Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 976 - 806 Eyeing Taixu (Please Subscribe and Vote for Monthly Ticket)

Chapter 976: Chapter 806 Eyeing Taixu (Please Subscribe and Vote for Monthly Ticket)

"Daxueshi really has sharp eyes!"

Li Xuan, seeing that Li ShanChang also recognized the blood connection between him and his father, couldn’t help but laugh heartily with pleasure.

Then he spoke with a soothing tone, "Now the Emperors of the Jin Dynasty all hail from the King of Yan’s lineage, and they have always treated the descendants of the Daxueshi well. As the Daxueshi is now listed among the Divine Class, let go of past grudges and grievances."

In truth, Li ShanChang’s downfall was brought about by his own doing.

As he was retiring, he was unaware of the need to avoid nepotism and recommended his fellow townsman and relative by marriage, Hu Weiyong, to be the right Chengxiang.

Hu Weiyong, however, spent his tenure planting cronies throughout The Court, tirelessly suppressing dissenters, and causing the power of Huaixi’s group to swell continuously.

Moreover, he relied on the united support of the civil and military officials from Huaixi, acted arbitrarily, and decided on many significant cases involving life, death, and official appointments without seeking consent from the Great Ancestor.

Li Xuan thought to himself that if he were in that position, he certainly couldn’t tolerate it either.

It is said that his ancestor, Li Lexing, as the Great Ancestor’s leading strategist with outstanding achievements, was only titled ’Earl Chengyi’ and was always barred from entering the cabinet due to the suppression by the civil and military officials from Huaixi.

Hu Weiyong even intended to poison his ancestor; hence, Li Lexing was forced to fake his death and escape to the Taixu of the Outer Void.

At that time, those Huaixi military officers who had risen with the Great Ancestor were indeed too reckless and too exclusive.

"How would your servant dare?" Li ShanChang remembered his entire family, young and old, being executed and felt hatred that was too profound to be filled.

Yet, he still managed a smile on his face, "Those are matters from hundreds of years ago. Upon reflection every day, I also acknowledge that all disasters originated from my own actions, which led to my demise. ShanChang indeed harbors resentment that’s hard to quell, but the anger is only directed at the Great Ancestor himself.

Today’s Emperor of the Jin Dynasty is Your Majesty’s progeny, how could ShanChang dare hold any grudge against him? Your Majesty has shown me a grace equivalent to rebirth, and even recorded my three sons as officials of the Heavenly Court. If ShanChang were to repay kindness with enmity, it would be worse than being an animal."

The divine power he had obtained over the years had mostly been used to maintain the True Spirits of his few children.

But as time passed, the divine power he received daily lessened, and even he was showing signs of turning into a grudge ghost.

Therefore, his gratitude towards Li Xuan was genuine and heartfelt.

Li ShanChang then shifted his tone, changing the subject: "If Your Majesty orders me to organize the land records of south Zhili, would it be for the purpose of reforming the Jin Dynasty’s tax laws?"

About half a year ago, Li Xuan dispatched officers to measure the fields in south Zhili, clear up private lands, count the population, and after half a year, they completed and recast these Tianji Huangce, sending them to the Capital City for the Emperor to review.

Li Xuan, however, lacked trust in Local officials, so he handed over the tens of thousands of volumes of land records to Li ShanChang to organize and tally.

Yet this former chief minister from the early years of the Jin Dynasty had discerned Li Xuan’s intentions.

"I do indeed intend this!"

Li Xuan nodded his head, "One is to incorporate per capita taxes into land taxes, another is for officials and gentry to pay grain tax together, and another is a progressive land tax system. I plan to pilot these policies in the north and south Zhili and implement them together."

After considering carefully, Li ShanChang could only respond with a wry smile, "These are all policies that benefit the people and the state, but I’m afraid they will incite the entire scholar class to revolt!"

The financial and tax system of the Jin Dynasty was established by him and the Great Ancestor together.

However, many good policies of that time had since turned into malignancies of the Jin Dynasty.

For example, the tax and service exemptions granted to scholars were originally meant as a privilege for the educated. But now, scholars own a huge portion of the best farmland, and many people register their lands under the scholars’ names to qualify for tax exemptions.

There’s also the matter with commercial taxes, which at the beginning of the Jin Dynasty were one part in thirty. The Great Ancestor believed that high commercial taxes would exploit the people, but now this policy has been mostly corrupted by the scholar officials.

Like along the canal, scholars carrying some goods don’t have to pay commercial taxes.

Nevertheless, the reforms proposed by Li Xuan were bound to be met with collective opposition from the scholar officials.

But Li Xuan, gripping his waist knife, scoffed disdainfully, "What if the scholar officials are up in arms? The knife is in my hand. Besides, not all Confucianists lack foresight."

At that moment, the Law of Juntian had been implemented throughout the provinces, endearing Li Xuan to the army of Weisuo.

With just one command, all five million men of the army would follow unhesitatingly. Who in all the land would dare oppose where those five million long knives pointed?

The concern for Li ShanChang was not the backlash of the scholar officials but the rumors and slander they might spread against state affairs, damaging Li Xuan’s reputation.

"Your Majesty, since the beginning of this year, the grain price in the Jin Dynasty has plummeted, and thus the land price has also severely dropped. Hence, Your Majesty can afford to consider this carefully. For the past six months, The Court has been redeeming land on a large scale from local magnates before lending it to the people to cultivate, which is an excellent approach."

"This method treats only the symptoms, not the root cause," Li Xuan shook his head. "If the balance of land and reform of tax laws cannot be completed in my hands, I fear future generations will not have the capacity to do so."

He thought that if he did not take advantage of the moment when The Court’s power was strong to straighten things out at the foundation, could he really expect those future governing officials to do it?

Rare is a man like Zhang Juzheng, who appears only once every few hundred years.

Now was also the time of least resistance, partly because the plummeting grain prices made it difficult for landlords in north and south Zhili to profit from their lands. Yet, many newly established factories in north and south Zhili were highly sought after.

Many forward-thinking scholars had begun liquidating their lands to buy shares in the factories of north and south Zhili.

However, these enlightened scholars were too few, and Li Xuan’s introduction of the three new policies aimed to compel landlords and magnates to sell their lands, further driving down land prices.