[Comprehensive History] Clothes are all over the world

The warmth of people may only need an opportunity... For example, now, the soldiers are all enthusiastically hugging the Mu brothers, one by one, and they are so familiar that they all grew up together.

A baby-faced Bingge raised his hand while drinking and said: "I suggest that when our little six takes the martial arts exam, let's go and cheer him up together. Hehe, I heard that many boys from eastern Zhejiang will also take part this time." They all took the imperial examination. Hehe, we just want to see how shocked those people are."

Mu Bai was holding a sesame seed cake and gnawing on it, when he heard this, he raised his head, and said vaguely: "Zhedong?"

"The ones from the east of Zhejiang are not good guys." The baby-faced Bingge wiped his face, "If you are a real man, we have to look at our people from Huaixi, there are always hypocrites in that place."

"Ah Si!" A soldier next to him hastily held him down.

The baby face curled its lips, and did not continue, but said to Mu Bai happily: "Six, let me tell you, when you go to refer to it, you should hide behind someone first, pretending to be whose family you are." Younger brother, when the exam officially starts, I will show my skills and shock the audience."

"Nonsense, don't you teach bad children?"

"How can this teach children badly?" Babyface said plausibly, "Soldiers, tricks. What is trickery? It's a trick! You said that those people are all going to participate in martial arts, how can they do it without a brain? They I can't imagine that my family members can't follow the test preparation area, so I can't blame others."

"...There is some truth to that."

"That makes sense!" Another soldier brother took the two of them away together, and smiled at Mu Bai in a friendly way before leaving, "Xiao Liu, don't listen to them, if you want to compare us, it's just right. Than. You are young and easy to gossip, but if you play any tricks, you will be inferior, and when you win, you will be picked up by others, and the gain outweighs the loss."

Mu Bai nodded, and showed him a big smile: "I know, I will defeat them with dignity!"

The appearance of a small child who is seriously talking harshly is so cute.Brother Bing hesitated for a moment, then casually threw away a struggling subordinate, then touched Mu Xiaobai's head, and drifted away with a cute expression.

Inexplicably, Mu Xiaobai got a pat on the head and killed: Forget it, it's the first time we meet, so I'll bear it.

"By the way, you just said you were making a bet." Zhu Biao calmly pulled the two children to his side and asked, "What kind of bet did you make?"

"Uh..." Mu Bai's expression was slightly stiff.

Before leaving Yunnan, Mu Bai, who had someone in the court, had been assigned by officials of Ming Dynasty who had passed the popularization of science.

Said in front of the emperor's minions that he and his little friends were picking thorns in Fengyang, the imperial capital of Emperor Hongwu's hometown?Mu Bai still wants to see the sun next year.

However, Mu Bai still made a mistake. Although he kept silent, he couldn't cover the mouth of his little friend who was quite unfamiliar with things in Ming Dynasty.

Halati, who managed to understand a sentence of Chinese, immediately said with a grin: "We are looking for Fengyang's shortcomings together, and the one who finds more wins."

The moment these words came out, the glass on the window seemed to disappear all at once, and a gust of cold wind took away the heat in the room, and the room temperature dropped sharply.

"Why, what's the matter?" For a moment, no matter whether it was the exchange of glasses or the exchange of glasses, the atmosphere became so cold that even the nervous Harati noticed something was wrong.The tall and burly man held on for a while, his stature gradually shrunk, and finally shrank back to his seat and whispered in local dialect to Ah Tu, who was covering his face by his side: "I, did I say something wrong?"

Is that even a question?

In front of Jin Yiwei, he said that he was looking for Fengyang's shortcomings in the competition, wouldn't that be the same as pointing at the monk and scolding the bald donkey?It's all a matter of crazy hatred.

The villain in Mubai's heart began to crazily beat himself who had just made a slip of the tongue. Halati hadn't figured out Daming's official system. Of course, the current situation is not his fault, but his fault. If he hadn't proposed to bet on this matter before There will be trouble now.

He was the one who said the words, and he was the one who started the incident, and this group of Jin Yiwei was also sitting here because of him, no matter from which angle, Mu Bai could not remain silent.

It's okay, Mu Bai took a deep breath to cheer himself up: Anyway, he is young, so he will change his plan again, anyway, now he already knows that the next-door island has a lot of capital, if it really overturns, he will go out to sea and start again .

Just as Mu Xiaobai was about to inhale and prepare to break the boat, he saw the focus of his sight—the young man Zhu Fugui, after pondering for a moment, suddenly changed his posture to a more serious one, and said with a sincere face: "No wonder people always say that the bystander is the clearest, everyone Coming from afar, Yu Fengyang and Daming are all watching from the sidelines, so please don’t worry about it and speak freely. I promise, what I say today will not be heard by another person when it leaves here.”

Zhu Biao glanced at the people on the table, then looked at the many guards with complex identities who followed him, and pointed out: "The purpose of you coming to participate in the scientific examination is also to be an official, and to be an official, in the end The important thing is to have eyes that can see the good and the bad, and in my opinion, you guys are doing a great job."

Mu Baixiao let out a sigh of relief, knowing that it was his new friend who was helping, but he still didn't dare to take Zhu Fugui's "speak freely" seriously.

Although the little friend characterized this matter as a neutral event of [foreigners from Yunnan are observing and integrating into Daming], but Mu Bai heard that the officialdom of Daming is complicated, even if everyone is Jinyiwei, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no one in the middle who is not the same as his rich brother Come on, when the time comes to make a small report or something, wouldn't he implicate Zhu Fugui?

Just when Mu Bai wanted to find a topic to turn the page of this chapter, he saw Mu Xiaowen raised his oily little paw.

A child doesn't have too many complicated thoughts yet, and he doesn't know how much duplicity there is in the adult world. When he heard his favorite Fugui brother say that he can say whatever he wants, he immediately raised his little hand with a strong desire to express.

After feeling that everyone's eyes were on him, Mu Wen, who never had a stage fright, immediately said crisply: "Brother, people here in Fengyang are not very happy."

"Oh? Then did your elder brother say why they are unhappy?" Zhu Fugui glanced at the eldest son who was so nervous that his hair was standing on end, and deliberately teased him.

Unexpectedly, Mu Wen answered this question in a straight voice: "Brother said, because what they get is not equal to what they paid, and the reason for this inequality is because there are too many people here, so Everyone is unhappy."

The Crown Prince of Daming, whose alias was Zhu Fugui, raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard this, and wanted to ask more questions, but Mu Bai stretched out his hand and hugged his younger brother onto the small stool.After a pause, the young boy who saw the inevitable took a deep breath, and continued the conversation: "Xiaowen and I have limited energy and foot strength, and most of the interviewers are ordinary civilians, which may be a bit biased. .”

Hearing what he said, Zhu Biao showed a smile on the contrary. He poured a cup of tea for the child and put it in front of him. To the young man: "The pros and cons of a place depend on every move of the common people. If you ask the princes and dignitaries, how many truths can you tell? You just tell me."

Mu Bai glanced at him appreciatively, feeling that his little friend had seen it thoroughly, then licked his lower lip, and said: "Since the early years of Hongwu, no less than 30 households moved into Fengyang, and all those who moved in were exempted from taxes for three years." , Later, because the imperial court overhauled the palace, issued forced labor, and exempted rent for three years, during which there were tax exemptions for disasters, amnesty, etc., so the people here have been exempting rent intermittently for more than six years since the early years of Hongwu."

"Theoretically speaking, after six years of tax exemption, the farmers who have been able to recuperate should have successfully settled down and spread their branches and leaves, but this is not the case."

"Previously, we asked a total of 43 farmers and 21 merchants. Among them, there were no more than 36 households with one child in Fengyang, and no more than [-] households with two or more children."

This figure was too naked, and everyone showed surprise.Mu Bai took out a few pieces of yellowed paper from his sleeve - this is cheap paper bought on the road, unbleached, but quite economical, and it doesn't hurt to use it.On these crude papers, he had already written the general biographies of a total of 64 Fengyang residents in slightly messy handwriting, as well as several summarized data maps.

Mu Bai put the paper on the table, and said the conclusion with a solemn expression: "That is to say, the local people consciously practiced contraception after migration, and they are not willing to take root and sprout here. "

"My brother and I asked them why out of curiosity." It may be that the Mu brothers are all boys, and they all look smart, which is the favorite appearance of many women. When they asked questions, they were almost not rejected. However, they also obtained more reliable data.

Mu Bai said: "The main reason Fengyang people are conscious of contraception is that they think that having children will greatly reduce their quality of life."

When everyone heard the words, their expressions were a little unbelievable.

In the farming era dominated by small-scale peasant economy, population is the most important productive force.

After the baby falls to the ground, when it is five or six years old, it can go to the field to help pick ears and transplant rice seedlings, and when it is bigger, it can also help plow the field.Because the Han people do not like to separate families, many families can squeeze into one house even if they have a large population. This way, the cost of raising children is lower.

Compared with the cost of raising children, the labor bonus obtained is more considerable. How can having more sons reduce the quality of life?

Seeing everyone's expressions, Mu Bai said calmly: "Have you forgotten that there is still poll tax?"

right!There is also the poll tax. Everyone present really forgot about this tax. After all, for most people here, the amount of the poll tax is negligible.

But for ordinary people, this is not an amount that can be ignored.

There are not many taxation regulations in Ming Dynasty. After all, the emperor and most of the management were once exploited, and they hated the complicated and changeable tax items that increased at will in the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Therefore, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Emperor Hongwu mixed the two tax laws of the Middle Tang Dynasty with the taxes of the Yuan Dynasty, forming the concise taxation mechanism of the Ming Dynasty today.

To put it simply, there are two tax items that ordinary people need to pay, one is land tax and the other is poll tax. If there are more people and less land, they pay poll tax. If there are many people and less land, they pay land tax. Businessmen pay all property The third becomes taxes.

Compared with the fixed land tax of one out of ten, the head tax is relatively dynamic.

From the time a person falls to the ground until he closes his eyes and dies, his tax amount will change three times in this life. The tax amount will be the lowest when he is young, reaches the peak when he is young, and will be reduced when he is old. At the age of longevity, the state will also provide additional subsidies.

Although taxes will be adjusted according to people's age and production capacity, for ordinary families, children will not have any production capacity for a long time after birth, which means that each land with fewer people and more people Families are bound to absorb this extra expense until the children grow up.This is the hidden cost of having a child.

Today, local people are unwilling to have children because they are afraid of poll tax, fearing that having children will increase their tax burden.

But it shouldn't be. "But my poll tax is unprecedentedly low, and it can be deducted with servitude, so it won't become a burden for the people?" Zhu Biao couldn't understand this, and he asked with a frown, "But someone here increased the tax without authorization. Tax?"

"At first, we also thought it was because of this. However, there is no problem with the local taxation. The reason for this situation is that the common people have an account in their minds—they think that it is more cost-effective to hire people than to give birth." Mu Bai shook his head. , uttered this unbelievable answer in the eyes of everyone, "The local labor force is abundant, and farmers with land can hire landless people to help them cultivate the land at a very low price."

"Most of the households we visited almost had the experience of being employed." Mu Bai said, "The price of labor is determined by the quantity of labor. In other words, people who have to sell their labor because they are too poor to eat There are more and more people, so local farmers can hire these people at extremely low prices.

"And why are there more and more poor people who can't afford to eat?" Mu Bai lifted a piece of paper and pushed it in front of everyone, "This is the local map I drew based on the descriptions of the people. .”

Of course, Mu Bai has never seen the official map of Fengyang County, and this map was drawn hastily, and its accuracy can only be said to be acceptable.

And on this crude version of the map, the boy drew several large and small boxes, some big and some small, and some even connected into pieces.Mu Bai pointed to the contiguous stretches of land and said, "These lands are acquired by wealthy local households from ordinary people."

The Ming Dynasty did not restrict the sale of land. It has only been 15 years since the founding of the country, and most of the entire territory is sparsely populated. Therefore, the control over land transactions is very loose.

But the situation in Fengyang is different.

When the Ming Dynasty was unified, the population of Fengyang was only about a hundred or so households, and only three or four hundred households moved back thereafter. The rest were almost all immigrants from the state.

Regardless of the situation of the local farmers, those immigrants actually sold the land allocated by the state, which undoubtedly slapped Emperor Hongwu in the face.

And more importantly, they all moved here together, all of them are poor and lower-middle peasants, and they settled here with state funding, so where did they get the money to buy the land in such a short period of time?

Fengyang is the place where Daming's dragon thrives, what do these people want to do?

Zhu Biao's expression also became serious, and the young man's frowning expression was swept away from the gentleness of the past, but he showed a bit of thunder, and the guards beside him were a little frightened.

Buddha still has the wrath of thunder, not to mention a prince who has followed the army since childhood and is proficient in governing the country, governing the country, defending the city and commanding everything.

The prince's gentleness is relative to Emperor Hongwu, but it doesn't mean that he really can't hold a knife.

Mu Bai withdrew his hand pointing at the map, and said softly: "There are three problems in Fengyang. The lack of abundant fields and frequent disasters are natural disasters. Too many people have exceeded the range that this land can carry. **, and the strength of policy support Not enough, unable to allow the local people to settle down in the living and employment environment, this is..."

He paused, swallowed the unpleasant curse words that followed, and then said nonchalantly, "Therefore, the labor force here is cheap. In order to survive, people with poorer conditions can only sell their real estate and become tenants, drinking poison to quench their thirst."

"There is no land of our own, and the income of odd jobs here is low. The common people lose their stable income and are afraid to have children. The population will not increase. After a few decades, the old generation will lose their labor force and the number of young people will gradually decrease. , the land that has been cultivated now will be degraded.”

At that time, a natural disaster or a military disaster can make Fengyang return to its previous position.

It can be even worse.

Do these people know?

The common people may not understand any major principles and have no far-reaching vision, but they can really feel the decline in living standards and the worsening public security environment.

That's why they heard a local Huagu opera sing in a place where the poor live - "Fengyang is a good place, but there is only Emperor Zhu."

Although it is a bit unkind to say this, Mu Bai really thinks that Daming's development of Fengyang is like a joke.

To build palaces and imperial cities, a large number of people moved in.Fengyang is such a big place, and the main area is still occupied by the half-built Ming Palace and the completed Ming Tomb, and the remaining cultivated land has long been distributed to the first few groups of people who arrived.

These people who were moved in to build the imperial city are like poor little people who have been cheated of their feelings. Although it was tiring to build the imperial city, at least there is still an income. Now that the imperial city is not built, they will be completely reduced to jobless people Can do odd jobs.

And they impacted the local early labor market, resulting in a further decline in people's income.

To make matters worse, Fengyang's local grain production is not abundant, and the soil is not fertile. Everyone's situation in the surrounding ten miles and eight townships is similar. Now that the population has skyrocketed, local grain production cannot be self-sufficient and can only import food from other places.

If a place's food needs to be imported from outside, the premise is that the output value here can make up for the extra expenses caused by long-distance transportation. If Fengyang really becomes the imperial capital, it may be okay, but now it can only be regarded as a first-tier city. How can people with low incomes afford such high expenses in the second-tier cities at the top?

However, they are locked here by household registration. Unless they flee the local area to become refugees, they can only guard their own land and houses and pray that there will be no accidents at home, because their fragile economic environment cannot withstand any setbacks.

Under such circumstances, the originally inconspicuous poll tax naturally became a heavy burden.

"If we want to solve it..." Mu Bai pursed his lower lip, hesitant, but in the end he said with the encouragement and anticipation in his new friend's eyes, "Why don't you try to develop the industry that needs the most manpower here?"

What industries need the population and workforce the most?

Of course it is mining and industry and commerce!