My Ming Dynasty, I have the final say

Chapter 227 A few things about household registration

"This shit is really hard to change."

Holding this constitution and outline of affairs in his hand, Zhu Youxiao took a deep breath and put down the ink pen in his hand after sketching for a while.

It took half a month and half a month of revision before he finally came up with the new constitution in his hands.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty gave too much power to the officials.

How big is it?

So much so that the power of the patrol censor continued to expand, which eroded the supervisory function of the censor, leading to local unrest.

Now, he will use this new constitution to take back this part of power.

"When is the next internal discussion?"

Looking at what he had written, Zhu Youxiao suddenly asked.

"Return to your Majesty the day after tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shimin immediately spoke out.

The emperor's schedule is what the emperor says, and he is responsible for the specific arrangements.

The Ming Dynasty's imperial meeting has been suspended for more than half a year.

Unless there is something important to announce, the emperor will not hold a court.

This is very similar to the Wanli period, but what is different from the Wanli period is that the emperor is not only reviewing memorials.

From time to time, the six ministers and others would be invited to Xiyuan to hold symposium-type small court discussions, also known as internal discussions.

In this way, Zhu Youxiao firmly held the power of Ming Dynasty.

The system of the Ming Dynasty was determined. As long as the emperor stamped the memorial, state affairs could continue to run.

But the emperor also had to meet with his ministers from time to time. If the two sides only talked with each other through the Supervisor of Ceremonies, it would easily give people the impression that they were out of power, leading to misjudgments on both sides, leading to discord between the emperor and his ministers, and the world. Restless.

"The day after tomorrow, I still have time to think about it."

Hearing Liu Shimin's words, Zhu Youxiao nodded, picked up a pen and wrote a few words on the note, and then said to Liu Shimin.

"You give this to the Six Ministers, and we will discuss this next time at the internal meeting."

"The slaves obey the order."

Hearing this, Liu Shimin took the conditions from the emperor's hands. Seeing that the emperor's attention was once again on the "Constitutional Matters" he had written, Liu Shimin turned around and left the imperial study.

Listening to Liu Shimin's departure, Zhu Youxiao sighed.

If the reform is good, it will make the country rich and strong and the people central.

If it didn't change well, it would be Louis XVI who improved the guillotine on his own.

At the same time, Hube.

Yuan Shizhen was talking with Dong Yingju who came to submit the yellow book.

"There are already 700,000 people in the city?"

Listening to Dong Yingju's report, Yuan Shizhen opened his mouth in surprise.

"Yes."

Seeing Yuan Shizhen's reaction, Dong Yingju nodded with difficulty.

"This is just a preliminary registration. According to estimates, the population of the capital may be close to one million."

"So many?"

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhen scratched his head in disbelief.

"According to the archives left behind in the past, I remember that during the Longqing period, the capital's population was between 150,000 and 700,000 households. During the Wanli period, the court also relocated the population many times. How come there is still such a large population in fifty years?"

"Because in previous population calculations, many people, including businessmen, were not included."

After hearing Yuan Shizhen's doubts, Dong Yingju explained.

"His Majesty abolished many types of registrations in the previous period, leaving only the criminal registrations mainly for the family members of criminal officials."

"When Shuntian Prefecture compiled households, many former lowly people, including merchants, were included in the yellow book, that's why there are so many."

As Dong Yingju explained this round of one-size-fits-all reconstruction of the Yellow Book, Yuan Shizhen gradually understood why the population was so large. One is that the current civil registration is a combination of the previous three types of household registration: civil, military and craftsman.

The first two categories are easy to say, but there are indeed more people with craftsman status, including craftsmen, kitchen households, and even music households.

In addition, there is also a business registration.

During the Wanli period, the imperial court established a new business registration system, allowing his children to qualify for the imperial examinations, but they still did not belong to the household register.

Moreover, business registration is only exclusive to big businessmen, while small businessmen are the targets of bullying. Their household registration belongs to shop owners, so the money must be paid, but it is not known to whom it is given.

The other one, for the sake of Bai Wen's official gift, it was not worth it to lose his household registration - the household registration of Ming Dynasty, especially the household registration, was very valuable.

Many barbarians who fled into the Ming Dynasty, especially the Mongols, wanted to be emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The reason was that every time the emperor died, the Ming Dynasty would grant amnesty to the world, and they could also take this opportunity to get themselves a Ming Dynasty household registration.

Now under the emperor's Shuntian government's new policy, corvee labor must be spread among the fields. For common people, household registration is more important than the corvee service they have to perform every year.

Looking through the fish scale book sent by Dong Yingju, Yuan Shizhen fell into deep thought.

The fish scale book, as the name suggests, has paintings on it that look like fish scales.

A piece of fish scale represents a piece of land. The book also contains the land number, the name of the owner, the area, the four limits (boundaries), etc.

This densely packed and seemingly messy book is actually the foundation of imperial rule and the basis of taxation.

When the yellow books and fish scale books in the hands of the imperial court are distorted, it marks the collapse of the ruling order.

"We need to step up efforts to organize households and improve the people's welfare. This is related to the implementation of His Majesty's new policy."

Putting down the fish scale book in his hand, Dong Yingju frowned and asked.

"It will be June soon, and the collection of summer grain will begin then. Do you have enough people under your command?"

"Something is not enough."

After hearing Yuan Shizhen's words, Dong Yingju shook his head decisively.

"The official is here this time, firstly to hand over some of the verified fish scale registers and yellow registers, and secondly, in the hope of dispatching some personnel to assist Shuntian Prefecture in clearing the land and counting the population."

"Lack of manpower has always been a problem."

Listening to Dong Yingju's words, Yuan Shizhen tapped his hands on the table.

There is a shortage of people, there is a shortage of people everywhere.

"We still need to discuss this matter with Zhou Shangshu to see if Zhou Shangshu can do anything."

He did what he thought of, and Yuan Shizhen immediately took Dong Yingju to the Ministry of Officials.

The yamen are all outside Chengtianmen. The distance is not very far. It only takes a quarter of an hour to arrive.

After being welcomed into the official department, after hearing about the two people's intentions, Zhou Yingqiu also stroked his beard and fell into deep thought.

After a long while, Zhou Yingqiu looked at Dong Yingju and asked.

"The shortage that Governor Dong is talking about this time is the lack of officials in the Shuntian Prefecture's Yamen, or the lack of manpower in Qingzhang Tianmu."

"What's the difference?"

After hearing Zhou Yingqiu's words, Dong Yingju was a little confused.

"Of course."

Hearing this, Zhou Yingqiu nodded affirmatively, and then explained.

"Previously, Your Majesty reorganized the system and merged officials and clerks. If the Shuntian Mansion Yamen lacks officials, the imperial court will need to open a subject to recruit scholars."

"In the month of your Majesty's wedding, the imperial court has already held an official examination, and there are still enke exams this autumn, so the current vacancy will definitely be decided after autumn."

"But if you need to measure acres of land and register households and people, and there is a shortage of manpower, you don't need to open an encore. You can just recruit some clerks to do the work, and then you can clear them out."

"Been taught a lesson."

After hearing Zhou Yingqiu's words, Dong Yingju looked at him suddenly and understood what Zhou Yingqiu meant.

In the words of later generations, temporary workers should be recruited and used first, and then laid off after they are used up.

"Besides, I have a way to solve your urgent need."

"Dare you ask Zhou Shangshu to teach me."

(End of this chapter)