Before the heavy snow closed the road, the Supreme Emperor returned to Luoyang with his wife, children, and some guards.
It has been several years since I moved to Wangchuan Valley. This time I came to meet my son and celebrate the New Year in the Imperial City of Luoyang.
Zhu Guoxiang has gray hair on his temples, but his hair is jet black elsewhere. Based on the nonsense he said he was 40 years old when he time traveled, he is considered to be 68 years old this year. Apart from some white hair and wrinkles, he does not appear to have aged much.
After everyone gathered for dinner, the father and son went to the garden alone.
Ju Ming joked: "Why, do you think I killed too many corrupt officials? Or did you hear that I killed Qin Hui and rush over to celebrate together?"
"I heard that you wrote the law of the Ming Dynasty into the Ming Dynasty and declared it to the world." Zhu Guoxiang said.
Ju Ming said: "The royal family cannot be guilty of the same crime as the common people when they break the law, especially when there are more and more clans. Decades later, they are intertwined and protect each other. How can the civil servants dare to take action against them? This law was written into the "
"The Law of the Ming Dynasty" has more of a symbolic meaning. Perhaps it can be quoted a few times when encountering tough emperors in the future."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "There have been more and more adult royal families in recent years. The eldest princess and the princess have also married several. It's time to formally establish Zongzheng Temple."
"Indeed," Zhu Ming nodded, "if the royal family is involved in a criminal case, the power of sentencing cannot be left in Zongzheng Temple, but must be handed over to the Sanfa Division for trial."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Okay."
In the early Northern Song Dynasty, there were no strict regulations on who should be responsible for crimes committed by the royal family and clan, but it was definitely not Zongzheng Temple.
The duties of Zongzheng Temple were only to manage the clan's ultimatums, genealogy, charts, and records, and to be responsible for assigning names to the clan, as well as repairing and offering sacrifices to the clan's temples, mausoleums, etc. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, it was also in charge of the clan's education—it had no right to judge or dispose of the clan!
Probably during the Renzong period of the Song Dynasty, there were too many royal families and clans, and the small Zongzheng Temple was difficult to manage, so another large Zongzhengsi was added.
Zongzhengsi continued to seize power, effectively silencing Zongzheng Temple. At the same time, he also had the power to mediate disputes and accept lawsuits. However, how to judge the clan's violations must be left to the emperor for judgment. In addition, the censors also had certain rights over the clan.
Power of supervision.
The father and son began to discuss clan management issues.
The results of the discussion are as follows:
First, roughly restore the Northern Song Dynasty’s Dazongzhengsi structure, but the name is still Zongzhengsi.
Second, Zongzheng Temple only takes care of the royal family, clan, and clan members within the emperor's five realms.
Third, the household registration of clans and clansmen outside the five servers must be converted to civil registration and accept the management of the government in the place where the clans are registered. This avoids the problem of increasing clans and financial constraints.
Correspondingly, for clans and clans that have been converted to civilian citizenship, there are no restrictions on taking the imperial examination and becoming prime ministers if they are really capable. However, in practice, most of them will be feared by the monarchs and ministers, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to become prime ministers.
Fourth, the royal family, clan, and ordinary cases within the fifth server are handled by the Zongzheng Temple, and criminal cases are handled by the Three Laws Division. The Three Laws Division certainly does not dare to make a decision, and most likely reports it to the emperor for a decision.
The first minister of Zongzheng Temple was Zhu Yan's husband Chen Ao.
This operation of transferring citizenship after leaving the emperor's fifth server seems very cruel and ruthless, but the actual operation of the Song Dynasty was even more ruthless.
The management of the clan in the Song Dynasty was roughly divided into two stages with Song Shenzong as the boundary.
In the first stage, the clan was strictly guarded, kept like pigs in the palace, and eunuchs were sent to supervise them at all times.
In the second stage, there were too many pigs in the clan, and financial expenses were very difficult. So there was no longer centralized residential surveillance, and clans with distant bloodlines were separated, and even they could only rent their own houses to live in. Some of them lived even poorer than ordinary people.
.They are poor and restricted by their clan status, so they simply do evil and even become gangsters.
In the Song Dynasty, only a few royal families could inherit titles, and these royal families were becoming increasingly rare.
If the emperor's biological son can be crowned king, his grandson will simply disappear.
Clan clans with close bloodline are given honorary official positions and are promoted according to their years. Most of them can be promoted to Jiedushi (virtual position) when they are old.
As a result, more and more clan members were receiving wages for a false position and became part of the redundant officials of the Song Dynasty.
Clan clans with distant bloodlines are trying hard to get into honorary positions, and the lucky ones can even get into positions of honor.
The plan discussed by Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming may seem ruthless, but compared with the clan system of the Song Dynasty, it is actually beneficial to the national finances and clans with distant bloodlines.
After discussing Zongzheng Temple, Zhu Guoxiang added: "It is impossible for an adult prince to be raised like a pig after being crowned king, right?"
A normal emperor would definitely be happy to raise a prince who is not a prince like a pig.
Ju Ming said: "If we give them a salary according to their title, as long as they don't be too extravagant, don't have too many servants at home, and they have a house granted by the court, they will definitely have no problem living a leisurely life. You can also find something to do according to your own hobbies.
There will be strict surveillance like the Northern Song Dynasty. But unless the emperor gives permission, the prince's descendants within three generations will never be allowed to take the imperial examination or serve as officials!"
"It seems that the only way to create literature and art, or to do academic research, is to invent science and technology." Zhu Guoxiang said.
"By the way, speaking of technological inventions, how's your steam engine doing?" Ju Ming asked.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "The experimental model has been improved to the third generation. More than ten steam engines have been put into production in mines, mints, and forging plants, and their shortcomings have been gradually improved through practical application. Steam trains have also been built. I am still in Wangchuan Valley.
A section of track has been laid. However, the efficiency of the train is not high, the speed and carrying capacity are seriously insufficient, and further improvements are needed."
Ju Ming was surprised and said: "Are there any steam trains?"
"Steam spinning machines and looms are also being improved, mainly for cotton yarn and cotton cloth," Zhu Guoxiang said. "Even if they are built, do you dare to put them into the civilian market now?"
Zhu Ming shook his head: "I definitely wouldn't dare."
In the past, cotton cultivation was encouraged, but now cotton cultivation is restricted!
Due to the higher income from cotton cultivation, many farmers voluntarily switched to cotton cultivation. Five years ago, the imperial court had to issue a decree to increase the land tax on cotton fields, which greatly dampened farmers' enthusiasm for cotton cultivation.
Why limit the number of cotton fields?
First, the north has suffered from successive droughts and insufficient grain production, so cotton cannot continue to take away fertile land.
Second, now it is "cooked from Suhu and Hu, the world is good" instead of "cooked from Huguang, the world is good".
Hunan and Hubei are all vast and sparsely populated. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, immigrants have been encouraged to open up land. In the past few years, the population of new adults has been increasing, but the Dongting Lake Plain is still not fully developed.
Without the food security of Hunan and Hubei, if Shandong, Huainan, and Jiangnan blindly increase the area of cotton fields, and also encounter severe drought in the north for several years - will food security be still there?
Once steam spinning machines and looms are put into production, cotton production is increased and the cost of cotton cloth is reduced, more and more farmers will switch to cotton. Even if the court imposes heavy taxes on cotton fields, they will not be able to stop it!
The British Industrial Revolution did not care about the life and death of farmers.
Even if they didn't care about the life and death of farmers, the British government was crying out that it couldn't handle the influx of countless landless farmers into London. As a result, a British person without a stable job who committed petty theft in London might be exiled to Australia.
The UK itself, a small country with few people, can naturally do this.
Have you tried this in China?
Peasants revolted in minutes.
What Ju Ming is facing now is not a problem with steam engines.
Instead, we survived the natural disasters of the Little Ice Age and slowly brought down food prices. Then we continued to develop Hunan and Hubei, then annexed and digested the Annan region, and used Annan's food to support Guangdong and Fujian.
Next, restrictions on cotton fields in Shandong and Jiangnan will be relaxed, allowing cotton production to increase according to market demand.
Although this model of developing overseas colonies and obtaining cotton from India is feasible, it is impossible to suppress the disorderly increase of local cotton fields until the cost of navigation drops further. Businessmen and farmers will only do things based on immediate interests!
What, use chemical fertilizers to increase agricultural yields?
Until the time when the Zhu family traveled through time, it was already the 21st century, and only a dozen countries in the world could produce their own fertilizers.
Chemical fertilizers are a product of the Industrial Revolution, not a prerequisite.
The first chemical fertilizer in history only appeared around the time of the Opium War. The problem of large-scale production of chemical fertilizers was solved in the first two years of the Revolution of 1911. From the appearance of chemical fertilizers in the laboratory to the large-scale production of chemical fertilizers, the use of
for more than half a century.
If Zhu Guoxiang could produce fertilizers on a large scale, with that level of technology, he would be able to fly a plane and drop bombs long ago!
Putting his hand on the small stove to light the fire, Zhu Guoxiang asked: "What are you going to do next?"
"Swallow Dali," Ju Ming said, "but we have to wait until there is sufficient food. Last year's attack on Xixia consumed too much food and grass, and successive years of natural disasters have left little food reserves. If the weather can be good for two or three years, the food and grass for the conquest of Dali will be enough.
Of course we can fight now, but the food supply for immigrants after the war cannot be solved."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Guangxi, southern Sichuan, western Hunan, and Guizhou have been deporting criminals and immigrating for reclamation. If we continue this for ten years, when the border population increases, it will be easy to move to Dali. Why do we have to rush for a few years to complete it?"
"Copper mine," Zhu Ming explained, "the outflow of copper coins was too serious, but more silver was imported, forcing me to change the copper standard to a silver standard. In the past, the price of silver anchored the price of copper, but now the price of copper anchors the price of silver.
.”
"There are a lot of copper mines in Yunnan, but can the problem of copper shortage be solved?" Zhu Guoxiang had only a partial understanding of this.
Ju Ming smiled and said: "In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, 95% of China's copper production came from Yunnan. Yunnan copper and Jianghuai salt were the two major sources of wealth in the middle Qing Dynasty."
Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Have the copper mines in Yunnan been explored now?"
Ju Ming said: "The exploration has definitely not been completed, but what is already being mined is enough. According to the news brought back by the businessmen, Dali State cast thousands of large and small Buddha statues in copper at one time three years ago!"
"Dali is really rich." Zhu Guoxiang sighed in admiration.
Even as early as the Nanzhao Kingdom, a large bronze bell weighing more than 100,000 kilograms appeared, and it is still the national treasure of Dali today!
As you can imagine, there is really no shortage of copper there.
The reason for the demise of the Dali Kingdom: Copper production!
(Some people say that the salary of the prime minister in the Song Dynasty was only 300 guan. The real situation is that the prime minister in the Song Dynasty had various benefits. Only for food money, he was subsidized with 300 guan a month. If he had the false title of Jiedushi, he would be subsidized with 400 guan. There was also job money.
Lusu, extra money, Yuan Suiqian, post-employment money, minister's money, winter and spring silk and satin, charcoal, fodder, candles and salt...)
(A prime minister who is also a bachelor of Guanwen Palace can earn 1,500 yuan per month in ministerial money alone. Take the direct bachelor of Longtuge awarded to Bao Zheng as an example. Just as a direct bachelor of Longtuge, he has 1,500 yuan per month.
500 guan of minister's money. Minister's money is said to be used for official receptions, but in fact it is entirely up to the official to handle it.)
(Ju Ming canceled all those miscellaneous things and retained only a small number of benefits. Even if the central ministers earned a thousand dollars a month, they would only be a fraction of those in the Song Dynasty.)
