Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 182 When Have We Been Landlords? (First Update)
"Bourgeoisie and proletariat?" Zhu Yuanzhang moved his body and muttered a few words in a low voice.

He was still a little sleepy at first, but after reading Xia Zhibai's incisive memorial, he was completely awake. His eyes were bright and his expression was extremely serious. He had realized that Xia Zhibai's memorial was unusual.

This is not a simple memorial.

This is a memorial to reorganize the world.

If it were before, he would have simply disdained such memorials.

Who can understand the world better than yourself?

but now.

He was already a little uncertain.

Because Xia Zhibai's memorial provided a new idea and a new direction.

Xia Zhibai didn't care about "morality and integrity", "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness", "gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality and modesty", "loyalty, filial piety, courage, respect and integrity".

He only cares about righteousness and profit!
Re-analyze the world from the perspective of righteousness and profit.

This is a completely new perspective, a direction that Zhu Yuanzhang had never thought of before, or even could not think of at all. Just the three words "righteousness and profit" made Zhu Yuanzhang feel enlightened.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyes.

He looked at Zhu Biao and urged, "Biao'er, go and show us the magnifying glass."

"We need to read this memorial carefully and slowly."

Zhu Biao nodded.

He walked up to Zhu Yuanzhang, searched carefully on the large table beside him, and handed a magnifying glass in a brocade box to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang reached out to take it, let Zhu Biao hold the candle, and read it carefully.

"Looking at the world, in almost every historical period, we can see that society is completely divided into different classes and that there are multiple levels of social status."

“It is too general to simply classify based on whether or not there are assets.”

“Therefore, we need to have a further general understanding of the various social classes in the Ming Dynasty before we can make specific divisions among them.”

"On the fourth day of the first lunar month in the first year of the Hongwu reign, Your Majesty ascended the throne in Nanjing and was proclaimed Emperor."

"Eight months later, the Ming Dynasty invaded Dadu, and Emperor Shundi of the Yuan Dynasty fled north. This marked the beginning of a radical change of dynasty."

"The new dynasty was also thoroughly established amidst the turmoil."

"The Ming Dynasty was an empire established by the Han Chinese landlord class."

"At the beginning of its establishment, it had already shown many characteristics of the hierarchical society of the Chinese dynasties."

Seeing Xia Zhibai's evaluation of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, his face showing displeasure, and snorted coldly: "When did I become a landlord? I am a poor peasant through and through. When I started my career, I didn't even have clothes to fit me. When my parents were buried, there was not even a straw mat to wrap them. How can I be called a landlord?"

"Is there any landlord as poor as us in the world?"

"What nonsense!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was also angry and laughed.

He had been slandered and abused for so many years, but he never took it to heart. The only thing that made him annoyed was Xia Zhibai, the "landlord". This was complete nonsense. When he was at his lowest point, he only had a broken bowl. When had he ever been a landlord?
Zhu Biao glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang nervously and did not dare to say anything.

Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his anger and continued reading.

"The establishment of the new dynasty essentially means that the old nobles of the Yuan Dynasty were replaced by His Majesty and a group of new nobles around him."

"However, there are not many substantial changes between the new dynasty and the old one. There is still a royal family with the emperor as the core, and the aristocratic group composed of relatives and meritorious officials is still the supreme ruler of the new dynasty."

"The second is a large number of hierarchical bureaucrats who represent the emperor and embody this imperial rule."

“Bureaucratic rule has penetrated all the way to local governments, states, counties, and military garrisons;”

"In the grassroots society below the local prefectures and counties, outside the military guards, the main body of society is composed of gentry landlords (i.e. landlords with status), non-landlords, farmers, merchants, craftsmen, urban residents, sergeants, and military remnants."

"This is the level division that has always existed in China."

"After the Ming Dynasty was established, it made a clear distinction between the household registrations of the whole country, dividing the Ming Dynasty households into military, civilian, craftsman, stove and commercial households."

"But this distinction in household registration is not intended to distinguish between classes."

"It is more to facilitate the court's management of various types of people and households, such as taxation and labor service assignment. This is only a manifestation of personal dependence, and in fact, it cannot reflect the true hierarchical structure of society."

"The real classes in the world still generally follow the four major categories of 'scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans'."

"If we really discuss it in detail, the Ming Dynasty actually has five categories."

"Scholars, farmers, merchants, and soldiers."

"However, after more than nine months of traveling around the northern border and a detailed understanding of the military household system, I had no choice but to give up the term 'military'. The real status and social class of the military households in the Ming Dynasty were actually similar to those of ordinary civilian households, and were even slightly lower in status."

"Military households are essentially engaged in production under the management of the military guards."

“They are no different from farmers!”

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned.

He didn't expect Xia Zhibai to have such a low opinion of military households.

However, after thinking about it, he agreed that the biggest difference between military households and farmers is that they are managed by different government offices.

He continued to look down. "If we redefine the classes based on assets."

“This is a very important part that must be examined.”

"land!"

"Today, the upper class is made up of the royal family, relatives of the emperor's wife, and meritorious officials. The middle class is made up of the bureaucratic class that controls a large amount of local resources. The lower class is made up of gentry landlords, non-landlords, farmers, merchants, craftsmen, urban residents, soldiers, and military remnants."

“Whether it’s the upper class, the middle class, or the lower class, they all have to rely on the land.”

"Therefore, compared with the political changes of dynasties, the redistribution of land is the real reason why the Ming Dynasty stood firm in the world."

"The political changes of changing dynasties only saw a group of new nobles replace the original rulers, while the redistribution of land created a large number of new farmers who had their own land to cultivate, that is, a large number of self-cultivating farmers."

“But there are also differences in agriculture.”

"In the eyes of His Majesty, whether it is the landlords who occupy a lot of land, or the farmers who do not hire workers or rent out their land and engage in scattered individual business, or the state tenants who cultivate government land, or the self-cultivating farmers who cultivate wasteland and occupy it as their own land, they are all farmers."

"They are also regarded as people without status by the imperial court."

"The real privileged class in the Ming Dynasty is and only is the 'official'."

"The world that your majesty wants to build today is a stratified society consisting of a large number of state tenants and self-cultivating farmers."

"Officials are officials, and the people are the people."

“Only two poles.”

"This simple and crude classification is obviously wrong and absurd, but Your Majesty does not take it as an offense, but rather takes it as an honor. In order to prevent local landlords from enjoying privileges, the Ming Dynasty implemented various strict policies throughout the country. Many of those who were listed as 'treacherous, stubborn, and wealthy families' went bankrupt within a few years."

"The northern border is desolate, but it has not been spared."

"When I traveled to the northern border, many locals said: The local wealthy families enjoyed the benefits of farming but did not work hard. Within a few years, they became wealthy but then went bankrupt. Some died or moved away, and no one survived."

"These wealthy families who were deliberately targeted and suppressed by the imperial court, under a series of government targeting, all went bankrupt and became state tenants who cultivated government farmland, or were directly targeted to death. There were few other situations."

"If you dissect it carefully, you will find that all of this was done intentionally by your majesty."

"Your Majesty rose from humble beginnings and knew the disgust of the many local villains. Therefore, after establishing the country, he adopted a 'small government'. Under this management model, the situation in the Jiangnan region of the Yuan Dynasty where 'the emperor was far away and the people were few and the officials were many' was indeed gone forever."

"Your Majesty intends to use force to reduce the social classes in the world and then reduce the loss of those in the middle."

"The farmers of the whole world support the officials."

"It's just that the system designed by Your Majesty had a huge problem when it was actually put into operation."

"It's a scholar!"

"Your Majesty dislikes scholars and hates them. The fundamental reason is that scholars are constantly destroying the system designed by Your Majesty."

"But the Ming Dynasty had to use scholars to govern the country. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty tried to 'abandon scholars', that is, to directly use 'illiterate' military officers to govern the northwest. However, it eventually caused resentment among the local people, so the military officers had to be withdrawn, and this attempt also failed."

"Then, Your Majesty tried to suppress the use of scholars through many means, such as the recommendation system."

"Without exception, they all failed."

"Your Majesty subsequently issued the Great Edict, intending to educate the people of the world."

"That's what your majesty wants."

"Recommending a gentleman is usually based on his writing, political affairs, conduct and integrity."

"There are few people who seek land or houses, but there are only one or two people who seek fame and fortune or keep musicians."

"It is common for people to write letters and teach students behind the curtains. There are few people who seek fame by offering gifts. However, there are only a few who use singing and dancing as a tool, indulge in gambling, and make connections with scholars and officials to make arguments about right and wrong."

"The military and civilians usually make a living, fear the officials, and keep a simple life. Few of them decorate the emperor's clothes. However, there are only a few who buy official positions, sell titles, and even compete with the literati."

"Women usually stay at home, brew wine, and weave. They seldom wear pearls, jade, and silk. But they pretend to dress up as prostitutes, associate with concubines, and go out and about like men. Only one or two out of a hundred are seen."

"But the real reality of the Ming Dynasty is that 'the rules and regulations since the founding of the country have only been shaken day by day. ... Therefore, the people have all kinds of abnormal behaviors such as the servility of the elders, the young bullying the old, the young insulting the old, and the slaves rebelling against their parents. This has been going on for a long time.'"

"Perhaps Your Majesty cannot understand why the world is like this?"

"The world is in decline, people's hearts are no longer the same as before, why did they fall so fast?"

"Your Majesty seemed to have thought of something later, and thought that it was the merchants and the commodity economy that misled people's hearts, so he began to crack down on them severely."

"But the fundamental reason is not 'business'."

"The reason is that the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty were not 'pure', and your Majesty believed in the unity of all walks of life. Suddenly, a large number of people from all walks of life mixed into the originally pure bureaucracy. They took advantage of the chaos and quickly occupied high positions and gained considerable power in the court."

"These bureaucrats are not 'scholars' at all."

"Your Majesty is forcing these meritorious officials to accept change by using the righteousness and profit views of the past 'scholars'."

"How can it be possible?"

"If your Majesty's ideas do not change, this torrent of social collapse will only become more and more unstoppable."

"The Ming Dynasty's bureaucracy is not essentially composed of scholars."

"But the landlord!"

(End of this chapter)