Chapter 732 - 23: Scholars Press the Court, Land Survey Establishes Dominion

"We, who study the teachings of the sages, understand deeply that ’the benevolent love others’ and ’widely benefit the people to help the masses’ are the teachings of the Saint."

"The Gu Clan, for generations holding high offices and receiving the country’s grace, should take on the role of Yi Yin and pursue the works of Hou Ji,..."

"..."

The entire proclamation is still just the old set of Confucian teachings.

Including flattery of the immortals of the Gu Clan, plainly suggesting that Gu Jin should emulate the actions of the former Gu Kang, directly promoting corn across the land, allowing the people everywhere to enjoy its benefits.

In fact, this is a very clever move.

Especially in the current situation where everyone is focused on ’corn’.

The Kong family making such a move.

Naturally, it would gain them a lot of reputation.

Almost everyone, after seeing this proclamation, would marvel at the ’benevolence of the Kong family’, and say things like ’truly descendants of sages’.

Of course, most of these people want to use this momentum to pressure Gu Jin.

As for the common people, they don’t have many thoughts, because most of them cannot understand these things.

Even though the Gu Clan has always been promoting education.

But in the current era, it’s impossible for everyone to be literate and knowledgeable.

And for all these tactics, Gu Jin doesn’t care at all.

Since the rise of the Gu Clan, it seems many have misunderstood one thing.

— That is, the descendants of the Gu Clan are not saints!

Even if they have the people of the world in their hearts.

They must also choose their times.

At least under the current situation, it is impossible for Gu Jin to fully promote corn.

This is unrelated to the world; it’s that he cannot aid the enemy.

Not to mention the independent forces around, just looking at the arable territory Liao could cultivate, if they acquired corn, it wouldn’t take long before their national power far surpassed the Great Song.

How could Gu Jin make such a foolish move?

Of course, Gu Jin also understands.

If he were to do so, it would bring unprecedented prestige to the Gu Clan, elevating its status once again.

But this would also cause the Gu Clan to lose its foundation.

From beginning to end, the Gu Clan can uphold the concept of a united Kyushu.

Now, with the Gu Clan deeply rooted in the Song.

If the Song were to fall under Liao’s iron hooves, the foundation of the Gu Clan would completely collapse.

Both publicly and privately, he cannot do this.

Including dealing with the internal affairs of the Great Song.

Gu Jin must carefully address it all.

And under the eager anticipation of these people, Gu Jin finally made a move.

This winter, he initiated an unprecedented land assessment across the Song territory.

This was also something he had long wanted to push forward.

The Great Song’s territory was already limited, and the lack of cultivated land was inevitable.

But before this, Gu Jin had never found the right moment.

The scope of interests involved in land assessment was simply too wide.

Even ordinary people would resist this matter, as it involved the amount of their tax submissions.

Even throughout the history books, those who successfully implemented land assessment were only those emperors at the peak of their prestige, while other emperors either were misled or simply couldn’t carry it out.

But now it is completely different.

Firstly, Gu Jin holds corn in his hands as a powerful tool.

Secondly, the control of the Imperial Censorate over the local areas is now sufficient.

Since after the war against Northern Han.

After returning to the court, Gu Jin has been continuously strengthening the various powers of the Imperial Censorate.

This wasn’t due to personal ambition.

Simply because of insufficient capability, Gu Jin had to make such a choice, using the Imperial Censorate to more specifically control local administrations, even the entire bureaucratic system of the Great Song.

The current development of the Great Song far surpasses that of the original history.

Not only in terms of territory but also commerce is far ahead.

Coupled with Zhao Dezhao, the emperor who doesn’t concern himself with affairs.

To manage everything well, Gu Jin must rationally utilize all resources, be it courtiers or the censors in the Imperial Censorate, both are involved.

Strengthening the Imperial Censorate is something he must do.

Because many descendants of the Gu Clan now serve as officials within the Imperial Censorate.

Though individually these descendants may not be exceptional, when united, they can still provide significant assistance to Gu Jin.

And now, as all these things gradually stabilize, it naturally provided Gu Jin the conditions to carry out the land assessment.

Of course, the most crucial reason lies in that external forces currently have no means against the Great Song.

Yang Ye always guards Yan Sect Pass, holding the Liao Army firmly outside the border, while Gu Jin gives him unwavering trust.

As for Liaodong.

That is even less cause for worry.

The overall strength of the Song Army currently is actually superior to the Liao Army, and also Liao currently lacks any naval capability, making them unable to threaten the Great Song at all.

This is the providence of heaven.

Not only that, what surprises Gu Yi is — Gu Jin has even come up with a rather advanced method to help the people better understand the court’s various policies.

That is to publish a newspaper.

However, to be precise, it cannot be directly called a ’newspaper’, because Gu Jin named it "Morning Record".

Though the name is different, its actual role is no different from that of a newspaper.

This measure completely exceeded Gu Yi’s expectations.

Even he himself didn’t realize such a form of dissemination existed.

But that’s reasonable — after all, in the era Gu Yi belonged to, newspapers had long been obsolete, so it was hard for him to think of it immediately.

But this thing, in the current Great Song, is very timely.

With commerce booming, and both canal and sea transport networks smooth, these have already accelerated the flow of information.

Coupled with ongoing economic development.

Launching such a ’newspaper’ at this time, which the people can afford, is truly opportune, isn’t it?

Gu Jin had obviously planned this for a long time.

On the first edition of the newspaper, he detailed the key points of the land assessment and linked it to the corn.

There was no profound theory presented, nor was it similar to the usual memorials.

Just straightforward, plain language.

This ensured that ordinary people could understand his thoughts.

And it’s not just about selling it; Gu Jin even had the censors of the Imperial Censorate actively describe it everywhere, aiming to use the top-notch influence of the Gu Clan to cultivate the habit among the populace of reading this "Morning Record".

And this all happened almost simultaneously.

Messages spread rapidly.

An unprecedented wave started from Kaifeng, reaching all corners of the country.

The censors already posted across various regions wasted no time; they immediately took decisive action, bringing the personnel Gu Jin had prepared in advance, and carried out an unprecedented land assessment across the territories.

This move can definitely be described as groundbreaking.

Even the land reforms carried out by the founding emperors cannot surpass this land assessment.

No one could stop Gu Jin.

Gu Jin’s current control over the entire Great Song, in many instances, even exceeds that of Zhao Kuangyin!

By the time these people realized it, it was already too late.

Facing those decisive censors and their armored soldiers, when the great families realized they couldn’t incite the people, they had already lost all means of resistance.

— The role of the Morning Record is indeed significant.

For the bottom-level populace.

They naturally preferred to trust the Gu Clan over those local powerful families.

And this fundamentally cut off the basis for those local powers to cause unrest.

Of course, Gu Jin would not completely block the paths of these people.

In a country, the various forces need careful balancing.

Otherwise, it would cause greater chaos.

These powerful families also have their roles!

— For instance, overseas trade.

In this regard, only these people can step in; ordinary people cannot afford the consumption involved.

Gu Jin is evidently intending to consolidate all the forces in the Great Song, rapidly developing the national strength, and moving forward towards his ambitions.

Gu Yi could also confirm.

The effects this brings will also be astonishing!...

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