Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 192 Bold Reforms

"Fortunately, we are already at a relatively low level. Take this Zhongyuan City as an example. During the reign of Wu Heng, the tax on farmers was three out of ten. The tax on shops was equal to the rent, and they also had to pay a certain amount of protection fee every year. The tax on itinerant vendors was also higher than ours."

"What about those mining and land transactions?"

“Our taxes are collected according to previous practices. There are no taxes on mining or land sales, because the mines are located on private land, and we don’t know how to collect taxes from them. There are no such tax cases in Zhongyuan City either. There are also no precedents for land sales,” Huang Xiaoxiao replied.

"It seems that we still need to further reform the tax collection process!" Mo Yuming said.

Then Mo Yuming asked some other questions. After getting a general understanding, Mo Yuming said to everyone:

"It's getting late now, and everyone must be exhausted from their journey. Let's get some rest. Tomorrow we'll hold a meeting of the Grand Secretaries to discuss how to better manage Zhongyuan City."

After an hour of cultivation, Mo Yuming's mental state had recovered very well, but the others had not. Those with higher cultivation levels, such as Jiang Yuheng, were fine, but those with lower cultivation levels, such as Huang Xiaoxiao and Huo Chengde, were not. After all, it took them a whole day to ride horses from Shangyuan City to get here, so everyone was quite tired.

After everyone had left to rest, Mo Yuming stayed alone in the secret room, pondering for a long time. He finally decided to take advantage of the current situation, when everything was in need of rebuilding, to launch a proper reform.

When the government was initially established, it only reformed the laws, established the organizational structure and management system for leadership at all levels, and created regulations governing the daily conduct of all individuals. It established the most basic relationships between people. However, there were no clear regulations regarding the management of land, minerals, resources, and private property, so the current situation regarding land and minerals remains ambiguous and lacks a standard.

Mo Yuming decided to carry out a major reform, which involved nationalizing all land and registering the land owned by various powerful families to determine their ownership rights.

Although people's understanding of land is still very incomplete, Mo Yuming knows that land is the foundation of a nation, and the greatest benefit comes from the state's control over land development. Currently, the buying and selling of real estate in all cities is a private matter, and ordinary administrators don't interfere.

After all, the continent's land area is so vast that it creates the misconception that land is the least valuable thing, belonging to whoever possesses it, and anyone can build houses or mine on it. As a result, the more powerful one is, the more land they can occupy, leading to extreme chaos and plunder.

The heaviest tax burden in the world falls on the lowest level of farmers, who make up the largest proportion of the population. Under the current tax system, this group undoubtedly benefits the most from those in power. Therefore, no one has ever considered changing anything.

But Mo Yuming wanted to change it, which was also the most important part of his reforms. Lowering the taxes on farmers would gain the support of the most people and attract more people to settle in the Great Xia Empire in the short term.

This would lead to a dramatic increase in the population of the Great Xia Empire, directly boosting land utilization and increasing output. More people would then flock to the Great Xia Empire to do business, creating a more vibrant economy. This would further encourage more people from outside the empire to buy land and build houses, allowing the government to sell land at higher prices and collect more taxes from merchants, thus enriching the Great Xia Empire. This is a chain of interconnected benefits, and a shortcut for the Great Xia Empire to become wealthy and powerful in the fastest possible way.

The next morning, after everyone had breakfast, they gathered in the conference room on the sixth floor. After everyone had arrived, Mo Yuming didn't say much and directly shared his reform ideas. The two main points were: first, state ownership of land, all private land and property must be registered and contracts signed according to land use rights.

From now on, any land transfer must be registered with the government and taxes and fees must be paid as required. All mines and ranches must also pay taxes and fees as required.

Furthermore, they must operate in accordance with government regulations. From now on, anyone wanting to develop land or build houses must obtain government registration. Secondly, the farmers' tax rate will be changed from two-tenths to one-twentieth.

Although most people didn't object after hearing the decision, because they believed that Mo Yuming's decision must have its significance, the vast majority of people didn't understand such changes, and some expressed doubts, wondering if such reforms would affect government tax revenue or have negative consequences.

Mo Yuming was naturally aware of everyone's doubts, and he had expected them to have such thoughts. After all, the worldview of the people in this world was different from his own; such a thing had never happened before, and no management level had ever undergone such a reform. But Mo Yuming clearly knew how much benefit this systemic reform would bring.

The biggest challenge now lies with Su Yangyan and Huo Chengde. They are the backbone of Mo Yuming's government group, but this change will also have the greatest impact on them. After all, they are the two families with the most land in the Great Xia Empire. The others in the government group are mostly middle-class families, and the land change will not affect them.

As for the other families outside this circle, they're fine; if necessary, they can be forcibly conscripted, and no one dares to oppose the government. Especially in the recently conquered Central Plains City, all problems can be solved by force.

Mo Yuming provided numerous explanations and estimates regarding this reform, listing many benefits it would bring. Finally, under Mo Yuming's leadership, the members of the Council of Elders reached a consensus and unanimously approved the reform.

Su Yangyan and Huo Chengde both knew that Mo Yuming's decision to bring the land under state ownership was for the better management of the country and for the well-being of the Great Xia Empire, not for personal gain. Therefore, they agreed to Mo Yuming's plan without much deliberation. Besides, they were among the highest-ranking officials in the country.

Subsequently, at Mo Yuming's suggestion, everyone decided that Shangyuan City would be the capital of the Great Xia Empire, Zhongyuan City would be Zhongyuan Prefecture, and the nine prefectures under it would be downgraded to counties, with the counties and below being towns.

After the land reform, the thirty-mile area between Shilipo and the Wild Wolf Valley military base, with the Ji River as the boundary, was designated as the first economic experimental special zone after the land reform. A new city would be built on this land, connecting with Shangyuan City, and eventually becoming a central city larger than Zhongyuan City.

Mo Yuming had once inquired and found that most people in this world do not have the opportunity to learn. More than 20% of young people's knowledge and skills come from the inheritance of their family elders or from the master-apprentice system.

Farmers, who make up more than 70% of the total population, have virtually no opportunity to learn. Only less than 10% can study at the Imperial Academy, the only academy in the capital. Apart from the imperial family and nobility, only a small number of children of wealthy merchants can afford to enter the Imperial Academy with enormous sums of money.

Moreover, according to the information obtained, there are only seven large academies in the five countries of Tianxuan Continent. Even large vassal states like Da Chi and Zheng Lan do not have academies. Their children can only study knowledge or profound skills in those seven academies.