Zhang Kuang said: "I ordered the rebels to report each other. If the reports were true, they would be spared death. So these rebels enthusiastically exposed each other."

"Good idea." Chongzhen said happily, "It seems the result is credible."

Zhang Kuang asked: "I wonder how the Holy One plans to deal with the more than 100,000 rebel soldiers with bad deeds?"

Chongzhen asked Zhang Kuang in return: "Zhang Kuang, what do you think I should do with these rebels?"

"Your Majesty, I think I should try my best not to kill them if I can." Zhang Kuang said, "These are all strong men. Even if they are left to farm, it will be fine. More than 100,000 rebels can cultivate millions of acres!"

"Tunting?" Zhang Kuang's words captured the true intention of Chongzhen's trip.

To be honest, if he just wanted to suppress the rebellion, Chongzhen would not have to go on a personal expedition. He could easily put down the rebellion by just letting Du Yinxi lead a hundred thousand soldiers to the south.

The reason why Chongzhen personally conquered Wuchang with his imperial chariot had another purpose.

This purpose is Huguang’s more than 90 million acres of fertile land!

Food security, or food security, has been a top priority for the country since ancient times.

During the Song Dynasty, there was a folk proverb that when Suhu and Suhu were ripe, the world would have enough. This meant that when the food in Suzhou and Huzhou was ripe, the entire Song Dynasty would no longer be hungry.

But after the Ming Dynasty, the folk proverb became "If you are familiar with Huguang, you will be satisfied all over the world."

This means that as long as Huguang has a good harvest of food, the whole world will not have to worry about not having enough to eat.

This shows how important Huguang, the world's granary, was to the Ming Dynasty.

Especially now that the industry and commerce in eight prefectures and one state in the south of the Yangtze River are booming, the farmland in the south of the Yangtze River will inevitably be converted to cash crops such as cotton, linen, mulberry, etc. This will inevitably lead to a sharp decline in the food output in the south of the Yangtze River, but the population in the south of the Yangtze River will increase sharply.

, if problems arise again in the big granary of Huguang at this time, the Ming Dynasty will be in big trouble.

Therefore, Chongzhen must take precautions to rectify Huguang, the world's granary, in advance to ensure the food supply in Jiangnan.

At that moment, Chongzhen said with a smile: "Speaking of farmland, the farmland of more than a dozen vassal kings such as Chu, Liao, Min, Xiang, etc., are they deserted now or who is cultivating them?"

In the Ming Dynasty, there were as many as nineteen vassal kings enfeoffed in Huguang.

There were thirteen vassal kings who lasted until the Chongzhen period. These thirteen vassal kings occupied half of the fertile land in Huguang, and the remaining half of the cultivated land was concentrated in the hands of the landowners Jin gentry. The final result was that less than 100% of the land was owned by farmers.

Five years of cultivated land requires 100% of the land tax, which is dozens of times the tax amount determined by Zhu Yuanzhang in the early Ming Dynasty!

Who can bear such a heavy tax? So the farmers have only two options.

The peasants either fled or dedicated their farmland to the feudal king and became tenant farmers from then on.

Therefore, ten years after Chongzhen, Huguang's own farmers had almost disappeared, and more than 90% of the cultivated land was concentrated under the names of various vassal princes and clans.

Then, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong conquered Huguang one after another. The vassal kings who were entrusted to Huguang were almost wiped out in one fell swoop, and the cultivated land under each vassal's name became ownerless again.

In the first two years, Chongzhen did not have the energy to take care of these things.

But now, the Ming Dynasty's situation has greatly improved, and it can finally be free to deal with the land under the name of the feudal king.

"This..." Seeing Chongzhen asking about the vassal king Zhuangtian, Zhang Kuang was speechless and his face didn't look good.

"What?" Chongzhen's face fell and he asked with a dark face, "Master Zhang Kuangzhang, is it difficult to say or do you dare not say?"
Chapter completed!