Although Zhou Changfeng himself felt that this was outrageous, considering the current situation of the Ming Dynasty and the endless occurrence of all kinds of magical things, he boldly tried to imagine Zhu Lingjing's intention.
Unexpectedly, when Zhu Lingjing heard this, she looked like "Are you kidding me?" and said leisurely: "You think... too much."
She put the tea cup on the small table aside, stood up slowly, and said calmly: "What I pursue, for the public, is the prosperity of the country and the authority of all nations; for the private, it is power and the pleasure of controlling the government."
She was very calm when she said this, as if she didn't bother to hide her intentions and pursuits.
However, Zhou Changfeng knows very well what politicians and nobles are good at, and duplicity can be said to be a routine operation.
So, this woman is not pretending to be deceptive, right?
But it doesn’t matter, just fool around, there will come a time when you can’t pretend anymore.
So Zhou Changfeng said seriously: "People have selfish motives. If your highness is really that ambitious in your pursuit, then I am willing to cooperate."
"Cooperate?" Zhu Lingjing squinted at him, "Shouldn't it be following?"
"Okay, then follow."
You, this guy, just say yes, and you do it so coquettishly! Zhu Lingjing, who looked as usual, complained in her heart.
From the first meeting to several subsequent phone conversations, it can be said that Zhou Changfeng did not have a good impression of the princess - she acted mysteriously, used intimidating words, and spoke in a way that made people feel uncomfortable.
This was the second time we met today. I don’t know if he was used to it, but he actually thought it was okay, so he talked a few more words.
The conversation that followed surprised him. The two were originally discussing the current government affairs, but in the end the topic somehow turned to the land issue.
"...Nowadays, the scope of the "Law of Public Land Redemption" is limited, too narrow, and too small. The obstacles that restrict economic development should be cleared..." Zhu Lingjing said very firmly: "If we want to pursue a better management of the world, , this land system must be changed.”
Since the main means of production in the agricultural era was land, a common situation in East Asia was that cultivated land was annexed and concentrated in the hands of large and small landowners such as rural gentry and gentry. Many farmers were landless tenant farmers.
Such a land system has greatly restricted the development of productivity and is also the root of inequality.
Since the establishment of constitutional government in the fourth year of Zhichang, although the Ming Dynasty has officially entered the road of capitalism, due to the compromise between the old and the new, this reform was not thorough. To this day, there are still a large number of feudal landowners in the north and south of the Ming Dynasty that are not conducive to economic and industrial development.
Especially in vast rural areas, conservative forces represented by landlords are particularly strong and deeply rooted.
In order to speed up construction, only by changing the existing land policy and increasing agricultural output can we provide funds for the development of light and heavy industries and provide a market for industrial products.
After all, compared with poor tenant farmers, the former's initiative and consumption power are definitely higher.
Insightful people realized this very early on and approached the imperial court one after another. Later, as more and more officials pointed this out, in the 23rd year of Chang's reign, the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works jointly formulated a plan to deal with the problem. Draft for land policy reform.
After months of wrangling by members of the Consultative Council, it was finally passed, and the emperor gave his royal assent.
However, the trial is only allowed in Suzhou and Baoding, two cities in the south and one in the north.
Even so, this policy was fiercely opposed by many conservatives in the Ming Dynasty at that time. Several officials who participated in drafting the plan received threatening and intimidating letters; the officials responsible for the specific implementation also encountered many obstacles, and three people were successively encountered. assassination.
In the end, with the efforts and joint promotion of countless people of insight, this policy was able to survive and continue, instead of dying midway.
In the twenty-eighth year of Emperor Chang's reign, a decree called the "Public Land Redemption Law" was officially promulgated after revisions. The government forced the government to redeem the land under the name of the landlord who owned more than 80 acres, and then sold half of the redeemed land. It was distributed to tenant farmers in the form of half-payments to convert them into semi-owner farmers or yeoman farmers.
In fact, the original standard of this decree was wider, with the compulsory redemption standard of fifty acres, because according to statistical results, there are not many large landowners in the South Zhili area who own huge amounts of land. Most of them own hundreds of acres or dozens of acres. Small and medium-sized landowners with acres of land.
It was set at 50 acres, and the scope was naturally wider. However, the conservative party in the DPRK firmly opposed it, and finally had to raise the redemption standard to 80 acres.
Moreover, since the promulgation of this decree, the Ming government has been implementing it cautiously and showing great care. All payments to the landlords are real money, which can be said to be polite.
In some areas where there was fierce opposition, local governments even privately paid with gold that was more "rich in credit symbol" to appease the landowners who had been forcibly redeemed their land.
It is obvious that this policy is inefficient, achieves little results, and consumes a large amount of Ming Dynasty's financial budget.
To date, it has been implemented for a total of nine years, and only the two provinces of South Zhili and North Zhili have completed more than half of it; other than that, other provinces have only implemented it in a small number of state capitals, and the progress is also uneven.
The only advantage is probably... it's gentle and stable, and less prone to chaos. Stability is paramount, which is exactly what the Ming Dynasty monarchs and ministers who are dedicated to stability generally pursue.
But what’s interesting is that Zhu Lingjing doesn’t seem to be like this?
Zhou Changfeng said with great interest: "I think so too, so how should we change it? Continue to deepen on the basis of the Land Acquisition Law?"
"It's too stupid to use real financial budget to do this. The cost is too high and it is really a bad idea." Zhu Lingjing put one hand behind her back and put the other hand in front of her. She slowly said: "Instead of With national bonds, you don’t have to worry about the cost, you have to print as much as you want.”
Grass! Your family runs the money printing machine, right?
"But the national debt has to be repaid, how?" When Zhou Changfeng said this, he actually knew what the answer was.
Zhu Lingjing, who was opposite her, didn't speak a word and just smiled indifferently, her meaning self-evident.
Are you afraid of running out of money when starting a war? Grab it! There is a lot of real money and various kinds of wealth in the Nanyang region.
"Then what if things don't go well?"
"There are many ways, including deferred repayment, printing more banknotes, etc., but we must try to control depreciation as much as possible."
If you don't grab the wealth, you can only delay it for a little longer. When you win, you will naturally have money; at the same time, you can also let the banknote printing plant run at full capacity and print more money, at the cost of inevitable inflation.
However, it is not like that. For the Ming Dynasty, the Nanyang region is easy to get fat.
Zhu Lingjing's idea seemed good to Zhou Changfeng, at least it was very attractive to him personally.
In today's Ming Dynasty, in other provinces except the north and south Zhili areas, large, medium and small landowners occupy about 52%-60% of the land, and countless farmers are dependent on them. Farmers, tenant farmers, and semi-owner farmers account for as much as 70% of all farmers.
However, there are actually not many pure tenant farmers. Tenant farmers are mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In other places, such as Shandong, semi-owner farmers and owner-cultivators are the main body, and pure tenant farmers account for about 10%-15%.
Looking closer, it is for war, and looking further, it is for economic development. Land must be redistributed.
This vote is done!
(End of chapter)
