Several officials and the Emperor spent an entire afternoon in the Wenyuan Pavilion, finally finalizing the details for the Land Administration Office.
In the eyes of Emperor Chongzhen, land in a feudal dynasty shared similar attributes to property in the era before he had traveled back in time. Ordinary people labored hard their entire lives for nothing more than a few acres of thin soil. Yet, land remained firmly in the grip of the princes of the blood, the imperial clan, and wealthy landlords, who used that land to exploit the peasants for generations.
The lowest classes of society worked themselves to the bone in hopes of owning a small plot of their own, only to find that, in the end, it was still beyond their reach. The middle class, while not worried about putting food on the table, faced no shortage of other anxieties, exhausting every possible means to prevent their land from being cleverly seized or forcibly snatched away by others. In the end, they, too, often became tenant farmers.
Chapter 92