Chapter 4 Ownership of the Land After the two men sat down again, Jia Xu asked, "My lord, what do you want to do next?" "Changxing Island is a treasure land. It is adjacent to the mainland but separated by the sea. There is no need to worry about the threat from the barbarians." Tian Ze said, stepping on the ground under his feet. "This is the best place for me to start my career. I want to lay a foundation here, recruit 10,000 refugees from Qing and Xu, and cultivate 1,000 hectares of land as a backup." "After that, I will use my position as the county magistrate of Wen County to recruit people and train soldiers to fight against the barbarians. I will wait for an opportunity to seek the position of governor of Liaodong, cultivate land and build walls to accomplish great things." Tian Ze said confidently. The Tian family had deep roots in Youzhou, and he had been planning this for several years. Jia Xu nodded. Tian Ze’s plan was not outstanding, but he had a lot of capital. If you have some magical power like turning farmland into fertile land, there is nothing to worry about. Just develop mindlessly. Traveling all the way from Xiliang to Youzhou, Jia Xu also had a preliminary estimate of Tian Ze's family background. Apart from anything else, these two hundred so-called "guards" alone are no weaker than any elite border troops he has seen.
He came from a good family, had considerable wealth, and had many brave generals. He was good at identifying people and had extraordinary talents. He basically had the key elements to achieve success in his career. If not for this, the soil moistening technique alone would not be enough to make Jia Xu completely loyal. "My lord, what you mean by handing over the land use rights to the village and giving them to these villagers, is it for more than just the purpose of hiding the households?" Jia Xu asked. "Yes, making the land use rights collectively owned by the villagers is the civilian settlement strategy I plan to implement in the future." Tian Ze sighed inwardly, he was indeed a ruthless scholar who was good at guessing people's minds. He guessed his thoughts just from some details in his words. "I'm afraid it's more than that!" Jia Xu said quietly, his eyes as sharp as seeing through fire, as if he could see through Tian Ze's thoughts. "If possible, I would like to promote public ownership of land." Tian Ze said with some hesitation. Although he had broad knowledge and knew the land laws of later generations and the many reasons for the fall of dynasties, he did not know how to solve this problem in the current era. Over the years, he has learned a lot, encountered many setbacks, and grown a lot. He is not naive enough to think that copying some good policies of later generations can solve the problems of this era. Only policies that conform to reality and laws are good policies, and it is not advisable to copy them rashly. Public ownership of land was just an idea he came up with after constant thinking and experimentation. Of course, the prerequisite is that he has the unreasonable method of soil moistening, which can directly increase the yield per mu and productivity by a large margin. "Land is publicly owned, and the people only have the right to use it but not the ownership. The land can be transferred and leased but not bought and sold. This can greatly alleviate the problem of land annexation." "Exempting taxes and corvée labor, and only collecting land tax, is this a move that my lord is also interested in promoting?" Tian Ze nodded again: "The tax rate will be distributed according to the land area, which can alleviate the difficulties of the poor and reduce the number of refugees and hidden households." Jia Xu took a deep breath and could not help but feel impressed by Tian Ze's magnanimity, but he still sighed and said, "My lord, do you know Wang Mang?" "Of course I know." Tian Ze's eyes flashed. He understood what Jia Xu meant and had been worried about this matter. If he didn't have the ability to cultivate, Tian Ze would never do such a thing or take this path. Normally, the situation and productivity of this era were not enough to directly jump to the point of public ownership of land and equalizing the land tax. "My lord, forgive me for being frank, but in the current situation, if we nationalize all the land and distribute the tax according to the acreage, it would be tantamount to cutting ourselves off from the aristocratic families and even the people of the world," Jia Xu said with a frown.
Jia Xu could guess why Tian Ze was willing to do this even though it would go against the will of the world. Because this is a method that can fundamentally alleviate land annexation and to a certain extent prevent the dynasty from repeating the same mistakes. But this method is extremely difficult to implement. "Wenhe, I understand your concerns. But I dare to do this because I am confident." Tian Ze smiled slightly. "Wenhe, do you know the average grain production and net income of the people in the world today?" Hearing Tian Ze's question, Jia Xu naturally answered: "Nowadays, the average household has five people and can cultivate 100 acres of land. However, in reality, each household has only 60 to 70 acres of land, and each acre produces no more than dan of grain, so the annual grain output is no more than 100 dan." "Each household needs 70 to 80 dan of grain just for food, and several more dan of grain for planting. Adding in some income from weaving and picking, taxes, and necessary expenses, a household's net grain output is no more than 10 dan at most." "In the best case, the average per capita grain output is no more than 20 dan, and the net grain output is no more than 4 dan. If we consider natural disasters and man-made disasters, and some farmers' lack of land, it would be good enough to just barely make a living." Tian Ze nodded slightly: "That's right. Nowadays, the land annexation is serious in the world, and the people still need to pay a lot of land rent. In recent years, natural disasters have continued and the temperature has dropped sharply. It is inevitable that there will be starvation everywhere." Jia Xu sighed lightly, as if he was thinking of the corpses scattered all over Xiliang and the countless refugees in the Central Plains. "A family can cultivate more than a hundred acres of land, but nowadays there are more and more people and less and less land, and most of it has been annexed by wealthy families. The problem of land annexation cannot be solved. The fundamental reason is the insufficient productivity. The second thing is to solve the problem of vested beneficiaries and the emergency relief of farmers." Tian Ze said. "Wenhe, do you know what the per-acre yield of the black soil you saw today can be?" Tian Ze asked again. "The black soil I see today is the most fertile soil I have ever seen in my life. I have seen the best fields in Huainan and Jizhou, with an output of four stones per mu. This arable land is not inferior to them, but considering the climate in the north, it should be able to reach about three stones." Jia Xu said. The difference between good farmland and bad farmland is huge, which is why Jia Xu was so shocked. Because Tianze did not create ordinary farmland, but high-quality farmland. "In this way, if each person has 20 mu of land, the per capita grain output can reach 60 shi, and the net grain output will be at least 40 shi." Tian Ze said. With sufficient farmland and doubled yields, the net output will not only increase by one or two times, but by at least ten times. The food that one person can provide can feed three or four people, which is enough to protect the roads where the land is publicly owned to a certain extent. "My lord, this may still not be enough." Jia Xu frowned. What Tian Ze challenged was the bottom line that the aristocratic and powerful families would never allow to be violated. As soon as his power was established, he would inevitably be attacked by everyone. Today, the strength of the aristocratic families has basically reached its peak. Tian Ze's method can only be said to have the capital to compete, but the possibility of success is still not very high. The huge gap in strength is still difficult to maintain. "What if I say that the yield per mu of these black soils can reach seven stones or even more than eight stones?" Tian Ze said faintly. "What?" Jia Xu widened his eyes in disbelief, his tone full of disbelief. Tian Ze looked at Jia Xu who was shocked by him and smiled faintly. He not only has the soil moistening technique, but also the spiritual rain technique. Not only can it increase crop yields, but it can also enable crops to be harvested twice a year even in a bitter cold place like Youzhou. "My lord, are you serious about what you just said? Could it be that you counted the large acres as small acres?" Jia Xu asked again for confirmation, his voice trembling slightly. In the Han Dynasty, land was divided into large and small acres, with one large acre being approximately equal to three small acres. Some officials always liked to make a fuss about this, and even the records in later historical books were always vague. A small acre of land produces one and a half dan of grain, which is equivalent to four or five dan of grain if converted to a large acre of land.
"Of course it's a small acre. I've tried it in Youbeiping. On this kind of black soil, crops can be planted even in autumn, and they can be harvested before spring plowing, achieving two crops a year." "We plant wheat once in spring and once in autumn, so we can cultivate the fields twice a year. The fertility of the fields is still sufficient, and we can harvest a lot. On average, one mu of land can yield about five shi of grain from spring planting and nearly three shi from autumn planting, for a total of about eight shi." Jia Xu, who usually kept his emotions secret, now had an excited look on his face. "Good! Good! Good!" "My lord has such a genius, he will surely accomplish great things!" The yield per mu was eight shi, which was more than five times the normal yield per mu. With sufficient fields, one person could produce enough food for eight people! This was almost like more food than could be eaten. In ancient times, people and food determined almost everything. As for the current situation of the Han Dynasty, as long as there is enough food and the population is everywhere, it is not difficult to recruit hundreds of thousands of refugees in a few years. As long as he has the manpower and takes advantage of the terrain of Liaodong, even if the whole world is his enemy, Jia Xu has a certain degree of confidence in breaking the deadlock. Tian Ze smiled slightly. As a cultivator, he might not be very good at politics and military affairs, but when it comes to logistics and farming, that would be a complete dimensionality reduction attack. Any move can multiply the productivity of this era several times. If he didn't have this ability, how could he dare to speak so confidently. (End of this chapter)
