The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

Qianqing Palace.

Zhongshan Marquis Tang Hao, Xing Wang Zhu Youlang, and Cabinet Chief Minister Yang Tinghe.

Three important officials representing their respective forces gathered here at this moment.

In fact, since Yang Tinghe stabbed the emperor in the back, he has no longer been qualified to participate in such confidential meetings in front of the emperor.

However, after Tang Hao and Yang Tinghe had a secret conversation, they were surprised to find that this Zhengde Emperor's teacher was not leaning towards the gentry.

The reason why Yang Tinghe did this was simply because he simply believed that the power of the royal family and the princes must not be given, and this power must be expelled from the court, otherwise it would bury hidden dangers for future generations!

After learning about this, Zhu Houzhao was also full of emotion. He once misunderstood his imperial teacher, but fortunately it did not cause a big disaster.

Therefore, the Cabinet Chief Minister Yang Tinghe regained the trust of His Majesty the Emperor and became a member of the imperial meeting.

Tang Hao stood up and looked at the other two, holding a charcoal pencil and drawing the first circle on the Japanese geomancy map.

"This is the Iwami Silver Mine!"

Iwami Silver Mine!

Hundreds of millions of silver!

Yang Tinghe and Zhu Youlu's eyes lit up.

There is nothing much to say. Thanks to Tang Hao's previous propaganda, the government and the people are very concerned about this Iwami Silver Mine.

After all, no one doesn't like the white silver.

"Yang Tinghe, this Iwami Silver Mine can be given to the gentry!"

Zhongshan Hou said something shocking.

"But, who will be given the silver and who will be allowed to profit from it? You need to draw up a list for me as soon as possible."

Tang Hao said in a deep voice: "It is not possible to excavate the silver mine overnight. Even if the Japanese are used as laborers, it will take tens or hundreds of years to excavate the Iwami Silver Mine. It depends on your methods, Yang Tinghe."

"There is only one principle. The mining tax to be paid to the court must not be reduced. The cost of the money and grain for the Japanese slaves must be solved by the gentry themselves. The cost to the Ming Navy and the Japanese garrison must not be reduced either!"

Yang Tinghe felt a little bit bitter when he heard this, and secretly cursed Tang Hao for being a rude person.

In this way, the gentry got the Iwami Silver Mine and also had the mining rights.

However, the problem is that if the gentry want to mine the Iwami Silver Mine, which has hundreds of millions of silver, they will have to pay a huge price.

The first is to pay the Ming navy. If they want to go out to sea, they must go through the Shandong Qinghe Shipyard and the navy under the command of Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao, otherwise they can slowly build ships by themselves!

The second is the protection of the local garrison. If you want to mine the Iwami Silver Mine with peace of mind, then you naturally cannot do without the protection of the Japanese local garrison. What if those Japanese rebel? What if those Japanese do not obey?

The third is the cost of mining the silver mine. Whether it is money or food, the gentry and gentry themselves have to make initial investments, because Tang Hao just said that mining silver mines is not a matter of a day or a night. It will take at least decades. Without food, even the Japanese slaves will not dig silver mines for you!

In this way, it is equivalent to gathering the strength of the gentry and gentry to mine the Iwami Silver Mine. But in the end, the silver excavated will still return to the Ming Dynasty. Even to put it bluntly, if His Majesty the Emperor is short of money, he can just copy any family on the list, and the silver will come, right?

This vicious plot was extremely cruel, but it calculated people's hearts.

Because Yang Tinghe knew very well that as long as he spread the news, those greedy gentry would definitely move!

But this was undoubtedly a good thing for Yang Tinghe.

He could use this to completely secure his position as the leader of the gentry!

After all, interests come first. Zhongshan Hou gave him this power, so if the gentry want to divide the profits of the Iwami Silver Mine, they must go through him, Yang Tinghe, which is interests first!

"Don't worry, Lord Tang, I know what to do."

With Yang Tinghe's approval, Tang Hao also smiled.

Then he looked at Zhu Youluo and said with a smile: "Zhu Chenhao wanted the Biezi Silver Mine, and even wanted to ask for an iron mine, but was rejected by this marquis."

"All the large and small iron mines in the territory of Japan will be taken over by the garrison, and then standard weapons and firearms will be produced and sent to the Liaodong military town!"

"As for this Biezi Silver Mine, it can be given to Zhu Chenhao, but I have to trouble King Xing to keep an eye on it secretly. In name, this silver mine is for your clan princes, so you can spread the news and gather the forces of the clan princes to mine it, and don't let Zhu Chenhao occupy the benefits alone."

"He is digging the silver mine slowly by himself, which is too slow and does not conform to our plan!"

The Iwami Silver Mine was given to the gentry, so the Biezi Silver Mine was given to the clan princes.

For the same reason, these silver mines are troublesome to dig, so it is naturally impossible to give them to one person, but to their forces, and gather them to mine them with all their strength.

Zhu Youluo nodded and had no objection to this.

Zhu Chenhao wanted silver mines and iron mines, but he just wanted to accumulate wealth for rebellion!

However, although the amount of silver in the Bezi Silver Mine is much less than that in the Iwami Silver Mine, it is also a large silver mine, so if he were to mine it alone, who knows when he would finish mining.

But gathering the power of the royal family and princes would be completely different.

These royal family and princes have money and people, but they lack nothing to do!

I think no one would refuse such a good thing as mining silver mines.

Tang Hao looked at the Emperor again and said with a smile: "As for the military forces, they will be responsible for the excavation of large and small iron mines in Japan, produce standard weapons as much as possible, especially firearms and artillery, and then send them to the military towns of the Nine Frontiers to improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers of the Nine Frontiers!"

This point is a little sensitive.

Because salt and iron are both state-owned, the profits are amazing.

Now Tang Hao wants to hand over all the iron mines in Japan to the military forces for control. Once it causes dissatisfaction with Emperor Zhu Houzhao, things will be a bit troublesome.

Zhu Houzhao nodded, but did not refuse.

"Let's do it!"

"Do it boldly, I am not a sensitive and suspicious emperor."

As soon as this was said, the three people present laughed softly.

Tang Hao gave the Emperor a thumbs up, and then reminded him solemnly.

"Everyone, there is only one principle for my Ming Dynasty in Japan, that is to try every means to plunder all the resources of Japan as soon as possible."

"When dealing with colonies, we must not be soft-hearted. We must plunder all their resources to enrich my Ming Dynasty and bring new vitality to the corrupt Ming Dynasty. This is what we should do!"

There is no doubt that Tang Hao's words are equivalent to sentencing Japan to death. I don't know how many Japanese will die innocently because of this!

But everyone present had no opinion on this.

After all, colonialism is like this, and no mercy is needed.

Besides, the Ming Dynasty has become so corrupt and rotten. If you have the time to pity the Japanese, you might as well think about how to save the Ming Dynasty!

Tang Hao then proposed another national policy, which is... corvée!

"Everyone, let's move on to our second topic. I hope you can listen carefully. That is the issue of corvée!"

"What is corvée? It is unpaid labor that the government recruits young and strong people to perform, including military service, labor service, miscellaneous labor, etc."

"People are required to undertake corvée to build palaces, dredge canals, and transport food and weapons to the front line... The Qin Dynasty stipulated that men from the age of 22 should serve in the county for one month each year, called Gengzu; serve in the central government for one year, called Zhengzu; and serve in the border for one year, called Shuzu. The Han Dynasty also implemented this system, and civilians could pay money to recruit substitutes, called Gengfu..."

"In the following dynasties, corvée was numerous and the laws were harsh. , even in non-war years, hundreds of thousands of people were conscripted to build cities and dig rivers, build palaces, and improve gardens, etc., which made the fields barren and farming unsuccessful. When Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall to prevent foreign invasions, the biggest reliance was actually the cheap manpower obtained by the Qin Dynasty through the war of unification. He could suppress the laborers of the six countries through severe laws and powerful Qin army, and squandered the people's power without restraint! "

"But what was the result? After the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries, it had not yet fully achieved the goal of building all the Great Walls, and it became a scorched earth in the garrison called Hangu Ju!"

The Qin Dynasty had strict laws and heavy corvée, and finally the people were boiling with resentment, leading to the death of the second emperor.

The four people present, in addition to Tang Hao, a representative of the royal family, a leader of the cabinet, and a leader of the gentry, and His Majesty the Emperor Zhengde, naturally understood the relationship between corvée and the people's hearts, and even more understood the harm of corvée to the people and the people.

"Also perished in the second generation, after the Qin Dynasty, there was a powerful Sui Dynasty!"

"After Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, unified the country, he implemented various measures to consolidate the unity, which stopped the three hundred years of war, brought peace to the country, and gave the people in the north and south a rest, and brought unprecedented prosperity to the society; however, his son, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang, was ambitious and aggressive, excavated the Grand Canal, and conquered Goguryeo three times, which abused the people's power to the extreme, causing public resentment and chaos in the world, and eventually perished in the second generation!"

"This is the suffering of corvée!"

The two most typical dynasties, the Qin Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty, one founded the imperial system, and the other unified again. Under normal circumstances, the national life would not be so short, but in the end, both perished in the second generation. Among them, the suffering of corvée that caused public resentment was undoubtedly one of the key factors.

"After talking about the Qin and Sui dynasties, let's get back to our Ming dynasty."

Tang Hao looked at the three people and said in a deep voice: "The Ming dynasty's corvée labor is implemented with the "household assignment system". All the government's corvée labor is basically undertaken by the assigned civilian households."

"It is mainly divided into Lijia, Junyao and Zafan corvée. Lijia is the regular labor of Lijia, which mainly includes collecting taxes and grain, handling the payment of materials and supporting the government's public use; Zafan refers to the irregular and miscellaneous corvée labor in the Ming dynasty; and Junyao is the silver and labor labor divided from the miscellaneous corvée. The silver can be converted into silver instead of labor, and the government can hire people to serve by themselves. The labor still needs to serve in person, but can also hire people to serve."

"So, in addition to serving the regular labor service of the Lijia, the registered citizens living in our Ming Dynasty also have to bear the equal labor service levied by the government and the miscellaneous labor service temporarily assigned, such as the labor service of the central and local government offices, such as the labor service of the central court when carrying out large-scale projects, such as dredging canals and building palaces!"

"To be honest, the labor service in our Ming Dynasty has not been reduced by half compared with the previous dynasties, not to mention that there are officials who are corrupt and use the labor service to seek personal gain and extort the people's fat!"

Everyone was silent after hearing this.

They knew all this in their hearts, because a major horse policy reform had just taken place not long ago.

To put it bluntly, this horse policy is actually a kind of corvée.

In fact, during the Ming Dynasty and before Wanli, the Northwest Yima was not the main source of national horses. The main supply was the breeding horses in the four provinces of Zhili, Shandong, and Henan in the north and south.

After the establishment of the taxation law in the early Ming Dynasty, the corvee for raising horses was also clarified. As part of the posthumous corvee, "grain is the only theory", and the fixed quota of breeding horses was based on Jiangbei and Jiangnan, divided into Ding and Jin respectively. These two types of horse breeding actually belong to the category of "service".

The common people raising horses is actually equivalent to doing horse service, and the final result was also made clear by Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan.

A horse is kept at home and fed day and night until it is tied up and cannot run around for food or clothing!

The cost of raising a horse is one tenth, but the one who pays for the horse is ninety percent!

It was originally a national policy set up by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang to benefit the country and the people, but in the end it turned into a major tyranny of the imperial court that harmed the people. This is the current horse service of the Ming Dynasty!

If Marquis Zhongshan had not forced the court to reform Ma Zheng, for which the entire Taipu Temple was investigated and held accountable, the Ming Dynasty Ma Zheng would not have known how corrupt it would have been, and the people would not have known how many people would have lost their families because of this. !

"Everyone, look at the ruling class of our Ming Dynasty."

Tang Hao wrote down each stratum one by one on the small blackboard.

The person at the top of the pyramid who bore the brunt was undoubtedly His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"His Majesty the Emperor is the lord of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the master of the Ming Dynasty, and has a dominant position. All the subjects in the world will be compiled by the emperor in the household registration book and become his household residents and servant households!"

"After His Majesty the Emperor, except for the royal family, distinguished ministers, relatives of the state and a few people who have been granted privileges and exemptions, all are assigned to perform corvee duties and work as errands to collect food for the emperor. Naturally, they do not have to bear corvee duties."

"The ministers and local concubines manage the land, shepherd the people, and manage the country for the emperor. They are at the emperor's disposal. They are servants of discipline. Therefore, officials also serve, and they do not have to bear corvee service."

"Then there are the gentry and scholars below. The state implements the policy of "nurturing scholars to acquire scholars", giving preferential treatment to scholars and giving them fame and privileges. With these privileges, they don't have to bear the burden of corvee, and they can just study and cultivate virtue with peace of mind!"

"After you get down from level to level, the only people who will do the corvee work are the people at the bottom."

Tang Hao looked at everyone and asked a soul torture question.

"Do you know why corvee labor is ten times more painful than taxation?"

"Because for a lower-class commoner, taking on corvee labor is tantamount to facing a life-or-death crisis!"

"I think you all know that I once spent some time in Changlu Salt Fields and learned in detail about the miserable life of those Zaohu salt workers. The most distressing thing is that the government still dispatched these Zaohu salt workers from time to time to do corvee labor. , treating them as slaves without caring about life or death.”

"It should be noted that they were not paid for doing corvee work, so in order to survive they had to bring their own food to do the corvee work. The delay in farming and cooking salt affected the family's livelihood. This is only one aspect. What really makes them despair is that this If you leave, your family will probably be ruined.”

"During their time in the corvee service, they were often enslaved and extorted. They would even lose their money because the officials determined that they were unqualified for the corvée service. Or they were unlucky and accidentally injured and had no money for treatment, and they would continue to do so. Carrying an injured and sick body to do hard labor is a desperate situation that they will face, but what about their families? "

"It takes a long time to undertake corvee work, plus the time spent on the way back and forth, at least a year and a half. Inconvenient communication means that they cannot take care of their families, and what is the result of losing young and strong labor in their families? Ordinary people The family delayed farming, resulting in poor harvests, and could not afford the government's heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes; the Zao household salt collectors had one less laborer, so they could not cook enough salt to pay the salt tax... The final result was that they could not afford the heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes. , but the servants don’t care about the reason why they can’t pay the taxes, so they sell their land, children and daughters. Therefore, their wives and daughters will suffer inhuman torture at home. After they finish their corvee service, If you are lucky enough to survive, you will have to go back home after all the hard work, but your family will have been broken up..."

"However, in fact, most of the young and strong laborers who went to serve would die as a result, or they would be left with diseases in their bodies. Even if they were lucky to survive, they would lose their families... The pain of corvee work was ten times that of taxes, and it was so painful that the people despaired. , leaving the people in despair!”

Everyone present was silent.

They never thought that this corvee would be...so hard!

According to what Tang Hao said, they subconsciously put themselves into the role.

The imperial court suddenly wanted to dredge the canal. They responded to the imperial court's call and went to work as corvees to dredge the canal. However, they learned that they would not be paid, so they had to prepare dry food by themselves. After trudging through mountains and rivers to the construction site, they were put into a small team by the guards and began to work day and night without any time to rest. Hugh's hard work.

If you are unlucky and get injured while carrying rocks, not only will you have no one to treat you, but you will have to continue to work hard, and you will have no money to go to the doctor for treatment. You will just hold on and wait until your service time is up. Fortunately, he didn't die, so he immediately set off for home.

Even though the dry food he brought had been eaten long ago, he still had no money. After working hard for a year and a half, he still didn’t get even half a penny. He could only grit his teeth and rush home with an empty stomach and cherish the love for his wife. Missing her as a child, she endured the torment caused by the illness and finally returned home with her last breath.

However, what greeted him was not the happy little home he had at the beginning, but an empty ruin after being smashed and destroyed. His wife and daughter were missing. He asked around like crazy, and finally learned from his neighbors that because he had gone to serve in the army, the family had lost its pillar. His wife worked hard alone but could not pay the taxes. When it was time to collect taxes, she could not pay them. The officials targeted his daughter, snatched her away and sold her to a brothel. His wife jumped into the well in despair...

An originally happy family of three was just like this... The family was broken up...

Zhu Houzhao suddenly shuddered, and then shouted angrily: "No! How can this be?"

"They are all my people, all my people!"

"Savage, think of a way quickly, corvée must be changed, it must be changed!"

Tang Hao said with a gloomy face.

"If the Japanese bear the corvée, everything will be solved!"