The poor Zhu Cihong thing is just a joke made up by Liu Zongmin. Li Zicheng would not really think so.
The main reason why he did not kill these gentry and profiteers was because he was "kind-hearted" and did not want to kill too many people. If it were Zhang Xianzhong, he probably wouldn't be so polite!
While being "kind-hearted", Li Zicheng struggled for a long time on the issue of whether to "tear down and restart" before making the final decision - he wanted to overthrow the entire Ming society, start over, and build a simple and efficient society. "Conformity". Instead of using the "Shun Cheng Ming System" method, he would be the Dashun Emperor after making some tinkering.
And if he wants to tear it down and restart it, he must completely eliminate the "explicit" vested interest groups!
This vested interest group includes not only the Ming Dynasty clan, honorable ministers and some civil servants, but also gentry and landlords all over the world, as well as the prosperous industrial and commercial people on the southeast coast - especially those affected by the development of industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty and the large-scale expansion of the Ming Dynasty. The Age of Sail was a double boon for exciting maritime merchants! This group of ambitious, energetic, and armed businessmen cannot be tolerated by an emerging feudal ruling group.
As for recruiting gentry, integrating industry and commerce, forcibly developing capitalism, etc... In fact, it is to accept the legacy of the Ming Dynasty to the maximum extent. To do so, it cannot be completely overthrown and restarted.
As for Li Zicheng now, he simply can't do it.
Because the Ming Dynasty has been saved by Zhu Cixiang, and the Ming Dynasty is not dead, Li Zicheng still inherits it! It is up to Zhu Cihong and his descendants to inherit. Li Zicheng and Dorgon have no chance.
Therefore, their route must make major adjustments!
Moreover, "inheritance" also means "distribution of profits". In history, there is a saying of "Qing Cheng Ming System", and the Qing Dynasty did share some profits with the scholar-bureaucrats left over from the Ming Dynasty.
But the Qing Dynasty still could not tolerate the Ming Dynasty's maritime business groups. Because they are more energetic, more threatening, and more difficult to control than the scholar-bureaucrats, and they will also have an impact on the feudal hierarchy established by the Qing Dynasty. In fact, all businessmen will have an impact on the feudal hierarchy, because they can be bought with money. There is a certain amount of power and nobility, and of course the armed maritime business group is even more terrifying!
Therefore, in history, the Qing Dynasty must resolutely eradicate the Ming Dynasty's maritime business groups, even if it involves forty years of war, even if it injures itself with the policy of moving borders and banning seas...
For the current Li Zicheng, on the one hand, he cannot become the successor of the Ming Dynasty, and on the other hand, he has no more benefits to distribute to scholar-bureaucrats and profiteers.
Instead of trying to please the gentry and profiteers, it would be better to wipe them out and seize the limited profits and distribute them to his "new aristocrats" and the poor peasants below. This would be more conducive to his rule!
Of course, the impact of this restart on social productivity will definitely be negative. The society after the restart has become highly hierarchical, the gap between various classes has been deepened, and private industrial and commercial activities have also been severely suppressed.
But for a society where the population has dropped significantly after the great chaos, the land is relatively rich, and the people's food and clothing are relatively easy to satisfy, this kind of restart is necessary and beneficial. During this period, the most effective way to develop productivity was actually to "produce the population." Only when there are more people can we produce!
The productive population does not require developed industry and commerce, nor does it require huge cities (the higher the level of urbanization, the lower the fertility rate). Land equalization based on population is the best method.
In history, many feudal dynasties would implement a national policy of focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce when they were first established. This is also the reason.
For a society with a large population, acute social contradictions (in fact, the contradiction between man and land was the biggest contradiction in a feudal society with underdeveloped productivity), and developed industry and commerce, unless there are social management methods and industrialization methods in the 20th century, it will be pushed to the next level. Come on...it's Thanos mode!
For the late Ming Dynasty, which had a population of more than 100 million, the prerequisite for a comeback was to eliminate 100 million people!
And after paying the loss of 100 million people, what comes back is still just a feudal country with strict hierarchy, focusing on agriculture and suppressing business... Because the military aristocrats who gained power in the process of coming back will not give up what they have gained easily. Hard-earned power and interests.
Fewer people, more land and urban decay will also seriously inhibit the development of industry and commerce.
If China is a huge country with a total population of only 40 to 50 million, and the urban population is only 3 to 4 million, after deducting the bureaucrats, nobles, soldiers, official and private slaves, etc., how many people are left? Develop gross capitalism? Let’s start a Maoist colony? How can we colonize other countries when there are no people at home?
On November 11, the 18th year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cixiang, the crown prince of Fujun in the Ming Dynasty, who led his troops to Wuchang Fucheng, which was crowded with refugees, already knew that the road leading to the evil capitalism in front of him was extremely dangerous. It's not easy to walk, but it's also the only way to survive - otherwise, what else can we do?
At this time, on the Yangtze River, Ye Jiaxin, who was seeking death, was riding a crowded wooden boat with his mother-in-law and two children towards the other side of misery.
Everyone on the boat was crying because they all had nothing!
This severely overloaded wooden boat staggered to the Hanyangmen Pier in Wuchang Fucheng.
Hanyangmen Pier was already heavily guarded at this time, with New Army soldiers holding spears and firecrackers all around. When they saw a ship approaching, the musketeers immediately aimed at them with bayonet-mounted muskets.
At the same time, officers from the Wuchang Prefecture and Jiangxia County Government came forward and shouted at the top of their lungs: "You refugees, listen, His Royal Highness the Prince of Fujun has arrived in Wuchang, and you all have to live!"
Do you really have to live?
Ye Jiaxin couldn't help but sigh, how did he end up in this situation?
His mother-in-law gave him a hand at this time and whispered: "Mr., the ship has docked, let's..."
"Let's... stay alive!" Ye Jiaxin looked at his woman and two and a half-year-old children, and tried to force out a smile, "I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince is the master of the Ming Dynasty, and maybe he will be able to do it soon. Recover Jingshan, if we recover Jingshan, we will have a good life."
"Well, my husband, things will definitely get better in the future..."
Ye Jiaxin nodded and helped his wife and children get off the boat to the dock when he suddenly heard someone calling him.
"Lao Ye, are you Lao Ye from Jingshan County?"
The voice sounded familiar. Ye Jiaxin quickly followed the sound and saw a fat man wearing a scholar-bureaucrat's robe, waving to him. Isn’t this fat man none other than the rice merchant Yao Daqiao’s boss?
"Lao Ye, you figured it out. My younger siblings are here too! Oh, and my two children are here too...well, it's okay to lose money and personal belongings, as long as the family is in order!"
Fatty Yao really can stand and talk without pain in his back!
His family is a big businessman with properties all along the Yangtze River. The business in Hankou is only part of it. They have properties in Jingzhou, Wuchang, Jiujiang, Anqing, Taiping, and Nanjing.
Seeing that Ye Jiaxin was unhappy, the fat man smiled even more cheerfully: "Don't be anxious, don't be anxious... I have money and a way, you have skills... Who doesn't know your farming skills? I'll follow you from now on." Brother, if you keep it, you can prop up the family business again."
Ye Jiaxin sighed: "Easier said than done?"
"Easy, easy..." Boss Yao pulled Ye Jiaxin and walked towards Hanyang Gate, "If the prince doesn't come, there will be no chance. Now that he is here, there will be a lot of opportunities!"
"What chance are there?" Ye Jiaxin frowned, "Didn't everyone say that he..."
He stopped mid-sentence because it would be disrespectful to say everything in full - Zhu Cixiang didn't have a good reputation in Huguang.
"Let me tell you," Boss Yao said with a smile, "He can clear out a lot of official fields and military villages in the southeast... Here in Huguang, we have more military villages and military fields! There are a few in the whole country Tens of millions of acres, this is an opportunity!”
"Opportunity? What opportunity?" Ye Jiaxin, Ye DaNong, still didn't understand. He just looked at Boss Yao blankly.
"Lease the land!" Boss Yao said with a smile, "The maximum rent for one acre of paddy field is seven buckets of white rice. What do you think? Can this business be done?"
