I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 93 Respect Yourself and Love Others
What is meant by equal land distribution?

Men aged 15 and above were entitled to 80 mu of land allocated to their families and 20 mu of land as permanent property. Elderly men and disabled men were entitled to 40 mu of land allocated to their families, and widows and concubines were entitled to 30 mu of land allocated to their families. Those who owned slaves and oxen could obtain additional land, with each adult ox (aged 4 and above) entitled to 30 mu of open land, and a limit of four oxen per household.

The allotted land was government land, which could not be bought or sold and had to be returned to the government after death. The permanent land, on the other hand, could be retained and cultivated for generations.

……

This "Equal Field System" blatantly changed the nature of land! It was the first time the concept of private land ownership was openly and legitimately introduced!

The reason it is described as a "legitimate" proposal is that, although according to the laws of the Han Dynasty, all land under heaven belongs to the emperor... in reality, the country's public lands were all embezzled by noble families and had long since become their private property. However, the "Equal-Field System" was the first to propose that land could be privately owned! But the private owners would no longer be the wealthy and powerful nobles who were like rats, but rather the vast majority of ordinary people who participated in the equal-field system, allowing them to truly say, "I am the master of this land!"
Not only that.

The equal-field system was very different from the land allocation system that was implemented during the Han Dynasty.

The land grant system originated in the Warring States period. Its purpose was to bind the people to the land, which would benefit the struggle for hegemony between states. Its core attribute was "land".

However, the equal-field system was designed to prevent land consolidation and to ensure that individual farmers had sufficient means of production to support themselves. Its core attribute was "people".

In short, granting land meant binding people to the land.

Equal distribution of land, on the other hand, distributes the land among the people.

Although there is only a difference of one word, or even just a difference in order, the meanings are worlds apart!

"This is benevolent governance!"

Gu Yong's final judgment!

Liu Miao smiled slightly.

In fact, if asked, he would prefer to call Juntian "Renzheng".

Compared to the past when population was treated as a number like land, the word "people" is now undoubtedly given much more meaning!
More importantly, only when people are aware of their own identity and possess their own private property will they be more motivated to produce and thus solve many problems.

Liu Miao can no longer run around shouting, "You are a human being! You are a human being!"

However, through his decrees, Liu Miao could clearly convey a message to the people under his rule—

You are people, not just numbers on a household registration.

Liu Miao had been worried that he might be taking too big a step and mess things up, but after seeing Gu Yong's reaction, he knew that now was the right time!
"In that case, I entrust all these matters to Yuan Tan!"

The Three-Chief System and the Equal-Field System.

While the two policies cannot be described as groundbreaking or novel to most people, they are still different.

Liu Miao can easily say something now, but to actually carry out these two things will require an unknown amount of effort and cause people to grow many gray hairs!
but……

Gu Yong closed the bamboo slip and bowed to Liu Miao.

He wanted to give it a try!
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

When Liu Miao and Gu Yong discussed the Three Chiefs System and the Equal Field System, those who could understand, such as Zhou Yu and Lu Su, responded seriously and with solemn expressions.

Those who couldn't understand, like Zhou Tai, could only look around curiously at the people around them.

Zhou Tai was the first to approach Chen Wu: "Zilie, did you understand?"

Chen Wu smiled shyly: "I only have a vague understanding, but I can tell that this is a good thing that benefits the country and the people."

Damn!

Zhou Tai gave up on communicating with Chen Wu, but when he turned around, he saw Jiang Qin, who was listening intently to Liu Miao and Gu Yong's discussion with a dark expression on his face.

"Gongyi, you understood too?"

A slightly unnatural flush appeared on Jiang Qin's face... Of course, because his face was dark, no one could actually see this flush.

Upon hearing Zhou Tai's question, Jiang Qin hesitated for a moment before telling Zhou Tai the truth—

"I don't understand."

"Didn't you understand why you're pretending so well? Stop listening! Come on! Let's drink!"

Jiang Qin shifted his body to the side with a look of disdain: "Even if you don't understand, what the lord and Gu Yong were talking about were important matters concerning people's livelihoods. It's never wrong to try to remember them! Youping, you're now the lord's guard, a close advisor, so it's never wrong for you to learn more." Zhou Tai scratched his head awkwardly: "But when I hear about village head and land, my head starts spinning! Why don't you teach me?"

"Didn't I say I didn't understand either..."

Jiang Qin pointed Zhou Tai in the right direction—

"Did you see the governor? He is the descendant of one of the Three Dukes, so he must be very knowledgeable. Just now, while the lord was talking to Gu Yong, he was writing something down on the table. Ask him, and you won't go wrong! Youping, you are his savior, so he certainly won't refuse you."

Zhou Taiyi laughed—that's true!
Most importantly, Chen Yu's current status is probably the most prestigious besides Liu Miao! If Zhou Tai were to ask juniors like Zhou Yu or Lu Su, he would be somewhat embarrassed, but if he were to ask Chen Yu, he wouldn't have to worry about saving face at all!
Zhou Tai moved closer to Chen Yu and saw that Chen Yu was writing furiously. He then leaned his large head over and asked, "Is the governor recording what the lord said?"

"Ah! Youping?"

Chen Yu then noticed a burly man sitting next to him, but he had no time to pay attention to Zhou Tai and continued writing.

"Governor, what were the lord and Gu Yong talking about? I didn't understand. Could you tell me?"

Chen Yu, being a learned scholar with a remarkable memory, actually wrote down the contents of the Three Chiefs System and the Equal-Field System to Zhou Tai again.

"Do you understand?"

"no!"

Zhou Tai's frankness did not make Chen Yu happy; on the contrary, it made him somewhat depressed.

"I've explained it so clearly, and Youping still doesn't understand?"

"I understood the content; it's just about dividing up land! But I don't understand the meaning behind it!"

Don't understand?
Chen Yu thought for a moment, then wrote two beautiful characters in clerical script on the bamboo slip—

"Respect yourself?"

Zhou Tai was puzzled, not knowing what those two words meant.

"The so-called self-respect is the purpose of Zhongshan's implementation of the three-chief system. Youping should see through the phenomenon to the essence. He should not only think that the three-chief system is a way to control the grassroots, but also drink the water and think about the source, and understand why Zhongshan used such a policy."

“Zhongshan used the three chief system to curb land annexation. Its purpose was to teach the people to respect themselves and not to sell themselves to powerful families and become slaves.”

"Once you understand this, you can also derive Zhongshan's ideas about the equal-field system."

Chen Yu picked up his pen and wrote two more words—

"spouse".

But Zhou Tai laughed: "How could someone as learned as the governor make a mistake?"

"I've heard of Ai Ren, but it's written like this..."

As Zhou Tai spoke, he even showed off by drawing a stroke, a vertical line, and two horizontal lines on his hand to show Chen Yu how to write the character "仁" (ren).

“What Youping was talking about was the ‘benevolence’ in ‘filial piety and brotherly love are the foundation of benevolence’, but what I heard from Zhongshan’s words was the ‘humanity’ in ‘behave with integrity and respect for the people.’”

"These two characters for 'person' sound the same, but they are written completely differently."

Chen Yu explained, “What is benevolence? The ancient sages each had their own answers, but they could not reach a consensus. But what is a person? That is very concrete. For example, you and I are people, and those common people are also people. Do you understand these things, Youping?”

Humanity, benevolence, humanity...

Zhou Tai was completely bewildered at this point. After looking miserable, he immediately fled, deciding never to go near Chen Yu again...

When Jiang Qin saw Zhou Tai return, he couldn't wait to ask, "What did the governor say to you? Do you understand what the lord and the others were talking about?"

Zhou Tai's eyes were lifeless; he only asked Jiang Qin one question—

"Gongyi, what exactly is the difference between a person and benevolence?"

"Are you swearing?"

"..."

(End of this chapter)