Yang Fan said: "It's not because they don't have power. They have nothing to do with power. It doesn't matter at all. They are just objects for others to exercise power."
"If they want to change the status quo, what they need is not to gain power. For example, let their son take the imperial examination. But this is basically impossible. Their more realistic approach is to obtain the protection of power."
Gong Yonggu asked: "The government collected taxes from them and sent them additional corvees. It is obviously not to protect them. I don't know who can protect them."
"Gentlemen, the only ones who can protect them are gentry." Yang Fan said. "Doesn't it feel very subversive? The general view is that the powerful gentry is a cancer of the country. They exploit the people and cannibalize tax revenue. They cause the country to collapse."
Gong Yonggu nodded. The general view is that the gentry did not pay taxes and caused the country's financial collapse.
"Actually, if you think about many things from a different angle, you can make new discoveries." Yang Fan said, "Think about it from the perspective of farmers. The reason why they vote with their feet and go to rely on the gentry is because the gentry live where they live. It was better than under the imperial government. The gentry actually acted as the protectors of the peasants."
Gong Yonggu didn't understand what voting with his feet meant, but he understood what it meant to run away.
When I first heard some words, I felt incredible. But if you think about it deeply, it is true. If the gentry is not as good as being under the rule of the imperial court, why should they dedicate land to depend on the gentry?
"So, the people who are really opposed to the court are not the common people, but the gentry." Yang Fan continued. "The history of every dynasty in history is a history of the court and the gentry competing for the people. If the people are taken away by the gentry, the court will be finished."
Even the peasant uprisings at the end of each dynasty were mostly led by the gentry. Liu Bang and Zhu Yuanzhang are special cases. But most of their supporters and generals were from gentry origins. There are not many ordinary people.
Gong Yonggu asked: "Then for the long-term peace of the world, should we deal with the gentry?"
Yang Fan said: "It depends on whose standpoint you are on. If you are on the standpoint of the court, you must suppress the gentry and the court to compete for the people. Just like Zhang Juzheng. If you are on the standpoint of the common people, then the existence of the gentry At least it gives them the power to choose. They have a better choice for their own lives."
Gong Yonggu remained silent. He had asked many people these questions, but today, the answer he heard from Yang Fan subverted his cognition.
"Brother Yang, the court knows that these ills will cause the people to flee to the gentry. Why doesn't the court improve these ills? I read history books and see that in every dynasty, the situation is irreversibly getting worse and worse. Knowing these ills, , will lead to people's resistance and flight. To solve the problem at its root, the only way is for the imperial court to eradicate these bad policies."
Yang Fan smiled and said: "You said that gangsters bully kind people. People are supposed to resist. Why are gangsters everywhere? If the people fight against him, they will also cause his casualties. This is not what he wants to see. Arrived. Why don’t they change their ways?”
Gong Yonggu knew that Yang Fan was alluding to court officials harming the people. It's just that Yang Fan is an official and it's not convenient for him to speak directly.
"I understand that the vast majority of people will not make the choice of death. This risk is actually very small, but the benefits are great. Because only a few people will resist."
Yang Fan nodded and said: "The resistance of the people is an individual behavior, but the problem of Ming officials is a group behavior. Do you think it is easier to suppress individual resistance or to change a group?"
Gong Yonggu said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid it's easier to solve the problem than the problem itself."
Yang Fan smiled and said: "So, in the more than two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Haigang Peak."
Gong Yonggu said: "I have been reading for ten years and found that in the Ming Dynasty, and even earlier times, the weak were always individuals. They were scattered small people. As long as we formed a group, there was no weak. Everything was possible. To bully a single person."
Gong Yonggu was a little depressed. He actually sympathized with the lower class people.
After reading the book for so many years, if I think about it carefully, it is really hard to prosper the people and hard to destroy the people. The people did not live a good life for a few days.
The Zhenguan period was known as a prosperous period, but historical records record that Li Shimin went to the summer palace to escape the summer heat. Along the way, he saw people who were half-dressed and looked emaciated.
During the period when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was known as the most powerful country in the Han Dynasty, in order to increase fiscal revenue, the state took over salt and iron as a monopoly.
As a result, people could not afford iron tools, and many families could only grow crops by digging the ground with their hands. During his reign, the country's population dropped by half.
"Doctors cannot heal themselves. When a doctor is sick, he needs other doctors to treat him. In the same way, it is difficult for the court to solve these problems." Yang Fan said.
"Then we can only watch the Ming Dynasty gradually weaken." Gong Yonggu asked unwillingly.
"Actually, we have all entered into a misunderstanding about this problem. We have closed the problem. This way there is no way to solve it. We can only keep overthrowing it and start over. In fact, we can give the problem an open solution. Why do we have to do it? We stick to the eighteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty."
Gong Yonggu asked puzzledly: "The problem of Ming Dynasty is not how to solve it."
"This world is far bigger than we understand. There is too much fertile land that no one cultivates. Even if the 200 million people of the Ming Dynasty were moved there, it would not be enough to develop. Why fight to death for three melons and two dates at home? ." Yang Fan said.
"For example, this time the imperial court wants to establish a province in Monan. There are many grasslands suitable for farming and grazing, which are enough to resettle all the refugees in Beizhili."
Yang Fan continued: "When our problem is that resources are not allocated enough, what we need to consider is how to find more resources. Instead of killing ourselves in the dark."
"For example, the Ming Dynasty was short of silver. There was it in Japan, with an annual output of five to six million taels. The Ming Dynasty was short of copper, and there were large copper mines in Luzon. It was enough to drive the price of copper mines in the Ming Dynasty to the floor. Never again. No one will melt copper coins to make bronze vessels anymore. There is no need to resort to severe punishments to stop it.”
"Beyond Jiaozhi and Annan, there are the Red River Delta, Mekong River Delta, Siam, Myanmar, etc., which are all rice-producing areas. They are harvested three times a year. If developed, it would be enough to supply the entire Ming Dynasty."
Gong Yonggu's eyes widened, and he was obviously very moved, but he muttered: "It is not good for the saint to oppose us and infringe on our neighbors to enrich himself. Korea and Japan are still countries without conquests as set by Taizu. .”
Yang Fan smiled and said: "When the saints said these words, there were no such problems. If they encountered these problems in their time, the saints would definitely let us educate them. Let them surrender to the king and get rid of ignorance. This is not what we Violate them, this is their salvation.
