- 184: 180: n Council (2)


    - 184: 180: n Council (2)


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    Tang Zhi smiled airily,turned toward Tang Luo and asked, “Elder please exin.”


    In the council, only ranks matter, not names, hence he referred to Tang Luo as Elder.


    Tang Luo took a deep breath, took out a stack of papers from his bosom and dered aloud, “This is my proposal for today, please review.”


    He summoned a warrior from the legal department to distribute these papers to everyone’s desk.


    Tang Cunfu contemptuously took the proposal, refusing to believe that this child could have anything worthwhile to say. He already presumed the act of stealing the proposal was directed by Tang Zhi. It’s a pity the Pride of Xiling is a man of no wisdom, being used as a pawn, it’s truly regrettable.<div>


    He examined the page in his hand, initially full of dismissive suspicion but as he read, his disbelief turned into shock. Unable to contain his surprise, he bellowed, “Ridiculous, you actually want to repeal this ban on tige?!”


    He thought Tang Luo was just a troublemaker pushed forth by Tang Zhi and had no expectations for this proposal. But he didn’t expect that the Pride of Xiling, silent but dumbfoundingly brilliant, was intent on disrupting centuries-old customs.


    Tang Luo, with hands sped behind him, nced at Tang Cunfu and calmly advised, “Cunfu, don’t panic. Once everyone finishes reading, I’ll exin my proposal. For now, I ask that you refrain from disturbing others.”


    Tang Cunfu’splexion reddened with embarrassment. Being criticized directly by a junior left him at a loss for words. His gaze met the most formal elder’s, who continued to study the proposal calmly.


    Tang Cunfu, holding grudges, suppressed his rage and read the proposal carefully. From his grimace, one could tell that he was already nning his counterattack.


    After a long time, everyone finally understood the proposal written on the paper: To repeal the Ban of Tige and rece it with a Five Acres Decree.


    It allows themon people of North City in Xiling to reim uncultivatednds, limited to five acres per person.


    “Has everyone finished reading?, any questions, feel free to ask.” Tang Luo addressed the crowd.


    For the implementation of a new policy, there are two requisite steps: determining its feasibility, and deciding how to modify it ording to public eptance.


    As the first critical step, the proposer must resolve the doubts of the authorities in Xiling and then win the majority vote. Once passed to the legal department, the proposal will bepleted.


    Apart from the thirteen elders, the n chief, and a regional elder, the rest had not seen this proposal before and naturally had many questions.


    “Elder, the ban on tige has been in ce in Xiling for hundreds of years. Our Tang n and Mi n have been developing wastnd into arablend to provide livelihood for the people. This not only ensures the stability of Xiling, but also brings huge ie to the n. To suddenly abolish it and rece it with this, Five Acres Decree, where do you see the benefit?” The first to question was Elder Tang Gaomin. Even though he had already read Tang Luo’s note, he still did not understand the meaning of the Five Acres Decree. As keeper of the treasury, he was most sensitive to mary matters and would not allow such a major decrease in n ie.


    Tang Luo, anticipating such doubts, answered Tang Gaomin, “The ie will bepensated bynd tax. North Xiling is home to nearly one and a half million people. Excluding the hundred thousand families, there are one million four hundred thousand civilians, equivalent to three hundred thousand households. If each household tills five acres, there will be one and a half million acres of goodnd. Each acre yields a tax of ten gold annually, resulting in a total of fifteen million gold.”


    “Uneptable!” Tang Gaomin shook his head: “Given the current grain prices in Xiling, My Tang Family’s annual ie should be several hundred million gold. Elder, with this meager fifteen million gold to make up for this, it is an unwise move.”


    As one of the elders in charge of finance, how could he not take into ount taxes? Ignoring the low tax rate, the annual yield of Xiling’s grain market alone would bring the Tang Family hundreds of millions less in gold. This huge disparity was uneptable.


    Everyone nodded their heads in agreement after hearing Tang Gaomin’s words. They all thought that swapping the steady ie from the tige for a merend tax was not a profitable business.


    Tang Luo was paying close attention to everyone’s expression. Smiling, he looked at Tang Cunfu and asked, “May I ask the representative, what is the most needed thing for the Tang Family branches right now?”


    Tang Gaomin felt disrespected by the sudden change of topic and was about to retort, but he was held back by an elder next to him who signaled he should watch and wait.


    Tang Cunfu did not expect Tang Luo to ask him a question. However, his anger had not dissipated and he rudely replied, “Of course, it’s insufficient military power. The warriors trained by the Martial Hall are simply not enough to go around.”


    This was also the biggest problem for the Tang Family after it branched out. It was difficult to recruit warriors. Basically every avable warrior in Xiling had already been imed by a family. asionally, a homeless stray warrior would be discovered and the branch heads would be overjoyed as if finding a treasure.


    Tang Luo lightlyughed and said, “Gentlemen, the current number of sub-branches in Tang Family has exceeded two hundred, yet the Battle Hall only trains over four hundred warriors each year, and many of them be cannon fodder because of theck of manpower in the branches.”


    “What does that have to do with your Five Acres Decree?” Tang Gaomin called out loudly.


    Tang Luo’s gaze swept around the long table and he stated slowly and clearly, “If you don’t let the civilians eat their fill, how can they practice martial arts?!”


    “The grain prices in Xiling are low. They can work to earn money, save up and go to dojos to learn martial arts, aren’t the dozens of dojos set up by my Tang Family real?” Tang Gaomin answered with a stern face.


    Tang Luo sneered lightly, responded with detachment, “A normal person, after a day ofbor, what energy does he have left to practice martial arts? Not to mention that everything in life costs money. Perhaps, for you, it’s nothing but a few years of dedicated martial arts practice. But for the civilians, if they dedicate their time to martial arts, how will their family survive? For a n elder like yourself to speak these words, aren’t you being rather naive?”


    Tang Gaomin was taken off guard by Tang Luo’s rebuttal, he was about to retaliate when he heard Tang Zhi calmly stepped in, “But what does this have to do with your new decree?”


    The crowd nodded. Even if the civilians needed to earn money and could not practice martial arts, once the new decree was issued, they would still have to farm, which would also prevent them from practicing martial arts.


    “With the implementation of thisw, in order to cultivate morend, the people would have to exert themselves and procreate. In one generation, Xiling will have a poption of ten million,” Tang Luo calmly stated.


    Once the civilians havend, they will have an excess of resources. They will naturally send one of their children to learn martial arts. Isn’t the purpose of learning martial arts to sell their skill to royal families? At that time, these warriors will still be used by the Tang n.


    The richer the citizens are, the stronger the state. Currently, the Tang Family dominates Xiling, with a poption of over a million, equivalent to a small country. But the thinking of these people in power is still stuck in the n system. They create a deep division between themselves and others. This thinking is not wrong under normal conditions, but now the problem is that with the development of the Tang Family over the past thirty generations, so many ns have branched out. Since every n has its own regional power, constrained by military power, they can only shrink in a small part of Xiling.


    Only when the ban on tige is lifted can Xiling have a sufficientlyrge poption base and warriors.. These n heads can freely choose them, and the most crucial point is – low taxes!