Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

"Don't get angry, I'll slowly change, right?"

Seeing that Xu was angry about an irrelevant person, Zhu Di hurried to comfort her.

"Alas, the saying that has been passed down for thousands of years has been distorted beyond all recognition. The scholars and officials have been gilding themselves for so many years that they have become a golden body. I am afraid that we will never be able to tear it off completely even if we live our whole lives."

Xu was a little discouraged.

"Not really. I think our son is doing pretty well. Just do it little by little."

Zhu Di had no other ideas at this time. He had a deep understanding that everyone has their own strengths.

Xu and Zhu Gaochi were thinking in many different ways. He might have just started out, and he admitted in his heart that he was not good at handling state affairs.

His father and brother got along well with each other, but he ended up sending the black one away.

He had to do the opposite and publicly mess with his son for fifty years, being his solid and unreasonable backing.

"It would be great to be a vassal king."

Xu wanted to sigh again.

She had already seen through some things.

But Zhu Di was just a vassal king. Although she wanted to do something, she couldn't do anything. She could only comfort herself by saying that it was not her place to interfere in other people's affairs.

Now he is in power, and he has two successors, Zhang Xin and Zhu Gaochi, who dare to think and act.

If she didn't make a plan, she would feel sorry for all the books she had read over the years.

"Hey, hey, it's too late, Queen!"

Zhu Di smiled.

"Forget it. If you mess up, you will have to pay for it. Come on, let me talk to the emperor about this matter of good and bad status, and see if we can abolish the bad status."

After Xu put away the map, she carefully explained to Zhu Di the origin and harm of arbitrarily dividing people into different classes, namely scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, good people and bad people.

The saying "Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are the four classes of people in a country" comes from "Guan Zi".

Guanzi, also known as Guan Zhong, was the famous prime minister of Qi State. Before he entered the officialdom, he was a businessman.

Guan Zhong's theory of the four classes of people simply divides the people into soldiers, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants.

If we only look at this sentence, this division seems to be a division of classes.

But in fact, what Guan Zhong expressed was only a classification of occupations, without any distinction between high and low.

Because there is another sentence behind it - The four classes of people, namely scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, are the foundation of the country.

Guan Zhong's complete meaning is that there are probably four professions among the people: scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans. He called them the Four People. The Four People are all the cornerstones of the country and are indispensable.

As for this ranking, it is not a ranking based on identity status, but a ranking based on the importance of a country's governance objects.

"Shi" refers to soldiers. During the time of Guan Zhong, they held great power in the army and could seize imperial power at any time. Naturally, they were the first group that needed to be better managed.

Nong represents farmers. Only when farmers work hard to grow crops and produce food, the country will not be plagued by famine. If farmers are well managed, governing the country will be simple and easy, so it comes in second place.

Workers are the ones who improve everyone's quality of life. Skilled craftsmen mainly serve the upper class. Most of them have enough food and clothing, so we can just put them aside for now.

Merchants are the people who control the circulation of things within a country. Without merchants, the national economy may be stagnant and the country will not develop. Merchants will naturally appear as long as there is profit. They are like weeds and have strong survival ability, so they need less management than craftsmen.

Guan Zhong's system of four classes is fundamentally different from the later generations' distortion of his original intention to divide people into four classes: scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants.

Especially here with “scholars”.

As dynasties progressed, the selection of officials changed from a recommendation system to a national imperial examination.

The imperial examinations enabled ordinary people to serve as officials in the court, manage local affairs and even formulate national policies.

The status of scholars became increasingly higher, educated officials replaced soldiers, and "scholars" became literati and scholars, and they became the top of the class in one fell swoop.

The opposite of.

The merchants were corrupted by some profit-seeking people and became lowly.

Because of the existence of the lowest class of people among craftsmen, "worker" gradually became a so-called lowly occupation.

In this regard, what is a good class and what is a low class is deeply rooted in the common people's cognition.

During the Song Dynasty, due to the developed commerce, intermarriage between the nobles and the common people was not uncommon, and the boundary began to blur.

By the end of the Song Dynasty, the concept of good and bad classes had begun to gradually disappear.

Unfortunately, when the former Yuan Dynasty moved south and ruled the Central Plains for nearly a hundred years, it not only restored all the old dregs, but also carried them forward.

The whole country was divided into several classes of people.

Even the ancient system of slavery has revived.

The late emperor said something that might not be so pleasant to hear. He grew up under the rule of the former Yuan Dynasty. Even if he seized the world, his thoughts were still influenced by the systems of the former Yuan Dynasty. Even if he restored Han rule, he still divided the people of the country into different classes.

It is said that there were only two types of basic household registration in the Hongwu Dynasty: good household registration and bad household registration.

But if we break it down into details, there are four types of good registers: civilian register, military register, craftsman register, and cook register.

There are more lowly registers, seven in total - beggars, musicians, fishermen, clerks, destitutes, prostitutes, and slaves.

According to the late emperor's idea, as long as one was of good character, one could take part in the imperial examination and become an official.

But in actual operation, among the four types of people of good status, only those of civilian status are eligible to take part in the imperial examination.

Military registration, craftsman registration, or cook registration are all passed down from generation to generation. In every generation, a family must send a regular man to join the army or become a craftsman or cook.

The families of these three types of household registration have surplus population, also called surplus men. They can do other things only after the regular men inherit the family business and nothing unexpected happens.

Once something happens to Zheng Ding, Yu Ding will be the substitute heir, and he must be the substitute, otherwise it will be illegal.

Therefore, in order to be prepared for any eventuality, the remaining men in the families of soldiers, craftsmen, or cooks would usually stay at home to farm or assist the regular men in work, waiting for that eventuality.

Over time, it seemed that only people of common nationality could take part in the imperial examinations.

The scholars quickly exploited this loophole and changed the previous emperor's definition of household registration into the term "scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans" which had been passed down for thousands of years.

It even restored the previous system where the scholar-officials were the most valuable, followed by the peasants, and all others, no matter what class they were, were considered inferior and were imposed on the common people.

What can ordinary people know!

Ordinary people who have been struggling to make ends meet cannot care at all about how others define them.

【Small science: Little-known fact: In the early Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty law stipulated that merchants who did not engage in production and specialized in minor businesses could be arrested and charged. Professional merchants themselves were illegal, so there was no so-called "merchant registration" in the initial household registration of the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the Wanli period that the salt merchants were temporarily given the title of merchant registration. As for the businessmen who have always existed, most of them have fields and land at home, and they are classified as civilians. As for the saying that merchants in the Ming Dynasty were lowly, it was just a historical legacy and public recognition. There was no official seal of recognition. In addition, there was a stove registration - that is, salt households. 】