My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 177 "Memorial Requesting the Abolition of the Artisan's Stove and Musical Instruments"

"A petition to abolish the artisan stove and music books!"
Upon seeing the title of this memorial, Yang Sizhong, the acting Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, knew he was in trouble.

The household registration system was a fundamental system established by Emperor Taizu. Su Ze's memorial, which happened to be during the Lingji Palace assembly, was bound to cause discussion in the court and among the people.

"Your Majesty, I have found that when the Taizu Emperor first established the country, he divided the people into various registers, which was originally intended to ensure that each person was in charge of their own occupation in order to consolidate the foundation of the country."

“Since the founding of the nation, artisans have suffered from the exploitation of officials, salt producers have been burdened by the heavy salt tax, and musicians have been bound by their lowly professions and unable to leave their registered status. Such hereditary restrictions are contrary to the sacred teaching that all four classes of people are of equal importance. I humbly request that the registration of artisans, salt producers, and musicians be abolished, and that they be allowed to choose their own livelihoods as ordinary people, so that all people may be blessed by the sage’s virtue.”

“Under the old system, labor service was levied according to the registered residence. Craftsmen were required to pay three months' worth of official labor every year, and salt producers were required to boil six thousand catties of salt annually. As a result, many people abandoned their jobs and fled.”

"The corvée labor of artisans, salt tax, and musicians will be levied in silver. For example, artisans will pay two taels of silver per year, salt producers will pay silver based on their salt production, and musicians will be exempted from the lowest social status and will pay a corvée labor tax instead. In this way, officials can hire laborers to perform their duties, and the people will be spared the risk of ruin. This is truly a policy that benefits both the public and the private sector."

"I humbly beseech Your Majesty to remember that the original intention of Emperor Taizu's laws was to bring peace and tranquility to the people, not to imprison them in misery."

“If all the registers are returned to the people’s register, the annual tax revenue can be one million taels of silver, and hundreds of thousands of people who have fled can be evacuated, so that scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants can all find their place.”

After reading it, Yang Sizhong also admitted that Su Ze's memorial was extremely well written.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty had long been aware of the system of registering various professions, and the practice of paying wages in silver as proposed by Su Ze was already an unspoken rule among artisans.

The system of registering artisans in the Ming Dynasty became as strict as that of registering musicians. Artisans were required to live in special places within the city and perform three months of labor service for the government each year.

However, since craftsmen had mastered the skills, their social status was higher than that of musicians. In the course of the struggle, Emperor Zhengde allowed craftsmen to "pay others to serve in government workshops," which meant paying someone to serve in the workshops on their behalf.

By the time of the Longqing era, the practice of paying for service in lieu of service had gradually evolved into directly paying silver to avoid service.

In industrial and mining areas like Wuhu and Fuzhou, government-run workshops needed to spend money to hire artisans.

There were also workshops jointly run by officials and civilians, as well as workshop-owning families like the Wan family in Wuhu.

Su Ze's memorial only proposed to include the musicians and kitchen workers in the list, merge these household registrations with the civilian registrations, and levy taxes on them using silver equivalent to their tax payment, but abolish the government's forced labor service.

The "music registration" was essentially the same as the "music household registration," and since the population was small, there wasn't much resistance.

However, the kitchen register is the tricky part.

Salt households, also known as "Zaoji," were mainly distributed in salt-producing areas such as Lianghuai and Changlu, and had a high poverty rate.

The salt-producing officials were responsible for supplying salt to the imperial court, and salt tax was an important part of the Ming Dynasty's finances.

From the mid-Ming Dynasty onwards, problems arose in the salt administration, with low enthusiasm among the various salt bureaus and a significant reduction in salt production.

Today, the output of each salt depot is less than half of what it was at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and the flight of salt workers is rampant, to the point that it threatens the operation of the salt administration.

At this time, Su Ze also proposed to lift the restrictions on salt-making households and allow them to return to civilian status, which would inevitably arouse opposition from many salt administration officials.

As for the medical register and the yin-yang register mentioned casually in the memorial, the former refers to doctors and the latter to yin-yang practitioners. These were hereditary positions with a higher status than ordinary people, and the household registration system had long been nominal and ineffective, so abolishing it was just a matter of course.

What are you, Su Ze, talking about regarding the kitchen register?!

Yang Sizhong complained inwardly that if it were just the abolition of the musicians' and artisan's registrations, this memorial would probably not have faced much resistance, but the most sensitive registration of stove workers was added.

The only thing that made Yang Sizhong feel a little better was that Su Ze hadn't been added to the military register.

If military status is to be changed, it won't just be a political upheaval, but a political storm in the court!
Yang Sizhong brought Su Ze's memorial to the cabinet.
-
After Grand Secretary Li Chunfang finished reading Su Ze's memorial, the Imperial Secretary handed it over to Gao Gong, who held the position of Second Grand Secretary.

Li Chunfang rubbed his forehead. He had the same thought as Yang Sizhong: why did they have to bring up the kitchen register?
As the Grand Secretary, Li Chunfang's views were more comprehensive than Yang Sizhong's; the issue of the salt-making system was not as simple as it seemed.

Since the founding of the nation, the number of registered salt producers has increased, and the number of salt fields has also increased, but salt production has declined. This is not a problem solely caused by the household registration system.

Salt production incurs costs, also known as labor costs.

For example, boiling salt requires fuel, and the salt-making households need food rations; these are all necessary costs to maintain the operation of the salt plant.

Zhu Yuanzhang used "precious paper" to distribute working capital to salt farmers.

During the Hongwu and Yongle reigns, doing so did not pose a significant problem.

But even today, local authorities still use "precious paper" to distribute working capital to salt farmers, which is really inhumane.

Given this outcome, it's normal for salt producers to take the salt out and sell it.

In the early years of the Jiajing reign, more than half of the salt circulating in the market was smuggled salt.

If that were the case, it wouldn't be so bad. However, many emperors liked to bestow large amounts of salt permits upon their relatives and trusted eunuchs. These large amounts of salt permits exacerbated the supply and demand imbalance in the salt industry. Many salt merchants with permits could not obtain salt. Some salt fields issued permits that, based on production volume, would not be able to obtain salt for another fifty years.

Just then, the bigwigs of the bureaucratic system stepped in again.

During the Jiajing reign, Yan Maoqing was appointed as the Salt Commissioner, in charge of all five salt transport commissions except for Fujian.

He squeezed the maximum short-term profits from the gray industry chain of the salt-making system by forcing salt producers to buy their surplus salt at low prices and reselling it directly, conducting large-scale raids on smuggled salt, and forcing merchants to buy it at high prices.

This short-sighted approach further exacerbated the collapse of the salt administration system, leading to the flight of many salt producers and rendering salt permits almost worthless.

After reading Su Ze's memorial, Gao Gong's thoughts on salt administration were mainly focused on the governance of officials.

Gao Gong said, "The problem with the salt administration lies in the governance of officials. If we abolish the salt-making register, won't it cause chaos in the salt administration?"

Li Chunfang was also worried about this point. Salt administration was an issue involving multiple departments, and salt producers were the most basic and fundamental entities in the entire system.

What Li Chunfang and Gao Gong were worried about was whether lifting the restrictions on salt-making households would directly cause a salt shortage.

Salt is an essential commodity for the people, and if there are problems with the salt industry, it will affect the livelihoods of all the people.

By this time, Zhang Juzheng had finished reading the memorial, and his expression was quite complicated.

The reform of the tax system actually aligned with Zhang Juzheng's reform ideas.

Even compared to agricultural taxes, this policy was easier to implement because artisans and musicians lived in the city and had their own currency.

However, the issue of salt tax registration was very sensitive, and for the Ministry of Revenue, which was in charge of Zhang Juzheng, salt tax was also a very important source of revenue.

What if lifting the restrictions on salt-producing households affects salt tax revenue?
This time, Zhang Juzheng still wrote down his objections and handed them to Zhao Zhenji.

When Zhao Zhenji saw this memorial, he thought of the imperial examination system.

Those registered as soldiers and artisans had already participated in the imperial examinations, so there wasn't much of a problem.

There were also Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) from the Zaoji (southern kitchen) region, the most famous of whom was Zhang Cong, a renowned minister during the Jiajing reign.

If musicians were allowed to participate in the imperial examinations, how much criticism would that cause among the literati?

However, as a successor of the Taizhou School, Zhao Zhenji agreed with Su Ze's memorial and wrote down his opinion in agreement.

Finally, the memorial was sent back to Li Chunfang and Gao Gong. This time, neither of them offered any suggestions, and they allowed the officials of the Office of Transmission to send it to the palace.
-
After Su Ze's memorial was sent to the palace, the emperor withheld it from publication. This outcome had already been predicted by the system.

——[Simulation Start]——

A day later, the memorial entitled "Request to abolish the books on craftsmen, stoves and music" was sent to the cabinet. Zhang Juzheng opposed it, Zhao Zhenji agreed, and Li Chunfang and Gao Gong did not submit any draft opinions. The memorial was then sent to the palace.

The Longqing Emperor accepted your memorial.

The memorial reached the censors and was published in the new "Gentleman's Gazette," sparking discussion throughout the capital.

On June 2nd, at the Lingji Palace assembly, the virtuous and learned scholars attacked your articles and accused your memorials of undermining ancestral laws and destroying the foundation of the Ming Dynasty.

On June 4, the Xinyuefu Daily published an article advocating "equality among the four classes," supporting your memorial, and further supporting the opening up of the salt administration.

Due to the heated debate between the government and the public, the household registration dispute turned into a regional dispute, specifically between the industrially and commercially developed coastal areas and the agricultural-dominated inland areas.

The emperor has rejected your memorial and issued an edict strictly forbidding you from mentioning the matter again.

——[Simulation End]——

[Should I spend 2000 prestige points to force the memorial to pass?]

Good heavens, the last time Su Ze petitioned to implement the performance evaluation system for all officials, it only required 4000 prestige points. I didn't expect this policy to require 2000 points.

However, this time Su Ze neither chose to carry out the mission nor to abandon it, but instead put it aside.

Just as the system predicted.

On June 3, Luo Wanhua walked into the history museum carrying a newspaper.

The new "Junzi Bao" and "Xin Yuefu Bao" have become the second largest newspapers in the capital after the official "Yuefu Xinbao". This has attracted great attention from Luo Wanhua, who is actually in charge of "Yuefu Xinbao". He studies these two newspapers every issue.

Today's headline in the new "Gentleman's Daily" is about Su Ze, and Luo Wanhua quickly took the newspaper and placed it in front of Su Ze.

"Brother Yifu, I already read this article while I was having breakfast."

After getting married, Su Ze ate breakfast at home.

His wife, Zhao Lingxian, would not only prepare exquisite breakfasts, but also have the servants buy several newspapers available on the market and place them on the dining table for Su Ze to read while he ate.

"Brother Zilin, are you still able to sit still?"

Even Luo Wanhua, a slowpoke, was getting anxious for Su Ze. The controversy caused by Su Ze's memorial had spread from the imperial court to the entire scholarly community, which meant that the court would face even greater pressure.

Luo Wanhua said:
"Brother Zilin, why didn't you submit your memorial after the grand assembly at Lingji Palace?"

Su Ze thought to himself that he intended to raise this issue for discussion at the Lingji Palace Conference, so how could he possibly submit a memorial after the conference?

At this moment, Zhang Wei said:
“Brother Yifu, Brother Zilin wanted virtuous scholars to discuss these matters, which is why he specifically submitted this letter at this time.”

Su Ze glanced at Zhang Wei. Sure enough, politics still requires talent. Luo Wanhua was close to him, but Zhang Wei could see through his thoughts.

However, Luo Wanhua said:
"The households of artisans and artisans are vital to the foundation of the nation. If we allow them to leave their posts, how can you bear the responsibility of shaking the foundation of the nation?"

Su Ze said:

"Brother Yifu, what do you think the imperial court is?"

Before Luo Wanhua could answer, Su Ze said:

"Emperor Taizu once said, 'Our Great Ming Dynasty is of great merit because the Yuan emperor acted perversely and tyrannically. We inherited the virtue and fortune of the people and obeyed the mandate of heaven to overthrow the Yuan.'"

"The people are the foundation of the state!"

Su Ze's words have actually been discussed by Confucian scholars for over a thousand years. In recent years, the Taizhou School has also frequently mentioned "the people are the foundation of the state," which is now considered a common saying.

Su Ze continued:

"The people are the foundation of the state. Craftsmen and artisans are also subjects of the court. Why should we harm the poor to benefit the rich?"

Luo Wanhua felt that Su Ze was using sophistry, but he didn't know how to refute it.

Su Ze sighed. In his previous life, he had also been a radical youth.
However, when he looks at this issue now, he finds it difficult to escape the practical problems and face various real-world challenges.
To completely destroy the rice cooker and leave everyone without food is an extreme idea.

This issue is so complex that it cannot be fully explained in just a few words.

If this were during the Longqing era of the Ming Dynasty, Su Ze could almost give a standard answer—

Just make a big cake!
Use development to solve problems, and clear up the accumulated problems during the development period.

However, if we don't focus on solving problems properly during the development period, but instead allow certain interest groups to grow stronger and exploit other vulnerable groups, then it will be even more difficult to solve them in the future, and in the end, we can only completely destroy the rice bowl.

Su Ze took out an article and handed it to Luo Wanhua, saying:
"Brother Yifu, please publish this article in the next issue of the Yuefu Xinbao."

Luo Wanhua quickly finished reading the article and looked at Su Ze in surprise.

"Brother Zilin, are you going to establish a doctrine?"

Luo Wanhua was well-versed in the Four Books and Five Classics and knew how heretical Su Ze's article was; it was practically an attempt to overturn the fundamental theories of Confucianism that had stood for thousands of years.

However, his arguments were all very comprehensive, leaving no room for criticism.

This is a testament meant to last for eternity!
Su Ze shook his head and said, "It is not that I, Su, want to establish my own opinion, but that I am speaking out for the common people."

This time, it was Su Ze who used the system to solve the problems for ordinary people at the grassroots level.

Su Ze sighed. Sure enough, domestic policies are the most difficult. Even redistributing this small piece of the pie to liberate the farmers from their miserable lives is met with such great resistance.
-
Dengzhou.

When Tu Zemin, the governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, arrived at a salt depot, the accompanying salt officials pointed to the salt fields by the sea and said, “Your Excellency, the method of sun-drying salt existed as early as the Qin Dynasty. However, the salt produced by sun-drying is all coarse salt, which tastes bitter and is poisonous if consumed for a long time. Therefore, this coarse salt must be refined by adding brine.”

Tu Zemin nodded. Coarse salt is actually not worth much; it naturally precipitates out on the beach.

Therefore, when Su Ze wrote to him about the salt-making method, Tu Zemin was dismissive.

The difficulty in salt production lies in refining, which is to turn the bitter coarse salt with impurities into fine salt.

Upon entering the salt depot, all they saw was steam rising from the entire site. The accompanying salt administration official remarked:
“The old method of refining salt using brine required boiling coarse brine and repeatedly adding it, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive.”

"This salt plant uses the governor's new method, which has doubled the production of refined salt! It has also relieved the salt workers of the hardship of boiling brine. This method is truly beneficial to the country and the people!"

(End of this chapter)