Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 822
It is common for gentry families to live in hundreds of clans, even three or four generations, and it is even more common in the south.

The ass determines the head. For the imperial court and the emperor, one household pays one person for corvée. It could have paid 100 people, but only a few people served corvee, which is simply a huge waste.

According to the thinking of later generations, that is to respect the legalist rule of the country.

For example, the Legalists require that men have to separate their families when they reach adulthood, so that they can serve corvee and military service as soon as possible, and create wealth for the country, so the clans should be split.

In other words, the Legalists extremely advocated the theory of making the country rich and strong, and the weak people rich.

Its appeal is to centralize power and strengthen the autocratic monarchy.

In this case, the imperial court is extremely powerful, but it is also a double-edged sword. A wise ruler can speed up the country's growth, while a foolish ruler can ruin the country at double speed.

Therefore, Ying Zheng was able to unify the world. What he should be most grateful for is that there was no faint king in the sixth generation. Otherwise, when it was his turn, Daqin would be finished and the world would not be unified at all.

Far away, the Legalists wanted the common people's family as the ruling unit, so they could not gather strength to compete with the imperial court, while the Confucianists advocated the family as the unit and coexisted with the imperial court.

Both have advantages and disadvantages, but after a comprehensive analysis, Confucianism is the most suitable.

Without it, the family's ability to withstand stress is too poor. Once there is a natural or man-made disaster, it will be over immediately, while the family can resist most disasters and is more suitable for survival in a feudal society.

The basic unit of primitive society was the tribe, the slave society was the city-state, and the feudal society was the family. Only when the productive forces developed in modern times did the family begin to take the family as the basic unit.

In the case of insufficient productivity, with the family as the basic unit, for ordinary people, a serious illness can take away everything.

For example, the imperial examinations, ordinary people certainly cannot afford it, but the entire clan can use public property to hire teachers to teach and teach many students, making reading cheap.

The teaching place is often in the ancestral hall, and the expenses for teaching and examinations are all paid by the clan.

Litigation is more like a sheep than a tiger, without the support of the clan, it is basically swallowed up without any scum.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the clan is the backing and the first line of resistance to the government.

At the same time, at the social level, the clan is the defender of morality.

For example, Qian Qianyi, the well-known leader of Donglin, married Liu Rushi as his regular wife, which completely violated the principle of marrying a wife as a good family, and ruined the family atmosphere.

In fact, Liu Rushi was born as a prostitute, and Qian Qianyi married her, which not only made it difficult for his offspring to participate in the imperial examination, but also ruined the reputation of the Qian family.

The law of the Ming Dynasty was out of control, so colleagues and students could only keep silent, while the clansman was merciless and threw bricks and tiles directly, regardless of whether he was a high-ranking official.

Zhu Yixi can't guarantee that there will be no corrupt officials in the yamen. Naturally, Xiaomin can only rely on others, and the clan connected by blood must be the first choice.

"It's not impossible to have a clan, but it can't be too big."

"The industrialization that is about to start is actually the beginning of the withering of the clan. Clothes that once fit can't keep up with the gradually thicker limbs. This is a sin."

Zhu Yixi sighed, making the government and the local government reach a delicate balance, making this process unfold gradually instead of being forced by society.

To put it bluntly, in the process of industrialization, the clan has bound the population, and the population must be liberated.

But China has its own human nature, and its population is too large. If they are all liberated, it will be a disaster for those people to lose the protection of their clans.

Just bankrupt farmers are enough to support industry.

It is enough to liberate the population in a limited amount. For example, he changed the main road leading out of the county to the main road leading out of the government, which is a great expansion.

Thinking of this, Shang Yang's system of separating families when they reach adulthood seems out of date.

"Go back to Beijing!"

My brain hurts thinking about it.

Zhu Yixi waved his hand and returned to Beijing.

It was around three o'clock in the afternoon that the emperor returned to the Forbidden City.

With a sinking heart, he came to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

I wanted to go out to relax, but who knew I came back with a problem.

The brush in his hand began to write, martial arts, clan.

The former is related to a century-old plan and the future of the army, while the latter involves the core of society, which can be described as an extremely sensitive issue.

Clan, a collection of people living together from the same ancestor, is basically a village.

In feudal society, Li and Jia were divided. Although the original intention was good, it often hindered governance, and the name was greater than the reality.

Everyone knows which village they belong to, but not which ri they belong to.

Afterwards, he drew a line under the clan and wrote down the word family.

And clans are made up of extended families.

The big family is bounded by five generations of blood, and after five clothes, it is another family, even if it is the Zhu Jiu Clan, they cannot be chopped off.

In terms of constraints, the family is greater than the clan.

So if you can't split the clan, you can only split the family.

So, under the two big characters of family, another two characters were written - separation.

"Limited by fame?" Zhu Yixi muttered, "Anyone who gets fame will have to live separately."

"Being able to take risks is also in line with common sense. If you get fame, you will have money, and the idea of ​​​​separating the family is enough."

And in this way, those big gentry families, such as those with three or four scholars and two or three juren, will inevitably continue to divide their families and split their strength.

The influence on the clan will naturally shrink.

As for the weak family, it is still the same, so naturally there is no need to worry about risks.

In this way, the resistance is greatly reduced.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yixi couldn't help showing joy.

Once the idea has come out, it will naturally be perfected by the cabinet and then implemented by the court.

Therefore, the four members of the cabinet who had been busy for a long time were summoned by the emperor again.

"Split the family?"

The four of them were stunned, feeling that these words were a bit deviant.

Because Confucianism governs the world and advocates filial piety.

And living together in a family is a kind of filial piety.

In a practical sense, the large-scale gathering of the crowd can reduce the administrative cost of the court, so as to quickly implement the government order.

At the same time, this kind of collective living can also have the effect of maintaining stability, self-rescue in disasters, and reduce the pressure on the court, so it has always been respected.

To put it bluntly, the imperial court just wanted to collect taxes and military service smoothly, so that the world would be peaceful, and how to save money.

If the emperor splits up the family, it is tantamount to increasing administrative costs.

Compared with those extra taxes collected, it is just a drop in the bucket.

For this, Zhu Yixi can't explain it. I want to speed up the liberation of the population and promote industrialization, right?
Therefore, he said directly: "I don't want to split the clan, but the gentry."

"The gentry should be the pillars of the imperial court. Over the years, the imperial court has given preferential treatment to scholars, even scholars. Eighty acres are too small. They even wantonly surpassed and added treatment that they should not have enjoyed."

"To the extent that the common people think that as long as they have fame, they can be exempted from tax and corvee. How many people are under their protection?"

"Such bad governance must be changed, and all of this starts with the split."

"Scholars live separately, this is good government."

Zhao Shu raised his head, his wrinkled forehead smoothed instantly, and he said with a piercing expression, "The imperial court depends on the gentry, but now the gentry has mixed good and bad, and has become an obstacle to the imperial court."

"Your Majesty's matter, although he doesn't understand human feelings, is beneficial to the country and the people."

The three people on the side refused wholeheartedly, but seeing that Shoufu agreed so much, they could only agree from the bottom of their hearts.

Several of their sons have grown up, and many of them have achieved fame.

If the new system is followed, the father and son will be separated, and they will see each other every other day instead of seeing each other every day.

Madam, daughter-in-law has become a mother-in-law for many years, and her addiction to being a mother-in-law has to stop now.

"Okay, since the chief minister agrees, and the Qing and others also agree, let's draw up!"

The emperor was also very happy: "If you don't separate your family and live apart within a year after you get the honor, you should be a scholar all the time. You are not allowed to take the country test. It's like a baby bird that doesn't flap its wings. How can it grow up if it escapes from its parents' wings?"

At these words, the cabinet all frowned.

The punishment is too harsh.

"Spreading branches and leaves is the root of the prosperity of the blood, why are you frowning?"

"What Your Majesty said is true!"

So, just like this, this small government order spread all over the world.

As the mouthpiece of the imperial court, the Daming Gazette naturally published praises, telling the ins and outs, even if it is Tuoxiang, it can bloom.

The root of this policy is to urge the chicks to fly high, let the family spread its branches and leaves, etc...

Anyway, no matter whether others believe it or not, those ordinary people have already believed it.

After all, only the scholar-bureaucrats have the pain.

Later, King Zong Zhengrui asked to see him and talked about the Liao Fan.

Because the prince was granted the title of King of Liao, the county kings of the Liao clan became lively and wanted to rely on them again.

"Since the eldest son of the emperor can continue to worship Qin Fan, why not the fourth son of the emperor succeed Liao?"

With such thoughts gathered, King Rui didn't dare to act recklessly, so he could only report to the emperor.

"There are nearly a thousand people in the Liao clan, and several county kings are still there. Everyone in the big class believes that the fourth son of the emperor will succeed the Liao king, and some of them think that the Liao clan should be restored..."

King Rui sat obediently and reported in a polite manner.

Zhu Yixi groaned.

Zhu Xian, the last Liao king, was also unlucky.

The King of Liao is the title of Zhu Zhi, the No.15 son of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Yan Wang Zhu Di and Zhu Yunwen launched a war between uncle and nephew for the throne.

Facing close relatives on both sides, Zhu Zhi chose to take refuge with his nephew Zhu Yunqi, but no one thought that Zhu Yunqi, who owned the whole country, would lose to Zhu Di, who had only one city in Beiping.

Originally, the king of Liao was in the north, but was later moved to Jingzhou in the south.

Zhu Xian, the eighth king of the Liao Dynasty, liked Taoism. He opened the altar every day, practiced elixir, and became Master Zhu Daodao. Wearing the Taoist uniform, he looked like he had become a fairy.

The news that King Liao was addicted to Taoism immediately spread among the clan, and even Emperor Jiajing in Beijing knew about it.

Emperor Jiajing also liked Taoism very much, and he was practicing in Beijing at the moment. Hearing that the Liao brothers had studied Taoism deeply, they immediately communicated with each other.

Emperor Jiajing was very happy, so as the leader of Taoism, he bestowed a set of robes, a crown and a gold seal, and bestowed the title "Qingwei Zhongxiao Zhenren".

And he should never have done it, he forced Zhang Juzheng's grandfather to drink alcohol, and died of alcohol poisoning.

After Jiajing's death and his son Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, Zhang Juzheng immediately mobilized Yushi Chen Sheng to report the illegal acts committed by the Liao king in the name of Taoism.

Although the subsequent investigations were trivial matters, Emperor Longqing hated Taoists the most, and immediately ordered the title and gold seal bestowed by Emperor Jiajing to be withdrawn.

Later, this guy was wronged, and he erected a big banner in the palace with the words "The Banner of Litigation of Injustice" to publicize his injustice.

Now, because of this flag, it was considered a rebellion, and the prince was directly abolished.

Zhu Xian was escorted back to Fengyang and imprisoned, the Liao clan was abolished directly, and all Liao king clans were handed over to the Chu king for management. So far, the more than 15-year Liao king inherited from Zhu Yuanzhang's No. 100 son Zhu Zhi was completely abolished.

Wanli was in charge personally, and although he sympathized with King Liao, his title was still gone, and his family property was directly confiscated.

It can be said that the Liao Fan family was really wronged.

From another point of view, although Zhang Juzheng did it, it was fundamentally a victory of the scholar-bureaucrats over the imperial power.

Longqing lay flat, but Wanli couldn't resist, so he could only lay down.

"The king of Liao was already deposed, so it would be wrong to reinstate him. Besides, the fourth son of the emperor changed his position just after the king. Isn't it a mess?"

Zhu Yixi shook his head, as for the successor, he never mentioned it.

At present, none of the sons have grown up, and the prince is also at risk of dying, so if he hastily adopts a son, he will be asking for trouble.

The boss, King Qin, had no choice but to be crowned king, and there would be a risk of seizing the throne.

"I'll talk about the matter of adoption later. King Liao is young now, so many clans can't handle it."

The emperor said casually: "How about this, who is the Zongli of the Liao Mansion?"

Zongli, just like the emperor's worship in those days, is mainly responsible for sacrifices, and in some cases is also a descendant.

"It's Changyang King Zhu Shuya."

"Let him temporarily act as the agent of the Liao Mansion, so don't let the king of Chu be busy."

The emperor chuckled and said, "It won't be too late until my son grows up."

This Zhu Shuya was the elder brother of Zhu Shugui, King of Liao Jing who supervised the country in Taiwan in the late Ming Dynasty.

Rui Wang Zhu Changhao could only agree, and then stopped talking.

"Brother Wang, if you have anything to say, just say it. We are so close that it seems strange."

"Your Majesty, do you want to appease the Liao clan?"

"Comfort?" The emperor immediately smiled when he heard this.

That's right, if you have taken someone else's ancestral number, can you not give it away for cheap?
"In the name of King Liao, the king of the county will give you 1000 yuan, the general will give you [-] yuan, the lieutenant will give you [-] yuan, and Tang will give you [-] shi. Let's distribute them in different order!"

Zhu Yixi smiled lightly.

The eunuch on the side quickly wrote it down.

Only then was King Rui satisfied and left.

After leaving the palace and returning to the palace, a group of clans ran over yelling.

King Guangyuan, King Changyang and other county kings gathered, there were more than a dozen.

"Your Majesty doesn't want to let the fourth son of the emperor succeed, let's talk about it in a few years."

King Rui said in no hurry.

Now, everyone sighed in disappointment.

If an emperor's own son is the king of Liao, will the benefits be less?

They never thought about the restoration of Liao Fan, the biggest pursuit is the prince's adoption.

"However, His Majesty bestows grace in the name of King Liao."

(End of this chapter)