Chapter 699 "The Disappeared Empire, the Disappeared Civilization"
At the enlarged meeting on the land return order, Wang Guoguang suddenly changed his mind and chose to support Zhang Juzheng's one-area return order, no longer requiring ten hectares.
Wang Guoguang had several arguments with Zhang Juzheng about the specific decree on the return of farmland, but Zhang Juzheng agreed with the result every time, but he still refused to relax the decree and did not explain the reasons until he appeared in front of the emperor. After explaining the matter to Wang Guangguang's face, Wang Guangguang fully understood the other purpose of Zhang Juzheng's harsh decree.
Wang Guoguang suddenly felt that it was okay not to change.
What? Violence? Harsh? It doesn't matter how big or harsh it is, the world must know the price to pay for assassinating the king.
Zhang Juzheng, Wang Chonggu, Wang Guoguang, Wan Shi, these four pavilion elders, and Hai Rui, who scolded the Jiajing Emperor, were all old people during the Jiajing period and had witnessed it. They could not understand at that time that Jiajing twenty-one years ago The emperor, who worked hard to govern and had high morale, chose to go into self-exile twenty-one years after the Jiajing period. He lived in Xiyuan and devoted himself to burning and cultivating.
The country was in dire straits, with invaders from the north and Japanese invasions happening all over the place, but the emperor still put himself in Xiyuan and ignored him.
Now that the emperor is too diligent, most people in the court have forgotten the terrible harm caused to the country after the emperor became discouraged.
The imperial system is like this. The main thing is that the emperor wants to do what he wants. If the emperor fails, the country will not be able to survive. Now, the conservative who returned Tian Ling has become Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty.
“What does Wang Cifu think?” Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu, the leader of the Labor Party who had not made a clear stance.
Wang Chonggu had been silent since the beginning of the quarrel, pretending to be confused. Zhu Yijun asked his opinion.
"Your Majesty, I have never been loyal to the emperor and the country." Wang Chonggu glanced at Zhang Juzheng and said with sincere emotion.
The premise of being loyal to the emperor and building a country is to be loyal to the emperor. He was born as a treacherous minister. To say that he is loyal to the emperor is to lie to children. This is the biggest reason why he fought with Zhang Juzheng and failed repeatedly. It is not that Wang Chonggu is really incompetent. But under the imperial system, if you are not loyal to the emperor, and no one even believes you are loyal to the emperor on the surface, that is a natural disadvantage.
The dragon flag is a large banner. Whoever carries it will have the right to do so.
"Your Majesty, I think that the rent for a family of ten hectares can be reduced by 375 to 375." Wang Chonggu gave his own opinion and the choice of disloyalty to the emperor.
"Wang Cifu, it is very difficult for people to always ensure rationality, but state affairs require rationality and cannot be driven by emotions. The standard of one qing is still too strict and does not conform to current practice." Zhu Yijun agreed with Wang Chonggu's opinion, because This is a rational choice.
The elimination of clans is not one or two political decrees, but the development of productive forces. Only by transforming the closed small-scale peasant economy into a commodity economy can clans be completely buried in the ground.
Songjiang Prefecture is the only land in the entire Ming Dynasty. It can be said that it has got rid of the small peasant economy and entered the commodity market economy. This is the result of the nine provinces of the Ming Dynasty and the huge scale of maritime trade. As a result, wealthy places such as Zhejiang, Nanya, Shandong, and Guangdong are still dominated by small-scale peasant economies.
Inappropriate means inappropriate. A decree that is widely opposed must not be implemented.
"Your Majesty, how about this? If we reduce the quota of ten Jinshi in Zhejiang, we will not give them to Beibang and Zhongbang, but give five to each of Songjiang Prefecture and Nanya. Songjiang Prefecture will become more and more prosperous, and There is also the Naval Academy, these five are really not too many." Wan Shihe thought about it and came up with a compromise method of reducing the number of Jinshi to punish the powerful assassin king in Zhejiang. Kill the driver.
As for the five additional officers given to Nan Ya, the purpose is of course self-evident. Fighting crickets requires straw sticks, and these five additional officers are straw sticks. Your Majesty wants to leave, but Nan Ya is always there, and Zhejiang Nan Ya has always been monolithic. To some extent, the imperial court was afraid, and Nanya and Zhejiang were alienated from each other. This kind of ability to be gentle and indifferent is the cultivation of the Minister of Rites.
Once the number of Jinshi is reduced, it will be a permanent reduction. Songjiang Shilin and Nanya Shilin will not let go.
It doesn’t seem like much, but the two cuts reduced a total of twenty-five people, which is a real pain.
Even Zhang Juzheng raised his head and glanced at Wan Shihe in surprise. No one in the court is really a fuel-efficient lamp.
The number of Jinshi is the distribution of power. In the past, each Jinshi meant the birth of a family, and the distribution of power was the distribution of interests. The permanent reduction of a total of twenty-five members represents Zhejiang’s success in The influence of the court was permanently reduced by one-third.
"Uncle Zong, he is indeed a scholar." Zhu Yijun said sincerely. In terms of ruthlessness, a scholar is ruthless.
Which one is more serious, the order to return farmland or the reduction of the number of Jinshi? In fact, Wan Shihe is even more vicious.
The order to return one hectare of land can be circumvented. The court did not allow individuals to hold more than one hectare of land. Local gentry could allocate the acres to clan members and then conduct substantial land annexation in the form of long-term leases. This is unavoidable, because the soil always needs someone to plant it.
Under the small-scale peasant economy, a large amount of land is left uncultivated. Because under the closed small-scale farmer economy, the output of the land is limited and the harvest is limited. People who actually farm the land know very well that sometimes, the land is just left uncultivated. I can't bear it.
Farming is really not a particularly profitable business, and it is also very risky. During droughts and floods, there may be no harvest, and it may even be unstable, unless the imperial court abandons Chang Pingcang and allows the speculation of grains. Prices, soaring grain prices, can ensure high returns from growing grains.
Farming can't be too profitable, because too much money will aggravate land annexation, but it can't be profitable either. Before the investment is large, there will naturally be no one to farm the land, and land abandonment will become a top priority.
With the continuous development of the commodity economy, the output of the field soil is even more useless. After working hard for a whole year, the profit may not be as high as that of the workshop in one day.
Xu Guangqi's father sold all his land, ran cotton spinning and silk mills, and became a maritime merchant, even one of the owners of an ocean-going trading company. This is a typical example.
However, the permanent reduction of the number of Jinshi means that at the feast of power distribution, we need to eat less. Zhejiang, which is originally prosperous in culture and education but has no enough to eat, will become hungry.
"Tsk, tsk, Uncle Zong must never come to Zhejiang again in the future." Wang Guoguang tutted in surprise, and these Wanshi and Silent dug a bigger hole for Zhejiang.
Wan Shihe said very calmly: "They are all in the south list, and they have not gone anywhere else. It is clearly stated that there are only three lists in the north and south, right."
Wan Shihe also had something to say, vicious? Where is the evil? This is an adjustment that changes with time and local conditions! Moreover, they are circulating inside Nangbang, and they are not vicious at all.
"That's it?" Zhu Yijun looked at everyone, and the policy was adjusted to ten hectares per family, with a 375 rent reduction, and an additional ten Zhejiang Jinshi quotas were reduced, with a slight penalty.
"I obey the decree." Zhang Juzheng approved the adjustment of the decree.
“I obey the decree.” Wang Guoguang also expressed his approval.
"It's noisy, but if we reach a consensus, let's implement it." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said: "It's all for the better of Ming Dynasty, don't hurt the harmony."
It's all for the good of Ming Dynasty, why? I, Zhang Juzheng, want to listen to you Wang Guoguang? I, Wang Guoguang, want to listen to you, Zhang Juzheng? This is the most troublesome part. As the referee, the emperor must grasp this degree. Once it turns into a battle of lines, everything will go wrong and the New Deal will become a piece of cake.
The repetition of government orders will make the world tired.
Therefore, it is necessary to discuss and come up with a result that everyone can accept. There will be a lot of quarrels behind closed doors, but when the doors are opened, they will become a tightrope.
Execution of government orders should never be based on wishful thinking. The policy revision of the order to return an acre of land to farmland finally stopped the undercurrents on the ground in Zhejiang and even in the north and south of the river. Zhu Yijun now certainly has the ability to return an acre of land to farmland. The violence is carried out thoroughly, but if the world is beaten again, it will be violent turmoil, and the people will suffer.
This is a compromise made by the Ming Emperor, but no one will think that this is the emperor's weakness, but interpret it as benevolence!
Zhu Yijun held a case file in his hand. The reason why Ren and Xia Anjie of the Xia family were forced to take risks was because their family lost money.
At first, Lin Fucheng offended the Renhe Xia family and got a criminal status in Hangzhou, and could no longer take the exams for merit. Later, in the Sanduao private market, seventy-two people of the Renhe Xia family were arrested, and most of them were exiled. Arriving in Java; these are the grievances and grievances of the Renhe Xia family and the Ming Emperor.
But this kind of big clan is like you. When the big clan is arrested, the collateral clan becomes the big clan. Xia Anjie became the clan leader of the Renhe Xia clan after the Sanduao Private Market.
The centipede insect is dead but not stiff. After Xia Anjie became a big trader, instead of learning from the painful experience, he continued to do his old job of smuggling. However, with the continuous improvement of the Coastal Defense Inspection Department, this job , the risk has become even greater, and I have been caught several times in succession. Resentment is on the one hand, and losing money is the status quo.
With no rice in his hand and no call for cock, Xia Anjie had to find a way to make money. Under the east wind of the sea, other people's business grew bigger and bigger, while his family's business became smaller and smaller.
The last straw for Xia Anjie was that Xia Anjie was tricked by his own boss. He lost more than 200,000 taels of silver in a transaction.
The Renhe Xia family has never run a dyeing shop, but the business of the dyeing shop has become more and more prosperous in recent years. , this dyeing shop is a business that makes a lot of money. If you stand on the wind, a pig can fly.
But when Xia Anjie took over the dyeing shop, he realized that he had been cheated. The dyeing shop was just an empty shell, with no craftsmen, no stable supply of dyes, let alone any unique secrets, and even accounts. They are all fake. From the sixth year of Wanli's establishment to the twelfth year of Wanli's reign, this dyeing workshop did not start a single day of work for six years, but according to the accounts, the business was very booming.
Xia Anjie has inspected the big deal of 200,000 silver more than once, but Xia Anjie’s big boss wants to trick him. As long as Xia Anjie inspects it, the workshop will hire a lot of people and pretend to be in full swing. The only dyed cloth in the workshop was all dyed by Xia Anjie when he came to look at it, worthless garbage.
When Xia Anjie went to settle the accounts with the big shopkeeper and the broker, he found that he had already disappeared without a trace.
This big shopkeeper was originally from the Xia family's big sect. After changing the head of the family, he tricked people without any psychological burden at all.
The loss of two hundred thousand silver made Xia Anjie and some people from Yuanxu Islands come into contact. Selling opium was undoubtedly the fastest way to make money.
Xia Anjie started selling opium, which was doomed to embark on a path of no return. Finally, under the temptation of these rebels, he made up his mind to attack and kill the emperor. As long as the emperor died, there would be huge consequences Political fluctuations, at that time, no one would care about such trivial matters as coastal defense inspections.
"In other words, this fire should have been set off in Changxing, but the Changxing Ying family did not dare. When I went to Zhejiang, Changxing, Huzhou, and Deqing, someone should have set fire to it, but they did not dare. , but when it comes to Renhe, Xia Anjie did it." Zhu Yijun got a piece of news worth pondering from Xia Anjie's confession.
In fact, this fire should have been lit when Zhu Yijun entered Zhejiang, but the Changxing Ying family did not dare.
The rebels held a rally on March 3rd in the name of a poetry lecture. At the rally, everyone swore that Ying's promise would be good, and the emperor would never come back!
But the Ying family did not have the courage, including the Shen family of Deqing and the Tan family of Huzhou, who did not dare to take action. The emperor's Tiqi, the elite soldiers of the Beijing camp, and the elite navy were a bit too scary.
Xia Anjie was really desperate. He needed the huge profits from sea trade, especially the huge profits from opium, but the Ming Emperor was too lenient. Feng Bao sneered and said with some disdain: "Going around, the imperial court opened the sea, which delayed their family's business. If you can't do business with others in a serious business, you will do this kind of business that will end your family. Wait until you are caught. , blame the court for being unkind, even if he was doing some tobacco business instead of tobacco business, he would not be in this situation.”
There are at least two or three and a half large clans in a county. Renhe is not only the Xia family, but also the Cai family. This Cai family really caused a disaster. After the fire burned down the government office, the Cai family was also imprisoned. The whole family was exiled to Java, or moved to Java to become a gentry.
Who wants to go to a place like Java where giant crocodiles show their teeth?
The entire large clan in Zhejiang, whose property exceeds one hundred hectares, has suffered. Counterinsurgency is like this. It is indiscriminate and will definitely affect innocent people.
The emperor set a one-month blockade time limit. Before the one-month limit ended, Renhe, Hangzhou, and Zhejiang completed the 'counter-rebellion'. Under the emperor's decree, the official order lifted the blockade, and Zhejiang exploded. Out of greater vitality.
Zhu Yijun also left the ruins of Renhe Government Office and went to the West Lake Garden beside the West Lake in Hangzhou.
"Ye Yongchang has been dismissed from his post. If there are any vacancies in the future, we will make up for them." After Zhu Yijun arrived at the West Lake Villa, he issued an order and made the final punishment for the magistrate of Renhe County. He was dismissed from his post. This seemed like a punishment, but it was also It was the emperor's official statement that no matter what happened, Ye Yongchang would not die. The moment he caught Xia Anjie, he was qualified to live.
This qualification for survival was earned by Ye Yongchang himself. Of course, Ye Yongchang was dismissed at this time, and no one in the officialdom would force him to die again in the name of loyalty.
"I obey the order." Zhang Juzheng obeyed the order of his leader.
"Xia Anjie was sent to Jiecuyuan, and the Xia clan was executed. The heads of the Ying clan, Fei clan, and Cai clan and others were beheaded in public, and they were punished in a canonical manner. The Shiyao Haoyou who was captured on the ground in Zhejiang moved to Java together." Zhu Yijun The final judgment was made, and he fulfilled his promise and did not kill indiscriminately.
The Ying family, the Fei family, and the Cai family were all rebels who made it clear at the rally that they would assassinate the king and kill Jia, and they were all involved in opium smuggling.
After investigating these rebels, Zhu Yijun also understood why Yin Zhengmao relaxed the control of tobacco and specifically targeted opium. His energy was really limited and he could only focus on opium which had a worse impact.
“Your Majesty is lenient.” Wang Chonggu, as the Minister of Punishment, chose to lead the edict and handle the matter. He said that Your Majesty is lenient. He was really lenient. Let Emperor Taizu Gao and Emperor Chengzuwen do it. It is estimated that the ground in Zhejiang will be killed. The blood flows into rivers, and the blood flows into rivers, letting the world see what it means to be angry when the emperor is angry.
Your Majesty has a strong army, but in the end he only killed the chief culprits, and the rest were sent overseas for development and waste utilization.
This is truly merciful. A total of only 821 people were beheaded in public, and all of these 821 people were rebels with solid evidence. Most of them were for smuggling. Opium, as long as the family only smuggled tobacco, it was an exile in Java, and the scale of exile was only 13,000 people. If the cheap Confucians said that the emperor was violent, and the emperor would take out the "Great Edict", these cheap Confucians would know to repent.
“The confiscated property totaled more than 8,460,000 silver.” Wang Guangguang reported the results of the confiscation.
"How much silver does the canal from Ningbo to Hangzhou cost?" Zhu Yijun asked about the length of the canal.
“Three million and two hundred thousand silver.” Wang Guoguang gave a number. It was only a rough estimate, but it would not fluctuate by more than fifty thousand silver.
"There are 5.2 million silver left. Let's replenish the ground in Zhejiang and build a Chi Road from Hangzhou to Nanya. I don't care about this silver. I find it dirty." Zhu Yijun fulfilled his duty again. It was promised that Zhejiang would make money and Zhejiang spend it without taking away a penny. All of it would be used to build canals and gallops to stimulate Zhejiang's economy.
"I obey the order." Wang Guoguang obeyed the leader's order.
"The ground in Zhejiang is better than I thought, at least better than Xuzhou." Zhu Yijun sat in the Renhe County Government Office for a month and found that the situation in Zhejiang was much better than he thought. The rebels Although they are more bold, the overall situation on the ground in Zhejiang is still better than that in Xuzhou.
The economy, culture, and military are all much, much stronger than Xuzhou.
"The flowers on Qiantang Road are blooming, the sound of tea frying is heard before and after Grain Rain, the kiln farmers in Xuzhou sell their children and daughters, and the tea farmers in Zhejiang have enough food and clothing." Zhu Yijun is not comparing the life of Zheshe households. In fact, most of them are Having no worries about food and clothing is compared to the life of poor people and coolies.
The distribution of land in Zhejiang is very good. At least those tea farmers who grow tea trees in the mountains can send their children to school. This is what makes Zhu Yijun very emotional. The kiln residents in Xuzhou are obviously more miserable. , but the labor remuneration is lower.
There are 12,000 tea farmers in Hangzhou alone. In Chun'an, where Hai Rui was the county magistrate, there are 8,000 tea farmers. The entire Zhejiang province has more than 80,000 tea farmers. I dare not say that everyone in these 80,000 households has enough food and clothing, but they can definitely be called enough to have enough food and clothing.
“The hole dug by the four prefects of Xuzhou is really too big.” Zhang Juzheng fully agreed with His Majesty’s comments. Although there have been many political turmoils in Zhejiang in the past two years, most of them have not caused larger-scale social impact. .
"What do you think caused this difference, sir? The local customs?" Zhu Yijun asked with some uncertainty.
There are more than 800 tea houses of various brands in Zhejiang, but these 800 or so have not formed an oligarchy, and the tea farmers can actually get sufficient and fair remuneration for their labor, which makes Zhu Yijun Surprisingly, the distribution was well done.
Good distribution must have done something right, and Xuzhou must have done something wrong.
"Your Majesty, this question may be difficult for you to answer, but I do have some answers. Your Majesty, in Jiajing, Japan is in danger. For the people of Zhejiang, my life can fill the battle line, but it can never fill the thousands. This is the reason why Hai Bo can be calmed down. "Qi Jiguang has been in Zhejiang for a longer time, and he actually knows Zhejiang very well.
"I understand." Zhu Yijun suddenly understood, then nodded in agreement with Qi Jiguang's statement.
Was the war against Japanese invaders during the Jiajing period really just as simple as pacifying the Japanese invaders? The main force in the Japanese invasion was the powerful right-wingers in the south of the Yangtze River who were dissatisfied with the imperial court's forced interference in maritime trade. To put down the Japanese invasion was not only to quell the Japanese invasion, but also to resist the exploitation of the Japanese invaders by all possible means. .
This resistance was ultimately successful, making Zhejiang’s distribution more reasonable.
The reason why the mutiny in Jiuying, Zhejiang quickly expanded from Luomu Camp to the entire Jiuying was that the original resistance force was still there, and the representative of this force was Qi Jiguang himself.
Rational distribution is always the result of struggle.
On the third day of July in the thirteenth year of Wanli, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty stayed at the West Lake Villa, announcing that the storm of assassination of the king of Zhejiang came to an end, and Wan Shihe, the Minister of Rites, completed a new overseas article Fan Guo Zhi Shu was presented to His Majesty.
There are currently three best-selling books in the Ming Dynasty. One is "Journey to the West" written by Li Chunfang, the former chief minister of the cabinet, based on the experiences of the Jiajing Emperor and combined with the previous generations' biography. The other is the thirty-two volumes of "Yongle Dadian". ", this is the encyclopedia, and the last one is "Overseas Fan Guozhi Shu" compiled by Wan Shihe.
The original and condensed versions of the Yongle Dadian are very popular, and the popularity of the Overseas Fanguozhi is very surprising, because Kaihai has written countless wealth myths, attracting more people's attention Toward the ocean.
The Overseas Chinese Chronicles can be said to be the most authoritative book for understanding the situation of overseas Chinese.
Zhu Yijun flipped the scroll in his hand, then thought for a while and said: "This volume is called the Inca Scroll, which is a bit too crude. It is better to call it "The Disappeared Empire, the Disappeared Civilization"."
< br>"Your Majesty, it would be better for the foreign branch secretary to be more serious." Feng Bao knew very well that Your Majesty is good at naming books, but this is a book of ambitions, so don't deliberately give some weird names just to attract attention.
Clickbaiting is not advisable.
Zhu Yijun said with certainty: "No, this name is very serious. Why did the empire disappear? Why did the civilization dissipate? This is a question that our Ming Dynasty needs to pay attention to. Although the Roman Empire died, the civilization he created has not Disappeared, and this Inca civilization has actually died, which is worthy of vigilance.”
In the 10th year of Jiajing, Spanish colonist Francisco Pizarro led an adventure group of less than 200 people to arrest him. The Inca king had an army of 40,000 people. During the negotiation, the king was captured alive and then executed.
The ancient Inca country did not die. The resistance movement lasted for nearly forty years until the sixth year of Longqing. The last Inca king Tupac Amaru was arrested and executed, and the Spanish colonists completely occupied it. They invaded the ancient Inca country and carried out brutal colonial rule.
Even civilization has died.
"Your Majesty, according to Uncle Zong's research on this ancient Inca country, they still use stone tools and use obsidian to make various weapons. Your Majesty, this does not seem to have much reference significance for the Ming Dynasty." Feng Bao didn't know why his majesty was so interested in the ancient Inca country. , the demise of the Inca civilization will be taken so seriously.
Zhu Yijun sat up straight, thought for a moment and said, "Why do you think there are no wheels on their transportation vehicles?"
"Well, uncle Da Zong said it was because there were no livestock." Feng Bao After reading this volume, I still have some understanding of these issues.
"No, because of the closure." Zhu Yijun shook his head and said: "I attach great importance to the demise of this civilization because the Ming Dynasty almost made the same mistake. The connection between various human civilizations is far closer than imagined, but the ancient Inca Kingdom Isolated from the world, they did not have any communication with the world, so they could only use stone tools and face each other's firearms."
"Dazong Bo said: In a closed environment, due to the lack of communication with other civilizations. Without effective communication, smaller-scale collectives cannot maintain existing civilization and technology and will gradually degrade or even disappear. Larger-scale collectives will also stagnate. In the murals of the ancient Inca country, we see the wheel, which proves that. They once invented the wheel ”
"But it has not been used on a large scale."
"Your Majesty is wise." Feng Bao bowed again. Although he said he was wise, he didn't particularly care. Feng Bao really couldn't see anything about this Inca civilization. For reference, the best-selling volume of this volume is more due to consumption inertia, and some people bought it as a collection of strange stories.
"Feng Daban, you must not be arrogant." Zhu Yijun exhaled and said: "Don't you think that the Ming Dynasty and the ancient Inca Kingdom are similar in some places? The Ming Dynasty's sea ban has shut itself down. Get up and refuse to communicate with the world."
"Stagnation, degradation, and finally death."
Zhu Yijun said the last words slowly but firmly.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! The Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty. How can a group of guys with stone tools from the ancient Inca country be compared with the Ming Dynasty! The Ming Dynasty is the kingdom of heaven!" Feng Bao said loudly and panicked. As a popular person in front of His Majesty, he This is my first time being so rude.
How could the Great Tomorrow Dynasty imitate the ancient Incas!
Why is Feng Bao so excited? Because he had great faith in the prophetic words of the Great Light Sect. Precisely because he was closer to His Majesty, Feng Bao got to know His Majesty better. Many of His Majesty's decisions were as profound as seeing through the long river of history.
What His Majesty said made Feng Bao sincerely afraid.
Zhu Yijun said nonchalantly: "Because it's possible, that's why you're so excited. In fact, it's nothing. The gentleman said: The Han Dynasty has a loyal and good generation."
(End of this chapter)