Looking at the whole country, the contradiction between man and land has become very prominent at this time. The large-scale development of the Northeast was the first pressure reducing valve that Zhu Yijun opened for the boiler that was about to explode.
When the dynasty was at its peak, its territory reached the Sea of Japan in the northeast and the Xing'an Mountains; it reached the Gobi Desert in the north and Hami in the northwest; it bordered the Bay of Bengal in the southwest, and recovered the entire territory of Annan; and also established Jisi Guards on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The land area exceeded 1,000 square meters.
Millions of square kilometers.
By the first year of Wanli, this huge land in the northeast had shrunk to the Liao River Basin; the north had all withdrawn behind the Great Wall; the northwest Xinjiang was completely gone, and the Ming army retreated to Jiayuguan; although the southwest had not all returned to Yunnan, Burma had lost its British rule.
Chaos is just around the corner.
Known as the Ming Dynasty, which "does not cede territory, do not make peace, and does not accept payments," the emperors of the past dynasties were helpless in the face of rebellions in the border areas. Large areas of the land they once occupied and controlled were lost.
The loss of the territory was due to the weakening of the country's power and its inability to cope with it. More importantly, there was no Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty among the monarchs in the past dynasties. Instead, they were a bunch of cynics who kept their homes.
After Renzong, no matter how strong the country was, few emperors in the past had the intention to expand their territory. There were one or two who were a little ambitious, either with high ambitions but low hands, leaving only a source of shame and ridicule; or they collapsed as soon as they had the intention to cheer up.
When Zhu Yijun took over, only more than half of this originally huge land was left, which was not much larger than the land area of Wei during the Three Kingdoms.
The population of the empire in the first year of Wanli was estimated to be approximately 65 million in the Yellow Register. Zhu Yijun did not believe this data at all. Last year, he asked Jin Yiwei to select places in the east, west, north and south and conduct a sample survey. At this time, the South was in the Yellow Register
Those outside the Yellow Register can account for half of them, and those in the north who are outside the Yellow Register can account for at least one-third.
Based on a rough estimate based on this ratio, the current population of the country should be around 120 million. With less than two-thirds of the land area at the time of Emperor Chengzu, it could support a population that was nearly double that of Emperor Chengzu - Zhu Yijun thought with his toes
, and can also determine the reasons for the popular practice of slavery among the people and the low price of population.
In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, nobles, gentry, businessmen, and powerful people intensified their plunder of land. On the one hand, they evaded taxes, and on the other hand, they passed on the burden of taxes and labor to ordinary people.
The fragile characteristics of the small peasant economy are most prominently exposed at this time. A slightly excessive natural disaster or family accident can immediately tear a small farmer's family into pieces and plunge him into the fate of a tenant servant.
In the early years of Jiajing, the prohibition of slavery, which was expressly prohibited by Ming law, had ceased to exist in name only due to the impact of economic laws. At this time, Ming people's "Family Instructions" or notes contained a large amount of content about the use of slaves.
By the Wanli period, there was a record in the county annals of Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture, that "there were as many as ten thousand servants in every house", indicating that at this time, large households had more than thousands of slaves.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, under the influence of peasant uprisings in various places, slaves followed large-scale "slave revolts", and tens of thousands of slaves rioted in various places in the north and south. More than 20 members of Xu Xiake's family, including his eldest son Xu Qi, died in "
"Slavery"? This reflects the extent of the population pressure at this time.
...
Zhu Yijun laid out the data on slave ownership in large households surveyed by Jin Yiwei, and then analyzed the reasons for the large-scale bankruptcy of farmers? Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang were both silent.
There were not as many slaves in Lu Tiaoyang's family as in Zhang Juzheng's family? But it was still over a hundred. He had never thought about the connection between the price of slaves and the conflict between population and land before. Today, the emperor said so, and he was deeply horrified.
Zhu Yijun said: "No one is born to be a human being. If it is not for the sake of survival, who can pawn their children and sell their daughters? Besides, are these people not my children? The development of the Northeast? There is no need for the court to bother and mobilize the people to immigrate.
I have a strategy that may alleviate the disadvantages of a large population and a small population in the Northeast."
After listening to this, Zhang Juzheng felt like the emperor used his wild ideas to solve his own problems. Is this a wonderful feeling? It's like the window paper was suddenly replaced by glass windows, and the whole room was immediately bright.
Sure enough, I heard the emperor say: "I have decided to set the three provinces of Beishan, Heilongjiang and Taining as 'registration promotion places'. All households with low-level registration will be able to get rid of their low-level status as long as they settle in these three provinces for three years;
More than 10 years old? The whole family must deregister!”
Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang heard it at that time. They both exclaimed "Wonderful!". Zhang Juzheng bowed and said: "The emperor understands the people's privacy to the smallest detail. He treats the people leniently and cultivates political education. This is really to show concern for Li Yuan and benefit the people.
That’s the way to go!”
Lu Tiaoyang also praised him sincerely. He also added the emperor's method of expelling his nationality and attracting the people: "On the one hand, the imperial court wanted to spread the emperor's virtues to the world, and on the other hand, it wanted to reiterate the order prohibiting slaves! Taizu once decreed the keeping of slaves.
The rule: 'No more than eight people of third rank or above, and those who are common people who keep slaves, can get a hundred sticks.' It's time to explain this ancestral rule!"
Zhang Juzheng frowned and said, "Is this too harsh?"
After hearing this, Lu Tiaoyang said: "Otherwise, if a wealthy family needs to show off, they can hire helpers. What the court needs to do is to remove the personal relationship between the slaves and the wealthy family. For this matter, I suggest that the emperor issue an edict before the end of the year.
The various legal departments must inform that anyone who keeps more slaves than Taizu sets will be punished according to the Ming Dynasty Code."
After hearing this, Zhang Juzheng looked at Lu Tiaoyang, as if he was getting to know him again. Lu Tiaoyang smiled and said, "Yuan Fu thinks that someone is an irresponsible person?" Zhang Juzheng didn't dare to say.
Zhu Yijun was very pleased to see that Lu Tiaoyang also had a fighting spirit. He added: "In addition to attracting low-income households to the Northeast, in the future, whenever there are disasters and refugees appear in various places, the imperial court will guide the refugees to reclaim wasteland in the Northeast. Before the end of this year
, we must also promote and implement this policy.”
Zhang Juzheng smiled bitterly after hearing this and said: "Your Majesty, in the flooded areas of Huaiyang and Yangtze, refugees are everywhere. They all have nothing but one mouth. We need to feed them along the way and send them to Liaodong.
Seeds, cattle, and farm tools all cost a lot of money.”
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun said: "That's what the old gentleman said. But the imperial court cannot just settle small accounts like the local government. It must settle big accounts. There is a drought in Beizhili and Shaanxi, and how much does it cost for local governments to organize refugees to return home?"
"I estimate that it will be a little less limited than going to the Northeast. The victims of Huaiyang are far from the Northeast, but they are closer to Beizhili. We can use the method of substitution, fill in the Northeast with North Zhili, and then fill in the North Zhili with Huaiyang
."
Zhang Juzheng agreed, but when he thought about the huge workload and cost, he couldn't help but frown. Zhu Yijun smiled and said: "Old man, if you know how to make money, you also need to know how to spend money. If you don't spend money, you will die."
If things are placed in a warehouse, will they be able to give birth to babies?" The two cabinet ministers couldn't laugh or cry at the same time.
Zhu Yijun paused and said: "No matter who it is, when they arrive at the place where they are promoted, the court will give them seeds and farm tools. My decree must be made clear: if the court sets up an enclosure, if a clan with more than thirty people moves there,
They are allowed to choose one person to walk in the enclosure for one day; if a family of more than fifty people moves there, they are allowed to ride horses for two hours to enclosure; if the family of more than a hundred people moves there, the leader of the clan is allowed to ride horses for one day.
The enclosed land belongs to his family!"
Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang were shocked when they heard about it. Then they thought about it. With the vastness of the three provinces now, it may not be possible to encircle the land in this way for ten or eight years. Zhang Juzheng smiled and said: "Your Majesty, if we deal with it like this,
I’m afraid the people I’m going to are not refugees, but branches of wealthy families!”
Lu Tiaoyang also said this: "Nowadays, the small wealthy families in the north and south are intertwined with each other. Some enclaves are even close to each other ten or eight miles away from the family. They all dream of having a piece of land to prepare the land, reunite the clan members, and worship their ancestors.
The emperor's method of enclosing land is exactly what they want and is very attractive."
Zhu Yijun slapped the case and said: "I haven't finished talking yet. Anyone who enters the place where the citizenship is promoted will enjoy five-year tax exemption and ten-half tax reduction. In the first five years, he will not be charged a penny in taxes; from the sixth to the fifteenth year
In 2017, based on the standard of Beizhili, the price will be reduced by half."
He added: "Fifteen years is exactly one generation, no matter whether it is a wealthy family or a refugee, after arriving in the three provinces, setting up villages, multiplying and reproducing for two generations, in the end they will become Northeast Silver for me!"
After Zhu Yijun said this, he finally concluded: "Old sir, Mr. Lu, although the court spent millions of taels, after a few decades, there were millions of Han people in the Northeast - who can still take away this land?
How many Chinese people can this boundless fertile land support? From my perspective, in thirty or fifty years, if you go to the countryside of these three provinces and walk ten miles, you may not see a single family!"