Luo Yi walked out of the brightly lit Imperial Palace, recalling his conversation with the emperor. Gazing at the night sky, black as ink, he clenched his fists slightly. Was what I was doing now following Heaven and the times, or defying Heaven?
Would Heaven send punishment down upon me?
Countless clerks hurried through the Grand Chancellor's residence, and in the room where Luo Yi sat, officials kept coming to submit memorials.
"Grand Chancellor, these are the powerful gentry dealt with in the first half of the year, the lands uncovered in the investigations, and the clans relocated.
"There were fourteen powerful gentry families guilty of heinous crimes, seven in Guanzhong and seven East of the Passes. Our investigations uncovered vast tracts of fertile farmland across the commanderies, enough to settle hundreds of thousands of impoverished commoners.
"The seven families in Guanzhong, including their tenant farmers and others, numbered one hundred thousand in total. Their entire clans were relocated to Hexi and the Western Regions to farm military colonies and raise horses.
"The powerful gentry East of the Passes had even larger populations. Following your plan, some were relocated to Liaodong, while a great many more were moved to Jiangdong. Jiangdong still lacks population, but its land is extremely fertile.
"This relocation plan should be completed within three years."
Luo Yi nodded slightly at this. With the administration more or less purged of corruption, he had finally begun genuine reform, freeing up land and relieving population pressure.
But he had not directly announced a land survey or measurement of holdings in his edicts, because he did not want to provoke large-scale resistance at the outset. Instead, he had chosen the Han Dynasty's traditional suppression of powerful gentry as his point of entry, and had been selective in his targets,