I can't think of the title, I just want to be the master of the tyrant emperor. Your brain circuit...
The common people stared at each other with confusion instead of joy in their eyes. This reaction was far different from what Shen Zhiwei had imagined.
Shen Zhiwei had thought that these people would not agree with her order, but the scene she imagined was that the common people would talk about it and boldly ask her whether what she said was true or not. Otherwise, all the grain from the five acres of private land would have to be taxed, and their joy would be in vain.
Or perhaps the common people believed her words and were overjoyed, saying that they would farm for the king for the rest of their lives and would definitely take good care of the crops in the fields.
But who knew that the common people would not believe it so much that they didn't even ask a question.
Shen Zhiwei felt an indescribable disappointment. It was not that she was disappointed with the common people's reaction, but the common people's distrust and disappointment in the government.
Only if they felt that everything the nobles said was a lie would they have no reaction at all.
They will only feel that the pie that is falling on their heads now is mixed with poison that can kill them.
Shen Zhiwei felt somewhat powerless. Although she said that she wanted to be a tyrant, she was still somewhat looking forward to the scene described in the novel where the people would support her. However, who knew that the positive feedback would be zero, and the negative feedback would also be zero.
She immediately felt a little discouraged, waved her hand, and told them to disperse and get back to work.
"You stay here and follow me to draw a circle on the field. The land inside the circle is for you to cultivate. No one is allowed to plow the land outside the circle."
Shen Zhiwei called the slave who had been an agricultural official and strode off.
After she and the king's attendants disappeared, the common people who were supposed to be going home started to talk.
"Hei Shou, do you understand what the king said? You don't have to pay taxes anymore?"
"You don't have to pay cloth tax anymore, and you won't be a conscript anymore. You just need to farm."
"Then, doesn't that mean I'll become the king's slave?"
"All the subjects under heaven are slaves of the king. If we really don't have to pay taxes or serve in the future, then it wouldn't be a bad thing to no longer be a commoner."
"That's right! Is the private plot the king mentioned real or not?"
"You can't trust what the government says. They once said I could pay less taxes, but I ended up doing two years of forced labor. My third and fourth sons both died in those two years, exhausted from working on the road."
"But that was what the king said himself. The emperor would never deceive common people like us."
"How about going and looking at the plot of land? If we only need to cultivate fifty acres in the future, forget about the private plots, we can plant less land and just carefully tend to the fifty acres. Then we can rest for half a day!"
The discussion stopped there.
It is a difficult choice to follow and see whether or not to follow. What if the king is just talking nonsense on a whim? If they follow him and are seen by the king, he will definitely be angry.
Finally, two brave young men rushed over. They were agile and even if they were discovered by the king, they could run back quickly. The king would not send anyone to catch them.
They had only been with the king for two days, but they had already seen that he was not the kind of noble who would take human life lightly, so they had become a little bolder.
Shen Zhiwei walked out for a long distance without seeing anyone chasing him, so he knew that those common people didn't believe him at all, and didn't even think of testing him.
When people have completely lost their yearning for a better life, then this society and this dynasty will truly be on the verge of collapse.
Shen Zhiwei felt a little lost, but when he thought about the fact that he was originally a tyrant, why should he think so much?
Between the end of a hopeless dynasty in her hands and the destruction of a dynasty that could have been saved, she felt more comfortable with the former.
Then think about it, she is now just a beast of burden working for 100 million yuan. What happened to those ancient people has nothing to do with her. Now her conscience is worth 100 million yuan! So she can't be too conscientious, lest the 100 million yuan go to waste.
When Shen Zhiwei walked to the ridge of the field, she had already returned to her usual tyrant mentality, completely giving up thinking about the thoughts of those around her and only following her own ideas.
First, fifty acres were marked out on the plowed land, which was to be used for intensive cultivation in the future. Then another fifty acres were marked out outside the fifty acres. These fifty acres were divided among five households, doubling the five acres of private land.
This is what Shen Zhiwei took into consideration. Among the five households, some families have many people, and five acres of land is not enough.
Forty-seven people are mixed in five households, with the largest number being thirteen or fourteen and the smallest being six or seven. Not counting children and the elderly, half of them are strong laborers. It is not difficult to let the strong laborers cultivate five more acres of land.
When the agricultural officials who had personally drawn a hundred acres of land returned to Shen Zhiwei, their faces flushed.
I don’t know if it was because I was excited or because I was tired after running around the hundred acres of land.
"From now on, your name will be Xi, Xi as in hope, Nong Xi."
Slaves had no surnames, so all their original surnames were invalidated, and even their given names had to be re-chosen. When Shen Zhiwei saw the innocent happiness on the face of the agricultural official, he thought of this name.
This name is not given to Nong Xi himself, but to this piece of land.
Nong Xi knew that he benefited from the land, but this did not stop him from being happy. He once thought that he would be a slave all his life and die in humiliation, but who would have thought that the land that he once hated would give him a new life.
The nobles needed agricultural officials, but there were very few nobles who actually served as agricultural officials. Most of them were insignificant children from various families.
Nong Xi used to be that inconspicuous person. Because he was an agricultural official, many people ridiculed him as a peasant, as lowly as the common people.
Now, those who mocked him either fled in disgrace or became slaves like him. If they were lucky, they could survive in Anguo. If they were unlucky, their end would be even more miserable than his.
The enemy's miserable situation made Nong Xi feel very good.
Not to mention, he met a benevolent monarch like the Emperor.
Nong Xi was sincerely convinced and knelt on the ground, shouting "Long live the king" and sincerely praying for the emperor to live a hundred years.
Everything the emperor said just now was true. Now that the land has been divided, their lives will get better and better in the future.
Nong Xi thought that he must manage the common people well and let them take good care of the fifty acres of land. This year, the weather near Jingchang is good, and there will definitely be a good harvest.
Leave good seeds and take good care of the soil, and next year will be better.
Shen Zhiwei didn't know that her combination of kindness and force, which she thought had failed, was much more effective than she had imagined. At this moment, she had left the farm and returned to the palace.
In the palace, Tutor Wen was waiting to teach her.
Shen Zhiwei's order had been passed to the palace and reached the ears of Wen Taifu. Wen Taifu supported the king's benevolent rule, but Shen Zhiwei wanted to exempt the cloth tax, and this move made Wen Taifu somewhat dissatisfied.
Taxation is the foundation of a country. If the common people do not pay taxes, will the nobles and kings be left starving?
When Shen Zhiwei came back, Master Wen asked Shen Zhiwei this question.
Shen Zhiwei didn't really want to hear others mention her previous failures, and she didn't like others denying her ideas.
Anyway, she is now well fed and her whole family is not hungry. The nobles own a lot of land. If they starve, it would be the end of the world.
So Shen Zhiwei responded calmly to Master Wen's question.
When the Taifu saw the emperor's calm expression, he knew that the emperor had a strategy in mind and was not acting casually.
Wen Taifu immediately retracted the questioning tone in his question and changed it to a more gentle inquiry: "Your Majesty's action must have a deeper meaning. I am ignorant and I hope Your Majesty will guide me."
King Chen Zhiwei narrowed his eyes and did not want to give any advice. He just felt that the old man was becoming more and more long-winded.
"The royal family is weak now. Does the Grand Tutor have any talented people to recommend? It doesn't matter what their background is, but preferably a woman."
Seeing a group of men in the court every day, Shen Zhiwei was not in a very good mood.
It’s not that there weren’t any female officials. On the contrary, there were quite a few aristocratic women who were truly talented and willing to serve as officials.
But the royal family was indeed weak, and there were no female officials in the court.
There are only a few capable officials left.
The first person that Wen Taifu thought of was his daughter, but the situation was unclear at the moment, and he didn't want his little daughter to become an official too early. If both father and daughter served as officials in Jingchang, it would almost tie the Wen family to the royal family.
If it were the king of the past, Master Wen would not even think of putting his little daughter first.
But the king now is very different from before.
Does the Wen family want the royal family’s boat from last week?
Wen was the surname that was changed later. The person who changed his surname was the grandfather of Wen Taifu. He was a nobleman with a bad temper. He couldn't stand the eldest son in the family who was incompetent and had a big fuss. His surname was changed and he was demoted to the border. Later, he relied on his own abilities to walk step by step to Jingchang.
Wen Taifu hesitated for a moment and asked again, "Could Your Majesty explain why you exempted the people from the cloth tax and military service, and instead ordered them to cultivate only fifty acres, leaving nine hundred acres uncultivated?"
Anyone would know which to choose between fifty acres and nine hundred acres.
"It's like asking the Imperial Tutor to eat a hundred bowls of millet in ten days. How would he eat it?"
Master Wen thought carefully and realized that if he were asked to eat a hundred bowls of millet in ten days, he would probably not be able to eat any vegetables, and he might not even be able to finish them.
A decade is ten days. If he eats ten bowls a day, he won’t be able to finish them even if he dies of fullness.
Wen Taifu replied: "I will probably only eat half a bowl at a time."
I eat about five bowls of rice a day, which is barely enough to finish, but I can't eat anything else.
After answering Shen Zhiwei's question, Master Wen suddenly realized why he took fifty acres and gave up nine hundred acres.
Of course it is because the fifty acres are edible, and the nine hundred acres are the ones that cannot be eaten.
But he still didn't understand why ten acres of private land should be left to the common people. What was the difference between those ten acres and the fifty acres that were allocated?
Master Wen didn't understand what private plots were. If he knew, he would probably immediately stop Shen Zhiwei from giving private plots to the common people.
Because private plots are essentially a kind of fiefdom. We have only heard of the emperor granting land to nobles, but never to common people!
The Zhou Dynasty now had a feudal system. Among the fields, the well-field system was the emperor's land, and the emperor's land was distributed to the common people for cultivation. After the common people cultivated the land, they paid taxes.
Every prince had a well-field system in his country, so it was said that the nobles supported the emperor. But now that rituals and music have collapsed, the land belonging to the emperor has gradually become deserted or become the private property of the nobles.
The common people had no land to their name. They used to rent land from the emperor. When the emperor's land was divided up by the nobles, the common people became "tenants" under the nobles.
Shen Zhiwei was unaware of the twists and turns involved. When she met Master Wen's puzzled gaze, she was still complaining in her heart that Master Wen had a very strange way of thinking. He asked him to eat a hundred bowls of rice, but he chose to eat half a bowl of each.
Has he ever thought about reducing the requirement from one hundred bowls to twenty bowls or ten bowls?
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