Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

“This fellow asked a good question. The Grand Marshal has made a special explanation on this matter.

The Grand Marshal was a brilliant man with a far-sighted vision, dividing the land across the country into ownership and usage rights.

The ownership belongs to the court, and the use rights belong to the people, so as to eliminate the land transaction at the root." Gao Wen said excitedly.

In all the unified dynasties before the Ming Dynasty, whenever there were frequent peasant uprisings, it was basically because the people could not survive.

The main reason for not being able to survive is the loss of land and land annexation.

However, no dynasty has solved this problem, even though the founders of the new dynasty knew very clearly that the previous dynasty collapsed due to excessive land annexation.

The process of establishing a new dynasty is the process of land redistribution, and the founding fathers naturally get the biggest piece of the pie.

Then a new cycle begins, until the people’s land is once again annexed and they can no longer survive, over and over again, endlessly.

Zhang Shikang divided the land ownership into two, which was an attempt to curb land annexation.

After all, he is not a professional, so he can only explore step by step. If he encounters something unreasonable in the process, he will just change it.

He simply combined the later system of allocating land tax and the household contract responsibility system, but this national policy still caused quite a stir in the imperial court.

It was not only Emperor Chongzhen who wanted to pry open Zhang Shikang's head to see why Zhang Shikang could always come up with such clever solutions.

Even the existing Ministry of Revenue officials in the court were amazed. Although they said that Zhang Shikang was a heretic and behaved recklessly, they actually admired him in their hearts.

Although everything Zhang Shikang did was bloody, brutal, reckless and careless, it must be said that it was all effective.

As long as we win this current epic struggle, any reforms we want to make in the future will face very little resistance.

"The right to use belongs to me, and the ownership belongs to the court. I can only grow it but not sell it. Is that right?"

After receiving Gao Wen's affirmative answer, another citizen asked:

"Master, I have another question. I have a big family, including three sons.

If the land is divided equally, there won't be enough for the four of us to farm. Can I reclaim the wasteland? If I can, how can I calculate it? "

"According to the old rules, there is no need to pay the Ding tax and labor service in the first three years of reclaiming wasteland, but it is still necessary to report to the government. After three years, it will be included in the existing Ding tax system of the court.

However, the Grand Marshal said that although land cannot be bought and sold, it can be rented for cultivation.

For example, this time the imperial court has taken back all the land in the world, even the royal family and your majesty's imperial farms are not spared, but when the land is distributed, everyone will have a share.

Court officials and even other people of status can also get part of the land like you.

Your Majesty, as well as members of the royal family and officials in the court, naturally cannot go to the fields to farm, and their land cannot be bought or sold. However, they can be rented to families like this old man's at a reasonable price on an annual basis.

Of course, this is all voluntary, and both parties need to report to the local government and sign the lease document prepared by the government."

After Gao Wen explained this, the people around him immediately understood.

"Great! That's great!"

The people around had smiles on their faces and wholeheartedly supported the new land policy.

Most of them were tenants who had lost their land and now had it back. The court had also thought of all the countermeasures for them. Only a fool would not support it.

Is it possible that there will be no more landlords in the world?

No one has considered it, but at least for now, the imperial court really has nothing to say about them, the people.

And at this moment, the Grand Marshal's reputation among the people finally changed completely.

Scholars are still criticizing it, but does it matter?

How many scholars are there in the world? And how many poor people are there?

After explaining the imperial edict, Gao Wen was pleased to see that the people were in high spirits and were grateful to the current emperor and the commander-in-chief.

He waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet, and then said:

"I think you all understand the new land policy. Mr. Chen is in charge of household registration and land statistics.

Starting tomorrow, you can all go to the government office to ascend the throne and be registered, and you should also inform each other when you return.

This is the end of the matter. Please look over there."

As Gao Wen spoke, he pointed to the other side of the bulletin wall, which was covered with white rice paper. The first piece of paper had the four big bold characters "Da Ming Monthly News" printed on it.

Gao Wen walked to the first page of the Daming Monthly Report and stopped, then continued to speak to the people around him:

"As you all know, the imperial court has official reports that record important matters in the court, including official promotions, appointments and dismissals, border affairs, etc.

However, the court reports were only circulated among officials. The Grand Marshal said that no matter whether they were officials or common people, they were all the children of the Ming Dynasty, and the common people should have the right to know about the affairs of the world.

Therefore, the Grand Marshal specially ordered our East Factory to run this newspaper, named it "Da Ming Monthly Report", which is published on a monthly basis and collects important news, interesting events, and the implementation of national policies from all over the Ming Dynasty.

This newspaper is similar to the court gazette, but has a different focus. It is a newspaper specially published by the Grand Marshal for the people.

This was the first issue of the Ming Monthly. The contents of this issue included the evil deeds of the Jingdong Lin Party, the list of merchants who obstructed the new tax system and raised prices, and the whole story of the Yanshenggong incident.

Thereafter, the publication was published once a month. Since it was a new issue, in order to advertise it widely, the Grand Marshal ordered that the first six issues be distributed free of charge.

The village head would come to the county every month to collect the money, and the head of the village would then be stationed in the county permanently.

Of course, this publication can also be purchased separately, at 20 cents per copy.

However, I will post the monthly newspapers and magazines here for you to read for free. "

The Ming Dynasty implemented the Lijia system, and the head of each village was basically a prestigious person in the village, and most of them were literate.

In addition to being read and circulated by the village head, it will also be posted for free in the county town. Of course, wealthy people can also buy it and read it at home. It all depends on personal needs.

After Gao Wen finished his explanation, he said hello to the people and returned to the county government with Chen Qinghe.

The people around gathered around the Ming Daily, and someone who could read came to the front and began to read aloud:

"Shocked! The Donglin Party members claimed to be loyal to the emperor and patriotic, but secretly they were corrupt and took bribes and committed all kinds of evil!

After a joint investigation by the Jinyiwei and the Eastern Depot, all the members of the Jinglin Party in Beijing were investigated, and the amount of embezzled money turned out to be as high as tens of millions of taels!

The following is a list of specific embezzlement and the amount…

……

Shock! A surrender letter was found in the residence of Duke Yansheng!

The Grand Marshal and the factory guards searched and found a whole stack of surrender letters in the residence of Duke Yansheng, including those written to the pseudo-Qing Dynasty as well as those written to the rebels Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

The Grand Marshal guessed that it was because the Qing Dynasty, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had all attacked Shandong.

The lineage of Duke Yansheng has received the emperor's favor for generations, but they have no intention of repaying the country. They had already started writing a letter of surrender before the enemy even invaded, which was really embarrassing for Confucius.

After a detailed investigation by the Imperial Censorate, it was found that the lineage of Duke Yansheng had amassed enormous wealth and humiliated the local people in places like Qufu, and the specifications of their mansions also seriously violated court regulations.

The Yansheng Duke's entire lineage surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, which was tantamount to treason. There were also 14 murders over the years. According to the Ming Dynasty law, the Grand Marshal executed his entire clan and wrote a poem to serve as a warning to others.

Poetry:

His iron will taught people to be loyal, and Shi Xiu surrendered to the Duke of Yansheng.

He talks about Confucius to everyone he meets, and he is greedy for power and money and laughs at the spring breeze.

There is also a pair of couplets.

The first couplet says: First surrendered to Jin and Yuan, then surrendered to Qing, wanted to surrender to the bandits but failed, then I realized that being good at persuading people to surrender will bring happiness to my family.

The second line says: Confucius said benevolence and filial piety, Mencius pursued righteousness. If you want to gain wealth and honor, you must have a new master. Just remember, the one who knows the current affairs is a hero.

Horizontal banner: Shixiu surrenders.

There is also a folk doggerel for the world to appreciate, the poem goes:

Keep surrender in your heart and don't delay in persuading others to do so.

Anyone who comes is a father, and anyone who gives money is a mother.

Benevolence and righteousness are always on people’s lips, and morality is spoken by the world.

If you ask me who I am, I am from the Kong family in Qufu."

……