My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Walking into the hall, there were not many people in the hall at this time, but some people who held high positions and had nothing to do had already arrived - such as Yuan Qianyao.

"Friend Chang, nice to meet you again."

As soon as Yuan Qianyao saw Chang An, he greeted him.

Chang An also looked at Yuan Qianyao and responded politely: "Master Yuan, you didn't eat enough at my house just now? Now you come to attend His Majesty's New Year's Day banquet again."

Yuan Qianyao said "tsk", then said: "Young friend Chang, this is not right."

"After I finished eating your hot pot dumplings, I went home and hugged my grandson. Not only did I hug him, I even walked around the house with him. In other words, I am not full now, but a little hungry."

Chang An smiled, then sat next to Li Ying. At this moment, he was sandwiched between Li Ying and Yuan Qianyao.

"Marquis Dingkang, how are you?"

After all, there were too many people he knew. Before Chang An could catch his breath, he heard the voice of Qi Wang Li Fan again. Chang An raised his head, looked over, and responded:

"Greetings, King Qi. I hope you are well."

Li Fan smiled and nodded. At this time, Li Ying spoke up and asked, "Uncle, why did you come so early today?"

"I can't help it. The house is a lot quieter now. I'm a bit bored of listening to operas and watching dances at home all the time. It's better to come here to have a rest. After all, there are a few more people to talk to." Li Fan explained, and then sat on the other side, opposite Chang An and others.

Chang An was a little surprised at this time. After all, Qi Wang Li Fan was a famous "socialite" in Kaiyuan. Anyone with some talent was related to him. So Chang An asked:

"Why is it so quiet? Didn't some adults often go to see King Qi before? Couldn't they talk with King Qi to relieve their boredom?"

"Marquis Dingkang, you don't know that some time ago, around October, my brother suddenly issued a decree, strictly prohibiting us princes from privately associating with the ministers." King Qi said.

"Even the consort Pei Xuji was exiled to Xinzhou because he had a banquet with the king, and the princess was sentenced to divorce him. If the consort is like this, let alone ordinary ministers."

Chang An frowned slightly and said, "Is it so serious? He was exiled just because of the banquet."

Li Fan nodded and said, "Not only that, some time ago, your majesty was ill, and my other brother, the Prince Xue you all know, had his wife secretly discuss this matter with two officials. After being discovered, one was beaten to death and the other was exiled. My brother was so scared that he even apologized to his other brother."

"The governor is like this, the prince consort is like this, and you, Marquis Dingkang, must be no exception. The spring examination will be held next month, and you will definitely be the top scorer, and then become an official. But when the time comes, don't come to me unless you have something to do. I may not be able to protect you."

"Thank you King Qi for the reminder."

Yuan Qianyao lowered his voice and asked Chang An, "Friend Chang, do you know King Qi?"

Chang An nodded and said, "But now, even if we know each other, we have to say we don't know each other."

"Indeed."

Li Ying asked worriedly at this time: "Chang Yonghe, I am also a royal relative. I look for you so frequently, what if in the future..."

"How is that possible, Your Highness?" Chang An smiled. "The decree was issued in October. Didn't Your Highness Dongzhi come to me for an article afterwards? This should also be considered a private relationship, right?"

"If that counted, my wife and I would have died the next day."

"That's right." Li Ying nodded, and then shouted: "Someone come! Go get some tea."

......

After sitting for a while, around the hour of You, the entire hall was already full of people. As Eunuch Cheng appeared, he slowly walked to the main seat of the hall. When he walked to Chang An, he quickly said:

"Don't salute!"

Chang An was stunned for a moment, then he watched Eunuch Cheng walk to the main seat and heard him say loudly: "Your Majesty has arrived!"

Everyone stood up, including Chang An. But when everyone shouted "Long live the emperor", Chang An was the only one who did not shout. When Li Longji passed by, he said, "Your Majesty."

Li Longji nodded slightly and said, "Please don't be polite, everyone. Please take a seat."

Everyone sat down, and Li Longji sat upright in his seat. At this time, Li Ying was a little nervous, and both hands were clenched tightly. Chang An asked, "What's wrong, Your Highness? Why are you so nervous?"

"I will go up to present the gift later. I'm afraid that what I present will not be good and cannot compare to those of my brothers and sisters." Li Ying said.

"So what has your highness prepared?"

"What else could it be? I like to study some articles on a daily basis, so I wrote a long article myself and planned to dedicate it to my father." Li Ying said.

Chang An nodded. After Li Ying took a few breaths, he saw his brothers and sisters standing up. He also stood up. After all, it was his turn to offer birthday wishes.

But at this moment, Li Longji suddenly spoke up and said, "Let's put today's birthday celebration aside for now. It's still early, and the banquet can be postponed for now. Eunuch Cheng!"

"exist."

"Go call in the Censor Yuwen Rong!"

"Yes"

At this time, all the ministers noticed something was wrong - today was clearly New Year's Day, why was His Majesty so angry? Chang An also felt a little scared, after all, he didn't know when Li Longji had not allowed him to salute him.

If it weren't for Eunuch Cheng's kind reminder just now, I would probably have shouted along with them, and would probably have been punished by Li Longji.

After this fear, Chang An saw Eunuch Cheng and a man in official uniform walk in, and then Li Longji said, "Yuwen Yushi, tell me, what is the situation with the false household registration?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Earlier, the issue of escaped households occurred frequently, and Your Majesty was also strict in investigating and punishing escaped households, making escaped households increasingly unavailable to the people. In addition, land annexation often occurred, and many people sold their land due to hardship and merged it into the name of landlords and wealthy businessmen."

"But if the people are incorporated into the household registration, there will be corvée and taxes. In order to avoid paying more taxes, the local rich people falsely register all the households, making the people who are incorporated into the household registration become the hidden tenants and hired guarantors of the landlords."

After hearing this, everyone present looked grim.

The war situation on the Tang Dynasty's border is tense now, and it is a time when corvee labor and military service are needed. However, such a big mess has arisen, and it is inevitable that Li Longji would be so angry.

"Hearing this, my dear ministers, what do you think?" Li Longji said coldly.

At this time, Yuwen Rong spoke again, and then said: "Your Majesty, I have a way to solve the problem of false reports of escaped households."

"explain."

"Check the household registration, round up those who have not reported anything or have fled, and send them back to their hometowns or register them as naturalized citizens on the spot." Yuwen Rong said, "In other words, we need to send out governors to search the whole country and register the households."

"That is, fugitives from prefectures and counties are allowed to surrender within 100 days, and either be registered locally or sent back to their hometowns, as each wishes. If they fail to report within the deadline, they will be exiled to a border prefecture once they are discovered. Anyone who shelters them will be punished. New fugitives will be exempted from taxes and tributes for six years."

"No!"

Just as Yuwen Rong finished speaking, a shout came from the side. Eunuch Cheng was about to say "how dare you", but this voice...seemed familiar. He subconsciously turned his gaze in the direction of Chang'an, and sure enough, the young marquis stood up and said.

How could Chang'an not know about the practice of registering households? It was this method of registering households that became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the Tang Dynasty.

Li Longji suddenly felt relieved at this moment, and then asked: "Marquis Dingkang, why is this plan not possible?"

"If it is only the above method, it is not impossible to do, at least it can alleviate the urgent problem temporarily. But once the reward of six years of exemption from corvée and taxes is added, do you know what the consequences will be, Yuwen Yushi?" Chang An questioned.

"This is a major event in the country, it is extremely urgent, and the Yushi Yushi has to arrange rewards. The messengers sent down must think this is an urgent matter and are anxious to complete the task. The county officials want to please their superiors, so they will naturally falsify the amount, and even use local households as new customers. In this way, over time, one person after another will be exempted from corvée and taxes. What will happen to the national treasury?"

Yuwen Rong looked at the other person and found that he was not wearing a crown, so he asked, "Who is this gentleman?"

"Marquis Dingkang, Chang'an and Chang Yonghe, what's wrong? Don't you know them, Yuwen Yushi?" At this time Li Longji introduced them on his behalf. Yuwen Rong hurriedly bowed his head again, not daring to act rashly.

"Marquis Dingkang, do you have any better plan?"

"Your Majesty, my method might be considered as high treason, and I am afraid that Your Majesty will blame me, so I don't want to tell you." Chang An said - the method of registering households was not good, especially since Yuwen Rong also said he would give him a reward.

The problem of household escape is serious, and a large part of the reason is because of the equal-field system. In order to better solve this problem, the equal-field system must be changed. The equal-field system has been used since the Tang Dynasty. According to modern people's thinking, it is the law of the ancestors that cannot be changed. It is extremely difficult to change this system.

Li Longji frowned at this time and said, "Just say it, I will forgive you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Chang An bowed slightly and said:

"My solution is to abolish the equal-field system and remeasure the land of the Tang Dynasty. As the saying goes, all land within the four seas belongs to the king, and all the people within the four seas are the king's subjects. Then, all the land of the Tang Dynasty will be included in your Majesty's name."

"From the smallest brick on the ground to every mountain and river, whether it is the capital of the Central Plains or the southern barbarians and western barbarians, all are state-owned. All farming is a gift from your majesty. You can farm it yourself and rent it out, but you can't sell it. It must be checked every year."

“This is public ownership of land!”