I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 650 The prosperous age is like fire
During the Winter Solstice Festival, there will be a great gathering.

Although there has been no holiday for the Winter Solstice since tomorrow, the festival still needs to be celebrated.

Civil and military officials will wear uniform Yangshengbuzi (auspicious clothes) and python clothes, and go to the palace to greet the winter solstice.
Moreover, after the festival, the auspicious clothes must be worn for three more days.

The emperor would also reward all officials with brocade hats and mink fur coats after congratulating them to show their grandeur.

After a court meeting to pay homage to the festival and not talk about too much political affairs, Zhu Gui held a banquet in the palace as usual and invited the civil and military ministers to eat flat food (Northern dumplings).

The ministers were not too surprised. They ate flat food on the Winter Solstice and New Year's Day. This was a tradition that existed before the Ming Dynasty.

Even when they arrived at the Tatar court, they only dared to pinch the Lantern Festival, but they still kept the Winter Solstice.

It would be impossible not to retain it, because the winter solstice was of great significance to the ancients, and there is even a folk saying that "the winter solstice is as big as the new year".

In order to maintain their rule, the Manchu Qing Dynasty regarded the Winter Solstice Festival as a political task to block the public opinion in the world. Moreover, the Winter Solstice is nothing to do with the common people. No common people will gather to hold a Winter Solstice Lantern Festival.

All the officials moved to the side hall and took their seats. The flat food prepared in advance in the imperial dining room had already been served to the ministers' desks. The steaming hot food whetted their appetites.

Zhu Yijiong was the first to pick up the chopsticks: "Today is the Winter Solstice. Please don't be polite. Come on, let's have a taste of this year's flat food."

Zhu Chengxun, the first minister of the cabinet, picked up his chopsticks elegantly and ate one. There was no special taste, but it was quite delicious. This comes from the fillings of the dumplings. He is worthy of being an imperial chef in the palace, and his craftsmanship is truly unparalleled.

But there is no need to say more about this. The emperor just asked what it felt like, which obviously had a profound meaning. He asked what he would say later.

Huang Xu, Minister of Agriculture, remembered the bitter cassava from the past. This stuff needs to be detoxified for consumption. The process is more troublesome than sweet potatoes, and it is more suitable for making potato starch.

Could it be this dumpling wrapper?
The ministers had different ideas, and they were all trying to guess what was special about this year's dumplings, and they even started to eat them slowly.

When he had almost used it, Zhu Yijiong asked the guards in front of the palace to bring up baskets of bitter cassava, which were the leftovers.

That’s right, the dumpling wrappers for this Winter Solstice dumpling are made entirely of bitter tapioca flour mixed with flour.

Zhu Yijiong smiled and said: "This product is called bitter cassava. It originated in Nanyinzhou and was later brought to Malacca and other places by the Portuguese. The flat food eaten by the ministers today is made of wheat flour and bitter cassava flour. Made of dumpling skin.”

Zhu Chengxun understood the emperor. Since bitter cassava is a potato crop, it must be as high-yielding and durable as sweet potatoes. He immediately raised his hands and said, "I congratulate Your Majesty on getting a new overseas crop.

"I congratulate Your Majesty!"

All the ministers stood up and congratulated him.

Zhu Yijiong is very happy today: "The Ministry of Agriculture has tried breeding in various provinces. This bitter cassava is easy to grow. It is not only resistant to early weather and heat, but also does not pick the soil. The yield is also higher than that of sweet potatoes. Even in the mountains of Fujian, some sweet potatoes Even in areas where it is difficult to grow, this bitter cassava can grow well. Moreover, the Ministry of Agriculture's previous trial planting in Qiongzhou and Taiwan has achieved an yield of more than 130 dan per mu. Even in ordinary mountainous areas, the yield can be 80 dan. "

Even though they had already speculated in their minds, the yield per mu was as high as 130 shi, which still shocked the officials.

After all, sweet potatoes are already very powerful in Ming Dynasty at this stage, and the yield per mu of rice and wheat can be several times higher than that of ordinary rice and wheat.

If it weren't for the fact that sweet potatoes are not easy to preserve and can cause abdominal bloating when eaten, sweet potatoes would have become a staple food across the country, instead of being only grown on barren land in mountainous areas.

But now, His Majesty said that the yield per acre of bitter cassava is several times that of sweet potatoes, and when rounded up, it is more than ten times that of rice and wheat. This is very scary.

Wang Yuan, the Second Assistant to the Cabinet, reacted very quickly and immediately shouted: "This is the auspiciousness sent from heaven. Your majesty is a benevolent saint. This is the gift of Ming Dynasty and bitter cassava. Long live my emperor! Long live my emperor!"

Well, the dragon fart is both loud and comfortable.

The ministers also recovered from their surprise, and when they saw the situation, they followed suit and bowed down.

Regardless of the new Ming Dynasty or the previous Ming Dynasty, except for the great court meetings and some special ceremonial occasions, officials do not need to kneel down to worship the emperor, and they cannot kneel down to worship the emperor casually, otherwise it will be a sign of disrespect for etiquette.

Although Lao Zhu started his career from the grassroots, after he became the emperor, he had very strict etiquette requirements for the Ming Dynasty. Officials who knelt down and worshiped casually would be punished.

But now there is no need to worry about it, because there is a legitimate reason, and the auspiciousness is coming from heaven!

Moreover, many of them really believed in their hearts that it was indeed auspiciousness coming from heaven.

Otherwise, how could there be crops with a yield of more than 100 shi per mu?

Even if it is not auspicious, it is better than auspicious.

Zhu Yijiong did not reprimand and resent the auspiciousness. Instead, he smiled and urged the ministers to quickly use their chopsticks to eat this winter solstice auspiciousness, otherwise it would be cold.

The hall suddenly burst into joy. The ministers picked up their chopsticks and ate their bowls one by one quickly. The dumplings, which had no special taste at first, seemed to have become delicacies.

After finishing the Winter Solstice delicacies, the palace maid then served an after-dinner snack, baked breadfruit (peeled and cut into pieces). This breadfruit tastes like bread, especially after being roasted, which adds a mellow flavor. The emperor then introduced the various advantages of breadfruit, which were even better than bitter cassava. Even Wang Yuan, who had just photographed the emperor's dragon fart, couldn't help but sigh: "The flowers are blooming and the fire is cooking oil. This is an unprecedented prosperous age."

Bitter cassava is the same as sweet potato. If you eat too much, you will be prone to bloating, and if it is not processed well, it will still have a bitter taste even if it is detoxified. But even so, this is a high-yield crop. Like breadfruit, as long as it can be popularized, the population will definitely increase rapidly.

If the population increases significantly, it will not be a prosperous age.

In fact, without the use of bitter cassava and bread tree, the population of Ming Dynasty has maintained a steady growth trend over the years.

Not only was the change of dynasty the land resources of various provinces dispersed and redistributed, but also the New Deal reforms and the full implementation of the rural land allocation system greatly reduced the burden on the people.

Moreover, the imperial court vigorously promoted maritime trade and encouraged and supported the development of private commerce. While the agricultural tax rate continued to decrease, it also gave the people more opportunities to increase their income.

After all these things, when people have extra money in their hands, they are naturally willing to have children.

There is no one who doesn’t understand such a simple truth (?).

In the new Ming Dynasty, just like the previous Ming Dynasty, each province conducted its own census every year. The village usually counts the villagers themselves first, and then collectively submits the statistics to the town. The town mayor is responsible for coordinating the reporting to the county.

The biggest difference between the new Ming Dynasty and the previous Ming Dynasty and Manchu Qing Dynasty is that they have serious town officials

Establishment, official rank starting from the ninth rank, and corresponding official uniforms and official seals.

Don’t ask why there are no township or village chiefs, because if this is done, the administrative costs will instantly overwhelm the new Ming Dynasty.

Unless you don’t pay salaries to the township and village chiefs, it would be completely meaningless.

If the town mayor joins forces with the village to conduct a population census, there will basically be no major errors or omissions.

As for the official national census, the imperial court set the period to be once every ten years, otherwise it would not be counted. However, in the intervening five years, a local census will be randomly selected to calculate the national population change trend and respond to emergencies.

Starting from the end of this year, it happens to be a partial census, and only some prefectures and counties are selected to estimate statistical changes.

Most of the prefectures and counties selected by the imperial court this year were Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu. The population of the several prefectures and counties selected for Shaanxi and Gansu has almost recovered, and has basically reached the level of normal prefectures and counties. Henan and Shanxi are doing much better. In particular, the population of several once-deserted counties in Henan has not only returned to that of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, but has also shown a significant upward trend.

This is just data on paper, the real population is definitely much higher.

After all, under official statistics, there will always be people who habitually hide the population deliberately.

As for the false reporting of population data, not to mention whether the local officials felt that their brains were not enough, these prefectures and counties were selected by the emperor himself, and there was no pattern at all.

Moreover, once the data is falsely reported, if the finance and taxation are not kept up, the official and his family will be in trouble. At the least, their homes will be confiscated and exiled, and at the worst, they will be directly beheaded.

Zhu Yijiong follows the tradition that if the entire clan should be seated, the entire clan will be seated. This will also increase the immigrant population.

Speaking of which, earlier this year, a county magistrate in Guangnan Province had his home confiscated and was exiled, and he went directly to Tibet to reclaim land and guard the border.

What kind of crime did he commit... The county magistrate conscripted ordinary people to build roads and dig canals for the local area, and only gave them white porridge and pickled vegetables. As a result, the Yue people who were expropriated, led by Han people, directly attacked the county government.

If Fucheng hadn't mobilized troops in time, it might have caused a catastrophe.

(No doubt, I was just mocking the white porridge and pickled mustard novel...)
Afterwards, the Metropolitan Procuratorate came to inspect and review the case. After a comprehensive review, they were convinced that the situation was true and that the county magistrate had indeed committed corruption. They directly led a team to arrest the people, and the emperor and cabinet approved the confiscation of their homes and exiles.

Many people in later generations have stereotypes, thinking that ancient people must not have enough to eat all year round and were hungry to the skin and bones. They naively believed that white porridge and pickled mustard can cultivate dead soldiers to rebel.

Anyone with a little knowledge of common sense should know that the ancients were also living creatures, not superhuman beings. They had to eat porridge and pickled mustard every day and were severely nutritionally deficient. How could they still do such activities?

Not to mention giving birth to children normally and reproducing offspring, and many people think that corvee work must be related to building the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.

If you really want these, it will be tyranny, and the people will have rebelled long ago.

In fact, most of the corvee work basically involves building roads in the countryside, digging ditches, etc. Many of them are even civil engineering projects. The common people can also make profits by participating, but the government only takes the majority, because the government does not have to pay wages, only food.

The corvee also required food. Strict legal regulations existed in the Qin Dynasty. The fundamental reason for the abolition of corvee in the Ming Dynasty and the new dynasty was that the government would collect and issue corvee in the future, not only to take care of food, but also to pay wages.

Moreover, some corvées who did not count as physical labor, such as doormen, etc., were not given rations by the government, but in the Ming and New Dynasties, all of them had to be paid to manage their meals.

That's the difference.

These stereotypes of later generations are largely the fault of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, because only the Manchu and Qing court really experienced a long-lasting situation in which people across the country were extremely poor and starved to death for thousands of miles.

(End of this chapter)