The reaction of the court ministers to Liu Xiu's sudden announcement of the edict on land reform was immense, even surpassing the repercussions from his act of deposing the Empress.
After all, deposing the Empress affected only a portion of people.
As those people were impacted, naturally, others would rise to take their place.
But the land reform affected everyone's interests.
It was an unprecedented political earthquake!
Various opposition petitions, like falling snowflakes, piled up directly on Liu Xiu's imperial desk.
Even the Guanzhong clans, who have always supported the Emperor, began to oppose this time.
Such a reaction was something he had never encountered since the restoration of the Great Han.
But Liu Xiu was never a timid person.
In the past, during the Battle of Kunyang, he dared to propose confronting the New Army under dire circumstances, let alone now?
Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately dispatched trusted aides across various regions.
Simultaneously, he promoted a group of officials, using the might of imperial power to suppress opposition.
He formally finalized the edict on land reform!
The moment the edict was issued, the realm was astounded!
In no time, countless personnel dispatched from Luoyang set out in all directions.
The noble families were not foolish; they knew better than to confront Liu Xiu with stubborn resistance.
But as the saying goes, "The higher-ups have policies, while those below have countermeasures," they still had plenty of room for maneuver to deal with this land reform.
...
Julu.
The current situation in Hebei was entirely within Gu Yi's expectations.
King Zhending, Liu Yang, was indeed old and lacked the courage to take action.
When news spread that Guo Shengtong had been deposed and several of the Guo family's offspring had their noble titles stripped, he had no extreme reaction, only wallowing in melancholy all day, hiding within the Prince's Mansion.
Similarly, the clans of Hebei swiftly adjusted themselves.
That is, they began to distance themselves from Liu Yang and the Guo Clan.
This once-dominant prince in Hebei was now showing signs of imminent collapse in just a few days.
"People gather for profit, but scatter when the profit is gone," this saying is truly a cardinal truth.
The Emperor's displeasure towards Liu Yang and the Guo Clan was already exceedingly apparent.
Even those who were previously intimately connected with Liu Yang and the Guo Clan found it hard not to choose to avoid them.
This is the harsh reality.
And after confirming there would be no chaos in Hebei, Gu Yi naturally shifted his focus back to the family.
The Gu Clan still had too few members.
There was no way around it, Gu Yi dared not let Gu Xiao indulge excessively in women.
While Gu Xiao still appeared robust, given the medical standards of this era, any real health issue might mean death.
Gu Yi didn't dare take the gamble.
Fortunately, Gu Kang and Gu Cheng, his two sons, enjoyed good health.
No incidents of early death occurred, otherwise Gu Yi would genuinely despair.
But before a few days of peace could pass, a letter from Liu Xiu in Luoyang was delivered directly to him.
Upon seeing Liu Xiu's letter with his own eyes, even Gu Yi couldn't help but be shocked.
Land reform?
Liu Xiu was being this ruthless this time?
First, deposing the Empress, and then directly implementing land reform?
This approach was entirely different from the original trajectory of history, even Gu Yi hadn't anticipated this.
However, after thinking it over carefully, he understood the reason behind it.
Unlike the original history, because Liu Xiu unified the realm more smoothly this time, the power of the noble families now was much greater than that in history.
Liu Xiu is a wise Emperor, with the example of the anterior Han dynasty before him.
His decisive actions were understandable therefore.
Once he completely figured this out, Gu Yi's heart grew increasingly unsettled.
How many will have to be killed this time!
Gu Yi remembered clearly that, in the original history, Liu Xiu had systematically eradicated the leading clans through various policies.
The original history was like that.
And what of now?
The noble families would absolutely not sit idly by, and Liu Xiu also needed to weaken them.
"When an emperor is angered, corpses abound," the phrase suddenly flashed through Gu Yi's mind.
Though he understood Liu Xiu wouldn't be this extreme, his heart couldn't help but feel a deep chill, worried about the future of the family.
Currently, the Gu Clan seemed promising, but in reality, they were just starting, and the main reason was still Gu Xiao's closeness to Liu Xiu.
However, what if the times changed in the future?
Gu Yi had no choice but to ponder this deeply.
.....
The following developments occurred just as Gu Yi predicted.
Once the court officially issued the summons, the regions initially affected by the land reform edict were naturally in Guanzhong.
And the Guanzhong clans gave their own response;
———bribery!
They attempted to influence the officials responsible for land reform through bribery, offering various benefits, and attempting to falsify land reports and conceal population data.
Initially, this tactic indeed achieved some effect.
Liu Xiu never anticipated that such audacity would occur even right under the Emperor's nose.
But once he learned of it, these individuals naturally faced the Emperor's wrath.
The officials involved were executed without exception, and their estates were confiscated.
The lands of all noble families concealing their land and population were also confiscated, their populations re-registered, and even the leaders of the major clans were punished.
Perhaps to deter others, Liu Xiu's actions this time were extremely severe.
However, how could merely these measures cause the noble families to submit?
The belief in the unlikely is a fundamental facet of human nature.
Their tactics immediately shifted to instigating the common people.
In those times, forget understanding court policies; there weren't even many literate individuals.