In Sima Yan's time, the military agriculture system was abolished.
The ministers of the time submitted memorials arguing that life was simply too hard for the people under the military agriculture system. Moreover, corruption was driving its expenses ever higher. Better to abolish it outright and let the people become independent farmers.
Anshi heeded this advice, abolished Wei's military agriculture system, and made all the people farming under it independent farmers registered under the provinces and commanderies.
Then this decision brought the Western Jin dynasty an even greater problem.
Previously, the Great Clans had needed to swallow up farmland on the sly. After all, the public fields belonged to the imperial court. But now that these fields were in the hands of independent farmers, why hold back?
The Great Clans' annexation of land reached a truly frenzied level.
There was a General of Miscellaneous Title named Pang Zong at the time who had amassed several hundred qing of fertile farmland, and he did not even count as a member of the Great Clans.
As for how much fertile farmland the greatest clans possessed, that was truly difficult to calculate.
Once the worthies of the time realized the problem, they immediately submitted memorials to Sima Anshi, presenting a series of workable solutions.
Their first thought was to restrict the Great Clans' recruitment of tenant farmers, hoping to protect independent farmers this way.
Unfortunately, this policy had far too many loopholes. The Great Clans had no shortage of ways to bankrupt independent farmers, and once bankrupt, those farmers would beg to become tenants to feed themselves, or simply become refugees.
Besides, if recruiting tenants was forbidden, that was easy enough to handle. These were not tenants-they were household slaves!
Surely they could not be forbidden from taking on slaves?
After the first