However, Zhao Bing still dared not ignore this storm. The wars in Jiangbei and even the Central Plains have lasted for decades since the Mongolian defeated the Jin Dynasty, resulting in a sharp decline in population and a serious decline in the economy. Immigration to fill the border has always been a way for all dynasties to solve border defense problems. In theory, the small land in the south of the Yangtze River has led to the deterioration of production relations and restricted the development of productivity. Moving forward the population can just fill the gap in Jiangbei.

Some people may say that in modern society, the population of Jiangnan has hundreds of millions, but the land has not increased, and the development of industry has also occupied a large amount of arable land, and there has been no serious famine. Grain production can still meet the demand. But don’t forget that in ancient times, productivity was low, there was no modern agricultural technology, and lack of perfect water conservancy facilities, grain production was very low, and supporting a family of five required thirty acres of land.

Moving the people in the south of the Yangtze River to enrich the land in the north is a good thing for the country and the people from the overall perspective. However, Zhao Bing knew that it was not easy to achieve it, otherwise there would be no incident in which Zhu Yuanzhang and his sons of later generations used the state machinery to implement the "Huguang Fill in Sichuan" and "Shanxi Fill in the Capital" and this was also a bad policy criticized by later generations.

As Zhao Bing knew, the people of Jiangnan did not like Jiangbei, not only wanted to leave their hometowns, but also had complete prejudice. Of course, this was also seen from the notes and unofficial history of the people of the time, especially the scholars. He noted not only the scholars in Jiangnan, but also the scholars on the southeast coast all had a lot of opinions about the capital's atmosphere, and their private notes were full of complaints.

Even if they are full of disdain for the capital, they say that Beijingers are lazy, playful, delicious, and cheating, and they will only rely on fraudulent money in the palace or dig up treasures of the previous dynasty to get rich overnight, and then quickly make a fortune. Women in the capital have to endure discrimination from men in the south, and have been identified with various flaws and are not suitable for being wives for civil servants in other places.

Women in the capital have five bad habits: greed, lazy, tricky, lustful, and clumsy. At the same time, of course, they do not forget to recall the south, especially the women in Jiangnan: Weiyang lives in the world, and the rivers are beautiful, so women are more beautiful, with gentle temperament and gentle manners... and they cannot compete with all the people in the south. What surprised the southerners the most was the staggering number of idle beggars in the metropolis. They gamble when they get a little money and lose all their pants, and their ends are extremely miserable. In the end, they had to sigh: There are only four types of people in Yanyun: more than gentry, more women than men, more prostitutes than good families, and more beggars than merchants.

How can the country last for a long time with such a capital citizen? This has become a consensus beyond the region. The Shandong scholars on the side of the canal also issued such warnings: The country has established its capital Youyan, and there are no guards of counties and states in the north. Those who rely on the hearts of Henan, Shandong, Jiangbei and the eight prefectures in the capital are the hearts of the people... If the person is not satisfied, he will go to his hometown lightly; often one man makes trouble, and thousands of people respond... The scholars in the south insist on moving south, but have never succeeded. After a minister named Li Jun failed to move south, he cried bitterly: God will not send south, it is already gone (it is over)!

However, Zhao Bing believed that the reason why the immigration policy in the Ming Dynasty was only dissatisfied by scholars in Jiangnan was largely due to the imperial examination and economic problems.

The advantage of the imperial examination had a direct impact on the bureaucratic group. Although the Ming Dynasty took great pains to allocate imperial examination quotas in order to improve regional balance, the proportion of Jiangnan people in the early Ming Dynasty was not high in the total number of Jinshi, but it was stable at more than 15% in the late Ming Dynasty, and even between 20% and 30% in the Chongzhen period. This proportion was really not high, but the advantages of Jiangnan scholars in the imperial examination were still unstoppable.

The scholars in Jiangxi were the overlords of the imperial examination field in the early Ming Dynasty. In the middle of the period, the scholars in Zhejiang later, in the late Ming Dynasty, the scholars in Nanzhili finally reached the top. According to scholars' statistics, from the tenth year of Wanli to the third year of Chongzhen, there were 47 cabinet members, and a total of 33 people came from southern regions such as Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, etc., accounting for 70% of the total number.

Zhao Bing also heard a saying that it was precisely because the Jiangnan scholars formed a cabinet to take power in the middle of the Ming Dynasty that the Ming Dynasty declined and eventually perished. He thought that this was just what we often say, "the economic foundation determines the superstructure." The rise of Jiangnan scholars and officials in the Ming Dynasty was actually just a reflection of this law.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang could use the grain transportation to transport the wealth of Jiangnan to the north, and use the imperial examinations to suppress the scholars of Jiangnan, making it difficult for them to enter the power high-level. However, as the Ming court's dependence on the Jiangnan economy became increasingly heavy, this pattern was finally broken.

Although the southerners were hit and exploited for many years in the Ming Dynasty, in the late Ming Dynasty, Jiangnan's confidence suddenly became stronger. The most significant contrast was that during the founding period, the court could impose heavy taxes on Jiangnan at will, and the grain and white grain could also be levied on the people of Jiangnan. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was difficult for the empire to seek it from Jiangnan.

You should know that Jiangnan has many people and little land, and the manpower that can be invested in unit land is much higher than that in the north, and the land output is also very different. However, Jiangnan's huge industrial and commercial industry is completely outside the scope of expropriation. Therefore, compared with the gentry in other places, Jiangnan can operate a variety of businesses, integrating landlords, merchants, and literati. Under the protection of the village party, Jiangnan in the late Ming Dynasty achieved unprecedented prosperity in history to ensure the stability of social status.

Behind the hardening of the Jiangnan scholars' backs was the steady improvement of their economic strength and political status. The southerners who were deliberately suppressed by the court in the early Ming Dynasty finally ushered in a full revival in the late Ming Dynasty. The Jiangnan scholars and officials gained a considerable amount of political capital in the two major political changes in the collapse of Zhang Juzheng and Wei Zhongxian. The central decision-making level of Jiangnan scholars increased significantly and gained an overwhelming advantage at some points.

In the 21st year of Wanli, when the inner court proposed that the money and grain arrears of money and grain were too long in Jiangsu and Hangzhou, the chief minister of the cabinet, Wang Xijue (a native of Taicang, southern Jiangsu), took out the rhetoric of "Su Song Duo", and at the same time, he proposed reasons such as floods and droughts and Japanese pirates rampant. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, the situation worsened. The martial artist Li Guan (a native of Chengji, Longxi) proposed to ask the Jiangnan majors to donate money. Another great scholar Qian Shisheng (a native of Jiashan, northern Zhejiang) immediately stepped forward to stop it, and even believed that this move would arouse civil rebellion and would capture the other party. The most well-known political group of the ********* Southerners is the Donglin Party. This literati group that originated from Wuxi Donglin Academy is very controversial in the Chinese Internet historical circle. Zhao Bing thought that their rise was not good news for the court or them. The state could not cover the expenses, and it was difficult to implement the investigation of land taxes. In order to expand the royal income, Emperor Wanli sent eunuchs as mining tax envoys, wanting to get a share of the increasingly prosperous industry and commerce.

But it was not easy to make Jiangnan silently do a good job in the imperial cow at this time. Zhu Yuanzhang could easily confiscate a large number of wealthy families in Jiangnan, but Emperor Wanli could only bypass the bureaucratic system and send out eunuchs who were not justified. Almost every action would arouse large-scale mass incidents, and behind it was the shadow of Jiangnan gentry.

After Zhang Juzheng's reform, the tax revenue in the Ming Dynasty changed from physical collection to monetary collection, but the proportion of arrears in the Jiangnan region continued to increase. The land tax was very high, but there were also many arrears in the Jiangnan region, and more and more. In the end, the main burden was on the small farmers in the northern region. In the Liao tuition, the average burden of farmers in the northern region far exceeded that of the south, while the average household burden in the core areas of Jiangnan, Suzhou, Songjiang and Changzhou was even lower in the southern provinces.

However, the Jiangnan gentry group, which reached the peak of power, completely ignored the hopeless national power for its own interests. The northern refugees and the cavalry outside the pass were about to sweep them. What awaited them was another earth-shaking tragedy of the times...

Of course, Zhao Bing will not face the problem of the supremacy of scholars from the north and the south, because the tentacles of the Song Dynasty had just touched the edge of the Central Plains and had no choice in terms of employment. Although the scholars in the north were both of the Confucius Sheng lineage, they were already divided into different countries and were in hostile camps, and they had already split in their ideology. Both sides were already as powerful as water and fire, so even for a long time, he had to rely on the scholars in Jiangnan.

But what made Zhao Bing helpless was that the scholars and literati were not changing their bad habits of being inferior to each other. It would be fine to argue academically, but it was no big deal to curse colleagues in the north. They also developed into a "fight in the nest". Everyone was vilified according to the region and created divisions artificially, which made it very difficult for him, the emperor. What was even more annoying was that the gentry did not show the righteousness and patriotism that scholars should have, but were contaminated with a stinking of money and valued their own interests more.

Zhao Bing had to worry too much. He knew that he now encouraged the development of industry and commerce, and it was not difficult for scholars of this era to find opportunities. Many of them had a clever mind and had some family background, so it was easy to get rich. After accumulating wealth, coupled with the traditional idea of ​​"studying and selecting the best" would inevitably invest money in educating their children, allowing them to enter the officialdom through the imperial examination and become bureaucrats.

Don’t think that the imperial examination provides a fair channel for the civilian class to enter the officialdom. In fact, it is only relatively speaking. Studying also requires economic foundation as a backing. From pens, inks, paper and inkstones, to hiring famous teachers and studying around, it requires money. The children of ordinary people who have no money cannot compete with the wealthy gentry in this regard.

Most of the people around Zhao Bing were from the children of officials and gentry. Not only did they want to win over, but they did have real talents and knowledge. They received good education since childhood, and their knowledge and vision were not comparable to those of ordinary people. They could make it easier for them to make their mark in the imperial examinations. After entering the officialdom, they would have tips from their parents and support from their disciples. The official journey would be smoother than that of ordinary people, and they could even be promoted from generals and ministers.
Chapter completed!