Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty
Chapter 1006 1001 [Crime of possessing a treasure]
Before the heavy snow closed the road, the Supreme Emperor returned to Luoyang with his wife, children, and some guards.
It has been several years since I moved to Wangchuan Valley. This time I came to see my son and celebrate the New Year in Luoyang Imperial City.
Zhu Guoxiang has gray hair on his temples, but his hair is black elsewhere. Based on his nonsense of 40 years old when he traveled through time, he is considered 68 years old this year. Apart from some gray hair and wrinkles, he doesn't seem to have aged much.
After everyone gathered for dinner, the father and son came to the garden alone.
Ju Ming joked: "Why, do you think I killed too many corrupt officials? Or did you hear that I killed Qin Hui and rush over to celebrate together?"
"I heard that you wrote the law of the Ming Dynasty into the Ming Dynasty and declared it to the world." Zhu Guoxiang said.
Ju Ming said: "The royal family cannot be guilty of the same crime as the common people when they break the law, especially when there are more and more clans. Decades later, they are intertwined and protect each other. How can the civil servants dare to take action against them? This law was written into the " "The Law of the Ming Dynasty" has more symbolic meaning. Perhaps it can be cited several times in the future when encountering tough emperors."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "There have been more and more adult royal families in recent years, and the eldest princess and princess have also married several. It's time to formally establish Zongzheng Temple."
"Indeed," Ju Ming nodded, "if the royal family is involved in a criminal case, the power of sentencing cannot be left in Zongzheng Temple, but must be handed over to the Sanfa Division for trial."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Okay."
There are no strict regulations on who should be responsible for crimes committed by the royal family and clan in the early Northern Song Dynasty, but it was definitely not Zongzheng Temple.
The duties of Zongzheng Temple were only to manage the clan's ultimatums, genealogies, pictures and records, and to be responsible for assigning names to the clan, as well as repairing and offering sacrifices to the clan's temples and mausoleums. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, it was also in charge of the clan's education - it had no power of trial and disposition!
Probably during the Renzong period of Song Dynasty, there were too many royal families and clans, and the small Zongzheng Temple was difficult to manage, so another large Zongzhengsi was added.
Dai Zongzhengsi continued to seize power, effectively rendering Zongzheng Temple empty. At the same time, they also have the power to mediate disputes and accept lawsuits, but how to judge clan violations must be left to the emperor for judgment. In addition, the censors also have the power to supervise the clan.
The father and son began to discuss clan management issues.
The results of the discussion are as follows:
First, roughly restore the structure of the Northern Song Dynasty's Dazongzhengsi, but the name is still Zongzhengsi.
Second, Zongzheng Temple only cares about the royal family, clan, and clan members within the emperor's five realms.
Third, the household registrations of clans and clansmen outside the Five Servers must be converted into civil registrations and accept the management of the government where the household registration is located. This avoids the problem of financial overstretch as more clans grow.
Correspondingly, such clans and clansmen who have converted to civilian citizenship are not restricted from taking official positions in the imperial examination, and they can become prime ministers if they are really capable. But in actual operation, he will probably be feared by the monarch and his ministers, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to become prime minister.
Fourth, for the royal family and clan within the fifth server, ordinary cases are handled by the Zongzheng Temple, and criminal cases are handled by the Sanfa Division. The Third Law Division would definitely not dare to make a decision, and would probably report it to the emperor for his decision.
The first minister of Zongzheng Temple was Zhu Yan's husband Chen Ao.
This operation of transferring citizenship after leaving the emperor's fifth server seems very cruel and ruthless, but the actual operation of the Song Dynasty was even more ruthless.
The management of the clan in the Song Dynasty was roughly divided into two stages with Song Shenzong as the boundary.
In the first stage, the clan was strictly guarded and kept as pigs in the palace, and eunuchs were sent to supervise them at all times.
In the second stage, there were too many pigs in the clan, and financial expenses were very difficult. As a result, they were no longer under centralized residential surveillance, and they were separated from clans (those with distant blood lines), and even had to rent their own houses to live in. Some of them lived even poorer than ordinary people. They are poor and restricted by their clan status, so they simply do evil and even become gangsters.
In the Song Dynasty, only a few royal families could inherit titles, and these royal families were becoming increasingly rare.
The emperor's biological son can be crowned king, but his grandson will simply disappear.
Clan clans with close bloodline are given honorary official positions and are promoted according to their years. Most of them can be promoted to Jiedushi (virtual position) when they are old.
As a result, more and more clan members were receiving salary for a false position and became part of the redundant officials of the Song Dynasty.
Clan clans with distant bloodlines are trying hard to get into honorary positions, and those who are lucky can even get there.
The plan discussed by Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming may seem ruthless, but compared with the clan system of the Song Dynasty, it is actually beneficial to the national finances and clans with distant bloodlines.
After discussing Zongzheng Temple, Zhu Guoxiang added: "It's impossible for an adult prince to be raised like a pig after becoming a king, right?"
A normal emperor would definitely be happy to raise a prince who is not a prince like a pig.
Ju Ming said: "Give them a salary according to their title, as long as they don't be too extravagant, don't keep too many servants at home, and have a house granted by the court, they will definitely have no problem living a leisurely life. You can also find something to do according to your own hobbies. There will be strict surveillance like the Northern Song Dynasty, but unless the emperor gives permission, the descendants of the prince within three generations will never be allowed to take the imperial examination or serve as officials!"
"It seems that the only thing I can do is engage in literary and artistic creation, or research academics and scientific and technological inventions." Zhu Guoxiang said.
"By the way, speaking of technological inventions, how's your steam engine doing?" Ju Ming asked.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "The experimental model has been improved to the third generation. More than ten steam engines have been put into production in mines, mints, and forging plants, and their shortcomings have been gradually improved through practical application. The steam train has also been built. I am still in Wangchuan Valley. A section of track has been laid, but the efficiency of the train is not high, and its speed and carrying capacity are seriously insufficient, and it needs to continue to be improved.”
Ju Ming was surprised and said: "We already have steam trains?"
"Steam spinning machines and looms are also being improved, mainly for cotton yarn and cotton cloth," Zhu Guoxiang said, "Even if they are made, do you dare to put them into the civilian market now?"
Zhu Ming shook his head: "I definitely don't dare."
Before, cotton planting was encouraged, but now it is restricted!
Since cotton planting has higher income, many farmers have spontaneously switched to cotton planting. Five years ago, the court had to issue a decree to increase the land tax on cotton fields, which greatly hit the enthusiasm of farmers to plant cotton.
Why should the number of cotton fields be restricted?
First, the north has suffered from droughts for years and grain production is insufficient. We cannot continue to let cotton take away good farmland.
Second, now it is "Suhu is ripe, the world is full", not "Huguang is ripe, the world is full".
Hunan and Hubei are both sparsely populated. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, immigrants have been encouraged to open up land. In just a few years, the population of new adults has increased, but the Dongting Lake Plain has not yet been developed to maturity.
Without the food guarantee of Hunan and Hubei, if Shandong, Huainan, and Jiangnan blindly increase the area of cotton fields, and encounter several years of severe drought in the north - do they still want food security?
Once steam spinning machines and looms are put into production, the output of cotton cloth will be increased and the cost of cotton cloth will be reduced. More and more farmers will switch to cotton planting, and even if the court imposes heavy taxes on cotton fields, it will not be able to stop them!
The British Industrial Revolution did not care about the lives of farmers.
Even if it did not care about the lives of farmers, when countless landless farmers poured into London, the British government cried out that it could not bear it. So, a British person without a stable job could be exiled to Australia for petty theft in London.
Britain is a small country with few people, so it is natural to do this.
You try this in China?
Farmers will revolt in minutes.
What Zhu Ming is facing now is not the problem of steam engines.
Instead, he has to survive the natural disasters of the Little Ice Age and slowly bring down the price of grain. Then he will continue to develop Hunan and Hubei, and then annex and digest the Annan region, and use the grain from Annan to support Guangdong and Fujian.
Then, the restrictions on cotton fields in Shandong and Jiangnan will be lifted, and cotton production will increase according to market demand.
Although this model is feasible, it is feasible to develop overseas colonies and obtain cotton from India. But before the cost of navigation drops further, it is impossible to curb the disorderly increase of local cotton fields. Merchants and farmers only act according to immediate interests!
What, use fertilizers to increase agricultural output?
When the Zhu family father and son traveled through time, it was already the 21st century, and only more than a dozen countries in the world could produce fertilizers.
Fertilizers are the product of the Industrial Revolution, not the premise of the Industrial Revolution.
The first fertilizer in history appeared around the Opium War. And the problem of large-scale production of fertilizers was solved two years before the Xinhai Revolution. It took more than half a century from the appearance of fertilizers in the laboratory to the large-scale production of fertilizers.
If Zhu Guoxiang could produce fertilizers on a large scale, with that level of technology, the Ming Dynasty would have been able to drop bombs by plane!
Reaching out to the fire on the small stove, Zhu Guoxiang asked: "What are you going to do next?"
"Swallow Dali," Zhu Ming said, "but we have to wait until there is enough food. Last year's fight against Xixia consumed too much food and grass, and the natural disasters over the years have left little food. If there is good weather for two or three years, the food and grass for the expedition to Dali will be enough. Of course, we can fight now, but we can't solve the problem of food for immigrants after the war."
Zhu Guoxiang said: "Guangxi, southern Sichuan, western Hunan, and Guizhou have been exiling criminals and immigrants to open up land. Continue to do this for ten years, and when the border population is enriched, it will be a good time to attack Dali. Why rush to get it done in a few years?"
"Copper mines," Zhu Ming explained, "The outflow of copper coins is too serious, but the import of silver has increased, forcing me to change the copper standard to the silver standard. In the past, the silver price was anchored to the copper price, and now the copper price is anchored to the silver price."
"There are many copper mines in Yunnan, but can they solve the problem of copper shortage?" Zhu Guoxiang only has a vague understanding of this.
Zhu Ming smiled and said, "In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, 95% of China's copper production came from Yunnan. Yunnan copper and Jianghuai salt were the two major sources of income in the middle Qing Dynasty."
Zhu Guoxiang asked, "Have the copper mines in Yunnan been explored now?"
Zhu Ming said, "It is definitely not fully explored, but the ones that are already being mined are enough. I heard from the news brought back by the merchants that Dali Kingdom used copper to cast thousands of large and small Buddha statues at one time three years ago!"
"Dali Kingdom is really rich." Zhu Guoxiang exclaimed.
Even as early as the Nanzhao Kingdom period, the Jianji huge bronze bell weighing more than 100,000 kilograms appeared, and it is still the national treasure of Dali today!
It is conceivable that there is really no shortage of copper there.
The reason for the demise of Dali Kingdom: copper production!
(Some people say that the prime minister of the Song Dynasty only received 300 guan in salary. The truth is that the prime minister of the Song Dynasty had various benefits. The food money alone was subsidized by 300 guan a month, and if he had the honorary title of Jiedushi, he would receive 400 guan. There were also salary, salary, additional money, yuansui money, salary, public money, winter and spring silk and satin, charcoal, firewood, fodder, candles, salt...)
(A prime minister who was also a university scholar of Guanwen Hall had 1,500 guan in public money per month. Take Bao Zheng's title of Longtu Pavilion Direct Scholar as an example. Just for this Longtu Pavilion Direct Scholarship, he had 500 guan in public money per month. The public money was said to be used for official receptions, but in fact it was entirely up to the officials to handle.)
(Zhu Ming cancelled all those miscellaneous benefits and only retained a small number of benefits. Even if the central government officials earned a thousand guan a month, it was only a fraction of that in the Song Dynasty.)
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