Ma Ziqiang stood up and said,
“Grand Scholar Zhu, I have no objections to the laws regarding hired labor. My only concern is the abolition of slavery and household retainers, to be governed by law. Why is this so?
Everyone, our Great Ming’s slaves and retainers are not an innovation of our dynasty, but rather have existed throughout history. The circumstances are incredibly complex… To be frank, I am from Guanzhong. My family keeps five hundred slaves, more than many large households in Jiangnan. In my youth, I never heard of slaves and retainers being dissatisfied…
Furthermore, slaves and retainers are not brought by force; more often they seek refuge. When disaster strikes, people are left bankrupt and displaced, and it is good for noble households to take them in. Now that Scholar Zhu finds it inconvenient, changing the system is a good law. However, I believe it should not be a blanket approach.
I have a transitional policy that Scholar Zhu might consider. Can these slaves and retainers perhaps be treated as hired labor for now? Otherwise, if these people lose their support, they may revert to becoming vagrants…”
Bang!
Clap clap!
Many were already applauding in agreement.
Xu Xuemo continued, “Brother Tiqian is truly benevolent… I strongly agree with this policy. Grand Scholar Zhu, with so many slaves and retainers, if they lose their support and become vagrants, won’t it, won’t it ruin the grand reform strategy? Please reconsider, Grand Scholar Zhu…”
Mm-hmm,
People were whispering to each other, and the majority seemed to agree.
Zhu Mo sneered, thinking—
You always want to leave a loophole. Ma Ziqiang’s statement is merely to get past this hurdle by spending a little money, and everything will go back to the way it was.
You must know,
Zhu Mo’s abolition of the slave contract law was not primarily about economics, but because household retainers had truly become a cancer in the Great Ming. These people did not know that if this law failed, in a few more decades, the Great Ming would become a retainer dynasty! The retainer armies of people like Li Chengliang and Wu Xiang were the elite forces of the empire. Closer to home, Li Chong and Li Lai in Datong, their retainer forces were sufficient to take control of the situation.
If this cancer is not removed, how can reforms be implemented?
At this moment,
Seeing that the Qingliu were bewildered by this, he stated directly,
“Everyone, the separation of slaves and retainers from their masters must be unconditional! I will first speak of Jiangnan. According to my knowledge, there are over nine hundred thousand slaves and retainers in the four provinces of Jiangnan. Salt fields, tea mountains, and workshops all require labor. I have roughly calculated that at least two million more are needed…
Just now, Ziwei mentioned that these large workshops are short of labor, which is correct. Yesterday, Taiyue, Rumou, and I visited several and indeed they had collapsed; no one was willing to go. But don’t you think? These slaves and retainers can just go to work? But I must state beforehand, any large workshop that uses our slaves and retainers must sign employment contracts, otherwise they will be punished!”
Hiss!
Hiss!
Everyone was silent.
The atmosphere in the hall congealed once more.
Zhu Mo was very insistent on this point because personal freedom was the most basic of rights. As the saying goes, a living person will not be stifled by urine, and people move to live while trees die in place. He did not believe that people, when allowed to move freely, would be without hope!
As for Zhang Juzheng,
Seeing that his people had nothing more to say, he could not help but sigh: This Zhu Zixuan, with a few words, has convinced them. Those Li Zhi and Lu Kun are truly talented. I, considering myself a judge of talent, am not as good as him…
He himself was not most concerned with the first three points, but with the last point, the abolition of land投献.
Before the reforms, he, Zhang Juzheng, had long considered re-measuring all the land in the empire, releasing投献 land for taxation, and then merging various corvees and miscellaneous services, converting them into silver to solve the Great Ming’s financial difficulties, which was the “Single Whip Law.” At one time, he firmly believed this was the only way out of the Great Ming’s predicament.
Now, the financial revenue was already very substantial, reaching an all-time high in the Great Ming, exceeding that of the Yongle era. With such a situation, the Single Whip Law truly had no meaning.
He did not expect Zhu Mo’s reform scope to be much larger than his own. These four points alone were fundamental measures, capable of assisting industrialization, balancing the interests of all parties, and establishing long-term laws. Frankly speaking, among all reformers in history, only Guan Zhong possessed such great wisdom.
He was greatly impressed by this. However, at present, the issue of投献 households was extremely complex, and a slight misstep could trigger a chain reaction.
Because the core issue of投献 was not taxation,
But annexation!
On this point, Zhang Juzheng saw clearly. This led to a particularly important question—
If the gentry were to return the投献 land, would they be willing? It can be said that once this notice was issued, the gentry of the four provinces would immediately erupt! Not to mention that the Wokou were still causing disturbances, if Zhang Juzheng were to implement this, he would immediately become public enemy number one among all gentry!
What he worried about most was not this—
The gentry were the foundation of the Great Ming, and all administration relied on them. If they were completely offended, who would implement the reforms? Must they truly rely on the reform officials like Wei Yang? If so, it would truly become Qin’s governance, and he would have no place to be buried!
You must know,
He, Zhang Juzheng, never intended to abolish the system of sages. As stated before, suppressing the powerful families was acceptable, but not eradicating them. After all, the gentry were the elite among the people of the empire. If they were completely offended, it would embolden the common people, and thus the heavens and earth would be inverted.
But at this moment,
He did not want to fall out with Zhu Mo, so he said with a smile,
“Grand Scholar Zhu, this matter of投献 does not seem to be an urgent matter at the moment, and it involves too many complexities. Can we postpone it? I believe that for the gentry to accept投献 is also an honor for scholars. Abruptly suppressing it may cause other changes…”
Zhu Mo thought: My solution to the投献 household problem is to prevent another slave rebellion. Even if it is postponed, it must first be announced, otherwise, if the gentry hear that it is to be abolished, they will try every means to deny it, such as tearing up the投献 contracts, or even intensifying their pressure and claiming ownership. In this way, public support will be greatly lost…
But at the moment, he could not break with the Qingliu, so he smiled and said, “Brother Taiyue, postponement is acceptable, but it must be frozen!”
What?
Frozen?
Everyone had never heard this term.
Zhu Mo smiled and said,
“Frozen means maintaining the status quo; no one can move! During the freeze period,投献 households cannot reclaim their land, and gentry cannot buy it out. Let the status quo be maintained for now… When the time is ripe, I believe it should still be abolished. Why?
You may not understand… Although the land and households under投献 have fancy names, in reality, the投献 households are virtually tenant farmers, and even worse than tenant farmers… For example, that household in the Nanxun slave rebellion, how terribly they were treated by the Dongfen family! But if it were a tenant farmer, it would be unlikely to happen.
Why? Tenant farmers clearly understand that they only need to pay rent, but投献, neither tenant nor employee, is messy and unclear, which gives opportunities to villains. And the投献 households, in their desire to evade minor taxes, have lost their land and have nowhere to cry injustice, because they voluntarily sought refuge…”
Zhang Juzheng pondered for a moment and nodded,
“Zixuan, I think freezing is feasible… Let’s proceed with the first three points!”
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