It's no wonder that Cai Yanqing was making trouble for himself. He has always been a calm and steady person, and he is very patient. It's just that he found a technical loophole in this self-declaration.

That is the title deed.

To put it simply, the autumn tax is one dou of grain per acre of land. In most areas of the Northern Song Dynasty, there was no adult tax, and taxes were collected entirely based on land, but they were also accompanied by many miscellaneous taxes.

The most terrifying miscellaneous tax in Hezhong Prefecture is the transfer tax.

During the war, the people of Hezhong Prefecture were even asked to send taxes to Yanzhou, and many people simply ran away. Now the taxes are converted into money.

This is also a considerable income.

If you only collect taxes based on the title deed.

If you want the landlord to cover the loss, it is very, very difficult!

However, Zhang Fei's answer made Cai Yanqing feel like an idiot.

There's really nothing to say about that.

...

...

Since you are so arrogant, then just wait for your performance!

But rather than waiting for Zhang Fei's performance, it is better to wait for the performance of those big landlords.

Because only after those big landlords have finished their performances, Zhang Fei will be qualified to perform.

To put it bluntly, someone has to break the law before Zhang Fei has a chance to show up. Otherwise, Zhang Fei can only play with his wife at home.

At this time, most of the crops in the fields have been harvested. Looking around, there are only piles of straw, which also indicates that the time for autumn harvest has officially arrived.

Generally speaking, summer taxes are only collected for one month, but autumn taxes are collected for three months, from mid-September to mid-January of the following year.

It can be seen from this that collecting taxes is a very complicated official business, and it is also the most important political achievement of officials.

Any official who cannot collect taxes will basically not be promoted.

But what is different from previous years is that it is not yet the official tax collection period, and most self-employed farmers have already paid their taxes and have the tax bills in their hands.

The reason is simple: they pay nearly two-thirds less tax than in previous years.

How can this not be positive?

The branch office gradually became less busy and everyone started to swat flies.

Treasury!

"How much food has Curry harvested now?"

Wei Yingfang asked Meng Cheng, the manager of this warehouse.

Meng Cheng took the account book and read: "Currently, our warehouse has received a total of 2,361 dan of grain."

Wei Yingfang was surprised and said, "Only this much? I heard that the taxes in the southern part of Hedong County have been almost collected."

Meng Cheng nodded and said, "Yes, 70% of the people listed in the land registry have already paid taxes."

"Seventy percent."

Wei Yingfang nodded slightly and said, "That's not bad."

Meng Cheng hurriedly said, "President Wei, according to our estimation, less than 10% of the people have not yet paid taxes."

Wei Yingfang was surprised and asked, "What's going on?"

Meng Cheng said: "Because this time the tax is collected according to the land deeds, not the land register. Among the remaining 30%, more than 20% of the people actually do not have land deeds."

Wei Yingfang asked again: "How much worse is it compared to previous years?"

Meng Cheng said: "Our warehouse is still short of more than 4,000 shi."

Wei Yingfang blinked, "That means the remaining less than 10% of the people in the southern part of Hedong County will have to pay more than 4,000 dan of tax?"

Meng Cheng glanced around and whispered, "President Wei, our Hedong County is full of wealthy gentry. Almost all the land deeds are in their hands. If they don't pay taxes, I'm afraid our salaries this year will be in trouble."

Wei Yingfang wiped his sweat and thought, can they make up for it? Never mind, even if they can't make up for it, it's not our responsibility. It's the police station that has to do this voluntary declaration.

As the tide receded, the reefs slowly emerged.

It is clear who owns all these fields.

As for the big landlords and gentry, they naturally didn't want to stand in front of everyone so arrogantly. Of course, they were even more unwilling to pay this amount of money.

It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality!

However, word about this voluntary report of achievements in the capital gradually spread.

The big landlords were also very panicked. They began to look for solutions everywhere and even came to Lu Bangxing to inquire.

In other words, they have all begun to seek legal means to resolve the problem.

"Mr. Lu, the government exempted those taxes on transfers and changes of ownership. Isn't this illegal?"

Liu Changqing's question directly confused Lu Bangxing.

"I wonder why Mr. Liu asks this?" Lu Bangxing asked.

Liu Changqing said: "If the government breaks the law, we can file a complaint in the imperial court!"

In fact, they were somewhat tempted before, and they thought that any compensation would be enough. Since the new official had just started his job, they had to give him some face and make the accounts look better.

But gradually, they found that the hole was a little too big.

Lu Bangxing said awkwardly, "Mr. Liu, our tax law does not clearly stipulate transfer and conversion. If we really talk about the law, they may be sued for accepting this money."

"oops!"

A fat and big-eared landlord came over and said, "Don't talk too much. We just want to know how we can avoid paying so much tax."

Lu Bangxing pondered for a while, "In fact, there are many ways, and everyone knows it, but they are all full of risks. The tax inspection methods of the public security, procuratorate and courts are hundreds of times stronger than those of the yamen runners.

Moreover, no one knows whether the tax commissioner will come or not. If the tax commissioner comes, my advice to you is to pay taxes legally. Once you are caught by the tax commissioner, you will have to pay at least two to three times the amount, and you will most likely be caught."

"Now there is no trace of the tax commissioner, so he must not have come."

"You may not know that the tax commissioner in the capital was just a group of people sent by the police station, and he made a big splash. To this day, no one has figured out how the tax commissioner was able to find so much evidence."

Royal Court.

"Ouch! Judge Zhang is going out!"

The big dog at the door of the store suddenly saw Zhang Fei walking out, so he walked over and said hello.

Zhang Fei nodded and smiled, "Let's go out for a walk. Otherwise, many people will think that I'm hiding in there and doing something conspiratorial."

The big dog laughed when he heard this.

Zhang Fei asked in a low voice: "What's the situation outside now?"

The big dog's expression changed: "It's very complicated."

Zhang Fei said, "What do you mean?"

Big Dog said: "Based on the current situation, those great gentry and officials are trying to figure out how to deal with this voluntary declaration, and it is not clear yet whether they will pay the full amount of taxes.

Our brothers in the real estate agency told us that the number of land deed transactions in their store has increased by more than 130 times compared to this time of year in previous years.

Zhang Fei was shocked: "More than one hundred and thirty times?"

Big Dog nodded and said, "There are mainly two situations here. One is to split the large land deed into small land deeds of several acres. This will make it easier for them to pay taxes according to the situation and will also help them avoid investigation by the government.

Another way is that big landlords annex the land of the fifth-class households. Because many fifth-class households only have a few acres of land, or even more than ten acres. If they pay taxes by deed, they will sell the land and find other jobs to be more stable. Some big landlords use this as an excuse to instigate those self-cultivating farmers to sell their land.

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "I knew they were the most difficult people to deal with. No matter what the court did, they would always find a way to annex the land. Moreover, they broke the land deeds into small pieces, which might increase the difficulty of the tax department's investigation."

The big dog chuckled and said, "The higher the Tao, the higher the devil."

Zhang Fei glanced at him.

Big Dog said: "In the past half month, we have expanded very quickly in the countryside, and the reason is that many people are trying to find ways to inform on us."

Zhang Fei was surprised and asked, "Snitch?"

Big Dog nodded. "Many self-employed farmers paid taxes. If they knew someone didn't pay, they would definitely find a way to inform on them. We also found a lot of spies through this. In addition, we already arranged some people in the land brokerage. They traded land deeds so frequently, so we are very clear about the land situation of the surrounding big landowners."

"It's still possible."

Zhang Fei himself was amused.

This was not something he planned or arranged, but he never expected that there would be an unexpected surprise.

Big Dog said confidently: "If you want to investigate, we have some evidence in our hands."

At this time, Li Silongwu drove a horse-drawn carriage to Zhang Fei's side.

Zhang Fei whispered to the big dog, "Don't act rashly for now. Keep an eye on it. I hope you don't use your tax commissioner this time. Now is not the time to completely tear each other apart. I'm leaving first."

"Take care, Judge Zhang."

In fact, Zhang Fei was invited by Fu Shichun to visit the military camp today.

Arriving at the Yongxing Army base camp, Fu Shichun came to greet him as soon as he got off the carriage. "Thank you, Judge Zhang, for coming to supervise in person."

"I just came here to see the world."

Zhang Fei shook his head and smiled, then asked, "How are your tax revenues recently?"

Fu Shichun said: "It is almost over. Eighty to ninety percent of the people have already paid their taxes, mainly third, fourth and fifth class households, and a small number of second class households. But they have only received 30% of the taxes."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "This is not surprising."

Fu Shichun said: "But what follows is a tit-for-tat confrontation. Our police station is not sure at all. You know, their tax evasion methods are endless. Although many people have reported recently, it is only a small piece of land, and there is a lack of evidence."

The biggest feature of this voluntary declaration is that it is legal.

Gentry and big landowners all have privileges, but those privileges do not include breaking the law.

So in the battle of Bianliang, their method was to use money to smash the enemy. If you catch me, I will accept the punishment. No matter how high-ranking the official is, he will not dare to say that I can break the law.

Then again, you need hard evidence.

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "The net of heaven is vast and wide, nothing can escape it."

Fu Shichun nodded, and did not ask any more questions. He said, "But they will definitely drag it out until the end. During this period, our police station has nothing to do. If you have no other arrangements, I will transfer some royal police to other states and counties to recruit royal police in military camps. Now that all military camps are reducing their troops, it is a good opportunity for our royal police to expand."

Zhang Fei thought for a moment and said, "As long as we can ensure the police station's control over the village, that will be enough."

"I see."

Fu Shichun said: "But this will definitely be a tough battle. Those gentry will not give up the countryside easily."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "No one said this would be easy."

As they were talking, they came to the military camp and suddenly heard someone shouting, "Stand up straight, stand up straight."

Zhang Fei tilted his head to look, "What are they doing?"

"Measuring height."

Fu Shichun said: "You have to be five feet five inches tall to be able to enter the next round of screening."

"Wow, is that so strict?"

"Don't you know?"

Fu Shichun said: "The military pay is closely related to height. The taller you are, the more military pay you can get."

Zhang Fei said, "Doesn't it mean that all the people who enter the police station are short?"

Fu Shichun nodded and smiled again: "But some people want to enter the police station and deliberately stand crookedly."

"Yeah?"

"Although the salary of the auxiliary police is not as high as that of the imperial guards, our police station is much more honest than the military camp, and we pay the wages on time."

"So what is the current situation of disarmament?"

“Not bad.”

Fu Shichun added: "Since they learned that the tax is paid by land deeds this year, a group of soldiers have taken the initiative to apply to leave the barracks. Because if they don't have land deeds, they don't have to pay taxes, and if they go out to find a job, they don't have to worry about not being able to support themselves."

Suddenly, someone said, "Oh! We are not seeing things, are we? Judge Zhang."

Zhang Fei tilted his head to look, only to see Qin Zhongshou, a Yuhou and a Dutou approaching, and he hurriedly bowed and said, "Commander Qin."

"A rare guest! What a rare guest!" Qin Zhongshou said with a smile, "How come Judge Zhang has time to come here today?"

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Our Imperial Court has been quite quiet recently, and it just so happens that Master Fu asked me to come over for a stroll, so I came to take a look."

Qin Zhongshou pretended to be surprised and said, "No way! Judge Zhang is relatively free recently?"

Zhang Fei nodded and said, "We are currently busy with farm work, and we have no plans to hold a court session."

Qin Zhongshou said: "I heard that only about 30% of the agricultural tax was collected this year."

Zhang Fei smiled and said, "What does this have to do with our imperial court?"

Qin Zhongshou laughed and said, "Didn't you come up with this voluntary declaration?"

Zhang Fei said: "For example, this knife was invented by me, but it does not mean that the people who use the knife are related to me. This is their government's business and has nothing to do with me."

At this point, he pointed to Fu Shichun who was standing beside him and said, "Actually, it has nothing to do with the police station. The police station is just following orders and assisting the government in collecting taxes."

Fu Shichun nodded.

Qin Zhongshou asked, "Really? If you can't collect the tax, your imperial court will do nothing."

Zhang Fei said: "In theory, yes. Unless the government files a complaint against us, otherwise, the government will not collect taxes, and it has nothing to do with our imperial court."

The Yuhou beside him said, "Isn't the Tax Commissioner also in your hands?"

When talking about voluntary declaration, we must talk about the Tax Commissioner. Without the Tax Commissioner, voluntary declaration is meaningless.

The officials who came from the capital had already released the news about the Tax Commissioner.

"This is such a huge misunderstanding."

Zhang Fei said: "The public security, procuratorate and courts are the public security, procuratorate and courts, and the tax commissioner is the tax commissioner. The tax commissioner is directly under the government and has nothing to do with our public security, procuratorate and courts. I have not heard any news about any tax commissioner. I don't know why everyone is talking about the tax commissioner."

Qin Zhongshou and Yu Hou looked at each other, as if to say, I don't believe you at all.

yes!

The tax policy is in the hands of the government. If the government cannot collect taxes, can they not sue?

If they don't sue, they will have to go home and retire.

As for the Tax Commissioner, the officials from the capital all believed that he was already lurking in secret, and as long as the emperor issued an edict, he could open for business immediately.

Otherwise, how would you dare to declare on your own? This requires a lot of technical support.

The big landlords evade taxes, and they use techniques to do so. It's not like they just refuse to pay taxes openly.

Just at this moment, a group of fast horses galloped into the military camp, "Brother Xiaochun, look who's here. Oh! Third brother is here too!"

It was Ma Xiaoyi.

But then a young man entered the military camp.

Fu Shichun said excitedly: "Master Fan."

The person who came was Fan Zheng.

I accidentally burned my finger last night and a big blister appeared. Typing is really painful!

Don’t wait for that chapter tonight.

.