The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 783 Ultimatum
In Chang'an, Li Jiancheng, having become the villain, went all out, appointing a group of minor officials and beginning a large-scale confiscation of the land of the Guanzhong nobles, with the Dugu family being the first to be targeted.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Guanzhong aristocracy almost completely occupied the land in Guanzhong, with hundreds of manors of all sizes. Among them, the Yuan family was the most powerful, having annexed more than 10,000 hectares of land, followed by the Dugu family, which annexed 8,000 hectares of land.

There are also the Houmochen family and the Dou family, which together own more than 5,000 hectares of fertile land. These four families together control 70% of all the fertile land owned by the Guanzhong aristocracy. However, Li Yuan specifically instructed that the Dou family should not be touched.

The Dou family was Li Jiancheng's maternal uncle's family, so this relationship couldn't be touched. Other families, especially the Dugu family, were hard to spare. They went from fully supporting Li Yuan at the beginning to abandoning him and running away later. This kind of family was the most hateful. It would have been better if they had just been perfunctory from the start.

This is what they mean by "a little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment." Giving too much can actually lead to hatred in the end.

The largest manor of the Dugu family is located in Wugong County and is called Yunyou Manor. It covers an area of ​​500 hectares, which is about the size of a small county town. It is also one of the three major manors in Guanzhong.

The estate had 600 tenant farmers, and the 50,000 mu of land on the estate was cultivated by these 600 tenant farmers.

That morning, a thousand soldiers entered the manor, announced that the manor was now government property, and abolished the land deeds. The tenants rushed over to inquire about the news. When they heard that the manor's farmland was going to be divided among two thousand five hundred soldiers, the tenants immediately erupted in anger. Men, women, and children took up hoes and sticks and went to fight the soldiers to the death.

This is a major problem that the Li Yuan family did not consider when making the decision: what would happen to the original tenants of the land if the land was distributed to the soldiers?
The Yuan family was able to sell their land smoothly because they implemented a tenant-first strategy. They let the tenants buy as much as they could, and the price was discounted to half the market price. The remaining land was then divided into smaller plots and sold at market price. The problem was solved very smoothly.

But this time it was different. All the land was given to the soldiers, which directly deprived the tenant farmers of their means of survival.

When Li Jiancheng arrived at Yunyou Manor after hearing the news, the soldiers and tenants had already started fighting. There were cries, shouts and screams everywhere. Li Jiancheng urgently ordered the army to be increased to three thousand men. The tenants' resistance was finally suppressed, but it had already resulted in more than twenty deaths and hundreds of injuries. Among the dead were seven soldiers, and more than thirty soldiers were injured.

Meanwhile, tenant farmer protests also occurred on other estates.

Li Jiancheng realized the seriousness of the problem and hurriedly returned to Chang'an to report to his father.

After listening to his eldest son Li Jiancheng's report, Li Yuan pondered for a moment and asked, "How was the Yuan family's land handled before?"

"Previously, some of the land was sold cheaply to tenant farmers, and the remaining land was auctioned off smoothly."

Li Yuan nodded, "This matter should be handled in the same way. Leave 20% of the land for the tenant farmers, and confiscate the remaining 80% for the government, which will then be distributed to the soldiers."

"I understand!"

"This matter needs to be handled quickly; let's not delay any longer!"

Li Jiancheng immediately agreed and began to change the approach, dividing the land and allocating 20% ​​of the land to tenant farmers. Tenant farmers who had previously caused trouble and been beaten to death were given a larger share, and were also exempted from taxes for ten years.

This method was indeed effective. Each tenant farmer could get about 20 mu of land. After receiving the 20% of land given to them, the tenant farmers stopped making trouble. In Guanzhong, good land cost about 10 guan per mu, so 20 mu of land would cost 200 guan. The tenant farmers couldn't afford it even if they sold all their possessions.

Land allocation is by no means a short-term process. Reclaiming land is easy; one manor at a time is confiscated, old deeds are abolished, and new deeds are made. This can be completed in just ten days to half a month. However, the land allocation stage is much more complicated, mainly because measuring the land requires a lot of time and effort.

First, the tenant farmers must be settled, their land divided, new land deeds made, and then the remaining large tracts of land must be divided and measured.

Of course, as long as we keep working patiently, we can definitely finish it, but the question is, will the Sui army give them that time?
Xiao Xia's attitude was clear: he supported Li Yuan's confiscation of the lands of the Guanlong nobles, but when it came to the distribution stage, he had no say in it.

Chai Shao and his wife traveled day and night and soon arrived in Luoyang. Xiao Xia asked Liu Wenjing to arrange for a VIP hotel to receive them properly.

That evening, Xiao Xia and his wife hosted a family dinner for Chai Shao and his wife. It was entirely a personal affair and had nothing to do with business. During the meal, they reminisced about the past, and everyone laughed frequently, creating a warm and harmonious atmosphere.

After the family banquet, Chai Shao and his wife went to visit Prince Anning, Yang Zhao. Only then did Xiao Xia arrange for a carriage to take them back to their esteemed hotel to rest.

Inside the carriage, Li Ping leaned her head on her husband's shoulder and sighed, "I think the Emperor values ​​family ties and old friendships. You can tell by how he treats his elder brother and nephew. You have a better future if you serve him. At the very least, you can become a prefect of a prefecture. If you do well, you can even be promoted to Minister. So don't go back. I'll go back to Chang'an alone."

Chai Shao shook his head. “One must finish what one starts. Once I’ve done this and given your father an explanation, I’ll leave it at that. We’ll find a way for the whole family to come to Luoyang together. Didn’t the Emperor say he would meet with me alone tomorrow? I’ll take this opportunity to talk to him.”

Li Ping nodded gently, "That works too!"

The following morning, Xiao Xia met with Chai Shao to discuss official business, and all five ministers of the Council of State were required to be present.

Lu Miao led Chai Shao into the imperial study, where Chai Shao bowed and said, "This humble servant greets Your Majesty!"

Xiao Xia smiled and invited Chai Shao to sit down, saying, "It's not time yet, let's chat first!"

Chai Shao sat down in the chair, and Xiao Xia asked, "I heard that you don't have a good relationship with the Li Shentong family. What's going on?"

Chai Shao sighed and said, "I have three younger sisters. My youngest sister married Li Shentong's son, Li Xiaoyi. I never expected that Li Xiaoyi would be such a playboy, always out chasing after women. When my sister got pregnant, he didn't care at all. As a result, my sister died in childbirth. If his family had cared even a little, and hired a midwife to take good care of her and correct the baby's position, my sister wouldn't have had such a difficult birth. Later, there was the matter of seizing my sister's dowry, which I don't want to talk about anymore. But what chilled me to the bone was that my father-in-law completely sided with Li Shentong and awarded my sister's dowry to Li Shentong."

"I remember Li Yuan used to treat you well, how come he's become so cold?"

“He didn’t rely on his family before, but now he values ​​his family more and more. I am his son-in-law, and his wife is not his legitimate daughter. With the rise of the family, the fall of the family is normal.

Xiao Xia nodded. "If the Li family moves away one day, will you go with them, or stay?"

"Of course I'm staying, and my wife is staying with me. Our stance is very clear. I'm just doing this for them as a last resort."

"I see!"

At this moment, Lu Miao whispered at the door, "Your Majesty, the prime ministers have all arrived!"

Xiao Xia actually smiled and said, "Now that we've finished discussing personal matters, let's get down to business!"

Inside the council hall, Liu Wenjing sat opposite Chai Shao with four prime ministers, while Xiao Xia sat to one side.

Liu Wenjing calmly said, "There is no room for negotiation now. We can only give the Tang King an ultimatum. The Tang King now has only two choices: either continue to fight against the Sui Dynasty, in which case his fate will be decided on the battlefield, or accept our arrangements and we will give him a way out."

"Could you please tell me more specifically what solutions are available?" Chai Shao asked.

Liu Wenjing said slowly, "We can allow him to go overseas to establish a country!"

(End of this chapter)