Pan Yun stared in shock at the plan, a full finger thick. "You wrote such a thick plan before even taking office?"
Xue Shao explained, "I did not write it just now. I had these ideas while inspecting South of the Yangtze, but as an Investigating Censor then, I could not speak of them openly."
Pan Yun asked, "May I read it?"
Xue Shao handed her a scroll. "Actually, many of these ideas came from you, Wang Cong, and the others."
Pan Yun opened it. This scroll proposed promoting the development of industry and commerce. Beginning with population, farmland, handicrafts, and the current state of trade, he pointed out the necessity of developing industry and commerce.
At the same time, he proposed protecting agriculture. After all, the people regarded food as heaven, while a nation took its people as its foundation; thus, agriculture was the foundation of the state.
Yet national policy was difficult to carry into the countryside. People pursued profit and were often short-sighted. Once industry and commerce developed without safeguards for farming, the gentry and landlords who controlled the vast majority of the land would certainly rack their brains to plant cash crops while neglecting grain. In only a few years, chaos would erupt across the land.
Thus, Xue Shao's proposal was to reduce land taxes and rents, with the ultimate goal of abolishing land taxes and public land rent altogether.
This rent referred to rent on public land.
Naturally, abolishing land taxes was the ultimate objective. Xue Shao had also made clear in the document that it was not something that could be achieved in a year or two.
If industry and commerce were to develop, commercial tax would necessarily need certain concessions, so commercial taxes could not be too heavy at the outset.
With land