Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 296 Relocate 100,000 wealthy households from the Central Plains to the Emperor's mausoleum!

Liu Bian was naturally unaware of Zheng Xuan's thoughts, but Zheng Xuan's persuasion certainly saved him a great deal of trouble.

His goal was clear from the beginning: since he occupied the moral high ground, he would most likely be able to persuade Zheng Xuan.

The fact that Zheng Xuan was persuaded meant that even if he had no excuse in terms of etiquette and law, he no longer needed to worry about the debate on the classics.

Of course, he had not ruled out the possibility that Zheng Xuan and some other giants of the ancient literature school would remain firmly on the opposing side, or that Zheng Xuan had many reasons that he could not openly state, making it impossible for him to effectively suppress the voices of the other opponents. Therefore, he had already reached a consensus with Xun Shuang, Cai Yong and others in private.

Being a relative of the emperor's mother isn't easy! I'm in trouble now, and you all want to cower like eels?
Xun Shuang's situation is not difficult to handle. At his age, Xun Shuang has no ambition left, and he has even handed over all the affairs of the Zhijinwu Office to Qian Zhao, the Zhijinwu Assistant.

If Xun Shuang still had any desires, it was to experience the life of one of the Three Dukes before he died, and to hope that Xun Cai could become Empress.

But whether it's the former or the latter, it's inseparable from Xun Shuang's loyalty to him.

You're not even loyal, yet you expect to get what you want?
On the contrary, Cai Yong was somewhat upset because he lost nearly 700,000 coins of his private savings. Although he said he would not stand with the opposition, he would not support the emperor either.

Therefore, Liu Bian suggested that Cai Yong receive an extra year-end bonus of two hundred gold coins during the Lunar New Year festival.

Cai Yong initially dismissed it, thinking, "Am I, Cai, a person who covets wealth?"
However, when he heard that this reward would not go through the public accounts, cough cough, not through the national treasury, but through the emperor's private treasury in a confidential manner, and could be temporarily stored in the private treasury, Cai Yong could go to the Shaofu Office at any time to withdraw it from the Shaofu Minister Tian Fen.

Cai Yong's expression showed a slight change of heart.

The emperor then stated that the soil in Danyang County was soft, unlike that of the Governor of Henan. As the Grand Master of Works, Cai Yong should have been on official business for at least three months each year to supervise the construction in Moling.

Cai Yong's eyes lit up slightly.

Finally, the emperor would purchase a residence in Moling as Cai Yong's accommodation during his official business trips. This residence would contain copies of rare and incomplete ancient books that Cai Yong had not yet read, stored in the Eastern Pavilion.
Cai Yong said, "Don't say I'm your elder anymore, from now on you are my elder!"
With the defection of Zheng Xuan, the "god of classics," and the participation of Cai Yong and Xun Shuang, the "unparalleled Confucian scholars," the situation became almost one-sided.

Of course, this is also because Lu Zhi, Liu Yan, Ma Ridi and others did not express their opinions.

But deciding on the site for the mausoleum was not the end; it was just the beginning.

However, to Liu Bian's surprise, Lu Zhi, who had been silent all along, suddenly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "The nation is facing a shortage of people in Yangzhou. If the mausoleum is built here, I fear that after the nation has lived for ten thousand years, the mausoleum will be dilapidated and ravaged by rioters."

The officials were immediately surprised. The Emperor and the Grand Tutor had a deep teacher-student relationship. Even if the Emperor called him "Uncle" or "Second Uncle" one day, the officials would not find it strange. Why would the Grand Tutor suddenly change his mind and stand up to oppose the Emperor's decree?

Before the surprise had faded from everyone's faces, Lu Zhi raised his voice solemnly and said, "The land of Danyang is hilly with few plains, the people are poor and warlike, and the Yue tribes ravage the area! Therefore, I humbly request that 100,000 wealthy households from the Central Plains be relocated to support the Emperor's mausoleum!"

"Lu Zhi, you are your mother's maid!"

"Lu Zhi, I'll f*** your mother!"

Almost as soon as Lu Zhi finished speaking, several sharp, angry curses rang out from all over the hall!
The insults showed no regard for Lu Zhi's status as Grand Tutor, addressing him by his full name and directly insulting his elderly mother, demonstrating the extreme rage of the speaker.

However, the shouts and curses were not just from a few individuals. Countless officials from aristocratic families in Yuzhou, Yanzhou, and Sili could not contain their anger and began to hurl insults at Lu Zhi.

I thought you, Lu Zhi, had finally changed your ways and would no longer let the emperor run wild, and would finally try to persuade him. But I never expected you to be so vicious and propose such a "disastrous" policy!
The scholars of the Han Dynasty harbored a deep-seated hatred for the "mausoleum system," with many high-ranking officials openly criticizing it as "a great violation of the natural order and contrary to the will of the people," "wasting resources and manpower, and exhausting the nation," and some even comparing it to the oppressive policies of the Qin Dynasty, viewing it as a tyrannical act capable of destroying the country. So what exactly was the mausoleum system?

In the ninth year of Emperor Gaozu's reign, at Liu Jing's suggestion, Emperor Gaozu built a mausoleum town near his own mausoleum and relocated the descendants of nobles from the six states, especially the Zhao, Qu, Jing, Huai, and Tian clans from Qi and Chu, to reduce the influence of the descendants of nobles from the six states in the local area and to replenish the population of Guanzhong, which had been depleted by war.

During the reign of Emperor Xiaohui, the power of the local magnates in Guandong began to emerge, but it was not enough to arouse the court's vigilance. Therefore, the construction of the mausoleum city was only to increase the population, but it was mostly to relocate entertainers and their families from Guandong.

During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the Guandong region was still recovering and developing, so Emperor Xiaowen did not carry out large-scale population relocation to build mausoleum cities.

Starting with Emperor Xiaojing, powerful families and wealthy merchants from Guandong, who had evolved from meritorious officials, gradually emerged and attracted the attention of the court. As a result, a large-scale relocation of powerful families and wealthy households from Guandong began.

Emperor Xiaowu relocated 60,000 households, totaling nearly 300,000 people, from Guandong who possessed assets of three million coins.

At Huo Guang's suggestion, Emperor Xiaozhao relocated a large number of families of officials with a rank of 2,000 shi or above.

Emperor Xiaoxuan directly targeted high-ranking officials from Guandong, including chancellors, generals, marquises, officials with a salary of 2,000 shi or above, and wealthy individuals with assets of over one million, relocating them in large numbers to the imperial city.

What about the land originally owned by the migrants?

The Emperor is benevolent and cannot bear to see your land lying barren!
Therefore, they were acquired at a price far below market value, on a voluntary basis.

Of course, you can choose not to sell to the imperial court. In that case, see if the local government dares to process the transfer of your land and residence, and see who dares to snatch food from the imperial court!
Therefore, each migration undertaken for the purpose of "serving the imperial mausoleum" was nothing short of a catastrophe for the powerful families of Kanto, and also a major reshuffling of power in Kanto.

Decades of accumulated family wealth vanished in an instant!

Even if they had some surplus wealth, they still had to bear the enormous expenses of the entire clan's migration journey themselves.

The imperial court will only set a deadline, ordering you and your entire clan to relocate to Lingyi within that timeframe. How you get there is up to you.

Upon arriving in Lingyi, one must build one's own residence, and the land occupied by the residence, as well as the farmland used for livelihood, must be purchased from the imperial court.

As for the price of the land?
Since it was chosen by the emperor as an auspicious site, it was naturally a place of great feng shui.

The imperial court has granted your family permission to be buried in such an auspicious place, next to the emperor. Isn't this a great imperial favor?
In recognition of this imperial favor, the court is "selling" it to you at a price ten, twenty, or even thirty times higher than the market price. Isn't that generous?

Therefore, this migration often exhausted most of the wealth of powerful families.

Those families with official titles or a family tradition of classical learning might be able to rebuild their fortunes in Guanzhong, but those powerful families with wealth but no official titles or family learning could only watch helplessly as their families declined.

This explains why the officials from the Central Plains, including those from Yu, Yan, and Sili, disregarded decorum and launched an undisguised personal attack on Lu Zhi.

Their ancestors went to great lengths to finally find a fool who was easy to fool, and tricked Emperor Xiaoyuan into believing that the mausoleum system was a tyrannical system that "disturbed the people," thus persuading the emperor to issue an edict to abolish it.

Now Lu Zhi thinks he can restore this "cannibalistic" mausoleum system with just a few casual words?

This is tantamount to digging up their ancestral graves and severing their foundation!
(End of this chapter)