I will be the master of Xuande

Chapter 807 Strong Han
When the merchants saw that Liu Jian invited them, they did not hesitate. After all, the old man in front of them looked elegant and kind, so they sat down.

These merchants were still little kids when Liu Jian ascended the throne. Now, with the passage of time, they can be said to be a generation that grew up in Liu Jian's dynasty. They probably know everything about Liu Jian's reign.

After all, these are things they grew up with.

The merchant named Li was the most eloquent. At that moment, he was seen in the hall, talking incessantly to everyone present about what had happened over the years, starting from the time when Liu Jian first ascended the throne, while the others supplemented his comments.

At that time, Liu Xie, the Duke of Shanyang, decided to vote for the election of a new emperor in the court. He then discussed ten candidates for the new emperor with the court officials and announced them to the world in writing.

The common people were very surprised at the court's move, but all the court officials and princes knew clearly that although there were ten people, there was actually only one real candidate.

The remaining nine were just tied up as accomplices.

The merchant surnamed Li said eloquently, "It is said that the nine Liu clan members who participated in the election with the emperor at that time all sent people to secretly contact the emperor and expressed that they had absolutely no intention of competing with him for supremacy. Of course, this is just a folk legend and there is no real evidence."

Liu Jian said with a smile: "Since it is a legend, it should have a source."

The merchant surnamed Li bowed and said, "The old man is indeed insightful, but in my opinion, although the current emperor is virtuous and ambitious, he is still a little behind the emperor emeritus. Our emperor emeritus is truly unprecedented!"

Liu Jian took a sip of wine and said, "My friend, please continue."

The merchant surnamed Li looked around and said, "Anyway, no matter what, the retired emperor undoubtedly became the new emperor, and Duke Shanyang abdicated. I heard that after Duke Shanyang went to his fiefdom, he lived a life of wealth, had many children, and never lacked food and drink. He died of illness seven years ago."

"And since the Emperor ascended the throne, everyone knows how much he has accomplished over the years. How much our Han population has increased, how much our territory has expanded, and how much our people's livelihood has improved!"

"So, the Emperor is the person I respect the most in my life."

These words aroused a lot of approval from the crowd.

"Yes, after the Emperor ascended the throne, he expanded the land measurement to the whole country, opened many academies, and thoroughly implemented the imperial examination. Thirty years later, there is no longer a family of wealthy and powerful people in the world who can only read. More and more people from poor families have become officials, and more and more ordinary people can read. There are more and more bookshops that print books. People all over the world have the opportunity to read various precious classics. They are no longer something that any family of wealthy and powerful people can own!"

"To say this, we have to rely on our Wuying Grand Secretary Yuan Chong!"

A merchant said in surprise, "It's strange. Yuan Daxueshi was born in the Yuan family. He was the father-in-law of the Runan Yuan family, which was the most powerful family in the country decades ago. However, he implemented the reform of the imperial examination system, vigorously promoted printing, and opened up the door to education to benefit the people... This is inconsistent with his position."

The merchant surnamed Li smiled and said, "Brother, you don't know. In fact, in the past few decades, the older generation has passed away one after another. Not many people know about this. Yuan Daxueshi lost his father when he was young and was adopted as a son by the retired emperor. Although he is the father-in-law of the Yuan family, his relative has never been the Yuan family, but the retired emperor!"

"Moreover, Yuan Daxueshi hated the old system of aristocratic families and was determined to reform it and open up more schools so that everyone in the world could have a chance to advance. I think Yuan Daxueshi lost his father at a young age because of the internal strife among the aristocratic families. Perhaps in the mind of the Daxueshi, abolishing the old system was his wish."

Everyone couldn't help but sigh when they heard this.

"There is also Cao Cao, the former enemy of the retired emperor. After he surrendered to the court, people in the world thought that the court would abandon him. Unexpectedly, the retired emperor had a unique vision and actually appointed Cao Cao and Liu Xuande to serve as governors of Jiangdong and Jingzhou together to implement the land measurement law. Then he popularized the new policy and popularized the land tax distribution throughout the Han Dynasty!"

When talking about this, everyone's eyes lit up.

Indeed, the issue of dividing the land tax by land has left an indelible memory for their generation.

Although Liu Jian had implemented the system of dividing the land tax into the head tax in the north in the past, to be honest, it was only in the early stages. He simply merged the head tax into the land tax and did not implement it in depth. After all, in troubled times, such a simple operation was enough to cause an uproar.

But after the country was pacified, he finally began to implement the land tax system in a comprehensive manner.

It was not simply a conversion of head tax into land tax, but a series of rectification operations.

This time, Liu Jian did not simply merge the head tax into the land tax, but completely abolished the concept of head tax.

He established a national law called "No additional taxes will be imposed on the increase of population", which fixed the total amount of population tax collected nationwide. Then Liu Jian found Cao Cao and Liu Bei and asked these two ruthless people to fully cooperate with him.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei tried to implement the policy of distributing the capitation tax on each acre of land in local areas, distributing the fixed total amount of capitation tax evenly among the acreage of land so as to integrate the capitation tax with the land. This was a complicated process and to implement it nationwide could be said to be a difficult task with many obstacles. Especially in the context of this era, it could only be done by a powerful person.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei were the people chosen by Liu Jian to shoulder this historical responsibility.

The full implementation of the land-based tax system is not a one-size-fits-all project and will take a long time, especially as the situations in each state and county are different.

In some places, land annexation is not as serious as in other states and counties, and there are many self-cultivating farmers. Especially in Hebei, after years of remediation by Liu Jian, the method of collecting taxes and labor service separately can be temporarily maintained. However, in some places, it is necessary to increase efforts and maintain a certain degree of flexibility.

In addition, with the deepening of the reform of equalizing the land tax, it can also mobilize the enthusiasm of farmers and handicraftsmen, weaken the feudal personal dependence relationship, liberate productivity, enhance population mobility, increase household registration, and reduce the number of unregistered households...

Of course, Liu Jian, Liu Bei and Cao Cao were also under great pressure because they were fully committed to implementing this national policy.

Cao Cao himself even experienced many assassination attempts. In the end, Cao Cao died in office in 220 AD. He spent the rest of his life promoting the new policies of the Han Dynasty. It can be said that Cao Cao played a huge role in the new tax system that has come to this day.

Ten years ago, before Liu Jian abdicated, he established Lingyun Pavilion in Chang'an, the capital, and placed the names of the officials who had made important contributions to the Han Dynasty in Lingyun Pavilion. Cao Cao was one of them...

But I saw that the merchants were all sighing.

"Cao Cao and Liu Bei, after the unification of the world, these two were the left and right arms of the emperor. Today, the Han Dynasty is still prosperous, the population is thriving, and the country is rich and the people are strong. This is really the work of these two people. It's a pity that they are both dead now."

The merchant surnamed Li said, "Yes, and both of them died in office. Cao Mengde died in Jingchu, and Liu Xuande died when he and Zhao Zilong went on an expedition to Yamatai."

"But speaking of it, that General Zhao Zilong is also an extraordinary man. The old generals around the retired emperor are all really amazing. General Guan led the pacification of the Northeast and the grasslands, General Zhang swept the Western Regions and his power reached the Qin Dynasty. And General Zhao Zilong and General Taishi Ci, in those years, led our Han fleet to expedition overseas, and pacified Yamatai, Ryukyu, and the South China Sea Islands..."

After hearing this, Zhao Yun, who was sitting next to Zhang Fei, puffed out his chest a little. He seemed quite proud of his achievements in overseas expeditions over the years.

Then, we listened to the businessmen commenting on the deeds of the heroes in Lingyun Pavilion one by one.

"Xun Wenruo, Jia Wenhe, Guo Fengxiao, Xun Gongda, these were the four pillars of the Grand Council and the Cabinet before Zhuge Kongming, and they all offered brilliant ideas!"

"Huang Zhong, Han Dang, Xu Rong, Gao Shun, Cheng Pu, Zhang He, Gao Lan, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang Ren, and Yan Yan have made great contributions in foreign wars over the past few decades. In particular, the two veterans Huang Zhong and Xu Rong led their troops across the mountains and destroyed the Linyi Kingdom to the south of the Han Dynasty!"

"Generals Gao Shun, Cheng Pu and others were also very powerful. They led their troops into Nanzhong and directly into the barren land. Didn't Sun Ce and other rebellious ministers die at the hands of General Gao Shun?"

When the name Sun Ce was mentioned, many people suddenly became excited. Even the owner of the tavern stopped working and listened to their chatter.

Obviously, they were very interested in this Han Chinese who had fled from Nanzhong to a tribe outside the country.

No wonder, Sun Ce is also a god in the hearts of the Han people.

A psychotic god.

After Sun Ce fled to the southwestern Han territory, he found that the land was barren and mostly inhabited by primitive tribes. There was no large-scale civilization yet. Sun Ce, who was considered a leader among the Han people at that time, could actually endure running away to live a barbaric life with the savages. Naturally, this made many Han people feel novel.

"That Sun Ce, in order to seek revenge, disregarded his country and the principles of loyalty and righteousness, and was willing to be a savage in the wilderness, wantonly disrupting our Han borders and repeatedly opposing the Han court. Although he is not a big deal, he is still annoying!"

A merchant said, "But isn't this also a good thing for the Han Dynasty? It is precisely because Sun Ce is outside the southwest wilderness that the Han Dynasty has an excuse to use military force against the barbarians. Now many tribes outside the southwest have also submitted to the powerful Han Dynasty. Our culture, goods, and books have a great influence on the barbarians there, and this is also due to Sun Ce."

"But the heroes of the older generation have passed away one after another. Who are the people in the court now?"

Zhuge Liang said: "You all know a lot about the older generation in the court, but you don't know that there are also many talented people in the court now!"

"The emperor today is wise and wise, worthy of being the son of the emperor!"

"There are also famous generals such as Guan Ping, Zhang Bao, Liu Kuo, Shen Zhi, and Tian Rong."

"The talented Jiang Wei, Deng Ai, Jia Kui, Wei Kai and others fought in the south and the north, and they were no less outstanding than the heroes of the older generation!"

After saying this, Zhao Yun beside him also said: "Especially the emperor's brothers, they are not ordinary people either."

"The current General Pingbei is the emperor's brother, Liu Yu. He used to follow General Zhang Yide and is now the best general of the Han Dynasty. He led his troops to the north and has expanded the territory by 5,000 miles, almost entering the extremely cold land."

"The emperor's third brother, Liu Zhi, is now assisting the government in the cabinet and focusing on people's livelihood. He was once a student of Xun Wenruo and has learned all his abilities. He can be called a famous prime minister of the Han Dynasty."

"As for the rest of the clan members, they are all extraordinary people. The future of the Han Dynasty is bright. You don't have to worry about it."

Seeing that the old men spoke with certainty, the merchants all nodded.

The merchant surnamed Li bowed to Liu Jian and the others and said, "May I ask who you are, old men?"

Liu Jian smiled and waved his hand, saying, "We are just passing by. We came to Zhuo County to sweep the graves and pay tribute to our relatives. As for those who are in their twilight years, it is better not to mention their names."

Afterwards, everyone stopped talking about court affairs and just drank.

After drinking, Liu Jian said to Zhao Yun: "Zilong, I am tired, I will go back to my room to rest... You arrange for your men to prepare, tomorrow, I want to go to the tombs of Xuande and Yunchang to pay homage."

"Here."

(End of this chapter)