An incident that should have caused a huge disturbance in Qianyuan County ended in a whimper as the three officials left in a hurry.
After seeing the three off, Chen Shiyan put his hands behind his back and slowly walked back to the inner court.
I called Dou Zhengyuan and Wu Guiming on the way.
As for Li Zhiyou who was still standing there, he patted him on the shoulder, shook his head, and said nothing.
The petty officials below began to discuss privately.
"It seems that our county magistrate has a powerful backer."
"Do you know where the master has been these days?"
"How did you know that?"
"Hehe, I am in charge of the spirit boat. I just checked the consumed spirit stones. If you haven't changed it, according to the consumption, it will be just enough to reach the capital city."
"Hiss, no wonder, it's as stable as a mountain."
"Whether he has a backer or not, we don't know, but I'm afraid that Lord Li is in trouble."
"It shouldn't be that serious, right? After all, the Li family is quite powerful in the county."
"My dear little brother, is it possible that the adults are more wary of the Li family because of their influence in the county?"
The head of the "small car class" shook his head and walked out of the yamen with square steps.
"Please take a seat. Let's discuss this taxation issue."
Dou Zhengyuan didn't react at all.
Wu Guiming was shocked, and stared with wide eyes at the county magistrate who had just been so imposing.
His face was full of mercenary at this moment.
The tax revenue of Qianyuan County has been collected to this extent. Is it possible to collect a few more?
The monks in Qianyuan County must have done something sinful in their previous life to have to deal with these county magistrates.
He had a hunch that the county magistrate in front of him was black-hearted.
It may be a big job.
"Sir, this type of tax has already..."
Chen Shiyan waved his hand.
"I know this, but the previous taxes were mostly targeted at low-level cultivators. How many spirit stones can low-level cultivators have?"
"But it's not so easy to collect taxes from this family." Wu Guiming really didn't know how to collect spirit stones.
"In Qianyuan County, even if we collected taxes from the families before, we would return the spirit stones under various pretexts, and sometimes even more than what they paid."
"After all, if they leave, the county won't be able to function properly. I hope you will think twice."
Chen Shiyan said with a smile.
"I understand what you mean. When the tax revenue comes in, the family's spiritual stones will be returned in full, but the spiritual stones of the lower-level cultivators will have to be shared with them under some pretext, right?"
"But that was in the past. Now I am the one who makes the decisions in Qianyuan County."
"We must collect the spiritual stones from the family! We must also collect the spiritual stones from the lower-level cultivators!"
After saying that, he stood on the table and wrote a talisman.
Stamped with a big seal.
He picked it up and shook it twice.
"Zhengyuan, from now on you will take on the responsibilities of the judge."
"Yes, sir." Dou Zhengyuan was actually a little resistant.
Chen Shiyan looked at Wu Guiming.
"Starting today, the taxes for lower-level monks will be reduced by half. You can choose the specific items yourself."
"Leave the family with a tax on the use of spiritual fields, a tax on the land occupied by the house, a tax on the use of spiritual veins, and a head tax based on the family as a unit."
Chen Shiyan took advantage of the most severe taxes in his previous life: land tax, capitation tax, and corvee labor.
The spiritual field usage tax and house land occupation tax, also known as land tax, put shackles on the families because most of the spiritual fields in Qianyuan County were in the hands of these families.
The head tax levied on the family unit is the Ding tax, but it is not levied according to age or gender, but according to cultivation level.
As for the spirit vein usage tax, it is a variation of corvee labor. Chen Shiyan did not need them to perform corvee labor, so he levied a tax in the name of the spirit vein.
Chen Shiyan explained the explanations of these types of taxes to the two of them.
Wu Guiming looked embarrassed.
"Sir, I think you can't collect the tax."
"Can't collect it?"
"I can't collect it."
"Tell me why."
"Sir, your tax is too harsh. The families will not sit idly by and wait for death. The stronger ones will resist the tax and even unite to resist it."
"You can't use the imperial law to deal with them. After all..."
Wu Guiming didn't say anything else. After all, you imposed the tax privately. Do you dare to make a big fuss about it?
Although the practice of privately imposing taxes was common in the dynasty.
But that's how it is. If it's not on the scale, it weighs less than two taels, but if it is on the scale, it may weigh more than a thousand pounds.
"Those weaker families may migrate with their entire families, which will inevitably reduce the number of monks in Qianyuan County. At that time, it will affect your performance."
"Sir, this matter should be handled with extreme caution. This performance evaluation is of great importance."
Dou Zhengyuan didn't feel anything about whether taxes were collected or not, but he was still very sensitive to the decline in the monk population.
After all, he is the county magistrate and his deputy, and this also concerns his future.
"Others have accepted it, so why can't I, Chen Shiyan, accept it?"
"Sir, those masters collect the spiritual stones from low-level cultivators and independent practitioners. What you want to collect is the spiritual stones that the families in this county regard as their foundation."
"What the hell is a family? In front of me, there are only people and officials."
"I, Chen Shiyan, hold the official seal, have supporters above and means below. I don't believe I can't take it!"
"Dou Zhengyuan, I authorize you to recruit some of the independent cultivators to serve as tax collectors to assist Wu Sicheng in collecting taxes."
"Those who refuse or resist taxes will be punished. Go ahead and do it. I will collect taxes from this family."
After Chen Shiyan finished speaking, he thought for a moment and then said something sinister and extremely cold.
"If I hadn't confiscated all of them, it would have been difficult to explain to my superiors. Would I have bothered with this?"
Dou Zhengyuan and Wu Guiming felt a chill down their spines.
I dare not say anything more.
"As for those who want to move away, that's fine. The government won't stop them, but they will conduct a comprehensive investigation of their families to see if they have violated any of the imperial laws."
"We can't send some bad guys to other counties. If anything goes wrong, we will punish them strictly according to the laws of the dynasty."
"If we really can't find anything, then we will evaluate the total price of all the family's belongings and collect 70% of it as a migration tax."
"You can't just enjoy the good life in Qianyuan County and leave whenever you want, right?"
"If they don't give it to me, then I will confiscate their imperial immortal records and issue a wanted notice."
"Master Wu, if we do this, will I be able to collect the taxes?"
Wu Guiming was really a little afraid of the smiling county magistrate in front of him.
"Yes, I can."
This means that he is going to squeeze the entire Qianyuan County dry while in office.
Fortunately, he knelt down early.
Stay away from such cruel and ruthless people.
If you can't beat them, then join them.
At least you can save yourself a little.
Dou Zhengyuan was wondering why the adults were so at odds with the family forces.
After Wu Guiming left, he asked about the doubts in his mind.
"Sir, why are you so harsh on these family forces?"
Chen Shiyan looked at him.
You can't say that it's because those low-level independent cultivators don't have much money, right?
He originally didn't want to let these low-level cultivators go, but he considered that they must have been exploited by the families.
It is better to focus on the family based on the spirit stones sent by the family forces during this period.
He feels there is still potential to be tapped.
Put on a compassionate expression.
Teacher Chen’s small classroom is about to start again.
"Do you know who makes up this world of cultivation and this dynasty?"
"Is it these families? Or these low-level monks?"
"The influence of the family in the imperial dynasty is like a large network of layers."
"It covers those ordinary monks. I don't know how many layers of the net you will have to break if you want to break through."
"And whose side should we stand on, the powerful family forces? Or the grassroots monks with solid foundations?"
"The dynasty is the Nangong family's dynasty, it is also our dynasty, and it is also the dynasty of those lower-level cultivators who create wealth and continuously earn spirit stones."
"And those families sucked blood from the dynasty and continued to grow stronger."
"If the dynasty is not controlled, unpredictable dangers will surely appear in the future."
"Every time I think of it, I feel sad."
"Although I am also a member of the family, I still want to do something for the dynasty and the lower-level monks."
Next, Chen Shiyan talked about some more things about the struggle.
He no longer paid attention to Dou Zhengyuan who was standing there, and went about his own business.
Chen Shiyan had been gone for a long time, but Dou Zhengyuan was still standing there.
A huge wave of upheaval rose in my heart.
It turns out that their family is the most evil one.
This also opened the door to a new world for him.
If Chen Shiyan knew what he was thinking, he would probably think it was natural.
A very normal reaction.
Class, and class struggle.
It is applicable in any era and any place.
He took the actual situation into consideration and pulled the royal family to his side.
No monk could break the logic of this rhetoric.
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