The people of Liujia Village congratulated Eighth Liu for his meritorious deed. The imperial court rewarded him with 25 taels of silver, which was a lot of money.
"Eighth Liu, we came out to play. We are hungry and thirsty, so we came to your house to ask for a bowl of water!" Zhu Yijun said to Eighth Liu with a smile.
This time, Zhu Yijun came out to visit the people. This Eighth Liu was quite interesting, so Zhu Yijun planned to go to his house to have a look.
This was also related to Eighth Liu's identity, a retired soldier of the Daming Army.
The soldiers of the Jing Army were treasures, and many retired soldiers were arranged to join them.
Some entered the Tax Department, some entered the Imperial Censor's Office in various places, some entered the Civil Servant's Office, and some even joined the Inner Factory and the Dongchang Army.
There were not many people like Eighth Liu who returned to their original places, but after the military reform, there were many other military families who were released.
Zhu Yijun wanted to see Eighth Liu's life and understand his state. It was another way to understand the retired soldiers of the Daming Army.
He also wanted to see Eighth Liu's standard of living in Liujia Village and understand how the people were living.
"Of course!" Eighth Liu quickly said, "It's just that my house is simple, and I'm afraid that I will not treat you well."
Zhu Yijun waved his hand and said, "What are you talking about? Lead the way."
Liujia Village was not far from the scene of the incident. Zhu Yijun and his party walked forward under the guidance of Eighth Liu. Because the distance was close, they did not take a car.
Zhu Yijun also wanted to see the scenery of the countryside, although the land was bare now.
Zhu Yijun looked at the flat land on both sides of the road and imagined the prosperity after farming. He was in a good mood.
"Eighth Liu, who does this land belong to?" Zhu Yijun looked at Eighth Liu and asked with a smile, "Do you have land?"
In this era, land was the largest means of production. This was something that Zhu Yijun could not change, and he could not change.
The system was a feudal monarchical system that used land as the largest means of production. This was something that Zhu Yijun could not change, nor did he want to change.
The characteristic of the feudal system was that the common lord or the central dynasty would grant land to the members of the imperial family, the royal family, and the meritorious ministers. The basic form of the feudal system was the feudal hierarchy and the manor system.
One of the most important factors in maintaining this system was the private ownership of land.
If one did not change the nature of the land and simply restricted the annexation of land, it was actually unreasonable and went against the law of development.
If they changed the land ownership system, then the foundation of the feudal system would be broken.
Zhu Yijun was the emperor, the biggest beneficiary of the feudal monarchy, so he should be the biggest supporter.
To change the attribute of the land and break the foundation of his rule, wasn't that asking for his life?
Zhu Yijun's brain was still functioning.
This was also why Zhu Yijun didn't touch the land attribute. He didn't even restrict the acquisition of land.
Zhu Yijun severely cracked down on the concealment of land, non-payment of land, and extortion of land. He established a perfect system of grain prices and grain relief, but he didn't change the status of the landlord class.
The foundation of his rule was the landlord class. If he dug up their roots, it was equivalent to cutting off his own roots. The emperor was the biggest landlord in the world!
No matter if it was the nobles or the common people, no one would object to this. Everyone felt that this was right.
All the land under the sky belonged to the emperor, and all the people who led the land belonged to the emperor. This couldn't be changed.
The world belonged to the family, and the world belonged to your family. What do you want to do?
Zhu Yijun asked Eighth Liu this question because he wanted to ask whether the annexation of land in Liujia Village was serious.
Since the crackdown on donations, the promotion of new crops, and the promotion of trade, the price of land had actually been falling.
If it wasn't for the Daming of the people who loved their homeland, the price of land would have fallen a long time ago.
When Eighth Liu heard Zhu Yijun's question, he quickly said, "This land belongs to Uncle Liu's family, who is also the patriarch. There is a Jinshi in his family. It's amazing!"
"So much land!" Zhu Yijun looked at Eighth Liu and asked, "Was there any extortion or extortion?"
Eighth Liu quickly shook his head. "A few years ago, these lands were all donated. The land in Liujia Village was also donated to Old Master Liu's family.
But after the imperial court didn't allow it, Old Master Liu bought all the land. "
"The officials came to preside over the land. Those who were unwilling to sell to Old Master Liu were returned to everyone."
"Everyone is from the same clan. Why would Old Master Liu extortion or extortion here?"
Eighth Liu said with a smile, "Instead, Old Master Liu would help some people who had high stirrups but short stirrups."
Zhu Yijun nodded. In fact, after understanding the landlords of this era in detail, Zhu Yijun found that they were still different from what he knew.
The big landlords were mainly from the clan. The entire clan depended on them to make a living. They didn't pay land taxes and only paid rent.
They reduced rent in good years and provided relief in disaster years.
It was also necessary to repair bridges and roads. When the bridge collapsed and the road was cut off, the officials would first ask the nearby rich families.
This was a chance for the rich families to do good deeds. At the same time, it also saved the officials a lot of money.
Every rich family in the village would not exploit their own clan too much. Instead, they would take care of them.
The clan laws were strict, and the management was strict. The hierarchy was also very strict.
However, the farming economy of this era was too weak. Once a disaster occurred, the rich families would appear very powerless.
In addition, everyone was used to not paying taxes. The imperial court was also very powerless. Naturally, there was unrest.
Many times, the clan laws were more useful than the national laws. Many times, the clan elders would solve the problem.
The emperor would raise a group of Honours and ministers. The clans would raise their confidants. Among them, those who were from the same clan were the most trusted confidants.
In this era, no one could bear the crime of forgetting one's ancestors and betraying one's clan.
When Zhu Yijun first came here, he basically thought that the landlords would exploit the tenants. The tenants would suffer unspeakably. They didn't have enough to eat or warm their clothes. They had to farm in tattered clothes. The daughters of the tenants would be the landlords' playthings.
After 20 years in Daming, Zhu Yijun finally realized how wrong his thinking was.
Did such a situation exist?
Yes, but it didn't appear in the provinces of Daming. It appeared among the military families. The military families were the servants of the generals. That was why they lived such a life.
Under this kind of system, Zhu Yijun was powerless to do anything. If he wanted to implement imperial power in the countryside, it would really take painstaking effort.
Scholars and country gentlemen were particular about benefiting their hometown and bringing good fortune to their descendants. Even Yan Song took care of his hometown a lot.
Throughout the Daming dynasty, no matter what the character of the officials in the imperial court was, there was not a single official who didn't take care of their hometown.
Taking advantage of the loopholes in the imperial court, they didn't have a country in their heart, but they definitely had a home. It was really not just a saying.
The Liujia Village in front of Zhu Yijun was the most typical situation under the current system of Daming.
The entire village belonged to the same clan. There were rich families in the village who passed the imperial examination. The entire village depended on the rich families to survive.