The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 475: Fighting for People and Profits
On November Gengwu, the heavy snow stopped.

At around noon, the long-lost sun finally rose.

The weather is still very cold and the temperature is still very low.

The streets and alleys of the capital were crowded with people and snow was flying.

The common people were clearing the snow with chopsticks and shovels, and the flat road gradually revealed its original dark color.

In the Mountain Resort and the North Teaching Field, tens of thousands of craftsmen were also clearing the snow.

That's a bit strange.

The North Training Ground is used to gather troops, so whether there is snow or not seems to be irrelevant.

After all, once the troops have gathered, they are basically ready to set off. There seems to be no difference between gathering on snow and gathering on dry grass.

In other words, it would be better if there was snow. Snow is white and when it melts it becomes water, not mud. At least it won't dirty your boots.

So why did these craftsmen clear the snow from the North Teaching Field?
This is Wanli's will.

He planned to remove the North Teaching Field and build a workshop here specializing in casting boilers and developing steam engines.

While the craftsmen were busy clearing the snow, Wanli also brought his second son Zhu Changxu, Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan, and Yongnian Earl Wang Wei to the city gate tower of the former west gate of Miyun County.

Across the river from here is the North Teaching Field.

The emperor's second son, Zhu Changxu, looked at the craftsman who was devouring the snow like a black line, and asked in confusion, "Father, why do you want to remove this North Training Ground?
Wouldn’t it be very convenient for the soldiers of the Beijing camp to gather here and march forward?
Besides, there's plenty of land on both sides of the Chaobai River to the south. Can't we just carve out an area and build a workshop there?"

All you think about is war.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "The North Training Ground of the Summer Resort was originally set up to facilitate the dispatch of troops to the Northern Xingdu Division.

Now that we have occupied the Beijing Xingdusi and even the Tatar territory north of the Ximulun River, the Beijiaochang is no longer that important.

If you want to gather troops and go out of the border, it is more convenient to gather directly in the Beijing Xingdusi or even the Khorchin grassland than here.

Moreover, there is plenty of space in Nanyuan. Now the roads around the capital are well connected. If the Beijing army wants to march out from the capital, it can also go to Nanyuan to gather troops.

Now we have plenty of places to gather people and horses, but we can't just pick a place to build boilers and steam engines.

Boilers and steam engines are the core driving force for the future development of the Ming Dynasty and must be kept secret.

This summer resort is a temporary palace, and ordinary people cannot enter, and the confidentiality measures are also very good.

There aren't any strict confidentiality measures on both sides of the Chaobai River in the south. Basically anyone can go there, and any boat can pass through the river, so it's difficult to keep secrets."

Oh, and it has to be kept secret.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "Father-in-law, how is the development of the steam engine prototype going?"

Uh, this.

Yongnianbo Wang Wei said somewhat embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, this steam engine is a bit difficult to make. The key is that it is difficult to ensure complete sealing.

If it is something that does not move, it is easy to seal. The problem is that the piston in the steam engine moves around, which makes it really difficult to seal.

The seal is not good, and the steam engine seems to have very little power, and it can't even push anything."

Of course, making a steam engine is not that easy.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, don't worry, the sealing problem can be solved once the rubber is returned.

Try making the matching items first to see if there are any problems."

While they were talking, a horseman suddenly came galloping from the south road.

I'm here to deliver a memorial.

Seeing this, Wanli waved his hand and said, "You can go about your business. I will go back and deal with the memorial first."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked towards the study in the palace.

When he brought the second prince Zhu Changxu into the study, the memorials were already placed on the desk.

There seem to be a lot of memorials today, a thick stack.

He flipped open the memorial and glanced at it, and couldn't help but snort coldly.

Seeing this, Zhu Changxu couldn't help but ask, "Father, what's wrong?"

Wanli stuffed the swept memorial into his hands and said coldly, "These people are instigating the princes to snatch people from me."

Zhu Changxu took the memorial and read it, feeling puzzled.

What is said in these memorials seems to make sense.

The princes reported that most of the farmers in the vassal states wanted to transfer to the garrison troops, which would cause a lot of land to become barren.

Court officials went into more detail.

For ordinary people, what worries them most is not the scarcity of wealth but the inequality of distribution of wealth.

Originally, everyone had more than ten or twenty acres of land, which was not a big deal. Now, if you transfer to the garrison army, you will be given fifty acres of land, so everyone will definitely want to transfer.

In this case, if tens of millions of civilians want to transfer to the garrison army, wouldn't that require hundreds of millions or even billions of acres of land?

Where does all this land come from?

He took a closer look and then couldn't help asking, "Father, what they said seems to make sense.

Didn’t you say that Nurgandusi had hundreds of millions of acres of land, not billions of acres?

What if the common people all want to share fifty mu of land?"

You are so easy to fool because you know nothing.

These guys are good at using this to fool people.

They are dreaming if they want to fool me!
Wanli did not answer but asked: "Think about the tens of millions of ordinary households that originally had more than ten or twenty mu of land. How many mu of land would that be?"

This has to be calculated, I'm afraid you can't figure it out.

Zhu Changxu counted on his fingers and then said carefully, "Father, it seems to be two or three hundred million mu, right?"

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it is two or three hundred million mu. They are counting the land before the land survey regulations were implemented.

At that time, there were only more than 300 million mu of land on the tax and labor list. Excluding the fiefs of princes, tax-free land for scholars, and military farms for garrisons, there were only more than 200 million mu left.

By this calculation, each household of ordinary people would have more than 10 to 20 mu of land. However, the land surveyed during the Hongwu period amounted to more than 800 million mu.

The crops grown in this land are edible, but can the land still be eaten by people?
Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng knew that the land had been swallowed up by them, so he implemented the land survey regulations.

As a result, not long after the land reclamation regulations were implemented, Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng died inexplicably.

what?
Zhu Changxu was puzzled and asked, "Father, why did Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng die after implementing the land survey regulations?"

It seems that just letting you learn military tactics is not enough, you don’t know anything else!

Wanli shook his head slightly and sighed, "Do you think there is something wrong with the land surveyed during the Hongwu reign?

There is nothing wrong with the land surveyed during the Hongwu Dynasty. The problem lies with the land listed in the current Yellow Book of Taxes and Labor Service. The Ming Dynasty reclaimed wasteland for more than 200 years, so the land listed in the Yellow Book of Taxes and Labor Service should be more than 900 million mu, not more than 300 million mu.

In other words, if we include the land registered in the tax and labor register, they have swallowed up more than 70% of the land in the Ming Dynasty!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu couldn't help but exclaimed, "My God, these guys are so cruel!"

You really don't understand anything.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, "Think about it again. Over 900 million mu of farmland, if each household has more than 10 or 20 mu, how many households would that be?"

This is even harder to calculate.

Zhu Changxu counted on his fingers and said with a puzzled look on his face, "That's not right. By this calculation, it should be 40 to 50 million households.

Even if each household has three or four people, that's still more than 100 million people.

Where did the Ming Dynasty get so many people? The tax and labor records show only about 50 to 60 million people, right?

You know this.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Yes, there are only 50 to 60 million people listed in the tax and labor service register.

Not only did they swallow up more than 70% of the land in the Ming Dynasty, they also raped most of the population."

These guys!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu was shocked and asked, "Even their population is black?"

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Yes, even their population is black.

It was truly shocking when the Dai Wang Mansion was searched and confiscated.

The number of civilians enslaved by the Dai Wangfu was greater than the number of farmers and border garrisons in Datong Town combined.

They bullied the common people because they were illiterate and could not leave their vassal states, so they did not issue imperial records for them and did not allow them to appear in the yellow book of taxes and labor service.

Not only did these people have no land, but even the houses they lived in belonged to the Prince of Dai's palace.

Without the imperial seal, they can't go anywhere and can only be enslaved by the Dai Wangfu for the rest of their lives, generation after generation, with no clothes to cover their bodies, no food to eat, and they are emaciated and miserable."

Oh, these people are so miserable.

Zhu Changxu sighed inwardly and couldn't help asking, "Father, since they have enslaved so many civilians, why do they still say that no one is farming?"

Don’t you know how to calculate this?
Wanli shook his head slightly and said, “They have annexed too much land.

If we average it out by population, with more than 900 million mu of land and more than 100 million people, each person should have about eight mu of land, and a family of four should have about 40 mu of land.

In fact, there are not many ordinary people who actually own land, with 40 mu per household. There are not even many who own more than 10 or 20 mu. It is considered good for ordinary people to have 10 mu of land.

Now ten mu of land can only produce more than 20 dan of grain, which is not enough for a family of four or five to eat.

If these civilians don't want their families to go hungry, they have to cultivate some land for them to earn some food.

In addition, the common people without land can only depend on them and farm for them.

Think about it, what would happen if we converted most of the registered civilians into garrison troops?
If we calculate based on the Yellow Book of Taxes and Labor Service, excluding the existing garrison troops, the number of registered civilians would be less than 10 million households.

If we exclude the artisans and doctors we recruited, the relatives and friends of the civil servants, and the merchants who run their own businesses, the remaining farmers would be no more than seven or eight million households.

Moreover, among these seven or eight million households, those who do not want to transfer to the garrison troops must have land at home and live a decent life.

In other words, once we recruit them, the ordinary farmers who farm for them will basically be gone.

In this case, the 600 to 700 million mu of land they have annexed will have to be cultivated entirely by the civilians they have enslaved.

Even if there were tens of millions of civilian households enslaved by them, on average each household would have to cultivate at least 60 acres of land.

This is simply impossible.

Those enslaved civilians could not even get enough food to eat, and it was considered lucky for each family to be able to cultivate 30 acres of land.

Moreover, the common people they enslaved basically had no oxen for farming.

Every household has to cultivate at least 60 mu of land. Even if they work the common people they enslave like oxen and horses to death, they still can’t produce enough.”

Oh, I see.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu pondered, "Father, why don't they feed all the enslaved civilians? Wouldn't that give them more strength?"

They just don't want the enslaved civilians to have enough to eat.

Wanli shook his head slightly and said, “It is impossible for them to feed those enslaved civilians.

If you haven't been to Japan, you wouldn't know that if people were only given porridge and not allowed to drink enough, the average person would consume at most three stone of grain a year. A family of four would not starve to death even if they were given a total of ten stone of grain a year.

If we want to feed people enough, the average amount of grain consumed per person per year is ten dan.

In other words, if they wanted to feed a family of four, they would have to consume 40 shi of grain a year.

This is too uneconomical for them.

If they hired landless tenants or landed farmers, cultivating 60 mu of land would consume at most 20 dan of grain.

Think about it, such a huge loss would be a death sentence for those who don't want to pay the 20% tax per acre.

It turned out to be the case.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Changxu suddenly realized, "Oh, they don't want to produce more food, so they find some seemingly reasonable excuses to fool us."

You finally understand.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Yes, don't be fooled by their talk, which sounds better than singing. In fact, they want to compete with us for people and profit."

(End of this chapter)