The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 643 Provisional Tax Law

Liaodong is the area east of Yuguan (Shanhaiguan). Currently, it only includes the four prefectures of Liaoxi, Xuantu, Liaodong, and Lelang. Its scope is limited to the Liao Province of later generations plus the Korean Peninsula. As for the two provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang to the north, they are still in a wild and undeveloped area, occupied by ethnic minorities such as Goguryeo and Buyeo.

In the sixth year of the Zhongping era, Gongsun Du, a court official, was recommended by Xu Rong, who was then serving as a general, and was appointed by Dong Zhuo as the governor of Liaodong. Thus, the Gongsun family began their journey of seizing control of Liaodong.

After Gongsun Du's death, his eldest son Gongsun Kang succeeded him. After Gongsun Kang's death, because his two sons Gongsun Yuan and Gongsun Huang were still young, he passed the position of governor to his younger brother Gongsun Gong. But now that Gongsun Yuan has grown up, he wants to take back the position that belongs to him, which naturally leads to conflict with his uncle Gongsun Gong, who has taken his place.

According to the original trajectory, without external interference, Gongsun Yuan would have successfully killed his uncle Gongsun Gong and become the new ruler of Liaodong.

But now Cao Wei has its eyes on Liaodong. Although it's not that they covet the land itself, but simply to prevent Liaodong from colluding with Liu Bei, once Cao Wei sets its sights on them, the good days for the Gongsun family will be over.

Seeing Sima Yi volunteer, Cao Pi excitedly asked, "Thirty thousand troops, six months, Zhongda, are you really confident?"

Liaodong must be recovered. Recovering Liaodong will not only prevent the Gongsun clan from colluding with Liu Bei to betray him at a critical moment, but also allow us to expand our territory and achieve great things.

Expanding territory was extremely important to Cao Pi. Don't forget that he usurped the throne. If he didn't expand territory and establish achievements, who would respect him?

For an emperor like him, who rose to power through unconventional means, to secure his throne, he had to expand the territory. Simply put, you can be wicked, but you can't be incompetent.

But expanding territory is easier said than done. You have to understand that the territory outside of Cao Wei is now occupied by Liu Bei. He should be grateful if Liu Bei doesn't attack him. How can he expect to take food from Liu Bei's mouth?

How many dishes did it take to make you drink like this?

Fortunately, there is still Liaodong. Taking over the four counties of Liaodong is also considered expanding our territory. So let the Gongsun family die. I'm confronting the big-eared thief, and you just stand by and watch. If I don't deal with you, who will I deal with?

Attacking Liaodong is possible, but there is a prerequisite: it must be a swift and decisive battle, and absolutely cannot be dragged into a protracted war. Otherwise, if Liu Bei receives the news and sends troops to support them, they will be in a very passive position. Therefore, when Cao Pi heard Sima Yi's guarantee that Liaodong would be pacified in six months, he was both excited and uneasy, fearing that Sima Yi might not be able to finish it in six months.

Sima Yi, however, firmly stated, "Your subject is willing to sign a military pledge, for a maximum of six months."

This six-month period begins from the time the order to assemble troops and supplies was received, not from the time the troops entered Liaodong and began fighting the Gongsun family. The process of assembling troops and supplies and then transporting them to Liaodong would take four or five months, meaning that Sima Yi's promised time to pacify Liaodong was only one or two months.

It seems that Sima Yi was afraid someone would challenge him for the position of commander-in-chief in such a short time.

After years of enduring hardship under Cao Cao, Sima Yi finally revealed his ambition. No longer content to be a strategist for a general, he wanted to advance further and become the commander-in-chief of the three armies.

Cao Pi immediately made a decision: "I will give you 50,000 troops, but the six-month time limit cannot be changed. It's not that I don't want to give you time, it's that the 'Big Ears' thief won't give us time, understand?"

Sima Yi bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will certainly not fail in my mission. But Your Majesty, if I am fortunate enough to pacify Liaodong, should I relocate all the people from outside the pass to the interior to replenish the population of the Central Plains?"

Although the population of the Central Plains is more dense than that of the Jiangnan region, after years of war, nine out of ten houses are empty and the land is sparsely populated. To quickly restore production, a large population is needed. If all the Han people in Liaodong were moved back, it would greatly alleviate the population crisis in the Central Plains and accelerate the recovery of the Central Plains.

Cao Pi did not answer but looked at the ministers in the hall. Zhong Yao bowed and said, "It can be considered. Now the court needs to restore agriculture and build factories. It is the time when manpower is needed. Moving the Han people from Liaodong back will have many benefits."

Liu Ye immediately retorted, "Absolutely not, Your Majesty. Grand Tutor Zhong, it would indeed save a lot of trouble to move the population of Liaodong back to the interior, but don't forget that the pseudo-Han still has the Yuanhang Navy and Guan Xing as variables."

"Relocating the Han Chinese from Liaodong back to the interior will inevitably leave four empty counties in Liaodong. Theoretically, this empty land will be filled by Goguryeo, and it will not pose much of a threat to the court for the time being. But what if Guan Xing uses his naval fleet to migrate people to Liaodong? Does Your Majesty think that Goguryeo alone can be a match for Guan Xing?"

"If that day ever comes, Guan Xing will be a much greater threat to the court than the Gongsun family. Therefore, in my humble opinion, the Han people of Liaodong must not be relocated back. As for the shortage of workers in the factories, that is easy to solve. After Zhongda recovers Liaodong, he can find a way to capture the natives of Goguryeo. In addition to Goguryeo, we can also go deep into the grasslands to capture the natives of various Xianbei tribes, and even go out to sea to capture the natives of Japan. There are many ways to capture slaves. There is no need to relocate the Han people outside the pass and give the pseudo-Han people an opportunity to take advantage of the situation."

Thinking of the situation in Liaodong being occupied by Guan Xing, the emperor and his ministers in the hall all shuddered. Cao Pi immediately said, "The Han people in Liaodong must not be allowed to return. Sima Yi, I hereby appoint you as General Who Conquers the East and Governor of Liaodong. After Liaodong is recovered, you will stay in Liaodong to stabilize the situation. We must not give the pseudo-Han navy the opportunity to harass Liaodong."

Sima Yi didn't dare to object and immediately bowed, saying, "Yes..."

After the plan was agreed upon, everyone dispersed. After leaving the palace, Sima Yi immediately packed his things and headed to Youzhou to mobilize troops and supplies to attack Liaodong.

Zhong Yao then convened a meeting of the major clans, and after informing them of Liu Bei's attitude and Cao Pi's opinions, he presented them with a pre-written tax plan for their signature.

Although humans are social animals, they are different individuals, each with their own agenda. There is only one way to unite them: create a powerful external enemy so that everyone has a common goal to strive for.

Now we have found this powerful enemy: Liu Bei, the big-eared scoundrel.

With this common enemy, everything else could be discussed. Zhong Yao presented the conditions he had prepared in advance, and others offered their opinions and made revisions based on these conditions. Naturally, arguments were inevitable during this process, but with Liu Bei as a powerful threat, all the arguments remained under Zhong Yao's control.

After three days of discussion and debate, the Central Plains gentry who held high positions in the Cao Wei court finally came up with a tax plan that was unsatisfactory to everyone but acceptable to all. The core of the plan was that the higher the income, the more taxes were paid, with the highest tax rate approaching 80%, a proportion that made everyone feel the pinch.

Although it was painful, they all knew that if Liu Bei's northern expedition succeeded, they wouldn't even be able to keep the remaining 20%. So they had no choice but to reluctantly give up their precious assets and turn that pain into hatred for Liu Bei, determined to fight him to the end.

Once the heads of these top aristocratic families agreed, things became much easier for the remaining smaller families. The Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for taxation, was instructed to allocate personnel to establish a special auditing office, and the Ministry of Personnel was instructed to increase its oversight efforts. Anyone found evading taxes would be severely punished.

Politics is always about uniting the majority. Minorities have no right to oppose what the majority agrees on; anyone who dares to oppose it will be eliminated immediately.

Moreover, this matter was personally overseen by Zhong Yao. The Zhong family of Changshe was one of the most prominent clans in the world, and Zhong Yao was the highly respected Grand Tutor of the Three Dukes. Who would dare to oppose what he was doing?

One can imagine how astonishing the tax revenue of the imperial court would have been if this tax system had been strictly implemented.

Using this money to deal with Liu Bei, you could practically crush him with money.

After all the clan leaders present had signed the document, Zhong Yao presented the proposal, named the "Temporary Tax Law," to Cao Pi.