Chapter 9 New Ming Law
The second part is the Commercial Code.
The Ming Dynasty was almost blank on commercial law. It would be false to say that it is completely blank, but business issues are scattered among many clauses rather than being concentrated together.
The commercial law stipulates corporate legal persons, joint-stock systems, accounting systems, and commercial crimes. etc.
A considerable part of this is provided by Yang Zhen. Then He Xi refined it.
In recent years, the liberalization of maritime trade has led to the development of large-scale commerce. This gave He Xi a good observation window.
He Xi has never done business in later generations, and does not understand many business regulations in later generations. I don’t know how to copy it, but maritime trade has developed crazily in recent years. Also heated many legal issues.
For example, a certain trading company made a mistake and was caught plundering at sea by the local government.
Who should be responsible for that matter?
Is it a specific crew member, a certain shipyard, the person in charge of the entire trading company, or the boss behind the trading company.
He Xi has no political mysophobia.
He needed the support of nobles and nobles, so he naturally had to make barriers and introduced provisions such as trading company legal person and joint-stock system. Generally speaking, crimes committed by trading companies are committed by the person in charge of the trading company, that is, the legal person. Rather than the shareholders being responsible.
Of course, the concept of legal person here is different from the concept of legal person in later generations.
He Xi also smoothly introduced various regulations on joint-stock systems.
In fact, joint-stock systems are nothing new in China, but they are not reflected in the law. That is to say, if there is a problem, it is difficult to bring it to the government. Even if it is brought to the government, it can only be made by the local magistrate.
Now, there are special laws. It is foreseeable that a large number of trading companies will appear in the future.
The trading companies in the past were the fate of the rich and powerful. Even if there are no legal provisions, they are not afraid, because they are the law. But it is different for small and medium-sized businessmen. In scale, they compete with these powerful people. But the shareholding system provides a possibility.
Moreover, He Xi felt that it was necessary to clearly stipulate the permission to go to sea.
Previously, the powerful were allowed to go to sea, but this threshold was vague. There is not even a standard for who is good and who is not. He Xi feels that the standards should be clearly defined. No matter how high the standards are, there will always be a group of outsiders entering the market.
Of course, even if it is not overseas, there will be such trading companies and gangs in China.
This is what He Xi expected.
The provisions of various commercial crimes are also planned for the market.
However, He Xi also knows that this thing is now a piece of paper.
The reason is simple: commercial crimes are different from ordinary crimes. With the current quality of officials in the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult for them to adjudicate commercial crimes.
This also gave He Xi a headache.
This requires reform of the Ming judicial system.
In other areas, there are also reforms of one kind or another. For example, in the land system, it is particularly emphasized that one land has one owner, and the situation of one land with two owners, or even one land with three owners has been denied. The government does not recognize this, and private agreements with the government will not count. .
This matter was not initiated by He Xi, but suggested by many officials below.
Without him, this thing gave them a headache.
One field and two owners means that the ownership of the land is separated from the right to use it, that is, the landlord has the ownership of the land, while the tenants have permanent tenure rights. One field and three owners, that is, tenants with permanent tenure rights, sublet it out again.
However, the taxes of the imperial court were all paid from the fields, and the lower government could not pay the taxes. It was a headache to face such land.
One land, one owner does not negate the tenant system. Regardless of whether the landowner rents it out or sells the permanent tenant rights, that is, the skin of the land is sold, and only the bones of the land are left. But when the government collects taxes, they will only look for you. Other governments do not recognize it.
This is to facilitate the court's law enforcement.
He Xi also made a lot of concessions when it came to court sentencing.
The previous rule of sixty taels of peeling skin and filling it with grass has disappeared. The threshold for execution for corruption has been raised a lot. Adjustments have also been made to many extrajudicial sentences. From now on, the maximum punishment for execution in the Ming Dynasty is Ling Chi. There won't be any peeling or anything like that.
In addition, in addition to changes in the system, a large number of original Ming laws are also used.
After all, the Ming Dynasty Law, the Tang Dynasty Law, and the Song Dynasty Law have been inherited for hundreds of years, which makes some sense. And if there are too many changes to the Ming Law, the turmoil will be even greater.
He Xi's idea is simple.
That is the sausage-slicing tactic, little by little, change one place at a time.
But He Xi also knew that the next time the law was revised, there would be no Zhu Yuanzhang. Without Zhu Yuanzhang's support, it would be a tough battle.
Zhu Yuanzhang was both happy and dissatisfied with the new Ming law.
Zhu Yuanzhang felt that He Xi's pace was too slow. He Xi is too courageous. It's just that Zhu Yuanzhang thought a lot, especially about the prince. He just sighed and said, "Sooner or later, this world will be yours." Then he said hello. Ask Xu Zheng to bring over the seal.
Zhu Yuanzhang personally stamped it.
In fact, the matter of sealing was generally handled by the eunuchs, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not need to do it himself.
But I saw traces of a seal on the scroll of the New Ming Dynasty Law: the Ming Emperor's treasure from heaven.
Seeing this, He Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Anyway. His main purpose of coming to Nanjing has been completed.
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Are you ready to leave Beijing?"
He Xi said: "Your Majesty is wise."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "How are the preparations for establishing Liaodong province?"
He Xi said: "It has been prepared for a long time."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "You can leave after you have taken care of the secretary's affairs."
He Xi said: "Thank you, Your Majesty." He Xi paused slightly and said, "Your Majesty, who will be responsible for the affairs of the Secretary's Office?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "I have my own arrangements."
He Xi already had some speculations in her mind. He thought to himself: "It should be the prince."
He Xi knew the importance of the Secretary's Prison very well. Because of the influence of the prince, the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty was in the Secretary's Prison. After He Xi left, Fang Xiaoru was the only secretary in charge. Determination will not work. This is not something Zhu Yuanzhang is willing to do. Fang Xiaoru's qualifications are not much higher than He Xi's. In terms of identity, they are even more different.
He Xi is also Zhu Yuanzhang's son-in-law. Who is Fang Xiaoru?
Zhu Yuanzhang himself would not be at ease if he left the world's major affairs to Fang Xiaoru alone. Many distinguished and veteran ministers are worried.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not name his successor, which means that this person's succession does not require any additional arrangements. You know, secretaries and supervisors are busy with work, and it would be difficult for ordinary people to get used to it if they suddenly come in.
Only the prince does not need to hand over at all.
That's right, Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking of the prince.
During this period of time, Zhu Yuanzhang thought a lot. He finally gave up on the deposed prince. On the one hand, Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with the prince in one way or another, but he still recognized the prince's ability. After handing over the Ming Dynasty to the prince, Zhu Yuanzhang was worried about where the Ming Dynasty was heading, rather than worrying about its collapse.
But if you leave it to others, you have to worry about this.
More importantly, deposing the prince is also a very huge project. Now that Zhu Yuanzhang is promoting reforms, he has actually caused dissatisfaction from top to bottom. It’s not that Zhu Yuanzhang didn’t know. Two big things to do together. Zhu Yuanzhang was not worried. As long as he lives, no matter what he does, he has no fear.
But at his age, how can he not think about what's behind him?
What will happen to this situation after he leaves?
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't dare to think about it.
I can only give up.
Since there is no idea of deposing the prince, it is not a problem for the prince to be outside the capital for a long time. The prince knew about the commotion among the kings in the world, and Zhu Yuanzhang also knew about it. Therefore, the reason why the prince was thrown out was because he was worried that the prince would be against the revision of the Ming Dynasty Law. Now this matter has been completed. Then the prince can come back.
It can be regarded as calming the hearts of people in the world.
Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang also had to admit one thing: he was old. My energy and physical strength are no longer what they used to be.
Without the assistance of the prince, Zhu Yuanzhang found it difficult to do many things. There are many places where we are unable to do our best. Zhu Yuanzhang was not at ease if the government affairs were handed over to others. The only one who can reassure Zhu Yuanzhang is the prince.
After all, they are father and son, not outsiders.
