Chapter 421

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

"Chen Gong, listen to the conferment!"

Hearing this, Chen Gong, who had been watching Liu Bian confer titles upon everyone, was pleasantly surprised.

To tell the truth, he was really worried just now that Liu Bian would forget him.

"I am here!"

"Gongtai, I confer upon you the position of Vice Minister of Revenue, Fourth Rank, with a salary of six hundred shi."

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

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

At this time, Chen Gong was really pleasantly surprised; he didn't expect to be fourth rank directly.

Immediately, he knelt 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 definitely 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 conferring titles upon Chen Gong, Xi Zhicai, as Minister of Revenue, stepped out and said respectfully to Liu Bian.

"Proceed!"

Xi Zhicai slightly tidied his clothes and said solemnly to Liu Bian:

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

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

"Now, our Great Han Empire has the high-yield food provided by Your Majesty, and the grain pressure will be greatly reduced; I request Your Majesty, can the taxes of the people be appropriately reduced?"

After speaking, Xi Zhicai looked at Liu Bian solemnly.

And at this time, the ministers' faces were also a bit solemn; if Xi Zhicai hadn't mentioned this matter today, none of them would have thought of it.

And Liu Bian, after hearing Xi Zhicai's words, his face also became ugly.

Liu Bian heard this and asked in disbelief:

"Seven out of ten? How could it be so high?"

If Xi Zhicai hadn't mentioned this matter today, he would have been kept in the dark; he didn't expect the taxes of the Great Han people to be so high.

"Your Majesty, this matter is absolutely true; ever since the Yellow Turban Rebellion erupted, the late emperor, in order to collect grain and fodder to pacify the Yellow Turban Rebellion, raised the taxes to seven out of ten."

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

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

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

"Seven out of ten", what is seven out of ten?

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

To tell the truth, Liu Bian still felt that the Great Han people were a bit too simple; facing such heavy taxes, they actually hadn't rebelled.

It was just that during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, after rebelling once following Zhang Jiao, 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 later generations, Liu Bian hadn't had 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 face, which had become ugly because of the seven-out-of-ten tax, became even uglier.

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

And three shi of grain was about three hundred and sixty catties; with this little grain, after paying taxes, the people simply couldn't survive.

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

Although he now had high-yield food, these grains hadn't been planted on a large scale yet.

The people mostly planted the previous grains; to tell the truth, these grains, even without paying taxes, might not be enough for the people.

The most important thing now was to change the taxes that made the Great Han people unable to lift their heads and straighten their backs.

Liu Bian's cheap old man, Han Ling Emperor Liu Hong, only cared about his own enjoyment at the time and didn't care about the life and death of the people.

Actually, 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 gave him a hard slap.

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 his 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 and naturally wouldn't let the people continue to be in such distress.

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

"With the high-yield grains like sweet potatoes and corn provided by me, plus the light 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 ministers unquestioningly.

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

The ministers shouted to Liu Bian in unison, their eyes filled with reverence.

As the saying goes, civil officials can settle the world with a pen, and military generals can settle the world on horseback.

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

And Liu Bian was an even more powerful existence.

Both of these, Liu Bian possessed perfectly, and did better than any emperor.

"Mengde, Zhicai."

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

"I am here!"

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

"By the way, if someone in the family joins the army, they can be allocated one extra mu of land per person."

"These soldiers shed blood for our Great Han; this is considered my compensation to the soldiers."

"For the remaining farmland, I intend to enable the previous military colony system, to be responsible by the local garrison."

"For this matter, you two go down and discuss a good strategy."

Hearing this, Cao Cao and Xi Zhicai immediately bowed and responded;

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

Subsequently, Liu Bian looked at Xun You again and said solemnly to him:

"Gongda, arrange for people to start the matter of the Heroic Soul Pavilion as soon as possible."

"Before the end of the year, I want the Heroic Soul Pavilion to be usable."

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

"It just so happens that they can be transferred to build the Heroic Soul Pavilion."

"I obey the decree!"

Seeing this, Xun You also accepted the order respectfully.

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

With the addition of these over one hundred thousand Qiang slaves, it was not impossible to complete the construction of the Heroic Soul Pavilion.

Moreover, using these slaves, there was no fear of wasting manpower and money.

Thus, today's Grand Court Assembly was about to end.

Liu Bian asked the ministers: "My dear ministers, do you have any other memorials to submit?"

"We have no memorials to submit!"

The ministers shouted in unison.