"Your Majesty, do you really want to divide the land of Korea equally?"

Luo Fangbo, the Duke of Languo, who had retired from officialdom and was concentrating on his Industry and Commerce Promotion Committee, wore a Northeast mink coat given by the emperor, followed Emperor Zhu, and followed in the same steps on the edge of Sun Moon Lake in the Jiangbei Palace.

He has no official status now, and he rarely talks to Emperor Zhu about things in the court.

But today, he talked about the affairs of North Korea for the first time - it stands to reason that even the ministers of the Ming Dynasty should not ask about this matter, because it is a matter of North Korea.

In the affairs of the feudal state, officials other than the Imperial Court intervened, which can be regarded as a bit overstepping their authority.

Therefore, Luo Fangbo, who has no official status, was probably dragged by a cadre of important ministers in the Ming Dynasty to come to Emperor Zhu to explore the wind.

It's autumn now.

The weather is starting to get cooler.

On the Sun Moon Lake, there are already women in cool kimono boats picking the last lotus seeds, a good Jiangnan water town style, these kimono women are paid tribute by feudal lords from all over Japan.

For kings.

The tribute paid by the vassal was also part of politics.

These women are good-looking, and they are also different from Han women, they are weak, but their figures are very rich.

It's a bit exotic.

Emperor Zhu's life is getting more and more corrupt.

However, Lan Guogong is a man with his eyes, nose and mouth, and he looks like a righteous gentleman and a virtuous minister.

Emperor Zhu waved his hand, and several young female officials and female guards around him respectfully stepped away from him.

Only then did Emperor Zhu turn his head and look at Luo Fangbo, the first hero of the Ming Dynasty's restoration.

If it weren't for Luo Fangbo's first bow, it would have been much more difficult to get the first piece of land just to pacify Lanfang.

If it comes to ability.

Emperor Zhu's group of '28 heroes for the restoration of the country' is afraid that their ability is only so much higher than that of Emperor Guangwu's "28 generals of Yuntai".

"Uncle, you're not here for the two classes in North Korea, are you?"

Luo Fangbo nodded and said: "Your Majesty, North Korea is a small country, and the emperor can naturally handle it at will." ”

Emperor Zhu smiled: "So some people are worried that I will also divide the land equally in Daming?" ”

"This."

Emperor Zhu laughed, waved his hand and interrupted Luo Fangbo and said: "Uncle, there are no monarchs and ministers today, only in-laws, you are the uncle of Fat Boy (Zhu Yichi), can I still worry about you." You can rest assured and boldly say that this method of dividing the land equally is good or not. ”

Luo Fangbo was silent for a while, and actually nodded: "Okay, but."

"Whether it's good or not, it depends on the national conditions, and it is good to divide the land equally in North Korea, because the North Korean country is small and the people are weak, and I am the master of the North Korean people, and the Ming Dynasty is the father of North Korea, so there will be no big mess if the land of North Korea is divided!" Emperor Zhu waved his hand and said, "But it's not good in Daming, Daming is too big, and it's not like North Korea that has a father's country that can be suppressed, if Daming is in chaos, no one can suppress it!" ”

Luo Fangbo nodded.

Emperor Zhu's meaning is obvious.

Divide the land equally, if it is done well, of course, it is good, if it is not done, it will be a big mess in the world!

Emperor Zhu is not afraid of chaos in the Korean world, because North Korea is small, and he can easily suppress it when there is chaos.

In any case, North Korea has the Ming Dynasty to give him a back - although from the current point of view, North Korea is obviously a bit "lost power and humiliated the country", and handed over the power of diplomacy and customs to the Ming Dynasty, and even the succession of the king of the country must be controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

It can almost be regarded as an autonomous region of Daming.

But the same.

North Korea is also protected by the Ming Dynasty, and even has a backer to cover when problems arise.

But there is no country in this world that can give Da Ming a backing.

Da Ming is too big.

If this is done in Daming, Daming will be in chaos, and Emperor Zhu is not sure that he will be able to suppress the chaos.

Therefore, North Korea is North Korea, and the Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty.

Not to be confused.

"I understand." Luo Fangbo was visibly relieved.

Emperor Zhu took a few steps behind his back.

"Recently, many officials in Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other provinces have written to please refrain from merging. Do you think it's better or worse to curb mergers? ”

"Good!" Luo Fangbo said immediately.

During this time, the hot topic in the newspapers was actually not the chaos of North Korea - although the chaos in North Korea was played out, but the people of the Ming Dynasty did not care much about this North Korean filial son, and what was discussed in the newspapers during this time was the land annexation and retreat of the Ming Dynasty that began to appear intensively in the south and was likely to spread to the north.

Luo Fangbo's views naturally also represent the views of a considerable part of the scholarly class.

When Emperor Zhu heard this, he shook his head again and again, and said, "I don't think it's good! Suppressing mergers depends on when and under what circumstances. ”

He walked under the pavilion, looked at the sparkling surface of Sun Moon Lake, turned his head to look at Luo Fangbo and said, "If it is the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, or even the former Ming Dynasty, I will not hesitate to attack the merger!" Because according to the time, the local wealthy families annexed not only the land, but also the population!! ”

"They control the land and the population, become the actual rulers of the place, these people, used to be called the gentry, later called the gentry, they dominate the people in the local area, collect taxes, and the court must cooperate with them in order to have long-term peace and stability, they are not actually landlords, but lords, the so-called king and scholars share the world, what is said is to share the world with these actual lords!"

Emperor Zhu's face was solemn.

Chinese scholars are actually similar to the samurai in Japan and the knights in Europe.

They were not only the owners of the land, but also the rulers of the people.

Tenant farmers and tenants were fixed to the land.

If the privileges of the gentry class were restored now, the industrialization process of the Ming Dynasty would certainly be greatly curbed - the population, or in other words, the cheap labor force that can circulate freely, is one of the fuels in the process of industrialization!

Emperor Zhu knew very well that driving people from the land into the factory may not bring much benefit to the bottom, and there will be a lot of friction and conflict in the process.

But the same.

If he doesn't.

A hundred years later.

The wealth of the whole of China will be plundered.

This is the wealth accumulated by the Ming and Qing dynasties for hundreds of years!

Without these riches.

In the future, China will develop industrialization.

There is only one way to make the countryside suffer even more.

The accumulation of primitive capital has always been bloody.

And now, the Chinese people have enough wealth and capital - so this bloody road can now be gentler and less bloody.

The suffering of people today is far less than the suffering of later generations after a hundred years of national humiliation, war, hunger, and so on!

Therefore.

Emperor Zhu would never allow the restoration of the gentry class to allow them to regain control of a large population and interrupt the process of industrialization.

Luo Fangbo was stunned when he heard this, he subconsciously looked at the female officials who were far away and couldn't hear their conversation at all, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, this scholar has been the cornerstone of the country since ancient times. ”

"I didn't say anything wrong with the scholar doing this." Zhu Daohua smiled and said, "If it was still the Han and Tang Dynasties, I am afraid that I would still be willing to share the world with the scholars, but now it is not possible, the times are different!" ”

"The era of scholars has passed, if they are allowed to come back, then the Ming Dynasty will be poor and weak, and finally become the hunting ground of the Western powers! There used to be a knightly class in Europe who was similar to the scholars, but now Europe has long lost the world of knights."

Luo Fangbo was stunned.

Zhu Daohua actually compared the scholars with the knightly class in Europe.

But then again.

It seems that the scholar and the knight are indeed somewhat similar.

It was only the Europeans who made the rights and duties of knights clearly defined - to acquire land and serfs from the great lords, and to undertake military service. In China, however, it is very vague how many rights scholars have and what obligations they have to bear.

"Uncle, when I first came back from Europe, I didn't know this, and I didn't know what it meant to be a king and a scholar to share the world. At the beginning, he was able to obtain the world without knowing anything about the situation in the country, which can only be said to be the destiny of heaven. ”

What is the destiny of heaven, it is obviously you pretending to be yourself, and you need the support of the scholar doctor to fight with the Manchu Qing before, but now the overall situation has been decided, so you have begun to target the scholar doctor.

Luo Fangbo muttered in his heart.

But where does he know.

Emperor Zhu was telling the truth.

He really didn't know what was going on with "the king and the scholars sharing the world".

He even confused feudal land ownership with private land ownership.

In later generations, there is a menstrual problem: if the last feudal dynasty in China was not the Qing Empire under the rule of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, but a country ruled by the Han people similar to the Ming Dynasty, or simply the Ming Dynasty continued for more than two hundred years, would there still be a hundred years of national humiliation?

Similar issues have generated a lot of debate.

And now, after Emperor Zhu became the emperor, from a higher dimension, he made his own judgment.

For China at that time.

The deeper contradiction concealed by the national contradiction is the feudal land ownership system - this time it is really a system problem.

On the surface.

Neither the Ming nor Qing dynasties looked like a typical feudal empire.

Because they didn't have feudal lords like samurai and knights.

Most of the time.

It was a centralized imperial state.

The emperor's decrees can be conveyed smoothly from top to bottom.

Under the imperial examination system.

The scholarly class was also completely a branch of the state, cooperating with the emperor to rule the country.

They seem to be a group of harmless literati.

Their status is also not hereditary based on blood relationship, but mainly comes from the imperial examination.

And the imperial examination.

It is also a fairer selection model than the selection of officials by blood inheritance.

But.

In the current Zhu Daohua's view.

Scholar class.

In fact, it was the feudal lord class.

They de facto ruled the localities, and they obtained power and status from the "great lords (emperors)" through the imperial examinations, and the gentry with the status of scholars could participate in the management of the grassroots government.

They have a certain amount of judicial power - most civil disputes are decided by them.

They own land and control the lower population in the form of clans.

Of course.

Scholars still have certain advantages over Japanese samurai and European knights.

For example, their status is not hereditary, their class is not solidified, and the people at the bottom also have the opportunity to obtain the status of scholars and doctors through the imperial examination - so there are channels for ascension.

Therefore.

If you compare the scholars with the Japanese samurai lords, then I am afraid that the scholars who are always replenished with fresh blood are a little better.

Historically.

The legendary Japanese Warring States Troubled Times, which had many famous generals, and the most powerful Japanese samurai in history who were killed in the troubled times.

Wasn't it just that the Korean Peninsula was defeated by the Ming army, which was far less numerous than them?

But by the time of the Sino-Japanese War.

Japan was no longer a samurai lordship, but after the Meiji Restoration, Japan became a modern capitalist country.

At that time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty also had a Westernization movement.

But the scholars and the Eight Banners were not touched at all.

A group of feudal lords went to fight with the modern national army, but of course it was normal to not be able to fight.

After being an emperor for a few years.

Emperor Zhu thinks.

What really hindered the Ming Dynasty's industrialization was not Confucianism, nor land concentration, nor private ownership of land.

It is a disguised feudal lord system of scholars and doctors under the imperial examination system!

So these years.

Emperor Zhu's reforms were all aimed at these two points.

The imperial examination should be changed.

The power of the scholars is to be weakened.

Emperor Zhu could allow private ownership of land and land annexation.

But the control of the population by the feudal lords could not be tolerated.

In the past, Emperor Zhu also scoffed at the division of the so-called "feudal China".

It is believed that since the first emperor ruled the world, there has been no feudal system in China - on the surface, it is a centralized imperial system.

Where is feudalism?

Now he knows.

Feudal.

It's in the doctor!

To get rid of feudalism.

It is necessary to crack down on scholars and doctors and reform the imperial examination system!

Until now.

The feudal land ownership system of the Ming Dynasty has reached the verge of collapse!

The feudal era of China.

Finally.

It's coming to an end!

Emperor Zhu took a deep breath, looked at Luo Fangbo and said with a smile: "Uncle, I will give you an explanation." In the past few years, I have been thinking about how to get China out of feudalism, I once thought that if I defeated the Manchus, feudalism would end, but the facts tell me that defeating the Manchus is only the first step! What we really need to do is to shake the rule of the scholars over the countryside! Now it seems that this path is on the right track, and I will not stop, and now the land annexation and retreat are caused by the collapse of the rule of the scholar class! ”

"Therefore, I will not suppress mergers, nor will I oppose retreat! In the Ming Dynasty, there are four seas, there are northeast, South sea, northwest, New World, I have local arrangements for farmers who have lost their land, and in recent years, factories in Guangdong and Liangjiang have also developed, if you don't want to farm, you can also make a living as a worker in the city! ”

His voice grew cold.

"If, someone wants to take advantage of the opportunity! That's it. Just give it a try! ”

(End of chapter)