Under the arrangement of the Minister of Revenue, Wang Anshi, the measurement of the world's fertile land was carried out across the country.
Officials from all over the country reported the number of acres of fertile land they had measured to the imperial court.
In order to prevent those officials from covering up and lying, Wang Anshi even specially sent people to various provinces to investigate secretly.
Through open and secret investigations, not only did they find out the local officials who concealed the information, but they also found out a large number of corrupt officials.
They sold the land of those countries to the landowners at a high price, and then the landowners hired farmers to cultivate, exploiting the farmers very badly.
Landlords treated farmers as slaves and even killed them in some places.
The local officials had never reported these matters to the imperial court. They had deceived their superiors and subordinates, just like that, they had suppressed the matter.
The landowners and officials were all fine, but the people were the ones who suffered.
In the court.
When Zhu Qizhen heard about this, he was instantly enraged.
Corrupted officials, landowners, and despotic gentry were all Ming Dynasty's chronic diseases!!!
He threw the memorial in his hand to the ground and angrily rebuked,"This world belongs to me, and this fertile land belongs to the people. Who allowed them to buy and sell the country's land as they pleased? These corrupt officials, these landowners and despotic gentry, as long as I don't get rid of them, I won't be able to resolve the hatred in my heart. The common people suffered such oppression all day long, but they had nowhere to seek justice. Did their conscience not hurt?”
"Your Majesty, the officials in these places all think that the heavens are high and the emperor is far away, so they can hide from the imperial court's investigation and become increasingly arrogant. If it wasn't for this new policy, there was no way to dig out these vermin.”
Zhu Qizhen clenched his fists and gritted his teeth."These bastards. Zhao Yun!"
"I'm here." Zhao Yun, who was at the foot of the steps, immediately stepped forward.”
"Immediately head to the Yizhou Prefecture to investigate this matter thoroughly. Once it's true, capture all of them.”
"I accept your decree." As the commander of the Brocade Guard, it was Zhao Yun's duty to investigate the matters of local officials.
However, this time, the Yizhou Prefecture was very far from the capital, so he had to travel at full speed.
"Emperor, calm down and take care of your dragon body.”Wang Anshi comforted her.
Zhu Qizhen coldly glanced at all the ministers, then pointed to the memorial on the ground and said,"Take a good look at this memorial. After you see it, tell me how you feel.”
Yu Qian was the closest to the memorial. He picked it up from the ground and flipped through it.
The memorial was filled with tax records.
Yizhou government, Sun Yu, three Ding, two acres of land, per mu yield of three stones, tax two stones.
Yizhou Prefecture, Xu Shengzhang, six Ding, four acres of land, four stones per mu, four stones tax.
Yizhou Prefecture, Chen Rongyang, 35 Ding, 300 mu of land, per mu yield of four stones, total production of 1,200 stones, tax six stones.
Yizhou Prefecture, Liu Zhong, 180 Ding, 1,000 mu of land, yield five stones per mu, total production of 5,000 stones, tax eight stones.
……
Yu Qian looked at the shocking numbers on the memorial and was shocked.
No wonder the Emperor was furious!
These landowners blatantly evaded taxes, which was simply outrageous.
If not for this new policy of measuring the fertile land in the world, these numbers might never have been discovered by the imperial court, and the people would always be bullied by those landowners.
The commoners seemed to be living a good life, but if these landowners and corrupt officials were not eliminated, there would never be a day of peace in the Ming Dynasty.
After reading the memorial, Yu Qian hurriedly knelt on the ground and said,"I fear…"
Then, he passed the memorial to the other ministers. After reading it, they prostrated themselves on the ground like Yu Qian.
"We are terrified…"
"Fear? When I read this memorial, my heart bled. I originally thought that after I ascended the throne, I would let the people live a good life. However, these landowners and despotic gentry exploited the people wantonly!!! The new policy must be implemented. Wang Anshi added one more condition to me. After measuring the fertile land in the world, it will be nationalized and distributed according to households. The fewer the population, the more the land will be distributed. It is not allowed to buy or sell land at will. Otherwise, it will be severely punished.”
"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Anshi knelt down to receive the edict.
Zhu Qizhen calmed himself down, then swept his gaze across the ministers and said coldly,"Dear ministers, let's make things clear in the court today. If Zhen finds out that someone is secretly giving and receiving money, Zhen will not tolerate it! I want my court to be very clean. I don't want those hateful corrupt officials to hang around under my nose.”
The ministers all trembled and did not dare to speak.
Zhu Qizhen was giving those officials a reminder to tuck their tails between their legs.
Today, Zhu Qizhen was truly furious. None of the officials dared to say the word "no".
After leaving the court, Zhu Qizhen asked Cao Rui to deliver a verbal order to Yu Qian, Wang Anshi, and Zhang Juzheng, the three cabinet ministers, to head to Yangxin Hall for a meeting.
Yu Qian, Wang Anshi, and Zhang Juzheng were puzzled.
What was the Emperor planning to do?
The three of them were secretly guessing Zhu Qizhen's thoughts.
The heart of an emperor was really hard to predict!
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