Tang Dynasty: The beginning of the game is to touch the Princess Changle

"Boy, I saw you look like you have something to say to me in the Wang family mansion?"

After lunch, Su Chen was about to say goodbye to Li Shimin, but was called to the carriage by Li Shimin.

Su Chen was stunned at first, then understood and smiled:

"Your Majesty, since these aristocratic families have agreed to hand over the extra land occupied by their families to the court, other aristocratic families or landlords will surely cooperate with the court to take back the extra land.

But, Your Majesty, have you ever thought that there are still some people in the Tang Dynasty who occupy too much land."

After Su Chen finished speaking, he looked at Li Shimin with a smile.

Li Shimin didn't understand at first and frowned.

After a moment, he stared at Su Chen, "You mean... me?"

Su Chen nodded slowly and said slowly: "Not only your majesty, but also the land that your majesty and the emperor have awarded.

I also have tens of thousands of acres. Assuming that the land of the noble families and landlords belongs to the court, how to deal with the land awarded to the royal princes and some ministers in the court?"

Li Shimin never expected that the five surnames agreed to hand over the family land to the court for redistribution.

He didn't feel happy for long before he encountered such a headache.

Li Shimin's face was a little gloomy, and he couldn't think of a way to have the best of both worlds.

"Boy, do you have a good solution?" Li Shimin could only ask Su Chen.

Su Chen shook his head, "I can't think of any good way to solve this problem."

"Go back to the third floor to discuss!" Li Shimin got up and got off the carriage and walked towards the restaurant.

...

Everyone returned to the private room on the third floor where they used to get together.

"My dear ministers, do you have any good ideas?" Li Shimin asked after relaying the question raised by Su Chen to the ministers. Everyone was in deep thought and no one answered. "Your Majesty..." "Your Majesty..." After a while, Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji stood up and bowed at the same time. Li Shimin saw that the two loyal ministers stood up at the same time, and his eyes showed a hint of surprise. "Xuanling, please go first!" Changsun Wuji said politely, because he knew that he had no good plan, but just wanted to take the initiative to express his position and hand over the extra official and business fields in his hands. "Assistant, it doesn't matter who reports first between you and me." Fang Xuanling bowed to Changsun Wuji, shook his head and smiled bitterly. They both had the same idea, just taking the initiative to give up their own land. Li Shimin also understood and roughly knew what they were going to say, and raised his hand to signal them to sit down. "Is it okay if I order the withdrawal?" Seeing that everyone had no other choice, Li Shimin could only think of issuing an order to force the withdrawal. "Your Majesty, this is inappropriate. Those princes and ministers who have been granted titles have not violated the law of the country. The land under their names was granted by Your Majesty. If you issue an edict to take it back now, it may be suspected of changing orders every day, and it will damage the power of the emperor." Wei Zheng was the first to oppose Li Shimin's edict to forcibly take the land, and what he said was reasonable. Li Shimin looked at several other ministers for their opinions, and they all nodded in agreement with Wei Zheng. "Boy, the problem is you raised it, so I will leave it to you. Do you understand?" Li Shimin just gave up. Since there is no way, whoever advocates it will solve it! Su Chen had no reaction after hearing this. He was thinking about some similar practices in modern society. He seemed to have caught a glimmer of inspiration. Li Shimin saw Su Chen shaking his head and frowning for a while, and did not urge him. Everyone looked at Su Chen in unison. About a quarter of an hour later. Su Chen slowly stood up and said, "Everyone, I have an idea to share with you. Please take a closer look and see if it works."

"Boy, tell me slowly. I and you are all ears!" Li Shimin said politely.

Su Chen nodded and said slowly, "Let's jump out of this circle and reform from the source.

Isn't the court going to re-count the population and land this time? Suppose the final distribution of land is: 20 mu per person.

In the future, farmers will pay taxes not according to the number of people but according to the land. Those who exceed 20 mu per capita will have to pay the land tax, which will be 70% to 80% of the tax.

In this way, those who own a large amount of land will not be able to benefit from the extra land, and it will be meaningless to keep the land in their hands.

Do you think it is feasible?" Su Chen looked at everyone with some expectation after he finished speaking.

"A good idea, Your Majesty. In my opinion, what Su Xiaozi said can be tried!" Fang Xuanling was the first to support Su Chen's method.

"I second your proposal!"

"Good boy, you really have a solution. I will do as you say!" Li Shimin said cheerfully.

Then Su Chen looked at Dai Zhou, the Minister of Revenue, and asked with a bow: "I wonder how many acres of arable land there are in the Tang Dynasty? How many people are there?"

Li Shimin was sad when Su Chen asked this.

Li Shimin thought of the Kaihuang period of the previous dynasty, when there were more than 1.9 billion acres of arable land in the country, and the Sui Yang EmperorDuring the period, the population grew to nearly 9 million households.

In the early days of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, due to the ten-year war, the population dropped by 80%.

When Li Shimin succeeded to the throne, the population of the Tang Dynasty was only 3 million households. Due to population loss, the cultivated land also decreased to about 1.1 billion mu.

Dai Zhou thought about it and said to give Su Chen a rough number. The specific number will be known after this statistics.

"The population of the Tang Dynasty is small now, and the distribution is uneven." Su Chen nodded and thought.

"Since everyone has no objection, let's say this first. In the future, it is best to redistribute the land every ten years according to population changes."

Su Chen got up and prepared to return to the manor.

"Your Majesty, I'm going back now. Remember to send the prisoners to the manor tomorrow. We're in a hurry to start work!

I'll pay each prisoner 30 wen per day, the court will earn 20 wen, and 10 wen will be given to the prisoners. If they behave well, their sentences will be reduced. If they escape, they will be beheaded!

If we make it clear to them, there shouldn't be any big problems." After Su Chen finished speaking, everyone laughed.

Su Chen didn't care what they were laughing at, "Everyone, I'm leaving!"

He pulled Li Chengqian up and was about to walk out of the private room.

Li Chengqian stood up and hurriedly bowed to Li Shimin, "Father, I'm leaving!"

Li Shimin smiled and waved his hand, "Go!"

"My dear ministers, follow me back to the palace!"

...

"Brother-in-law, I really admire you. How did you come up with such a brilliant plan?" Li Chengqian gave Su Chen a thumbs up and said.

Su Chen smiled disdainfully and said, "I am the worst in my hometown. If someone else came, I would have taken off long ago."

"What do you mean?" Li Chengqian was a little confused.

Su Chen shook his head and said, "Nothing, I want to ask you a question.

Why do you write vertically from right to left?"

Li Chengqian was confused again. Why did Su Chen ask this question? Isn't this something everyone knows?

"Brother-in-law, this question is very simple. Think about it. Before the appearance of paper, what was the medium of books?"

Su Chen thought for a moment and said uncertainly: "Bamboo slips?"

"That's right. Bamboo slips are still preserved now, but they are rare.

Think about it again. What does a bamboo slip look like? It is a long and narrow strip. It would be a bit awkward to carve words on a bamboo slip instead of vertically or horizontally, right?

Although paper appeared later, this writing habit was preserved.

Therefore, it is all written vertically now."

Su Chen suddenly understood and asked again: "Why do we write from right to left?"

Li Chengqian opened his mouth, "Brother-in-law, you..."