Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 496 Going against the ancestor’s decision

In Chen's, or Chen Zhan's, view, the most important thing in the world today is "land", and the foundation of feudal society is on the land. Perhaps even after a hundred or a thousand years, this will not change.

This is a fact that no one can change.

And now, Chen is going to take action on this foundation.

Thousands of years ago, Chen's ancestors and Shang Yang discovered during their exploration that when the fields belonged to the state, the people could not show enthusiasm and passion. However, with the improvement of productivity, the well-field system was no longer suitable for the environment at that time.

Therefore, Shang Yang, a thousand years ago, proposed "private ownership of land" in his reform in order to adapt to the development of productivity and the landlord class's desire to gain power. This system, like "nectar", gave birth to the landlord class.

While improving productivity and increasing the labor force, it also gave rise to its drawback, namely, land annexation.

Land annexation will never go away - unless land is essentially state-owned and cannot be traded.

Chen Zhan sighed slowly.

He straightened his clothes and said softly, "Whether this step is right or wrong, only God knows."

"But Chen has to do it."

Morning assembly
When the first rays of morning light fell on the Tai Chi Hall, people suddenly found the old man sitting in the front with his eyes closed. The old man had pale hair and a slightly decayed air all over his body.

After all, he is nearly a hundred years old!
This old man who has spanned an era does not usually appear here. Why does he appear here today?
Gao Shilian stood in the crowd, his expression filled with a bit of fear. The last time Chen attacked him, his left and right arms were all chopped off. And now, who would Chen target next time?

When Li Shimin sat on the throne in the Taiji Hall, his eyes fell on Chen Zhan. He looked into Chen Zhan's eyes and saw the solemnity and determination in Chen Zhan's eyes.

He slowly said, "Mr. Chen is attending court today. Is there something important?"

Chen Zhan slowly stood up and straightened his clothes. The Qilin Jade on his waist was still slowly emitting a tiny light that no one could see. It was this light that kept Chen Zhan's cloudy mind rational and clear.

"Your Majesty, the matter of Jiang Zhonggong a few days ago made this old minister feel uneasy. I have read many memorials and documents and found something."

He turned around and looked around at everyone present, with his focus on the heads of the aristocratic families of the "Five Surnames and Seven Families". A slight smile appeared on Chen Zhan's lips.

Chen Zhan just said in a very calm tone, "There is not only one Li Xiaogong in this world, and not only one Liu Hongji. This hall is full of Liu Hongji and the like."

His voice suddenly became sharp and cold. At this moment, the centenarian seemed to have turned into the thunderous young man he was back then.

"The aristocratic families and the nobles of the world have occupied too much land, and the way they have taken these lands into their own hands is not formal."

"Just like Li Xiaogong and Liu Hongji."

Chen Zhan's voice was filled with murderous intent, but there was also a trace of leeway in that murderous intent: "When the water is too clear, there will be no fish. This old minister understands this truth, so this old minister has no intention of taking down all of these nobles."

He glanced at everyone with a mocking look, and then said, "But land is the foundation of a country, and it is also the most basic guarantee for the survival of the people in the fields. The Great Sui Dynasty and the Great Yu Dynasty in the past have both fallen into this trap."

"Why did the Han Dynasty fall?"

"What a powerful dynasty that is! Just because the Great Sage Master said "Please die for the Han people", so many people followed him. Don't you think about why?"

Chen Zhan closed his eyes, and the scene of the wailing of thousands of people emerged in his mind. Then he sighed and said again: "Perhaps you all know it, but you just don't care about it."

"After all, even if the Tang Dynasty fell, you so-called aristocratic families can continue to stand firm in a dynasty, right?"

Chen Zhan’s words were too aggressive. Even if they really thought so, they couldn’t admit it at this time. Didn’t they see that the emperor on the stage already had flames of anger in his eyes?
They lowered their heads and said nothing, but Chen Zhan's voice continued.

His voice suddenly rose: "You don't care, but Chen can't."

"I have thought about this for a long time and finally decided to submit this memorial."

"Your Majesty, please check it out."

He handed the memorial to the eunuch who came over, and then stood there, waiting silently.

The waiting time was not very long. After all, Li Shimin had already read this memorial. Or it could be said that this memorial was discussed by Chen Zhan, Chen Ruohan and Li Shimin. It was just a process at this time.

After Li Shimin "finished reading" Chen Zhan's memorial, his facial expression remained unchanged, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"Everyone, take a look too."

He ordered the eunuchs to circulate Chen Zhan's memorial and asked everyone present to read it carefully.

After reading the memorial, the people all shut their mouths. They wanted to refute, but they didn't know how. So they could only stand there in silence.

After all, everyone has to save face.

However, there are always people who care more about substance than appearance.

For example, those from the five surnames and seven families.

Cui Boling stood up, frowning, "Mr. Chen, I've seen the contents of this memorial. It seems that it's not just about measuring the land in the world, but also about a system to nationalize some "unowned" land."

He looked at Chen Zhan closely, trying to find some clues from the old man's expression: "What does this 'ownerless' land mean?"

"and--"

Cui Boling said softly, "It seems that the private ownership of land was discussed by the ancestors of the Chen family and Shang Yang when they carried out the reform. Now these ownerless lands are to be nationalized. Will other lands be nationalized in the future?"

"Doesn't this go against King An's original intention?"

"Back then, the Qin State relied on this to become the hegemon of the world and finally unified the world. But now Lord Chen is going against the Qin State and our ancestors. Isn't this a bit..."

Although Cui Boling spoke hesitantly, he expressed everything he needed to say, and people did not feel confused.

Chen Zhan just raised his eyes slowly, and the charm hidden in those old eyes made people feel shocked.

I only heard him chuckle, and there was a hint of indifference in his smile.

"There is something wrong with what Minister Cui said."

"Many things in this world are subject to change. How can anything in this world remain unchanged?"

"The reason why my ancestors and Shang Jun established the private ownership of land was because it was adapted to the situation of the Qin State at that time. But now - it is no longer the Great Qin State."

He jokingly said, "How come I, the head of the Chen family who is most responsible for abiding by the so-called "laws of our ancestors", haven't said anything yet? Are you considering our Chen family first?"

"This is a rare thing." After Chen Zhan finished speaking, he looked at everyone again, and finally slowly emphasized the "unowned" he just mentioned: "So far, the land collected is naturally ownerless."

"What is unowned land?"

"Those fields that are in his name but he cannot produce the land deeds, or the fields whose names are not on the deeds are also some other fields. As long as he cannot produce evidence to prove that they are his fields, they are all ownerless fields."

Chen Zhan's words were light-hearted, but they struck at the hearts of these aristocratic families.

One point that needs to be emphasized here is that there were taxes in ancient times. Some taxes were collected based on the land, and the more land one had, the more taxes one would have to pay, so some people came up with a solution.

That is to keep the name of the fields in the hands of this person, that is, to rent out the fields and find tenants to cultivate them, so as to avoid part of the taxes.

Most of these fields were obtained through illegal means.

Some officials are even more so.
Therefore, if we investigate this matter thoroughly, we will definitely find the problem.

For example, now, all of a sudden, the names of all house owners in the entire country are checked, and they are required to produce evidence of purchase, evidence of tax payment, and evidence of payment with a bank card in his name. While doing all this, it is also necessary to check whether this person is related to the list of officials in the system - those who cannot be found and have no owner will be nationalized.

It's the same behavior.

It depends on whether these people want their lives or money.

Chen Zhan looked at everyone with a smile. It was obvious that there were many people who hid their land in this way.

Chen Zhan continued, "Of course, in order to prevent false cases, when the court sets up a new 'Land Office', just like when the Taxation Office was established, Chen's descendants will serve as local officials to measure and register the land in various places."

"The post of the Land Office's Secretary will be temporarily held by my disappointing child."

He pointed at Chen Linan who was dozing off beside him and said, "This Lord Linan is probably qualified to do this."

"Of course--"

Chen Zhan stretched out his tone: "When the Taxation Bureau was established, some people in Guizhou tried to destroy evidence, suppress, and even kill Chen's children. You can also try to do this - as long as you still remember how powerful the Chen family was back then compared to now, as long as you still remember what happened to those people and the entire Guizhou at that time."

Although his words were spoken lightly, and even with a hint of laughter in them, no one dared to treat this matter as a joke.

After all, the entire Guizhou was in a state of complete stagnation for nearly a hundred years during the reigns of Emperor Wen and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty!
Even the emperor's general amnesty did not pardon the land of Guizhou and the people of Guizhou!
Who dares to do this?
Are you really desperate?
Of course, the most important thing is that it is useless to find a scapegoat. When Chen is angry, he will not care about your evidence, rules, logic, etc. Before you can react and still want to quibble, Chen's thunder will fall on your head and smash you to pieces!
Looking at the silent crowd, Chen Zhan sneered with a hint of disdain on his face.

"Okay, since everyone has no objections, I will ask His Majesty for instructions on this matter."

He sighed, turned around and said, "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

Li Shimin also nodded slightly to show his agreement. After all, he was the one who made this thing. How could he not agree?

Of course I have to agree.

Zhenguan five years.

After the world-famous corruption case of Li Xiaogong and Liu Hongji, the imperial court was outraged, His Majesty was outraged, and King Chen Gong of Zhenguo produced a series of evidence and carried out a series of reforms.

Thus, the far-reaching institution, the Land Office, was established.

It is the same as but also different from when the Taxation Bureau was established. After all, when the Taxation Bureau was established, there was still some doubt in the world. But now that it is doing this kind of thing for the second time, it becomes much more logical and people no longer doubt it.

Thus, a vigorous land reform began.

This reform was not too in-depth. At least they did not nationalize the lands still in the hands of the people, nor did they touch the legitimate lands of the Naxi aristocratic families. They just skinned them.

In other words, this is no longer the level of skinning, but rather bloodletting!

The rhythm of bloodletting.

But this was still within the acceptable range for the aristocratic families, so they did not rise up in resistance, but waited, waiting for Chen Yu and Kong Yingda, Gao Shilian and others to decide the winner.

Shen Guogong Mansion

Gao Shilian sat there with a dejected look, and opposite him sat Kong Yingda and others.

Kong Yingda frowned slightly and looked at Gao Shilian: "Duke, why do you have this expression? Don't you have confidence in me and my father?"

confidence?

Gao Shilian smiled bitterly. From what happened in the court today, he saw something he had never seen before - that is, the emperor and the Chen family had never regarded them as opponents.

This made him very sad and angry, but he couldn't find any problem with it.

In the eyes of the emperor and Chen, perhaps his struggles and calculations during this period were just the movements of an ant?
He nodded his head, then said, "How is Chang Sun doing? Hasn't he made a decision yet?"

Yes.

Although Changsun Wuji has decided to stand on Gao Shilian's side, he has not yet decided whether to help Gao Shilian do that thing.

Gao Shilian sighed and said, "Tell the auxiliary engine that if we continue to hesitate, we will really have no chance!"

Kong Yingda hesitated for a moment, then nodded. In fact, he didn't really agree with that idea.
"Okay, I'll tell the auxiliary engine."

"So what do we need to do now? Or wait?"

Gao Shilian nodded: "Yes, let's wait."

Tai Chi Hall

Palace entrance
A man in a black cloak stood there, with a calm expression and strong body.

He looked at the young man beside him and said, "Yi Guang, don't be nervous."

PS: There will probably be no update tomorrow, but there should be one the day after tomorrow.

Muah, the outline is basically sorted out. I will update every other day this month for now. Once it's sorted out, I will try to update normally next month.

According to the outline, the book will be completed on the last day of February.

(End of this chapter)