The annexation of land by the gentry clans had already become an unspoken rule during the Eastern Han.
Even when the state sought to stop it, it could only issue policies to slow the pace at which the gentry clans swallowed up land.
Yet no one had ever truly spoken the words demanding that the gentry clans cease their annexations.
Just how much fertile farmland did you great clans intend to annex before you would stop?
That question directly left the clan heads present dumbfounded, for they themselves were all members of the gentry class.
Yet no one could truly stand in for the gentry class, for it was not a group openly displayed before the world.
In truth, every person of insight understood the harm caused by land annexation, but reproduction was a need of humans as animals.
To reproduce and grow stronger, they needed to bear many children and expand their family members.
And once a family had more members, to ensure its prosperity, it needed more land to support them.
Thus, knowingly or otherwise, this group had developed an unspoken rule.
Grow stronger, grow stronger without cease, until one's own clan was sufficient to shelter every one of its members.
What Qin Tian had just said was no different from slowing their development.
As the saying went, cutting off a man's path to wealth was like killing his parents. For a time, they did not know how to respond.
But after letting out a cold shout, Qin Tian rose to his feet and said solemnly:
"You may all be counted among the men of insight of our Han Dynasty. That is why I invited you here today and treated you as honored guests!"
"Yet since you are men of insight, I will not conceal matters from you!"