Youzhou, under the jurisdiction of Yuyang Commandery, Yuyang County.
At this time, Yang Biao, the magistrate of Yuyang County, was dressed in coarse cloth and straw sandals, and led a group of county officials to inspect the fields.
The floating wheat in the field has turned yellow by now, and it can be harvested after a heat wave.
Yang Biao walked to the field, bent down and picked a wheat ear. The ear was about four centimeters long, and the grains were slightly hollow, indicating that it was already ripe.
Yang Biao looked up and saw that most of the floating wheat in the nearby fields was no different. He nodded in satisfaction and saw an old farmer in the distance. Holding a stalk of wheat, Yang Biao walked over.
"This old man has met with the County Magistrate."
The old farmer recognized Yang Biao and hurriedly stepped forward to greet him before Yang Biao even got close.
North of Yuyang County was the settlement of the Wuhuan and Xianbei people. During the reign of Emperor Huan, the central government had no time to attend to this area and was frequently harassed by them. It was not until the later years of Emperor Huan's reign that things became much more stable.
Since Liu Hong ascended the throne and dispatched Lu Zhi to take charge of the military affairs of Youzhou, Lu Zhi has stationed troops in Yuyang County. Until now, the Wuhuan and the eastern Xianbei have not dared to easily invade.
After Yang Biao arrived in Yuyang County on his first day, he realized that it was worlds apart from the area around Luoyang. The place could be described as having nine out of ten houses empty.
So Yang Biao led the local constables around the country all day long, gathering refugees, encouraging them to reclaim wasteland, and promising that after the harvest, they would only take land tax and grain, and that the poll tax and head tax could be completely deducted with grain.
In no time, all the refugees from the surrounding area flocked to seek refuge, and most of those who had abandoned the land and fled returned home.
Then Yang Biao went to the homes of local powerful landlords and borrowed money and grain from them in the name of the Yang family to support the refugees and common people in reclaiming wasteland for farming.
The Yang family's name was still very useful, and the local powerful landlords were not stingy. They all generously donated money, hoping to climb the social ladder by associating with the Yang family. Yang Biao naturally accepted all comers.
In Yang Biao's view, he did not think there was anything wrong with using his family's name. Only a fool would not make the most of his own resources, and he was unworthy of being an official if he insisted on those so-called principles and disregarded people's livelihood.
Besides handling some county affairs, Yang Biao spent his days studying agriculture. He traveled to the fields to guide the people in farming, so the local people basically all knew this young county magistrate dressed in coarse cloth and treated him with great respect.
"Mr. Ma, there's no need for such formalities!"
Yang Biao kindly offered a helping hand, and seeing that the old farmer's complexion was much better than it had been a few months ago, Yang Biao felt very satisfied and full of a sense of accomplishment.
Then Yang Biao picked up the ear of wheat in his hand and handed it to the old farmer, "Old Ma, what do you think the yield per mu will be this year, given how well it's growing?"
"Reporting to the County Magistrate, the wheat is growing very well this year. If it continues like this, each mu will yield no less than two shi, and possibly even more." (One shi is approximately 120 jin)
After a moment's thought, Yang Biao asked, "So, according to calculations from previous years, after deducting all taxes, each mu of land would have a surplus of one jun (thirty jin)?"
"Yes, this year is a bumper harvest, so we shouldn't go hungry."
The old farmer had a happy expression on his face. His family cultivated thirty mu of land. Although they couldn't eat their fill, it was enough for his family to survive. He didn't seem to care much about the nearly 70% tax burden.
However, Yang Biao's expression was not good at this moment. Seventy percent of the farmers' harvest was taken away, but the national treasury's annual income was less than two percent on average. After deducting various expenses, nearly half of it just disappeared.
Back at the county government office, Yang Biao carefully considered the key issue. Besides the embezzlement by officials in between, the biggest reason for the insufficient tax revenue was that powerful clans and gentry concealed a large number of people.
From the time Emperor Guangwu rose to power through the influence of powerful clans to the present day, powerful clans have been everywhere. They have seized land, privately raised and gathered people, and there are countless unregistered commoners.
During the reign of Emperor Huan, the Han Dynasty had a registered population of over 50 million. However, due to several plagues and political turmoil, a large number of refugees were created. These refugees became unregistered residents, either dying or being kept as slaves by powerful landlords.
When Yang Biao arrived here, he was often invited to visit by local powerful figures, and he got to know them. Some of the smaller landlords had several hundred tenants, while the larger ones had several thousand.
According to the current tax collection rules of the Han Dynasty, only those who owned land were required to pay poll tax, head tax, and perform corvée labor; those who did not own land were naturally exempt from these duties.
As a result, many people had no choice but to abandon their land and become refugees, or to seek refuge with powerful and influential families.
Yang Biao did a rough calculation and found that the number of unregistered people in Yuyang County alone was close to 10,000, while the total population of Yuyang County was only 40,000. Such a ratio was hard to imagine.
Yang Biao sat at the table with a worried expression. Although the powerful local magnates had restrained themselves under the emperor's strong suppression, it was only a temporary solution. The Han Dynasty might be able to maintain stability for a while, but it would be difficult to achieve development.
After much deliberation, Yang Biao finally picked up his pen and began writing a memorial to Liu Hong, writing down all the data he had collected and proposing his own solutions.
He believed that the emperor would also see the problem and would certainly use various means to rectify it.
At the same time, Yang Biao also wrote a letter to his father, hoping that Yang Ci could support him and make preparations.
Soon, a fast horseman left Yuyang and headed towards Luoyang.
In Deyang Palace, Liu Hong sighed softly after reading Yang Biao's letter, "This Yang Wenxian truly has the talent of a good prime minister."
Subsequently, Liu Hong ordered someone to summon Chen Fan and Hu Guang to discuss the feasibility of Yang Biao's suggestion.
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