Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 604 The Son of Heaven Never Loses
Shen Shangshu didn't care what Yu Qian thought, he only knew that he was going to lose his money again!
Those who can be the chief officials of the six ministries are of course good at each, but they must also have an understanding of all aspects of government affairs.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for the six parts to transfer each other frequently.

To be honest, Shen Yi is not proficient in military matters, but, as the Minister of the Household Department, he is very familiar with the management of fields.

In the final analysis, military settlements are actually just fields cultivated by the army. The forms are different, but the principles are the same, and many problems that will arise must be interlinked.

Therefore, when Yu Qian just mentioned Huatou, Shen Yi immediately reacted.

This time, I'm afraid I'm going to bleed heavily...

Sure enough, while speaking, Yu Qian took out a memorial book from his sleeve, handed it to Shen Yi, and said.

"So in essence, the biggest problem in rectifying the military settlements is how to return the military settlements that have been turned into civilian fields in various ways into the hands of the imperial court, and at the same time, prevent the people from being displaced due to the loss of land."

"Aiming at this point, after discussing with the two ministers of the Ministry of War, Yu came up with a preliminary charter. However, it needs the strong support of the Ministry of Finance."

The implication is that there are no more than four people who know this charter, and Shen Shangshu will be the fifth.

So, under the watchful eyes of the Son of Heaven, Shen Yi let out a sigh of relief, reached out to take the memorandum, and buried himself in reading it.

The matter has come to this point, there is no way to hide, so we can only face it.

The memorabilia is not too thick, and as expected, when Shen Shangshu opened it, there were many traces of ink brush circles on it.

But Shen Shangshu pretended not to see it when he saw it, he read the memorial carefully, and after closing it, he frowned.

After pondering for a moment, he looked up at Yu Qian and asked.

"Public land law?"

Throughout the ages, literati and bureaucrats have often favored the reform of the ancient system. The reason for this is not only because of the so-called status, but more importantly, with the experience of the predecessors as a reference, it will be more stable when implementing their own policies. .

Throughout the dynasties, farming has been the main industry of the country. Even the Song Dynasty, which was rich due to commercial taxes, attached great importance to agriculture. Because of this, various policies and methods aimed at agriculture emerged in an endless stream.

As the chief situ who is in charge of the household department, Shen Yi is naturally familiar with all these.

The public land law is a system implemented in the Southern Song Dynasty, the purpose is to solve the financial difficulties of the imperial court, and at the same time restrain the merger of tyrants and gentry.

Specifically, on the basis of the land restriction system, the upper limit of the number of acres of land that can be owned by different household registrations is delineated. The excess will be forcibly redeemed by the imperial court and classified as official land.

After these acres are taken back by the imperial court, they will be distributed to farmers who have no land or little land through renting, and they will cultivate them and pay taxes to the imperial court.

This system has had mixed reputations in history.

Practitioners believe that the public land law restrains the gentry, appeases the hearts of the people, and at the same time can increase a large amount of tax revenue for the court. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Those who deny it think that the law of public land is actually the imperial court's forcible plundering, in the name of redemption, and the forced expropriation of private land at low prices. Although a group of gentry were suppressed, many ordinary people were forced to have nowhere to go. source of.

And the most fundamental thing is that after the public land is rented out, local officials and gentry will collude, and a large number of fields will also be hidden. The ultimate suffering will still be borne by the people.

Even in terms of finances, the imperial court needed to spend a lot of money to buy public land. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty adopted the method of printing Jiaozi, which further made society turbulent.

Although it is said that after the redemption was completed, the imperial court's finances eased rapidly, but the resulting damage to the imperial court's authority was irreparable.

In addition, not long after the Southern Song Dynasty implemented the public land law, it was destroyed by the Yuan Dynasty. This is why many people do not like the public land law.

However, from Shen Yi's point of view, he doesn't have that much prejudice against the public land law.

On the contrary, he felt that the public land law in the Southern Song Dynasty was implemented a little late. Those so-called collusion between officials and gentry, deception, low-cost forced expropriation of private land, and even to buy public land and seal the meeting, these problems all show that the Southern Song Dynasty itself Already the building will collapse.

With a good policy, it is difficult to implement it. This is the biggest problem.

In fact, if you really study the public land law carefully, you will understand that after the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty, the reason why it was able to stabilize quickly was because of enjoying the benefits of the public land law.

At that time, many of the land granted by Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty to the heroes came from the public land that was redeemed in the Southern Song Dynasty.

It is true that the predecessors were scolded, and the descendants enjoyed the blessings.

Going back to Yu Qian's memorandum, in fact, the biggest problem in the military colony is how to maintain the living space of the original low-level tenants.

If it is carried out by the public land law, it is also a solution.

However... Shen Shangshu went through what he had just seen in his mind again. It seemed that Yu Qian's regulations were different from the Southern Song Dynasty's public land law.

"Shangshu Shen has good eyesight. There are indeed some references to the public land law in this charter, but they are not completely the same."

Obviously, for this new memorial, Yu Qian still pays more attention to the previous one. He nodded and said seriously.

"The public land law is aimed at the gentry of private land. Forced redemption will cause intense dissatisfaction, but the military settlement itself is the imperial court's land. First of all, in terms of status, the imperial court has the upper hand this time."

"Secondly, in terms of methods and targets, during the implementation process, the Ministry of War will also make a distinction. There is no need to mention the registered military fields. As usual, let the frontier troops return to the military camp."

"This regulation of the Ministry of War is mainly aimed at the fields that are hidden and not registered, and the fields that are originally military fields but are registered as civilian fields."

"Specifically speaking, redemption is still the main method. After the end of Qingzhang, these two types of land will be bought back by the imperial court according to the market price and converted into registered military land."

"However, this part of the military field will not be cultivated by the frontier army for the time being, but will still be cultivated by the tenants, and the local government will be responsible for paying taxes on time and supplying it to the court."

After saying these words, Shen Yi became serious.

He was not wrong, and Yu Qian was not wrong. This method really needs the full support of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

Shen Yi didn't know how many fields had been hidden by so many military settlements on the border, but there was no doubt that it must be a huge amount.

If it is said that all of them are bought by the imperial court according to the market price, then it is conceivable how much financial pressure the Ministry of Households has to bear.

The advantage of doing so is that it can take into account the interests of ordinary people.

At this time, Fan Guang thought about it and asked a question.

"But, it's been a long time, nothing has changed, and the imperial court paid out such a large amount of money..."

Unlike Shen Yi, Fan Guang was born in a general family, and he was not very familiar with these government affairs, and sometimes he was a little slow to respond to these twists and turns in the court.

However, this does not prevent him from being able to judge the situation.

In fact, Fan Guang realized that the emperor might need him to participate in certain things as early as when the Zhennan Palace wanted to marry him.

This is a matter of course, nothing comes without a price.

Fan Guang could also vaguely imagine that there was a high probability that it was related to the military settlement.

However, it wasn't until just now, after he was pulled by King Zhennan to thank him, that he realized that the emperor had made a big decision to make this marriage.

The replay just now seems to be a gossip, but if you read it carefully, you can get a lot of key information.

For example, the most obvious thing is for Zhennan King to prevent the position of Zong Ren Ling from falling into the hands of King Xiang.

For another example, the Son of Heaven didn't say it clearly, but the implication has already been revealed. After the wedding, I'm afraid that King Zhennan will stay in Beijing, and his son, his new son-in-law, will return to the fiefdom...

In the case of the military colony, the most deeply involved, apart from the relatives, is the clan.

All these are laying the groundwork for solving the involvement of the clan in the army.

As clever as the King of Zhennan, he could only bow his head obediently in front of the emperor's will, and he was grateful, not to mention Fan Guang himself who was single-handedly promoted by the emperor.

Therefore, he also needs to express his attitude.

It doesn't matter if you don't understand, at least you have to show your concern about this matter.

And...Fan Guang really didn't understand!

Although he didn't see the memorial Yu Qian handed to Shen Yi, but from Yu Qian's words, he probably understood what the Ministry of War was going to do.

To put it bluntly, it is to first send people to clear the acres of land, and then register and record all the land that has been occupied as civilian land and privately reclaimed by the army, and then the government will buy it back.

The most important thing is that after the redemption, it will not be re-secured in the army, but will still be farmed by the original tenants.

To put it bluntly, the imperial court paid such a huge amount of money, but in the end, it only got the fields on the books. In fact, who should plant it, or who should plant it.

What are you doing so much?

Yu Qian was silent, but Shen Yi who was beside him smiled and said.

"Fan Dudu, big difference, big difference!"

With Shen Yi's eyesight, he can naturally see that the core purpose of this set of rules of the Ministry of War is to take back all the farmland that they have without affecting the normal people.

As Fan Guang wondered, it seemed that the imperial court did not get any benefits from this tossing.

However, he got the title!
Or more directly, it's the difference between ownership and usage rights.

The imperial court pays silver taels, and what they take away is the ownership, while what the common people keep is the right to use. Once the two are separated, many things will be easier to handle.

While talking, Shen Yi turned to Yu Qian and asked.

"If there is no accident, Yu Shaobao will not just be willing to let these acres become military fields on paper, right?"

Sure enough, Yu Qian shook his head and said.

"Of course not! What I said just now is only the first step, but it is the most critical step. As long as the converted Min Tianguan can be successfully returned to military status, then the next step will be a matter within the court."

"After the transfer is completed, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household Affairs will jointly check the population yellow book again, and at the same time compare the fish scale book to redistribute the acres."

"According to the standard of [-] mu per dime, if the number of acres under the name is insufficient, after registering with the government, they can continue to cultivate the original acres that have been collected as military farmland, and only need to pay taxes to the court on time."

"If the amount under the name exceeds the amount, the imperial court will not rent it, and return it to the frontier army for farming, and use it as a military settlement."

Therefore, this is the importance of the so-called transfer of nationality.

When these acres are all civilian land, the imperial court forcibly takes them back, which is a plunder.

However, if these acres can be successfully converted into military land, then it is equivalent to the court becoming a landlord, and the original landowner becomes a tenant.

In this way, if the landlord wants to dismiss the tenants, it will not be too easy.

It is true that in this way, part of the interests of the people will still be damaged.

However, if each member of a family can own more than [-] mu of land, then they are not the poor people struggling for livelihood that Yu Qian pitied.

So, in the final analysis, in a word, so much tossing is actually for one thing, so that the benefits transferred by the court can really fall into the hands of the poor people who should fall, and not be grabbed by the gentry.

However, there is one more problem...

Shen Shangshu pondered for a moment, looked at Yu Qian thoughtfully, and asked.

"Except for these? Yu Shaobao don't tell Shen, the Ministry of War only intends to do this?"

It should be said that the regulations mentioned by Yu Qian are relatively complete. Although the process is cumbersome, it can take into account the interests of the court and the people to the greatest extent.

On the one hand, it ensures that the people with no land and less land can survive. On the other hand, it clears up those redundant fields and takes them back to the court to ensure the good operation of the military settlements. It can be described as the best of both worlds.

The only downside is...

A little bit of money!

Don't look at Shen Shangshu usually tightly covering his money bag, but still the same sentence, when it's time to pay, the household department is never vague.

Including this time, although Shen Shangshu was reluctant, but since Yu Qian revealed that he needed help from the household department, no matter how reluctant he was, he never said a word of refusal.

It's okay to spend money, but the problem is, it's a bit of a loss!

You must know that the fields bought this time were either military fields that were concealed or sold privately through various means, or privately reclaimed fields that were reclaimed by frontier troops.

The former is originally the court's field, and the latter, since the people of the court are used, of course it should also be the court's field.

However, it costs money to get back your own things.

Those bastards who invaded the military fields and used the frontier soldiers to work could get a lot of money for nothing. Thinking about it, I feel angry.

Even if he could understand that the Ministry of War made a concession in order to take into account the living space of the people at the bottom, Shen Shangshu still felt unable to swallow this breath.

Moreover, he believed that Yu Qian couldn't swallow it either.

More importantly, according to his understanding, the Son of Heaven is not the kind of person who swallows his anger, and has taught Shen Shangshu countless painful lessons...

Son of Heaven, never suffer!
Sure enough, this time, Yu Qian did not speak, but looked at the emperor on the throne.

I saw a sneer on the face of the emperor, and said lightly.

"Didn't Mr. Yu say it just now? He will be punished according to the situation. After the rectification of the army, the Ministry of Military Affairs will cooperate with the Ministry of Punishment to thoroughly investigate the frontier army."

"During these days, I have also received a lot of memorials, those who eat empty wages, those who drink soldiers' blood, those who resell arms, and those who claim merit for nothing...Da Ming's side generals, all of them are very courageous. Yes!"

(End of this chapter)