met free Chapter 234 Wang Qiong: Feeling sad and wanting to cry, but afraid to say it
Chapter 234 Wang Qiong: Feeling sad and wanting to cry, but afraid to say it
Wang Qiong said with a worried expression, "The officials in the court? How dare they make a decision so easily? This is not just a matter of one or two counties, nor is it just a matter of a few families. It involves hundreds of counties, nine million households, and fifty million people in the entire Jiangnan region. The slightest carelessness could easily cause a turmoil."
So, you old Deng and that young Deng sent you to me, to throw the problem at me, Yang, because it's giving me a headache?
It's a pity that although I, Yang, have no system or cheat codes and am a disgrace to transmigrators in every way, I have read a lot of books and seen a lot of tricks. Problems that can give the old and young emperors and those lowly officials in the court a headache are really no big deal in my eyes.
It's time to show you some new tricks from hundreds of years in the future.
Magistrate Yang rolled his eyes in annoyance and snorted, "It's such a simple matter. Just pick up the Wangtian system that Wang Mang used, modify it, take all the land back to the imperial court, and then link it to the household registration system. Set up a redistribution cycle, and see who can cause trouble then?"
Wang Qiong was slightly taken aback, and frowned, saying, "Wangtian system? But Wangtian system..."
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and said, "Brother Wang, are you saying that the Wangtian system ultimately ended in failure?"
Wang Qiong nodded unconsciously, but Yang Shaofeng asked in return, "Then does Brother Wang know why the Wangtian system failed?"
The so-called Wangtian system was a system implemented by Wang Mang based on the well-field system mentioned in the "Rites of Zhou". It involved nationalizing land and then distributing it to the people for cultivation.
"Now the land under heaven is renamed 'Wang Tian' (King's Land)... If a man's population is less than eight, but the land exceeds one well, the surplus land shall be distributed to his nine clans, neighbors, and fellow villagers. Those who have no land but are now entitled to receive land shall do so according to the established system."
This means that all land in the country will be renamed "Royal Land," and the land will be nationalized and distributed uniformly by the imperial court. If a family has eight male members, it will be granted 900 mu of land; if a family has fewer than eight male members but more than 900 mu of land, the excess portion will be distributed equally among the clan and neighbors; those who originally had no land will be granted land according to the above regulations.
Yang Shaofeng continued, "Because the core of the Wangtian system was to allocate land based on the number of people, it had nothing to do with whether the land was nationalized or not. To put it bluntly, Wang Mang had a large population at that time, but a large amount of land was held by powerful families. Where would he get public land to distribute to the people?"
Xun Yue of the Han Dynasty once said: "The well-field system is not suitable when the population is large. It is only feasible when the land is vast and the population is small."
"The second reason for Wang Mang's failure was that he was too hasty. He wanted to implement the Wangtian system by 'taking the surplus to give to the shortage,' which stipulated the amount of land each household could own, and then directly gave the excess to other people who did not own enough land. However, he ignored the fact that these lands originally belonged to owners."
"But now..."
Yang Shaofeng pointed to the outside of Ningyang County Government Office and said, "The North is sparsely populated and the fields are barren. A large amount of land is idle, which is enough for the imperial court to relocate millions or even tens of millions of people and then allocate land to them."
"Register all those people who want to continue renting other people's land as landless vagrants, then relocate them all to the north, and then the government will allocate land to them. Let's see what kind of trouble they can cause then?"
"Without these landless refugees, the remaining gentry, who held a large amount of land, either had to bear high taxes or sell their land to the government at low prices."
“If they are willing to pay high taxes, the court and government will not lose money. If they are willing to sell the land to the court and government at a low price, then the land can become public land to be redistributed later.”
"The court can take five, ten or even twenty years to complete this process and gradually relocate the people. There is no need to rush it."
"Even if we just let the news out, do you think those 'landless refugees' would rather redeem their land or be relocated to the north to wait for the government to grant them land?"
Yang Shaofeng's mouth opened and closed, constantly spouting various routines. Wang Qiong's mouth also opened wider and wider, her eyes widened as well, and cold sweat on her forehead slowly gathered into streams.
If you, Magistrate Yang, dare to continue speaking, I, Wang, dare not listen any further!
What made Wang Qiong even more desperate was that Yang Shaofeng added, as if he hadn't said enough: "Furthermore, the transfer of land ownership to the imperial court needs a legitimate justification; we can't just bring up Wang Mang's Wangtian system directly."
"But it can be claimed that all the land under heaven belongs to all people under heaven. The people only have the right to use the land, and it is redistributed every so many years in order to ensure that the people's descendants can also get land."
"Of course, the specifics of how to proceed are up to His Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince, and the officials of the court to decide."
“There will also be a lot of messy problems in the actual operation process.”
"For example, how to solve the problem of corrupt officials, and prevent local officials from becoming like those during Wang Mang's time, who "each sought power and influence, feared and oppressed good people, arbitrarily sealed people's necks, and those who took money left," so that "corrupt officials and cunning people invaded together, and the common people were not at peace," ultimately leading to the complete failure of Wang Mang's land laws.
"..."
By the time Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, Wang Qiong was completely desperate.
No, His Highness the Crown Prince just wanted to ask how you would solve the problems of unregistered households and runaway laborers. Did you, Magistrate Yang, really need to flip the table like that?
Now, whether I, Wang, like it or not, have heard everything I should and shouldn't have heard.
How the hell am I supposed to reply to His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince?
Wang Qiong felt sad and wanted to cry, but she didn't dare to say it.
Yang Shaofeng calmly picked up the teapot and poured himself another cup of tea.
In fact, the Wangtian system was indeed the best, and almost the only, way to solve land annexation. Unfortunately, Wang Mang's throne was peacefully inherited from Ruzi Ying, so he inherited all the problems that existed at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Before the population was greatly depleted by war, the prerequisite of "vast fields and few people, so it is feasible" could not be met at all.
However, the situation was different in the early years of the Hongwu reign.
Emperor Zhu's throne was won through conquest. At that time, many prefectures and counties in the north were in a state of near collapse due to the war, with a large number of people lost and a lot of land left idle and barren. It was the best time to nationalize the land.
In a few decades, once the population in the north begins to recover and the land is reclaimed and cultivated, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have the possibility of nationalizing the land, and the problem of land annexation will once again be played out.
I wonder if Lao Zhu and Xiao Zhu have the guts to go this far?
Because Wang Tianfa could very well cause turmoil in the Ming Dynasty.