"The first one is too radical, the third one is too long, the second one is suitable, but it also has many problems."
Inside Fan Tower, Fan Zhongyan listened to Zhao Jun's ideas and raised objections.
Zhao Jun said as he picked up some food, "I also think the second option is the most appropriate. Could you please tell me what the specific problem is? Things like this are supposed to be handled step by step. Problems are solved as they arise."
"The most unreasonable thing about it is the ban on land sales. If this is announced, I'm afraid that landowners across the country will rise up in opposition. I'm afraid it won't work."
Fan Zhongyan shook his head.
The reason why the Song Dynasty suffered from serious land annexation was that there were no restrictions on land annexation from the early days of the country. The practice of previous dynasties was to prohibit land transactions in the early days of the country.
For example, the well-field system that began in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the military farming system in the Western Han Dynasty, the occupation field system implemented in the Jin Dynasty, and the equal-field system from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the early Tang Dynasty were all like this.
However, this is usually only the case at the beginning. As time passes and the dynasty reaches its middle and late stages, the system will be broken, and various nobles, officials, landlords, and powerful people will occupy the land, leading to the fact that land annexation is serious in the middle and late stages of the dynasty.
On the contrary, the Song Dynasty was truly bizarre. From the beginning, they did not prohibit the sale of land, which led to serious land annexation in the early days of the dynasty. Under such circumstances, the fact that the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties could survive for more than 300 years is a miracle among miracles.
"The Song Dynasty is full of trouble. Which dynasty didn't prohibit the sale of land in its early years? During the reign of Wang Mang, they even dared to nationalize all the land. If it's Old Zhao, I won't scold him this time."
Zhao Jun originally wanted to scold the brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi, but when he thought that Zhao Guangyi could be scolded and Zhao Kuangyin was his direct ancestor, he finally had to shut up.
Who made our ancestors so disappointing?
It is clear that in the early days of the founding of the country, Zhao Kuangyin was able to carry out land reform and improve the situation of land annexation.
However, in order to implement his national policy of prioritizing civil officials over military officials, he first asked many of his military officers and nobles to surrender their military power and return home to buy land and live out their retirement. He also elevated the status of scholars and allowed them to legally own land.
For a time, civil officials and military generals divided up the land on a large scale. Since the imperial court could not stop them from dividing the land, their relatives and interest groups began to follow suit, leading to the second division of the land.
As a result, less than a hundred years later, various powerful people followed suit. After three partitions, there were very few self-cultivating farmers left in the country, and land annexation was serious.
In the final analysis, it was because Zhao Kuangyin thought that the generals of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were too terrifying, so he made concessions in order to appease them. This led to the opening and precedent of the land annexation. The court no longer cared about the land annexation, which led to a land enclosure frenzy among the people.
So Zhao Kuangyin had his own difficulties, and Zhao Jun was not too willing to understand his difficulties.
But insulting the collateral ancestor Zhao Guangyi is okay, but insulting the direct ancestor is still a bit against the ancestors for the Han people who worship their ancestors, so they did not criticize him in the end.
"Let's think of a solution first."
Fan Zhongyan said.
"What do you have in mind?"
Zhao Jun asked back.
Fan Zhongyan thought for a moment and said, "Let's remove the prohibition on land transactions."
"Even after the cancellation, they may not necessarily sell it to the government."
"But if the government's purchase price is a little higher, won't they be able to buy it?"
"I'm afraid you're planning to engage in power-for-money transactions across the country, colluding with officials and businessmen to force the imperial court to pay exorbitant prices for land."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "This isn't a problem that can be solved with simple regulation."
Land transactions were originally prohibited, and corruption was certain to occur when the government repurchased the land, but it was still controllable.
Because during the last national census and land measurement, various censors and statistical bureaus had already checked and registered the land.
Land is divided into three categories: superior, good, and inferior. When repurchasing, the transaction can be made directly based on the quality plus the current market price.
Once the prohibition on buying and selling is lifted, there will be a lot of room for maneuver.
For example, they would find someone to raise the price, or the big landlords would continue to buy land, hold all the land in the county in their hands, drive up the land price, and force the government to buy it at a high price.
It’s just like buying a house. There are obviously not many people living in a community, but a group of real estate speculators buy up the entire community and drive up the price. Aren’t the ordinary people the ones who suffer?
Therefore, the ban on land transactions is the same as the housing restriction order, forcing landlords to sell their land to the government at a fair price.
If we really follow what Fan Zhongyan said, it would be a bad thing.
However, General Fan also had his reasons for objecting, "I think reforms should be arranged within the existing framework. As you said, taking too big a step could easily lead to problems. Wouldn't banning land transactions outright force the landlords to rebel?"
"Hmm, my head hurts. I'm trying to build a temple in a snail shell. In that case, there's only one last solution."
Zhao Jun rubbed his temples.
Fan Zhongyan wondered, "What's the solution?"
"Murder."
Zhao Jun shrugged: "What else can we do?"
"Kill again?"
Fan Zhongyan was speechless and said, "Are you addicted to killing people?"
Although Zhao Jun seems to have not led troops to fight in recent years, in fact, the number of lives he has lost is only more than Fan Zhongyan, not less.
First of all, he started to crack down on gangs and evil forces before he came to power. He eliminated countless gangs and evil forces such as Wuyou Cave and Guifanlou in Kaifeng Prefecture. At least 8,000 heads were chopped off outside the East City.
Secondly, he toured the country and executed any corrupt officials he saw without mercy. In the Huainan disaster relief fund corruption case alone, he killed hundreds of officials involved.
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