Chapter 90 Jinyiwei (1)
To understand why the poor economic situation in Yazhou was seriously affected by local land annexation, we must first understand what kind of social phenomenon the land annexation in the late Ming Dynasty was.
The impact of land annexation in the late Ming Dynasty on the social situation at that time was also an important topic studied by many scholars in later generations. The common view is that serious land annexation caused a large number of farmers to lose their land, which gradually intensified the social class contradictions at that time. Since farmers were the main bearers of national taxes and corvees at that time, the government's fiscal revenue was significantly reduced after losing land, the property on which survival was based. In addition, the landlord class, which holds large amounts of land resources, has become increasingly powerful, posing a certain threat to feudal centralization and affecting social stability. Among the large number of farmers who lost their land, in addition to some tenant farmers who became landlords, many others became refugees who fled everywhere to beg for food. When these people encountered social unrest, they often acted as powder keg that could explode at the slightest moment - refugees. There is really only a one-word difference between him and the rogue bandits.
In this process, in addition to the landlords and gentry, there were also a large number of privileged classes such as princes and relatives who were frantically annexing land. With a piece of imperial order, they could openly acquire the land of countless people into their own names. During the Wanli period, Zhu Yijun, Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty, granted two million acres of land to Prince Fu in Henan, so that he could almost cover all the cultivated land in Henan. Later, when the land in Henan was insufficient, some land from Shandong and Huguang was allocated to Prince Fu. During the Tianqi period, Mingxi Emperor Zhu Youxiao ordered the land allocated to King Gui, King Hui, King Rui and the two princesses Suiping and Ningguo, ranging from hundreds of thousands of acres to three million acres. At that time, the cultivation of cultivated land was very limited, so naturally some states and counties were in the dilemma of having no land to allocate. They actually ordered the local people to share the short land rent, which was called "landless rent" at the time. It was considered a trick. out of level.
At that time, there was another victim of land annexation, which was the guard army system. As a garrison army in the form of a construction corps, in the late Ming Dynasty, it gradually changed from an army to a professional peasant and amateur soldier. A large amount of land in the military villages was also misappropriated by local military leaders and princes and relatives, and the military households in the villages gradually also The situation of serfs who became these people was even more miserable than that of tenant farmers who rented land from landlords. Therefore, there were a large number of desertions in the guard army in the late Ming Dynasty, which led to a serious shortage of vacancies in the army and a decline in combat effectiveness to an appalling level. The Executive Committee has long positioned the strength of the Guard Army as the fifth scum in the war, and this is not unreasonable.
It is recorded in "Records of Ming Shenzong" that among the cultivated land in the country at that time, the land that did not pay for grains occupied by the royal family and officials and gentry alone actually accounted for more than half of the total cultivated land. The empire lost a large amount of tax revenue, causing the entire In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the national finances were always in a very bleak situation. After Chongzhen came to power, the annual revenue of the treasury was even lower than that of Yangzhou's salt merchants. The officials are rich but the people are poor, the gentry is rich but the country is poor. It is self-evident how resistant a country like this can be when faced with internal and external troubles, natural and man-made disasters.
The fundamental reason for this situation lies in the private ownership of land in the feudal system. The essence of the natural economic form of feudal society was the agricultural economy. Any feudal dynasty was based on maintaining the agricultural economy. Therefore, land naturally became a symbol of personal wealth in feudal society, whether it was bureaucrats, landlords or ordinary people. Treat land as the only investment object. This gives the rich and powerful enough motivation to continue to annex land. This trend cannot be stopped by the court issuing a few decrees or modifying some tax systems. The only way to change this situation is to fundamentally change it. to change land ownership.
The Yazhou Resident Office's attitude towards the changes in the local situation is very clear. It cannot just watch Yazhou's economic situation decline rapidly due to land annexation. Not only does this take into account that Yazhou is currently the largest and most important commodity dumping ground and source of manpower for Chuanchuan Group, maintaining social stability and economic prosperity here is of great significance to Chuanchuan Group, but the Yazhou Office is also worried that once the security situation here deteriorates, what will happen Attracting external attention and even military intervention. For the Executive Committee, it is obviously not a good thing for the Ming court to pay too much attention to Yazhou at this time when it is laying the foundation.
But now it is clear to everyone that the root cause of Yazhou's current situation is the land ownership system, and it is very difficult to change this. The Executive Committee can implement large-scale public ownership of land near the Victory Port base camp because the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, no one will or can manage it, and the Executive Committee's local control is authoritative enough. However, it is obviously not feasible for the Office in Yazhou to imitate the Executive Committee and implement this method in Yazhou. The problem is not how much money it will cost to transfer the land near Yazhou to the name of the Executive Committee, but the existence of public ownership of land. In itself, they are enemies of all the officials and gentry. The few people in the Cliff Office obviously do not have the strength to make enemies on such a large scale.
A relatively simple and feasible method in the short term is to introduce unemployed and propertyless homeless people from Yazhou into the areas under the executive committee on a large scale, so that these people can have a stable livelihood. Evacuating potentially dangerous people in this way can indeed effectively reduce the pressure on Yazhou's public security, and at the same time, it can also take care of the base camp's demand for manpower. From this perspective, it is undoubtedly a good move for He Xi to let the dental dealers recruit immigrants for a long time.
But the problem now is that no one knows what Yazhou officials’ attitude will be towards the Chuanchuan people openly carrying out population migration within their jurisdiction. Maybe the officials will be very grateful to the Chuanzhong for saving them a lot of trouble, but they also It's hard to say whether anyone will jump out and question this approach. You must know that there are an astonishing number of current and former officials in this place, and its density is even close to that of Beijing and Nanjing. The proportion of smart people among them is definitely not low. Maybe someone will see through the "sinister intentions" of the Chuanzhong ".
Everyone discussed for a long time, but still couldn't come up with a final decision. In the end, Maliko came up with a compromise idea. From now on, the immigration matters should not be handled by people from the Cliff Office. The influence is reduced.
Although the idea was finalized, the Cliff Office came out in full force at Wei City the next day. They planned to see the situation of the servant market with their own eyes first, confirm the possible scale of immigration in the future, and at the same time analyze some of the problems that would arise during the immigration. Prepare for problems in advance so that you don’t get confused later. When the recruitment of workers in the servant market forms a standardized routine, it can be left to local commercial banks and dental shops to operate.
The Wei market outside the southern gate of Yazhou is held twice a month. People nearby will take advantage of the Wei market to buy some daily necessities, and the unemployed who are looking for a livelihood will also gather at the Wei market on this day. market. After the working group arrived at Wei City, Zhang Guang went to the tooth dealer who came out yesterday and threw two coins to him. As expected, it is easier to do things if you have money. The tooth dealer immediately followed Zhang Guang's request and gathered together several little girls in the servant market who were ready to sell themselves as maids and let them make a selection.
The maid's spot was originally reserved for Zhao Xiaoruo, so the big men naturally walked aside as if nothing had happened to show their integrity, leaving Zhao Xiaoruo to choose slowly. There weren't many options, so it wasn't difficult for Zhao Xiaoruo to pick one. He chose a girl he liked after a few tricks, and after asking about his family situation, he was ready to make a decision. Unexpectedly, a group of people suddenly arrived at this time. They were all dressed in soap-colored straight clothes, wearing black gauze hats, and carrying a two-foot-long single sword on their waists. The leader pointed at these little girls and said: "Keep all of these!"
When the man shouted, several people in the working group all turned their heads. Zhang Guang walked over without saying a word and blocked Zhao Xiaoruo behind him. The tooth merchant came over tremblingly, bowed and said: "Master Gong, what are your orders?"
Mu Xiabai and Feng Anan, who originally wanted to come forward to argue, immediately froze. They were not afraid of these officers equipped with cold weapons. These seemingly arrogant guys were just living targets in front of MK23, but before they understood the situation, they Before the situation, it is better not to cause trouble rashly.
The official who was called Mr. Gong glanced at the tooth dealer and said in a voice that sounded like it was coming from his nose: "The hundreds of households in Qiongzhou Prefecture are moving to their new homes. They want to choose some girls who can serve others. Quickly send these people to their house." After the deed is completed, send the person back to the Yamen.”
After the man finished speaking, his eyes turned like knives around the faces of the working group. It seemed that he didn't see any heresy, and then he led the team away.
The tooth dealer said apologetically with a sad face: "Masters, you have also seen it. I am sorry, I will return your money to you."
Qiu Yuanqi said: "These people are official servants of the state government? They act so overbearingly..."
"I'm afraid it's not official officials." He Xi sighed and said: "Official officials are not going across industries to flatter a hundred households in Qiongzhou Prefecture. If I guessed correctly, this group of people is probably the Jin Yiwei stationed in Yazhou. ”
The tooth dealer nodded and said: "This master is right, that person just now was Mr. Gong Qi of the Imperial Guard."
Qiu Yuan said in astonishment: "Isn't the symbol of Jin Yiwei a flying fish suit with an embroidered spring knife?"
"Feiyu uniforms, bullfighting uniforms, and Qilin uniforms can only be worn by senior officials in the Jinyiwei. Soldiers and generals don't get that kind of treatment." He Xi squinted at the Jinyiwei who was leaving and said: "The leader of Qiongzhou Prefecture is just a hundred people. Household? It seems that the imperial court is really worried about Hainan.”
(End of chapter)