Chapter 148: Ten Tax Seven!!!

After resolving the military matters, Liu Bian said to Chen Gong:

"Chen Gong, come forward to receive your appointment!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Gong, who had been watching Liu Bian confer titles on everyone, was somewhat pleasantly surprised.

To be honest, he had really been worried just now that Liu Bian would forget him.

"I am here!"

"Gongtai, I appoint you as Vice Minister of Revenue, Fourth Rank, with a salary of six hundred shi."

"During this time, cooperate well with Zhicai to distribute the land in Sili to the people as soon as possible."

"Moreover, I have some good things here that need you two to plant."

At this moment, Chen Gong was truly pleasantly surprised; he had not expected to be Fourth Rank directly.

Immediately, he bowed respectfully to Liu Bian and thanked him:

"I obey the decree! Thank Your Majesty for your heavenly grace!"

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will certainly cooperate well with Minister Xi!"

Seeing this, Liu Bian nodded with satisfaction.

"Your Majesty, I have a matter to report!"

Just after Liu Bian finished appointing Chen Gong, Xi Zhicai, as Minister of Revenue, stepped out and said respectfully to Liu Bian.

"Proceed!"

Xi Zhicai slightly adjusted his clothing and said solemnly to Liu Bian:

"Reporting to Your Majesty, currently, the tax system of our Great Han Empire still uses the old 'ten tax seven' system."

"With such heavy taxes, the people work hard for a year, and in the end, the remaining grain in their hands is not enough for their own use."

"Now that our Great Han Empire has the high-yield food provided by Your Majesty, the pressure on grain will be greatly reduced; I request Your Majesty to consider whether it is possible to appropriately reduce the taxes on the people?"

After speaking, Xi Zhicai looked at Liu Bian with a solemn expression.

At this moment, the expressions of the officials were also somewhat solemn; if Xi Zhicai had not mentioned this today, none of them would have thought of it.

And Liu Bian, after hearing Xi Zhicai's words, also had an ugly expression on his face.

Liu Bian asked in disbelief after hearing this:

"Ten tax seven? How could it be so high?"

If Xi Zhicai had not mentioned it today, he would have been kept in the dark; he had not expected that the taxes on the Great Han people were so high.

"Your Majesty, this matter is absolutely true. Ever since the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, the late emperor, in order to collect grain and pacify the Yellow Turban Rebellion, raised the taxes to ten tax seven."

"Over these many years, the tax matter has never changed."

At this moment, Xun Yu, who was below, also stood out and said solemnly to Liu Bian.

Upon hearing this, Liu Bian finally believed that the Great Han people had always been burdened with heavy taxes.

"Ten tax seven"—what does "ten tax seven" mean?

It means that for one mu of land, if you harvest one hundred catties of grain, you have to give seventy catties for taxes, and the remaining thirty catties are your own.

To be honest, Liu Bian still felt that the Great Han people were too simple and honest; facing such heavy taxes, they had not yet rebelled.

It was only during the Yellow Turban Rebellion that they followed Zhang Jiao to resist for a while, and then they accepted the status quo.

"Do you know how much grain our Great Han can harvest per mu of land currently?"

As a person from a later generation, Liu Bian had not yet gained an in-depth understanding of the current grain yield of the Great Han.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, currently in our Great Han Empire, better land can produce about three shi of grain per mu."

Just as Liu Bian's voice fell, Xun Yu immediately replied respectfully.

After hearing Xun Yu's answer, Liu Bian's expression, which had become ugly because of the "ten tax seven," became even uglier.

In this era, one shi of grain is roughly equivalent to about one hundred and twenty catties in later generations.

And three shi of grain is about three hundred and sixty catties; with this amount of grain, after paying taxes, the people simply could not survive.

With such heavy taxes, the people could not survive; how could they not rebel?

Although he already had high-yield food, these crops had not yet been planted on a large scale.

Most of the people still planted the old crops; to be honest, even without paying taxes, these crops might not be enough for the people.

The most important thing now was to change the taxes that were crushing the Great Han people.

Liu Bian's cheap father, the Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong, only cared about his own enjoyment at the time and did not care about the life or death of the people.

In fact, when Liu Hong first became emperor, he also wanted to work hard to change the plight of the Great Han and be a wise monarch.

However, the cruelty of reality slapped him hard in the face.

In this background where aristocratic families held a large amount of resources, Liu Hong's resistance was so powerless.

Later, recognizing reality, Liu Hong gave up resistance and became a carefree emperor.

As for what the world would become, that was not something he could manage.

Now Liu Bian had the strength to change all this, so naturally, he would not let the people continue to suffer like this.

"Wenruo, Zhicai, effective immediately, announce to the world of the Great Han that the taxes of our Great Han Empire will be changed from ten tax seven to ten tax five."

"With the high-yield crops like sweet potatoes and corn that I have provided, plus the lighter taxes,"

"from now on, I do not wish to see our Great Han people displaced and unable to survive because of heavy taxes."

Liu Bian said to the officials in an unquestionable tone.

"We obey the decree; Your Majesty is wise!"

The officials shouted to Liu Bian in unison, their eyes filled with reverence as they looked at him.

As the saying goes, one can settle the world with a pen and stabilize the universe with a horse.

Only such an emperor can make the people live and work in peace and contentment, and make the country flourish.

And Liu Bian was an even more powerful existence than that.

He possessed both perfectly and did better than any emperor.

"Mengde, Zhicai."

Hearing Liu Bian call them, Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai immediately stepped out and said respectfully to Liu Bian:

"We are here!"

"Now, the land in various places is distributed at two mu per person; after distributing it to the people, there should still be leftovers. This land cannot just be left to waste."

"By the way, if there is anyone in the family who joins the army, each person can be allocated one more mu of land."

"These soldiers shed their blood for our Great Han; this is my compensation for them."

"For the remaining farmland, I intend to activate the old military colony system, to be managed by local garrisons."

"Discuss a good strategy for this matter, you two."

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai immediately bowed and responded;

"Your Majesty is wise! We obey the decree!"

Subsequently, Liu Bian turned his gaze to Xun You and said solemnly to him:

"Gongda, arrange for someone to start working on the Yinghun Shrine as soon as possible."

"Before the end of the year, I want the Yinghun Shrine to be usable."

"If there are not enough people, ask Tian Feng in Liangzhou for people; he still has over one hundred thousand Qiang slaves in his hands."

"They can be transferred to build the Yinghun Shrine."

"I obey the decree!"

Seeing this, Xun You also respectfully accepted the order.

Now it was almost June, and there were still six months until the end of the year.

With the addition of these one hundred thousand Qiang slaves, it was not impossible to complete the construction of the Yinghun Shrine.

Moreover, using these slaves did not fear wasting money and manpower.

Thus, today's grand court assembly was about to end.

Liu Bian asked the officials: "My beloved ministers, do you have any other memorials to present?"

"We have no memorials to present!"

The officials shouted in unison. ===== CHAPTER 149 =====