The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 313: Dividing the Benefits and the Suffering of Corvée

Qianqing Palace.

Tang Hao, Marquis of Zhongshan, Zhu Youlang, Prince of Xing, and Yang Tinghe, the chief minister of the cabinet.

Three important officials of the court, representing their respective forces, are all gathered here at this moment.

In fact, ever since Yang Tinghe stabbed the Emperor in the back, he has no longer been qualified to participate in such secret meetings before the Emperor.

However, after Tang Hao and Yang Tinghe had a secret conversation, they were surprised to find that the Emperor Zhengde's tutor did not side with the gentry.

The reason why Yang Tinghe did this was simply because he believed that the royal family and princes must never be given power, and this force must be expelled from the court, otherwise it would pose a hidden danger to future generations!
After learning about this, Zhu Houzhao was filled with emotion. He had once misunderstood his imperial teacher, but fortunately no disaster occurred.

Therefore, the Cabinet Chief Minister Yang Tinghe regained the trust of His Majesty the Emperor and became a member of the Imperial Conference.

Tang Hao stood up and looked at the other two people, then took a charcoal pencil and drew the first circle on the Japanese geomancy map.

"This is the Iwami Silver Mine!"

Iwami Silver Mine!

Hundreds of millions of hidden silver!

Both Yang Tinghe and Zhu Youqiu's eyes lit up.

There is nothing much to say. Thanks to Tang Hao's previous propaganda tactics, people from all walks of life are paying close attention to the Iwami Silver Mine.

After all, no one doesn't like money.

"Yang Tinghe, this Iwami Silver Mine can be given to the gentry!"

Marquis Zhongshan's words were shocking.

"But, you need to draw up a list for me as soon as possible about who will be given the money and who will be allowed to profit from it."

Tang Hao said in a deep voice: "The work of excavating the silver mine cannot be completed overnight. Even if there are Japanese people as hard labor, it will take dozens or even hundreds of years to excavate the Iwami Silver Mine. This depends on your means, Yang Tinghe."

"There is only one principle. The mining tax that should be paid to the court cannot be reduced by a single cent. The cost of collecting and recruiting the Japanese slaves should be solved by the gentry themselves. The fees paid to the Ming Navy and the Japanese garrison should also not be reduced!"

Yang Tinghe felt a little annoyed when he heard this, and secretly cursed Tang Hao for being a rude person.

In this way, the gentry Jinshen obtained the Iwami silver mine and also had the right to mine the silver.

However, the problem is that if the gentry want to mine the Iwami silver mine, which contains hundreds of millions of silver coins, they will have to pay a huge price.

The first is to pay the Ming navy. If they want to go out to sea, they have to go through the Shandong Qinghe Shipyard and the navy led by Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao. Otherwise, they can just build their own ships slowly!

The second is the protection of the local garrison. If you want to mine the Iwami silver mine with peace of mind, you naturally cannot do without the protection of the local Japanese garrison. What if those Japanese rebel? What if those Japanese disobey you?
The third is the cost of mining the silver mine. Whether it is money or food, the gentry themselves have to make initial investments. Because as Tang Hao just said, mining the silver mine is not a matter of a day or a night. It will take at least several decades. Without food, even the Japanese slaves will not dig silver for you!

In this way, it is equivalent to gathering the strength of the gentry to excavate the Iwami silver mine. But in the end, the silver excavated will still return to the Ming Dynasty. To put it bluntly, if His Majesty the Emperor is short of money, he can just pick any family on the list, and the money will come, right?

This vicious plan was extremely cruel, but it took into account people's human nature.

Because Yang Tinghe knew very well that as long as he released the news, those greedy gentry would definitely take action!

But this is undoubtedly a good thing for Yang Tinghe.

He can use this to completely secure his position as the leader of the gentry!
After all, interests come first. Marquis Zhongshan has granted him this power. If the gentry want to divide the profits of the Iwami Silver Mine, they must go through him, Yang Tinghe. This is interests first!

"Don't worry, Lord Tang. I know what to do."

After getting Yang Tinghe's approval, Tang Hao also smiled.

Then he looked at Zhu Youluo and said with a smile: "Zhu Chenhao wanted to take the silver mine and even wanted to ask for an iron mine, but I refused."

"All iron mines in Japan will be taken over by the garrison, and then standard weapons and firearms will be produced and sent to the Liaodong military town!"

"As for this Biezi Silver Mine, you can give it to Zhu Chenhao, but you'll have to trouble Prince Xing to keep an eye on it in secret. In name, this silver mine is for your clan princes, so you can spread the news and gather the forces of the clan princes to mine it, and don't let Zhu Chenhao take all the benefits."

"He is digging the silver mine slowly by himself. This is too slow and does not fit our plan!"

The Iwami Silver Mine was given to the gentry, and the Besshi Silver Mine was given to the royal family and princes.

By the same token, these silver mines are difficult to mine, so it is naturally impossible to give them to one person. Instead, they should be given to the forces to which they belong and work together to mine them.

Zhu Youqiu nodded and had no objection to this.

Zhu Chenhao wanted silver mines and iron mines, but he just wanted to accumulate wealth for rebellion!
However, although the amount of silver in the Besshi Silver Mine is much less than that in the Iwami Silver Mine, it is still a large silver mine. So if he were to mine it alone, who knows how long he would have to wait to finish.

But gathering the strength of the royal family and princes would be a completely different matter.

These princes and vassal kings have money and people, but the only thing they lack is nothing to do!
I think no one would refuse such a good thing as mining silver.

Tang Hao looked at the Emperor again and said with a smile: "As for the military merit forces, they will be responsible for the excavation of large and small iron mines in Japan, producing as many standard weapons as possible, especially firearms and artillery, and then sending them to the Nine Border Military Towns to enhance the combat effectiveness of the Nine Border soldiers!"

This is a bit sensitive.

Because salt and iron were both government-run, the profits were astonishing.

Now Tang Hao wants to hand over all the iron mines in Japan to the military forces. If this causes dissatisfaction from Emperor Zhu Houzhao, things will become troublesome.

Zhu Houzhao nodded but did not refuse.

"Just do it!"

"Go ahead and do it boldly. I am not a sensitive or suspicious emperor."

As soon as these words were spoken, the three people present all laughed softly.

Tang Hao gave the Emperor a thumbs up and reminded him solemnly.

"Everyone, my Great Ming has only one principle in Japan, and that is to do everything we can to plunder all of Japan's resources as quickly as possible."

"When it comes to colonies, we must be merciful and plunder all their resources to enrich our Ming Dynasty and bring new vitality to the corrupt Ming Dynasty. This is what we should do!"

There is no doubt that Tang Hao's words are equivalent to sentencing Japan to death. I wonder how many Japanese people will die innocently because of this!
But no one present had any objection to this.

After all, colonialism is like this, and there is no need for any sympathy. Besides, the Ming Dynasty has become so corrupt and rotten that it is better to think about how to save the Ming Dynasty instead of sympathizing with the Japanese!
Then Tang Hao proposed another national policy, which was... corvee labor!
"Everyone, our second topic is going to be discussed next. I hope you can listen carefully. That is the issue of corvée labor!"

"What is corvée? It is unpaid labor that the government conscripts young and strong people to perform, including military service, labor service, miscellaneous labor, etc."

"The people were required to undertake corvée labor to build palaces, to dredge canals, and to transport food, fodder, and weapons to the front lines... The Qin Dynasty stipulated that men from the age of 22 would serve in the county for one month each year, called Gengzu; one year in the central government, called Zhengzu; and one year in the border, called Shuzu. The Han Dynasty also implemented this system, and civilians could pay money to recruit replacements, called Gengfu..."

"In later dynasties, corvée labor was numerous and the laws were harsh. Even in non-war years, hundreds of thousands of people were conscripted to build cities and dig rivers, construct palaces, and improve gardens, etc., leaving fields barren and farming uncultivated. When Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall to prevent foreign invasions, his biggest reliance was actually the cheap manpower obtained by the Qin Dynasty through the war of unification. He could suppress the laborers of the six countries through harsh laws and the powerful Qin army, squandering the people's strength without restraint!"

"But what was the result? After the Qin Dynasty unified the six kingdoms, it had not yet fully achieved its goal of building all the Great Walls. When the garrison soldiers called Hangu Pass, it was turned into a scorched earth!"

The Qin Dynasty had harsh laws and heavy corvee labor, which eventually led to public resentment and the death of the second emperor.

The four people present, besides Tang Hao, included a representative of the royal family and vassal kings, a chief minister of the cabinet and a leader of the gentry, and His Majesty the Emperor Zhengde. They naturally understood the relationship between corvee labor and the people's will, and they understood even more the harm that corvee labor brought to the people.

"The Qin Dynasty also died in the second generation. After that, there was a powerful Sui Dynasty!"

"After Emperor Wen of Sui, Yang Jian, unified the country, he implemented various measures to consolidate the unity, which stopped the war that had lasted for three hundred years, brought peace to the country, and gave the people in the north and south a rest, and brought unprecedented prosperity to the society. However, his son, Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, was ambitious and aggressive, and he dug the Grand Canal, conquered Goguryeo three times, and abused the people's power to an extreme extent, causing public resentment and chaos in the world. In the end, he also died in the second generation!"

"This is the suffering of corvée!"

The two most typical dynasties were the Qin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty. One founded the imperial system, and the other unified the country again. Under normal circumstances, their reigns would not be so short, but both dynasties perished in the second generation. The suffering of corvee labor that caused public resentment was undoubtedly one of the key factors.

"After talking about the Qin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, let's get back to our Ming Dynasty."

Tang Hao looked at the three people and said in a deep voice: "The corvée labor in the Ming Dynasty is implemented through the system of 'assigning households to perform duties'. All the duties of the government are basically undertaken by the assigned civilian households."

"It is mainly divided into lijia, junyao and zafan chaiyi. Lijia refers to the lijia regular service, which mainly includes collecting taxes and grain, handling the payment of materials and supporting government public expenses; zafan refers to the miscellaneous service that was levied at irregular times and due to events in the Ming Dynasty; and junyao is the silver service and labor service separated from the miscellaneous service. The silver service can be converted into silver instead of labor service, and the government can hire people to serve on its own. The labor service still needs to serve in person, but can also hire people to serve on its behalf."

"So, in addition to the regular labor service, the registered commoners living in the Ming Dynasty also have to bear the equal labor service levied by the government and the miscellaneous labor service temporarily assigned by the government, such as the labor service of the central government and local government offices, such as the labor service of the central government, such as the labor service of the central government when carrying out large-scale engineering projects, such as dredging canals and building palaces, etc.!"

"To be honest, the corvée labor in our Ming Dynasty has not been reduced in the slightest compared to the previous dynasties, not to mention that there are still corrupt officials who use corvée labor to seek personal gain and plunder the people's wealth!"

Everyone was silent after hearing this.

They were also aware of this because a major horse politics reform had just taken place not long ago.

To put it bluntly, this horse policy is actually a form of corvee labor.

In fact, until the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, horses from the northwest were not the main source of horses for the country. The main supply was horses raised in the four provinces of Zhili, Shandong and Henan in the north and south.

After the establishment of the tax and labor service law in the early Ming Dynasty, the labor service of raising horses also became clear. As part of the horse labor service for the post messengers, "only grain was considered", while the quota of breeding horses was divided into the north and south of the Yangtze River, and were raised according to the number of people and the land respectively. These two types of horse breeding actually fell into the category of "labor".

In fact, for the people, raising horses is equivalent to performing horse labor service, and the final result has been clearly stated by Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao.

A horse is at home, fed day and night, but now it is tied up and cannot run around for food and clothing!

The cost of raising a horse is only one tenth, but the cost of spending on horses is always nine tenths!
It was originally a national policy set by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to benefit the country and the people, but in the end it evolved into a tyranny of the court that harmed the people. This is the current horse labor service in the Ming Dynasty!

If Marquis Zhongshan had not forced the court to reform the horse policy, for which the entire Taifu Temple was investigated and held accountable, there is no telling how corrupt the Ming Dynasty's horse policy would have become, and who knows how many people would have lost their families as a result!
"Everyone, take a look at the ruling class of our Ming Dynasty."

Tang Hao wrote down each class one by one on the small blackboard.

The person who bears the brunt of the impact at the top of the pyramid is undoubtedly the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"Your Majesty the Emperor is the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty. He holds a dominant position. All the subjects in the world must be registered in the Emperor's household register and become his registered citizens and servants!"

"After His Majesty, except for the royal family, meritorious officials, relatives of the emperor, and a few who were exempted by the emperor, all were assigned to perform corvée labor. Since they paid taxes and served the emperor, they naturally did not have to perform corvée labor."

"Ministers and local officials manage the land, shepherd the people, and govern the country for the emperor. They are servants of the emperor and do not have to bear corvée labor."

"Then there are the scholars and gentry below them. The imperial court has implemented the policy of 'nurturing and recruiting scholars', favoring scholars and granting them fame and privileges. With these privileges, they do not have to bear corvée labor and can just focus on studying and cultivating virtue!"

"After going through all these levels, the people who have to bear corvée labor are naturally the lower-class people."

Tang Hao looked at everyone and asked a soul-searching question.

"Do you know why corvée labor is ten times more painful than taxes?"

"Because for the lower-class people, taking on corvée labor is like facing a life-and-death crisis!"

"I think you all know that I have been in the Changlu Salt Field for a while and have learned in detail about the miserable lives of the salt workers. The most distressing thing is that the government would occasionally draft these salt workers to perform corvée labor, treating them like slaves without caring about their lives."

"You have to know that they are not paid for their corvée labor, so in order to survive, they can only bring their own food to perform corvée labor, which delays farming and salt making, affecting the livelihood of the family. This is just one aspect. What really makes them despair is that if they leave, their family may be broken up."

"During their labor service, they were often enslaved and blackmailed. They were even deemed unqualified by officials and had to pay compensation until they went bankrupt. Or if they were unlucky and got injured, they had no money to pay for treatment. Moreover, they had to continue to perform labor service with injuries and illnesses. This was the desperate situation they faced. What about their families?"

"The corvée labor lasts a long time, plus the time spent on the way back and forth, it takes at least a year or so. The inconvenience of communication makes it impossible for them to take care of their families. What is the result of losing young and strong laborers at home? Ordinary families delay farming, resulting in poor harvests, and cannot pay the government's heavy taxes; the cooks and salt workers lose a laborer, resulting in not being able to cook enough salt to pay the salt tax... The final result is that they cannot afford the heavy taxes, but the officials don't care why they can't pay the taxes. If they can't pay the taxes, they will sell their fields, their land, their children, and their daughters. So their wives and daughters will suffer inhuman torture at home. After they have completed their corvée labor, if they are lucky enough to survive, they will return home after untold hardships, but their families have already been broken up..."

"But in fact, most of the young and strong laborers who went to serve would die or suffer from diseases. Even if they survived, they would lose their families... The suffering of corvée labor is ten times more painful than taxes. It makes the people despair, and makes the people despair!"

Everyone present was silent.

They never imagined that this corvée would be... so painful!
Following what Tang Hao said, they subconsciously put themselves into the role.

The imperial court suddenly wanted to dredge the canal, and they responded to the call and went to undertake corvée labor to dredge the canal. However, they learned that there would be no remuneration, so they had to prepare their own dry food. After trekking through mountains and rivers to the construction site, they were assigned to a team by the officials without even having time to rest and began to work hard day and night.

If you are unlucky and get injured while moving stones, not only will no one give you treatment, but you will have to continue working hard, and you will have no money to see a doctor or treat your injuries. So you keep holding on and dragging it on, and when your service time is finally up and you are lucky enough not to die, you will immediately set off for home.

Even though the dry food he brought with him had been eaten long ago, he had no money. He worked hard for a year and a half but didn't get a penny. He could only rush home on an empty stomach, missing his wife and children, and enduring the torture brought by the illness. Finally, after much difficulty, he returned home with his last breath.

However, what greeted him was not the happy little home he had once had, but an empty ruin after being smashed and destroyed. His wife and daughter were missing. He asked around like crazy and finally learned from his neighbors that because he had gone to serve in the army, the family had lost its pillar. His wife worked hard but could not make ends meet. When it was time to collect taxes, she could not pay them. The police targeted his daughter, snatched her away and sold her to a brothel. His wife jumped into a well out of despair...

A happy family of three was broken up just like that...

Zhu Houzhao suddenly shuddered, and then shouted angrily: "No! How can you do this?"

"They are all my people, all my people!"

"Savage, you must think of a solution quickly. The corvée must be changed, it must be changed!"

Tang Hao said something with a sullen face.

"If the Japanese take on the corvée labor, everything will be solved!"

(End of this chapter)