Call of the Heroes of Chaos in Another World

Chapter 2115 Zhuge's Reforms, the Alliance of Weishui

The matter raised by Zhuge Liang was something that Guan Zhong could not decide in a single sentence. He did not even offer much advice or express his own inclination before directly submitting the document to Wang Yu.

As for Wang Yu, adhering to the principle that listening to all sides leads to clarity and believing only one side leads to obscurity, he wanted to gather opinions from all sides.

A fundamental system cannot be decided solely by the emperor without consulting his court officials.

"Brother Kongming, it seems we have reaped considerable gains from the Eastern Yi over the years!" Yao Guangxiao said after carefully reviewing the contents of the memorial.

Among the five ministers of the cabinet, Zhuge Liang was not familiar with any of them, after all, he had been in the Eastern Yi territory for many years.

Of the five, they only knew Yao Guangxiao and Guan Zhong; they had never even met the rest.

But today's memorial has given everyone a profound understanding of Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang did not return to the central government, but when he did, he came prepared and took direct action against the household registration system.

The household registration system was fundamental to the court's governance of the people, and once established, it would last for hundreds of years.

Looking at the bigger picture, Zhuge Liang's name alone will be remembered in history for this. The history books would definitely dedicate a separate chapter to Zhuge Liang just for this household registration system.

In the short term, once this system is established, Zhuge Liang's position in the court will be firmly established and no one will be able to shake it.

Even if Yao Guangxiao wasn't as skilled in governance as Guan Zhong, his abilities were still considerable. His lack of political acumen was relative to his strategic planning skills, not a lack of competence.

Therefore, he could tell at a glance that Zhuge Liang had formulated this new household registration system based on the situation of the Eastern Yi people, and that this guy might have already started implementing it in the Eastern Yi people.

After all, over the years, Zhuge Liang was the one who truly held the reins of power in the Eastern Yi. All the decrees and policies, both inside and outside the Eastern Yi court, originated from him.

"Kongming's system is far superior to the current household registration system. It has achieved the ultimate control over the people and the floating population, and it is also convenient for controlling the incoming population!" Zhao Anling said bluntly.

“Nowadays, all dynasties in the world are in turmoil! This system is timely!” Zhang Bin added.

Since Xiping Road came under the actual control of the Han Dynasty, it has undergone several large-scale migrations.

The first group consisted of the 100,000 Kwantung Army soldiers and their families. At the same time, there were also some Yanbei people who were willing to immigrate to Xiping.

After that, whether it was the prisoners captured during the conquest of Hedong and Shanyin, or the prisoners captured during Su Dingfang's conquest of the four minor dynasties, many of them migrated to Dongyi and Xipingdao.

It was precisely because of this massive population movement among the Eastern Yi people over the years that Zhuge Liang was able to create a new household registration system. Furthermore, after returning to the central government, he formally introduced this new system.

As Zhang Bin said, during times of war, there is no shortage of displaced people, which is a real problem to manage. His household registration system is more suitable than the old one.

"Kongming's system has been perfected in all aspects, including taxation, population management, and corvée labor!"

"With my limited knowledge, I have not yet discovered any loopholes," Yao Guangxiao replied.

Zhuge Liang's proposed household registration system wasn't without its flaws, but these flaws would only be apparent in times of peace and prosperity. In today's chaotic world, they are actually an advantage.

It is undeniable that the new household registration system proposed by Zhuge Liang had enormous benefits for taxation, population management, and corvée labor!
Compared to the old household registration system that has been in place for over two hundred years, it is far more advanced in every aspect.

The household registration certificate proposed by Zhuge Liang not only specified the names and places of origin of the entire family, but also the family's assets. The assets listed on the household registration certificate were protected by law.

If it's not written down, then I'm sorry, there's no way to prove it was stolen, so this thing is still very useful.

This system can minimize the risk of people migrating on their own. Moreover, it allows for clear tax payment based on the tax and service quotas recorded on household registration certificates, preventing problems such as officials embezzling funds or uneven tax distribution.

This can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Furthermore, the Lijia system in the household registration system divided the people into three categories: soldiers, civilians, and artisans. Every hundred and ten households formed a "Li", and each "Li" was divided into ten Jia. The residents of each "Li" were registered one by one according to their place of origin, name, population, fields and houses, and land area, and the information was sent to the Ministry of Revenue. The registration was updated every ten years.

This household registration system involved each household filling out accurate household registration information, which was then submitted to the head of the household (甲长), who in turn submitted it to the head of the village (里长), and finally to the various prefectures and counties, and then to the provincial and municipal governments (道部 and 户部). This was a bottom-up process.

Moreover, this was an uninterrupted process. Local governments conducted annual statistics, while the Ministry of Revenue carried out a large-scale update every ten years. This household registration system was more detailed than that of any previous dynasty. Through this system, the imperial court could accurately grasp the population and land situation of the entire country.

If such a system is implemented, any local powerful families that engage in land annexation or concealment of population will be directly exposed to the imperial court.

Guan Zhong pursed his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but he ultimately remained silent.

Zhuge Liang's system could not possibly be as perfect as people say; there is no absolutely perfect system in this world.

However, regardless of whether there are other problems, the problems that Guan Zhong saw would not have surfaced until at least a century later. If they had accumulated and formed social problems, the timeframe might have doubled.

However, any system will likely run into problems after a hundred or two hundred years.

Therefore, although he saw some problems, he didn't really see them as problems. In particular, these so-called problems could actually be used to better accumulate manpower and resources during wartime.

Therefore, Guan Zhong ultimately remained silent. They couldn't possibly create a cartographic system that could be used for generations to come. If any problems arose in later generations, they should leave it to future generations to solve.

Even if it was Shang Yang's reforms on Earth that laid the foundation for the Qin state to unify the world, then even Shang Yang's reforms, while effective in mobilizing manpower and resources before unification, became less applicable after unification.

Some issues are not worth pursuing at this point.

Moreover, given his position, it was inconvenient for him to speak at this time.

If Guan Zhong didn't speak, it was even less likely that Zhang Liang, as the secretary of a low-ranking official, would speak up.

Zhang Liang was adept at protecting himself. This system was crucial to the foundation of the Han Dynasty, but behind it lay the entanglement between two important ministers, Guan Zhong and Zhuge Liang.

Everyone says that Zhuge Liang and Guan Zhong will be the prime ministers of the Han Dynasty in the future, but the question is, who is on the left and who is on the right?

In addition, one of these two men is the Crown Prince's tutor, and the other is the Prince of Yan's tutor!

In other words, these two people are in a competitive relationship from any perspective.

As we all know, Guan Zhong was actually in charge of the reform, but at this time Zhuge Liang proposed the household registration reform. Wasn't this a direct interference in the reform that Guan Zhong was leading?
At this time, senior cabinet officials like Yao Guangxiao and Zhang Bin could speak freely. However, Zhang Liang felt that with his small stature, it was unnecessary for him to risk offending either of them by expressing his opinion on such a matter.

"Since none of you have any objections, let's try it out in Yanbei and Yannan to see how it goes!" Wang Yu nodded and said. In some matters, Wang Yu did indeed appear very eager, but at the same time, he was equally cautious.

This is a fundamental system, and if a problem arises, it will definitely not be a trivial matter.

The country was not yet unified, and to some extent, they could not withstand such a comprehensive upheaval. Therefore, whether it was Guan Zhong's reforms or Zhuge Liang's proposed household registration system, both were piloted before being fully implemented.

A prosperous nation and a strong military are what the Han Dynasty sought. However, the Han Dynasty also sought a steady and stable approach.

"My esteemed ministers, at the beginning of the year, a major event occurred in the Great Qian Dynasty?"

"I imagine you will all hear about it soon!"

After discussing these matters that truly concerned the foundation of the nation, Wang Yu brought up another issue.

This matter certainly can't compare to Zhuge Liang's proposal to reform the household registration system. However, it's still worth discussing, as its impact is quite significant.

"In the Great Qian Dynasty, could it be that another rebel king has been defeated? Or perhaps one of the royal princes of the Great Qian Dynasty has been defeated?" the ministers speculated.

However, after thinking about it, everyone felt that their guess was wrong.

Since it has been said that they will hear about it soon, then someone must have deliberately spread it.

If news of events in the Great Qian Dynasty were to reach us, even if the Luo Wang deliberately tried to transmit it, it would still take several months. If we were to wait for it to spread on its own, that time would probably be measured in years.

Therefore, since they were able to find out soon afterward, it can only mean that someone deliberately wanted them to know.

The matter concerning the rebel king or the royal king is not yet at that point.

"Hey, back in the Great Qian Dynasty, at the beginning of the year, all the rebel kings gathered, but they were almost wiped out in one fell swoop!"

"With the intervention of the Great Qian Heavenly Man, the three rebel kings, Hong Xiuquan, Deng Bu, and Wang Xiang, were killed on the spot. Zhai Rang, the second-in-command of Wagangzhai, was seriously injured and later died from his injuries."

"Xiao Ping'an's only son, Xiao Tai, is dead; Xiao Ping'an's younger brother, Xiao Pingnian, is dead; and Xiao Ping'an himself is seriously wounded! More than twenty of his subordinates, including the civil and military officials Chen Youliang and Liu Wentai, have died in battle!"

Wang Yu briefly summarized the situation on the side of the rebel king of Daqian, and when he mentioned Zhai Rang, he couldn't help but pause for a moment.

He himself strongly suspected that Zhai Rang's supposed death from his injuries might have been caused by his own people.
After all, at this time, Zhai Rang had established his own faction in Wagang, and was quite capable of rivaling Li Mi.

However, Zhai Rang is insignificant compared to the impact of this incident.

"Could it be that the Great Qian Dynasty is using the Heavenly Beings to carry out a covert assassination?"

"The Great Qian Dynasty hasn't reached that point yet, has it?"

Of the many rebel kings, Xiao Ping'an suffered the heaviest casualties, losing even his only son and so many generals. Clearly, the rebel kings were gathered in Xiao Ping'an's territory.

However, with the rebel kings gathered, the surrounding defenses would naturally be strong, probably at least 100,000 troops. They couldn't possibly come openly; if they did, even if all the Celestial Realm experts of the Great Qian Dynasty were to be deployed, it wouldn't be as effective.

All they could think of was to have someone assassinate them.

But your Great Qian Dynasty has already perished, so why resort to such behavior that challenges everyone's bottom line?

Once this kind of thing starts, there are only two possibilities.

Otherwise, no one will follow this rule anymore.

Alternatively, other dynasties and other forces might join forces to secretly eliminate all the celestial beings of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Honestly, even if you send out assassins to kill one or two people, as long as you do it cleanly, the person who does it doesn't reveal their identity, and you throw out a few expendable pawns afterward, even if people guess that you sent them, they will most likely pretend they don't know anything!

After all, this is no small force, but a large dynasty. If they offer everyone a way out, they might not really take it seriously unless it happens to them! As long as it doesn't go too far and doesn't cross everyone's bottom line, it's not impossible to tolerate it.

However, if you go all out on such a large scale, everyone else will naturally feel insecure! Every single person is afraid that you might do the same to them.

The fear surrounding the so-called Celestial Assassination is not due to the Celestials' physical strength, but rather their infiltration capabilities.

What I fear is that you might sneak in undetected, stab someone in the neck while they're sleeping, or secretly add something to their food or water.

If the Celestials deliberately hide and infiltrate, how effective can ordinary soldiers' patrols be?

Even Wang Yu fears assassination attempts by celestial beings! After all, even if the Han Dynasty had a Zhunti, he couldn't possibly have Zhunti by his side for everything.

Not to mention, if someone were to add something to your food or drink, even if you followed them around day and night, it might not be of any use.

Therefore, this is why all parties jointly resisted Tianrenxing's assassination attempt.

If you jump out and actually kill someone head-on, even if you lure the guards away beforehand, no one will say much!
Being able to jump out head-on and kill someone is your skill, and drawing away the enemy's guards is also your skill.

However, if you stab someone while they're sleeping, no one will accept that.

"No!"

"It's not an assassination, but a frontal assault!"

"The Great Qian Dynasty has invited all the powers under heaven to meet at the Wei River! I'm afraid their envoys are already on their way," Wang Yu said, shaking his head.

If it's an assassination, it's simpler; you just have to do what needs to be done next.

However, this incident has indeed served as a wake-up call for everyone.

"Impossible! The Great Qian Dynasty couldn't possibly have that kind of strength!"

Upon hearing that Daqian was actually taking direct action, the high-ranking officials present all thought it was a fantasy.

It's not that they underestimated the Great Qian Dynasty or a single dynasty; it's just that even if all the celestial beings in the dynasty risked their lives, they couldn't accomplish this task on their own.