Three Kingdoms: I will act as a substitute for the Hunjun

Chapter 99 The people are suffering too much

"A trivial matter?" Yuan Wei was a little confused. What trivial matter could be worth the serious crime of genocide of the Yuan family?

Liu Ming looked at the confused Yuan Wei and said with a smile: "It's easy to say. Situ must also know that refugees are everywhere and bandits are everywhere. One of the main reasons is that the life of the common people in Li is too hard. The rents are heavy and they can't make ends meet. , if there is a slight natural disaster, it will be difficult to survive. If you want to survive, you can only rebel."

Yuan Wei was even more confused. What did His Majesty want to say?
  "Therefore, I want to reduce rents and taxes, and divide the land into acres." Liu Ming continued, "To put it bluntly, all kinds of per capita taxes such as calculated taxes, household taxes, and replacement taxes will be cancelled, and the field tax can be increased to two At the same time, land rents in various places are strictly limited, and land rents that exceed the court's land tax are not allowed to be levied. In this way, the people still have 60% of the grain surplus, which is enough to have enough food and clothing."

"Of course, I have said so much to Situ just because I want Situ to make a speech to bring stability to the world and the livelihood of the people. I will remonstrate with you what I just said. The Yuan family is willing to set an example, that's all."

Yuan Wei took a breath of cold air. As a result, the big family members would lose more than half of their income every year, and the land rent would be reduced by more than half, as well as various taxes. In fact, all of them also deducted profits and water from them.

The key point is that if the tax is simply based on acres, the existing acres will inevitably be re-measured and registered, and the acres hidden by the family will inevitably be exposed.

"Your Majesty has a kind heart, but the matter is so important that I'm afraid the major families will inevitably oppose it, and there will be many obstacles to its implementation." Yuan Wei said sadly.

"You don't have to worry about others. I just ask you about the Yuan family's attitude." Liu Ming's voice became colder. "Don't think that maintaining the current tax system is a good thing. You know how much less taxes you have paid in these years. If I If we let you complete it all at once, I'm afraid you will lose half your life. I only want to ask you for the last time, is the Yuan family going to exterminate the clan, or is this a memorial?"

Seeing that there was no way to retreat, Yuan Wei had no choice but to kneel down and kowtow again: "I am willing to obey the imperial edict! But... will the Yuan family still need to pay back taxes in the future?"

"There is no need to make up payments! I just need you to take the lead in paying taxes strictly according to the new system."

"Are you still pursuing the matter concerning my nephew's highway?"

"As long as we can stop Dong Zhuo, we will no longer pursue him!"

"Your Majesty is a wise king. He is truly a wise king who has never been seen in the ages. He is a blessing to the country and the people." Yuan Wei kowtowed again, "I will leave one day later and set off again after tomorrow morning."

When Yuan Wei left Changle Palace, the cold wind blew, and he felt cold all over his body. His clothes were soaked with cold sweat, and then he let out a long breath. Although it would be a little tighter in the future, the Yuan family was finally saved.

Yuan Wei shook his clothes, strode away, left the palace and returned home to write a list.

Liu Ming also breathed a sigh of relief. After allotment of land, although the land rent and land tax combined were still not low, the burden on the people was significantly reduced. They were able to keep 60% of their income for themselves. This era is already pretty good.

The court cannot be too harsh. After all, in these troubled times, money is needed everywhere.

It's just that the imperial court's control over the world is weak now, and how much it can be implemented will definitely be at a discount for the time being. However, Liu Ming believes that as long as this policy is launched, it will be an excellent start. In the future, when he fully controls the government, , it’s not too late to implement thunderous methods.

What's more, now, he can already use some of his power.

……

Jian Shuo was enjoying the singing and dancing in the mansion and drinking wine.

He was very excited to get a windfall from the Yuan family through extortion today.

Eunuchs have been fighting against the aristocratic families for so long, but no eunuch has ever gained as much as he does now. The key is that the Yuan family has to bleed.

Thinking of old Yuan Wei's seemingly generous but actually painful expression, Jian Shuo wanted to laugh.

And the beauties dancing in the field now were brought back from Yuan Mansion.

This feeling was so good. Everyone in the house, except himself, got it from others. This feeling of possession made him feel so good.

At this moment, a steward came in and reported that it was Pan Yin who came to deliver His Majesty's oral instructions.

"Oh?" Jian Shuo was stunned. This substitute rarely came to him. He usually stayed in Changle Palace and asked him for instructions when he had something to do. Why did someone suddenly come to give him some instructions?
  "Let him come in." Jian Shuo said calmly, and the singing and dancing continued.

Soon, Pan Yin walked in and greeted him respectfully.

"What is your Majesty's instruction?" Jian Shuo asked.

"His Majesty said that the government cannot be abandoned now that the world is in chaos, so he ordered the palace to inform the ministers that the morning court will continue tomorrow." Pan Yin said. Jian Shuo frowned, what is this guy doing? Is the emperor addicted? How could anyone work so hard to go to court?

This style is very different from His Majesty's previous style. Has he forgotten his identity as a stand-in?
  He habitually wanted to get up and enter the palace to stop him, but thinking of the unhappiness between the two after the court ended today, Jian Shuo sat down again.

After all, we still have a cooperative relationship, so we can't control him too hard, otherwise accidents will happen easily. I just want to promote the court meeting one more time, so what if I satisfy him? I can just remind him that he doesn't need to be so frequent after the court meeting tomorrow.

Thinking of this, Jian Shuo didn't care. Instead, he rewarded Pan Yin with a seat and let him drink and watch singing and dancing together in the mansion.

Liu Ming's move also confused other courtiers. In the past, His Majesty only went to court once every ten days or even once a month. Why do you have to go to court every day now? If it rises again tomorrow, it will be three times in a row.

As the saying goes, what goes up leads to deeds. Emperor Ling was lazy in political affairs, and his officials also developed the habit of being lazy in government affairs.

Every time the court is held at Mao hour, which is around five o'clock in the morning, officials often leave their homes around four o'clock.

It doesn't matter if you go to court occasionally. If you go to court every day and get up so early every day, who among these officials can stand it?
  Suddenly the courtiers were suspicious and complaining, but they had no choice but to go to court on time.

……

The next day, everyone yawned and went to court.

Jian Shuo suddenly discovered that Yuan Wei was also in the court, and hurriedly approached him and said, "Yuan Situ, didn't you go to Hongnong?"

"Oh, I was originally going to go, but I received an instruction from His Majesty that the court would be held today, so I had no choice but to stay and attend the court meeting." Yuan Wei was worthy of being an old fox, and said with an innocent face, "The general knows something important. Do you want to go to court?"

"Hey, what's the matter?" Jian Shuo said disapprovingly, "It's nothing more than chaos in the west, chaos in the north, Dong Zhuo's chaos, and Yellow Turban chaos. Anyway, there are a lot of chaos. Does Situ have an important performance?"

"I was originally going to go on an expedition, so how could I have any important memorial." Yuan Wei said with a smile, "However, if there is nothing too important, we can't let the court be left alone, so we also prepared an emergency memorial. Play it by ear.”

"As expected of a veteran Zhushi, he is thoughtful." Jian Shuo praised sincerely. Although the two had many differences on government affairs, Jian Shuo still admired Yuan Wei's sophistication.

However, as the two of them whispered to each other, many courtiers looked over in surprise.

The aristocratic family and the eunuchs have always been incompatible with each other. They fought to the death both openly and secretly inside and outside the court. Why did Jian Shuo seem to be so close to Yuan Wei today?

Could it be that after the fall of He Jin, the family and the eunuchs reconciled?

There were many officials in the court who were dependent on Yuan Wei, and there were also many who were dependent on Jian Shuo, or even officials who were bought from Jian Shuo. At this moment, both groups were confused and didn't know how to get along with each other.

Now that the two leaders have reconciled, do we, the younger brothers, still want to fight? Suddenly I felt unsure.

At this moment, Liu Ming, accompanied by Pan Yin and Lu Qiang, entered the court, and all the ministers bowed in obeisance.

Liu Ming was sitting on the dragon chair, and then he said, "Everyone is at peace."

All the ministers stood up and returned to their ranks. Pan Yin shouted, "If you have something to do, report it early. If nothing happens, leave the court."

These are all procedural steps, and then everyone starts reporting important matters.

In fact, after two consecutive days of ascending to the throne, all the major issues that should be resolved have been resolved, leaving only some trivial matters that are not painful and not too complicated to deal with.

Shangshu ordered Lu Zhi to report that Huangfu Song had already set off to Yongliang to quell the rebellion, and Liu Yu had also left for Youzhou. The edict to Wang Yun and Cai Yong has also been issued.

Jingzhao Yin Gaixun reported that more than 15,000 troops from various prefectures around Luoyang City have been recruited and will be intensively trained tomorrow.

The Shaofu Qing reported that the Xiyuan Market and Xiyuan Swimming Pool are being demolished, but the valuable treasures have been counted and moved away and can be auctioned.

Seeing that the court meeting was coming to an end, Yuan Wei suddenly left the office and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I have my own report!"

(End of this chapter)