Chapter 1876: The Son of Heaven's

Emperor Liu spent a full hour or more discussing the issue of imperial private property with Liu Gui, and produced a series of measures to reduce rents and interest rates and lighten the people's burdens. Of course, all of this was carried out under Emperor Liu's "guidance."

Having Liu Gui find ways to earn profits and accumulate wealth—that was what he excelled at and what he was happy to do. But making him cut flesh from his own body was not so simple. First, there was a psychological barrier. Even the earlier drastic pruning of the Shaofu's enterprises was, in essence, still aimed at pursuing higher returns.

Of course, the most critical reason was that matters of benefiting the people and farmers, proclaiming virtue and grace, and displaying His Majesty the Emperor's benevolence and compassion—how could a loyal servant presume to overstep?

Emperor Liu merely put forward certain ideas; as for perfecting the details and specific measures, Liu Gui was still responsible for issuing and implementing them, likewise guaranteeing to handle matters beautifully for Emperor Liu.

The Shaofu's management reform of the lands under its jurisdiction could be seen as an important supplement to the Great Han's tax reform this time. After all, it involved hundreds of thousands of qing of land and pasture, and millions of farmers and herders. Given the Great Han's enormous size, the weight of this was not light.

The core of the tax reform lay in land. Emperor Liu's original intention in reforming was to lighten the burden on small farmers and common people and ease social class contradictions. Whether from the national scope or the Shaofu level, the goals were unified.

However, the Shaofu's reform clearly caused a greater stir. For those meritorious nobles whose interests were damaged, if Emperor Liu would not only cut flesh from imperial princes and princesses, but in his ruthlessness would even cut his own flesh—having reached this extent, what more could these people say?

As for the common folk who served the imperial house like oxen and horses, there was great joy and delight beyond measure. The dark clouds that had filled the sky dispersed, and sunlight and hope once again shone upon the world...

Just as Emperor Liu had said, due to the heavy tribute burdens, the farmers tilling imperial lands harbored no small resentment, and as time passed, it grew ever deeper. Especially over the past decade or so, no small number of disturbances had actually occurred in various regions, only to be suppressed by local authorities in coordination with the Shaofu.

As for this portion of the farming population, facing oppression, they dared not resist and had no way to resist, because when they looked up, all they saw was a sky surnamed Liu. Standing beneath the sky of the Great Han, breathing the air of the Great Han, tilling the soil of the Great Han, they had scarcely any freedom at all.

For many ordinary commoners, when days were hard and survival was impossible, there were many choices—engaging in trade, seeking work, relocating to the frontiers, going overseas, or even becoming slaves or servants. No matter what, at least there was the opportunity to choose.

But those farming households under the Shaofu's control had no room for choice at all. Apart from being driven like old yellow oxen to labor and produce, paying money and supplying grain, adding luster to the imperial house's enjoyment, they had no other way out.

Flee? There was nowhere to flee. Under heaven, all land is the king's land. Especially against the backdrop of the Great Han's increasingly complete and strict household registration management, becoming a fugitive household was an extremely risky matter. To resist violently would require paying with one's life and the safety of one's closest kin...

Therefore, over the long years, many imperial tenant farmers had long since grown numb, their lives shrouded in darkness with no hope in sight. As for Liu Gui's talk of how laboring and dedicating oneself to the imperial house was glorious and fortunate—that was pure nonsense...

Many times, reality was just this contradictory, even surreal. Emperor Liu looked upon the rise of local clan and powerful forces, and upon the personal dependency based on land in the villages, with displeasure however he looked at it, wishing he could smash them to pieces. Yet his own practices were even more excessive, more thorough, and larger in scale than those of ordinary landlords and local tyrants.

Perhaps, in Emperor Liu's value system, all the people under heaven should only be attached to him, the Emperor. Everything else was illegal, all of it digging at the roots of imperial power... Only, Emperor Liu also knew in his heart that between the sovereign and the state, there was ultimately a boundary that could never be eliminated, and the two could never truly merge into one. Selfishness was unavoidable, and it naturally brought out some decisions and actions that ran contrary to his "wisdom"...

Allowing and ignoring the Shaofu's severe exploitation of tenant farmers was only one of Emperor Liu's many muddled decisions. Fortunately, however, Emperor Liu's muddle-headedness also had a time limit. When he woke up and realized the seriousness of the problem, he changed course without the slightest hesitation.

For Emperor Liu, the imperial house possessing vast amounts of land and a large dependent population—these were the foundations of the imperial house, naturally to be carefully nurtured and treated well, to preserve their awe and loyalty toward the imperial house.

But the Shaofu's past practices clearly ran contrary to this. Even Emperor Liu himself could not help but be immersed in the enormous profits while neglecting the suffering of the tenant farmers.

Such practices clearly could not last. If continued long, they would inevitably lose the people's hearts, uprooting the foundation and severing the roots. Indeed, Emperor Liu had already come to believe that the imperial house had lost the people's hearts—this could not be taken lightly.

Knowing one's mistakes and being able to correct them, and correcting them decisively—this was one of Emperor Liu's great virtues. Thus, as Emperor Liu's imperial edict on imperial land reform was issued, and as the Shaofu gradually implemented it, those tenant farmers naturally beamed with joy.

Though the common people were humble, lowly, and dull-witted, they had their own ways of getting by, being especially shrewd at calculation. They couldn't figure out the big data, but the land they tilled themselves and the income from their own labor—they could calculate that with perfect clarity. Moreover, there were Shaofu officials and support personnel from the Pacification Commission going to the countryside to explain things, and the people-benefiting policies could not have been more transparent.

Without dwelling on details, they successfully made those farmers understand that starting from the twenty-fifth year of Kaibao, the fruits of their hard labor would no longer be plundered without limit by the Shaofu. The land naturally still belonged to the Son of Heaven, but apart from a small portion of the harvest that had to be handed over, the great majority could go into their own pockets and storehouses, to be disposed of freely as they wished.

It could be said that working for oneself while enjoying the "honor" of eating this "imperial grain"—for the vast numbers of imperial tenant farmers who had suffered exploitation and oppression, this was fortune descending from heaven. If such things as loyalty and goodwill ratings existed, then toward Emperor Liu, these two standards would inevitably skyrocket in a short time.

Of course, if it were merely preferential policies and tangible benefits being delivered, it wouldn't have caused such a big reaction. In the process of the reform, the Pacification Commission had put in great effort...

In the subsequent propaganda, the Shaofu's past excessive exploitation of tenant farmers was attributed to a portion of greedy and insatiable Shaofu officials who, hiding it from Emperor Liu, had committed one evil deed after another, squeezing them dry.

The great and wise Emperor, naturally, was kind and magnanimous, and would never oppress them, the small folk. He pitied and sympathized with their suffering.

Before, they had been deceived by those treacherous villains and wicked officials. Now, His Majesty the Emperor, seeing through everything with keen perception, naturally dispelled the clouds to reveal the sun, returning fairness to the tenant farmers...

Indeed, some small stories that sounded and looked very fake even appeared among the people—for example, that when Emperor Liu heard of the Shaofu's high taxation on the lands under its jurisdiction, he was dumbfounded, flew into a rage, and in his agitation even stumbled and fell.

After deep reflection, he urgently summoned Shaofu Director Liu Gui, and the sovereign and minister held secret discussions for several hours. His Majesty the Emperor personally guided and sternly ordered Liu Gui that reform was mandatory—real benefits for the people, reducing their burdens, and so on and so forth...

In short, His Majesty the Emperor's image was forever glorious!

The flattery was a bit overdone, the flavor of deception too strong—but some people believed it anyway. In the imperial estates scattered across all the circuits of the Great Han, rare as it was, cheers of "Long live!" erupted once again...