Logically speaking, people have an innate tendency to seek advantage and avoid harm!
Jiang Ming fought in the south and north, and apart from his own motherland Qin, which he did not directly eliminate, the other countries were either his shareholders, such as Zhao and Yan, and Wei and Han were also considered!
The remaining vassal states were basically either defeated or frightened by Jiang Ming.
They all knew that leading troops in rebellion would not end well.
Moreover, the success rate is extremely low!
Why rebel when you can live a perfectly good life?
General Lü Fan, for example, received a monthly salary of 800 gold coins, guaranteed regardless of drought or flood. This was much more than his previous salary and much more substantial.
Previously, when he served as a general in the State of Jin, the State of Jin often delayed paying its soldiers' wages.
It seems that, from any perspective, under Jiang Ming's rule, neither these feudal lords nor his civil and military generals should have any thoughts of rebellion.
But once the Xiongnu bribed them, they immediately fell into their trap. The key factor here was land!
On the surface, receiving Jiang Ming's salary now is indeed much more lucrative than before.
Moreover, you can buy whatever you want, which is much more convenient than before.
But if you lose the land, you lose your heritage.
Jiang Ming nationalized all the land, which on the surface... appears to be a rational redistribution of resources across society.
But in reality, it is a strict measure against the privileged class.
In the past, the children of privileged classes, relying on the land left by their ancestors, even if they were ignorant and incompetent, even if they indulged in gluttony, as long as they didn't do anything reckless, bully men and women, or run rampant in the village, they had no problem preserving their ancestral property.
Moreover, they can leverage their solid economic foundation to continue buying back the land sold by the unfortunate souls.
This generation may be a bit weak, but they don't expect to expand the family business to a great extent. At the very least, they shouldn't squander their ancestors' wealth!
However, Jiang Ming's decision to nationalize all the land has made many people unhappy!
Fathers can only leave money to their sons, but nearly 40% of that money is taxed, so only half actually reaches the descendants!
The key issue is that this is money, but not a means of production.
The next generation can only consume this money; even if they invest it in business, not everyone is suited for it.
If your descendants are incompetent, then there's only one way out: squandering everything!
The loss of 40% for each generation is insignificant to ordinary people, but it is unacceptable to the original aristocratic class.
They wanted their land to belong to them forever, to be passed down through generations!
Otherwise, my father is capable enough to earn a monthly salary of 800 gold coins.
But his son is a good-for-nothing. Besides living off his family's savings, getting a job with a monthly salary of 800 gold coins is harder than a camel crawling through the eye of a needle!
Who can guarantee that their family will produce talented people generation after generation?
Therefore, Jiang Ming's decree is a good thing for the vast majority of people in the world!
But for nobles who originally owned thousands or tens of thousands of acres of land, it was a deal that would lead to the extinction of their lineage!
Within three generations, these nobles, and even the feudal lords, would all be reduced to ordinary people.
Because Jiang Ming's criteria for selecting officials were very clear: only the talented should be chosen!
Don't talk to me about virtue. Virtue is something you can't see or touch. Who has virtue, who lacks virtue, who is a coward, who is a hypocrite—it's too complicated!
It's difficult to have a quantifiable standard!
Therefore, Jiang Ming used "talent" as the sole criterion for selecting officials.
If you can solve this problem... then you are talented, and you are qualified to be an official.
If you can't solve the problem, just talking about how virtuous you are is worthless to Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming has a clear understanding of the underlying logic of management: good people and bad people are all fake; human nature is the only real thing!
It's not that educating people to be good is wrong.
From a management perspective, one must not expect miracles from good people, but rather use the human tendency to seek benefits and avoid harm to motivate them to do the right thing.
Doing the right thing will either be rewarded or you will escape punishment.
If someone does something wrong, punish them directly.
There are indeed naturally good people, but such good people are like tree branches naturally suited to be arrows, or logs naturally suited to be wheels—one in a million!
Most tree branches and logs must be processed with knives and axes before they can be used!
The same applies to people. They must be made aware of what brings rewards and what brings suffering. Only through the regulation of both rewards and punishments can a natural person transition into a social being!
You can't assume anyone is a good person; you shouldn't even expect to find good people. Just follow the rules!
Therefore, during Jiang Ming's era, there was absolutely no room for maneuver in relying on moral reputation to build a persona; everything was based solely on merit!
It is precisely because of this that many nobles are extremely dissatisfied with Jiang Ming.
Their thought was that they might as well use the power they had now to quickly change the status quo and take a gamble!
Otherwise, by the time it comes to the sons' generation, their family will be ruined!
The Xiongnu people took advantage of this... and bribed many generals of the major vassal states.
It didn't cost much money. These generals weren't short of money, and even if they had money, it wouldn't have helped them since they couldn't buy land!
A person only needs one bowl of rice to eat and half a bed to sleep in. Even if you have a lot of money, without the right to buy land, it's all just fleeting and short-lived!
......
On the advice of the spies sent by Jiang Ming, Zhao Yong devised a plan to turn the tables on them!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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