Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 277 Read
With the disintegration of the gentry, there is no longer any obstacle to the implementation of the Xintian Fu Law. Although the Shiqing group headed by Shusun Guan is not hesitant, they cannot reverse the general trend of change. In the next few days, more than 400 people who had resigned from office The gentry returned to their respective positions one after another, and Xiang Zhuang did not embarrass them because of their threats.

Xiang Zhuang's generosity earned the gratitude of the gentry. After they returned to their posts, they began to fully cooperate with the work of clearing the land led by the Guardian School and Lieutenant Department. It only took less than half a month to clear the land. .

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Chu Palace, go to the study room.

Bai Lixian brought Che Shi, the lieutenant of the guardian school, into the palace overnight to meet him.

"Your Majesty, the clearing of the land in the whole country has already come to fruition. There are 68 counties under the jurisdiction of Wu County, Danyang County, Kuaiji County, Lujiang County, and Jiujiang County, with a total of more than 1000 acres of cultivated land! Among them, 300 acres of fertile land yield more than two stones per mu. More than 200 mu, more than 90 million mu of mountainous land with a yield of less than half a stone per mu, can collect more than [-] stones in land tax!"

Zi Cheshi took the field Fu booklet and explained it to Xiang Zhuang word by word.

"Oh, more than 90 stones?" Xiang Zhuang was overjoyed when he heard the words, and said again, "How long will it take to collect it?"

Originally, I thought that there would be only 60 Shi Tian Fu at most, but I didn't expect there to be more than 90 Shi!If the more than 90 Shitian Fu can be collected in time, it will really solve the urgent need for the treasury's embarrassment. At that time, not only can the loans of the major families be repaid in time, but also the salaries of officials at all levels can be paid in full. Slight surplus.

Bai Lixian shook his feather fan and said with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, we should be able to collect all of them before the end of the year." According to the calendar of the Qin Dynasty, October was the first month, and the end of the year was the end of September, and now it is the first ten days of September. , At most 20 days, more than 90 Shitian Fu can be sent to Taicang, Wuzhong.

"Hmm." Xiang Zhuang nodded happily, and said to Master Zi Che, "General Zi Che, you have worked hard."

Master Zi Che hurriedly bowed his hands and said, "As a minister of the Chu Kingdom, it is my duty to serve the King."

Xiang Zhuang smiled slightly, and looked back at Xiang Ta: "Zi Yi, immediately promote the law-protecting school's lieutenant, Che Shi, to be the law-protecting general!"

"Here." Xiang Ta responded generously, while Zi Che Shi hurriedly knelt down on one knee and thanked Xiang Zhuang: "Thank you, my king!"

Xiang Zhuang turned around and went back to the chief seat, and signaled Xiang Ta, Bai Lixian, and Zi Che Shi to take their seats with austerity, and then said: "Zi Yi, Zi Liang, the implementation of the Xintian Fu method is very smooth, and the effect is also very obvious. So next, should we implement the Law of Rewarding Farming and Fishing Merchants?"

According to Xiang Zhuang and Bai Lixian's plan, the reform of Chu State is mainly divided into three steps.

The first step is to implement the law of household registration, which liberates a large number of private households privately held by aristocratic families, gentry, and clans, making them directly under the central government's jurisdiction. In the process, by the way, the clan forces in the counties, especially the Jibei counties, will be resolved, and a major hidden worry of Chu State will be relieved.

The second step is to clear up the land of the whole country and implement the new land tax law, so that the aristocratic families, gentry and common people can receive taxes together. While greatly expanding the source of treasury and endowment, it will greatly weaken the influence of Jiangdong aristocratic families and gentry, so as to strengthen the Chu State. The centralization of power puts the counties and counties directly under the strong control of the royal power.

The third and most important step is to reward farming and reading business!

Xiang Zhuang really admired Daqin’s plowing and warfare system, but he never thought of following it in its entirety. As early as in Guanzhong, Xiang Zhuang had discussed with Bai Lixian that he wanted to add a reading character in the middle of the plowing and warfare system to make Daqin The system of farming and warfare in Dachu has become the system of farming and reading warfare in Dachu, but now, the word Shang has to be added.

The farming and warfare system of the Great Qin Empire was actually not perfect, and even somewhat deformed.

The Great Qin Empire, which followed the farming and warfare system, was only passionate about two things. One was farming, and the other was fighting. Under the temptation of military achievements and titles, the people became war madmen, and the country became a huge war machine. , so Qin's army can fight stronger and stronger, and there is no worry about lack of military supplies, so Qin can wipe out the six countries in the Kanto region and dominate the world.

If it hadn't been for the violent death of Qin Shihuang, and if it hadn't been for the perverse actions of the second Huhai and Zhao Gao, the Great Qin Empire, which pursued the farming and warfare system, would continue to expand outward. With the emergence of larger-scale foreign wars, what kind of territory the Great Qin Empire will eventually lay down, only God knows.

However, even if the Great Qin Empire conquered the entire Asian continent, it would definitely not last long, because in order to maintain the momentum of external expansion, the Qin Empire, while vigorously rewarding farming and warfare, also severely restricted the development of commerce, science, and culture. A civilization If the prosperity of commerce, science, and culture is lost, it will definitely not last long.

Without the prosperity of commerce, there will be no material abundance, and the country will not be rich.

Without the prosperity of science, there will be no progress of civilization, and it will invite the invasion of powerful enemies.

Without the prosperity of culture, there will be no national identity, and the country will easily disintegrate.

Therefore, Xiang Zhuang needs to add the words "read" and "shang" to the plowing war system to become a plowing war reading business system!

Needless to say, Gengzhan, rewarding reading is not to encourage scholars to study hard and to study poorly, but to encourage scholars to learn from others and study hard. This will inevitably lead to cultural prosperity and cultural prosperity. Prosperity will inevitably lead to the rapid development of astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry, medicine and other disciplines.

As for rewarding commerce and trade, it is to make the country richer. Only when the country is rich can it have sufficient financial resources to support large-scale external expansion. Switch from copper standard to silver standard, or gold and silver double standard.

In ancient China, there were no commercial civilizations such as Western ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, and ancient Babylon. The most important reason was that the copper standard system severely restricted commercial behavior. You can imagine that in ancient times without money houses, a businessman would go to When doing business in other places, if there are no gold and silver coins, how many carts of copper coins does he have to carry?
Therefore, it was not until the Song Dynasty that silver taels were designated as legal tender that China's commerce really prospered.

In short, what Xiang Zhuang wants is to maintain the power of the farming war system for external expansion as much as possible, and at the same time release the constraints of the farming war system on the progress of civilization as much as possible. There is an absolute principle of not being rich and not developing without science. Therefore, these hands must not be left behind, and they must be tough!
Bai Lixian hesitated a bit, and said in a low voice, "My lord, should you take it easy?"

It needs to be known that the Wei Yang Reform during Qin Xiaogong’s period took a full 20 years to complete the implementation of various laws and regulations, while Chu State only took less than a year to implement two batches of new laws in a row. Immediately, the third batch of new laws will be implemented, which is really a breathless effort, and the state of Chu may not be able to bear it.

Among other things, once this third batch of new laws is implemented, it will offend many powerful veterans in the army.

These powerful veteran generals are no easier to deal with than clans, gentry, and aristocratic families, because they hold military power in their hands!
Once these powerful veterans join forces with the gentry, aristocratic families, and the remnants of the clan, it is no joke. Otherwise, Jiangdong will fall into chaos, and the current good situation will be destroyed in an instant.

Xiang He also said: "Your Majesty, it is best to wait for two years before the aristocratic families, gentry, and common people get used to the first two batches of new laws, and when they understand the benefits of the new laws and completely let go of their resistance to the new laws, then implement them." It’s not too late for the third batch of new laws, otherwise, once all kinds of hostile forces unite to make trouble, things will be bad.”

"That's right." Xiang Zhuang said with a smile, "I'm impatient."

Seeing that Xiang Zhuang didn't insist, Bai Lixian and Xiang Ta could not help but breathe a long sigh of relief.

At this moment, Xiang Zhuang faintly heard a strange sound, turned around and said, "Come out."

As soon as the words fell, an ebony dead man came out from the shadow of the corner of the study, bowed his hands to Xiang Zhuang and said, "Your Majesty, the chief executive has a secret message!" After finishing speaking, the ebony dead man spit out another wax ball from his mouth come over.

Xiang Zhuang took the lawan and squeezed it lightly, then took out a small paper roll from inside, and after unfolding, it turned out to be a thin high-grade public transport paper, Qu Bucai, the chief executive of Wumuya, wrote all over the thin paper with a quill pen. The tadpole-like small characters, which are carefully identified under the light, are the detailed provisions of the new white ink law that Qu Bucai transcribed.

"The provisions of Baimo's new law?" Xiang Zhuang's heart tightened, and he said, "Is Liu Bang going to change the law at last?"

Now, not only Chu State is determined to reform, Huainan State, Qi State, Liang State, Zhao State, and even small countries like Yan State and South Korea are also reforming. Speaking of it, it seems that there is no movement in Linjiang State.

"Junyao service, Pingsu Fu?!" After reading a few more lines, Xiang Zhuang suddenly exclaimed.

Hearing this, Xiang Ta and Zi Che Shi looked at each other, although Zi Che Shi was the captain of the Dharma Protector and had just been promoted to the Dharma Protector Zhong Lang, but he really didn't understand what was going on with Jun Yao's service and Ping Shu Fu, but Bai Lixian looked at him face to face. Showing shock, he said in a deep voice: "Jun Yao's service, Ping Shu Fu? Your Majesty, this is probably the gist of Bai Mo's new law, right?"

Xiang Zhuang didn't answer, but read the secret letter carefully and attentively.

After a long while, Xiang Zhuang finally let out a long sigh, then handed the dense density to Bai Lixian, and said: "This Bai Mo is really powerful, he is going to do a lot of money and a whip!"

Xiang Zhuang always felt a little familiar when he saw that short essay on Bi Shu's law examination paper that day. Looking back now, it turned out to be the original version of the general outline of a whip method and a piece of paper. Xiang Zhuang studied science in high school. History does not require a college entrance examination, so I only dabbled in the method of a cane and the law of sharing, so I couldn't think of it at the time.

However, after seeing the provisions of the new white ink law provided by Qu Bucai, Xiang Zhuang also recalled that a whip method and sharing of Ding into Mu are big killers, especially this Ding Ding into Mu will greatly increase the population. growth of!Thinking of this, Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but feel a little heavy. With the reform of Baimo in the Han Dynasty, the population surge and the national power surge are just around the corner.

(End of this chapter)