I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 60: The main culprits are all non-staff persons (please follow up)
The next day, early in the morning.

Privy Councilor Jia Changchao, Yushi Zhongcheng Wang Gongchen, and Supervisory Yushi Li Ding submitted memorials opposing the land property reform with dark circles under their eyes.

The three of them knew that Ouyang Xiu and Tang Jie were always diligent and would submit their memorials early in the morning, so they wanted to be the first to do so.

This is to prevent the officials from getting excited and making wrong decisions after reading the two memorials.

Last night, the three of them stayed up almost all night.

Because they knew that once the reform was launched, the official positions of the three people would be lost.

For the sake of career, I could only stay up all night writing memorials.

At nearly noon, the three of them realized that Ouyang Xiu and Tang Jie had not submitted any memorials at all.

The three of them were very surprised, as if they were punched in the air.

Even Zhao Zhen was surprised. Unexpectedly, these two Geng Chen didn't speak up.

at the same time.

Zhao Yundi, the king of Yongjia County, came to Chui Gong Hall to admit his mistake.

But it was an oversight.

He claimed that the land of farmers in Yangzhuang was completely taken over by their stewards without permission.

Beating a farmer is also the crime of his steward, and he does not know it.

He has tied the steward to Kaifeng Mansion and returned all the farmers' fields that the steward had occupied.

The attitude of admitting mistakes is very good.

Every sentence was filled with tears, and his face was filled with grievances.

Zhao Zhen naturally knew that this was entirely Zhao Yundi's excuse.

It is impossible for the latter to know the inside story.

At the moment, Zhao Zhen's plan is that reform is impossible, but those who forcefully occupy people's fields must be severely punished.

The clan is adding more guilt to each crime.

This time, Zhao Zhen changed his past benevolent style.

Zhao Yundi's rank was demoted by two levels and he was sentenced to twenty canes.

For a clan member, this punishment was severe.

Especially the punishment of twenty with the rod.

Wherever the spanking was on the butt, it was clearly on the face.

Zhao Zhen's move was naturally to kill the chickens and scare the monkeys, and to warn those in Bianjing City who wanted to seize the land.

……

Land sales and purchases require written contracts, and most of them need to be handled by the Yamen.

The investigation speed of Kaifeng Mansion and Dali Temple was very fast.

In less than five days, the investigation into the occupation of fields around Bianjing City in the past two years was clear.

When Chen Zhizhong received the data submitted by the chief officials of Dali Temple and Kaifeng Palace, he was dumbfounded.

For nearly two years.

The amount of land suspected of being forcibly sold around Bianjing is more than [-] acres!

To know -

This is just the amount of land purchased at a low price.

Land annexed at market value and land annexed two years ago were not included.

These more than 21 acres of land involved 13 officials, 16 members of the clan, eight relatives, and [-] merchants.

Chen Zhizhong felt that if this data were made public, it would easily cause turmoil, and he did not know how to punish him next.

Then he brought the data to Chui Gong Hall.

After Zhao Zhen saw the pieces of data and the familiar names behind the data, he couldn't help but be furious!
"I give them so much salary and rewards every year, isn't it enough? Why do we still have to compete with the people for land?"

Chen Zhizhong lowered his head and did not dare to speak.

Human greed is unlimited.

No one would be dissatisfied with having too much wealth.

Nowadays, buying land has become a habit of many officials and businessmen.

You will lose money when doing business, and you will be dismissed as an official, but you will almost never lose money when buying land.Leasing it directly to the lower class people will guarantee a harvest in droughts and floods, which is a huge profit.

"A bunch of freeloading dogs, I have been scrimping all day long, but they are robbing the people of the people, how harmful it is!" Zhao Zhen's face turned livid with anger.

Chen Zhizhong's ability as a prime minister was average, but his ability to figure out the Holy Will was the best in the dynasty.

If the official showed signs of drowsiness, he would immediately hand over a pillow.

He knew that the official family was currently in a dilemma.

Not severely punishing these people is not enough for the people.

However, if the punishment is severe, too many officials and nobles will be implicated, and the officials are also worried that more officials will propose reforms once this incident comes out, hoping that the court will curb land annexation.

He still knows.

The reason why the officials are unwilling to curb land annexation is because they came to a conclusion in the last New Deal.

“Some things may be bad if they remain the same, but if they change, they may be even worse!”

The reform has already frightened the officials.

Chen Zhizhong took two steps forward and said: "Officials, according to the review of Kaifeng Mansion, these officials, clans, relatives and merchants who have occupied the fields are just the principals in the business, and the real principal culprits are not them. Most of them are them." My servant’s distant relatives used their own name to forcefully buy the land!”

Zhao Zhen is also a smart man, how could he not understand what Chen Zhizhong wanted to express.

In a nutshell: the main culprits are all outsiders.

Those officials, clans, relatives and merchants, like Zhao Yundi, were guilty of negligence at most.

This is a common tactic used by high-ranking officials.

They will not come forward for anything suspected of violating the laws of the Song Dynasty.

And a scapegoat was found from the very beginning.

But at this moment, this trick seemed to be a way out for Zhao Zhen.

It was impossible for Zhao Zhen to severely punish all these officials, clans, relatives and merchants.

He wants face, especially face!

Zhao Zhen slowed down and said: "This matter should not be made public. Tell these people in private that they will return all the occupied land and compensate the farmers for any losses caused. All must be paid within seven days! As for the principal culprits, they will all be sent to prison." Go to Kaifeng Mansion and punish him severely!"

"I obey!" Chen Zhizhong cupped his hands and retired happily.

Three days later.

A list of people around Bianjing who forcibly bought land at low prices appeared in the hands of Ouyang Xiu, Tang Jie, and Su Liang.

The yamen in Bianjing City are like countless light bulbs connected in parallel, intertwined with each other.

The officials' dispatches are linked to each other, and there is no secret at all.

It is very simple for Su Liang and others to get such a list.

Su Liang laughed on the spot when he saw this data.

The main culprit who embezzled more than [-] acres of land was not an official, but they were all related to officials.

There are official masters, official wet nurses, official brothers-in-law, official cousins, official distant nephews...

There are all kinds of relatives, but there are no officials themselves.

Su Liang couldn't help but sigh: "The officials of the Song Dynasty are definitely the smartest people in the world, but most of them don't use their intelligence in the right place!"

Faced with this review result, Su Liang was definitely dissatisfied.

The harm caused by the occupation of land by these dignitaries is not only leaving some farmers without land.

Currently, many cases of human trafficking and forced prostitution are related to competition for land.

Some farmers have no land at home and the cost of renting land is high. In order to survive, they have to sell their sons and daughters, which is very miserable.

Some have no choice but to become thieves, thieves or rebel.

These accounts should all be placed on the heads of those high-ranking officials.

Immediately, Su Liang started writing a memorial.

After Ouyang Xiu and Tang Jie held it in for several days, they couldn't help but write a memorial after seeing the review results.

They want to make a big deal out of this.

If this matter gets bigger, reform will be more likely.

(End of this chapter)