Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

At this moment, Sima Yi also followed Gan Ning and lowered his head, fearing that he would not be able to hold back his laughter.

The failure of the Yellow Turban Rebellion was ultimately due to lack of education.

Not only did the vast majority of the aristocratic families not suffer any serious damage as a result of this, but after the Yellow Turban Rebellion was over, the aristocratic families who had wandered around outside returned to their hometowns and further intensified their land annexation and influence on the local areas.

In the turmoil caused by the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou, Gan Ning led the charge in the front, while Sima Yi handled the land deeds and farm deeds matters in the back according to Li Ji's reminder.

Without the land deeds and other supporting evidence, and without any connections in the Yuzhou officialdom, the aristocratic families were undoubtedly caught in a classic problem of how to prove "I am me".

Obviously, there is no evidence...

However, the ancestral lands in Yuzhou were accumulated over generations by the wealthy and powerful families. Asking them to give them up would be tantamount to reducing them all to poverty, which was obviously unacceptable to them.

Immediately, even Guo Ling, who was originally in awe, couldn't help but get anxious and started crying.

"My Lord, you don't know that those Yellow Turban bandits not only divided up our family's land, but also burned all kinds of land deeds and house deeds, so that the Yellow Turban bandits took over our home, and we are left homeless."

Following Guo Ling, the other anxious family representatives could not wait for further tests and came out to cry.

"My Lord, please understand. That ancestral business has been passed down in my family for a hundred years, and everyone knows it. Now it has been occupied by bandits. Even after death, I will not be able to face my ancestors..."

"My Lord, you only need to check to find out that there are countless land deeds and house deeds that were kept in government offices but burned. Those were all done by the Yellow Turban bandits."

"Please, Lord, please make the decision for us. We will be grateful to you..."

For a moment, the originally celebratory banquet hall was filled with a group of men crying. Those who didn't know would think that something horrific had happened. Seeing this, Li Ji frowned and shouted softly, "

"Quiet."

As soon as these words were spoken, the representatives of the noble families who had been observing Li Ji all stopped, but the old actors still looked at Li Ji eagerly with the image of victims.

Li Ji pretended to be silent, then spoke.

"Yuzhou has just been settled, and there are countless matters that need to be dealt with, but I don't know much about this matter."

"Here, I would like to apologize to you all."

After saying this, Li Ji bowed and saluted, which surprised all the Yuzhou noble families and made them feel flattered.

Immediately, Li Ji continued.

"I also believe that what you said must have a basis. The Yellow Turban Rebellion in Yuzhou is also true. In principle, I was ordered by my lord to stabilize Yuzhou, so naturally I should immediately clarify the matter of occupation for you."

"But, first of all, this matter involves land, which is the foundation of the Han Dynasty. I can't just listen to one side and jump to conclusions. Do you agree?"

At least the Yuzhou noble families were undoubtedly satisfied with the attitude shown by Li Ji.

After all, matters concerning land are of great importance, and if handled carelessly they can easily cause unrest.

If Li Ji agreed to it outright, it would make the Yuzhou families suspicious. They would think that even if Li Ji was promised countless benefits, it would not be worth it for Li Ji to sacrifice his reputation and prestige to forcibly take back the land.

"Then I wonder if My Lord has any good ideas?" Guo Ling asked carefully and respectfully.

Li Ji raised his hand to signal Guo Ling not to worry, and continued speaking.

"Secondly, Yuzhou has just been settled and my lord has limited available officials and talents. Now the county governments in various places are just barely maintaining their operations. It is indeed beyond our ability to investigate each of you one by one at the moment." Suddenly, the expressions of the aristocratic families became more anxious.

None of the representatives of the noble families were stupid, and they all knew very well that this matter could not be delayed.

If Li Ji did not resolve this matter, after he left Yuzhou, the successor Yuzhou Mu would be even less likely to care about it, and this would inevitably result in repeated delays.

This method of shirking responsibility in official circles is all too clear to the aristocratic families.

Therefore, representatives of the aristocratic families spoke up one after another immediately.

"My Lord, this matter cannot be delayed any longer. There are thousands of people in my family, and they all rely on the few small plots of land inherited from our ancestors to make a living. If we delay for any longer, the whole family will starve to death."

"That's right, that's right. Moreover, those untouchables have taken the farmland for nothing and gained benefits, without their names on the government's list. They grow crops but are able to avoid the Han tax, which is very disadvantageous to the country."

"My Lord, this matter should be resolved as soon as possible. If there is a shortage of manpower, everyone in my family is literate, and there are dozens of famous scholars who can be used by the emperor's uncle."

……

As someone opened the door, representatives of aristocratic families suddenly came to their senses and expressed their attitudes one after another, saying that they were willing to send their scholars to help and serve Liu Bei.

This is also the true foundation of the aristocratic and powerful families.

Before the establishment of Ren De Academy, in this era, not only education, but even literacy was almost completely monopolized by wealthy and powerful families.

Ordinary people have almost no access to literacy, and only some poor people can still have the possibility of literacy and understanding through the connections left by their ancestors.

If he doesn’t even have the chance to learn to read, how can he have the chance to serve as an official?
Therefore, whether it is the imperial court or the princes, aristocratic families are needed to govern the local areas.

Even though Liu Bei today has cultivated a large number of talents loyal to him with the help of Ren De Academy, the rapid expansion of territory will undoubtedly cause the talent pool to quickly run out.

And Li Ji was not deceiving the noble families in Yuzhou. Right now, the counties and prefectures across Yuzhou were barely able to maintain their operations and there were simply no extra staff available.

This also became a huge obstacle for Li Ji to govern and develop the two states of Yu and Xu.

Due to the shortage of talented people, the state can barely maintain its operation. If we really want to carry out drastic governance, we can revitalize the two states of Yu and Xu.

If there is no one to use, it is like cooking without rice.

Especially after the destruction caused by the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou, all kinds of land deeds were burned, which also created a bad consequence. That is, even if spring plowing was barely resumed the following year, taxes could not be collected at all, and there was no corresponding basis for collecting them.

Higher-level counties might still record the farmland information of each county, but each county no longer has the information about who owns the specific land and how much should be collected.

We can’t just allow each county to exercise free rein to collect an appropriate amount.

Besides being simple-minded, the common people are undoubtedly mercenary and would never want to pay a single grain more if they could pay less.

Therefore, after burning all kinds of land deeds in Yuzhou, it became Yuzhou's top priority to re-measure and count the fields in Yuzhou, so that Yuzhou could gradually resume normal operations.

As for the objective problem of shortage of manpower, Li Ji had actually been eyeing the large number of free laborers from the aristocratic families from the very beginning.

Li Ji was more interested in taking advantage of this great opportunity to make a preliminary reform to the taxation policy that was the foundation of the Han Dynasty, and to try out a policy in Yuzhou:

"The tax rate is calculated based on the land area"! (End of this chapter)