Cutting 1719

Chapter 294 Compiling Ming History
"Now that I am restoring the Han army, I will naturally not be disturbed by the clan and servants, but if we establish a country in the future, we will have to be more vigilant to prevent changes in Hanyang in the future."

Li Fu's tone was a bit cautious, he knew how taboo what he said now, what is the change of Hanyang?It refers to the fact that Ning Zhongyuan led troops to rebel against the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Ning Zhongyuan relied on the clan power of the Ning family, and the Hanyang camp, which was almost equivalent to the family members of the Ning family, to achieve the reversal.

But he, Ning Zhongyuan, was able to do the Hanyang matter at the beginning, but what should he do if the Wang family, Li family and Zhao family also do the same in the future?Ning Yu thought about this question, Li Fu thought about it, and even Ning Zhongyuan, who personally launched the Hanyang Uprising, thought about it in his own heart.

"The current clan, maybe we can let it go for a while, let's see how to control the servants first." Ning Yu said slowly with a slight sigh on his face.Well, you have to do things one by one.

Speaking of servants, Li Fu was a little emotional, because when he was born, his family was very poor, and he was almost sold to be a servant. Naturally, he will not be unfamiliar, so he started to popularize science knowledge with Ning Yu.

The slavery system before the Qing Dynasty was completely different from today’s. Like the Song Dynasty, the traditional slavery system gradually tended to disintegrate. The slaves began to be freed from the shackles of the untouchable class and became slaves who enjoyed the same rights as other civilians. Beloved.The slave-servant relationship at this time is no longer a lifelong master-servant relationship, but an employment relationship based on an employment contract.

Therefore, slaves and maids in the Song Dynasty could not be killed at will. The so-called "all slaves and maids who are guilty and killed by their master without a lawsuit will be punished with a hundred rods; those who are innocent and killed will be punished for one year." Qing slaves were treated quite differently.

After the Ming Dynasty, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, only officials’ families were strictly allowed to serve slave spleens, while “the households of the common people, who keep and raise slave spleens, can be released as good people with a staff of one hundred.” No more than 20 people, no more than 12 people for the first grade, no more than ten people for the second grade, and no more than eight people for the third grade." Under this system, the local gentry were simply unable to control too much apparent force.

But it was different in Qing Dynasty.In fact, in the current Qing Dynasty, slavery is extremely prevalent, which is different from previous dynasties, and the enthusiasm for slavery runs through the entire Qing Dynasty, from emperors and nobles to local officials, from merchants From the rich to the landlords and gentry, they all kept slaves and maidservants.

Not only the Eight Banners keep slaves, but even the ordinary families of officials and officials are mostly "a forest of servants". Like local governors, they usually keep slaves and even "thousands of people", even if they are a little less, there are only a few hundred. People don't wait, even before the Ning family raises troops, they can openly raise hundreds of servants on the surface, and no one cares about how many servants they raise in secret.

Speaking of the end, Li Fu even felt a little emotional, "The rebellion of the Han army is due to the disadvantages of the Qing Dynasty. Otherwise, how can we resist the imperial army with the strength of a few people?"

Thinking of this, Ning Yu couldn't help but smile wryly, but now that he is about to sit in the world, he naturally won't keep such a big loophole. Even if there is no second Ning family in the future, the damage to society will be extremely serious Yes, after all, one more slave means one less citizen who can pay taxes in the future, so no matter what, this situation should be reduced.

"If you want to use too tyrannical means to seize the servants of the gentry, I am afraid it will arouse the opposition of all the gentry in the world." Li Fu's words are euphemistic, but the meaning is also very clear. To use a knife on the head of a gentry, you must be prepared It's good to be backlashed.

"So this matter has to be done little by little, just like boiling a frog in warm water. It will definitely not work all of a sudden. We have to take it slowly, but this matter has to be done."

"Boil frogs in warm water?" Li Fu suddenly felt a little confused, this word is really fresh!

Ning Yu cried and laughed: "Just put the toads in the pot. When the fire is first started, they won't feel the heat. When they feel the heat, they can't jump out. Cough, don't worry about this, We have to do this, because this is related to the future, as for the current situation, we also have to take care of it!"

Li Fu lightly shook the folding fan in his hand, "It must be done, it just depends on how to do it, I'm afraid it won't work to prevent the gentry from keeping slaves, but in terms of quantity, we might as well copy the Ming system."

"Well, besides that, I thought, maybe we have to do something with the new poll tax"

Ning Yu pondered for a while, but made up his mind, "The new poll tax also includes slaves, but the money has to be paid by the master. As for the poll tax of slaves, it is five times that of ordinary people, and then In addition, if there are more than 50 people, it will be counted as ten times, and if it is more than [-] people, it will be calculated as a hundred times. Those who reward slaves for their military exploits will be counted as civilians. If they keep slaves privately, they will be fined a hundred times."

The idea of ​​"hissing" shocked Li Fu, he looked at Ning Yu in front of him, but shouted a few good words again and again. "The chief governor's move is more than letting them kill with soft knives. It's too ruthless."

Ning Yu's meaning is very simple, don't you want to keep slaves?Yes, just pay the money. If there are less than ten people, it will be calculated according to five times the head tax. If you have money, you can raise it.Want to raise more slaves?I'm sorry, the counting starts at ten times, and when it reaches the scale of almost 50 people, the counting starts at a hundred times in an instant, and you pay once a year, so you don't have to worry about not going bankrupt.

More importantly, this measure also excludes the current veterans of the Fuhan Army. In this way, these people's hearts can be further won over to ensure the smooth implementation of the policy. It can be said that these ideas of Ning Yu seem radical , but every step has just reached the bottom line, which can not only guarantee the implementation effect, but also not affect one's own prestige and rule.

"The chief governor's strategy has laid the foundation for our great country in the future."

However, Li Fu bowed to Ning Yu and saluted, admiring him to the extreme.

The capital, the East Nuan Pavilion of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Yongzheng looked at a large pile of papers in front of him, his face was a bit abnormally red, Yongzheng has been on the throne for more than four months now, and he has done a lot of things, but in such a short period of time, he wants to reach To get more things, but it is already out of reach.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly in the Northwest War, and the debts of the Ministry of Household Affairs were also settled smoothly, which made Yongzheng breathe a sigh of relief, but before he was happy for a few days, the rapid progress of the Fuhan Army in Jiangnan was actually He kicked him hard in the heart, almost making Yongzheng feel so much pain.

With the loss of Jiangnan and Huguang, the biggest problem facing the Qing Dynasty today is not the lack of money, but the lack of food. In front of Yongzheng at this time, there are folds presented from various places, which means that there is not enough food for this winter. Even Li Weijun, the governor of Zhili, submitted a note, saying that if there is no more food, the price of food in the capital will be difficult to maintain.

But the problem is that after the absence of Jiangnan and Huguang, Yongzheng can't change more food, especially the Jiangning line is currently occupied by the Fuhan army, and the water transportation is one of them, and the most intuitive evil results will happen. It is the 400 million shi grains that should have been sent to the capital, but it is gone!
In today's Qing Dynasty, the grain production areas are mainly concentrated in the south, taking into account the northern province of Shandong. Therefore, every year, the imperial court collects grain from the eight provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Hubei, Henan, and Shandong. About 400 million shi, mainly to provide food for the princes and officials in the capital and the Eight Banners garrison soldiers in the capital.

The deadline for grain collection in each province is November each year, and the departure date of the grain boats will be determined according to the distance of each province. Therefore, grain collection in Jiangnan often starts in August and September, and the ship will sail in mid-September at the latest. There is a time limit for transporting grain, and the grain in the six southern provinces has a time limit for transporting through Huai'an, which is called the "limit of crossing Huai'an".

However, with the gradual loss of the south, it means that the Qing court's annual 400 million shi grains are basically hopeless.Except for a part of Henan, northern Anhui and Shandong provinces that were able to transport some grain to Beijing, the grain in other places was basically occupied by the Fuhan army.

The house leak happened to rain all night, and when there was no supply of food, many refugees from Henan and Anhui began to head north. Many of them did not care about heading to the capital to escape the military disaster. Although countless people died of starvation along the way, But only millions of disaster victims crossed the Yellow River.

Thinking that so many disaster victims would soon arrive in the capital, Yongzheng felt his brain ache. He took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms, and poured out a reddish-brown pill, only the size of soybeans, and then He just swallowed the tea in one gulp. It was strange to say that after taking this elixir, his headache also improved a lot.

"Thanks to these pills, otherwise, how could I get in the way of so many headaches?"

Yongzheng couldn't help but let out a sigh, he believed in both Buddhism and Taoism, but when he was a prince, he was very interested in alchemy. Of course, there was another purpose at that time, that was to show Kangxi deliberately, so that Kangxi thought that he was not seeking the throne.But later on, he pretended to be pretending, and he also did some research on alchemy, and he has raised many Taoist priests so far.

The elixir he is taking now is called "Jiji elixir", which is the handwriting of these Taoist priests. After taking it, his body will be healthy and energetic, so Yongzheng will drink two of these pills every day to restore his state.

After thinking about it, Yongzheng thought that the food issue could only be resolved through the local government, so he wrote an edict to his confidant ministers, ordering Ertai and Tian Wenjing, two local officials, to recruit food in Henan, Shandong and other places. Food, and then deported back to Beijing, to solve the urgent needs of the capital.In addition, he also gave an imperial edict to transfer Li Wei from Yunnan to Anhui to serve as the transport envoy of the capital transfer salt transport envoy.

The decree was written, and the ink was not yet dry, but Yongzheng sent someone to send a batch of "Jiji Dan" to his confidants, and kindly asked: "All the ministers work really hard, and you need to take good care of your health, especially Tian Laoai. Qing, even though you are nearly seventy years old, I still hope that you can have children in old age. Pills are very good, and I feel good after taking them."

After the commercial was finished, Yongzheng felt that his headache was much better, so he summoned Zhang Tingyu, Longkodo, and the bachelor Xu Yuanmeng to the hall.

After the ceremony was over, Yongzheng couldn't wait to say: "You all know that Chu Ni is now in the south of the Yangtze River wantonly slandering the Han officials who made great contributions to the founding of the Qing Dynasty, and even digging graves. , I can't bear to hear it."

The few ministers in the audience naturally knew it well, but they didn't take it seriously. After all, it wasn't me who was the one who turned my bones into ashes, so naturally there was no personal pain.Just hearing Yongzheng's words, everyone instantly understood that the emperor was dissatisfied.

At that moment Zhang Tingyu knelt down and said: "Chu's rebellious actions have brought disaster to the country and aroused the wrath of heaven and man. He is really bringing about his own destruction. Your Majesty must not worry about this."

Yongzheng was silent for a while before he opened his mouth and said: ". After all, there must be a regulation for this matter. Although the hearts of the people in the world are in the Qing Dynasty, after all, there are those foolish men and women who have caused their disasters. Have to check."

Xu Yuanmeng, who had just been appointed as a bachelor, soon noticed the hidden meaning of Yongzheng, and quickly knelt down and said: "Chu Ni deceives people's hearts, and my Qing Dynasty can also be a gentleman. .”

Everyone is an old fox, but when they heard this, they immediately understood, and it turned out that Yongzheng's idea was based on this move.It's just that compiling "Ming History" is easy to say, but it is quite difficult in today's Qing Dynasty.

Strictly speaking, since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the history of the Ming Dynasty has been being compiled, but at that time, due to various reasons, and the people of the Qing Dynasty had not yet attached themselves, the history of the history was put on hold until Kangxi 17 In 140, after the San Francisco rebellion was quelled, Kangxi re-elected 20 people of erudite Confucianism to the Tiren Pavilion, and selected 20 people of the upper class and [-] people of the second class to compile history.

It was not until the 22nd year of Kangxi that the first draft was completed. Later, because many texts in it had not achieved the effect of discrediting the Ming Dynasty, it was revised and revised in the middle. Until the 41st year of Kangxi, Xiong Cilujin presented the fourth draft of "Ming History". It took a hundred volumes to complete the preliminary work of compiling history.As for the content inside, it is natural to delete and eliminate, and the structure is favored and suppressed, which has long lost the meaning of history books.

Now Yongzheng once again borrowed Xu Yuanmeng's mouth and proposed to revise "History of Ming Dynasty", which naturally has a very profound meaning.

"If you want to clean up the source and clean up the filth, you naturally need to start with the history books. The author will continue to compile "History of Ming Dynasty" today, with Xu Yuanmeng and Zhang Tingyu as the presidents, and Long Keduo and Wang Xuling to supervise the compilation of Ming History."

After Zhang Tingyu and others took the decree to thank them, they were about to leave, but Yongzheng kept Zhang Tingyu. Obviously there were other more important things to do, which made the rest of the ministers envious.

(End of this chapter)