Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 158 Acres and Population

Reading the memorials about the well-field system, Zhu Youjian felt the enthusiasm of officials and scholars, and at the same time understood why the well-field system was not feasible:

Some people want to make it retro, and some people want it to be new.

This theory is not feasible except for his method, and that theory should be discussed by gathering Confucian scholars.

There were so many Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty, and each had their own understanding. They could fight on their own, let alone practice well fields.

What's more, the most fundamental part of the well-field system is state ownership of land, which is completely different from private ownership of land.

If it weren't for Zhu Youjian, Liaodong would be a marginal place, and it is now occupied by Hou Jin. I'm afraid these officials and scholars will not be so enthusiastic about the well-field system.

Except for those who originally owned land in Liaodong, almost all court officials were happy to allocate land in Liaodong to meritorious officials.

Moreover, Liaodong used to belong to the Dusi, and theoretically the land of the subordinate guards was official land. After the fall of Liaodong, a large number of people were killed, and many people suffered in Houjin. There were no previous landlords to be found in the capital, so naturally not many people objected.

The Liao people outside the pass may have objections, but their voices are too small to reach the capital. What's more, the main body of the Liaodong army is the Liao people. As heroes, they will be allocated at least one well of land, which is much more land than they had before. Of course, they will not object.

Therefore, after buying off the Liaodong soldiers, the main body of the Liao people, the matter of nationalizing the land outside the customs went smoothly. Except for the possible resistance from Liaodong Jiangmen, there was no objection at all.

However, if Zhu Youjian said that all the land in Ming Dynasty should be nationalized, everyone would oppose it.

In fact, there are many people who oppose the well-field system. What they were most worried about was that after the success of the well-field system outside the Pass, the emperor would extend it to the interior of the Pass.

But the emperor did not reveal this intention, and the well field system was supported by almost everyone. These people did not dare to object openly. They just pointed out the difficulties of the well-field system and asked the emperor to carefully consider and implement the well-field system.

Their banner is to be cautious, but in fact they just want to drag this matter out. If everyone loses patience, it will naturally end in vain.

As for whether Liaodong should be taken back or how the land will be distributed after the takeover, they don't care at all. I even feel like giving up is okay. This would prevent the emperor from successfully implementing the well-field system outside the Pass and then extending it to the interior of the Pass.

Others want to muddy the waters. On the surface, they shout support, but their actions are exactly the opposite.

It is even said that in Zhu Youjian's view, those who blindly demand restoration are sabotaging under the guise of support.

These people would know that Wang Mang's restoration failed, but they still asked the court to implement it in this way. It is simply because they want to cause chaos in the world.

Just like one of the memorials, it is believed that "Mencius" writes, "A well in a square mile has nine hundred acres; among them is public land, and eight families all privately own one hundred acres, and they all raise the public land." Therefore, the acre system should be changed and one well should be designated as one field. For nine hundred acres.

Some people say that one mile in the Zhou Dynasty was not three hundred steps, but one hundred steps. One step is six feet four inches and should be measured in millet. Taking one hundred steps as one mile, one mile is one well field, and one well field is nine hundred acres.

Such ridiculous remarks almost made Zhu Youjian laugh angrily. I think these people are worried about the world being unstable and want to destroy the well-field system——

The mu system is related to taxation. After the change, the national land tax will be completely reset.

Given the current level of corruption in officialdom in the Ming Dynasty, this is an opportunity for officials to use their hands.

Moreover, the common people probably don’t know that if they change from large acres to small acres, they will be fooled by officials and put taxes on them.

This kind of change of the patrimonial system is just an attempt to bring chaos to the world!

Because of financial difficulties, Zhu Youjian was very concerned about Ming Dynasty's taxes. He also learned that the number of acres of land in Ming Dynasty in recent years has always been "7,439,319 hectares and 83 acres of official and private land." ", followed by the serious addition of "eight centimeters, nine cents, seven hustle, four micro, three fibers, two sand, eight dust, five mist", which seems very accurate.

However, Zhu Youjian did not believe this number of acres and thought it was very false.

Because during the Hongwu period, "there were 8,496,000 hectares of land in the world," it was impossible to cultivate it for so many years. Instead of increasing the number of acres, it actually decreased.

In the 30th year of Wanli, "the land owned by the government and the people totaled 11,618,948 hectares and 81 acres", which is more realistic.

However, even if he could think so, Zhu Youjian did not dare to say so.

When Zhang Juzheng asked for land, some people said that officials gave him too many acres in order to please him, and many of them were false.

Given the current level of corruption in officialdom in the Ming Dynasty, if Zhu Youjian said that 1.1 billion acres of land must be cleared, the officials might be able to clear it, but it would be hard to say who exactly the taxes would fall on.

For example, during the Sui Dynasty, "During the great cause, 55,854,440 hectares of land were cultivated in the world." The government collected taxes based on this number of acres. Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty collected enough grain to fill his warehouse. He led his army to conquer Goguryeo, build the Grand Canal, and build Luoyang City... without even finishing the food in the warehouse. But the peasants rose up one after another and overthrew his rule.

The result of Zhu Youjian's land clearing is probably like that of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, who was able to clear a very high figure, but it may also cause the oppressed people to rebel——

He had no confidence in the integrity of Ming officials.

It can be said that as long as Zhu Youjian dared to change the large acres into small acres, local officials would dare to act recklessly and cause chaos in the world.

Therefore, those people's proposal to change the mu system under the banner of the well-field system is certainly not feasible in Zhu Youjian's opinion. People who make such suggestions are just afraid that the world will not be in chaos.

He only plans to implement the well-field system outside the customs. Outside the customs, taxes will be calculated directly on the basis of miles, and taxes will no longer be collected by acres.

Although this unit is commonly used in customs, it has little to do with taxation, and changes will have little impact.

Because the acres in the pass are divided into steps, there are five feet per step and some six feet per step. There are two hundred and forty steps to one acre, four hundred and eighty steps to one acre, and even greater ones, seven hundred and twenty steps to one acre. The number of acres in Liaodong is so small because large acres are used.

The matter of large and small acres was carefully inquired by Zhu Youjian after he discovered the land problem in Liaodong. This made him more aware of the complexity of governing the country and the need to unify weights and measures.

We need to unify weights and measures before we can clear the land. In Zhu Youjian's view, Liaodong has great development potential. If Qingzhang is seriously reclaimed, tens or even hundreds of millions of acres of arable land can be cultivated——

In later generations, the cultivated land in the entire Northeast was probably more than 500 million acres.

If the Ming Dynasty could regain Liaodong and reclaim half or even one-fifth of the land, it would be possible to solve the food problem and survive the natural disaster crisis.

It can be said that the undeveloped plains in the Northeast were viewed by Zhu You as a life-saving straw and the key to surviving the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty.

This is why he did not hesitate to enfeoff the entire Northeast under the well-field system and encourage people all over the world to restore the Liao territory——

Compared to the Ming Dynasty and its hundreds of millions of people, what is the mere Northeast? Zhu Youjian will entrust more places in the future and will do everything possible to reduce population pressure.

Otherwise, with the current population of the Ming Dynasty, as long as there is a natural disaster, millions of refugees will gather at any time, making it impossible for the court to suppress it.

This fundamental contradiction between population and food can be said to be unsolvable. If the victims don't have enough to eat, they will rebel.

Zhu Youjian can only solve the crisis by letting them have enough to eat.

The current number of households in the Ming Dynasty is 9,835,426, with a population of 51,655,459 and a half.

But this household registration number is the same as the number of acres, so we can’t believe it at all——

Compared with the "1,652,870 households in the world and 6,545,812 people in the world" in the 26th year of Hongwu, there are more than 800,000 households and 800 fewer households. Thousands of people.

According to later estimates, the current population of the Ming Dynasty is about 150 million to 200 million people.

This population figure shocked Zhu Youjian, and he also realized the reason why the Ming Dynasty defeated the peasant army several times in history but was never able to completely suppress it.

With such a large population, even if you kill one million, as long as natural disasters exist, there will be another million. It can be said that there is no way to kill them all, and there are endless refugees.

Only by allowing the refugees to have enough to eat can the problem be fundamentally solved.

The first way to ensure that the refugees have enough to eat is through distribution, and the second is to increase food supply.

The reform of the distribution system will touch the interests of all classes in Ming Dynasty. Zhu Youjian does not have this authority now, nor does he have reliable officials. So this drastic reform went through his mind for a while and was quickly put aside.

Compared with reforming the distribution system, increasing food is simpler. Especially the large plain in the Northeast is ready-made land to be developed.

This place is very close to the Central Plains, and people from the Ming Dynasty can easily immigrate there. They are more willing to accept it than to immigrate overseas with their life or death uncertain.

Historically, after the Qing Dynasty lifted the ban on Northeast China, 30 to 40 million people broke into Guandong in just a few decades.

When Zhu Youji thought about this number, he felt that the development potential of Northeast China was huge. As long as Liaodong can be taken back and put to good use, the Ming Dynasty will be able to survive the crises caused by natural disasters and population explosion.

The refugees who rebelled in the Ming Dynasty were mainly in the northwest, followed by the Central Plains. The population of these two places is estimated to be about 30 million. As long as half can be removed, the remaining people can survive.

At the same time, because they are immigrants, these people can not only produce food in the Northeast, but also reduce food consumption in the mainland. It is possible to fundamentally solve the problem of refugee rebellion.

At the same time, the tax revenue brought by the development of Northeast China can also alleviate the financial difficulties of Ming Dynasty and reduce tax collection from disaster-stricken areas.

Therefore, the Northeast must be recovered. In Zhu Youjian's view, the Jianlu of the Later Jin Dynasty were the enemies fighting for living space.

Moreover, in Zhu Youjian's view, the Northeastern system must also be changed. Lest the officials of the Ming Dynasty bring all their bad habits with them, the court will not be able to collect taxes.

Drawing on an almost blank paper outside the customs is much less difficult than adjusting the distribution system inside the customs.

Zhu Youjian planned to let everyone pay taxes in the name of the well field system. In addition to the tithe tax paid per acre, no land tax will be collected, which is equivalent to dividing land into acres, and no population tax will be collected.

He believed that under this policy, the owners of the minefields would have more children and immigrate more from the customs, allowing these immigrants to become tenants and help them develop the land.

The foundation of all this starts with changing the internal system.

Because the mu system was too complicated, Zhu Youjian entrusted land outside the customs directly based on square meters. For him, the length is very important, related to tax issues——

In the future, how much land a family owns and how much taxes they should pay can only be measured on a map, and cannot be concealed at all. The flat plains in the northeast also support him in doing this.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian planned to link the length of the mile to the length of the meridian, imitating the metric system of later generations, using the meridian passing through the capital as the standard, and setting the distance from the North Pole to the equator as 20,000 miles.

Then one mile is equal to five hundred meters, and this is used to determine meters, and the related decimeters, liters, and kilograms. Re-formulate a system of weights and measures to make it more accurate and more convenient for calculations.

Later, he determined the standard ruler according to the calculation that one mile equals three hundred steps and one thousand five hundred feet, measured the land in the pass, and let the officials and gentry pay taxes together.

So now there is a question: Can Qin Tian Jian accurately measure the length of the meridian and determine the length of it?
　Definition of meter:
　　One ten millionth of the distance from the Earth's equator to the North Pole on the meridian passing through Paris.

　　Due to a miscalculation of the arc length due to a miscalculation of the Earth's oblateness, the length of the first archived meter prototype was 1/5 mm less than the meter defined by the meridian. But this length is still regarded as the standard. Therefore, the final circumference of the earth through the pole is a little more than 4 million meters (40m).

　　1983年国际度量衡大会（CGPM）重新制定米的定义：“光在真空中行进1/299 792 458秒的距离”为一标准米。

　　
　
(End of this chapter)