Li Banghua's method of collecting taxes was very clever.

First, he gave military power to local officials.

Allow those officials who are not in collusion with local gentry to do their work freely.

No additional tax?

Put him in jail first!

If you still don’t pay, I will beat you until you pay!

These soldiers from other places would obey the officials' orders because they had no scruples when beating people, after all, their families were not here.

Li Banghua also gave military power to those officials who colluded with local gentry.

It's not that he gave it on purpose, but he couldn't tell whether the officials were good or bad.

But this is not important, because the main force in tax inspection is not local officials, but the officials accompanying the imperial envoy's team.

They came from the Ministry of Revenue, Northern Zhili, Shandong and other places, and were proficient in checking accounts.

Wherever the total amount of taxes differs from the average amount collected, it is either because someone is underpaying taxes or because someone is corrupt.

It was the gentry's duty to pay less taxes.

Corruption is the responsibility of officials.

The specific reason will be revealed after a quick search.

Someone is responsible for this anyway.

The purpose of auditing accounts is to assign responsibilities to specific individuals, which will facilitate the subsequent recovery of outstanding debts.

After explaining these things, Li Banghua stared into Chen Guidong's eyes and said, "I don't know whether you are an honest official or a corrupt official, but I have given you the power. It is up to you to decide whether you will help the court collect taxes or help those gentry evade taxes."

Chen Guidong was stunned for a while, and asked tentatively: "Mr. Li, if, I mean if! If you were a corrupt official before, can you become an honest official again?"

Li Banghua's eyes were deep. "Before this, many officials in the capital were involved in corruption. Your Majesty gave them a chance to start a new life. Your Majesty also has this attitude towards local officials."

"I understand. I'll take my leave."

......

On the morning of July 27, the Xuzhou government office was crowded with people.

There were too many officials in the imperial envoy's team who were responsible for checking accounts, so many that there was no room for them in the provincial government.

Following Li Banghua's instructions, Chen Guidong placed tables and stools outside the provincial government office for them to work.

In order to ensure the safety of these people, hundreds of soldiers formed a large circle outside the provincial government office to separate the onlookers from the officials.

"Sir, what are you doing in there?" someone asked.

These soldiers were all from Yangzhou Prefecture. They answered loudly according to Chen Guidong's intention: "These are the imperial envoys sent by the court to check the accounts of Xuzhou Prefecture Government."

"We also need to check the tax collection situation over the years to see if there is any over-collection or under-collection. If there is any over-collection, we will refund it, and if there is any under-collection, we will recover it."

The people were suspicious: "Is it true? Is it just a show?"

"Of course it's true. Yesterday afternoon, we notified the village heads in various places to register the tax payment records of previous years according to the equalization post. Any discrepancy with the facts will be thoroughly investigated."

"If you have evidence of someone else evading taxes, you can hand it in to the government office at any time. Once verified, you will be rewarded with up to 10,000 taels of silver."

On July 29, village heads from all over Xuzhou began to gather outside the Xuzhou government office.

They took the tax record form that had just been re-compiled and handed it to the people in the yamen for inspection.

This is the first step.

It is also the most critical step.

It doesn't matter whether this record is true or false.

Li Banghua's imperial envoy team actually checked taxes based on the fish scale book.

The focus is on investigating people who own a lot of land. People who own a lot of land are rich and have the motivation to evade taxes.

Next, look for the names of these people in Junping’s posts.

They were summoned to the provincial government with their official certificates to be questioned.

Whether there is a ghost or not, you will know it by checking.

"Sir, there is a problem here!" An official from the Ministry of Revenue came to Li Banghua with the copied tax records in his left hand and the fish scale book in his right hand.

Li Banghua took a closer look and indeed found the problem.

The tax record of the village head showed that in the 16th year of Chongzhen, the village he was in paid a tax of 674 taels and 2 cents of silver.

According to the fish scale book, the tax they had to pay for the land they owned was only 374 taels and 2 cents of silver.

In other words, the government collected an extra three hundred taels of silver from them.

The village head was soon brought before Li Banghua.

"Your humble servant... pays his respects to you, sir." The village head knelt on the ground with his head lowered, speaking tremblingly.

Li Banghua held up the tax records and asked, "Who set the taxes for you for the past 16 years of our dynasty?"

"To answer your question, it was decided by the ambassador of the tax department of the prefecture government, Mr. Wang."

The Ambassador of the Taxation Department is a local official in charge of taxation affairs. He is of the ninth rank and is a low-ranking official.

The soldier beside him patted the village head on the shoulder and said, "A petty official of the ninth rank dares to call me sir. Do you want to die? Say his name."

"Wang Shi."

Li Banghua raised his head and ordered, "Come here, bring Wang Shi here."

Soon, a fat middle-aged man was carried in by two soldiers. Before he could say anything, the two soldiers let go at the same time, and Wang Shi was thrown to the ground.

"Ouch!" Wang Shi screamed.

"Behave yourself!" Seeing this, the two soldiers picked up Wang Shi again and brought him in front of Li Banghua.

"I want to ask you, why do you impose an extra 300 taels of silver in taxes here?"

Wang Shi had seen and experienced this before, and after a brief panic, he quickly regained his composure.

He lowered his head and replied, "The prefect asked me to do this."

He passed the pot away easily.

The Xuzhou prefect Chen Guidong, who was standing next to him, had an extremely ugly expression on his face: "You... don't spit blood at me! When did I ever ask you to collect more taxes from here? It was obviously you who acted on your own initiative!"

"If you don't believe me, you can go check it out. I am just a lowly official. How dare I disobey the governor's orders?"

Li Banghua smiled slightly, pointed at the tax record and said, "So, you know about this?"

"Your Excellency, yes."

"Where there are tax increases, there are also tax cuts. Tell me, who got the tax cuts?"

Wang Shi was stunned and suddenly felt something was wrong.

This seems to be helping them find evidence!

"My Lord..."

"Stop talking nonsense. Who did you cut taxes for?" Li Banghua still had that smile on his face, but his tone was a little colder.

"I have reduced taxes for Mr. Zhou Yangping's family in the east of the city, but I was ordered to do this by the prefect. Please help me," Wang Shi said with tears in his eyes.

After hearing this, the official from the Ministry of Revenue stood up and left. After some searching, he handed over two booklets.

"Sir, according to the equalization certificate sent by another village head, he did not evade taxes."

Li Banghua stared at Wang Shi's face and asked, "Tell me yourself, did you embezzle the money, or is the equalization certificate fake?"

"I'm not greedy! I've given all the money to the prefect!" Wang Shiyong looked at Chen Guidong with a helpless look.

Chen Guidong gnashed his teeth and said, "Wang Shi, Wang Shi, if you continue to slander me, I will not be polite."

"The prefect wants to kill me to silence me. Please save my life!" Wang Shi knelt in front of Li Banghua and kowtowed.

The entire provincial government was silent. Except for a few officials who were still working, most people turned their eyes here.