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If it is said that the rule of Renxuan was the prosperous age of Ming Dynasty, then I have to talk about the two prosperous ages of the early Ming Dynasty here.

One is the rule of Hongwu, and the other is the prosperity of Yongle.

So how did the rule of Hongwu and the prosperity of Yongle start and develop?

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, officials were corrupt, the Mongolian nobles were corrupt, and the government was corrupt.In order to eliminate the deficit, the Yuan court increased taxes and printed a large number of new banknotes "Zhizhengbao banknotes".

The ensuing inflation and natural disasters such as famine and the flooding of the Yellow River have made people's lives difficult.The Yuan Dynasty was one of the darkest periods in Chinese history.

At that time, it was an alien invasion, which wiped out countries including the Southern Song Dynasty, and even expanded its territory to the Arctic Ocean and the Mediterranean coast. However, it carried out cruel ethnic oppression, implemented racial discrimination policies, and forcibly suppressed Han and southerners.

In 1351, Emperor Yuan Shun sent Jia Lu to manage the Yellow River and recruited 20 people from all over the country.

In May of the same year, Han Shantong and Liu Futong of the Bailian sect incited the people who had suffered from natural disasters and harsh treatment by the supervisors to rebel against the Yuan Dynasty.He claimed to be the King of Ming, established the Red Scarf Army, and occupied Henan and Anhui.

The Red Turban Army and rebels from all over the country rose up one after another, and their forces expanded to central and southern China.The following year, Guo Zixing of the Red Scarf Army revolted and captured Haozhou.

Soon, Zhu Yuanzhang from Fengyang, Anhui, who was born as a poor peasant, went to Guo Zixing.After that, Zhu Yuanzhang left Haozhou to develop his own power.

In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to occupy Jiqing, renamed it Yingtianfu, and captured some important military sites around him to gain a foothold.

Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the advice of counselor Zhu Sheng to "build high walls, accumulate food widely, and slowly become king". After several years of hard work, his military and economic strength grew rapidly.

In 1360, Chen and Zhu fought fiercely in Longwan, northwest of Jiqing. Chen Youliang's forces were hit hard and fled to Jiangzhou.

In 1363, through the Poyang Lake water battle, Chen Youliang's forces were basically wiped out. In 1367, Zhu Yuanzhang claimed to be the King of Wu, and led his army to capture Pingjiang and destroy Zhang Shicheng. In the same year, he also eliminated Fang Guozhen, who ruled the coast of Zhejiang Province.

Zhu Yuanzhang took the throne in Yingtianfu, Jinling, and named his country Daming.Afterwards, taking advantage of the internal strife in the Yuan Dynasty, they took the opportunity of the Northern Expedition and the Western Expedition, and captured Yuan Dadu in the same year, and the Yuan Dynasty withdrew from the Central Plains.After that, the Ming Yuzhen forces in Sichuan were eliminated, and the Yuan Dynasty Liang Wang who was guarding Yunnan was eliminated.Finally, go deep into Mobei to attack Beiyuan.The world is here to stay.

Due to the painful memory of the late Yuan government in his childhood, Zhu Yuanzhang eased the burden on farmers, restored social economic production, reformed the bad government left by the Yuan Dynasty, punished corrupt officials, and the social economy recovered and developed.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the central and local political systems were inherited from the Yuan Dynasty.

In the 13th year of Hongwu, Hu Weiyong, the prime minister of the left, was killed on the charge of "conspiring against others", and the Zhongshu province was dismissed, and the power of the prime minister was divided among six departments.

The six ministers carried out the emperor's orders and were directly responsible to the emperor.Later, it was further announced that no further discussion of the prime minister was allowed.The prime minister system that had been practiced for more than a thousand years since the Qin and Han Dynasties has since been abolished.

After Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister, he selected several literati to serve as grand scholars in Huagai Hall, Wuying Hall, Wenyuan Pavilion, and Dong Pavilion to assist him in reviewing memorials and acting as consultants.

During the reign of Emperor Chengzu (Zhu Di) of the Ming Dynasty, the cabinet ministers could participate in the maintenance of the aircraft, but they did not have staff members, and they were not allowed to dictatorship over the officials.From the beginning of Renzong, the power of the six ministers, the minister and the scholar of the imperial court became more and more powerful.

The supervisory agency in the early years of Hongwu was called Yushitai.

Hongwu was renamed the Metropolitan Procuratorate in 15 years, and the chief executives were all censors, etc., who were full-time impeachment of Baisi.There are thirteen supervisory censors under the Metropolitan Procuratorate to picket internal and external officials.

The supervisory censor is the seventh grade. Although his official rank is low, his authority is heavy.In addition, according to the six-ministration system, six departments were set up to give affairs, responsible for inspecting the ministries, and refuting the rules and regulations.

Zhu Yuanzhang also set up Jinyiwei, a secret service agency, and set up the commander of Jinyiwei. In addition to being in charge of guards and secretly arresting thieves and traitors, the Fusi of Beizhen is also in charge of the prison.

Through these supervisory organs, officials and secret agents, the emperor further strengthened his control over officials and common people.

Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the rectification of the administration of officials, and strictly prohibited officials at all levels from neglecting their duties and harming the people.

Senior officials were subject to the supervision of the censor, and middle and lower-level officials were regularly assessed. Those who were competent were promoted, and those who were ordinary were reinstated.

The punishment for corrupt officials is particularly severe. Anyone who steals more than 60 taels of banknotes will be skinned and shown to the public.

In order to prevent powerful heroes from threatening the imperial power, Zhu Yuanzhang attacked them.

From the beginning of the founding of the country, Zhu Yuanzhang warned civil and military ministers to learn from the lessons of Han Xin and Peng Yue in the Western Han Dynasty. In 1372, he promulgated the nine articles of "Iron Bulletin", strictly prohibiting princes and military officers of the capital's guards from making personal payments, enlisting sergeants without authorization, bullying goodness by relying on power, and invading public and private land.

Later, edicts were issued many times to stipulate the authority of heroes.In the 13th year of Hongwu, on the pretext of Hu Weiyong, the prime minister of the left, "conspiring against the law", Daxing party prison.

He promulgated the "Records of Revealing the Traitorous Party", accusing Hu Weiyong of conspiracy to commit crimes, killing Han Gonggong Li Shanchang, Liehou Lu Zhongheng, etc., implicating more than 26 people.In the [-]th year of Hongwu, Lan Yu, Duke of Liang, Zhang Yi, Marquis of Lie, etc. were killed for the crime of treason, implicating more than [-] people.

In the sixth year of Hongwu, Liu Weiqian, Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, ordered to compile the "Law of the Ming Dynasty", Zhu Yuanzhang personally made a decision, and after three revisions, it was officially promulgated in the 30th year of Hongwu.The book consists of 30 volumes and 460 articles. "Law of the Ming Dynasty" maintains the centralization of the monarchy. For example, "Law of Officials" stipulates that ministers who privately select and appoint officials will be beheaded, and those who make friends with cronies will be beheaded. Caning, or staff, or dismissal, or even beheading.

The "Criminal Law" is more serious than the Tang law for crimes such as conspiracy and conspiracy. Nephews and nephews are not limited to the same nationality, and they will all be executed.

"Ming Li Law" basically maintains the "Eight Discussions" in Tang Law with slight changes.

Therefore, Hehe is listed as the eight categories of power, meritorious, virtuous, capable, diligent, noble, and guest. If he commits a crime, the officials can only hear about it, and are not allowed to ask questions without authorization.

However, the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" also stipulates that meritorious officials and relatives are strictly prohibited from accepting donations, buying and occupying other people's fields and houses with false money and real deeds, and treacherous men are not allowed to lure or sell their beloved as slaves; Punishment.

These regulations also played a certain role in protecting the property and personal life of small producers and stabilizing social order.

Zhu Yuanzhang is the most active practitioner of the severe punishment model. While clarifying the rules and regulations, he respects the law and strictly governs officials.He claimed: "When I govern the troubled times, the punishment must be heavy."

In the early Ming Dynasty, social problems were serious, and Zhu Yuanzhang used both "leniency" and "violence" to adopt both soft and hard tactics.

"Wideness" means for the common people of the Li people to recuperate.In the field of politics, law and officialdom, the "violent" approach is adopted-"heavy law governing officials".

Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty since he was a child, and he especially hated political corruption. He imposed extremely severe punishment on corrupt officials.

During Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, a large number of illegal and corrupt officials were executed, including the founding general Zhu Liangzu, and his son-in-law and captain Ouyang Lun. Tens of thousands of officials were even killed because of the Guo Huan case and the Kongyin case.

Due to Zhu Yuanzhang's strict administration of officials, official corruption was effectively curbed for a long time in the early Ming Dynasty.Zhu Yuanzhang launched a vigorous anti-corruption campaign, which lasted for a long time, with strict measures, ruthless methods, cruel punishments, and many murders, which were rarely seen in thousands of years of feudal history.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang's anti-corruption is determined, fierce, and strange, the corruption has been curbed to a certain extent, and he has achieved "phased results" for a time, but he is far from achieving the fundamental goal of completely eradicating corruption.

But the effect is obvious, and the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty has been "clean for 100 years." "History of Ming Dynasty Xun Li Biography" records that severe punishment "obeys orders and fears the law for a while, cleans oneself and loves the people, and is used as the leader, and the government of officials has changed dramatically.

It has been more than a hundred years since the arrest of benevolence, Xuan, Fu Xun and rest, the people's peace and happiness, and the clarification of officials. "
At the end of the Hongwu era, Zhu Yuanzhang "used heavy codes as a method of rectification" and implemented "violent governance".

However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not only punish severely, he did not "punish without teaching"; he combined education and punishment.Zhu Yuanzhang still loved officials very much, and he used various methods to warn them to be honest and honest before they took office.

For example, when he appointed prefects, prefectures, and county magistrates, he often summoned them in person, invited them to dinner, and rewarded each of them with 10 taels of silver and 6 bolts of cloth, telling them: These silver and cloth are for them to "raise integrity". From now on, treat the people kindly and not be unkind to them.

Zhu Yuanzhang was one of the most diligent emperors in Chinese history, and he was never afraid to increase his workload.From enthronement to death, he hardly took a day off.

Zhu Yuanzhang's frugality is also regarded as the pinnacle among the emperors of all dynasties.After becoming the emperor, he had breakfast every day, "only with vegetables, plus a dish of tofu".

The bed he used did not have a golden dragon on it, "it is no different from the couch in a middle-aged man's house."When he ordered his workers to make cars and sedan chairs for him, where gold should be used according to regulations, they were replaced with copper.

Zhu Yuanzhang also ordered people to open a wasteland in the palace to grow vegetables to eat.One day in the first month of the third year of Hongwu (1370), Zhu Yuanzhang took out a quilt to pass on to the ministers.

When everyone saw it, they were all Bainadans stitched together with small pieces of silk.Zhu Yuanzhang said: "If the clothes left behind are captured, they are better than abandoned."
Zhu Yuanzhang also cherished the power of the people very much and advocated thrift.After he came to the throne, he built a palace in Yingtian, only for durability, not for ingenuity and magnificence. He also asked many historical stories to be painted on the wall to remind himself.

According to the usual practice, the cars, utensils and other objects used by Zhu Yuanzhang should be decorated with gold, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that all be replaced with copper.The official in charge reported that a lot of gold would not be used, but Zhu Yuanzhang said that he was not stingy with this little gold, but advocated frugality, and he should be a model.

Driven by Zhu Yuanzhang's positive measures, farmers' enthusiasm for production was high.Agriculture developed rapidly in the early Ming Dynasty, and the dilapidated rural scene in the late Yuan Dynasty was improved.

The recovery and development of agricultural production promoted the development of handicrafts and commerce in the Ming Dynasty.Zhu Yuanzhang's recuperation policy consolidated the rule of the new dynasty, stabilized the life of farmers, and promoted the development of production.

Zhu Yuanzhang learned the lessons of the demise of the Yuan Dynasty and implemented a series of measures to recuperate and develop agriculture and industrial and commercial production, which made the economy of the Ming Dynasty recover and develop rapidly.

By 1393 (the 26th year of Hongwu), there were 1605 million households, a population of 6054 million, and an area of ​​850 million hectares of reclaimed land, laying a very solid foundation for the economic development of later generations of the Ming Dynasty.

The economy in the early Ming Dynasty also recovered rapidly, and the national strength grew rapidly, reaching the best level in history.

Zhu Yuanzhang established the lijia system in conjunction with the implementation of the tax and service yellow book household registration book and fish scale atlas to implement the collection of taxes and labor and the maintenance of local law and order.

In restoring and developing the social economy, Zhu Yuanzhang put the development of agriculture in the first place, in order to ensure that the front line of agriculture has sufficient labor resources.

Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order throughout the country that landlords were not allowed to keep slaves, and all slaves they raised were released as good citizens.Those who were pawned and sold into slavery due to hunger were redeemed by the imperial court; the development of monasteries was strictly controlled, and each prefecture was ordered to have only one large monastery, women under the age of 40 were prohibited from becoming nuns, and monasteries were strictly prohibited from adopting child monks.

If young people over the age of 20 want to become monks, they must obtain the consent of their parents and officials. They must go to Beijing for an exam within three years after they become monks.The implementation of these policies has added a huge labor force to the society.

The country's agricultural production has been largely restored under the background of large-scale wars and great damage. In addition, during the Hongwu period, large-scale immigration to the barren land north of the Huaihe River and Sichuan, reclaiming wasteland and filling it, has allowed the population to grow steadily. .

The Ming government also vigorously promoted the policy of garrisoning farmland.There are mainly two types of tuntian: civilian tun and military tun.Mintun includes the transfer of farmers from areas with less land and more people to areas with more land and less land for reclamation, as well as recruitment and resettlement for farming.

For those who immigrate to farm, the officials will give cattle and seeds, exempt from taxation for three years, and then pay a tax of one bucket per mu.The military station is to let the soldiers in the guard station farm for self-sufficiency.After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Wei Kaitun was generally set up in the abdomen and borders.

Sergeant farms are counted in terms of points, one point for each army; in some places, land is awarded on a household basis, and each army household is allowed only two points.Each subdivision is generally [-] mu, but also varies from [-] mu, [-] mu, [-] mu or [-] mu, depending on the actual situation of the fertile land and the distance.The cattle, seeds, and agricultural tools in the military villages are provided by the government.

The garrison army has to pay taxes according to the share, which is called "tuntianzili" or "tuntian grain".

The area of ​​military settlements accounts for nearly one-tenth of the country's cultivated land.In addition, commercial villages were also very popular. The government exchanged the monopoly license for buying and selling salt (called Yanyin) to lure merchants to transport grain to the frontier to ensure the food demand for frontier defense.Zhu Yuanzhang also sent Guozijian to the countryside to supervise water conservancy construction and disaster relief, and reward farming with tax relief.

These measures revived many areas devastated by wars in the past, and enabled the Ming Dynasty's economy to recover rapidly.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the government repeatedly organized farmers to build large-scale water conservancy projects.Lingqu in Guangxi and Dujiangyan in Sichuan were all restored during the Hongwu period.

After the dredging of Hongqu Weir in Shaanxi, it can irrigate more than [-] li of fields in Jingyang, Sanyuan, Liquan, Gaoling and Lintong.The Ningxia Wei Institute built canals to irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of fields.The Dongqian Lake dredged in Dinghai and Yinxian County, Zhejiang Province can also irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of fields.

Zhu Yuanzhang also took measures such as encouraging farmers to grow cash crops to promote the development of agricultural production.

There are two types of fields in the early Ming Dynasty: official fields and private fields.Official land includes the original official land since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the land that was not registered by hostile political groups after the war, the land that was confiscated by officials and criminals after the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as the abandoned land during the war, the Shatian and lake fields that were newly expanded by rivers, lakes and seas, etc.

In addition to renting these official lands for farmers to cultivate and collect rents, some of them are used as lands for hundreds of officials to replace their salaries, some are used as fields for border ministers to raise low-ranking officials, some are used as grasslands for horse grazing in the guards, and some are used as fodder for the imperial horse supervisors. Some of the alfalfa fields were used as school fields in prefectures and counties, some were given to kings, princesses, and dukes as farmland, and some were given to sergeants or let people and merchants occupy them as garrison fields.

The private land belongs to the bureaucrats, landlords and small farmers, and trading is allowed.Official land is owned by the state, and it is illegal to buy and sell privately.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the official land was tenanted and planted by the people, and the difference between the land tax and the private land tax was generally not much different.Three liters and three combined per mu of private land, five liters and three combined per mu of official land.The land tax is paid twice a year in summer and autumn.

Summer wheat is called "summer tax"; autumn rice is called "autumn grain".Those who hand in the grain are called "natural color", and those who pay in silver, banknotes, silk, cloth, cotton, ramie, etc. are called "folded color".

In order to provide a basis for expropriating land taxes, the Ming government fabricated a fish scale atlas.According to the principle of "determining the area with the grain", the Fish Scale Atlas takes the tax, grain, and ten thousand stones as a fabrication unit, and calls it a district.

After the land in each district is measured, it is drawn into a scale-like atlas.The book states the radius of all the fields, the boundaries around them, the fertile land, and the name of the head of the household.All land transactions listed in the atlas must go through the formalities of over-cutting the land tax with the local government.

Zhu Yuanzhang also adopted the method of "governing the good people with good people" and established the grain chief system in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places.

Generally speaking, every ten thousand stones of grain collected is a district, and the landlord who selects the grain to serve as the grain chief is responsible for collecting taxes and grain in the district and supervising the transportation to Beijing.As time went by, grain chiefs often relied on their power to collude with officials and village chiefs, extort money from farmers, and distribute the taxes they should pay to small farmers.

Zhu Yuanzhang also created a strict household registration system to ensure that these refugees can be tied to the land and prevent secondary migration. This is the yellow book system.

The emperor ordered the Ministry of Households to require all households in the country to register with the local government and receive official household cards, which listed the names, ages, and properties of adult men.

In addition to the yellow book, Zhu Yuanzhang also followed the "household separation system" of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, the household registration was divided into civilian households, military households, and artisan households according to the occupations they engaged in.

People from different households must engage in the same type of work and bear such taxes and duties for generations.This is because the yellow books of the Ming Dynasty were not only household registration books, but also tax books.All the Dingkou listed on the yellow book must bear the state's taxes.If it is concealed and not reported, it is equivalent to concealing taxes.

The yellow book system played an important role in stabilizing the country's rule and rapidly restoring the economy in the early years of the Ming Dynasty.It greatly reduced the occupation of the tyrants and the migration of the population, greatly increased the taxation of the whole country, and can roughly and fairly classify the households according to the actual situation of the households, and collect taxes and labor, thus curbing all kinds of exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes.

"History of the Ming Dynasty" called it "the number of Ding mouths in the inspection books of prefectures, prefectures and counties, and the thickness of the affairs, so as to suit their strength."

Zhu Yuanzhang also attached great importance to social relief. During the Hongwu period, the famine policy was highly valued by the court.In addition to appropriating funds for disaster relief and poverty relief, the imperial court also focused on strengthening the people's ability to resist disasters and self-rescue.

In the face of natural disasters, Zhu Yuanzhang took active actions, which not only established the responsible image of the imperial court, but also enhanced the cohesion of the government and won the hearts of the people.Relief from disasters and the poor is actually an important prerequisite for winning the hearts of the people and forming the governance of the world, and it has laid a solid economic and social foundation for the emergence of the "Government of Hongwu".

In the eighth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an imperial decree to the officials in Nanjing, asking them to find a piece of free land and build 260 tile-roofed houses for Nanjing residents who had no housing.

A month later, he issued an imperial decree to the officials of Shanghai (then called Huating County), asking them to renovate the nursing home left over from the Song Dynasty, and let the Shanghainese without housing live in it after the repair.

After these two decrees were issued, the local officials in Nanjing and Shanghai quickly implemented them. Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy and believed that the pilot was successful.

At the end of that year, another decree was issued to the officials of the central government: "Order the counties and counties in the world to visit the poor. Those who have no complaints will be given food and clothing every month, and those who have no support will be given houses." ; those who have no clothes to wear, the state will give clothes; those who have no house to live in, the state will give houses.

Zhu Yuanzhang also lifted the bondage system of industry and commerce to craftsmen during the Yuan Dynasty, lifted the humble status of tenant farmers in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties and the fate of life and death punishments dominated by their masters. For the first time in China, industrial and commercial craftsmen and tenant farmers were legally recognized as equal Human rights are no longer slaves at the mercy of others.

In 1372, the Ming government promulgated the order "When the tenant meets the landlord, regardless of the order of the teeth, he should be treated as a senior official; if he is a relative, regardless of the owner's tenant, he should be treated as a relative." The relationship dilutes the affiliation of good and bad.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty no longer followed the decree that the landlord beat the tenant to death with only one hundred and seven sticks, and compensated 50 taels of silver for burning and burial.Although the household registration system of the Yuan Dynasty was adopted in the early Ming Dynasty, handicraftsmen were registered as artisans, but artisans no longer served the government for many years as they did in the Yuan Dynasty.