Chapter 103: Land Consolidation

Page (1/3)

“Zhen Dalang’s wine today is quite good, seems different from what’s usually served at Zhen Dalang’s tavern. There must be something special about it?”

The wine Hao Ren was drinking was certainly not the typical strong distilled spirit sold on the market, but newly brewed Erguotou with an alcohol content of only forty degrees, nearly approaching the Tang people's taste. However, Zhen Qian was not in a hurry to market it.

“This is a newly brewed immortal’s brew, the yield is low, so I keep it for my own tasting. If Chief Hao likes it, I’ll send you two bottles when you leave!”

“Then I won’t be polite!”

Along with large chunks of lamb, there were thinly sliced lamb rolls, so thin they were like paper. Dipped briefly in the hotpot and then coated with Zhen Qian’s unique secret sauce, Hao Ren simply couldn’t stop eating.

In no time, Hao Ren had devoured three plates of lamb by himself and finished a whole bottle of wine. Burping contentedly, he wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth and pulled a stack of contracts from his sleeve, placing them before Zhen Qian. “Dalang, here are the slave contracts you wanted to buy. I’ve helped keep these people for you. If you’re satisfied, you can go through the paperwork tomorrow!”

Hao Ren was the local boss of Luquan County; since Zhen Qian didn’t have time to watch the slave market daily, Hao Ren would help hold onto good slave craftsmen if he found any.

Zhen Qian was very selective: generally, slaves without family were not wanted because they were hard to manage. Without attachments, they might harbor resentment and rebel. Slaves with families were different; even if dissatisfied, they would endure for the sake of their loved ones. It was worth paying more for such loyalty. Secondly, slaves had to have a skill—be it farming or guarding. Lastly, those with bad conduct, especially former criminals, were undesirable as they only brought trouble.

During the High Tang period, slave prices rose significantly compared to early Tang. Ordinary adult male slaves cost over ten strings of cash, while attractive adult female slaves could fetch twenty to thirty strings. Younger or older slaves were less valuable, and whether the slave had a skill was a key price factor.

The slaves Zhen Qian wanted were expensive; a skilled slave family typically cost fifty to sixty strings, which made Zhen Qian wince.

Talent—this world’s most valuable and least valuable thing is money. Money can generate more money or become worthless dirt. Only talent is the sure way to create wealth.

“Why are there so many slaves for sale this month?”

Hao Ren picked at meat stuck between his teeth with a toothpick. “If you wanted unskilled slaves too, the number would be double, and prices would have dropped by twenty percent!”

Seeing Zhen Qian’s confusion, Hao Ren explained: “Wang Li… you know, that Minister of Revenue, Censor-in-Chief, and Mayor of Jingzhao, who commanded over twenty officials—because his brother Wang Han, a clerk in the Ministry of Revenue, conspired with Xing Zan to rebel, and was ordered to commit suicide by the emperor, their estates were confiscated and sold. Wang Li had vast landholdings and numerous followers; just in Hengzhou alone, he owned more than a dozen properties. Otherwise, how could there be so many slaves for sale this month?”

Zhen Qian knew Wang Li well. In the fourth year of the Tianbao era, Emperor Xuanzong appointed Wang Li as the official in charge of household registrations and labor conscription, and decreed exemption from rent, labor, and tribute that year.

Page (2/3)

Wang Li requested to collect transportation fees from the populace, grossly exaggerating the amounts, while requiring people to buy expensive local products with the money. This meant the people paid more than if the rents and labor had been exempted. According to previous regulations, soldiers stationed on the frontier were exempt from rent and labor for six years, rotating service every six years. But frontier commanders, ashamed of defeat, never reported fallen soldiers to the government, so these soldiers’ household registrations at home remained intact. Wang Li, intent on amassing wealth, treated those with registrations but no presence as tax evaders, levying rent and labor for all stationed over six years, sometimes demanding thirty years’ worth at once, with no appeals allowed.

Emperor Xuanzong’s long reign grew more extravagant. The palace’s rewards and gifts were unrestrained and could not be freely withdrawn from the treasury. Wang Li perceived the emperor’s desires and annually contributed an extra ten billion strings of cash to the imperial treasury for Emperor Xuanzong’s feasts and extravagance, assuring, “This money is separate from the state’s official funds.” Xuanzong regarded Wang Li as a financial genius who could enrich the nation, thus favoring him more. Wang Li’s ruthless squeezing of the people to please the emperor caused widespread resentment inside and outside the court.

Wang Li’s brother, Wang Han, was a ruthless criminal who summoned the sorcerer Ren Haichuan to ask if he had the appearance of an emperor. Ren Haichuan, fearing for his life, fled.

Wang Li’s death due to his brother’s rebellion was not unjust, but none expected his estate to be so vast, which was a boon for Zhen Qian.

From among the pile of slave contracts, Zhen Qian picked out four: “These are the four slave families I want. Shall we go see them in the market tomorrow?”

“Sure! I’ll wait for you at the market early in the morning…” Hao Ren looked at the four contracts Zhen Qian had selected. “Dalang, among these slaves are many beautiful Silla maids and Hu concubines with both grace and appearance. Won’t you pick a few to keep at home?”

Silla maids and Hu concubines could serve, sing a little song, or perform a seductive dance, but they were basically useless to Zhen Qian. Considering he already had two little girls at home barely fed, the thought of indulging in pleasures was dismissed.

Seeing Zhen Qian unmoved, Hao Ren gave a thumbs-up: “Brother, I really admire you. With a fortune of ten thousand strings, you don’t enjoy yourself at all. What are you thinking?”

In prosperous High Tang households, if the family didn’t have several Silla maids, Hu concubines, or Kunlun slaves, they were ashamed to greet others. Zhen Qian was an anomaly; his fixed assets totaled at least ten thousand strings, yet he didn’t keep a single Silla maid or Hu concubine, let alone cultivate singers or actors at home.

Among the government’s slaves for sale, many were Silla maids and Hu concubines. Hao Ren had set aside several beautiful women for Zhen Qian, but he didn’t choose any.

Zhen Qian’s purchase of skilled slaves was obviously for business, which Hao Ren knew. But a rich man who didn’t indulge was a rarity.

“Dalang, recently the number of vagrants in the county town has surged. The prefecture office is overwhelmed, fearing disorder. If you need manpower, hiring some vagrants could also help the prefecture ease its troubles!”

In the eleventh year of Tianbao, Li Linfu, the chancellor who had drawn attention for twenty years, died. The Tang Empire lost its last iron-fisted statesman able to oversee everything. Yang Guozhong became the third man to enrich himself at Emperor Xuanzong’s expense, and from then on, chaos ensued.

Yang Guozhong was uneducated and unruly from youth but handsome. After Yang Guifei entered the palace, he gained favor through her elder sister Yang Yuhuan. Yet he had a unique skill: impeccable financial calculations. It was said that during inventory at the Great Surplus Treasury, he could report the discounted value of each warehouse’s stock by market price “per piece.” After Li Linfu’s death, Yang Guozhong became chancellor and held over forty posts concurrently.

The Great Surplus Treasury was established by Wang Li to supply Emperor Xuanzong’s extravagances. Whenever the emperor inquired about its funds, Wang Li assured him, “Please rest assured, Your Majesty uses these funds freely; they are not from state taxes!”

Page (3/3)

This humble-origin chancellor was ambitious: I come from a lowly background and only rose by clinging to a woman’s favor; I am not a meritorious minister or a veteran general. Therefore, in my lifetime, I won’t seek a good reputation. I only desire wealth and luxury, and to seize the pleasures of the moment! (Apparently, Yang Guozhong had some self-awareness.)

It was said that two years after Yang Yuhuan entered the palace, Yang Guozhong claimed to own thirty million bolts of brocade, which, converted to modern RMB, would be approximately seven billion yuan.

In the eleventh year of Tianbao, shortly after Li Linfu’s death, the Tang Empire issued an edict titled “Prohibition on Officials Seizing the People’s Eternal Farmland.”

At face value, this edict forbade feudal officials from forcibly seizing peasant lands.

Don’t be fooled—the edict’s title was a mere word game. Its essence was to recognize private land ownership and sales, effectively abandoning the “Kaiyuan Purchase Restriction Order.”

The edict first acknowledged that since Tianbao, “princes, officials, and wealthy families” had circumvented land purchase restrictions to seize the peasants’ vital farmlands. The current situation left peasants “nowhere to settle.” Then the edict shifted to solutions: social wealth gaps were understandable; all completed land sales bought with cash were market transactions and thus fair and just. Therefore, land bought with cash would not be subject to the “Kaiyuan Purchase Restriction Order” nor confiscated but would be “treated leniently and encouraged.” As for land not purchased with cash, if anyone requested the government to redeem the “eternal farmland,” and no one did, so be it…

Ultimately, the feudal dynasty’s methods of wealth accumulation were all about competing with the common people for control of wealth. Typically, feudal rulers increased taxes or debased currency—a practice today called “tax adjustment,” “fiscal policy,” or “monetary policy.”

If Zhen Qian were to judge, he’d say raising taxes is the dumbest policy—everyone knows when their pockets are lighter, it’s merely a “move with no plan in hand.” Increasing money supply is ruthless; people don’t feel the shortage at first, but over time it becomes obvious, a “no move in hand but plan in mind” scenario. Only Yang Guozhong, the unlearned rogue, managed the highest form of robbery with the “Prohibition on Officials Seizing the People’s Eternal Farmland” edict—land annexation—truly a “no move and no plan” approach.

In an agrarian society, land is the means of production for every small farmer. A sharp rise in land prices wipes out generations of wealth accumulation among the lower classes. Clearly, Emperor Xuanzong realized this during the Kaiyuan era, which is why the “Kaiyuan Purchase Restriction Order” denied all land sales’ legitimacy, stabilizing small farmers’ land rights against imperial government encroachment.

Now that the wealth distribution rules have changed, everything has changed. Vagrants, those terrible vagrants, have reappeared within the Tang Empire’s borders.

Looking ahead, by the fourteenth year of Tianbao, over forty percent of the Tang Empire’s population had lost their land. Even without the An Lushan Rebellion, the conditions for social upheaval were fully in place; the outbreak was only a matter of time.