"At the same time, a person who is in a business can only obtain a knighthood, but not an official." Xiong Huai once again added a restriction to the merchants, then was silent for a moment, and then continued: "As for the merchant's title, it will be based on the commercial tax duties paid by merchants from all over Jiangdong in the previous two years.

As for the craftsmen..."

Xiong Huai shook his head, the free folk craftsmen in various places are all small craftsmen, and it is difficult to count, as for the craftsmen of the government, most of them are people controlled by the government.

Thinking about it, Xiong Huai said: "Spread the edict, in the future, all Jiangdong craftsmen, all those who are registered, and all the utensils they build, must be signed on the utensils for examination purposes." Large-scale projects require the chief official to erect a monument as evidence, and large-scale appliances cooperated by all workers also need to be signed by the principal.

However, all tribute vessels may be exempted, but they also need to be registered for future rewards and punishments. ”

"Yui!" Tang Yu bowed his head when he heard this.

After the edict was issued, the merchants of Jiangdong suddenly cried with joy. Although a merchant cannot be an official according to his title, he can be promoted to a lord by virtue of the commercial taxes he pays, and although he cannot own arable land, he can enjoy the privileges of the nobility openly, which are not allowed by all countries in the world.

And dozens of miles south of Huiji City, when Wang Feng received the new edict from the King of Chu, he looked at the small part of the woodland that had been burned, was silent for a long time, and slowly spoke: "Tell me to go down and stop burning the forest." ”

Zhu Xing on the side was shocked: "Brother Wang, are you preparing to become a businessman?" ”

Wang Feng nodded cautiously: "Yes, brothers, my Wang family is different from you, the foundation of my Wang family is business, and although the spices of the Wang family are not as good as the tribute directly under the king, they are also world-famous treasures, and they are highly sought after by nobles from all over the world."

Ten hectares of cultivated land mixed with a lord in the middle, and then relying on meritorious service to improve the title, is far less fast than paying commercial taxes to improve the title. Moreover, I heard that the big merchants of Chu have always had a high status, which is not comparable to other countries. In addition, with the lord of the doctor in his body, and the nobles of the Chu State did not come to Jiangdong, he did not worry that his wealth would cause trouble.

Therefore, instead of fighting in exchange for a knighthood, it is better to come to the easy level by doing business, as for not being an official..."

Wang Feng smiled sarcastically: "It's also far from the unexpected trend." ”

Zhu Xing opened his mouth when he heard this, and then shook his head and sighed.

Just when Wang Feng made up his mind, other landed merchants in Jiangdong also made a choice after a few days of thinking.

Some continued to reclaim wasteland, obtained knighthoods for arable land, and prepared to leave the merchant nationality, while others directly petitioned the official to ask for business citizenship. Whatever option they choose, in their opinion, it is in their best interest.

As the businessmen stabilized and began to open their shops again, a crisis that had just emerged was suddenly resolved.

As the decree spread to various places, it gradually gained the support of powerful merchants, and the nobles of Jiangdong did not dare to make any changes under various concerns.

As a result, under the coercion of the State of Chu and under the auspices of Tang Yu, the decree was carried out in an orderly manner until the arrival of January, when the powerful people from all over the country reported their fields and properties and obtained the title of Chu as they wished.

At this point, Jiangdong's reform was preliminarily completed.

Huiji Palace.

Tang Wu happily reported the situation in various places one by one, and then arched his hand and said: "King, now that the Jiangdong reform has been completed, the news from all over the country, the people of Jiangdong are singing about the king's benevolence and praising the king's virtues. ”

Saying that, Tang Mo smiled and said: "If a month ago, when the fields were divided to the people, the people everywhere were comparing the king with the king of Yue Goujian, then I think that the people and ministers of the entire Yue land are saying that the king of gods is like Dayu, which is far from being comparable to the king of Yue Goujian." ”

Then, Tang Yu bowed to the ground: "King, the minister thinks that after two months of hard work, now that Yuedi has been attached, it only needs to be stable for a few years, and then Yuedi will no longer be a place of distress for my Chu country, but will become another foundation for my Chu country." ”

Xiong Huai smiled when he heard this: "It's too early for Xianqing to say this at this time, if you want to see if the people and ministers are really convinced, the widow thinks that you have to give it a try." ”

"Give it a try!" Tang Yu was stunned for a moment, and said thoughtfully: "The king is talking about checking the land and population. ”

Xiong Huai nodded, and said with a mocking look: "Yes, in the past two months, the widow has been showing kindness to the people, but if you want to be completely convinced by the Yue people, it is not enough to rely on favors alone." The widow thought that it was time to establish the majesty of the state and the law. ”

Saying that, Xiong Huai's attitude was correct, and he immediately ordered: "Spread the edict, starting tomorrow, the registered population will be thoroughly investigated in the entire Jiangdong, and all the people and ministers will be strictly investigated to see if there is any problem of underreporting and underreporting the hidden population and cultivated land."

The inventory of the population is based on the unit, once it is found that the population is concealed, the title of the person who has a title is deprived, and the family property is confiscated, and the clansmen are reduced to ordinary people and go to Shangyu to reclaim the famine. If there is no title, the family property will be confiscated, and the whole family will be relegated to Dongting reclamation.

Those who are in the same army are guilty of not reporting their crimes, and the ordinary people shall be punished with hard labor for three months, and those who have titles shall be directly deprived of their titles and exempted from the punishment of hard labor. In the army, the captain was guilty, deprived of his title, and removed from the post of captain.

At the same time, in order to encourage the people to accuse the adulterer, the whistleblower is a member of the same family, and he is exempted from the crime, and those who are not in the same family can receive half of the family property of the person who is reported. At the same time, in order to prevent the people from reporting at will, those who make false accusations will sit back. ”

Speaking of this, Xiong Huai looked at Tang Yu with a cautious face: "Xianqing, on the issue of land inventory, you can't just rely on the county governments around the country, the strength of the county government is too weak, this time the widow brought 80,000 Chu troops, the widow let the Zhuguo cooperate with you, and all of them will be handed over to Xianqing for appointment for the time being, and the widow must know all the land, cultivated land, mountains, swamps, river valleys, ponds and lakes in the entire Jiangdong, etc., but all the nine places must be thoroughly investigated."

In addition, those who are scattered in the mountains, forests and swamps, whether they are remnants of the Yue Kingdom or savages, as long as they are not registered in the household, can be captured as slaves, and the captor will be given a gold for meritorious service. ”

Tang Yu replied with a solemn face: "The minister receives the order." ”

A month later, when the king of Chu issued an edict again, the entire Jiangdong was boiling again.

There are people who hide people who want to avoid labor and evade population taxes, and there are also people who hide farmland in mountains and valleys and plan to evade taxes but are discovered.

Generally speaking, because of the knighthood, there are few people who hide their cultivated land, and many people who hide their population.

But in any case, if it has been discovered or reported, all of them have been severely punished, and those who have titles have been punished with knights, and those who have no titles have been assigned to reclaim the land, and those who have been implicated in the army have been implicated and punished with hard labor.

For a time, the method of striking hard permeated all parts of Jiangdong, and everyone was vigilant against the people around them, not only to prevent them from denunciating themselves, but also to prevent them from implicating themselves, and of course preparing to make a windfall.

But in any case, this crackdown greatly demonstrated the majesty of the King of Chu and the law. Although it also caused panic among the people of Jiangdong for a while, it was within the scope of control, and it did not cause resentment among the people of Jiangdong.

As the so-called criminals who use the law to commit crimes, although the punishment is severe, the people do not complain.