prosperous age

Beijing, Forbidden City, Wenyuan Pavilion.

"Liu Shizeng's report is only in Zhili, and there are many Hun Qi V's estates exceeding [-] hectares, such as one family with more than [-] hectares, three families with more than [-] hectares, and two families with more than [-] hectares.

Qi Wan has a family with [-] hectares of land, a family with [-] hectares, and seven families with more than [-] hectares.

The nine families who were abandoned had about [-] hectares of land.

The four families who donated the land were not recorded in the book, and the land was more than [-] hectares.

There are also five treacherous families with more than [-] hectares of land, which should be pursued.

After discussion by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the family of honored relatives should be slightly better, and those who are not recorded in the book should be verified again, and those who are abolished, but the tomb of the ancestors should still be reserved for a few acres for sacrifices.

But instead of simply verifying the quantity, the imperial court should set a limit. It is best to have a limit on how much farmland each family should keep. "

The speaker was Ma Sen, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Today is the day when the cabinet convenes six ministers. Liu Shizeng he is talking about is the censor of Beizhili today. It is near the end of the year, and all parties have begun to collect taxes and labor for that year to complete the task. And a headache.

Although the governor of Zhili has a high position and authority, there are many problems in his governance. The most important thing is that most of the fields have become Huangzhuang or the farmland of the relatives of the nobles, which makes the local government very difficult to collect taxes and services.

The Ministry of Households kept putting pressure on the governor's yamen to remit taxes and taxes as soon as possible, but the local government was still unable to make a decision.

As a patrol censor, it is natural to participate in supervision.

After some questioning, I finally figured out that there are Huangzhuang and Zhuangtian all over the place, and these people are not something they can afford.

Among them, some of the so-called Zhuangtian were suspicious, but they came back to ask repeatedly but were turned away.

Liu Shizeng also got ruthless this time, and when the Ministry of Accounting urged him to ask again, he directly disclosed all the matter and asked the Ministry of Accounting to talk to these honorable groups.

Huangzhuang, he cannot be offended.

Although the Xungui Group is a shedding phoenix that is not as good as a chicken, he can't afford to provoke them, but the Ministry of Finance and the cabinet still don't care about them.

After confirming the number of honorable manors, I feel that it has nothing to do with me. The other ministers are sitting there at this time, or the old monk is in meditation, or holding a teacup to sip. There are Ma Sen, and there are five elders in the cabinet. It's not their turn to come out yet.

"What do you think, Mr. Wang?"

Li Chunfang looked at Chen Yiqin, Wei Guangde and others, and seeing that they had no intention of speaking, she asked Wang Ting.

The household department can set the tone for the delineation of Zhuangtian, but Ma Sen did not directly choose to play, but got it to the ministry meeting and said that he naturally did not want to bear the revenge of the Xungui Group alone, and wanted to drag the cabinet into trouble.

However, the cabinet can do this matter, but it also needs the cooperation of the Procuratorate. After all, they have the responsibility of supervision.

Let's first see if the Metropolitan Procuratorate wants to take this muddy water, and then decide how the cabinet will express its position.

Wang Ting said cheerfully: "As long as the imperial court sets standards, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will definitely send people to cooperate. After all, our duty is to supervise."

Wang Ting only admitted to sending people to cooperate with the local area to monitor the measurement of the Zhuangtian, and to ignore the rest, which is quite slippery.

"Master Ma, what does the Ministry of Finance think? How much is suitable for Xungui Zhuangtian?"

This time Li Chunfang no longer asked vague questions, but pointed out the key point, that is, how much tax-free farmland the household department thinks it is better to leave for each family.

They were still talking over there, while Wei Guangde looked down at Liu Shizeng's memorial.

Ma Sen only talked about it before, but Liu Shizeng made it clear in his memorials that the fifth generation of Xun Qi Fu sent more than [-] hectares of land, Cheng Guogong Zhu Xizhong had more than [-] hectares of land, Dingguo Duke Xu Wenbi, British Duke Zhang Rong, Hui'an Bo, Zhang Yuanshan each had more than [-] hectares of land, Taining Marquis Chen Liangbi, Jin Yiwei Commander Li Guangxian and others each had more than [-] hectares of land.

Qi Wan received too many gifts, Li Hetian, son-in-law, more than [-] hectares, Xu Congcheng, more than [-] hectares, Jin Yiwei commander Xie Shoupu, Lin Jian, Zhang Shu, Chen Shuwen, Long Shaofu, Qianhu Xia Shiji and other fields. Thousands of hundreds of hectares or more.

These only occupy a large amount of land. As for other honorable fields, most of them also exceed a hundred hectares.

Qi Wan, actually a foreign relative, was rewarded by the emperor for her daughter's marriage to the royal family, and also received a large amount of farmland rewards.

Zhuangtian is actually the most common and public way of land annexation in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhuangtian in the Ming Dynasty was appointed and bestowed by the emperor according to different identities and ranks.

There are Huangzhuang owned by the emperor, palaces owned by concubines and vassal princes who have not yet come to the fiefdom, Wangzhuang owned by the vassal princes and princesses who have already left the officialdom, and farms owned by foreign relatives, ministers and eunuchs. , belonging to the farm owned by the monastery.

These farmlands enjoy feudal privileges such as rent-free and labor-exemption. At first, they were managed by the government. According to the regulation of 3 cents of silver per mu, the prefectures and counties collected farmland farmers, and then the farmland owners went to the prefectures and counties to collect them.

Later, the princes and nobles got rid of the state and county government, and sent their own people to manage and collect rent money.

Since the farmland they occupy ranges from a few hundred hectares to tens of thousands of hectares, they set up several farms in their respective farmlands and manage them separately.

In Huangzhuang and Wangzhuang, eunuchs were sent to serve as "acceptance", and they were located in the farms set up in the farm to manage various industries in the farm, and there were [-] to [-] followers from the banner school.

Later, various farms gradually adopted the method of sending family members to the village to manage the village, called Zhuangtou, with many "zhuangtou companions" to act as thugs, manage production and collect farm rent.

Zhu Yuanzhang had Zhu Yuanzhang when he bestowed Zhuangtian. He once ordered Tian Qianqing to be given to the prince, and his rent was used as Lumi.

Each of the princesses is given a farmland, and they can collect 2500 shi of rice every year to fill the rice.

This kind of imperial farmland is declared as Yongye farmland, exempt from rent and tax.

When Zhu Di was king of Yan, he privately built a farm in Wanping County, called Wangzhuang, which was used to raise the salary and food for training his own army. After the emperor took the throne, he changed Wangzhuang to Huangzhuang. beginning.

During the reign of Emperor Xianzong, the land of the eunuch Cao Jixiang was confiscated as the land in the palace, also known as Huangzhuang, and there were more and more Huangzhuang in the future.

The vassal kings and dignitaries also followed suit one after another. They used methods such as "begging" and "playing begging" from the emperor to obtain "imperial gifts".

Afterwards, the clan and nobles also put the land obtained in other ways in the Zhuangtian, because it can be regarded as Yongyetian without paying taxes to the court.

Of course, this result also leads to fewer and fewer fields that the local government can collect taxes and taxes, which increases the burden on the people, and finally has to choose to sell their own fields, and these fields are transformed into Zhuangtian in the hands of the powerful, such a vicious circle .

Originally, in Zhu Yuanzhang's vision, the farmland he rewarded was actually horse grazing pasture or wasteland on the river beach. This system was established in order to allow his descendants to reclaim the wasteland by themselves.

This can not only ensure their own livelihood, but also ensure the increase in the number of fields in the country.

But in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, because the land under the name of the clan and Xungui did not have to pay taxes, the descendants of the Zhu family and Xungui began to merge land frantically.

During the Jiajing period, due to the rapid expansion of the clan population, the rapid reduction of land and the large increase in fiscal expenditures caused by official corruption, the national finances experienced a long-term and large deficit, which almost exhausted the old treasury accumulated by the previous generations of Ming emperors.

Up to now, senior officials in the imperial court have had to keep their eyes on the Zhuangtian in the hands of the clan and nobles, hoping to increase fiscal revenue and make up for the shortfall.

Wei Guangde didn't know whether there was a shadow of the Ministry of Household Affairs behind Liu Shizeng's memorial, but in his opinion, it should not be an isolated incident.

At this time, Ma Sen, Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and others had already started to speak and discuss.

Among them, the more consistent opinion is that for the nobles and Qi Wan, a certain amount should be set according to the title or the source of the estate, and the amount still belongs to the estate, that is, no tax is levied, and the excess must naturally be taxed by the court.

As for those whose lineages have been extinct and who have lost their titles, their land should be seized, and those who are insinuated by traitors should be rented and hired by officials.

There is no opinion on the general direction, but there is still controversy on how much should be reserved.

Most of the Xungui fields think that only a hundred hectares should be reserved, because they originally received Lumi from the imperial court.

Arriving here, in fact, it involves the confused accounts left over from the Hongwu period.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Lutian system, that is, the official land was distributed to the clan, nobles and officials, and the harvest of the field was equivalent to Lumi.

However, this system was abolished after more than ten years of implementation, but the abolition was not complete, because part of the land was recovered, but part of the land was still preserved.

Zhuangtian, Lutian and Lumi formed a confused account that is difficult to explain clearly.

In fact, during the Jiajing period, Xia Yan said in "Fengbo Investigation Reporting Huangzhuang and Hero State Qitian Tushu" when talking about Zhuangtian, the clan's honorable Qizhuangtian, "Nowadays, the official gives the salary, but it is also the field. It is a re-emergence. Make it."

It was a reality at that time that the imperial court gave both salary and farmland, and no solution has been found.

Whether it is recovery or what, Emperor Jiajing has never given a clear answer.

Emperor Jiajing was not easy to make a ruling, and when it came to Emperor Longqing, he would naturally not stand out.

The figure of [-] hectares is [-] mu of land. In fact, for the relatives, of course, it is enough for them to eat and drink.

As for maintaining a luxurious and decent life, it is certainly not enough, but they have many sources of income, and land rent and tax are only a small part of it. Most of the income comes from gray income such as salt imports.

But Wei Guangde didn't intend to remain silent at this time, he had to stand up and help Xungui fight for some benefits.

Now the contacts between Wei Guangde and Xungui's mansion have increased significantly, and everyone has a good relationship.

Although Zhuang Tian's income is not the main force in each family, it is obviously inappropriate for him to choose not to say a word on this matter.

After the other six ministers agreed with Ma Sen's words, Wei Guangde said without waiting for Zhang Juzheng and Yin Shizhen to express their opinions: "Ma Shangshu should increase the number of hundreds of hectares as appropriate, because they are all families that have made great contributions to the establishment of the state. The imperial court should be generous."

In such a meeting room, cabinet ministers would usually express their opinions last, and Wei Guangde was the last one in the cabinet, so it was normal for him to speak first.

Wei Guangde hopes to increase the number of Xungui's estates, which is not unexpected by other people, who doesn't know the relationship between his family and Xungui.

In fact, there are quite a few marriages between the families of important ministers and nobles, but like Wei Guangde, they have little relationship with the top nobles like Wei Guogong and Dingguo.

Chen Yiqin and Yin Shizhen just glanced at him, while Li Chunfang and Zhang Juzheng didn't change at all.

After Wei Guangde spoke, Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng had no intention of answering the conversation, but were actually waiting for Ma Sen to give a reply.

"I don't know how much the amount to be increased is what Elder Wei Ge said about discretion?"

asked Mason.

Well, after receiving the decree to join the cabinet, other officials changed their names when they saw Wei Guangde and Yin Shixuan, calling them Mr. Ge when they met. Wei Guangde, who was only [-], got used to it for a few days.

"Master Ma, is the number of one hundred hectares a figure negotiated by the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

Wei Guangde didn't answer right away, but asked.

"Yes, the Ministry of Household Affairs deliberated that a hundred hectares of farmland is enough to support the noble family."

Mason answered directly.

"The Household Department should only refer to the people in their mansion, without considering the expenses of the clansmen they need to take care of. As far as I know, it is also a large sum."

Wei Guangde said with a smile, "In my opinion, it is more appropriate to double the amount negotiated by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and [-] hectares."

With a single mouth, he doubled Xungui's tax-free land, and the other ministers just looked at each other.

In fact, they know that even if the court sets the amount now, it will gradually deteriorate over time.

They are just officials, they are low-ranking officials, but they can't compare with hereditary nobles, and they can't even compare with martial arts like Wei Guangde.

It sounds nice to have a scholarly family, but once there are no scholars in the family, the family will fall into ruin. This is why in the middle and late dynasties, cheating in the imperial examination became common. People want to make arrangements for the family while they are still in the officialdom.

It is impossible for them not to be jealous of so many fields owned by Xungui, but they can only be jealous.

Now seeing that there are some people who want to cut some meat from these nobles, everyone is happy to see the success.

Jealousy is jealousy, but they really want to offend people, and they don't want to.

After Wei Guangde said that Xungui Zhuangtian was set at [-] hectares, no one came out to talk to Wei Guangde because it was really not worth it.

Others didn't speak, but Mason had to catch it.

In fact, after the news came out before, there were children from Xun Qi's family in the Ministry of Households who made troubles, which eventually affected their interests.

Trouble is trouble, after all, it is the court's yamen, they dare not go too far, now Wei Guangde's number can just stop Xungui's mouth, so that they will not trouble the Ministry of Households again.

"It's because I'm ignorant. If so, two hundred hectares is not unacceptable."

Masson immediately agreed.

Last night, Wei Guangde heard about the news that the Ministry of Households had set [-] hectares. The minimum limit for nobles was [-] and [-] hectares. Wei Guangde originally planned to grind it out, but he didn't expect Ma Sen to agree directly. He couldn't stand the regret gist.

But if you think about it, it's all for the state, so forget it.

Similar to those time-travel novels, Wei Guangde actually hopes that nobles can look away from the fields and go out to do business to earn money instead of catching the common people.

It's just that he can't convince people of the deep-rooted concepts of the Chinese people.

"Xun Qi ordered two hundred hectares, and Qi Wan may still have to be ordered by His Majesty."

Foreign relatives can also be divided into close and not close, Wei Guangde does not want to have a relationship with foreign relatives.

The nobles actually looked down on their relatives, and always felt that the wealth created by their ancestors was more noble than those who relied on marrying their daughters, so Wei Guangde didn't intend to intervene in this matter.

The ministers did not object to increasing the amount of Zhuangtian, and Li Chunfang saw that the other cabinet ministers had no intention of objecting, but she asked them one by one before saying: "In this case, the Ministry of Households will hand over the document discussed today." (This chapter over)