The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 695: The Initiator of the Mass Destruction

This person served as Shangshu during the reign of King Qi.

His son is still serving as prefect today.

Of course, he retired very early. Given his age and seniority, Xun Yi had to bow whenever he met him.

Among all the big families in Yanzhou, he is also the most prominent. If there is a dispute between the big families, he will most of the time be invited to mediate.

At this moment, there were quite a few people following him.

In addition to Wei Lie, there were Jiang Rui, Fan Qiao, Sun Mi, Gao Tangchen, Hu Wuyuan and many others.

These people all come from prominent families and have immense wealth. Even if they are not as wealthy as a super family like Xun Yi, they cannot be underestimated.

Xun Yi was still a little suspicious at this moment.

It cannot be said that he has no friendship with these people at all, but the friendship is not very deep either. When they suddenly came to visit him in a group, Xun Yi felt that they must have something to ask of him.

But he didn't know how this powerless old man like him could help them.

They drank some more wine and filled their stomachs. Then Xun Yi asked the dancers to leave and led these people to the study.

"There's something special about Xun Gong's study. I've heard that when classics are passed down from generation to generation, there's a certain literary aura about them. I think this literary aura is the result of the culmination of all the scholarship."

As soon as I walked in, several people started praising me.

When Xun Yi heard their praise, instead of showing joy on his face, he frowned.

Although he was not a capable minister, he was able to become one of the Nine Ministers after all.

He still understood that when you give someone a gift, you must have something in mind.

He cleared his throat and said, "As for literary talent, I am naturally not as good as you."

"You all came from afar, didn't you, just to see the literary atmosphere in my study?"

Hearing his words, several people raised their heads and smiled fakely.

After showing off his arrogance, Wei Lie finally spoke: "Mr. Xun, it is like this. We are here because of the matter of the Imperial Academy."

"I heard that you are currently in charge of academic affairs and are arguing with Sun Yan and others. Although we are not very knowledgeable, we are willing to lend you a hand!"

Hearing this, Xun Yi was even more surprised.

This matter is directly related to the Xun family. If it succeeds, it will benefit the family, but what does it have to do with you?

He asked, "Why are you all suddenly so concerned about this?"

The few people present had either retired and returned home or been dismissed, and basically did not hold any official position.

Cai Mu gestured for everyone to sit down, and Xun Yi also sat among them.

Cai Mu said, "Lord Xun, not long ago, officials broke into my residence and demanded that I truthfully declare the amount of my farmland and the number of my tenants. They even demanded a search, claiming they wanted to ensure I had no hidden armor or crossbows."

"Most of the other gentlemen have encountered similar things."

"Our family's farmland is the product of generations of accumulation, all thanks to the virtue of our ancestors. Your Majesty, why are you taking it away from us? Isn't this just competing with the people for profit?"

Xun Yi frowned immediately.

"The government is not trying to seize your farmland. We simply want you to truthfully report the amount of farmland you own. Land exceeding the standard will be taxed."

"You used to be a minister. Logically, you can keep a lot of farmland that is not taxed. You can also keep the rest of the farmland, but you have to pay taxes."

Cai Mu pursed his lips and said unhappily, "The government doesn't allow us to keep tenants. Without tenants, even if I keep the land for farming, how can I cultivate it? Do you want me to pick up a hoe and go to the fields myself?"

"Isn't this forcing us to hand over our farmland?"

Xun Yi shook his head again. "That's not the case. Your Majesty simply doesn't need to support too many tenants. You can retain the tenants permitted by your official position and title. If your farmland is uncultivated, you can adopt other methods, such as renting or hiring out land like the temple does."

The so-called tenants were different from the farmhands of later generations. The tenants of the wealthy families were similar to the common people under the Cao Wei military farming system. They had no right to harvest the farmland. They were just labor tools. The wealthy families would ensure that they would not starve to death, and all their harvests would belong to the wealthy families.

But if it is rented or employed, there will be no lifelong affiliation and it will not be considered as hidden labor.

Hearing his words, Cai Mu suddenly asked, "How much farmland do you have now, and how many tenants do you have?"

Xun Yi suddenly fell silent.

If he were facing someone else, Xun Yi could talk about principles for a whole day, but when he talked about the experience of being stabbed, these principles were not so practical.

Today's powerful families appear to be fully complying, but in reality they are always resisting.

Take the tenants for example. The big families could actually hire them or rent farmland to them, but they insisted on letting them leave and released a large number of people at the same time. This was an intentional demonstration to the government, hoping that the government would give up.

At the same time, when facing investigations, these people also maintained the mentality of hiding as much as they could.

When the officials came to Xun Xi's house for the first time and asked about the amount of arable land, Xun Xi told them that his family had 6,000 acres of arable land.

The official laughed when he heard this, told Xun Yi to think about it carefully, and then turned and left.

When the official came for the second time, Xun Yi told him that his family owned 30,000 acres of arable land.

Then, the other party prepared to thoroughly investigate Xun Xi's residences in various places to check for armor, crossbows, etc. This time, he reported 100,000 acres.

In fact, Xun Xi's family definitely had more than 100,000 acres of arable land. It is too exaggerated to say that his family had one million acres, but hundreds of thousands of acres were still possible.

As one of the top families, the amount of arable land they own across the world is a mystery.

To say they are rich is to insult them.

Just think about how their descendants performed in history to know how wealthy they were.

Every time Xun Yi thought about having to pay taxes on 100,000 acres of arable land, he felt very distressed.

In the past, he could often use those reasons to convince himself, but when faced with Cai Mu's questioning, he was no longer able to speak.

Whenever I think of these things, it feels like cutting flesh from my body!

Seeing his reaction, Cai Mu nodded in satisfaction, "To be honest, we are here just for this matter."

"Your Majesty's policies are competing with the people for profit. Serving the court while still having to pay taxes is a principle that has never been seen before in the world!"

"Officials serve the government and should receive salaries, so how can they pay taxes?"

“This is unbelievable!!”

Cai Mu was very excited.

Since the pre-Qin period, people with certain titles and official positions could be exempted from taxes and corvee labor, and could even obtain fiefdoms and collect taxes from people in their own territory.

During the Han Dynasty, those who passed the filial and honest examination could become superior people and no longer had to worry about taxes and corvee labor.

During the Wei and Jin dynasties, you could avoid it by passing Zhongzheng, or by having a big boss in your family.

As a result, the heavy tax burden fell entirely on the lower classes.
Of course, during the Han Dynasty, not counting the end of the dynasty, there were basically no large families like today who received salaries from the temple and owned tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land.
It is said that the wealthy and powerful families in the Eastern Han Dynasty were powerful, but if you compare them with the aristocratic families of today, they are nothing.

Today, these aristocratic families can be compared with the princes in the pre-Qin period.

If we don’t collect taxes from you, then who should we collect taxes from?!
Forget about normal income, you can follow the old rules, but you rely on your official title to annex such a large amount of farmland, and you still want to avoid taxes?
Of course, in the eyes of these big families, this is definitely not the case.

They felt that this privilege should not be taken away from them since they served their emperor.

"Ugh"

Xun Yi sighed deeply.

"That's true, but who dares to advise? The last person who advised Your Majesty has already arrived in Yizhou. Your Majesty is wise and powerful!"

"Since he came to power, the country has been in great order. He first pacified Shu, then destroyed Wu. No one dared to disobey him, and the soldiers pledged their lives in devotion to him!"

"Who dares to stop it?"

After hearing Xun Yi's words, Cai Mu and the others looked at each other, and Cai Mu said, "I have a solution."

Xun Yi was stunned. "How can you persuade His Majesty?"

"As long as His Majesty knows that this matter is not beneficial to the world, His Majesty will naturally stop doing it."

"You, me, no matter who stands up, are insignificant in front of His Majesty, and His Majesty can execute us at will. But if all the famous scholars of a county, a state, or even several states gather together, His Majesty may not dare to kill us all!!!"

Xun Xi's original expectant look suddenly disappeared.

Is this your good idea?

Not necessarily yet? ?

What? Are you going to gamble with your clan?
Do you dare to bet on others?
Cai Mu added, "Don't worry. We are not planning to unite against Your Majesty. That would be a way to death. But there are some things we can still do."

"You just arrived in Luoyang, and then something big happened. Do you think His Majesty won't notice your arrival? Don't you know we're meeting?"

"This is absolutely not allowed!"

Xun Yi rejected them very straightforwardly.

"Lord Xun, we are here for academic purposes, to help you, and to stand on your side. It has nothing to do with anything else!"

Xun Yi was a little hesitant.

"Lord Xun, even I have to pay 40,000 mu of farmland. As for you, it will probably be even more. How long can our clan last if we pay this much?"

Cai Mu asked again at this moment.

Xun Yi sighed deeply, "It's not that I'm timid, it's just that His Majesty is so powerful. If you haven't been by His Majesty's side, you won't understand. How can the Zhao family of Wen County compare to you?"

"At His Majesty's command, the entire clan was arrested. Zhao Feng was beheaded, and the remaining descendants were exiled to places like Nanzhou and Jiaozhou. The wealth accumulated by generations was wiped out."

"If that's what you think, then just pretend we've never been here. Goodbye!!"

Several people stood up and were about to leave.

"Well, tell me your plan."

(End of this chapter)