Huang Liji finally couldn't sit still, he thought about what the emperor had done in the past four years, and finally couldn't help asking: "Is Your Majesty planning to redistribute land by attacking Haoqiang and suppressing annexation?" ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Huang Liji's eyes, and said unhurriedly: "Crack down on Haoqiang and suppress mergers." When every dynasty comes to an end, someone will come up with a solution. But so far, I have never seen in the history books that that dynasty can really use this to save the fortunes of the country. It is to hit the strong, and the more strong; Mergers are inhibited, and mergers are getting worse. Do you know why, sir? ”

Huang Liji's gaze met Chongzhen's for a few seconds, and finally he bowed his head and said, "Forgive the ministers for their ignorance, and please make it clear to Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a moment before saying: "I think there are two reasons, one is that the last days of each dynasty are with a large population and little land, and even if it hits the powerful and powerful, it is difficult to distribute the land to the small people.

For example, in our dynasty, if the Yellow River is used as the boundary, the per capita land in the north is slightly better than that in the south. For example, in Hebei, the per capita cultivated land is 117 mu, and the per capita cultivated land in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia is also more than 100 mu. However, in Shanxi and Shandong, the average cultivated land per household is only 45 acres. As for the Jiangnan region, the average cultivated land per household will not exceed 15 acres.

The amount of land is limited, and the population is growing unlimited, and no matter how much the imperial court cracks down on the powerful and suppresses annexation, it will not be able to allocate enough land for the people to live and work in peace and contentment.

Second: As Mr. just said, the foundation of our dynasty lies in the gentry, and the gentry will be officials in the court when they enter, and they will control the power of the local government when they go out. It is because of talent, since ancient times, the imperial power does not go to the countryside, and the emperor is far away. The saying. Where the land is today lies in the gentry's house. If I use them to suppress the clan and nobles, if I use them to suppress the gentry of the world, except for a small number of people in the court, are others really willing to do it?

If we continue to fight with the gentry of the world, can we still live this life? ”

Huang Liji looked at the emperor in front of him who had just grown a soft beard on his mouth, and finally felt that he was old. When he was still worried that the emperor was too young and vigorous, so he came up with an idealistic policy of attacking the powerful and suppressing the annexation, but the other party had already conducted such an in-depth study of the system of acres in the past dynasties, and clearly knew that this policy was not only not feasible, but also made the entire reform fully opposed by the gentry of the world.

Huang Liji lowered his head slightly, and said to Chongzhen: "Then the minister wants to ask Your Majesty, how can you let the small people live and work in peace and contentment?" ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and asked him, "Sir, have you read the financial data submitted by Shuntianfu and Beijing Municipality this year?" ”

Huang Liji shook his head and said, "The ministers are busy with other affairs these days, and they haven't had time to see it yet. But what's wrong with it? ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "When I ascended the throne four years ago, I once asked people to investigate the data of Shuntian Mansion and the capital. I remember that the data at that time was that the population of the capital was about 890,000, and the total value of the handicraft industry was about 900,000 taels of silver, which was exactly one tael per person on average.

At that time, the value of goods consumed in the capital was about 8.5 million taels, and the average was about 10 taels per person. According to the comparison of these two data, we know that the wealth produced in the capital cannot feed the population of the capital.

The cultivated land of Shuntianfu is about 13 million mu, and the agricultural output value of that year was about 5 or 6 million taels, and the output value of the handicraft industry in the capital is about one-sixth of the agricultural output value of Shuntianfu.

As for this year's data, the population of Beijing is 1.05 million, the industrial output value is 150 million yuan, and the per capita output value is about 150 yuan. This year, the value of goods consumed in Beijing is more than 3,300 yuan, and the per capita consumption is nearly 30 yuan. The agricultural output value of Shuntianfu this year is more than 6 million taels, which is equivalent to 8.4 million yuan in silver dollars.

In other words, the industrial output value of the capital is almost double that of the agricultural output value of Shuntianfu. The social wealth created by the factories in the capital can not only feed the population of the entire capital, but also feed the population of the other four capitals.

Comparing the two, we can clearly understand that in this day and age, factories can accommodate more surplus people than fields, and of course the investment in building a factory is much greater than the investment in reclaiming a wasteland, but the rewards are also extremely rich.

With the current social situation in the Ming Dynasty, if you want the people to live and work in peace and contentment, you can only vigorously build factories and encourage the gentry to invest in industry and commerce, this is my idea. ”

The old concept made Huang Liji subconsciously say: "But there is always a fixed number of wealth in the world..."

Zhu Youzhen quickly took over his words and said: "Yes, if we measure according to the output of land, there is an upper limit to the output of a piece of land after all, so the area of cultivated land remains the same, and it is difficult for the output to change significantly.

But what about outside the world? Since ancient times, everyone has said that the world is only China, but today, even a person in the market knows that although China is big, it is only a very small piece of land compared to the world. With today's navigation technology, even Europe thousands of miles away can travel across the ocean to trade with China, but Korea, Japan, the Ryukyus, Taiwan, the islands of Southeast Asia, and the Indochina Peninsula are only separated from China by a small sea, but we still maintain the frequency of exchanges in the Tang and Song dynasties.

In terms of the material wealth created, a farmer in the north can feed about 8-9 people, but a worker can feed 40 people. In other words, if we can turn the eastern and western oceans into the inland seas of the Ming Dynasty, then we will be able to feed the landless and disaster-stricken people of the entire north by relying on the exchange of industrial products for agricultural products.

Once these displaced people and disaster victims can be transformed into factory workers, then they will not be a burden to the imperial court and a hidden danger to local security, but a pillar to create wealth and stabilize society for our Ming Dynasty. ”

Huang Liji couldn't help nodding slightly when he heard this, the first to encounter the threat of the northern refugees was naturally the northern gentry. Therefore, relatively speaking, most of the scholars who supported the reform of the imperial court came from the northern provinces, after all, they were the first to suffer when the dynasty went into decline.

If all the displaced people in the north can be settled, Huang Liji will no longer have to worry, when the investment in infrastructure such as transportation facilities and water conservancy projects will be reduced, those workers who use work for relief will once again become local refugees. On the issue of saving the country's fortunes and restabilizing society, Huang Liji maintained the same opinion as Chongzhen.

However, he quickly asked Chongzhen again: "The minister supports His Majesty's idea of supporting industry and commerce, but what does this have to do with His Majesty's writing of the article "On the Rights and Duties of the People"? The minister thinks that supporting industry and commerce does not need to shake the order of the ethical program established by the Master. ”

Zhu Youzhen fell into a long thought again, and then he said carefully: "The mode of production of agriculture determines that the output of a piece of land has its upper limit, and the input also has an upper limit, and it is impossible to return if the upper limit of input is exceeded.

But this is not the case with the industrial mode of production, as long as there are enough raw materials and sales markets, no matter how much capital you invest, you can get the same return. This also means that the legendary rich countries and cities that were rich in the past will appear in large numbers in the future. Even in the future, it is not surprising that someone will have more wealth than the royal family.

In the era of agricultural production, even if he was a large landlord in a prefecture or county, the manpower and resources he could mobilize could not be compared with the resources and manpower held by the imperial court.

But in the era of industrial development, the manpower and resources that large factory owners can mobilize are not necessarily weaker than those of a small country. A Houjin capital has already made my Ming so anxious, if there are so many forces similar to Houjin in the country, what will the imperial court do against them? ”

Huang Liji was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and before he could say anything, Zhu Youzhen continued: "After the rise of the new mode of production, the doctrine of personal dependence in the past will naturally be eliminated, otherwise we are digging a grave for ourselves.

Although industrial production can create great wealth, the factory owners and workers are not in the same group. Although some people are still trying to apply the relationship between the landlord and the tenant to the relationship between the factory owner and the worker, trying to establish the personal dependence of the worker on the factory owner.

But there is an essential difference between the two, first of all, land is an indestructible means of production that cannot be created out of thin air, and it can only be occupied by people. The tenant had to be attached to the land in order to survive, so the personal attachment between the tenant and the landlord was a natural bond.

But workers are not dependent on a particular factory in order to survive, as long as there is enough capital to build a factory. Workers can work in this factory or go to work in other factories. There was no need for personal attachment between the worker and the factory owner.

The imperial court wanted to encourage the free movement of workers between factories in order to weaken the control of factory owners over workers. Only by making the workers realize that they should be free and independent individuals will the workers resist the oppression and exploitation of the factory owners, and the imperial court will be able to control this new class of citizens.

I think that the first thing to make the workers awaken and rebel against the factory owners is to let the workers know what kind of rights they have and how to obtain the right to protect themselves from the state. That's why I'm writing this..."

Under Chongzhen's slightly far-fetched explanation, Huang Liji finally nodded and believed the emperor's explanation on the surface.

But when he left the West Garden, his mind was still a little groggy, and he always felt that something didn't seem so right. But soon he put this feeling behind him, at least the emperor did not make any blow to the strong and suppress the idea of annexation, which was enough for him. As for any troubles in the future, it is better to leave it to the next head of the house to deal with.