For a moment, Liu Hong and the others fell silent once again because of the census work.

For Emperor Liu Hong, and officials like Chen Fan and Li Ying who held positions in the central government, it was essential to have a precise understanding of the population size, structure, and distribution in order to govern the country effectively.

Therefore, relying solely on the rough statistics of local governments to count the population is certainly not enough; the imperial court must also have a clear understanding of the situation.

Only in this way can they take a holistic approach to regulate and manage the Han Dynasty and plan for its future development.

However, in order to obtain a clear and accurate understanding of the population, conflicts with powerful families, landlords, and ordinary people are inevitable.

The powerful families, local magnates, and landlords are easy to deal with; just ask the Empress Dowager to issue an imperial edict to release Yang Qiu, Zhang Jian, and the others.

The biggest problem is the people. If we want the people to cooperate with the census, we can only decouple the population from taxes. The only things we can do are to exempt people from corvée labor, implement a conscription system, and merge the poll tax into the land tax.

To take it a step further, it would be to abolish agricultural taxes, so that people would no longer have to pay grain taxes for farming. However, this could only be implemented after the Han Dynasty's economy was fully revitalized and commercial taxes became the mainstay of the Han Dynasty's revenue.

"Gentlemen, tell me, how can this population census be conducted to achieve the best results?"

Liu Hong pondered for a moment, then looked up at the people in the hall. He knew he had to let them bring up their ideas first, because if there was a problem, everyone had to share the burden; it was too much for him to handle alone.

Upon hearing the emperor's question, everyone exchanged bewildered glances. Even Cao Song remained silent, sitting quietly. All eyes turned to Chen Fan, who was at the head of the group.

Chen Fan pondered for a moment, then spoke:

"Your Majesty, I believe this matter should not be rushed. At present, the focus of the development of the Han Dynasty is still Youzhou, Bingzhou, Liangzhou and Sili region."

The three prefectures of You, Bing, and Liang have implemented the system of collecting taxes per mu during last autumn's harvest, expanding the army and recruiting soldiers, and hiring barbarians for spring plowing this year. Perhaps this year, they can directly abolish the poll tax, military service, and corvée labor.

As for the Sili region, with the rise of workshops in various places, supported by commercial taxes and the profits of royal trading companies, the taxes levied on the people of Sili have become negligible.

Families and common people no longer value land as much, and with a large influx of slaves soon to come, using slaves is much more cost-effective than corvée labor, so it can be implemented!

It would be better to proceed cautiously after these states have completed their investigations.

"Your Majesty, we believe that the Grand Tutor's words are reasonable!"

After Chen Fan finished speaking, everyone nodded in agreement. Chen Fan's suggestion was the most reliable and the easiest to implement.

"I don't think so!"

Seeing that everyone agreed, Liu Hong shook his head and voiced his opposition.

"His Majesty...."

"Grand Tutor, please heed my words!"

Chen Fan's expression froze for a moment, and he hurriedly tried to persuade him, but Liu Hong stopped him.

"Your Majesty, please speak!!"

Seeing the emperor's reaction, Chen Fan had no choice but to sit back down.

Liu Hong glanced around at everyone and said in a deep voice:

"Over the past few decades, the imperial court has been quite chaotic, with lax control over many localities, which has greatly affected the prestige of the court and its officials, as well as its ability to restrain local officials. This is not good!"

"This census is a great opportunity to demonstrate the authority of the imperial court. If we only do the simple things, some people may look down on the imperial court and its officials, which will greatly damage the prestige of you and the court!"

Liu Hong then continued, “You are all representatives of officials. If you cannot set an example for those who come after you and establish the status of officials, then who will want to be an official in the future? What use will being an official be?”

Therefore, you gentlemen must let those people know that the imperial decrees are for them to execute, not to cooperate with!

Those who dare to defy the imperial court must be eliminated; otherwise, the court's authority will not be fully demonstrated!

Therefore, this census must target two states as examples to serve as a deterrent!

What do you all think?

After saying that, Liu Hong quietly looked at everyone.

Liu Hong's words made everyone nod in agreement; they understood many things very well.

Take last year for example. The various decrees issued by the imperial court could only be implemented in the Sili region. They would be greatly reduced in other places. In particular, some powerful families dared to openly defy and provoke the imperial court's decrees, which was undoubtedly unacceptable to those in high positions.

Although most of them came from aristocratic families, from the moment they entered the imperial court, they had already broken away from ordinary noble families and aristocratic families, forming a new class, namely the "bureaucratic class".

Their background and family can only rely on those below their own social class, which is the so-called "one person attains enlightenment and all his relatives and friends rise to prominence," otherwise how could they bring more benefits to themselves?

As members of the bureaucratic class, their primary task, while upholding their social class, is to maintain the status and interests of the bureaucratic class itself.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be the saying "officials protect each other." They're not protecting any particular person, but rather the status of their social class. We're all in the same class; if you dare to mess with him today, you can mess with me tomorrow.

The bureaucratic class was the highest level below the imperial power, and those who benefited from this class would certainly not allow anyone to climb over them.

Political rights must be superior to other rights.

If those who dare to challenge and undermine the authority and interests of this class are not suppressed, how can the superiority of this class be demonstrated?

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