A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 126 Population
Slavery.

It can be said to be a twin system of the well-field system.

For three generations, emperors, feudal lords, and high officials all possessed large fiefdoms, which were private well-field systems.

Although the owner of this type of private well-field did not have the right to dispose of the land legitimately, it was a significant step forward compared to the mere right to cultivate the land held by ordinary people.

As long as nobles do not commit crimes, do not incur the emperor's wrath, and do not suffer defeat in war, these lands are practically their private property and can be transferred, given away, or even sold.

With land comes the need for people to cultivate it. Emperors, feudal lords, and large landowners would forcibly assign prisoners of war, criminals, and impoverished commoners who were dependent on them for various reasons to cultivate their land. These people were slaves.

Besides leaving the farmers just enough to survive, slave owners had to hand over all the harvest to them. The emperor, feudal lords, large landowners, and their families relied on the harvest from these "slave well fields" and the public fields of ordinary people to maintain their armies, officials, and comfortable and wealthy lives.

The laborers and slaves of the official and private well fields, also known as slave farmers, did not have the status of commoners recognized by the government, and were not registered in the government registers.

These people's identities only existed in the "slave register" of the nobility, or even came from slaves of prisoners of war and criminals. Their faces were branded or tattooed with marks unique to the nobility. Even if they escaped, they had nowhere to go. Generation after generation, the slaves could only work unpaid labor in the nobility's well fields.

These farming slaves, who were forcibly confined to the well-field system, constituted the largest group within the slave system.

Another type of slave was labor slaves, which were further divided into government slaves and private slaves. They came from prisoners of war, families of criminals, and the poor. Government slaves, in addition to serving as servants, were forced to perform hard labor according to the orders of the government.

With the complete abolition of the well-field system by Wei Yang's reforms, the twin system of slavery did not end, but instead ushered in a new development, with slaves being thoroughly divided into official slaves and private slaves.

Official slaves mainly came from criminals and prisoners of war, while private slaves could be acquired through buying, selling, inheritance, and other means.

Although Emperor Gaozu established three laws when he entered the pass, the Han Dynasty still followed the Qin laws, including the law of collective punishment and the punishment of children. During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, there was an attempt to abolish the law of collective punishment and the punishment of children, but it was not fully implemented in practice. If one person committed a crime, his wife and children would be punished as well, and this practice has continued to this day.

Especially now that they've run into His Majesty, who practices cruel governance and persecution by association is rampant, how could they possibly let go of such a valuable "treasure" as government slaves?

As the saying goes, "one should learn from another's example."

Amidst natural disasters and man-made calamities, powerful figures in the Han Dynasty not only extensively acquired land but also recruited countless slaves, or servants, through the buying and selling of people, without registering them in the imperial court's records.

In traditional society, population represented productivity. Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the population gradually recovered and grew, but the benefits were eaten up by high-ranking officials, nobles and local tyrants.

With people and food available, local powerful families began to have wicked ideas. They bought, sold, and smelted ironware, armed themselves with it, and turned it into their private guards. Some even kept assassins in their homes.

This is one of the reasons why a single massacre can result in the deaths of tens of thousands of people; both master and slave perish.

What Emperor Xiaowen couldn't do, can Your Majesty do?

can!
The emperor, prime minister, and general, like the "mountain" in the Chinese character for "Han Dynasty," sat in the Xuan Room, watching the officials, marquises, and members of the imperial family from both the central and foreign courts, and gave their choices.

Choose between land or population.

This seems like an easy choice. Without land, all the powerful clans would immediately collapse. Without the demographic dividend, the development of these clans would only stagnate. Moreover, the imperial court offered compensation: all slaves who wanted to escape slavery would be required to cultivate ten acres of wasteland or 20,000 coins for the powerful clans.

The price of one mu of fertile land is between two thousand and two thousand five hundred coins.

The price of slaves in the Han Dynasty was generally stable between 15,000 and 20,000 coins, and sometimes it could reach as high as 40,000 coins. However, such special slaves are not representative of the market. The emperor's sincerity was truly genuine.

The new land policy was almost like the imperial court buying unregistered servants from powerful clans; it wasn't even robbery.

Given the power of the Crown Prince's palace, it was possible to seize it by force, but the ruler chose to "buy" it. Although it was a forced purchase, it also demonstrated the ruler's benevolence.

Live your own life, and let others live theirs too.

Everyone knows that this is the ruler's bottom line: to lift land restrictions and give all people, including servants, the opportunity to settle down and live a peaceful life with their own hands.

Grand Master of Ceremonies Zhou Jiande looked at Gongsun Hong and asked, "Prime Minister, what if the servants in the clan are unwilling to be removed from the register?"

In this world, not every slave and maidservant of a powerful family harbors hatred and resentment towards their master. In this dog-eat-dog world, many slaves and maidservants have deep feelings for the clans they sold themselves to. The powerful families took them in, gave them food, and provided them with work, allowing them to survive.

They might be beaten and scolded by the master, or teased by the young master, but they wouldn't have to live alone, so the hardship might be less.

In today's world, making a living as a breadwinner is not easy; one not only has to endure all sorts of exploitation by the government and various forms of forced labor, but also has to contend with all kinds of natural and man-made disasters.

Zhou Jiande, the Marquis of Pingqu, thought he had treated his clan's servants fairly well. So, what if the court wanted to buy them, but the servants themselves didn't want to leave?
"Follow your heart's desire," Liu Ju replied.

Changing the slave system was only one of the goals of the new land policy. The main goal was to enable people to have land to cultivate, to leave the mountains and forests, and to transform them from bandits into commoners.

If servants are unwilling to redeem themselves, then the court has no choice but to abandon its compassion for helping others and respect individual fate.

Moreover, with the new land policy, even powerful clans would improve the treatment of their servants in order to win back their hearts and keep them by their side. He had already come.

"Your Majesty is wise and sagacious!" Zhou Jiande bowed deeply to the ground and praised the emperor.

"May Your Majesty live a thousand years and enjoy endless happiness!" The courtiers from both dynasties, inside and outside the Xuan Shi Hall, sang the Emperor's praises from the bottom of their hearts.

Although the emperor wanted to reduce their number of servants, he gave them money and land. Some wealthy and powerful people didn't feel anything; they looked at the cold money and land without touching them and didn't feel anything. But for some fallen nobles, it was no less than going home and the court giving them money.

Change doesn't have to involve bloodshed.

Gongsun Hong looked toward the throne and met the eyes of the young dragon. The corners of the mouths of the emperor and his minister were turned up, and the smiles of the two foxes, one old and one young, could not be concealed.

The foolish nobles and powerful families will probably never understand the principle of "preserving people but losing land, both people and land can be preserved; preserving land but losing people, both people and land can be lost." No matter how much money is given out, the powerful families cannot hold onto it. Sooner or later, it will flow back to the court in various ways. At that time, where will the powerful families be?

(End of this chapter)