Chapter 2579 - 2553: Leading by Example

To ensure that a good thing can continue for a long time, it must be institutionalized and the system must be continuously improved during the development process.

This is the first thing Wei Zhi taught the two people at the villa in Pu Village.

Bai Shan pondered this for two days and said to Manbao, "Indeed, the human heart is unpredictable. Even I cannot trust my own heart, let alone others, so we should still establish good rules to prevent easy violations."

Manbao asked, "Just like the law?"

"As for the official fields, it certainly can’t be achieved like this at the moment, but rules can be set. Once the system is perfected in the future, it can be incorporated into the law."

Manbao then asked, "What rules do you and Lord Wei plan to set?"

"Lord Wei wants to establish a new department in the Ministry of Revenue specifically to manage the operation of official fields."

"Aren’t the official fields currently managed by the Ministry of Revenue?"

"That’s different," Bai Shan said. "The current management is rough. They completely delegate it to local county magistrates, who then pass it to government clerks below. They forcibly assign tenants, compulsorily collect tenant rents each year, which are then allocated layer by layer back to the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue distributes them to various officials. Lord Wei’s intention is that the new department will no longer delegate it to local officials, but manage it directly, although local officials where the official fields are located will have supervisory responsibilities."

Manbao: "Protecting tenants’ interests?"

Bai Shan nodded, "This change in the law is particularly large, costing a lot, and quite significant. Officials in the Ministry of Revenue and the court may not agree, so Lord Wei wants me to write a report using your official fields as an example."

In addition, this time it will also follow a voluntary principle, that is, officials can choose to continue to entrust management in the old way, collecting only fixed rents each year; or take over the management themselves; the third option is to choose their approach.

Bai Shan said, "The scope has been fixed among capital officials, due to the peculiarities of local official fields, so local official fields are not included in this case."

Bai Shan paused for a moment and then said softly, "Actually, I had a private conversation with Lord Wei last night. He wants even more to abolish the official field system."

Manbao was startled and asked, "Is it Lord Wei who wants this or His Majesty?"

Bai Shan gave her an approving look and whispered, "His Majesty also wants it."

This time, Bai Shan truly touched upon top-level secrets and the games of those in power. He said softly, "Don’t be misled by the current peace and prosperity. Every year, the court loses many official fields, and even around the capital, fields are lost, although still under control."

After all, under the Emperor’s direct oversight, even those with intentions are wary.

"But in local areas, the collusion between local officials and major families to encroach on official fields continues despite bans," Bai Shan said. "Lord Wei says that with massive thefts of official fields, local officials can’t ensure their fields. This leads them to occupy barren lands to reclaim, which is equivalent to taking private fields."

The land system of Great Jin allocates 100 acres of land to adult males, with 20 acres of Yongye Fields and 80 acres of personal allotment land.

Of course, in various regions due to abundance or scarcity of land, this system might be discounted, but at least five acres of Yongye Fields must be guaranteed since it’s the capital for survival.

However, Lord Wei and others have privately calculated that at this rate, soon they won’t be able to ensure the continuation of the equal field system.

Therefore, Wei Zhi wants to abolish the official field, directly increase officials’ salaries, allocate money from the Ministry of Revenue without distributing official fields.

And official fields reclaimed by the court will be jointly managed by the Ministry of Revenue and local authorities. Besides new adults and court rewards, public fields must not be utilized by anyone.

What Wei Zhi didn’t tell them was that the Emperor not only wants to abolish official fields but also wants to reclaim some of the encroached official fields.

There are many methods, the most direct one being sending people to collect records of crimes committed by those families, and any one of them could lead to confiscation of their properties.

How clean can the hands of those who encroach on official fields be?

But the Emperor doesn’t want to use this method. He doesn’t like killing or seeing blood, so he prefers to redeem the land with money.

Redeem the encroached lands.

Of course, not at market price. How those lands were obtained, you know in your heart, right?

Privately, the Emperor and Wei Zhi have calculated accounts, and he is willing to offer a maximum of six-tenths of the market price.

Then, they calculated the amount of lost fields in these two years, and after calculating the money needed, the Emperor almost had a heart attack, as the national treasury had no surplus, so the Emperor could only temporarily suppress this matter and quietly plan with Wei Zhi.

This kind of thing could only be planned with Wei Zhi. He didn’t dare to tell others, including his brother-in-law, State Duke Zhao.

Because State Duke Zhao’s hands aren’t that clean either, with many involved behind him. Besides Wei Zhi, probably no one in the court would support the Emperor’s side.

Though he’s the Emperor, he can’t do just anything he wants. Haven’t you seen his repeated orders against aristocratic families building fortresses, only for them to remove lookout towers and build houses around the fortresses, still layer upon layer?

Families living together, inside filled with countless tenants and long-term workers, changing names but still essentially the same.

The world has been stable for just over thirty years, and the Emperor doesn’t have the courage to provoke those who could bring him great upheaval, so with these aristocratic families, the prominent families they promote, local gentry, officials, etc., the Emperor tries to be as gentle as possible.

He even teaches the Crown Prince in this way.

He conveys these plans to the Crown Prince, advising him, "You must restrain your temper. When you become Emperor, you can’t be as hot-tempered as you are now. You need to know how to advance and retreat, endure and give way."

"Endure when it’s time to endure, advance when it’s time to advance."

The Crown Prince agreed.

The Emperor nodded with satisfaction.

Then the next day, the Emperor erupted in fury in the palace and urgently summoned Wei Zhi from his carefree stay at the villa in Pu Village back to the capital.

The guards who came seeking him rushed through the rain, their faces somewhat pale, and didn’t bother greeting Zhou Man who stood in the courtyard with a string of cherries, instead rushing straight to Wei Zhi, saying, "Lord Wei, please quickly go to the palace, His Majesty intends to kill the Prince of River County."

Wei Zhi was startled, the Prince of River County is the Minister of Rites, why on earth would the Emperor want to kill him?

Wei Zhi hurried back to the capital.

Bai Shan and Manbao exchanged a glance, quickly informed Old Zhou and the others, grabbed their horse and prepared to follow, but Old Madam Liu chased after them, saying, "First find out what the matter is before deciding whether to intervene, don’t get involved carelessly."

She added, "Go ask Erlang."

Bai Shan saw reason in this, so he didn’t pursue Lord Wei, but instead took Manbao to the royal villa.

As a result, Bai Erlang and Princess Mingda had been summoned back in advance.

The two exchanged a glance and quickly returned to the capital.

Once back in the capital city, they went directly to find Yin Huo.

Yin Huo was in his County Mansion, and seeing them, said, "I know why you’re here. Don’t worry, His Majesty won’t truly kill the Prince of River County."

Manbao asked, "What did the Prince of River County do?"