Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

"After this incident, how much land does your family have left? And how much land do the Hu and Zhao families have?"

"My family still has 3,700 mu of land, but there are no paddy fields left. The Hu family has more than 4,000 mu, and the Zhao family has more than 5,000 mu. I heard from my classmates that Junping Commune deeply abhors the act of illegally occupying land. The Hu and Zhao families not only seized our land last year, but have also done many evil things this year. You can find out if you investigate."

Li You nodded. The young man in front of him had a clear and honest appearance and didn't seem like a liar.

Of course, if there were any who concealed or lied about their reports, Huang Chao's army had its own ways to make them regret it.

"We will send someone to investigate what you said. I've heard you studied in a private school and are quite talented. Would you be willing to join our Equalization Society?"

"If this can clear my name, I am willing to join the Equalization Society!"

"Hmm, not bad, not bad. Have you ever married?"

"...No, after this incident, many women avoid me when they see me. They all think I'm a murderous maniac, let alone want me to get married."

"Oh, is that so... That's easy. Once you've cleared your name, I'll find you a wife, and I'm sure I can find you a woman who will satisfy you."

Li You discovered that some people joined the Equalization Society with a rather simple motivation—they just wanted the society to help them find a wife.

Regardless of the era or location, getting married is not only a major life event, but also a difficult one.

Li You himself has personally arranged no fewer than three thousand couples.

Therefore, the birth rate increased in Huang Chao's various base areas, with new babies being born almost every day.

Lu Qing, a handsome and well-educated young man, was quite popular in the marriage market of the Tang Dynasty.

The case that occurred in the Lu family made Li You fall into deep thought.

The case was actually not difficult to investigate. As long as Hu and Zhao continued to commit evil deeds, their actions would be exposed under the pervasive surveillance of Huang Chao's army.

What made Li You think was the Lu family, or families like theirs.

According to the idea of ​​"equal distribution," they occupy a lot of land, which is unfair to others and should be divided up.

However, under the leadership of Widow Sun, the Lu family members worked hard to cultivate the land, accumulate wealth, and treat their neighbors kindly. They did not harass other people, nor did they have any intention of harming others.

Forcibly dividing up the Lu family's land would not only lack human touch, but also seem rather unreasonable.

The current situation in Shandong is that powerful families occupy a huge amount of land and people. If these resources are released, most people can get a suitable amount of land.

Li You calculated that the total cultivated land area in Shandong was 15 million mu, and the number of households in each region, calculated at five people per household, was approximately 250,000. That is to say, each household could be allocated about 600 mu of land. That would be 125 mu per person.

The Tang Dynasty's Equal-Field System clearly stipulated that all middle-aged men over 18 years of age and adult men aged 21-59 would be granted 100 mu of land, of which 20 mu were permanent land that could be passed down to their descendants; and 80 mu were allotted land that would be returned to the government after the death of the deceased.

The law stipulates a lot, but when it comes to the people, especially the people of Shandong, it's considered good if each person gets 30 or 40 mu of land, and many people can only get about 20 mu.

Numbers may be dry, but they are very telling.

After a more detailed investigation, Li You discovered that the arable land resources in Shandong Province had not actually been fully developed. Because the agricultural conditions there were very good, with plenty of flat land and high yields, the current reclamation conditions were sufficient to produce enough grain. Therefore, the people did not want to put in the effort to reclaim new land, as they would not be able to manage it all.

On the contrary, those powerful and influential families were very enthusiastic about cultivating land.

They possess abundant human resources and are skilled in management and business, making them ideally suited for land reclamation.

The newly cultivated fields, from the day they appeared, were called "hidden fields".

These fields were not recorded in the imperial accounts, yet people were needed to cultivate them, thus concealing these human resources. This tax evasion in two ways was why the Tang Dynasty chancellor Fang Xuanling was unable to collect taxes and was constantly worried about the empty national treasury.

For this reason, Li You felt that the data he currently had was not accurate.

Besides easily developed areas like the Onozawa region, there are also some relatively difficult-to-cultivate lands.

It has not been utilized at all.

Therefore, good families like the Lu family, who own a lot of land but work hard, don't seem to be in a hurry to divide up their land; in fact, they are careful to protect it.

Complete equality is Li You's ultimate goal, but in the early stages, allowing a certain degree of unevenness is perfectly acceptable and can help to quickly absorb more manpower and expand the army.

Drastic reform strategies should be implemented with caution in their initial stages, and should not be rushed.

Li You, after all, was someone who grew up in the spring breeze, raised under the red flag, received a complete education in later generations, and studied relevant historical materials. He understood the difference between the surplus grain collection system and the new economic policy.

Huang Chao's army dispatched two groups of men to infiltrate Yutai County and conduct reconnaissance of the Hu and Zhao families.

These two families were plotting something else entirely, not to seize land, but to bribe officials in Yutai County to appoint their sons or nephews as minor officials in charge of managing the market.

If this matter succeeds, they will have helpers in the government office to relay messages.

The head of the Zhao family's household guards became a key target for Huang Chao's spies.

After getting drunk one night, this man brought up the matter of disposing of the body to cover up the crime.

Even the process of inviting a Taoist priest to perform a ritual to ward off evil spirits was described in detail.

The soldiers followed suit and successfully found the deadly poison, "Qianji," in the Hu family's home, which also led to the discovery of several murders—this was not the first time such an incident had occurred.

The facts are quite clear, and Li You has decided to launch a purge operation against these two companies.

However, while taking action, he also wanted to have a good talk with the Lu family.

Lu Qing took leave from Mr. Zhou's school and, accompanied by Wang Sanwa and fifteen of Qi Wang's personal guards, went to Yutai County to invite his mother and elder brother Lu Ze to Chengwu County to meet with Li You.

At first, Widow Sun thought her child had caused a great disaster and secretly groaned.

Only after further inquiry did I learn about the Junping Society.

She had never heard of this before, but her eldest son, Lu Ze, and many of the farmhands had heard of it.

Wang Sanwa then patiently explained the principles of the Equalization Society to Widow Sun.

"Auntie, we used to be people who suffered a lot of humiliation. Later, we spontaneously gathered together to help the weak and poor. My eldest sister was rescued from the landlord's house by the Junping Society. Now, the Junping Society has tens of thousands of people participating. Everyone has agreed to protect their own land and will never sell it to those who covet the land."

"We have investigated your family's affairs thoroughly. Hundreds of our brothers have already infiltrated the village and are just waiting for the order to wipe out the Hu and Zhao families."

Widow Sun was overjoyed: "Really?"

Wang Sanwa laughed and said, "We are always serious about what we do, and we never joke around."

Lu Ze asked worriedly, "I've heard of your slogan of equality. You've taken over the land of the Hu and Zhao families, won't you take our land too?"