The secret letter of the Son of Heaven did not break the peace in Zhang Yan's heart.

Since the beginning of winter, there has been a rare brief peace in the Shili area under his control, and he is about to take advantage of this time to do something he has to do.

Zhang Yan successively occupied large areas of land in Qingzhou, Yanzhou and part of Yuzhou during the year, but due to the wars in the territory for many years, the fields were barren and the population flow was also very strong.

In addition, Zhang Yan's military expenditure and grain consumption were extremely serious this year, and the implementation of tuntian was imminent, otherwise, once he encountered a famine year, it was very likely that a famine would break out, which was extremely unfavorable to the area he ruled.

In such a feudal society, land is the most important thing, and only with land can food be grown. And this era is precisely the era of agrarian economy, and the development of agriculture directly determines the fate of the country.

The Eastern Han Dynasty followed the Western Han Dynasty system, and the same is true in the land system, which stipulates that six feet is one step and one hundred steps is one acre. Compared with the modern ruler, the Han ruler is slightly shorter, so one acre of land in the Han Dynasty is much smaller than the current one acre.

At this time, one foot is only equivalent to about twenty-three centimeters now, which is much shorter than the modern one-foot, so in ancient records, there are often descriptions of eight feet in length, if converted according to the units at that time, that is, a height of more than one meter and eight feet.

Zhang Yan wanted to promote the modern ruler to the places under his control, but he did not have an accurate scale, so he could only give up and continue to use the ancient ruler.

As a result, Zhang Yan issued an order for all counties to re-measure the acres of land within their borders. and recount the population of the territory. And then according to the size of the population. Divide the land among them to cultivate.

In addition, the taxes levied in the Han Dynasty were also a bit too heavy, and both the land tax and the population tax had to be levied, which undoubtedly increased the taxes of the people.

Zhang Yan decided to formulate different types of taxes according to the different classes of scholars, farmers, industrialists, and merchants in the territory under his rule, among which the nobles and craftsmen were formulated. Only a population tax was levied, two hundred dollars per person per year; The common people who work in agriculture only collect one-twentieth of the annual harvest per acre; For those who do business, a business tax is levied at five percent of their turnover per month.

In addition, for those families who own a lot of land and have a large number of family members and slaves, a population tax and a land tax are levied at the same time, and if the family is also engaged in commercial activities, a business tax is also levied.

This decree has not yet been promulgated. Zhang Yan also considered that once the decree was promulgated, it was likely to hit many families.

this era. It was an era when land annexation was more serious, and there were often private soldiers in the family, taking advantage of the social turmoil, forcibly seizing and occupying a large amount of land, so that those landless people became their tenants, desperately farming for them, and became slaves of the family.

Moreover, in order to evade taxes, the family family is even more trying to avoid taxes, so that the government can not collect taxes, and the people are reduced to slaves, so that the vicious circle continues, the family will become more rampant.

To this end, Zhang Yan also specially asked the counties to recount the population and recompile the household registration, so that those people would no longer become slaves of the family, so that they could be liberated and return to the land, while working hard for themselves, while providing more taxes for the rulers.

Before the promulgation of this decree, Zhang Yan also specially invited Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Chen Qun and others to discuss and see their reactions before deciding whether to continue promulgating this decree.

After all, Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Chen Qun and others were all scholars and belonged to the scholar clan, and below Zhang Yan, many officials were from the scholar clan, and Zhang Yan also wanted to hear the opinions of Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Chen Qun and others whether this decree could touch the interests.

Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Chen Qun and others came to the hall one after another, and after learning that Zhang Yan wanted to issue a new decree, they all unexpectedly expressed their strong support.

Zhang Yan was a little overjoyed at this news, but he didn't expect Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, Chen Qun and others to support it so much.

Chen Qun said: "My lord, we are only at the level of representatives, but whether the decree can be promulgated smoothly still needs more opinions." Moreover, this decree seems to be aimed at the local tycoons, who have a great deal of land, households, slaves, and tenants, and I fear that this decree, if enacted, will anger the interests of the local tycoons. Mi Taishou is the richest man in Xuzhou, he is a typical representative of the local wealthy family, the family in the house, slaves and maids are in groups, the name of the land is very large, and the tenants who cultivate for him are countless. The lord should ask Mi Taishou to come to Pengcheng for a visit and discuss this decree with him in detail, if he can accept this decree, then others will naturally be no problem! ”

After listening to Chen Qun's words, Zhang Yan felt that it was very reasonable. So, he sent someone to Tancheng in Donghai County to invite his brother-in-law Mi Zhu to Pengcheng. However, the matter of re-measuring the land and re-counting the population was officially promulgated today, and it was strictly ordered that all counties and counties must do the truth, and for this reason, Zhang Yan also specially dispatched Zhang Zhao, Chen Qun, and Zhang Hong as special envoys to various places to supervise the completion of this matter.

Zhang Zhao, Zhang Hong, and Chen Qun happily accepted the order, braved the wind and snow, and each took a team of followers to officially hit the road.

Not long after they left, the scouts came with news from Peiguo that Xu Chu, together with his brother Xu Ding, had repelled Guo Gong, the assassin of Yuzhou. Guo Gong fled and went to the state of Chen, Xu Chu pursued Guo Gong until the territory of the state of Chen, and Liu Chong, the king of Chen, led his troops to kill Guo Gong, dedicated his head to Xu Chu, and sent the minister of state Luo Jun to Pengcheng with Xu Chu, asking for friendship with Zhang Yan.

Xu Chu and Luo Jun were still on the road, but the news was delivered first, so Zhang Yan asked Chen Qi to serve as the minister of Peiguo, and temporarily took the post of assassin of Yuzhou, and appointed Xu Chu's brother Xu Ding as the county commander of Qian County.

Two days later, Mi Zhu arrived in Pengcheng, Zhang Yan warmly greeted him, gave him a warm welcome, and ordered someone to make a pot of good tea, respectfully respecting his brother-in-law.

"The lord didn't invite me here just for tea, right?" Mi Zhu asked straight to the point.

Zhang Yan put down the teacup in his hand and said with a smile: "Brother is smart, I really can't hide it from you." However, these words were a little difficult to speak, and I didn't know how to explain them to my brother. ”

Mi Zhu said: "What the lord should say, just say it, we are all a family, how can we divide each other?" ”

Zhang Yan cleared his throat, so he said to Mi Zhu: "Brother, the situation of our army, I think my brother knows it well, this year our army has been fighting continuously, and the army has expanded to 100,000 people, and the consumption of grain is also extremely serious. I would like to promote the tuntian in the territory under my jurisdiction and rest for a few years to accumulate grain and prepare for the future. However, now most of the land is in the hands of local tyrants, and the people have become their slaves, coupled with the unfavorable collection of taxes, all kinds of reasons are entangled together, and it is even more urgent to rectify and change the status quo. For this reason, I have made a series of decrees, and I would like to ask my brother to look at them and see if there is anything wrong with them! ”

After speaking, Zhang Yan wrote the haode official document and handed it to Mi Zhu.

Mi Zhu took the official document and read it carefully, his eyebrows were inadvertently raised, and a trace of embarrassment flashed in his eyes.

"Brother, these decrees are just a draft and have not yet formed a formal document, if my brother thinks there is anything wrong, put it forward and we will discuss it." Seeing this, Zhang Yan hurriedly said euphemistically.

Who knows, Mi Zhu put down the official document, and his frowning brows immediately relaxed, and immediately said: "No need to discuss anymore, I think these decrees are very well formulated, so let the lord issue them like this!" ”

Zhang Yan couldn't believe his ears, there were many unfavorable things in this decree that were unfavorable to Mi Zhu, and Mi Zhu could still agree?

Without waiting for Zhang Yan to speak, Mi Zhu said: "It is a wise move for the lord to carry out rectification at this time, not to mention other places, in Xuzhou alone, there are countless wealthy families who bully men and women and forcibly occupy acres of land. When Tao Envoy Jun was there, most of them relied on these wealthy families. Now that the times are different from the past, our army has gradually become stronger, and these wealthy families have become a cancer, and if we do not try to eradicate it, it will inevitably cause harm in the future. If these decrees are promulgated, they will inevitably cause an uproar, and it is possible that some local tyrants will rebel against the lord because of this incident. The Lord must be prepared to issue this decree. But after all, the local tyrants are only a very small part, and even if they rebel, they will be quickly pacified. As the richest man in Xuzhou, and I am very close to my lord, I have accepted these decrees when I set an example first, and I believe that others will be able to accept them. ”

"Am I killing my relatives in righteousness?" Zhang Yan asked himself.

But the answer he gave in his heart was not like this, although these laws will touch the interests of some people, but they are undoubtedly a long-term solution, as long as those places are strong and law-abiding, and pay taxes, population taxes, or commercial taxes on time, the government will naturally not trouble them.

This decree is aimed at those powerful and bullies who do not abide by the law, and if they are not severely attacked, the government will lose a lot.

Seeing that Mi Zhu accepted it calmly, Zhang Yan couldn't help but admire the mind of this brother-in-law, and at the same time felt happy and proud that he had such an uncle.

Later, Mi Zhu even suggested that Zhang Yan immediately promulgate this decree, so that money and grain could continue to pour into the treasury.

In business, in business, in official, Mi Zhu is no longer in business, and he himself is still the Taishou of Donghai County, if he does not set an example, how can he be convincing?

Zhang Yan and Mi Zhu had a very happy conversation, and Mi Zhu suddenly said: "I heard the third sister say that the lord has been worrying about the purchase of horses recently, I don't know if it's true?" ”

Zhang Yan said: "It's not a secret, it's true." Although there are now 100,000 people in our army, all the cavalry together is less than 1,000, which is really a pitiful few. The cavalry that Tao Envoy left behind for me almost all died out in the war. And war is inseparable from cavalry, and without horses, there will be no cavalry. Liangzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou are all places rich in horses, but Liangzhou is too far away and the roads are not passable, so it is not suitable to go. And the state is blocked by mountains, and Youzhou is blocked by Yuan Shao, so it is not easy to purchase horses. ”

Mi Zhu said: "Why doesn't the lord take the sea route, take a boat from the sea to Youzhou, and then transport the horses back to Xuzhou by boat?" (To be continued......)