It is common for gentry families to live together in hundreds of families, and even three or four generations live under one roof, and it is even more common in the south.

The butt determines the head. For the court and the emperor, the corvee was one person per household. A hundred people could have been produced, but only a few people served in the corvee. It was a huge waste.

According to the thinking of later generations, that is to respect the legalist way of governing the country.

For example, Legalism requires that when men reach adulthood, they must separate their families so that they can serve in corvee and military service as soon as possible and create wealth for the country, so they must split up their clans.

In other words, Legalism extremely advocates the theory of making the country rich and strong, and making the country rich by weak people. Shang Yang said: "If the people are weak, the country will be strong, and if the country is strong and the people are weak, a country with a righteous principle must make its people weak."

Its appeal is to centralize power and strengthen the authority of the monarch.

In this case, the power of the imperial court is extremely powerful, but it is also a double-edged sword. A wise king can speed up the growth of the country, but a faint king can destroy the country at twice the speed.

Therefore, when Ying Zheng was able to unify the world, the most important thing to thank was that there were no faint kings in the Sixth Dynasty. Otherwise, when it was his turn, the Qin Dynasty would be dead and would not be able to unify the world at all.

To go a step further, Legalism wants the common people's family to be the ruling unit, so it cannot muster strength to compete with the court, while Confucianism advocates the family as a unit and coexisting with the court.

Both have their pros and cons, but after a comprehensive analysis, the most suitable one can only be Confucianism.

Without it, the family's ability to withstand stress is too poor. Once there is a natural disaster, it will be over immediately. However, the family can withstand most disasters and is more suitable for survival in a feudal society.

The basic unit of primitive society was the tribe, the slave society was the city-state, and the feudal society was the family. In modern times, with the development of productive forces, families began to be the basic unit.

When productivity is insufficient, with the family as the basic unit, for ordinary people, a serious illness can take away everything.

For example, ordinary people cannot afford the imperial examination, but the entire clan can use public property to hire teachers to teach many students, making studying cheap.

Teaching places are often in ancestral halls, and the expenses for teaching and examinations are borne by the clan.

When it comes to litigation, it's like a sheep entering the tiger's mouth. Without the support of the clan, he is basically swallowed up to nothing.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the clan is the backing and the first line of resistance against the government.

At the same time, at the social level, the clan is the defender of morality.

For example, the famous Donglin leader Qian Qianyi married Liu Rushi at his official wife's wedding, which completely violated the principle of marrying a wife for a good family and ruined the clan customs.

In fact, Liu Rushi was born a prostitute, and Qian Qianyi married her. Not only would it be difficult for his descendants to participate in the imperial examination, but it would also ruin the reputation of the Qian family.

The laws of the Ming Dynasty could not control him, so his colleagues and students could only remain silent, while the tribesmen were merciless and threw bricks and tiles at him, regardless of whether he was a high official.

Zhu Yixi could not guarantee that there would be no corrupt officials in the yamen. Naturally, ordinary people could only rely on others, and clans connected by blood must be the first choice.

"It's not that we can't live without a clan, but we can't make it too big."

"The industrialization that is about to begin is actually the beginning of the decline of the clan. The clothes that once fit well cannot keep up with the increasingly thick limbs. This is a sin."

Zhu Yixi sighed and reached a delicate balance between the government and the local government, allowing the process to unfold gradually instead of being forced by society.

To put it bluntly, in the process of industrialization, clans have tied up the population, and the population must be liberated.

But China has its own human nature. It has too many people. If all of them are liberated, it will be a disaster for those people to lose the protection of their clans.

Bankrupt farmers alone are enough to support industry.

It is enough to liberate the population to a limited extent. For example, he changed the main road out of the county into the main road out of the government, which is a great expansion.

Thinking of this, Shang Yang's system of dividing families when they reach adulthood seems out of date.

"Go back to Beijing!"

Thinking about it makes my brain hurt.

Zhu Yixi waved her hands and returned to Beijing.

It was around three o'clock in the afternoon that the emperor returned to the Forbidden City.

With his heart sinking, he came to the Hall of Cultivation of the Heart.

I wanted to go out and relax, but I came back with another problem.

The brush in his hand began to write, martial arts, clan.

The former is related to a century-old plan and the future of the army, while the latter involves the core of society, which can be said to be an extremely sensitive issue.

A clan is a collection of people living together from the same ancestor, and is basically a village.

Although the original intention of feudal society was good, it often hindered governance, and the name was greater than the reality.

Everyone knows which village they belong to, but not which li they belong to.

Then, he underlined the lineage and wrote the word family.

The clan is composed of extended families.

The big family is bound by five generations of blood. Once they get out of the fifth server, they are another family. Even if they kill the Nine Clan, they can't behead them.

In terms of constraints, family is greater than clan.

So if we can't split up the clan, we can only split up the family.

So, under the two characters family, two more words were written - family division.

"Limited to fame?" Zhu Yixi muttered, "As long as you gain fame, you have to live in separate families."

"It's common sense to be able to take risks. Once you gain fame, you'll have money. That's enough for you to want to separate the family."

As a result, those large gentry families, such as those with three or four scholars and two or three candidates, will inevitably continue to divide their families and divide their strength.

The influence on the clan will naturally shrink.

As for the weak families, they remain as they are, so naturally they don't need to worry about risks.

In this way, the resistance is greatly reduced.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yixi couldn't help but look happy.

Once the idea has come out, it will naturally be perfected by the cabinet and then implemented by the court.

Therefore, the four cabinet members who had been busy for a long time were summoned by the emperor again.

"Split the family?"

The four of them were stunned, feeling that these words were a bit outrageous.

Because Confucianism governs the world and advocates filial piety.

Living together as a family is a form of filial piety.

The practical significance is that the large-scale gathering of people can reduce the administrative costs of the court, thereby quickly executing government orders.

At the same time, this kind of collective settlement can also have the effect of maintaining stability, self-rescue in disasters, and reducing the pressure on the court, so it has always been praised.

To put it bluntly, the imperial court just wants to smoothly collect taxes and military service, and the world will be at peace. How can we save money?

If the emperor splits up the family, it will increase administrative costs.

Compared with those extra taxes, it's just a drop in the bucket.

In this regard, Zhu Yixi can't explain that he wants to speed up population liberation and promote industrialization, right?

Therefore, he said directly: "I don't want to split up the clan, but I want to split up the gentry."

"The gentry were supposed to be the pillars of the imperial court. However, over the years, the imperial court had given preferential treatment to the gentry and mere scholars. Even eighty acres was not enough. They went so far as to overstep their limits and add treatment that they should not have enjoyed."

"So much so that the common people think that as long as they have a good reputation, they can be exempted from taxes and corvee. How many people are under their protection?"

"Such bad policies must be changed, and it all starts with splitting them up."

"It is good governance for scholars to live in separate families."

Zhao Shu raised his head, his wrinkled forehead instantly smoothed out, and he said brightly: "The imperial court depends a lot on the gentry, but now these gentry are mixed, and have become an obstacle to the imperial court."

"Your Majesty, although this matter is inconsiderate, it is beneficial to the country and the people."

The three people on the side wholeheartedly refused, but seeing that the chief minister agreed so much, they could only agree from the bottom of their hearts.

Their sons are all grown up, and many of them have obtained academic honors.

If we follow the new system, the father and son will be separated, and they will see each other every other day instead of every other day.

Madam, after many years of having her daughter-in-law become a mother-in-law, her addiction to being a mother-in-law has finally come to an end. Now she has to stop.

"Okay, since the chief minister agrees and the ministers also agree, let's make a plan!"

The emperor was also very happy: "Anyone who does not separate from his family or live apart within one year after receiving the honors will remain a scholar and will not be allowed to participate in the provincial examination. He is like a young bird that does not flutter its wings. How can it grow after escaping from the wings of its parents?"

At these words, the cabinet all frowned.

The punishment is too harsh.

"Spreading branches and leaves is the foundation for the prosperity of blood. Why are you frowning?"

"What your Majesty said is true!"

So, just like this, this small and medium-sized government decree spread all over the world.

As the mouthpiece of the imperial court, the Ming Dynasty Gazette naturally published praises and told the whole story. Even Tuo Xiang can bloom.

The basis of this policy is to urge the young birds to fly high, to let the family spread its branches and leaves, etc...

Regardless of whether others believe it or not, ordinary people have already believed it.

After all, only scholar-bureaucrats feel the pain.
To be continued...