12dz Chapter 567 Ending without a cure
Chapter 567 Ending without a cure
After the corrupt practices of the imperial examination system were eliminated, more and more talented and knowledgeable students from poor families had the opportunity to rise above their circumstances. Although not every one of these students from poor families could become a good official, in Li Mingyuan’s view, the probability of them becoming good officials was much greater than that of those from aristocratic families!
There's a saying that goes, "Things that come too easily are not cherished."
For scions of powerful families, official positions are something easily obtained, so they never cherish their positions and never think about doing anything for the people.
On the contrary, those students from poor families who have worked hard for more than ten or even decades to pass the exams tend to be more cautious and diligent after becoming officials, because the opportunity to become an official is extremely rare for them.
Thus, under Li Mingyuan's leadership, the imperial examination system finally provided a new path for scholars from poor families to advance in their careers. This made countless students extremely grateful to Li Mingyuan, and some even called him their mentor.
The powerful clans and aristocratic families were naturally very dissatisfied with Li Mingyuan's behavior. They dared not openly attack him, but they would inevitably try to trip him up in secret. Fortunately, Li Mingyuan had been an official for many years and was quite adept at dealing with these open and covert attacks.
After personally overseeing the imperial examinations for three years, Li Mingyuan did not stop there. He began to tackle the most fundamental and acute problem in the country: the land conflict!
Having served as an official in Qingzhou, Yuezhou, and Liangzhou, Li Mingyuan had long seen the most fundamental flaws of the country.
The rich owned vast tracts of land, while the poor had nowhere to stand; this was the biggest problem in the Xia Kingdom.
More than two hundred years after its founding, the Xia Kingdom's population has more than doubled since its inception, while the land area has increased very little. In fact, due to the large-scale land annexation by powerful families, the common people, who make up the largest proportion of the population, own only 30% of the land in the Xia Kingdom, while the powerful clans, aristocratic families, and landlords, who make up only about 2% of the population, occupy more than 70% of the land. This is obviously a very unreasonable phenomenon, and Li Mingyuan is determined to change it.
After a detailed discussion with the emperor in the palace, Li Mingyuan, with the emperor's support, began to carry out sweeping reforms. He introduced a series of policies, the main purpose of which can be summarized as... to reduce the burden on the common people by eliminating powerful families!
Li Mingyuan knew very well that with the current land distribution situation, conflict was bound to erupt sooner or later. After all, more and more people were without land, and in Xia Kingdom, which was mainly based on agriculture, no land meant no income, which meant going hungry, or even starving to death.
Therefore, Li Mingyuan had to carve out some meat from wealthy families so that all the people in the world could have a full meal.
However, this was clearly not an easy task. The powerful clans were deeply entrenched, and even for Li Mingyuan, who was the prime minister, it would be extremely difficult to cut into their flesh.
Li Mingyuan was even targeted for assassination several times because of his attempts to threaten the interests of powerful families, but he survived thanks to Li Qiao's protection.
Meanwhile, in the imperial court, the number of memorials impeaching Li Mingyuan was increasing. Almost every morning at court, Li Mingyuan had to engage in heated debates with the scholars and spar with a group of officials from aristocratic families.
Fortunately, over the course of three years, Li Mingyuan promoted many students from impoverished backgrounds. Although these students did not have high social status, they were still able to provide Li Mingyuan with some assistance.
For nearly ten years afterward, Li Mingyuan began his open and covert struggles with powerful clans. His efforts yielded some results. During the ten years of Li Mingyuan's struggle against the powerful clans, land annexation was suppressed, and the people of Xia Kingdom had some hope for the future.
However, his good fortune was short-lived. Just when Li Mingyuan saw a glimmer of hope for victory, the emperor who had heavily relied on him and fully supported him passed away...
The emperor's death was sudden, catching Li Mingyuan completely off guard!
The emperor's support was crucial in enabling him to carry out reforms despite pressure from powerful clans. Now that the emperor has passed away, the reforms will likely come to nothing.
And indeed, that was the case. Not long after the emperor's death, the crown prince, who had a very good relationship with Li Mingyuan, also passed away, which instantly disrupted all of Li Mingyuan's plans.
He had hoped to complete the reforms with the support of the emperor and the crown prince, but unfortunately... both of them passed away one after another. Without their support, his reforms could not proceed at all.
This undoubtedly made Li Mingyuan very unwilling. He still insisted on continuing to push forward with the reforms, but on the day the new emperor ascended the throne...
He was directly dismissed from his post as prime minister, stripped of all power, and reduced from a powerful prime minister to an ordinary commoner.
More than a decade of hard work had gone down the drain, and Li Mingyuan was extremely unwilling to accept it. However, having been demoted to a commoner, he was no longer able to push forward with reforms.
Even more... after losing his position, he was targeted by an even larger-scale assassination attempt. After ten years of reform, Li Mingyuan had already offended the powerful clans to the core. Those powerful clans whose interests had been harmed by Li Mingyuan wished they could devour his flesh and blood.
When he was prime minister, powerful families would restrain themselves somewhat, but now that he is a commoner, they have no more scruples.
One assassination attempt after another struck. Although Li Mingyuan was protected by Li Qiao and his life was not in danger, he was ultimately forced to flee the capital...
Looking back, Li Mingyuan's eyes were filled with regret. His reforms had begun to show results, and if he could have completed them completely, the Xia Kingdom would certainly not be in its current state. It's just a pity...
The power of the aristocratic families was so immense that even the emperor could not shake them.
Yes, Li Mingyuan had always suspected that the late emperor's sudden death was due to the involvement of powerful clans. As for the death of the crown prince, it goes without saying that it was almost certainly caused by powerful clans.
Even emperors, when making choices that did not align with the interests of powerful clans, would meet a tragic end, demonstrating the immense power of these clans.
Returning to the issue of the King of Green, Li Qiao said that Li Mingyuan was too particular about rules, but that was not the case. Didn't Li Mingyuan also want Li Qiao to kill Xia Yuanying with a single blow?
After all, what Xia Yuanying did was enough to arouse the wrath of both gods and men. However, Li Mingyuan was still the prime minister of Xia Kingdom at the time, and he needed the emperor's support. If Li Qiao was allowed to kill the emperor's own son, Xia Yuanying, would the emperor still support him?
Obviously not!
This is the most important reason why Li Mingyuan stopped Li Qiao from killing Xia Yuanying. Compared to the evil deeds Xia Yuanying committed, completing the reforms and enabling the people of Kyushu to live a good life is of paramount importance!
Unfortunately, the reforms, which lasted for more than a decade, ultimately came to nothing. Even the three regions of Yuezhou, Qingzhou, and Liangzhou, which Li Mingyuan had once governed, returned to a state of widespread poverty and hardship.