The establishment of the imperial village in the Ming Dynasty is generally recognized to have begun with Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, he had a decree that "the land confiscated by Cao Jixiang, the eunuch of Banqiao Village, Anleli, Shunyi County, should be used as the palace farmland."
It's actually not far from Zhu Houzhao. It's his grandfather.
But once this hole was opened, it spread very quickly. At this juncture, in the capital, there are 12,800 hectares of imperial estates, and 33,100 hectares of farmland for bureaucrats, ministers, and eunuchs at all levels.
The total is 45,900 hectares.
One hundred acres equals one hectare.
In other words, this is 4.59 million acres of fertile land.
It must be fertile land, and officials should not occupy bad land.
"History of the Ming Dynasty: Biography of Shang Ren" also clearly remembers one thing, that is, the empress dowager Renshou at that time was competing with the people for land, and the Chenghua emperor's solution was: the emperor wanted to move the people outside the fortress.
Therefore, starting from the last years of Chenghua, many ministers went to the emperor and begged to ban Huangzhuang.
Many people who hate the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty always simply interpret this as evidence that the ministers once again restricted the emperor. Because the civil servants themselves are not clean either. So naturally there will be a feeling of 'asking the emperor to withdraw from the land, why don't you withdraw yourself'.
In fact, from the perspective of ordinary people, there is no difference between this group of people as emperors and ministers. They are all people who occupy land.
Do you still have to decide who is right and who is wrong between the eldest brother and the second brother?
What is even more detestable is that because the fighting in the court is very serious, some people are rising and falling, but the fields occupied by the guilty officials will not be retreated.
"History of the Ming Dynasty·Li Min Biography" records: At the end of Xianzong, Zhongguan and Cheng Xing were mostly given Zhuangtian. After being offended, the officials who resign and return will be taken away by those who have committed serious crimes, but they will not be rewarded to the people.
So in fact, Huangzhuang and Guanzhuang are basically one. The emperor could give his imperial estate to a "faithful minister", or he could take back the farmland of the guilty minister. If he was happy, he could give it to the prince or princess instead.
So the land occupied by the emperor is justice? Is it unfair for officials to occupy land?
There is no such thing, this is a kind of land annexation spearheaded by the emperor.
After Zhu Houzhao came to the throne, he handled cases in Zhejiang. He also set up imperial estates in Zhejiang, but the tax rate for the imperial estates there was very low. This is very different from the large area of Zhuangtian in the North Zhili area.
After all, Gu Renyi was a Jinshi, and he was very emotional. The memorial he wrote was shocking, as if a painting had fallen before his eyes.
Li Dongyang only glanced at it for a few times before his expression changed drastically. He understood what was going on.
In history, there was a record that Liu Jin wanted to measure acres of land and inspect military settlements. Many people opposed it for the sake of opposition, because Liu Jin was an eunuch.
As a result, Li Dongyang said, don't object to this matter and let Liu Jin handle it.
Why should we stop digging our own graves?
It can be seen that the ministers at this time actually knew very well what was easier and what was a matter of losing their heads.
Perhaps... this is one of the reasons why people kept asking the emperor to return the palace. Anyway, they would not offend others... and they could also earn a wave of fame.
"His Majesty!"
After reading this, the British Duke Zhang Mao immediately said: "The land acquired by the humble minister is one left by the ancestors and the other sold at market price. I have not invaded people's land!"
Zhu Houzhao didn't speak at first. He waited for everyone to finish reading.
The emperor's meaning is already obvious here.
"Today there is not enough food for the people. With your majesty's kindness, how can you expect to fight for the country's expenses?! In prosperity, the people will suffer, in death, the people will suffer. Mr. Li Ge, this is what you said to me a few days ago. I have not forgotten it. Now you understand why I said that war is not the root cause. The people have no land, and they cannot survive even if there is no war!"
At the end of the sentence, Zhu Houzhao slammed the table!
I thought this incident would cause some waves,
As a result, after Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, the entire Qianqing Palace fell into a kind of silence.
This made Zhu Houzhao's pupils tremble slightly. At this time... he stopped talking?
This made him feel very sad instantly.
In fact, what big thing can happen? He has direct bodyguards and an army of hundreds of thousands. For his own safety, he even built a divine military guard.
Moreover, most of the villages in Beizhili are not military camps and will not cause mutiny in the army.
"In prosperity, the people suffer; in death, the people suffer. This is what Mr. Ge just said, have you forgotten?!"
Li Dongyang had no choice but to say, "Of course I haven't forgotten it, my lord!"
"Then say something! What should we do with these people?!"
"If it is possible, I naturally hope that the people can have farmland. However, private land sales are extremely complicated. It is difficult to distinguish which ones are occupations and which ones are sales. However, for the sake of the people, this matter has to be done. , but the veteran believes that a long-term plan is needed."
"Your Majesty," Lin Hanjin, the Minister of Rites, said, "As Mr. Li Ge said, the purchase and sale of land is complicated. But food is the most important thing for the people, and this matter is extremely urgent and cannot be postponed for a day. Therefore. , I think that the land of Huangzhuang can be returned to the people first to solve the urgent need."
"I second the proposal. Putting things first before difficult ones is the pragmatic connotation advocated by His Majesty. Moreover, Your Majesty is the emperor and is rich all over the world. There are still millions of silver left in the national treasury and internal funds, so why do you need the land of the imperial village?"
Zhu Houzhao blinked. He was not a monarch who could be fooled easily, and he would not admit defeat.
As he spoke, his voice suddenly became louder, "Since it's difficult to distinguish between buying and selling and misappropriation, what should we do in the long run?"
Li Dongyang said: "We can only check the land deeds of large households and investigate the market price of each transaction and how it was completed."
"What if there's a problem?"
"Of course the government ordered it to be returned."
"Which government office? Is it the cabinet or the governor's office of Shuntian and Baoding? Order it to be returned. How to order it? What should I do if it is not returned?" Zhu Houzhao asked continuously, with a very pressing tone.
Fortunately, Li Dongyang is also an old bureaucrat. He returned: "The government in the world is one family, that is, the imperial court, Your Majesty. If the order is not returned, the land will be taken by force. In the whole world, is it the land of the king, and the shore of the land? Is it possible that none of the royal ministers would dare to disobey His Majesty’s decree?”
"Okay. Mr. Li Ge has thought clearly. In this case, I will send an order to the cabinet and let the cabinet supervise this matter. Don't think about it in the long term. We have already thought about it clearly. What is there to think about in the long term?"
Li Dongyang and Xie Qian were stunned for a moment, Your Majesty... Your Majesty...
"Mr. Li Ge, Mr. Xie Ge, do you obey this decree or not?"
Zhu Houzhao was talking about issuing an edict to the cabinet,
So, this is the order.
In fact, it was not that Li Dongyang did not want to obey the order, but that he felt that this matter was too difficult and could easily cause confusion if not done well.
take!
Take a ride!
The silence of the Qianqing Palace was broken by a burst of hurried running. It was Jin Gui. He trotted with his official robe. When he reached the palace, he knelt down and reported loudly, "Your Majesty! There is civil unrest in Gu'an County, Shuntian Prefecture! There are more than two thousand rebels. The people seized weapons and attacked the county government office! This is a memorial written by Wei Ningbo and the county magistrate of Gu'an, and is presented to His Majesty for his inspection."
What? !
Everyone was shocked!
How could there be civil unrest?
clang!
Zhu Houzhao knocked on the imperial case with his fist, "Mr. Li Ge, Mr. Xie Ge, I ask you again, do you obey this decree or not?!"
"Your Majesty, civil unrest is imminent. At this time, perhaps..." Li Dongyang felt a little panicked, but when he raised his head and glanced at the emperor's eyes, his heart skipped a beat, and his words stopped abruptly. He could only kowtow and say: "Old minister, I obey the order. !”
"Bring the memorial." Zhu Houzhao stretched out his hand and glanced at the head of the honorary ministers beside him, "The British Duke."
The old man's body trembled, "I'm here, veteran."
"Everyone in the world knows that the noble family shares the glory and wealth with the emperor. In vulgar words, it means sharing the blessings and the hardships. The beginning of the civil unrest shows that the people are already overwhelmed. Now the common people are going to overturn my situation. This is the boat that the Zhu family boy is riding on. Did you know?... After I read the memorial, I immediately considered how to stabilize the boat. What about you, what were you thinking after you saw it?"
The emperor's tone was faint, but extremely scary.
"...Remember to keep all your land deeds when you go back. You are right, they are yours, not mine."
Great Britain, what do you mean, it's yours, not mine. You can talk like this on a daily basis, but if you really want to talk about it, in the discourse environment of imperial power, everything that belongs to you and me belongs to the emperor. Even your life belongs to the emperor, let alone the land deed? !
(End of chapter)
