One of the palace maids said, "I think my sister is only fourteen or fifteen years old, so why did she enter the palace?"

Another woman sighed: "Oh, it's not that the family is poor, but she sent me here in desperation. Where is the sister?"

"So too. Alas, this world is really difficult..."

The young woman said again: "It is said that today I love the people. Over the years, I have seen tax cuts and disaster relief. But why are we still living such miserable life?"

When he said this, Liu He, who was hiding beside him and eavesdropping, felt a little surprised and curious, so he pricked up his ears and listened more and more seriously.

The older palace maid said, "Sister, you are still young, and you don't understand some things. Although the emperor is kind, this benefit cannot be over our heads. Once the tax is reduced, the gentry and the big clans in the local area want to occupy more land. Let's talk about my family. The bully in our county said he paid for the only twenty acres of land in my family, but my father refused to agree, so they secretly threw stones into my field, harming the crops, and injured my elder brother at night, and then took the money to ask for land. My father urgently needed money to buy medicine for my elder brother to see the injury, so he had to agree. The paddy fields were gone, and relying on those more than ten acres of dry land, they could not support such many people, so they had to sell me into the palace."

"Ah... it turns out that this happened to my sister's family."

The young palace maid exclaimed: "The same is true at my younger sister's family. A few years ago, the imperial court issued a decree saying that except for mountains, forests and water sieges, the rest of the land, which can be cultivated and cultivated is considered their own fields. My parents got up early and went to bed late. After a few years, they also opened six or seven acres of paddy fields and more than ten acres of dry land. They also rented thirty acres of land from the gentry Han family. In addition, the output of land in recent years has increased year by year, so the harvest can not only support the family, but also go to the market to exchange for some money when they encounter a good harvest."

The tone of the palace maid was already a little cheerful at this time. She probably thought of the past and missed it quite nostalgic. But then, her tone turned sharply and became extremely resentful and sad.

"But... But the Han family suddenly wanted to double the tenant rent last year. The original tenant rent was 30% received 60%. In addition, he insisted that the acres of paddy fields that my family had opened destroyed rivers and water, and committed the crime of beheading. They took only a few hundred dollars and took it away. My parents had no choice but to send me into the palace and gave one of my sisters to someone else to be a child bride..."

When he said this, the palace maid had already started sobbing, and seemed very sad.

The older palace maid comforted her: "Oh, sister, don't be sad. Although my sister has just entered the palace, I heard from the foreman that the palace maids are very kind in the palace, whether it is the queen mother, the emperor, or the queen, in the palace, it may be a blessing for you and me to enter the palace, and it is unknown. The empress summoned the palace maids every day, and allocated them to the palace maids after selling money. Many palace maids bought some property for their families by relying on the money they saved over the years."

The young palace maid had some doubts and surprises in her voice: "Is that so? There are such good things? The queen... the queen... is she such a good person?"

"Can this be fake? I heard that it will be the time to deliver silk from the palace in a few days, and then you and my sisters will see you and my sister."

"It's really good if you can do this, that's... that's really great."

The young palace maid cried with joy, but soon, she said again with resentment: "Hmph, if you have the chance in the future, I will tell the Queen and His Majesty that you should govern those big families well, and the big families. They are the ones who bully us ordinary people on weekdays..."

The two were chatting when a sharp voice started to shout.

"Hey, you two little girls who don't know how to live and die, are you here to make a living?"

The two seemed to know the person, and their tone became very panicked: "Ah...Hong...Eunuch Hong..."

"Hmph, where are you palace maids? If you don't go to the palace to serve, you actually ran here to hide?"

When they entered the palace, they had met Eunuch Hong, who assisted the Queen Mother and the Queen in charge of the harem. Knowing their status, they were naturally scared to death and incoherently speaking.

"Eunuch Hong... I... I just entered the palace, and I don't know... I don't know the rules in the palace..."

"Oh, it turns out they are two young people. Since we don't understand the rules, we will teach you."

After saying that, Eunuch Hong's voice suddenly became even sharper, like a duck's voice: "Come on, pull these two unruly sluts down and whip twenty."

"Ah... Eunuch Hong spares your life, my father-in-law spares your life..."

"Let's wait!"

A voice interrupted the two eunuchs who were about to drag them away. Eunuch Hong instinctively furious: "Who is another unruly scribbled, how dare you..."

As he shouted, Eunuch Hong's duck voice screamed: "Ah... I deserve to die, I deserve to die..."

Liu He walked over and naturally knew him. Eunuch Hong and the other two eunuchs knelt down with trembling bodies. Since the two palace maids entered the palace, they had only seen a few foreman eunuchs and palace maids who invited the queen mother, queen, and concubine Shu Diao Chan to the empress dowager, and naturally they did not know Liu He. At this time, the two were still confused and frightened, and they didn't know what kind of big man the man who came was.

Liu He looked at them, then looked at Eunuch Hong: "Eunuch Hong, what crime do these two palace maids commit? Twenty-year-olds? I see that they are both physically whipped. If they whip them twenty, they will probably have half their lives."

"Reply...Report to the emperor, shortly after they entered the palace, they did not serve their own masters in their respective palaces, but... they chatted and hid in a lazy place, and deserved to be punished."

"Ah...he...he is the emperor..."

The two palace maids exclaimed in surprise, and Eunuch Hong turned his head and stared at them viciously: "Bold, how dare you be so arrogant in front of His Majesty..."

"Hey, Eunuch Hong, don't be angry. They are raiding me. I have not blamed me. I will be exempted from this whipping."

Eunuch Hong naturally dared not disobey: "Your Majesty is kind and blesses all over the world. This is the blessing of the servants."

He shouted to the two palace maids: "Why don't you thank Your Majesty?"

The two palace maids reacted and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "I... I thank Your Majesty..."

"Okay, let's go down, I'll walk here alone. By the way, Eunuch Hong, you go and tell the Sili Captain to come to see me in this pavilion."

"Slaves obey the order."

Liu He sat alone in the pavilion, looking relaxed: "Cao Cao, Cao Cao... You never expected that you would just rely on these two inconspicuous little palace maids to break your rumor..."

Not long after, Qian Li lowered his head and took small steps, and rushed over.

"I'm so proud..."

"Okay, let's avoid red tape. I have something to ask you."

"Your Majesty, please speak, I will definitely know everything." Qian Li stood in front of Liu He.

Liu He asked: "Now the national treasury is now in the annual income, and there are still local lands, what is the proportion of ordinary people and wealthy families?"

Although Qian Li was a little confused, he still answered honestly.

"When you go back to your Majesty, among the prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, the large households with 500 mu of fertile land account for about 65% of the land acres in total. However, the tax they paid only accounts for less than 40%. Among them, the land tax accounts for the lowest proportion, only about 30%.

“Sure enough…”

When Liu He studied history in his previous life, he knew that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the land annexation of wealthy families had reached an extremely serious level. However, he didn't expect that after so many years of governance, this phenomenon still occurred. It can be seen how distorted this ratio would be when Emperor Huan Ling.

These large clans occupied a large amount of land, but the court not only did not impose much tax on them, but often had many tax cuts. Secondly, many large clans also concealed their land and population to evade taxes. The Eastern Han Dynasty was originally a shared world with the rich families. Even if the court knew about these things, it turned a blind eye, which led to this phenomenon.

Liu He smiled coldly: "Okay, I understand. Among those rumors, do you say I am going to increase taxes?"

Qian Li replied: "That's right. Many wealthy families, big families, and even ordinary people have moved away one after another, most of which is because of this."

"Okay." Liu He slapped the pillar of the pavilion next to him: "Since I am wronged and want to increase taxes, I cannot bear this wrongfulness in vain. I will continue to pass the imperial edict and inform the world that the tax will be officially increased from the first day of August this year."

"Zu...ah?" Qian Li opened his mouth wide, extremely surprised and shocked.
Chapter completed!