Why did the emperor rebel?

Chapter 1042 Your Majesty Is Really a Bodhisattva

When he first spoke, Wang Cheng was still a little nervous, but after he slowly spoke, he became much calmer.

However, the further he went on, the more surprised the kings became.

There are also many farms in their palaces, the main part of which is also the land given by the court, but it is basically impossible for these lands to be connected together.

It is not difficult to understand that the feudal lands of vassal kings are usually in rich lands, so there are many gentry entrenched, and they themselves will occupy a lot of fields. The land granted by the court is official land outside their fields. This in itself creates a situation of unevenness in specific addresses.

Moreover, the vassal king's life is extravagant, so after these gifted fields become their private property, they will sell part of them for various reasons. In addition, sometimes these fields will also be used for rewards.

On the other hand, the vassals hired ordinary tenants to farm, and these tenants would also find ways to own their own fields. Many tenants either reclaimed wasteland by themselves, or tried to entrust their relationships to buy and sell local land, which would also lead to this situation. Appear.

Of course, the most important reason is that the vassal kings themselves don’t care about this kind of behavior, because for them, the most important thing is whether the land is fertile or not, and whether they can collect the rent. One piece, it doesn't matter much.

However, in Wang Cheng's description, Huangzhuang would rather pay a high price to replace the fields with the surrounding people than to connect all the fields together.

The advantage of connecting the fields is that it is convenient for management, but the problem is that the emperor is behind the Huangzhuang. Could it be possible that they can't afford this manpower?
Compared with whether the fields are together, whether the field is fertile and how much it can produce is obviously more important. Even the fields in the same area can be divided into high and low grades. If you want to buy the whole piece, there will inevitably be differences. The few inferior fields are included.

Here and there, not to mention picking up sesame seeds and throwing watermelon, but it is more or less worth the loss.

In addition, the vassal kings did not treat ordinary tenants very harshly. On the contrary, in times of disaster, they would take the initiative to reduce or exempt the tenants’ land rent. Reward some wine and meat to eat and so on.

For example, those who desperately exploited the tenants, only some small rich families, and those who got rich in a short period of time, would do this. Families with a little accumulation would not push the tenants too hard. After all, the land is always It is necessary for someone to plant it, and the tenants are forced to have nowhere to go. They will leave their homes and become refugees, fleeing in all directions. At that time, no matter how much land they have in their hands, it will be useless.

But, again, the reason why the vassal kings gave some preferential treatment to the tenants was to keep them and let them work hard. In essence, they still hoped to receive more rent on time.

Therefore, although they could understand Huangzhuang's actions, they were still very surprised.

It’s no problem to grow grain, even the cattle and iron plows have to be provided by Huangzhuang. That’s not counting. Huangzhuang even bought private houses for these tenants to live in. The co-authors of these people are free. Live for nothing?

Moreover, they originally thought that doing so was outrageous enough, but who would have thought that Wang Cheng's next words would shock them even more.

"...the acres of land in Huangzhuang, the rent is doubled according to the official land tax, and it is reduced year by year, and it is halved every year. When it reaches the same level as the private land tax, the rent will not be reduced. In addition, the annual rent of the Huangzhuang private house is three Dou If it reaches ten years, it will not be paid, the land tax will be paid when the head of the household dies, and the grain paid by the people's house will be recalculated."

"These are the basic rules of Huangzhuang. Today, Huangzhuang has accommodated more than 3000 refugees, and they are able to pay rent on time. Among them, the people are always grateful for the mighty grace of God."

The tax per mu in Huangzhuang is higher, which is normal.

However, what the feudal lords did not expect was that the rent would decrease year by year. In this way, if some bad land, in about 15 years, the rent would become the same as ordinary land tax, even if some Waiting for the field will not exceed 20 years.

This means that the fields in Huangzhuang will be directly owned by these tenants after 20 years?

If they can still understand the previous measures, then these vassal kings can't understand this one at all.

Could it be that the emperor thought he had too much private land and couldn't wait to distribute it to the people?

If you think about it, it's not impossible.

Therefore, after Wang Cheng finished speaking, King Xiang beside him said.

"Your Majesty is kind and considers the suffering of the displaced people. This is really an act of benevolence. These people can enter the Huangzhuang without suffering from exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and they don't have to worry about growing grain and cattle. They can concentrate on farming. The emperor's kindness is mighty, to save the people!"

As soon as these words came out, the vassal kings reacted.

Indeed, the Son of Heaven is different from them. If it is said that Huangzhuang is to solve the refugees caused by the disaster near the capital, then it is really beneficial to do so.

It's just that the property in Huangzhuang will be lost a lot. From this point of view, the emperor's willingness to sacrifice his own interests to help the people is indeed worthy of the name of benevolence and wisdom.

All of a sudden, all the kings agreed with King Xiang.

"Your Majesty's sageness and benevolence are indeed the blessings of the common people."

Seeing this scene, King Xiang at the side glanced at King Min intentionally or unintentionally, with a faint intention of targeting.

These two lords have been feuding since the last funeral, although they usually ignore each other, but when it comes to this kind of occasion, there is a hidden intention of fighting for victory.

Just now, King Min asked himself to cut his salary to gain the limelight, and now King Xiang is unwilling to lag behind.

Zhu Huixun obviously knew King Xiang's intentions, and met his gaze, and cast a look at King Xiang, in which two words were clearly written.

idiot!

Really when the emperor called so many vassals over here, did he come to gossip?

What's the matter, the two eunuchs in charge of the Huangzhuang Huangdian are because they did such a good job, so the emperor asked them to show off?

If it is said that the emperor's way was not clear just now, then Wang Cheng's words just now have almost exposed the emperor's plan.

The reason why the emperor told them the management of Huangzhuang in such detail was that he was focusing on the granted and private fields in their fief.

If there is no accident, the emperor should want to promote the model of Huangzhuang to various domains.

In this way, a huge problem that plagued the imperial court, the refugee problem, can be solved smoothly.

After all, the biggest reason for refugees is land mergers. The people at the bottom have lost their land and have no food and clothing. Naturally, they can only leave their hometowns and find another way out.

The operation method of Huangzhuang is extremely special. Strictly speaking, the essence of Huangzhuang is land merger, and it is the kind of unscrupulous buying and selling.

Zhu Huixun stayed in Beijing for a long time, and he didn't want to be an idiot like King Xiang.

So, others don't know Song Wenyi, but he does.

This so-called mine tax eunuch brazenly bought land from the gentry near Gyeonggi during this period of time. If he didn't sell it, he pointed out that there were mines under their mansion and asked them to pay a high mine tax.

I don't know how many gentry, under pressure, had to sell their fields at a price far below the market price, which led to the rapid expansion of Huangzhuang today.

What's more, this matter has been discussed a lot in Beijing recently. Although the New Year's Eve is just over, the time is short, and a lot of evidence is not sufficient, but it is said that there are already many science officials who are ready to slack on this matter.

That is to say, these vassal kings have never cared much about the government affairs of the court, so their eyes are all focused on the reform of the suzerain vassal, and they are very slow to respond to other affairs.

Originally Zhu Huixun was still wondering, how could Song Wenyi's behavior be hidden from the emperor, but now it seems that this is simply the emperor's acquiescence.

It is true that Huangzhuang is an annexation of land, but if the management method Wang Cheng said can be achieved, then only the local gentry will suffer in the process.

Of course, this premise is that during the merger process, only the gentry were targeted, not ordinary civilians.

However, judging from the information Zhu Huixun has now, at least for now, Song Wenyi still despises the fields in the hands of scattered farmers.

That is to say, after Huangzhuang merged the land in the hands of the gentry, it was used to resettle the refugees, provide grain, cattle, utensils, and even residences, so that the refugees could have a place to live and work, and became the royal family. tenant.

Just like what King Xiang said just now, although the tenants in the Huangzhuang also do not have their own land, they do not have to be exploited by various exorbitant taxes from officials, nor do they have to worry about growing grain, cattle and other things needed for farming. It can be rented for a long time.

And the most wonderful thing about this business method is actually the method of decreasing the land rent year by year. Although the rent that these refugees have to pay in the past few years is extremely heavy, almost to the extent of nine out of ten, they can barely survive. .

As the years of farming grow longer, the more hope they can see, the more they will be reluctant to part with the number of tenants in Huangzhuang. In this way, the refugees who were originally difficult to control are re-bound firmly in Huangzhuang.

Even during the execution, there were eunuchs who exploited these tenants privately, but at least in the past few years when the rent was the heaviest, these eunuchs did not dare to do this, because the rent itself was heavy, and if they exploited again, they would be reborn. lead to escape.

At that time, the rent that should be given to the emperor will not be paid, and this group of eunuchs will not have the amulet of the imperial court ordering officials, and they may move their heads anytime, anywhere.

As for the refugees, they have nothing at all, even if it is the heaviest land rent, as long as it allows them to survive, they will definitely scramble for the first.

Therefore, from the perspective of the country, this is undoubtedly an excellent strategy.

but……

"The establishment of Huangzhuang has indeed solved the problem of refugees near the capital. However, this problem is not unique to the capital. Over the years, droughts, famines, floods, locust plagues, and various natural disasters have occurred frequently, and the number of refugees in various places has continued to increase."

"So, I feel that the establishment of Huangzhuang can continue to be rolled out to solve the difficulties of refugees from all over the world. I don't know what you think?"

Sure enough, after hearing enough flattery, the emperor raised his hand and pressed down, and asked with a smile on his face to all the vassal kings present.

As soon as these words came out, the faces of all the princes became a little embarrassed.

The management method of this Huangzhuang is indeed good, but the problem is that they collect the rent well, why bother with it?
It takes time and effort, and the annual land rent is gradually reduced. Could it be that it is just to resettle refugees for the court?
Although these vassal kings say that it is their duty to serve the country, but when it comes to this kind of time, no one is willing to be taken advantage of.

So, they all looked at King Xiang with resentment in their eyes.

Tell me about you, why do you take the emperor's words if you have nothing to do?It's hard to ride a tiger now.

They've just boasted about Huangzhuang, so they can't immediately find various reasons to refuse as soon as the emperor tells them to do it.

Seeing this situation, King Xiang also complained in his heart.

He just flattered a few words casually, who would have thought that the emperor didn't intend to donate food (?), and didn't intend to lower their salary, so he was waiting for them here...

However, feeling the gazes of the crowd, King Xiang bit the bullet and had to step forward and speak, saying.

"Your Majesty, the world is peaceful now. Officials from all over the world are doing their best to resettle refugees in a timely manner. The people pay attention to returning fallen leaves to their roots. The people have always been hard to leave their homeland. Therefore, I think that as long as the court provides disaster relief in time and resettles them properly, the issue of refugees will not be a problem. For a while."

"Furthermore, the imperial court is now in the process of rectifying the military settlements. A large amount of land from various places has been collected as official land and military land. The imperial court is busy with affairs. If it is to spread out the Huangzhuang at this time, I am afraid that I will lose sight of the other. This minister sees it."

With King Xiang taking the lead, other vassals also followed suit, said.

"That's right, Your Majesty, what King Xiang said is justified. The court has always provided disaster relief appropriately. The problem of refugees is only temporary. It is better to let the people return to their hometowns."

"That's right, that's right..."

However, only a few relatively young vassal kings were speaking, while King Zhou and the others were twirling their beards, bowing their heads not knowing what they were thinking.

Seeing this situation, a smile appeared on Zhu Qiyu's face, but he didn't respond directly to these vassal kings, but gave some instructions to Wynn who was beside him.

So, Wynn accepted the order, and after a while, he returned with the two servants, and there were already a few thick account books in his hands.

Order someone to hand over the account book, Zhu Qiyu said.

"This is the annual harvest account of several Huangzhuang in the past few years, including the purchase of fields, houses, purchase of grain, and cattle after the reconstruction of Huangzhuang. All of them are included in it. You may wish to take a look, maybe you can I have a different view on Huangzhuang."

Even before he ascended the throne, Zhu Qiyu, as one of the only two heirs of Emperor Xuanzong, was given a lot of land.

Therefore, he has more than one farm in the suburbs of Beijing.

An account book in the hands of the kings, each recording the accounts of different large and small farms.

In fact, when they saw the accounts, the kings had already guessed what the emperor wanted to say.

However, when they saw these accounts, they were still taken aback...

(End of this chapter)