All of these are naturally what Joseph is willing to see, and those news about him and the Northwest Army's incompatibility and righteousness are naturally not known by ordinary people. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

But under the spread of such a black-bellied staff member as Sophia, such public opinion soon fell to José's side.

As for the Northwest Army, Gray knew that he was probably being calculated by this cunning Viscount Sadland. However, he tried to see Jose several times but was refused, but Joseph had some private words conveyed to him.

For example, such a move was really a last resort, because of the heavy taxation and the withering of the people's livelihood, in the end, he Joseph simply reluctantly paid for the military expenses of the Northwest Army, and if Lord Gray was to blame, he Joseph was willing to make amends to him in person.

Although this kind of words can't really convince Gray, it can be regarded as having an explanation with the Northwest Army, so that his face will not be too ugly. Although Gray was calculated by Joseph, it was not easy to attack on the surface, and Joseph did send him 30,000 golden tickets on the same day, which temporarily solved the military expenditure problem of the Northwest Army.

Just when the storm was about to come out because of these things, in the county guard's mansion in the county seat of Sadland, José was chatting in the study with his new staff member Sophia.

"Now tell me, my ladies of staff, what do you think we should do next?" José glanced at Sophia seemingly casually, and he sat on the side of his desk, his eyes falling on the young girl.

Sophia shook her head deliberately, squinted at Joseph and said, "Lord Joseph, after the events of the past few days, the Northwest Army has lost the support of the people in the city, but your prestige has been greatly boosted. What should I do next, I'm afraid you already have your own plans, why bother asking me?"

"It's very simple, I have decided to start rectifying civil affairs next!" Qiao Se raised his eyebrows and looked out of the window of the study with a torch of fire: "Since the tax has been reduced, the next thing to be busy with is to collect the displaced people and resume production."

As an important town in the river valley corridor, Sadrand is the county town with the most extensive land area, and it was also the most important grain-producing area in the northwest, so spring ploughing must not be abolished. The second thing is to restore the trade routes as soon as possible, and after the war is over, there are already a lot of business travelers in the city of Sadeland, and these affairs will be handled by you, and I want to focus on how to resume production. ”

Hearing him say this, Sophia couldn't help but nod and said: "Yes, the most important thing at the moment is indeed spring ploughing, but now most of the people in the entire river valley corridor are homeless, and even more than half of the population in Sadrand County has migrated to Guannai. So I think even if we actively encourage spring ploughing, I'm afraid there won't be many young people left in the county, so the population shortage is a problem......

"I also take this into account, I have seen the current situation of many villages outside the Guanxi Pass all the way from Moxi Pass, and the vast land and sparse population is a big problem, so I think we still need to increase our encouragement. According to my understanding, there are still a lot of displaced people outside the Guan, but they lack a certain organization and arrangement, these people are young and strong laborers, if they can be absorbed into Sadrand County, not only can solve the problem of spring ploughing, but also a good source of soldiers!"

Jose pondered for a moment, then continued: "According to my idea, a series of decrees can be implemented in the city of Sadrand first, including economic, political, legal, and military aspects.

For example, in the current economic land law, the law of the empire is to tax according to the number of people, and the number of people in a family needs to pay as much as it wants. And I want to change this decree to be taxed according to the number of acres, that is, the amount of land you occupy in your family, you pay as much tax!

I have also checked the laws of the empire before, and as the lord of Sadland, I have the power to adjust the tax system in the county, and now the county empire outside the northwest pass is almost no longer involved, and it is easy to implement this decree. ”

Sophia couldn't help but think for a moment when she heard Jose say this, and then her eyes lit up: according to Joseph's tax conditions, it was extremely suitable for the reality of the current situation in Sadland.

Previously, the problem of displacement in Sadrand County was due to the fact that according to imperial law, taxes were levied according to population. If you stay in the village and don't have enough money and food to pay taxes, the Northwest Army will come and impose taxes, which will cause many young adults to flee their home villages.

The problem is that a family of three occupies three acres of land and needs to pay three taxes. However, due to the destruction of the war and some land annexation, in fact, the three people only have one acre of land, and they need to pay three taxes according to the population, so the natural pressure is heavy. And if it is according to the decree implemented by Joseph, the tax is levied according to the number of acres of land owned, even if there are three people with one acre of land, they only need to pay the tax of one acre of land. Peasants with more land pay more taxes, those with less land pay less, and those who have no land can even not pay at all. Naturally, the burden on the peasants was greatly reduced, and it was therefore more attractive to the young and middle-aged who had left their homes to return to Sadland.

The advantage of such a change in the land system is that it not only attracts the movement of people, but also loosens the control of people's personal beings. Originally, the reason for the displacement was that the population was not allowed to move freely, and taxes were levied according to the population, and once the population fled after the war, the tax collection was in a difficult situation. But by taxing the acreage, the mobility of the population can be increased. Even if there is no surplus land to cultivate in Sadrand in the future, the population can go to the subordinate towns to cultivate the land, which is obviously very conducive to the land reclamation in Sadrand County in the future.

This is also the land system reform proposed by Joseph based on the tax and land system of the Bright Empire, combined with his own real world, the land reform system in the history of the Celestial Empire. In fact, although the Empire of Light has a high degree of civilization in the human world, it is only roughly equivalent to the feudal society of the ancient Celestial Empire.

Sure enough, when Sophia heard Jose's words, she first pondered deeply for a while, and then thought clearly about the truth, and couldn't help but applaud repeatedly. She has also learned all kinds of tax calculations since she was a child, and she is also extremely smart, as soon as she heard Joseph say this, she immediately understood what Joseph meant, and after a short period of excitement, she looked at Joseph in surprise and said:

"You are really not a simple person, there are constant wars in the northwest of the empire, and after every war, the land in this river valley will be destroyed for a long time, which is also one of the important reasons for the barrenness of the northwest.

If the entire Moxi, oh no, the entire empire reforms the land system according to your method, then it will definitely be a major event for the benefit of the country and the people!"