Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2026 Cui Li Answers
This surprised Li Suiqiu a little.It's not that there's anything new about this point of view, but he originally thought that this Taoist priest must have some mystical "destiny theory" to prove that this fake Song Dynasty is "destiny".

He collected himself, and listened to what you had to say, then asked: "Please teach me, Taoist priest."

Cui Hantang was a little proud, thinking that Li Suiqiu was shocked by his novel viewpoint.Asked rhetorically:

"How many crisis do you think there are in the current Ming Dynasty?"

Li Suiqiu didn't even think about it, and said loudly: "I traveled around to study and discussed with my classmates and teachers. There are four dangers in front of the Ming Dynasty: Eastern captives, bandits, bandits, and natural disasters."

Cui Hantang is MMP in his heart, and he doesn't want you to be so rude—but he is a little proud, after all, it is not easy to be listed as a "scourge".

"Dongluhe... Well, let's not talk about it..." Cui Hantang felt awkward, "It's a foreign aggression, even if the Tang Zong and Song Zu are reborn, the foreign aggression is inevitable. Let's say that the rogue bandits are actually caused by natural disasters."

After natural disasters, there must be human disasters, especially in the late Ming Dynasty, when the government relief was weak, it was difficult for the victims to get money and food to feed themselves, and the only way to survive was to riot.Further expand the scope of the disaster.

This insight is nothing new.Li Suiqiu just nodded slightly.

"...But it is a natural disaster, but it is also a man-made disaster!"

Cui Hantang changed the subject at this time, throwing out his key conclusion.

However, Li Suiqiu on the opposite side did not show a surprised expression, but an expression of "I'll just watch you pretend to be B quietly".Probably because he was worried that his lack of response would hurt the Taoist priest's heart, and he was unwilling to continue the conversation, Li Suiqiu said reluctantly: "Since ancient times, floods, droughts and locust plagues have always been days. How can it be a man-made disaster?"

"Mr. Mei Zhou, do you know how many Li Shu are there now?"

"This..." Li Suiqiu was stumped now.Although there were population statistics in the Ming Dynasty, it was difficult for ordinary people to get access to the specific figures-this was not for keeping secrets, but there was no media at that time, and ordinary people did not care about this except for a few scholars and officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

If Li Suiqiu wanted to talk about poems, prose, and articles, he could use them all, and he could talk about official affairs such as land tax, salt affairs, and water transportation.However, this population statistic is beyond the scope of his knowledge.

"I'm ashamed, the students don't know." Li Sui said, "I think there are tens of millions."

"Hehe, let me tell you sir: In the sixth year of Tianqi, the household department checked the yellow books of the whole country, and a total of 98 households were obtained, with a population of 540, which is strange."

Li Suiqiu nodded silently, thinking that this thief is really well-informed!He even knows the number of the yellow book of household registration!
"However, have you ever thought about it, Mr. Taizu Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty compiled the National Yellow Book in 14 years, and the number of people seized was 980 million-from the 14th year of Hongwu to the sixth year of Tianqi, there were more than 230 years. It’s difficult, there are floods and droughts, and it’s still a peaceful world after all. Why is the population not increasing but decreasing? You must know that Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country—but after decades of chaos at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.”

"Students don't know the number that Mr. quoted. But Mr. said it himself, it is the number in the yellow book—do you know that the number in the yellow book is the most inaccurate?" It is not ignorant of the matter, "Since the one whip method in this dynasty, all the quota office, dispatch office, annual needs and retention of the capital treasury, various expenses for billions of dollars, and local tribute items have been combined into one, all counted. Mu levy silver. That's why taxes and servitude are allowed for all fields, and the growth and decline of the population is not a large number related to accounting. When the population is recorded in the yellow book, there may be people without people, or people without people. ask.

"Sir, you are right." Cui Hantang thought to himself that Young Master Li has a lot of stuff in his belly! "In this case, it can be seen that the world has been in peace for a long time, and the population is increasing day by day, but the official yellow book does not contain it-where have all the people gone?"

This question is not difficult to answer. These people who are not on the list are either "missed" by the government, or they are cast under the powerful gentry - under the door of Li Suiqiu's family. The businessman is regarded as his family's "buddy", and the one who owns the land is regarded as the "tenant".Li Suiqiu, who is under the shelter of his own family, doesn't even know it, but it is an important source of income for the family.

"...Maybe Mr. Mei Zhou himself knows that whether it is 'missed' or 'shaded', the taxes of these people will not fall into the pocket of the imperial court—at least most of them."

Li Suiqiu understood this truth that day. The reason why many people in his family came to "contribute" was nothing more than to seek his own fame as a "juren" and to be able to reduce taxes and exempt food.

"Mr. Mei Zhou is a juren, so naturally he knows that the exemption is only six stones," Cui Hantang said softly, "Probably only the housekeeper knows how much is exempted."

The meaning of these words could not be clearer: Most of these disappearing populations were recruited by wealthy gentry to avoid taxes.Both sides benefited, but the imperial court suffered losses.

Li Suiqiu's words cannot be refuted-this is a fact.Although he has long known the long-standing disadvantages here, it is the same in the whole world, and he is not immune to it. Moreover, as the head of a family, it is impossible and unwilling to cut off his wings and cut off this generous income.

Even if you are full of knowledge, unless you are willing to call a deer a horse, you really can't argue.

"The Taoist priest is right," Li Suiqiu said, "but this is a long-standing evil. What does it have to do with this natural and man-made disaster?"

Seeing him deflated, Cui Hantang felt much happier.Xindao: This black material is really easy to use!Otherwise, how can I be your opponent if I talk about moral articles with you!

"Naturally, the big households and gentry who donated benefited, and the court suffered losses—but the court had tens of thousands of civil and military officials, hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers, and three thousand harem beauties...to support— Quite a few people still have to feed well, they can’t eat chaff and swallow vegetables, and Emperor Zhu and civil and military officials don’t know how to piss gold and shit, so where does all this money and food come from? It’s nothing more than scraping from the heads of the people. Originally, ten people paid for it. Ten people’s money and food, but now seven, six, or even five people come to pay ten people’s money and food. If there is nothing wrong, everyone can barely live. If there is a flood and drought, the government has no savings, and the people If there is no food in stock and no relief, the people will starve to death, isn’t it a man-made disaster?”

"If it was a hundred years ago, even if the land was annexed and the tyrants sheltered, the court would not be too sad. The territory of the Ming Dynasty was vast, and the farmers who had no land found land to cultivate, and the land became mature with time. With household registration and more money and food, 'the loss outside the embankment is compensated within the embankment', so it is possible to muddle along like this. But now, where can I find this wasteland?"

Although the land development at the end of the Ming Dynasty was not as in the Qing Dynasty as in the Qing Dynasty, it was close to the limit under the level of productivity at that time.Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, a large number of landless peasants who evaded taxes fled to Huguang and cultivated in the mountainous areas, forming a large refugee group.At one time, a large-scale uprising was set off.At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were large-scale refugee settlement groups in the mountainous areas of Fujian and Guangdong.

Li Suiqiu also knew about the shortage of land and the refugees looking for land to cultivate.He sighed secretly. Speaking of it, this is not a new insight, but it is rarely talked about between teachers and friends on weekdays.But this thief can see it clearly!
"The poor people's reclamation everywhere can certainly solve the temporary danger, but it has also planted endless future troubles." Cui Hantang finally talked about this drama, "Mr. Mei Zhou always knew that in the past, Guanzhong was a 'land of fertile land, thousands of miles of fertile fields' , and now? Not to mention the vast sandy sea outside the side wall, even within the side wall, the land is also barren, with nine droughts in ten years, why is this?"

Now Li Suiqiu was at a loss. Regarding the situation in Shaanxi, he learned a little bit when he was talking about "corruption love" with others.I probably know that this place is arid and plagued by disasters, ten years of famine, the people are extremely poor, and the town soldiers guarding the border are not much better, so they have to rebel in order to survive.

At this moment, Cui Hantang’s words awakened him: in the past, Guanzhong was the foundation of the emperor’s career. From Zulong to the Han and Tang dynasties, Guanzhong was the foundation. , How did it become a bitter, cold and barren land now?
"This, the student has never thought of it, please enlighten me."

"Where is it?" Cui Hantang's face was pale, and he immediately put away the wretched smile, "It's because of the reclamation!"

"Reclamation?" Li Suiqiu was puzzled, because since ancient times, reclamation has been a policy of benefiting the country and the people, and a win-win policy for both public and private. Regardless of the Han and Tang Dynasties, or the Ming Dynasty, the frontier troops mostly relied on reclamation for self-sufficiency, which not only reduced the burden on the court, but also obtained sufficient food. supply.When it comes to the thieves, it has become an "evil government" with barren land.

Cui Hantang talked eloquently.In fact, apart from climate change, the destruction of the natural environment in the Guanzhong area is largely due to human factors, and the human-made destruction is continuous: Guanzhong has a long history, the longest development period, a large population, and the most serious damage to the natural environment.At the end of the Song Dynasty, the forests in Nanshan had been cut down, and the forests in Qishan and its surrounding mountains were basically cut down.Su Shi, who used to work in Fengxiang Mansion, once wrote a poem about the Qishan area: some mountains are as bare as ocher, and some water is as turbid as swill!
Naturally, Cui Hantang, who pretended to be a "descendant of the Song Dynasty", didn't say these things, so he focused his firepower on Daming.

"Mr. must also know that the supply of food and salaries for the border troops of the Ming Dynasty mostly depends on military and commercial settlements." When Cui Hantang opened his mouth, Li Suiqiu was a little surprised.He knew that military settlements were not uncommon—they had existed in the past dynasties, and they were still going on now; but this commercial settlement was not only not established in the past dynasties, but was first created by the Ming Dynasty, and it had been closed for many years, so scholars in this dynasty may not know about it.

"This settlement is a good strategy, which benefits the country and the people. However, if there is any benefit, there must be a disadvantage—not to mention that the disadvantage is not small."
-
Volume 141 - Guangdong and Guangxi Raiders Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)