Thief Emperor

Chapter 528: Nine Out of Ten Houses Are Empty
The Fanyang Lu family is also an old aristocratic family.

The most powerful ability of this kind of old family is not how powerful they are, or how powerful they are. Their strongest ability... is the ability to sit on the fence.

Of course, these families will not just bet on one company and put all their eggs in one basket.

But even so, no one can underestimate their ability to judge the situation.

For example, the current situation in Huainan Road. All in all, Li Yun defeated the thousands of Pinglu troops in Guifeng Mountain just a few days ago, but the Lu family has already reacted and put the blame on Lu Yunzhang, so that this Lu Jieshuai, when he was able to escape from Qizhou, directly surrendered to show goodwill to Li Yun.

Moreover, exactly as Liu Su said, they were also prepared to use the women in the clan to do favors and make deals.

I have to say that the conditions proposed by Marshal Lu are quite tempting.

It’s not that the woman from the Lu family whom Li Yun had never met before attracted him, but the Wuchang Army in Lu Yunzhang’s conditions that attracted Li Yun.

The Wuchang Army originally had about 18,000 men. Now that Qizhou has been captured, it is estimated that there are still about 10,000 men left.

Although their combat effectiveness is poor, it is an army that has been built up and formed after all. If they can be taken over all at once and incorporated into the various armies of the Jiangdong Army, it will take some time for them to form combat effectiveness.

Although this process is not much shorter than training new recruits, it is better in that you don't have to spend time recruiting soldiers.

More importantly, the Wuchang Army was originally a formal organization of the imperial court. Although its weapons and equipment could not be as complete as those of the imperial guards, it at least had weapons and equipment.

For Li Yun, who is expanding rapidly, what he lacks most is not people, but these weapons and equipment.

After hearing Lu Yunzhang's conditions, Li Yun touched his chin, thought for a while, then looked at Lu Yunzhang and said with a smile: "If I remember correctly, Lu Jieshuai should be from the Fanyang Lu family. If the Lu family wants to get close to people like me, it seems..."

"General Xiao's family is more suitable."

Lu Yunzhang looked at Li Yun, then exhaled a breath of turbid air and said, "Lord Li, I am from the Fanyang Lu family, but it is no longer the main branch. The Lu family in my hometown of Zhuo County... I don't need you to say that, the Lu family is also close to the Fanyang Jiedushi."

He glanced at Li Yun again, his eyes seemed to say that Li Yun was ignorant, and then continued: "The Lu family of Zhuo County, Fanyang, intermarried with the Xiao family a few years ago. Lu... Lu moved out of his hometown in Zhuo County since his father's generation, and now settled in Anzhou."

After hearing this, Li Yun just smiled and was not surprised.

Even the Jingzhao Du family placed bets in many places, not to mention the more ancient Lu family.

"So, the daughter of the Lu family that General Lu Jie wants to marry to me is not the daughter of the Lu family in Zhuo County, but the daughter of the Lu family in Anzhou."

Lu Yunzhang looked a little embarrassed. He took a deep breath and said, "Mr. Li, we are all from the same clan. There is no difference, no difference."

Li Yun frowned and said calmly, "This is very different. If outsiders knew that I welcomed a daughter from a branch family into my family, where would my face be?"

This problem actually has no solution.

Since you are betting on both sides, that is, one family is divided into two families, these two families cannot have any connection with each other, at least not openly.

If the day ever comes when everyone serves their own master, they might even fight each other to the death.

At this time, the Lu family of Fanyang was right under Xiao Xian's nose. If their daughter was promised to Li Yun, how could they gain a foothold in Fanyang?

Lu Yunzhang lowered his head, thinking for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "If Lord Li really cares about these things, I have a niece from the Fanyang Lu family who can be promised to Lord Li."

He looked up at Li Yun and continued, "It's just to the outside world. Her identity cannot be revealed."

Li Yun felt quite emotional.

In this era, everyone admires the daughters of noble families and wants to marry them home to raise the family status.

And because of this, these women from wealthy families, whether they are still unmarried or married, are like fairies in the heavens and hardly ever glance at ordinary people on earth.

Now, these fairies in the eyes of ordinary people are nothing more than bargaining chips and tools for building network relationships in Lu Yunzhang's mouth.

Even Lu Yunzhang was very clear that his niece could not become a big shot after marrying into the Li family, but could only become a small one.

This would have been impossible in the past.

But in these turbulent times, everything became possible, and all the previous rules became bullshit.

"As for women, no matter how tall or short, beautiful or ugly, I can find as many as I want now."

Li Yun looked at Lu Yunzhang and said calmly, "If we marry the daughter of the Lu family, isn't it just for a name? If there is no name, what's the point of marrying her?"

Lu Yunzhang frowned and was about to speak when he was interrupted by Li Yun. Li stood up and came to Lu Yunzhang again.

He was tall, almost a head taller than Lu Yunzhang, and he looked very oppressive. Lu Yunzhang didn't dare to look Li Yun in the eye. He took several steps back and almost fell to the ground.

Mr. Li put his hands behind his back, thought for a while, and continued, "So, dismiss General Lu, and hand over all the Wuchang Army and its equipment to me. There is no need to discuss our marriage any further. Anzhou happens to be within the boundaries of Huainan Road. You hand over the army to me, and in the future, the Lu family of Anzhou will be under my protection."

"Um…"

Li Yun thought for a moment and continued, "It's hard to say what will happen to the private property of Lu Jieshuai's family, but I can guarantee that no one in Lu Jieshuai's family will die."

"private property?"

Lu Yunzhang stared at Li Yun with eyes wide open, and said in a lost voice: "I am discussing marriage with Lord Li, and Lord Li wants to touch my private property?"

"I'm not touching your house."

Li Yun explained patiently: "When the time comes, we will all move."

"Equal distribution of land and exemption of taxes. Marshal Lu Jie seems to be a scholar, so he should understand this."

After taking over the entire Huainan Road, Li Yun’s next move would be to completely or partially deny the title deed of the Great Zhou Dynasty, that is, the land certificate.

To put it more bluntly, it means completing land reform and redistributing the land.

This is something that every emerging dynasty must do, and Li Yun must ensure that this is done as fairly and justly as possible. In other words, by then, most of the land will be redistributed, including the Anzhou Lu family.

Lu Yunzhang couldn't understand it any more. He looked at Li Yun and said loudly, "Mr. Li, have you ever read a book? The reason why the land was divided up and tax exempted in every dynasty was because after the war, nine out of ten households were left empty-handed. If everyone in my family is still here, why should Mr. Li divide up my land?"

Because of excitement, Lu Yunzhang at this moment even forgot about the previous discussion on cooperation with Li Yun.

Actually, he is right.

Throughout the dynasties, any long-lasting dynasty would complete a land redistribution, but the distribution process was often not proactive.

Most of the time, it was because after the previous dynasty weakened, wars broke out everywhere. Various places began to fight madly, fighting for more than ten years or even decades. It was a chaotic situation and nine out of ten houses were left empty!
By then, there will be wastelands everywhere and no one will live there. When the new dynasty redistributes the land, it will encounter almost no resistance.

This is actually the case during the big weekend now.

If there was no Li Yun, the princes in various places would have split up and fought each other. After fighting for decades, there would be chaos and war, and nine out of ten houses would be empty.

Only on the ruins of the old dynasty can a new dynasty thrive.

And now, it is only the early stage of the war, and even Jiangnan has only experienced some minor turmoil because of Li Yun.

Even in the current battle of Jiangbei, the Jiangdong Army, under the control of Li Yun, rarely harms civilians. Up to now, even though the entire Jiangbei has experienced so many battles, it has not been in chaos.

In other words, once Li Yun takes over Huainan Road and the entire southeast, the area under his rule will most likely not be in ruins or destroyed.

Since it is not a ruin, the process of land redistribution will inevitably encounter resistance, such as from vested interests.

He will definitely have the same reaction as Lu Yunzhang now.

However, land redistribution is imperative.

Otherwise, even if Li Yun took over Southeast, he would just change the name and change Southeast's surname from Wu to Li.

The basic contradictions will basically not change much, at most they will be slightly eased.

"Look."

Mr. Li smiled and said, "Another hurry."

"I have calculated before that 80% of the land is in the hands of a very small number of people, so the land should be evenly distributed..."

"You don't need to offend too many people, nor do you need to leave nine out of ten empty-handed."

Li Yun smiled warmly: "If this small group of people can cooperate, then the equal distribution of land can be easily implemented. The most troublesome thing is that when it comes to redistribution, it will be a little troublesome because we have to find those people who have no land bit by bit."

Lu Yunzhang was stunned. At this moment, he even forgot what his family had said to him before. He stared at Li Yun blankly and murmured, "What if, what if this small group of people are unwilling to cooperate?"

"That's easy."

Li Yun said quietly: "Just leave this small group of people with nine out of ten empty houses."

Li Yun’s land redistribution plan has been going on for a long time.

He had been doing this since the Yuezhou and Wuzhou periods, but he was weak at the time and was affiliated with the Wu Zhou court, so it was not easy for him to directly deny the land deeds of the Wu Zhou court. Therefore, he could only collect part of the land as public land to complete redistribution in another sense.

Later, because the war continued, the matter had to be shelved again.

After occupying Huainan Road this time, the entire southeast is basically in Li Yun's hands. At that time, this major policy must be implemented.

When Li Yun used Huang Chao, he intended to use him as a sharp weapon.

Lu Yunzhang turned pale and murmured, "You are crazy, you are crazy..."

"I'm not crazy."

Li Yun's expression remained calm. He smiled and said, "It's this world that's crazy. I'm just trying to get it back on track."

Lu Yunzhang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "Those who have family businesses have accumulated them through generations of hard work!"

"Moreover, they themselves are better than those ignorant people who sell their fields and even their children!"

“It is precisely because of their strength that they can become rich from generation to generation!”

At this moment, Lu Yunzhang had completely forgotten the purpose of his visit to Li Yun. At this moment, he stood on his own class and angrily denounced the terrible thoughts in the mind of the young man in front of him.

He was very eager to change this young man.

Because he knew in his heart that this young man was fully capable of putting his terrible ideas into practice!
Li Yun shook his head slightly: "In the beginning, those who fought hard to stand out in the world might have done so because they were strong, but later on, that may not be the case."

“There is no such thing as a strong generation.”

"and."

Li Yun said calmly: "If we talk about strength and weakness, I am the strongest in the southeast right now."

"According to Marshal Lu, since we can use the strong to seize the weak, I can also use the strong to seize a few families and then divide the land equally."

"It has been more than 200 years since the Great Zhou Dynasty was established here."

Li Yun returned to his seat, lowered his head and drank tea, his tone calm but firm.

“It’s time to start over again.”

(End of this chapter)