The Reborn Lao Tzu Is the Emperor

Chapter 66 Land Distribution System
Early this morning, as usual.

The director of the Customs Department took the lead and said: "Your Majesty, the number of merchant ships is gradually increasing today, but pirates are infested and waiting for opportunities, causing many traders to suffer losses. They have reported to our Customs Department. My minister asked the emperor to send troops to suppress the bandits. "

Bandits were rampant in ancient times, especially in times of war.

Zhao Dongting couldn't help frowning when he heard the words, the robbery of the treasure ship last time has not been settled yet, he didn't expect these pirates to get worse.

He asked Li Yuanxiu the information obtained by the two masters who scouted the pirates, and they kept the remaining jewels in their lair and never used them.

It is unreasonable that the money in the treasury does not move, but they would rather come out to take risks and rob ships.

Zhao Dongting is convinced that there are definitely people behind the pirate forces.Mr. Ge Li is dead, and the person behind the scenes is definitely not him.

But who would it be?

Just as he was thinking, Liu Hongyi had already stepped out of the ranks and said, "Your Majesty, the general wishes to lead the army to destroy the pirates!"

He is a former general of the Leizhou Army, along the coast of Leizhou, the soldiers are good at water warfare, so it is most suitable for him to lead the army.But Zhao Dongting was thinking in his heart, if the pirates were wiped out like this, would the people behind the scenes still be able to surface?

However, if no action is taken against the pirates and they are allowed to continue doing so recklessly, Leizhou Prefecture's overseas trade will always be difficult to carry out.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Dongting nodded and said: "Okay, then General Liu will lead your army to wipe out the pirates!"

Although the real culprit behind the scenes is a big deal, in the end it only involves two treasure ships. Compared with people's livelihood, people's livelihood is naturally more important.

The Leizhou Mansion was plundered by Ge Lijun and the people were in dire straits. The court of the Southern Song Dynasty needed to revitalize the Leizhou Mansion's economy as quickly as possible.

The director of the Customs Department was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

He is in charge of the Customs Department, and his subordinates are just petty officials without soldiers.The pirates made troubles, and he could only look at the ocean and sigh. If Zhao Dongting didn't send troops to suppress the bandits, his work would not be able to be carried out, which would have a great impact on his political achievements.Before the Southern Song Dynasty, there was an evaluation system for officials. After Zhao Dongting came to power, he improved the evaluation system a lot. Officials like them also began to pay attention to their political achievements.

Zhao Dongting nodded and looked around the crowd, "Which Ai Qing has something to play?"

No one spoke in the hall.Now that the work of various ministries and divisions has started, there is no longer a large number of things to be performed like a few days ago.

Seeing that they were silent, Zhao Dongting said again: "Since you have nothing to play, I will tell you something. I plan to implement the land-to-household system in Leizhou Prefecture. Every household, rich or poor High and low, the land is redistributed according to the number of people, with an average of two acres per person. This matter will be handled by the Ministry of Agriculture."

In the Southern Song Dynasty, it was not that there was no excessive land system, but it was mostly unsuccessfully implemented.This is an old-fashioned problem in the imperial court, but it has never been solved.

Compared with issues such as education and trade, the land distribution system involves the fundamental interests of the big landlord class and is closely related to the common people. It is indeed a hundred times more difficult to implement.

All the ministers in the hall were shocked when Zhao Dongting said that the system of dividing land would be implemented, and then the state affairs order Lu Xiufu cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, when we first arrived in Leizhou, we may have rushed to divide the land at this time. The matter of dividing the land is involved. It is so wide that it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the nobles and gentry. During the reign of Shenzong, when the prime minister Wang Anshi reformed the law, he met with the opposition of the nobles and gentry, and finally nothing happened. Our foundation is not stable now. If the nobles of Leizhou Prefecture are dissatisfied, all kinds of future I’m afraid it will be difficult to continue working.”

Immediately afterwards, several officials from various ministries came out, each with their own opinions, but they all opposed the current implementation of the land division system.

After Zhao Dongting heard it, he said: "The world of the Song Dynasty is not the world of the nobles and gentry, but the world of the common people. I have already violated the interests of many nobles by cracking down on corrupt officials these days, and I don't care about offending their interests again. If they want fields, it’s ok, let’s rent the money from the farmers, so that the farmers will have food to eat, so they won’t have to work in those aristocratic fields for generations, and they can’t even have enough to eat.”

After a pause, he said again: "Of course, I didn't mean to suppress the nobles and gentry. My purpose is to let the common people have food. Only when they have something to eat can someone serve my Song Dynasty, and only In this way, the taxes of our Great Song Dynasty can be collected, instead of exploiting the lives of the common people as before."

Now that the situation is not stable and the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty is weak, Zhao Dongting doesn't want to offend those nobles too much.

"But……"

Lu Xiufu said: "The lands of those nobles and gentry are mostly obtained from rewards or purchases. How are they willing to hand them over?"

Zhao Dongting said indifferently: "I can give them the land, and naturally I can take it back. As for the purchased land, I just need to compensate them with some money."

As he spoke, he looked at Chen Jianghan, "Chen Shangshu, the treasures I brought over from Lin'an should be more than enough to reclaim the land sold in Leizhou, right?"

Chen Jianghan blinked and wiped the sweat that burst out of his forehead, "Yes, yes."

But he really wanted to say something, according to Zhao Dongting's defeat, no amount of jewels would be used up sooner or later, but he didn't dare to say it.

At this time, Deputy Minister of State Chen Wenlong stood up, "Your Majesty, what should we do if there are nobles and gentry making trouble?"

"make trouble?"

Zhao Dongting said: "If they cause trouble, they should be investigated and arrested. Tens of thousands of my soldiers are not free, and those nobles and gentry who behaved without morality can even confiscate their property to fill the national treasury. I don't believe that they can fight each other with their lives just by buying back their property."

Hearing this, the ministers in the hall felt a little trembling in their hearts.The emperor is afraid that the holy will has been determined.

But they were really a little moved.What the emperor said was right, if someone rebelled and caused trouble, he would send officers and soldiers to suppress it. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers would not even be able to control Leizhou Prefecture.Of course, because most of them are not from Leizhou, they are not deeply involved in this matter, and the distribution of the land will not suffer any damage, so there is no conflict in their hearts.

Although Liu Hongyi was the commander of the Flying Army in the past, he has always had righteousness in his heart, and he regards righteousness as more important than life.He didn't feel any distress when the emperor implemented the New Deal and wanted to take back their property.He was already thinking about how to persuade those commanders who had a lot of land at home when he returned to the barracks next time.

In order to win people's hearts, Mr. Ge Li had indeed rewarded a lot of land to civil servants and generals of all ranks in Leizhou Prefecture.

Seeing that Chen Wenlong didn't speak anymore, all the ministers clasped their hands and said, "Your servants will abide by the holy order."

Satisfied, Zhao Dongting continued, "When the land distribution system was implemented, the common people were promised to be exempted from taxes for two years, so that they would have enough money to farm. In addition, other taxes would be exempted if they could be exempted, and if not exempted, they would have to be greatly adjusted. The Ministry of State will draft a tax reform regulation and submit it to me within five days."

Lu Xiufu cupped his hands again, "I obey the order."

Chen Jianghan was in a hurry, the sweat on his forehead really came out, and he said: "Your Majesty, if the tax is reduced, then I will go to the finance..."

Zhao Dongting gritted his teeth and said, "No matter how difficult it is, we must persist in these two years to improve the lives of the common people. From now on, the imperial court will start with me, and all expenses in the palace will be halved."

The ministers were surprised.

Throughout the ages, there have been many licentious emperors, but there are definitely only a handful of emperors like Zhao Dongting who voluntarily reduced their expenses.

Everyone admired Zhao Dongting in their hearts, and shouted in unison: "The emperor is holy."

At a young age, Zhao Dongting knows the general idea, understands the sentiments of the people, acts decisively, and has a lot of wisdom, which really makes these ministers have great hopes for the court.

Two days later, Liu Hongyi led the original flying soldiers and hundreds of warships from Nandu River to Xiliu Ferry to fight against the bandits.

At the same time, Wen Tianxiang also led more than [-] soldiers of the Xingguo Army to set off as a whole army, preparing to rush to aid Guangxi.

General Ali Haiya of the Yuan Dynasty was ordered by Kublai Khan to pacify Hunan and Guangxi earlier. Today, Tanzhou folk righteous men Zhou Long, He Shier and others have been beheaded after defeat, and even Zhang Lieliang, the governor of Hunan, died fighting.Only a small group of forces in Hunan are still resisting the Yuan army. The vanguard of the Ali Navy has been banned in Guangxi. It will not take long for Guangxi to have a big battle.

Leizhou is next to Guangxi, and everyone in the imperial court knows that Guangxi must not fall, or Leizhou will be in danger.

Zhao Dongting personally sent Wen Tianxiang to three miles outside the gate of Haikang County.

The morning breeze is blowing, and the monarch and his ministers will say goodbye.

Although Zhao Dongting knew that Wen Tianxiang would leave, he was still reluctant at this moment.Historically, Wen Tianxiang's results have not been good.

He was defeated and captured, and would rather die than surrender, and was finally killed in Caishikou execution ground.

When he died, there was a deadly poem on his belt:

Confucius said to achieve benevolence, and Meng said to obtain righteousness.Only when righteousness is exhausted, so is benevolence.

What do you learn by reading the books of sages and sages?From now on, I have nothing to be ashamed of!
Zhao Dongting was worried that something would happen to Wen Tianxiang.Wen Tianxiang was called to Leizhou from Jiangxi at the beginning because according to the history books, Wen Tianxiang would be defeated in Jiangxi.Zhao Dongting asked him to lead the army to help, with the intention of guarding against Ge Lijun, but at the same time, he also intended to save Wen Tianxiang.

After all, he was still afraid that things would develop according to the wheel of history, like Zhou Long, He Shier, Zhang Lieliang and others died in battle.

However, at this time, only Wen Tianxiang had the highest prestige among the people among the ruling and opposition parties. If he was not sent, no one would be able to organize civilian forces to resist the Yuan army.

(End of this chapter)