Everyone looked intently at Wang Xuan, waiting to hear what this small opportunity he had mentioned actually was.
"As for selling grain, we'll leave that aside for now. New laws will be issued in the future. Forty percent of your grain production must be sold to the government at market price for official distribution and to balance grain prices across the various regions. You can do whatever you want with the rest, but the prices will still be controlled by the government and forbidden from exceeding a certain limit. The specific regulations will be issued later."
"Let's talk about what happened this time. Because of your various actions, the government under Duke Xuande suffered enormous losses. Therefore, most of all your families' farmland will be confiscated and made state-owned as punishment!"
Wang Xuan's tone was cold, without a trace of anger. Yet the meaning behind his words was even colder. He intended to sever the roots of all their families.
In an agricultural society, the greatest source of wealth was land. Even in modern society, land and property remained something people yearned for. Thus, as soon as he said this, an uproar erupted. It would be no exaggeration to say that the crowd was furious. If Wang Xuan had not been notorious for casually wiping out entire families, these people would have already started making a scene. Even so, they constantly exchanged glances, and the hatred in their eyes was impossible for even these old schemers to conceal.
Yet in the end, no one dared say no. There was no other reason needed—they could always move south. No matter what, that would still be better than having their entire families buried with them.
After a while, seeing that no one spoke, Wang Xuan smacked his lips regretfully. "Don't you think