May is the rainy season in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.
It rained heavily in Luoyang.
The sky was gloomy, thick raindrops fell pitter-patter, and the entire Mang Mountain was shrouded in mist and rain.
Just after dinner time, the ministers who had had breakfast went out to the palace one after another.
It was obviously early in the morning, that is, around 9 o'clock in the morning, but the sky was as dark as night, and occasionally there was the roar of lightning.
Many ministers gathered outside the bus door, including three ministers, nine ministers, cabinet bachelors, and three second-rank senior officials sitting alone.
Among the three princes are Taiwei Yang Biao, Situ Zhao Wen, and Sikong Zhongfu.
The nine ministers are Taichang Shi Sun Rui, Guang Luxun Sima Fang, Tai servant Wei Duan, Da Sinong Wang Yi, Zong Zheng Liu Ai, Da Hongxun Xu Qiu, Wei Wei Sun Jian, Ting Wei Zhang Yi, and Shaofu Xun You.
In the last three positions, Xun Yu, the lieutenant in charge of the imperial examination, Jia Xu, the imperial censor, and Xi Lu, the imperial censor.
There have been no changes in the Three Lords in the past few years. Historically, Zhao Wen would not die of illness until 208. Zhong Fu was a few years younger than Zhao Wen. Since he did not die in the Li Jue and Guo Si rebellion like in history, he has died this year.
Over sixty years old.
On the contrary, there were many changes in Jiuqing. For example, the original Guang Luxun Huandian died of illness and was replaced by the former Sili Xiaowei Sima Fang. The imperial servant Lu Xu died of illness and was replaced by the former Liangzhou Mu Wei Duan.
There was also Wei Wei Tian Bing who retired due to illness and resigned and returned home. His replacement was Sun Jian, the former shepherd of Yuzhou. Chen Mu, the Shaofu, was promoted to prime minister, and his replacement was Xun You.
As Sima Fang was promoted, the post of Sili Xiaowei became vacant and was concurrently held by Xunyu, the former Jizhou Mu.
The original censor Zhongcheng was Ma Teng, and Ma Chao rebelled. The Military Intelligence Department found out that the source of funds for Ma Chao's rebellion in recent years was the money Ma Teng earned from his business in Luoyang. He was implicated by Ma Chao, was demoted, and was imprisoned at home. Therefore, Xi Zhongxi
He was considered to be moved to the position of censor Zhongcheng.
Among them, Chen Mu didn't like Xi Liu very much, because he remembered that in history, this person was Cao Cao's cruel official, helping Cao Cao trap Kong Rong, arresting Empress Fu, and intimidating Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. He was a hawk and dog among those in power.
But after thinking about it, I feel that there is no shortage of eagle dogs like this. Letting him be the censor Zhongcheng is like leading a ferocious wolf dog, and he will bite whoever he is asked to bite.
However, Cao Cao needed Xi Lu to be the eagle dog to force Han Xian to be emperor. Liu Bei needed Xi Lu to be a sword. If there was a wealthy family who was blind and blocked Chen Mu's reform path, then Xi Lu would
A mad dog can naturally be unleashed to bite people.
Therefore, after hesitation, Xi Liu was appointed instead of the original plan. In the past few years, he had done a great job in the post of Yingchuan Prefect, and Man Chong was another cruel official who was famous for his law and strict governance.
These people are basically all the top decision-makers in the entire Han Dynasty. The meeting place is not in the Chongde Hall of the main hall, but in the smaller Xianqin Hall.
When the ministers came in, Chen Mu was already kneeling on the banquet and drinking tea. There was a junior sitting behind him.
That junior is none other than Lu Yi.
Although he returned to Jiangdong that year, he never broke off correspondence with Chen Mu. Later, he defected to Sun Ce. It was he who took the initiative to provoke Sun Ce to go to Jiangdong.
Although Zhou Yu and Lu Su were not stupid, they knew that going to Jiangdong might be a way to quench their thirst by drinking poison, but the situation was so bad that they had to consider giving up on Henan and letting Cao Cao take the blame, while the Sun family planned to occupy Jiangdong and then plot Jingzhou.
As a result, Lu Yi's strategy took effect, making it easier for the imperial court to regain Henan. After Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao, Chen Mu used Sun Jian and the Qingzhou Navy to easily pacify Jiangdong and recapture Yangzhou.
In this way, although what Lu Yi did was not instigated by Chen Mu, his merits were very high, so he was taken by Chen Mu and served as the third-class admonishment minister in the cabinet, and then he was released outside.
Now, including Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu, Pang Tong, Yang Xiu, Chen Qun, Sima Yi and others, they have all been sent to local places as county magistrates to focus on training.
One of the conditions for joining the cabinet in the future is to have local governance experience and political achievements, which will also become a requirement in the future.
Seeing Chen Mu here, everyone quickly came over to salute and say hello.
Chen Mu nodded in response, and then motioned for everyone to sit down first and wait for His Majesty to come over.
After a while, all the ministers arrived, and Wang Zhi, the eunuch who served as the eunuch of the Central Committee, shouted loudly: "Your Majesty is here!"
Everyone stood up one after another, bowed their hands and saluted Liu Bei: "See you, Your Majesty."
Since this is not a large court meeting, there is no need to kneel down with your hands on your forehead, just bend down and cup your hands.
Liu Bei quickly entered the palace, put his hands down and said, "Sit down, everyone."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The ministers sat down one after another.
The heavy rain was still falling outside the palace. It was early summer, no one felt cold, but it was a bit sultry.
Liu Bei ordered the eunuchs to open the windows for ventilation. After all the surrounding windows were opened, he said to the courtiers: "The prime minister has returned from the court meeting today. He is going to make plans for the future of the country. The ministers can listen and speak freely."
Everyone's expressions immediately became serious. National planning and reform are very important matters. Now that the Prime Minister is in charge, it is likely to be related to their own interests, so naturally they must listen clearly.
"Emperor Wen did light corvee and paid little tax, and rested with the people, but had the rule of Wen and Jing. Emperor Wu went on an expedition to the north of the Great Wall, and was powerful in the Western Regions, and the Han Dynasty was majestic."
I saw Chen Mu sitting under Liu Bei on the second step, overlooking the courtiers in the palace below, and said slowly: "The development of a country cannot be without planning and direction, so I think that every five years, we will
We have to put forward a comprehensive plan to plan for the future of the country, what do you think?"
Yang Biao asked: "I would like to ask the Prime Minister, where should we start planning?"
Chen Mu said: "The first thing is people's livelihood. People's livelihood is the cornerstone of the country. If the people have food to eat and the people can live, everything will be safe and the world will be peaceful. If the people cannot eat, the country will be in turmoil and chaos will continue. Therefore,
People’s livelihood is the top priority of the five-year plan.”
"How does the Prime Minister plan to manage people's livelihood?"
Zhao Wen asked.
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Those who manage people's livelihood have three entry points, one is to increase grain production, the other is to allocate people's fields, and the third is to rationally plan and cultivate new fields."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Want to hear the details."
Zhao Wen said again.
Chen Mu said: "How to increase grain production? The indigenous rice grown in Jiaozhi can produce double crops, which is called Zhancheng rice. I want to delineate planting areas in Huaibei, Jiangdong, and Jingzhou and vigorously promote it. In addition, there are sweet potatoes, corn, and potatoes.
Extensive planting in the north should eliminate food problems within at least twenty years."
Yang Biao suddenly laughed: "Yes, the yield of sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes is amazing. The potatoes are the first to mature this year. Your Majesty rewarded me with some. They taste good whether they are steamed or cooked. I think they can be used to replace millet."
Wheat and rice are no problem."
"Lieutenant, it is better not to use this as a staple food. If you want to use it as a staple food, you must drink more milk. Because compared with the three staple foods of wheat, corn and rice, this food lacks some substances needed by the human body."
Chen Mu glanced at him and reminded him softly.
When I was studying in the United States, I met a friend who was a nutrition expert.
He told himself that the ingredients of potatoes and rice are actually similar, and most of them are starch.
But potatoes contain more vitamins, while rice contains more protein.
Although the human body needs both protein and vitamins to maintain the body's needs, the amounts required are different.
Just a small amount of vitamins is enough.
The human body requires much more protein than vitamins.
So from a practical point of view, potatoes really cannot be eaten as food and need to be properly matched.
Although after the fifteenth century, Europeans began to use potatoes as their staple food.
But people also used milk to supplement protein.
Nowadays, let alone dairy cows, the number of beef cattle and farm cattle is pitifully small.
Powerful nobles can also solve the problem of protein intake by eating meat or goat's milk and eggs, while ordinary people can only supplement protein from corn, rice and wheat.
Therefore, given the current situation of the Han people, they really cannot imitate the Europeans and eat potatoes with high yields as their main food.
Unless a stable source of protein can be found, the physical fitness of the Han people will be very poor if they eat potatoes every day.
However, sweet potatoes and corn can be eaten every day.
Because sweet potatoes and corn are not only rich in starch, but also contain a large amount of vitamins, proteins and minerals.
Nowadays, many people suffer from night blindness due to lack of vitamin A. Sweet potatoes and corn are rich in vitamin A, which can treat night blindness, so it is okay to eat these two things every day.
It’s just that sweet potatoes are not good for the stomach. Not only will they cause excessive farting, but they may also cause stomach problems.
But in an age where people eat minced meat, this is not a big problem.
After talking about the issue of food improvement, Chen Mu added: "As for the distribution of land, it is natural that the land will be nationalized, and the country will re-measure the land and allocate it to the people. Before the state allows it, the land is not allowed to be bought, sold or mortgaged.
Only when you have land in your hands can you maintain your livelihood."
"Returning land to the state? No mortgage sales allowed?"
As soon as these words came out, a stone immediately stirred up a thousand waves, and the ministers seemed to explode all of a sudden.
Someone said: "Prime Minister, this is not possible. Land is not allowed to be bought and sold, which will inevitably lead to unfair distribution of land. How to divide the good land, good land, and bad land? It is the people who suffer."
"Yes, land distribution must be done by local officials. But wouldn't the local powerful people allocate the good land and leave the bad land to the people? At that time, even if the people want to sell the bad land and buy new good land, it will not work.
, I want to cry but have no tears."
"Prime Minister, I think we should think twice and carefully about this issue. Wang Mang once served as Wang Tian's personal vassal, which eventually led to the collapse of the country. There has been such a bad example before, and we must not repeat the same mistake."
Immediately several ministers objected.
At this time, Liu Bei suddenly sneered and said: "You are afraid that your family will no longer be able to reasonably occupy the land."
As soon as these words came out, everyone was instantly speechless and did not dare to speak.
You must know that except for General Sun Jian, a commoner who was a descendant of Sun Wu for several generations, almost all of the three nobles and nine ministers here came from aristocratic families.
For example, the Taiwei Yang Biao, the Hongnong Yang family, one of the two top aristocratic families in the late Han Dynasty, and the Yuan family were ranked as the fourth generation and the third Duke.
Situ Zhao Wen is also from a top family, and belongs to the Zhao family in Chengdu. His ancestors have produced Taiwei, Taifu, Sikong, Situ, and Weiwei. Even his brother Zhao Qian also served as a Situ.
There is also Sikong Zhongfu, who was born in the Zhong family of Luoyang. His ancestor was Zhongshanfu, a high official in the Western Zhou Dynasty. His grandfather was the magistrate of Dingtao County and had a family fortune of thirty million. His father Zhonghao was a Situ of the Han Dynasty and came from a famous family.
Others such as Taichang Shi Sun Rui, although their ancestors did not have any high-ranking officials, their family assets are hundreds of millions.
His uncle, Sun Fen, was stingy by nature and refused to lend money to the then general Liang Ji. Liang Ji had him killed and his family property worth 170 million yuan confiscated.
In addition, there are Sima Fang, Guang Luxun, the Sima family in Hanoi, and the successor of Sima Yan. Wei Duan, the imperial servant, and Wei Shi in Jingzhao, whose ancestors include Wei Xian of the Western Han Dynasty, a famous Confucian of the fifth generation, and the prime minister during the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty. The great king of Sinong,
The Wang family of Jijun County studied under Liu Kuan, the Taiwei during the Kang Dynasty.
Other Zongzheng Liu Ai, Langya king's clan. Dahongxu Xu Xu, Guangling Xu clan, his father is the Han Dynasty general Du Liao. Tingwei Zhang Yi, Qinghe Zhang clan. Xun You and Xun Yu, not to mention, Yingchuan Xun clan.
Even Jia Xu, who seems to have no profound background, is the descendant of Jia Yi. His father is a Qingqi general, his grandfather is the governor of Yanzhou, and his great-grandfather is the prefect of Wuwei. He cannot be said to be from a rich family, but he can be regarded as the son of a poor family. Three generations have only two thousand stones.
.
It can be said that among the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, those with the worst backgrounds were from poor families.
Not only have their ancestors been high-ranking officials for generations, these people are also high-ranking officials themselves, and their descendants will also become high-ranking officials.
Since then, a huge family network has been formed, which lasted until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the early Tang Dynasty. It was not until the mid-Tang Dynasty that this kind of aristocratic family was slowly broken down.
And what is the source of power and basic base of aristocratic families?
In addition to generations of high-ranking officials, the most important thing is the land owned by one's own family!
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Only by owning large tracts of land can they seize wealth, master knowledge and the right to speak.
It can be said that the compulsory education promoted in Qingzhou, the free admission and scholarships provided by Taishan Academy for outstanding students, and the emergence of paper books are breaking the family's monopoly on knowledge.
On the other hand, the land was nationalized and no trading was allowed. On the other hand, it cut off the source of wealth for the wealthy families. How could they not object to this?
Seeing that everyone in the audience was silenced by Liu Bei's words, Chen Mu chuckled and said: "Don't worry, everyone, the nationalization of land is just a situation. The prohibition of buying, selling and mortgaging is just a short-term policy to restore production. It will be opened up in a few years. However,
I believe that even if land sales are opened up by then, no one will like to annex land."
After hearing that it was only a short-term policy, everyone felt a little more at ease.
He also heard Chen Mu say that no one would like to annex land in the future. Out of curiosity, Yang Biao asked, "Why?"
"Because handicrafts and manufacturing will inevitably replace traditional agriculture and become new industries."
Chen Mu looked around and said: "Although agricultural production is the cornerstone of the country, developing productivity is the last word. Now with the inflow of double-cropping rice and sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes, the original land of Dahan can only support 50 million people. Now
If we can support four to five billion people, the number of farmers will decrease, and industry and commerce will flourish. What is the use of farmland?"
This was the case in the Song Dynasty.
The emergence of Champa rice greatly increased the population of the Song Dynasty, reduced the number of people engaged in agriculture, and developed the handicraft industry, which enabled the country to accumulate a lot of wealth. Although the land annexation problem in the Song Dynasty was also serious, and internal uprisings continued. But it was not like the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.
In the last years, it was so serious that it overthrew the dynasty.
Therefore, as long as productivity increases, land annexation has no meaning. If in the future, our country only has more than 100 million real agricultural producers, but it can feed a population of 1.4 billion people, and the price of rice is very low, who will go to the countryside to buy a large amount of fields for farming?
At that time, not only would all agricultural taxes be abolished, but financial subsidies would also be provided to farmers at all times. Otherwise, no one would want to farm anymore, and the country would have to import food from other countries.
Chen Mu added: "The current temporary development of agriculture is to restore food reserves. I think starting from this year, we will officially start measuring the land, allocating fields to the common people, and liquidating the fields occupied by wealthy people."
"At the same time, the oral calculation and tax calculation will be abolished, the land tax will be canceled for land owners with more than 50 acres of land, and from next year, people with land of less than 50 acres will not have to pay taxes. Those with land between 100 acres and 50 acres will not
The tax is 5%, those between 200 and 100 acres pay 10%, and those between 200 and 500 acres pay 15%!”
"As for those who own more than 500 acres, such as those powerful families who own hundreds or even thousands of hectares of land, they will either hand over most of your land or pay a heavy tax of more than 50% every year."
"Furthermore, the fields occupied by wealthy people must be disposed of. Those powerful local families who have committed evil deeds have oppressed the people one by one and forced the people to live. In the Yellow Turban Rebellion, these powerful families have their share! From today on, if there is another
Those who invade people’s fields will be killed without mercy!”
"Now that the country has just recovered from the war, the most important thing is to stabilize people's livelihood, increase productivity, and increase food production."
"I am a person who looks at the future. I never care about land. As long as this period of time passes, the Han Dynasty's grain production will increase rapidly. In the future, it won't matter if you aristocratic families occupy thousands of hectares of land, but now!"
At the end of the sentence, Chen Mu's eyes instantly became cold, he glanced at the ministers below and said calmly: "I know that as an interest group, you want to safeguard the interests of your own family. I have no objection to this.
But now I am here to discuss with you today. If you prevent His Majesty and me from safeguarding the interests of the people of the world, then I will not mind clearing you out!"
As soon as these words came out, the expressions of many ministers in the palace suddenly changed.
The Prime Minister is going to be cruel.
The silence in the venue was as if a pin was about to drop, and the atmosphere was extremely depressing.
"Ahem."
After a while, Liu Bei coughed twice, breaking the silence, and said slowly: "Everything the Prime Minister did was to immediately restore people's livelihood. Although the means were urgent, they were for the stability of the country. I know this will harm your interests.
"Don't worry, everyone, as long as the land is not occupied by force and the land is returned to the state, there will be compensation."
"In addition, the salary of our Han officials will also be greatly increased. Today's salary is already twice what it was before. I hope it will be three or four times more in the future. I will set up official positions, casual officers, honorary officers, titles, and titles.
Each share has a salary to support officials’ expenses.”
This is one person who plays the bad guy and the other who plays the red face.
The purpose of raising official salaries is naturally to provide high salaries and maintain integrity.
Chen Mu and Liu Bei calculated that for a first-grade Sangong, his annual salary plus the salary of casual official, honorary official, official title, and title, his annual income could reach more than three to four million yuan.
Coupled with all kinds of financial income from travel, subsidies, stipends, rewards and other miscellaneous income, the annual income can be five to six million.
In the past, Sangong's monthly salary was 350 dan, and the annual income was 4,200 dan. Based on the normal price of corn and wheat in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which basically remained at 200-300 dan, the annual salary was about 1 million dan. Now it has increased five or six times.
The annual income of an ordinary local county magistrate used to be 70 dan per month, equivalent to an annual income of 200,000 yen. Now, after the salary increase, it has basically remained at around 70,000 to 800,000 yen.
Although it is definitely not as good as the benefits brought by land annexation, for example, the Yang family of Hongnong and the Yuan family of Runan both have billions in wealth. The Cao Cao family dared to spend 100 million to buy a Taiwei, and the family assets are countless.
But when they reach their status, money is just a number and not that important anymore. The most important thing is power and the core interests of the family.
Therefore, in the face of Liu Bei's overtures, the officials in the audience could only wait in silence.
Seeing this situation, Liu Bei and Chen Mu looked at each other.
Naturally, they also know that raising wages alone will definitely not make these ministers agree, because it cannot satisfy their core interests.
So Liu Bei said again: "I will reopen the Imperial College, and all outstanding children of your family can enroll. Of course, I mean outstanding children. If they are stupid and dandy, what use are they!"
After hearing these words, the faces of the ministers became slightly better, and their original serious expressions were slightly thawed.
Their family has two core interests.
One is to control wealth, and the other is to monopolize power.
The former is through owning a large amount of land, and the latter is through promoting family members.
Now Chen Mu promised to only control the land sale for a short period of time. Although it hurts to hand over the land now, he will buy it back in the future.
The most important thing is that the room for advancement of my sons and nephews cannot be cut off. The original inspection and promotion system has now been abolished.
At present, the only ways for a big man to become an official are to be appointed by Liu Bei and Chen Mu, or to graduate from Taishan Academy and pass examinations to slowly rise from the grassroots level.
It can be said that the official methods are tightly controlled by the imperial court, and they, the ministers, have no good solution.
Liu Bei gave them a way out, which could be regarded as a gesture of goodwill to them.
Now is the time for them to reciprocate.
Yang Biao, Zhao Wen Zhongfu and others looked at each other, raised their hands and said, "I agree with the Prime Minister's proposal!"
"good!"
Liu Bei and Chen Mu looked at each other, nodded and said: "Then from today onwards, the land will be measured and recorded across the country. The people who have already been reasonably allocated land do not need to be allocated again. What is important is the refugees who do not have land yet.
.”
Chen Mu said: "In order to prevent disputes arising from land allocation, local governments need to carry out strict control, with the purpose of adjustment and negotiation, so as to satisfy everyone as soon as possible. This work is the performance assessment of local officials for promotion. If they are found to have
Officials colluded with the powerful to control the distribution of land, and they were severely punished without credit!"
Everyone's hearts trembled, knowing that this was meant for them.
Today's policy will also be passed on by the interest representatives of these aristocratic families, in order to force those local forces to be honest and obedient and not to fight against the country.
But the good news is that the current order has been broken, which is equivalent to a reshuffle. Not only does Liu Bei's regime have powerful means, but also the power of local aristocratic families has been much smaller after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Dong Zhuo's Rebellion and the war between princes.
Therefore, the resistance to reform will certainly not be too great.
Otherwise, in normal times, this kind of reform would inevitably be attacked by groups.
Such as Qingli New Deal, Zhang Juzheng's reforms, etc.