Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 849 Lianzhou Situation
Zhu Su listened to Wang Dabing's enthusiastic introduction of Lianzhou's scenery with a slight smile on his face, unable to deny it.

Although he seemed to be sightseeing and looking for scenery everywhere, Zhu Su had no interest at all in the rain at Lianshan Mountain or the moon at Panchi.

When he looked at Lianshan, he was thinking about whether he could make use of the mountain to make a living, rely on the resource advantages to open up the situation in Lianzhou, and thus control the local chieftains.

To be honest, Zhu Su felt very heavy-hearted while walking through Lianzhou City.

Lianzhou City was very run-down, extremely run-down. A rough estimate of the permanent residents in the city was probably only a few thousand. Although it was the seat of a prefecture, the city was poorly populated with commerce and few people. The gate of the government office was even covered with cobwebs. If it weren't for the two dukes and a prince staying there, Zhu Su even suspected that the government office would have been abandoned.

What does it mean that the government office is in disrepair? It means that the common people no longer come to the government to file complaints even for daily disputes and frictions...

The chieftains each lived in their own place, and they had their own place to live and trade. There was no need for you to judge crimes. The Lianzhou government naturally became increasingly desolate. The Ming government was in name only. The prestige of the court was gone.

The chieftains of Lianzhou were still obedient, unlike those in Sizhou and Yunnan, where a group of barbarians would rebel every few days. Therefore, Zhu Su thought that the problems in Lianzhou should be relatively minor. He did not expect that such minor problems could be so serious.

Isn't it? The prefect of a state, a fourth-rank official, should be a stately official with a lot of things to do every day. But the prefect Wang in front of him not only played the role of a tour guide, but also enjoyed it very much. He even knew the scenery of various places in Lianzhou like the back of his hand. I don't know how many times he has visited them in his spare time... This is enough to show that he, the prefect, is dispensable in Lianzhou Prefecture. If the prefect is dispensable, doesn't it show the seriousness of the problem?

"Lord Wang." Zhu Su interrupted Wang Dabin, who was introducing 'Lianshan Timely Rain' to him, and said, "You will experience the scenery of Lianzhou in person someday. But there is one thing that I am very curious about."

"Just now, you and I have taken a brief tour of Lianzhou City... Why is the capital of this state so desolate? Lianzhou is an ancient city, so why are there so few people?"

Wang Dabin was stunned, and then a hint of sadness appeared in his eyes. "Your Highness, if a fourth-rank official of ours insists on saying that he is the governor of a prefecture, it would be flattering himself... How can this Lianzhou have the atmosphere of a prefecture? Strictly speaking, it is not even as good as a town or a village in the south of the Yangtze River. Otherwise, Your Majesty would not have established and abolished this Lianzhou prefecture and then established it again."

"This Lianzhou is actually a poor place in China. There are four kinds of people in its customs: the first is the customer, the second is the Dong people, the third is the Li people, and the fourth is the Dan people."

"The so-called customers live in the city, speak Chinese, and are mostly merchants; the Dong people live in the countryside, speak Min, and are mostly engaged in farming; the Li people live in remote villages, do not speak Chinese, and only make a living by farming; and the Tanka people live in boats and caves, are just like the water people, also speak Chinese, and mostly make a living by diving in the sea."

"Most of the people in Lianzhou are from other places, and they are the customers of traveling merchants. There were not many of them to begin with. During the war in the previous Yuan Dynasty, the maritime trade declined, and there were even fewer of them. After that, the court lifted the maritime ban. Many merchants in Lianzhou brought their families with them, and followed the big merchants from their hometowns to explore the sea and make a living. As for the Easterners..."

Since Zhu Su asked, Wang Dabing started to tell Zhu Su the population composition of Lianzhou Prefecture. Standing here and talking was a good opportunity for him to take a break.

Zhu Su listened attentively. Wang Dabin was not just a prefect made of clay or wood. He was able to climb all the way to the fourth rank after being selected as a filial and honest official. He was indeed quite capable. After listening to what he said, Zhu Su's understanding of the situation in Lianzhou City reached a new level.

There were many chieftains of minority groups in Lianzhou City, who were scattered outside the city, and made their livings by slash-and-burn farming or pearl-gathering and fishing. These people built forts and villages, and nominally submitted to the Ming Dynasty, but for hundreds of years they were self-sufficient and unaware of the sun and moon outside the mountains.

In addition, there are merchants from other places, and descendants of Han people who migrated here or were "exiled to Lingnan" since the Qin and Han Dynasties. Needless to say, merchants mostly settled in the city, and their power was the weakest. Moreover, the trade here was not prosperous. If they wanted to do business, they would go to various villages to collect mountain products and sea pearls and sell them to other places. They rarely operated in the city. As for the descendants of the Hakka Han people who took root here, they also had many villages and built villages for self-protection. It has a history of hundreds of years and they don't easily communicate with the outside world.

Although they are also Han Chinese, they have their own chieftains. It is hard to say how much sense of belonging these people have to the Ming Dynasty.

These chieftains of various ethnic groups were quite obedient to the Ming Dynasty, but they were not very respectful to the imperial court. They just lived their own lives behind closed doors.

"Lord Wang, has Lianzhou been in such a state of decline since ancient times?" Zhu Su asked.

"Your Highness, that's not entirely true." Wang Dabin smiled. Perhaps because he was asked something he was familiar with, he answered fluently, and the stiffness and flattery on his face just now were gone.

"During the Han Dynasty, this place was called Hepu, and was famous for its pearls. Therefore, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty established a prefecture for Lianzhou, and it was also because this place was quite prosperous that it deserved to be promoted to a prefectural seat. When Mr. Dongpo arrived in Lianzhou during the Song Dynasty, there were hundreds of shops and thousands of residents in Lianzhou City. The beautiful scenery was recorded in the history books, and a brick wall was built for Lianzhou City at that time."

"It was just that the former Song Dynasty was weak and attacked from all sides. Lianzhou and Qinzhou were often in the hands of the enemy Jiaozhi, and the Han people gradually left. Later, the former Yuan Dynasty plundered China, and we Han people were treated like pigs and dogs. Lianzhou became even more desolate."

"Now that our Ming Dynasty has been established, Your Majesty is wise and brave. In time, Lianzhou will surely surpass the Tang and Song dynasties and become a part of Lingnan again." Wang Dabin bowed towards the northeast direction of Yingtian.

Zhu Su automatically ignored Wang Dabin's last flattery and carefully chewed on the records of Lianzhou City's past that he told him.

It seems that if we want to revitalize this place, we still have to focus on the word "profit".

……

After returning home to rest for a while, Zhu Su told his idea to Xie Jin, the think tank on this trip. According to his idea, it might be possible to mobilize the merchants from Southeast Asia to establish a port trading market in Lianzhou City.

The problem with Lianzhou Prefecture is that its many stone forts and villages are all isolated and completely separate from each other. There is no communication between them at all, and as a result, Lianzhou City, the seat of the prefecture, has become a mere formality.

If we can get the Nanyang merchants to build a port in Lianzhou, using the commercial profits as a medium, we may be able to make the chieftains of the various villages in Lianzhou gather in the city. Once in the city, the government in the city will naturally play a role, and naturally the whole Lianzhou can be connected.

By then, the imperial court will have established its own status and power. In the future, it can gradually erode the power of the chieftains and set up temporary officials.

(End of this chapter)