You have truly caused me great suffering!

Legend has it that although Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, conquered the country with a military force, he valued scholars and specially left behind a stone tablet.

The stone tablet was kept in a side room of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. When a new emperor ascended the throne, he had to enter alone to pay homage, accompanied only by an illiterate eunuch. The other officials were not allowed to hear about it.

It wasn't until the Jingkang Incident, when the Jin army captured Bianjing and the Imperial Ancestral Temple was opened, that the contents of the oath stele became known to outsiders.

Three points were written above:

1. If any member of the Chai family commits a crime, he shall not be punished. Even if he is convicted of treason, he shall be executed in prison and shall not be executed in the marketplace. Nor shall his relatives be implicated.
Second, scholars and officials, as well as those who submit memorials to the emperor, must not be killed;

Third, if any of my descendants violate this oath, Heaven will surely punish them.

This rumor is mostly false, because Zhao Da himself has killed people, and quite a few at that.

Moreover, if such a thing were true, how could the emperors of the Song Dynasty have kept it hidden? They would have already spread the word about Emperor Taizu's benevolence and righteousness everywhere.

Furthermore, official documents such as the "Annals of Emperor Taizu" in the History of Song, the "Yu Hai", and the "Comprehensive Examination of Documents" do not mention it.

Ninety-nine percent of them are the beautiful fantasies of writers, heartwarming little stories they created.

However, after the deaths of Zhao Da and Zhao Er, subsequent Song emperors rarely killed scholar-officials.

It wasn't that they didn't want to kill, but rather that it was an unwritten constitutional tradition formed by the long-term struggle between the scholar-official class and imperial power.

Inside the imperial city, Chen Shao summoned his close ministers to the Funing Hall.

Funing Hall was his main hall and sleeping quarters, and he was usually only received by his closest ministers.

The hall was filled with his confidants, including Liu Guanglie, Zhang Xiaochun, Li Tangchen, Liu Jizu, as well as Meizang Pangge, who had just returned with troops, and the imperial guards generals Zhe Yanye, Yang Yizhong, and Liu Qi.

Mei Zang Pang Ge wiped away his tears and cried, "Your Majesty, I have missed you every single day while I was in Luoyang. I followed Your Majesty when I joined the campaign against the Yeli clan. My sworn brother Han Shizhong was granted the title of King, but I was not granted the title of King. How come I was not even granted the title of Duke?"

Chen Shao cursed, "Seeking a title in the palace? What kind of decorum is this!"

Pang Ge straightened up abruptly and laughed, "Your Majesty, I was just saying it casually. Please don't take it to heart. If you have another opportunity to make a contribution in the future, just think of me."

"I dare not boast of anything else, but I am second to none in loyalty to this dynasty!"

When he asked for a title in the palace, everyone else looked at him like he was a dead man, but Pang Ge didn't care.

I am a barbarian!

Chen Shao didn't bother to say anything more to him. Looking at the thick stack of files, his eyes narrowed slightly.

The land survey was the first major event after the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty.

To this end, he specially gathered talents and trained them for half a year.

Then, the tax law was amended for this purpose, and 50,000 cavalrymen were risked to be transferred south from the front lines.

They even persuaded Cai Jing to sell 500,000 mu of fertile land on his own initiative.

Even so, they still secretly colluded, formed cliques, and resisted the investigation.

They even drove officials to their deaths and altered records.

None of the people who rose to power under Chen Shao were afraid of trouble, and most of them came from the Northwest and had little to do with the literati and gentry of the Central Plains.

Most of them had a hint of excitement in their eyes.

Officials in the Song Dynasty occupied too many important positions.

They've disliked it for a long time.

After all, there are many people in each of the major meritorious factions who urgently need to be placed.

Only Zhang Xiaochun felt somewhat reluctant.

He was also a scholar-official from the Song Dynasty and had connections with these people. In the past few days, countless friends have come to plead for him.

But he didn't see any of them.

As Chen Shao's confidant, he knew all too well how much effort His Majesty had put into this land survey.

His Majesty attaches the greatest importance to this matter since the founding of the nation, placing it on a much higher priority than the destruction of the Jin dynasty.

Land is the foundation of a nation.

Zhang Xiaochun, who had followed Chen Shao since the time in Taiyuan, Hedong, witnessed firsthand how this was an emperor who personally participated in both spring plowing and autumn harvest.

He bent over to harvest wheat, dug irrigation ditches by hand, distributed farming tools in the suburbs, and danced with villagers in the countryside after the autumn harvest.

You've taken his land, such a large amount of it, and colluded with so many officials and gentry.
Seeing his dazed expression, Chen Shao asked, "Minister Zhang, although you are the deputy judge in this case, you are my cousin, sent to enhance your prestige and keep order. Tell me, how should I handle this?"

Zhang Xiaochun seemed to have made up his mind. He stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the law of the land is not just for show, and justice will not tolerate personal feelings!"

Chen Shao inwardly scoffed, "You have affairs with them, but I don't."

However, there's nothing wrong with what he said.

Chen Shao nodded and said, "This case involves farmland, amounting to 2.8 million mu, making it a truly earth-shattering case."

"The higher the official rank, the more involvement they cause, and the greater the harm they inflict. Wei Li is already dead, which proves that I do not show favoritism. Zhang Bangchang, Xu Churen, He, Chen Guoting, Mei Zhili, Tang Ke, An Fu, and Cheng Zhen are to be executed! Their entire families are to be exiled to Baidao City!"

"Any official or gentry involved in matters exceeding ten thousand acres shall be executed, their property confiscated, and their entire clan exiled to Liaodong!"

"Officials and gentry involved in more than 3,000 but less than 10,000 mu of land shall be dismissed from their posts, their property confiscated, and their entire clans exiled to Qinghai!"

“Those whose land is involved between 500 and 3,000 mu shall have their titles and honors revoked and their entire clan exiled to Jiaozhi.”

“If officials and gentry of five hundred or less are involved, their titles and ranks will be stripped, their land and shops will be confiscated, and their entire families will be relocated to Youyan or Yunzhong.”

Nowadays, prisoners are no longer sent to Lingnan or the Northwest, those two places are now incredibly wealthy.

Since Chen Shao had given the order, he had naturally already taken care of the consequences.

The number of people involved in the Hidden Field case has reached 200,000.

The main issue is that the higher up you go, the more powerful and wealthy the families become. Behind every corrupt official, there are at least several hundred people who will be punished.

That's great, the difficulty of land surveying has been greatly reduced, and no one is arguing with the land survey team anymore.

The imperial court also saved money by not having to buy land from you.

Chen Shao fought in the north and south, and the troops under his command were all from the northwest, having nothing to do with them.

Therefore, he dealt with these people without any scruples.

Moreover, the Hidden Fields case gave Chen Shao a reason to launch a full-scale attack on the officials left over from the Song Dynasty. Chen Shao said to Li Tangchen, "Minister Li, you must do your best to instruct the officials of the Ministry of Personnel to examine the performance of all prefectural and county officials. Those who fail to meet the standards should be dismissed from their posts."

There were far too many idle people in the Song Dynasty's bureaucratic system.

However, the officials of the Song Dynasty were actually very capable because they really did their jobs.

The work that lower-level officials had to do was their duty. The work that the higher-ups had to do was still their responsibility.
Therefore, being an official in the Song Dynasty was the easiest job, while being a clerk was truly arduous.

Li Tangchen scratched his head, a gesture that was quite unseemly.

But he was genuinely scared.

Several major matters are already weighing on my mind.

Seeing his expression, Chen Shao smiled and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "It's not that difficult, I'll teach you."

"You don't need to check who is qualified. Just examine some officials with excellent reputations, and dismiss the rest."

Great opportunities don't support idlers.

This time, at least seven or eight out of ten officials will be dismissed.

Chen Shao was a warlord, and many of his men had arranged for him to join the army.

Moreover, the Song Dynasty had a serious problem with redundant officials, with a large number of official positions that were simply unnecessary.

For Chen Shao and Da Jing, the case of Hidden Fields might not be a bad thing.

Although many officials he promoted were corrupted and bribed, he mostly cleaned up the festering sores left over from the Song Dynasty.

Chen Shao couldn't understand why they had to oppose the imperial court when he had clearly pointed out a way out for them.

Perhaps in their eyes, the Great Jing Dynasty and the Great Song Dynasty were no different, and the court still believed that the law would not punish them because of their large numbers.

Little did he know that the principle of "the law does not punish the masses" was equally laughable in Chen Shao's eyes.

During the Song Dynasty, the emperor's decrees could be blocked and cursed by a large group of officials, forcing him to abandon them.

With a court like this, what reforms can be implemented?

The Song Dynasty was not without ambitious emperors who wanted to strengthen the country through reforms, but each time their efforts were thwarted by the "old party".

During the Jing Dynasty, Chen Shao would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen; his national policy had to be implemented.
-
December 20th, the first year of Jianwu reign of the Great Jing Dynasty.

It was already close to the New Year.

The city of Jinling was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the atmosphere was joyous.

Just then, the imperial court issued an edict, and the case of Hidden Fields was completely closed.

Without any preparation or gradual approach, they directly and swiftly dealt with 200,000 people in public.

Moreover, he killed more than eighty officials and gentry in one go.

These people were quite famous during the Song Dynasty, but they formed cliques for personal gain and resisted the national policy of land surveying.

The last time the gentry of Luoyang collectively resisted the land survey, 50,000 people were already punished and exiled, but no one was killed that time.

This time, the unspoken rule of the previous dynasty that "the law does not apply to scholar-officials" has been completely broken.

The idea that "the law does not apply to scholar-officials" is absurd enough. As holders of power, scholar-officials are the most likely to commit crimes, and once they do, the harm they cause is immense.

Ordinary people who commit crimes usually only harm one or two people, but when scholar-officials commit crimes, they often harm an entire county, a prefecture, or even a whole province.
Zhu Mian, for example, completely devastated the Jiangnan region.

This is an industry that most needs to be warned by law, and a position that most needs to be treated with reverence, yet it has managed to achieve a collective immunity from punishment.

At the end of the first year of Jianwu, and on the first year of the founding of the Great Jing Dynasty, Chen Shao broke this tradition with the Hidden Field Case.

The deaths of more than eighty people are just the beginning; the exile of two hundred thousand people to the frontier will begin in the following year.

After preserving and enhancing the economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty, the young Jing Dynasty began to detoxify.

At this time, the emperor of the Great Jing Empire and his confidants had no powerful enemies outside, were united internally, and had money, food, and soldiers. They had enough confidence to deal with the aftermath of the Hidden Field Case.

I wonder if they killed too many people this time.

The evidence in the Hidden Field case is still conclusive.

At this time, the voices of criticism and dissatisfaction among the people towards Chen Shaohe and Jing Chao actually decreased significantly.

Back then, if you stood in front of a private room in a restaurant, you would most likely find someone inside discussing politics and having a long, rambling talk.

He frequently spouts words that could cost him his head, acting as if his head could grow back even if he were chopped off.

These days, it's hard to hear such voices anymore; even the madman isn't mad anymore.

In the capital, Chen Shao held the first court assembly since the Yintian case.

This is likely the last court assembly before the New Year.

He glanced around and noticed that about half of the officials in the hall were gone, and there were more unfamiliar faces.

However, the efficiency of various government affairs has not deteriorated; in fact, it has become smoother than before.

The problem of redundant officials is only one of the smallest drawbacks.

Inefficiency is the most fatal flaw.

The root cause of redundant officials and inefficiency is not laziness, but rather the deliberate design of the system. To prevent the separatist rule of regional warlords and the usurpation of power by powerful ministers during the late Tang and Five Dynasties periods, Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, established "separation of powers and checks and balances" as the ironclad rule of the nation.

The result did indeed ensure the stability of the Zhao family's imperial power, but at the heavy cost of bloated institutions, slow government orders, and overstaffing.

When it comes to getting something done, the decision-making chain is extremely long, and various government departments shirk their responsibilities. Official documents are exchanged for months, but nothing gets done.

"Do any of you gentlemen have anything else to report?"

Chen Shao made an exception and asked a question himself.

No one spoke. This court assembly only confirmed that the joint sacrificial ceremony would be held in the southern suburbs of Jinling in the first month of the second year of Jianwu.

No one mentioned the Hidden Field case.

Chen Shao was very satisfied. Looking at the assembled officials below, he smiled and said, "Last year, our Great Jing Dynasty was well-governed and harmonious, and won every battle. This was all thanks to the dedication and hard work of all of you ministers. As the New Year approaches, I do not wish to dwell on the busy affairs. I would only like to say to you all that you have worked hard and that I am happy."

As the leader of the civil officials, Li Tangchen stepped forward and said, "Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty! We dare not fail to exert our utmost strength and serve you with utmost loyalty! We respectfully wish Your Majesty a long life and everlasting prosperity!" (End of this chapter)