In later generations, China's land reform used violence to seize the landlords' fields, and then distributed them to the landless peasants, fundamentally solving the great historical problem of inequality between the rich and the poor. Is it possible to carry out such a land reform in the Ming Dynasty?

The answer is no. Zhu Youxiao knew that if the land reform was carried out in this way, the Ming Dynasty would come to an end. The landlords will rebel, the soldiers will rebel, the officials will rebel, and everyone but the destitute peasants will rebel (and perhaps the destitute peasants will rebel as well). And most importantly, most people, except for a handful of rogue villains, would not want to go for such land. The Chinese, who have not yet experienced the poison of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, at least have the basic ability to distinguish between right and wrong, and know that it is wrong to seize other people's land and property for no reason.

Moreover, Zhu Youxiao thinks that the more than 2 million landlords who died in the land reform (some sources believe that it is at least 4.5 million), should they really all die? Is it really damned? Dividing people into two opposing camps based on their wealth and poverty, and then thinking that the people in one of the camps are bad people and can be killed at will, Zhu Youxiao can't do it if he asks himself.

Since it can't be done, can we carry out land reform in a different way? For example, to buy the landlord's land with money and then sell it to the landless poor? But this method will also encounter many problems, first of all, what if the landlord is unwilling to sell? Second, how can farmers afford it? This is not like the resettlement of the Liao people, it is the state to pay for the construction of houses first, although the seeds, farm tools, and draft animals have to be paid off within three years, but the houses are available, the land is not money, and it is easy to pay off the seeds, farm tools and livestock within three years.

In China, a moderate land reform would require the peasants to pay for the land, otherwise the state would not have had so much money to buy the landlords' fields. But after a hard year, farmers often have to make ends meet, so where will they have the money to buy land?

Zhu Youxiao thought about these two problems, but he couldn't come up with a solution at all, so he had to comfort himself, there will always be a way, find some smart people to think about it together, you should always be able to come up with it. At this time, Hao Ming shouted: "Your Majesty, that piece of land is not even planted!" ”

Zhu Youxiao came to his senses, looked up, and sure enough, he saw that there was a large piece of land without any crops. He was furious, reined in his horse, jumped down, and walked into the field. Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian did not stop the horse, so he jumped down and rushed to Zhu Youxiao's left. And Xuan Ming didn't see him hurrying, but he followed Zhu Youxiao's right side, looking at ease.

Not only were there no crops planted in the field, but the straw from the last planting was left in the field, neither pulled nor burned. Zhu Youxiao stepped on the straw hatefully and scolded: "It's really damn that you don't even plant good land." ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "Holy Lord, the slave maid will first ask the person next to her to see what the situation is?" ”

Zhu Youxiao nodded, Wei Zhongxian saw that there was an old man working in the field not far away, so he walked over and said, "Uncle, why haven't crops been planted on that land?" ”

The old man looked at Wei Zhongxian and said, "Are you the one who borrowed money from Zhao Er?" ”

Wei Zhongxian said: "No, I'm just a passerby, passing by here, I saw that the crops everywhere are growing very well, and this one alone has nothing to grow, and it looks a little dazzling, so I asked my father-in-law." ”

The old man sighed and said: "Zhao Er originally followed his father to Qian'an, divided the land, and only lived a good life for a year, but he didn't want his father to leave." Zhao Er was young and ignorant, and he was idle every day with a few boys, and he even went to the town on the other side to push pai gow with others, but he lost all his money. Someone in the gambling stall lent him money, but he still lost. Those people asked him to use the land to pay off the debt, but Zhao Er was unwilling, so he had to hide everywhere, what kind of land did he plant? ”

Wei Zhongxian said curiously: "Isn't this land allocated to Zhao Er, and he doesn't have a title deed, how can he buy and sell?" ”

The old man said: "Others don't want the title deed, they just want people to live in Zhao Er's house and cultivate this land." Anyway, it's free, and a year of planting is a year's harvest. ”

Wei Zhongxian was also mixed in the casino when he was young, so he naturally understood what the old man meant by what he said. I lost so much that I had no choice but to enter the palace, and I would never touch the gambling equipment again in the future. I hated gambling, and when I heard about Zhao Er, I felt sad about the death of the rabbit and the fox.

He thanked the old man, walked to Zhu Youxiao's side, and briefly explained the situation. Zhu Youxiao didn't say anything about gambling, and said directly: "Isn't there a special inspector for the new village?" Why didn't you report such a thing and deal with it, and it made such a good river beach empty. Let's go to the new village to manage the yamen. ”

Wei Zhongxian said unwillingly: "Holy Lord, this gambling wind must be fiercely braked." ”

Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and said: "I am willing to gamble and lose, stupidity has to pay the price." Since you can't find out what others are doing, there is no way to be treated as a sheep. It is impossible to prohibit gambling from the official face, at most it can only regulate the behavior of gambling stalls, you should write it down first, and discuss it together after you go back. ”

On the main road, the group came to the Qian'an New Village Management Committee. The Qian'an New Village Management Committee is a new organization conceived by Zhu Youxiao, which is composed of one person from each of the 20 households in the new village to form a management committee to manage the mutual assistance and cooperation of the villagers. Parallel to the management committee is a court agency called the Xincun Inspection Department, this agency has only one official, that is, the Xincun inspection envoy, he is only responsible for reporting all aspects of the new village to the above, and informing the management committee of the decisions above, and he has no right to speak about the specific management, let alone the right to decide.

Entering the management committee, there was a commotion inside, and Zhu Youxiao stopped Wei Zhongxian's move to step forward and walked in. The people inside were making a lot of noise, and no one paid attention to them. Zhu Youxiao listened for a while and understood that it was the people from the casino who came to the management committee to ask for Zhao Er's share of the field, but the management committee did not allow it, so the two parties quarreled.

At this time, a person who looked like a leader of the casino said: "Okay, what we want to say is very simple, either the management committee will help Zhao Er repay the money, or the management committee will let us plant Zhao Er's land to repay the debt, and our money will not be blown by the wind, the management committee will always give us an explanation." ”

A person on the side of the management committee said: "This official has reported Zhao Er's situation to the top, and there is no approval from above." But when the land was divided, it was said that this was the land for the resettlement of the Liao people, not the private land of each family, so it could not be bought or sold, nor could it be leased. ”