I Can See Your Combat Power

Chapter 184 - 184: 180: Clan Council (2)

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 declared 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.

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 tillage?!”

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 clasped behind him, glanced at Tang Cunfu and calmly advised, “Cunfu, don’t panic. Once everyone finishes reading, I’ll explain my proposal. For now, I ask that you refrain from disturbing others.”

Tang Cunfu’s complexion 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 planning his counterattack.

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

It allows the common people of North City in Xiling to reclaim uncultivated lands, 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 according to public acceptance.

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 be completed.

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

“Elder, the ban on tillage has been in place in Xiling for hundreds of years. Our Tang Clan and Mi Clan have been developing wasteland into arable land to provide livelihood for the people. This not only ensures the stability of Xiling, but also brings huge income to the clan. To suddenly abolish it and replace 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 monetary matters and would not allow such a major decrease in clan income.

Tang Luo, anticipating such doubts, answered Tang Gaomin, “The income will be compensated by land 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 good land. Each acre yields a tax of ten gold annually, resulting in a total of fifteen million gold.”

“Unacceptable!” Tang Gaomin shook his head: “Given the current grain prices in Xiling, My Tang Family’s annual income 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 account 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 unacceptable.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement after hearing Tang Gaomin’s words. They all thought that swapping the steady income from the tillage for a mere land 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 available warrior in Xiling had already been claimed by a family. Occasionally, a homeless stray warrior would be discovered and the branch heads would be overjoyed as if finding a treasure.

Tang Luo lightly laughed 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 become cannon fodder because of the lack 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 of labor, 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 clan 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 this law, in order to cultivate more land, the people would have to exert themselves and procreate. In one generation, Xiling will have a population of ten million,” Tang Luo calmly stated.

Once the civilians have land, 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 Clan.

The richer the citizens are, the stronger the state. Currently, the Tang Family dominates Xiling, with a population of over a million, equivalent to a small country. But the thinking of these people in power is still stuck in the clan 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 clans have branched out. Since every clan has its own regional power, constrained by military power, they can only shrink in a small part of Xiling.

Only when the ban on tillage is lifted can Xiling have a sufficiently large population base and warriors.. These clan heads can freely choose them, and the most crucial point is – low taxes!