Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

When Zhu Youjian heard Qian Qianyi's words, he nodded in approval.

Then he looked at Qian Qianyi, who couldn't hide his pride, and helped him summarize and sublimate:
"Mr. Qian said it well!"

"The tiller has his field, the weaver has his loom, and this should be written into the etiquette and law."

"Let's discuss how to achieve this."

These words seemed to be derived from Qian Qianyi's words, but after Qian Qianyi heard them, his previously smug expression froze.

He dared to talk about distributing land and looms, but he had no idea of ​​"the tiller has his field, the weaver has his loom".

Not to mention that the emperor seemed to be going beyond allocating foreign land, which made him suddenly realize the seriousness of the matter, as if he had gotten into trouble again:
"When did I ever say that?"

"Could it be that, like the theory of permanent property, it has been misinterpreted by the emperor again?"

Qian Qianyi was so anxious that cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and he felt that he was about to fall into a trap again.

His previous theory of permanent property had already caused him to be scolded by countless landlords. If these words were to spread again, he would probably be scolded by all the gentry in the world.

This made him hurriedly explain:
"What I am talking about is allocating foreign land to men and renting and selling looms to women."

"Every piece of land in the territory has its own owner and cannot be distributed at will."

The other ministers immediately came to their senses and realized that Qian Qianyi's previous words were not what he meant, and that the emperor had deliberately misinterpreted them.

This helped them recover from the shock of hearing "land to the tiller" and they thought that the only option was to distribute the land outside the country.

Zhu Youjian listened to their words and knew that these officials from gentry families did not agree with the policy of "land to the tiller", or they were worried that he would have to limit the amount of land again and distribute it equally to the farmers.

In this case, he wanted to scare these people and asked the Minister of Agriculture:

"Mr. Zhai, how much land does the Ming Dynasty have now? How much land does each household have on average?"

Zhai Fengchong was reluctant to answer, but had to reply:

"The land of the Ming Dynasty is about 7 to 8 million hectares, or 700 to 800 million mu."

"There are about 10 million registered households, but perhaps half of them are underreported."

"Based on an estimate of 20 million households, each household has an average of 35 to 40 acres of land."

When Zhu Youjian heard this number, although he felt it was not accurate, it did not stop him from saying to his ministers:
"So, if the land is distributed equally, every household will have more than 30 mu and can become a permanent property owner."

"What a pity! What a pity!"

All the ministers understood what a pity this was.

If equal distribution of land was truly implemented, the Ming Dynasty would have the potential to allow everyone to have permanent property.

But in that case, they would still only have more than 30 acres of land. How could they pass on the family tradition of farming and studying?

Thinking that the emperor might distribute the land equally and practice the so-called theory of permanent property, these people secretly cursed Qian Qianyi in their hearts and advised the emperor not to distribute the land equally.

Some people even brought up the population growth that Zhu Youjian had mentioned before, believing that the equal distribution of land would not be sustainable within a generation.

Zhu Youjian looked at their attitude and could only say clearly:
"You are all worrying too much. As long as the land already has an owner and it does not violate the court's policy, how can I distribute it arbitrarily?"

"The official land that needs to be distributed, and the land held by the government in the future, should be given priority to farmers who have no land or little land, and one-tenth of the rent and tax should be collected from them."

"No one may continue to rent more than 100 acres of land, unless they have hereditary office or title."

This was a policy that had been implemented before, and after its practice in Suzhou, the gentry had already accepted their fate.

Most of the ministers in the court now hold hereditary positions and have no objection to this.

So they were relieved when they heard that the emperor was not distributing the land equally but giving priority to the poor in cultivating the official land.

Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan said: "If this is the case, I think it can be written into the etiquette law."

"The vacant government land should be rented out to the poor first."

“Some of the public land, such as sacrificial fields and school fields, should also be rented out to the poor.”

Shang Zhouzuo, the Minister of Industry, also said:

"In addition to public land, I think we can also encourage the poor to reclaim wasteland."

"This will also ensure that those who till the land own the land."

Everyone talked a lot and decided on this policy to prevent the emperor from further pushing for land restrictions after the limit of 1,000 acres of private land and 100 acres of official land.

Some people thought of the emperor's previous discussion of the well-off society, and felt that this was the purpose of the emperor's lecture today.

Zhu Youjian did have this idea and wanted to fix the previous measures. He knew that the Ming gentry valued the land, and he also knew that they should not be pushed too hard. So he did not propose further measures to limit the land, but said:
"What you have said has its merits, and can serve as an explanation for the principle that those who till the land shall own it."

"The Sinong Temple is in charge of the agriculture of the Ming Dynasty. It will be responsible for this in the future."

"The local Si Nong Temples should work with local governments to properly divide the uses of government and public fields, and give priority to renting them to the poor."

"And the wasteland that can be reclaimed should be divided and allocated to the poor for reclamation."

The Ministry of Agriculture was given additional responsibilities to strengthen the management of official and public fields.

Zhai Fengchong hurriedly agreed to it, lest the emperor be dissatisfied and want to implement equal distribution of land.

He also asked:

“The amount of public land is limited. How much should be allocated to them?”

"If we divide it into 30 acres, the poor will become permanent property owners. Although this is the best, there is not enough land."

Zhu Youjian thought for a moment and said:

"Let's set it at five acres within the territory, which is only one-tenth of the fifty acres outside the territory."

"Five acres of land yields two dan per acre, and we can harvest ten dan of grain. After paying eleven percent of the tax, we still have nine dan left, which is barely enough to feed two people."

"Most poor families don't have many people, so five acres is enough."

“If they want to cultivate more land, let them go abroad.”

This figure made the ministers breathe a sigh of relief, and they realized that the emperor really had no intention of distributing land equally, but just wanted to ensure that farmers had basic land.

They all expressed their support for the principle that land to the tiller shall belong to the tiller.

As for the weaver's loom, they were worried that the emperor would do something weird again, so they all agreed with Qian Qianyi's explanation and thought it was just leasing and selling.

Zhu Youjian found this somewhat amusing, but he still added:
"In order to allow more looms to be produced by the people, I have decided to lift restrictions on loom production and release all patents for the household looms produced by Wensiyuan."

"Anyone can copy it and sell it. Carpenters also need to be trained on this loom and be able to repair it."

This would obviously increase the number of looms among the people and have an impact on the merchants and gentry who owned the looms. However, the ministers were no longer interested in arguing about this and hurriedly agreed to such a small matter.

Then Zhu Youjian added another rule: in order to ensure that everyone has a house, all citizens of the Ming Dynasty who do not have a house can apply for three mu of residential land outside the city. Overseas, the land is raised to one mu, on which they can build houses.

All localities should also set aside land to build public rental housing and low-rent housing for homeless people.

Finally, the provisions written in the etiquette are:
Citizens of the Ming Dynasty have the right to survive and reside on Ming land. Every family with citizen members can apply to rent more than five acres of public land, or reclaim more than ten acres of wasteland if they lose their land, job or other sources of livelihood. If they lose their house, they can apply for three acres of residential land outside the city.

If the local government is unable to provide it, it should help the citizen family migrate to an area with vacant land. Those who are relocated outside the Ming mainland should be allocated at least 50 mu of land and one mu of residential land.

This ritual law became the legal basis for the principle that tillers own their land, and also became the basis for the court to organize immigration. (End of this chapter)