“… Let's not talk about how much of the land that came out of these Qingzhang is a fictitious amount, judging from the growth of the national population, the current population should be at least 30 times that of the founding period of Hongwu, although the population counted in the Ding Book is only about 10 times that of the beginning of the founding of the country, that is, 60 million people, but in fact, the population of the Ming Dynasty should be between 150 million and 200 million.

The amount of arable land increased by land reclamation was only a quarter of the total amount of arable land at the beginning of the founding of the country, but the population increased by 30 times during the same period. The increased supply of land was far less than the rate of population growth, and a large amount of land was still in the hands of the clans and gentry.

If this continues, what will the people of the Ming Dynasty rely on to survive? If you don't eat a meal, you will lose your spirits; If you don't eat for a day, you will be hungry and panicked; If they don't eat for three days, the people will start to rebel. Now please teach me the first assistant, when will this Ming Dynasty be finished? ”

Huang Liji was dumbfounded and speechless, although Zhu Youzhen could not memorize Malthus's entire population theory. But the basis of population theory is based on the contradiction between the number of people that are constantly multiplying and the limited supply of land that can be produced.

According to this conclusion, Zhu Youzhen only needs to investigate the population growth in the vicinity of Beijing and compare it with the amount of cultivated land in the vicinity of Beijing to complete a simple version of the population theory.

Perhaps this version of Zhu Youzhen's version of the theory of population is not as profound as what Malthus wrote, and the wording is not as concise as the original version of the theory of population, but it is enough to open the door to a new world for Huang Liji.

Huang Liji, who has always looked for the way to govern the world from the Confucian classics and observed the world with the Confucian ethical order, was suddenly uncovered by Zhu Youzhen without warning, the real world under the social appearance of this warm and affectionate feudal ethical order.

Under this kind of surprise, Huang Liji's entire spiritual world was impacted. If he is not the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, but just an ordinary civil official, then at most he will have one more worry and appeal to the ruling government of the current dynasty.

But as the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, he has the responsibility to solve this problem. However, in a short period of time, Huang Liji went through his life experience and the Confucian classics he had studied, but found that there was no solution to this problem in various Confucian classics.

The so-called reduction of taxes and rest with the people, in the face of this irreconcilable contradiction between population and land, are only a poison to quench thirst. Because the more you rest with the people, the faster the population will grow.

On the one hand, the newly growing population needs land to survive, and on the other hand, the greed for land by the clans, gentry, and wealthy merchants is endless. In this situation, the ruling strategy he had envisioned for the Ming Dynasty's situation, which was to wait for change and wait for the Ming Dynasty to recover itself, became a joke.

Compared with the huge crisis faced by the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen's slightly mean questioning seemed insignificant. Huang Liji himself couldn't help but wonder, how many years can this Ming Dynasty last?

After half a ring, Huang Liji reacted from the shock. This is the first time that he has lost his honor in front of the king.

Huang Liji couldn't care about guarding the minister's way, he looked at Zhu Youzhen's eyes, and said in a dry voice: "The old minister is incompetent, and he really can't find a way to solve this population and land problem. I don't know which great talent wrote this demographic theory, but I ask Your Majesty to recruit this person, so that the old minister can ask for advice or two. Since this man was able to write this article, he must have studied the problems of population and land for a long time, and with his help, I believe that with the wisdom of all people, we can finally come up with a solution. ”

can shake the position of Shoufu Huang Liji's opposition to change, and Zhu Youzhen finally breathed a sigh of relief. This shows that the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty has not shied away from the responsibility he should bear. At this point, this Shousuke is already much stronger than most officials of this era.

However, Huang Liji wanted to find out the author of the population theory, which gave Zhu Youzhen a headache for a while. Both the Western scholar Malthus, who wrote the theory of population, and the Oriental author Hong Liangji, who expounded on the phenomenon of population growth, were all born 150 years later.

Zhu Youzhen only hesitated slightly, and then said vaguely: "This population theory, what I see is just a fragment of the text, it is said to be written by an overseas philosopher, whose name is Malthus, because the customs of his country are quite different from those of the Ming Dynasty, so I re-conducted a survey in the Ming Dynasty according to the concept of his text, and this is the Ming version of the population theory you see now." As for whether this Malthus is alive or dead, and where he is now. I don't know. ”

Hearing Chongzhen say this, Huang Liji was undoubtedly disappointed. He gritted his teeth, then bowed his head to Chongzhen and said, "The old minister is really incompetent and can't share his worries for His Majesty. The old minister asked for Zhishi, so that His Majesty could choose another merit to save this Ming crisis. ”

Looking at Huang Liji, who lowered his head in front of him, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. Just now he thought that Huang Liji was more responsible than other officials, but now he realized that the officials of this era are actually similar, and Huang Liji's responsibility is just better than others.

When encountering an insurmountable predicament, Huang Liji's last choice was to abdicate and make way for Xian. Zhu Youzhen secretly said to himself in his heart, "In this era, there is only one Zhang Jiangling who dares to face difficulties, and there is only one Zhang Jiangling who faces the crisis. The expectations I have for Huang Liji are still too meaningless. ”

Huang Liji maintained a bowed posture for a long time, feeling that his neck was a little sore, before he heard Chongzhen say faintly: "Shoufu's habit is not good. ”

Huang Liji was a little surprised, he didn't understand what Chongzhen meant by this. But soon Chongzhen blamed with a little dissatisfaction: "I heard that the Song Dynasty scholars were particular about the world and took the world as their own responsibility. You class of scholars, on weekdays, take the two Song scholars as an example, but when it comes to the critical moment, they are helpless one by one, trying to escape. Is this what you usually call the bones of a scholar? ”

Huang Li was extremely shocked, Chongzhen's accusation was too harsh. If these words get out, he, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, will really become a famous sinner who insults morale.

Zhu Youzhen didn't seem to intend to end there, he paced back and forth in front of Huang Liji, and his voice became very cold.

"I don't know if there will be a virtuous man coming to power after Shousuke abdicates, but what does Shousuke think will happen to him?"

Huang Liji looked up at Chongzhen in a bit of a panic and said, "What does Your Majesty mean by this?" ”

Zhu Youzhen stopped, twitched the corners of his mouth, looked into Huang Liji's eyes and said, "Please think about it carefully, after the death of the imperial brother, if it is not maintained by the emperor, whose world will the court be today?" I just have to stand by and watch, and the first thing the people of Donglin will do is to beat Shoufu into a eunuch party in order to clean up the forces that are enemies of the DPRK and Donglin.

Mr. Huang retreated bravely, but he could go home to enjoy his old age, but Mr. Huang's protégés, relatives and friends, could it be that they would all have to work in the family farm in the future and never leave the office? ”

Huang Liji was suddenly petrified, and he muttered in his mouth, "It's not like this." Your Majesty is wise, if you don't let Donglin monopolize the government, if there is only one voice in the court, how should Your Majesty deal with himself? ”

Zhu Youzhen said without hesitation: "If the Ming Dynasty doesn't exist, does it matter how I deal with myself?" As long as the Donglin Party is willing to implement the reform policy, why should I cling to power? As long as I can save this Ming crisis, I don't mind handing over the government to the Donglin Party. Mr. Yushan's character and morality are praised, and he must not have supported the reform after listening to this demographic theory. ”

Although after Huang Liji served as the first assistant, he once thought about changing some of the malpractices of the Ming Dynasty and fulfilling his political ambitions. But when Chongzhen put the population theory in front of him, and put an incomparably cruel and real world in front of his eyes, Huang Liji already understood that his political ambitions had turned into flowing water.

As a scholar, since Jin can't help the king to assist the government, he can only take a step back and protect himself.

But Huang Liji only had the idea of retreating bravely, and Chongzhen actually completely ignored the king's face, and directly intimidated him.

Huang Liji was angry and afraid, but he knew that what Chongzhen said was not empty words, and the Donglin Party did have the motives and means to retaliate against him. Even if the Donglin Party finally let him go, as long as Chongzhen has resentment, his relatives and friends will be extremely difficult if they want to become a leader in the future.

And Chongzhen is only 17 years old now, as long as there are no accidents, at least 3 or 40 years of life. This means that at least two generations of his protégés and relatives and friends cannot be promoted. And the fact that two generations of a gentleman family cannot be out of office is about the decline of the family, and a declining scholar family is the prey of other gentlemen and wealthy families in this era.

Huang Liji could tolerate the vainness of his political ambitions, but he could not tolerate his protégés becoming the targets of the emperor's suppression.

"Your Majesty's move is inevitably a loss of courtesy to the monarch and ministers, and the old ministers really dare not agree. Besides, is His Majesty's so-called reform the collection of taxes from scholars and merchants? In addition to increasing His Majesty's income, how can this solve the problem of land and population? Moreover, the Donglin Party is the biggest beneficiary, and their families are all local wealthy businessmen. Although Liu Qidong is clean and self-conscious, but the Donglin Party members are in the same spirit, and the old minister thinks that it is impossible for Liu Qidong to isolate himself from Donglin and take the chestnut in the fire for His Majesty. ”

"Paying taxes is not only an obligation, but also a right. I knew that Mr. Huang was afraid that the implementation of tax reform would anger the world's corporal clans and end up with Zhang Jiangling. I can't promise you anything, but Zhang Jiangling, as the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, should completely rehabilitate him today.

I knew that the former emperor's brother had eliminated Zhang Jiangling's crimes, but he did not completely rehabilitate Zhang Jiangling, and after the first assistant returned, he could completely rehabilitate Zhang Jiangling in my name, restore the grace of his descendants, and summon his descendants to Beijing to meet him.

Although tax reform cannot solve the contradiction between population and land, it requires two conditions to solve any problem in this world, money and manpower. The purpose of tax reform is to raise funds that can solve the problem. This is the beginning, not the end, of reform. ”