Chapter 605 0600 [Dean Zhu teaches everyone how to govern the people]
The ministers were indeed worried about the astronomical craze that was raging inside and outside Tokyo.
Not only were they worried that the emperor and the court would lose their majesty, they were also reminded of Song Huizong's obsession with various miscellaneous studies.
At present, the emperor appears to be "obsessed" with agriculture, mathematics and astronomy.
Why use the word obsession to describe it?
Because he not only plays it privately, but also tries to promote it among the people. No one is too lazy to take care of the former behavior, but the latter behavior is very likely to affect the country.
The most serious problem is the orthodoxy!
Academic thought has been thrown into chaos, and now the heliocentric theory has been revealed, which will inevitably lead to the reconstruction of academic thought. The emperor also forcibly stitched together schools, which only exacerbated this confusion.
Who will be the orthodox Confucian in the future?
Academic differences are fine if they are controlled among the people, but once temples are involved, it is very likely to trigger fierce party disputes.
The cabinet ministers are all worried.
Only people like Li Bangyan didn't care about the floods in the future. All they thought about was how to please the emperor.
It's another meeting of the cabinet ministers.
Just as Zhang Gen was about to speak, Zhu Guoxiang interrupted: "We will only talk about political affairs today, don't mention anything else."
"yes!"
The ministers sat around the long table, and Zhang Gen kept his mouth shut.
In the old Song Dynasty, the emperor sat at the top and the important ministers sat at the bottom.
Now it has been changed again by Zhu Guoxiang, who asked a carpenter to build a nearly ten-meter-long conference table.
The emperor is no longer far away from the important ministers, but sits at the chairman's seat at the conference table. On both sides are the prime minister and his deputy sitting opposite each other, followed by the other cabinet ministers, ministers, censors, ministers... and the president of the Tongzheng Yuan.
Attend and be responsible for taking meeting minutes.
The documents printed with movable type were distributed, and the important ministers picked them up and began to read them.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Today we are talking about the Jingxiang issue. The land of Jingxiang was prosperous in the Tang Dynasty, with a large population, a rich economy, and a flourishing literary style. Why was the Song Dynasty unable to recover? I asked people to search for Tang Dynasty documents and sort them out.
I have learned all the government decrees in the Song Dynasty, and now I have basically understood them."
The important ministers did not dare to look at the meeting materials anymore and all sat upright to listen.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "You can watch and listen at the same time."
"If there are floods on both sides of the Jingjiang River and swamps everywhere, resulting in vast land and sparsely populated areas, why have Nanyang and Xiangyang declined to this day? There are not many swamps there, and the land is extremely fertile. The Song Dynasty repeatedly encouraged immigrants to cultivate land, but the people would rather flee than farm.
land."
"The root cause is the meridian problem!"
"In the old Song Dynasty, there were three ways to absorb immigrants in Jingxiang: one was to cultivate land; the other was to recruit tenants; and the third was to farm privately."
"Let's talk about reclamation first. Recruit the refugees as Xiang troops, and then let the Xiang troops go to farm fields and be managed by the Jingxiang government. This method can only last for a few years, and those Xiang troops who colonized the fields fled one after another. Why did they flee? Because they lived a good life
You are no better than a pig or a dog, the food you grow is not your own, and you cannot even feed your family with military pay and monthly rations!"
"It was okay at first, because those who dared to carry out reclamation were all capable ministers and officials. Once this capable minister and official was transferred, his successor would inevitably exploit him."
"The farming around Xiangyang City lasted the longest and lasted for more than twenty years before it could no longer survive. In the end, all the official land created by the farming was divided up by officials and powerful men!"
The ministers nodded subconsciously, because what the emperor said was true.
Zhu Guoxiang continued: "Let's talk about recruiting tenants. Jingxiang has a vast territory and few people. It is extremely difficult to recruit tenants locally. We can only rely on farmers and the tenants will reproduce naturally. This was also the main way to increase the household registration in Jingxiang during the Song Dynasty, but after the Five Dynasties, Jingxiang's household registration increased.
The population base of Xiang is too small... Well, even if there are few people, reproduction is slow. Farmers and tenants are exploited, die young, and there are countless people who have escaped. Even though reproduction has increased several times, it still seems too small.
"Let's talk about private reclamation."
"Landlords are reluctant to cultivate land because they cannot recruit tenants. This makes land reclamation in Jingxiang area centered on towns and gradually radiating outward. But what about absorbing people from other places to cultivate land, and resettling refugees to cultivate land? Meridians always come out of the border
question!"
"There was a capable minister and official who promised to the refugees and outsiders that as long as they were willing to open up wasteland, they would be given land deeds after the land was cultivated. But when this capable minister and official was transferred away, powerful men immediately came to snatch the newly cultivated wasteland.
If things continue like this, how can there be any poor people willing to cultivate wasteland?"
"When the prince was in Jingxiang, he had already discovered that the large wasteland there actually had owners. The landlords occupied the land and obtained land deeds. Since they could not recruit all the tenants, they left it there until someone cultivated it.
Come out and take it back again.”
"As soon as the prince left with his army, the landowners in Jingxiang started to use their old tricks again. I specially sent people to inquire about the prefectures and counties in Nanyang and Xiangyang. Last year alone, I received thousands of complaints, all with
The prefects and county magistrates are troubled by these land lawsuits."
"A lot of that land is allocated to soldiers. Powerful people even dare to fight for the soldiers' land!"
The ministers' expressions changed when they heard this, and they had a premonition that the emperor might be tough.
If the emperor did not take action, when the prince returned to the capital, he would probably resort to more violent methods, because all those who were robbed were soldiers enjoying the land.
"Li Hanzhang!" Zhu Guoxiang shouted.
"I'm here!"
Li Hanzhang stood up quickly. He was not used to this conference table.
Zhu Guoxiang raised his hand and said: "Sit down and talk."
"Yes." Li Hanzhang quickly sat down again.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "You are the Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. You select three officials who are tough in governing the people to serve as the magistrates of Nanyang, Xiangyang, and Jingzhou. Whether it involves soldiers or refugees, the reclamation of wasteland will be done after the prince takes charge of Xiangyang.
This shall prevail. If there are officials who collude with powerful people to invade and occupy people's land, no matter how much they occupy, the officials and powerful people will be exiled to the northwest."
Xu Fuyan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, said: "Your Majesty, do you want to establish a rule that determines how many acres of land are occupied and exiled, and how many acres are occupied and how many acres are occupied and fined and imprisoned. Otherwise, there will be chaos in the local area, and officials may take the opportunity to frame and blackmail the landlords."
"In troubled times, heavy rules are used. This year they will all be exiled, and next year it will be a little more relaxed." Zhu Guoxiang said.
"yes!"
Xu Fuyan and Li Hanzhang responded together.
Zhu Guoxiang also said: "Issuing decrees to officials in various places, and when judging land disputes involving refugees and soldiers, they must be biased in favor of them, and landowners must not be allowed to take the opportunity to seize the land. Chen Dong!"
"I'm here," Chen Dong responded.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "The number of censors will be increased by 60 more, and the upright ones will be selected from among the new scholars. Many censors will be sent to inspect prefectures and counties across the country, mainly to inspect land disputes. Once an official is found to have colluded with the powerful to seize land, he will be dismissed from office.
, or else be exiled to the northwest!"
"yes!"
Chen Dong is eager to try.
From last year to this year, various provinces have resettled refugees on a large scale and distributed unclaimed land to them.
Since the second half of last year, the number of land dispute cases has skyrocketed.
Many landowners did not want to occupy their land, but they fled during the war and returned to their hometowns when the situation stabilized, only to find that their land had been given to refugees. Some even had their ancestral homes occupied by refugees.
In this case, they will naturally file a lawsuit.
However, normal land lawsuits and land usurpation lawsuits are mixed together and difficult to distinguish. Or they may be colluding with officials to deliberately make it difficult for local officials to distinguish.
Looking at the overall situation of the country, Zhu Guoxiang can only make one decision.
Those landowners who lost their land should consider themselves unlucky. After all, they also have a lot of money. And they also have local connections, so they can more or less get some back, or they can reclaim wasteland.
Zhu Guoxiang continued: "The problems in Jingxiang go beyond that. Why can't the gentry and merchants there become rich? They can only stare at the exploitation of farmers?"
"I asked people to collect information about the Tang Dynasty. The special products of the Jingxiang area include tea, lacquerware, sericulture, and citrus. As for mining, metallurgy, bamboo weaving, and papermaking, they are too small and can be ignored."
"Tea cannot enrich the people of Jingxiang. This is caused by the tea method of the old Song Dynasty, especially Cai Jing's tea method. Jingxiang merchants are not rich to begin with, and there are not many scholars in Jingxiang. They can't get tea at all, so they can only
I endured the low prices of tea from foreign merchants, and the only way to make money from tea was smuggling. It was okay to make a small amount of money from smuggling, but once the scale became large, it would be reported by foreign tea merchants who had tea, and the old Song Dynasty court would severely crack down."
"Let's talk about lacquerware. In the Tang Dynasty, Xiangyang lacquerware was unique in the world, relying on its style, and it also had a special name called 'Xiangyang'. After the Five Dynasties, Xiangyang's cultural context declined, and the style of lacquerware became mediocre. By the Song Dynasty, it was difficult to sell it to other places.
"
"Let's talk about citrus. Maybe the temperature dropped after the Tang Dynasty, or maybe the varieties degenerated. The Xiangyang citrus, which was famous in the Tang Dynasty, was no longer tasty by the Song Dynasty, and was not even qualified for use as medicine."
"Let's talk about sericulture. The mulberry tree varieties in Xiangyang have tall branches, which are suitable for agricultural intercropping and are not conducive to dense planting and picking. Since the late Tang Dynasty, dense planting of dwarf mulberry trees has been popular, which can develop regional sericulture and textiles on a large scale. Xiangyang can't keep up."
The important ministers in the Cabinet were stunned by these words.
When they served as local officials, perhaps through contact with the gentry and common people, they were able to understand the local conditions and adapt measures to local conditions.
But it is definitely not as comprehensive as Zhu Guoxiang’s explanation, and it is so high-level.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Tea is easy to solve. The new tea law has been implemented, which can give tea farmers and tea merchants a breathing space. They can also fry tea and transport it to sell outside the country. Citrus is also easy to solve. Let the Agriculture Department
Breed or transplant new varieties.”
"For sericulture, according to the local mulberry tree varieties and terrain, we can develop high fields with ponds and weirs, and high platforms with ponds. This can not only benefit the terrain as much as possible, but also maintain agricultural mulberry income. It can also take the opportunity to build weirs and ponds for water conservancy, and at the same time develop fish farming.
…”
Zhu Guoxiang glanced at the ministers: "This is what we call governance for the people. We must adapt to local conditions and understand the local conditions. Instead of just talking about encouraging farmers and mulberry trees and promoting water conservancy!"
Even Zhang Gen realized the emperor's ability to govern the people for the first time.
Because when he was in Hanzhong, Zhu Guoxiang's main energy was devoted to providing military rations to Ju Ming. The rest of the government orders were only about measuring land and building water conservancy projects.
One by one, all the ministers present were in awe of the emperor.
Even if the man in front of me is not an emperor, but a local official in the old Song Dynasty, he will definitely benefit the people.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Print what I just said and send it to officials in various places. Let them adapt to local conditions. What I just said is only suitable for Jingxiang. When they govern the people, they should not copy it, but understand the methods!"
"Your Majesty, Holy Ming!"
All the ministers shouted in unison.
Why does Zhu Guoxiang pay attention to Jing Xiang?
Because Zhong Xiang has been making small moves all the time, he even entered Guangxi last winter!
