247, Policy Theory

247, Policy Theory

How to resolve the current internal and external troubles?

Lu Mingfei pondered the question given by the emperor. This question could be said to be an open-ended question. [It is easy to write, but it is also difficult to write... for him, it does not exist.]

The test question posed by the emperor had two points: one was internal troubles and the other was external troubles.

In fact, external troubles are also caused by internal troubles. If the country is strong, would the enemy dare to invade? - Of course not!

Therefore, the most fundamental problem of internal and external troubles still lies in internal troubles.

Why are there internal troubles? The people are starving, and the soldiers at the border are starving. How can they possibly have the energy to defend their country?

[How can a country deter foreign enemies without powerful weapons?] Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei shook his head in his heart.

The most fundamental reason why the common people were hungry was the lack of land, while the most fundamental reason why the soldiers were hungry was the food provided by the court to the army, which involved the issue of grain tax.

Like many feudal dynasties in history, the Great Yan Dynasty was plagued by land annexation. The land was controlled by the aristocracy, and the common people had no land to cultivate. The lack of land not only led to a lack of food for the common people, but also had a serious problem: it affected the payment of grain taxes.

You should know that a scholar can have a share of 20 acres of tax-free land in his name; the share of tax-free land in the hands of the juren and jinshi, as well as the officials above him, will only become larger and larger. For example, those first-rank officials have tens of thousands of acres of land in their names that are exempt from taxes.

As long as the land is registered to these scholars with official titles and officials of high rank, it is possible to legally evade taxes.

When he passed the imperial examination, someone in his clan proposed to register the clan's land in his name. However, after explaining to his family the disadvantages of evading grain taxes, he asked his father to go back and negotiate with the clan leader, and the matter was not agreed to.

The court's preferential treatment of scholars and officials with official titles led to a problem: as more and more scholars passed the imperial examinations and became officials, the tax exemptions granted to these individuals by the state gradually increased. Since these individuals held land and were exempt from paying grain taxes, the amount of grain tax paid to the state treasury gradually decreased.

As grain taxes gradually decreased, the amount of rations the court could provide to the soldiers at the border would naturally become less and less, which would affect the soldiers' food problem. If the soldiers were hungry, how could they have the strength to fight the enemy?

The lack of food in the treasury would also lead to a major problem. Once a natural disaster occurred in any area, the court would not be able to open the granaries and provide disaster relief in the first place. For example, the floods in the south and north in recent years have caused so many people to drown and starve to death, exposing the disadvantages of the country's lack of food reserves.

When the people are rich, the country is rich; when the people are strong, the country is strong. Conversely, when the people are weak, the country is weak; when the country is weak, foreign enemies will come.

However, Lu Mingfei didn't dare mention returning farmland to the people or abolishing the tax-free land quota held by the literati. He knew full well that if he dared to raise these two points on the paper, even if the emperor appreciated his essay and named him the top scholar, the officials at court and the aristocratic families would tear him apart.

Even the candidates who were taking the exam with him would regard him as a thorn in their side. After all, his move affected the interests of all the scholars in the world.

Aren't many people elected to office just to enjoy the benefits of being an official? If he were to propose abolishing these benefits, even the scholars of the world would not let him off.

If he were alone, he would still dare to make an enemy of the whole world, and fight against the scholars and literati. But he had family and clansmen behind him, and he didn't dare to gamble with their lives. Moreover, this emperor didn't look like a good emperor.

[Could it be that the emperor is unaware of the serious land annexation and the reduction of grain taxes?]

The emperor must have known about this. Since he didn't mention it, it meant he didn't dare to go against the aristocratic families. How could a mere scholar like him shoulder such a heavy burden and responsibility? Lu Mingfei didn't think anyone who became emperor was a fool. The fact that the emperor didn't touch this piece of cake meant that even he didn't have the ability to compete with all the scholars and aristocratic families in the world.

How could he, a mere scholar, have such ability?

Haven’t you seen that those who proposed land reform in history all died in their positions?

What a shame! Everyone is so focused on the petty profits from land that they can't see anything else.

However, Lu Mingfei also knew that this was because the scholars and literati of this era were limited and influenced by the times, and their cognition was still stuck in the past hundreds or even thousands of years. If someone here could see hundreds or thousands of years into the future, he would be surprised.

Speaking of land, it seems like people in this country have an innate love for hoarding land and houses. Even in the era he arrived, speculation in land and houses never ceased. Could this hobby have been around for thousands of years? He had finally discovered the root of their people's love for speculation in land and houses.

Since he couldn't write about sensitive things, he could only write about non-sensitive topics.

However, if we want to solve the internal problems, we must first solve the problem of food for the people. In addition to returning farmland to the people, there are still many points that can be written about the problem of food, such as: cultivating grain varieties, enriching grain varieties, increasing grain production, improving agricultural tools, etc. These are all good topics that people are not sensitive to and want to read and listen to.

Solving external threats is even simpler, which is to strengthen the army and improve weapons.

While grinding ink, Lu Mingfei sorted out his thoughts on writing. By the time his ink was ground, his thoughts were also sorted out. He discarded the things he couldn't write, and what remained were the things he could write.

He picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write on the white paper.

The emperor sat on the throne for a while, then stood up and walked down. As he approached, he recognized the second person from the right in the first row as his teacher's grandson. He had watched this child grow up, and he had always been a smart and clever child.

Yes, he was in the first row in the palace examination, so he must have done very well in the imperial examination.

His teacher hadn't mentioned this to him, so it seemed his teacher didn't want to use any backdoors with him. Thinking of this, he involuntarily walked over to the child.

[Hmm, this handwriting is quite good, with some of his teacher's style... The article is also good.] The emperor thought to himself.

After reading Fu Lianxin's article, the emperor's gaze fell on the table on the left. He first glanced at the student who was writing the article. "This child has such a young face. I wonder if he is eighteen?"

[This handwriting is quite neat, hmm, not bad.]

[This article... is quite interesting.] The emperor was fascinated by it after reading it.

Lu Mingfei noticed someone standing beside him. He caught a glimpse of yellow from the corner of his eye and knew it was the emperor. He could only imagine the emperor walking freely on the throne.

Read it if you want, I'm just writing my own stuff.

He paused for a moment before continuing his thoughts, and wrote down the words coherently.

When the emperor was standing below watching the candidates write their essays, the officials sitting on both sides also saw the emperor standing next to the first candidate on the right.

The first one from the right is the top candidate in this imperial examination.

Could it be that the top candidate in this year's imperial examination is so young? Many officials who were seeing the top candidate for the first time had this question in their minds.

The second one on the right seems to be the grandson of their old lady Fu.

Well, he's quite capable, having even placed second in the imperial examination. Why isn't there a single promising youngster like him among his family's? Many officials here thought of their unsuccessful descendants, and at the same time, they envied Old Lady Fu for having such a promising grandson.

Although their descendants could rely on their connections to secure a position in the imperial court, there was a clear difference between those who rose to power through patronage and those who rose through their own abilities. The former could spend half their lives in officialdom, only to find themselves in sinecure. However, if they possessed true ability and the connections they had, they could propel their descendants to high positions.

After all, it still depends on the ability of our descendants.

As a result, many people looked at the old tutor Fu who was sitting in the front, and the envy in their eyes almost overflowed from their eyes.

Old Master Fu, who was sitting here, also saw his grandson writing furiously at the seat below, and he felt a sense of pride in his heart that he was worthy of being his grandson.

However, didn’t their Majesty stand next to that boy for a little too long?

Old Master Fu remembered that his grandson had lost to the same boy twice in a row, and he felt a sense of crisis, fearing that his grandson would lose to that boy again in this palace examination.

Lu Mingfei, immersed in writing a policy paper, didn't pay much attention to the eyes on him. After the figure beside him left, he knew that the emperor had left his side.

At this time, the policy paper he wrote was nearing completion.

After finishing the last word, he looked at the policy paper he had written, and a small smile of satisfaction appeared on his face. Of course, he could not show any expression on his face and still maintained a serious look.

I noticed that everyone around me was still writing articles.

After the writing on his paper dried, Lu Mingfei thought for a moment, then pressed the paper with something, glanced to both sides, and motioned the eunuch invigilator to come over and collect the papers. He then quietly left the room.