People in Hongwu, from heavenly master to emperor master

Two dealers!

This metaphor is very vulgar, but Zhu Yuanzhang somehow finds it appropriate.

"The common people are united under the framework of patriarchal clan society, patriarchal clan and family rules are their laws, local, prestigious gentry can often influence officials who go out from the local area.

These people also grew up under this set of rules. Although they learned another set of principles from Confucianism, it did not affect their dependence on the clan!
These people became officials when they left, and became local gentry when they retired.

As officials, they fight for Confucianism!

As gentlemen, they can use the popular support behind them to obtain more benefits!
It is obviously a policy set by the imperial court. In their hands, it is good for the well-being of the people.

The bad thing is that the court is incompetent.

The top can rely on public opinion to fight against the emperor, and the bottom can use the authority of the emperor to suppress the people.

It's just ridiculous that both the court at the upper level and the common people at the lower level are actually at a disadvantage..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face sank like water, and he wanted to hear Zhang Yi continue talking.

Zhang Yi asked:
"Does Uncle think that I am complaining about the court?

Actually not, Pindao thinks this is actually what it deserves.

The king's collection of taxes is equivalent to the protection fees collected by those gangsters at the docks. No matter what, since they have taken the money, they are obliged to keep people safe...

If the people are treated as livestock, the law of the country is not correct!

Then don't blame the people for not trusting the court.

Among these three relationships, only the common people have no choice..."

When Zhang Yi said this, he was not going to continue on this topic.

This is a question of little significance. Even if the emperor wants to reform, the attributes of the family and the lack of productivity, even Zhu Yuanzhang cannot reverse this social relationship.

"Then how to change?"

Lao Zhu asked suddenly, and Zhang Yi gave him a meaningful look.

Uncle Huang seems to be very interested in this question?
This has gone beyond his position, the attitude he should have.

"It's very simple. When the productivity of the world can initially get rid of farming and enter the development of industry and commerce, after the people can obtain food and clothing without relying on the clan, there will be a certain relief in the clan relationship based on the farming society.

This is the premise. When this social relationship begins to loosen, it is possible for the imperial power to control the grassroots.

To pull the people's hearts away from the gentry, in addition to food and clothing, they also need safety. The so-called safe people have legal basis.

People pay taxes and give them the treatment they deserve.

If the order is changed from day to day, the hearts of the people will not be won!
The above said, for the best policy!

Our Daming's current basic situation is impossible to achieve!

And I guess, our Majesty is likely to push for reforms with the help of the pirate case...

Regarding the vigilance of the gentry, His Majesty will not wait until all the conditions are ripe, he may use another method to first strengthen the control of the grassroots! "

"what way?"

Zhu Yuanzhang is indeed as Zhang Yi said, he is not as good as Zhang Yi in being able to see the future and review history from the perspective of God.

But from the actions of those officials during the pirate case, he vaguely sensed the danger.

This danger comes from the influence of the grassroots gentry on the court.

Even Liu Ji, who in Old Zhu's opinion, has a real sense of family and country, can't help but want to interfere in the pirate case.

Living in China, everyone, including him, Lao Zhu, is under the shadow of the patriarchal clan...

This so-called imperial power does not come down to the county, a patriarchal society.

What he got used to before he became the emperor looked very unpleasant now.

He wants to reform, but he doesn't know where to start?
"If you want to completely control it for the time being, it's better to change your thinking. Since the imperial court can't control the grassroots for the time being, it's better to break up the grassroots..."

"Break up?"

The father and son of the Zhu family had different expressions when they heard these two words. Old Zhu felt vaguely enlightened, and the inspiration Zhang Yi gave him was very important.

And Zhu Biao looked puzzled.

He couldn't figure it out, and seemed a little anxious.

As the prince of the empire, the future king.

The struggle between the power of the monarchy and the power of the prime minister, the struggle between the central and local governments, is a compulsory course for a king.

"Actually, why did the emperor allow Yang Xian to massacre on the land of Jiangnan.

In the end of the Yuan Dynasty, although the Mongols ruled the Han people cruelly, there was one thing, that is, because they were too lazy to manage, the entire Yuan Dynasty delegated power to the localities.

Regardless of officials or squires, they all possess great power, even force.

Just like when the Ming Dynasty fought against the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the army of the Ming army, which can be regarded as the biggest enemy of the Ming army, was actually the army of the landlords themselves.

In the past hundred years, there have been countless such local forces, and many people have voted for the imperial court, but these people have become the imperial court's confidantes.

They were not liquidated with the change of dynasty, but became members of Ming Dynasty!
Even if His Majesty intends to weaken the power of these people, it is actually very difficult for him to do so...

The pirate case is an opportunity, allowing His Majesty to complete the things he needed to do slowly many years in advance!
But this is not a kingly way, and it is impossible for other places in the world to follow the method of the pirate case!
Therefore, His Majesty needs to use another method to gradually bypass the gentry and intervene in the grassroots...

During the Qin Dynasty, the Great Qin had too much control over the local government, which cost too much national governance costs. Later dynasties took it as a warning, so they gradually gave up some power in the game between the local government and the central government.

The imperial court only took care of major matters such as taxation, the army, and enlightenment, leaving other trivial matters to the local gentry to manage!

This part of the right was actually given up by the previous emperors little by little. Until the Song Dynasty, the imperial power did not come down to the county.basically become a fact.

The advantage of this is that the court saves a lot of management costs, grasps the big and let go of the small, and greatly improves the efficiency of governance.

But what's the downside?It is the growth of local interest groups that gradually overshadow the imperial court.

If the imperial court is powerful, like my Emperor Hongwu of Ming Dynasty, at most, the local government will selectively implement the orders of the imperial court, just like the maritime trade along the coast...

But if our Majesty, after a hundred years, the descendants of the Zhu family are not as wise as he is, it will not be as simple as obedience and transgression.

The so-called decree does not leave the imperial city, or the emperor is emptied and becomes a puppet.

It's not like this hasn't happened before in history...

The rise and fall of successive dynasties, the root cause of this decline, almost started from the loss of control of the local area...

How can authority be taken back from the place?

Pindao also said earlier that Emperor Shihuang tried it, but it didn't work. Since he couldn't take it back, he couldn't control it.

Then there is only one other way to go, which is to break up the rights at the grassroots level and distribute them to more people..."

The emperor's mind!

Zhu Biao's eyes lit up, and his father kept saying that the art of the emperor is the way of balance.

Even in a group, everyone has different interests and demands. If different forces are allowed to fight, the king can sit securely in the balance among the officials.

According to Zhang's younger brother, the division of power at the grassroots level is also true.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded frequently and asked:
"Then how exactly?"

"Lijia system!"

Zhang Yi didn't even think about it, so he gave the answer.

This was originally one of the methods that Emperor Hongwu would spend many years slowly laying out and gradually controlling the grassroots.

"The people under the county seat, ten households and one Jia, choose a chief among them, and out of the ten chiefs, choose a village chief to manage these chiefs...

The head of the village is directly responsible to the county government, collecting grain and paying taxes on behalf of the government..."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, Zhang Yi's actions were not much different from those of the previous dynasty.

But when Zhang Yi continued to talk, he was moved.

"Lichang and Jiashou are not appointed by the government, but a hundred families are selected by the imperial court, and they are rotated...

According to the standard of the imperial court, the top ten rotate the head of the village, and the people behind rotate the head of the first rank. The term of office is one year...

Under such a rotation system, the practice of the previous dynasties can be avoided, and a certain family can be made bigger!
During the rotation process, there will inevitably be conflicts between families!
Although this is still inevitable, they will unite against the court when Lao Tzu's court pressures them.

But this is already the best means of differentiation! "

The light in Lao Zhu's eyes gradually brightened, Zhang Yi's idea was really good.

This method is an open and aboveboard conspiracy to use the interest disputes among local rich households to divide them.

But just as Zhang Yi said, this is also a policy that treats the symptoms but not the root cause.

To put it bluntly, in a society dominated by farming, it is impossible to get rid of the patriarchal clan and the gentry.

"very good!"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but praise, and asked:
"Is this a policy that Emperor Hongwu would implement?"

Zhang Yi didn't intend to take the credit for himself, so he nodded silently.

This is a method he came up with himself, no wonder he is so familiar with it.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang hadn't thought of Zhang Yi's lijia system at this time, he knew it from Zhang Yi in advance, and it was the same.

"How does this method work?"

"The effect is good. If the emperor of the Ming Dynasty can strictly implement the ancestral system, it will probably not be wrong. However, this method does affect the interests of the local area, and the local area will naturally compete with the imperial court...

If the emperor of later generations changes his mind, it will be hard to say! "

Although Zhang Yi said it tactfully, Lao Zhu could also hear what he meant, probably after his death, there must be something wrong with the implementation of this system.

He and Zhu Biao looked at each other, Zhu Biao smiled bitterly, what's the matter with him?

In the future that Zhang Yi can see, he died long before Lao Zhu. If he wants to settle the score, he should go to Zhu Laosi.

"Um……"

When Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking, Zhang Yi also said:

"But this can only be done gradually, not overnight.

In order to complete the control of the grassroots, Emperor Hongwu not only used the Lijia system.

To control the grassroots, the most important thing is to figure out the world, especially how many people are under his rule...

For this step, it will take many years of hard work to achieve...

Next, he had to figure out how many acres of arable land there were in the world.

It is not easy for the court to find out about this matter. According to the practice of the court in the past, the common people declare and the officials check...

But local people and officials have the same interests in this matter. The people don't want the court to know how much land he has, and the same is true for officials...

If the imperial court knew everything about the fields in the world, there would be less room for local officials to play tricks.

In addition, measuring the land is also a major event that consumes manpower and material resources, which gives local officials and people the incentive to conceal the land...

Uncle, you have heard me tell you how much land there is in this world, but the emperor doesn't know...

His job of measuring the land can't be done without a few years of work...

You see, it will take a few years, that will take a few years, and maybe ten years will pass after being busy.

This project is not big, but if you want to take power from the local government, this is something that must be done...

And to find people to do things, you must need many technical officials.It is best for these people to be born in poverty and have little entanglement with local interests.

Their cultivation still takes time..."

According to Zhang Yi's history books, Zhu Yuanzhang did not hide anything about this matter, and told the whole story.

From building one's own team one by one, to the lijia system, to checking the household registration and land, from the yellow book to the fish scale book that Lao Zhu didn't have time to implement...

The history of an emperor's magnificent reforms was revealed slightly in Zhang Yi's mouth.

Zhu Yuanzhang's mood was complicated, but the history books Zhang Yi talked about were about his [history].

The history that Zhang Yi tells is the future to him.

He already had his own drafts for reforms, which saved him a lot of time compared to Zhang Yi directly pointing out the changes in the next few decades.

And Zhu Biao's eyes were full of admiration for his father.

The worst strategy Zhang Yi mentioned turned out to be such a huge project...

It's a pity that I died early, but I failed to help my father carry out this reform, and because of my own death, many of my father's plans were interrupted.

The promotion of the Fish Scale Book, at the end of the story told by Zhang Yi, Lao Zhu was ten years behind.

From the household stickers to the smooth promotion of the yellow book, and then to the fish scale book...

The emperor's Shouyuan finally could not wait for the reform to be completely completed.

He should have had successors to inherit his will, but unfortunately, the appearance of Jing Nan changed the fate of this country.

Time, fate!
In the end, it could only turn into the sigh of the emperor beside him...

He wants to live.

From Zhang Yi's mouth, Zhu Biao knew how difficult the road his father walked was, and it required great perseverance to walk step by step.

He couldn't let his father walk alone.

"It's difficult just to listen, but if you can walk like Emperor Hongwu, it's also fun!"

The road ahead is difficult, but Lao Zhu's expression is very happy.

With Zhang Yi helping him sort out the reform path for the next 30 years, he is at least confident that he can complete the promotion of the Fish Scale Book before he dies.

No, he will definitely be able to complete the promotion of the Fish Scale Book.

This piece of time and space is already different from the future that Zhang Yi glimpsed. This kid is subtly changing the world a lot.

For example, to buy people's hearts, he seems to have many more means than that Zhu Yuanzhang.

As for the training of technocrats, he also advanced one year.

Even, the opportunity for Zhang Yi's best strategy to be completed may change completely with the return of the ship from the sea.

The future is expected.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't seem to be so confused about the future when he thought of the chips in his hand.

"I was looking for you for other things, but I was passed out by you kid..."

He found that Zhang Yi was observing him, and he was on alert, so he decided to change the subject.

"You need to go outside to avoid the limelight?" (End of this chapter)