Chapter 199: Drafting a List

A surge of impulse rose in his heart—to issue an edict and deal with all these demons and monsters, these ox-headed ghosts and snake-gods in Luoyang. But it was only a fleeting impulse. Angry as he was, Liu Chengyou was not the sort to let rage cloud his judgment.

The land-grabbing situation in Luoyang was serious, even severe enough to be called egregious. But given the current state of the realm, to say these officials had truly committed great crimes—that would be going too far.

In a general environment of desolation and neglect, officials who "led by example," actively recruiting households, reclaiming wasteland for farming, restoring production, and generating tax revenue for the state—this ought to be "encouraged." What truly infuriated and alarmed Liu Chengyou was the ugliness of the methods and manners with which these officials seized land, and the fact that the encroachment on commoners' land was essentially undermining the court's foundations—and most importantly, the tax problem.

Under the old system, of the land held by these officials, aside from a fixed quota of tax-exempt acreage based on official rank, the remainder should have been subject to the regular summer and autumn tax levies. But the room for manipulation here was far too great. Letting bureaucrats collect taxes for the state on their own land—one could well imagine what would happen.

Moreover, among the land-grabbing officials were men of immense power and influence like Su Fengji. And as things stood, local finances had not yet been centralized; only a small portion of local tax revenue was delivered to the Eastern Capital, and how much that amounted to depended entirely on the conscience of powerful local officials and military officers.

Take the Western Capital as an example. If taxes were collected normally, how much revenue could actually be gathered from around Luoyang? That would have to carry a great big question mark. Evading taxes, dodging levies, even outright refusing to pay—these were likely the basic toolkit of this pack of officials. It was all but certain that the bulk of fiscal revenue came from the self-cultivating or semi-self-cultivating peasants who held only two-tenths of the land.

At the same time, most of what was collected had to go toward the normal operating expenses of the Western Capital's government offices, the provisioning of garrison troops, and the upkeep of those meritorious nobles and aristocrats. What could be delivered to the Eastern Capital for the court's disposal—one could well imagine how pitifully small that sum would be.

In fact, last year's autumn tax had been exactly like this.

His thoughts immediately jumped to the Great Song. Zhao Kuangyin's policy of buying back power, while it had taken away military authority and suppressed military officials, had also spawned a vast number of aristocratic landowners. Meritorious ministers, bureaucrats, and even local strongmen could all legally annex land and build lavish mansions and estates. For the state, taxes could never be fully collected, and every year it had to shell out vast quantities of grain and cloth to support them—meritorious ministers and bureaucrats all had to draw salaries. This was truly a heavy burden on the state's finances.

Zhao Kuangyin used land, salaries, titles, and rewards to buy the loyalty of the military, achieving his goal of "relieving generals of their command over wine" and resolving the "root cause" of military chaos since the end of Tang. But it also greatly accelerated the accumulation and eruption of land contradictions under the feudal dynastic system.

To be fair, had it been Shizong of the Zhou, Guo Rong, he would absolutely never have chosen such a method. It wasn't a difference in ability, but a matter of temperament. Guo Rong was resolute and impetuous—he would even "destroy Buddhism" to increase state revenue. How could he have saddled the state with such a burden?

His thoughts drifting slightly afield, Liu Chengyou could also understand with a bit more clarity the purpose behind the Song dynasty's establishment of Fiscal Commissioners in the various circuits and prefectures, specifically to control local fiscal revenue. Beyond strengthening central finances and stripping local military governors of their fiscal power, it was likely also constrained by that dangerous and tense land situation. If fiscal matters were not separated out and left to the manipulation of local bureaucrats, one could only wonder whether they would set aside private interests for the state, or defy the powerful and fulfill their duties.

Setting aside the distant for now, the problem before Liu Chengyou was: how to handle this?

Issuing an edict to seize their lands and estates—that was the simplest and most brutal approach, and also the one most likely to provoke unrest. And the effect might well backfire. Besides, not all of these people's land was illegally seized. A one-size-fits-all approach risked losing popular support.

Raising their taxes was a somewhat gentler measure, but the results would likely be less than satisfactory. More probable was that these "wealthy producers" would shift the burden onto the tenant farmers who worked their land.

But this situation had to be curbed. Plenty of suitable systems and policies could be conceived, but no matter how good the policy, someone had to implement it—and Liu Chengyou lacked people, and even more, lacked authority. Even if at this very moment he issued an edict strictly forbidding officials throughout the realm from privately enclosing land and seizing commoners, who would listen? Touch the interests of a class, and you would inevitably provoke collective resistance.

"Perhaps I need a batch of harsh officials?" Liu Chengyou muttered silently to himself.

Still, somewhat fortunately, "a small boat is easy to turn around." After decades of war and chaos, even though the Great Han had inherited many chronic ills from successive dynasties, the bureaucratic force was actually not yet all that powerful. As long as the central authority was strong enough, and the majesty of the imperial power and the court was established, the problem could eventually be pushed toward resolution.

How could the center become strong, how could the majesty of imperial power be established? In the end, it always came back to the military. There was no helping it—in this era, everything inevitably pointed to military power. The army was the foundation; might made right.

On the broader front, land policies and institutions would need to be redrawn according to the nation's needs.

The situation across the entire realm was absolutely not as severe as in Luoyang. After all, no matter how much land one seized, one needed enough people to cultivate it. In the stage of transitioning from chaos to order, land wasn't worth much—people mattered more. Moreover, looking at the local level, those military governors and regional strongmen—if they wanted to amass wealth and gather taxes, how could they allow their subordinate officials and officers to run too wild and harm local fiscal revenue? Of course, the biggest landowners of all were still those Military Governors, Surveillance Commissioners, Defense Commissioners, Militia Commissioners...

As for Luoyang, given its special political status as the Western Capital, the situation was clearly somewhat abnormal. In response, Liu Chengyou would have to find a way to suppress it.

"The military." Liu Chengyou murmured softly.

Li Shaoyou stood below the dais, having practically watched Liu Chengyou shift from anger to brooding, then fully back to calm, sitting there in thought. When he suddenly heard Liu Chengyou speak, he perked up—but was baffled by the mention of "the military." He considered himself quick-witted and fast on the uptake, yet now he felt he couldn't keep up with Liu Chengyou's train of thought. The imperial mind was indeed inscrutable.

Coming back to himself, Liu Chengyou glanced at Li Shaoyou and suddenly asked with curiosity: "Since many officials in the Eastern Capital have purchased estates and land in Luoyang, what about your family?"

Liu Chengyou's question made Li Shaoyou start. Was the fire now burning at his own doorstep? Carefully noting Liu Chengyou's expression—calm as ever—Li Shaoyou paused briefly, then answered honestly: "Your servant and my father together hold three estates, one hundred qing of farmland, and employ roughly a hundred tenant households."

Hearing this, Liu Chengyou nodded: "Since my ascension, I have not bestowed any rewards upon you or your uncle. Consider these estates and lands my reward."

"Your servant thanks Your Majesty for your grace!" Li Shaoyou immediately expressed his gratitude, putting on a look of overwhelming thankfulness.

After a moment's deliberation, Liu Chengyou tapped his index finger lightly on the desk and said sternly to Li Shaoyou: "For the officials in the Western Capital who have seized commoners' land, investigate them thoroughly and meticulously for me. Draw up a list of those whose offenses are severe, whose methods are cruel, and who have run rampant in lawlessness!"

Li Shaoyou was first startled, then quickly understood, and promptly clasped his hands in salute: "As you command!"

He knew full well that given Liu Chengyou's temperament and methods, he was likely about to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. The Eastern Capital was about to see waves. At the same time, he also felt some contempt for those greedy, insatiable courtiers and officials—especially those old officials from the previous dynasty. They had contributed no merit to the state, yet when it came to pursuing private gain, they showed no restraint whatsoever. The two capitals were the heartland of the Central Plains, and after the restoration of order, they were key fiscal territories directly administered by the court.

The state lacked money and grain. Looked at from another angle, this was also a matter of the court seizing money and people from their hands. Especially the people—the state needed population to cultivate the land, yet many of these officials had forcibly conscripted commoners as tenant farmers. As he pondered, Li Shaoyou gradually figured out in his mind what kind of list he should provide to Liu Chengyou.

Holding too much land was one criterion, but who had the most people under them was the most critical factor. As for things like "bullying the good and honest, running rampant in the countryside, preying on the common folk"—those were merely non-essential conditions.

Of course, Liu Chengyou's thinking was probably similar. Directly seizing their land and freeing their farmers would make the court's methods seem harsh and its manners ugly. But cracking down on corruption, upholding the law, and punishing lawbreakers—that was always a legitimate justification. And incidentally, perhaps a household could even be confiscated?