I became emperor in the Tang Dynasty by relying on the palace fighting system

The incense in the stove was burned out. Li Zhao waved his hand to take away the incense burner, put the things into the system space, and went to the nearby official residence to rest with the officials and students who had picked out the good things.

At night, Li Zhao asked Lu Bicheng to deliver the account books personally.

Lu Bicheng sat on a crescent stool and read the account book to Li Zhao: "The fields of Miaofeng Mountain Villa in Youzhou include 3,354 acres of wheat fields and 2,108 acres of rose fields. The fields are of average quality and are worth 30 guan per acre."

Li Zhao hummed: "Well, it cost a total of ..."

Lu Bicheng said in a slightly cold tone: "Xuan Zun, you have 80% of the land, but you haven't spent a penny."

Li Zhao and Qing Luan's eyes turned cold at the same time.

this means……

Li Zhao guessed what was going on. She tried to keep her voice unchanged and pretended to be curious, "Where did these fields come from?"

Lu Bicheng counted on her fingers: "There are gifts from Youzhou noble families, gifts from the government, and... gifts from the people voluntarily. Some of the land donated is not included in the calculation."

In ancient times, in order to avoid heavy taxes, the common people would register their land under the names of the powerful and become tenant farmers.

Li Zhao sighed inwardly. He didn't expect that after traveling through time, he would become the villain landlord leader he used to be.

And the Youzhou government can actually give away land?

Li Zhao was even more troubled and annoyed. Here we have to mention the phenomenon of land annexation in the Tang Dynasty.

According to Mr. Lu Simian's History of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, there were officials who were powerful and annexed other territories, such as official land and public office land.

Official taxes are light while private rents are heavy, so officials are landlords themselves, collecting rents just like private landlords. Therefore, it is said that officials are the tyrants who engage in annexation.

Officials in the Tang Dynasty all had official fields, and government offices in the Tang Dynasty all had public fields. The produce from the official fields belonged to the officials themselves, and the produce from the public fields belonged to the government.

However, since the government and officials have power, it is easier for them to annex land. They can also increase rents and taxes and oppress farmers. Therefore, government officials are also powerful people.

During the reigns of Li Zhi and Wu Zetian, the Tang Dynasty's equal-field system had begun to be destroyed.

According to the equal-field system, an adult male was entitled to one hectare of land. Eighty mu of land was divided among the family and the land was collected by the government for redistribution after death. Twenty mu of perpetual land could be passed down to descendants and could not be easily bought and sold. However, some people now directly sell their perpetual land.

This equal-field system also led to the widespread phenomenon of people not paying rent and labor service in order to get more land, not reporting deaths, not registering births, and falsely reporting household registration, which seriously affected the country's tax revenue.

Li Zhao wanted to maintain his image as a tyrannical and indifferent god, so he couldn't show too much concern for worldly affairs. He manipulated Li Chao and sneered, "Really, there are rats everywhere."

Lu Bicheng looked at Li Chao strangely. As a deity, Li Chao Xingjun was not as indifferent as Xuanzun. Instead, he cared about mortals and hated evil so much?

Li Chao asked again: "How will the people who surrendered be arranged? I can't let my sister be involved in the karma of forced buying and selling."

Lu Bicheng said, "It's been arranged. The money is based on the number of acres, 30 strings of cash per acre. At first, they refused to accept it. They just asked for no heavy taxes and the rent should not be too high."

"But I still gave it, spending 32,777 strings of cash, and signed a ten-year contract. Within ten years, the 1,094 acres of permanent land will belong to the public manor. After ten years, the land will be returned to them, and the contract can be renewed."

"It was clearly written when the contract was signed that they were still the main households, not the clients. When they joined the agricultural cooperative and the union, they only had to pay 20% rent to the farm for all the land under their name, and kept the rest for themselves."

"The rest of the government taxes will be paid by the village farmers' cooperatives and labor unions according to the rent and labor tax system."

Lu Bicheng handed over a list. Li Zhao raised his hand and used his [Telekinesis] skill to grab the list. It read:

Last year, there were 337 male adults in Youzhou Village who needed to pay taxes. The rest of the male adults were clients. There were 455 female adults who did not pay taxes, and the young ones were not counted.

Every year, the tax to be paid was 674 dan of grain, 168.5 pieces of silk, and more than 63 jin of cotton.

In summer and autumn, Zhuangzi produced 3,354 shi of wheat and 1,677 shi of corn.

The people donated 6,240 mu of land and paid 20% rent, and received 1,248 dan of wheat and 624 dan of millet.

In the past, the skilled women in Zhuangzi could weave at least seven feet of linen and three or four feet of silk in a day.

Now with the improved flying shuttle loom and the establishment of a labor union, there are dedicated people who are responsible for spinning hemp, feeding silkworms and reeling silk using machines. They sit at the loom and can weave 14 feet of cloth, and 68 feet of high-quality silk, in four hours a day.

The cloth that used to take more than ten days to weave now only takes three or four days.

One-fifth of the women worked in the fields, one-fifth took care of the children and prepared meals, one-fifth weaved, one-fifth was responsible for spinning and reeling silk, and the remaining part was responsible for processing rouge and powder.

Rose petals cost eight cents a pound, and we collected 105,400 pounds from farmers as raw materials.

The 330 people who helped were all young women or women hired from nearby villages. They were hired for a month and paid 742 and a half rolls of high-quality silk as wages...

There was a huge amount of money in the bill. Li Zhao asked Qingluan to scan it. After reading it, he threw the bill back.

"Excluding the cost, the rouge and powder alone made 17,679 strings of cash this month, and the other income was not bad either."

The people of the Tang Dynasty were really willing to spend money on rouge and powder. The ladies and gentlemen bought rouge for themselves or for their families, and also for the sake of Yu Dou Xuan Zun's face, they almost bought out all the goods in Hua Yan Lou.

Especially rose water, after being diluted with a little olive oil, a bottle only weighs 100 grams, but it is sold in an exquisite glass bottle, and a bottle costs 100 strings of coins, but it is still in short supply and is the first thing to be sold out.

Li Zhao praised, and Lu Bicheng hesitated to speak.

Li Zhao manipulated Li Chao to ask, "What's the matter? Lady Bicheng, do you have anything else to do?"

Lu Bicheng asked, "I don't understand something. Please enlighten me, Master Xuan."

Li Zhao: "What?"

Lu Bicheng asked, "Why do men get ten work points a day when they take on tasks in the fields, but women can only get half?"

Of course, these are the rules I set myself, and they are the clues I laid in order to further awaken women.

Li Zhao did not answer, but manipulated Li Chao to smile: "Do you think it's unfair?"

Lu Bicheng looked at her calmly: "Yes, this is unfair."

"How many women have come to you to complain about unfairness?"

Lu Bicheng choked: "...No."

Li Chao continued to laugh and said, "Why do you think they don't come to complain?"

As smart as Lu Bicheng was, she understood. Her face changed: "Because... I'm used to it. In the Tang Dynasty, women working as laborers were only half of what men were paid."

Qingluan added lazily, "Besides, the people don't fight against the officials, and they don't dare to complain to you, a fifth-rank county lord. Anyway, they can live on."

To put it bluntly, it's because of slavery. The people on this land have been disciplined for too long, and as long as they can get by, few of them dare to resist.

Li Zhao yawned and said, "Alright, I don't want to bother with such trivial matters. Go down."

After saying this, she disappeared in an instant.

Lu Bicheng had no choice but to leave. She felt heavy in her heart when she left.

Right now, the people living in Yudou Xuanzun’s manor can barely get enough food and clothing, and it is a great joy if they can eat tofu, meat and brown sugar occasionally.

If we want to enlighten the people and eradicate their servility, we have to wait.

Lu Bicheng sighed. When the granaries are full, people will know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they will know honor and disgrace. Let's make the people's lives better first, and then we can talk about it.

As for teaching, she is short of staff now, as the illiteracy rate among the people in the Tang Dynasty is quite high.

However, she wanted to wait, but Li Zhao didn't.

She said to Qingluan: "Qingluan, follow me to the suburbs."

Qing Luan understood immediately: "Zhao Zhao, are you going to summon people to help again?"

Qingluan rubbed her hands excitedly: "Which heroine is it this time?"

Li Zhao smiled mysteriously: "She is a veteran among the Chinese National People's Congress representatives and a world-leading pioneer of women's rights."

"Guess who she is?"