Emperor Liu did not look murderous, but the meaning revealed in his words still made Kou Zhun awe-inspiring. After organizing his words a little, Kou Zhun calmly said: "Your Majesty, the imperial court's immigration policy has always been real.
It mainly faces resistance from three aspects. First, the local government is unwilling to control the loss of Dingkou, which will reduce finances and taxes; second, the people are deeply attached to the soil, and as long as they can cultivate a few acres of thin farmland to support their families, they are reluctant to leave their hometowns and go to the frontiers for reclamation;
Third, the local tyrants in the village use their power to restrain and control the people."
After listening to Kou Zhun's words, Emperor Liu's face showed no change, and he said: "I can understand the concerns of local officials and the people. But the former is controlled by the authority of the imperial court, not to mention that since the imperial court abolished the use of population as the assessment for official promotion, people from local areas
The resistance from the government has been reduced a lot. I don’t believe it. They still dare to blatantly violate the government’s policies!
As for the people, I have always upheld the principle of luring them with benefits, allowing them to see the benefits, giving money, land, farm tools and seeds, tax incentives, and policy protection. In recent years, both Anton and Anxi have achieved little results.
, obviously this method is still useful even if it is slow to take effect.
In contrast, how did the rich people you mentioned obstruct this matter? And why?"
When the word "local tycoon" was mentioned, Emperor Liu's tone was already a bit off. For a long time, because of the words "imperial power does not go to the countryside", he had a lot of disgust towards the powerful clan forces in the local area.
They believed that they were seizing imperial power, eroding the foundation of the empire, and shaking down the rule of the Han Dynasty.
In the past few decades, we have also tried our best to carry out rectification and suppression, including forcibly relocating landlords and powerful people from various places to consolidate the borders. However, what was the result? The Yulin Rebellion has taught us profound lessons. The policy of relocating powerful people is advisable.
, there is no big problem with the method, but the biggest problem is that after the migration, it was not brought under control. Moving to the border area was even more of an inferior choice. Yuan Ke, the traitor, could succeed in his mission in the first place.
It's just his wild ambition.
As for how much change there has been in cleaning up the powerful places, the answer is that apart from making some space for ordinary Guizhou leaders and adding some means of production that can be allocated to the government, there has been no change at all.
Decades later, a new group of powerful landlords emerged again, and what they did still had an inherent class character. What was still pressing on the heads of the common people in Guizhou were the nobility, bureaucrats, and landlords. It was only in the Han Dynasty.
Under the relatively clear political environment and relatively stable social security, the style of conduct is somewhat restrained. And these three mountains are precisely the foundation of the current rule of the Han Empire.
After breaking through his inherent thinking, Emperor Liu gradually came to his senses. Any attempt to bring imperial power to the countryside was nonsense, completely disregarding objective laws, and unrealistic.
Even the management of the bureaucracy is so difficult, and it is always difficult to clarify the administration of officials, let alone the lower levels. And without those powerful clans to help govern and maintain stability, the empire would have turned into chaos.
In view of these reasons, as well as getting older, Emperor Liu gradually formed an "appeasement" mentality towards the local area. As long as the overall peace and health were ensured, he was unwilling to make any more troubles and kept out of sight.
However, when Kou Zhun mentioned that there were local powerful people making trouble, controlling the people, and opposing the imperial government's policies, he felt as if his skin had been touched, and he also felt a sense of embarrassment.
Only the vague expression of anger made Kou Zhun feel trembling. Therefore, when he responded, he organized his words more carefully. He did not directly mention those powerful people or what they had committed. Kou Zhun spoke in a eloquent way.
The way of talking, slowly speaking:
"Your Majesty, I have little knowledge and can only express my feelings to Your Majesty about what I saw and heard in Huazhou. In the early years, thanks to the favor of the imperial court and the efforts of the government, every household in Huazhou had land to cultivate and live in.
They have a house and food and clothing. Even if the court offers incentives, there will be very few people who are willing to go to the frontiers to cultivate land, unless the court uses force. Even some people who are not willing to be trapped in the fields go out to work and make money in the towns.
However, this situation finally changed after more than ten years. Farmers managed the land, and if the weather was good, they could still make a good living after paying taxes and serving in the army. Once there was a natural disaster, the livelihood of the land would be destroyed.
Local powerful people take advantage of this opportunity to annex land. In addition, there are always those who do not manage well and will sell their land when they are exhausted. Therefore, in Huazhou, the number of landless people is increasing. Because they are registered and have to pay taxes
Due to the two taxes, they had to live with the powerful landlords and become tenants.
Under such circumstances, the imperial court's policy of immigrating to the border areas was a good place for these people. As far as I know, Huazhou is the only place where people who live in difficult livelihoods accept the border areas to recruit people for reclamation.
There will be no less than a thousand people.
However, it could not last too long because someone was stopping them. Those powerful people who annexed and purchased land not only needed land, but also needed someone to cultivate and produce the land. Otherwise, after purchasing the land, it would be abandoned because no one was cultivating it.
Trading is loss-making.”
At this point, Emperor Liu couldn't react, so he interrupted Kou Zhun, pondered for a long time, and asked seriously: "Kou Zhun, tell me honestly, the local land annexation is really as serious as you said!
"
Facing Emperor Liu's concerned gaze, Kou Zhun responded solemnly: "I dare not deceive Your Majesty. At least in my hometown, about 20% of the farmers have lost their land. I have not seen the rest of the state. The specific situation is
unknown!"
After hearing this, Emperor Liu finally put away his lazy posture, sat up, and murmured: "The Han Dynasty has only founded the country a few years ago, is it really unstoppable?"
“Those who have land are unwilling to move, and those who have no land are trapped under the control of rural powerful people. Therefore, even if the court offers incentives, it is difficult to achieve results by relying solely on the people to apply for immigration voluntarily.
In the past, the only thing that was effective and could break the restrictions of local power was that His Highness the King of Qin recruited people for Anton and the officials from the governor's office went there in person, so the villagers did not dare to stop him!" Kou Zhun continued.
"Yes!" Emperor Liu sighed: "Since ancient times, when land was annexed, it wasn't just the peasants who were annexed. They also swallowed up all the people in the area and turned my people into their slaves!
It’s simply abominable! How can it be done if the imperial power does not go to the countryside? Can the stability of the Han Dynasty be sustained by relying on these local tyrants and gentry? It was already like this less than forty years after the founding of the country. A hundred years later, it will still be okay!”
After venting his anger, Emperor Liu said again: "I set high taxes on land transactions just to restrict land transactions. Now it seems that my thinking is really simple..."
Kou Zhun said: “Although the land transaction taxes and fees set by the imperial court are high, they are borne by both buyers and sellers. In the specific implementation process, the seller is often on the weak side. Due to the dilemma and urgency, he often bears the entire transaction tax, while
In order to save convenience, government tax collectors often only look at the tax amount, regardless of who pays the tax.
In addition, for land buyers, although the transaction tax is high, it is only once. As long as the land is continuously cultivated and produced, it can be as short as three to five years, as long as eight or nine years, and the investment can be repaid.
Land can be passed down to family members, and with the rise in food prices in the past two years, more people are willing to invest in land management.
In addition, it is difficult for the government to manage local areas in an all-round way, and it is impossible to fully supervise land transactions. Therefore, private transactions are inevitable, and local tycoons help hide the land and conceal their household registration.
There’s even…”
At this point, Kou Zhun stopped, but seeing his expression, Emperor Liu said angrily: "What's more, there are collusions between officials and gentry to take advantage of others. Is this what you want to say?"
"Your Majesty is wise!" Kou Zhun bowed his body and said solemnly.
"I really don't want to use my wisdom in these situations!" Emperor Liu said coldly.
