Chapter 304: A good horse from a thousand miles away By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the annexation of land by the aristocratic families had become a tacit rule. If the country wants to stop it, it can only introduce policies to slow down the pace of annexation by the aristocratic families. But no one has ever really called on the nobles to stop annexation. How much fertile land do you big families want to annex before you give up? These words confused the heads of the noble families present, because they were all members of the noble families. But no one has ever truly replaced the gentry class, and it is not a group that is visible. In fact, all knowledgeable people know the harm of land annexation, but reproduction is the need of humans as animals. If they want to reproduce and grow, they need to have a large number of children and expand their family members. As the number of family members increases, more land is needed to support the family in order to ensure its prosperity. So, intentionally or unintentionally, a kind of unspoken rules emerged in this group.

Grow bigger and bigger until your family is big enough to protect all its members. What Qin Zhen said now is tantamount to slowing down their development. Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents, so they didn't know how to respond for a moment. But after Qin Zhen shouted coldly, he stood up and said seriously: "You are all considered as knowledgeable people in my Han Dynasty, so I would like to invite you to come here today and treat you as guests of honor!" "But since you are all knowledgeable people, I will not hide anything from you!" "This time I am appointed as the governor of Wujun and the governor of Jiangdong, just to change the previous situation!" "I will rectify all the bad policies and excessive taxes of the past!" "So from today on, our army will begin measuring the land, canceling the tax on land and the tax on head, and including them in the land tax." "All land in Jiangdong is subject to a tenth tax. Anyone who dares to conceal the land or obstruct the measurement will be executed!" "In addition, there are three taxes, namely purchase tax, business tax and land tax. If anyone dares to conceal the tax, they will be executed once they are found out!" "Any tenants, hired workers, etc. who wish to become naturalized citizens must be allowed to go. Anyone who dares to stop them will be beheaded!" "From today on, slave tax will be collected. All Han people who work as slaves will pay double the land tax. Anyone who conceals the number of slaves and fails to report it will be executed!" "I wonder if you have any objections to what I said. If you all have no objections, this policy will be implemented from tomorrow!" After saying this, Qin Zhen stood and scanned everyone's expressions to see what their attitudes were. To be honest, his policy is extremely radical and even a bit harsh! It is almost like damaging the interests of the Jiangdong gentry to subsidize the people of Jiangdong. Once implemented, the annual income of the gentry would be reduced by at least one third, but the fact that he killed four of them in a row made everyone feel a little cold. They thought that Liu Bei would implement benevolent policies and treat the gentry better than before. Unexpectedly, when Sun Ce went, an even more ruthless Qin Zhen came instead. Although his methods were gentler than Sun Ce's, they also made them extremely uncomfortable.

But that's the problem. Qin Zhen liberalized commerce while increasing emphasis on agriculture. Obviously, the intention is not to dig up their roots, but to make them change direction. If you follow this strategy, although it will be a little uncomfortable, you can get by. If I refuse on the spot, that would give Qin Zhen the opportunity to get angry. Qin Zhen was obviously not a weak scholar. They knew that he was also a decisive and ruthless person. If Qin Zhen took the opportunity to make an example of one or two families, what could they do? So everyone looked at each other, and although their faces were not very happy, no one dared to say a word! At this moment, Sun Ben and Xu Kun looked at each other and bowed their hands and said: "Your Excellency is wise. We have no objection to this policy!" As soon as the two of them expressed their opinions, the younger Wu Fen also hurriedly raised his hand to express his opinion. There was no way. Although these three families were big landlords, they also represented Sun Ce's relatives. Sun Ce's body is still warm and Qin Zhen's influence is still there, so they dare not say anything. After all, it's just a matter of sacrificing money to save your life, which is better than losing your family and life. As soon as the three families expressed their opinions, Gu Yong sighed and bowed, saying: "Since the Lord of the Mansion has said so, our Gu family will certainly help you with all its might!" His statement also represents the attitudes of several major aristocratic families in Wuzhong. Seeing this, Lu Yi followed. Zhang Yun frowned and bowed in agreement. Only Zhu Shi sat there with a gloomy face and said nothing. Seeing him like this, Qin Zhen smiled and said: "Why, the other family heads have already expressed their opinions, do you still have objections?" Zhu Shi heard this and his face darkened for a moment. He gritted his teeth and said: "I dare not. I have no objection to the Lord's tax collection." "But you must know that our land in the south of the Yangtze River is vast and sparsely populated, and there are more fields than people." "Most of our household expenses are paid by tenants and servants." "If your Excellency carries out this policy, a large number of tenants will abandon their rent, and a large amount of our farmland will be left uncultivated!" "If the Lord collects a tenth of the land as tax and a fifth of the slaves as tax, how can we survive if this continues?" The reason why he was slow to express his opinion was because his Zhu family had the most servants. The reason why Zhu Huan was able to lead an army under Sun Quan in later generations was because the Zhu family made great efforts. As for Zhu Huan, he had not yet entered officialdom, and the Zhu family relied entirely on these slaves to make a living. It was obvious that Qin Zhen now wanted to get these things out of their mouths. Needless to say, the three families of Sun Ce's in-laws, the Gu family itself is not large, the Lu family has long been crippled, and the Zhang family is kind and charitable and has an excellent reputation.

Only his Zhu family had a poor reputation, but had many servants. If Qin Zhen collected taxes based on land and slaves, other families would still be able to support it, but his family would probably go bankrupt sooner or later. So even facing pressure from Qin Zhen, he had to say this. His statement obviously set an example for the small and medium-sized families, and they all complained bitterly. Qin Zhen saw this, but his expression remained unchanged. He looked at Zhu Shi and said in a deep voice: "If the fields are left uncultivated, why not just sell them at a low price?" "From the first year of Xingping to the second year of Jian'an, the Zhu family acquired 9,456 acres of new land!" "Among them, there are 2,210 acres of top-quality farmland and 3,122 acres of medium-quality farmland." "But the records in my palace show that there are less than two thousand acres." "I wonder if Mr. Zhu could tell me in detail how they purchased it?" He then looked at the small landlords who were complaining and said: "During this period, Liu sold a total of more than 3,360 acres of land, and the government recorded more than 1,000 acres." "Hong sold a total of 5,271 acres of land, and the government records show more than 2,000 acres." "The Ding family sold a total of 1,424 acres of land, and the government recorded 1,000 acres." "Among the rest of you, is there anyone who has not privately cultivated good farmland and lowered the price of the land?" "These are all state lands. Do you know what is the crime of occupying public lands privately?" "They oppress the good, exchange new land for cultivated land, and force people's children to marry. Do you want me to investigate them one by one?" The reason why he came so late just now was to check the files that had been piled up over the years. Among them were a lot of evidence that he had ordered the Supervisory Office to collect for him from various counties. It can be said that among all the people present here, except for a few aristocratic families such as the Lu and Gu families, there is no aristocratic family that has not committed crimes. He has the evidence, so even if he really takes action against one or two companies, it would be legal and compliant. As soon as these words were spoken, everyone lost their innocent look. On the contrary, everyone had a look of fear on their faces, including Zhu Shi. Because according to the Han Dynasty, privately occupying public land would result in a fine at the least and exile at the worst. What Qin Zhen said here is actually a statement, either obey orders obediently or investigate and deal with it according to the law. As a famous line goes, some things weigh just ounces if not weighed, but weigh more than 1,000 kilograms if weighed. If Qin Zhen really wanted to conduct a thorough investigation, it would be easy for him to destroy their entire family. All the landlords who reacted immediately were speechless, and even Zhu Shi hurriedly said to Qin Zhen: "I lost my mind for a moment and said something inappropriate. I hope you will forgive me!" Seeing him express his opinion, Qin Zhen nodded and looked at everyone and said: "In fact, this governor is unwilling to act in this way, but now there are chaos in various places, and only one out of a hundred people of our great Han Dynasty are left alive." "If we don't do this, even though you guys will be rich, we Han people will have no chance of survival."

"If this country is like this, it will no longer be a country. Even if you have no worries about food and clothing, you will be taken advantage of by foreign races sooner or later!" "But you don't have to worry about the servants. I will give you an explanation after the autumn harvest this year!" "After all, you are all prominent families in the county. In the future, our army will need your help to govern the local area!" "In addition, our army will go south today to open up the trade ports. If you want to join the Chamber of Commerce, please make a decision this morning." "Anyone who is interested can sign up here with Brother Yuan Tan and pay a membership fee of 10,000 coins to join the club." After giving a few more instructions, Qin Zhen waved his hand and asked everyone to leave, but people like Gu Yong and Lu Xun were kept. After everyone left, Qin Zhen smiled at Gu Yong, who still had a gloomy face: "Brother, you look like this, are you still blaming me for what I yelled at you about?" Seeing him calling himself his younger brother again, Gu Yong felt helpless and sighed: "I am not angry at your words, but I am concerned that the Han Dynasty has always valued agriculture over commerce." "Now the Lord is promoting commerce. If this continues, the nobles and common people will not want to farm and will all go into business. What should we do?" The reason why he sighed just now was not because he disagreed with Qin Zhen's strategy of dividing the land tax by the amount of land. Rather, it was because they were worried that Qin Zhen's way of governing would cause the gentry in Wu County to turn to business! Although the gentry themselves occupied a large amount of farmland, the grain grown by them was also one of the important pillars of the Han Dynasty's economy. If the nobles had not stored grain, when a disaster came, the merchants would have raised their prices and who knows how many people would have starved to death. It was certainly wrong for them to take the people as slaves, but in a sense, they also saved countless lives. If there were no great aristocratic families like them, how could a place like Jiangdong accept the people coming from the north? But now Qin Zhen’s way of governing is to force the gentry to abandon farming and go into business. If they encounter a disaster year, they won’t even have anywhere to borrow food! If other people in power were like this, Gu Yong would just give them some advice and if it didn't work he would just let it go. But Qin Zhen is his junior fellow apprentice, and given their relationship, he cannot allow Qin Zhen to go astray. But as soon as he said this, Qin Zhen smiled and looked at Lu Xun and said: "My brother is really pedantic. I wonder what Bo Yan thinks of this policy?" The reason why Qin Zhen was willing to let Zhuge Liang leave was actually because Lu Xun was in Jiangdong. Compared to Kong Ming who is gradually growing up, he is more interested in training Lu Xun. Lu Xun himself did not know why this governor valued him so much, but when Qin Zhen asked, he hurriedly said: "According to my opinion, the governor's policy will not only prevent the people from abandoning farming and engaging in business, but will also greatly increase the population of Jiangdong!" "Because the governor implemented the policy of allocating taxes to each acre of land, the purpose was not to suppress the gentry, but to reduce the burden on the people." "Although the imperial court used to charge 1% of the tax in thirty, the tax and head tax were extremely heavy." "The governor abolished the two taxes and only imposed a tenth tax, and the people will be happy and prosper."

"In the next few decades, the population of Jiangdong will surely increase several times!" "Although the gentry abandoned farming and went into business, a large amount of arable land was left for the common people to cultivate." "The more people there are, the more tax revenue there will be, and the nobles and common people can all live in peace. This is the way to make a country prosperous!" Before he finished speaking, Qin Zhen clapped his hands and smiled: "Good job, Lu Boyan, you are truly a talented person. With you in charge of the Lu family, why should we worry about its prosperity?" The greatest effect of the land-based tax system is to encourage childbirth. The reason why the population of the Qing Dynasty grew explosively, apart from the improvement in productivity, was mainly due to the system of allocating land tax to each household! No policy is more attractive to people to have children than abolishing the population tax. Now that Jiangdong has been initially stabilized and he has troops at his disposal, it is the best time to implement this policy. Once the pilot project in Jiangdong is successful, the economic prosperity of the Tang and Song dynasties will appear earlier. With a prosperous economy, it is possible to form a strong, professional, elite force. At that time, who among the surrounding ethnic groups can stop their expansion? While thinking, he turned his gaze to Gu Yong and said with a smile: "I wonder if what you said is in line with what Brother Yuan Tan meant?" Seeing that he answered him with Lu Xun's words, Gu Yong couldn't help but shook his head and smiled: "Then what do you mean by the promise you made to me?" As soon as he said this, the smile on Qin Zhen's face stopped, and he tapped the table with his index finger and said: "I intend to send troops to the Shanyue in the south. What do you think?" (End of this chapter)