Chapter 16 Chapter V Pillars of Power 1. Duties of Landlords, Bureaucrats, and the People

In a feudal country, the emperor had supreme power, and set up official positions in various places to handle military affairs, punishment, money, grain, etc., and relied on landlords and gentry as the basis of all feudal rule. The purpose of the Red Army uprising was to overthrow the joint rule of the Mongolian and Han landlord classes. In this regard, the task was accomplished, and the joint rule of the Mongolian and Han landlord classes was indeed overthrown.But, going a step further, dismantling the oppression of class on class, it failed.The fruits of victory of the common struggle of the people of all ethnic groups were swallowed by Zhu Yuanzhang.During Zhu Yuanzhang's 20-year bloody war, the main military force he initially mastered was the armed forces of the landlords. Later, some old landlords joined his regime and successively recruited and surrendered a group of armed forces of the landlords.The generals of the Red Army who were born peasants were also transformed into a new class of landlords because of their seizure of power.Among them, Zhu Yuanzhang and his family were representatives of the new landlord class.This change is determined by the nature of class.Farmers are small landowners, hardworking and simple, struggling with hunger all their lives.When encountering cruel oppression and exploitation.They will be desperate.They rose up and resisted, but there was also a side of small private owners. They longed for more land and a better life. The elements of the landlord class that he resolutely opposed, the development of things made them go to the opposite side of themselves,

The uprising of the Red Army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty eliminated the old landlord class, especially in the Central Plains.Some large landlords were wiped out by the war, leaving behind a large amount of idle land. The excessive concentration of land in the late Yuan Dynasty disappeared. These lands were cultivated by farmers with little land. In a historical period, the land in the Central Plains Showing the process of decentralized management, class contradictions eased.But on the other hand, some old landlords in the southeastern region consolidated and improved their status due to the war. At the same time, a group of new landlords emerged from the war. The land they occupied was mainly in the more densely populated areas in the southeast. The more land owned by old and new landlords, the more landless peasants there will be. In this way, class relations in these areas became tense again.The result is that from the time when Zhu Yuanzhang established the new dynasty, the new peasant wars in the Jiangnan area, the peasants' wars against the landlords, have unfolded surgingly. The size of the area, the number of times, and the intensity of the struggle have surpassed any era in history. .

The peasant revolutionary war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the old order and overthrew the joint ruling mechanism of the Mongolian and Han landlord classes that oppressed the people.They hate and hate the landlords. Although it is impossible to treat the landlords as a class in understanding, they show no tolerance for the landlords in action. They kill and confiscate the landlords’ food and floating wealth. Song Lian remembers the situation at that time and said; In the Yuan Dynasty, the robbers set up in Mianyang, spread to the right of the river, and went to Ji'an, and then the state soldiers smashed them away.The robbers passed through the well and fell, and the people stood up to change, killing and plundering the rich, the cruelty was unbearable.

Pei Qiong also said: "There was a mutiny in the country, and the You clan, the giant surnames in the north and south of the Yangtze River, ran to scattered places in the gully of immortality." The landlord class is just the opposite. If they want to preserve their lives and properties, they have to maintain the old order and support the old regime. Class interests determine that farmers and landlords stand in hostile camps.After the outbreak of the war, the landlords used all their strength to organize armed forces, called militia, volunteers or township soldiers, green army, yellow army, and built fortresses to resist the attack of the peasant army.Current and retired officials, squires, Confucian scholars and soldiers are the generals of the landlord army. They are educated, cultured, organized, and have prestige and influence in the local area.Although the landlord soldiers in various places fought on their own, without unified command and comprehensive combat plan, and their military forces varied in size and strength, they became the main enemy against the Red Army because of their large number, wide distribution, and tenacious combat.It can be found in Rudashi Badulu recorded by people in the early Ming Dynasty:

In May of the twelfth year of Zhengzheng, 20,000 righteous Ding were recruited from Xiangyang officials and local tyrants to avoid soldiers. Liu Taosun: At Zhengrenchen, the world's soldiers rose, the red scarves disrupted Hunan, Changning fell, and the two governors abandoned the city. (Confucianism Zhengliu) Taosun did not go alone, because he gathered the people into soldiers, and there were tens of thousands of plans to overcome the state governance, so he defended it with the militia. Hu Shen: At Zhengrenchen, the Jianghuai were harassed, and thieves spread to Fujian and Zhejiang. From the built Pucheng and Songxi to Longquan, the public gathered together the villagers to build a stronghold in Hushan for the purpose of defense.

Hu Jiayou: In the Yuan Dynasty, Kou Feng rose from the counties of the prefectures.Jiayou went to the county magistrate of Bai County to spread the family wealth, recruit martial arts and strong men, and got more than a thousand people and even five of them. Chen Tianxi: In Renchen, the twelfth year from Yuan to Zhengzheng, bandits rose up in Jianghan, counties and counties fell one after another, and the people in the settlements fought to raise poles as banners to respond to the bandits.Tianxi Baijian County's Zidu Township athletes can get thousands of people at a time, armor and food, and they should be self-sufficient one by one, not to bother the county magistrate.Tianxi returned, gathering troops day and night to train as before.

Xiao Sihe: When the Yuan Dynasty was in chaos, it was in Mining. (Ji'an) Xiao Si and his father and son bravely raised money and advocated righteousness to protect the township, and there will be no soldiers in the chaos. It is still called Taoyuan. Huizhou Roche: When they arrived at Zhengxinmao, Qi bandits rose.The sons of the Luo family recruited hundreds of athletes to organize their team, and the leaders of the department are invited to follow suit. Yongkang Lu family: During the period from Yuan to Zhengzheng, the people rebelled against Chuzhou as bandits, turned and plundered to the east, trapped Yongkang and Wu, and all counties went to Sao Funing.Lu Jun Wensui, a rich family in Yongkang Taipingli, scattered tens of millions of family assets. He conspired with his younger brother Wen Ye to recruit two thousand strong children from the village.

Dongguan Li's: The Li family in Dongguan is especially proud of all the clans.The government is not good, thieves are rising, the rich and the people are arbitrary, and they gather troops to defend themselves.Now that each of them occupies their own land and strives to be the eldest hero, or even invades and plunders each other, the town is desolate.The ruler of the government also united with the people for protection, supported the officers and soldiers at home, defended against bandits outside, and the people inside depended on them for safety. After 20 years of long-term war, some of the You surnamed giants in the north and south of the Yangtze River died in the war, and some fled to other places.For example, the surname Xu Jin in Jiangyin Prefecture:

In July of the twelfth year of Zhengzheng, the red scarf was trapped in Qiantang, Wuxing and Yanling in September, and Jiangyin Prefecture in October.The surname of Xu Jin and his son Ruzhang gathered together rogues with few evils, and they used food and drink. The thieves scattered and looted, lured them deep, killed them and buried them.In the battle at Xiangfu Temple in the north of the city, both father and son died. Anlu Liu Zeli: At Zhengxinmao, the two rivers were in chaos, and they cut wealth and recruited soldiers. They were under the command of Pingzhang, Sichuan, and attacked Anlu, Xiang, Fan, Tang, and Deng, and they all sought peace.Brothers, nephews and nephews mostly died in the army.

The above examples are all from the area south of the Yangtze River.As for the Central Plains, the war was more intense and brutal, covering a wider area and lasting longer. Not only were a large number of landlords in this area wiped out by the Red Army, but they also participated in the wars of the expansion of Timur, Polo Timur, and the four generals of Guanzhong. Most of the landlords in Guan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Henan and other places disappeared with the elimination of these landlord armies. Some of the old big landowners were wiped out.Another group of small and medium-sized landlords surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang and joined the new ruling group because they were lonely and outnumbered. drop.In the 21st year, Xu Shan, the leader of the township soldiers in Dongliu County, Chizhou, gathered more than 20,000 people to defend the village since Renchen soldiers, and finally came to surrender.In the 22nd year, Chen Long, a local tyrant in Ningzhou, Jiangxi, sent his younger brother Liangping to lead 20,000 militiamen from the six counties of Fenning, Fengxin, Tongcheng, Jing'an, De'an, and Wuning to surrender.Marshal Sun Benli, who guarded Ji'an, also came to surrender.In the twenty-four years Wenzhou local tyrant Zhou Zongdao, Xiangxiang local chieftain Yi Huasheng, etc., as for the 3,000 militiamen who threatened Lvpaizhai at the beginning of Yuanzhang, and Miao Daheng, the volunteer marshal of Hengjian Mountain, surrendered with 20,000 people. When attacking Jiqing, Marshal Chen Zhaoxian and Kang Maocai surrendered their entire army and became the main force of Yuanzhang's army, let alone.

These two parts of landlords, the remnants of the old landlord class and the emerging landlord class constitute the basic strength and ruling foundation of Zhu Yuanzhang's ruling group. In addition, as a result of the decentralized management of land, the restoration and development of the agricultural economy created a large number of small and medium landlords.These people have little economic power, but are numerous, educated and knowledgeable, and have no political privileges. Therefore, they have to support and support the new ruling class in an attempt to obtain political privileges to protect and expand their wealth.Representatives of this class, the Confucian intellectuals at the time, were the main source of bureaucrats needed by the bureaucracy of the new dynasty.Zhu Yuanzhang and most of his generals were from poor peasants, and they had experienced the exploitation and oppression of landlords in the past.However, the main force he had at the beginning was the original landlords' armed forces. After crossing the river, a large number of intellectuals from the landlord class joined in. His regime had no choice but to gradually deteriorate, to the opposite, and to become the regime of the landlord class. Zhu Yuanzhang gradually transformed from the leader of the peasant uprising into the representative of the political interests of the landlord class. Of course, he respected and safeguarded the interests of the landlord class.However, things were not as he expected. The big landowners also had two sides. On the one hand, they respected and maintained his rule. Competing for land and manpower with the royal ruling group by concealing the land area, sheltering the population without registration, etc., directly affected the dynasty's finances, taxation and manpower use. Taxation reflects the country's economic existence.Taxation is the economic basis of the government apparatus.Due to the big landlords' concealment, shelter, usurpation, fraud, problems with the economic foundation of the dynasty, and the internal contradictions of the landlord class developed and intensified, in order to protect their own economic foundation, the big landlords had to be dealt a severe blow. After Zhu Yuanzhang crossed the river, he took many measures to protect the interests of the landlord class. For example, when Longfeng took Jinhua in four years, he chose the children of the rich people from the seven counties of Jinhua as the guards, named Yuzhongjun.On the one hand, this matter shows respect and trust for the landlord class, and on the other hand, it is also a very important military measure, because the children of the landlords are recruited as guards, and they fight with the army, which is equivalent to pledge, so there is no need to worry about the military affairs of the landlords in these areas. resisted.In the 19th year of Hongwu, the children of rich people from the prefectures and counties of Zhili Yingtian were selected to go to Beijing to supplement officials, and there were 1,460 of them.It also works the same way.As for the landlords themselves, the survey conducted in the third year of Hongwu found that the number of big landlords in western Zhejiang was the largest compared with the amount of land tax. Taking Suzhou as an example, there were 490 households paying more than 100 shi to 400 shi for grain every year; Fifty-six households from 100 shi to 1,000 shi; 6 households from 1,000 shi to 2,000 shi; One hundred and eighty-four stones.Thirty years later, another investigation was conducted. In addition to Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Sichuan, nine chief ministers including Zhejiang, Zhili Yingtian and eighteen prefectures, there were a total of 14,341 landlords with fields of more than seven hectares. household.A roster of flowers was compiled, and the roster was hidden in the Yinshoujian of the Neifu, and was called in order according to the roster, and only selected according to the quantity.It should be noted that if the land is more than seven hectares, it is indeed a big landlord in the south of the Yangtze River, but in the north of the Yangtze River, it is not necessarily a big landlord, but a small and medium landlord. Landlords also have two sides to the feudal ruling group and the people.On the one hand, they support the current rule and rely on the power of the dynasty to protect themselves and establish their careers.Zhu Yuanzhang said: Mencius said: Those who have permanent property have perseverance.Among the wealthy people, there are many people who are well-behaved and clean, and understand current affairs.Ask the Ministry of Households to recommend landlords who pay more rent and appoint them as officials and food chiefs.On the one hand, he also pointed out that the wealthy people are often powerful, so in the Yuan Dynasty, this generation bullied the ordinary people and arbitrarily judged the country's music, and people suffered from it.Based on this, his policy towards landlords is also two-sided, with a two-pronged approach. One is to choose bureaucrats to strengthen his own ruling foundation;Before the imperial examination law was finalized, landlords were selected as officials, called tax household talents, some were magistrates of counties, prefectures, and prefects, and some were chief envoys and even Jiuqing of the imperial court.For example, Yan Zhenzhi, a wealthy family in Wucheng, Zhejiang Province, has been working as a minister of the Ministry of Industry with tax-paying talents.He also took the landlord as the food chief, thinking that the landlords and officials were all outsiders who were not familiar with the local conditions, so they were easily deceived by the cunning Xu Suhao, and the people suffered from it.It is better to use prestigious landlords to collect local taxes and transport them to the capital, which can reduce the disadvantages.In September of the fourth year of Hongwu, the Ministry of Households was ordered to calculate the tax on land and land, with 10,000 shi of grain paid as a district, and the landlord who occupied a large amount of land and paid the most grain was selected as the grain chief, who was responsible for supervising the collection and delivery of taxed grain.For example, Zhejiang Chief Envoy has a population of 1,487,146 households, 933,268 stones of grain every year, and 134 grain chiefs.Under the head of grain, there is one Zhishu (accountant), 20 Douji (management of Douji weighing), and 1,000 grain transporters.It also stipulates preferential treatment methods for grain chiefs. Anyone who commits miscellaneous crimes, capital crimes and imprisonment can pay money for atonement.Thirty years later, he ordered three chief and deputy food chiefs in each county and county in the world to arrange the order, take turns to serve, and repeat.When the grain chief transported the grain to the capital on time, Yuan Zhang personally summoned him, and those who agreed with the conversation often stayed as officials.Yuan Zhang handed over the power of collecting and transporting grain to the landlords, thinking that this method is to rule the good people by good people, and there will be no danger of invasion and fishing.It is very convenient for the people to avoid the disadvantages of harassment by local officials.He also regarded the landlord as a good citizen.But the fact is just the opposite. After many landlords became grain chiefs, on the basis of the original exploitation of the people, they also gained the power conferred by the imperial dynasty. They added wings to a tiger and carried out additional exploitation. The pain of the peasants was even deeper and heavier.For example, the head of the grain, Anai, set up a name, disturbed the households, collected the water foot rice, the rice of the dendrobium, the rice for the grain, the cart money, the off-hus rice, the book money, the grain bureau knew the house money, and saw the rice in the ocean. Rice and so on, a total of 32,000 shi for rice, and 11,100 guan for banknotes.Zhengmi should only be 10,000 shi, but Zhu Anai's personal exploitation part chose 22,000 shi of rice, and the banknote was 11,100 guan.Peasants who could not afford the payment were forced to sell off their houses, remove roof tiles, and sell their livestock, as well as clothes, satin, cloth, pots, stoves, waterwheels, farm tools, etc.Another example is the addition of 18 kinds of food collection by three people including Jiading County Grain Chief Jin Zhongfang and others.Farmers have suffered enough and have nowhere to complain.Zhu Yuanzhang also discovered the malpractice of the head of grain and imposed severe punishments. Although many people were killed, the head of grain was still doing evil, and farmers were still being exploited additionally. In addition to appointing landlords as officials to collect food, at the same time, the policy of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty to relocate the world's rich and wealthy to Guanzhong was adopted. In the third year of Hongwu, 140,000 households from the south of the Yangtze River were moved to Fengyang (Fengyang was the central capital at this time), and many of them were landlords. .In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu's reign, 5,300 rich households from all over the world moved to Nanjing.Thirty years later, more than 14,300 wealthy households were relocated to Nanjing, known as wealthy households.Yuan Zhang told the officials of the Ministry of Industry: In the past, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty did this, and I didn't think so.Now that I have figured it out, the capital is the foundation of the whole country, and it is a matter of course, so I really have to do this.Landlords in Su, Song, Hang, Jia, and Hu areas in the south of the Yangtze River were forced to move to Fengyang, left their original rural farmhouses, and were not allowed to go back privately.This measure was a great blow to the southeast landlord class at that time.The landlord class in the old society lost its social and political status when it left the land it originally occupied.On the contrary, the new landlord class headed by Zhu Yuanzhang can thus strengthen the control over the people in this area.From then on, although these landlords did not dare to return to their original places in public, they disguised themselves as beggars, and in the name of fleeing famine, scattered in groups, old and young, men and women, to various counties and counties in the south of the Yangtze River to beg for food. In March, I returned to Fengyang again.As time goes by, it becomes a habit.For five or six hundred years, Fengyang Flower Drum has been a folk song and dance well known to women and children in the southeast area. The lyrics are: I live in Luzhou and Fengyang. Fengyang was originally a good place. Since Emperor Zhu came out, there have been nine years of famine in ten years. Landlords are of course very happy to be officials and grain chiefs, and they appreciate and support this regime that safeguards the interests of their own class.However, the greedy nature of the landlord class can never be changed. They will never give up any opportunity to increase the occupation of land and manpower. The method of entrusting (falsely writing) one's own property under the names of relatives, neighbors, tenants and servants is called "iron-footed deception".In addition, there are methods such as sprinkling, bagging, moving hills and changing sections.After Yuan Zhang punished these landlords, he pointed out angrily: Folks spreading, enclosing wasteland, scheming, moving hills and changing places, these are the families of treacherous and rich people, who will not be blessed with the wealth and land, and send fine people with their own divisions; there is no wasteland in the territory for many years. Wait for the cunning to buy and order corrupt officials and bookmakers and book-counters, and the corrupt officials receive the riches from the cunning and cunning. Sprinkle the school, move the hills and change the stage, and make a name for yourself, so as to harm the common people. Landlords shift their burdens to the small people, small households, and small people through fraudulent means, that is, poor peasants. As a result, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.The landlord class has encroached on the rent, taxes and manpower due to the royal ruling group, and the poor peasants have increased the burden. On the one hand, the imperial government has reduced land tax revenue and corvee collection, and on the other hand, the poor peasants have become poorer and hungry, shaking and eroding the economic foundation of the ruling class. , Conflicts broke out within the class, and the struggle started. The landlord is no longer a good citizen, but a family of treacherous, wealthy and wealthy people. The object of Zhu Yuanzhang's struggle was the illegal big landlords in the landlord class. There were two methods, one was to use severe punishments and heavy laws to eliminate the families of traitors, stubborn rich and rich, and the other was to sort out the cadastral and household registration. According to the records of people in the early Ming Dynasty about the eradication of big landlords in the Hongwu era, as Pei Qiong said: The three giant surnames of Wu enjoyed the benefits of agriculture and did not participate in their labor. In a few years, they were overwhelmed by surplus, died or moved, and none survived. Fang Xiaoru said: At that time, the punishment of Tongcai Party and (Hu Weiyong Party case, see later) was strictly enforced. The offenders will die and overthrow their families regardless of whether they are true or not.At that time, the old families of the rich families in the east and west of Zhejiang Province mostly blamed their crimes on their ancestors. Wu Kuan said: Wu Huangming was ordered, the government order was renewed, the people were rich and powerful, and the plots were exhausted. Situation of Cheung Chau: In the east of the city, there have been many accidents in the world, and all the neighbors have died and migrated. It is desolate and uninhabitable. In the era of Hongwu, most of the villagers were relocated or died of punishment, and the neighbors were almost empty. In order to avoid misfortune, some big landlords either conceal themselves, or disperse all their accumulations to avoid disaster, or flee to other places to avoid it, or cling to military status to avoid death, but such people are only a minority.The rich and powerful families in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were completely exploited.The struggle within the ruling class is brutal.On the other hand, after 20 years of war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, most of the land records in various places were lost, and some of them were preserved because of the change of household registration and land transfer. The actual situation did not match the records.Most of the land had no records to check, and the big landlords took the opportunity to hide their fields to escape imperial taxation; for the fields with books, the registered area and burden were different, which was extremely unfair and reasonable.Zhu Yuanzhang seized this central issue and waged a long-term struggle against the big landlords.The method is to measure the fields extensively and survey the registered population. In the first month of the first year of Hongwu, one hundred and sixty-four people including Zhou Zhu, the son of the Imperial College, were sent to western Zhejiang to verify the acres of land and determine their taxes.In June of the fifth year, envoys were sent to Sichuan to measure the acres of fields.In the fourteenth year, the counties and counties across the country were ordered to compile the Yellow Book of Taxation and Service.Twenty years later, Guo Zisheng Wuchun and other branches were ordered to compile fish scale atlases in prefectures and counties.It took a total of twenty years to complete these two matters. The method used to measure the land is to send envoys to each prefecture and county to determine the number of districts according to the amount of tax and grain. Sub-name, register the name of the landlord and the four feet of the field, and compile the pictures into a book. The image of the painted fields resembles fish scales, and it is called the fish scale book. As a result of the census, the yellow book of taxation and service was compiled.The household registration is compiled into lijia, with one hundred and ten households as one li, and ten households of landowners who have a lot of food are the head of the lijia, and the other hundred households are divided into ten Jia.Every ten households generally have a head.Every year, one mile chief and one Jia head manage the affairs of one mile and one Jia.The order of priority is based on the amount of small grains, and each one is worth one year in rotation.The ten armors served the imperial court successively in ten years as compulsory labor labor, and one armor served for one year, with nine years of rest.Li in the city is called Fang, those near the city are called Xiang, and those in the countryside are called Li.Each mile is compiled into a volume, and there are widows and widows who are lonely and unable to serve, and they are taken care of by more than 110 households.Every ten years, the local officials re-arranged the order of service based on the increase or decrease of rations. Because the book was covered with yellow paper, it was called the yellow book. The fish-scale atlas is the basis for determining land rights (ownership), and the tax and service yellow book is the basis for tax collection. Through the census of fields and household registration, these two books were formulated, and the tax and corvee systems were promulgated. Not only did a large number of missing The registration of field household registration was fixed, thus increasing the material and manpower of the dynasty, and stabilizing and consolidating the economic foundation of the rule. The status and power of the royal ruling group were broken, and it went further towards a high degree of centralization and autocracy.Zhu Yuanzhang's regime is more powerful, centralized, stable, and complete than any other dynasty in the past. For urban and rural people, after a nationwide scale of field surveys, taxation has been set, and the conditions of the fields are recorded in detail in the book, the distinctions between the original, saka, tomb, yan, xia, wet, fertile, barren, sandy, and brine, and regulations To buy land, you must go to the government to register and cut tax grains, avoiding the disadvantages of poor people’s property going to tax storage, and at the same time ensuring the financial revenue of the dynasty; the ten-year labor service gives the people the opportunity to take turns to rest. These measures, Of course, it was all feudal exploitation, but compared with the chaotic situation before the unification, it definitely lightened the burden of some people, encouraged the production sentiment of farmers, and played a significant role in promoting social productivity. Officials who destroy agricultural production should be punished by law. For example, there were 1,350 people in Songjiang’s Fangxiang who did not care about their physiology and handed over to the government, and Suzhou Fangxiang had 1,521 people. People in the market don't know the hardships of the peasants, so they help the officials.Officials include Zhengli, Zhuwen, and writing; Zaoli includes Zhengzaoli, Xiaogongbing, and Zhisi; Laozi has Zhenglaozi, Xiaolaozi, Yelaozi, etc., and there are self-named Xiaoguan, Banghu, etc. .When the peasants are not asked about their urgent affairs, they go to the countryside to disturb agriculture.When seedlings are planted, they are planted in their hands, and there is no gap in farming. These vagrants carry out approval documents and go to the countryside. They either lock the waterwheel and get off the vehicle, or seize the seedlings in their hands and lock them out of the field. Harassing people in urban and rural areas.Yuanzhang ordered it to be cleaned up. Except for the Zhenglaozi who should be in the main service, all others were removed. For example, the Songjiang Mansion expelled more than 900 small prisons, wild prisons, etc., reducing three-quarters of the officials who harmed the peasants in one place. Taken as a whole, this number is very large, and it is of great benefit to farmers in normal production. Although Zhu Yuanzhang waged serious struggles against some big landlords, he made some necessary concessions to the majority of farmers. Some big landlords were wiped out, some big landlords were weakened, and the enthusiasm of farmers for production increased.However, after all, this regime is the regime of the landlord class, and it first serves the interests of the landlord class. Even if some concession measures are taken to the peasants, the purpose is still to consolidate and strengthen the ruling power of the entire landlord class.Regardless of whether it is land investigation and fixed rent, whether it is household registration and fixed service, the landlord is the one who performs the measurement, and the one who is responsible for expropriating and transporting grain and rice is still the landlord. The elders are also landlords. Of course, those who serve as officials in the local and imperial courts must be landlords. The landlords rule from bottom to top, and from top to bottom. Will care about the life and death of small owner farmers and sharecroppers.Due to the convenience of power, exploitation and fraud can be carried out through the ruling power of the dynasty. Putting on the cloak of legality, the pain of the peasants is even more irreproachable.Moreover, as long as they are the children of the landlord class, they have the opportunity and right to receive education, and become bureaucrats, gentlemen, bureaucrats, and gentlemen through tax household talents, imperial examinations, schools, etc. The officials of Zhongshu Province, the family of food and salary, are on the same level as the common people, and those who tend to serve as servants to serve them are also the affairs of the common people.If a virtuous person and a gentleman value their family and return to service, then there is no distinction between a gentleman and a savage, and it is not the way to persuade scholars to treat virtuous people.Since today, the current officials of Baisi have land in their homes, except for rent and tax, they have been exempted from government servants, and this is an order.Officials are nobles, common people are sluts, and the nobles should not be subject to corvee like the sluts.In the twelfth year, it was ordered that from now on, those internal and external officials who return to their hometowns will have nothing to return to their families for life.Even the squires were exempted from service.Students in school, in addition to being exempted from military service, are also exempted from Erding servants indoors.Ordinary poor peasants can't even get enough to eat, so how can they go to school?Most of the students who go to school are also the children of the landlords. In this way, the current officials, gentry, and school students are exempted from the servants, and there are ways to avoid rent and tax. Therefore, the obligation to pay the grain and go to the errands falls mostly on the self-cultivating peasants and poor peasants. .Owner farmers and poor peasants not only have to pay their own share, but also have to bear the share that bureaucrats, gentry, and landlords do not pay. Therefore, where there are more bureaucrats, gentry, and peasants, the burden on the peasants will be heavier. .During the 276 years of the Ariake Dynasty, the number of peasant uprisings was particularly large and the scale was particularly large. This is the reason. In the internal struggle of the ruling class, Zhu Yuanzhang ruthlessly attacked some big landlords. Then, who did he rely on to support his regime?The answer is very clear, the pillars of Zhu's regime are the vast number of small and medium landlords and rich peasants.In his bureaucracy, the source of officials came mainly from this class. There are three types of official appointment systems: recommendation, school and imperial examination. Recommendation is to appoint landlords as officials. Landlords are educated, have historical knowledge, and can handle affairs. More importantly, their interests are consistent with those of the royal family.As far back as Jinling, more than a dozen Confucian scholars Xia Yu, Sun Yan, Yang Xian, etc. were employed.In March of the tenth year of Longfeng, the Ministry of Education was ordered to recruit outstanding talents. The local officials selected folks who were handsome and over 25 years old.Ten years later, the old retired and the young learned to do things.Since then, the prefectures and counties have recommended candidates to Zhongshu Province every year.From time to time, Zhu Yuanzhang sent envoys to visit various places to seek talented people, such as smart and upright, virtuous and upright, filial younger brother Litian, Confucian scholars, filial and honest, scholar, talented person, senior citizen, rich household, taxpayer talent, etc. The taxi is the most.Both the imperial court and local officials, big or small, can be recommended, and those who are recommended can be recommended again. Once they are promoted, they can become high officials of the imperial court, such as ministers, ministers, and local political envoys, political participants, and councilors.At most, more than 3,700 people visited at one time, and at most, more than 1,900 people visited at one time. As for the number of people, dozens of people, there are too many to list. The recommendation is only the selection of talents who will work in small and medium-sized landlords. In order to train new ruling talents, schools and Guozijian have to be established. The teaching staff of Guozijian are appointed by the Ministry of Officials.There are two types of students: one is official students; the other is people's livelihood.Official students are divided into two categories, one is the sons and daughters of royal officials, and the other is foreign students, such as students from Japan, Ryukyu, Siam and other countries, and the children of chieftains and chieftains in the southwest of the inland.Official students are distributed by the imperial court, and people's livelihood is sent by local officials from prefectures, prefectures, and counties.There are a total of 150 places for officials and people's livelihood, of which only 50 people are for people's livelihood.It can be seen that Guozijian was originally a school that mainly trained officials and students.Later, the number of official students enrolled was less, and the number of people's livelihood recommended was more. Taking the number of students enrolled in Hongwu in the 26th year as an example, the total number of students was 8,124, of which only four were official students. People's livelihood is an official institution.The homework content is divided into "Yu Zhi Da Gao", "Da Ming Law Order", Four Books, Five Classics, Liu Xiang's "Shuo Yuan" and other books.The most important of these is "Da Gao". "Dagao" was written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. In addition to "Dagao", there are also "Dagao Continuation", "Dagao Three Series", and "Dagao Military Officials", a total of four volumes.The main content is to enumerate the crimes of killing officials and people, to make officials and people aware of their warnings, and to teach people to keep their duties, pay rent for land, serve their husbands, and live an honest life.In the 19th year of Hongwu, the supervisor was awarded with the "Da Gao".The twenty-fourth order: From now on, all the year-old tribute students in the imperial examination will be tested with the "Da Gao".The official official of the Ministry of Rites, the Imperial Academy, strictly supervises all students to read the explanations carefully, and recruit them as talents. Those who do not comply will be regarded as violators.Violating the system means disobeying the emperor's order, and the crime is very serious.As for the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty", because the future of students is to be an official and adjudicate cases, of course it is a must read.The Four Books and the Five Classics are the classics of Confucianism. Zhu Yuanzhang told Dr. Guozi in person: First, teach all living beings with the scriptures established by Confucius.But for "Mencius", it has gone through some twists and turns.In the third year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang read that there were many places in the book "Mencius" that were not polite to the emperor, so he lost his temper and said to others: If this old man lives to this day, he must be severely punished!He ordered the removal of the tablet that Mencius shared in the Confucian Temple, and Mencius was expelled from the Confucian Temple.Later, although some people interceded for Mencius, saying that what he said was basically good for maintaining the status of the emperor, Mencius' share was restored.But for the book "Mencius", I still think it is a bit inappropriate.In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, Liu Sanwu, an old scholar, was specially ordered to compile "Mencius Jiewen", and put the people in "Zhen Xin Pian" as the most important, followed by the community, and the emperor as the least. "Liang Huiwang Pian" The people of the country are all sages, and the people of the country are all saying that they can kill a chapter. When the time comes to mourn, I will die with you. The quotations from "Tang Oath" and "Li Lou Pian" Jie and Zhou lost the world and lost their people.Those who lose their people lose their hearts.One chapter, "Wanzhangpian" The heaven and the sages and the sages One chapter, the sky sees itself and the people see it, and the sky listens to the people.If you have a big mistake, you will be admonished, and if you don't listen to it repeatedly, you will change positions.As well as the similar news that a husband was punished, Zhou was killed, but the king was not heard. 1. The king treats his ministers like grass, and the ministers treat the emperor like a bandit.A total of eighty-five articles were deleted.There are only one hundred and seventy items left, which are rigidly promulgated in schools across the country.For the part that has been deleted, the class scholars do not use the propositions, and the imperial examinations do not use the imperial examinations to obtain the scholars. From Hongwu 2nd year to 31st year, the situation of Guozi Jiansheng’s appointment as officials: First, Jiansheng does not have a certain order of official qualifications. Second, supervisors do not have a fixed nature of office, such as ministerial officials and inspectors of the imperial court, local civil affairs and financial officials, judicial officials, and even government officials who care about everything. State and county officials and school officials are almost all officials. Third, in addition to being officials, some of the student supervisors in school are ordered to go on missions, some are ordered to patrol prefectures and counties, some are audited by hundreds of divisions, and some go to local supervisors. Those who repaired water conservancy, some carried out the tasks of measuring, recording the area of ​​fields, and setting grain quotas in large numbers, some checked the yellow books (1,200 people per year), some wrote books, some worked in various government offices, and some worked in the The interns in each yamen have almost nothing to do. Fourth, in the past 30 years, the appointment of supervisors has been the highest in the second year of Hongwu and the 26th year. Qian Shi and the magistrate and other officials.In the twenty-sixth year, sixty-four supervisors were used to serve as governors of the province, and they were appointed as the two envoys of the procuratorate and participated in politics, counselors, deputy envoys, and other officials.This is because not long after the founding of the People's Republic of China in the second year of Hongwu, there was a shortage of officials; in the case of the Lanyu Party in the 26th year, many local officials were killed (see later), and it needs to be supplemented.The number of appointments was the most in the 19th year, and more than a thousand people were ordered to sacrifice wine and select supervisors to send to the Ministry of Officials, except for the appointment of magistrates and county magistrates.This is also because of the case of Guo Huan's theft of official food in the eighteenth year, and the arrest of officials who have been harming the people for many years in the nineteenth year (see the following article for both).Historians concluded: Therefore, among the Chinese and foreign students at that time, Tai students were the most prosperous. Local prefectures, prefectures, and county schools, like the Guozijian, have a certain number of students and an examination system.In addition to local schools, in the eighth year of Hongwu, an order was issued to set up rural primary schools for social studies.In addition, there were also private schools established by landlords and private schools for poor intellectuals to maintain their livelihoods.The government, prefecture, county, and social sciences all take "Imperial Orders" and "Laws" as their main compulsory subjects. In addition to setting up schools, teachers were also sent to teach in various places. In the early years of Hongwu, because the north was destroyed by long-term wars and there were few people studying, 366 Guozijian students were specially sent to run schools in various prefectures and counties in the north.This system was later extended to other chief ministers, and those who were able to read in their prime were selected as officials such as teaching officials. The establishment of schools at all levels and the development of education have made remarkable progress compared with any previous historical period.The purpose is very clear, from these institutions to train a large number of small and medium landlords, the younger generation of rich peasants, as a reserve force for the bureaucracy.At the same time, due to the advancement of printing technology, the book tax exemption decree promulgated in the first year of Hongwu, and the regular examination system, reading, winning, and becoming an official were no longer limited to the children of the nobles, bureaucrats, and landlords. Some middle peasants In order to change families, to obtain a more comfortable and honorable position, and to protect the family from cruel exploitation and oppression, the children of handicraftsmen and peddlers are inferior in everything.家庭宗族支持之下，買得了書本，進了私塾、社學，參加了考試，其中有一部分人公然闖進了統治階級，成為駕乎人民之上的官僚了。他們改變了階級成分，做了官，成為地主，擴大了統治階級的社會基礎，加入了新血液，也對封建統治階級的鞏固起了作用。同時，又以階級成分的改變，改革了他們家屬以至親戚的社會、政治地位，這樣，就或多或少地引起各階級的重新組合和分化。 除國子監以外，皇朝官僚的來源是科舉制度。國子監生可以不由科舉，直接任官，而從科舉出身的人則必須是學校的生員。府、州、縣學的生員（通稱秀才），每三年在省城會考一次，稱為鄉試，及格的為舉人。各布政使司的舉人名額，除直隸（今江蘇、安徽）百人最多，廣東、廣西二十五人最少，其他九個布政使司都是四十人。第二年全國舉人會考於京師，稱為會試。會試及格，再經一次複試，地點在皇帝的殿廷，叫做廷試，亦稱殿試。複試不過是形式，意思是由皇帝親自主持這最高級的考試，選拔之權，出於一人。發榜分一二三甲（等），一甲只有三人：狀元、榜眼、探花，賜進士及第。二甲若干人，賜進士出身。三甲若干人，賜同進土出身。民間又稱鄉試第一名為解元，會試第一名為會元，殿試二甲第一名為傳臚。鄉試由布政使司，會試由禮部主持。狀元授官翰林院修撰，榜眼，探花授官翰林院編修，二三甲考選為庶吉士的都是翰林官，其他或授給事、御史、主事、中書、行人，評事、太常國子博士；或授府推官、知州、知縣等官。舉人、貢生多次參加會試不及格的，可以改入國子監，也可選作小京官，或做府佐和州縣正官以及學校教官等等。 科舉各級考試，專用四書、五經出題。文體略仿宋經義，但要用古人思想行文，並且只能根據幾家指定的注疏發揮，絕對不許有自己的見解。格式排偶，叫做制義。這制度是朱元璋和劉基制定的。規定子午卯酉年鄉試，辰戌丑未年會試，鄉試在八月，會試在二月。每試分三場，初場試四書義三道，經義四道；二場試論一道，判五道，詔誥表內科（選）一道；三場試經史時務策五道。 學校和科舉並行，學校是科舉的階梯，科舉是生員的出路。生員通過科舉做了官以後，平日不但用不著制義，也用不著書本了；中小地主階級子弟要做官必須通過科舉，中不了舉人進士是不能做官的。但是在中舉之前，名為生員，卻不一定真要上學，後來學校制度日益鬆弛，生員只需參加定期考試，平時根本不在學校，學校名存實亡，這樣，科舉日重，學校的地位也就日輕。學校和科舉都是培養和選拔官僚的制度，學習和考試的範圍完全一樣，都是四書、五經，不但遠離實際生活，並且還禁止接觸現實生活，過問政治。用這種方式培養出來的人才，正如當時人宋濂所刻劃的：自貢舉法行，學者知以摘經擬題為志，其所最切者惟四子一經之箋，是鑽是窺，餘則漫不加省。與之交談，兩目瞪然視，舌木強不能對。學校則稍勵廉隅者不願入學，而學行章句有聞者，未必盡出於弟子員。到後來甚至弄到生徒無復在學肄業，入其庭不見其人，如廢寺然。科舉人才一般不讀四書五經以外的書，不知時事，學校沒有學生，是普遍現象，特別是這種考試制度強制盲從古人的書本，不許有新的思想，不許有和古人不同的思想，結果只能是進步的思想被扼殺了，科學的發展停滯了。在政治上，那個時代所培養的是合於統治階級需要的馴服忠順的官僚，在學術文化上，卻長期被古代的陰魂所壟斷，停留在幾百年前以至千多年前的水平上，這個損失是非常巨大的。庶民是被朱元璋叫作賤人的，趨事執役以奉上者，庶民之事也。這個事朱元璋也叫做分，即應盡的義務。洪武十五年他叫戶部出榜曉諭兩浙江西之民說：為吾民者當知其分，田賦力役出以供上者乃其分也。能安其分，則保父母妻子，家昌身裕，為忠孝仁義之民。if not?則不但國法不容，天道亦不容矣。應該像中原之民，惟知應役輸稅，無負官府。只有如此，才能上下相安，風俗淳美，共享太平之福。他把東南地區的農民和中原地區的農民區別開來，要東南地區的農民也像中原地區的農民一樣，惟知應役輸稅，無負官府。正說明了當時階級鬥爭的不平衡情況，中原地區土地分散，階級關係較為緩和，而東南地區則土地較為集中，階級鬥爭也就日益尖銳了。 朱元璋要求人民盡應役輸稅的義務，定下制度，要官吏奉公守法，嚴懲貪汙，手令面諭，告誡諄諄，期望上下相安，共享太平之福。但是封建地主階級的官僚是決不肯照他的話辦事的，地主做官只會剝削百姓，怎麼肯奉公守法？結果許多制度命令都成為空文，官僚政治的惡果，當時便已有人明確地指出： 今之守令，以戶口、錢糧、獄訟為急務。至於農桑、學校，王政之本，乃視為虛文而置之，將何以教養斯民哉！以農桑言之，方春，州縣下一白帖，里甲回申文狀而已，守令未嘗親視種藝次第，旱澇戒備之道也。以學校言之，廩膳諸生，國家資之以取人才之地也。今四方師生缺員甚多，縱使具員，守令亦鮮以禮讓之實，作其成器者。朝廷切切於社學，屢行取勘師生姓名，所習課業。乃今社鎮城郭，或但置立門碑，遠村僻處則又徒存其名，守令不過具文備案照刷而已。上官分部按臨，亦但循習故常，依紙上照刷，未嘗巡行點視也。 官僚辦的是公文，公文上辦的事應有盡有，和實際情形全不相干。上官按臨地方檢查的也是公文，上下都以公文辦事，做的都是紙上文章，自然法出而奸生，令下而詐起了。這是洪武九年的事。十二年後，解縉奉詔上萬言書，也說： 夏稅一也，而茶椒有糧，果絲有稅。既稅於所產之地，又稅於所過之津，何其奪民之利至於如此之密也！且多貧下之家，不免拋荒之咎。今日之土地無前日之生殖，而今日之徵集有前日之稅糧，或賣產以供稅，產去而稅存；或賠辦以當役，役重而民困。土田之高下不均，起科之輕重無別，膏腴而稅反輕，瘠鹵而稅更重。 道理也清楚得很，正因為是貧下之家，才被迫拋荒，地主負擔特別輕，不但不會拋荒，而且還盡力兼併。膏腴之田是地主的，瘠鹵之田是貧民的，地主階級自己定的稅額，當然是膏腴輕而瘠鹵重。 為了鞏固統治，朱元璋對貪官汙吏用嚴刑懲治。洪武二年二月，元璋告諭群臣說：從前我在民間時，見州縣官吏多不恤民，往往貪財好色，飲酒廢事，凡民疾苦，視之漠然，心裏恨透了。如今要嚴立法禁，凡遇官吏貪汙蠹害百姓的，決不寬恕。四年十一月立法，凡官吏犯贓罪的不赦。下決心肅清貪汙，說：此弊不革，欲成善政，終不可得。二十五年又編《醒貪簡要錄》頒佈中外。官吏貪贓到鈔六十兩以上的梟首示眾，仍處以剝皮之刑。府州縣衙門左首的土地廟，就是剝皮的刑場，也叫皮場廟。有的衙門公座旁擺著人皮，裏面塞以稻草，叫做官的觸目驚心，不敢做壞事。地方官上任給以路費，家屬給衣料。來朝時又特別告誡以天下新定，百姓財力困乏，像剛學飛的鳥兒和新栽的樹木，拔不得毛，也碰不得根。違法的按法處刑。從開國以來，兩浙、江西、兩廣、福建的地方官因貪贓被殺的很多，很少人能做到任滿。 嚴懲貪汙，貪汙還是不能根絕，用朱元璋自己的話來證明吧，他說：浙西所在有司，凡徵收害民之奸，甚如虎狼。且如折收秋糧，存州縣發放，每米一石折鈔二貫，巧立名色，取要水腳錢一百文，車腳錢三百文，口食錢一百文。庫子又要辨驗錢一百文，蒲蔞錢一百文，竹簍錢一百文，沿江神佛錢一百文。害民如此，罪可宥乎！ 折糧原來是便民的措施，浙西運糧一石到南京，要化四石運費，百姓困苦不堪。改折為鈔，可以減輕浙西農民五分之四的負擔。鈔是用不著很大運費和蒲、竹簍包裝的，但地方官還是照運糧的辦法苛斂，用種種名色加徵至九百文，約合折價的百分之五十。急得朱元璋只是跺腳，說：我欲除貪贓官吏，奈何朝殺而暮犯！今後犯贓的，不分輕重都殺了。 洪武一朝，無幾時不變之法，無一日無過之人。是歷史上封建政權對貪汙進行鬥爭最激烈的時期，殺戮貪官汙吏最多的時期。雖然貪官汙吏隨殺隨犯，朱元璋也下定決心，隨犯隨殺，這個規模巨大的統治階級的內部鬥爭，一直到朱元璋死去才告一段落，但是貪汙現象仍然存在，這是社會制度所決定的，朱元璋儘管是最有威權的皇帝，他能夠殺人，卻改變不了社會制度，改變不了社會性質。