"No!"
Guo Jia's expression tightened. He was the first to step forward in protest, cupping his hands solemnly toward Liu Xie. "Your Majesty, you absolutely must not use force to compel them to submit."
"That would treat the symptoms, not the root. Not only would it fail to stop the clans from hoarding and annexing land, it would also stir up complaints everywhere. The harm would outweigh the benefits!"
Those Great Aristocratic Clans were acting entirely within the rules by hoarding land. Moreover, their land had genuinely been obtained through Land Reclamation Proceeds, not seized from others, and they had handed over a portion of their fields to the Imperial Court as the policy required. Everything was legal and compliant.
To use force against them now merely because they had accumulated too much land would mean breaking his own rules.
"Fengxiao is right."
Jia Xu nodded in agreement. "At present, the Great Aristocratic Families mainly evade the restrictions of the Land Reclamation Policy by registering Land Reclamation Proceeds under the names of their clansmen and tenant farmers."
"Shameless though this is, it complies with the rules. If we wish to change the current situation, we can only start with policy. Using force would be inadvisable."
Liu Xie's expression was dark. Of course he understood what Jia Xu and Guo Jia were saying. Although the Great Aristocratic Families' actions infuriated him, he had no intention of using force.
In the contest at the Imperial Court, force was the last resort.
He could not overturn the table over everything.
But resolving this problem without overturning the table was truly no easy matter. Far too much was involved.
Liu Xie did know of one way to resolve the Great Aristocratic Clans' hoarding of land-fold the poll tax into the land tax.
But this