Sun Chengzong knew about Li Yiqi's family. In order to let Li Yiqi go to school, the Li family spent a lot of effort.
Li Yiqi's father also died when he was very young because of poverty.
Now hearing Li Yiqi's words, Sun Chengzong knew that Li Yiqi's father also died because of poverty.
"After paying various taxes, there is only 40% of the grain we harvest every year."
Li Yiqi sighed and said, "Collecting firewood, hunting in the mountains, collecting herbs, and eating wild vegetables for half a year."
Sun Chengzong patted Li Yiqi's shoulder and comforted him, "What we are doing now is so that no one will be like us in the future."
"Sorry to make you laugh!" Li Yiqi nodded and then said helplessly, "I hope we can do it well!
This piece of land was cultivated by us. The Libationer said that when the crops are harvested, we will take them home. "
The two looked at each other and smiled.
"We will leave the school tomorrow and go to Daxing County. Otherwise, we will have to show our ambition."
Sun Chengzong said with a smile.
With the graduation and appointment of civil servants, it meant that Zhu Yijun's reform of the government had officially begun.
This was a small step for the Daming government, but it would become a big step sooner or later, a very big step.
The Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City.
Zhu Yijun got up very early today because he had to attend the morning court. Although there were many things in the court these days, the court was still peaceful and nothing serious happened.
Zhu Yijun was also listless, but he had to go.
Walking into the hall, the ministers knelt down to pay their respects, and then it was time for the performance.
But the performance was not a big deal, so Zhu Yijun could deal with it directly according to the old rules.
"Your Majesty, I have a memorial!"
Originally, he thought that the morning court would be over, but he didn't expect that the assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, Wang Xijue, would suddenly stand out.
Not only Zhu Yijun, but also the ministers present, didn't expect that he would suddenly appear.
No matter what, it must be a big deal for the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites to stand out.
"What do you want?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Xijue and asked with a smile.
"Your Majesty, this subject requests to lift the ban!" Wang Xijue's voice wasn't loud, but the words he said made everyone's body tremble.
Many people turned to look at Wang Xijue. Was this guy crazy?
Zhu Yijun didn't expect Wang Xijue to throw such a big bomb. Lifting the ban was not a small matter!
The so-called vassal ban referred to the ban imposed by the imperial court on the vassal kings. Since Emperor Zhu Di forcibly removed the vassal kings and basically removed the vassal kings' excessive political and military power, in order to completely eliminate the harm, after Emperor Zhu Di, several generations of emperors Daming repeatedly strengthened the surveillance, constraints and restrictions on the vassal kings, forming the so-called "vassal ban".
Zhu Yijun had also learned about the ban on vassal states. After all, the Daming Imperial Clan had reached the point where they had to be dealt with. They had become a burden to the country.
If they weren't dealt with, then there would really be a problem.
The ban on vassal kings and imperial clan restricted them from many aspects, including that the vassal kings were not allowed to intervene in military affairs and political affairs. All imperial clan members were not allowed to become officials and were not allowed to engage in industry and commerce.
The two vassal kings were not allowed to meet without permission, and the imperial clan was prohibited from leaving the city.
The vassal kings were not allowed to return to the capital and enter the imperial court without special permission. They were not allowed to associate with the feudal officials, and even those who were married to the vassal kings were not allowed to be elected as officials in the capital.
The vassal kings were not allowed to appoint their own officials, and they were not allowed to refuse the officials sent by the imperial court.
It was even stipulated that the children of the imperial clan must apply to the imperial court for a name, which was nominally given by the emperor.
When they were older, they must apply to the imperial court for a marriage and were not allowed to marry without permission.
There was also a prison called "High Wall" set up in Fengyang, which was dedicated to imprisoning vassal kings who were considered to have violated the ban. There were often hundreds of people in prison.
"Your Majesty, I have checked the fish scale book of the Ministry of Revenue. The total land of the Daming country is 12 million hectares, of which the princes occupy 2.2 million hectares, accounting for 20% of the total."
20% sounded like a lot, but the number of people in the Daming also depended on the number of people in the imperial clan.
Zhu Yijun had read the information in this area. During the time of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, there were 58 people with titles of nobility. During the reign of Yongle, there was a small increase of 127 people.
The growth of the imperial clan was really on the fast track in the 8th year of Jiajing. At that time, there were a total of 8,203 members of the imperial clan, of which 275 were commoners and 4,300 people without titles.
By the 44th year of Jiajing, the number had reached 28,840. After that, the imperial clan's population began to soar. In just 20 years, the total population had reached 80,000 people. Now, the imperial clan's population had exceeded 100,000 people.
According to the current scale, if it continued to grow, it was estimated that it would double in a few years.
The imperial clan's population was indeed growing rapidly, but it was only 100,000 people, which was not much compared to the entire population of the Daming. However, they actually owned one-fifth of the Daming's farmland. This ratio was too terrifying.
However, when he heard that there were 12 million hectares of land, Zhu Yijun was still very pleased. This was Zhang Juzheng's achievement!
The Daming had conducted three large-scale national land surveys. At the beginning of the country's founding, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had conducted one. At that time, the land of the Daming was 8 million hectares. During the reign of Emperor Cheng, another one was conducted, and the land was 7 million hectares.
In just two generations, the land had been swallowed up by the Honours and powerful people.
This 1 million hectares did not mean that taxes were not paid, nor did it mean that money and grain were exempted. It just disappeared, which meant that it had been occupied and hidden.
During the reign of Emperor Zhengde, Emperor Zhengde conducted a national land survey. The entire land of the Daming was only 3.8 million hectares, which was less than half of what it was during the reign of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang.
After so many years of recuperation, the Daming's population grew rapidly, and a large amount of wasteland was reclaimed. In the end, the land was less than half of what it was when the country was founded.
Zhu Yijun could probably understand Emperor Zhengde's thoughts. He was probably infuriated. Emperor Zhengde had not waited for him to clean up the land problem before he was gone.
Zhu Yijun couldn't help but think of Zhang Juzheng. If Emperor Zhengde had Zhang Juzheng, the Daming would have changed a long time ago.
While Zhu Yijun was thinking about it, Wang Xijue didn't stop.
"Last year, the whole country supplied 4.6 million dans of rice to the capital, and 9.7 million dans of grain supplied to the imperial clan. The imperial clan's grain was more than twice that of the capital's." Wang Xijue paused slightly when he said this.
He didn't know if he didn't say it, but now that he said it, he was shocked. The imperial clan of the Daming had become a burden to the imperial court.
If in a few more years, the imperial clan's population would double, and the imperial court would not be able to support them anymore.
There were some who were simply worried, or felt that it was time for a change. However, there were some who saw something different. Was it the Emperor's younger brother, King Lu, Zhu Yi?
Everyone in the imperial court knew that the Empress Dowager was choosing a concubine for King Lu, and was preparing for his wedding.
Based on how much the Empress Dowager doted on King Lu, the scale of the wedding was needless to say. The key was the bestowal of land.
Every vassal king would be given land. Based on how much the Empress Dowager doted on King Lu, the rewards would definitely not be small.
To propose to open up the borders at this point in time, it was a delicate timing. Many people were already thinking about what to do.
Zhu Yijun sat on his throne, and didn't speak for a long time. How could he not have thought of this?
After some time, Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Xijue and asked, "What do you think should be done?"
"This official requests to restrict the conferment of nobility, open up the land to the four citizens, and relax the restrictions on entry and exit." Wang Xijue seemed to have prepared for this long ago, as he spoke out loud.
Although it sounded simple, every sentence he spoke was a policy. Restricting the conferment of nobility, in other words, was a restriction on the number of nobles in the imperial clan.
If the son of the first wife could not inherit the title, and the second son could continue to be given the title, the Daming's imperial clan would only get bigger and bigger.
Opening up the land to the four citizens, in other words, allowed the Daming's imperial clan to join the army and become officials.
This was just a way of saying it. In actual fact, it was removing the restriction on the imperial clan from joining the army. After all, most of the imperial clan members of the Daming's imperial clan had not fallen to the point of becoming officials or farmers yet.
The last one was to relax the restrictions on entry and exit. In other words, it meant that the imperial clan members were not allowed to leave the city, and the vassal kings were not allowed to return to the capital.
This could be said to serve the purpose of the previous two policies. Without this, the previous two policies would be meaningless.
When Wang Xijue spoke, the entire hall was so silent that even a pin drop could be heard. Nobody spoke.
No one didn't know how the ban came about. To put it bluntly, it was set by the emperor.
Daming had Jing Nan. The world of Ancestor Cheng came from Jing Nan. To put it bluntly, it was a rebellion.
This was why the emperor was so wary of the vassal kings and the imperial clan.
If I can Jing Nan's throne, then others can as well!
To put it bluntly, the ban was to strangle this kind of thing from happening again. Although I rebelled and won the world, I don't want to be the one being rebelled.
Now that he proposed to open the ban, although the reason was very good, this matter depended on the emperor.
Many people already felt that Wang Xijue was too bold. If the emperor did not agree, Wang Xijue's end would not be very good.
Zhu Yijun sighed. In fact, he also knew that this matter had to be resolved.
It was easy to say, but difficult to do. It was not something that could be done overnight, and it was definitely not something that could be done with an imperial edict from the emperor.
However, since someone had proposed it, he would add fuel to the fire.
"Open the ban!"
Zhu Yijun sighed, and the ministers below trembled. This matter was too sensitive. Most of the ministers didn't want to get involved. A little carelessness could cost their lives.
The emperor they served was not someone who didn't dare to kill.
"This matter is of great importance. Let's submit it to the Ministry of Cabinet Discussion!" Zhu Yijun thought for a moment and said.
Submit it to the Ministry of Cabinet Discussion. To put it bluntly, it was to see what the ministers said and ask for their opinions.
After this matter, the ministers didn't want to participate in anything else. Compared with Wang Xijue's memorial, other memorials were nothing.
After announcing the end of the court, Zhu Yijun went straight back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.