The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 497 No rush

Luoyang.

Cao Mao continued to practice sword as usual.

He swung the long sword with great force, making a series of sounds of breaking through the air.

The guards stood not far away, watching Cao Mao practice sword skills, but no one dared to disturb him.

Cao Mao practiced for a while, then took out a book and started reading.

The book that Cao Mao took out was a book about swordsmanship left by Cao Pi.

Swordsmanship has been developing since ancient times. When it developed to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, swordsmanship evolved into more moves and even some magical skills, such as catching a blade with bare hands.

Deng Zhan, who competed with Cao Pi, was very good at this skill.

Cao Mao wanted to summon a sword master to teach him, but his ministers recommended several people to him, but none of them were approved by Cao Mao.

These people are just famous, but their swordsmanship is mediocre. They can be called swordsmanship enthusiasts.

Zhang Hua, on the other hand, believed that he should find someone from the military to be his teacher.

Cao Mao deeply agreed with this.

Wen Yang volunteered and expressed his willingness to teach, but Cao Mao did not agree.

Wen Yang's physique and strength make his swordsmanship not something that ordinary people can learn. Even if they learn it, it may not be useful because of their different physiques.

Cao Mao temporarily took the books left by Cao Pi and practiced according to them. The rest of the time he continued to exercise to make himself as healthy and strong as possible.

When Cao Mao finished today's training, he was sweating all over, and his clothes were soaked with sweat. The eunuchs hurried over to wipe them off.

Cao Mao put away his sword and walked quickly to Zhang Hua's side.

Zhang Hua smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Minister Lu is waiting in the East Hall."

Seeing the smile on Zhang Hua's face, Cao Mao joked, "Can't you just let me guess? Why do you have to be so obvious?"

Zhang Hua quickly put away his smile and revealed a serious look, "Your Majesty, Minister Lu has an important matter to report!"

Cao Mao burst into laughter.

"It's too late now!"

Lu Zhi came to Taiji Hall to report on this year's autumn harvest.

Zhang Hua's expression just now had already betrayed Lu Zhi. It seemed that there was still room for improvement.

When Cao Mao changed his clothes and hurried to the East Hall, Lu Zhi was waiting for him. When he saw Cao Mao, he hurriedly stood up and bowed to greet him.

"His Majesty."

If it weren't for Zhang Hua's smile just now, Cao Mao would have had a hard time telling anything from Lu Zhi's face.

Lu Zhi looked very calm, and his face did not reveal anything about the harvest this year.

Cao Mao sat on the upper seat with a smile and looked at Lu Zhi beside him.

"How much has it improved?"

Lu Zhi was stunned for a moment, but still said truthfully: "It has been greatly improved. Your Majesty, please take a look."

Cao Mao took the memorial and read it with his head down.

Lu Zhi explained, "The tax increases in various places are very stable. Although the taxes on the previously rented farmland are lower than those in other places, the increase is not obvious and is still increasing."

"This year's tax revenue is already comparable to the amount collected in the fifth year of Taihe."

Cao Mao immediately laughed. The fifth year of Taihe was the year with the highest tax record during the reign of Cao Rui. In that year, the Ming Emperor attached great importance to the harvest and was determined to promote agriculture and sericulture.

In order to achieve this goal, he personally went to his own land to engage in farming, which immediately caused a great impact.

Officials from all over the country followed suit, and the emperor personally performed sacrifices, hoping that the weather would be good that year. The situation that year was very good. Kobe surrendered voluntarily, the Shu Kingdom withdrew its troops, and the prince was born. It seemed that all good things happened in that year.

Under such circumstances, the grain output that year also created the highest level since the founding of the Wei Dynasty. This made Emperor Ming very happy. He immediately issued an order, saying that he missed the princes from all over the country and allowed them to bring their children to see him.

Unfortunately, this only lasted for one year. Starting from the sixth year of Taihe, disasters occurred frequently in various places, and grain production began to gradually decline.

During the reign of King Qi, the Sima family engaged in frantic military expansion, and the quality of officials declined drastically. No one dared to talk about tax changes anymore.

The tax collection in the third year of Zhengyuan reached the data of the fifth year of Taihe. What does this indicate?

This shows that the national strength has begun to rise again and has reached the same level as during the peak of the Ming Emperor.

Cao Mao couldn't help laughing.

For Cao Mao, the third year of Zhengyuan was also a very peaceful and smooth year.

Just like the fifth year of Taihe in the reign of Emperor Ming.

However, Cao Mao hoped that this was not just an exception, and he hoped that the fourth year of Zhengyuan would be even better than this year.

He looked at Lu Zhi again and said, "Lord Lu, do you think this land leasing can continue?"

Lu Zhi answered without hesitation: "Yes."

"Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, the issue of renting crops will have an impact on taxes, but overall they are still increasing. Although the Wei Dynasty has not been able to fulfill its long-cherished wish of unification, the Wu and Shu kingdoms are no longer a threat. Your Majesty is not a king who seeks quick success and instant benefits. If it can be fully implemented, it may slow down the growth of taxes, but it will be beneficial for future major events." Lu Zhi pointed out more evidence.

According to Lu Zhi, in the areas where farming was first leased, commercial activities became extremely frequent, and there was growth in other areas. Even public security was more stable than in other places, and there were fewer thieves, which had many positive impacts on all aspects.

The new approach was to reduce the government's revenue and increase farmers' income. While this policy would reduce government taxes, it would also restore purchasing power to the people, leading to a prosperous market. The people would live and work in peace and contentment, and the likelihood of banditry would naturally decrease.
Cao Mao is not his great-grandfather.

Cao Pi was a person who liked to pursue these goals that had no practical significance.

Sometimes, in order to achieve the goal, we will even do things that will force things to happen.

But Cao Mao was not like that. He was very patient. Even if the growth rate of taxes slowed down, he was willing to do it as long as it could revive the market and get the Wei Dynasty back on track.

The tax burden exceeds that of the Ming Emperor, but that is just a number. As the number of registered households piles up, it will be surpassed sooner or later.

Besides, there is still half of the country waiting for him to take over.

Once the population and arable land of those two countries are taken, the tax will increase even more.

Cao Mao was not in a hurry at all.

"Duke Lu, since this is feasible, you should promote it in various places. The situations in different places are different, so you should observe carefully first and don't be impatient."

Lu Zhi didn't expect that the emperor would persuade her not to be impatient.

He immediately took the order, packed his things and left in a hurry.

Zhang Hua stepped forward at this moment, "Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Cao Mao shook his head.

After the war ended, the taxes levied on the government should have continued to increase. Only dynasties like the Wei and Jin dynasties declined within less than 30 years of their founding. I just adjusted the momentum.

He didn't take those data seriously at all. For Cao Mao, the sense of accomplishment brought by these numbers was not as great as the sense of accomplishment brought by seeing the restaurant grow in scale.

"How are things going in Jibei?"

Zhang Hua replied, "The Imperial Clan Minister is currently leading the Prince of Jibei to Luoyang. I heard that the perpetrators of the Prince's murder have also been escorted onto carriages and are being brought to the imperial court for trial."

Cao Mao said, "If it weren't for Maoxian, the King of Jibei would have been buried by now."

The reason why Cao Mao sent Hu Lie there was because of Zhang Hua's suggestion.

After Cao Mao and Cao Yan encountered each other, Cao Yan told Cao Mao that the King of Jibei had a dispute with someone and was planning to go to the Ministry of Justice first to ask the Ministry of Justice not to try the case.

At that time, Cao Mao only instructed Cao Yan to be responsible for this matter.

But when Zhang Hua learned about this, he asked a question.

How did Cao Yan know about this faster than the Ministry of Justice?

Cao Mao immediately inquired and learned that it was a retainer of Cao Zhi who came to Luoyang, found Cao Yan, and told Cao Yan about the dispute between Cao Zhi and the noble family.

After hearing this, Zhang Hua immediately advised Cao Mao to let Hu Lie go to the local area, find Hu Zun, and let Hu Zun send troops to protect the safety of King Jibei.

Although Cao Mao was surprised, he did not ask any questions and immediately sent Hu Lie to the scene.

Only after giving the order did Cao Mao ask the reason.

Zhang Hua said: The King of Jibei has just arrived in his fiefdom, it is impossible for him to have such a capable guest, who can come faster than the people from the big families who come to complain.

Even if there was such a guest, given the strength of the local big families, it would be impossible for them not to stop him.

It seems that this person was released intentionally, and it is possible that the big family arranged for him to come and file a complaint.

Zhang Hua guessed that Cao Zhi must be involved in a bigger problem, not just the sale of farmland. The local big families must have been caught up in internal strife because of something he did, so he had to send someone there quickly to prevent him from being harmed by thieves.

Among Qingxu, the only person who has the power to make the big families shut up is General Hu Zun.

What happened next was exactly as Zhang Hua had guessed.

Cao Zhi's guest was indeed sent by Liu Ji, whose purpose was to prevent Gong Shahong from dragging him into the disaster.

He deliberately sent someone to sue him in order to distance himself from the public land case.

If Hu Zun had not received the order and arrived in time, Cao Zhi would have really died at the hands of Gong Shahong.

Zhang Hua, despite Cao Mao's praise, remained unconvinced. He continued, "Your Majesty, across the Wei Dynasty, besides public farmland, there's also farmland owned by the powerful families. Over the years, public farmland has become increasingly scarce, while the farmland owned by the powerful families has increased."

"If this continues, all the people in the world will become slaves."

"We must be on guard against this matter."

Speaking of this, Cao Mao suddenly realized that after An Shizong abolished the military farming system and turned the people who worked for the temple into self-cultivating farmers, he seemed to have issued another decree. It was strictly forbidden to hire private tenants.

As a result, he encountered a huge backlash, and Anshi subsequently began many reforms to the farmland system.

These reforms encountered an unprecedented backlash and were implemented in the court for seven or eight years. Then Anshi became addicted to pleasure and neglected all these things.

The proposer of these reforms was the then Minister of Revenue.

Cao Mao slowly looked at Zhang Hua.

is it you???

(End of this chapter)