In the Zhangtai Palace, the left prime minister Gao Chong, the right prime minister Zhao Shu, the prosecutor Bian Hu, and the Baijia Fang Yunyi came together to present the file of the investigation of the assassination in Shucheng.

Bian Hu, the procurator, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, after six months of investigation and evidence, except for Xiang Ju's escape, the rest of the people involved in the case have been escorted to Tingwei Prison to wait for the court's ruling. ”

Mu Sheng casually flipped through a few chapters of the dossier, and said: "Okay, very good, thank you for your hard work, the Tsing Yi envoy and Baijia who participated in the case this time have been rewarded." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Long."

After Bian Hu retreated, Mu Sheng looked at Fang Yunyi and said in a kind tone: "Yunyi, you have the most credit for solving the case this time, and you have obtained the key clues, anyway, what reward do you want?" ”

Fang Yunyi said indifferently: "The minister didn't know what reward he wanted for a while. ”

Mu Sheng thought for a while, summoned the head of the inner court and asked, "Yang Jin, I seem to remember the last time I checked the treasure recorded in the inner library, there was a magic weapon inner armor stored in the library, you took it and gave it to Fang Tianshi." ”

Yang Jin said: "Your Majesty does have this thing, and the slave will send someone to get it." ”

After that, he went to the outside of the temple and sent two temple people to inform the treasury officials to go to the inner treasury to collect the treasure.

When Fang Yunyi heard this, his heart moved, this magic weapon inner armor is much more valuable than ordinary magic weapons, basically there is no price, refining the inner armor of the magic weapon is time-consuming and labor-intensive, the most important thing is that the materials consumed are several times more than ordinary weapon-type magic weapons, and the magic weapon-level inner armor is rarely held by even old monster-level monks, that is, the wealthy imperial court can reward it.

After a while, Yang Jin held the tray and handed it to Fang Yunyi, she looked at the extremely rare magic weapon inner armor on the plate, her heart was still a little excited, she immediately kowtowed and thanked her: "Minister thank Your Majesty Longen, long live my emperor, long live, long live." ”

Mu Sheng smiled: "Yunyi, do a good job, if you have nothing to do, just retreat." ”

"The minister retired." After that, Fang Yunyi took the inner armor and withdrew from the main hall.

Mu Sheng looked at the left and right phases and asked, "The case of Shucheng, let's discuss it carefully." ”

After reading the file, Zuo Xianggao said in advance: "Your Majesty, the Shucheng case, the Xiang family, the Fan family, and the Cai family involved in the case, were the three most powerful families in the Lu State in the era of the nations, and the Xiang family behind the mastermind Xiang Lan all ran out of the sea, and the Cai and Fan people involved in the case were convicted by the court lieutenant, and the three clans, and the rest of the people involved in the case were exiled to the border of Beidi County according to His Majesty's wishes, and now the three major families have been uprooted, and the fields left behind have passed through the local counties and counties, and the whole 180,000 hectares of fertile land, They are now nationalized. ”

When Mu Sheng heard this, he was a little surprised, in this era, one hectare of land is equivalent to 50 mu, 10,000 hectare is equivalent to 500,000 mu of land, 180,000 hectares is equivalent to 9 million mu of land, and now the land that has come out of the country is only 500 million mu of cultivated land, 9 million mu of land, this figure is quite exaggerated.

Mu Sheng exclaimed: "So much land? These Kanto families are really deep. ”

Zuo Xiang said solemnly: "Your Majesty, the Seven Kingdoms of Kanto are not like us after the change of law in Guanzhong, there are almost no big families, most of them are self-cultivated farmers in Guanzhong, and the big families in the old land of Kanto are not separated, in the era of the nations, most of these big families are officials in the court, and many families have been rooted in the local area for hundreds of years. ”

"The Xiang clan who plotted against each other this time, the era of the nations was the Xiang royal family, and later the Xiang country was annexed by the Lu country, and the Xiang family has always been in the Lu court as the secretary, passed down from generation to generation, and it is indeed profound, after the unification of the eight years, after the destruction of the Lu country, the Tian family, which is the most powerful in Lu, was moved to the middle of the court, and the Xiang family has become the head of the Lu family, which continues to this day."

When Mu Sheng heard this, it was clear that after the imperial court unified the world, it still made a lot of efforts to eradicate the local families in various countries, and moved the most influential families in various countries to Guanzhong, but it was always impossible to press all the wealthy forces in Guanzhong, and still left many families with inferior influence such as Xiang, Fan, and Cai to be powerful in the local area.

Mu Sheng asked: "The three families have so much land, there must be a lot of tenants who are attached to the three families, right?" ”

Zuo Xiang Gao said: "Indeed, there are at least hundreds of thousands of tenants attached to the three major families, and when the first emperor reigned, he swept away the princes of various countries, in order to envelop these local old nobles in the Kwantung region, the taxes levied on the land under the names of these nobles have been reduced, and many local yeoman farmers have also taken their fields to these old nobles to be their tenants, and they can pay a lot less taxes." In fact, since the unification of the world by the dynasty, the power of these local old nobles is getting bigger and bigger, and even the local parents and officials have to cooperate with them to collect taxes for the imperial court. ”

Mu Sheng understood as soon as he heard it, in fact, this preferential policy is to exchange rich economic interests for these local snakes not to get up to make trouble, the world is initially decided, after the empire fell into the Seven Kingdoms, the expansion speed is too fast, the territory is too large, and the foundation is unstable, there is no way to do it, you abolish the political rights of others, then you have to compensate for the corresponding economic interests, and force people too tightly, and the result is that the smoke is everywhere, not to mention the unification of the world, it is to press the gourd and raise the scoop, and the cost of unifying the world is too high.

Mu Sheng said: "Now it seems that even if the imperial court treats the wealthy families from all over the country so kindly, they are still unconvinced, Gao Xiangguo, how do you think these old nobles should be treated?" ”

Gao Zhong thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, there is no very good way, I have only been unifying the world for twenty-seven years, less than a generation, to be honest, as long as they do not openly rebel, it is already very good, as long as I have a transition of two or three generations in the long period of peace and stability, it is enough to smooth out the aspirations of these people to restore the country." ”

Mu Sheng bowed his head and said: "It makes sense. ”

Mu Sheng turned his head and asked Zhao Shu again: "Zhao Xiangguo, what do you think should be done with the hundreds of thousands of tenant farmers who are dependent on the three families?" ”

Zhao Shu said: "Your Majesty, the minister suggested that the land of the three families be sold to the tenants at a low price to continue farming and solve their livelihood problems, or they should all be moved to Kansai to redistribute the land. ”

Mu Sheng thought about it and still preferred the second option, he knew that large-scale immigration was very hateful in this era, and now that this traffic condition is on a trip, many people will die on the road, and even half of the people will die on the migration road for various reasons, and the cost of simply solving the employment on the spot will be much smaller.

Mu Sheng asked, "At what price is that acre of land going to be sold to tenant farmers?" ”

Zhao Shuyi stretched out his hand and said: "The current market price of land is at least 1,000 yuan per mu, and the imperial court intends to sell it to local tenant farmers at a price of 500 yuan. ”

Mu Sheng said: "Now the imperial court does not seem to be short of money, I have an idea, simply measure these lands and give them to local tenant farmers for free, now that the imperial court taxes have been reduced by almost half, they should not be dependent on these local wealthy families in order to avoid taxes." ”

When Zhao Shu heard this, his face changed slightly, and he said, "Your Majesty must not act like this. ”

After Zhao Shu's explanation, Mu Sheng understood.

Mu Sheng suddenly said: "I understand, this market price, selling at a low price, is just a disguise?" In fact, it is to facilitate the local wealthy families to continue to annex land? Also, these tenant farmers don't actually have much money in their hands, even if they buy at a low price, the purchasing power of each household is limited, in fact, the real purpose is to facilitate those wealthy families to settle land at a low price, and most of these tenants can only turn around and continue to rent these people's land, am I right? ”

Zuo Xiang said solemnly: "What Your Majesty said is extreme, this Xiang, Cai, and Fan families fall, and the land left behind is a huge piece of fat, everyone is eyeing it, if the court directly allocates land, then these wealthy families will not take any advantage at all, and will also incur their resentment against the court, Zhao Xiang means that the imperial court is best to share the fertilizer with other local wealthy families, which is also buying the hearts of other local wealthy families in disguise." ”

Mu Sheng turned around a few times with his hands behind his back and said, "Do you say that there are many ordinary people in this world, or are there many wealthy people?" ”

Zhao Shu came to his senses and said, "Your Majesty, do you want to stand on the side of these hundreds of thousands of tenants at the expense of offending the local wealthy clans?" ”

Mu Sheng said: "Yes, I plan to stand on the side of the people, if the imperial court gives all the land to these tenants, who do you think these tenants will be grateful to?" ”

Zhao Shu said leisurely: "Your Majesty, the minister is also a wealthy family in the land, I am afraid that this move will cause the hatred of the people of the world, and the local wealthy family is only afraid that it will be more lustful, and the minister is worried that Your Majesty, your holy name is dirty." ”

Of course, Mu Sheng knows what this will lead to, not only will he be infamous on his back, but he will also be scolded as a tyrant and a faint monarch, his move is to completely offend the local interest groups, the people are illiterate, they are actually completely excluded from the social discourse system, your good to the people will not be remembered at all, your good governance is to hinder those wealthy families from grabbing benefits, this is your biggest evil, in Goose City, you can unite the wealthy people to oppress the people, but you must not offend Huang Shilang, who is literate and hyphenation.

Mu Sheng frowned and thought about it, or decided to directly distribute the land to the people, as a leader, you have to be responsible, you want to do things, and you don't want to be infamous? That's impossible.

Mu Sheng was resolute and said: "I still decided to distribute the land directly to the people, this is also to remind these wealthy families in the Kanto region that they dare to have different intentions, and the three families of Xiang, Cai, and Fan are their ends, as for the name of the saint is tainted?" I don't care, let them scold. ”

The left and right sides looked at each other, since the emperor said so, what else could he do? Just execute it.

After the matter came to an end, Mu Sheng asked: "Zhao Xiangguo, Gao Xiangguo, and the ten volumes of civil policy provided by the Tsing Yi envoy have also read it?" What can be done? ”

The so-called Ten Volumes of Civil Policy were collected from a civil survey by Bian Hu, the chief prosecutor, about the old land of Kanto, the impact of the imperial court's policies and decrees over the years, and the specific situation of the implementation of the imperial court laws in the old land of Kanto.

Zuo Xianggao said solemnly: "Your Majesty, this matter is very important, why don't you convene a court meeting to discuss this matter publicly?" ”

Mu Sheng said: "There is no need to hold a court meeting, just discuss it here." ”

Mu Sheng remembered the court discussion caused by the Dongjun civil uprising during Huo Xiangguo's dictatorship a year ago, basically he knew everyone's views and attitudes about it, and if it was in the open court, it would be difficult for conservatives like Dr. Bao to jump out and advocate for separation, so it was better to discuss it on a small scale and implement it directly.

The main significance of the conference is to go on a show, set the tone, lick the leader, show the acting skills, and the significance of the conference is not very large.

Right Prime Minister Zhao Shu first said: "Your Majesty, I didn't expect that after so many years, the old land of Kanto still can't adapt to the laws of our dynasty, I'm afraid that the people have some resentment, but fortunately, Your Majesty is benevolent and has reduced half of the world's taxes, which can still win some people's hearts." ”

After reading the ten volumes of the Minzhi policy, Zuo Xianggao speculated that the emperor might greatly adjust the national policy of the old land in the Kanto region, so he took advantage of the situation and said:

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the law of our dynasty is indeed too harsh, overbearing, not enough leniency, the people do not know the education, only know the benefits and do not know the etiquette, the land of the three Jin Dynasty since the Wu Gong changed the law, it has been more than 100 years, has long adapted to the Jin law, now the old land of Kanto, the culture and education are prosperous, the people are scattered, the family law is greater than the national law, the wind of private fighting prevails, the customs and customs are very different from the land of the Three Jins, these more than 20 years, if it is not for the old land of Kanto to fear the prestige of the first emperor, afraid of the change of the minds of the people in the world, the civil uprising that broke out in Dongjun last year can be seen, Now our dynasty must adjust the rule of officials as soon as possible in order to reassure the hearts of the people in the world. ”

Mu Sheng bowed his head and said: "What Gao Xiangguo said is very true. ”

Right Prime Minister Zhao Shu said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that Prince Li supervised the administration of the first emperor on behalf of the emperor, and has further adjusted some of the laws and policies, regardless of Guanzhong, the people of the old land in the Kanto region have praised Prince Li's virtuous name, if you want to further stabilize the overall situation, it is indeed imperative to change the law." ”

Gao Chongyan's face showed surprise when he heard this, and he dared to say it directly by praising Prince Li's remarks. If Gao Zhong knew that Prince Lian Li was killed by Zhao Shu, the look on his face would be even more exciting.

The emperor actually nodded and admitted: "Well, what Zhao Xiangguo said is very true, when I was awarded the title of Changping Jun, I also had some expectations for the former prince, if he was in power, he would be a generation of benevolent lords, I actually thought about how to govern in the old land of Kanto, and wrote a countermeasure during the parade, Zhao Xiangguo and Gao Xiangguo can be seen." ”

The emperor said, and Yang Jin, who was standing aside, had already presented the prepared bamboo slips.