After listening to Zhang Chonghui's words, Zhu Youzhen leaned on the back of the chair and thought silently for a moment, before getting up and saying: "It just so happens that I am tired from reading the recital for a day, you accompany me to drink a cup of tea, and we will chat a few words by the way." ”

Zhu Youzhen walked towards the small door on the side as he spoke, and instructed the little eunuch who was waiting to prepare refreshments, and Zhang Chonghui subconsciously followed.

Next to the emperor's office, there is a connected room, about one-third of the size of the office, against the north wall is still a large floor-to-ceiling window, the four walls of the room are bookshelves full of books, and the position facing the floor-to-ceiling window is a tea house surrounded by several rattan chairs, which is the emperor's study room occasionally used to rest.

It was not the first time Zhang Chonghui had entered here, but it was the first time he had sat down with the emperor to drink tea and chat, which made his sitting posture a little stiff, as if he had just entered the academy.

Zhu Youzhen seemed to see his nervousness, took the teapot from the eunuch on the side, poured a cup of tea for him, and ordered the waiting eunuch to wait outside the room.

When Zhang Chonghui thanked Chongzhen in a panic, Zhu Youzhen put down the teapot and said to him: "What you just said is right, the "Exile Law" and other laws recently promulgated and implemented by the imperial court are indeed evil laws.

Although ostensibly they are aimed at criminals and potential criminals of displaced and vagrants, in fact these laws are mainly aimed at the low-level people who are struggling to support themselves, and of course I prefer to call them lumpenproletarians. ”

Zhang Chonghui's nervousness was suddenly overwhelmed by the emperor's words, and he immediately looked up at Chongzhen and said, "Since Your Majesty clearly knows... Why would such a law be issued? ”

Zhu Youzhen did not directly answer Zhang Chonghui's question, he picked up the tea cup in front of him and gently blew the hot air of the noodles, only then did he take a small sip, and after swallowing the hot tea from his throat, it suddenly cleared his somewhat drowsy mind a lot.

Then he put down the teacup and said: "I am a materialist, I think that if a person lives in the world, he needs to eat, clothe, and consume materials. Even if he still has a breath, he will consume the material of this world.

Where does the substance we consume come from? With the exception of air and rainwater, it is basically obtained by consuming human labor. Even the tea in front of us, whether it is tea, boiling water, or tea, it is all obtained by consuming human labor.

Therefore, I often say: If you don't work, you can't eat. Of course, in our society, there are still a large number of people who do not need to work, and they live by encroaching on the labor of others, and even live well.

Those who are all over Luo Qi are not silkworm breeders. You see, the ancients discovered this problem a long time ago, but we have not been able to solve it until today. If we don't solve this problem, how can we achieve the world of great harmony that Master said?

As long as there is still a situation in this society in which the laborers do not have enough food and clothing, and the laborers are hungry and cold, then we cannot talk about the ideal of a harmonious world. Just shouting slogans will not build a harmonious world. ”

Zhang Chonghui suddenly felt a cold war in the back of his head, and the emperor's remarks were too contrary to the education he had received since childhood. However, after experiencing the tragedy of the great changes in the family, he was also shaken by the theory of "those who work hard govern people, and those who work hard govern people", so he was still able to calmly listen to the emperor continue.

Chongzhen paused for a few seconds, and seeing that Zhang Chonghui didn't show any questioning expression, he continued: "I said before that the highest goal of reform is to achieve great harmony in the world, and the lowest goal is to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people.

However, whether it is the minimum goal or the highest goal, the essence requires that the material produced by the whole society can meet the needs of the whole people, and this demand is not only to meet the minimum needs of survival, but also to meet the spiritual needs of the people.

In order to achieve these two goals, the first is how to solve the problem of developing productive forces; The second is how to solve the problem of the distribution of labor results.

When we talk about the development of productive forces, we must first understand how the material that feeds us is produced, which is also the significance of school education and the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Only by studying the natural sciences and understanding and mastering the laws of nature can we use this knowledge to help us increase our material production capacity. In the moral chapters of the Four Books and Five Classics, there is no way to increase productivity.

Since ancient times, the country has been an agrarian society, and there has been no promising monarch in the past who has not attached importance to agriculture. How so? Because only the material produced by agriculture can live people, and without agriculture to provide enough food, even a saint cannot calm the wars and turmoil in the world.

However, today, the population of the country has exceeded the highest recorded population record in all dynasties, but the land of our country has not only not expanded accordingly, but has lost the rich land of the Western Regions during the Han and Tang dynasties. This increase and decrease has proved that the agricultural strategy is no longer sustainable. For the population of the kingdom has exceeded the carrying capacity of the land of the kingdom.

Fortunately, we exist in an era of great geographical discoveries, and outside the world of the country, there are a large number of terra nullius and other Ming countries, waiting for us to pioneer and cultivate land and exchange trade.

Overseas land can allow the people who cannot be accommodated at home to survive, while overseas trade allows us to obtain external materials to supplement the country's material shortage, so that our country's material wealth and population can reach a new balance.

In the past, a farmer could only harvest a maximum of 8-9 people after a year of hard work, and the wind and rain were smooth. And a worker in a factory who now uses machines can produce at least 20-30 people in a year of material wealth.

It can be seen that in today's country, if we want to feed more people with a smaller population, it is not enough to pay attention to agriculture, and actively developing industry is the fastest way to promote the development of productive forces. This is also the root cause of our formulation of a series of measures for the improvement of farmland and water conservancy and policies to encourage the construction of industrial and mining industries. ”

When Zhu Youzhen said this, he glanced at Zhang Chonghui again, and saw that he was listening attentively, and his face was not abnormal at all, so he picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea again, moistened his throat, and continued.

"However, the mere development of productive forces does not mean that we will be able to achieve the goals set by the reforms. If we do not solve the problem of the distribution of the fruits of labor, then the huge material wealth brought about by the development of the productive forces will only fall into the hands of a few vested interests, and will not become the fruits of social reform that can be shared by the people generally.

However, in order to solve the problem of the distribution of the fruits of labor, we must first understand the class division of society as a whole. In your eyes, how many classes should the Ming society be divided into? ”

Faced with the emperor's sudden questioning, Zhang Chonghui racked his brains for a while before replying tentatively: "Didn't Your Majesty say that: the people of the four industries of Shinong Industry and Commerce?" ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said, "With such a division, I don't think it is possible to accurately distinguish between various social strata.

Since the Ming Dynasty is a power-based society, classes should be divided according to the degree of possession of power. ”

When Zhu Youzhen said it, he found a pencil and a piece of white paper from the side and drew a pyramid. As he smeared, he said to Zhang Chonghui: "This is a kind of overseas architecture, but I borrowed its structure to describe the division of social classes that I see with my eyes.

At the top of the spire, I and my family, at the very top of power. The next layer is the clans and relatives of various places, who are closest to me.

The third layer is the officials, gentry and large landowners, who are the backbone of this power society and the largest vested interests;

The fourth class consisted of factory owners, merchants, and small landowners, who, although wealthy, were equally oppressed by several classes;

The fifth stratum is the lowest stratum of society, including all the people of the four estates, who create almost all of the country's material wealth, but receive only a very small fraction of it.

The reform of the distribution of the fruits of labor by the imperial court should be the most opposed to the first, second, and third classes, and the fifth class should be the most supportive. Although the fourth stratum hopes to share the political rights and interests of the first three strata through reform, they are afraid that the reform will take away what they already have, so their attitude towards reform is that of the grass on the wall, which side the wind is blowing to which side.

The reason why there are people in the first, second, and third strata who support the reform of the imperial court is simply that some people have realized that the population of the first, second, and third strata who do not work and eat without work has greatly exceeded the rate at which the people at the bottom can create material wealth.

If we don't carry out a reform from the bottom, then we will have a revolution from the bottom, which will disintegrate the whole society. This is also the fate of the change of dynasties.

Of course, in the eyes of some people, reform is like painting an old house and then living in peace for decades, but I don't see it that way.

In my eyes, reform and revolution are actually different in their external forms, but their goals are the same. It's all about demolishing the old house and building a new one. ”

Zhu Youzhen circled the four strata on the pyramid and said: "The new house we want to build is to break the old society that divides social classes by privilege, and establish a new society with the goal of promoting productive forces and creating social wealth, and reduce the population of those strata who do not work hard.

That is why we need to promote a policy of land reform, which confiscates the land that has been seized through privilege and puts it in the hands of the people who create the wealth of society.

But in order to complete such a reform for all segments of society, we must first identify who are the supporters of the reform. If you don't get to the bottom of this, this reform will be like your grandfather's Wanli New Deal, which will ultimately fail. ”

Looking at the simple picture in the emperor's hand, Zhang Chonghui was also extremely stunned, what shocked him was nothing else, and Chongzhen included himself in the object of reform, which simply made him feel that he seemed to have auditory hallucinations.

This book is from:

This book is from: