Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 246 Take from the people and give back to the people! Kill Huang Zicheng!
Old Zhu is also very clear about this.

He also always wanted to eliminate the power of the landlords.

To this end, Zhu Yuanzhang carried out large-scale immigration several times, following the example of Emperor Wu of Han and moving wealthy families and gentry to other places.

But due to various reasons, the results were not ideal.

Historically, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, local gentry always had very strong influence and control over the local areas.

The fact that imperial power did not extend below the county level also meant that local gentry actually shared ruling power with the state.

Zhu Yunhuan's plan was to abolish all corvee labor.

In the future, when the country wants to carry out construction, it will pay people for employment instead of relying on free labor.

In this way, “work-for-relief” can also be achieved.

Poor people without land can support their families by working for the state.

How much more can be invested in engineering projects to regulate the national economy?

The poor who get money will spend it, thus forming a positive economic cycle.

But abolishing corvee labor throughout the country is definitely a revolutionary event.

First, financial expenditures skyrocketed.

The amount of money invested will reach an astronomical figure.

The impact of this is difficult to predict.

Such as skyrocketing prices.

Even if the country can control the price of food, it is absolutely difficult to control the prices of materials such as cloth.

The production gap in this area is too big!
Nowadays, most people wear tattered clothes.

Three years new, three years old, and then mend it and wear it for another three years.

What's more, many of the clothes have become heirlooms.

The mother-in-law passes it on to the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law passes it on to the next generation.

Once the money supply increases and people use the money to improve their lives, the prices of these materials will immediately skyrocket.

Due to the limited supply of cotton and other raw materials, the current production of clothing fabrics is absolutely unable to keep up.

The same is true for many other materials.

If the supply of materials cannot be increased and production cannot be expanded rapidly, simply increasing the money supply is meaningless.

Secondly, if the grassroots no longer organizes the people to perform corvee labor, its ruling power will be rapidly weakened, and the local powerful gentry who have just been suppressed will take advantage of the situation, erode the grassroots political power, and gain actual power.

In addition to these, there are many more complex influences.

……

In a sense, for the current Ming Dynasty, abolishing corvee labor has a greater impact than abolishing taxes across the country.

This step must be taken with extreme caution and not be a capricious decision.

However, the negative impact of corvee labor is also very significant.

Yang Shiqi's words were very tactful.

It’s okay this year, but it can’t be like this every year.

I'm afraid that's not the case.

It's just that Zhu Yunhuan is at the moment of great ambition, and Yang Shiqi, as his adviser, does not want to dissuade him and make him discouraged, so he comforts him by saying that it will be fine this year.

Most people have already had complaints.

Although Zhu Yunhuan did not increase corvée labor, the same corvée labor could make a big difference if the work done was different and the place of service was different.

In the county or township, they would repair roads, renovate government office buildings, or help measure fields with official government runners, etc. There were even many who had nothing to do all day long and just showed up to do their job, which was also called "corvée labor."

When the country did not engage in major civil engineering projects, more than 90 percent of the people were subject to this kind of corvee labor.

Working locally is easy and the people won't have too many complaints.

But once the country has a major construction project, such as building a large city, repairing the Great Wall, digging a canal... then they will need to leave their homes and go to designated locations to perform labor service.

There is absolutely a world of difference between the two!

Zhu Yunhuan is now carrying out large-scale construction projects, building national roads, repairing dams, and building reservoirs... The people have to leave their hometowns to serve in the army, and they will have some complaints to a certain extent.

Yang Shiqi had never mentioned it before, Yao Guangxiao's Investigation Department had not reported it, and the matter was not mentioned in the memorials submitted by the officials... Perhaps it was just because the matter was not serious yet, and everyone tacitly kept silent about it.

Because everyone knows that this was strongly promoted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The ministers did not want to anger the crown prince who now held great power.

Yang Shiqi, Yang Guangxiao and other close confidants were also unwilling to dampen the enthusiasm of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince because of such things.

Therefore, a situation emerged where no one could speak up.

If Qi Tai hadn't said it when he cursed him, Zhu Yunhuan probably wouldn't have noticed anything yet.

This is the dilemma of the superior.

Many times, it is difficult to understand what is actually happening.

Not to mention those who have lived in the deep palace for a long time, even children in big cities in later generations find it difficult to truly understand the situation in rural areas.

As a result, the comments about the countryside made by some people on the Internet in later generations can make people laugh and cry.

That was a society with highly developed information and a large population flow.

People from different classes find it difficult to understand each other's world and lives.

The distance between Zhu Yunhuan in the deep palace and the life of ordinary people was so great.

How easy is it to understand the specific changes in the situation among the people at all times?

As a superior, you must be sufficiently vigilant about this.

Zhu Yunhuan said in a clear voice: "Since the national treasury is full of grain, pass down the order that from now on, all those who perform corvée labor will be provided with rice by the court and no longer need to bring their own food."

"The necessary expenses will be allocated from the granary. The money needed for meat and vegetables will be reported truthfully by each locality based on the number of people, and the court will allocate funds for it."

“Send officials to conduct inspections and ensure that migrant workers have enough food to eat.”

"In addition, the expenses of the laborers on their way to perform corvée labor were also paid by the court according to the standard and converted into rice for distribution."

"People can take their vouchers to the granary to exchange, or they can go to the Ming Bank to exchange for money."

When the people were doing corvée labor, one of the biggest expenses was eating!

According to regulations, one had to bring one's own rice to perform labor service.

Although I have to eat at home, I definitely eat more when I work than usual.

It would be better if I could perform labor service in my hometown.

If the location is far away, the cost of traveling back and forth will be a considerable expense.

Zhu Yunhuan’s solution was that although he could not pay wages now, food would still be supplied by the court.

This will greatly reduce the burden on the people.

For the extremely poor and hungry people, performing corvée labor became a "relief" measure.

For families who could barely make enough to eat, converting grain into money was also an unexpected income.

In this way, although some people will inevitably be dissatisfied with corvee labor, they will never rebel or cause unrest.

For the Ming Dynasty court, the expense was not that large as it only provided food, meat and vegetables, and was still within an affordable range.

Nor will it cause price fluctuations.

It also laid the groundwork for completely abolishing corvee labor in the future.

Once we enter the industrial society, there is no distinction between busy farming season and slack farming season.

It was unlikely that the state would conscript a large number of people to perform corvée labor, and could only employ them for employment.

Forcing people to interrupt their productive labor to perform corvee labor would cause far more losses to the national economy than the gains.

Yang Shiqi was stunned when he heard this, and then he bowed down suddenly: "Yang Shiqi thanks His Royal Highness the Crown Prince on behalf of the millions of people in the world!"

As a person from the lower class, he knew very well how great the impact would be on the lower class people once this policy was implemented.

The Ming Dynasty was an agricultural society, and the vast majority of people relied on farming as their main occupation.

But in reality, at least more than half of the people do not own a single penny of land.

They make a living by renting land from landlords.

Among the remaining half, eight or nine out of ten people only have a small amount of land. Nine out of ten of the land in the world is controlled by less than one out of ten people.

Even though there was war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, when a large number of people died and the amount of arable land per capita increased sharply, the situation where all the land in the world was controlled by a very small number of people did not change.

Although in theory, according to the court's policy, reclaimed wasteland can be considered one's own land.

But in reality, except for Taiwan where Zhu Yunhuan implemented a thorough reform and could buy wasteland from the government for reclamation, the powerless people could not keep the wasteland they reclaimed in other places even if they reclaimed it.

Only people with a certain amount of power in the local area can protect the land after reclamation and prevent others from snatching it away under some excuse. Only then can they be qualified to reclaim the land.

People who have no land or only very little land make up the vast majority of the population.

However, when the population is small, there are still some benefits to renting land from landlords.

The landlords have a lot of land, but there are relatively fewer people who rent the land to farm, so the rent will be slightly lower.

In the later period, when the population increased, it became a situation where if you didn't rent the land, there would be more people renting it, and the rent price of the land continued to rise.

Being able to earn a living by performing corvée labor was definitely a huge benefit for the lower classes.

Therefore, Yang Shiqi's reaction was so big.

"No need to thank me." Zhu Yunhuan said with a smile: "It is only right to take from the people and give back to the people."

"But providing rice to tens of millions of people and building canteens on construction sites to provide meals for the people will inevitably become a focus for corrupt officials to embezzle money. Your Censorate must strengthen supervision on this and don't let a good thing turn into a bad thing."

Since ancient times, canteens have been the hotbed of corruption.

Zhu Yunhuan had a deep understanding of this, so he spoke out to warn Yang Shiqi.

……

The turmoil caused by the Huang Zicheng case has finally subsided.

The Ministry of Justice was established and the three judicial departments were reformed.

The court underwent an unprecedented major adjustment.

Many officials were overwhelmed.

However, since the Three Judicial Departments had been reorganized due to the Huang Zicheng incident, this reform went very smoothly.

After Yang Jing and Zhou Zhiqing were released, they were grateful to Zhu Yunhuan profusely and had no complaints about the adjustment of departmental power and positions.

After the Ministry of Justice was established, the expansion of staff and the increase of the number of officials went very smoothly.

Bureaucracies have a strong innate drive to expand.

Because expansion means more positions and power distribution, which is what countless people desire.

They will fight for power and office, but no one will stop expansion.

Therefore, it is always easy to expand, but it is difficult to downsize and lay off employees.

The Ministry of Justice itself has greatly expanded its power.

The newly added Ministry of Law was split from the Ministry of Punishment, and many people took advantage of the expansion to be promoted, so they were naturally not dissatisfied.

The transformation of Dali Temple into a legislative body also went smoothly.

The only one who made a big fuss was the former Censorate.

However, the former Left Censor-in-Chief Yuan Tai was convicted for colluding with Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai.

No one dared to plead for him or redress his injustice.

Otherwise, Zhu Yunhuan would not have to take any action. The criticism from all the civil and military officials in the court and the curses from the people all over the world would have made it impossible for such a person to survive.

No one dared to stop Yang Shiqi from reorganizing the Censorate.

After all, the Censorate is nothing more than a group of scholars who have neither official authority nor military power.

When they consider themselves to be upright and can mobilize public opinion in the name of "righteousness", their influence is so great that they are invincible in both the government and the public.

Once you fail to take the "greater justice" position and are in the wrong, you will be at the mercy of others without any ability to fight back.

At the beginning, Zhu Yunhuan was a little worried about Yang Shiqi. After all, it was his first time in charge of the Censorate. He was afraid that Yang Shiqi would be accidentally plotted against by those scholars who each had a thousand six hundred schemes. Therefore, he asked Yang Jing to go to the Censorate to assist him.

Later, seeing that everything was going smoothly, he transferred Yang Jing to the Dali Temple.

He was once the Minister of Justice and was very familiar with criminal law and aware of the shortcomings of the law.

If he is in charge of legislative work, he can be considered an expert.

But the core of this reform is actually to weaken the power of local governments and strengthen the direct rule of the central government.

After all, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice both have corresponding subordinate agencies at different levels in the local areas, implementing dual management.

……

On this day, the streets of Jinling City were deserted.

The former Japanese general Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, as well as Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai, Yuan Tai and others were all taken to the execution ground.

In addition to the common people of the capital and many civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, those who came to watch included the prince sent by Japan as a hostage and envoys from other neighboring countries to the Ming Dynasty.

This was of course a deliberate arrangement by Zhu Yunhuan, so that they could see with their own eyes the consequences of invading the Ming Dynasty.

It is different from the previous practice of directly executing people on the execution ground.

This time, the justice officials read out the crimes committed by each person and the results of their trials.

"Huang Zicheng, I never thought you would end up like this!"

Someone in the crowd shouted.

Suddenly, everyone spoke up.

"You have read the books of sages in vain, but you have done such a despicable thing, selling out your country for fame and fortune, and you still don't repent. If I don't kill all your clans, I will never be able to let go of my hatred!"

"You will go to the eighteenth level of hell even if you die!"

"Your fate will be to be boiled in a frying pan for tens of millions of years without being reborn for generations."

"Later, I will buy some meat from him and eat it raw to vent my hatred."

"Bah, even eating his meat is dirty to me. I'm going to feed it to the dogs."

……

On the stage.

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Yuan Tai were so frightened that they were shitting and pissing.

Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai were much calmer.

Huang Zicheng looked at the people who were cursing him in the audience with some confusion, then turned to Qi Tai and murmured, "Are we really wrong?"

"What's the point of talking about this now?" Qi Tai sighed, "I heard that he distributed food to all the people who were doing corvee labor in the country."

this moment.

He suddenly remembered the heroic spirit he had when he first entered officialdom.

At that time, I promised myself that when I became an official in the future, I would definitely follow the advice of sages and serve the people.

But when he arrived, he ended up like this.

However, who can be blamed for all this?
Zhu Yunhuan may truly be the greatest sage king ever seen in history.

And I am the traitor who is cursed for all eternity.

Before he died, he finally figured it out, but it was too late.

"Crack!"

The executioner cut off a piece of meat with one knife.

The pain was so severe that beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks.

"Become a negative role model, just like Qin Hui, and be reviled by the world for all eternity. Let future generations learn from me, this may be my last bit of value."

He thought in his heart, and gradually, under the executioner's knife again and again, he lost his thoughts, and only endless pain filled his body.

……

Winter of the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu.

Huang Zicheng, Qi Tai and others were executed, and the Huang Zicheng case came to an end.

At the same time, with the death of Huang Zicheng, a new storm is forming!

……

(End of this chapter)