"During the Ming Taizu, it was stipulated that the royal family members had a fixed salary without any need to work. At first, the royal family members had only a little more than that, so it was natural that it was fine. Later, they reproduced from generation to generation, and the royal family members grew. By the Jiajing, Wanli and other years, the imperial court could not pay the full salary to the clans, so instead tried to deduct the salary to the clans. The most difficult thing was that the land annexed by the royal family was very serious, and the local people became tenants of the royal family. During the Wanli and Tianqi period, King Rui, King Hui, King Fu, King Lu and others went to more than 30,000 hectares of land each with more than 30,000 hectares."

"But since we announced the abolition of the royal family status, they have become civilians, and almost all of their land and property were confiscated by us. We have also aroused their dissatisfaction." said an official from the Ministry of Revenue who came to Nanjing with Chu Yun.

Chu Yun nodded while listening. After entering the pass, the Jiuzhou Army obtained a lot of silver to enrich the finances by catching the property of the royal family. The royal family can be said to be the representative of the big landlords. Like many people in the small peasant economy era, they had a crazy love for the land, which led to serious land annexation, which in turn promoted the peasant uprising.

Chu Yun thought that he was already very good to them just demoted them to civilians and allowed them to make a living. In history, these royal relatives were killed by Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other peasant soldiers, and half of them were killed after the Qing people entered the pass.

"These people are used to being dressed and food to open their mouths. After being demoted to civilians, they have no skills. Many of their relatives are poor and often go to local governments to cause trouble." said an official from the Ministry of Personnel.

"Didn't we leave some houses and silver for them during the search?" Chu Yun remembered that when the search was conducted, he left some silver and houses for these royal family members to live, to prevent the tragedy of collective starvation of royal family members.

"If they follow the living standards of small households, their money is enough for them to live a more comfortable life before they learn a craftsmanship. But they are pampered and are not willing to let go of their identities to learn the craftsman's abilities. Life is still as extravagant as before, hiring servants and going out to have a sedan chair. Some family members are probably bankrupt." said an official from the Ministry of Revenue.

Chu Yun was helpless after hearing this. Zhu Yuanzhang was very ruthless in the Mongolians, corrupt officials, and meritorious officials, but he was too good to his family and was granted his son, which led to many civil strife later on Zhu Di's rebellion and King Ning's rebellion. Maybe he didn't know how terrible it was for population reproduction. Although the medical conditions in ancient times were poor, his family was particularly able to have children. Now there are more than 100,000 registered royal relatives.

"If you go bankrupt, go bankrupt. Now it is not the Zhu family's court. They are just ordinary civilians. The local government treats them as refugees. Arrange them to build water conservancy projects, or go to official factories to work hard, and trade labor for food. Those who are unwilling to work will starve them to death. When they are hungry for a while, they will know what people's livelihood is." Chu Yun said.

"Yes." said an official from the Ministry of Revenue.

"You officials were also landlords three years ago and the land was confiscated. Do you have any resentment?" Chu Yun asked his subordinates.

The civil servant group of the Ming Dynasty was itself a big landlord and a big merchant. Although Chu Yun used them, they confiscated all their land and nationalized them before they were opened. Officials were not allowed to go to business, and their salary was increased accordingly as compensation.

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue who came with Chu Yun were all sweating. Chu Yun's question was a question, and their poor answers may affect their future career.

"In my opinion, the land in the world is all over the country, and the farmland is allocated to farmers to plant and the houses are for the people to live in. This is for the harmony of the world, and the ministers and others have no resentment." said an official from the Ministry of Personnel.

"Hahaha, it's not that you don't have any resentment, but since ancient times, China has been 'not worried about the lack of worries but unevenness'. If I just confiscate your land, then you will hate me to death. If all the land is taken over, it will be almost the same for everyone. You are officials and have a higher status than ordinary civilians. You receive more salary than before, so naturally you will have less resentment than other land leaders." Chu Yun said.

When Chu Yun told him, these officials were also a little ashamed. One person was unlucky, but when he saw another person being more unlucky than him, he felt that he was not so unlucky.

"There are also those big merchants in Jiangnan who are engaged in silk and tea trade, but they still have a special liking for the fields. They all have thousands of hectares of fertile land, which hinders the expansion and reproduction. When their land was confiscated, they were also extremely distressed. However, if they lost the land, they could still get compensation from the rising overseas trade. The most intense resistance was the pure landlords represented by the royal family," Chu Yun said.

The family where Gu Yanwu, who he met in Suzhou, was also considered a landlord, with 800 acres of fertile land. The origin of the landlord was either a politically privileged royal family, an ancestor had been an official, or a big merchant purchased land. For example, after the Gu Yanwu family was confiscated, they could only do some business to support their family.

Chu Yun began to attack landlords as early as in southern Liaoning and confiscate land. He did not allow his subordinates to purchase excessive land. Even if he purchased a house, there were restrictions and must not exceed a certain area.

This policy in the rear was brought to the entire China and caused resistance from many interest groups. For this reason, he also mobilized the army to suppress these interest groups within three years.

If this policy was announced by Emperor Chongzhen, it would probably be surrounded by civil servants that day, and then the vassal kings from all over the country gathered to rebel, and even the generals from various places would be ready to move.

Only Chu Yun, who was completely outside the Ming Dynasty officialdom, could do this. The army led by Chu Yun was mainly Han people in southern Liaoning. They were isolated overseas at that time and formed the concept of paying attention to trade and firearms and despising farmland. Therefore, they were able to loyally help Chu Yun suppress interest groups without being manipulated by interest groups.

Secondly, as long as the measures are implemented and the land is supported by the farmers, if the local landlord class starts a crime, soldiers will not be recruited.

"Military Master, please rest assured. The farmers in the world account for 90% of the remaining people, and the migrant craftsmen and soldiers account for 90% of the remaining people. The landlords have no land, but they still have some property. If they are afraid of losing their lives, they will not have any influence." An official from the Ministry of Revenue said, "According to the statistics of our Ministry of Revenue, since the new policy, there have been 317 places where the troubles are caused in the first year, involving more than 10,000 landlords, and the army dispatched 478 times to suppress them. The second year, the troubles are reduced to 153 places, and the third year is only 68 places. I believe that in a few years, no one will object."

Chu Yun nodded again. After the land was nationalized, there would be no landlords, and the former landlords would have no influence due to the decline of their family. Although merchants were rich, the separation of officials and businessmen should be able to curb their penetration of the officialdom.

No system is perfect. Chu Yun can only ensure that he will not have any major problems. As for future affairs, let future generations consider it.
Chapter completed!