Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 413 Starlight Night Talk
When Father Bowen finished writing the long and stinky letter and was about to go out for a carnival, the carnival turned into a disaster, and everyone finally realized that Mr. Fang, Mr. Yang and the prince were blown away by the wind Suddenly, the whole city was in chaos, men, women and children went out to look for people together, and soon, the army also started to move, the sound of hurried hooves and anxious calls stirred up a pot of porridge over Nanyang, and accidentally thought it was a mutiny.Seeing this dumbfounding scene, Father Bowen retreated hesitantly, wondering if he should grab the envelope and change the letter, because he boasted that Yang Menglong was too wise and powerful in the letter, and Yang Menglong couldn't see it no matter how he looked at it. Not like this kind of person...

Yang Menglong is indeed not a wise and powerful person. He is quite shrewd in handling military and government affairs and has not made any mistakes. However, in his private life, he is either too playful and only wants to play, or he is in a daze. I don't even know the basket.For example, this year, someone picked out a loophole in the contract and sued him to the government. The two sides fought a lawsuit. In the end, he lost and paid more than 100 taels of silver. This kind of loophole is actually quite obvious. No savvy person will have it.Therefore, when he is handling official duties, someone must help him check, otherwise there will be problems.

However, it is worth mentioning that after losing that lawsuit, more businessmen went to Nanyang to invest and even cooperated with him directly.His act of admitting to losing money proved to everyone that the contracts he signed also had a strong binding force on him, even if he was a general of the court, he could not break the contract at will.Before that, in the eyes of the government, the so-called contract was just paper in the toilet. It was a great gift for them to allow businessmen to do business and make money with peace of mind. It is the merchants who should repay them. When the money is tight and there is no money to spend, those merchants become fat pigs they raise in the pigsty. They will confiscate their homes on random charges and take a bite of the property that the merchants have worked so hard to earn. Swallow it without leaving a hair behind.That's why merchants should try their best to support their own power, speak for themselves in the court, and support themselves, otherwise it would be difficult for them to escape Shen Wansan's life.Yang Menglong's way of abiding by the contract is very tempting to them. After all, there are fewer people willing to abide by the rules in the business field these days than wild South China tigers in the 21st century!
Now, the guy who made the mistake was sitting on the top of a mountain thirty miles away from Nanyang City, together with Fang Yizhi and Zhu Yujian.The balloon that almost killed them has been disassembled, lit with alcohol, and a bonfire was lit. The flames rose more than one meter high, which was particularly conspicuous in the dark night.With this fire as an indicator, I believe the army will find them soon.Now Zhu Yujian and Fang Yizhi have calmed down——the thrilling process of the balloon falling just now has drained the last sliver of strength from their bodies, and they really don't have the strength to get angry. Let's just go out for an outing in the middle of the night.But then again, the moonlight tonight is really beautiful. Most of the moon shows a shy smile among the piles of stars. The moonlight is like water, illuminating the river that has been covered with a thin layer of ice.The greenhouse with steel frame and glass structure looks like a docile giant beast, lying on the field, there are faint lights, and the neighing sound of horses is constantly heard from the horse farm under the mountain. This small horse farm has more than 600 horses in captivity. , the scale is really not small.There are constant whistles from the town in the distance, and fire meteors rush into the sky, and then turn into bright fireworks, rendering the white clouds in the night sky colorful... It is estimated that the fireworks manufacturers will go crazy laughing these days.There is a long fire dragon swimming in the distance, and there are a few laughter from time to time. It is that some young people are carrying out a lantern parade in the field on this beautiful night according to the custom of their hometown. Added a bit of warmth to the night.

Zhu Yujian was fascinated by the sight, let out a sigh of relief, and said, "If only every city in the world could do this."

Fang Yizhi said: "No, if half of the cities can do this, they will be far away from the glory and prosperity of the Han and Tang Dynasties."

Yang Menglong, who was punished to light the fire to keep the two uncles warm, raised his head and showed a strange smile: "Shengshi? Are you rare for this thing?"

Zhu Yujian said: "But every person, who doesn't want to live in a prosperous age? But whoever is the monarch of a country doesn't want to be able to create a prosperous world?"

Yang Menglong said: "Actually, it's not difficult at all for you to want a prosperous world. You just need to fight a war, kill seven or eight people, and then distribute the land to those who survived, and then exempt tax for a few years. How long will the prosperous age come."

The two of them were frightened by him. They looked at each other, their temples twitching.Fang Yizhi shouted: "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't know how many people died in each prosperous age, and how much effort was put into creating it. Looking at the history of thousands of years, there are only a handful of times that can be called prosperous times..."

Yang Menglong said: "Every dynasty is prosperous for a long time after the founding of the country, and this thing is not rare at all!" Clapping his hands, he lay back on the ground, looking at the clear night sky, his eyes seemed to be Penetrating time, seeing the depths of history, "every prosperous age is built on the bones of previous dynasties. There is no great chaos without great chaos. It has been like this since ancient times. I know that the sages will tell You, it was a certain monarch who was so talented and generous, who created this prosperous world, in fact, these are all lies."

Fang Yizhi really wanted to throw him off the mountain: "Then tell me, how did the prosperous age come about?"

Yang Menglong blinked and said, "Before I answer you, please tell me how the previous dynasty collapsed?"

Zhu Yujian rushed to say: "Does this need to be said? Naturally, the foolish emperor was so dissolute and promiscuous that he built large-scale construction projects, which made the sky angry and the people resentful.

Yang Menglong interrupted: "I looked at the history and summed up the reasons. It's hard to tell whether it's true or not, but there is one thing in common, that is, the people do not live. Yes, the people do not live. The prelude to the end of the dynasty."

Fang Yizhi and Zhu Yujian were shocked!If the people's poor livelihood is the prelude to the demise of every dynasty, then the Ming Dynasty...

Yang Menglong ignored the reaction of these two, and continued: "Why do the people live in distress? Historians will point the finger at the emperor without exception, thinking that the emperor has lost virtue, which is why the people are in trouble. The specific method of losing morality, the prince just said Listed, licentiousness, large-scale construction, reuse of cruel officials, nepotism, emphasis on villains and far away from virtuous ministers... blah blah blah blah, there are too many to count."

Fang Yizhi asked in surprise: "Isn't it right?"

Yang Menglong smiled and said: "The pen is in their hands, and the devil will know whether it is true or not. Can history readers wake up the dead emperor from the coffin and interrogate them one by one? But there is one thing they didn't write. It’s the government’s exploitation, land annexation... yes, land annexation, this is the real reason why the people are struggling.” He sat up, drew a circle on the ground with a branch, and said, “This big pie represents land.” With a drawing of the branch, Divided in half, "In the beginning, there were only two households who divided the land. It can be seen that they couldn't manage it at all. It's no problem to divide it into three-year rotations. It's easier to pay taxes." Painting, the pancake became four portions, "But they are going to have children after all, and their children will eventually get married and start a business. Now that they have a family and start a business, they must have a piece of land. I will divide it according to the fact that they have two children per person." , this pancake was divided into four parts, a little smaller, but there is still plenty for them.” After painting several times, the pancake became more than ten pieces, “In another 20 years, the four families’ The children have grown up, and they have to divide the land. They divide the land left by their ancestors again... Look, the land is just enough now, everyone has a piece, there will be no waste, and the output of the land is paid. In the future, it is enough for them to live a life of food and clothing, so this era is called a prosperous age. Yes, a country that has come from troubled times, as long as there are no major disturbances, no matter how incompetent the monarch is, after three or four generations of hard work , can usher in a prosperous world.”

Fang Yizhi and Zhu Yujian flexed their fingers and counted, their gazes staring at the messily painted pancake were suddenly wrong: it took exactly three generations for the Ming Dynasty to reach the peak of national power from the founding of the country!Pushing forward, the Song Dynasty took exactly 60 or [-] years from the founding of the country to becoming the world's richest man, which happened to be three generations.

Yang Menglong continued to divide the circle, "The great disadvantage of the prosperous age is that the products are abundant, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and the people can rest assured to reproduce offspring, so the population is growing rapidly. But the population needs land to support it, and a country has limited land. A population that supports an infinitely growing population, everyone knows what will happen. Therefore, when the population exceeds the limit that the land can accommodate, the prosperous age will turn into a passing cloud, followed by a chaotic world. The ever-increasing population is fighting openly and covertly for less and less land, and it doesn’t matter if you think about it, if there are a few more large-scale natural disasters or wars at this time, it can be said that this country is doomed.” He kept paddling, He didn't stop until the circle could not be divided any more, looked up at the two, and found that their faces were already pale, "This is still the most ideal state, in fact, this state is impossible. The land is not It may be divided indefinitely until it is no longer possible to support so many people. The rich will purchase real estate arbitrarily, and those who lose their land will either become serfs or be displaced. As many as hundreds of thousands of acres, and these lands that could have supported 10 people are all used to support your family. The most terrible thing is that you don’t have to pay taxes, but the country cannot run without taxes. What should I do? I have to tax those farmers. Their land is getting less and less, but the tax is getting heavier and heavier. In the end, they also lost their land. Annexation, no matter what the situation is, the country will lose this tax forever. With the land annexation, the country's tax sources are dwindling day by day, and the finances are unable to make ends meet, but there are many things to do. If things go on like this, the country must It's over. With the collapse of the empire, there will always be bloody wars, and the wars will swallow thousands of lives. Everyone is crazy to kill, kill, kill, kill, until there is no one for thousands of miles, and keep killing When the population is reduced to the point where this land can bear and there is even a lot of wasteland, the war is over." Stretching out his hand to touch the center of the circle, the entire messy circle turned into a blank, indicating that those people were all dead, no People are coming to fight for the big pie.Then, with Zhu Yujian and Fang Yizhi's faces getting paler and paler, he picked up a branch and drew the circle in half, dividing it into two, "There are few people now, and we can share a big cake between two people. Eat a piece and throw a piece away."

Fang Yizhi's body trembled violently, and his voice was hoarse: "Then after three or four generations, the prosperous age will begin?"

Yang Menglong said, "Yes."

Zhu Yujian looked horrified, and his hands trembled slightly: "Then, due to the prosperity of the country and the people's safety, the abundance of supplies, the population increased rapidly, until the land could not accommodate it, and then, the troubled times came?"

Yang Menglong sighed: "Congratulations, you finally understand. The so-called prosperous age is just a period when the population and the bearing capacity of the land are in balance. The limit of ability, even a pig, can create a prosperous dynasty. Conversely, once the population exceeds the limit of the land's capacity, the limited land can no longer support so many people, and there is no choice but to have a man-made war. The mass extinction, forcibly reducing the population to a relatively low level, is equivalent to clearing the system and starting over. For thousands of years, this process has been repeated all over the world. The difference is that we can always bring about great order after chaos. And in some places, after the great chaos, there will be endless chaos, which lasts for thousands of years without stopping."

Fang Yizhi carefully recalled the history books he had read, or took a tree branch and listed the increase and decrease of household registration and taxation of each dynasty according to the different time periods of the founding, prosperity, and demise of the country, and then compared them carefully. The more frightened I became, my hands kept shaking and I couldn't write any more.In the end, even his voice was trembling: "What a curse!"

Yang Menglong chuckled: "How about it, are you still looking forward to the prosperous age? The prosperous age is as simple as that. Kill [-]% of the population and leave [-]% to thrive. After three or four generations, it will be another prosperous age!"

Zhu Yujian lost his composure and shouted: "No, this curse can be broken! You also said that whether the empire is in its heyday or the end of the world, the root of the problem lies in the land! If we can increase the yield of crops and use less land to feed More people; if we can make the rich pay taxes like the poor, or even let the rich bear more taxes; or..." He gritted his teeth, "If we can keep expanding the territory and let the land follow the If the population grows and grows to ensure that the tillers have their fields, and every household has surplus food and meat to eat, then this curse will be invalidated, and the damned end times will never come!"

For a moment, there was a trace of relief in Yang Menglong's eyes.

———— "The end of this volume"

PS: There is only one chapter today, and the fifth volume will be opened next week

(End of this chapter)