Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 200: Governing a country is about creating inequality!
Xia Zhibai's voice echoed in the empty hall.

The only sound in the whole hall was this lingering echo.

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent.

He walked around the hall with his hands behind his back, looking somewhat uneasy.

He knew more and more deeply about what Xia Zhibai said than Xia Zhibai. Was it really because there were so many corrupt officials involved in the Guo Huan case that so much anger was vented on him?

it's not true.

But that was the eighteenth year of Hongwu.

Eighteen years.

A whole generation of time.

The Ming Dynasty, which he had worked so hard to build, had always been committed to changing the world's customs. However, in the Guo Huan case, everything came to nothing. The current Ming Dynasty has not changed at all from the situation before the founding of the Ming Dynasty. This is what led to his final rage and the thorough investigation.

What he wants is for the world to get better.

What is needed is that these scholars and officials change their ways.

But that's not the case.

He realized one thing very early on: ruling the world comes at a cost.

Therefore, after he established the country, he has been committed to cutting costs, whether it is reducing the salaries of officials, reducing the number of officials, or cutting some government offices, all in order to reduce the cost of governance.

But the cost of Ming Dynasty ruling the world was still too high.

The imperial court had to conscript a large number of civilians and levy a large number of exorbitant taxes.

Yet he loved the people.

There was no way he could let these things slip.

It was just that Xia Zhibai brought up these things again and again, and placed them directly in front of him, telling him bluntly that he was the one who instigated all of this, and repeatedly criticized himself for deceiving himself.

He was really angry.

He knows this.

There is no need for Xia Zhibai to remind him.

And this is part of the system. The emperor is always right, and the only ones who are wrong are the officials and the people below.

This is imperial power!
But after Xia Zhibai broke things down and laid them out in front of him again and again, Zhu Yuanzhang had to admit that what Xia Zhibai said was right. Trying to cover up the problem will not solve it, it will only delay the problem. But if the problems are not solved, these problems will basically be difficult to disappear on their own.

And
He is indeed afraid of being cheated!
He turned around, faced Xia Zhibai, and said in a deep voice: "I am the only emperor in the world who is so frustrated. People jump on his face again and again. Yang Xian did it once, Hu Weiyong did it once, and you do it again and again."

"We really don't understand."

"Since you have such a deep understanding of the system we designed, why do you still hold such a strong grudge?"

"Isn't the Ming system we designed good?"

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Xia Zhibai closely, desperately wanting to find an answer.

Xia Zhibai said: "Not good."

"What's wrong with it?" Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was filled with anger.

Xia Zhibai said calmly: "Your Majesty only knows that ruling has costs, but ruling also requires technical support. Your Majesty only considered the cost of ruling, and completely ignored the fact that the system designed by Your Majesty has no technical support at all."

"Indeed."

"In your majesty's eyes, 'imperial power is down to the countryside'."

“But did you really go to the countryside?”

"When it comes to levying corvée labor to build water conservancy projects, the imperial power not only goes to the countryside, but also to the villages. When it comes to the scale of tax collection, it has been getting bigger and bigger from generation to generation since the Qin Dynasty. When it comes to the meaningless consumption of grain, the imperial power has also gone to the countryside."

"But when it comes to beating people to death according to family rules, or squires evading and avoiding taxes, the imperial power does not even extend below the county level."

"The Ming Dynasty's rule over the grassroots has always been selective."

"When it is beneficial to the local bureaucracy, the imperial power can go down to the county, the countryside, and even into the village. But once it involves the interests of the bureaucracy itself, the imperial power will find it difficult to leave Yingtian Prefecture. The Ming Dynasty's control over the grassroots is actually very weak."

“This is also the downside of small government.”

"During the Qin and Han dynasties, the whole country had always been a large government, with the central government managing the localities vertically."

"It's just that with the rise of the aristocratic families in the Wei and Jin dynasties, the central court gradually lost its ability and awareness to manage the grassroots. However, both the Sui and Tang dynasties and the Song dynasty tried again and again to extend their hands to the grassroots, but the effect was not good. The Tang dynasty's management method for the local grassroots was simple and crude."

"It means that military officers directly manage the villages."

"It's just that the An-Shi Rebellion broke out during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, and then there was the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms."

"The Song Dynasty therefore overcorrected."

"Since the Song Dynasty, there has been no military group officers directly managing local areas. At the same time, this has also led to local officials becoming tax collectors for the central court, making it difficult to exercise any substantive control over the local areas. If they want to govern the local areas, they have to rely on the local gentry."

"Song Youqi after the migration south."

"From this point on, the world completely lost control of the grassroots."

"Your Majesty has learned from the experience of past dynasties and directly adopted a small government, which is almost equivalent to giving up grassroots control."

"The Ming Dynasty's official salaries were the lowest in history."

"In the Tang Dynasty, officials had 'official land', and in the Song Dynasty, officials also had 'public land', but the Ming Dynasty only relied on salaries and had no other grants. Many ninth-rank officials only received five stone of rice per month, which was not even half of what they received during the Five Dynasties and the Northern Han Dynasty."

"The livelihoods of the lower-level officials in the Ming Dynasty are actually seriously insufficient." "But why is it that such a low salary still attracts people all over the world?"

"Because many officials do not rely on court salaries at all."

"Most of their income comes from family business income, such as renting out farmland and real estate, and some textile production."

“These officials are essentially landlords.”

"besides."

"Ming officials usually used the privileges granted to them by the court to obtain additional generous returns in addition to their basic income from land management."

"According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, all the gentry on the two lists, regardless of their official rank or the amount of land they own, will never be required to sign up for labor service."

"For candidates in the second list, depending on the high or low official positions, the maximum exemption is 2,000 to 3,000 mu, and the minimum is 1,000 mu. As for officials who are tribute students, depending on their official positions, the maximum exemption is 1,000 mu, and the minimum is no more than 300 to 500 mu, or they may be exempted from corvée."

"The imperial examination has just begun. When the number of successful candidates grows, the world will enter an era of great annexation."

"It has been nearly twenty years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty."

"All kinds of chaos followed one after another, just like the Han and Tang dynasties, both faced the issue of reducing the power of the feudal lords."

"It has always been difficult to reduce the power of the feudal lords in every dynasty."

"The Western Han Emperor Jing's reduction of the feudal system triggered the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms."

"The Tang Dynasty tried to reduce the power of the feudal lords, but the central government was powerless and could not solve the problem, which eventually led to the downfall of the Tang Dynasty."

"The vassal states that the Ming Dynasty wanted to reduce were different from those of the Han and Tang Dynasties. The Han and Tang Dynasties were mainly military, while the Ming Dynasty mainly reduced economic vassal states and the 'privileged vassal states' of scholars."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes narrowed and became sharp.

Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes slightly, and his expression became deep.

Cut off the vassal.

These two words are very heavy.

Moreover, he never thought that the Ming Dynasty had any "vassal states".

He did enfeoff his sons in various places, but neither the King of Qin nor the King of Jin had much military power.

Moreover, he learned the lessons of the Han and Tang dynasties and only gave military power but not economic power to the local areas. This also meant that the King of Qin, the King of Jin and other frontier kings could only stay at home unless the court ordered a northern expedition to have sufficient supplies.

Xia Zhibai's description of the economic "feudal domain" and the "privileged feudal domain" of the scholars gave him a refreshing feeling.

"Tell us in detail about this vassal state," Zhu Yuanzhang said.

Xia Zhibai said: "The economic 'fan' actually refers to something very clear."

"Jiangnan."

“The economy in Jiangnan is currently booming.”

"We are self-sufficient in every aspect, so we can still live well even without the North. In fact, the North is seen as a burden by the Southerners."

"Plus, Jiangnan accounts for almost half of the country's taxes. If Your Majesty does not take advantage of the court's strength to completely seize the economic power of Jiangnan, as more and more officials are born in Jiangnan, it will become increasingly difficult for the court to collect taxes from Jiangnan."

"It is very likely that Jiangnan will eventually protect itself and stay away from the imperial court."

"Because they can leave the court, but the court cannot leave them."

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes turned cold.

Xia Zhibai said: "It is unrealistic to directly weaken the economy of Jiangnan, because Jiangnan has a large population. If we suppress it blindly, it will easily cause the people to be displaced and unrest to occur frequently. Therefore, it is not possible to suppress it by relying on the power of the court."

“We can only find another way.”

"Use interests to divide the now monolithic Jiangnan."

"By opening up the sea, a group of interest groups have been formed, and these people are bound to have interests with the canal transport group."

"At the same time, the post station was divided into two groups, namely the government and the people, and a group of beneficiaries were identified again."

"Besides, the introduction of steam-powered salt making in Jiangnan will most likely lead to an overproduction of salt given the greed of the southerners. The imperial court will then take action to close some salt companies and concentrate some large salt companies in a few places in Jiangnan."

"The location of these large salt companies was determined by how close the local officials were to the imperial court."

"Let the economy of Jiangnan region be unbalanced and imbalanced, and through various means of differentiation, let the various regions of Jiangnan have rifts, and then let the court gradually control the local power."

"At the same time, through the means of imperial support, the economies of Jiangxi, Huguang, and Zhejiang became uneven, so that one of the provincial governors received strong support from the imperial court, directly widening the gap with the other provincial governors."

“Confucius said: What worries us is not the scarcity of wealth but the inequality of wealth.”

“But governing a country, to a certain extent, means creating inequality.”

"The localities cannot unite, let alone form a group. Only in this way can the imperial court highlight its role and unite them together."

"in addition."

"If we can support a huge economic capital through this method."

"The court can also directly promote this city to be directly managed by the central court, just like Yingtian Prefecture, to improve its political status and separate it from the local governor. The financial income of this economic capital will be entirely the responsibility of the court, and not a single cent will flow into the local governor."

“Economic problems should be solved with economic means.”

“Administration is only auxiliary.”

(End of this chapter)