The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 674: Land Reward Order

"A reward for the land?"

In the Secretariat, Wei Guan was very surprised when he saw the documents that had just been sent from the imperial court.

Logically speaking, no matter what laws and policies the imperial court was about to issue, it was impossible for the Secretariat to be completely unaware of them.

They always hear some news in advance and prepare themselves.

But this time, the decree was really issued to the Secretariat without any warning, requiring the Secretariat to take action as soon as possible.

Wei Guan was a little confused for a moment.

He carefully read the decree, and after reading it once, he turned pale and sweat broke out.

How can this be called a land reward order? !

This is clearly an order to reclaim the land!

The edict Cao Mao handed over to the Secretariat mentioned: The officials of the world have made great contributions to the unification of the Great Wei. I have decided to reward them and at the same time make the hierarchy more clear so that the ministers who have made contributions can get the power they deserve.

Next comes the content of the reward.

Officials of the first rank can occupy 2,000 mu of land, officials of the second rank can occupy 1,500 mu of land, and the area gradually decreases.

The lowest-level officials were only allowed to own 350 acres of arable land and retain five tenants.

According to land measurement and output during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, an adult male needed 70 acres of arable land to support his family.

A ninth-rank official can own five times as much arable land as an average person. This is actually not a small amount, but a huge gap.

But there was a problem. Although it was called a reward, Cao Mao actually had no intention of distributing farmland to anyone.

He just said generously: From now on you can legally own so much arable land!
But, is there a lot of arable land?

Regardless of the rank of today's ministers, whose arable land is not measured in tens of thousands of acres?
Not to mention the arable land, even the slaves and tenants in the house were counted in the thousands or tens of thousands.

You told me this is a reward?
Wei Guan could imagine how much trouble this decree would cause when it was officially announced to the world.

Wei Guan felt a little bitter at this moment.

In fact, Wei Guan had quite a bit of property.

Their family has a tradition of studying Confucian classics, and his father was once a Shangshu!
How could such a big family have little wealth?
This decree would obviously affect Wei Guan himself.

He raised his head and looked at Zhang Hua who was standing in front of him.

Zhang Hua looked at him indifferently, and he took in all the changes in Wei Guan's expression.

He was not anxious at all, but asked calmly: "Duke Wei, why are you hesitating?"

Policies in the government that are unfavorable to the powerful families are difficult to implement because almost all people in key positions come from powerful families.

If the emperor wanted to issue a policy that was unfavorable to the great families, his staff would first dissuade him. Even if the emperor got past them, the edict would be stranded when it reached the Secretariat.

At that time, the ministers would waste time with the emperor and use various methods to delay until the emperor changed his mind.

Now, the Secretariat is managed by Wei Guan.

Huabiao was only the nominal head of the Secretariat, but he had long since stopped doing any work personally. As for Chen Qian's brother Chen Ben, he had already passed away.

Now, Wei Guan could choose to put the decree away, refuse to execute it for some reason, go to the emperor to dissuade him, spread the news, and then gather more helpers to stop the emperor from doing this.

This is also what the Zhongshu officials often did in the past.

As long as he performed well, even if he found helpers, in the face of such a major issue, almost all the major clans would stand on his side. At that time, even the emperor would be helpless and furious.
But, there is one thing.

The current emperor is not the seriously ill Emperor Ming, nor is he the powerless King of Qi.

He was not even Emperor Wen who needed to compromise with the big families.

The one who sent someone to inform him was the powerful emperor who had just unified the world and had many brave generals under his command, who was able to massacre the Wei Dynasty again. This was almost equivalent to the founding emperor.

A bright smile suddenly appeared on Wei Guan's face.

"No problem, I'm just amazed at your majesty's kindness! I'll award it right away!"

Zhang Hua looked at him with a half-smile but did not say anything. Wei Guan quickly got busy, formally drafted the decree, and began to issue it according to Cao Mao's instructions.

Zhang Hua was not afraid that he would delay or inform anyone in advance.

Taking the current situation as an example, the most difficult part for the emperor to deal with the powerful families is that he cannot bring himself to kill them because of his close ministers.

That’s right, the only card the big families have left in front of the emperor is the emotional card.

Apart from that, there is no other threat.

If they dared to follow their previous example and unite to cause trouble for Cao Mao.

Cao Mao could slaughter them all at once, which would probably take less than a month.

Things are completely different now!!

How powerful were these people in the past?
Even a powerful person like Sima Shi was forced by them to not dare to take action.

When they united, they had the final say in the entire temple, just like Emperor Wen and Emperor Ming, who had no choice but to give in at times.

But the situation is different now.

No big clan dared to cross the emperor. If they went against the emperor now, not only would they lose their own three clans, but their reputation in history would also be ruined.

Zhang Hua simply said, "After finishing your work here, you can go to the East Hall to meet His Majesty." After that, he turned and left.

Even after he left, Wei Guan had no other ideas. He quickly drafted the decree according to the emperor's ideas and then sent someone to issue it.

After doing all this, he quickly went to the East Hall.

In fact, many smart people in the government have already thought of this day.

How could an emperor as powerful as Your Majesty allow a group of local tyrants to exist in different places?
It's a matter of time.

But when this day really came, Wei Guan felt indescribably complicated.

Should we be happy that the world has such a holy king, or should we feel sorry for the interests of our own people?

Wei Guan was thinking about this problem all the way.

Before he knew it, he finally arrived at the Tai Chi Hall.

Man Changwu's face was solemn. The tall man stopped him and went in to report. Soon, he was brought before Cao Mao.

His Majesty the Emperor was sitting on the throne, waiting for him.

The moment he saw the emperor, Wei Guan seemed to have found the answer.

He bowed solemnly to Cao Mao.

"His Majesty!!"

"Hahaha, why is Wei Jun suddenly so restrained?"

Cao Mao was as enthusiastic as ever and he attached great importance to Wei Guan.

Although this man came from a prominent family, he did not have the disease of a celebrity, probably because he lost his father at a young age. He was a fair person and was considered to be honest and capable compared to other prominent families.

As for why the other person did not develop such a character after losing his father at a young age, it is probably because he had an older brother who loved him.

Cao Mao had always wanted to make use of Wei Guan.

Now Wei Guan has actually begun to deal with the affairs of the Secretariat.

After a while, he might be appointed as Shizhong, and then work as Pushe in Shangshutai as a transition, and later he could become the official Zhongshu Ling, in charge of Zhongshutai.

After the other party sat down, Cao Mao did not beat around the bush and asked directly: "What do you think of my order to reward land?"

Wei Guan immediately replied, "Your Majesty, I fully agree with your idea of rewarding the ministers, but there is one thing."

"Oh?"

"What's wrong with that?"

Wei Guan quickly said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid that some low-ranking cunning officials will distribute the land under their names to their relatives in order to own more land."

"Therefore, I think that since we are going to give rewards, it would be best to give them to everyone in the world. Men and women each have a set amount of farmland, and no one can exceed it. This would be best."

Cao Mao narrowed his eyes. This was exactly what Zhong Hui said.

Zhong Hui wanted to set a fixed number for everyone in the world. For the common people, it was the government's permission for them to cultivate the land on their own, as long as they did not exceed this standard. For the big families, they were to be more restrained and not exceed this number!

People in the world are divided by their official titles and ranks, and restrictions are set for each person.

This is Zhong Hui’s simple and crude policy.

The big families were all thinking about how to put the emperor in a cage, and this man was thinking about how to put the world in a cage.

Although it sounds outrageous, the Western Jin Dynasty in history did stipulate the amount of arable land that everyone could own, although the laws of the Western Jin Dynasty were legislative recognition of the privilege of large families to own arable land and private houses as tenants.

But it does have a certain limiting effect.

But what Cao Mao wants to implement now is not a small-scale campaign, it is to directly demolish the foundations of the big families.

It would be best if the extra arable land was handed over to the government. Even if you don't, you should distribute it to me and pay taxes!

Don’t try to avoid taxes by using your official status!!

Wei Guan's words reminded Cao Mao of his thoughts, which he had not yet decided whether to make public.

In fact, Cao Mao didn't really care whether officials would distribute their farmland to their relatives, because if relatives did not have official titles, they would have to pay taxes. This was not a bad thing for the court.

Of course, it would be best if we could get it back.

Taking it back and turning it into public land, and then distributing it to tenants who have broken away from their masters, can greatly increase the temple's income.

Cao Mao asked tentatively, "I wonder if Lord Wei has anything to teach me?"

Wei Guan no longer hesitated at this moment. He combined the ideas of His Majesty and spoke eloquently. He did not even say it in a subtle way. He directly explained to Cao Mao a lot of his personal ideas on how to limit the annexation of cultivated land as the main attack direction.

Hey, don't tell me.

It turns out that the big families know best how to deal with the big families!

Cao Mao listened to Wei Guan's story very carefully. Wei Guan's ideas were very similar to Zhong Hui's. They were both very radical. They forcibly issued regulations to form a routine, and then focused on cracking down on those who did not comply, so as to ease the land annexation problem through violence.

Wei Guan also added one point, which is the reward regulations for retired officials.

"It's you!"

"You and Maoxian will be responsible for this matter together!!"

(End of this chapter)