Dream of the Red Chamber: Start by gaining Zhao Yun's martial prowess, and be ennobled in a sin

Jia Jing pondered for a moment and said:

"Besides severely punishing them, I think we should also establish procedures as soon as possible for reopening the military farms in the garrisons."

Suppressing the rebellion and purging corrupt military officers were merely a temporary solution. What truly needed to be established was a new military system that was replicable, scalable, and sustainable, one that ensured that military households had food to eat and that the garrison troops could regain their fighting capacity!

Emperor Jingsheng's expression softened slightly. He turned his gaze to the bright moon outside the window and said in a deep voice:

"It needs to be decided! How to allocate the land, how to replenish the soldiers, how to collect taxes, how to pay wages, how to eliminate old abuses, and how to avoid repeating the old mistakes all require careful planning."

"Zijie, what are you thinking?"

The main challenge is how to prevent the military farms from being seized by officials again!

Jia Jing said, "I have already drafted a memorial on this matter, and I request Your Majesty's wise decision."

He took out a document from his sleeve, presented it with both hands, and continued:

"Firstly, the military farms in all garrisons and military posts around the capital will be remeasured, registered, and taken over by the government. From now on, military farms may only be cultivated by military households and may not be bought, sold, mortgaged, or privately transferred."

"Those who are granted land for military merit shall enjoy the right to cultivate it permanently, which shall be inherited by their descendants. However, the land shall still belong to the government, and the land deeds shall be managed by the Military Supplies Department."

"In this way, we may be able to stop the old path of land annexation and the usurpation by powerful families from the root."

Legally, the land cultivated by the Han Dynasty's military garrisons belonged to the state, meaning it was state-owned. Military households only had the right to cultivate the land, not the right to own it.

However, in reality, officers and powerful families try every means to exploit loopholes in the system and constantly seize military land.

Therefore, this policy is essentially about restoring and strengthening the original institutional framework, which is in line with the current era and can also prevent land from being annexed to a certain extent.

In other words, the land owned by military households would belong to the imperial court from now on, and the court would only lease it to military households on a long-term basis, and private individuals could not buy or sell it.

"Secondly, the imperial court allocated silver to repair the water conservancy of the garrisons in the capital region. All newly registered military households were allocated forty mu of land, and the government provided them with oxen, farming tools, and seeds. They were exempted from land tax for three years, so that they could settle down and put down roots."

With natural disasters occurring frequently in the Han Dynasty and water conservancy facilities in various regions in serious disrepair, it is impossible to get military households to return to their hometowns without good policies!

As for allocating forty mu of land to each household, it seems like a lot.

In fact, based on the current yield per mu in the Han Dynasty, about five to eight mu in the north can support one person, while in the south it is about three or four mu. After taking into account land rotation and taxes, it can probably only support a family of six or seven people.

"Thirdly, after the land survey, the new policies will be implemented first in the capital region, including merging the poll tax into the land tax, abolishing the fire tax, and unifying the collection of only one type of land tax."

"All other exorbitant taxes and levies shall be abolished. The government shall post notices to clearly define the tax amounts, and the village heads shall not be allowed to add them privately, nor shall the local gentry or officials pass them on."

After this round of purges in the Gyeonggi region, implementing the new policies will undoubtedly be a piece of cake!

This provision is mainly to prevent local officials from levying exorbitant taxes under various pretexts in addition to regular taxes, thereby exploiting the people and military households.

"Fourth, key military officers will be dispatched from the 12th Regiment to be stationed in various garrisons to train officers and soldiers according to the new training manual. Fifth, military pay will henceforth be directly allocated by the Quartermaster Department and will no longer be handled by the officers and soldiers of the garrisons."

"Sixth, a military affairs inspector shall be appointed to oversee the capital region every three months, specifically to investigate the re-occupation of military farms, private labor by military households, and arbitrary tax collection. All such matters have been detailed and I request Your Majesty's review."

Emperor Jingsheng took the memorial and unfolded it under the lamp to read it carefully.

He read very slowly, sometimes flipping forward, sometimes looking back, his brows sometimes relaxed and sometimes furrowed.

After a long pause, he pointed to the clause "Township lands returned to the government, military households perpetually tenants" and asked:

"The military farms were nationalized, but the land remained government land; the military households merely cultivated it. So what exactly was this 'military merit-based land grant' you mentioned? If it was government land, how could it be inherited by descendants?"

Jia Jing said:

"Your Majesty, the granting of land based on military merit grants the right to cultivate it, not the land itself. The land still belongs to the court, but the soldiers who have rendered meritorious service can cultivate the land they have been granted for generations. The court will not take it away, exchange it, or rent it out to others."

"If their descendants do not wish to serve in the military again, they may continue to farm, but they will not be entitled to newly cultivated land. In this way, the soldiers will have permanent property, and the court will not lose its land rights."

Emperor Jingsheng nodded: "This method is excellent. It can win over the hearts of the soldiers without severing the foundation of the court."

He hesitated for a moment, then said:

"But the imperial court has allocated funds for water conservancy and provided oxen for plowing; this sum must be quite substantial, right?"

To be honest, apart from confiscating property, the imperial court hasn't really made any money lately!

The construction of water conservancy projects would undoubtedly require a substantial amount of money, which explains why many areas in the capital region remain uncultivated rather than developed.

The cost is quite high. Putting aside everything else, a single ox now costs around ten taels of silver.

Jia Jing said in a deep voice:

"We cannot skimp on this investment, no matter how large! Without the government's support, the military households won't be able to produce much grain even if they are allocated land. As a result, more and more military households and civilians will starve to death or flee."

"As long as we invest this year, we can achieve twice the results with half the effort in the future. Even if there are natural disasters, we can continue to attract refugees to cultivate new fields and form a positive cycle."

"Furthermore, Your Majesty need not worry about the silver! I have already made a rough calculation. The property, stolen silver, and land confiscated from the rebels in Nan'an and other places, as well as the lawless officers and soldiers of the various guards in the capital region, obtained in this battle, are estimated to be worth more than 20 million taels of silver."

"Five million taels of it will be deposited into His Majesty's private treasury. Another five million taels will be allocated for water conservancy, oxen, farm implements, and the resettlement of military households, which will be more than enough."

"The remaining funds will be allocated to the special fund for the military reorganization in the capital region. Your Majesty is requested to appoint the Ministry of Revenue and the Military Supplies Department to jointly supervise the fund, ensuring it is used exclusively for this purpose and not misappropriated elsewhere. What does Your Majesty think?"

It must be said that Jia Jing had a rough idea of ​​how much wealth each official in the capital possessed!

In addition to compiling the military reports from various garrisons that were seized in the past two days, Jia Jing roughly estimated that the proceeds from this purge and confiscation of property in the capital region would amount to around 28 million taels of silver!

Upon hearing this, Emperor Jingsheng paused, then asked in surprise:

"How could they copy so much? Are they that rich?"

Emperor Jingsheng certainly wanted to develop water conservancy projects and allocate funds to do practical things that would benefit the people. If he had the money, he would have loved to repair all the water conservancy projects in the country.

However, considering that the national treasury has limited silver reserves, although a lot of floating wealth has been seized, the expenses required in various places this year are still considerable.

To everyone's surprise, Jia Jing claimed that the confiscated silver amounted to over twenty million taels of silver. This...

Damn it! Damn it all!!

Jia Jing said:

"There's more money than money! The common people have no money, the imperial court has no money, so where has all the money gone? It's all in the hands of officials and gentry!"

"With this sum of money, as long as it's managed well and not embezzled, irrigating 20 million mu of fertile land around the capital is no problem!"

"Through land reclamation, at least 400,000 soldiers can be trained in the Gyeonggi region within one or two years, and millions of people can be supported."

"If this succeeds, the capital will no longer rely solely on the canal transport from the southeast; with 400,000 garrison troops at our disposal, this will be the greatest source of confidence for the court to implement new policies and military reforms! From now on, apart from Jiangnan, any trouble anywhere else will be nothing more than a minor ailment."

Jia Jing subconsciously painted another pie in the sky for Emperor Jingsheng, or rather, it was the truth!

Emperor Jingsheng smiled and said with delight:

"Good! Excellent! This ill-gotten money should be used for the proper affairs of the court. Don't let the silver go into my private treasury. What do I need silver for? Take it all to cultivate land around the capital and implement new policies!"

"I have been planning these new policies and military reorganizations for ten years, and finally, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!"