"The matter of Shiyetian and Yongyetian is still being debated in the court. This year, I am afraid that the old system of the Wei and Jin Dynasties will have to be adopted. Zhongshu is also in a dilemma. If the debate continues like this, we may have to have the Ministry of Household Affairs make the decision.
Does the minister have a plan?
If you delay for too long, it might be difficult to talk to the Supreme Being, right?"
It is actually not difficult to establish the land-acreage system because there are established laws to follow.
The land equalization system implemented since the late Jin Dynasty has become a very complete set of land laws after repeated improvements. It and the military system complemented each other and lasted for hundreds of years, eventually creating the prosperous age of the Sui Dynasty.
The collapse of the former Sui Dynasty did not lie in the equalization of land, so the equalization of land will still be the main body of the land law of the Tang Dynasty.
What the courtiers have to do now is to build on this foundation to make Tang Dynasty's Tianfa more adaptable to the situation after the war, so many things are not difficult.
For example, the number of fields to be granted to common people, whether they should continue to be granted to women, etc. were quickly decided, but in the end the definitions of Shi Ye Tian and Yong Ye Tian were stuck.
According to the laws of the former Sui Dynasty, there is naturally nothing to say.
Neither Shi Ye Tian nor Yong Ye Tian is allowed to be sold or traded, but now some people think that since Yong Ye Tian is private property, why can't private property be bought and sold?
If the land can be bought and sold, on the surface, this is undoubtedly what the nobles are very willing to see. After all, the nobles have rich family assets, and it is naturally beneficial to them to liberalize land transactions.
But in fact, what was the situation like in the former Sui Dynasty?
The ban on land transactions actually only allowed state officials to set fires and not allow people to light lamps. Even if there were laws to follow, nobles generally would not abide by this. As long as you were wealthy and powerful, there would not be many restrictions on buying and selling land in private.
Just like what Li Po saw when he was in Mayi, most of the mountains and forests were the private property of the nobles.
The government forced farmers to pay taxes. Once the farmers went bankrupt, their long-term fields would become the prey of the nobles. In the end, the government became an accomplice in occupying the people's private property.
This was actually land annexation, but before this situation could intensify and trigger social changes, the former Sui Dynasty had already died.
Therefore, once land sales are liberalized, it will not be of much benefit to the nobles, but the common people will benefit from this.
Farmers do not buy and sell land at will. It is almost everything they depend on for survival, especially the permanent land, which can be passed down to their children and grandchildren. Farmers have worked hard all their lives and this is what they have left for their children and grandchildren.
They would not sell their lifeblood to others unless they had to. Peasants who lost their Yongye fields either became slaves of nobles or became refugees in the Sui Dynasty.
The former Sui Dynasty also cooperated with the nobles in their decrees, and slaves would still be granted fields. In fact, landless peasants were converted into farmhands for the nobles.
In this way, the liberalization of land sales actually left some leeway for farmers to trade at will. They no longer have to be subject to court decrees and can only let the nobles exploit them. At least the prices will be fair when buying and selling.
This was the suggestion of officials from the Ministry of Revenue, and it would not have been possible without Su Quan's support.
Su Tan himself was a nobleman, and he followed Li Po to raise troops from Yunnei, and he walked step by step until now. It can be said that he was well aware of the shortcomings of the land and property system. Naturally, he would not stand idly by when the Tang Dynasty revised the Tang Dynasty code, but wanted to use his talents.
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Like many innovations, they are bound to offend people, so Su Dan did not rush ahead and just showed his stance. Otherwise, let alone other people, some people in the clan might also be dissatisfied with him, especially those who stayed.
Those who guard the Su family property in martial arts.
Each and every one of them did nothing, but they were extremely vicious towards the "unworthy disciples" who appeared in the clan...
The most important point is that in his opinion, he will definitely be able to win the support of the emperor on this matter. The emperor is from a rough background, and even if he is good to the nobles, such a good idea will definitely be favored by the emperor.
But such a small change was discussed in Zhongshu for more than two months, and the resistance was even greater than Su Tan expected.
And he soon understood that any changes to Shi Ye Tian and Yong Ye Tian would definitely not affect the interests of one or two people.
What's more, he also left a huge handle on others.
What is being bought and sold is Yongye land. Once farmers lose their land, they will immediately become refugees in official records. This is a true source of trouble.
This was actually the case in the past, but after all, the nobles could still accept people as their slaves. In the future, since the government allows land sales, will they also allow refugees to flee?
This is the case in the court. It is common to be criticized by others. It is normal for decent people to accuse each other because of different political opinions. Some people have private grudges and retaliate by seeking public benefits for personal gain.
In other words, there are not many truly decent people in the court... This has been the case in all dynasties, both ancient and modern, at home and abroad.
Seeing that the debate is getting increasingly fierce, someone is adding fuel to the fire.
What was touched this time was the foundation of Yongye Field and Shiye Field. Shangshu Zuocheng Lu Xingdao said that in order to encourage the people and appease the people, it is better to use part of Shiye Field to turn into Yongye Field and allow the descendants of farmers to inherit it.
What does that mean? To put it simply, he suggested converting part of the Shiye Field into Yongye Field based on the number of years of farming and handing it over to farmers to become their private property.
In other words, Yongye Field will no longer be limited to mulberry and forest fields, but cultivated land will also be included.
As soon as this proposal came out, it could be said that one stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the matter of land sales was immediately pushed aside.
Because this is obviously an attempt to redefine the definitions of Yongye Field and Shiye Field.
In the past, Shi Ye Tian and Yong Ye Tian were actually two aspects of the equal land system.
Shiyetian was given to farmers by the government for farming. Farmers only had the right to farm. The land was granted to men when they came of age. After death, the land was taken back to the court for redistribution.
Yongye field refers to mulberry fields, hemp fields and some forest lands. When every adult male is granted land, the government will give him ten to twenty acres of Yongye field.
In essence, it was the imperial court's move to promote agriculture and forestry sideline industries, which could ensure the supply and circulation of basic social commodities to a certain extent, because people's food, clothing, housing and transportation were inseparable from mulberry, wood, fruits and other products.
The matter was proposed by Lu Xingdao and went to the Shangshu Province. It received support from Liu Jie, Gao Jifu and other censors, and then the Shangshu Province referred it to Zhongshu for decision.
Zai Zhongshu has been debating for more than a month with no result. There are as many supporters as opponents, and the reasons are varied and not unified. Although the discussion is fierce, the confrontation is not that obvious.
This shows that everyone is still considering the pros and cons, and in the Ministry of Household Affairs, headed by Du Yan, the Minister of Rites, stood in the ranks of opposition.
Duan Lun's attitude was that he had nothing to do. When he mentioned this matter to Su Dan... Su Dan thought about it, was he trying to sell his favor?
As long as he makes up his mind, he will get Duan Lun's full support?
It is impossible that Su Tan did not have his own considerations in this matter. He converted Shi Ye Tian to Yong Ye Tian. He was not looking at anything else. In the eyes of senior officials in the court, he was looking at who could benefit from it.
Once this matter was made official, the people would naturally cheer for joy, but it would be difficult for the nobles to talk about it.
And it is the nobility that makes the code, and public opinion... What does public opinion matter if it touches the fundamental interests of the nobles?
This is why the matter remains unresolved.
There is not much difference between Shi Ye Tian and Yong Ye Tian to the nobles. Just like land sales, the nobles can completely ignore them as nothing. In many cases, the nobles will even deliberately make a fuss about these "little things"
, leaving people with a handle to get out of the situation of being mired in fierce political disputes.
Su Dan pondered for a moment, then smiled slightly and said: "These matters, after all, are the responsibilities of our household department, and we cannot allow others to mess around. Otherwise, wouldn't it make people think that we are all incompetent people?
Let's do this. Tomorrow we will summon the fourth-rank officials and above to the main hall of the Ministry of Household Affairs to listen to the discussion. Why do we have to settle this matter before Zhongshu can speak to it? What does Brother Duan think?"
Duan Lun nodded, "What Shangshu said is that we cannot hesitate on this matter, let alone sit back and watch, otherwise there will be disputes in the future, and there will be no room for the Ministry of Revenue to speak."
This was a clear statement to his face that he would stand firmly on Su Dan's side and safeguard the authority and interests of the Ministry of Revenue, and he didn't even care what Su Dan's views were.
Of course, with such a period of buffering, he could still grasp Su Dan's tendencies.
If the proposal from Shangshu Province was not directed by Wen Yanbo, then it was Su Yu's method. They were all old people of Jinyang and close ministers of the emperor. Most of what they did had the emperor's instruction or approval.
By standing on their side, even if he suffers a loss, he won't suffer a big loss. Moreover, if Su Dan wants to show his kindness these days, he must also show it...
A few simple answers roughly determined the direction of the matter in the Ministry of Household Affairs. The political wisdom of the courtiers was all integrated into it, and they had already considered the pros and cons countless times.
Just by thinking of a novel idea, it will make everyone's eyes brighten and they will support you. It does not happen in the court.
If you do that, even the emperor will be criticized to pieces. If you push it forcefully... well, pull Wang Mang and Yang Guang out and continue to whip the corpses.
The two of them changed the topic at the same time. Su Dan said that he had heard some rumors, as if the emperor was going to order his relatives to move to the imperial city.
After hearing this, Duan Lun nodded and agreed, saying that many of the mansions in the imperial city had been deserted for a long time. He occasionally went to take a look and found that the grass had grown tall in some of the mansions, and many of the houses had collapsed.
It's really inappropriate to continue like this.
Last night, someone reported to the Chang'an magistrate's office that someone had sneaked into an unoccupied house while watching the lanterns, wandered around in it, and defecated, which was unseemly.
The two of them were talking happily. They were neither relatives of the emperor nor the country, so this matter had little to do with them, but it was good to talk about it as gossip.