The atmosphere in the Qianqing Palace was very solemn.
Zhu Youjian looked at the memorial from the Daming County magistrate, his eyes a little red.
The people of Daming County actually occupied the county government and clamored to join the one town and nine provinces of Qi King Li Zhi. This was really a slap in Zhu Youjian's face.
This slap declared the complete failure of Zhu Youjian's reform policy.
Over the years, Zhu Youjian witnessed the power of Li Zhiyi's nine provinces and the turmoil of the Ming Dynasty, and he was determined to reform. He first equalized land tax in Beizhili and Shanxi, established courts, and called it a reform. Then he implemented the new law in The entire north. Finally, after the Jiangbei army was defeated and the entire south of the Yangtze River was controlled by the imperial court, Zhu Youjian quickly introduced the new law to the whole country.
In order to implement the new law, Zhu Youjian once stood on the opposite side of the entire bureaucracy. Even after being personally threatened by the Donglin Party, Zhu Youjian still managed to control the New Army, and finally used Dongchang Fanzi to overturn the situation and suppress the civilian officials to enforce it new law.
Zhu Youjian once thought that once the new law was implemented, the huge gap between Tianjin and other places in the Ming Dynasty would gradually be caught up. Zhu Youjian once naively thought that as long as the tax evasion behavior of the gentry was restrained, the living rights of the lower class people could be protected through new-style courts. , the entire Ming Dynasty will be full of vitality, and ZTE is expected to be rejuvenated.
However, the expected big development has not yet occurred.
Although taxes were indeed guaranteed after the equalization of land tax, local taxes that had been frequently in arrears or even barely collected began to be collected in full. The tax pressure on local small farmers was also greatly reduced, and they were often forced to rebel by gentry and corrupt officials. Joining the bandits has never happened again.
However, other parts of the Ming Dynasty have never experienced the same economic development as one town and nine provinces.
Zhu Youjian's idea of reviving the Ming Dynasty by simply relying on equalizing land taxes and establishing courts and becoming an unparalleled emperor proved to be just a fantasy. The gentry of the Ming Dynasty were still candidates for officials. Even if they could not evade taxes, they still dominated the sky with one hand. At the local level, the gentry still ruled the world. It is the ruling class and civil servants who use various means to fight against the weak courts, use administrative orders to restrict the functions of the courts, and even completely resist the court's judgments.
The Ming Dynasty was still a sluggish agricultural society. Except for the building that was about to collapse, it was slightly supported, and except for the farmers who were almost forced to rebel and barely managed to eat, there were no major changes as originally expected. occur.
Zhu Youjian spent several years, and the New Army, which had great hopes, was completely wiped out in Huguang.
The destruction of the New Army greatly shocked Zhu Youjian. Zhu Youjian, who was originally ambitious to do something big, realized that things were not as simple as he thought. The Ming Dynasty was completely corrupt, not A new law that equalizes land tax can achieve great things.
After Cao Bianjiao's new army was destroyed, Zhu Youjian no longer had the original ambition to fight a big war, and instead hoped to be a defensive leader who could protect the Ming Dynasty when the Manchu Qing Dynasty was destroyed, the bandits were pacified, and the south of the Yangtze River was peaceful.
However, the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop.
Zhu Youjian wanted to just guard the country and mend it, but Li Zhi was unwilling. Li Zhi had no selfish desires, but he had the ambition to clarify the inner world and benefit the world. For the gentry and bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty, the powerful clans were like dogs, but for the people of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zhi couldn't bear to feel dizzy day after day.
Li Zhi was a man who saw the world with open eyes. Li Zhi could not watch Europeans pioneering the world and multiplying their descendants, while the people of the Ming Dynasty became sick men of East Asia who could be humiliated at will under the yoke of kings, ministers, fathers and sons.
As soon as Li Zhi defeated the Jiangbei Army, he beheaded first and then attacked the civil servants in the court, killing more than a thousand people at once. Li Zhi even forced Zhu Youjian to abolish the imperial examination, breaking the thousands-year dominance of Confucianism in China.
In Zhu Youjian's view, what was abolished was not Confucianism, but the deep-rooted ruling foundation of the Ming Dynasty.
If the people of the Ming Dynasty no longer believe in Confucianism and do not believe in monarchs, ministers and fathers and sons, then what do the people believe in? Believe in Li Zhi's public morality? Respect whoever benefits the people? Then Li Zhi made so many people of the Ming Dynasty well-fed and wealthy, Li Zhi made
After annihilating the Manchus and bandits and saving the people of the world, do they all have to worship Li Zhi?
From now on, will the imperial court still be able to capture even a single cent of the people's hearts in the world?
Li Zhi hoped to use public morality to strengthen the Ming Dynasty and benefit the descendants of China. However, in Zhu Youjian's view, Li Zhi was eroding the foundation of the Ming Dynasty step by step.
Zhu Youjian looked at the memorial to the magistrate of Daming County on the table and couldn't help but tremble.
Zhu You lamented: "Why don't these ordinary people move to Li Zhi's one town and nine provinces if they want to make a lot of money?"
Zhang Guanghang, the elder of the cabinet, looked equally ugly. What happened in Daming County made everyone in the imperial court very embarrassed. He raised his hands and replied: "Your Majesty, the local people in this town and nine provinces are rich, but the people from outside are not rich. Daming County
If ordinary people go to work in one town or nine provinces, they will not only have to bear higher rents and prices, but they will also have to bear the pain of leaving their hometowns and living under the shelter of others, doing the hardest work, and being at the bottom of society."
"In one town and nine provinces, migrant workers can't find a suitable wife at all. The wealthy local people not only marry all the local women, but also marry the most beautiful girls from the migrant workers."
"It's not that they are too poor to open the pot. Ordinary people are unwilling to move to one town and nine provinces."
Zhu Youjian looked at the memorial on the table, his eyes a little wandering.
Zhang Guanghang took a breath and said: "Your Majesty, if in the past, the people of Daming County were controlled by the gentry and taught by loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness every day, they would not be able to do such a thing!"
"But now, all the people have been educated by King Qi's public morality. They all say that people who abide by public morality are good people, and only officials who benefit the people are good officials. No one talks about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, father and son."
"Nowadays, the common people all say that officials like one town and nine provinces are what they should be like."
"When the people forget their duty of loyalty and filial piety, they cannot stand the officials who enrich their own pockets. The people want to live a good life with plenty of food and clothing, but their resentment grows stronger day by day."
Zhu Youjian's face turned a little pale.
"Is the situation the same in other places?"
Zhang Guanghang sighed and said: "Your Majesty, the same is true in other places. With the popularization of public morality and the spread of the prosperity of one town and nine provinces to the inland, the people are dissatisfied with the imperial court."
Zhang Guanghang hesitated for a moment and said: "The only place where the situation is better now is Guangdong and Guangxi. Because the King of Qi recruited immigrants there to open up overseas lands, hundreds of thousands of people were recruited in a year, so the people there have hope for life. But in other places
All the people are full of resentment."
"Your Majesty, if things continue like this, I'm afraid the world will change."
Zhu Youjian's face turned even whiter when he heard Zhang Guanghang's last words.
