Future library

The adults began to talk about their own affairs. Cheng Jinzhou was the only two children in the room, and the other was Cheng Jinhao. The two looked at each other, probably muttering something like "haunting" in their hearts.

As the two direct grandchildren who are currently staying in the old house, in most families, the competition between them may last a lifetime. The specific length of time depends on the death speed of the father's generation and the intelligence level of the participants.

Cheng Jinhao was naturally dissatisfied with the attention Cheng Jinzhou received, but he sat too far away and could only rely on his eyes, hoping that at some point, Cheng Jinzhou would look over and be frightened to death by his persistence.

But in fact, except for the first glance, Cheng Jinzhou never looked back. He was indeed listening carefully to what Liu Bin said.

As a transshipment envoy, Liu Bin's most important responsibility is to ensure the country's tax sources - tax sources and tax collection are different concepts. The former determines who pays taxes, while the latter ensures that these people will pay taxes.

As any country develops, the source of taxes will definitely change, sometimes more, sometimes less. In most feudal countries, such as aristocratic countries like the Great Xia Dynasty, their tax sources are getting smaller and smaller most of the time, because the nobles do not have to pay taxes, and the nobles will merge with small farmers, and small farmers will also pay less to the nobles. tax, thereby escaping the trend of national taxes.

"I'm afraid your Majesty also has a headache with this problem." Cheng Yun'an told the truth, shook his head gently, and rested his head on the soft chair, looking at ease.

Like most scholars in ancient China, Cheng Yun'an was a talented scholar, but not a talented official - of course, no matter what selection method is used, whether in ancient or modern times, officials' stupidity is inevitable , they are always faced with problems that exceed their knowledge system.

Liu Bin was very concerned about the country and the people, and said in a heavy voice: "It's not that this problem cannot be solved, it just depends on how determined you are."

"That's something the people above are considering. You are a temporary official. Such a thing may be difficult." The person who spoke was Cheng Yunquan, the chief official of Shaonan City, who was equivalent to the commander of Shaonan City's security headquarters. He and Liu Bin were not in the same system, so they talked much more casually.

Liu Bin glanced at Cheng Yunquan lightly and said, "I'm not afraid you know that I want to try out the inheritance equalization system in Hexi."

In the current Great Xia Dynasty, the eldest son only gets the political legacy such as titles, while the legitimate sons share other property. The bastard son only gets very little income, and the illegitimate son gets nothing at all.

Cheng Yun'an's face was stunned when he heard it, and he said: "This is something that shakes the foundation. How to do it."

Liu Bin looked half-smiling, and said quite seriously: "What I want most is to share the real estate equally. If not only the legitimate sons, but also the concubines can also receive part of the real estate, then the country's tax sources will definitely increase significantly."

Cheng Jinzhou's expression changed when he heard this, and all the adults softened their expressions. In the eyes of these nobles, real estate was far less important than titles and titles.

This may be due to the difference in times. When Cheng Jinzhou was in school, the equal division of real estate was always a terrifying thing. There was blood and killing between the lines, even through the equal division of inheritance. In fact, what really turned Cheng Jinzhou's face was Liu Bin's idea of ​​equally dividing the real estate through inheritance. This kind of thing happened more than once in Chinese history.

The most famous one is, of course, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's "Tianfa Order": princes and princes can no longer use the eldest son inheritance system, but should distribute his property, especially territory, to all his sons. As a result, the vast vassal kingdoms will soon be weakened after being divided again and again. Even if the lords know this in their hearts, the sons will force their father to divide the territory for themselves.

This is a complete process of centralization. From the perspective of Chinese history, Comrade Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty completely buried the feudal system in the dust of history.

What makes Cheng Jinzhou unhappy is that as a member of the Cheng family, he is a beneficiary of the enfeoffment system and will also be one of the beneficiaries of the eldest son inheritance system. Liu Bin's methods will obviously give him the most stable life. Become a bubble.

The people sitting in the long hall were not aware of this terrible consequence. The reason was certainly not their slowness. On the one hand, their position did not allow them to think so profoundly. The historical inertia of hundreds or even thousands of years was not So easy to break. On the other hand, the strength of ancient Chinese counties can almost be calculated in terms of land, but among the nobles of the Great Xia Dynasty, their strength is far from as simple as land. However, what Liu Bin said still stung Cheng Jinzhou's fragile nerves. The relationship between the two families was so close that if something happened to one party, the other party would inevitably be implicated.

He couldn't help but add: "If the real estate is divided equally in Shaonan City, I will definitely object."

"Oh?" Liu Bin immediately turned his head, not disgusted because Cheng Jinzhou was young, and said with a smile: "Tell me more."

Seeing that even his father turned his back, Cheng Jinzhou was heartbroken, and Quan said like a child: "According to your design, the land will be divided equally. My father has more than a dozen brothers. In this way, everyone can The number of Zhuangzi obtained from the public school was only two or three, which could subsidize the family income, but caused the entire Cheng family to suffer more losses. By the time my generation has nearly a hundred direct descendants and concubines, none of them can even get a Zhuangzi. My son may only be allocated a few hundred acres of land. How is he any different from an ordinary farmer at that time? My housekeeper also has hundreds of acres of land under his control."

Liu Bin put his hands on his hands and laughed and said: "That's it, it is to force the nobles to take action. You can't just count the inheritance. Just like you Cheng Jinzhou, maybe you can become an official star warlock before you are 30 years old. At that time, a person The land obtained may be more than that of the Cheng family now, right?"

Cheng's mother was happy when she heard this. She pursed her lips and smiled and said: "Ordinary Star Warlocks are not so rich, but with Star Warlock Liu Kuang's current status, there is no need to consider land at all."

Several people agreed, and Cheng Jinzhou couldn't help but feel a little sad. Sitting here were almost all the elites of the second generation of the Cheng family. Although Liu Bin proposed an idea that might never succeed, his attitude made Cheng Jinzhou see it. A kind of reformer's insistence - just like the vice principal who insists on charging fees in the playground and setting up a penalty area for wasting food in the cafeteria - in addition to the dazzling reputation of the reformer, there are still skeletons that have nowhere to be buried.

Cheng Jinzhou looked at the business card in his hand, pursed his lips and said, "If the land distribution fails, forget it. If it succeeds, it will be really scary."

Father Cheng said "hmm", as if he couldn't understand his son.

Cheng Jinzhou played with his fingers and said to himself: "If this trick works too well, our King will definitely not just use it to expand financial resources. He will ask each noble to divide their titles among themselves." To each son, distribute the soldiers under his command to each son, distribute the equipment in the warehouse to each son, distribute the warships and airships under his name to each son, and then he can also ask for distribution to his daughter. Let them share it with the illegitimate children..."

There was silence in the long hall, except for Cheng Jinzhou, who repeated his reading results in the past few days in a hoarse voice: "Our kings, all the kings in the past, are always wary of the power of the nobles. Just for the eldest son to inherit the title, he has to be demoted. How long has the Great Xia Dynasty been quarreling over this matter? If the border war had not intensified, it would have been possible for another hundred years. Our King, Uncle Liu, wanted to share the inheritance equally. It is not that he has not used it before. Splitting an earl into three viscounts, and splitting a duke into three marquises is just too much opposition, but if you start by giving your sons property instead of depriving them of their rights, this road may go more smoothly. …”

No one expected that Cheng Jinzhou, who was only 12 years old, would dare to criticize the king's policies so boldly. The most frightening thing is that what he said was quite reasonable.

In the gurgling spring water, there is only the sound of small fish flicking their tails.

Liu Bin stood up suddenly, with such strength that he pushed the soft chair over for more than a meter. He straightened his arms, pointed at Cheng Jinzhou fiercely and said, "I want you to be my son-in-law."

…