Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 800: Chapter 603: What Is the Purpose? (Part 2)

No matter how the crops in the fields turn out, the amount of tenant rent remains fixed.

This may seem better than a sharecropping system, but in reality, fixed rent often leads to tenant bankruptcy.

If there is a reduction in yield, tenants may end up having to compensate the landlord with additional grain.

This is just a conflict between landlords and tenants, not to mention the taxes, corvée labor, various extortionate levies, and the oppression of common people by landlords and gentry.

Officials and gentry have numerous ways to harm the common people, with countless insidious tricks.

Officials collude with gentry to shift their own land’s taxes onto ordinary farmers.

An ordinary farmer may only own ten acres, but is required to pay taxes on thirty acres, with the extra twenty acres not belonging to them, yet they have to pay the taxes.

Even worse, the common people don’t even know who is causing them harm, nor which family they are paying taxes for.

And then there’s conscripted labor, treating ordinary people like private slaves, giving no money or grain, yet forcing them to work.

This situation is especially severe in the garrison, where many officials use military households as free labor.

“We need to distribute land to the people. When we capture a county, we must distribute all the land to the people, giving the land of gentry and landlords to the common people!”

“We will issue land deeds to the people, recompile the Yellow Book and Fish Scale Book, and burn all the original Fish Scale Books. Even if we can’t hold onto the county, the common people will still own the land!”

Yang Mingzhao said excitedly.

At this moment, his idea is very simple, just to distribute land to the common people, establish land contracts for them, and recompile the Fish Scale Book so that even if they are expelled by the court, the land will legally belong to the people.

It will be difficult for the gentry and the government to reclaim that land later.

“That’s a good idea!” Chen Buyu’s eyes brightened.

Li Dagui suddenly said, “Young master, it’s fine to redistribute the land of ordinary gentry, but what about the land owned by martial arts families and Jianghu Sects?”

Yang Mingzhao replied, “Of course, it should also be distributed!”

“Then young master should be prepared to make enemies with all the martial artists in the world!” Li Dagui reminded.

“Haha~~Naive~” Wu Zheng laughed from outside the door.

Yang Mingzhao’s old face blushed. Okay, maybe his idea was a bit too naive.

They could redistribute the land of ordinary gentry because they didn’t fear those ordinary landlords.

Just a bunch of country squires, they certainly wouldn’t be afraid.

But martial arts families and Jianghu sects are different; these forces have significant military power.

Distributing their land would likely lead to a fight.

Yang Mingzhao ignored Wu Zheng and looked at Li Dagui to ask, “What do you think?”

Li Dagui smiled and said, “We can redistribute the land of martial artists, but we must also give them benefits. Martial artists can receive more land, and we can also provide them with business opportunities!”

Yang Mingzhao furrowed his brows, “The court prohibits sect forces from engaging in commerce!”

Li Dagui explained, “That’s why sect forces are always trying to annex people’s land!”

From Emperor Chengping’s Martial Restriction Order to Emperor Yanping’s Martial Order, there have always been restrictions on sect forces engaging in commerce, to prevent collusion between officials, martial artists, and merchants to monopolize local industries.

This policy is actually correct because officials and martial artists can easily collude, with one having power, the other military strength, and adding sufficient wealth, they could dominate a region.

However, implementation is another story, with many loopholes to exploit. Martial arts families are not sects, so they can do business, and sects closely associated with martial arts families can do business through them without appearing publicly.

Furthermore, certain sect forces, since they can’t engage in commerce, have opted to invest in land properties, fields, stores, urban properties, and so on, which have become prime choices for sect investments.

The Yang family used to do these things, acquiring a lot of farmland and properties in Chongshan Town and Liaodong.

The same goes for the Yang Family; previously, Yang Family Village only had a few thousand acres of land, but now the Yang Family owns tens of thousands of acres alone. If you add up all the land owned by all members of the Yang Family, it might be several hundred thousand acres.

In just thirty some years, the Yang Family accumulated so much land.

Not to mention those aristocratic families and sect forces with centuries of heritage.

Ordinary people in Da Rong truly live difficult lives, but in this world, it’s even harder for common people to resist.

The existence of martial artists adds to the difficulty of rebellion.

Although Chen Buyu and his group captured a county before, there’s no way they can hold onto a county.

And the rebel army in Bashu now is actually supported by martial arts forces.

They are not rebelling for the common people, but to seize more resources.

Yang Mingzhao pondered deeply. Along this journey, he had considered these issues, but he didn’t take martial arts forces seriously because he thought the Yang family could suppress most of them.

But now he feels his previous thoughts were too simplistic.

“You mean letting martial artists engage in commerce?” Yang Mingzhao asked Li Dagui.

Li Dagui nodded, “Exactly, common people only seek to fill their bellies. By giving them land, they can feed themselves, but martial artists need various cultivation resources, so we should provide them with channels and methods to acquire them!”

“Commerce can satisfy the need for money, allowing them to acquire more wealth to purchase various cultivation resources!”

Yang Mingzhao was thoughtful, “You’re right, the interests of martial artists must be considered, only then can we win them over!”

Li Dagui smiled, “Indeed, back in the day, the Great Rong Grand Ancestor used the benefits of commerce to ally with many martial arts forces!”

“Great Rong Grand Ancestor? Did the Great Rong Grand Ancestor also distribute land?” Yang Mingzhao asked.

Li Dagui shook his head, “No, at the end of Dasheng, the world was in chaos for decades, with bandits everywhere and countless people suffering; there was no need to distribute land!”

When Great Rong Grand Ancestor founded the nation, the world had been chaotic for decades, filled with remnants and bandits, and the population decimated.

At that time, as long as the people could settle down, they could reclaim wastelands anywhere, so there was no need for land distribution.

Comparatively, Da Rong is not yet in such chaos.

The population is still large, and the land still has owners, so widespread land reclamation is naturally impossible.

After realizing these points, Yang Mingzhao felt the difficulty of rebellion was truly great.

They have many enemies to face.

The court is just one; local gentry and wealthy households, aristocratic families, and sect forces could all be their enemies.

Yang Ze chuckled and said, “Young master, actually now there’s no need to worry about so much, with our current capabilities, we can at most capture one or two counties!”

“With the land of two counties, as long as we avoid those strong sect forces, we can suppress everything.”

“Right now, we can totally follow your plan to distribute land, and if we encounter strong sect forces in the future, we can figure things out then!”

“As long as the Family Head supports us, as long as we don’t push too hard, it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.”

Yang Mingzhao nodded, “That’s true, it’s too early to worry about these things now, we might be wiped out by the court’s army soon enough!”

Li Dagui and Yang Ze chuckled at his words.

Being wiped out by the court’s army, that’s indeed a possibility.

But they don’t think the young master is in any danger doing this.

Who in Da Rong wouldn’t show some respect to Yang Zhenshan? Rebellion is one thing, but as long as the power is strong enough, it’s not that big of an issue.

Of course, in their eyes, this is just Yang Mingzhao fooling around, and they are just along for the ride.

Fooling around isn’t a big deal as long as it doesn’t cause too much of a stir.

What if it does cause a big stir?

Well, then they can seek help or flee as necessary.

They could retreat to Star Moon Island; who would dare chase them there!