I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 92 Three Chiefs Equalize Land Distribution
"Yuan Tan, please."

Liu Miao treated Gu Yong with the courtesy due to an honored guest, and even specially invited his officers to accompany Gu Yong.

Lu Kang, Cheng Pu, Lu Su and others all knew that Gu Yong had come because of Liu Miao's edict seeking talent, and that Gu Yong was a great talent for internal affairs that Liu Miao urgently needed. However, they all thought that Liu Miao's move was too rash, so they kept looking Gu Yong up and down during the banquet.

Gu Yong could sense the offense from the crowd, but he simply sat at the table, focusing on the food in front of him, with a faint sense of death about it all—"A single bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, and I live; I die."

Lu Su first tested Gu Yong: "Yuan Tan, have you seen the scenery outside the city since you came here?"

“If Zijing is asking about the people cultivating the land, then I will naturally see it.”

"Does Yuan Tan think that people who come from Jiangbei to Jiangdong can live and work in peace and contentment here?"

Gu Yong remained silent.

Liu Miao looked at Gu Yong and pulled out a scroll from the bamboo slips beside him. Inside was the answer to Lu Su's question.

Liu Miao had a servant pick it up for Lu Su, and only then did Lu Su discover that the bamboo slips were covered with densely written policy documents—

[Liu Yangzhou's act of bringing the people to Jiangdong out of compassion for their suffering under war is a righteous deed. But can this alone guarantee their well-being and prosperity? On my journey here, I saw many people from the north who neither knew how to cultivate the paddy fields of Jiangdong nor were accustomed to the rice grown in the south. Some were even denied land. When a person leaves their homeland, unable to support themselves or satisfy their basic needs, can such a person truly feel happy?]

My suggestion is to concentrate these northern people in the mountains. Although the land there is less fertile, it is very similar to northern farmland and suitable for growing crops like wheat and millet. If these people can feed themselves using their past experience and enjoy the food they are familiar with, they will probably be satisfied.

To live in peace and prosperity.

The first thing to do is to help the people get familiar with this land as soon as possible, so that they can settle down here, have something to rely on, something to live on, and something to be cared for, so that they can live in peace and prosperity.

The environment in Jiangdong is vastly different from that in the north, making it difficult for these northern people to quickly adapt. Therefore, they could be sent to the mountains to cultivate land and plant familiar crops like wheat and millet, leveraging their past farming experience to quickly establish themselves using their skills.

Otherwise, what difference is there between simply handing over land to them without guidance and giving gold to a starving beggar?

After reading it, Lu Su felt ashamed and bowed to Gu Yong in apology: "Yuan Tan's talent in governing the people is beyond my reach!"

Liu Miao then said, "Yuan Tan was unwilling to refute Zijing just now, probably because he was afraid of offending him and feared that he would hold a grudge against you."

“Actually, Yuan Tan, there’s no need for that! They are all broad-minded people, and now they can’t wait for someone who is proficient in internal affairs to do their work for them, so why would they hold a grudge against you? Besides, now that you have become my chief secretary, you should act like one, otherwise how will they respect you?”

These words, seemingly a rebuke of Gu Yong, were actually meant to support him.

Gu Yong smiled at Liu Miao with a hint of gratitude, which startled Liu Miao!
I stood up for you, and you bared your teeth at me? What do you mean by that?
However, when Liu Miao realized that Gu Yong wasn't baring his teeth, but rather revealing a smile that was even uglier than a grimace, he gradually felt relieved...

At this time, Zhu Zhi, who had served as a candidate for the civil service examination and as a county official, also began to question Gu Yong.

His questions were clearly much sharper than Lu Su's—

“Yuan Tan is from the Gu family, so he should know about the situation in Jiangdong.”

"The powerful families of Jiangdong are rampant, frequently seizing land and hiding people. Some even keep servants and personal guards on their estates, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or thousands. If such a thing were to happen, how would Yuan Tan handle it?"

As a native of Jiangdong, Zhu Zhi was most familiar with the situation in Jiangdong.

Moreover, if Gu Yong were truly Liu Miao's chief secretary, he would be in charge of the army's finances and provisions, becoming everyone's benefactor.

Zhu Zhi wanted to test Gu Yong's character, to see if he would abuse his power to commit crimes and whether he could handle matters fairly.

Although Gu Yong remained expressionless, he actually glanced at Liu Miao almost imperceptibly.

However, unlike last time, Liu Miao did not help Gu Yong out of this predicament. Instead, he looked at Gu Yong with great interest, clearly also interested in the issue.

During the late Han Dynasty, powerful clans were rampant, and they were especially rampant in Jiangdong!

If Liu Miao wanted to build Jiangdong into a stable base, he would inevitably have to deal with these powerful and influential families.

Liu Miao also wanted to know how Gu Yong, an official from the prestigious Gu family of Wu Commandery, would deal with Zhu Zhi's question!
After pondering for a moment, Gu Yong finally slowly shared his insights—

"The noble families and their wealthy households are the envy of everyone."

"You say that powerful families are rampant, seizing land, hiding people, and forming retinues, but have you ever considered why this is happening?"

“Jiangdong has been plagued by the incursions of the Yue people since ancient times, and often suffers a complete crop failure during harvest season. In such a situation, should we just stand by and let them take whatever they want, handing over the year's harvest and then starving to death?”

“I admit that many powerful families in Jiangdong have annexed land, but as far as I know, many common people actually came here voluntarily to seek refuge with these families and request their protection from the mountain tribes.”

"If the local government had driven away the mountain tribes and protected the people, would such a thing have happened?"

……

Gu Yong's words seemed to make sense.

But Liu Miao still felt a little disappointed.

Gu Yong quickly said, “It is a fact that the people voluntarily submit. But another fact is that there are still some powerful families who do not know how to restrain themselves. Although they have vermilion gates and embroidered houses, painted beams reaching the clouds; fine banquets and golden incense burners emitting musk; brocade robes and embroidered skirts trailing six-zhu misty silk; pearl shoes and jade earrings shining with the precious jewels of the Nine Heavens, they still want to buy up land and enjoy endless blessings.”

"In this way, the private land controlled by powerful families will increase, while the public land controlled by the government will decrease. Ultimately, this will lead to the government being unable to collect taxes, and the people having no land. If this continues, the country will cease to exist, and no one will be spared!"

As someone from a prominent family, Gu Yong would naturally speak up for them.

He explained to everyone that the aristocratic family had not initially acted against the tide; on the contrary, some people had taken the initiative to seek refuge with them, which enabled the family to grow stronger.

However, Gu Yong also admitted that future events would mostly stem from the greed in people's hearts, and that this greed would lead to the collapse of order and the destruction of the country.

Therefore, Gu Yong gave the final answer: "Therefore, to solve this problem, we need to do two things well."

"The first thing is for the government to protect the people and become their support, so that they don't feel like they have nowhere to turn and have to rely on those powerful families. Instead, they should enable them to be self-reliant, so that no one will become stronger because of this!"

"The second thing is to use severe punishments to deter people's greed and prevent the wealthy from doing whatever they want. In this way, they will no longer have to worry about such things."

Zichan said: "The virtuous can subdue the people with leniency, and the next best is to be strict." I think he was referring to something like this.

As long as we protect the people and prevent them from feeling powerless in the face of disasters and forced to seek refuge with the powerful, we can solve this problem at its root. If we cannot act with such virtue, then we can only use strict laws to restrain the wealthy and prevent them from doing whatever they want.

Gu Yong's view was that while the aristocratic families were at fault in this matter, the government was equally at fault.

If we really want to solve this problem, we should approach it from both sides, rather than just focusing on one side!
For a moment, the entire hall fell silent.

Liu Miao was the first to react, raising his wine cup to toast Gu Yong: "Yuan Tan's words are thought-provoking!"

Zhu Zhi, who had originally questioned Gu Yong, was naturally convinced by Gu Yong's answer.

Whether Gu Yongqiang is supporting the aristocratic families or trying to belittle them, it's not what people want to see.

If he were to forcefully support the aristocratic families, people would inevitably think that Gu Yong lacked a sense of the bigger picture and was unsuitable to serve as the chief secretary.

If he were to try to belittle the aristocratic families, people would be even more disgusted, thinking that Gu Yong was saying such things to curry favor with Liu Miao and the others.

Can someone be trusted if they belittle their own origins?
Therefore, although Gu Yong's answer of assigning equal blame to both sides was somewhat opportunistic, it was indeed satisfactory to everyone!

Cheng Pu, a veteran of the army, took the lead by praising Liu Miao, saying, "Now that our lord has Yuan Tan, there should be nothing to worry about from now on, right?"

The generals also rose and toasted Gu Yong, the future chief secretary, to offer their congratulations.

Zhou Tai, who was sitting next to Gu Yong, stepped forward with a smile and said, "When I first met you, I thought you were a bit dull. I never expected you to have such great talent!"

Zhou Tai only had a vague understanding of what Gu Yong had just said, but that didn't stop him from seeing the great talent Gu Yong displayed when he spoke eloquently! It was the same great talent as Zhou Yu and Lu Su!

However, unlike Zhou Yu and Lu Su, whose geniuses were immediately apparent, Gu Yong was undoubtedly much more composed and low-key, displaying the demeanor of an ancient gentleman.

Zhou Taichao toasted Gu Yong: "Come on! Chief Secretary Gu! Let's drink!"

Gu Yong's original intention was to smile at Zhou Tai to show goodwill, but after he finished smiling, Zhou Tai's expression changed drastically. After drinking the wine, he left in a hurry, as if Gu Yong were some kind of monster!
Zhou Tai, still shaken, sat back down in his seat and asked Liu Miao, his heart pounding, "My lord! Does Chief Clerk Gu dislike me? I just congratulated him, and he bared his teeth at me!!!"

Liu Miao waved his hand, gesturing for Zhou Tai to look at Gu Yong. Only then did Zhou Tai realize that Gu Yong had been baring his teeth at almost everyone...

"understood?"

"understood!"

Zhou Tai sighed deeply: "Talented people always have some flaws."

Liu Miao asked curiously, "What's wrong with Gongjin and Zijing?"

"The commander-in-chief is clearly so good at fighting, but he looks more effeminate than a woman. Isn't that a problem?"

"The registrar is always listless, like he's slept with several women. He doesn't look normal at all!"

"Is it possible... that Zijing was just tired?"

"Oh~~~ No wonder!"

……

After the toasting was over, Liu Miao asked Zhou Tai to give another scroll of bamboo slips from his desk to Gu Yong.

“Yuan Tan previously suggested establishing order among the refugees as soon as possible, which is indeed a good strategy. So I wrote down this method. What does Yuan Tan think?”

Gu Yong opened the bamboo slip, and three large characters were written at the beginning—

Three-tier system!
The original system of three elders at the grassroots level was abolished, and replaced with a neighborhood headman for every five households, a village headman for every five neighborhoods, and a party headman for every five villages. Their responsibilities included checking household registration, supervising farming, collecting rent and taxes, and conscripting laborers and soldiers.

Clearly, adopting the three-chief system can quickly establish a grassroots system, stabilize grassroots order, and at the same time...

Gu Yong was able to discover many problems in Liu Miao's "Three Chiefs System".

Firstly, the three chiefs in the Three Chiefs System enjoyed the benefit of exemption from official duties and were directly appointed and dismissed by the government. This was undoubtedly a bold attempt to directly control the grassroots political organizations!
In the past, the Han Dynasty governed the country based on filial piety. The Three Elders made outstanding contributions to the stability of the Han regime, but the consequence was that powerful clans inherited their positions, causing the government to gradually lose the grassroots power it had gained through the village system.

Liu Miao's Three Chiefs System is clearly intended to use the government to forcibly change the previous grassroots power system, making the connection between the government and the grassroots closer, and at the same time making it easier and faster for the government to mobilize the people at the grassroots level, avoiding unnecessary waste.

At the same time, the establishment of the three-chief system can also curb the powerful and wealthy from hiding their household registration and evading taxes and corvée labor, making the population figures as transparent as possible, and preventing situations where people are clearly cultivating government-owned land but end up paying taxes to powerful families.

Gu Yong carefully reviewed the "Three Chiefs System" and immediately expressed his approval of Liu Miao's method.

Although the attempt to have the government directly control the grassroots was indeed extremely bold and risky, if successful, it would certainly be able to curb the land annexation that had occurred for two hundred years since the Later Han Dynasty, and it was indeed a good policy that would benefit the country and the people!

Liu Miao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Gu Yong did not refute him.

Although the Three Chiefs system has been proven successful by history, it was not in the right era, and Liu Miao did not know whether it would be successful.

Now that even a professional like Gu Yong doesn't think there's a problem, Liu Miao can do whatever he wants!
Liu Miao then instructed Zhou Tai to give the last scroll of bamboo slips on the table to Gu Yong so that he could take a look at it.

Gu Yong was puzzled when he saw that Liu Miao had prepared something.

He had always thought that Liu Miao must lack the ability to govern a country, given how badly he had managed to ruin Moling.

But the three-chief system just now overturned Gu Yong's conjecture.

Liu Miao clearly had something to say, but for some reason, he didn't start implementing it before.

But when Gu Yong finished reading the second bamboo slip, his originally calm tone surprisingly gained a touch of color—

"I just said: A virtuous person can subdue the people with leniency, and the next best is to be ruthless..."

"But my abilities are ultimately limited, and all I can rely on is the fiery and harsh law... But the policy that Your Majesty has proposed today is a lenient policy that only a truly virtuous person can use!"

Like the "Three Chiefs System," this bamboo scroll also begins with three large characters that clearly state its main theme—

"Land Equalization Law"!
(End of this chapter)