"Although wine making is a method, once the imperial court lifts the ban on wine making, will it lead to a trend of extravagant drinking?"
Xie Qian thought for a while and then said.
"Yes, drinking is already very popular in our Ming Dynasty. If the court lifts the ban, I'm afraid there will be even more people drinking. Along with the extravagant drinking style, it will be difficult to get rid of it.
Already."
Liu Jian thought about it and said worriedly.
"Hmm~"
Emperor Hongzhi also nodded slightly. There is no problem with breeding and animal husbandry. They are all for the common people to eat well and live well, and everyone will support it.
But you need to be careful when making wine. Firstly, making wine consumes a lot of grain. As the old saying goes, half a pound of wine and a pound of grain are enough for an adult to have a full meal, but half a pound of wine is like drinking water.
, drank it all at once.
"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"
"Since ancient times, wine making has been prohibited in all dynasties mainly because grain is too precious and the output of this grain is too small. People cannot have enough to eat, so wine making is prohibited, and drinking alcohol is also called extravagant."
"But now, our Ming Dynasty's grain output is increasing. The cultivated fields in Liaodong are less than one-tenth of the land in Liaodong. There are still very vast fields in the Western Regions and Hezhong that have not been cultivated."
"In addition, in Southeast Asia, most areas are still dense virgin rainforests and there is a lot of land. More importantly, in Australia and Golden Island, we still have extremely vast fertile land."
"It is foreseeable that in the future, the grain output of our country will only become higher and higher, more and more land will be cultivated, and food will be extremely abundant."
"Under such a situation, after storing enough grain, using the remaining grain to make wine and develop breeding and animal husbandry can no longer be said to be extravagant. This is called rational use of resources."
"Furthermore, the people are well-fed, pursuing a better life, and their demand for drinking will become stronger and stronger. Even if our court does not lift the ban, the scale of spontaneous brewing among the people will become larger and larger.
"
"As the saying goes, it is better to block than to open up. Since this is the trend, we should follow the trend and lift the ban on wine making. Firstly, we can digest the excess food and make the best use of it. Secondly, we can stabilize the price of food and prevent the loss of food.
Prices that are too low dampen farmers' enthusiasm for growing grains. Thirdly, it can also increase the court's tax revenue. We can classify winemaking as a high-profit industry, which naturally requires heavy taxes."
Liu Jin thought for a while and said to the ministers of Emperor Hongzhi.
The prohibition on wine making is no longer of much significance. It is better to lift it so that the court can still benefit.
"It still makes sense."
After everyone heard this and thought about it carefully, it seemed that this was really the case.
"Then order the lifting of the ban and allow brewing."
Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a while, thought about it carefully and said.
There is too much food. The food produced this year is enough to last for five years next year. If we don't find a use for this food, it will definitely rot and be wasted.
So it is better to make wine and let the common people drink. Anyway, now the common people have money, their lives are better, they drink more, and the court can also collect taxes.
"Yes~"
All the ministers replied in unison.
If there is too much grain, it is natural to find a way to consume it, and using it to make wine might be a good idea.
As for Zhang Mao, his little eyes started to move, and he looked at Liu Jin from time to time, trying to see something from Liu Jin.
Well, brewing is a hugely profitable industry, so I have to get involved.
After talking about food, Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and said: "Our Ming Dynasty is at the crossroads of history. If we want to better lead our Ming Dynasty to a more glorious and powerful era, we need to
Have a detailed understanding of the Ming Dynasty."
"Among them, the most important thing is naturally the people, so I want to conduct a census within the entire Ming Dynasty to thoroughly understand how many people there are in our Ming Dynasty."
"What do you think, dear sir?"
Emperor Hongzhi had long wanted to do a census. Especially when he was conducting immigration, he was very eager to grasp the population distribution of the Ming Dynasty and find out how many people there were in each province of the Ming Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, I also believe that our Ming Dynasty should conduct a nationwide census. Only by accurately grasping the population of each place, can the court be more accurate when carrying out many policies."
Liu Jian was the first to stand up and express his agreement. As the chief minister of the cabinet, he also deeply understood the importance of demographics.
Every time when people were relocated from Henan, the local officials and gentry in Henan complained bitterly, saying that too many people in Henan had moved out, so that there was no one to cultivate the land.
However, the fact is that the hidden population in Henan is too much. Such a large province is mainly composed of plains. According to the imperial records, the population is actually smaller than that of Fujian and Jiangxi, which are more mountainous and landless.
Even less, how is this possible?
"Your Majesty, I also think that a nationwide census should be conducted."
Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Mao, Liu Jin and others also stood up and expressed their support.
"Well, since all my dear friends support it, then the matter will be settled like this."
"It's just that this population census is not a simple and easy thing. I wonder if you, my dear friends, have any good ideas?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded with satisfaction, then thought about it and asked again.
In fact, Emperor Hongzhi also made preparations for this matter in advance. After the operation was successful, Emperor Hongzhi took the opportunity of universal celebration to order the exemption of capitation tax and corvee. This was obviously to prepare for the head count.
"Your Majesty, when censuses were conducted in the past dynasties, because it involved matters such as capitation taxes and corvee labor, the people would try to conceal what they could, so the census figures may not be half of the true population."
"Therefore, during the census, the tasks of each local government office are very heavy, and it is difficult to complete the statistics."
"Now that His Majesty has made it clear that the capitation tax and corvee are exempted, the census will become easier, and the counted population will naturally far exceed the previous historical records."
Liu Jian thought for a while but stood up and said.
Population statistics is not a difficult task. All you need to do is order a state government office to conduct detailed statistics. It used to be difficult, but now that the capitation tax and corvee are exempted, this census will be much simpler.
"Hmm~"
Other ministers also nodded one after another. It was nothing more than letting the officials below to do the work. It was not difficult.
"Your Majesty, I think this census is a big deal."
Liu Jin stood up and said this again.
"Well, keep talking."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, and the others looked at Liu Jin, wanting to hear what Liu Jin had to say in this regard.
"In the past, the population statistics in the past dynasties only recorded the number of people in a very simple way, so as to facilitate the collection of population tax and corvee. This would cause the people to conceal the population as much as possible, and at the same time, the court would not be able to accurately grasp the population.
Case."
"I believe that this population statistics should be changed to a census. Therefore, the census should not only count the total number of people, but also conduct a detailed survey."
"For example, the ratio of men to women, how many men there are, how many women there are, and the situation of old and young people, how many people over 60 years old, how many underage children, and how many adults there are."
"There is also the work situation. In the Beijing-Tianjin area, a large number of people work in factories and workshops. They have completely separated from agricultural production and are engaged in professional work."
"In addition, now our Ming Dynasty not only has Han people, but also a large number of tribes in the border areas, so we should also pay attention to the issue of distinguishing tribes. At the same time, in places such as the Western Regions, Uzang, and Nanyang, there are also issues related to religious beliefs.
How many people believe in Buddhism, how many people believe in Taoism, and how many people do not believe in religion or believe in foreign religions, all of these must be counted."
"There is also the situation of the family property, such as how many acres of land the family has, whether there are cattle, horses, houses, etc. This information is also extremely important and can reveal the living conditions of the people in the Ming Dynasty."
"The imperial court encourages childbirth, and should also keep statistics on whether they are married and whether they have concubines, so that relevant policies can be formulated accurately. For example, if there are too many bachelors in a certain place, then we can focus on relocating the population from this place to the Western Regions and Hezhong.
Because the Western Region and the Hezhong area have gone through wars, there are few men and many women, making it difficult to marry."
"At the same time, when conducting the census, a series of population policies should be formulated accordingly, such as conducting regular censuses in Ming Dynasty every ten years, numbering every citizen in Ming Dynasty, and issuing identity certificates.
The relevant information must be clearly recorded on the identity certificate.”
"Only after we understand these situations, can the court be more precise when formulating relevant policies. For example, Shaanxi has a large number of people but little land and poor natural conditions, so we will immigrate in large numbers from here."
"Another example is the matter of conscription. If we know the population of each state capital, we can allocate quotas for conscription according to the population. Another example is that if our court wants to formulate a population hierarchy system, then it is even more important to accurately understand the population of our Ming Dynasty."
"How many Han people are there, how many tribes are there, how many people are there, how many of these people have changed their surnames to Chinese names, how many of them can speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin, write Chinese characters, have received Confucian education, etc."
Liu Jin thought for a while and told some of the contents of the census for later generations. When Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others heard this, they all couldn't help but frowned.
Is it necessary to make this demographic so complicated? But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that what Liu Jin said is right. If it is just a simple statistics, it will not have much practical significance.
In the past, it was said that population statistics were needed to collect capitation taxes and corvees, but now they are exempted, and the statistics do not have much meaning.
When the imperial court conducted a census, it was definitely to obtain accurate population information, and what Liu Jin said was the information that everyone really wanted to know.
The workload is heavy and there are many things to do, but they are indeed things that have to be done.
