I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 514: Guard Land
"Then what?" Zhu Houxuan asked indifferently.

"I am worried that if Your Highness sends people to investigate the land issues of the garrisons, it will disturb the people who have bought the lands of the garrisons," the official said hurriedly.

"When was the buying and selling of the land in the garrison allowed?" Zhu Houxuan looked at the official with a playful look and raised his voice.

"The land of the garrison has always been allowed to be bought and sold!" the official said somewhat bewilderedly.

After these words came out, many people in the hall sighed in their hearts, this official is still too young
Zhu Houxuan felt that things were becoming more and more interesting. "These past few days, I have been checking old records of the sale of military farmland. I once saw a memorial from Ma Duansu, Duke of Chenghua, about the military farmland. The memorial said, 'I don't know since when the military farmland policy was abolished, which led to the occupation and the theft of military farmland by officials, bannermen, and powerful soldiers and civilians in the garrisons. Five or six out of ten of the farmland were taken away.'"

Duke Ma Duansu is Ma Wensheng, an important official in the Chenghua Dynasty. He served as the Minister of Personnel and the Grand Tutor.

Zhu Houxuan's eyes swept over the ministers in the hall. Many of the ministers looked at each other with concern, as if they had entered a state of meditation, and did not react to Zhu Houxuan's words at all.

The official who had just spoken also looked a little panicked.

"The Chenghua Dynasty was only forty or fifty years ago, and it was only a hundred years since we left the country. Five or six out of ten military farms in the garrisons have been destroyed," Zhu Houxun said with a sneer.

“However, in the Chenghua Dynasty, the term ‘occupying and selling’ was used to describe the buying and selling of military land. But only forty or fifty years later, in this dynasty, it has become possible to buy and sell military land normally. Can military land be bought and sold? Please teach me, can you?” Zhu Houzhao said calmly.

Zhu Houxuan's words made the official sweat profusely. He hurriedly said, "Your Highness, I am ignorant. I only heard about this matter at home and don't know much about it. Please forgive me for my gaffe."

"Taizu established the Wei Suo system, with the original intention of allowing the Wei Suo to guard the land of our Ming Dynasty for hundreds and thousands of years. If the land of the Wei Suo can be bought and sold at will, the soldiers will lose their land. What will they use to guard the Ming Dynasty for hundreds and thousands of years?" Zhu Houxuan continued.

The official became even more frightened, and the others were all masters of pretending to be confused, and no one stood up.

Zhu Houxuan waved his hand and let the official go. He knew that there was no point in punishing the official because he was facing an entire group of people.
The official withdrew as if he had been pardoned.

"Your Highness, I have heard about the land issues in the garrisons." Another official could not help but stand up.

"speak!"

"Your Highness is right. The land of the garrison cannot be bought and sold. However, many military households in the garrison have fled today. Without people, much of the garrison's land has been abandoned. The people around see it as a pity to have the land abandoned, so they start to cultivate it. Some people have been doing this for decades. If Your Highness goes to investigate the garrison's land, it would be tantamount to competing with the people for profit. What should these people do then?" said the official.

This official was obviously of a higher rank. After he finished speaking, he attracted a round of praise from the court officials, who all said that this official was right. However, Zhu Houxuan scoffed at this statement. Although this official kept saying "common people" on the left and "common people" on the right, Zhu Houxuan knew the twists and turns in this.

Even if the land of the garrison was really abandoned because of the escape of the military households, how dare ordinary people occupy these "abandoned" garrison lands? Those who dared to occupy these "abandoned" lands were all gentry and royal family members.

Moreover, these lands could not be left uncultivated. The population of the Ming Dynasty had been constantly increasing. The military households had fled, and the officers of the garrisons just happened to occupy these lands. It was easy to find some tenant farmers to cultivate them.
The official was even more excited when he saw the reactions of the people around him. He said, "We in the court know that military farmland cannot be bought or sold, but the common people are ignorant and don't know much. Therefore, there are many transactions of military farmland among the people. Many families have gathered their wealth for generations to buy military farmland. If Your Highness goes to investigate the land of the garrisons, it will surely cause countless common people to go bankrupt. So please think twice."

As soon as the official finished speaking, more officials expressed their approval.
Although the official looked righteous and spoke in a grandiose manner, Zhu Houxuan was not moved at all. He proposed to check the land of the military settlements because he had sent people to investigate in advance and made the decision after mastering a lot of real information. It was not a result of a snap decision, so the official's words could not move him at all.
"Taizu established the Wei Suo system and allocated as much as 100 million mu (one million hectares) of land to the Wei Suo. The total amount of land in the world was no more than 8 million hectares. Taizu's original intention was to support one soldier with 50 mu of land and a million soldiers without spending a single grain of rice from the court. Although the Wei Suo are in ruins today, the ownership of these lands is unquestionable. They are owned by the state!" Zhu Houxuan said, directly defining the nature of the land in the Wei Suo.

This point is really hard to refute.

"The purpose of checking the land of the garrisons is to prevent state-owned land from being lost. What you just said about the people wasting their land and occupying the land of the garrisons, how can it be said that you are competing with the people for profit? Those people have occupied the state land for farming for decades. I have shown kindness by not asking them for rent. How can it be said that you are competing with the people for profit?"

"As for the trading of military land among the people, buying and selling military land is wrong in itself, and it will not become the right thing just because many people are involved. Moreover, even if the people do not know that military land cannot be bought and sold, don't the local officials know it? These lands will definitely not be included in the Yellow Book. If they cannot be included in the Yellow Book, there will be no land deeds. How can the people use the wealth accumulated for generations to buy land without land deeds? If there is, just let his family go bankrupt." Zhu Houxuan directly retorted.

Zhu Houxuan's subtext is very clear: the people who can confidently take over these lands without deeds are definitely not ordinary people.

The official was speechless after hearing what Zhu Houxuan said, and finally had to retreat in disgrace. Zhu Houxuan's grasp of the grassroots situation in the Ming Dynasty had exceeded his imagination.

"In that case, let's do it this way. The next important task is to check the fields of the garrisons," said Zhu Houxuan.

"Minister Wang!" Zhu Houxuan suddenly looked at Wang Qiong.

"I'm here!" Minister of War Wang Qiong suddenly said.

"I heard that the Ministry of War has records and scopes of land granted to various garrisons across the country. Can you find those records?" Zhu Houxuan said casually.

Wang Qiong was stunned after hearing this, but he quickly said, "As you command, I will do my best to check it out."

(End of this chapter)