kvmb Chapter 810 Lu 1 State
Chapter 810 Lu 1 State
Chen Cheng understood and stepped forward to open the door, revealing Yang Zheng and his personal guards outside.
"Yang Shuai?"
Chen Dao was somewhat surprised. It was the time for spring plowing, and Yang Zheng should have been in Liangzhou handling the sowing of Fugui wheat. Why had he suddenly come to Chenjia Village?
"I have come here to thank my young friend Chen!"
As Yang Zheng walked into the front yard, he smiled and said, "The rich wheat that my young friend bestowed upon us has now been planted in Liangshan County. I expect that in a few months, Liangshan County will be able to enjoy a bumper harvest!"
Chen Dao smiled without saying a word. He knew that thanking him was definitely not Yang Zheng's purpose for this trip.
As expected, after exchanging pleasantries, Yang Zheng's expression turned serious, and he continued, "There's news about the dragon's beard grass that you asked me to inquire about before!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Dao instantly shuddered and sat up straight in his recliner: "Really?"
Back when Chenjia Village and Liangzhou reached a cooperation agreement, Chen Dao entrusted Yang Zheng to help inquire about the Dragon Beard Grass.
Chen Dao originally thought that with Yang Zheng's intelligence-gathering capabilities in Kyushu, he should be able to find out about the Dragon Beard Grass soon.
Unexpectedly, several months passed, and Yang Zheng, who had many spies in Kyushu, still couldn't find any information, which inevitably disappointed Chen Dao.
Unexpectedly... Yang Zheng personally came to his door today to inform him that there was news about the Dragon Beard Grass!
This undoubtedly brought Chen Dao a great surprise!
"It is true!"
Seeing Chen Dao's high regard for the Dragon Beard Grass, Yang Zheng nodded solemnly: "During the Spring Festival, news came from Youzhou that the Lu family of Youzhou deliberately spread rumors that the clan had a large quantity of precious medicinal materials such as Dragon Beard Grass, in order to attract powerful figures from all over the country to the Lu family!"
The Lu family!
Chen Dao frowned. He was no longer the ignorant boy he was when he first transmigrated, and naturally knew what kind of existence the Lu family was.
To put it simply, in Youzhou, the Lu family's words carried more weight than the emperor's, which speaks volumes about the Lu family's prominence!
The reason why the Lu family was able to become so prominent is inseparable from the ancestors of the Lu family!
About three thousand years ago, the Lu family was just a small family. The clan leader, Lu Shengjie, was just a minor official and a mediocre scholar who never gained the favor of the court.
But no one expected that, hundreds of years later, Lu Shengjie's works would suddenly be rediscovered by many scholars and regarded as gospel.
Initially, Lu Shengjie's works and ideas only influenced a small group of readers. However, as time went by, Lu Shengjie's works became known to more and more readers and were admired by more and more readers!
As a result, Lu Shengjie, who had been dead for many years, became increasingly respected by scholars and was revered as a saint by later generations of scholars!
As a result, Lu Shengjie's descendants also benefited and were regarded by scholars as the family of a sage!
In order to win over scholars, the imperial court posthumously honored Lu Shengjie, who had died many years ago, and granted a title to the head of the Lu family at the time. They even bestowed upon the Lu family a fiefdom in Youzhou!
At that time, the Lu family's fiefdom was only the size of a county. However, as Lu Shengjie's knowledge and ideas spread more and more widely, the subsequent imperial court paid more and more attention to the Lu family. By the time the Xia state was established, the Lu family's fiefdom had grown to the size of a prefecture!
The Lu family has thrived in Youzhou for over two thousand years!
Over two thousand years, emperors have come and gone across the land of Kyushu, but the Lu family has remained steadfast, and in fact... their prestige has only grown stronger!
In the present day, the people of Youzhou know nothing of the imperial court, only of the Lu family. So it can be said that the Lu family is the true ruler of Youzhou.
Within Youzhou, 50% of the officials were related to the Lu family, 30% claimed to be disciples of the Lu sage, and only 20% had no connection with the Lu family.
Of course, it wasn't that these officials didn't want to establish a relationship with the Lu family, but rather... their official positions were too low, and the Lu family simply didn't think much of them.
In short, the Lu family's influence in Youzhou was terrifying. On the surface, the imperial court ruled Youzhou, but the Lu family was the true rulers of the region!
"But what about the Lu family, who are known as the family that controls half of Lu?"
Chen Dao asked thoughtfully.
"Lu Banzhou?"
Yang Zheng scoffed and said, "This title is a bit too disrespectful to the Lu family! It should be called Lu Yizhou!"
"Oh? What do you mean by this?"
"The Lu family has thrived in Youzhou for thousands of years, and its influence has long since extended to every corner of Youzhou!"
Yang Zheng slowly said, "Young friend, do you know how much of Youzhou the Lu family controls?"
"I don't know!"
Chen Dao shook his head.
"Seventy percent!"
Yang Zheng revealed a startling figure: "According to the information I have gathered, the Lu family controls as much as 70% of the land in Youzhou. The people of Youzhou have no land to cultivate. They either have to join the Lu family as serfs or become tenant farmers. Otherwise, they don't even have the right to survive!"
"!"
A huge exclamation mark appeared in Chen Dao's mind: what does it mean that 70% of the arable land in a state is monopolized by a single family?
In an agrarian society like the Xia Kingdom, land was practically the only means of production that people could own. However, in Youzhou, more than 70% of the means of production were controlled by the Lu family, which meant that all the people of Youzhou would be exploited by the Lu family.
Because if you don't become a serf or tenant farmer for the Lu family, you will have no land to cultivate and no food to eat, and you will completely lose the right to survive!
"How could the imperial court sit idly by and allow the Lu family to seize such a vast amount of land?"
Chen Dao asked incredulously, "The Lu family has already occupied 70% of Youzhou's land. Even if the imperial court is stupid, it can't just sit idly by, right?"
After all, the Lu family, which occupies 70% of Youzhou's land, is essentially in control of the entire Youzhou!
"Court?"
Yang Zheng's face was full of disdain: "Of course the imperial court does not want to see the Lu family occupying land like this, but the Lu family is not stupid. Many lands are not registered in the Lu family's name, but nominally belong to ordinary people. In fact, the ownership of the land is in the hands of the Lu family. These people who seem to own land are nothing more than Lu family's tenants or serfs!"
This left the imperial court with absolutely no grounds to punish the Lu family. Furthermore, the Lu family was revered by scholars throughout the land, and countless members of the Lu family held positions of influence in the court, enough to sway the court's decisions and prevent it from taking any action against them!
"..."
Chen Dao remained silent. It was truly ironic that such a greedy family, which owned seventy percent of the land in a state, was regarded as a sacred place by scholars all over the world.
"Before hearing about the Lu family, I thought the people of Liangzhou were the most miserable people in the world!"
Yang Zheng continued, "But now I've discovered that the suffering of the people of Youzhou is no less than that of the people of Liangzhou!"