According to the description in the "Old Book of Tang", at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty allocated land to court officials according to their official positions. This was called position land, which was regarded as a government benefit.
However, with the stability of the Tang Dynasty, private prices began to rise. By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, land prices also rose. As a result, only powerful bureaucrats could continue to acquire land in large quantities.
So much so that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty himself sat in the court hall and sighed: "Nowadays, the officials of the imperial court frequently annex land, causing more and more people to lose their land. If this continues, what will happen to the country?"
Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty approved Yu Wenrong's petition in the ninth year of Kaiyuan and began to reform the land system of the Tang Dynasty. This was the most stringent "land purchase restriction order" in the history of the Tang Dynasty.
During this reform, the Tang Dynasty banned all land sales, and no one was exempted from it, whether officials, civilians, or businessmen.
Later, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered Yu Wenrong to carry out the policy of inspecting land and enclosing households. To put it simply, no matter what level of official he was, as long as the land he held exceeded that of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the number of land granted according to the size of the official position, the court would The excess land must be confiscated without compensation. This is inspection field.
Then the imperial court pardoned the refugees who were fleeing famine across the country. No matter where they were from, as long as they were willing to stay in the place where they stayed, and as long as there was land confiscated by the imperial court in the local area, then these refugees could immediately obtain local household registration, and then the imperial court would collect the land confiscated from the local area. Land was given to these refugees for cultivation and they were exempted from taxes for six years. This is the bracket.
According to Liu Yan’s evaluation, the new policy of inspecting farmland and enclosing households by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty was a form of separatism.
The flesh and blood of the bureaucratic class came to feed the peasants who had no food to eat, which greatly alleviated the class contradictions in the Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, what is even more surprising is that Yu Wenrong, who presided over the inspection of Tiankuohu, not only was not liquidated afterwards, but also received a good death. The policy of inspecting farmland and enclosing households was not abandoned halfway, and was implemented very smoothly.
This is because when Yu Wenrong implemented the reform of inspecting land and expanding households, he specifically excluded the royal family and the aristocratic families. The two largest forces at the time did not suffer any losses, but were able to reap some benefits from Yu Wenrong.
The officials Yu Wenrong hired to implement policies in various places were all descendants of the Guanlong nobles, while the officials who inspected Tiankuohu were only ordinary officials who had passed the imperial examination. Naturally, there was little resistance to implementation.
As a result, in almost four years, the Tang Dynasty cleared more than 800,000 hidden households that were dependent on bureaucrats and redistributed land to these people. This not only eliminated huge hidden dangers to the country, but also greatly increased fiscal revenue. , in one fell swoop laid the economic foundation for the prosperous Kaiyuan era.
After Liu Yan returned to the Cabinet Office from Emperor Chongzhen, he began to think that the land inspection and household expansion in the Tang Dynasty was the most successful land reform policy in history. Although it was not the most thorough, it had the least resistance and the most effective results. the best.
Therefore, if Liu Yan now wants to implement the "Huang Ming Land Acquisition System", he must learn from the successful experience of the Tang Dynasty in inspecting land and households.
The most important one is to treat the objects of land clearing differently.
"Bureaucrats, gentry, powerful people, merchants, royal family..."
Liu Yan wrote these categories on paper, and then wrote on the Royal Family II with a pen.
A circle was drawn on the words: "The land occupied by the royal family must not be confiscated, but must be purchased at market price, and the proportion of acquisitions should be set according to the level of the title. The higher the title, the smaller the proportion of acquisition. That way, the resistance should be much less.”
"Bureaucrats and gentry can imitate the system of the Tang Dynasty and set up post-level fields according to the size of official positions. These post-level fields are private land recognized by the court, and officials at all levels can continue to hold them. Land other than post-level fields is owned by the court. Purchase it at 30% of the market price.”
In fact, Liu Yan also wanted to seize land from those bureaucrats and gentry for free. However, under the new policy of the imperial court, there were already many policies focused on combating the power of bureaucrats. After all, the operation of the Ming court still relied on these people, and Liu Yan could not kill them all. This is a compromise.
"As for wealthy and powerful households, this can be done like this: the cultivated land will be allocated according to the number of males in the household. The amount of cultivated land allocated to each person can be larger, and the excess land will be confiscated by the court for free!"
Liu Yan made up his mind: "Powerful and powerful families are also people, but they are people who have become powerful. As long as they are people, they must be treated as one. They cannot be treated differently just because they are powerful."
"Finally, there are merchants. This is easy to handle. Merchants in the Ming Dynasty are prohibited from hoarding farmland. All farmland in the hands of merchants must be handed over to the court."
Later, Liu Yan realized that something was wrong. Nowadays, merchants in the Ming Dynasty have a strong interest in land. Many merchants will even use their profits to buy land after making money.
If the imperial court directly seizes land from merchants without compensation, it will inevitably cause harm to the merchant class of the Ming Dynasty.
A heavy blow, which is very detrimental to the commercial and industrial industries that have just begun to rise.
So Liu Yan set a policy of forcibly acquiring land from merchants at 40% of the market price.
Liu Yan then summarized these provisions and integrated them all into the "Huangming Land Acquisition System".
The next day, Liu Yan summoned Zhang Lei, the Minister of Agriculture, Zhao Min, the Minister of Civil Affairs, Yue Ming, the Minister of Finance, Song Gongming, the Minister of Commerce, and Wang Wenzhen, the Minister of Personnel.
This time, Liu Yan distributed the improved "Huangming Field Acre System" to everyone and said: "From now on, all ministries will be busy."
"The Ministry of Agriculture immediately began to verify the situation of cultivated land across the country and conduct a thorough investigation of the amount and distribution of land in the hands of ordinary people, officials, merchants, gentry, powerful people, and the royal family across the country."
"The Ministry of Civil Affairs is conducting an investigation on household registrations across the country. I want to clean up the hidden population who are dependent on officials, merchants, powerful gentry, and the royal family across the country!"
"The Ministry of Agriculture is primarily responsible for implementing the "Huangming Field Acquisition System" this time, and other ministries are fully cooperating."
Zhang Lei only felt that the burden on his body was very heavy, but he was full of fighting spirit in his heart. Liu Yan had already paved the road. Even if he climbed the remaining road, he had to climb to the end.
Liu Yan looked at Zhang Lei who was holding his fists and accepting the order, nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Wang Wenzhen, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel: "The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will report the investigation to the Ministry of Personnel. You, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, do you want to Full support, not only to formulate the amount of land allocated to officials at all levels in accordance with the "Huangming Land Acquisition System" as soon as possible, but also to deal with those who need to sell land to the court at 30% of the market price.
Officials issued a notice: Anyone who conceals the amount of land and refuses to implement the new policies of the court will be immediately dismissed from office and will never be hired by the court! "
Wang Wenzhen clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Ge, our staff will come up with a strategy as soon as possible."
"good!"
Then, Liu Yan said to Song Gongming: "The same is true for the Ministry of Commerce. The first point is that the directors of various industries in the Ministry of Commerce must not purchase land. This is an iron rule! Anyone who has purchased land must purchase land within one month. All of them will be handed over to the court for free. If they do it again in the future, they will be removed from office and never hired again!"
"yes."
"In addition, the Ministry of Commerce should work with the Ming Dynasty Chamber of Commerce to educate merchants from all over the country and urge them to respond to the court's new policy and not to lose their future because of mere land."
Song Gongming said: "Don't worry, Mr. Ge, my subordinates will issue decrees in the name of the Ministry of Commerce in the past few days. Later, I will contact Chairman Wang to discuss in detail how to supervise merchants from various places."
Liu Yan looked at Yue Ming again and said: "This time to implement the "Huangming Tianmu System", the court will need to spend a lot of money and food. The Ministry of Finance must prepare enough money and food. The implementation of the "Huangming Tianmu System" involves the yamen. As long as the application for money and food is approved, the Ministry of Finance must allocate it as soon as possible without delay."
"Don't worry, Mr. Ge. Now that the imperial court is full of money and food, my subordinates will allocate it as soon as possible."
Two days later, Liu Yan submitted the revised "Huang Ming Land Acquisition System" to Emperor Chongzhen. Although he was skeptical about the redistribution of land throughout the Ming Dynasty and believed that this move would probably cause turmoil and would not even be implemented successfully, Chongzhen The emperor was also moved by Liu Yan's description of the prospects after success. In the end, Zhu Pi
pass.
Then it was announced to the world. Once the "Huang Ming Land Acquisition System" was announced, it caused a shock in the world.
The imperial court sent a large number of officials to various places and began to verify the cultivated land conditions in various provinces of the Ming Dynasty. A Ming Dynasty version of the land inspection and household expansion movement began in full swing.
At the end of November, Jinan Prefecture, Huashhandong Village.
On this day, Lao Li came to his farmland for a walk with a smile as usual.
Although this year's farming has ended, Lao Li still visits it every day and owns dozens of acres of land. Such things are like a dream. Lao Li is afraid that one day he will wake up from the dream and become destitute again.
Now the two sons, the second son Li Fugui and the third son Li Xile, can help with farm work, and the three of them are making progress in life.
Suddenly, Lao Li saw a lot of people gathered at the entrance of the village, so he walked over curiously, and saw the village's Baojia saying loudly: "Our Jinan government is also implementing the court's new policy, which is to implement the "Huangming Tianmu System" , to put it bluntly, the imperial court obtained excess farmland from those officials and wealthy families, and then distributed it to the people who had little or no land!"
"ah?"
Lao Li and the many villagers who were watching were dumbfounded. Isn't this what the common people call "killing the rich and giving to the poor"? The imperial court can still do such things!
"real or fake?"
"Don't lie to us, right?"
Seeing that everyone didn't believe it, Baojia was unhappy and said loudly: "What are you trying to do to lie to you? The entire Jinan Prefecture has begun to implement this policy. I heard that the newly appointed Jinan Governor Shi Kefa has been patrolling various places these days, and has collected information from various places. big house
People, even relatives of the emperor, have obtained a large amount of farmland, which is being distributed one by one to people in various places. "
Now the people in the village believed it to be true, and even the dignified magistrate was alarmed. Can this matter be false?
At this time, Lao Li asked excitedly: "What kind of family can get land? Does our Huashhandong Village have a share?"
"That's right, can we share it?"
Everyone was asking, and Baojia said loudly: "We have received a notice from above. According to the standard of thirty acres for each male and ten acres for each woman and child, if it is not enough, the court will give an amount of land that is not enough, and everyone can make their own. Do the math.”
Then Baojia added: "Our Huashhandong Village is a newly established village. The amount of cultivated land for each household is recorded by the court. I estimate that the land replenished for our village will be distributed before the end of the year!"
Everyone cheered immediately, and Lao Li also beamed with joy. According to the new policy of the court, the three men in his family should have 90 acres of cultivated land, but now they only have 50 acres. In other words, the court will also give him 40 acres of farmland. arable land!
"Ha ha!"
Lao Li grinned. Today's life is getting better day by day. Not only can he have enough food and clothing every day, but he can even eat two meaty meals a month and drink some wine. Such days were not seen in the past when he was kidnapped by thieves. , which is something I can’t even imagine in my dreams. This is a magical day.
"Be sure to have a glass of wine tonight to celebrate!"
Lao Li thought to himself, and then he dispersed with the villagers. When he returned home, he saw his two sons who were packing up the winter collection. Their faces were filled with happiness and sadness: "I want to go home."
It would be great if the boss is still alive! "
More than ten days later, Shi Kefa, the prefect of Jinan, led people to Huashhandong Village. He immediately announced the amount of cultivated land that each household needed to replenish, and delineated the location of the newly replenished cultivated land in public.
The whole village, men, women, old and young, gathered together and went from house to house to insert the boundary markers of the newly allocated farmland into the fields. Even if the farmland they were allocated was further away from the village or the soil was less fertile, the villagers did not have any complaints and all expressed their gratitude to the court. of praise.
Seeing this scene, Shi Kefa was filled with emotion: "I didn't know until today what Mr. Liu Ge meant by doing practical things. Now that I think of what I did in Nanjing, I feel really ashamed!"
