Sign a Lu Fengxian at the beginning

In the past few days, things inside and outside the court have gradually calmed down.

After several months of turmoil in many things, Da Zhou also had a rare few days of stability.

However, many people know that such a stable situation may not last long.

The man on the dragon throne who first cleaned up the court and then killed the aristocratic family was obviously not a master who could melt sand in his eyes.

The Marquis of Zhenbei and the Marquis of Xiliang supported their own troops, listened to the announcement but not the instructions, and twice blocked the holy will.

Judging from the temperament of the man on the Dragon Throne these days, it is impossible for him to remain indifferent to the actions of the Marquis of Zhenbei and the Marquis of Xiliang.

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

Zhou Chen sat on the dragon throne and listened to the reports of Lu Bu and Cao Zhengchun.

The new year is approaching.

Lu Bu and Cao Zhengchun also returned to Luoyang one after another.

After listening to the reports from Lu Bu and Cao Zhengchun, Zhou Chen looked at Cao Zhengchun; "How do you say that the Yuan family, the Zheng family, and the Fan family have made preparations in advance and secretly allowed some young people to flee outside the customs?"

Cao Zhengchun nodded; "Yes, Your Majesty."

"By the time Dongchang reacted and sent people to pursue him, it was already too late."

"So, the remnants of the three families have all escaped."

Cao Zhengchun said.

Zhou Chen pondered for a moment and said to Lu Bu and Cao Zhengchun, "You go down and rest first!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lu Bu and Cao Zhengchun exited the Yangxin Hall.

Zhou Chen didn't pay much attention to the fact that the remnants of the three great families escaped from the customs.

Perhaps, these remnants may bring some trouble to Zhou Chen later.

But in Zhou Chen's view, as long as he is strong enough, this trouble is nothing.

These remnants who escaped from the customs could not escape the monks, but they could not escape the temple. Sooner or later, they had to go down to reunite with the people of the three major aristocratic families.

Just a few minutes after Lu Bu and Cao Zhengchun left, a house guard came in to report.

"Your Majesty, Shangshu Xun is asking for an audience outside the palace."

"Let him in."

Zhou Chen said lightly.

The house guard and factory guard bowed and retreated.

After a while.

Xun Yu walked into the Yangxin Hall.

"Your Majesty, Xunyu, has met with you."

Xun Yu walked into the Yangxin Hall and bowed respectfully to Zhou Chen who was sitting on the dragon chair.

"Wen Ruo doesn't need to be too polite."

Zhou Chen raised his eyes and looked at Xun Yu; "How are the matters in the household department handled? Are there any problems?"

Previously, Liu Ye had found out many problems in the Ministry of Household Affairs. After Xun Yu, the Minister of Household Affairs, took office, these problems had to be dealt with by Xun Yu, the Minister of Household Affairs.

"Reporting to your Majesty, I have already dealt with all the household issues."

"However, as the new year is approaching, taxes from various places have been reported to the Ministry of Household Affairs. Compared with last year, Dazhou's taxes this year have dropped by more than 30%."

Xun Yu said with a sigh.

After Xun Yu joined the household department, he spent a lot of time understanding most of the situation in the household department.

In particular, Xun Yu focused on understanding the annual taxation situation of the Ministry of Household Affairs.

After all, taxation is the most important lifeblood of a country.

If there is any problem with taxation, it will affect the operation of the entire Zhou Dynasty.

After learning about Dazhou's annual tax situation, Xun Yu felt very heavy.

Xun Yu did not expect that Zhou's tax revenue would decline every year.

In particular, this year's tax revenue has dropped by more than 40% compared to last year.

This forced Xun Yu to immediately go to the palace to meet the saint.

"Reduced by more than 30%?"

Zhou Chen frowned.

Taxation is the foundation of a country and a concrete reflection of the prosperity of a country.

In layman's terms, only when a country receives sufficient tax revenue can it have the confidence to do other things.

If there is not enough taxation, then the country will be poor and backward.

"What's the reason?" Zhou Chen asked.

Zhou Chen knew that there was a severe drought in the four northern states this year, so Zhou Chen exempted the four northern states from paying taxes for three years.

But even if there were no taxes from the four northern states, it would be impossible for Dazhou's taxes to be directly reduced by more than 30%!

Without the tax revenue from the four northern states, the tax revenue of the Great Zhou Dynasty would be reduced by less than 20% at most.

But now the tax rate in Dazhou has been directly reduced by more than 30%, so what happened to the more than 10% tax reduction?

Xun Yu took out a memorial and handed it to Zhou Chen: "Your Majesty, please read it."

This is the reason why Xun Yu found part of the tax reduction in his investigation.

As the Minister of Household Affairs, Xun Yu immediately investigated the reason after discovering the tax reduction.

This investigation allowed Xun Yu to discover the seriousness of the problem.

If these problems are not resolved, Dazhou's tax revenue may decline after the financial crisis.

Zhou Chen opened the memorial and glanced at it, his expression getting increasingly ugly.

The Zhou Dynasty implemented an equalization system.

What is equalization of land?

That is, the Zhou Dynasty distributed the land equally to the people.

Then the people cultivated the land, and the Zhou Dynasty collected taxes according to the population.

The court would collect as many taxes as there were people in the family.

It has nothing to do with how much food is grown or anything else.

This land system has many advantages. If there are no natural or man-made disasters, it can greatly promote the prosperity of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

How many years the Great Zhou Dynasty can be passed down is closely related to the equal land system.

However, the land equalization system also has one of its biggest drawbacks.

That is tax exemption for the privileged class.

Some wealthy families, officials' children, and clan landlords all have the right to tax exemption.

In other words, no matter how much land these people have in their hands, they still enjoy this privilege and do not have to pay taxes to the court.

This kind of privilege has existed in all dynasties and is impossible to avoid.

Even Zhou Chen knew that this kind of privilege could not be easily eliminated.

If you just have this privilege, there is no big problem.

After all, the privileged class is ultimately a minority.

The most numerous people in this world are ordinary people.

More than 90% of the people in the world are common people.

As long as these people pay taxes, the foundation of the Zhou Dynasty cannot be shaken.

However, the Great Zhou Dynasty has been inherited for hundreds of years, and the system of land equalization has also been implemented for hundreds of years.

Over the past hundreds of years, the people who were originally allocated the land have long since died.

As for their descendants, over the past hundreds of years, perhaps due to various reasons, the land in their hands gradually fell into the hands of aristocratic landowners.

When the land was in the hands of the aristocratic landowners, it became their land. As they had special privileges, they did not have to pay taxes to the court.

In this way.

The land is still the same land.

But it became a tax-free zone for aristocratic landowners.

The imperial court's tax revenue was virtually reduced.

If things go on like this, it will take hundreds of years.

Naturally, the taxes collected by the imperial court became less and less.

The remaining portion naturally fell into the hands of aristocratic landowners.

This is what the so-called wealthy families enjoy privileges while also digging into the foundations of the Zhou Dynasty and annexing and occupying the land of the Zhou Dynasty.

Zhou Chen looked at the memorial handed over by Xun Yu with a gloomy expression on his face.

The imperial court gave these wealthy families various comforts and subsidies, especially this kind of class privileges, which cannot be said to be preferential treatment.

But how did these wealthy families report to the court?

Seizing and annexing people's land.

Enjoying the privileges of the imperial court, he also dug into the imperial court's foundation and competed with the imperial court for tax revenue.

This is what wealthy families do.

Zhou Chen knew that in all dynasties, there was no lack of such incidents of occupying and annexing people's land.

Especially in the later dynasties, this kind of thing was the most serious.

This is also one of the most important reasons for the demise of all dynasties.

Zhou Chen did not expect that the land of Dazhou would also be annexed and occupied to such a serious extent.

If the common people don't have land, they can only help farm under the wealthy families.

The common people help the wealthy families cultivate the land, and the wealthy families squeeze the labor force of the common people while strengthening the strength of the wealthy families.

As time goes by, the wealthy families become stronger and stronger, and the imperial court will become weaker and weaker without enough tax revenue.

What will be the consequences if things continue like this?

Needless to say, Zhou Chen knows it better than anyone else.

The Great Zhou Dynasty has also declined to the extreme in this direction.

It's just a little short of following in the footsteps of previous dynasties and leading to destruction.

This is no longer a simple issue of land annexation and taxation.

This is an issue that affects the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty and shakes the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It is precisely because these wealthy families have such privileges that the Great Zhou Dynasty was divided into a country, China.

The local people only knew about the wealthy families and did not know the majesty of the Zhou Dynasty.

Xun Yu's memorial also contains other reasons for the reduction of taxes, such as the court's salt tax issue, which is also closely related to wealthy families.

In a word, all the taxes reduced by the imperial court went into private pockets.

Zhou Chen's eyes flickered, thinking about these questions.

These problems must be solved.

Otherwise, it would be empty talk to revitalize the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Besides, if you want to rejuvenate the Great Zhou Dynasty, you cannot avoid these problems.

But in order to solve these problems, we must first eliminate the tax exemption privileges of aristocratic landowners.

Only by eliminating the tax-exempt privilege of aristocratic landowners can these lands be taxed.

Zhou Chen is not afraid of wealthy aristocratic families taking over land, but what he is afraid of is the tax-free rights of aristocratic landlords.

Zhou Chen raised his eyes and looked at Xun Yu; "Xun Yu, taxation is the foundation of the country. Only with taxation can the court do other things."

"Now, the tax revenue of Da Zhou is decreasing every year. If things go on like this, this will be a problem that shakes the foundation of Da Zhou."

"How do you think this matter should be resolved?"

Zhou Chen looked at Xun Yu and asked seriously.

Xun Yu thought for a moment and then said, "Your Majesty, if you want to solve the tax problem, you must first solve the problem of land annexation in the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"Half of our tax revenue comes from land."

"Therefore, I believe that the privilege of tax exemption on land in Da Zhou should be eliminated."

"At the same time, inventory the lands that have been annexed and occupied in the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"Redistribute these annexed and occupied lands to the people for farming."

"Moreover, other taxes must also be reviewed and revised..."

Xun Yu revealed his secrets one by one.

Xun Yu had already prepared for these questions when he entered the palace to meet the saint.

Now when Zhou Chen asked, Xun Yu almost just pondered for a moment and said everything without thinking too much.

After listening to Xun Yu's suggestions, Zhou Chen nodded; "Xun Yu, these suggestions of yours are all good."

"You are right. If you want to solve the tax problem, you must first solve the land problem."

"However, these problems cannot be solved all at once."

"I give you a task to measure the land of the world."

"Whether it is the land of ordinary people or the land of aristocratic landlords, it must be measured in volumes, tallied, and recorded clearly, and there must be no difference at all."

"I would like to see how much of my territory is occupied by the land that does not require taxes now."

As soon as these words came out.

Xun Yu's expression changed.

Measure the land of the world?

Isn't it an inventory of the land that has been annexed and occupied?

What does your Majesty want to do?

Xun Yu didn't believe it. The emperor Zhou Chen simply wanted to know how much land Zhou didn't need to pay taxes on.

Since His Majesty's purpose is not that simple.

Then what is your Majesty’s real purpose in measuring the land of the world?

In the flash of lightning, a bright light flashed in Xun Yu's mind.

Does your Majesty want to take over all the land in the world?

When he thought of this, Xun Yu's face became a little solemn.

If Zhou Chen really had this purpose, then this matter would be no small matter.

Take back the land of the world.

The resistance from the common people will not be too great.

But it's different for wealthy families.

For a wealthy family, land can be regarded as the foundation on which the wealthy family truly depends for its survival.

Taking back the land of a wealthy family, isn't that just digging into the foundation of a wealthy family?

A wealthy family will definitely not agree.

At that time, the resistance from the wealthy families will not be as great as usual.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that a wealthy family might do something crazy.

"Does Your Majesty want to take back the land from the world?"

Xun Yu asked cautiously.

Zhou Chen shook his head; "The resistance to reclaiming the land from the world is too great. No matter how sharp my blade is, there is no reason to reclaim the land that originally belonged to the landlords of the aristocratic families."

"I can't do this either."

"I asked you to measure the land in the world to prepare for tax reform. In the future, you will cultivate the land and collect taxes according to the amount of land."

Zhou Chen's words made Xun Yu's eyes flash with a bright light.

However, Xun Yu's brows wrinkled again immediately.

Taxes are collected based on the amount of land. If no one cultivates the land, wouldn't there be no tax?

If this is the case, the problem will be more serious.

Zhou Chen seemed to see what Xun Yu was thinking and said, "This matter is just my preliminary idea. How to reform taxation and how to collect taxes according to the amount of land requires convening all ministers for discussion."

"You first measure the land in the world for me and compile the data. I will ask Dongchang to cooperate with you."

Zhou Chen knew that it was not easy to measure the land in the world.

There should be some resistance as well.

The wealthy family probably won't cooperate easily.

However, compared with these problems, it is just measuring the land, and the resistance will not be that big.

With Dongchang's help, it shouldn't be too difficult.

"I obey the decree."

Xun Yu bowed to receive the order.

Afterwards, Xun Yu reported some other situations in the household department to Zhou Chen, and then left the Yangxin Hall.

Measuring the world's land is not a simple matter.

Xun Yu quickly went back and made a good plan.