Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After reading the Di Bao, Zhu Youjian read the Beijing News.

After skipping Fang Congzhe's obituary and official appointment and dismissal information, Zhu Youjian finally saw something interesting from readers' submissions from the Beijing News.

Because most of the contributors were scholars, what they paid most attention to was naturally Liu Zongzhou's Reproduction of Ritual and Music and Qian Qianyi's Theory of Constant Property. These two scholarly figures attracted their attention the most.

Zhu Youjian looked at their articles and found them quite inspiring, especially the article supporting the theory of constant production, which combined with his own proposal of a well-off world, made him particularly satisfied——

This means that the theory he proposed was recognized by the scholars of the Ming Dynasty, and some scholars even changed their thinking and studied this theory.

In the article, the scholar named Liu Lishun proposed that a family of permanent property owners in a well-off era can be called a well-off family.

Based on what he saw, he believed that the number of well-off families in the Ming Dynasty was decreasing, and many families were becoming poor.

The properties of wealthy families are generally increasing. Land in many states and counties is occupied by dozens or even a few large families.

The industries of these people are already squeezing the survival of well-off families. It is becoming more and more difficult for those well-off families who own dozens or hundreds of acres of land.

If there are no restrictions on these super-proprietary people, there may be fewer and fewer well-off families in the Ming Dynasty, and there is even a risk of falling from the well-off era.

As for what will happen after falling from a moderately prosperous era, Liu Lishun did not write, but Zhu Youjian can see that it is the so-called troubled times.

So when he read this article, he felt extremely complicated.

On the one hand, there are many knowledgeable people who are pleased with the Ming Dynasty. Stimulated by the new concepts they have proposed, they are studying new theories.

On the other hand, they know that the current situation in Ming Dynasty is not optimistic. Many people feel that the world is getting worse and may enter troubled times.

Liu Lishun is not the first or the only person to see this. There are many people in the world who have this idea.

There are even some ambitious people who are eager to show off their talents and make a fortune in troubled times.

Judging from Liu Lishun's articles, he is inclined to save the Ming Dynasty. Unlike some people, when they sense that troubled times are coming, they want to protect themselves, or even find a wise master to seek refuge with.

So of course Zhu Youjian should use Liu Lishun. He immediately ordered the servants around him to summon Jin Yiwei to check Liu Lishun's situation.

Moreover, he made comments on Liu Lishun's article, and referred to the experiences of later generations and the fifth-class editions of the Song Dynasty to refine the concepts of well-off families and super property owners, and called well-off families well-off families.

It is believed that a well-off family should have a house and land, be able to provide food and clothing, and provide for children to study. They are the permanent members of a well-off society.

Families that have no industry, low income, and can only maintain food and clothing are called poor families. They can only struggle to survive and barely meet their basic needs.

Even worse than them are families who cannot afford food and clothing, or even have families with illnesses or disabilities. These needy families are the ones in need of assistance. We cannot allow them to become desperate and become homeless bandits.

Then, above the well-off families, there are wealthy families. Their property is large, which can reach ten times or a hundred times that of a well-off family. They can even break away from production and support many servants. This is the situation that scholars most yearn for, and many officials in the Ming Dynasty fell into this category.

Wealthier than wealthy families are wealthy families. The property they own is a thousand or even ten thousand times that of an ordinary well-off family. They are the super property owners who need to be restricted in Qian Qianyi's theory of permanent property.

Zhu Youjian did not set specific standards for how to divide the fifth-class families. He planned to ask the Ministry of Household Affairs to make statistics and set rough standards when creating a large number of pornographic books. Then count how many poor households there are in Ming Dynasty and how many rich people there are. Determine corresponding strategies based on actual conditions.

After writing these instructions, Zhu Youjian read the newspaper for a while and waited for Jin Yiwei's investigation report on Liu Lishun.

The reason why this report was submitted so quickly was because Liu Lishun had been within the scope of Jin Yiwei's investigation. He is a disciple of Yuan Keli and a related person who is a key investigation target. Zhu Youjian had previously ordered the people who needed to be investigated——

This was the relationship network that led him to order the investigation of Jin Yiwei in order to prevent officials from forming cliques. Relatives, friends, disciples, etc. of senior officials are all targets of investigation.

Liu Lishun had studied with Yuan Keli and visited Yuan Keli's house after entering Beijing, so he was naturally included in the investigation.

After Zhu Youjian learned this, he had no fear. Because he had already investigated clearly that Yuan Keli was not a party member. Although this person has a close relationship with the Donglin Party, he has never participated in party struggles. His disciples are worthy of his trust. With this good impression, Zhu Youjian looked at the investigation of Liu Lishun and learned that it was the eighth time that he had participated in the joint examination. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, feeling that this should not be like this.

Liu Lishun's articles are fluent, well-founded and well-reasoned. Such people should have passed the exam long ago instead of wasting their time.

So in his mind, he already had the idea of ​​​​finding a way to hire Liu Lishun. Keep this forty-seven-year-old man in the imperial court for appointment:
"Zhang Fujing also took eight examinations before becoming a Jinshi, and he was forty-seven years old. 』

"Could it be that this Liu Lishun could become my Zhang Fuking?" 』

With thoughts running through his mind, Zhu Youjian shook his head and didn't think about it any more.

A great talent like Zhang Fujing does not appear easily. You can have this idea, but you can't fall into it too deeply.

Continue to look through the report, which records Liu Lishun's general life footprint after entering Beijing.

Seeing that Liu Lishun's family was so poor that he was not willing to buy even a tael of silver for the examination special issue, Zhu Youjian even saw the shadow of Liu Zongzhou in him——

This is a man who lives in poverty and enjoys Taoism. He can be sent to study with Liu Zongzhou.

Then when he saw Liu Lishun and Niu Jinxing dating, Zhu Youjian almost jumped up in shock. Unexpectedly, he was actually a candidate for the examination:
"Niu Jinxing actually had a relationship with Liu Lishun and came to participate in the examination. 』

"This Li Zicheng's chief think tank is actually a candidate who took part in the examination for this subject!" 』

Regarding the name Niu Jinxing, Zhu Youjian not only heard it all the time, but also heard it a little bit.

Knowing that this person was like a military advisor to Li Zicheng. If the Dashun Dynasty conquered the world, Niu Jinxing would be Xiao He and Zhang Liang.

Seeing this name from the investigation report on Liu Lishun, Zhu Youjian felt very surprised and a little happy. He felt that no matter what, he must keep Niu Jinxing——

Even if this person's talents are not suitable for his own use, he cannot leave them to Li Zicheng. He must use his official position in the imperial court to win him over.

Therefore, he had decided in his heart that no matter how well Niu Jinxing did in the exam, he would find a way to recruit this person as a Jinshi.

However, what left him speechless was that although Niu Jinxing came to take the exam, he did not participate in the first three exams at all. He had been hiding in his room these days, not knowing what he was doing.

Jin Yiwei's investigation of him was not detailed, but he only had a rough idea of ​​the matter. Of course Zhu Youjian didn't know what Niu Jinxing was doing hiding in the room and not participating in the meeting.

This makes him want to admit Niu Jinxing, but there is nothing he can do now——

After all, he can't admit people who haven't taken the exam into Jinshi, right?
So he was already thinking about whether to ask someone to give him some advice and urge Niu Jinxing to take the Mingfa and Mingshu exams.

With this idea in mind, after reading Liu Lishun's investigation report, Zhu Youjian already believed that this person was available.

Not to mention his views on a well-off world, Zhu Youjian also wanted to use him to gather Henan scholars based on his relationship with Yuan Keli and Niu Jinxing:
"Although Li Zicheng was from Shaanxi, his rise was in Henan. 』

"Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Li Yan, who I don't know exists, are actually all from Henan. 』

"Liu Lishun has a good reputation, and Niu Jinxing is good at maneuvering. We can use these two to recruit talented people from Henan——"

"Prevent them from causing chaos and disturbing the hinterland of the Central Plains. 』

From Liu Lishun's article, Zhu Youjian has seen that the situation in Henan is very bad, and land annexation has reached a certain extent, making it difficult for small and medium-sized landowners and rich farmers to exist.

In addition, there are many people in Henan, so once a natural disaster occurs, there will be a large number of refugees. Therefore, like Shaanxi, talented people must be transferred to prevent people from gathering refugees to cause chaos. (End of chapter)