The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 688 Giving advice
Zhong Hui followed them all the way to the gate of the Imperial College before saying goodbye to them and leaving.

Watching Zhong Hui walk away, Pan Yue couldn't help but say, "Mr. Zhong is truly a distinguished scholar. He treats us younger generations with such warmth, courtesy, and care. He never looks down on us just because we are young. He is truly a role model for us!"

Xiahou Zhan also nodded and said, "Mr. Zhong is indeed a good person."

Chen Zhi's eyes were full of disbelief.

Are we talking about the same person?

Is Zhong Hui warm and polite? Is he caring and loving?

how would I not know?

Zhong Hui rode in a carriage and rushed towards his own residence. His carriage was full of memorials and documents.

Because he had too many things to do on weekdays and he didn't want to miss any of them, he turned his carriage into his temporary study.

Important matters are often handled in the carriage.

Zhong Hui is now helping the emperor to issue the order to reward land and the order to occupy land.

These two decrees, one after the other, were enough to kill the great families.

The reason why the aristocratic families became aristocratic families was that their official status could protect them and prevent them from paying taxes. Then they began to frantically annex the remaining arable land to make themselves richer and richer.

But now that this privilege has been broken, they are helpless.

There are many people responsible for this.

Like Wei Guan, Zhang Hua, Lu Zhi, Du Yu and others.

However, Zhong Hui always regarded himself as the actual controller. In his eyes, these people were "working" for him.

When Zhong Hui arrived at his residence, he saw his disciple whom he had not seen for a long time.

Liu Yuan was standing at the door at this moment, with a few people standing behind him, waiting for Zhong Hui respectfully.

"teacher!!"

Zhong Hui glanced at him and asked, "Why are you so late?"

"It's just that I haven't seen my family for a long time, so I was delayed for some time."

"Teacher, these are the gifts my father prepared for me."

Liu Yuan pointed at the carriage in the distance, but Zhong Hui didn't even look at it. He got off the carriage, asked Liu Yuan to follow him, and walked towards the study.

"I accepted you only because of His Majesty's order. Your father didn't have to prepare such a generous gift. I can't afford it!"

Zhong Hui said this and then asked, "You didn't embarrass me over there, did you?"

Liu Yuan hurriedly told his story, especially his prediction of the Xianbei's defeat, which made everyone look at him with admiration.

When Liu Yuan told these things, a look of joy appeared on Zhong Hui's face.

"Not bad!"

"Is that why your father prepared so many gifts?"

"exactly!"

"Okay! I'll take it then!"

Zhong Hui was very happy that his disciple did not embarrass him in front of outsiders, but instead made him look good.

Not only am I proficient in both civil and military affairs and good at governing a country, I am also very good at teaching my disciples!
"You are quite smart. I have more to teach you in the future. Remember, no matter when or where, you must never embarrass your teacher!"

"only!!"

Lu Mansion.

Cao Mao sat beside Lu Kang with a smile on his face, holding the documents in his hand and talking to him about the situation outside.

"The Xianbei have been defeated, and the Grand Marshal has captured Tuoba Liwei alive. With this, the greatest threat to Wei outside the Great Wall has been eliminated. The Grand Marshal has captured over 400,000 people. Youzhou already lacks manpower, and deploying these people throughout Youzhou will surely help alleviate local problems."

Hearing Cao Mao's words, Lu Kang smiled calmly and said, "Congratulations, Lord Wei, for defeating another enemy."

"What a pity! If Lord Lu had such talent, he could have taken over the Grand Marshal's expedition to the frontier and achieved unparalleled fame."

There was something more to Cao Mao's words.

Lu Kang shook his head. "Thank you for your kindness, Lord Wei. However, I am just an ordinary person. How can I be compared with the Grand Marshal?"

"I myself was defeated by the Grand Marshal. With the Grand Marshal in the north, the Lord of Wei can rest easy."

Cao Mao had been supporting Lu Kang for some time.

During these days, Cao Mao was very enthusiastic towards him, to the extent of fulfilling all his requests. Under Cao Mao's hospitality, Lu Kang did not talk about suicide, but he also had no intention of becoming an official.

Cao Mao brought Lu Kang's family here and let his children stay with him.

Lu Kang looked at Cao Mao, who was sincere in his response, and spoke again, "Your Majesty, you have been extremely kind to me these past few days, and I cannot possibly repay you. However, as a defeated general, I truly do not have the qualifications or talent to repay you. I only hope you will not do this."

"Lord Lu, I heard that Liu Bei also made three trips before he was able to gain Zhuge Liang's support."

"To govern the world, I need the help of talented people like Lord Lu. If Lord Lu has not changed his mind, he will be willing to assist me sooner or later. I am willing to wait." "This..."

Lu Kang was really speechless.

It is impossible to say that he was not moved at all. Who wouldn't be moved to be treated like this by an emperor?

But Lu Kang had his own persistence.

This made him particularly conflicted.

Cao Mao ignored it and started talking about rewarding Tian Ling.

Lu Kang was more interested in this. He listened to Cao Mao talk about many issues, especially the problems of the tenants.

"These bastards are truly despicable. They secretly resent my edict. Knowing they can't keep their own farmland, they distribute it among their relatives and close associates. If it's not enough, they simply sell it off. They would rather sell it to others at a low price than to the imperial court!"

"I should have simply ordered the confiscation of the excess farmland!"

"As a result, more and more tenants have been freed. Currently, there are only about eight million people in the Wei Dynasty. By next year, I wonder how much this number will increase!"

"In the Central Plains alone, I'm afraid there are three million people hidden away, maybe even more!"

"Minister Lu estimates that the world's population is around 15 million, and the government only controls a little over 8 million. Do you think these people should be killed?"

"The people they have are almost as old as me!"

"It's really hateful. Among all of you, Jiangdong is the worst hit."

Cao Mao glanced at Lu Kang.

Lu Kang lowered his head. As a representative of a big family, he was obviously well aware of all this.

He admired Cao Mao's courage very much.

This land reward order is a policy that will offend all the major families and officials in the world. In the State of Wu, if Sun Hao issued this policy today, there is a possibility that the whole country will rebel tomorrow.

How much prestige and confidence does one need to dare to play like this?
However, such policies will also bring huge improvements to the government.

If the population doubles, the tax burden will increase by who knows how many times!
Starting tomorrow, I'm afraid that Da Wei will no longer have to worry about not having enough money.

Lu Kang's eyes were full of envy.

Cao Mao said, "However, the number of tenants is increasing, and the arable land is insufficient. It usually takes at least three years to reclaim a piece of arable land and turn it into fertile farmland."

"It's impossible to say that if the tenants come out today, they can open up the land tomorrow, and then they can get a harvest to support themselves in a few days. This doesn't make sense."

"I originally wanted to grant them public land, but unfortunately, there are too many tenants and not enough public land. Now I can't find a way to accommodate these tenants."

Lu Kang immediately said, "Your Majesty, the imperial court can allocate funds to the prefectures and counties, and have the prefecture and county officials employ these tenants as workers, using them to carry out reclamation and construction."

"After this year's reforms, next year's taxes will undoubtedly increase dramatically. Therefore, we can first use the reserves in the national treasury and not worry about this year's gains and losses."

"Because of the war, all parts of the country are in ruins and need to be rebuilt. They all need to build and maintain water conservancy projects, roads, and cultivate farmland."

"Let the local governments directly use these people to do these things, especially the reclamation work. Their food and drink will be borne by the government. When the reclamation work is completed, these arable lands can be used as public fields and rented out to the people. They can also be directly rewarded to the tenants according to the land occupation order and let them cultivate the land."

"This way, we can not only solve the tenants' survival problems, but also solve the local maintenance problems, and open up a large amount of arable land. Although the expenditure this year will be very large, it will increase year by year."

Lu Kang analyzed the situation for Cao Mao seriously.

Cao Mao was overjoyed and hurriedly shook Lu Kang's hand, "Mr. Lu, what a good idea!"

"Our Great Wei has made great gains over the years, and we have quite a bit of grain reserves. We can give it a try!"

"Wouldn't it be better if you, Lord Lu, could take charge of this matter?"

Lu Kang shook his head at this moment, "Your Majesty, since I was brought to Luoyang, you have been very fond of me. I have no way to repay your kindness, so I can only use this method to relieve it a little."

Cao Mao was not disappointed either.

Now that Lu Kang is able to give me suggestions, are I still afraid that he won't be able to take responsibility for important matters in the future?

This is an improvement. Sooner or later, he will become an important official under his command!

Lu Kang's words did give Cao Mao a new idea. They reminded him of "work-for-relief". Although they were not the same thing, the principle was the same.

These tenants are no different from disaster victims. They have no jobs and cannot make a living. If the government does not take care of them, they will die soon.

If the temple were to lead them to do things, give them temporary jobs, and then gradually reduce their numbers until they all had their own farmland and a livelihood.

This method is quite good. Although it will temporarily put huge pressure on the imperial treasury, there is no need for frequent wars now, and the pressure on the treasury has been reduced a lot.

Cao Mao accompanied Lu Kang to have a meal of Wu cuisine, and then said goodbye and left.

Only after Cao Mao left did Lu Kang sigh helplessly.

He is truly a Holy King.

Unfortunately, I can't assist him after all.

This time, I just want to repay the emperor's kindness, and this will be the last time.

(End of this chapter)