I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1032 All the ills of wealth and possessions are tied to the fate of the people.

Zhu Yijun personally took charge, intending to make a hairpin by hand.

It's a pity he failed. Although the master craftsman had tried his best to teach the key points, His Majesty the Emperor was, after all, a novice. He either didn't roll it properly, or the heat was too intense, or he rubbed it too hard, removing the oxide layer on the surface and making it impossible to prevent rust.

The master craftsman standing nearby wished he could switch out the finished hairspring to prove His Majesty's wisdom and might.

It wasn't that the emperor was clumsy; Songjiang Shunhang Watch Shop used an assembly line operation, and the production of the hairspring was broken down into thirty-one steps, with each person responsible for one or two processes. It was indeed difficult for the emperor to master the production of the hairspring independently in a short period of time.

Zhu Yijun left the watch shop satisfied. He was simply enjoying the experience of doing things himself, regardless of whether he succeeded or not.

He returned to the palace and received a memorial from the Shuri Prefecture of Ryukyu.

Li Yougong had already arrived at the capital, and was heading towards Songjiang Prefecture with ten tigers and more than a hundred junior officers. In his memorial, Li Yougong told His Majesty the Emperor about the events that had occurred in Luzon in great detail.

Including what Wang Hu said, the old brother is indeed loyal, but when it comes to future prospects, some things will inevitably be known by others.

Because if Wang Hu does anything, it will jeopardize the interests of all the Luzon military commanders and junior officers.

“Wang Hu harbors resentment, and it’s not just him; in fact, all ten tigers and these junior officers harbor resentment.” Zhu Yijun, combining the memorials of Wang Qian and Yin Zongxin, confirmed one thing.

Even Liu Qiyuan, the commander of the infantry, who longed to return to the Ming Dynasty to retire, harbored resentment.

Zhu Yijun could understand this resentment. The Ming Dynasty emperor had taken away the foundation that they had worked so hard to build.

The Luzon Governor-General's Office reached its current size only with the support of the Ming Dynasty. When the spoils were distributed, they were not able to take everything, so their resentment was naturally great. Moreover, Zhu Yijun believed that this resentment was completely reasonable.

When Song Jiang led the Liangshan heroes to accept the imperial pardon, many of the Liangshan heroes harbored resentment.

When Sun Wukong went to Heaven to serve as the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, the monkeys in the Water Curtain Cave of Flower Fruit Mountain probably harbored resentment.

If the stories of Liangshanbo and Huaguoshan are fictional, then another event occurred during the Jiajing era.

Wang Zhi, the owner of the Wufeng ship and the one who established the Ming Dynasty Song regime in Nagasaki, accepted the offer of amnesty from Hu Zongxian and Xu Wei. As soon as Wang Zhi disembarked, he was captured by Wang Bengu, the Zhejiang Provincial Inspector, and soon after was beheaded and his head displayed to the public.

Xu Zhen, Wang Hu, Liu Qiyuan and other Luzon generals naturally couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. They were deeply worried that after returning to the heart of the Ming Dynasty, their fate would be out of their own hands. Would they end up like Wang Zhi, captured as soon as they disembarked?

At this moment, Xu Zhen and the others felt that they were somewhat similar to Wang Zhi, except that Wang Zhi was not recognized by the court, while the Governor-General of Luzon was personally appointed by His Majesty.

This anxiety stems from uncertainty about the future, as well as from the changes to familiar life.

It was already quite remarkable that the emperor could put himself in the shoes of the Luzon generals and his subordinates and try to understand why they harbored resentment. Any other emperor, upon seeing Wang Hu's outrageous words, would probably have already charged him with disloyalty and treason.

Zhu Yijun believed that the resentment was justified. The fundamental reason for this was that Zhu Yijun's class identity was always closer to that of the poor and laborers, rather than to the emperor and the naturally noble people.

"Order the Ministry of Rites to arrange the welcoming ceremony." Zhu Yijun pondered for a moment and decided to reassure the ten tigers and more than a hundred junior officers.

Everyone in the Ming Dynasty knew that His Majesty the Emperor was a man of his word, and he never went back on his word. Even the Westerners knew that His Majesty kept his promises and never broke them.

This welcome back is Zhu Yijun's promise.

The Ministry of Rites quickly drafted the welcoming procedures, which Zhu Yijun then revised. This time, the emperor did not descend the steps; such a courtesy should not be used indiscriminately.

To date, only three people have had the emperor personally go to the port to pick them up: Yu Dayou, Qi Jiguang, and Yin Zhengmao.

Yu Dayou was too old to continue his duties and returned to Beijing to retire.
Qi Jiguang returned victorious from his eastern expedition;
Yin Zhengmao died far from home, on the road of serving his country.

The emperor did not lower his rank, but the Ministry of Rites planned to send the Youlong (hull number 001) to greet him. The Youlong was the first fast sailing ship, but it had fatal design flaws and many of its cannons were in very unreasonable positions. It gradually became a ceremonial vessel symbolizing imperial power.

In addition to the welcoming ship Youlong, the Ministry of Rites also prepared a grand welcoming ceremony. The Ming Navy laid a red carpet from the Zhanqiao Pier to the Guanchao Pavilion. His Majesty the Emperor, together with the officials accompanying him on his southward journey, will meet the Ten Tigers and the Junior Officers in the Fengtian Hall, the main hall of the Huangpu River Imperial Palace.

During the audience, the emperor would issue an imperial edict to fulfill his promise and grant all the due treatment.

After the audience, the emperor would go to the Hall of Ten Kings to hold a grand banquet for the generals and soldiers to reward their bravery.

After the grand banquet, the emperor would meet with the Ten Tigers privately in the evening. This private audience was an opportunity for communication.

If His Majesty the Emperor and the Ten Tigers clarify things face to face, there will be fewer doubts.

After the return, the Ministry of Rites would specially dispatch officials from the Ministry of Rites, together with the Ten Tigers and the Junior Officers, to complete a book called "A Survey of the Victory of Luzon". This book is a record of the Ming Dynasty's expansion into Luzon, including the military achievements of the Ten Tigers, and can be considered another cornerstone of the Ming Dynasty's Ying Xue (the study of war).

The Minister of Rites, Gao Qiyu, presided over the welcoming ceremony.

Generals Xu Zhen, Wang Hu, Qian Sanyi, Zhou Yantai, Liu Qiyuan, and others, along with their junior officers, saw the dragon flag of the Youlong ship, the red carpet stretching from the pier to the Guanchao Pavilion, the booming of cannons, the distant sound of horns, and the deafening beat of drums.

They traveled by car to the Huangpu River Imperial Palace, where they saw banners waving, witnessed the emperor's majesty in the Fengtian Hall, and attended a grand banquet in the Ten Kings Hall.

Zhu Yijun received the Ten Tigers in a side hall of the Ten Kings Hall, accompanied by Qi Jiguang and Chen Lin.

Once everyone was seated and the atmosphere was quite relaxed, Li Yougong stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, Wang Hu has uttered arrogant words. I beg you to punish him severely!"

Upon hearing this, everyone who had been relaxed shuddered, and the atmosphere immediately became tense.

Wang Hu was startled and hurriedly stood up, stepped out of his seat, and performed a deep salute. His hands and feet were trembling. Having witnessed the emperor's majesty, he realized how foolish he had been.

The situation nearly escalated to the point of armed conflict, which was unacceptable for both the Ming Dynasty and Luzon.

It's no wonder the old comrades were so heartless as to sacrifice Wang Hu. If Luzon really rebelled, the court had no choice but to do everything in its power to completely quell the rebellion.

Wang Hu knelt on the ground, bowing his head obsequiously, and said, "Your Majesty, I am guilty and beg for your forgiveness!"

At this point, Wang Hu could only plead guilty. There was no way he could resist. His Majesty kept his word and gave him everything he was entitled to, even providing him with extra courtesy.

The officials in charge of discipline were all red-helmeted generals, each one a burly man. How could Wang Hu possibly resist them?
The others looked at Wang Hu with complicated expressions. No one stood up to plead for him. People always have to pay the price for their actions. If you've done something wrong, you've done something wrong.

"No need for formalities." Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said with a smile, "If I were to punish someone for their words after they uttered a few complaints, wouldn't that be chaotic? Alright, everyone, please sit down. Let's not mention this matter again."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Li Yougong bowed again and returned to his seat.

"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty!" Wang Hu breathed a sigh of relief and kowtowed in gratitude. He had one foot in the grave, but was suddenly pulled back. Having just walked through the gates of hell, Wang Hu was filled with mixed emotions.

Li Yougong glanced at Wang Hu, who was still rejoicing that His Majesty was indeed His Majesty, very magnanimous.

This was actually Li Yougong's goal: he would play the villain, while His Majesty would bestow favors.

The matter concerning Wang Hu needs to be settled, and it must be said by His Majesty in front of Wang Hu himself. Otherwise, this thorn will remain in the hearts of both His Majesty and Wang Hu, slowly turning a small thorn into a big one, and eventually becoming a fishbone stuck in their throats.

Li Yougong now directly exposes the truth: the emperor bestows favors, Wang Hu is grateful, and Li Yougong becomes the only bad guy.

As a eunuch, it was his duty to be a bad person.

Zhu Yijun talked with the generals of Luzon for a long time, asking about the development of many Han towns in Luzon. When Zhu Yijun heard that the plantations in Tongrui Town had reached a scale of twenty-eight, with more than one million mu of land, he affirmed Liu Qiyuan's meritorious service in pioneering the area.

The emperor inquired in detail about the development history of Tongrui Town, gaining a glimpse into the town's progress and a deeper understanding of the benevolent governance implemented by Yin Zhengmao.

It is now certain that Yin Zhengmao's benevolent rule was all premeditated. He had long anticipated this outcome, and knowing full well what would happen, that's why he gave Liu Qiyuan those instructions.

"I own 150,000 hectares of land in Southeast Asia? Fifteen million mu?" Zhu Yijun received a large stack of land deeds, all of which belonged directly to the imperial estates and were the emperor's private lands.

Zhu Yijun was truly astonished. Xu Jie was insatiable and had acquired 400,000 mu of land in Songjiang Prefecture. Zhu Yijun, in twenty years, had amassed 15 million mu of land in Southeast Asia, which was truly enormous.

According to the original agreement between Zhu Yijun and Yin Zhengmao, 70% of the profits from all plantations directly under the Governor-General's Office would go to the Ming Dynasty, while 30% would be retained in Luzon.

Of these 70% of the profits, half came from the national treasury and half from the private treasury. In Luzon alone, the economic revenue from plantations directly under the Governor-General's Office exceeded 3.5 million taels of silver, and the growth rate was still quite rapid.

The demand for the 8,000 tour guides was not due to Yin Zhengmao's exorbitant asking price; there was indeed a genuine need.

The plantations directly established by the Governor-General's offices in Luzon and Palembang were imperial estates, with the means of production belonging to the Emperor and the Governor-General's office merely acting as their agent.

The total area of ​​royal estates in Nanyang has exceeded 150,000 hectares, while the registered land area in Nanyang alone exceeds 1.2 million hectares.

Emperor Zhu Yijun of the Ming Dynasty owned less than 90,000 hectares of imperial estates in the heart of the Ming territory, and that was only nominally.

In other words, his largest personal asset was actually in Southeast Asia.

Zhu Yijun inquired in detail about the operating model of the plantation economy. Surprisingly, the military officers and soldiers began to behave like scholar-officials, speaking vaguely, evasively, and changing the subject, refusing to get to the point.

Xu Zhen almost waved his hand and said, "Don't ask anymore, don't ask anymore. If His Majesty asks so clearly, how will we be able to do things in the future?"

So much rice, palm oil, sugarcane, sugar cubes, granulated sugar, tobacco, quinine, abaca, rubber, cassava, coffee, and so on—it wasn't anyone else who ate it; it was all consumed by the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Why ask so many questions and try to know so much? Anyway, every year these raw materials end up in the stomachs of the Ming people and don't go anywhere else.

The emperor quickly understood the generals' concerns and moved on to the next topic without asking any further questions.

If it weren't for Anda Khan and Third Lady repeatedly submitting memorials during the Longqing era, Emperor Longqing would not have known that such things as herding horses and chasing nests had occurred on the grasslands back then.

If the emperor learns of certain crimes, he will definitely question them. Once he does, it becomes very difficult for those below him to get things done. This is a necessary price to pay in the process of development and the resolution of conflicts.

After the generals left, Zhu Yijun learned the truth from Li Yougong.

Plantations are essentially meat grinders. Japanese slaves, barbarian slaves, Kunlun slaves, and Southeast Asian women are all thrown into this grinder, and their flesh and blood become nourishment for the plantations.

Even so, Li Yougong spoke very vaguely, glossing over the details.

The next morning, the emperor, accompanied by his sparring partners, resumed his morning exercise routine. This was a new way for him to maintain his physical fitness after he stopped holding court discussions in Songjiang Prefecture.

Zhu Yijun, shirtless and wearing shorts, led seven sparring partners, chanting slogans as they ran laps around the Huangpu River Palace. Li Yougong, who had just returned, also joined in the morning exercise.

"Twenty li, forty minutes, pulse two breaths five beats, heart rate one minute one hundred and fifty-four beats, everything is normal." Chief Physician Chen Shigong led the physicians to examine the emperor who had finished training.

Chen Shigong meticulously recorded His Majesty's training results each time. Running 20 li in 40 minutes was not His Majesty's limit at all. For His Majesty, this was not extreme training, but simply training to maintain physical fitness.

Based on His Majesty's physical abilities, His Majesty's biological age is not thirty-one, but twenty-four. To be honest, Chen Shigong does not believe that a twenty-four-year-old could physically defeat His Majesty.

Students at the Imperial University of Peking had to undergo six months of military training. Chen Shigong, as the chief physician, knew these students well. Some students would be out of breath after running two hundred steps and couldn't run any further. After running three miles, they would be panting like oxen, and after running six miles, they would want to lie down on the ground.

The situation was similar for the students at Songjiang University Hall.

Even when they were all unarmed and without armor, His Majesty, at the age of thirty-one, could defeat ten twenty-four-year-old university students.

His Majesty runs one mile in two minutes, and his speed doesn't change much throughout the entire run.

After the chief physician finished his examination, Zhu Yijun did a few more stretches, washed up briefly, and then went to the Imperial Study to study.

Without a healthy body, one simply cannot work so diligently on the mill.

Compared to going to the millstone, Zhu Yijun preferred to travel another twenty miles. State affairs are complex and far-reaching, and must be handled with utmost care.

"What is Marquis Ningyuan trying to do?" Zhu Yijun asked, his brows furrowed as he looked at the memorial before him. "He has cultivated 700,000 mu of cotton fields in the Western Regions?"

“Marquis Ningyuan was already clearing land in Liaodong. Now that he’s in the Western Regions, he’ll feel uneasy if he doesn’t clear land,” Feng Bao said with a smile. “Both Minister Hou and Marquis Ningyuan are experts at clearing land. Since ancient times, farming and warfare have been inseparable.”

Li Chengliang was very happy in the Western Regions. At least he had many Hu women in the brothel he built in Hami. Feng Bao had seen the Hu Xuan dance and it was indeed beautiful. It was a pity that His Majesty refused to let the barbarians enter the palace. Otherwise, there should have been beauties from all over the world when the last selection of concubines was held.

Feng Bao made thorough preparations, but unfortunately, the Emperor rejected the "Beauty of All Nations" offer.

"Alright, let's start reclaiming the wasteland." Zhu Yijun approved the memorial and told Li Chengliang to take care of his health, and that he could return if he felt he was not up to the task.

To put it more clearly, land reclamation meant finding ways to plant barbarians in the soil.

Li Rusong led the Beijing garrison on another patrol to suppress bandits. This time, they went to Xuanfu to suppress the grassland bandits.

Due to the changing weather and the bitter cold in the north, two of the seven tribes of Outer Khalkha broke away from the northern desert and migrated to the southern desert. However, the Tatars in the southern desert did not allow these horse herders to graze their livestock on their pastures, and conflicts began to arise.

Li Rusong led a cavalry battalion to Xuanfu, then north to Kaiping Prefecture and Yingchang Prefecture, where he began to clear out these bandits in units of one hundred cavalrymen, a campaign that lasted from May to September.

This inspection tour to suppress bandits was approved by the emperor.

Li Rusong noticed something strange: when he was stationed in the capital, the civil officials dared to huff and puff at him, saying all sorts of things, but after he went on campaigns, no one dared to talk nonsense anymore.

The bandits from the Outer Khalkha tribes were nowhere near the point where the Beijing garrison had to be dispatched; it was Li Rusong who volunteered himself.

Li Rusong was stationed in the capital, and any movement involving more than one hundred people required approval from multiple levels of government, which was extremely troublesome.

However, when Li Rusong was on campaign, there were not so many restrictions. He truly had troops at his disposal. If the civil officials continued to talk nonsense, they would have to worry that he would return with his troops and put a knife to the throats of the scholar-officials.

Military officials in the capital could not compete with civil officials. Even a powerful figure like Zhang Fu, the Duke of Ying, with his numerous military achievements, was still forced to the point of being unable to attend court by the Three Yangs.

Li Rusong went to the grasslands primarily to train his troops. While the Ming cavalry was capable of breaking through enemy lines, their ability to pursue and kill was somewhat weak, making them more like heavy cavalry. Light cavalry, on the other hand, was equally important on the battlefield. However, due to the lack of suitable training environment, training light cavalry was somewhat difficult. He took advantage of the bandit suppression campaign to train his troops.

The capital was very peaceful. Ling Yunyi had a notorious reputation, and the emperor was only staying in Songjiang Prefecture. It wasn't like he was leaving the capital and never going back.

Zhu Yijun spent almost an hour reviewing the memorials in his hand, and this was with the workload halved. If he were in the capital, it would have taken at least two to three hours.

After finishing his memorials, he picked up a newspaper containing articles about infighting within the liberal school of thought, specifically about the confirmation of private property rights.

Local liberals in Songjiang believe that all property belonging to them is inviolable, even under national law.

However, Lin Fucheng refuted this view.

Lin Fucheng was from Songjiang Prefecture. When he accompanied the emperor on his southward journey, he found that the local school of thought was really impolite.

These liberals in Songjiang are showing a tendency to turn into extreme liberals, and Lin Fucheng, as the leader of the liberals, naturally has to correct these mistakes.

During the debate, Lin Fucheng first defined the nature of private property rights.

Lin Fucheng, a leader of the liberal school of thought, believed that private property is the product of human labor and the alteration of nature. Laborers have a natural right to the products they produce by expending their time and energy, and that labor is the only legitimate source of private property rights.

Any income beyond the limit of labor should be public, not private.

However, the current limitations of productivity have led to unfair and unjust ownership of the means of production and relations of production, which in turn result in unfair and unjust distribution. This tragedy is caused by the current limitations of productivity, ownership of the means of production, and relations of production. We should not think that these unfair and unjust situations are as they should be or as correct.

The definition of the scope of private property was Lin Fucheng's weapon against the local liberals in Songjiang Prefecture. With just this definition, Lin Fucheng exposed the fundamental purpose of the local liberals in Songjiang Prefecture: they were not pursuing freedom, but self-interest.

By deliberately blurring the definition of private property, the intention is to convey that what is mine must be mine, and what is not mine is only temporarily out of my possession but will eventually be mine.

Such sophistry is intended to openly and legitimately seize public interests and appropriate them for private use.

Once the public interest is seized into my hands, it belongs to me, and no one can take it away.

After the equalization of land distribution during the Hongwu reign, how did these fields gradually end up in the hands of local gentry and officials? How did the tens of millions of acres of official land that existed at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty become almost nonexistent by the Wanli reign?

This kind of merger is to seize public and other people's interests by any means necessary, and to take them for oneself.

After reading Lin Fucheng's article "Refuting the Heretical Theory of Free Private Property," Zhu Yijun had to admit that the leader was indeed the leader. With such vision and momentum, he stripped them bare in just a few words and clearly explained their purpose of deliberately distorting the boundaries of private property.

He wrote his imperial approval for the article and had it published in the official gazette throughout the land.

There were many other miscellaneous reports, but Zhu Yijun read several and found none worth forwarding to the official gazette.

After lunch, he went to the naval camp to inspect the troops. Unlike the military inspection at the Beida Camp, Zhu Yijun had swimming lessons here. He could swim, but he didn't go into the water often. After arriving in Songjiang Prefecture, he began to go into the water every day.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were indeed easily dissolved in water, but this did not include Zhu Yijun. Although he was not quite as skilled as a white streak in the waves, he was not so bad as to die immediately upon falling into a pool.

Today he also took a special look at the iron horse tugboats produced by Longjiang Shipyard. They are equipped with the latest Shengping No. 10 iron horse tugboats and can tow four to eight barges. Each barge carries 1,000 liang (a unit of weight), and one such tugboat can carry up to 8,000 shi (a unit of weight) of cargo.

Logically, a single iron horse tugboat should have kept 1,200 boat trackers idle, but the actual situation was completely different from what the emperor, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works had envisioned.

The widespread use of iron horse tugboats did not cause 800,000 boat trackers to lose their jobs; on the contrary, they coexisted. Even with the addition of iron horse tugboats, the Ming Dynasty's huge demand for transport capacity was still not met.

"I was wrong at first, I didn't want the tugboats to be launched, but today it seems that I underestimated the Ming Dynasty's need for transport capacity." Zhu Yijun patted the tugboat. He hadn't wanted to approve the construction of the tugboats at first, always thinking that the boatmen would lose their livelihoods.

However, these problems can indeed be solved in the process of rapid development.

The Ming Dynasty's demand for transportation capacity was so enormous that even with the extra effort of launching iron horses and tugboats, the problem could only be alleviated, not completely solved.

Operating a tugboat is an extremely arduous job, requiring one to eat, drink, and relieve oneself on the boat year-round. However, many boat trackers still became boat owners themselves, borrowing money to buy tugboats and rarely disembarking, even spending the Lunar New Year on the boat.

Feng Bao really wanted to say that it is human nature; no one can be right all the time, and no one is an omniscient god. Making a more conservative decision without understanding the situation, out of fear of disrupting the livelihoods of the poor laborers, is a manifestation of loving the people like one's own children.

Your Majesty has already done a very good job.

"That's wonderful." Zhu Yijun looked at the tugboats moored at the dock and smiled sincerely. The Ming Dynasty was booming and everything was so thriving.

The Wanli Reforms entered a period of rapid development. At this point in time, almost everyone naturally assumed that the situation was not just good, but excellent, and that any problem could be solved through development.

It was at this time that Yao Guangqi and Yan Shixuan, who were serving as general secretaries of the East Pacific Merchants' Alliance in Ryukyu, submitted a strange memorial.

Every June, the directors of the various governor-general offices of the Eastern Pacific Merchant Alliance would travel by boat to Songjiang Prefecture to pay homage to His Majesty. Zhu Yijun would also hold a meeting with envoys from various countries in June. This was the originally scheduled itinerary.

Yao Guangqi's memorial to the throne had nothing to do with the East Pacific Merchants Alliance; rather, it reflected his thoughts on economics.

His strange memorial, when refined and summarized, can be summarized as follows: All the ills of wealth and possessions are tied to the number of people.

In other words, all economic problems are actually population problems.

Imagine that tens of millions of children are born every year, countless schools, hospitals, and houses spring up, city walls are constantly being demolished and urban areas are being expanded, and roads are being continuously built. Under such circumstances, no one would think that the economy would collapse.

When a sufficient population is born, no one thinks the economy will collapse, and no one is anxious, because almost everyone believes that no matter what the problem is, it can be easily solved in the face of huge demand.

At this time, even the most greedy landlords are willing to spend silver because they are full of confidence in the future.

But what about the reverse?
No matter how perfect the government's decrees are, they will appear pale and powerless in the face of an extremely scarce newborn population. People will instinctively doubt and have no confidence in the future.

Yao Guangqi's memorial was very long, almost reaching the length of ten thousand words.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, numerous warlords rose up, and the war lasted for decades. Finally, the Ming Dynasty was established amidst the flames of war. Life finally stabilized after the war, and people began to multiply and multiply. The population began to grow rapidly, but this growth began to slow down during the Yongle era, and even began to decline during the Xuande era.

Yao Guangqi initially believed that the population had reached the limit of the land's carrying capacity, but he soon discovered that this was not the case.

Since the Xuande era, historical records and notes from literati in various regions have shown that the problem of land abandonment was already very serious during that period, so serious that Emperor Xuanzong had to issue edicts repeatedly to prohibit land abandonment.

This was not just a problem in the Ming Dynasty; the Tang Dynasty also had this problem. For example, Bai Juyi wrote a poem describing this social phenomenon.

Men in their thirties have wives, and women in their twenties have husbands; in modern times, there has been much turmoil and separation, and many marriages have expired.

If one marries late, having children is often delayed; before children reach adulthood, parents are already old and frail.

According to the Tang Dynasty law, men should marry at fifteen and women at thirteen. However, Bai Juyi saw many people who didn't get married until they were thirty, and women didn't find a spouse until they were twenty. Marriage far exceeded the legal age limit. They married late and had children late. Before their children grew up, their parents had already grown old.

This applies not only to families but also to society. The young and middle-aged in society are still growing up, while the older generation is already old. When family problems arise, it's too late to repay kindness, and filial piety has nowhere to be expressed. Alas, the sacrifices of animals offered to the family are rarely received, a situation that is prevalent in society as a whole.

Since ancient times, the smallest social unit in China has been the family, and this is a problem that must be addressed.

Since all economic problems are essentially population problems, the question of how to make people willing to have children became an important issue that the imperial court had to address.

Yao Guangqi proposed a shocking solution: to reduce the implementation of the Dinghai school system, or in other words, to reduce the efforts to popularize education.

If the imperial court intends to continue promoting universal education with the current力度 ​​(intensity/effort) and does not want to use this lazy approach, then the imperial court needs to make more preparations and do more things.

(End of this chapter)