Emperor Ming's grandson

Chapter 68 Zhu Di offers advice, Dao Yan conspires

The dark cloud of the dynasty cycle has always shrouded Zhu Yuanzhang's mind.

Whenever he thought that even if the Ming Dynasty could resist the Little Ice Age, it might still be unable to get out of this fateful three-hundred-year period, Zhu Yuanzhang felt deeply powerless.

This dynasty cycle law is like a vicious curse, which makes him, the Hongwu Emperor, enjoy the supreme power, but also has to face the doomsday that is coming for the Ming Dynasty.

These days, he often stood in front of the Fengtian Palace, looking at the mountains and rivers, but he had mixed feelings in his heart.

This Ming Dynasty was created by him, and he wrested it from countless bloody battles in the troubled times of the late Yuan Dynasty. How could he watch it go to its destined demise?

Zhu Yuanzhang has been thinking, trying to find a way to break the cyclical law of this dynasty. He has thought about severe punishments, rectifying the administration of officials, and even resorting to harsh means to eliminate all possible hidden dangers.

But, do these really work?

Looking through history books, Zhu Yuanzhang knew very well that it was only effective while he was alive.

Whenever he was alone, the uneasiness from the bottom of his heart would still roll in like the tide of Qiantang, making him feel suffocated.

Perhaps no matter how much he did and how hard he tried, he could not change Ming's fate after all.

The three-hundred-year deadline is like an invisible yoke.

But as his thinking deepened, Zhu Yuanzhang always felt that he seemed to be close to the answer.

All that was left was a hazy layer of window paper, but Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't figure it out no matter what.

Although the letters from the ministers were eloquent and meaningful, they were ultimately different from what Zhu Yuanzhang expected.

As for the letter from Prince Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded.

Zhu Biao actually said that the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties had a long national destiny, which lasted for five or six hundred years, so they got rid of the dynastic cycle. The reason was that the well field system was implemented, so there was no contradiction between people and earth. I don’t know which East Palace it was. The auxiliary officer taught him.

The memorials given by the second eldest Qin king Zhu Fang and the third eldest Jin king Zhu Fan were even more ridiculous. Zhu Yuanzhang threw the memorial away after reading two lines.

Now the fourth king of Yan, Zhu Di, said that he had an idea, which surprised Zhu Yuanzhang.

After all, in Zhu Yuanzhang's impression, Lao Si was a good general, and although he was not incompetent in martial arts, he was by no means a prime minister or assistant.

"Father, I think the law of dynasty cycle lies in the contradiction between man and land, and the contradiction between man and land, no matter how powerful we are, cannot be eliminated, because there will always be times when there are more people and less land."

"Then you mean to be like the Song Dynasty, which did not suppress annexation and let things go their own way?"

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned. If the fourth child had this idea, he would be beaten.

After all, the second child and the third child were far away from each other. When he said those stupid things in the memorial, he really couldn't hit him, but the fourth child was right under his nose.

"No, it's mainly about using our brains on the local system."

Zhu Di glanced at his father who was in a bad mood because Xu Da was seriously ill, and then said: "I just think that since my father has established a guard system, for our Ming army, this is not the same as the farming in ancient times." There is no difference in the system, so for the common people, according to the current situation with fewer people and more land, should the court implement an equalization system? In this way, the excess land will be in the hands of the court, and the court can slowly distribute it. "

The farming system mentioned in the first half of Zhu Di's sentence originated in the Three Kingdoms. It was a form of state control of land. When Cao Cao accepted the suggestions of Zao Zhi and Han Hao, he recruited exiled peasants to establish farming near Xu County, and later implemented military settlements. Because of this system, Cao Cao adopted a military organization to manage the villages. The management organization was the Tun Sima, which was in parallel with the county officials. The villagers were not allowed to leave the land at will and had no personal freedom. The land they farmed had to pay land rent, and they also had to pay land share rent. They were responsible for military service and corvee service, and the military settlements were similar.

For the Ming Dynasty, the guard system was indeed a reskinned farming system. The reason why the Ming Dynasty wanted to establish the guard system and create millions of troops was not to let these people fight, but to join the armies of various princes in the late Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang could not rest assured that these people who had killed people and went to the battlefield would return to the civilian population, and he could not ignore their livelihood, so he used the organizational form of a guard station to let them live a normal life. , in a real war, the Ming Dynasty had hundreds of thousands of field troops, and these guard soldiers who farmed every day would not be able to turn.

Moreover, the logical relationship here is that it is not that the Ming Dynasty is raising the guardsmen, but the guardsmen are raising the Ming Dynasty, because every year the Ming Dynasty can collect millions of dan of grain from the guardsmen.

The equal land system is, on the surface, the most suitable land system for Ming Dynasty to refer to and implement if it wants to reform.

The reason why I say this is that firstly, the equalized land system has a long history of development. From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the previous dynasties have basically optimized all the places that can be optimized. The Ming Dynasty can just use it directly; secondly, the equalized land system is most suitable for land with few people. There are many situations. Now that the Ming Dynasty has just been founded, it is very consistent with the conditions for implementing the equal land system.

For example, the last version of the land equalization system, that is, the Tang Dynasty, stipulated that adult men received 20 acres of Yongye land and 80 acres of oral land. Bureaucrats had job land as a supplement to their salary, and the government had work land as office expenses, and the ownership of the land All belong to the imperial court.

Moreover, one of the biggest benefits of implementing the land equalization system is that in this era, the pressure caused by population expansion on land can be eliminated to the greatest extent, because in theory, each person only has so much land, and neither starvation nor land annexation can be carried out. Of course, this is only theoretical. In fact, in feudal society, land annexation cannot be controlled by the system. There are policies from above and countermeasures from below. The land equalization system will eventually collapse.

But there is no doubt that this is already a relatively reliable idea, and it is somewhat similar to Zhu Yuanzhang's idea.

"The current Ming Dynasty is mainly based on civilian land, supplemented by official land. Official land is owned by the state, clan, nobles, and ministers and cannot be bought or sold, but can only be rented. However, civilian land is owned or leased by common people and can be bought, sold, or pawned. This kind of land system was improved after absorbing the experience of the Tang and Song dynasties. It cannot be said to be bad, but it obviously has hidden dangers of land annexation. Therefore, my father, if you want to alleviate the contradiction between man and land by reforming the land system, you might as well consider it. Let’s implement equalization of land.”

"What you said makes sense. Let's think about it again."

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at Zhu Di approvingly, patted him on the shoulder, and then said: "Tiande is seriously ill now. We have many things to do and can't come to see him every day. You can take care of him for us. If there is anything urgent, come right away." Report to the palace. From now on, you have to shoulder the burden of caring for your father-in-law, you know?"

Hearing this, Zhu Di was overjoyed, but his expression remained calm and he just accepted the offer.

Seeing his father walking away, Zhu Di's face showed joy.

Obviously, his talents were recognized by his father, and taking over the responsibility of his father-in-law Xu Da meant that he would gain military power over the entire Beiping and even Xuanfu. This was different from other Sai kings.

After all, the other Sai kings only have the command authority over their own three guards.

At this time, Zhu Biao was still alive and well. There were many generals in the Hongwu Dynasty, and Zhu Di, who was still in his growth stage, was not forced into a desperate situation. In terms of command ability and military connections, he did not have the ability to rebel, nor did he have any ambitions to rebel. .

But no matter what, for Zhu Di, having greater power is always a good thing. He is a person who is not willing to be mediocre by nature.

Later, Zhu Di walked out of the Duke of Wei's mansion and looked at the "Dakongfang" archway. Zhu Di shook his head gently, got on the carriage and returned to his mansion in the capital.

In the night, the lanterns under the eaves swayed gently in the wind.

Because I don't live here often, there are only a few servants, so this mansion is very quiet.

In the secret room, Monk Dao Yan has been waiting quietly for a long time.

When Zhu Di stepped into the secret room, a gust of wind came in, and their eyes met under the flickering candlelight.

Dao Yan stopped turning the rosary beads in his hand and asked, "Is it going well for you to give me advice today?"

Zhu Di nodded and said in a deep voice: "Father is quite appreciative of my proposal, and even hinted at the future military power in Peking."

Hearing this, a glimmer of light flashed in Dao Yan's eyes, and he smiled, with a bit of relief in his voice: "That's very good. Your Highness needs to make plans in advance to prepare for emergencies."

Zhu Di frowned slightly, puzzled by the words "make plans early".

He stared at Dao Yan and asked: "What does the master mean by 'make plans early'?"

Dao Yan did not answer immediately, his eyes became deep, and after a moment, he answered.

"Although the events of Yin Yang and Qi Hai are like a dream in the eyes of the world, for people like us in the three religions, they are not traceable. In history, there are always some people and things that cannot be inferred using common sense. According to The poor monk knows that people such as Wang Mang have touched this sea of ​​yin and yang and obtained items or knowledge that transcended the times."

Daoyan paused and his voice became deeper: "Now, according to the vision shown by the holy grandson, it is very likely that he will return from that world in the future. Your Highness, have you ever thought about the impact this will have? "

"Can he really come back?"

Zhu Di was shocked when he heard this. He stared at Dao Yan closely, trying to see more clues from the eyes of this eminent monk.

However, Dao Yan just smiled slightly, clasped his hands together, and said no more.

As the iron door closed, silence fell into the secret room again, leaving only the light smoke of sandalwood rising.

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(End of this chapter)