Zhang Ximeng mentioned before that the emperor's mission was boiled down to the equal division of land, which can be said to have determined the highest principle of the Zhu Jiajun.
However, Zhang Ximeng still had half of the story at that time. He did not explain clearly, or did not have time to explain clearly, why annexing land was wrong. The aristocratic families owned the land, but many aristocratic families were not bad people, at least not on the surface. They presided over the
Justice, taking care of the orphans and widows, building bridges and roads in local areas, setting up schools, educating customs, encouraging kindness...
If you really look carefully and look from the inside out, you will find that the landlords from aristocratic families are not without merit, and the common people do not always regard the landlords as enemies.
Zhang Ximeng advocated cracking down on the powerful and sharing the land equally. Although he received support among the Zhu family army, he was not so popular in the civil service system under Li Shanchang's command. In other words, there were too many people who were willing to obey and disobey.
There are advantages to this, but there are also some reasons that are not clearly explained.
Today, I can finally explain it clearly.
A person's most basic needs are to have enough food and clothing, a piece of land, a few mulberry trees, men to farm and women to weave, it's natural.
Is this really the case?
Is this how rural areas have evolved for thousands of years?
At least, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, and even earlier in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it has not been that simple.
As we all know, the Quan Rong destroyed the Western Zhou Dynasty, and during the Warring States Period, the Xiongnu continued to invade south... The Central Plains was divided into a bunch of countries, and they were constantly attacking each other.
In order to deal with internal and external troubles, establishing a unified country has become the opinion of most scholars. They just have different opinions on which country can unify the world and what means and strategies should be used to unify the world.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties established the great unification, the pattern of the Central Plains has changed. They have established great martial arts externally, solved the threat of the Xiongnu, and worked hard internally to govern. The world is peaceful, the people are happy, and rare development has been achieved.
However, a unified dynasty does not come without a cost, which is the need to maintain a large administrative team of officials and a strong standing army.
From the perspective of ordinary people, on the basis of men farming and women weaving, a fixed portion of the harvest must be allocated every year to support the emperor and officials and support military expenditures.
In an agricultural society, apart from some silks and cloths, the most common currency is food!
Food is the foundation of everything. It fills the stomach, pays taxes and land rent, stores food to prepare for shortages, and resists various risks... Therefore, a strong man is the natural head of the family.
Even if women are clever and can earn more money, it doesn't work. After all, money cannot bring real security, food can!
This is a basic rule in the agricultural era, but it is only half of the story. There is another half that many people ignore.
Whenever the world is at peace and the population grows, land will become tense. Although the development of agricultural society is slow, it is not undeveloped.
After a long period of accumulation, there will always be new agricultural tools and high-yielding crops. If the land is cultivated intensively, it will produce more food.
Taking the Song Dynasty as an example, after the introduction of Champa rice, a farmer could produce enough food to feed three people after one year of farming, which was far more than that of previous generations.
What should we do now that our family has surplus labor?
If you are as smart as you, would you immediately think of developing industry and commerce, absorbing excess labor, and creating more wealth?
Following this line of thinking, should we improve the status of women and release them from the shackles of the family... enter workshops and engage in handicrafts, reeling and weaving, improve family conditions, and at the same time increase the court's tax revenue, making the country rich and the people strong?
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If we think about it this way, in fact, what Zhang Ximeng did should have been done in the Song Dynasty, or even in the Tang Dynasty when the military system collapsed.
It's a matter of course, it's a matter of course, it's not ahead of its time, it's just right.
But if you look at history again, you will find that we did not take this seemingly natural path, but chose another path.
Since the Song Dynasty, especially after the Southern Song Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism has gradually emerged, and the defense of men and women has become more and more serious... During the Northern Song Dynasty, women's bound feet were regarded as wonders of the world along with Luoyang's gorgeous peonies and Jianzhou's fragrant tea!
In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhao Lingshi wrote the poem "Huanxisha", one of which said: "Three-inch golden lotus shoes are stable for small bows." From then on, "three-inch golden lotus" became a synonym for women's feet. By the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, women's foot binding had become more common. By the Yuan Dynasty,
It makes women feel shameful if they don't bind their feet.
Of course, at this time, foot binding was only a choice for the upper class of society, and ordinary women did not have much foot binding, but the overall trend was still increasing, and foot binding became more and more serious.
By the time when the emperors of the past dynasties came to the throne, there had never been a peaceful and prosperous emperor. Not only did most of the women's feet be bound, but they were also bound until the bones were broken, and the feet were deformed, as if they were disabled.
If you follow this line of thinking, you will come to a very cruel conclusion.
Agricultural technology has improved, labor efficiency has increased, and agricultural output has increased...it has not released more labor. On the contrary, someone has come up with another strange solution to the problem, which is to completely tie women at home and destroy half of them.
of labor force.
And once a woman cannot leave the house, a man must stay at home to take care of his wife, children, and children.
In this way, a large number of laborers are locked on the land, leaving them with no choice but to steadily deliver land rent.
Even though there is a better job and more wealth can be created, there is no way to break free.
What endorsed and provided support for this choice was the rise of Neo-Confucianism in the Southern Song Dynasty... Starving to death is a small matter, being unruly is a big deal, preserving natural principles, destroying human desires, ethical ethics, and obedience to patriarchal laws... No matter how you interpret it, in fact this is
A whole set of things are like layers of shackles, locking people in, cutting off the room for choice, and turning a person into an animal in the fields.
It is lifeless and there is no possibility of progress.
If we continue thinking along this path, it seems that policies such as closing the country off will make sense.
Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism is people's thoughts and the superstructure. Men farm and women weave. Land renting is an economic form and the basis of Neo-Confucianism...the two are mutually reinforcing, cooperating and intimate.
In this system, it was the gentry group that benefited the most, and it was the scholar-bureaucrats who defended this system the most... So far, Zhang Ximeng's proposition has been completely logical and self-consistent.
Improving women's status, giving women property rights, allowing women to go to school, and even more choices are not too forward-looking ideas. In fact, if the Southern Song Dynasty could do this and release women's labor force, perhaps the Southern Song Dynasty would have more
Wealth can mobilize more men to join the army.
The Mongolian cavalry are very powerful, but if they are armed with 500,000, 1,000,000, 2,000,000 men... they can still win.
From this perspective, Zhang Ximeng is just making up for the situation.
If we don't do this now, and the inertia of history continues, the land equalization system will collapse in a few decades, land will be annexed, and the gentry and landlords will control local areas. In order to tie up the labor force, women may be bound everywhere and women will not be allowed to leave the house.
After locking up the women, tying up the men, and putting the whole family on the chopping block, you can take whatever you want.
Which reforms are the biggest and which are the most fundamental? There is no doubt that they can promote the development of production... Is the purpose of land equalization just to let people have a piece of their own land?
Of course it's not that simple... Allocating a piece of land to the people allows the family to have the most basic guarantee and be able to survive.
As a member of a family, whether you are a man or a woman, you can have more choices.
Men can work at home tilling the fields and women go to the workshops to weave cloth.
Women can also be asked to look after the house, and men can go to work in the city during the off-season to earn money to support the family.
Or even just go out as husband and wife, rent the land to others, and collect a share of the land rent.
Only in this way can we have sufficient labor supply and a solid foundation for developing handicrafts and engaging in overseas trade.
Otherwise, the powerful landowners will still remain and the land will be rented, so there will be no choice.
Don't think that when renting land, you only need to pay rent to the landlord regularly. In fact, the landlord still has so many jobs, including long-term and short-term workers... If you don't work for the landlord, you probably won't be able to rent the land.
Moreover, a very bad situation will arise, that is, the cost of workshop workers will increase, and it will increase greatly.
According to Zhang Ximeng's method, no matter whether you are a man or a woman, after leaving home, if you earn a sum of money, no matter how much it is, you can subsidize your family and improve your life.
But in a household of tenant farmers, if someone wants to go out to work, the landlord may not rent the land to you, and then the whole family will live with you, so your wages must be able to support the whole family. There is no doubt that this money will cost.
It is calculated on top of the workshop cost.
On the other hand, once you have land, your family can live at home with peace of mind, and you can sell your labor with peace of mind. The cost of the workshop will also be reduced, and the competitiveness will be increased.
Zhang Ximeng was so confident that he stood in front of the Yingtian government office and settled the accounts directly with the people of Yingtian... Is it good or bad to let women do things?
For any family, it is an irresistible temptation to accumulate wealth as soon as possible, whether it is a man or a woman, to earn a little more money and live a more comfortable life.
"I know you may still be worried, thinking that if women come out, there will be all kinds of bad things, such as immorality and moral corruption... In fact, I want to tell you that there are some things that can be solved here, such as asking everyone to
Senior yamen must properly protect women. Anyone who dares to mess around will be severely punished! As for some simple prejudices, that is, women are not allowed to do things. I would like to ask you guys, there are people who do not allow you to live a good life and make you rich.
, when it becomes your roadblock and stumbling block, what are you going to do?"
what to do?
Zhang Ximeng's questions were loud and clear. The common people looked at me and I looked at you. Everyone's faces turned red. Suddenly someone yelled, "Smash their dog heads!"
"Yes, smash them all, leaving no one behind!"
Zhang Ximeng nodded with a smile, then looked back at the elderly celebrities in the hall. They were sweating profusely and trembling all over...