Han Shizu

Chapter 1872 The Exploiters

In the dormitory, Emperor Liu was still lying on the couch with that half-dead look, but his spirit seemed to have recovered a lot, his head was tilted, his eyes were slightly dim, but the straight eyes made Liu Gui's heart shudder. .

It took only a few breaths to examine, and Emperor Liu spoke, speaking slowly, making people feel no emotion at all: "Now that the Shaofu manages the imperial property, how much land is left?"

Regarding these data, Liu Gui has always been sensitive, and he can almost count them as treasures. Besides, he was prepared, so he answered without any hesitation: "Reporting to the official family, the land under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu, there are about 12 hectares of cultivated land in various provinces across the country. There are about 30 hectares of pastures in Shanyang, Yanshan North Road, and Hexi, and there are mountain orchards, the number of which is almost innumerable, and they are still being cleared."

Liu Gui's answer was very capable. Emperor Liu nodded slightly, thought for a while, and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to count all these things clearly!"

Hearing this, Liu Gui was very calm, and he clapped his hands and said: "Where there is aspiration, things will come true. Clearing up the land, although it is tedious and trivial, but after all, it is just a step-by-step matter. You just need to calm down and move forward steadily."

Liu Gui's words are true. After all, this is the private property of the royal family. Even if there are some things that are not free, but the power is suppressed from top to bottom. The so-called obstacles are not much stronger than tofu. , there is no absolute difficulty, just look at the determination above.

What Emperor Liu appreciates is probably Liu Gui's attitude in doing things, which is full of spirit, which suits his appetite.The corner of his mouth twitched a little, and he asked again: "How many farmers and herdsmen are there working for the royal family?"

"After a new round of investigation, the subordinates from all over the country reported to the Shaofu, and we found out that there are about 384500 farmers and 28340 herdsmen in the country!" Liu Gui replied: "However, these reports still need further verification. Even if there is a discrepancy, the error will not be too large”

A few simple data reveal some of the current appearance of the royal family industry, even if it is only a part, it is shocking enough.

Among other things, the scale of the two traditional real estates of farming and animal husbandry is measured in tens of thousands of hectares, and more importantly, in order to ensure the effective use of these lands and pastures, a large number of laborers either actively or passively Press on top.

With these two items alone, there are more than 40 Dahan households serving the royal family. Taking the current average population of each Dahan household, that means at least 250 million people. The number of people served is probably at least 300 million.This accounts for almost one-twentieth of the current registered population of Dahan, which is extremely large.

The key point is that these people who serve the royal industry, especially those farmers and herdsmen, naturally do not have to pay the court's official tax. Otherwise, the emperor will scrape one layer, and the court will scrape another layer, which is prone to major problems.
Emperor Liu has always hated those dignitaries who steal national wealth, evade taxes, and suck blood. However, from the analysis of the situation of the royal family industry, it is the royal family who suck the most blood from the big men. The real thief is Emperor Liu. .

Of course, there is no king in the world. Emperor Liu takes this very seriously, and it is also the universal value of Han officials and people. Emperor Liu enjoys certain privileges and operates certain industries. It is extremely rare among the emperors of all dynasties to distinguish the internal funds from the state treasury and insist on it for decades, never taking money from the state treasury to satisfy their selfish desires.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the royal family has enough power to speak, and the Shaofu’s finances are sufficient to meet all the expenses and needs of the royal family. Otherwise, it is the unity of the monarchy, and there will be no hesitation when it is time to use it.

Similarly, if someone uses this kind of reason to say that it is inappropriate to compete with the people, then Emperor Liu will definitely fight back. It is not that there were no such "loyal ministers" in the past, but the results of direct admonition in this regard are not very good. Beautiful, but the fate of those people can also be called miserable.

If you just criticize the current politics and make certain comments and suggestions on the gains and losses of Emperor Liu, even if you offend Emperor Liu, it is mostly the result of demoting officials, and no matter how many, you will be exiled to the border.

However, if one wanted to make a fuss about the internal funds, the finances of the Shaofu, and the private property of the royal family, what he would face would be a direct and severe blow from Emperor Liu, which was almost retaliatory, from both physical and psychological levels.

Regarding the difference between name and reality, Emperor Liu has always seen very clearly that the royal family must have independent finances and sufficient financial reserves.

Not only to distinguish it from the national treasury, to manage it separately, to avoid mixed use of public and private, and to avoid disadvantages, but also because it is one of the most important symbols of the stability of imperial power.

Not to mention anything else, when the imperial court needs to borrow from the royal family several times to tide over the difficulties, who will take the initiative and the stability and health of the imperial power are self-evident.Therefore, anyone who wants to grab food from Emperor Liu's bowl, whoever wants to use the royal family's private property, even if it is just some tendency, will be punished mercilessly by Emperor Liu, and the reason is often a word that Emperor Liu often talks about: Heart can be punished.

Emperor Liu maintained this similar mentality for a long time, and formed an elusive style in the affairs of the Shaofu.On the one hand, he is strictly protecting the interests of the Shaofu, on the other hand, he feels cruel about this kind of eating, and at the same time, he subconsciously ignores some basic problems.

At this time, after listening to Liu Gui's answer and pondering for a long time, Emperor Liu finally asked the question that he had deliberately avoided before: "How much do these farmers produce each year, how much food they pay to Shaofu, and how much each household gets paid?" , and how much?"

Hearing the question, Liu Gui rarely showed some hesitation on his face, glanced carefully at Emperor Liu, and replied: "Back to the official house, according to the statistics of the income from the cultivated land in the Shaofu in the past ten years, each household's cultivated land is between 30-50 The grains range from 1.5 shi to 2 shi per mu, and the annual grain yield is about 3.8 shi per mu, [-]% of which are handed over to Shaofu and [-]% are used by farmers themselves. In addition, there are mulberry, hemp, cotton, sorghum and other crops, among which [-]% will be collected by Shaofu”

Liu Gui spat out the statistics one by one, while Emperor Liu silently calculated in his heart. After a long time, he frowned and asked, "With such a high burden, how will the common people live without complaints?"

The look of hesitation on Liu Gui's face became heavier, but facing Emperor Liu's gloomy eyes, he didn't dare to be fooled, thought about it, and replied carefully: "There is some resentment, but what can be done for you?" It is their good fortune for His Majesty to work, and the farmers are also very honored, and besides, farming for the royal family can be safe and secure, at least they will not be bullied by others."

Hearing what Liu Gui said, Emperor Liu opened his eyes a little wider, stared at Liu Gui for a while, and then said coldly: "Your ability to tell nonsense with your eyes open has improved! Who did you learn from? Yan off?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Gui's legs softened, and he knelt down quickly: "Don't you dare?"

And Yan Tuo, who was listening outside, was also taken aback when Emperor Liu mentioned him. Fortunately, he had enough mental quality and didn't make a sound.

Emperor Liu's face obviously had a hint of shame and anger on his face, and he scolded: "Through all the hard work throughout the year, seventy to eighty percent of the harvest has been handed over to the royal family. You tell me that this is a blessing for those farmers? Do you want to change it to me? , I'm afraid I'm going to scold the blood-sucking emperor like hell!"

Facing Emperor Liu's reprimand, Liu Gui tightened his neck, and hastily confessed: "Your Majesty has taught you well, it's a small lie!"

Emperor Liu didn't think Liu Gui's apology was sincere, and the left and right were just putting on a show for himself.

Of course, Emperor Liu didn't get too entangled in this. After pondering for a while, he made up his mind and ordered: "Change! It must be changed, a big change!"

"Please show me!" Liu Gui cupped his hands.

"Farmers who work for the royal family should turn in money and food every year, which should be close to the new tax system of the imperial court!" Emperor Liu was thinking, and ordered: "Every mu of land, the annual collection is improperly more than 75 renminbi!"

Regarding this, Liu Gui obviously hesitated for a while, and still bowed to answer.However, he still couldn't help reminding Emperor Liu: "Officials, if the charge is based on this standard, then the Shaofu's annual income from the land will be greatly reduced in the future."

Based on the current grain and meat prices, Shaofu’s annual income from agriculture alone is about 1000 million yuan. Even after excluding some circulation and transaction costs, the rest is still a huge sum of money, but the high income is based on the farmers of brutal exploitation.

Once Emperor Liu's idea is followed, even if the royal family's land is fertile and fertile, the benefits they will receive from it in the future will decrease sharply and double.

"Less is less!" As for Liu Gui's reminder, Emperor Liu looked very indifferent: "I can't let people say that the emperor of the Han Dynasty treats his subjects worse than some local tyrants and gentry treat their tenants."

(End of this chapter)