My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 124: Cooking wine and talking about the land

In the 48th year of Wanli, on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, there was heavy snow.

At a glance, it was completely white.

The Wudian Palace has been roughly tidied up. Although it cannot be inhabited, it can be used for discussions.

It was a snowy day, the ministry had almost been dealt with, and there was nothing else to do, so the emperor called a few senior officials to chat here together.

In other words, have a small meeting.

There are seven civil servants present, namely Zhou Yingqiu, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Yuan Shizhen, the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, Sun Ruyou, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Huang Kezhan, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Xu Guangqi, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Zhang Wenda, the Yushi of Zuodu, and Bi Ziyan, the Zhengqing of Duzhi Si.

Li Ruhua, the Minister of Household Affairs, reported that he was ill, so Yuan Shizhen came on his behalf.

But anyone with a little brain can see that Li Ruhua's retirement is inevitable, and Yuan Shizhen is the person to replace Li Ruhua.

Now Yuan Shizhen is slowly taking over the authority of the Ministry of Household Affairs from Li Ruhua. The day when the handover between the two is completed is the day when Li Ruhua becomes official.

"In the past, the Meng Yuan Dynasty was cruel and indulged the powerful, which led to the decline of the world. Grandfather Taizu punished the people and restored China."

"It was a difficult time for the people to live in the world. Taizu sympathized with the hardships of the small people and worked with Liu Bowen on the plan of stationing the army to support the people. He said boldly, I will raise millions of soldiers without consuming a grain of rice from the people."

Putting down the hot tea in his hand, Zhu Youxiao looked at everyone present and said slowly.

"During the period from Yang Sui's Daye to Li Tang's Wude years, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, Yu Wenhuaji, Wang Bo and others wreaked havoc on Hebei and Shandong. After Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty unified the Central Plains, he set up mansions in various places to recruit soldiers and horses for the imperial court to drive. Finally, Li Tang Conquer all directions without submitting to ministers, and support the name of the heavenly kingdom."

"But by the time of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, and even during the Wu Zhou Dynasty, it was difficult to recruit soldiers and there was a shortage of land. Finally, during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty, Li Linfu abolished it explicitly."

"The military system of the Ming Dynasty is not much different from the military system of the Li and Tang Dynasties."

"Of course, I read the actual records and found that in the first year of Yongle, the grain grains collected by the local guards were 430 dan. In the tenth year of Yongle, the grain grains levied were only 910 dan."

"Since Ye Qi changed the Salt Law and changed the payment of grain from Kaizhong to the payment of silver, the health stations in various places are often short of food and grass, and they need national funds to provide money and food to support the army."

"The Ming Dynasty's health center has finally reached the point of being abolished."

"Your Majesty, I once served as an official in Shaanxi. The area from Chang'an to Dushi was covered with vast tracts of land and the crops were rich. I went to inquire about it and found that these lands should have been the fields of the guards, but they were all occupied by guards, prefects, and generals. Officers such as soldiers, military preparations, generals, and commanders all occupy it as their own property, and all the grain they produce, whether they pay national taxes or pay it to the military garrison, is theirs."

After hearing the emperor's words, Bi Ziyan took over.

"However, the remaining acres of land left by the various military guards are mostly barren and produce less grain, which is not enough to store grains of grain. This has resulted in a shortage of grain produced by the military guards and requires the court to allocate grain."

"These acres have been turned into private fields for a long time, and it is difficult to find out who owns them. Your Majesty wants to allocate the guard fields in the capital to military households, saying that whoever farms will get it. This is good governance."

"However, I am worried that if the fields are distributed to the people, the people will not be able to pay the taxes and will give the fields to wealthy families."

"Ah."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao nodded, very concerned about Bi Ziyan's concerns.

"I have also thought about this issue. However, I am considering another issue."

"Mencius says that those who have permanent property have perseverance, and those who do not have perseverance have no perseverance."

"I have been thinking about what this means these days."

"A few days ago, I asked the Jin Yiwei to capture [-] to [-] wandering people from the capital and go to the Xishan Mountains to work in the mines. The wages were paid according to the principle of distribution according to work."

"Then, I asked Zhao Shuang, who was in charge of the mine, to report to me that because the wages given could support the whole family, these people were very active in mining. Moreover, after hearing about the payment of wages, nearby farmers started to Come here and want to apply for a job."

"Out of curiosity, I asked someone to go and inquire. Only then did I find out that these people who applied for the job were all farmers and tenants."

Zhu Youxiao said, put down his tea cup, looked at everyone in the hall and asked.

"Do you know what a tenant is?"

"If you have land to farm, if you don't have land, you will be a slave, a servant, or a bandit. You will live a miserable life. You will be busy all year long, but you won't even have enough food. In the end, you can only become a lazy people!" Farmer?"

"Their family has land, but it is less than five acres. The grain they produce, after paying the royal grain, cannot even feed the whole family. They need to work as servants and servants in the homes of wealthy gentry, wealthy businessmen, princes and princes. A cow becomes a horse!”

"Do you think I can sit peacefully in such a world?"

"His Majesty."

After hearing the emperor's words, Huang Kezhan, Minister of War, took a deep breath and cupped his hands.

"Your Majesty, in the capital, less than [-]% of those who have land have land, but nine out of ten are tenant farmers. From one acre of land, those who get more land will get less than three stones, and those who get less will get less than one stone. If there is a disaster, there will be no grain left. "

"However, nowadays there is less land and more people, so the private rent is very heavy, ranging from eight bushels for a small amount to two stones for a large one. After paying the rent, the tenants are left with only a few bushels. It is common to end the rent today and beg for money tomorrow. "

Huang Kezhan's resume determines that he is a hard-working official. He is the magistrate of Shouzhou, the magistrate of Ganzhou, and the envoy of Zuo Bu of Shandong. Regarding the suffering of the people, everyone present can only compare with him.

"That's why there are so many wandering people in the capital. Unless they want to wander, they have no choice but to do so."

"Huang Aiqing is a good official who loves the people."

Hearing Huang Kezhan's words, Zhu Youxiao nodded approvingly.

"Huang Aiqing, he told the reason why people have become homeless people, because their income is not enough. The reason why it is not enough is that there is too little land and too many people, and private rent is too heavy. So how to solve this problem?"

"This..."

After hearing the emperor's words, everyone looked at each other.

How to solve it, no solution.

Less land and more people have led to involution, which has led to excessive rents.

Even if the court uses administrative orders to prohibit high rents, ordinary people can't care so much.

At least you can still survive if you rent, but if you don't rent, the whole family will starve to death.

This can't be said to be a group of people.

"I proposed to farm the land. Your Majesty ordered Yang Hao and Sun Chengzong to farm the land in Liaodong. I think it can also be implemented in the land east of the capital and Shandong."

At this time, Huang Kezhan raised his hands and said.

"I heard what Yang Hao said. In Liaodong, the imperial court provided seeds and tools and organized the reclamation of new fields. In the first year, two taxes were paid and one tax was paid. In the next two years, ten taxes were paid and three taxes were paid. After three years, the cultivated fields were paid according to the tax per person. Ten acres are divided among the village households.”

"I think it can also be implemented in Gyeonggi."

"Ok?"

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao looked at Huang Kezhan with some surprise. How did Huang Kezhan know about the farmland strategy he asked Yang Hao to carry out in Liaodong?

After the accident, Zhu Youxiao realized that such a big thing could not be hidden, and this guy was the Minister of the Ministry of War, and was Yang Hao's boss.

"My minister agrees."

"My minister agrees."

After Huang Kezhan finished speaking, everyone in the lobby raised their hands and agreed.

At present, this method seems to be the best way to solve the problem.

We can't really let the emperor go and kill people.

　I owe a chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)