and raised the price of land and daily necessities in areas with convenient transportation.

Although the increase in land prices has benefited the homesteaders in the north, it is the ordinary people in the north who have been most affected in other aspects.

Therefore, the people in the northern Zhili and Shandong areas often had disputes with the Liao people who had been resettled by the imperial court, and even discriminated against these refugees. Of course, the inaction of the local government should also bear a great deal of responsibility for the frequent occurrence of such disputes.

The worse consequence of this kind of inter-regional attack is that the people of Liaodong, who were originally loyal to the Ming Dynasty, began to deviate from the Ming Dynasty, and many Liao people went out of the customs again.

Most of the ministers agreed with Chongzhen's suggestion that the displaced people who migrated to the coastal areas and the refugees from Liaodong go to Taiwan for reclamation.

In particular, Huang Liji and Guo Yunhou are two people, and the Beizhili and Shandong regions are areas that directly receive refugees from Liaodong, so they can reduce the burden on their hometowns and remove some of the refugees from Liaodong, which is a good governance for them to benefit their hometowns.

After confirming the policy of entrusting commercial companies to immigrants to develop Taiwan and the establishment of a yamen for the Taiwan government, the ministers all put forward their opinions on the candidates for the first prefect of Taiwan.

After some discussion, Huang Liji and Shi Fenglai's advocate Cai Maode, the priest of the Ministry of Rites, and Zhou Kangeng, the magistrate of Fuqing County, Fujian Province, proposed by Chongzhen, became evenly matched.

Cai Maode: Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli, a native of Kunshan, 34 years old, has served as a magistrate and a Beijing official, and has a rich resume.

Zhou Kangeng: A five-year jinshi of the Apocalypse, a native of Pinggang, Ningxiang, Hunan, 27 years old, served as a county magistrate for less than two years.

If it weren't for Chongzhen's support, Zhou Kangeng would not have been on the shortlist of the Taiwan prefect at all.

Huang Liji and other ministers advocated that the Taiwan government system was created in a grassy manner, and Taiwan had a special status and a strong independent status, so an old man should be selected to serve as the prefect, so as not to prevent the imperial court from losing control of the Taiwan government.

Chongzhen believes that it is precisely because the Taiwan government is in the grass-roots period and it is inconvenient to communicate with the central government that it needs a young and non-formalistic official to preside.

In the past, Huang Liji and other cabinet ministers always thought that the emperor was too powerful in grasping power and did not give local civil officials room to play.

But today, they are unusual, believing that without the consent of the imperial court, the local government will do its own thing, which is the source of trouble.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but sigh in his heart, sure enough, his butt was changed, and his head was changed. He did not want to force the cabinet to accept his ideas at the first meeting, because it would make the members of the cabinet feel that his proposed cabinet accountability system was just a façade.

Zhu Youzhen finally had to give in: "It's better to be like this, since this Cai Maode is a priest of the Ministry of Rites, it is better to summon him to meet him now." What do you think you think of the gentlemen and I to inquire about whether he is suitable for the position of governor of Taiwan? ”

After Huang Liji looked at the expressions of his colleagues on the left and right, he replied: "It's okay, whether Cai Maode is capable of sitting overseas, I will ask and consider it in person, which is also a reasonable move..."