A Millennium Aristocratic Family Starting from the Shang Dynasty

Chapter 564 It’s too easy to ruin a reform

In the twelfth year of Qianning, the reform was steadily advanced. The progress in Luoyang, Anyi, Jinling, Huai'an, Kuaiji and other counties is obviously much smoother.

After all, these are the places where the Wang family has the most branch clans and where the Wang family has been operating for the longest time. The imperial edict must of course be implemented.

The imperial court issued an edict to treat the people of the world well, promote a harmonious society, and let Daqian's destiny be passed on forever. Call on nobles and officials to implement benevolent governance, local powerful people must be in harmony with the local area, and the people must know the court's policies, understand and support the court.

Officials all over the world must follow the edict and reform laws and structures so that Daqian can continue to be glorious.

Confucian scholars shouted one by one that they should inherit the will of their ancestors, create a prosperous age of Qian Dynasty, and establish a harmonious society.

Luo Mang knew in his heart that there were always some people who would be reluctant to part with wealth and unwilling to share the benefits with the lower class people. So in addition to sending officials, he also sent a large number of embroiderers.

In his opinion, as long as enough embroidery envoys are dispatched, those officials will have to follow the court's orders. With the embroidered clothes envoys around, these laws can be implemented.

Moreover, he felt in his heart that with the previous counties as examples and through the successful experiences of these counties, people all over the world would understand the benefits of reform and restructuring. He has thousands of scholars as pioneers, support from the royal family, and the hearts of the people in the world. How could the reform fail?

Luo Mang did not think that this reform would fail. His reform policy could be said to be giving benefits to the people and winning the hearts of the people all over the world. King Wen once said at that time: The country is like a boat, and the people are like water. Water can carry a boat or capsize it.

Mencius also said that he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world.

It can be seen that the people's support in the world is the strongest. With the people's support in the world, how can the reform fail to succeed?

If Luo Mang can really unite the people of the world, then his reforms will indeed be invincible and no one can stop him.

But are the people of the world so easy to integrate? Not to mention this era, even thousands of years later in real history, in an era of advanced information, it is extremely difficult to integrate people's hearts.

People are wise and in an era where information transmission is convenient and fast, all kinds of rumors are flying all over the sky, not to mention this era of backward communication!

Unless you have a completely unreasonable destiny artifact in hand, don't even think about it.

Luo Mang remembered that he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world, but he forgot that King Wen also said that he is called the emperor, and he is the one with strong soldiers and horses.

Luo Mang's reform and restructuring were promoted throughout the country, and scholars all over the world were inspired by it. Those passionate scholars were willing to work hard for this ideal.

But there are also a large number of distinguished, powerful, and official families who are not willing to accept it. The world's scholars are in a turbulent mood. The powerful, noble, and noble families from all over the world dare not directly oppose it, but they are making small moves secretly.

Previously, when the new law of the imperial court was able to be implemented in the four counties, it was because the imperial army suppressed it from outside, and there were hundreds of scholars inside who personally served as officials and officials to implement the new law. Those people did not dare to act rashly.

But after reaching the whole country, the situation became different.

Although there were thousands of reformist officials in the imperial court, they were evenly distributed among the counties, with each county having no more than ten officials. There are at least five or six counties below a county. Even with the presence of these reformist officials, they cannot control the counties below.

In states and counties where the royal family had strong control, the implementation of reforms was relatively smooth. Even if some powerful people and nobles rebelled, the court could quickly put down the rebellion.

However, in some areas where roads were difficult to navigate and the power of the royal family was weak, the Dukes in the court could not imagine what the reform would eventually look like.

There are many counties in Daqian, because each county sent reform-minded officials to implement the reform. Therefore, with the promotion of these officials, these counties also started the reform.

These reformist officials did not have much power at their disposal, but they had to face counterattacks from local powerful, noble, and noble families.

These people are very smart, and they are not fighting against these reform officials. Because they know that no matter how well the court's laws are formulated, they still need to be implemented. If the superior wants to release the slaves, then they will release the slaves. As for how much to release, it is entirely up to them.

County magistrates, county lieutenants, and county magistrates are officials appointed by the imperial court, but the clerks and servants below are all locals. Most of these people are inextricably linked to the local powerful, noble, and official families. , or directly their people.

Now you want to reform the law and rely on these people to implement laws that are not conducive to the powerful, nobles, and official families. What do you think they will do?

A capable official can rely on the support of the court to keep the servants and scribes below him obedient, but how many such capable officials are there?

Even though these officials have been trained in previous counties for several years, it is still not easy to convince these people.

In Yuan County, Zhang Shu summoned hundreds of people including the county magistrate, county captains, scribes, and servants, and began to issue orders.

"The imperial court issued an edict to implement the reform. I, together with the county magistrate and county lieutenant, are here to implement the new law!"

"Pass the order and ask everyone below to act in accordance with the new law. Don't slack off, don't misinterpret the government order, and implement the new law conscientiously!"

"The imperial court is inventorying acres of land, inventory of all land in the county, and hidden fields. In addition to the land rewarded by the imperial court, all land including the land of powerful, common people, nobles, peasants, soldiers, and official families is being inventoried!"

"The land quantity will be redistributed after the arrangement is completed!"

"The imperial court prohibits merchants from buying and selling, seeking huge profits, and exploiting the people. Therefore, all goods in the county must be sold and sold according to the imperial court prices. Anyone who dares to violate the rules will have their property confiscated directly!"

"All fields must be recorded in the register, and all property and slaves must be recorded in the register. When the time comes, I and the county magistrate and county lieutenant will verify it."

After issuing the order, Zhang and Shu did not relax, but each led a group of people to execute it.

But how big is a county? Just how the three of them managed to cover everything.

It is a good idea to inventory the land, inventory the hidden fields, and then redistribute them. However, many acres in the hands of the powerful have not been inventoried at all. Instead, the acres owned by the common people have been inventoried. Even if the county magistrate goes there in person, he can only Inventory part.

As for those hidden fields, it is even more difficult to check them. The powerful and distinguished people directly asked their tenants and hidden people to be added to the distribution list, and some names were crossed out to obtain more land.

At the same time, the lower fields were changed to upper fields and distributed to the people, and the upper fields of the common people were changed to lower fields and distributed to the powerful.

With the cooperation of the subordinate officials, servants, and scribes below, 80% of the land in the entire county was occupied by powerful, noble, and official families, and the rest belonged to the common people.

It is even simpler for those who support merchants with powerful and powerful people. The price set by the government is too low, so these people simply stop selling it and directly tell them that it is out of stock.

For those merchants who have no background, they are directly forced to sell at a low price, and then they directly pay to buy it. If anyone dares to object, they will be confiscated directly in the name of resisting the new law.

There is no merchandise for sale, and the entire county cannot buy any goods. The people can't buy goods now even if they have money, and the people who are plowing the fields are soon informed by the police that their fields are now allocated to other people.

And those ordinary people either lost their fields or were assigned some barren land. Most counties and counties in the world have become like this.

(End of this chapter)