Chapter 165 The Honest Man Gets Angry
"Fuer, please let mother take a look."
When Queen Cao saw Zhao Xing coming in, she stood up excitedly and walked forward to look Zhao Xing over.
"Mother, I'm fine." Zhao Xing said with a smile.
"You scared me to death, mother." When Queen Cao saw that Zhao Xing was really fine, she hugged Zhao Xing and started crying.
"Mother, I am sorry to have caused you worry because of my unfilial behavior. Please don't cry. If you hurt yourself, I will be committing a great sin." Zhao Xing comforted her.
"Mother is happy." Empress Cao let go of Zhao Xing, wiped her eyes, pulled him to sit down, and said, "You too, can't you let others handle your affairs? Why do you run away by yourself? If something happens to you, what will happen to mother and your father?"
Zhao Xing could only lower his head and admit his mistake honestly: "Mother, I already know I was wrong."
"You." Seeing that Zhao Xing honestly admitted his mistake, Empress Cao did not want to blame him anymore and said, "Your father was frightened by you. He has not had much rest since he got the news. He also told me that he would prepare a wedding for you when you come back."
When Zhao Xing heard Queen Cao say that his father had not had much rest in recent days, he felt more guilty when he thought of his father's haggard expression when he met him before.
But when he heard Queen Cao say that she was going to plan a wedding for him, he was stunned.
"Mother, I am only fourteen years old." Zhao Xing said anxiously.
He will still be a few months away from turning fifteen.
"There are many fathers of your age among the common people. You are the crown prince, and also the only son. Not only do you shoulder the responsibility of the rise and fall of the country, but you also bear the heavy responsibility of continuing the lineage of your descendants. This matter has been decided and there is no room for change. During this period of time, you should stay in Bian Jing and you are not allowed to go anywhere." Queen Cao said.
Zhao Xing: "..."
Although I don't want to get married so early, judging from the current situation, there is no possibility of changing it.
"Okay, your mother is also very worried, you should go see her." Queen Cao patted Zhao Xing's hand and said.
"Yes!" Zhao Xing stood up, saluted, and walked out.
…………
When Zhao Xing returned to the palace, the news of his assassination had also spread in Bianliang.
The government had previously kept the news secret, so no one outside knew about it.
For a moment, everything in Bianjing seemed to be the same as before, but there was a feeling that a storm was about to come.
The prince was assassinated, and the emperor has only one son. Who knows what he will do when he goes crazy.
No one knows how many people will be involved in the end.
However, the imagined thunderous wrath did not come. Instead, it was reported that the emperor summoned the director of the Imperial Observatory and asked him to choose an auspicious day for the prince to get married.
Despite this, there were fewer impeachments regarding Kaifeng Prefecture’s land inventory.
Just because the government doesn't seem to be pursuing the matter, doesn't mean it really won't.
It’s just that he didn’t hand it over to the Ministry of Justice or the Dali Temple for investigation, but instead arranged for people to investigate it themselves.
The emperor was filled with rage at the moment, and impeaching Zhao Xing would only make things more difficult for him.
Let Zhao Xing do whatever he wants; it’s just Kaifeng Prefecture after all.
If we want to measure the land area across the country, we still have to get the order from the government, and then there will be plenty of ways to stop it.
It seemed that the discussion between Zhao Xing and Wang Anshi about taking advantage of the situation was no longer necessary.
Because the assassination attempt made his father and mother very worried, Zhao Xing was unusually honest for a while.
Every morning he went to the Kaifeng government office to handle the matters that needed his attention, learn about the progress of the land measurement in various counties, and then returned to the East Palace to review the documents.
However, Wang Anshi caused quite a stir in Yangwu County.
When Zhao Xing left Yangwu County, he asked Shi Jingbo to talk to the landlords and gentry in Yangwu County and ask them to voluntarily hand over the hidden land.
However, how could these landlords and gentry give up the meat in their bowls?
Wang Anshi was not a soft-hearted person. Since courtesy was useless, he had no choice but to use military force.
Zhao Xing had long ago ordered Yin Hanzhang to investigate for evidence of illegal activities by landlords and gentry in various counties of Kaifeng Prefecture.
Few of these people were clean. Based on the evidence provided by Yin Hanzhang, Wang Anshi arrested several landlords and gentry with serious crimes. At the same time, he ordered people to measure the land under their names and discovered a large number of hidden fields.
This made the crime more serious and he was directly sentenced to exile, and all his property was confiscated.
Seeing that this was a serious matter, the other landlords and gentry immediately handed over their hidden fields obediently.
As for these people, Wang Anshi followed Zhao Xing's instructions and did not take any action against them. He only asked them to pay a fine according to the amount of land they had concealed.
The reason is simple. Since the hidden fields have paid less tax for so many years, isn't it reasonable to be fined?
Although the amount of the fine was painful for these landlords and gentry, they had no choice but to pay it.
People are like this. If you take a step back, there will be a second step.
If they had known from the beginning that they would have to pay a fine in addition to paying the hidden land, they might not have been so happy about it.
But now the land has been handed over. If I don’t pay the fine and then the old account is dug up and my property is confiscated and I am exiled, wouldn’t that be a huge loss?
In just half a month, Wang Anshi thoroughly investigated the hidden fields in Yangwu County.
A total of more than 200,000 acres of hidden farmland were discovered and fines were imposed of nearly 100,000 taels.
Most of these hidden fields are ownerless, and a few have been occupied. They will be returned to the people after verification.
Even so, according to Wang Anshi's rough estimate, there are still 200,000 acres of farmland left.
When Zhao Xing saw the bundle of paper sent by Wang Anshi, he silently calculated in his mind.
Although Yangwu belonged to Kaifeng Prefecture, it was a bit far from Bianjing, and the price of land was not as high as that in Bianjing.
The price of one mu of land ranges from 350 grams to more than 100 grams, and the price depends on the fertility of the land, the convenience of irrigation, etc.
The lands owned by the landlords and gentry were all of medium or upper quality, with one mu worth seven or eight taels. In other words, the hidden land found in Yangwu County alone was worth more than one million taels.
This is just one county, but the situation is truly shocking.
According to preliminary estimates, the actual amount of hidden farmland in the Song Dynasty was over 100 million acres.
Not to mention the value of these fields, the annual taxes alone are an astronomical figure.
According to Zhao Xing, the current amount of registered arable land in the Song Dynasty is only more than 400 million mu.
That is to say, hidden fields accounted for about one-fifth of the total cultivated land in the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Xing took the letter and went to the palace.
When the official saw the contents of the note, he couldn't believe it and asked, "Is this true?"
"Father, I have checked the records. When my grandfather was in power, there were more than 520 million mu of registered farmland in the country. Now there are only 440 million mu of registered farmland in the country. That is to say, in the past few decades, 80 million mu of farmland has been lost. Although the northwest has lost several states, the northwest is already barren, and there are not 80 million mu of land, right?"
Zhao Xing did not explain the truth or falsehood, but compared the land area data of the previous emperor's period with the current land area data.
"How dare they!" the official said gritting his teeth.
He had never paid attention to these things. Although what Zhao Xing said was a bit shocking, the emperor did not think that Zhao Xing would use this to deceive him.
Since the emperor ascended the throne, he has been very tolerant and preferential to civil officials, nobles, and even military generals.
However, during the decades he was in power, 8,000 acres of land disappeared.
As Zhao Xing said, although some territory was lost in the war between Song and Xia.
However, the land in those places is barren, and because they are located on the border and have been in war for a long time, there is not much arable land.
"Someone come!" the official said coldly, "Call Han Da Xianggong, Yu Xianggong... and others over."
"Yes!" Eunuch Liu responded and walked out.
The emperor took a deep breath and said, "Fuer, you did a great job this time. Otherwise, I would still be kept in the dark. Why didn't you tell me at the beginning?"
"Father, I have doubts in my mind but I have no evidence, so I plan to tell you after I find evidence," said Zhao Xing.
He had considered telling his father about this before. After all, the data could be found with a simple search.
But after some hesitation, he decided not to say anything for the time being.
Tell your father, and he will definitely arrange for someone to investigate, but it is very likely that nothing will be found.
He checked it himself, and the data he found is the most convincing.
If the emperor sends people to investigate at that time and no problems are found, it means that there is no problem, but that there is something wrong with the people.
The official was silent for a moment and asked, "Is the situation so serious in other counties?"
When Zhao Xing heard this, he knew that his father still had some hope and thought this was just an isolated case.
However, Zhao Xing shattered his father's fantasy and said, "The situation near Bianjing is better, but the situation in places farther away like Yangwu County is basically the same."
"Damn it!" The official was sitting at the table, his eyes full of fierceness.
It was the first time that Zhao Xing saw his father look like this, and there was even a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.
In fact, this is normal.
Among all emperors since ancient times, my father was considered an honest man.
He was not like some mediocre and incompetent rulers who neglected state affairs and indulged in enjoyment.
On the contrary, he was diligent in his work, loved his people, and was very frugal.
He was also able to perceive the long-standing problems in the imperial court and introduced new policies in an attempt to change them.
However, many of the ills of the Northern Song Dynasty were indeed exacerbated during his reign.
It is just covered up by prosperity and not highlighted.
Zhao Xing felt that his father could not be considered mediocre. He could only say that he was too idealistic, too deeply poisoned by Confucianism, and believed in governing the country with virtue.
It’s not that Confucianism is bad, it’s just that it’s putting the cart before the horse.
Emperor Wu of Han abolished all schools of thought and promoted Confucianism alone in order to consolidate and strengthen imperial power.
The core of Confucianism is moral education.
Rulers need this kind of thinking to make the ruled obey their rule in order to achieve the goal of lasting for generations.
But the emperor didn't need any of that.
My father ascended the throne at a young age, and did not learn any imperial tactics from the previous emperor. Instead, he was instilled with a lot of Confucian ideas by the ministers and was trained to be an "honest man".
Honest people have good tempers and don't get angry easily.
But once an honest person gets angry, he can be very scary.
"Father, your Majesty, what do you think should be done with the hidden fields that have been measured?" Zhao Xing asked.
The official pondered for a moment and said, "Of course it should be distributed to the landless people."
"I think this is inappropriate," said Zhao Xing.
The emperor knew what Zhao Xing was thinking, so he asked, "What do you think should be done?"
"It will be taken over by the court and rented to the people by the government," said Zhao Xing.
Nationalizing farmland is the best way to prevent land annexation.
(End of this chapter)