Pan Long waited more than ten days. At last, on the Lantern Festival, news of Di Luonan's reforms arrived.
On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Di Luonan read his reform plan aloud at the New Year's grand court assembly. As Li Wu had said, the plan was enormous, with more than 140 provisions listed.
Of those provisions, fourteen were the most important.
First: survey every industry, organization, and expenditure in the realm, and make the findings public. Repeat the surveys and publish the results at regular intervals.
Second: determine ownership of fields, shops, and other enterprises, then reassess taxation.
Third: adjust land taxes and compulsory labor, and restore the tax-in-kind system from Great Xia's early years. Compulsory labor would be limited to work within two hundred li of a person's home along major roads, or one hundred li through open country. Work beyond those limits would become paid service, with the Imperial Court covering the costs.
Fourth: review the status of all officials in the realm and emphasize "no responsibility, no salary, no authority." Sinecures formerly granted to Martial World experts and to officials' families and descendants would become Commoner Ranks, carrying grades but neither power nor salary. The rank would fall with each successive generation.
Fifth: reform the promotion system for officials, reducing promotions through recommendations and direct appointments while making the imperial examinations its core. More than eighty percent of officials promoted by the Imperial Court must come through the examinations. Those promoted must either have passed examinations in the relevant subjects or have experience in the relevant field. Once promoted, they must serve in a corresponding post and could not change their line of work for three performance reviews—nine years.
Sixth: restructure industries. Lending would come entirely under state ownership. Great Xia's Imperial Court