The prince has already spoken, so of course the people below will have their legs broken.
So just two days after Zhu Shuren met Sun Jiaji, Yingtian Mansion sent several Cao officials who performed well in the initial stage of the "abolition of Ding and separation of registration" reforms to Nanjing City, where Zhu Shuren interviewed and reported their experiences.
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Of course Zhu Shuren would look at the list and resume before the interview, and then he really discovered something that surprised him.
"Liyang County Hu Cao, Shaoxing Prefecture Yuyao County, Yao Qisheng? Only 38 years old can be a candidate? Tsk tsk, it is quite difficult to be elected. Sure enough, you are not the material to study the books of sages.
It seems that Sun Jiaji is also from Yuyao, Shaoxing, and he is from the same hometown as him? Could it be that for the sake of being from the same hometown, he helped me a little bit if I could help him?"
When seeing Yao Qisheng's name, Zhu Shuren also felt a sense of vicissitudes of life.
Of course he knew that this guy historically helped the Tatars fight against Zheng Chenggong, and that this guy's official career had not been smooth at the beginning under Kangxi. After all, he was not a scholar. He only relied on promoting people to serve in official positions, and he also liked to break the sea ban.
, was dismissed from office and went into business - these historical knowledge are not eccentric. Even those who have not read history books will basically know it as long as they have watched a few Qing palace dramas during the Kangxi period.
However, Zhu Shuren also understood that since the Ming Dynasty has now returned to the Ming Dynasty, it is inevitable to use those literati who were originally officials in the Qing Dynasty in the future.
Will you never serve as an official in the Qing Dynasty for the rest of your life?
Therefore, Zhu Shuren could only suppress the disgust in his heart and set a relatively low moral standard: if a person becomes a second minister, receives the national favor of the Ming Dynasty, takes the imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty, and then submits to clear the imperial examination, then obviously
The crime is a little heavier. If a person has never received any national favor in the Ming Dynasty, has not been awarded any honors, and only passed the imperial examination in the Qing Dynasty, then he cannot be punished too much.
Eating the emperor's salary is a matter of loyalty to the emperor.
Those who have never received a salary can only be loyal to the national integrity, but there is no need to be loyal to the family name.
Zhu Shuren himself wrote the same thing in the book he asked Gu Yanwu to ghostwrite, "Those who subjugate the country are planned by carnivores, and those who subjugate the world are responsible for everyone." Of course, he must uphold his own principles of life and employment.
…
Without further ado, Zhu Shuren chose to summon Yao Qisheng in a pleasant manner after suppressing his displeasure at "using someone who had historically assisted Zhou in his crimes."
Yao Qisheng heard that he had performed well in helping to promote the separation of workers and peasants in Liyang County, and was actually summoned by the regent. He was also flattered. Before he even entered the door, he was already mentally prepared to be a dog.
He knew very well that he didn't like seniority in the officialdom. He was both an official and a merchant, and his family also ran some maritime trade and a small business, but he couldn't even get a Jinshi in his studies - such a person, the prince will use you highly.
Why? That must require you to bite someone!
If you don’t have this awareness, don’t covet this wealth!
So, as soon as he entered the door, Yao Qisheng finished his salute and a few simple words of praise, Zhu Shuren could already tell that the other party was a smart man and was not afraid of getting dirty in his work.
Zhu Shuren first gave some sweet words: "I heard that although you are not good at reading, you know a lot about arithmetic and business. Your family has also been involved in maritime business?"
Yao Qisheng quickly admitted: "The student Yu Jingshi has a clumsy talent, which is really shameful."
Zhu Shuren waved his hand: "There is nothing to be ashamed of. I am also from a family of maritime merchants, and I don't like to study corrupt Confucianism."
Yao Qisheng immediately knelt down and praised: "How dare you compare with the prince! The prince is extremely talented and has great judgment. Although he does not like corrupt Confucianism, he only needs to devote a little energy to dabble in it, and he can still get two rankings of Jinshi that year.
Students, on the other hand, spend at least half of their energy in their lives hoping to become a scholar together, but they don't get it."
Zhu Shuren smiled: "I heard that you are from Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture, and my ancestor is also from Yuyao County. Cabinet elder Zhang Ge, Yin Sunfu Yin is also from Yuyao County. It seems that Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture is good at giving money and food.
Empowering hands.”
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the masters of Shaoxing Prefecture were very famous for their ability to collect money, grain, and taxes. Many science and education officials who were born in the second rank of Jinshi were terrible at mathematics. When they went to the local government, they had to rely on the masters of Shaoxing to settle accounts and collect taxes.
So at that time, Yuyao County, Shaoxing Prefecture, was famous as the place with the best mathematics in the country. Various methods of exploiting loopholes to avoid taxes and seeing through tax avoidance first emerged from the circle of Yuyao people.
If accountants who evaded taxes were also imprisoned in that era, then at least 80% of the accountants in prison were from Kuaiji.
When Yao Qisheng heard that the regent praised him so highly and even investigated his place of origin, he suddenly became more energetic and prepared to show off his talents: "His Royal Highness is busy with everything, but he still knows the hometown of the students. His courtesy and courtesy to the corporal are unparalleled in ancient and modern times! The students really appreciate it.
Five inside!”
Zhu Shuren waved his hand, indicating that the other party did not need to do this, and quickly got to the point: "I won't talk about false etiquette today, I don't have that much time.
Since you have performed outstandingly in Liyang County, then you can tell me: this method of separating workers and peasants and abolishing civil servants has been tried out now, but are there still any subtle flaws? How should we deal with possible resistance?"
Yao Qisheng knew that the opportunity was rare, but he did not hide it. He had done his homework before coming, so he took a deep breath and said firmly:
"Students believe that since ancient times, reforms involve financial and tax interests, which are either detrimental to the officials or the people. It is easier to succeed if you choose one of the two. If it is not good for the officials and the people, but only benefits the king, then it is Han Fei's method. It is too
Too ideal and difficult to implement.
The husband’s pearls and jade are what the master is anxious about. Although he presented them in their pure form, they are not beautiful, and they are not harmful to the master. However, it is still a matter of whether to cut them with two feet and get the treasure. Now the master is concerned with magic, and the ministers are not allowed to make judgments about it.
Don't dare to show off, your cuteness will lead to farmers, and the wanderers will be in danger of fighting. The backlash will be more serious than 'cutting off two feet'. Han Fei said it through Bian He's mouth, so we have to be careful."
Yao Qisheng's words were a little off-putting, but Zhu Shuren was also a second-ranked Jinshi, so there was no obstacle to understanding.
The most feared thing about an idealistic reform is that if you try to achieve it in one step, you will offend not only the ministers and gentry of the court, but also the people. In the end, it will only benefit the emperor alone, and it will easily be backlashed.
People like Shang Yang, Han Fei, etc. all suffered bad deaths, and eagerness for success accounted for at least a small part of the reason.
However, Zhu Shuren did not feel that he had offended everyone at the same time, so he asked calmly: "Why do you think this reform has offended the gentry and the common people at the same time? This law is obviously beneficial to the common people, and it completely abolishes the rights of peasants.
The extra tax has not increased the burden at all! The extra money and grain paid are also used to replace the corvee services they should have served. No matter how you look at it, the burden is only reduced but not increased."
Yao Qisheng said euphemistically: "How can students not know that His Highness is kind and caring for the people, but the law of 'minimum farmland acres for common people' set by His Highness has not been officially implemented this year, but in the future it will eventually increase the burden on farmers with less land, similar to
Therefore, it regressed to the land occupation system and land equalization system of the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties.
Under the land equalization system, the imperial court also determined how much land each Dingkou should theoretically occupy, and paid a land tax according to the theoretical value. However, the index was higher at that time. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Zhengding occupied 70 Han acres, and in the early Tang Dynasty, 40 Tang acres were occupied.
Mu, equivalent to the area of today's Ming Dynasty, is about twenty acres.
The lower limit set by His Highness is only half looser than that of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the upper limit is not capped, and more households are taxed. But in the final analysis, this lower limit was unprecedented in the Ming Dynasty, and ignorant people may not be able to understand His Highness's good intentions.
Once there are complaints, if they are used by the gentry and they form a combined force, it may not be easy to defeat them individually."
There are definitely people who will object to the gentry, because the Ming Dynasty did not require the gentry to pay for grain and serve in the military service, but now at least they have to pay for grain and pay. The gentry is totally losing money in agricultural taxes and service fees. They have the motive to cause trouble and encourage the people below to make trouble.
If we do not set a lower limit on the taxable area for those rural residents who only have a little bit of land, then farmers will absolutely benefit this time and will not be incited.
With this lower limit in place, people whose families have less than ten acres of paddy land will not benefit purely. They have to weigh it carefully. Perhaps if it is only five, six, seventy or eight acres, it can still be barely the same as before the reform, because the extra taxes will be levied.
The grain tax for a few acres of land is roughly equivalent to the exempted poll tax.
However, if the family has two adult laborers, one male and one female, and two minor laborers, with a total land area of less than five acres, and still insists on retaining agricultural registration according to the new law, it will suffer a small loss. These people may be exploited by the gentry.
Although Zhu Shuren was very powerful and could kill a group of gentry who took the lead in making trouble and then persuade the deceived people to go back, it was still a bit disgraceful.
When Zhu Shuren saw that Yao Qisheng pointed out the dividing line between friend and foe in this benefit distribution, he had to admit that the other party had studied the division of beneficiary groups of this new law quite thoroughly.
But Zhu Shuren insisted on setting a lower limit on the taxable land area for farmers. He obviously had other considerations - in order for the Ming Dynasty to gradually start industrialization, he needed to squeeze out the inefficient agricultural population and make the fields more concentrated, at least to meet the needs of the Ming Dynasty.
The labor saturation level of the labor force will not leave farmers idle and without land for farming.
He has calculated that based on the agricultural production efficiency of the Ming Dynasty, a family of two adults, one man and one woman, plus two children over ten years old, is more than enough to cultivate ten acres of paddy fields. If there is less land, the people's labor will be wasted and they will have no food.
After eating, I took a lot of time to relax and bask in the sun.
The British on the other side of the continent have been enclosures for a full 150 years, and the Ming Dynasty was already a late start in this regard.
If we do not squeeze out some of the agricultural population and create an atmosphere that breaks the natural economy of small farmers, relying solely on promotion from the top may not necessarily enable Ming Dynasty to achieve industrialization.
Zhu Shuren might still be able to cheat when he was alive, but what about the people after him? If they want to go back to the old way, will the Ming Dynasty finally wait for the great powers to equalize the technology tree in the future?
Although the basic technology of the Ming Dynasty in this life is already good, even if Zhu Shuren's descendants are unable to defeat him a hundred years later, he should not be overtaken by the big powers.
The enemy had a clear generational advantage. But Zhu Shuren felt that this was not enough.
He hopes that the Ming Dynasty will advance its technological and industrialization process so that in the future, "only the Ming Dynasty can be considered strong on earth, and there will be no others."
Great powers? Who allowed you to list them?
Therefore, the national policy of guiding farmers who only cultivate a little land to become workers cannot be changed. The Zhushu people are at least countless times gentler than the British sheep-eating human enclosures - how can the British protect the homesteaders who only have ten acres of land?
?
Unfortunately, Zhu Shuren was not suitable to say some things directly to people with too low status, so after he pondered for a while, he could only say: "This act alone has a deeper meaning, which you don't know."
Yao Qisheng thought about it for a while, but after all, the adventurous spirit of pursuing wealth prevailed, allowing him to boldly speculate: "The student thinks that His Highness's so-called deep meaning is that he is trying to force farmers to work as workers?
It is not difficult to guess this method. The student's family was involved in maritime trade. In recent years, the number of overseas merchants and craftsmen in our country has increased day by day. The student also communicated with the British people and learned that there was a kind of "sheep-eating man" enclosure there, so he
It is to turn small farmers into workers as much as possible..."
Hearing this, Zhu Shuren frowned slightly, but did not refute.
Seeing that his guess was somewhat promising, Yao Qisheng continued boldly: "If this is the case, the student feels that His Highness's method of setting a lower limit on the taxable acres of land for each household should indeed be implemented, but the method of implementation can still be considered.
For example, the reason why the world thinks that each household must plant at least ten acres of paddy fields or twenty acres of dry fields in order to be saturated with labor is mostly based on plains and wilderness, fertile land with fish and rice.
However, if it is a mountainous and rugged place with narrow and scattered land, forcing people with small land to sell their land and move it, and merge their fields may not necessarily improve efficiency much.
What's more, in a rugged mountainous area, there are no prosperous towns around, and there are few workshops and factories. If all the people are farmers and change their jobs, they may not be able to find a job. According to the new law, all people will be used as corvees, and it may not require so many people to work long distances - Late Qin Dynasty
At that time, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were serving in distant places, and the losses in transit were too heavy."
After Zhu Shuren heard this, he felt that it made sense. Indeed, what he thought at first was that if his peasant registration was forced to change, he would at least have a guaranteed chance of eating public food and doing corvee labor. And from the overall perspective of the country, the corvée population would never exist.
Too many situations where there is no work to do——
There was still so much construction that could be done in the Ming Dynasty, but if that didn't work, Zhu Shuren could still set up "state-owned enterprises" to accelerate industrialization. With the guidance of a cheating man like him, there was no problem that the surplus labor had nowhere to go.
However, serving in other places and forcing people to relocate are indeed prone to trouble. Many people are unwilling to leave their hometown too far, and the time lost on the road will make people feel uneasy.
This is not the 21st century. I have no complaints when I go to work in Guangdong from the Northeast, and I think it is appropriate to travel such a long distance. People in this era are too settled and resettled. If there is no crime, they will have to leave their homes thousands of miles away, and they will be exiled.
What is the difference between prisoners?
Even if the Zhushu people do it for their own good and feel that the mountains and valleys cannot support so many people, and hope that the people in the mountainous areas will move to the surrounding plain cities, there will still be resistance -
In this regard, even in the 21st century, in the final stage of poverty alleviation, there are many people who are absolutely destitute and would rather stay in the mountains than move out. They are unwilling to come out even if they are given a house in the city to live for free. Some are just because they are older.
Illiterate and unable to integrate into society, I would rather grow and eat by myself in the valley.
This is not a problem that can be solved in one generation. The literacy rate of the Ming Dynasty was countless times worse than that of later generations.
Zhu Shuren finally realized that he had taken a little step forward in some very local details.