Although he did not know how many common people and gentry accounted for in all the cultivated land of the entire Northern Zhili, or the entire Southern Zhili.

But now, relying on the data that has been identified and confirmed in the excerpt in front of me, comparing the total amount of cultivated land in the entire Beijing Division, it can be seen that this ratio has obviously become extremely unbalanced!

If this data is placed in the past, he may not even pay attention to it, because it has nothing to do with him.

But now, under Zhu Di's questioning, he realized the seriousness of the problem for the first time.

It has only been more than ten years since the emperor ascended the throne, and it has only been more than forty years since Taizu established the Ming Dynasty.

However, among all the cultivated land around the Jingshi, these few gentry groups have occupied more than 30% of the cultivated land that can be verified in the Jingshi!

If calculated on an equal basis of numbers, the number of these officials and gentry should be less than five percent of the arable land.

But the reality has reached more than 20% of the horror!

Is this just the supervision of those officials in the capital by Jinyiwei, those officials who have retreated, and the gentry of the people, how much do they occupy?

What does this mean, Xia Yuanji, who is the head of the household department, knows it clearly, which means that more than 20% of the people don't even have an acre of arable land!

How do they live without arable land?

How to feed yourself without arable land?

If they don't have arable land, what will they use to pay the poll tax for the whole family, and what will they use to pay the other messy taxes?

Although they are in the vicinity of Jingshi, they have other options for making a living besides farming.

But he knew very well that these livelihoods were limited, and they were completely insufficient to support so many people to live.

And their final result can be imagined.....

In an instant, cold sweat broke out from Xia Yuanji's forehead.

Since he was called to the Qianqing Palace today, no matter what Zhu Di said or asked, he had never been nervous or afraid.

One is self-confidence in his own ability, and the other is that he has a clear conscience, so why be afraid.

But now, when he found that such an extremely serious situation was ignored by himself, and even thrown in front of him by the emperor, he panicked.....

Scared ....

Besides, there's more of a sense of shame!

For a moment, I felt that the blood in my whole body was surging against the trend in my head.

His face was flushed!

This is his Xia Yuanji's serious dereliction of duty as the head of the household!

Regardless of whether he can solve and deal with this matter or not, since he is now a household secretary, he should at least find out and report it before the emperor finds out, and even write an excerpt of the handling opinions.

But he didn't do anything, he didn't find anything.....

Moment.

When all the officials around him were still surprised and puzzled what was going on, and could only guess from a few key words, Xia Yuanji lowered his head with shame on his face, knelt in front of Zhu Di, and kowtowed a few times.

"The minister is guilty!"

"The minister is so derelict in his duties, causing such a serious thing to happen, the minister is ashamed, he doesn't dare to ask for mercy, and he asks His Majesty to punish him severely!"

After speaking, he snorted his head firmly in front of Zhu Di, against the ground, motionless.

This sudden scene made everyone around stunned.

What happened to make Xia Yuanji, who has always been conscientious, Xia Shangshu able to say such things.

I'm ashamed to even ask for mercy.

Xia Yuanji's attitude and ability to deal with politics on weekdays are obvious to all.

If Xia Yuanji can't do it, then none of the people present can do it.

For these, Zhu Gaochi, who is the crown prince, is even clearer.

Afraid that his father would be angry and really deal with this talent, Zhu Gaochi hurriedly picked up the fold in Xia Yuanji's hand.

Under the several changes in Zhu Gaochi's face, he finally finished reading the content of this excerpt, and also understood why the old man was so angry, and why this Xia Yuanji Xia Shangshu reacted so much.

Twenty percent of the population of the Jingshi Division, I dare not say that all of them died for this reason, but this number is definitely not a lot!

If you really want to put this blame on Xia Yuanji's head, let alone him, it is not enough to cut off the heads of his entire family and the nine clans!

Although Zhu Gaochi was also shocked by this situation at this time, after all, he had been the prince of the prison country for many years, and he knew that now was not the time to worry about how to deal with this matter, and this matter could be slowly resolved next, but once Xia Yuanji's head was cut off, he couldn't take it back.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaochi knelt straight in front of Zhu Di even though he held the fold in his hand.

Holding his hands in front of him, he said to Zhu Di with a solemn gaze: "Father, the phenomenon of land annexation has existed since ancient times, although I don't know to what extent, but since the tax has been like this since ancient times, it is not much different from my dynasty." This kind of legacy is not the responsibility of Xia Yuanji alone, and he also asked his father to be gracious, sympathetic to his subordinates, and leave Xia Yuanji's life to make meritorious contributions to the court to deal with this scourge. ”

After speaking, he did not hesitate to kowtow three times towards Zhu Di.

I have to say that this prince has done his part, and he has done his best to these courtiers.

Many courtiers on the side saw that the prince was kneeling on the ground, although they didn't know what was going on, but they all dared to stand and knelt on the ground together.

Since they came to the Qianqing Palace, the chairs have been moved, but they haven't even sat for a minute.

Zhu Di, who was standing in front of all the courtiers and the crown prince at this moment, looked cold and glanced at everyone present.

While he was thinking in silence, the entire hall of the Qianqing Palace was silent.

Everyone is waiting for Zhu Di's final punishment of Xia Yuanji.

Xia Yuanji, who was directly responsible for the incident, was extremely panicked while he was grateful to the prince for his words.

Although he said righteous words, who wants to die?

What's more, a bad one is a felony that is full of beheadings.

If he dies, is he wronged?

Wronged, definitely wronged.

But since it has happened, there must be a result of it.

This is the imperial court.

Even if he is wronged, he can only bear it.

It is precisely because he Xia Yuanji knows this truth that he will ask for guilt at the first time, instead of shirking it.

Perhaps this can make Zhu Di feel pity on his years of hard work and leave a glimmer of life.

Otherwise, under Zhu Di's anger, his evasive words will become the fuse that ignites Zhu Di's anger, and the result will inevitably be out of control.

In this short period of time, the sweat on Xia Yuanji's head dripped onto the floor.

Zhu Gaochi on the side was already obese and inconvenient to move, and it was uncomfortable to kneel on the ground, coupled with the nervousness and anxiety in his heart, there was almost no big difference from that Xia Yuanji.

I knew that it would be no good thing for the old man to summon him again as soon as he left the palace, but he never thought that the matter would be so serious, and he knew that this was the case, so he would bring Zhu Zhanji's kid with him.