Crowned the New Han Dynasty

Chapter 797: The law is no match for others
Yongning is the reign name used by the previous Xiaoxi Emperor Liu Zhong.

Liu Zhong reigned for 13 years, but his influence on the entire dynasty was so lackluster that he became the first emperor without a temple title since the founding of the Xinhan Dynasty.

Yongning was his second reign name. The reason why he used this reign name was to make the dynasty peaceful forever. It was accompanied by a rather impressive so-called reform, which was called the "Yongning New Deal" by later generations. .

But during this year, the eunuch Sun You gradually gained power. Eventually, the government changed suddenly and the officials were dissatisfied, which attracted the intervention of the kings. The King of Donghai and others gradually took control of the power, and became kings from local places and entered the central court. After several battles, the clan in charge of the court changed several times. The latest one was King Guanghan replacing King Donghai.

The current chaos in the DPRK is also related to the revolving door changes in power, and the source of everything can really be traced back to the first year of Yongning.

Of course Su Liao was familiar with these things. After hearing what Chen Zhi said, he nodded in agreement and said: "It was also the first year of Yongning. Zhao Ji, the governor of Yizhou, was killed by Li Te. The beginning of the rebellion in Shu began. Now it is occupied by Shu." Li Xiong of the land is the son of Li Te."

"These are actually mostly symptoms," Chen Zhize said: "There have been rebellions in all dynasties. Even in the heyday of the Pre-Han Dynasty, there were sporadic rebellions in local areas. Some even affected many people and corrupted a state, but they were eventually put down. , because the foundation of the dynasty has not been shaken, and the first year of Yongning was the beginning of the shaking of the foundation, starting with the New Deal!"

When Su Liao heard this, he couldn't help but concentrate. He had also heard about the Yongning New Deal, but later he heard that the New Deal was nothing, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He didn't really know much about the specific content, but after hearing Chen Zhi's solemn words, he Realize that this may not be that simple.

"The more ordinary things seem, the more likely they will have far-reaching consequences, because it is this kind of ordinary that lowers people's vigilance," Chen Zhi said first, and then said: "Emperor Xuanwu ruled the north and the south, and his prestige is at its peak. The great achievement of rebuilding Shenzhou is the confidence, so I wanted to divide the land again, but because I saw the danger of the foundation shaking, I had to stop and retreated to compromise, but I also left some tails, nothing more than wanting to continue in the future. move."

Speaking of this, he showed a bit of regret: "It's just that when we just unified the north and the south, the aristocratic families have not yet established themselves, and their prestige can temporarily overwhelm the tradition. As time goes by, this condition will no longer exist. , even with Emperor Xuanwu’s brilliant military strategy, he didn’t have the courage to complete it at the beginning, and even if he left a back-up, he couldn’t use it in the end and could only let it go, let alone Emperor Xiaoxi?”

When Su Liao heard this, he frowned and said, "I don't know much about the Yongning New Deal, but I also heard that the original intention of this matter is to sort out the land in the world and divide the people."

"Yes," Chen Zhi nodded, "but this division also clarifies the status of the aristocratic families, and is divided into three groups in total, two of which do not have to pay taxes. The first-class ones are of course those with local products. The second type is the "customers" who are attached to the aristocratic family. Of course, this is not the kind of customer in later generations, but it means "guests living under them".

The third type is ordinary commoners. Since the first two groups do not need to pay taxes, how do you think this third group of people feel and how much pressure do they feel?What choice will be made in the end? "

"Of course, most people will choose to attach themselves to the rich families." Of course, Su Liao knew the twists and turns here. "Buyi cannot climb up to the wealthy families, but by becoming a subordinate or a customer and relying on the rich families, they can still avoid taxes and pay taxes. Labor, the choice here is self-evident."

"Do you know?" Chen Zhi suddenly laughed, "There are divisions and restrictions between these three groups of people. What kind of situations are stipulated by the law? You cannot easily cross from one group of people to another. , after all, this is a new law that involves the safety of the entire country. They will inevitably imagine various unfavorable circumstances, but when people imagine it, they always ignore a key factor." Su Liao suddenly cheered up and asked : "May I ask my lord, what have you overlooked?" Although it seems that Chen Zhi is telling history, it is a Chinese tradition to use history as a mirror. Su Liao is now in charge of the Secret Intelligence Department, and he also wants to avoid detours.

Chen Zhi looked at him and uttered one word——

"people!"

Su Liao was immediately confused, but then he thought of some details that Chen Zhi often mentioned in the past, as if a bolt of lightning flashed through his mind, and he suddenly became clear.

Sure enough, I heard Chen Zhi say next: "Anything is ultimately done by people. It depends on the executor and the origin of the person who executes it, because something on paper needs someone to do it." True, but the question is, who are these people who do this?”

Su Liao also figured out the key at this time, and said: "Those who can serve as officials are all people of aristocratic origins. Even the children of poor families often attach themselves to high-ranking families. In this way, people from above If you go all over the government and the court, if you ask them to implement it, how can there be results that are not conducive to you?"

"Yes," Chen Zhi also nodded, "After Emperor Xuanwu, the imperial court was not majestic enough and the laws could not be implemented. The so-called land restriction law became a decoration. The consequences of this were the people who really provided taxes to the imperial court. There are fewer and fewer, and this is the root of the turmoil. If a country has problems with its taxes, and it is difficult to improve and correct it, and if things go on like this, it will be difficult to even maintain its own operation, so what else can we talk about?"

Su Liao nodded, then thought about the situation of this generation county, and with a thought in his mind, he asked: "Is this the reason why the current generation county's income has increased so much?"

"It shouldn't be said to be a big increase," Chen Zhi narrowed his eyes, "To be precise, it is restoring the original income."

"What do you mean, my lord?" When Su Liao heard this, he suddenly realized why Chen Zhi had told him these words.

"On behalf of the county government, the tax revenue actually decreased year by year. Oh, in two years it plummeted due to the war. It only improved in the second year. The root cause of this is this After two years of war, several major aristocratic families took the opportunity to recruit many people. Some of them did not even mention the basic rules and regulations, and were directly included in their own rosters. The former eunuch left it alone, but it does not mean that the people of these aristocratic families have clean hands. I am now We asked them to clean up and investigate, and immediately found the problem, which made them give in. They did not immediately release the forced tenants. It was also because both the tenants and the family were used to it that they did not take strong measures."

(End of this chapter)