Daqin: When I return from sea, I will offer you a map of the world

Chapter 521 The Demise of Slavery
"If Your Highness wants to conjure people out of thin air, it will really be difficult for you to force your Majesty..."

After Zhao Si unreasonably believed that the policies proposed by the officials were too slow to take effect and ignored the objective fact that population growth takes time, Li Si received Zhao Si's gaze and stood up to speak a fair word for the officials.

The Duke of Manchao, who was embarrassed by Zhao Si, immediately turned his grateful eyes to Li Si and immediately continued following Li Si's words.

Someone is taking the pressure...

But before the words could be spoken, Li Si gasped heavily.

"but……"

The courtier who was about to speak was choked by the words he was about to blurt out, and his eyes fell on Li Si.

Li Xiang was out of breath again when he spoke, right...

Zhao Si's expectant and even encouraging eyes fell on Li Si.

Li Si looked away from the confused civil and military officials, knowing that he could not get around this hurdle anyway, so he groaned and continued to speak.

"Today is different from the past. Now the Qin State has vast land and lacks manpower to cultivate the fields. The food production is also abundant. What Gu is worried about now is not that there is no land, but that there is no one to plant it." Zhao Si said with a smile. .

In fact, from the perspective of short-term economic benefits, the evolution from the era of official slaves to the era of owner-farmers is really not very profitable.

What's more... Zhao Si and the First Emperor's perfunctory behavior can be said to be straightforward.

"What Mr. Li means is that only these four million households are registered to pay taxes, right?" Zhao Si said.

In fact, to put it bluntly, it is a problem of unequal labor effort and reward.

But it doesn't matter if they go bankrupt, because the state will take over their property and land and turn them into concubines...

The yeoman farmers during the Qin Dynasty were relatively miserable, with frequent corvées and high taxes. It can be said that every yeoman farmer was on the verge of bankruptcy.

After Li Si finished speaking, the expression on Manchao Gongqing's face began to become more exciting.

Some were surprised, some had doubts on their faces, and some had thoughtful eyes. Most of the complicated eyes fell on Li Si, and a small part fell on Zhao Si.

"This is what I want to say. In fact, these more than four million households do not include the concubines of subordinate ministers, nor the servants and slaves of wealthy families. Not to mention the bandits and people who do not obey the king's rule. There are also people in the mountains and fields. People who pay taxes." Li Si said.

So Li Si really didn't have many choices left, and now he could only walk to the dark side with his eyes closed.

In this era where farming technology and farming equipment are not very advanced, land utilization is extremely limited.

But things are different now. Taxes have been reduced and food production has increased. Correspondingly, a lot of less fertile land has become valuable for cultivation.

"Although people cannot be changed, households can be changed." Li Si smiled.

You know everything.

Too lazy to do any face-saving work...

After Li Si finished speaking, the sensitive person had already begun to attack Li Si with his eyes.

Therefore, livestock farms are common among wealthy families, while the life of homesteaders has never been very good.

Now Li Si actually has no way out. If Zhao Si does not support Li Si, Li Si's position as prime minister will no longer be stable, and he will lose his basic level.

"But most of them don't have their own fields. Otherwise, why would they be reduced to slaves in the mountains?" A courtier interrupted, and Li Si glared at him.

"If they are no longer included in the household registration, then Da Qin will not be able to launch corvee services against them, let alone collect taxes from them, and it will not be able to recruit soldiers from them. Now is the time when there is a shortage of people..." Zhao Si frowned.

Before bankruptcy, the state received 50% of taxes, and after bankruptcy, the state received 100%. Over and over again, the amount has increased...

As we all know, for Li Si, losing his rights is actually not much different from death.

It is not unusual for farmers to become farmers and pastoralists. Except for food rations, everything they earn becomes the property of the imperial court.

They didn't pretend. They thought it was too slow to encourage childbearing and wanted a quick-effective method. Li Si pointed out that there were actually many people in Daqin who were no longer included in Daqin's household registration statistics.

Sure enough, as expected, Zhao Si raised his head slightly exaggeratedly and said: "Is it the king's land in the whole world, and the king's ministers are on the shore of the land. There are so many people in the world who live on the land of Da Qin but no longer have household registration." Within the range?”

Most of the courtiers were wondering if Prime Minister Li was going to make another big move.

Oh, it's Xian Gong, no, why is this guy here?

"It is true that so many people cannot be born out of thin air in a while, and even if they are born in a while, they will not be useful, but it does not mean that more households cannot be created." Li Si said with a smile.

The two of them were like singing a double act, asking questions and answering questions.

The purpose of holding a court meeting is to inform...

"Your Highness may not know something. There are currently more than four million households, which does not mean that our Qin country only has these four million households." Li Si said.

They are all thousand-year-old foxes... There is no need to say more about political sensitivity. In this situation, you only need to say a few keywords, and most people can guess what follows.

"Prime Minister Li might as well say it clearly..." Zhao Si seemed unaware and sang and performed a double act with Li Si.

He has become a traitor to the old officials in Guan, and he was even raped by others...

And a small number of smart people have guessed that Li Si may have reached an agreement with His Highness the Grand Sun in advance.

Now that we've reached this point, what's the point of being coy again?

But it is obvious that the enthusiasm of the peasants for labor development is much stronger than that of the era when official and private slaves were prevalent.

In the past, taxes were high, output requirements were required, and the technical level was not enough. If the land was not cultivated, the labor burden would be increased, and the output assessment would be affected. In the end, what was obtained was not enough to live on for the whole family.

With the increase in grain production, Da Qin indeed had the capital of Versailles.

However, with the First Emperor Zhuyu in front, this situation was quite adaptable to the Manchu ministers.

If it is based on social and economic development, the overall volume is undoubtedly developing upward.

Secondly, Great Qin also needs to get rid of its dependence on wealthy families, nobles, and academic clans. There is no doubt that the number of peasant farmers is huge and the demand is not high. At the same time, they are neither unable to survive nor rebel...

In terms of stability, it is much stronger than other groups.

An order to move the royal mausoleum can cause chaos in the world for a year... What about the peasants?
Wouldn't it be a good thing to move to Xianyang?
Just take millions of people and throw them directly to Lingnan. As long as they can survive, they will only complain a few words and won't cause any big trouble.

Although it is inappropriate to say this, in fact, the people at the bottom are really the group with the least needs and the most obedient. It is almost the consensus of later generations of dynasties to allocate as much social resources to them as possible.

And history has also proved this. When social resources are more concentrated in the hands of people at the bottom, prosperity will come. But obviously, this world is a worse world. Generally speaking, most kings are not aware of it and only think that the money they can hold in their hands is theirs. The weakness of the people at the bottom will most of the time become The reason for them to get more serious.

Because they are less likely to cause trouble than aristocratic families, the suffering of the common people has become common.

So much so that the extortionate expropriation continues for generations...

The reason why Zhao Si is obsessed with freeing slaves is to make the underlying structure more stable.

Official and private slaves were prevalent, and a large number of people existed dependent on wealthy families.

If a wealthy family controls a large number of means of production and has a large number of personal attachments, the turmoil they cause will be even greater.

As long as the slaves are released, the personal dependence of the wealthy family is resolved, and the group of self-cultivators is further expanded, Zhao Si only needs to ensure that the group of self-cultivators can survive and have enough to eat, then no matter how Zhao Si stirs up trouble, there will be no big trouble.

The real people at the bottom don't bother to pay attention to what policies you implement. As long as it has nothing to do with them, you just line up the civil and military officials of the dynasty to behead them. It's just fun for them.

If you finish cutting down Chao Wenwu and give each of them ten bucks, there is a high chance that they will praise you for your beautiful cut.

Strengthen the trunk and weaken the branches, this is what Zhao Si proposed to the First Emperor a long time ago.

The main purpose is to transform the basic base of Da Qin from military aristocrats to a group of self-cultivating farmers.

While giving preferential treatment to the yeoman farmers, the rights of the nobility were further restricted, further concentrating the power of the king, and further strengthening the central government's power.

And now, Zhao Si started to do this in a real sense.

"Prime Minister Li, I just want to ask you. If we don't count the population by household registration, but just estimate the population of Da Qin, how many people should there be in Da Qin now?" Zhao Si asked.

"If you include official and private slaves, as well as wild people and bandits in the mountains and forests, I estimate that there are no less than 30 million people." Li Si said.

During the feudal dynasty, official household registration was definitely not equivalent to the total population.

Depending on the era, the error between the two may sometimes reach twice or even more.

The situation in Daqin was actually relatively better, because official slaves were actually registered, but they were counted as property and not as people.

"Let's just say... In addition to encouraging childbirth and enacting a single tax, there is a faster way to bring out these 10 million people. Wouldn't the population of Qin be increased by half?" Zhao Si made a wise statement. speak.

Of course, although this sounds stupid, no one dares to publicly say that Zhao Si has a problem with his IQ.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows what Zhao Si plans to do, and corresponding questions arise.

"Your Highness, this matter is not that simple..." Xian Gong bowed and took a step forward, frowning and speaking.

The ministers were hesitating whether to object to the duo of Zhao Si and Li Si, so they continued to wait and see when someone spoke.

Xian Gong can still be trusted. After all, Xian Gong and Li Si had an open break in the court.

"Oh?" Zhao Si frowned slightly and chuckled.

"First of all, whether there are ten million people in Qin State is another matter. Even if there are ten million people, slaves account for the majority of these people. Among them are official slaves and private slaves. Take official slaves as an example, most of them are Was he demoted to a slave because of his guilt? If he was released as a Guizhou leader, how should his previous guilt be calculated? In addition, does His Highness intend to do this just now or in the future? If someone commits a crime in the future, he should be demoted to a slave. How should the sins of the people be reckoned? In this case, the law would have to be changed and revised.

In addition, all counties and counties in the world have servants, which are regarded as the property of local counties and counties. In the past, counties and counties had manpower available, so there was no need to mobilize labor in many cases. After this group of official slaves were released, the local counties and counties How should we deal with some future fortifications? Without manpower available, labor levies will inevitably be frequent in the future, and labor may have to be dispatched for every trivial matter. In this case, regulations will have to be drawn up again, and there must be a way to deal with them.

If it were just these, it would be simple. After all, official slaves are government property. Drawing up the regulations and implementing them is nothing more than a little effort.

How should private slaves be counted?
The so-called private slaves are regarded as the private property of each family. The country cannot make people lose money with just a decree. Wouldn't this become a plunder? I am afraid that people all over the world will inevitably have complaints.

Taking a step back, let's say that both the government and private individuals are willing to free slaves.

However, some people have a lot of land, even more than ten acres, and it is difficult for just one family to cultivate it. How can they cultivate the fields without slaves? Is it possible to let fertile farmland become barren?
The ministers of the dynasty always need someone to serve them. Without slaves, how can these be counted?

Apart from official and private slaves, it is not a big deal for people in the mountains and bandits. They just urge the local government to clear them out as soon as possible and register them... This matter is much simpler. "Xian Gong spoke in a long way, then looked at Zhao Si, waiting for Zhao Si's answer.

Zhao Si looked at Xian Gong strangely.

Xian Gong's words sounded like doubts and objections, but when Zhao Si listened carefully, it seemed that this was not the case.

Zhao Si had an intuition that Xian Gong... actually supported him in doing this?

Why is this again?
Is it because he took the initiative to appease the legal officials in the customs?
In fact, Zhao Si is not particularly fond of Xian Gong, especially after learning that Xian Gong once wrote a bad check to the Mo family and did not cash it, and later tried to poach someone.

Not to mention that Xian Gongzai played the first role in charging into the battle after Li Si publicly betrayed him.

but……

Zhao Si had a vague feeling in his heart that he might have fallen into a misunderstanding.

However, these ideas still need to be tested.

Zhao Si took a deep look at the case of Dian Gong and then said in a deep voice: "Well... so to speak... it's really difficult to handle."

"But after hearing what you said, you also think this is a good thing?" Zhao Si asked.

"Of course it's a good thing. Da Qin is short of people right now, but it's probably too difficult to do it." Xian Gong bowed and spoke, with a subtle smile on his face.

The reason why he questioned was not to contradict Zhao Si.

But to help Zhao Si characterize this matter as a good thing that is very difficult to implement.

As for how difficult it is?
Just kidding, this is a great court meeting, and the civil and military ministers from all the dynasty are here. Your Highness, the Grand Sun, can do whatever you want without making any mistakes, so what do you need the ministers from all over the dynasty to do?
As for why Xian Gong did this, it's even simpler.

He is an old official and a Legalist.

People like Xiang Xiangong have a spiritual core.

They must support with both hands the strengthening of the monarch's centralization of power.

Although...it is very difficult to popularize Qin laws to those group of Guizhou leaders. Most of them are illiterate or even unable to understand...

But compared to the group of superior people who could understand but didn't follow the instructions or played the rules game, the image of this group of ignorant Guizhou leaders instantly became cute.

Things in politics are never black and white.

He was against Li Si and the opening of schools, not against Zhao Si, nor against the First Emperor.

(End of this chapter)