Lin Xuan, accompanied by Zhou Mancang, inspected the fields around Zhouzhuang and found that both corn and potatoes were growing well.
"Not bad, you did a good job." Lin Xuan praised.
"I don't deserve the praise of the Marquis. This is all the result of the Marquis." A smile appeared on Zhou Mancang's dark face.
Although he is an upright person, if you really think about it, let alone an official, he cannot even be considered an official.
Usually they just cooperate with the court in collecting taxes or arranging corvee labor.
More than half of the land in Zhouzhuang belongs to the Lin family, and his family also cultivates part of the Lin family's fields.
The Lin family's words were even more effective to them than the emperor's words.
This is not an exaggeration at all. Why is it said that land annexation is a problem that all dynasties have to face.
Even if the aristocratic family annexed so much land, it would be impossible for them to cultivate it themselves, and they would eventually have to rent it to the common people for cultivation.
From this point of view, land annexation is not that harmful.
After all, no matter whether you are a wealthy family or a landowner, you still have to pay taxes on your land.
However, when the common people became tenants of aristocratic families or landlords, they were exploited by them, and most of the harvest they worked so hard for was taken away by the landlords and aristocratic families. If they could barely get a household registration as a family, it would be considered good-hearted by the landlords and aristocratic families.
Most of the tenant farmers could not even make ends meet.
When the people had no food, they had to borrow it from them, but they couldn't afford to pay it back.
And those landlords and aristocratic families didn't expect them to pay back, they just used this method to control the tenants.
However, those tenant farmers had no land and were in debt, so they could only rely on aristocratic families and landlords.
Otherwise, where did the private soldiers from the family come from?
And those people who are exploited have no food left at all, and they have no ability to resist any natural or man-made disasters.
We can only rely on the court to provide disaster relief, which puts great pressure on the court.
The people own their own land, and even if there is a natural disaster, there will be some surplus food, so the pressure on the court will be much less.
It's okay when a dynasty is strong, but how can a dynasty remain strong all the time?
Land annexation is tantamount to sucking the flesh and blood of the imperial court and strengthening itself.
Emperors of all dynasties were naturally aware of this problem and thought of many ways, but could not solve it.
Many people believe that land annexation is due to problems with ancient systems.
If it is caused by the system, then why do we continue to have such a system and repeat such unsolvable problems for thousands of years?
The system was determined by the interests of the emperor. The well-field system of the Zhou Dynasty forced the people to cultivate the royal fields. The people kept the rations that could keep them alive, and everything else produced went to the royal family and nobles. As a result, the people used laziness as a weapon to resist, causing production to shrink.
As a result, the emperor adopted land private ownership, allowing the owners of the land to pay taxes and keep the surplus for themselves, which increased the people's enthusiasm for production. However, land private ownership means that land can be freely transferred and bought and sold, so land annexation also occurs.
Is there a solution to this problem?
There is a solution to any problem, but the solution will definitely bring about other problems.
The solution is very simple. If the land is nationalized, the people will only have the right to use it and not have the right to trade. Naturally, it will not be annexed.
However, this method could not be used in ancient times. Wang Mang once did this, but he could not withstand the pressure and had to stop.
Lin Xuan read some novels in his previous life. Many people traveled to ancient times and tried various ways to solve the problem of land annexation.
But that’s just a novel. It’s a problem that Qin Emperor, Han Wu, Tang Zong and Song Zu didn’t solve. It’s a problem that so many famous officials in history were helpless to solve. Why are you solving it?
With Li Shimin's intelligence, he must understand the history of Wang Mang's restructuring and the benefits of state-owned land, but does he have any plans to do so?
What are rights?
Lin Xuan believes that rights are recognition. The more people recognize you, you will naturally have rights.
This is what is called the human heart.
The reason why Yang Jian was able to replace Zhou Li in the Sui Dynasty was because there were so many people who agreed with him, and the emperor had no support, so he became a puppet.
The same goes for Zhao Kuangyin.
Li Shimin naturally understood that if he touched the interests of the majority of people, he would not be stable as an emperor, so he could only suppress the family and curb this situation.
But he also knew very well that this situation could not be contained. Even if the five surnames and Qi Wang disappeared, there would be new aristocratic families to replace them.
It is said that aristocratic families disappeared after the Tang Dynasty, but is this really the case?
It's just that the aristocratic families at that time were no longer as influential as the aristocratic families before the Tang Dynasty.
Lin Xuan doesn't think he can change, and he won't even touch this aspect.
How many reformers in history ended well?
But he will also try his best to do something for this era.
Isn't it because he is developing overseas countries to make the upper class people focus their attention overseas instead of focusing on that piece of land?
He didn't know if it was useful, but at least he did it, right?
Lin Xuan nodded. Ancient farmers were very cautious about crops. Champa rice was introduced to the Central Plains during the Song Dynasty, but it took many years for it to be popularized.
For the common people, the harvest of the fields is related to whether their family can feed their only child. What if the harvest of other crops is not good?
However, because of the lessons learned from potatoes, the people of Zhouzhuang did not have much resistance to Lin Xuan asking them to grow corn and potatoes.
"Where's the cotton?" Lin Xuan asked.
Cotton is not edible. As for telling the people about keeping warm, my stomach is not full, so I want to keep warm.
Don’t think that people’s lives were that good during the Zhenguan period.
Even in the most famous heydays in history, many people still did not have enough to eat.
Just imagine future generations in the 1970s and 1980s. No matter how harsh the conditions were at that time, they were still better than in ancient times, right?
But there are not many people who don't have enough to eat.
Zhou Mancang said hesitantly: "There are not a lot of cotton planted. It's not that they don't listen to the Marquis, but that each family has more fields and they are simply too busy."
If you are too busy, you just don't pay attention to it at all.
Cotton cultivation does not require arable land. You only need to dig holes and plant the cultivated seedlings. What is there to do?
"How many have been planted in total?" Lin Xuan asked.
"Only more than twenty acres."
Lin Xuan was speechless. There were hundreds of households in the whole village, with an average of more than 20 acres, and each household had less than one acre.
It seems that we need to find ways to increase their enthusiasm.
Cotton had already begun to be used in the Song Dynasty, but it was not cultivated on a large scale by the Ming Dynasty. As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang had to issue an edict to force the people to plant cotton.
Not to mention that the current people don’t even know the specific effects of cotton. How can you expect them to pay more attention?
"In this way, you tell the people on the farm that as long as they take good care of it, I will harvest all the cotton they grow. I guarantee that the income from one acre of land will not be less than their income from growing grain."
Relying on self-awareness is no longer enough, so you can only rely on inducements.
Just like raising silkworms, everyone knows that they can be sold and the income is not low. There are people in many places who make a living by raising silkworms.
People are short-sighted, and as long as there is a profit, they are not afraid of not paying attention.
As for what he needs so much cotton for.
Haven't you seen that the loom with the sign-in bonus has not been used yet?
That loom was not used to weave ordinary cloth at all, but to weave cotton cloth. How could it work without cotton?
Cotton cloth has a much better thermal insulation effect than the coarse cloths and silks currently on the market.
When the time comes, there will be no need to worry about selling.