Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 288 I don't want to give the money, but I want the goods. Is there any way to resolve this?
The tenth day of the twelfth month of the first year of the Hanxing era.

Inside the Yuntai Pavilion, Gao Wang walked heavily up to the second floor, his face showing obvious helplessness. Before he could speak, Liu Bian caught a glimpse of his expression and burst into laughter, saying, "Ah Wang, I congratulate you on your fortune!"

Liu Bian put down his vermilion brush, leaned forward slightly, and said with great interest, "Let me guess, who is it this time who wants to ask for my son to marry the princess?"

Gao Wang, with a bitter expression, bowed and kowtowed, which was taken as acquiescence.

These days, in order to get him to help deliver a message, the gifts that the former officials of the Prince's residence secretly stuffed into him were simply piled up like mountains. There were countless gifts, such as gold, jade, pearls, ivory, animal hides, silks and satins, which were dazzling to the eye.

However, this time, the target of these former officials from the Prince's residence was no longer the unborn child in Liu Qing's womb, but Liu Bian's half-sister, Princess Liu Man of Wannian.

Now that Liu Man is being personally raised by Empress Dowager He and is greatly favored by the emperor, she will naturally be coveted.

Very well, if you can't be my in-laws of the same generation, then you might as well be my brother-in-law's father, right?

So Liu Bian used the excuse that a grand military parade would be held at the end of the year to demonstrate the might of the Han army to send these officers of the central army out of the city to train the soldiers. But these people were not willing to give up and continued to send people to find Gao Wang to deliver messages every now and then.

Liu Bian's assessment was that these people had absolutely no shame.

But Sun Jian and others said, "Face?"

What it is?
Can you eat?
Can it be used as money?
Being able to marry a princess is more important than anything else!

Most princesses of the Han Dynasty were virtuous and kind, with a few exceptions, of course.

For example, Ban Chao's grandson, Ban Shi, married Princess Yincheng, the daughter of Liu Qing, the Prince of Qinghe.

Princess Yincheng, relying on the favor of Empress Dowager Deng Sui who ruled as regent, became arrogant, powerful, and licentious. She kept many male lovers and had all the men she favored live in her bedchamber. However, she would summon her husband, Ban Shi, to the bedroom when they were having sex, and have him lie under the bed to listen to her and serve her.

Finally, Ban Shi, unable to bear it any longer, killed Princess Yincheng and many of her male lovers. Emperor Xiaoshun was furious and had Ban Shi cut in half at the waist. His entire family and brothers were also beheaded, and their bodies were displayed in the streets.

However, the very few isolated cases were not enough to shake the minds of these former officials from the prince's residence to marry their children to princesses. After all, apart from a few families that had become maternal relatives, most of them were ordinary powerful families or simply came from humble backgrounds.

In particular, the generals and officers of the central army were not scholars who passed down their knowledge of the classics, but military men who made their fortunes through martial arts. Whether it was their concern that military men would gradually have fewer opportunities to use their skills in the future, or their concern that their descendants would be able to live up to their current wealth and status, they all wanted to take the shortcut of marrying the princess.

However, Liu Bian did not want to interfere too much in Liu Man's marriage. As long as she was not one of those good-for-nothing playboys, he would not mind giving Liu Man a chance to choose her own partner.

It wasn't that he wanted to be different; many emperors of the Han Dynasty had this tradition regarding the marriage of their sisters and daughters, and would fully consider the princess's opinion, or even personally arrange the marriage. However, Liu Bian did not need to rely on marrying off his sister to consolidate his power and rule, so he had been putting this issue aside.

As for whether Princess Liu Man of Wannian will be deceived by some low-class "ghost fire yellow hair"?

You're surrounded by handsome and talented young men like Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, and Cao Ang all day long, so why would you be interested in those "wild-haired, blond-haired" guys?
Thinking of this, Liu Bian couldn't help but chuckle, leaning against the jade armrest, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest, tilting his head and smiling, asking curiously, "Tell me, what good things did they slip you this time, A-Wang?"

Gao Wang hurriedly pulled out a thick gift list from his sleeve, which recorded a summary of the gifts that various families had given him. Liu Bian took the gift list and flipped through it page by page, occasionally clicking his tongue in amazement, saying, "Wow, they usually keep things hidden, but now they've all been exposed. These people have all made a fortune without making a sound."

"Your Majesty, perhaps I should return all these gifts?" Gao Wang rubbed his hands, looking distressed and anxious. "This money feels like a hot potato to me. I can't even sleep soundly at night."

Seeing Gao Wang's restless appearance, Liu Bian couldn't help but chuckle. He waved his hand and said, "They gave you gifts to ask you to pass on their message. You did, but they didn't ask you to make it happen. Why can't you accept the gifts? Just take them!"

"In that case, send 60% to my private treasury, and keep the remaining 40% for yourself."

The worry on Gao Wang's face vanished instantly, his eyes lit up, and he nodded hurriedly, excitedly replying, "This servant obeys!"

After speaking, Gao Wang immediately went to make arrangements, instructing his retainers and servants to transport the gifts to the Shaofu (Minister of the Imperial Household) and hand them over to Tian Fen, the Minister of the Imperial Household, for registration and storage.

Who doesn't love money?

Even gods need incense, candles, offerings, statues, and temples. Who doesn't love money?

Gao Wang certainly loved money, but he valued his life and the emperor's favor even more. He knew exactly which money he could accept and spend with peace of mind, and which money would cost him his head.

As for the 60% that the emperor took... how could the emperor be greedy for the gifts he received? Clearly, the emperor was taking the risk for him!

As for the alleged embezzlement and bribery, those were all gifts presented to the emperor by his former officials who had served him during his time as a prince. They were simply delivered to Gao Wang's residence and then handed over by him. However, the emperor then gave 40% of them to Gao Wang!

The money looked as if it had been washed in water, completely clean!

After washing... cough, after presenting the vouchers for 60% of the gifts that had been put into storage to the emperor, Gao Wang brought over a thick stack of memorials and placed them on the imperial desk.

This is the final summary data on the increase in cultivated land and harvest in various regions during the first year of Liu Bian's rule.

These figures were initially compiled and calculated by the assistants of the Grand Minister of Agriculture, and then reviewed a second time by the scribes of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. Only after confirming that they were correct were they reported to the Emperor.

Liu Bian flipped through the accounts, but as he looked, his brows gradually furrowed, and he finally couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

After a year of hard work, tax revenue has indeed increased significantly, but the increase in the amount of newly cultivated land is pitifully small.

This year, the arable land in the Great Han Dynasty increased by 200,000 hectares, or 20 million mu, which is equivalent to a 3.3% increase in arable land. For an empire with 600 million hectares of arable land and 50 million people, this is already a good growth rate.

A hundred acres of land, after deducting taxes, can provide a family of five with enough food and clothing for a year, and also have a certain capacity to withstand disasters.

In other words, the increased arable land this year could feed and clothe 200,000 households... what a load of rubbish!
Not to mention the 200,000 hectares of arable land on paper, 130,000 hectares of which benefited from the repair and construction of irrigation canals in various places. This part of the land does not belong to the people, but is used as public land.

The twenty-four weirs in Runan, Yuzhou, a group of weirs built by Zhao Xinchen of the Former Han Dynasty, are now half silted up. Encouraged by the imperial court, Yang Qi, the governor of Runan, conscripted laborers to repair them and restored 3,000 hectares of farmland.

The Jindi Canal in Yanzhou was a waterway along the Yellow River embankment. It was jointly repaired by Shi Sunrui, the governor of Jiyin County, and Qiao Mao, the governor of Dong County, and together Jiyin County and Dong County increased cultivated land by tens of thousands of hectares.

Li Can, the prefect of Longxi, personally carried soil and stones to lead people to repair the Yintao Canal, which increased the farmland in Longyou by several thousand hectares. Bao Hong of Youfufeng also recruited refugees to repair the Chengguo Canal, which diverted water from the Wei River and brought tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land around Mei County, Wugong County, and Meiyang County.

In this way, the main increase in farmland all came from these water conservancy projects.

As for the 130,000 hectares of public land reclaimed as a result of these water conservancy projects, it has nothing to do with the people and will not be returned to them.

The land of the Han Dynasty was mainly divided into three categories.

Firstly, privately owned land.

The second is public land.

As the name suggests, public lands were nominally owned by the state, but in reality, they were controlled by local officials. These included uncultivated wastelands, forests, ponds, and marshes. Local officials hired people and sent criminals to cultivate the land. In most cases, these lands served as public treasuries to ensure the normal operation of local governments. However, these lands also required local officials to pay taxes to the national treasury.

Public lands were usually seized by powerful families and corrupt officials, and were mostly used as fiefs, lands awarded for military merit, or as temporary public lands for displaced people. Temporary public lands for displaced people were a system established by Emperor Xiaozhang as a means of resettling displaced people who had lost their land.

Faced with numerous natural disasters, Emperor Xiaozhang suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Hey, since whenever natural disasters occur, powerful families buy up the land of ordinary people at low prices and turn them into their tenants, why can't the emperor turn the people into his own tenants?

Is there any powerful family in the world that owns more land than the emperor?

Emperor Xiaozhang then issued an edict requiring local officials to temporarily lend vacant public land to displaced people for cultivation, and to provide seeds, food rations, farming tools, and rent oxen for plowing, and to exempt farmers from rent and taxes for the first three or five years.

Well... to put it bluntly, it means making the displaced people who lost their land become the emperor's tenants.

After the tax exemption period ended, these farmers still had to pay extremely high land rent to the imperial court. This land rent was called "false tax" and accounted for 40% of the farmers' annual income. If they rented oxen from the imperial court, they also had to pay an additional rental fee. The seeds and rations originally provided by the imperial court also had to be repaid.

Thirdly, there are government-owned lands.

Although government-owned land and public land sound the same, their governance methods and functions are actually the same!

The difference is that official land was actually controlled by the Imperial Household Department, which dispatched officials to manage the official land in various places. In other words, the income was not subject to taxes and went directly into the emperor's inner treasury. Sometimes it was also used as a reward for meritorious soldiers.

Those who cultivated the government-owned lands were government slaves, criminals, and commoners hired by the Imperial Household Department.

However, public and government lands cannot be touched lightly. Even if they are rented to displaced people who have lost their land, it must be done with utmost care!
The Han Dynasty crossed the river by stepping on the mistakes of the Qin Dynasty. The fundamental reason for the Qin Dynasty's demise, besides the fact that a second emperor killed all his brothers and sisters and that the imperial power did not extend to the countryside, which gave the remnants of the six states who had not yet submitted the power the right to interpret the law, was another serious problem: land!

Qin was founded on agriculture and warfare. While the military merit system certainly propelled the Qin war machine forward, the Qin court's land holdings became insufficient as land was granted as rewards.

The people of Qin were unwilling to grant land they had earned through merit in regions far from Guanzhong and Hedong that had been under Qin rule for a shorter period of time.

Even the fertile lands of Bashu, which had been ruled by Qin for generations, were not places that the people of Qin were willing to go to in an era when transportation was inconvenient.

This resulted in meritorious soldiers being enfeoffed in Guanzhong and Hedong, leaving no land to reward newly meritorious soldiers.

Then, the Qin Dynasty chose to use the lands of the six states and newly reclaimed lands on the border to reward the meritorious generals and soldiers, which also served to enrich the population of the border counties and consolidate the frontier.

As the first emperor who unified the country, he had the prestige and ability to suppress the discontent of the Qin people who were leaving their homeland. However, the Second Emperor of Qin did not have the prestige and ability. In addition, with the perverse actions of Zhao Gao and others, even the Qin people eventually betrayed the Qin Dynasty.

Liu Bian initially considered ordering the four battalions of Bingzhou and the two battalions of Youzhou to relocate their families to the frontier, encouraging them to cultivate land on their own during their spare time, and granting them all the newly cultivated land as a reward, along with several years of tax exemption and low tax treatment after the tax exemption period ended.

Then Tian Feng, who was still in Luoyang at the time, started to speak sarcastically to him, saying that Your Highness should forcibly relocate hundreds of thousands of people from the Central Plains to the border, and then build cities and roads on the frontier. In order to defend against the Xianbei, you can also build some defensive buildings, such as the Great Wall!

Before Tian Feng even mentioned the Great Wall, Liu Bian was practically bursting with admiration!

Then Tian Feng said that this was exactly what the tyrannical Qin Dynasty thought!
The First Emperor put all these things into practice, and in the end, the Qin Dynasty perished.

Well, since he had already stepped on Qin's wrong answers, Liu Bian had no choice but to give up.

Our great Han Dynasty was founded on benevolence and righteousness; how could we follow the system of the tyrannical Qin Dynasty?

Hmm... I'll think of a way to do the same thing under a different name another day.

The Han Dynasty has been copying the Qin Dynasty's homework for nearly four hundred years, so what's one more time?
However, the attachment to one's hometown and the difficulty of leaving one's native land was an almost unsolvable problem throughout the feudal era.

This is also why the imperial court encouraged the people to reclaim wasteland throughout the year, but the enthusiasm of the people for reclaiming wasteland was still extremely low.

The remaining 70,000 hectares of land were either reclaimed by government slaves and convicts under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department, or by tenant farmers and servants ordered by wealthy families across the country. However, their enthusiasm was only barely enough to give the emperor a little face and respond to his call.

The Central Plains is the birthplace of Chinese civilization. The four provinces of Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Sili, and Jizhou (which is not in the Central Plains) have very little wasteland available for cultivation; otherwise, the lords would have cultivated it long ago.

The remaining wasteland around here is mostly barren mountains or swamps. The cost of reclamation is too high, and these places are mostly far from villages and residences. Few people are willing to travel so far to reclaim them, and the time and effort required is too long.

The powerful and wealthy look down on it, and the well-fed and clothed common people also look down on it. The time and energy spent on reclamation would delay the cultivation of their own original land, and the poor and needy do not have the capital to reclaim it.

Even if they managed to cultivate the land, the more land they had, the more taxes they would pay. However, the harvest from these barren fields was not as good as that from ordinary fields, so after paying the taxes, the family's harvest would actually decrease.

Therefore, Liu Bian set his sights on the large group of tenant farmers. The imperial court issued a decree to repay the debts owed by the tenant farmers to their landlords, but they were required to relocate to places such as Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Liangzhou. They were granted ownership of newly reclaimed wasteland, a three-year tax exemption period, and preferential policies including free seeds and rations, and low-priced rental of farming tools and oxen.

However, firstly, they are constrained by their "local sentiments," and secondly... perhaps the tenants' annual surplus of grain is actually more than the annual surplus after the three-year tax exemption period for newly reclaimed wasteland ends.

After all, powerful and wealthy families would treat tenant farmers as hidden households and many fields as hidden fields, without reporting them to the imperial court, and would not pay the poll tax and tax on these hidden households or the agricultural tax on the hidden fields.

For wealthy and powerful families with a large number of tenant farmers and landholdings, such as the Yuan family of Runan, the "rent and tax" they levied on the people was spread out by the astonishing number of hidden households and hidden landholdings, resulting in the tenant farmers paying less tax to the court each year.

However, most aristocratic families could not achieve what the Yuan family of Runan did. But if they became tenants of aristocratic families, they could avoid the exorbitant taxes levied by local officials and the imperial court that were not part of the regular taxes.

Under the practice of selling official positions, the "money for buying an official position" that officials paid to the emperor was ultimately passed on to the common people. This resulted in many exorbitant taxes levied under the guise of the imperial court, such as the "Peace Tax" and "Bandit Extermination Tax" levied by the rebel prefect of Taishan County, Zhang Ju, under the pretext of the imperial court.

In order to enable officials to repay the "money they paid for their official positions" and purchase new ones, the imperial court often turned a blind eye.

In order to repair the palace, Liu Hong also required the people to pay a land tax, with each mu of land requiring a tax of ten coins.

Wealthy and powerful families helped ordinary people avoid these exorbitant taxes and levies. As a result, ordinary people were more willing to rely on these families as landless tenants. Moreover, in years of famine, they did not have to bear the risks brought by natural disasters, but the families themselves would bear them.

Their price is nothing more than losing the right to cultivate land that doesn't even belong to them.

Since Liu Bian became regent, he has certainly shown the people the positive changes of the court, and many of his measures in the first year of his rule have increased the people's trust in the new emperor and the court. However, this is not enough to make them take risks and leave their homeland.

Unless the imperial court directly grants the official and public lands, which serve as a guarantee of the state's risk-bearing capacity, to the tenants, they will not be willing.

However, the imperial court absolutely could not grant large amounts of public and official land to the people, otherwise the Han Dynasty would truly follow the old path of the "tyrannical Qin" and be in danger of national extinction.

Therefore, Liu Bian hoped for a way to both reclaim wasteland and settle immigrants in border areas to develop underdeveloped regions, and to solve the problem of a large number of tenant farmers, without having to divide up official and public land.

Simply put, I don't want to pay, but I want the goods. What can I do?
(5002 words)
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P.S.: Waaah, I'm working overtime again today, and I'm still so tired!

So I'm still in a really bad mood, so I'll just add a short update of 1000 words.

Dear readers, please give me some extra monthly votes in recognition of the extra 1000 words I've added!
(End of this chapter)