Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 947, Census

"Although brewing wine is also a way, once the imperial court lifts the ban on brewing wine, will there be a trend of extravagant drinking?"

Xie Qian thought about it and said.

"That's right, the drinking habit in my Ming Dynasty is very prevalent now. If the court lifts the ban again, I'm afraid that there will be more people drinking at that time. It's hard to get rid of the extravagant drinking style. gone."

Liu Jian thought about it and said worriedly.

"Hmm~"

Emperor Hongzhi also nodded slightly. There is no problem in engaging in breeding and animal husbandry. They are all for the common people to eat well and live well, and everyone will support them.

But you need to be cautious when making wine. Firstly, winemaking consumes a lot of food. As the old saying goes, half a catty of wine is a catty of grain, and a catty of grain is enough for an adult to have a full meal, but half a catty of wine is like drinking water , drank it all at once.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen~"

"Since ancient times, the main reason for the prohibition of wine making in successive dynasties is that the food is too precious. The output of this food is too small, and the common people can't eat enough to eat. Therefore, wine making is prohibited, and drinking is also called extravagance."

"But now, the grain output of my Ming Dynasty is increasing. The land reclaimed in the Liaodong area is less than one tenth of the land in the Liaodong area. There are still very vast fields that have not been cultivated in the Western Regions and Hezhong areas."

"In addition, in Southeast Asia, most areas are still dense virgin rainforests, with a lot of land, and more importantly, in Australia and the Golden Island, we still have an extremely vast and fertile land."

"It can be foreseen that in the future, my Ming's grain output will only increase, and more and more land will be cultivated, and the grain will be incomparably sufficient."

"Under such a situation, after storing enough grain, using the remaining grain to make wine, develop animal husbandry, and animal husbandry, this is no longer extravagant. This is called rational use of resources."

"Besides, the common people are rich in food and clothing, pursuing a better life, and their demand for drinking will become more and more vigorous. Even if our imperial court does not lift the ban, the scale of spontaneous wine making among the people will grow larger and more. "

"As the saying goes, blockage is worse than sparseness. Since this is the trend, we should follow the trend and lift the ban on wine making. First, we can digest the excess food and make the best use of it. Second, it can also stabilize the price of food, so that the price of food will not be reduced. If the price is too low, farmers will not be motivated to grow grain, and it can also increase the tax revenue of the imperial court, and wine making can be included in the high-profit industry, which naturally requires heavy taxes.”

Liu Jin thought for a while and said to the ministers of Emperor Hongzhi.

The meaning of prohibiting wine making is not great, it is better to untie it, so that the court can still benefit.

"It still makes sense."

When everyone heard it and thought about it carefully, it seemed that this was really the case.

"Then order the lifting of the ban and allow wine to be brewed."

Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a while, thought about it carefully and said.

There is too much food, and the food produced this year is enough to feed Ming Dynasty for five years. If this food is not used, it will definitely rot and be wasted.

So it’s better to make wine so that the common people can also drink. Anyway, now that the common people have money, their lives are better, and there are more people drinking, the court can also collect taxes along the way.

"Yes~"

All the ministers replied in unison.

If there is too much food, it is natural to find a way to consume it, and it may be a good way to use it to make wine.

As for Zhang Mao's small eyes, they turned slowly, looking at Liu Jin from time to time, trying to see something from Liu Jin's side.

Well, wine making is a huge profiteering industry, so I have to get involved.

After talking about food, Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and said: "My Ming Dynasty is at the crossroads of history. If we want to bring our Ming Dynasty to a more glorious and prosperous era, we need Have a detailed understanding of Daming."

"Among them, the most important thing is of course people, so I want to conduct a population census within the entire Ming Dynasty, and thoroughly figure out how many people our Ming Dynasty has."

"How do you love me?"

Emperor Hongzhi had wanted to do the census for a long time, especially when he was emigrating, he was very eager to know the population distribution of Ming Dynasty and figure out how many people there were in each province of Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, I also think that I, Ming Dynasty, should conduct a nationwide population census. Only when the population of each region is accurately grasped, can the imperial court be more accurate in carrying out various policies."

Liu Jian was the first to stand up and agree. As the chief minister of the cabinet, he also deeply felt the importance of demographics.

Every time people migrated from Henan, the local officials and gentry in Henan were complaining, saying that so many people from Henan had migrated out that there was no one to cultivate the land.

However, the fact is that the hidden population here in Henan is really too much. Such a large province is still a province dominated by plains. According to the yellow book records of the imperial court, the population is actually smaller than that of Fujian and Jiangxi, which have more mountains and more land. Even less, how is this possible!
"Your Majesty, I also think that a nationwide census should be conducted."

Li Dongyang, Xie Qian, Zhang Mao, Liu Jin and others also stood up to express their support.

"Well, since you all support me, then this matter will be settled like this."

"It's just that the population statistics are not a simple and easy thing. I wonder if you, dear ministers, have any good solutions?"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded in satisfaction, then asked after thinking about it.

In fact, for this matter, Emperor Hongzhi also made preparations in advance. After the operation was successful, Emperor Hongzhi took the opportunity of universal celebration to order the exemption of the population tax and corvee. This is obviously a preparation for the head count.

"Your Majesty, when the census was carried out in the past dynasties, because of the matter of the population tax and corvee, the common people would conceal as much as possible, so the census may be less than half of the real population."

"Therefore, when the population is counted, the work tasks of the local government offices are very heavy, and it is difficult to complete the statistics."

"Now, Your Majesty is wise enough to exempt the population tax and corvee. This population statistics will become easier, and the calculated population will naturally far exceed the previous historical records."

After thinking about it, Liu Jian stood up and said.

Population statistics are not difficult. You only need to order a state government office to conduct detailed statistics. It used to be difficult, but now that the population tax and corvee are exempted, the population statistics will be much simpler.

"Hmm~"

The other ministers also nodded one after another. It was nothing more than letting the officials and officials below to busy themselves. It was not difficult.

"Your Majesty, I think this census is a big deal."

Liu Jin stood up again and said about this matter.

"Well, keep talking."

Emperor Hongzhi nodded slightly, while the others looked at Liu Jin, wanting to hear what Liu Jin had in this regard.

"In the past, the population yellow books of previous dynasties simply recorded the number of people, so as to facilitate the collection of population tax and corvee. This would cause the common people to conceal the population as much as possible, and at the same time, the court could not accurately grasp the population. Case."

"I think that this census should be changed to a census, so the census is not just about counting the total population, but a detailed survey."

"For example, the ratio of male to female, how many males and females there are, and the situation of the young and old, how many elderly people over the age of [-], how many underage children, and how many adults there are."

"There is also the situation of work. Taking the Beijing-Tianjin area as an example, a large number of people work in factories and workshops. They have completely separated from agricultural production and are engaged in professional work."

"In addition, there are not only Han people in my Ming Dynasty, but also a large number of tribes in the border areas, so we should also pay attention to the issue of distinguishing tribes. How many people believe in Buddhism, how many people are Taoists, and how many people do not believe in religion or believe in foreign religions, all of these must be counted.”

"There is also the situation of family property, such as how many acres of land there is in the house, whether there are cattle, horses, houses, etc. This information is also extremely important information, and it can tell the living conditions of the people of Ming Dynasty."

"The imperial court encourages childbirth. It should also count whether they are married or have concubines, so that relevant policies can be formulated accurately. For example, if there are too many bachelors in a certain place, then we can focus on migrating people from this place to the Western Regions and Hezhong. Go to the region, because the Western Regions and the Hezhong region have gone through wars, and there are few men and many women, so it is difficult to marry."

"At the same time, when conducting the census, a series of population policies should be formulated accordingly, such as a regular census of our Daming census, which will be conducted once every ten years, numbering every commoner in Daming, issuing identity certificates, The relevant information must be clearly recorded on the identity certificate.”

"Only after we have figured out these situations, can the imperial court be more precise when formulating relevant policies. For example, Shaanxi has a lot of people and little land, and the natural conditions are poor. We will emigrate in large numbers from here."

"Another example is the matter of conscription. If you know the population situation of each state capital, you can allocate the number of conscription places according to the population. Another example is that our court wants to formulate a population ranking system, so we should accurately grasp the population situation of our Ming Dynasty."

"How many Han people are there, how many tribes are there, how many people are there, how many of these people have changed their Chinese surnames to Chinese names, and how many of them can speak Ming Dynasty official dialect, write Chinese characters, have received Confucian education, etc."

Liu Jin thought for a while and also said some content of the census of later generations. Emperor Hongzhi, Liu Jian, Li Dongyang and others couldn't help frowning when they heard it.

Should the demographic statistics be so complicated, but after careful consideration, they all felt that what Liu Jin said was right. If it was just simple statistics, it would not have much real significance.

In the past, it was said that the purpose of counting the population was to collect the population tax and corvee, but now they are all exempted, and the statistics are not very meaningful.

The court's population statistics must be for the purpose of accurately grasping population information, and what Liu Jin said is the information that everyone really wants to know.

The workload is heavy and there are many things to do, but it is really something that has to be done.

(End of this chapter)