Chinese feudal society in all dynasties has shown the characteristics of "prosperity must decline", and peasant uprisings are often the main reason for extinction.
These uprisings usually had a leading programme and slogan, designed to call for a broad response, and their starting point was the fundamental interests of the peasant class.
For example, in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement led by Hong Xiuquan, in the context of the gradual collapse of the Qing Dynasty's rule, Hong Xiuquan founded the Worship of God Religion, and put forward the "** Tian Mu System" and "New Chapter of Information Administration", with the slogan of "the cultivator has his land", which was supported by the majority of farmers.
Similarly, the peasant uprising led by Li Zicheng in the late Ming Dynasty was also reflected in the use of policies and slogans to mobilize the people.
In order to make the vast number of peasants respond to his call, Li Zicheng put forward a series of policies that won the support of the people, such as the slogan of "equalizing the land."
However, many people have misconceptions about the term "Junda".
In fact, it is important to note that "equalizing land" does not refer to the equal distribution of land.
Li Zicheng was born in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, and due to the social conditions at that time, he became an authentic peasant.
He began to learn martial arts from a young age and Xi a good skill.
However, during the Apocalypse, natural disasters and famine struck, and Li Zicheng's family experienced a tragic experience.
As a teenager, he lost his parents, became a loner, and began a life of wandering.
With the kung fu skills he learned in his childhood and his recent experience, he became a post boy at the Yinchuan post station.
However, due to the framing of the local gentry, Li Zicheng was saddled with huge debts, killed a man in a desperate situation, and went to the Gansu region to become a soldier.
However, all went not well, and the decline of the imperial court made life equally difficult for the soldiers.
Li Zicheng was originally the messenger of the Ming Dynasty military station.
However, due to the rampant phenomenon at that time, he was also deeply exploited by military officers, and was even accused of unfounded crimes.
After Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, Li Zicheng suffered miserably, and the situation worsened.
An accident caused him to lose an important official document, and he was sent home and severely punished.
In addition to grief and indignation, Li Zicheng finally made up his mind to launch an uprising with his nephew to overthrow the mediocre Ming Dynasty and seek justice for the people.
So, in the second year of Chongzhen, the banner of the uprising was officially raised in his hometown of northern Shaanxi.
He moved to Hanzhong and called on all parts of the country to respond and quickly grow his strength.
It was a year of disaster, and every time he captured a city, he would open a large number of warehouses to help the people and solve the local disaster, so that the rebel army was even stronger.
In 1641, he captured Luoyang and put forward the slogan of "Juntian is exempt from taxation", and continued to march to Chengtian, Tongguan and other places.
In 1644, he proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an, with the name Dashun, and officially began the crusade against the Ming Dynasty.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, he led the peasant army to Juyong Pass, and the defenders chose to surrender, and the pass was easily captured.
After that, Li Zicheng pointed directly at the capital, and in the face of the unstoppable momentum of the rebel army, most of the generals of the Ming Dynasty chose to surrender, and Emperor Chongzhen was martyred by hanging, and the Ming Dynasty perished.
However, after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng faced pressure from internal political stability and Jurchen invasions, so he quickly enacted a series of policies to fulfill his previous promises to the broad masses of peasants.
First, he tried to reduce the tax burden.
Although he had promised to exempt himself from taxes, the regime had just been established and needed to be stable and functional, so he had to resort to light taxation to get as close as possible to his promise.
Li Zicheng's policies covered lightening the peasants' burdens and exempting grain taxes from disaster-stricken areas for three to five years.
Although these policies did not fully realize the ideal state of "not paying grain when the king comes," they have won the support and approval of the vast number of peasants.
Li Zicheng proposed these policies because he knew that the root cause of the fall of the Ming Dynasty was excessive taxation, which made the peasants unable to support themselves in disaster years, and eventually rebelled against their relatives, which eventually led to the collapse of the imperial court.
Therefore, Li Zicheng has always adhered to this grain expropriation policy after the establishment of political power and has not changed.
In addition, he implemented policies to help the poor.
In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, the people lived in difficulty, in addition to natural disasters, a large part of the reason was the exploitation of the imperial court and local powers.
Li Zicheng has been deeply affected by it since he was a child, so he made up his mind to rectify the political style.
After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, he used the confiscated property to relieve the people affected by the disaster, practicing the concept of "taking from the people and using it for the people".
For example, after the capture of Luoyang, he obtained a large amount of grain, and in addition to leaving enough military supplies, all the remaining grain was distributed to the local people.
This policy continued after the establishment of the Dashun regime and was supported by the people.
Especially after the establishment of Dashun, he optimized this policy and distributed food according to the severity of the disaster to alleviate the impact of the disaster.
In addition, Li Zicheng's army was highly disciplined and, despite being made up of peasants, strictly enforced the rules.
He used the anti-bandit behavior as a negative teaching material, emphasizing that the army must never infringe on the interests of the people, and anyone who secretly plundered the people's property would be immediately beheaded for public display.
It is worth mentioning that in the late Ming Dynasty, the discipline of the army was chaotic, and many officers did anything to pursue fame and rewards, and even killed innocent people indiscriminately.
Li Zicheng's strict regulations not only enhanced the combat effectiveness of the army, but also won the support of the people.
Li Zicheng's thinking on rural reform has two key points: allowing non-agricultural industries to exist and advocating the concept of buying and selling on an equal footing.
These measures eliminated the discrimination against other industries in the mainstream of agricultural thinking since ancient times, and further developed the commodity economy of the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, in terms of land policy, he put forward the idea of "Juntian", which he implemented after the establishment of the regime.
The essence of this policy is to determine the level of annual taxes according to the amount of land under the jurisdiction, rather than simply distributing the land equally, because this would cause a waste of land.
In addition, "Juntian" also means that every time you donate military expenses or prepare for a village, the amount of donation will be determined according to the amount of land, so as to achieve a relative "average".
Although the policy of equalizing land has been proposed many times throughout history, no one person has been able to truly achieve equalization because everyone's ability is different.
Li Zicheng's "Juntian" policy is actually to achieve equality as much as possible in other aspects in order to achieve relative fairness.