The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"People like them, even if they made it to the top, they'd probably just get played to death. They're dreaming."

Du Ruhui scoffed.

Du Gou, embarrassed, asked, "Father... are these two things related?"

"No, Dad just wants to scold you."

Du Gou: "..."

You can criticize as you please, but you've included your son in that category too.

Isn't that insulting him along with everyone else?

Du Gou thought for a moment, realizing that Du Ruhui seemed to have been scolding him from the beginning, and twitched the corner of his mouth.

"You must understand, His Majesty meant to effectively stabilize tax revenue. The words 'effective' and 'stabilized' are very important," Du Ruhui said, then patiently guided his son after his scolding.

"Think about it carefully. Putting aside the natural disasters of the past two years, which were exceptional circumstances, didn't tax revenue increase before?"

Even if the growth is relatively slow.

"Yes." Du Gou nodded hesitantly.

"Alright, now that we know it's growing, the concepts of effectiveness and stability are very interesting," Du Ruhui instructed little by little.

"What does 'effective' mean? What does 'stable' mean?"

"Isn't more tax revenue always better, in order to achieve greater growth? Why use those two words?"

"Does 'stable' mean that tax revenue has peaked or remained around a certain level before it can be described as stable?"

"...Yes." Du Gou replied sullenly, still not understanding.

Looking at his expression, Du Ruhui understood immediately. He sighed and continued to explain, "Since stability is defined as collecting around a certain amount, let's use money to describe it. For example, if we collect ten million strings of cash a year, the amount collected last year or next year might be a few hundred thousand more or less, but the difference won't be significant. That's what stability is."

"The problem is, the Tang Dynasty's tax revenue is currently unstable!"

"Right?"

Du Gou replied, "Yes, how can tax revenue be stable? Putting aside natural disasters and such, all sorts of things can happen, such as hiding land, annexing land, or refusing to pay taxes. So it can't be stable."

Du Ruhui nodded: "That's right, but if you borrow the imperial court's seeds, can you still hide them?"

Du Gou suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. No wonder you said this was interesting, Father."

"Once the people borrow the seeds from the imperial court, they will naturally be unable to hide them. The imperial court already knows how much those who borrow the seeds should pay..."

As he was talking, Du Gou suddenly stopped.

He always felt that there were some things he had overlooked, things that seemed very important, but he couldn't figure out what he had overlooked for the time being.

Du Ruhui promptly reminded him, "What you've seen so far is only the second layer, the obvious act of borrowing seeds; there's a deeper purpose hidden in the shadows."

"You haven't grasped the truly terrifying aspect of this matter."

"Mr. Chen's scheme with His Majesty... goes far beyond this!"

Du Gou bowed and said, "I really can't figure it out. I just vaguely feel that something has been overlooked. Please enlighten me, Father."

"Hmm!" Du Ruhui naturally wouldn't refuse Du Gou, and slowly said, "Next, let's talk about the third and most terrifying layer of meaning hidden in this matter."

"The Tang Dynasty's tax revenue cannot be stabilized... unless you can fully understand how much land there is in the world, how many people there are, and how much land is in the hands of the people..."

Upon hearing this, Du Gou suddenly raised his head, hardly believing his ears.

If Du Gou still doesn't understand after such a clear explanation, then he's truly a fool, utterly hopeless.

Du Gou asked in alarm, "Father... do you mean that Mr. Chen and His Majesty intend to thoroughly investigate all the land under Heaven?"

"How is this possible?"

"Why not?" Du Ruhui retorted.

Du Gou asked, bewildered, "But how can they conduct a thorough investigation? They didn't issue any orders at all."

"Even if the order is issued, it will be fraught with difficulties and extremely difficult to implement, almost to the point of being impossible."

"How can we conduct a thorough investigation?"

"So...did Mr. Chen and His Majesty investigate on their own initiative?" Du Ruhui chuckled. "Think about it carefully, did they investigate?"

"There really isn't..." Du Gou was stunned, becoming more and more confused as he spoke.

Didn't you just say you were going to conduct a thorough investigation?

Why aren't they checking again?

"Isn't that the real problem?" Du Gou retorted. "Mr. Chen and His Majesty didn't say they wanted a thorough investigation, nor did they issue any orders. Why are you saying they want to thoroughly investigate the land?"

Du Ruhui took a sip of tea and exclaimed in amazement, "This is truly Mr. Chen's brilliance, child..."

"He conspired with His Majesty, but never issued any orders or mentioned a thorough investigation. What, then, is the root of the matter?"

"It's about borrowing seeds! Borrowing seeds from the imperial court!"

"..."

"......ah!"

In a daze, Du Gou seemed to understand something, gradually realizing what he had previously overlooked.

That's why he felt a chill run down his spine, and he said with difficulty, "Father, what you meant by not taking the initiative was... to let the people take the initiative and let the court investigate?"

"That's right!" Du Ruhui finally showed a look of relief on his face. His son was quick-witted.

"Since we need to borrow seeds, is the imperial court going to stipulate how many each person can borrow?"

"That won't work, will it?"

"Of course not." Du Gou was shocked. "If we're going to borrow, we should do it according to the actual situation."

"We will lend the people seeds according to the number of acres of land they own!"

"Once the people want to borrow, it means they must register the amount of land they own with the government, and it will definitely be verified whether it is thirty mu, fifty mu, or one hundred mu."

"Once the registration and verification are completed, the extent to which ordinary people own land will be fully revealed."

At this point, Du Gou paused, his eyes glazed over, and muttered to himself, "The fact that the amount of land held by the common people has been exposed is equivalent to the government having completed a thorough land survey. This was not ordered by the government, nor by His Majesty, but rather it was brought about by the people's own voluntary actions."

"With the imperial gazette in existence, once this matter is published, the whole world will know that the court intends to borrow seeds, and no one can stop it."

"The thorough land investigation was completed without anyone noticing."

"Father, you said before that the Tang Dynasty's tax revenue cannot be stabilized at present unless... the court knows exactly how much land there is in the country and how much land the people own."

"As long as we know how much land there is and how much tax each person should pay, we can easily calculate how much total tax revenue we can collect."

"Tax revenue... can certainly be said to be stable!"

Du Gou swallowed hard. Is this the power struggle among the top figures in the imperial court?

Such a small act of borrowing seeds actually concealed such a grand scheme!

Du Ruhui put down his teacup: "Now do you understand the meaning of 'effective' and 'stable'?"

"What is meant by 'effective' is actually the thorough investigation of the land held by the people, and 'stability' naturally refers to the stable tax revenue resulting from this investigation."

Du Gou remained silent.

No wonder Mr. Chen was able to sit in that position at such a young age, and no wonder the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families were all played to death.

High, it is high!

"..."