A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 529 The Rise of Confucianism

Li Xuan asked people to pack up the evidence, and then began to send people to monitor some key personnel.

Soon, as the army sent by the imperial court was about to arrive, Li Xuan first held a banquet, inviting the entire Tancheng governor, nobles and officials at all levels to attend the banquet, and then took advantage of the banquet while everyone was here , directly capture these people.

At the same time, the army from outside the city arrived and directly blocked the city, and then surrounded several government offices, residences of noble officials, and manors.

"Li Xuan, you are so bold, you dare to imprison the imperial officials and noble officials!"

"You are offended this time, but for the great cause of the imperial court, I have to do this. The evidence has been delivered to the capital. As for the consequences for you, it depends on what you have done." After Li Xuan finished speaking, he stopped. Pay attention to these people and turn around and leave.

Without the interference of these people, the court acted very quickly, and all the minor officials were arrested and interrogated. Soon the paperwork for Qingmiao Loan was clarified.

All these documents were assigned by the officials above, allowing these petty officials to operate according to normal procedures. However, the money and food loaned out in the end were not given to the common people, but were taken away by the nobles and powerful people in the city.

Originally, the money and food were not returned to the common people, but to the powerful nobles. These loan documents are used to make accounts and give an account to the superiors.

After all, according to the regulations of the imperial court, Qingmiao Loan must first deal with ordinary people, and there is a limit on how powerful and noble people want to borrow money. These people wanted to borrow more money and food, so they used this method.

It seems that the IOUs are loans from ordinary people, but in fact they are all loans from these nobles and powerful people. In order to reduce people's borrowing costs, guarantors were deliberately used to deprive those people.

Without a suitable guarantor, ordinary people would not be able to borrow Qingmiao Loans. Then these young crop loans were borrowed by nobles and powerful people. These noble and powerful people loaned the borrowed money and food to ordinary people on the condition of nine out and thirteen returns.

The money and food were provided by the court and then lent to the people. They directly received more than 40% of the income. When the people paid back the money, they directly returned the money and food to the court.

It can be said that these noble, powerful, and official families did not spend a dime. They only changed hands once and earned at least 30% more profit. The young crop loan given by the court is for one year, while the loan for the nobles and powerful men is every six months.

In other words, for a sum of money, these noble and powerful officials can lend twice, and the final income may reach as much as 70%, making them a perfect empty-handed person.

Moreover, these nobles not only lent money to the people, but also lent money to craftsmen's workshops, small businessmen, and other people in the city. Ordinary people cannot borrow Qingmiao loans because they have no connections and insufficient collateral, so they cannot find a guarantor.

Then these young crop loans were easily borrowed by those well-connected nobles, powerful people, and official families, and then loaned to the people who were in need.

The imperial court allocates a large amount of money and food every year. It originally wanted to provide convenience to the people, make them live a better life and reduce their pressure. However, these youth loans were taken out by those nobles and then turned around to make loan sharks.

In the end, instead of helping the common people lighten their burdens, the nobles, tycoons, and officials took advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune. For the officials of the Sinong Yamen, lending these young crops to the people is not only cumbersome work, but also troublesome to collect the loans. However, handing these loans to those nobles is not only quick and easy, but also convenient to collect the loans, so there is no need to worry. Bad debts can even be shared with a lot of benefits. Why not do it? It's simply a win-win.

If it hadn't been for a common man who suddenly came to take out a Qingmiao loan and someone happened to be a guarantee for him, no one would have noticed these transactions.

It's a pity that God's calculations are not as good as those of man. Qingmiao Loan here in Tancheng is doing so well that it is second to none in all parts of the country. How can the court not pay attention to it? Plus they are unlucky.

With enough people on hand, inventory becomes very simple. Conspiracy can only work in the dark. Once exposed to the sun, it will have no effect.

The imperial court's liquidation of these officials, nobles, noble families, and powerful people was carried out very quickly. After all, there was already a complete set of procedures for confiscating their homes. Tens of thousands of people were confiscated from their homes and exiled. Some were sent to Lelang County, and some were sent to overseas Ryukyu Island and Fuso Island.

It is easy to clean up these people, but the problem of continuing to issue youth loans to the people is still unresolved.

Just like a mortgage or a guarantor, if the court cancels it and a large amount of money and food cannot be recovered, what will happen if the court's youth loan loses a lot of money every year?

The Qingmiao Loan was issued by the imperial court, but since this fund was issued, it has rarely been subsidized, and it is entirely responsible for its own profits and losses. The court does not expect to make money, but it cannot be allowed to lose money.

But the current situation is almost an unsolvable problem in this era. The Confucian solution is to improve the moral standards of officials so that they can be selfless, just and fair, and never bend the law for personal gain. It seems that this requirement is very simple, but it is extremely difficult to achieve it.

Everyone has selfish motives, even those famous sages still have their own selfish motives. It is basically impossible to make officials serve the public and be selfless. Although it is not ruled out that some officials can do it, 90% of them cannot.

Although the imperial court was barely able to implement the legalist recommendations of establishing severe punishments and strengthening supervision, it would also cause officials to do as little as possible in order to prevent mistakes. After all, doing less would result in fewer mistakes, and not doing anything would be better. But this goes against the original intention of the court.

Other Mohists and Taoists have their own solutions, but they are also ineffective.

After seeing this situation, the royal family finally decided to use the methods of Legalism and Confucianism. On the one hand, it was restrained by law, and on the other hand, it was restrained by morality. As for whether it can succeed, the court doesn't know. It’s just that the development of Confucianism is getting better and better.

With the development of the times, even the imperial court still attached great importance to Legalism, but Confucianism also began to play an increasingly important role in the Daqian court. In the academy, Confucian and Legalist scholars have gradually become equal.

The imperial court immigrated to the border areas in large numbers to reduce population pressure in the Central Plains, and at the same time used these exiles to open up barbaric lands. Then after a few decades, when the development of this wild land matures, the imperial court will increase immigration, vigorously develop it, and incorporate it into the civilization of Zhuxia.

This seems to be a healthy development, but developing the wilderness requires a lot of casualties. How many people are willing to go? Now the imperial court's development can no longer keep up with the growth of the population, and this problem will become bigger and bigger as time goes by.

(End of this chapter)