Chapter 18 Chapter 6 Development of Social Productive Forces 1. Recovery and Development of Agricultural Production

The brutal economic exploitation and political oppression of the peasants by the landlord class forced the peasants to stage uprisings many times to resist the rule of the landlord class.Starting from Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, Xiang Yu, and Liu Bang in the Qin Dynasty, Xinshi, Pinglin, Chimei, Tongma and Huangjin in the Han Dynasty, Li Mi and Dou Jiande in the Sui Dynasty, Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao in the Tang Dynasty, Song Jiang and Fang La in the Song Dynasty , Zhu Yuanzhang in the Yuan Dynasty, Li Zicheng in the Ming Dynasty, and until the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the Qing Dynasty, there were hundreds of uprisings in total, all of which were peasant resistance movements and peasant revolutionary wars.The scale of peasant uprisings and peasant wars in Chinese history is unprecedented in world history.In Chinese feudal society, only the peasant class struggle, peasant uprising and peasant war are the real driving force of historical development.Because the results of every major peasant uprising and peasant war hit the feudal rule at that time, and thus promoted the development of social productivity to some extent.

The development of social productive forces in the early Ming Dynasty was the result of the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. It dealt a severe blow to the big landlord class at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and taught the new ruler Zhu Yuanzhang a lesson, forcing him to make some concessions to the peasants.The results of these concessions are first manifested in the recovery and development of agricultural production. After 20 years of long-term war destruction, the population decreased and the fields were barren, which was a common phenomenon in the early years of the Ming Dynasty.For example, since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Yangzhou, a major north-south traffic route and a prosperous resort, was occupied by Marshal Zhang Mingjian of the Qing Army (also known as a piece of tile and spear army, which is an army of landlords), and the army could not get food.In the third year of Longfeng, Zhu Yuanzhang's general Miao Daheng conquered Yangzhou, Zhang Mingjian surrendered, and there were only 18 residents in the city.The new magistrate felt that the old city was empty and difficult to defend, so he had to cut off the southwest corner and build it.For example, Yingzhou, since Han Yaoer's uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there has been a long period of war, many people fled, and the city was empty.Especially the Shandong and Henan areas were the most severely damaged by the war, and most of them were no man's land.In the intercalary July of the first year of Hongwu, General Xu Da led his troops to Bianliang to take prefectures and counties in Hebei.In some places, the remains are piled up into mounds, and there are few residents.In the third year of Hongwu, Chen Xiu, the magistrate of Jinan Prefecture, and the officer of agriculture, reported that the land near the city in northern counties was barren.In February of the fourth year, Geng Zhong, commander of the Datong Guard, reported: In the desert at the edge of Datong, Boluo Timur, Kuokuo Timur and other rebellious soldiers killed and plundered in the Yuan Dynasty, the city walls were empty, the land was barren, and the rent and taxes were not paid for years.In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, Shi Zhishi Gui Yanliang, the governor of the Jin government, also said: The Central Plains is the heart of the world, and it is called a rich land. Because of the lack of manpower, it has been barren for a long time.Twenty-one years ago, in various places in Hebei, there were still many fields and barren fields, and few residents.The situation is also the same in many places in the south. For example, the Wuling County of Changde Prefecture reported in the past 30 years: Wuling and other ten counties, since Bingwu (AD 1366), the army flourished, the people fled, grew up or resumed their jobs, and the land was sparsely populated, and the cultivators Less, more barren.In Ruijin, Jiangxi Province, due to the peasant uprising, more than half of the household registrations were wiped out: there were 6,193 registered households in the early days, and more than half of them are now dead.The famous city of Kaifeng was reduced from the upper mansion to the lower mansion due to the small number of households.In the 10th year of Hongwu, in Henan, Sichuan and other prefectures and counties of the Chief Secretary, there were too many households to count. In every prefecture, 12 counties were changed, and 60 counties were merged.In the seventeenth year, the prefectures with less than 3,000 households were changed to thirty-seven counties.

The decrease in tax revenue and the serious shortage of labor force are very serious.In order to quickly change this dilapidated appearance and increase fiscal revenue, Zhu Yuanzhang could only make concessions to farmers.In May of the first year of Wu, an order was issued that all counties and counties such as Xu, Su, Hao, Si, Shou, Pi, Donghai, Xiangyang, and Anlu, as well as newly attached land, people, mulberry, hemp, grain, millet, tax grain, and corvee, should be paid as much as possible. Exemption for three years.Let the common people take a breath, rest, and put their strength into production.In the future, new states and counties will also adopt this method, exempting them from taxation and corvee for several years.He concentrated his efforts to revitalize agriculture, and adjusted the shortage of labor force by emigrating to farming and reclaiming wasteland; he increased the income of agricultural production by building water conservancy and planting mulberry and cotton; Taxes, rent-free grain in case of famines and other measures to solve the difficulties of farmers.In addition, relief agencies such as reserve warehouses and nursing homes have also been established.

He often said: Among the four peoples, farmers work the hardest.In spring, the rooster gets up as soon as it crows, and drives the cattle to the fields to cultivate.After planting the seedlings, weeding and fertilization are necessary, and the sweat is drenched in the sun, and the toil is unbearable.It was so easy to wait until the harvest was over, and there was not much left after the grain and taxes were paid.In case of floods, droughts, locusts and famines, the whole family is anxious and there is nothing they can do.However, the country's taxes are all paid by the peasants, and it is also the responsibility of the peasants to do errands. To make the country prosperous and strong, it is possible for the peasants to live and work in peace and contentment.The fiscal revenue of the feudal regime mainly came from the countryside, and the grain, cotton, cloth, and labor were all supplied by the peasants. If agricultural production did not recover and develop, the regime would not be able to support it.

The principle of immigration is to move farmers from narrow towns to wide ones, from places with many people and few fields to places with few people and large land.In June of the third year of Hongwu, more than 4,000 unemployed farmers moved to Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Hangzhou to farm in Zhangzhou.It also moved 140,000 households of Jiangnan people to Fengyang.In October of the ninth year, he moved to Shanxi and the proletarians of Zhending people to farm in Fengyang.In September of the 15th year, more than 24,400 people were moved to Panyu, Dongguan, and Zengcheng in Guangdong Province, and more than 24,400 people were settled in Sizhou.In the 16th year, 1,370 Yao people moved to Qingyuan, Guangdong to farm in Sizhou.The above are all the measures taken in the prosperity uprising base area and its vicinity.In August of the 21st year, due to the increasing population of Shandong and Shanxi, the landless people of Ze and Lu prefectures in Shanxi moved to Zhangde, Zhending, Linqing and Guide.All the idle land in Taikang was set up for cultivation.In the 22nd year, the land of the people in Zhejiang and Zhejiang was narrow, and there were few people who were concerned with the basics and many people who were concerned with the end. They ordered the people in Hangzhou, Hu, Wen, Tai, Su, and Song counties to have no land. Xu Ling went south to Chu, He, etc. Start plowing everywhere.The poor people in Shanxi who moved to Daming, Guangping, and Dongchang were given 26,72 hectares of land.In the twenty-five years, 5,635 impoverished households from the Deng and Lai prefectures in Shandong moved to Dongchang.In the 27th year, more than 500 Wutian households moved to Chongming County, Suzhou Prefecture, and opened up barren fields in Kunshan.In the twenty-eighth year, people from the five prefectures of Qing, Yan, Deng, and Lai Jinan, who had more than five Ding and small people who had no land to cultivate, went to Dongchang to register and farm. There were 1,51 households and 4,666 people.By November of the 28th year, a total of 58,124 households had been resettled in the three prefectures of Dongchang, and the imperial court collected more than 3,225,980 shi and 240 cotton. Eighty thousand catties.Zhangde and other four prefectures have 381 garrison fields, 2,333,319 shi of rented rice and 5,025,500 catties of cotton.The imperial court gave cattle, seeds and travel expenses to all immigrants who cultivated land.In Hongwu's three-year order, the barren land in northern counties and counties was called on to reclaim the landless villagers. The households were given 15 mu of land and 2 mu of land to grow vegetables. Those with spare capacity were not limited to hectares, and they were exempted from rent and tax for three years.Those who are serving in the horse post, inspection department, and emergency delivery shop will open up land in their own places, and those who have no cattle will be given by the officials.If the kingdom is located, five miles near the city will be reserved for training soldiers and horses, and the rest will be ordered to be cultivated.This decree enabled the vast landless farmers in the north to obtain land and put it into production, which changed the desolation of these areas and improved the lives of some people.In order to solve the problem of land property rights, it was also ordered that where the wasteland was reclaimed, the people everywhere left the land due to the war, and others reclaimed the mature ones as their own property.The owner has returned it, and a company has made up for it in the nearby barren land.Seeing that there are (now) fewer farmers but more fields in the past, the rehabilitated people are not allowed to occupy and protect them as before, and are forbidden to try their best to cultivate them for business.Seeing (now) that there are many people today but few fields in the past, there is a division in the nearby barren fields to inspect the people and allocate them.This decree stipulates that the wasteland reclaimed by the poor is their own property, which clarifies the property rights and relieves the concerns of the landowners. The property rights of the landlords were completely negated, which was a great blow to the old landlord class.In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu, the princes and officials and the people did not ask where they were, but only when they plowed to the ripe fields were they allowed to take the lead.But barren fields are all tied to the number of officials.If you have the energy to spare, let it go again.The decree stipulates that all wasteland across the country should be owned by the feudal dynasty, and anyone who has labor is allowed to report to the officials to reclaim it.He also ordered Shandong to take charge of the peasants, to see that Ding was in service, to limit the number of acres of land, and to order farming.Those who dare to move barren fields, the whole family will be relocated to the army.In the 28th year of the decree, after the 27th year, no matter how much or how little land is reclaimed, no punishment will be paid (receipt of land rent).Encourage farmers to vigorously cultivate land.As a result of the implementation of this series of decrees, a large number of poor peasants reclaimed a large amount of wasteland according to the law, and the number of self-cultivating farmers increased greatly. The situation of a large amount of land concentration in the late Yuan Dynasty changed, and the class conflicts in these areas were greatly eased compared with before. .This is the economic reason why there were many peasant uprisings in the Hongwu Dynasty mentioned above, but there were many in the south of the Yangtze River and few in the north.

There were also those who immigrated from the northwestern region of Juyongguan to the inland for reclamation, such as the Xudaping Desert. After migrating to the Beiping Mountains, more than 35,800 households scattered in the various prefectures and guards.More than 32,800 households were relocated from the desert to Beiping, and 254 villages were set up to open up 1,343 hectares of land. In addition, in October of the first year of Wu, the rich people moved to Suzhou to live in Haozhou, because they helped Zhang Shicheng refuse to defend and kept saying good things about King Zhang.In the 15th year of Hongwu, the prisoners who committed the crime of flogging sticks were all sent to Chuzhou to grow alfalfa.In the 22nd year, the Ministry of Households was ordered to set up the capital of the people living in Shandong, and the people gave 20 ingots of banknotes to make a living.In the 28th year, 20,000 households of people from Zhili and Zhejiang were moved to the capital to serve as porters.

After Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Jiqing, he paid attention to water conservancy.After the founding of the People's Republic of China, more attention was paid to it, and a series of large-scale water conservancy construction projects were carried out.In the first year of Hongwu, the weir gate of Tongcheng in Hezhou was repaired, and the week was more than 200 miles.After four years of repairing and repairing the Lingqu Canal in Xing'an County, Guangxi, it can irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of land.In six years, Hujiagang in Shanghai was opened, from Haikou to Caojing, more than 1,200 Zhang, for ships to pass through the sea.In eight years, the Penglaige River in Dengzhou, Shandong was opened, the Hongqu Weir in Jingyang County, Shaanxi was dredged, and Jingyang, Sanyuan, Liquan, Gaoling, and Lintong fields were irrigated for more than 200 miles.In nine years, Dujiangyan in Pengzhou, Sichuan was built.In the twelfth year, the Tianshui Canal was built in Xi'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, and water from the Longshou Canal was diverted into the city. Since then, residents have had sweet water to eat.In the 14th year, he built the sea salt pond in the south of the Yangtze River and dredged the Fuguan River in Yangzhou.In seventeen years, the Zhanghe River in Cizhou, Henan Province was broken, and the Yueshan Dam in Jingzhou was broken to open the water conservancy. Every year, more than 4,300 stones were rented from the official land.Build the river channel of Shengang Dam in Jiangdu County, Jiangnan.In eighteen years, embankments of the Yellow River, Qinhe, Zhanghe, Weihe and Shahe were built.In the 19th year, the Changle seawall in Fujian was built.In the 23rd year of the construction of Chongming Haimen in the south of the Yangtze River, more than 23,900 feet were broken, and 250,000 slaves were employed.Dredging the waterways under the jurisdiction of Yongning, Sichuan.In the past 24 years, Hengshanling sluices near the south of the Yangtze River have been built, Ninghai and Fenghua seawalls are more than 4,300 feet long, Shangyu seawalls are 4,000 feet long, and stone gates have been rebuilt.Dredging Dongqian Lake in Dinghai and Yin counties, irrigated tens of thousands of hectares of land.In the past 25 years, more than 4,300 feet have been dug in the Dongba River of Yinshu, Liyang, Jiangnan, and 400,000 laborers have been employed.In the 27th year, the Yangzhijia River in Shanshan was dredged, and the north and south rivers separated by more than 20 miles in Linzhou, western Guangxi, were dug through, and stone steep gates were set up.In the 29th year, Henan Luodi was built.In 31 years, the flood canal and weir were repaired, and the canal was dredged for more than 13,000 feet.These large-scale projects involving hundreds of thousands of people are impossible to conceive without the support of a unified and stable national force.In addition, Yuanzhang also asked local officials all over the country to report immediately any suggestions from the common people on water conservancy.In the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, he specially instructed the officials of the Ministry of Industry that all ponds and lakes that can store water and discharge water to prevent drought and flood disasters should be repaired one by one according to the terrain.And send Guozijiansheng and tax household talents to supervise the repair of water conservancy.In the past 28 years, there have been 49,987 Kaitang Weirs in prefectures and counties across the country.There are four thousand one hundred and sixty-two places on the river, and five thousand forty-eight places on the embankment of the Piqu.

Immigrants farmed, reclaimed wasteland, and recognized the property rights of self-cultivating farmers to develop mature land. The old landlords had no choice but to allocate land according to their needs, and the construction of water conservancy was the main measure to increase grain production, increase royal tax revenue, and strengthen the state machinery. After the class struggle of the peasant uprising, the new dynasty had to make some concessions to the peasants.In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also paid special attention to increasing the production of economic crops, mainly mulberry, hemp, kapok, jujube, persimmon, chestnut, walnut and so on.In June of the 11th year of Longfeng, it was ordered that all farmers with five to ten mu of land should plant half an mu of mulberry, hemp, and kapok each;The magistrate personally supervised and punished those who did not carry out the order; those who did not grow mulberry used a piece of silk, and those who did not grow hemp and kapok produced a piece of linen or cotton cloth.In the first year of Hongwu, this decree was extended to various places, and the amount of tax collection was stipulated. Hemp was eight taels per mu, kapok was four taels per mu, and the rent would be levied after four years of planting mulberry.Twenty-four years ago, at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain in Chaoyangmen, Nanjing, more than 50 million tung trees, palm trees, and lacquer trees were planted, and tung oil and palm lacquer were harvested every year for the construction of seagoing ships.Twenty-five years ago, farmers in Fengyang, Chuzhou, Luzhou, and Hezhou were ordered to plant 200 mulberry plants, 200 jujube plants, and 200 persimmon plants per household.Order the sergeants of the national guards to plant hundreds of mulberry trees, and plant persimmons, chestnuts, walnuts and other trees anywhere to prepare for famine years.In the 27th year, the Ministry of Household Affairs taught the people all over the country how to grow mulberry, jujube and cotton, and taught them how to plant them.Each household planted 200 jujube plants in the first year, 400 plants in the next year, and 600 plants in the third year.Duty exemption for many types of cotton.The number of plants planted must be recorded and reported, and the whole family who violated the order will be dispatched into the army.According to the report of the 28th year of Hongwu, Chief Secretary of Huguang, 84.39 million fruit trees have been planted in the prefectures and counties.The national estimate is more than one billion plants.In the twenty-ninth year, the prefectures and counties in Huguang were suitable for planting mulberry, but few planted them.Ordered to take twenty stones of mulberry seeds from Huai'an Prefecture and Xuzhou, and sent people to Chen, Yuan, Jing, Quan, Dao, Yong, Baoqing, Hengzhou, etc., and each gave one stone to make people plant them and develop this Silk production and silk weaving industry in the region.In order to ensure the implementation of the order, the edict pointed out that farming and mulberry are the foundation of food and clothing, and local officials across the country must report the results of farming and mulberry in the examinations, and stipulated that no matter how many mulberry and jujube trees are planted after 26 years, they will be exempted from taxation. .The planting of economic crops is considered one of the contents of official performance appraisal, and offenders will be fined.The elderly are also set up to beat the drums to encourage farmers, and each village has one side of the drum. Whenever the drums are played at the fifth watch of the farming season, and everyone hears the drums and goes to the field, it is time for the elderly to turn on the gate (name).If there are those who are lazy and do not work in the fields, the old man Xu will be responsible. They must be strictly supervised, and they must see their work (everyone has to work), and do not allow idlers to wander around.If the old man refuses to persuade the supervisor, the peasants will be poor and embarrassed, and they will go to the government for breaking the law, and the old man in the village will be guilty.Usually, the old man holds a wooden duo six times a month, parades and preaches the principles of persuading farming.Zhu Yuanzhang also issued a pamphlet saying:

Today in Taiping, the people have nothing to send except food.Everyone should pay attention to physiology and have enough food and clothing. Plant mulberry, hemp, jujube, persimmon, and cotton in the same way. Raise silkworms every year, and the silk floss you get can be used for clothing.Li Lao tried to supervise, and offenders were punished. Compared with the feudal emperors in history, Zhu Yuanzhang's concern about the problem of farmers' food and clothing is more prominent.In order to encourage agricultural production, in the first year of Hongwu, an order was issued that no tax should be levied on field utensils.Four years and two times in twenty-five years, officials were sent to Guangdong, Huguang, and Jiangxi to buy cattle for the people in the Central Plains.In the twenty-eighth year, the small people in the village or twenty or forty or fifty families were ordered to form a commune. Whenever there was an illness in an emergency, the commune would help them cultivate, so that the common land would not be barren, and the people would not be hungry.The Ministry of Households widely announced this intention.Various localities reported projects such as repairing city walls, building barracks, dredging rivers, and building royal palaces.Promote local officials who are effective in increasing agricultural production: For example, Fan Chang, the prefect of Taiping, actively encouraged farmers to cultivate, and lent thousands of shi to the people for seeds.Then the school was established, and the teachers were extended to Confucianism, and the people liked it very much.Called as a servant.Tao An knew Raozhou, the fields were opened up, and the people lived well. When he left office, the people compared his situation when he first came, and praised him: Thousands of miles of hazelnuts, the beginning of the Hou's arrival, the ten thousand surnames were cultivated, and the day of the Hou's departure.The people of Nanfeng also sang the classic history Feng Jian: the mountains and cities are clear, the mountains and birds are singing, merchants are traveling, farmers are plowing, the old pots are full of wine, and there is no sound of shouting.The rural economy, which had been devastated and production sluggish for a long time, was gradually restored.

The four prefectures of Su, Song, Jia, and Hu in the southeastern region are granaries rich in grain, but the rent and tax are very heavy, and the self-cultivating farmers cannot afford it.In May of the seventh year of Hongwu, an order was issued to reduce rent, such as cutting half of the tax rate per mu for seven buckets and five rises, and to use Su Minli's power.In March of the thirteenth year, it was reduced again. In the old Emuke, those with seven dou and five liters to four dou and four liters were reduced by two tenths, and those who were four dou and three liters to three dou and six liters were all exempted from three dou and five liters, and the following remained the same.Where there are floods and droughts in various places and poor harvests, they will be exempted from rent and tax.There is no famine in a good year, and the places where the land is barren and the people are poor are especially free.In addition to being exempted from paying the second tax, those who suffered the most serious disasters were also given rice loans by the government, or rice relief, cloth and banknotes.Reserve warehouses are set up in various places, managed by local elders, to store food for disaster relief.Set up a Huimin Pharmacy Bureau to provide medicine to the poor and sick of the military and civilians.A charity house was set up, and the poor who could not live were admitted to the hospital for support.Three buckets of rice are given a month, thirty catties of salary, one bolt of winter and summer cloth, and two-thirds of it for a small mouthful.If the magistrate fails to report the damage to the prefecture or county, the elders are allowed to appeal, and the magistrate shall be sentenced to death.In the twenty-sixth year, the Ministry of Households was ordered to authorize the local officials to distribute rice and grain in stock for relief in famine years, and report it afterwards, making it a permanent system.For more than 30 years, the folks have been rewarded with millions of cloth and banknotes, more than a million stones of rice, and a large number of tax exemptions.However, these measures have their limitations, because the political power belongs to the landlord class, and the rent is exempted and reduced. The landlords benefit the most, and the poor and hired peasants have no share.Public welfare institutions such as the reserve warehouse, the Huimin Pharmacy Bureau, and the Nursing Home are also in the hands of the landlords. They use the public to benefit themselves, embezzle and exploit, and they are for the poor in name, but they are of little use in reality.

The joint rule of the Mongolian and Han landlord classes in the Yuan Dynasty brought about a backward slavery system. The number of slaves was large, and a large amount of labor was in private hands, which was very unfavorable to agricultural production.During the long-term war at the end of Yuan Dynasty, many young men were forced to be slaves.After the Red Army uprising, the attack was aimed at the Mongolian and Han landlords. This group of landlords was wiped out, and a large number of slaves they used were also liberated; some slaves participated in the revolutionary struggle, thus changing the class composition. A few verses illustrate the situation: At the beginning of Haidai's disturbance, the Jingman collapsed, the princes were willing to be humiliated for a long time, and all the servants were promoted together. The princes have been humiliated for a long time, and the servants have been promoted together, which is the result of the victory of the class struggle.In the face of this new situation of social change, Zhu Yuanzhang's position is contradictory. In order to master more labor force and facilitate the development of agricultural production, he ordered the liberation of slaves. In May of the fifth year of Hongwu, he issued an edict: In the past, the army was in chaos and the people were dispersed. Therefore, those who were slaves were released immediately and returned to the people.This order refers to the whole country, so many people have obtained civil rights.This matter is of progressive significance in the development of the whole history.Afterwards, he also ordered the imperial court to redeem the men and women who were sold due to the famine. For example, in August of the 19th year of Hongwu, the Henan Chief Political Officer reported that 274 men and women who were sold by the people in Kaifeng and other prefectures were redeemed. There are more than 1,960 ingots in total.Is an example.At the same time, he also made a decree that the common people were not allowed to keep slaves. The "Law of the Ming Dynasty" stipulated that those who kept slaves in the common people's homes would be good if they had a staff of one hundred.In Guangdong, Guangxi and other places in Fujian, there are rich families who drive people to castrate, and they use castration to pay for their crimes, and they don't have officials as slaves.The common people were not allowed to keep slaves, and of course the number of slaves was greatly reduced.However, he was a representative of the interests of the landlord class, and the slaveholding rights of nobles, bureaucrats, and squires were recognized and protected by law.He liberated a large number of slaves and prohibited the common people from keeping slaves in order to obtain more labor force for agricultural production. At the same time, he affirmed the legal status of the landlord class to keep slaves in order to protect the interests of his own class.The policy on monks and Taoists also started from agricultural production. Although he himself was a monk and became an emperor, he used laws to limit the development of the number of monks and Taoists.In December of the sixth year of Hongwu, he thought that there was no reason why Buddhism and Taoism were practiced, and there were more and more monks and Taoists, and money wasted on the people.It is ordered that all the prefectures, prefectures, and counties of the country should stop keeping grand temples and monasteries, and both monks and Taoists should be punished.Those who do not have precepts and practice classics are not allowed to ask for an ultimatum.It is also forbidden for women under the age of forty to become nuns.In seventeen years, the number of monks and Taoists in the whole country was 29,540. He thought that there were too many monks, and a large part of them were to avoid the conscripts. He stipulated that the degree certificate should be issued once every three years, and the examination should be strictly enforced.In August of the 20th year, stricter regulations were made: those who are over 20 years old are not allowed to become monks.Those who are under twenty years old come to ask for a degree, and they are all ordered to try their jobs in various temples in Beijing for three years. Those who test their integrity and integrity will first become monks.In the first month of the twenty-seventh year, the Ministry of Rites was also ordered to announce to the whole country: those monks and Taoists who have wives and concubines should be expelled by everyone, and those who tolerate hermits will be punished.May those who return to the vulgar listen.It is also not allowed to accept people's children as monks, and offenders and children's parents will all be punished.Those who are over twenty years old and wish to become a monk also need a notice from their parents. If they hear about it, they will make a promise. After three years, they will go to Beijing for an exam.In October of the twenty-eighth year, because there were a large number of monks and Taoists in the country, and none of them practiced the religion, they were ordered to go to Beijing for examinations, and those who did not understand the classics would be expelled.Exemption for those over 60 years old.The regulations were tightened step by step, the number of monks and Taoists was greatly reduced compared with the Yuan Dynasty, the expenses of the court and the people for monks and Taoism were also greatly reduced, and the labor force for agricultural production increased correspondingly.Moreover, monks and Taoists are not allowed to have wives and concubines from now on, which is significantly different from the secular people. After decades of relatively stable life, recuperating, actively encouraging production, and liberating the labor force, social productivity has not only recovered, but also greatly developed.The first manifestation is the increase in the number of cultivated fields. Take the year-by-year increase in the number of cultivated fields from the first year of Hongwu to the thirteenth year as an example: In the first year of Hongwu, more than 770 hectares Eight hundred and ninety-eight hectares in two years Two thousand one hundred and thirty-five hectares in three years (numbers in Shandong, Henan, and Jiangxi) Four years one hundred six thousand six hundred and sixty-two ares Three hundred and fifty-three thousand nine hundred and eighty hectares in six years Seven years, nine hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and twenty-four ares Sixty-two thousand three hundred and eight hectares in eight years Twenty-seven thousand five hundred and sixty-four ares in nine years ten years one thousand five hundred and thirteen ares Twelve years two hundred and seventy-three thousand one hundred and four hectares Thirteen years fifty-three thousand nine hundred and thirty-one hectares The number of cultivated fields increased in thirteen years was 1,803,171 hectares.By the 14th year of Hongwu, the total number of government and private land in the country was 3,667,715 hectares.In the past thirteen years, the number of reclaimed areas has accounted for one-half of the total number of government and private land in the country in the past fourteen years.It can be seen from this that in the first year of Hongwu, the cultivated land area in the whole country was only more than 1.8 million hectares (excluding the undecided areas in the northeast and northwest, and the territories of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places in Xia), and the number of abandoned fields was extremely huge.Ten years later, in the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu's reign, the number of cultivated fields across the country was 3,874,746 hectares.After years of reclamation and, more importantly, large-scale field surveys, a large number of fields hidden by powerful landlords have been cleared out. Only two years later, the number of cultivated fields nationwide in the 26th year of Hongwu surged to eight. One million five hundred and seven thousand six hundred and twenty-three hectares.Compared with the figure in the 14th year, it has increased by 4.84 million hectares, and compared with the first year of Hongwu, it has increased by 6.7 million hectares, which is a nearly four-fold increase.Calculated according to the national average population, each person has about 16 to 7 mu of arable land. The second manifestation is the increase in tax and grain income in various places. In the eighteen years of Hongwu, the national income of wheat, rice, beans, and grains was 2889,617 shi.In twenty-three years, it is 31,607,600 shi.In twenty-four years, it is three thousand two hundred and seventy-eight thousand nine hundred and eighty-three stones.Twenty-six years is three thousand two hundred and seventy-eight nine thousand eight hundred stone.In the 26th year, the income increased by 1/3 compared with the 18th year.Compared with the national annual grain income of more than 12,114,700 shi in the Yuan Dynasty, it has almost tripled.Historians recorded the development of production during this period and said: It was the time when the universe was rich and rich, and the envy was given to the surplus. The rice and millet were transported to the capital for millions of shi, and the warehouses in the prefectures and counties were so abundant that they were so red and rotten that they could not eat them.Apologies for the year, the company often sends millet relief first, and then hears about it.This narrative is not exaggerated, and there are examples to prove it. For example, in July of the 20th year of Hongwu, Shang Hao, the governor of the former army guarding Daning, reported: "The four cities built in Daning, including grain storage, were 310,000 shi in Daning." , 580,000 stones at Songting Pass and 250,000 stones at Huizhou, enough for several years.Another example is the report of Yu Xin, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs in September of the 28th year of Hongwu: The two warehouses of Guangchu and Guangfeng in Jinan Prefecture, Shandong Province have 757,000 stones. Many, red and rotted for a long time, its autumn grain this year should be folded into cotton cloth for gift.It can be seen that the accumulation is very abundant, which is based on facts. The third manifestation is the increase in the population. According to statistics in the 14th year of Hongwu, there were 1,654,362 households and 59,873,350 people in the country.The figure for the twenty-sixth year is 16,528,600 households and 6,545,812 mouths.Compared with the heyday of the Yuan Dynasty, the household registration in the Yuan Shizu era: 1,633,281 households, 53,654,337 households, an increase of 300 households 400,000, an increase of 7 million. The fourth manifestation is the upgrading of prefectures and counties. The Ming Dynasty system determined the level of prefectures and counties based on the amount of tax and grain income: counties were divided into upper, middle and lower grades, and the standard was 100,000 shi, 60,000 shi, and 30,000 shi.The government is also divided into three classes, the standard is that the land tax is above 200,000 shi, below, and below 100,000 shi.Since the eighth year of Hongwu, due to the recovery and development of the local agricultural economy, the increase in land reclamation and household registration, and the increase in land tax income, some prefectures and counties have been continuously upgraded. Eighty thousand stone, promoted to Shangfu in the first month of the eighth year.The tax and grain of Huaiqing Prefecture in Henan increased to 150,000 shi, and the household registration and land tax of Pingliang Prefecture in Shaanxi increased, and it was promoted to Zhongfu in March.In December, Taiyuan, Fengyang, Henan, and Xi'an increased their annual grain harvest and were promoted to Shangfu; Yangzhou, Gongchang, and Qingyang were promoted to Zhongfu; Yin County in Mingzhou was promoted to Shangxian, etc.Yangzhou is the most dilapidated. After only eight years, it has been restored to the central government with an annual land tax of 200,000 shi. From the restoration of this famous city, we can infer the recovery and development of social productivity across the country. Fifth, due to the increase in food production, especially the widespread planting of cash crops such as mulberry, hemp, cotton and fruit trees, the income of farmers has increased compared with the previous era, and their lives are better than those in the era of the joint rule of the Mongolian and Han landlords. Not to mention the era, of course, the purchasing power of society has also increased accordingly.The recovery and development of agricultural production, on the one hand, provided raw materials for the textile industry, and on the other hand, the increased purchasing power of farmers stimulated the prosperity of the commercial market. Many silk and cotton textile industries and wholesale silk and satin cotton companies appeared. city ​​of.