Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 560 Grand Marshal

Li Jing shook his head: "It is precisely because Zhang Ao's clearing of the land is not wrong that there is so much idle land. This is not because of the wrong land, but because the actual population of Daming is far less than the number registered by the local government."

"Could it be that the local government falsely reported the population figures?" Shen Zheng asked in surprise.

"No, it's not a false population report. I guess the local government hasn't counted the population for many years. These years of natural disasters and wars, the population of Daming must have dropped drastically. Not to mention other places, let's talk about Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan. , In these years of natural disasters and wars, many places are empty, and the population of these three provinces has decreased by at least sixty-seven million." Gao Qi said suddenly.

Li Jing shook his head: "I'm afraid it's more than that. You have forgotten that the plague broke out in Shanxi in the sixth year of Chongzhen, and more than 100 million people died in that one time alone. If we hadn't controlled the spread of the plague, it is uncertain how many people would have died."

Gao Qi continued: "That's right! There was also a flood in Henan that year. Although the commander went to rescue the disaster, due to poor transportation, we couldn't rush to the disaster area immediately after the disaster. Although there is no accurate figure for how many people died , but I estimate there must be at least 10 people."

Li Jing sighed and said: "Actually, the population of Daming has been declining since the Jiajing period, especially in the ten years from Tianqi to Chongzhen, the population decline has been particularly severe. Over the past few decades, the population of Daming has decreased by at least 3000 Ten thousand."

"Then do we want to encourage childbearing? How much land will be wasted with such a small population!" Shen Zhengdao.

Li Jing shook his head and said with a smile: "Don't encourage births. As the country stabilizes and the people live in prosperity, the population will increase soon. If you encourage births again, the population will explode. Once it grows too fast, it will be bad for the country. good thing.

In fact, in my opinion, not only should births not be encouraged, but should be restricted. I think each family is limited to three children, and those who exceed three should be punished. "

"Da Ming left so much land unused, without increasing the population, it would be a great loss to the imperial court!" Shen Zheng said.

Li Jing said with a smile: "Are you afraid that no one will farm the land? If you rely on people to farm the land, you will not be able to plant all the land. You still have to rely on animal power. We encourage births, so it is better to encourage the raising of livestock.

The smaller the population, the more land per capita, and the more grain harvested per capita, so that people's lives will be rich.When people live well, they will consume, and business will prosper, and business will prosper, and the court will naturally have more taxes. "

Yang Liufeng said with a smile: "The commander-in-chief has great insight, I will admire it."

Li Jing waved his hand: "Actually, looking at history, no matter which dynasty, as long as the country is peaceful, the population will increase. When the population increases to a certain level, various problems will appear.

Let me speak with conscience, the grain tax set by the Chinese dynasties is actually not high, especially the tax rate of this dynasty is far from the tax rate set by me.But why are the common people still not getting enough to eat with such a low tax rate?I think population growth is a very important reason.

Let me use the analogy of the peacetime period. A family has [-] mu of land, and there is a son in the family. The old husband and wife plus the son and daughter-in-law support four people on [-] mu of land. They should live well.

After a few years, our son has children, so let’s not have too many sons, let’s say we have three sons. At this time, we need to raise three more people on [-] acres of land. There is no problem in raising three more people, and the living conditions will not drop much. .

But when the children grow up, they want to start a family and marry a wife. If each child marries one, there will be three more people.At this time, [-] mu of land has to feed ten people, and there is no problem with food and clothing, but the standard of living will definitely decline.

Waiting for the three children to grow up and start a family again, and have children, if each of them has three more children.At this time, we knew that it would be difficult to feed so many people with [-] acres of land.

If in another generation, the children of this family grow up again and want to start a family and start a business, well, we know that [-] mu of land will not be enough at this time, and we can imagine that the standard of living of this family will become lower and lower. "

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "We can regard this family as Daming, and there is only so much arable land in Daming, and as the population grows, there will always be times when the arable land in Daming is not enough.

We know that it is no problem to feed [-] million people with the existing arable land of Ming Dynasty, but we cannot think that the land of Ming Dynasty can feed [-] million people, and then give birth to [-] million people.When the population of [-] million is really approaching, no matter how much we try to control it, we will be unable to control it.

What to do then?Continue to open up wasteland?Turn forests and grasslands into cultivated land?What caused the flooding of the Yellow River?Isn't it caused by the deforestation of large areas of forest along the coast and the loss of protection of the land?

The flood of the Yellow River has displaced countless people. I think this is God's punishment for our deforestation. "

"What the commander said is true." Shen Zheng, Yang Liufeng and the others said seriously.

Li Jing sighed and said: "Many people think that the common people can't afford food. The main reason is that the people can't afford the various levies and miscellaneous taxes, and then the land is annexed by others. But if the population has not increased significantly, the per capita cultivated area of ​​the common people has shrunk sharply, and they cannot afford so many levies and miscellaneous taxes. How can the land be annexed by others? We know that the land is the sky of the common people, and the common people will never sell the land unless it is absolutely necessary."

"The Marshal has now changed to collect taxes based on land, which not only increases the country's tax revenue, but also greatly reduces the burden on the people. Therefore, the Marshal's tax rate seems to be much higher than that of the previous dynasty, but in fact the burden on the common people has been reduced. "Shen Zheng said with a smile.

Li Jing shook his head: "Whether the burden is really lightened or not depends on our officials. Because farmers depend on the weather for their food. When the year is good, the people will reap a lot. There is no problem paying taxes at the normal tax rate. If the year is not good, the harvest If there are few people, or even no income, and the people have to pay so much taxes, the people will definitely complain.

But our officials often do such things in order to complete taxation tasks.We often say that local officials are the parents of the people, but how can parents not love their children?Officials are not sympathetic to the people, are they worthy of being called parents officials?

I brought back a man from Nanjing this time. His name is Zeng Yiyi. He used to be a county magistrate. This man is familiar with local government affairs and has a good reputation among the people when he was working in the local area. I plan to let him serve as a professor who trains grassroots officials. Recruited officials must undergo training before they can take up their posts.

Moreover, there must be a one-year probationary period after taking office. After one year, these officials will be tested, and those who are unqualified will be trained again, and then released to serve. If they fail the next test, they will be cancelled. qualifications.

In addition, I think that many grassroots officials are not qualified. I think these people also need to be trained. "

Shen Zheng frowned when he heard the words: "Marshal, there are more than 300 prefectures and counties in Ming Dynasty, that is to say, there are more than 2 county magistrates in Guangzhou. There are a large number of low-level officials in the government, roughly calculated, there are [-] to [-] officials below the seventh rank of the Ming Dynasty, how can so many people be trained by just one person who has sacrificed himself?"

"Of course it won't work to rely on Zeng Yiyi alone. I plan to set up a special training department for officials, and select a group of officials like Zeng Yiyi from the Ministry of Officials to serve as instructors." Li Jing continued.

"In my opinion, it's better to arrange these people to the Imperial Academy, isn't the Imperial Academy just for teaching students?" Shen Zhengdao.

Li Jing shook his head: "No, the Imperial College is a place to cultivate talents. If officials are trained in the Imperial College, the nature of the Imperial College will change."

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "This department is directly under the Ministry of Officials. I think the Minister of the Ministry of Officials can be appointed as the chief officer of this department, and the other ministries should also arrange a minister to serve as the deputy. How about this? How about you guys? Go back and discuss with Heng Chen, and then come up with a charter."

"Yes!" Shen Zheng and others hurriedly said.

Li Jing continued: "There are a lot of things to do next year. Take the time to study the population issue I mentioned just now, and you should come up with a charter."

"Marshal, do you want to re-count the population across the country? Otherwise, we will work behind closed doors, and the regulations that we formulate may not be applicable." Yang Liufeng said.

Li Jingjing nodded: "Well, it is necessary to conduct a statistic. This time, the statistic must be as accurate as possible. The Mongols outside the mouth and the Manchus in Liaodong must be counted. So, be careful, you will take the lead in this matter , Zhang Ao’s land affairs have not been finished yet, so let’s not let him be distracted.”

"Yes!" Yang Liufeng responded.

Li Jing turned his head to look at Gao Qi and said, "You are in charge of recruiting soldiers. First recruit 50 recruits. After the recruitment, the original auxiliary soldiers will be promoted to regular soldiers, and the original recruits will be promoted to auxiliary soldiers. After the expansion of the army, many Generals may be promoted, so you draw up a list.

I thought about it on the road this time, and I plan to add a few more military ranks. I am not polite to you. As a governor, I can still afford the rank of marshal. You are the Minister of Military and Political Affairs and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff. The post of deputy commander cannot escape you.The governors of the five major military regions and the navy are generals, the generals of the provinces are generals, the former deputy generals are lieutenant generals, and the participating generals are major generals. What do you think? "

"Hehe, Generalissimo, in my opinion, you should be Generalissimo. In this way, the title of Generalissimo is worthy of its name." Gao Qi laughed.

Li Jing laughed loudly when he heard the words: "Hahaha! Brother Gao, if I were Generalissimo, I would have to give you the title of Generalissimo anyway. Your calculation is full of sound."

Gao Qi shook his head and said with a smile: "I don't want to be a marshal. To be honest, I don't want to be me. I'd be a deputy commander. That's what I think. Our new army of Ming Dynasty was built by you. Yes, if the commander-in-chief has the title of marshal in the future, won’t he be at the same level as you? How can this be done? If you take the title of marshal, then the commander-in-chief must be one level lower. To be a general is to respect you.

But I think the rank of general is a little low to be the commander of the whole army, so I can only give you a promotion. If you become a general, the general will be a marshal in the future. "

(End of this chapter)