eldest son of Ming dynasty

In the four years of Zhengde, when Zhu Houzhao did not travel through, there was also a person who discovered that a large number of fields in the military colony had been invaded.

The so-called grain is the "agricultural tax" that military households need to pay.Over the years, there are still some officials who point out the situation of not losing seeds, but most of them stay in words.

For the first time, it was actually Liu Jin who wanted to take these people seriously.

He sent a censor named Zhou Dong to Ningxia, and when he arrived, he took the commander of Ningxia's capital to operate.

However, Liu Jin and the people he sent were not 'professional'. Liu Jin himself thought that he was in control and there would be no troubles. However, after Zhou Dong arrived in Ningxia, he ate, drank, and took according to the rules, and even changed the weights and measures. One hectare of one hundred mu was changed to one hectare of fifty mu), and the land was checked in this way, from the commander of the capital to the hundred households and the general banner below, none of them did not occupy the land.

To put it bluntly, this guy didn't come here to do business, but to make a fortune.

So in the end, of course, it was a vigorous start, and it failed simply and simply.

Grandpa Mao once said that to do anything, you must first distinguish who your enemy is and who your friend is.

The matter of military colonization involves both the frontier and the inland guards. The people who invaded the land were firstly the military officers themselves, secondly eunuchs, thirdly the clan, and fourthly local tyrants who were born with power.

The Ming court has a rule of sending eunuchs to guard the army and eunuchs to supervise the army. Can these people be holy lotuses when they go to various guards?
And Liu Jin is an eunuch himself, so if he does this, he will easily dig his own grave.

But having said that, Liu Jin's investigation and the emperor's investigation are two different things. Liu Jin's power is not stable after all. If someone opposes it and names it as an "eunuch party" and kills him as a "side of the Qing emperor", the emperor will make a lot of noise. , once you give up on him, he will die.

It is different when the emperor comes to investigate. Although those who oppose can still play the banner of the Qing emperor, the emperor will not give up on himself.Hmm... There were emperors in the Song Dynasty who gave up by themselves, but Zhu Houzhao would not give up.

In fact, at the end of each dynasty, land was annexed, and the harms were basically similar, that is, the common people were deprived of their livelihoods, the army was empty and owed wages, and the combat power was insufficient.

The Ming Dynasty implemented the Weisuo system, and after the fields in the military settlements were annexed, the phenomenon of insufficient combat power of the Weisuo soldiers became more serious.During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, there were even records of a terrifying number of 120 million fleeing military households.

Therefore, reforms are needed to redistribute wealth and reinvigorate military prestige,
But if we really want to promote this reform, there will be another voice saying "too many people have been offended, lest there will be turmoil".It was as if this group of people were heavenly soldiers with three heads and six arms, and no one could move or touch them.

This is very strange-are these guard soldiers strong?

Or is it a mess when fighting foreign enemies, and when it's the turn to rebel, they instantly turn into heavenly soldiers?Isn't there a contradiction in this?
It's really confusing.

In fact, it is hard to judge how strong this group of counterattack forces are. Even Zhu Houzhao, a later generation, can't understand it.

If it is said that the rebellion of the vassal king is used as a sign, then there is nothing to be afraid of.

Because that rebellion was a joke at all, and it was wiped out in ten days, even worse than King Ning.

In short, to throw stones to ask the way, first send this Zhang Cong to the northwest to have a look in the name of cleaning up the horse farm and military settlement.Let's see how powerful the so-called counterattack is.

In fact, there is no need to panic.

In that place, Zhou Shangwen's soldiers of 3 soldiers came from recruits, and strictly speaking they were not soldiers of the guards. Their military supplies and food were all provided by the imperial court.

Speaking of which, no matter what military system in the past dynasties, it will be converted to recruitment in the middle and late stages, that is, the original soldiers and horses are all useless, and they have to spend money to train new troops in case of war.In the Ming Dynasty, in fact, after the Tumu Fortress, the recruitment system had already appeared.

Another one is the Hetao soldiers led by Wang Shouren. There are a total of eight guards, of which four guards are cavalry and four guards are infantry.These people can be regarded as the soldiers of the guard, but they are all new to Hetao, and the fields are divided for the first time, so there is basically no obvious and serious phenomenon of land invasion.

Although the number of these [-] troops is far behind that of the guards in Gansu and Ningxia, their combat power is far ahead.

One of the commanders is Xinfeng Pingrupp, and most of the middle-level officers are from the military academy. They are "new rising forces". Following the current young emperor, there is no shortage of prosperity and wealth. Instigate against them, it must be a magic stick in the cult, and everyone must abandon their wives and children to believe in this cult.

The other one, Wang Shouren needless to say.

One of the two is in the west and the other is in the north, controlling the mainland in a pincer shape.

If someone really raises the flag to rebel, how to defeat these 7 people will have to pray hard.

If the reasons given by Zhang Cong were passionate and emotional, then Zhu Houzhao's preparations were confident and rational.

Based on this, there is this scene where the emperor and the ministers are seriously planning this matter.

The same Zhengde four years, the same thing.

Different time and space, but different situations.

It is not the eunuch who is going to do this now, but the emperor. The power he possesses is not just a censor and the illusory imperial authority. This time, he has real physical power.

Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

On the afternoon of June 21, the emperor discussed this issue with his ministers for the first time.

And he came prepared. After everyone arrived, he would first give them some intuitive concepts of numbers.

First of all, the specific number of military settlements was not known during the Zhengde period, but it was known during the Hongwu period—about 8900 million mu.

Due to the different geographical environment and soil conditions, the yield per mu varies from place to place. Normally, one mu of land can harvest three to four stones of grain, which is about four hundred to six hundred catties.But the average yield per mu is much lower, about 1.5 shi.

Zhu Yuanzhang initially set the tax rate at two buckets and four liters per mu, but he achieved this tax rate. By the time of Yongle, the tax was already insufficient. Later, Zhu Di halved the tax to one bucket and two liters, which is 0.12 shi.

Calculated on the basis of 8900 million mu, in theory, 3000 million shi of grain should be produced, of which 1068 million shi of grain should be tax grain.Of course, this is in theory. In practice, farming is extremely susceptible to the impact of the weather. It is uncertain where there will be drought or waterlogging, and the yield will decrease.

Similarly, the grains in the field will also fluctuate up and down, but even if the number of 1068 million is multiplied by 0.8, there should be 850 million shi of grain.

But what about in practice?
In the first year of Yongle, the number of grains in farmland was 2300 million shi. Because of the tax reduction, until the eighth year of Yongle, the number of grains in tuntian fields nationwide was 1036 million shi.This is barely normal, after all, you have a tax cut.

But then it's crazy.

In the 21st year of Yongle, the grain in Tuntian was halved again to 517 million shi.

In the first year of Hongxi, there was a brief rise to 613 million stone.

It's a pity that it's not long. In the early years of Xuande, it dropped to 460 million stones.

By the ninth year of Xuande, the number of grains in the country's farmland was: 230 shi.

These figures are all clearly recorded in the "Ming Shilu".

That was still the prosperous age of Xuande.

In the current years of Hongzhi and Zhengde, the number of acres of farmland in the country must have dropped sharply from the initial 8900 million mu. The specifics will not be known until the investigation is made, but the number of grains in the farmland has this number. The figure in the three years of Zhengde is 146 million shi .

almost negligible.

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a record of the army stationing grains, which completely collapsed in the middle and late stages.

For this series of things, Zhu Houzhao had asked the attendants to carefully check the records of each dynasty, and then sorted them out.

Numbers can speak.Looking at these numbers, what to do, don't you understand?

He still did not forget to remind, "The figures in this are all from the actual record, and none of them are fake."

The veritable records of various dynasties are very authoritative records, and they were all compiled by the civil officials themselves. If this is to be overturned, it is not too much for Zhu Houzhao to dig up the ancestral graves of those who compiled the veritable records.

The emperor's tricks are the same as before.

When promoting this kind of major change, he will never act recklessly on his own. Instead, he will tie everyone to his chariot, that is, force them to express their views.

This is to ensure that the entire imperial court can be united to the outside world in the unlikely event that things go wrong and there are rebel forces, so as not to split from the cabinet and the six ministries.

This is the methodology learned in the new era, uniting all forces that can be united.

If any official expresses a different stance, in this moral environment, he will not only lose his official position, but also his reputation, that is, all his achievements in his life, all of which will be lost. This is a decision most people would not make.

What is better than before is that Zhu Houzhao does not need to use various means. Most of the current courts support him, and seeing these numbers support him even more.

The cabinet of Yang Yiqing, Wang Ji, and Wang Bing, Wang Hua of the Ministry of Rites, Liang Chu of the Ministry of Officials, Han Wen of the Ministry of Households, Zhao Shen of the Ministry of Punishment, He Jian of the Ministry of Industry, and Qi Chengsui of the Ministry of War...

The court officials just sighed,
Wang Jia, who returned to the capital for the first time, said sadly: "Back then, Negative Tugong (Ma Wensheng) once said that I don't know when it started. Look, where is ten to five or six, it should be ten to eight or nine."

Yang Yiqing had been waiting for today, "Your Majesty, from this point of view, if you want to rejuvenate the Ming Dynasty, you must get rid of the disadvantages of the military settlements, otherwise the world's guards will be corrupted, and if something happens, they will be vulnerable. If this is the case, how can it be called a prosperous age?"

"The humble minister seconded the proposal." Wang Bing said with a bit of ruthlessness, "Since ancient times, there has been no fragile prosperity!"

Zhu Houzhao clenched his fists, thinking about the situation of Liu Jian, Li Dongyang, and Xie Qian at the beginning, and today, his efforts are finally not in vain, "I often think that if these grains from the court are missing, they can fall on the heads of the common people." , everyone in the world is self-sufficient, which is not too bad. But the reality is that refugees are everywhere, and hungry people are everywhere. The court is poor and the people are rich, which is also a kindness to the world. !"

Yang Yiqing suggested: "Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance. It must be carefully planned and fully deployed. In order to minimize the impact and minimize the loss."

"Ok!"

After being signaled by Zhu Houzhao's eyes, Mao Yuwen, the commander of Jinyiwei, said, "It is rumored that the commander of the Ningxia garrison, He Jinyi, is in a mess of stolen goods, bribes, bells, drums and jade. It seems that [-] hectares of farmland have been occupied! My minister thinks that the imperial court should order the important ministers, Clearly investigate their crimes and order them to return the land within a time limit, as an example to others.”

He Jinyi, this is the first unlucky person.And it is not too much to say, Zhu Houzhao has been waiting for the day when the time is right for ten years.

"Purpose!"