At this point, Cao Zhi raised his head and looked at Cao Cao. Seeing the hope in Cao Cao's eyes, he continued,
"Your son has carefully checked. At the beginning, our tax revenue was still acceptable, but later on, the tax revenue became less and less, so much so that we couldn't supply military rations. In fact, every time my father went out to war, the most troublesome thing was the issue of military rations. The root of this problem, in my son's opinion, was caused by the garrison system.”
Cao Cao listened to Cao Zhi's words and slowly nodded his head. Every time he went out to war, the biggest headache was indeed the military rations. He would worry so much that he could not sleep at night.
For example, during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao had to worry about half a day's worth of food. If it weren't for Xu You's arrival, the Cao army would have to kill their horses to satisfy their hunger the next day.
Although there was a shortage of rations, which was a drawback of the strategy of using war to support war, Cao Cao was more cautious after hearing Cao Zhi's words and noticed the problem with the garrison system.
"Zijian, go ahead and speak.”
"Yes!" Cao Zhi straightened his clothes and began to talk non-stop." After the initial period of military rations shortage, our army expanded our territory and more and more wasteland. However, the exploitation of the wasteland system became increasingly severe. The wasteland residents did not have the right to control the land and were forcefully deducted by some officials. The original official six and civilian four were deducted to the official seven and civilian three. In some places, the distribution ratio actually reached an unimaginable degree of eight officials and civilian two!”
"There's such a thing!" Cao Cao's face was filled with shock, followed by a clear look of anger. He had been busy with battles all year round, but he did not know that such an incident of officials oppressing the people had happened on his own land!
Cao Zhi nodded and continued,"The extremely unbalanced status between the officials and the people has led to the bleak income of the farmers. Under this oppressive system, the people will not really work hard, so the harvest of the land is not much. Coupled with the violent coercion of the officials, it has caused many people to flee and resist.”
"Apart from that, the land was still being seized and purchased by some of the local noble families and aristocratic families, so gradually, the garrison system was gradually destroyed.”
"Zijian is right. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly!”A cold light flashed in Cao Cao's eyes. He was born into a poor family, so he hated this kind of oppression. Therefore, after many years of war, he had always adhered to the creed of not hurting the people. Now that he heard that such a thing had happened to the land under his jurisdiction, he was furious.
However, Cao Zhi sighed when he saw Cao Cao's expression.
Sigh! Cao Cao didn't understand what he meant!
Although Cao Cao didn't understand, the importance he showed still made Cao Zhi happy.
Because this proved that Cao Cao was indeed not the ruthless image of " I'd rather let the world down than let the world down " in history. He was really the author of " Walking in Haoli " who sympathized with the people.”
It had to be said that this was something that made Cao Zhi extremely excited. If that was the case, then his suggestion would most likely be accepted by Cao Cao. If it was the image of Cao Cao in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, then it would be impossible for him to accept it.
Thus, Cao Zhi hurriedly stepped forward and immediately remonstrated,
"Father! Your son doesn't recommend this."
"Why?" Cao Cao raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Because doing so won't solve the problem.”Cao Zhi held his head high and replied confidently,""The destruction of the garrison system is indeed due to the irresponsibility of the officials, but in essence, it is still caused by the unequal status of the officials and the people.”
"In fact, the status of officials and people cannot be equal, especially in this chaotic world. If an official does not have prestige, he will not be able to convince the masses. Therefore, no matter what, the strict investigation would not work.”
"Zijian, do you have any good ideas?"
"As your son said earlier, reform the garrison system! Your son believes that if you want to completely change the current situation of the farmers, you must carry out drastic reforms.”
"First of all, we should take back the land that was taken by the great clans and corporations and not sell it in the future. Any official who dared to sell land to a great clan without permission would be killed without mercy, and anyone could report or impeach them.”
"We can't just look at what's in front of us. We should look even longer. We have to look into the future ten or twenty years later! All the fields were taken back and belonged to the country. From then on, they were opened to the public and 20% of the taxes were levied. If the taxes are too high, it will cause the people to distrust the government, resulting in them not working actively or even fleeing. This is extremely detrimental to our recovery after Red Cliff's new defeat. Therefore, the most important part of the reform proposed by your son is to preserve the land, greatly adjust the taxes on the farmers, strictly investigate the malfeasance of the officials, and establish a special inspection organization. On the land, we will implement the phenomenon of small profits but high turnover, low taxes and high revenue. This way, your son believes that the country will recover in just three to five years.”
After Cao Zhi finished speaking, he did not return to his seat. Instead, he stood in the court and stared at Cao Cao. At the same time, he used his side eyes to observe the reactions of the surrounding civil and military officials.
His idea was beyond the hundred years of reform in this era. They might not be able to accept it in a short time. Therefore, Cao Zhi was observing their reactions to know who supported and who did not. Then, he was ready to refute their words.
As expected, after hearing Cao Zhi's suggestion, Cao Cao frowned. He kept thinking about Cao Zhi's suggestion. Although it sounded feasible, Cao Cao did not dare to agree with Cao Zhi's suggestion.
After all, the land reform was a matter of national importance. He couldn't act rashly, let alone such a large-scale reform proposed by Cao Zhi. Cao Cao should think twice.
As expected, after Cao Zhi finished speaking, someone immediately stood up to oppose Cao Zhi.
"Reporting to Prime Minister, I disagree with Young Master Zhi's words.”
Cao Zhi turned his head to look. When he saw the person who stood out, he sighed in his heart.
If it was someone else, Cao Zhi would still have the confidence to persuade Cao Cao. However, if this person raised an objection, then Cao Cao would most likely not agree to his suggestion.
Because the person who stood up against Cao Zhi was not a bystander, but Xun Yu and Xun Wenruo!
The political leader of the Cao army! Cao Cao's "My Mother Fang", the top political strategist in the Cao army!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。