Although it is already spring, the colder it feels to the north, especially in the morning and evening, when the light wind blows, it can be cold to the core. Li Jie is wearing the clothes made by Zhu Yuning. Although the style is not very good-looking and not comfortable to wear, it is very warm and enough to withstand the cold wind in the morning and evening.

Li Jie sat in front of the car window and watched the farmland on both sides of the official road fall into deep thought. Now they have entered the boundary of Henan. Although Henan during the Ming Dynasty was somewhat different from Henan in later generations, it was generally the same.

When talking about Henan, Li Jie first thought of the Central Plains. In addition, when Li Jie remembered that when he was in middle school, the textbook clearly stated that Henan was the only province in the country with a population of over 100 million. Of course, it was later surpassed by Guangdong, but Henan's population was still ranked second.

You should know that when Li Jie was in middle school, it was not long before the reform and opening up, and the differences between provinces were not very obvious. Henan was not large in area and was only ranked in the middle and lower positions in each province. If you only look at the map, it would be hard to imagine that the small Henan could support 100 million people.

But the fact is the fact that Henan can support so many people is because Henan really has the capital to support so many people. Compared with other provinces, most of the territory in Henan is boundless plains. In addition, the climate is suitable and the fertile land is fertile, which has led to the high grain output here. It has been China's largest grain production since ancient times.

However, everything has advantages and disadvantages. For example, in later generations, Henan was positioned as an agricultural province, with a strict red line in the area of ​​arable land, which led to great restrictions on industry. Therefore, Henan's economic development in later generations was not very good. Although it was generally ranked fifth, the per capita average was very low.

In the ancient agricultural society, although Henan seemed to have a great advantage, this advantage also brought a curse, that is, whenever there is a war, the plains of Henan are at all at risk, and the army from all directions can enter Henan at any time, and Henan is a granary, so it is naturally regarded as fat by many people, attracting countless troops to fight here, and the people also frequently suffer from war.

For example, taking the current situation as an example, the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty led to a sharp decline in the population in Henan. After Lao Zhu unified the world, he once counted the population in various places. Among them, Henan's total population was only 1.89 million. Hebei in the north was not much better, and its population was almost the same as Henan.

In contrast, Shanxi next to it has a population of more than 4 million, which is more than Henan and Hebei combined. The main reason is that Shanxi is mountainous and it is difficult for the rebels to enter Shanxi. Moreover, even if they enter Shanxi, the people can hide on the mountain, so Shanxi, which has barren land, can retain so many people.

It was also in this context that Lao Zhu started the vigorous immigration of the early Ming Dynasty and moved residents of Shanxi to the Central Plains. It is said that there were 17 times in total, and it stopped until the Yongle period when Zhu Di was in power. It lasted for more than 40 years, and the total number of people moved reached more than one million.

Although in the eyes of later generations, the migration of a million people was not too difficult, it was extremely difficult for ancient society, because at this time the transportation was backward and he could only walk on two legs of people. In addition, there was a lack of supplies. In addition, the concept of rural areas was stronger, which made the people unwilling to stay away from their hometowns, making immigration difficult.

However, Lao Zhu was very tough on immigration. He first incorporated the people from Shanxi into military households, and then moved these people in the name of mobilizing the army. In order to prevent immigrants from escaping on the road, he tied their hands together into a string. When these people wanted to urinate, they could only let the guards untied their hands. Over time, urination became synonymous with urination and defecation. Even until later generations, people in Henan and other places still called using the toilet as urination.

Li Jie was also observing the fields on both sides of the road along the way. When he first entered Henan, he found that there were barren fields everywhere on both sides of the road. You should know that this is an official road, and the fields on both sides should be very popular, but there are still a large number of wastelands, because there are too many lands and few people, they cannot be cultivated.

However, as the team moved forward, Li Jie found that the more northward the road, the less wasteland on both sides of the road, most of which were reclaimed into fields, and you can even see some villages appearing on the plains. Some villages were newly built not long after they were newly built, and probably the people who moved from Shanxi and other places.

After these people are moved, the local government will demarcate a piece of land for them to open up wasteland. Of course, the court will also provide some seeds, farm tools and other materials. As long as you can reclaim wasteland and plant it for several consecutive years, the land will be yours, and the court will not collect taxes in the past few years.

Compared with those real wastelands, most of the wastelands in Henan were fertile land before, but because of war, the owners of the fields either fled or died, the fields were abandoned. However, as long as they were patiently cultivated for a few years, these wastelands could be restored to fertile land, which was much easier than starting from scratch. Therefore, these immigrants could get a large piece of land after the first few years.

"What are you thinking?" At this moment, Zhu Biao suddenly slapped Li Jie on the shoulder and asked. The road was too boring, so Zhu Biao often called Li Jie to accompany him, either playing chess or chatting, and sometimes discussing what he saw on the road.

"I'm thinking about His Majesty's move to the Central Plains." Li Jie said the truth.

"It turned out to be this, but to be honest, the father had been carrying a lot of infamy in order to do this, and many ministers also opposed the migration of the people, believing that this would leave the people's hometown and might even trigger civil unrest." Zhu Biao sighed at the end. In fact, those people were not wrong. Migrating the people did cause some riots, but these still failed to change his father's decision.

"Everything has advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes, although some decisions from the upper level are beneficial in the long run, they will touch the interests of the lower level." Li Jie sighed and said, "There is no right or wrong in this kind of thing at all, and some decisions that seem to be correct now may become wrong over time."

"Yes, there are pros and cons. For example, taking household registration as an example, the father took over a chaotic world. In order to restore order as soon as possible, all walks of life were included in the household registration, making the world order in a short period of time. But over time, I always feel that there will be problems with the household registration system!" Zhu Biao suddenly said with some emotion.

"Your Highness also thinks there is a problem with the household registration?" Li Jie looked at Zhu Biao in surprise when he heard this. He didn't expect that Zhu Biao could actually see the disadvantages of household registration. As expected, he is worthy of being the heir chosen by Lao Zhu. If Zhu Biao could really take over the position smoothly, he might be able to really correct many of the shortcomings left by Lao Zhu.

"As far as you say, do you have the same opinion as me?" Zhu Biao also looked at Li Jie in surprise. He was just taking household registration as an example at will, and even gave Li Jie a lesson. Unexpectedly, Li Jie had the same opinion.

"Yes, although household registration makes the world orderly, over time, the people are firmly tied to their respective professions by household registration, so it's fine if farmers, but military households and craftsmen will inevitably have big problems!" Li Jie said with great affirmation.

When Zhu Biao heard Li Jie say this, his eyes lit up and immediately discussed with him in detail the pros and cons of the household registration system. The more he discussed it, the more shocked he was. Li Jie's understanding of the household registration system was far beyond his imagination, and even Li Jie thought of many things he did not expect.

In fact, it was not that Li Jieduo was smart, but that he knew that the collapse of the military in the Ming Dynasty in history was mainly the collapse of the military household system. Originally, Lao Zhu thought it was very good. The military household was half military and half civilian, which could save military pay and ensure the source of troops. However, later, the military household was exploited by officers and became a private slave of officers. He usually couldn't even eat enough and had no time to practice. How could he guarantee any combat effectiveness?

The same is true for craftsmen. I am a blacksmith, my son or a blacksmith, and it is the same no matter how much I do it, just like eating a big pot. In this way, craftsmen have no motivation to work, which also leads to a sharp decline in the quality of the army's weapons, and muskets are frequently exploded and cannot be used at all.

It turns out that the Ming Dynasty in history was deeply harmed by Japanese pirates, mainly because the garrisons in the south were too corrupt. Because of the threat of grasslands in the north, the garrisons in the south could still maintain a certain combat effectiveness, but the garrisons in the south were rotten to the roots. Even a ridiculous thing happened that a few Japanese pirates could defeat thousands of Ming troops. The root cause was the complete collapse of the military household system.

Of course, the harm of the household registration system is far more than that, because household registration firmly binds most people to the land and cannot flow freely, which greatly hinders the development of industry and commerce. The emergence of capitalism that originally appeared in the Song Dynasty stopped during the Ming Dynasty. Although it cannot be said that the harsh household registration system is completely harsh, it is definitely one of the main reasons.

Zhu Biao was also very excited to listen to Li Jie's story. He found that he had underestimated Li Jie. He did not expect that he also had such deep insights in government affairs. It seemed that his son-in-law had really found the right one.

"Since the household registration system will cause such great harm, how do you think it should be changed?" Zhu Biao finally asked Li Jie.

"Change must be changed, but not now!" Li Jie said and said, "Although the household registration system will cause great harm, that is in the future. The household registration system is still beneficial to the Ming Dynasty. At least it can help the Ming Dynasty recover its strength faster, so now is not the time to change.
Chapter completed!