Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 1048: The trend cannot be violated

People always care about something when they live in this world. For privileged groups, it is absolutely impossible to ask them to give up their privileges and what they have gained.

Zhu Youxiao knew very well the situation in the southeast.

"From this perspective, it may be difficult for Southeast China to maintain stability."

Xiyuan.

Ok Hee Palace.

Zhu Youxiao, who was leaning on a cushion and reading the secret memorial, said with a frown. This made Liu Chao, who was standing with his hands hanging down, inevitably feel nervous.

Two years ago, the Imperial Household Department he led began to be responsible for an important matter, which was to compile secret reports from all over the southeast and submit the actual situation in the southeast to the emperor on a regular basis.

This is not an easy task.

In addition to summarizing the contents of various secret reports and screening out repetitive content, it is also necessary to verify the authenticity of each content and compare it with the various changes in the previous period.

Because of this assignment, Liu Chao became even more taciturn.

"Liu Chao, do you think that in the current turbulent situation, a massive slave rebellion will break out in the southeastern provinces?"

After an unknown amount of time, Zhu Youxiao closed the memorial he was holding, looked at Liu Chao and said, "Just like the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Han Dynasty, because of the increasingly greedy exploitation and oppression, the officials, gentry, merchants and other groups under the jurisdiction of the southeastern provinces finally chose to rebel."

"Especially in the past two years, I remember that many workshop owners emerged in the southeastern provinces. In order to reduce labor costs, they took advantage of the chaos to hide a lot of people."

"Your Majesty..."

Liu Chao's heart was beating faster. Faced with such a question, he didn't know what to say. Sweat ran down his cheeks, but Liu Chao knew that he had to answer the emperor's question.

"Your Majesty, if those guys who want to force the central government to make concessions continue to stir up these changes in various places under the rule of the southeastern provinces, I am afraid that the southeastern provinces will really erupt into a large-scale slave rebellion."

Liu Chao suppressed his fear and bowed respectfully, saying, "Although the officials sent by the Emperor to the southeast have tried their best to stabilize the situation and do their best to complete their tasks, they cannot change the situation that the southeast is a powder keg."

"The arrest of the gang of treacherous officials headed by Qian Qianyi has greatly stimulated many people. In addition, some decisions made by the central government since the formation of the new cabinet have caused greater stimulation in the southeast."

"Let's not talk about anything else. If the land tax system implemented in the southwest is extended to the southeast one day, the interests of those groups with large tracts of land will be seriously affected. After all, according to the situation summarized by the internal factory, land annexation in the southeastern provinces is very serious."

"This guy, he made it all by himself."

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao showed a complicated expression.

How could he not know what Liu Chao said? Although the Anti-Corruption Commission headed by Cui Chengxiu had arrested many people and confiscated a lot of land in the past by uncovering major cases, what these groups owned was simply too insignificant compared to the entire Southeast.

Not only in the southeastern provinces, but also in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, the main contradiction of land annexation has not been curbed or alleviated at all.

If there is any place that can really alleviate the situation, it is the places that have implemented the land-based tax system.

no way.

Whoever owns more land will pay more taxes in the future.

Who can bear this?

Using real money to purchase land is something that has been passed down for a long time. In peacetime, the output of the land may not allow the investment to be recovered, but land itself is a scarce product. This is why many people, when they have wealth, the first thing they think of is to purchase land in order to pass on the wealth.

When you have money in your hands, you are bound to be tempted by various things.

Instead of doing this, you might as well spend it.

When it comes to means of preserving value, land itself is undoubtedly the best carrier.

Not to mention far away, let’s just talk about the northern Zhili area. With the development of intensive handicraft manufacturing, in addition to the many official workshops directly under the Shaofu, large-scale expansion was carried out on the imperial farmland. This prosperous development stimulated many people, and then a large number of people flocked into these industries.

For special industries like shipbuilding and smelting, as long as you can get qualifications from the Shaofu Yousi, you can raise gold and silver to start them. The Shaofu Yousi will even place orders, but the prerequisite is that the quality must be of high quality. This has led to the continuous expansion of the scale of private enterprises, and the demand for land has increased.

Land prices inevitably rise.

This made a small group of people rich.

This is a stage that development must go through.

It is impossible for Zhu Youxiao to simply and crudely introduce a policy to prohibit land transactions in order to avoid these phenomena. If Zhu Youxiao really dared to do so, it would inevitably cause hostility and even resistance from a large number of people.

In response to this situation, Zhu Youxiao has been doing one thing, which is to restrict the annexation of land by local princes and vassals, and at the same time try to recover a large number of royal estates and fields.

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In order to achieve this plan, the clan government must cooperate in launching actions, bind and constrain them with various practical changes, and then force the clan and vassal groups in various places to bow their heads.

A new system of clan salaries made many lower-level clan members feel awe towards Zhu Youxiao and also strengthened their loyalty to the Ming Emperor. After all, their interests were protected.

The development of the sect's learning and military gave them hope for advancement and allowed them to do something instead of living in hopelessness.

In conjunction with these institutional changes, the emergence of clan tax became a killer move. It was precisely because of this that the clan government had to use the land under its name as the main body and asked the clans and vassals from all over the place to participate. Although many people were unwilling, they were forced to choose to pay.

The Ming Dynasty's finances have always been poor, in large part because it was dragged down by the royal vassal states, which also concealed the serious situation in the southeast.

"The trend cannot be violated."

Zhu Youxiao said with some emotion: "If the Southeast wants to seek change, if the Ming Dynasty wants to seek change, something shocking must happen."

"Slavery cannot be changed by human beings."

"If the accumulated anger is not fully vented, then the scar will always remain. If this happens, I don't know how many people will die in the southeast."

Liu Chao lowered his head and dared not say anything more.

In fact, Liu Chao discovered a long time ago that his emperor wanted to abolish slavery, but this matter was different from the abolition of craftsmen. After all, not every family had craftsmen. However, among some wealthy groups, there was a habit of buying slaves. How large the scale of this group was was something no one could say for sure.

If it is abolished, who should bear these losses?
The imperial court?

That is impossible.

The expense is too huge and the court simply cannot afford it.

So this has become a dead end. Anyone who dares to touch this matter will be caught in the vortex, even the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)