Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 107: Am I a landlord?

A court, or an organization.

As long as there are conflicts of interest, there will inevitably be "two kinds" of enemies.

One is an external enemy, which is easy to identify. Even if you don’t take the initiative to find him, he will come to you.

The other type is the internal enemy. This type of enemy is very bad, and perhaps he does not do it on purpose.

But he was stupid, and the damage caused by his stupidity benefited external enemies.

There have been many self-righteous and treacherous ministers in history.

Without exception, these people all thought they were in power or that they could keep everything in check in front of the king, but in the end they got into trouble.

Either they were killed by powerful ministers at the risk of their own lives, or their country was destroyed by foreign enemies after it was in ruins.

"Sir! I know this!
The Emperor's grandfather told Xiongying that to be an emperor, one must not only have the ability to distinguish right from wrong, but also know how to control ministers.

Each of these ministers has his own thoughts. As long as they can serve the court and do not harm the interests of our family, we can use them.

As for whether they are enemies or friends, my grandfather also said.

The minister's loyalty to the imperial family is paramount, and everything else is secondary."

After Zhu Xiongying finished speaking, he raised his head as if wanting to get Yang Chen's praise.

In his opinion, everything he experienced today was more interesting than any previous classes.

It is not limited to reading, memorizing and writing, but also allows you to express your own views and opinions.

Moreover, Yang Chen's words seemed particularly different to him, compared with those great scholars who only read from books.

Zhu Xiongying prefers to play freely.

What really made him convinced was that he knew the telescope was actually made by Yang Chen.

In addition, Yang Chen gave Zhu Xiongying the courage to explore the unknown.

Whether it was the surging winds and clouds or the vast sea of ​​stars, whenever Zhu Xiongying mentioned it in the past, he would always get a negative answer.

Yang Chen encouraged him to try boldly, unlike Lao Zhu.

Although Zhu Xiongying knew that his grandfather loved him, whenever he mentioned his own opinions.

But he was blocked by the words "Our holy grandson will definitely become an emperor who surpasses Qin Shi Huang in the future."

"Hey! Our dear grandson is really smart. He remembers everything I said to him! Sister, I'll tell you..."

Old Zhu on the other side of the wall heard that Zhu Xiongying had not forgotten what he said.

Excited to share this joy with Queen Ma.

As soon as I turned around, I saw that Queen Ma had a very gloomy expression on her face.

What I wanted to say was stuck halfway.

"Is this how you usually teach Xiong Ying?"

Empress Ma stared at Zhu Yuanzhang with sharp eyes, making him very embarrassed.

"Chongba? How talented is Xiong Ying? Are you going to teach him how to use your overbearing imperial power to control the ministers?
So you took advantage of me taking Yunxun out to bask in the sun to teach Xiongying these skills?"

"Sister, you have to listen to my explanation. I just want to."

"That's enough! Don't explain to me anymore. From now on, if you, as a grandfather, teach your grandson these nonsense and unreasonable things again, I'll punish you!"

Faced with Empress Ma's sharp warning, Zhu Yuanzhang felt unhappy in his heart but did not dare to say a word out loud.

On the podium, Yang Chen motioned Zhu Xiongying to sit down.

He immediately looked at everyone and asked:

“I don’t know what you think?
Do you all think that Xiongying, to be precise, what His Majesty said is correct?

The minister's loyalty to the emperor is the most important thing, and whether he is an enemy or a friend is secondary. "

There is no doubt that everyone here is royal.

Regarding this question, they must think it is correct in their minds at the first moment.

Even though Zhu Biao felt vaguely that something was wrong with this, he subconsciously agreed with it in his heart.

He wanted to tell Yang Chen that the two sides should unite and change together, but so far, Yang Chen has not revealed the method of change to him.

For this reason, he could only question the question raised by Yang Chen instead of absolutely denying it.

It is just like solving a difficult math problem. If your level is not high enough, you can only solve a small part of it. How you solve it in the end is what is crucial.

Seeing that no one spoke, Yang Chen took the chalk and began to write on the blackboard behind him.

“In my opinion, the existence of a dynasty is to ensure world peace.

I have read the oath Your Majesty took at the founding ceremony more than ten years ago.

He said so.

'Today, the Ming Dynasty is established. I must uphold the Way of Heaven, follow the will of the people, base our economy on agriculture, reduce taxes and levies, and allow the people to live and work in peace and contentment, and share a peaceful and prosperous era.

I will rectify the administration of officials, severely punish corruption, ensure strict government discipline, and make the country prosperous and the people strong. I know that the prosperity of a country lies in loyalty and unity.

I hope that all of you, my subjects, can be loyal and serve the country; I also hope that you can unite as one and build the glory of the Ming Dynasty together.

I wish the Ming Dynasty will be prosperous and prosperous; I wish the people will live a prosperous life and work in peace; I wish the Chinese people will inherit the tradition from generation to generation and enjoy eternal peace.'

This is His Majesty's wish, but in this process, in addition to external enemies, "internal enemies" will continue to greedily extract all benefits.

That is what we call corruption. These corrupt officials are indeed loyal to Your Majesty, but it is also a fact that they destroy Your Majesty's reputation and ruin the destiny of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the destructive power caused by internal enemies is far greater than that of external enemies!
"A thousand-mile dam can be breached by a tiny hole. As members of the royal family, don't you understand this simple truth?"

These words made everyone's heart tremble.

Yang Chen said it very bluntly. It is often these obvious things that are most overlooked.

“But sir, according to what you said, if we want to prevent the collapse of the country, we must find these internal enemies.

Are there other enemies besides corrupt officials who love money?"

Everyone understands the principle, but how to do it is a difficult problem.

Zhu Xiongying's bright eyes were filled with confusion.

Not only was he curious, but others were curious too.

Seeing this, Yang Chen smiled slightly.

“It’s not easy to find these enemies, but we can divide all the people in the Ming Dynasty according to their levels.

In this way, all enemies will reveal their identities right under our noses."

At the next wall, when Lao Zhu heard these words, he couldn't help but frown.

"Assigning ranks to all the people in the Ming Dynasty? Isn't this the Zhou Dynasty's method?

How could this guy even set history back?"

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, there was a strict hierarchy during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

It was only gradually abolished later on, as anyone who has read a little bit of education knows.

After many years of development and confrontation with history, these backward systems were gradually abolished.

Otherwise, it would not be Zhu's turn to become emperor.

After Zhu Yuanzhang became the emperor, he was indeed very cautious, but he did not want to go back in time with history.

He knew that if he did this, all his men would definitely stand up against him.

Yang Chen's words now made him mistakenly believe that this was the case.

However, as the sound from the classroom came, he realized that he was overthinking.

"Assigning levels? Brother Yang, isn't this exactly the same as in the Zhou Dynasty?"

After hearing this, Zhu Biao thought the same thing as Lao Zhu and directly expressed his confusion.

"Don't worry, just listen to me.

This hierarchy is completely different from the system during the Zhou Dynasty that relied solely on status, but rather was based on comprehensive conditions.”

After saying that, Yang Chen turned around and wrote down rows of system levels from top to bottom on the blackboard. The people below also identified them and repeated them in a low voice.

"Landlord class? Comprador class? Middle class? Petty bourgeoisie?"

A completely new hierarchy that had never been seen before was fully displayed before everyone.

"Brother Yang, please tell me in detail.

What are these landlords and comprador classes? "

Zhu Biao felt very excited inside. He could feel that these things were closely related to what Yang Chen had said to him before.

It is the key that opens the door to a new world.

It had been many years since he had felt such a thirst for knowledge. These few words made him feel again the atmosphere of studying with Song Lian many years ago.

"A Biao, don't be impatient, let me explain slowly.

First of all, these classes represent the millions of people in the entire Ming Dynasty. Of course, they are not all common people, including everyone here, including me.

As we all know, politics is often not about right or wrong, but only about stance.

The levels I just mentioned are largely judged based on standpoint and comprehensiveness.

This combination can be family background, wealth, or talent.

In short, the more things he has that others don't have, the higher his level.

Just like the landlord class and the comprador class, the first two exist dependent on the large centralized unified dynasty.

The main manifestation is that the landlord class owns means of production such as land, which most people would never even think of in their lifetime.

Their main source of income is the harvest from the large tracts of land they own.

So let me ask, who is the largest landlord class in the entire Ming Dynasty?"

The moment this question came out, Zhu Chong, Zhu Di and others looked at each other.

Obviously, this landlord class is themselves.

"Girl? This guy categorized us like this. I feel like his intentions are not pure, right?"

Lao Zhu relied on his sixth sense to express his true feelings.

"Don't worry about whether their intentions are pure or not. I think Yang Chen's classification method is very special.

Don't interrupt, just listen to what he has to say."

Empress Ma, who had originally been too lazy to eavesdrop with Zhu Yuanzhang, couldn't help but become curious at this moment.

These hierarchical forms may seem simple, but they contain important clues to "unite friends and defeat enemies."

If you can distinguish classes clearly, you can judge your stance and eventually master the ability to distinguish between friends and enemies.

"From the looks of it, you all know that except for me, all of you are from the landlord class.

You can have whatever land you want in the entire Ming Dynasty. This is even above the ordinary landlord class.

Because besides you, there are many members of high-ranking officials who are also members of the landlord class, such as the six dukes, princes, and officials of the fourth rank and above.

They are all landlords, the only difference is their abilities.

As for the comprador class, they are some officials with remote and relatively small power.

These people's positions are erratic, and once the interests of the court conflict with their own interests.

They will begin to weigh the pros and cons and see whether the benefits of opposing are greater than those of not opposing.

I think the prince should understand what I said."

Whether it is the landlord class or the comprador class, all of these people rely on the dynasty to exist and survive.

There is no need to say much about the Zhu family. In the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, ordinary people are not allowed to have the surname Zhu. The deterrent power of the national surname is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Yang Chen's class differentiation is naturally not completely applicable to the current situation in the Ming Dynasty.

But with a slight transformation, people can still understand the existence of class differentiation.

After he said this, Zhu Biao naturally understood how to distinguish between the comprador class and the landlord class.

The royal family members headed by his father, including those who made great contributions to the founding of the country, who were rewarded with thousands of acres of land, were the landlord class.

Those who are judged by their rank, eat the emperor's food and have great power in their hands are the comprador class.

Their position is mainly based on the policies distributed by the power structure of the court represented by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Some people stood on the side of the Zhu family, while others stood on the side of the party founded by Hu Weiyong.

There are also people who do not take sides with anyone. They are honest and incorruptible, and are full of passion to serve their duties loyally and conscientiously.

It’s just a pity that Lao Zhu let these people down in the past.

This has caused many people to take the path of corruption.

There has been some improvement in recent times.

"Brother Yang, what you said is very clear and concise. Did Xiongying understand?"

Zhu Biao bowed to Yang Chen, then looked at Zhu Xiongying. He thought that today's class seemed to be going on well.

Sitting in the position, Zhu Xiongying, holding his still rosy face with both hands, thought about it.

Immediately, he revealed his innocent smile and said:

“My Lord, Xiongying understands what you said.

Grandpa, grandma, father, uncles and aunts are all big landlords, and the compradors below are the ones who obey our orders."

Zhu Xiongying was not only not confused, but was very smart and expressed his own way of understanding.

This surprised Zhu Biao very much.

Yang Chen smiled at him from above to encourage him.

"Yes, it seems that Xiongying is very smart. You all have understood what the landlord class and the comprador class are."

"Next, we have the middle class, which is full of contradictions.

You can understand these people as big businessmen or some big chambers of commerce.

For example, Shen Wansan, who had been demoted to a commoner by His Majesty and sent to the frontier to work, and Zhang Shicheng, who had made his fortune as a salt merchant.

He was originally just a small trader selling illegal salt, but later, taking advantage of the war, he began to expand his power with his own abilities.

In the end, he became a warlord who controlled the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas.

People of this class hold a very contradictory attitude towards the revolution in the Central Plains.

These people need revolution when they are oppressed and suffer in peacetime.

Zhang Shicheng used to sell private salt. Since ancient times, salt has been a state-controlled resource. Therefore, in the late Yuan Dynasty, efforts were intensified to crack down on private salt sales.

The private salt dealers, led by those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, were naturally the first to be hit.

To this end they hoped for a revolution against the landlord class.

However, as the scope of the revolution expanded and the number of participants gradually increased, their own assets were damaged, and they became very opposed to the revolution.

In the end, people like Zhang Shicheng became the main force in the revolution because he wanted to leave his middle-class status.

Only by becoming stronger can you better control everything about yourself.

Whether they choose to support or oppose, these middle classes have no room for their 'independence'.

When faced with turbulent times, these people have no choice but to stand up and make choices.”

Yang Chen's words instantly enlightened everyone.

The so-called middle class refers to people with a certain amount of wealth in the Ming society. Their wealth in peacetime may be extremely outstanding.

But once encountering troubled times, it will become a separatist force.

These riches can be used to recruit soldiers and make oneself stronger.

Not to mention others, let alone Zhang Shicheng, anyone who sold contraband salt was extremely wealthy. Zhu's adoptive father Guo Zixing was a wealthy man in the late Yuan Dynasty, so he could be considered one.

(End of this chapter)