Great Han Empire

Chapter 1000 Chapter [-]
The third year of Yuanping in the Han Dynasty (205 AD), the first month.

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The first day of the first lunar month, the New Year's ceremony.

The eldest princess issued a decree in the name of the emperor to amnesty the world.

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On the third day of the first lunar month, Weiyang Palace and Qilin Palace.

Grand Sima Xu Rong convened a meeting of the Prime Minister and ministers.Prime Minister Li Wei formally proposed a reform strategy.

Tai Fu Yang Biao and Yushi Dafu Xun You had received letters from Prime Minister Li Wei many years ago. Knowing that the imperial court’s wealth crisis was very serious, they called government and Taiwan officials many times to discuss improvement strategies, and wrote down the details of the discussions. Sue Li Wei.After seeing Li Wei's restructuring strategy today, the two ministers were very surprised. They didn't expect Li Wei's move to be so big.

The "Salt and Iron Law" was rebuilt, and the two ministers agreed.In order to alleviate the crisis in northern Xinjiang, Li Hong tried every means to force the court to reopen the salt and iron. At that time, Luoyang's opposition was extremely strong, and Taiwei Cui Lie resigned because of this.The reopening of salt and iron is actually to encourage business, which severely hit the national policy of the Han Dynasty to emphasize agriculture and suppress business, and is very detrimental to the long-term stability of the country.

More than ten years later, when the big man climbed up from the ruins and walked towards Zhongxing with difficulty, the disadvantages of reopening the salt and iron industry were immediately exposed. The court had to change its course and once again proposed the policy of "emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business". This is a good thing. However, the two ministers raised doubts about the fact that the imperial court controlled the management rights of salt and iron.The imperial government's direct participation in business is tantamount to "respecting the end and suppressing the base", which runs counter to the national policy of "emphasizing the base and suppressing the end", and is not conducive to the continuous growth of the imperial court's wealth and national strength.There are historical lessons, and the facts in the past ten years have also proved that emphasizing agriculture is necessary, and encouraging business is also necessary. The benefits of doing business, one stick to kill the business, from one extreme to another extreme.

(Emphasis on the root and suppressing the end is an economic strategy proposed by legalists such as Li Kui, Shang Yang, and Han Fei during the Warring States period to emphasize agriculture and restrict or despise industry and commerce. Calling agriculture the "base" and industry and commerce the "end", and thinking that heavy agriculture must suppress commerce and prohibit the end, so as to ensure the absolute number of farmers and their enthusiasm for cultivating the land.)
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There is another important reason why Yang Biao and Xun You agreed to revise the "Salt and Iron Law", and that is to take the opportunity to attack the power of the northern Xinjiang faction.In the past, in order to survive, Northern Xinjiang obtained two privileges from the imperial court, reopening salt and iron and minting coins.After King Qin of Northern Xinjiang succeeded, he first handed over the minting rights.All salt and iron were released because of Emperor Xiaoling's edict, so this privilege no longer exists.After the reopening of salt and iron in northern Xinjiang, in order to raise funds for farmland and relief money and food, almost all the mining and management rights of salt and iron were sold out. Mining and operating rights were also sold.After the imperial court arrived in northern Xinjiang, they inherited this huge debt. In order to repay the debt and conquer, they then sold the salt and iron mining and management rights in the Central Plains and Guanluo area, and those who got these salt and iron mining and management rights The people are almost all the powerful families and merchants in northern Xinjiang.

Among them, Xu Ling and Qu Zhong in Guanzhong have the most control over the mining and management rights of salt and iron, followed by the Wei family in Hedong, the Wang family, Guo family, and Linghu family in Jinyang, the Tian family and Xianyu family in Youzhou, and the Cui family in Jizhou. .These people are all the great families, rich men and big businessmen of the northern Xinjiang clan. They are all prominent families of "officials, merchants and scholars", and they are all very popular figures in the court.

Amending the "Salt and Iron Law" will first damage their interests. The internal struggles in the Northern Xinjiang will be extremely fierce, but no matter how the Northern Xinjiang people kill each other, it is good news for other forces in the DPRK.

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The two ministers had reservations about the revision of "Tian Law".

Restricting land rents and fines are too involved, ranging from princes and aristocrats to ordinary officials and scholars, and even military elites, all of which have varying degrees of damage to their interests.The more fields there are, the greater the loss of interests.

Yang Biao pondered for a long time, and suggested: "Judging from the situation this year, the population of all regions is increasing, but due to the 20 years of war, the population has been lost by more than half. In a short period of time, the supply of land can still meet the needs of the population. In other words, the situation of land annexation has not been serious enough to affect the livelihood of the common people, on the contrary, the restriction of land and rent fines will cause shocks between the government and the public, which is not conducive to the stability of the state and county."

"The imperial court has always imposed very severe punishments on land annexation. The current land annexation is mainly hidden, and has not been made public or expanded. It is still within the control of the imperial court. Moreover, some land annexations are due to the need for rapid restoration of farming. It is different from malicious annexation of land, and the imperial court should carefully screen it out and not deal with it simply, one size fits all.” Xun You also persuaded, “Considering the direct impact of the land restriction on the interests of the military class, I suggest that it should be delayed.”

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"Why do I implore His Royal Highness the Princess to recall the governors of the states? It is for this reason that I also want to know whether the land annexation is serious enough to revise the "Tian Law"." Li Wei said, "But the actual situation is that the problem is very serious. .”

"Because of the 20 years of war, the population of the Han Dynasty has decreased. When the imperial court implemented policies such as 'dictation of land by dictation' and 'earth cuts', it was absolutely possible to ensure that the people in rich and narrow towns could get enough land for their livelihoods. , but the problem is, also because of the 20 years of war, some people have accumulated amazing wealth under the protection of the northern Xinjiang and the imperial court. How can this wealth be passed on? How can the value be maintained and increased? The only way to buy land is to Only land can keep their wealth relatively safe."

"The imperial court has a policy that forbids the acquisition of land, so what should they do? Suppress the price of grain, raise the price of farmers' necessities such as livestock, iron tools, and salt. Even if the farmers work day and night, they still have nothing. Selling to them, I would rather be a farmer or tenant farmer to survive."

"According to the new land system, the ownership of the land belongs to the imperial court, and farmers only have the right to lease the land. We thought that this would prevent land mergers. Who knows that there are policies in the imperial court and countermeasures in various places. Even without a single payment, the land lease rights in the hands of the farmers were taken away.”

"This is a form of land annexation in disguise. If this kind of thing cannot be curbed and allowed to develop, the imperial court's land rent will become less and less, and the price of food will become lower and lower. When the price of food in this dynasty is the lowest, it is filial piety In the reign of the Xuan Emperor, five coins and one dendrobium were used, but at that time the population was large, the income from oral taxation was high, and the income from the salt and iron official business was also high, and the country was stable, there was no war, and the court was rich in wealth. Now? Now the land rent It is the bulk of the imperial court’s wealth and income. What does the reduction of the imperial court’s wealth mean when the anti-insurgency war is still going on and the country is in ruins? It is self-evident. If we want to complete the great cause of ZTE, we must ask them If you bow your head, you have to borrow money from them. If you don’t have the money back, you have to give up the fight against land annexation, and you have to acquiesce in their annexation of land. What is the final result? It’s very simple, the court is getting poorer, and the money on credit is getting more and more , was forced to have no choice but to amend the "Field Law", sell the land ownership, sell the land to the farmers, and then sell the officials and nobles, in order to raise money to maintain the operation of the court and the expenditure of various state affairs."

"The land lease rights in the hands of farmers have been plundered by the rich, and the land has actually been controlled by the rich. When we sell the land ownership, it is tantamount to selling the land to the rich. These rich people spend almost no money. They obtained the right to lease a large amount of land, and then legitimately turned the land into their private property. What about the farmers? No matter how low the price of the land is, they have already lost the qualification to purchase the land, and they still have nothing. "

"We emphasize agriculture, emphasize agriculture, and say that agriculture is the foundation of the country, but what is the reality? In fact, farmers work hard all year round and have nothing, not even the land to live on. Is this the purpose of Dahan Zhongxing? "Li Wei became more and more excited as he spoke, and beat the case several times, "Where is our conscience? Where is our conscience? If the big man can go today, who will cultivate our food? Who will make our armaments? Who will give the court Paying taxes? Is this how we treat the common people who have shed blood and sweat for the revival of the Han Dynasty? Have our consciences been eaten by dogs?"

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The room was silent, and the ministers did not make a sound and remained silent.

"My lord, these are all your speculations. Although rich and powerful people from all over the world use various means to plunder the land lease and planting rights in the hands of farmers, according to the "Tian Law", these lands are still owned by the imperial court, not rich and powerful. Strictly speaking, this is not an acquisition of land."

Li Wei took out a few scrolls of bamboo slips from the pile of papers around him, and then replayed them on the case table, "This is the report of the governor of each state, you adults can read it. In fact, this is not my speculation. The land that has been robbed of the lease rights is becoming the private property of the rich and powerful in various places. The tide of land annexation is sweeping quietly in this special period. The debt-laden court cannot find effective solutions because of lack of wealth. I can only watch helplessly as the situation deteriorates step by step, at a loss."

"How did this happen?" Grand Sima Xu Rong asked in surprise, "After the Central Plains War ended, there was a wave of land enclosure and speculation in Qingyan and Yanzhou. Didn't the court punish it once? Does anyone dare to openly confront the court? "

"It's not that someone is fighting against the imperial court, but the imperial court triggered this wave of land annexation." Li Wei sighed.

"Although the imperial court is heavily in debt, the battle to counter the rebellion has to be fought, and the battlefields are getting farther and farther away, and more and more. In addition, Chang'an needs to be rebuilt, and Luoyang needs to be repaired. After the Western Xinjiang is defeated, the Great Wall in Hexi and the frontier passes in various places need to be rebuilt. , the counties in western Xinjiang need relief, all of which need food, materials, and corvée. When the price of food is tightly controlled by the imperial court, the prices of salt, iron, farm animals, etc. have skyrocketed, and even the price of hiring labor has also risen A lot. Farmers only have so much land, only so much output, and only so much income. The price of other things has risen, and the income and expenditure are seriously unbalanced. They have no way to survive. There is an upsurge of Quanhe lending money to sub-money merchants (usurers) on credit, and this upsurge is accompanied by another upsurge, that is, abandoning land to do business or work as a helper."

"The farmers worked hard in the fields, but they could not make any money, and even endangered their survival. In desperation, some of them became tenant farmers and hired farmers, some of them worked in the workshops, and some of them sold the land for rent. The money from planting rights or loans on credit is used to do small business in the mall. Over the years of wars and city reconstruction, the consumption and trafficking of materials have been very large, and there are many workshops and malls in various places. The city is profitable, and there are many people who abandon their fields to start business."

"If no one cultivates the land, or if there is a serious shortage of manpower, the food production will decrease. The government offices in various places will bear the brunt of the food production reduction. In order to raise food, the imperial court has issued quotas to the government offices in various places in the past few years. It cannot be completed. The prescribed number will be dismissed from office at least, or imprisoned at worst. In desperation, local officials had no choice but to take out their privileges and use all the land that had been sold and left uncultivated as reclaimable (can be reclaimed) The land cultivated but with very low income) was sold cheaply to the rich and powerful, and asked them to hire people to cultivate it, so as to ensure that they could complete the grain ration issued by the court. The rich and powerful got the land they dreamed of at a very low price without any effort .”

"This kind of situation has already started a few years ago, but the imperial court acquiesced in order to make all the land produce food and to take care of the actual difficulties of the local governments, but this year, this situation has become rampant. In some places, the rich and powerful and the government officials colluded with each other and tried every means to seize the land in the hands of the farmers; in some local officials, they even bought the land in the hands of the farmers in the name of the government in order to increase the distribution of land and seek personal benefits for themselves and their subordinates. "

Li Wei looked at Xu Rong, Yang Biao and others, and shook his head again and again, "This is the status quo. Do you want to limit land rents? Do you want to impose heavy taxes on business? Do you want to increase the price of grain immediately?"

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Yang Biao sighed bitterly, "Zhong Yuan, I know that it is difficult for you to be a prime minister, but you should not attack princes, nobles, powerful and rich people in order to ensure the interests of farmers, especially this land penalty rent also involves the interests of the military class. "Yang Biao glanced at Zhang Yan with a stern expression, and then said, "During the reign of Emperor Xiaoai, Prime Minister Kong Guang, together with ministers Shi Dan and He Wu, proposed a policy of restricting land and slaves, which stipulated that princes, kings, princes, Princesses, Marquises of Guannei, Li (officials), and people (generally wealthy and merchants) should not occupy more than [-] hectares of land. This memorial was strongly opposed by the court and had to be shelved later.”

"From our point of view, Kong Guang's limit of 186 hectares of land is quite loose, but if you look at the regulations promulgated in the second year of Lu Hou ([-] BC) based on military merits and other identities. Tian Shouzhai's "Two Years Law", you know that the amount of limited land is too low. The "Two Years Law" promulgated in the second year of Empress Lu is actually a famous land system. According to legend, it stipulates that the Marquis level includes Chehou and Guanneihou. In addition to the feudal city, Chehou also receives [-] homesteads. The chief concubine can receive [-] hectares of land and [-] homesteads, and the lowest Zuo concubine can also receive [-] hectares of land and [-] homesteads. From this we can see how many people's interests will be damaged by his limit on the amount of land. How big will the resistance be? The attack surface is too large.”

"It's the same with your land restriction and rent penalty today. The amount of land restriction you proposed is [-] hectares, and after the Central Plains War, the imperial court awarded [-] hectares of land to officials with a rank and salary of [-] shi. The Guanzhong War, the Luoyang War, In the Western Xinjiang War and the Yuzhou War, the imperial court rewarded meritorious soldiers with farms and houses. If there is no accident, ordinary generals and schools in the army now have at least [-] hectares of land. How can you get the imperial court with this limited amount of land? The consent of the Chinese ministers?"

The imperial court had no money, so it could only award land to those who made military achievements. It happened that the population had plummeted and there was a lot of barren land. Therefore, after the end of the Central Plains War, the imperial court also formulated the reward law based on the "Two Years Law" in the early years of this dynasty. It is the "famous land system" that began with the Shang Yang Reform. The famous land system is the basis of the military meritorious system. The ordinary military meritorious class will quickly become rich if they have land, and those with outstanding meritorious service will gradually become high-ranking families.

Yang Biao, as a powerful family, of course would not agree to the policy of restricting land and renting fines, but he couldn't directly oppose it, so he immediately passed the contradiction to the military class.

Zhang Yan remained silent.He and Xu Rong have seen Li Wei's restructuring strategy long ago, and it is very difficult to implement. If he wants to succeed, he must "take advance as retreat, step by step", otherwise he will definitely fail.This is a pure conflict of interests, just like buyers and sellers haggling in a market. Buyers and sellers have to bargain until both parties make tolerable concessions and reach an acceptable price, and the transaction will be successful.

For this purpose, Li Wei carefully designed three restructuring plans, and the one presented today is the one with the highest asking price and the most stringent conditions.

"Where is the Taiwei? What's your opinion?" Seeing that Zhang Yan was silent, Yang Biao simply pointed it out, and asked directly, "The generals and captains of all ministries fought bloody battles and even died on the battlefield for the rejuvenation of the great man. Why? What the imperial court did will chill their hearts. The chariot general is still alive, and the imperial court will bully his widow and orphan, isn't that too inhumane?"

"For what? To live, to stop eating human flesh." Zhang Yan sneered, "Master Qu Yi shrouded his body in horse leather, is it for money? To make the people lose their fields, be displaced, and suffer from hunger and cold? I believe that if Master Qu Yi is still alive, he will I will support the Prime Minister’s policy of reforming the system, and support the imperial court’s decision to limit land and fine rent.”

Yang Biao's smile froze, very embarrassed.

"This is just a proposal from the Prime Minister. It needs to be discussed at the court and the opinions of all parties are sought. Don't worry, take your time, take your time..." Xu Rong hurriedly smoothed things over, "For other proposals on the restructuring policy, Do you have any other comments, Lord Taifu?"

Yang Biao snorted coldly, unwilling to say any more.

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"Lord Xun, what do you think about the policy of worshiping nobles in millet?" Xu Rong smiled slightly, then turned to ask Xun You.

"Worshiping millet into the millet first began in the Great Qin Dynasty. In the fourth year of Qin Shihuang (243 BC), there was a great epidemic in the world. The first emperor ordered that anyone who donated a thousand stones of millet to the court should be worshiped at the first level. This dynasty is the dynasty of Emperor Xiaowen. Chao Cuo, the official censor, first proposed it to solve the problem of land annexation. Today, the Prime Minister has re-introduced this strategy to curb land annexation, which is indeed a good way."

"However..." Xun You paused for a moment, then continued, "From the perspective of suppressing business, I am opposed to allowing merchants to import millet into officials."

"Businessmen seek profits, and they deceive farmers the most. Farmers earn most of their income from grain and millet. In order to pay taxes, they have to sell grain and millet. To whom? Merchant. What price does the merchant charge? He wants to get money, It is necessary to keep the price as low as possible. When farmers encounter disasters and need money urgently, merchants are even more despicable and shameless. They often take advantage of their danger to plunder the farmers’ property at the lowest price. If the farmers have nothing to sell, they have to borrow money from them ( Usury), which is often the most direct reason why farmers end up in the situation of selling their children and selling their daughters and ruining their families.”

"So, I think Mr. Chao Cuo was right when he said that those rich people without city registration should be allowed to enter the officialdom, and then the court will reward them with titles. If they are guilty, they can be exonerated. Farming to obtain wealth, but these people's status is low, their wealth is not very large, and their influence in the local area is very small. Although they have food in their homes, they are generally unwilling to sell it because the price is too low and it is not profitable. If the imperial court orders If they can use titles and immunity rights to buy millet, their family’s millet will have a way out. The rich have titles, their status has improved, and their power has increased, so they can annex and occupy the interests of merchants to a certain extent.”

"Compared with businessmen, these people can understand and understand the hardships of farmers, and they also know that the existence of farmers is the source of wealth accumulation, so they exploit farmers better and will not drive farmers to a dead end. Selling millet to the rich, and selling properties and borrowing money to these rich people in case of disaster, on the one hand, can reduce the exploitation of merchants, and on the other hand, can improve their living environment, and the merchants lose their exploitation. Farmers' opportunities, wealth accumulation and strength will naturally gradually decline."

Xu Rong, Zhang Yan and others nodded repeatedly.

"Master Xun's suggestion is good, this suggestion is good." Li Wei also praised repeatedly.

There are many wealthy people in various places, and some of them enjoy various privileges of exempting tax and service because of their special status, including officials above six hundred shi (middle-level officials), and jazz people above the ninth rank and five doctors. The improvement of their status will help them increase their wealth and power, help them compete with merchants, help farmers keep their land, and help the stability of the community.

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"What about the "Law of Credit Loan"?" Li Wei asked, "Ziqian merchants are only interested in profit, and they don't care about the life and death of poor people. In order to stabilize the country and appease the people, it is necessary to let local governments intervene in credit loans to ensure the survival of poor farmers to the greatest extent. .”

"Wang Mang implemented the New Deal back then and instituted a "Five-percentage Credit Loan Law". It is very helpful for poor people who offer sacrifices to funerals, etc. After all, they do not need to pay interest on credit from the government for these things, but if they fail to repay the principal after the due date, they will be punished as criminals, and the punishment is very severe.”

"The people borrow on credit because they are poor. It is difficult to repay the debt in a few months or even a year. In desperation, they use their lives to repay the debt. In addition, the government is corrupt and the officials are corrupt. A large part of credit loans went into private pockets, and even became a weapon used by the government to attack credit borrowers and plunder their wealth. "It quickly became a decoration."

Li Wei's face showed displeasure, "Master Xun, what you mean is that the "Credit Law" I drafted is just a decoration?"

Xun You smiled lightly, his eyes full of sarcasm.

Li Wei couldn't take it anymore. He exhausted his efforts to write a "Credit Law", but in Xun You's eyes, it turned out to be just a bunch of useless pieces of bamboo, "Then according to Master Xun, the court should let the poor Is the person left to fend for himself?"

"In your opinion, the "Credit Law" may be able to seize the interests of Ziqian merchants, but in the eyes of those poor people, the government and Ziqian merchants are equally terrible cannibals. The only difference between the two is that the government He is a ferocious tiger, while Ziqian Shangjia is a ferocious wolf."

"You..." Li Wei was so angry that he opened his mouth to fight back.

"Officials, clean and honest administration is fundamental." Xu Rong immediately stood up, "Prime Minister, I think you should think carefully about it. If the conditions are not ripe, this "Credit Law" will be released temporarily."

Li Wei blushed with anger, wishing to smash Xun You's old face with a punch.

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On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Grand Sima Xu Rong convened a meeting of ministers and ministers in the Qilin Hall and officially announced the restructuring.

Prime Minister Li Wei explained the reasons for the restructuring in detail, and came up with a strategy for the restructuring.

The debate has been very intense from the very beginning, mainly centering on the official operation of Yantie and the restriction of land rent.Supporters and opponents hold their own opinions and refuse to give in to each other.

Cui Yan, the imperial servant, angrily reprimanded Li Wei in court, "The prime minister is a thief who brings disaster to the country, and he should be divided into five horses."

Wei Wei Yang Feng pointed at Li Wei and shouted sharply, "Li Wei is the one who messes with me."

Li Weili ignored them, argued with the opponents, and his voice became hoarse.Zong Zhengqing Zhang Fan, Da Hongyu Yuan Yao, Shao Fuqing Xu Jing, Ting Weiqing Chen Qun, Guanglu doctor Xin Ping and other ministers surrounded him, attacking him one after another.

Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Grand Sima Xu Rong hastily announced a suspension, "Ministers, go back and think about it carefully, and we will discuss it tomorrow."

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In the early morning of the ninth day of the first lunar month, hundreds of merchants in Chang'an gathered outside Prime Minister Li Wei's mansion, making a fuss and smashing the gate of the mansion.

Li Wei had no choice but to leave the mansion through the side door and hurried to Weiyang Palace.

Argue, or argue.

47 ministers joined forces to impeach Prime Minister Li Wei, and the momentum was astonishing.

The eldest princess was shocked, and under the escort of He Feng and two thousand soldiers, she rushed to Chang'an City overnight.

On the tenth day of the first lunar month, the eldest princess presided over the court meeting in the front hall of Weiyang Palace, officially expressing her attitude, "If the big man wants to rejuvenate, the national policy must be revised, there is no doubt about it."

"On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, hundreds of ministers, great scholars, merchants and rich people are invited to gather in the Qilin Hall to discuss the grand plan of ZTE."

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In the early morning of the [-]th day of the first lunar month, Prime Minister Li Wei was assassinated on Zhichengmen Avenue.

Seven assassins roared up, the guards were caught off guard and counted down. Fortunately, the right guard general Zhao Yun went up with him in the same car, otherwise the prime minister's life would be in danger.

Zhao Yun executed three assassins in succession, and escorted Li Wei into Weiyang Palace.

The eldest princess was furious when she heard the news, and reprimanded Weiwei Yang Feng, Jingzhao Yin Yupeng, Sili school captain Zhang Liao, and Chang'an commander Sun Ping for neglecting the guards in the capital, and ordered the four to find out the mastermind immediately and punish them severely.

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