Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 568 The Yellow Book of Chongzhen 15 Years
"Your Majesty, not long after the Martial Arts Hall was established, there were several honorable families who wanted to bring their own children into it..."

The majestic Jian Cheng raised his head at this moment, expressing his dissatisfaction.

This person is none other than Yu Huai, who was born as the emperor's personal bodyguard. He was picked up from absenteeism at the beginning, and he can be regarded as a good talent, so he was appointed as the supervisor.

"As long as you pass the martial arts examination, you will be able to come to the Yanwu Hall."

The emperor said coldly: "This is not the Imperial College, so we can't let them mess around."

Unlike the Qing Dynasty who sold officials and nobles with clearly marked prices, the Ming Dynasty was obsessed with cleanliness, fearing that they would get a bad reputation and be too poor, so they only sold some Guozijian places.

Although the supervisors do not have the reputation of being a scholar, they can participate in the provincial examination and general examination, and more importantly, the supervisors can have their own ways to enter the government.

Although they are all small officials, they are still officials after all.

The Guozijian, which was a mixed bag of fish and dragons, did not regain its reputation in the early Ming Dynasty.

You must know that in the early Ming Dynasty, when the imperial examination was suspended for a few years, Guozijian students could become officials as soon as they graduated. Zhu Yuanzhang especially liked to use these hard-working supervisors.

For example, the first large-scale prefectural survey of household registration in the Ming Dynasty and the creation of yellow books were the result of years of hard work by thousands of supervisors.

Cheap labor began in the early Ming Dynasty.

wait, cheap labor...

Yu Huai's slightly mean face also showed a happy look at this time.

Obviously, the emperor attaches great importance to Yanwu Hall, and his future is stable.

"Your supervisor is a sixth-rank official, and you are still a civil servant."

As he said that, the emperor patted his shoulders: "It's easy for a civil servant to get promoted, so do it well..."

These words completely stirred up Yu Huai's mood.

After returning to the villa impatiently, the emperor called Jiang Yueguang, Minister of Rites, and proposed to expand the Guozijian.

He can't wait to use cheap labor like Guozijiansheng.

With the relocation of the capital to Beijing, the imperial court has gradually become more stable, the central government has run smoothly, and the control over the local area has naturally improved to a higher level.

In this way, the reorganization of the Yellow Book is naturally on the agenda.

Although it is stated that a yellow book was compiled every ten years in the dynasty, and the most recent one was even in Chongzhen for 15 years, the credibility is almost zero.

And Guozijiansheng is indispensable.

"Your Majesty is holy!" Jiang Riguang was shocked when he heard that the Imperial College was about to be rebuilt. This is a good opportunity to make a name for himself:
"If the grand occasion of the Taizu period is restored, the veteran will die without regret."

"Yes." Zhu Yixi nodded seriously.

In his conception, Guozijiansheng can not only be used as cheap labor, but also can attract local gentry. Best of all, it can be a supplement to the imperial examination.

Guozijian can become a university, and after graduation, it will be assigned to be an official, and the teaching materials and teachers will be arranged by themselves. This is called targeted training.

Technology should not be moved lightly, but the rotten Guozijian is easily manipulated.

"The Guozijian should not be in a prosperous place, it should be far away from the capital, so that the supervisors can study hard." He said with a smile on his face: "It should be in Yuquan Mountain. It is suitable for beautiful mountains and clear waters here." "

It's also close to me, so it's good to watch.

"Order the Ministry of Households to approve [-] yuan to build a new Guozijian."

"Your Majesty Shengming—"

Jiang Yueguang bowed tremblingly, almost moved to tears.

"Stay flat, Jiang Qing."

Zhu Yixi said sincerely: "I will clearly issue a decree to the provinces and governments, asking them to submit tribute students for admission, and I will leave the rest to you."

Bagong students, that is, those who are outstanding among scholars, are recommended by local officials.

"The veteran will surely live up to His Majesty's high expectations." Jiang Yueguang was full of momentum.

After he left, the emperor was not idle, and asked someone to move the yellow book of Shuntian Mansion.

The new yellow book is based on Zhang Juzheng's whip method, and it is centered on land rather than population, so the fish-scale atlas takes the main role.

The number of each piece of land, the name of the land owner, the number of acres of the land, the size of the land, and the grade of the land are registered in detail in the atlas.

The shape of each piece of land is drawn into a map, like fish scales, so it is called "Fish Scale Atlas".

This densely packed album looks a bit naive, but it is the foundation of the imperial court's rule and the basis of taxes and corvees.

Along with that, the distortion of the yellow book actually means the collapse of the ruling foundation.

"There's no business or cheap registration in the yellow book?"

Taking a brief glance at the population, Zhu Yixi was startled.

Civilian, military, and artisan categories, military households provide military service, civilian households provide tax and service, and artisan households include various names, such as artisan households (handicraft industry), kitchen households (salt cooking industry), and even Lehu households (entertainment industry). But there is no business registration.

Scholars, farmers, commerce, and businessmen lack control over merchants.

"No wonder, no wonder the business tax is so difficult to collect, so I have to pay for the land tax."

Zhu Yixi suddenly realized.

The court's biggest card is the land tax. For merchants, collecting commercial taxes is more than enough.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang has deep knowledge, he knows that businessmen are just white gloves for gentry, and it doesn't matter if they make or not.

But it can't stand the birth of Shanxi merchants, Huizhou merchants, Shaanxi merchants and other business gangs.

There are rumors on the Internet that the Song Dynasty's business tax accounted for half of the country, but it is actually a fallacy, because all the businessmen are officials and gentry, how could they willingly send money to the court.

Collect your own money?
The commercial tax in the Song Dynasty was also difficult to collect. Even in the time of Song Shenzong, it was only seventy-eight million a year, which was actually similar to that in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, it has a monopoly, and all profitable transactions are controlled by the imperial court, such as wine, tea, horses, iron, vinegar, etc., using state-owned enterprises to directly make money and exclude others.

However, the Ming Dynasty completely let it go. Iron, wine, vinegar and other profitable businesses were all operated by the private sector. Even the minerals that belonged entirely to the imperial court were stolen by the gentry, and the mine supervisor was driven away.

Its reputation is to store wealth in the people, and the founding of the country was indeed effective. Commerce drove the development of society, but later it poached the imperial court's own corner.

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty there were big merchant groups such as Shanxi Merchants, Huizhou Merchants, and Shaanxi Merchants, while in the Song Dynasty, where the state-owned economy was prosperous, there were no merchant groups at all.

Only after reading the second half of the paragraph did Zhu Yixi understand something.

Although there are no merchants in the yellow book, small merchants can't escape being bullied. They are called shopkeepers, and paying money is inevitable, but they can't get into the pocket of the court.

And those big businessmen are not happy at this time. Although they don't have to pay taxes, they are not registered as householders and cannot participate in the imperial examination.

For example, salt merchants, at their request, established merchant registration during the Wanli period, allowing their children to qualify for the imperial examination, but they still did not belong to the ranks of registered households.

Therefore, the imperial court knows all about the real estate owned by the small people, but the big merchants do not need to register their property status, which is coveted by others.

"How unfair."

Zhu Yixi sighed again and again. Fortunately, Lao Tzu's household registration is equal, and everyone is a private household, so there is no way to hide.

Speaking of this, another shortcoming of the yellow book is also reflected, it does not accept low status.

The low status here does not refer to Lehu artisan households, etc., but refers to those who depend on the main family and cannot provide tax and servants to the court.

Such as slaves, tenants, etc., completely dependent on the body.

These people, the imperial court can't get anything, so they don't recognize them as people, and they won't register them.

However, Yongzheng abolished all lowly statuses, which created a population explosion.

People have always been there, but the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty did not recognize it.

(End of this chapter)