In the autumn of the first year of the Wu Kingdom in China...a series of new laws were issued in the name of Wu Kingdom Duke Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhongshu Sheng. These laws can be called the most intensive and detailed batch of laws after the Land Equalization Outline.
Zhang Ximeng and Song Lian were the main drafters of the decree. After Zhu Yuanzhang approved it, six ministries led by Li Shanchang were responsible for its implementation.
And since then, the central structure of the entire Chinese Wu Kingdom has been formed.
Zhang Ximeng led the bureaus such as the Academy of Sciences, Taixue, and the General Affairs Department, and basically assumed the role of the brain of the country. They drafted government orders, Zhu Yuanzhang was responsible for decision-making, and Li Shanchang's six ministries were responsible for implementation.
By analogy, Zhang Ximeng's side is equivalent to the Zhongshu Province among the three provinces, while Li Shanchang's Zhongshu Province is more like the Shangshu Province responsible for execution.
But a closer look at the decision-making process reveals that things are far from simple...
Although the Wu Kingdom of China appears in the form of three provinces and six divisions, its essence is completely different.
Important laws and regulations are not something that Zhang Ximeng can just put forward casually based on his whims.
Usually, a concept must be formed first, then discussed by all parties, and sent to Zhu Yuanzhang for decision, and then the Sixth Department of Zhongshu will be responsible for implementation.
Li Shanchang will participate in the entire process. Of course, Zhang Ximeng does not end with the proposal of the draft. He is also responsible for supervising the implementation, evaluating the policy effects, and making subsequent adjustments.
All in all, the two parties dare not say that they are as close as one family, but they are not in the same boat. Everything must be closely coordinated to be completed smoothly.
The first decree introduced by this new decision-making model is an explanation of the outline of the old land equalization law... First of all, the original land equalization law included three parts: grain fields, transfer fields and mulberry fields. This time it is
It is stipulated that only in some areas with poor land and low output, ration fields will be reserved.
In other words, it is basically the land of Huaixi under the rule of the Supreme Court. Due to floods and wars, the land is vast and sparsely populated. It is in urgent need of restoring people's livelihood and can obtain grain fields exempted from land tax.
In the Jiangnan area, the population is relatively dense. If everyone is allocated grain fields and exempted from land taxes, then there will be no need to pay land taxes in many areas where there is plenty of land.
This was definitely something Zhu Jiajun did not want to see, so the ration field was stopped.
If the attack reaches the north in the future, facing the urgent need to restore people's livelihood and sparsely populated North China, grain fields will also be restored.
Then there is the mulberry field... This also needs to be adjusted, because the land in Huaixi has suffered from the Yellow River floods and needs to restore the ecology. The people plant fruit trees and mulberry trees to maintain water and soil and improve living conditions. Zhu Jiajun does not collect taxes.
But when we arrived in Jiangnan, the situation changed, because many people regarded the mulberry fields in Jiangnan as mulberry fields, and some even regarded the tea gardens as mulberry fields.
If there is no tax, it would make no sense.
Therefore, the mulberry fields in Jiangnan also need to pay taxes, and the tax rate is higher than that of farmland.
To put it bluntly, we still hope that people will eat more food.
However, as mentioned before, according to agricultural habits formed over thousands of years, ordinary people will like to grow food no matter how low the profit is due to their pursuit of safety. Do they still need to bother with tax rates?
This is about another group, the big landlords!
After all, no matter how big the disaster is, tenants will starve to death, but big landlords will not.
Zhu Yuanzhang's family was ruined, but the landlord Liu De was intact, and he even took the opportunity to annex some more land. In the Jiangnan region, large landlords, especially large silk and cotton households, were willing to change rice to mulberry.
After all, not only will they not starve, they can also buy large amounts of food from outside and then sell it to the people at high prices, making a huge profit!
The court doesn't understand the stubbornness of the people. It's clear that changing rice to mulberry can make more money? Why don't you agree?
They are all a group of unruly people who want to fight against the imperial court!
But the common people also have a problem. They are afraid of being bullied, have suffered too much, been deceived too much, and their lives are already too difficult. Any changes will lead to the consequences of family ruin, and they really don't dare to take risks.
Therefore, the truly poor people would like to plant every piece of land with food. Only when the whole family is fed and not hungry will they think about other things.
Those who plant mulberry trees and tea trees on a large scale are undoubtedly large and wealthy households... It is reasonable to increase taxes on them.
"Prime Minister Zhang, it's so easy to meet Prime Minister Li bowing his head. Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Song Lian and others were filled with joy and overjoyed.
Li Shanchang lost more than just the matter of women becoming officials... Zhang Ximeng wiped his butt, and at the same time took the opportunity to expand the power of the right prime minister, and also established the entire decision-making structure.
Definitely a win.
In the new land equalization law, Zhang Ximeng clearly stated that both men and women should equally enjoy the right to use land. Zhang Ximeng also added that if a woman marries outside the country and goes to a new village, the local area needs to allocate land to the woman.
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In this way, even if a woman marries to a strange place, she can still have a piece of land of her own, have her own property, and follow her in this life.
This will have a huge impact in the future, and even cause earth-shaking changes. Normally, it would be difficult for Li Shanchang to pass, but now he dares to object and can only agree obediently.
Just because women have been granted property rights, the next one is the right to education!
These two items work closely together.
Without the guarantee of property rights, it is nonsense to let girls go to school and receive education. Although there is no shortage of parents who cherish their daughters throughout the ages, it is not uncommon to invite gentlemen to teach them, and it is not uncommon for them to have female poets and lyricists.
But in the final analysis, it is just the individual actions of individual people, and it is also limited to some wealthy poetry and book families.
In ordinary people's homes, a girl is just an accessory. Sooner or later, she will become someone else's family. What's the value of investing in her?
Especially when the family is extremely poor, the priority is naturally to feed the son, let the son study, honor the ancestors, and support the parents.
But after giving girls property rights, the logic is different.
A girl, like a boy, will have a piece of property that belongs to her. Even if a girl grows up and marries outside, it will be the same. And having this property means that she will have the ability to support her parents in the future and can repay the kindness of raising her.
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With this most basic logical premise, parents will take the initiative to send girls to school.
Otherwise, no matter how strict the laws are, can you still put thousands of parents in prison?
The law always stipulates a lower limit. If the lower limit is set too high and most people cannot achieve it, then there will be no possibility of implementing the law.
That's why Zhang Ximeng started from the perspective of land property and raised the issue of women's enrollment in school.
Since women can go to school to study, then they must be allowed to work, do business, or even serve as officials!
When the matter reached this stage, Zhang Ximeng cleared all legal obstacles and accomplished this almost impossible task.
But this is just the beginning.
Let girls go to school, but the question is, are there so many schools?
Even if there are, can the current school teachers teach girls well?
Is it still possible to just shake your head and endorse something, and beat your hands when you make a mistake, until your little hands feel like they're going to be numb?
These matters cannot be resolved by law.
Zhang Ximeng knew that he had to play the Ma family card!
Starting a school for girls, setting up a military uniform workshop, weaving cloth, weaving silk, training female workers, improving vocational skills... and even preparing for the development of industry, Ma became busy in an instant.
There are so many things that Ma cannot handle alone.
After some discussion, Jiang Nan successfully obtained the title of Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple. In terms of rank, he was only one level lower than the Liubu Minister. Considering that he had just entered the officialdom, this starting point was already ridiculously high.
Many officials who were born as Jinshi in later generations may not be able to climb to such a high position after working hard all their lives.
But ultimately, this position is just to help Ma, giving orders for her, settling accounts, running errands, nothing more.
Is this really the case?
"Come, sit down with me."
Ma looked at Jiang Nan and couldn't help but laugh, "In terms of age, I'm a few years older than you. In terms of background, our family just started a small business, which is far inferior to your family. Now we are together
Together, we are not kings and ministers, we are just helping each other, and we cannot let those men look down upon us."
Jiang Nan lowered her head. Although Ma was polite, Jiang Nan knew very well that she had just entered the officialdom and there were too many people staring at her. If something went wrong, it would be disastrous.
"If Madam has any instructions, I will naturally do my best, but I'm worried that I don't understand anything, and I'm afraid it will ruin things."
Ma smiled and said, "Don't be afraid, I will support you... The biggest thing right now is to raise a batch of military uniforms and jackets. In the past, I led some family members in the army to do it. Now the number of troops is getting bigger and bigger.
There are so many, we can’t do it alone. Do you think there is any way?”
Jiang Nan thought for a while and suddenly came up with an idea, "Madam, I'm just talking casually, but it may not work... Our family recently received a batch of orders for tables, chairs, and benches. Because there were too many, my father ordered all the people around him to order them.
The carpenters came to do the contracting... They took the wood home, made the table top and legs according to the size, and sent it back to the carpentry shop. We just had to put it together."
When Ma heard this, he thought for a moment and was overjoyed.
"This is a good method. It's easier to make clothes than a table. We've cut the fabric here. All we have to do is come over to those who know how to dress up, get the fabric, make it into clothes, hand it back on time, and give them a working fee!"
The more Ma thought about it, the happier she became. She couldn't help but hold Jiang Nan's hand, and praised with a smile: "You girl, you are so resourceful, you will soon catch up with Prime Minister Zhang!"
Jiang Nan couldn't help but blush. She came up with an idea casually, how could it compare with Zhang?
Ma, like Zhu Yuanzhang, had the drive to act vigorously and resolutely. After the discussion was completed, he immediately posted the notice.
Almost overnight, the women in Jinling City also started to move. People came to line up before dawn. Anyone who received the cloth was extremely happy...