Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 233 What the hell is all this nonsense?

Yang Shaofeng really wanted to grab the hands of Zhu Chongba, that old tyrant, and his cheap brother-in-law Zhu Biao and say: "Your father and son are quite outstanding, does Empress Ma know that?"

Yang Shaofeng was originally curious as to why the Ming Dynasty suddenly had no shortage of officials, and why Zhu Biao was able to send three scholars and twenty-six students to Ningyang County.

But now it seems that Zhu Biao didn't send any scholars or students to Ningyang County; he sent my enemies!

Of all the scholars in the entire Ming Dynasty, how many didn't hate me, Yang?

Magistrate Yang gave a forced smile and said to Wang Qiong, "Please ask Brother Wang to convey my gratitude to His Highness the Crown Prince when you return. Tell him that I am deeply grateful for His Highness's kindness in sending scholars to Ningyang County and will never forget it."

It seems that just messing with Old Zhu isn't enough. We should find a way to give Little Zhu some fun too, so he won't keep thinking about the few promising students I've painstakingly cultivated, or trying to plant my enemies under my command.

Otherwise, write a letter to Jin'er and Yu'er, and ask them to put some effort into getting back at Zhu Biao through Chang Mou's daughter.

Wang Qiong sensed that something was off about Magistrate Yang's words, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. So he smiled and said, "Brother Yang, rest assured, I will certainly pass on your message."

Yang Shaofeng first smiled and nodded, then suddenly asked, "Brother Wang, His Highness the Crown Prince sent you to Ningyang County this time, I'm afraid it's not just because of these three good news, is there something else?"

Wang Qiong was slightly taken aback, then gave Yang Shaofeng a thumbs up and praised him, "Brother Yang is exceptionally quick-witted. I admire you greatly."

After speaking, Wang Qiong first sighed slightly, then said with a heavy expression, "Brother Yang, have you ever heard the saying, 'A task is worthless if it's not weighed, but can be overwhelming if it's weighed'?"

Yang Shaofeng nodded and said, "Of course I've heard of it."

Wang Qiong nodded in agreement, then asked inexplicably, "Brother Yang, do you know how many households and how many people there are in our Great Ming Dynasty?"

Yang Shaofeng was very curious and tentatively asked, "Ten million households, forty to fifty million people?"

However, to Yang Shaofeng's surprise, Wang Qiong chuckled and said, "In the seven provinces of Jiangnan alone, there are already nine million households and a population of fifty million."

Pointing north, Wang Qiong continued, "If we include the northern provinces, Brother Yang, how many households do you think there will be in the end, and how many people will there be?"

Yang Shaofeng suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Yes, the north was indeed severely ravaged during Hu Yuan's rule. It was sparsely populated, with fields lying fallow. The entire Shandong province probably only had about two million people.

However, many online novels about the early Ming Dynasty have mentioned a figure: in the early Hongwu period, there were roughly ten million households and a population of about fifty million. Moreover, this figure remained relatively stable until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

This data itself is very wrong.

Under normal circumstances, the early period of a feudal dynasty should be the lowest point in terms of population. After a few decades, the population of the feudal dynasty will experience explosive growth.

Or to put it another way: other messy issues like land annexation are basically a consequence of the explosive population growth.

Compared to the unified dynasties of the past, such as the Han, Tang, and Song, the population data of the Ming Dynasty was definitely abnormal.

Even compared to the most despicable Qing dynasty, the population data of the Ming dynasty was abnormal. It was almost as if someone was pointing at the population data of the Ming dynasty throughout history and shouting, "Look, this data is fake!"

Thinking of this, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but ask, "Hidden households? Runaway laborers?"

Wang Qiong nodded with a bitter expression and said, "Who would have thought that Brother Yang's household registration book, along with a policy that exempts those who are not in school from studying and a policy that increases taxes for those who own more land, would uncover hidden household data for nearly one million households and nearly five million people?"

At this point, Wang Qiong couldn't help but look at Yang Shaofeng and ask, "Brother Yang, since you can guess about the hidden households and the runaway soldiers, why don't you guess how they hid and how they escaped?"

Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "The land was set by Huan Ding. Hidden households couldn't just disappear without a trace, and runaway laborers couldn't vanish into thin air. Someone must have been blocking their way—so, these people have been registered as slaves?"

"Well, if that's the case, then some of the common people would voluntarily sell their land to the gentry, or the gentry would find ways to seize the common people's land by trickery and force. Then these common people would rent the land that originally belonged to them at a price lower than the tax. However, in this way, the taxes that should have been borne by these common people would no longer exist."

"Because the more land one owns, the higher the taxes, and because the gentry no longer enjoy the privilege of low taxes or exemptions from taxes since they are no longer in schools, they have to bear taxes like ordinary people. Therefore, land has become a burden for the gentry."

"The number of households and people that had been hidden before naturally came to light."

After listening to Magistrate Yang's analysis, Wang Qiong couldn't help but give him a thumbs up again and praised, "Brother Yang is right, that's exactly it."

Yang Shaofeng chuckled softly and said, "So now those gentry are no longer willing to take in these hidden households and runaway laborers. Instead, they are thinking of selling the land back to these hidden households. But those hidden households and runaway laborers are unwilling to return to civilian status. Instead, they are thinking of continuing to use this to evade taxes, right?"

Wang Qiong nodded. “That’s right. Currently, a large number of tenants are holding leases that have not yet expired and demanding that the gentry continue to rent land from them, while the gentry are demanding that the tenants pay to buy back the land. This has been going on for a long time, and even the imperial court and local officials are reluctant to intervene.”

Hearing this, Yang Shaofeng felt somewhat confused.

What the hell is all this nonsense?

Shouldn't it be the people who yearn to own their own land, even if it means working themselves to the bone to clear it?

How can anyone willingly sell their land and then rent it back?

Furthermore, shouldn't the practice of land donation have only gradually emerged in the late Yongle period when there were more scholars, and only flourished in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty? How come this practice already existed in the early Hongwu period?

A series of questions gave Magistrate Yang a headache.

After a long while, Yang Shaofeng finally let out a long sigh of relief and looked at Wang Qiong, asking, "What did the officials in the court say?"