Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator.

Although with the increasing importance of power and position, many decisions could no longer be made based on Li Ji's personal preferences for the sake of the country.

If possible, Li Ji would rather spend all his time at home with his beloved wife, enjoying the laughter of his children, instead of constantly worrying about the affairs of the thirteen states of the Great Han.

But the current situation of the Great Han has developed to the point where the fate of the entire thirteen states rests on Li Ji's shoulders.

A warrior with the strength to lift a tripod is called a hero.

A wise man who schemes for the world is called a sage.

However, Li Ji also had his own joys, sorrows, and angers, and as a teacher, he had witnessed the grievances that Guo Jia had suffered.

In the past, the Guo family of Yingchuan believed that Liu Bei and Li Ji, who only controlled a single commandery, were not worthy of their association.

Looking at it again after a few short years, how much does the Guo family of Yingchuan see Li Zikun as he was before?

Guo Jia was humiliated by the Guo family of Yingchuan, kicked out of the family tree, and forced to establish his own branch. With a mere stroke of his pen, Li Ji would make the Guo family of Yingchuan bow their heads to Guo Jia.

Furthermore, if one were to stand entirely on the side of the common people, even if nine out of ten aristocratic clans were exterminated, there would definitely be some who slipped through the net.

From Li Ji's perspective, all the aristocratic clans in the world, except for those whose interests were completely tied to Liu Bei, were the same whether they lived or died.

This was the overwhelming trend that Li Ji had designed for the Great Han, and it was bound to sweep some aristocratic families that had gone through the stage of barbaric development onto the beach.

Li Ji didn't really care which aristocratic families were swept onto the beach.

It was like the waves would not hesitate or stop because fish were stranded on the beach.

The destruction of some aristocratic families was only because it was necessary.

To make a selection instead of randomly picking a bunch was already merciful enough of Li Ji, who didn't want to see some aristocratic families with decent conduct decline.

The reason why he paid special attention to the Guo family of Yingchuan was only because Guo Jia was Li Ji's disciple.

And Li Ji's answer might have intentionally remained superficial, but the extremely intelligent Zhuge Liang had obviously begun to realize what was going on.

To stay or to leave, it all depended on Li Ji's decision.

Li Ji was actually secretly entrusting the fate of the Guo family of Yingchuan to Guo Jia, who had recently returned to Shouchun from Youzhou, to make the choice.

Li Ji didn't care about the Guo family of Yingchuan's regret or gratitude, but Guo Jia, who was closely related to the Guo family of Yingchuan, might need their regret or gratitude to resolve the knots in his heart from his youth.

"If Senior Brother Fengxiao knew of Teacher's good intentions, he would surely be moved," Zhuge Liang said with emotion.

"Smart aleck."

Li Ji said unceremoniously, instructing Zhuge Liang to sort out those aristocratic clans that had been marked as "Leave", and then set aside those that were temporarily undecided.

For this part, Li Ji still needed to make further considerations and judgments based on the information from the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Although in terms of the overall situation, the impact of which part to leave or stay was not significant, Li Ji naturally wanted to do things as properly as possible, so as not to leave obvious troubles for future generations.

Of course, how to "Leave"?

This also needed to be handled quite properly, so as not to give others a pretext.

And Zhuge Liang also took the opportunity to say.

"Teacher, I have a plan to offer."

"Oh? What plan do you have, Liang'er?" Li Ji asked.

"Now that we will be using the hands of the aristocratic families of Yu Province to investigate the fields and land in Yu Province, in order to avoid the aristocratic families of Yu Province from colluding to cover up or fabricate information, why not let the aristocratic families of Yu Province investigate in Xu Province? And the aristocratic families of Xu Province investigate in Yu Province?" Zhuge Liang suggested.

Li Ji smiled and said.

"Liang'er, this plan is feasible and can indeed greatly avoid collusion and fabrication, but there are still loopholes. You must know that the network of relationships of some prominent aristocratic families is not limited to one province."

"If that's the case, then we can only strengthen supervision."

But thinking of the huge workload involved, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but frown.

"Liang'er, don't worry, take a look at this document."

With that, Li Ji took out a document and pushed it in front of Zhuge Liang.

《Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax》

After Zhuge Liang opened it and looked at it for a few breaths, his pupils obviously shrank, and he said in shock.

"Teacher, do you want to abolish the poll tax?"

Li Ji replied plainly. "For the long-term plan, the poll tax must be replaced."

What is the poll tax?

It is also the head tax, which is specifically implemented as the current "Population Tax" and "Property Tax" of the Great Han.

This is one of the two major taxes of the Great Han at this stage: "Land Tax" and "Poll Tax."

The existence of the "Poll Tax" is also why the aristocratic clans constantly conceal the population, and why the common people have to sell their fields and themselves into slavery when the fields fail to yield a good harvest.

Now, the youthful version of Zhuge Liang received such shocking news, and was stunned for a while before subconsciously reminding him.

"Teacher, if this matter is not handled properly, I'm afraid it will cause national unrest."

"Isn't the Great Han turbulent enough now?"

Li Ji asked rhetorically, leaving Zhuge Liang speechless, and gradually calmed down, refocusing his attention on the document, carefully considering it word by word.

After reading this, Zhuge Liang read it for a long time, and the whole person, who had been tense, took a long breath and said sincerely.

"If this 'Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax' can be implemented, it will be of great benefit to the people of the world."

Zhuge Liang is now still a seedling, but precisely because he is a seedling, Zhuge Liang is more receptive to emerging things.

Looking at Zhuge Liang's attitude changing in an instant, Li Ji couldn't help but think of how he had tried to persuade Liu Bei before.

He really didn't sleep all night, his mouth was dry, and he put forward countless data and cases before Liu Bei gradually recognized the importance of "Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax".

This "Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax" simply means abolishing all poll taxes and calculating taxes based on the actual cultivated land of the people.

In this way, not only can the actual taxes paid by ordinary people be greatly reduced, but it can also effectively liberate labor to a certain extent.

This is also one of the necessary foundations for the imperial blueprint that Li Ji has drawn.

Otherwise, with the poll tax pressing on them, many people would not dare to give up their land at all, and they would not have any cost of trial and error, and could only work in the fields all day long to avoid failing to pay the poll tax next year.

Combined with Li Ji's improved military household system that specifically increases the status of soldiers, this "Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax" and the "Military Household System" are the two legs that Li Ji has formulated for the future empire.

It is just that the "Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax" system undoubtedly greatly damages the interests of the aristocratic clans, causing their taxes to increase dramatically.

Combined with Li Ji taking the opportunity to investigate the fields and land in Yu Province, in a sense, it undoubtedly allows the aristocratic families in distress to stab themselves with a knife to bleed, and only those who can maintain a smile and firmly support it can board the imperial giant ship that Li Ji is preparing to build.

Now, Yu Province has undoubtedly become the "experimental field" that Li Ji has prepared for "Equalizing Land Tax with Population Tax", and after it is successfully implemented in Yu Province, it can then be implemented throughout the territory under Liu Bei's rule.

In this way, Zhuge Liang also understood why Li Ji would be relieved to let the aristocratic families of Yu Province investigate the field information of Yu Province.

In order to regain the land occupied by the Yellow Turbans, the aristocratic families of Yu Province naturally need to find out as much land as possible, and the more they find out, the better, so naturally they cannot conceal it.

The real place where aristocratic clans can fabricate information is actually the information on the ownership of the fields, taking the opportunity to encroach on the good fields cultivated by the people.

For example, changing the fertile fields with owners to fertile fields without owners, and changing the ten acres of fertile fields owned by a certain commoner to ten acres of inferior fields in a remote corner, these are just parts that the actual executor can arbitrarily modify with a stroke of the pen.

Even if there is a secondary verification in the follow-up, as long as the total area and fertility of the fields do not differ, it is impossible to meticulously find each household to inquire and verify again.

If it were the tax law of the past Great Han, this approach would naturally be very profitable for the aristocratic families.

After all, the tax burden of the Great Han is heavier on the poll tax than on the land tax.

Even if the aristocratic families have clear information on the fields, they can take in those bankrupt people as unregistered laborers.

Letting those unregistered households cultivate the fields for the aristocratic clans can not only evade a considerable portion of the taxes, but even if the family members do not work in the fields, they can have enough money and food to support them.

(End of this chapter)