Chapter 1203: Farmland, Short of Hands

"Wang Yansheng!" Emperor Liu said with a half-smile, looking at Wang Yansheng, who was broad-shouldered and thick-waisted yet stood with hands clasped and back bowed, calling out softly.

"Your servant is here! What does Your Majesty command?" Wang Yansheng wore a look of meek deference, as docile as a kitten.

"Swinging a hoe is harder than donning armor and bearing arms, isn't it?" Emperor Liu said.

Hearing this, Wang Yansheng's heart immediately began to mutter—who had leaked his words to the Emperor this time? Stealing a careful glance at Emperor Liu, Wang Yansheng gave a simple-minded grin: "Your Majesty knows your servant well—good at mounting a horse in full armor and charging into battle, but this business of tilling fields is truly hard to endure!"

"Of all the soldiers in the Great Han, how many come from farming families? You led troops in the northwest for years—which soldier doesn't draw his blade to kill bandits, then dismount to plow the fields?" Emperor Liu's tone turned stern: "A state is founded on agriculture, and the people consider food their heaven. What is the meaning of you so despising cultivation and loathing farming?"

Seeing the Emperor's attitude, Wang Yansheng immediately changed his expression, clasping his hands solemnly: "Your Majesty speaks too heavily. Your servant has no such intention—it's just that after years of military life, I've seldom tended to the fields and am unskilled in such matters. If Your Majesty truly ordered me to farm, I would not utter a word of complaint. This spring plowing, I would live by the fields and tend the crops—no problem at all!"

Seeing this, Emperor Liu laughed and shot him a glare: "Sending a veteran of the battlefield like you to plow fields—even if you had no complaints, others would criticize My method of employing men!"

Hearing this, Wang Yansheng chuckled. Looking at him, Emperor Liu pointed to the ground beside him and instructed: "Sit!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Wang Yansheng did not decline, plopping his backside down onto a turned-up clod of earth.

"Let Me ask you—how much land does your household have?" Emperor Liu asked him.

Wang Yansheng was clearly stunned, momentarily at a loss for how to answer. Seeing this, Emperor Liu's brow furrowed slightly and his voice grew heavier: "What, is that question so hard to answer?"

Wang Yansheng shook his head repeatedly, finally squeezing out an answer: "Your servant does not know either."

Raising an eyebrow, Emperor Liu showed a surprised expression: "You don't even know how many mu of land are under your own name? Is it too much to count?"

Wang Yansheng was a bit embarrassed, replying: "Your servant has never paid attention to it. Affairs of the household have always been managed by my wife. The court has bestowed some meritorious service lands over the years—it should be under a thousand mu. When your servant returns home, I will ask my wife and then report to Your Majesty."

"Enough!" Emperor Liu waved his hand and chuckled lightly: "You—you don't even know how much land your own household has. Fortunately, you have a wife who can manage the household, otherwise..."

Saying this, Emperor Liu said leisurely: "If it's within a thousand mu, compared to those families with hundreds of qing or ten thousand mu at every turn, it's not much!"

In the early years, meritorious officials were rewarded with land, but that was later abolished, replaced purely with noble rank and stipends. However, after all these years, the lands of some ducal and ministerial families had grown considerable. Especially within the tax-exemption limits, some people had been gradually purchasing more.

"Having more is useless!" Wang Yansheng said directly: "No matter how much land one possesses, if there's no one to till it, it ends up abandoned."

Unable to resist glancing at Wang Yansheng, Emperor Liu pondered a moment, then asked: "Does your household lack people to work the land?"

At this mention, Wang Yansheng answered honestly: "Previously, my wife did mention this matter to me. To deal with it, when the farming season came, we sent the household servants down to the fields and also hired some villagers to help—only then was it resolved..."

From Wang Yansheng's situation, one could glimpse the current state of land and population in the Great Han. To this day, the Great Han still did not lack large landowners, especially aristocratic military-merit landowners—but though the land was plentiful, what was actually utilized was not much.

The constraint lay in the available farming population. With land but no people, the surplus land was merely decoration. The reason was that the Great Han's agricultural population was far from saturation—ordinary commoners in the early period mostly owned and worked their own land, and with the further development of commerce, the flourishing handicraft industry had also absorbed a large number of agricultural and pastoral people.

Therefore, for many large landowners, even if they had enough land, without sufficient labor to work it, they could not create enough value and wealth. Back then, the reason Emperor Liu had carried out large-scale relocation of households and powerful clans in Jiangzhe was not only to suppress the powerful—the primary purpose was to liberate the population and labor force that were parasitic upon these powerful families. Population and land are difficult to exist in isolation.

"Guanglie!" Emperor Liu suddenly called out again.

"Your Majesty!" Wang Yansheng reflexively stood up.

"Since the Hexi campaign, you've returned to the capital to serve in the imperial army—it's been several years now, hasn't it!" Emperor Liu said.

Wang Yansheng clasped his hands: "To answer Your Majesty, five years and seven months!"

"This you remember clearly!" Emperor Liu glanced at him and said: "Keeping a frontier general stationed permanently in the capital is like caging a tiger in a pen—you've grown tired of it, haven't you!"

Hearing this, Wang Yansheng immediately said: "The two capitals are prosperous—how could one ever tire of them? It's just that after so long without activity, I fear my old bones are stiffening and I can no longer take cities and break formations for Your Majesty!"

"Haha!" Emperor Liu laughed, saying to Liu Yang beside him: "Look, everyone says Wang Guanglie is crude and reckless, but he certainly knows how to speak!"

"All thanks to Your Majesty's instruction!" Wang Yansheng added.

His smile gradually faded, and Emperor Liu said to him seriously: "Would you still be willing to go to the borderlands to take command of troops?"

Seeing this, Wang Yansheng did not hesitate in the slightest: "Your Majesty, please give the order!"

"Go to Hexi!" Emperor Liu said decisively.

Wang Yansheng's eyes lit up, and he took the initiative to ask: "May I ask Your Majesty—are we to strike at the Western Regions, or march north to attack the Liao?"

"A matter that moves the whole body with a single hair cannot be decided lightly!" Emperor Liu was satisfied with Wang Yansheng's eager attitude, and his expression grew gentler: "Guo Jin, I also plan to send to the northwest. It was you two who led the charge and recovered Gansu back then—now, continue working as partners. After you return to the city, the appointment edict will be delivered!"

Finally, Emperor Liu added one more line: "Also, make thorough preparations for war—be ready to march out upon receiving the imperial summons at any time!"

"Yes!" Wang Yansheng's voice rose several notes.

"It seems the Great Han still lacks a farming population! Our dukes and nobles, especially!" After Wang Yansheng took his leave, Emperor Liu remarked to Liu Yang with emotion.

"Father, you have always upheld the suppression of the powerful and curbing of land annexation. Since we lack people and cultivation, they won't simply annex endlessly and greedily seek more—this is a good thing!" Liu Yang thought for a moment and said.

Emperor Liu, however, shook his head and said calmly: "Suppressing annexation is indeed policy, but one must not stop eating for fear of choking. Land left vacant is also wasted. More importantly, since there's a problem, clever people will think of ways to solve it—if they have the need, they will act. In that case, how do you think those lacking labor will solve it, so as not to let their lands go fallow?"

"This..." Liu Yang hesitated, furrowing his brow and asking: "You're worried there will be incidents of coercing or conscripting the people?"

"Without investigation, how can one know?" Emperor Liu said softly.

Liu Yang understood, and took the initiative: "Your son will order the censors and inspectors in all regions to pay attention to this matter and see whether such situations exist!"

"Mm!" Emperor Liu acknowledged, then said: "After returning to the palace, prepare for a court assembly. The reform of the government structure and adjustment of official posts have been brewing for so long—those above and below are probably all waiting impatiently. It's time to produce a result."

Essentially, Emperor Liu spent the whole day in the fields, and when he finally returned to the palace, his back and waist ached—after all, he was getting on in years and accustomed to a life of ease. This business of working the land was truly more exhausting than riding horses and shooting arrows.

"Your servant Zhao Pu, paying respects to the Crown Prince!" In the ceremonial procession, Zhao Pu, having received the Crown Prince's summons, hurried over to present himself.

Because of Emperor Liu's instruction, Liu Yang was also quite respectful toward Zhao Pu, his manner as gentle as a soft breeze, speaking warmly: "Chancellor Zhao, no need for ceremony—please board the carriage so we may talk!"

Seeing this, Zhao Pu looked around, then clasped his hands and bowed: "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Then, supported by a palace eunuch, he mounted the carriage. A faint fragrance permeated the interior. Looking at Zhao Pu, Liu Yang wasted no words and said directly: "I have summoned you, Chancellor, to seek your counsel on a matter!"

"I dare not presume! Please instruct me, Your Highness—your servant will speak all he knows without reservation!" Zhao Pu immediately replied.

Liu Yang said: "At present, how many mu of registered farmland does the Great Han have in total?"

At the question, Zhao Pu answered crisply: "According to current records, all registered farmland, including military fields and official duty fields, amounts to approximately three million nine hundred ten thousand qing of cultivated land nationwide!"

"Is that too little, or too much?" Liu Yang asked.

"Given the Great Han's current population, it is not little! Your servant has examined the land records of past dynasties—the Great Han's current land situation still leaves much room for reclamation!"

Nodding slightly, Liu Yang pondered for a while himself, then shared the topic Emperor Liu had just discussed with Zhao Pu, and asked for his counsel: "Regarding the situation of ducal and ministerial lands lacking labor, both His Majesty and I worry there may be incidents of coercing or conscripting the people. What advice does the Chancellor have for me?"

Zhao Pu suddenly understood, and answered composedly: "Your Highness, your servant has also noticed these situations. At present, it has become prevalent for ducal, ministerial, and wealthy households to hire commoners to work during the farming season. If Your Majesty and the Crown Prince are concerned about illegal activities within this, the court could issue a decree to regulate hiring practices and protect the interests of the hired commoners!"

Liu Yang's expression brightened slightly, seeming to think this was a good approach—but he quickly calmed down and pointed out: "Even so, I fear it will be difficult to completely solve the problem of labor shortage!"

"Your Highness is perceptive! However, the Great Han's population is still growing. Once the household registers are full, what will need to be worried about then is too many people and too little land." Zhao Pu praised Liu Yang.

Meeting his gaze, Zhao Pu then reported another matter: "Previously, Zhao Kuangyi, the Prefectural Administrator of Jiaozhou, submitted a memorial stating that beyond Annam, there is no shortage of native and barbarian peoples skilled in farming, who might be captured and brought inland as slaves, devoted solely to labor..."