Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

"If the title could be sold,"

"It can be exchanged for a large sum of money."

"Fifty thousand shi of grain is not much even for a large household."

"The land in the south yields a greater harvest than the land in the north,"

"One mu can yield three or four shi of fruit."

"Fifty thousand shi is roughly the rent for a large household's five hundred qing of land for one season,"

“There are many wealthy families in Jiangnan who own thousands of acres of fertile land.”

"If it weren't for the two consecutive years of drought in Jiangnan,"

"And the war continues,"

"Grain prices in Jiangnan wouldn't be this high."

"Ten thousand strings of cash and fifty thousand bushels of grain are not much for them,"

"But they're not stupid either,"

"The titles of nobility in the Great Liang Dynasty basically do not come with any special privileges."

"Perhaps in the past they did this to curry favor with the imperial court,"

"They will also provide money and provisions to buy a noble title,"

"But after the Great Liang granted a general amnesty,"

"They also don't need to worry about their past sins,"

"There probably aren't many people willing to buy titles."

The status of merchants had greatly improved during the Song Dynasty.

Many high-ranking officials in the imperial court came from merchant families.

In addition, the Song Dynasty had a large number of imperial relatives.

Many merchants paid to marry women from the royal family.

To portray oneself as a member of the royal family

At the same time, he received some nominal official positions.

Businessmen are accustomed to spending money to buy status.

However, during the Song Dynasty, marrying a member of the imperial family as a county princess would only cost a few thousand strings of cash.

Even those of higher status only had tens of thousands of strings of cash.

From the perspective of a merchant who can put a price tag on everything...

A baron in the Great Liang Dynasty with 100,000 strings of cash is undoubtedly a bit too high.

Every change of dynasty is a redistribution of wealth.

Although it is impossible to distribute all the wealth in the world equally to everyone.

However, it could bankrupt most of the wealthy families from the previous dynasty.

In their place rose a new dynasty of powerful officials.

Otherwise, the wealthy will continue to accumulate wealth.

They could very well possess wealth comparable to that of a nation.

At that time, it will be inevitable that some people will have the intention to interfere in politics.

In the past, commerce was underdeveloped.

There were no wealthy people in the Central Plains.

However, there are wealthy and prominent families among them.

Their wealth consisted of vast lands and their people.

This is why the Tang Dynasty drastically suppressed powerful clans.

Let the large clans divide up their assets.

After being suppressed by the Tang Dynasty,

The powerful and influential families that once held absolute power in the local area have all disappeared.

However, new destabilizing factors emerged during the Song Dynasty.

Those are wealthy merchants and tycoons.

Their family wealth often amounted to hundreds of thousands or even millions of strings of cash.

There are plenty of landowners with thousands of acres of fertile land.

Moreover, due to the introduction of Champa rice,

The yield per mu increased significantly.

The annual rent can easily amount to hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.

The same land,

The harvests of the Song Dynasty were more than twice that of the Tang Dynasty.

In terms of wealth alone,

Ordinary landlords in the Song Dynasty were no less powerful than the wealthy and powerful families of the Tang Dynasty that had lasted for hundreds of years.

This is progress of the times.

It is also a result of the development of productive forces.

The improvement of people's living standards

It's not necessarily the credit of the imperial court.

Rather, it is the progress of all humankind.

If compared horizontally with other countries

Improved even more

Only then can the merits of the imperial court be proven.

Only a longitudinal comparison,

If we bring up old grievances,

No nation stands still.

Most of the wealthy families in the north were eliminated.

However, wealthy households in Jiangnan were granted a general amnesty.

There are more wealthy households in the Jiangnan region than in the North.

Daliang would naturally not allow these large households to expand indefinitely.

Otherwise, it wouldn't last more than a few generations.

These wealthy families are truly richer than a country.

Land auctions have already begun in the north.

However, before Zhao Yuan went to war...

The imperial court then decided to temporarily refrain from selling land in the south.

The land south of the Yangtze River should be reserved and gradually distributed to retired soldiers.

Otherwise, it's highly likely that all the land in an entire county will belong to one family.

This is unacceptable to Daliang.

It wasn't that the officials in the court hadn't considered this issue.

In the past, official titles and ranks could exempt one from corvée labor and taxes.

However, the Liang dynasty had already exempted them from all corvée labor.

Taxes were reduced to commercial taxes.

However, no further reductions or exemptions are possible.

Political privileges are also impossible to grant.

They don't want to give special privileges.

He wanted to sell the title again.

This truly stumped everyone in the court.

In the end, it was Zhao Yuan who came up with an idea.

Zhao Yuan smiled and said, "A noble academy will be established in Tokyo."

"Only those with titles are allowed to enroll,"

"I am the head of the academy."

Upon hearing this, Zong Ze

His eyes lit up.

"Did the King of Liang impart his knowledge?"

Zhao Yuan nodded and said, "I will personally design all the courses at the Noble Academy."

"Classical texts, physics, mathematics, horsemanship, archery, etc."

"I will give lectures from time to time."

“My children will also study at a prestigious academy in the future.”

In fact, Zhao Yuan had long had the idea of ​​planning courses for his children.

He knows what the world is like.

Naturally, he wouldn't let his children only learn poetry, books, and classics.

Chapter 1783 Royal Academy

Once the world is unified

The number of his children will definitely increase explosively.

His children alone could probably form an academy.

Once the lecture begins

The old brothers from Liangshan will surely be tempted.

He also couldn't easily turn it into a royal academy.

Refuse to join the old brothers of Liangshan.

Let's just turn it into a prestigious academy.

Anyway, the old brothers of Liangshan will not be without titles.

Zong Ze smiled and said, "Okay."

"This benefit alone is enough to make wealthy people all over the world flock to it,"

"Even if they themselves don't want it,"

"I will definitely buy a baron for my children."

He then shook his head and said,

"As soon as this news came out,"

"The homes of the wealthy across the land are no longer peaceful."

Zhao Yuan was also aware of this problem.