Sign In a Lu Bu Fengxian at the Beginning

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Zhou Chen had just finished practicing the Emperor's Divine Conferment Technique when Cao Zhengchun walked in.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Xun, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, has returned to Luoyang and is now asking for an audience outside the palace." Cao Zhengchun reported.

oh!

are you back?

Zhou Chen couldn't help but feel shocked.

Previously, Zhou Chen issued an order to let Xun Yu measure and make statistics of the land in the world.

After Xun Yu finished measuring and counting the land in Luoyang Sili, he left Luoyang and began to measure and count the land in various states and prefectures.

In Zhou Chen's view, the land problem in Da Zhou was becoming more and more serious and had reached a point where it had to be solved.

The first step in solving the land problem is to know how much land there is in Dazhou, how much is occupied by the common people, and how much is occupied by the wealthy families.

Therefore, the task of measuring and counting land is a top priority.

However, the situation in various places was corrupt. Basically, 70% to 80% of the officials came from wealthy families. These wealthy families never paid attention to the imperial court. How could they obediently cooperate with the imperial court to measure and count their land?

Therefore, Zhou Chen handed over this arduous task to Xun Yu.

Now, it has been several months since Xun Yu left Luoyang.

Although news has been sent back from Dongchang, Xun Yu's land measurement and statistics work is basically coming to an end and he will return to Luoyang soon.

But Zhou Chen didn't expect Xun Yu to come back so soon.

"Xuan Hubu Shangshu comes in."

Zhou Chen had some expectations in his heart.

He wanted to see what Xun Yu's results were over the past few months and whether he had successfully fulfilled his will.

"According to the order."

Cao Zhengchun bowed and left.

moment.

Cao Zhengchun took Xun Yu, the Minister of Household Affairs, into the Yangxin Hall.

"Your Majesty, Xun Yu, has met with you."

After entering the Yangxin Hall, Xun Yu saluted Zhou Chen who was sitting on the dragon chair.

"Wen Ruo doesn't need to be polite."

Zhou Chen looked at Xun Yu, who looked a little more haggard than before, and said, "Wen Ruo has worked hard. Wen Ruo has been out for a while, so Wen Ruo has to sleep in the open air!"

"Your Majesty, thank you for your hard work."

"As long as I can relieve His Majesty's worries and contribute to the prosperity of the Great Zhou Dynasty, I don't think it's any hard work."

Xun Yu bowed and said.

In Xun Yu's heart, as long as he could share the emperor's worries, serve the Zhou Dynasty, and benefit the people, he would never feel hard work, he would only feel that the hard work was not enough.

Zhou Chen looked at Xun Yu and nodded slightly.

"How's the land survey going?"

"If Wen returns to Luoyang, the land survey and statistics in various places must have come to fruition, right?"

Zhou Chen didn't say anything more and asked straight to the point.

Xun Yu nodded; "Yes, Your Majesty."

"The Ministry of Household Affairs has completed the inventory, measurement and statistics of land in various places."

"It's just that something unexpected happened when I returned to Luoyang."

"Some officials from the Ministry of Revenue were intercepted and killed when they returned to Luoyang, and the results of land measurement and statistics in some places were lost."

"On the way back, I was also intercepted and killed by men dressed in black."

Xun Yu said with an ugly expression.

On the way back to Luoyang, not only Xun Yu, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, was intercepted and killed by men in black.

Officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs who were surveying and surveying land in other places were also intercepted and killed on their way back to Luoyang. Some of these officials were carrying data on land survey and statistics in some places, but they were also lost.

Fortunately, Xun Yu had made preparations in advance.

Otherwise, the results of these land measurements and statistics would be lost, and Xun Yu would have to recheck the statistics.

What?

After hearing Xun Yu's words, Zhou Chen frowned.

"However, your Majesty can rest assured that I have made two preparations in advance."

"The results of missing land survey and statistics are recorded at the Dongchang stronghold."

"Governor Cao Shaoqin has ordered all local factories to secretly send these missing statistical results to Luoyang."

Xun Yu changed the topic and said quickly.

After hearing this, Zhou Chen's frown relaxed again.

However, Zhou Chen's expression was a bit cold and stern.

"In broad daylight, someone actually dared to intercept and kill a court official. It was really audacious."

Zhou Chen looked at Cao Zhengchun who was standing next to him with a cold face, "Who are those people who intercepted and killed the officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs?"

"Who is the mastermind behind this?"

Zhou Chen didn't expect that someone would dare to intercept and kill the court officials so blatantly. He was really brave.

This is obviously an attempt to disrupt the imperial court's process of measuring and counting the world's land.

Cao Zhengchun immediately bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, those who intercepted and killed the officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs were all killers and desperadoes in the world."

"The people behind this are some of the landowners from aristocratic families who have slipped through the net during this land measurement and statistics."

"Dongchang is already chasing these people."

Today, Dongchang has covered all parts of Zhou Dynasty.

Officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs were intercepted and killed. Dongchang got the news immediately and began to hunt down these killers and those who slipped through the cracks behind them.

"Are they just some exterminated landowners who slipped through the net?"

"Are there no traces of other wealthy families?"

Zhou Chen asked with some suspicion.

Cao Zhengchun shook his head and said: "Currently, we have not found any relationship with other wealthy families."

Cao Zhengchun naturally understood what Zhou Chen meant.

It's just that what Dongchang has found so far are some fish that have slipped through the net, and there are no clues involving other wealthy families.

After hearing this, Zhou Chen said nothing more.

Since Dongchang is already chasing these people, if there are really other wealthy families involved behind these people, then Dongchang will definitely be able to find out.

When the time comes, it’s not too late to settle the accounts.

Zhou Chen looked at Xun Yu; "Tell me about the local land inventory!"

Zhou Chen said.

"Reporting to your majesty, I have gone to various places to check the land. However, the wealthy families in these places are either obedient or submissive to me. They are delaying in every possible way and are not willing to cooperate with me to measure and count their land. Even these wealthy families are not willing to cooperate with me to measure and count their land. Give Wei Chen a number..."

Zhou Chen listened to Xun Yu's words without any expression on his face.

Zhou Chen would only find it strange if these wealthy families didn't delay in every possible way and didn't go against the rules!

"It's just that Wei Chen had already expected this. In order to find out the land owned by these wealthy families, Wei Chen took two steps."

"Obviously, they are officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs headed by Wei Chen."

"Secretly, Wei Chen asked Dongchang to investigate the crimes of some local petty officials, and asked these petty officials to provide the Ministry of Household Affairs with specific information about the land owned by wealthy families in their respective places."

"With the information provided by these small officials, Wei Chen will ask Dongchang to take action, so that the inventory and measurement will be much easier and faster."

"Especially after the good news came from the four borders, the wealthy families became much more honest..."

Zhou Chen heard Xun Yu's words and felt a little funny in his heart.

This Xun Yu seemed to be a gentleman, but he didn't expect that this method could also be sinister.

However, Zhou Chen liked this method.

It's not a good thing if someone is too upright and a gentleman.

Especially for people in the officialdom, gentlemen who are too upright often don't end well in the end.

This is not because Zhou Chen thinks upright gentlemen are bad, but Zhou Chen thinks people should learn to be flexible.

You should treat certain people in the same way.

Zhou Chen looked at Xun Yu and said, "How is the land inventory and statistics going?"

Xun Yu immediately said: "Reporting to your Majesty, the land situation in various places is simply shocking!"

"Except for some results that have been temporarily lost, this is the result and situation of all land measurements and statistics compiled by me."

"Your Majesty, please take a look."

Xun Yu took out a thick memorial from his sleeve and held it in his hands.

Upon seeing this, Cao Zhengchun, who was standing next to him, immediately took the memorial from Xun Yu and presented it to Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen took the memorial from Cao Zhengchun's hand.

When he opened it, Zhou Chen frowned.

On the memorial, there are some specific information about the land in various places.

Where the Zhou Dynasty was founded, 70% of the land in the world was in the hands of the common people, and 30% was in the hands of the wealthy families.

Rich families are tax-free.

However, even so, with the tax revenue of 70% of the land, the Great Zhou Dynasty gradually reached its peak and prospered for a while.

However, now, in the memorial submitted by Xun Yu, except for some missing ones, the statistical data shows that the land owned by the people in various places in the Zhou Dynasty is less than 20%.

The remaining 80% of the land fell into the hands of wealthy landowners from aristocratic families.

What a shocking number.

Previously, the results of Luoyang Sili's measurement statistics were enough to shock Zhou Chen.

However, Luoyang Sili is the sacred capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, with many relatives of the emperor and noble ministers. Zhou Chen feels that most of the land in Luoyang Sili is in the hands of these people, which is quite understandable.

After all, there are a large number of royal relatives and distinguished ministers gathered in Luoyang Sili.

But Zhou Chen didn't expect that this place would be even more shocking than the one in Luoyang Sili.

Today, Dazhou relies on the tax revenue from less than 20% of the land to maintain everything in Dazhou.

Zhou Chen's face looked extremely ugly.

He had thought that the land annexation in Dazhou was serious.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for Da Zhou’s tax revenue to drop so sharply every year.

But Zhou Chen never expected that the situation of land annexation in Dazhou would reach this point.

This can no longer be described as serious.

This is the time to collapse.

"Your Majesty, during the process of investigating and measuring the land, Donghuang Hou was very cooperative, and the Langxie Wang family was also very cooperative..."

Xun Yu named all the aristocratic families that were still cooperating with the Ministry of Household Affairs.

In fact, Xun Yu knew that even if he didn't need to tell him, with Dongchang's presence, Zhou Chen would have a clear understanding of the land measurement and statistics of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

"I understand."

Regarding the four great families and the remaining three major aristocratic families of the seven major aristocratic families, Zhou Chen was concerned about who was very cooperative and who was doing something secretly.

Xun Yu glanced at Zhou Chen's ugly face and said cautiously, "Your Majesty, land annexation in various places has become serious and uncontrollable. If this matter is not resolved as soon as possible, there may be a huge danger."

"It's better to clean up a group of wealthy families first, so that the land will be freed up..."

Xun Yu knew that Zhou Chen asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to measure and make statistics of the land in the world in order to solve the land problem.

Nowadays, land annexation is so serious in various places.

If you want to solve the land problem, you can only take action on the wealthy families.

No matter which aristocratic family you belong to, no one has a clean butt.

Especially when it comes to annexing and occupying land, many wealthy families have taken advantage of it by force.

If the imperial court takes action like this, it will definitely be able to clear out a large number of wealthy families.

This is currently the most effective and fastest way to solve land problems.

"inappropriate."

Zhou Chen shook his head slightly.

The problem of land annexation is not just caused by wealthy families.

Even if we really clean up a group of wealthy families and distribute the spare land to the people, in a few years or decades, new wealthy families may be born.

The problem of land annexation cannot be solved by clearing out a certain aristocratic landowner or some aristocratic landowners.

Zhou Chen knows this better than anyone else.

Cleaning up the wealthy families can only be a temporary solution, but it will not solve it forever.

In fact, Zhou Chen knew in his heart that this was a difficulty that every historical dynasty had to face. No ruler in the past dynasties wanted to solve it, but there was no effective way.

Because this issue involves too many things.

Even Zhou Chen, who is currently very powerful, does not dare to move easily.

To be more precise, Zhou Chen couldn't move.

The reason is very simple, because the Zhou royal family is the largest aristocratic landowner in the entire Zhou Dynasty.

All the wealthy families in the Great Zhou Dynasty are equivalent to the wings under the emperor, the head of the family.

The emperor gave them land and wealth, and these aristocratic families surrendered to the emperor.

In this way, the Zhou royal family and these wealthy families formed the current Great Zhou Dynasty.

The two share a common fate and are closely related.

This is also the fundamental reason why rulers in the past dynasties were helpless in the face of land annexation.

Because if the emperor really wants to solve the problem of land annexation, the first person he has to solve is himself.

Therefore, the problem of land annexation has existed in all dynasties, and the situation of land annexation has become more serious as we go later, but no ruler can solve it.

People are selfish.

This is especially true for emperors.

If it comes at the expense of one's own interests, I believe no one would be willing to do so?

However, this does not mean that Zhou Chen completely denied Xun Yu's meaning.

Zhou Chen would not easily let go of those wealthy families who robbed and occupied other people's land.

But this is not the real solution to the land problem.

Zhou Chen sat on the dragon chair, thinking rapidly.

The most direct way to completely solve the problem of land annexation is to take back all the land in the world and make it state-owned.

But Zhou Chen knew that he did not yet have the strength to take back the land from the world.

If Zhou Chen really dares to do this now, the consequences will directly overturn Da Zhou and make all the achievements he has made so hard be instantly wiped out.

Therefore, the most important thing for Zhou Chen at present is to reform the land system and increase tax revenue, rather than returning the land from the world to the state.

In particular, wealthy families have the right to tax exemption, so this must be resolved.