Regarding this year's autumn tax, it was not something Zhang Fei planned specifically. He actually wanted the police station to survive for another year and then start making efforts next year.
The real planners were Wei Yingfang, Cao Yi, He Chunlin and others.
They are the ones pushing it completely.
Otherwise, the police station would not have the power to collect taxes.
Because in this matter, the senior officials of Hezhong Prefecture and the landlords of Hezhong Prefecture saw different things. For example, Wei Yingfang and others were very clear about the specific situation of the court.
In any case, they must push for judicial reform to counter the Qingmiao Law.
Only in this way can they gain the support of court ministers.
Because in this way, everyone's interests are the same.
For them, this autumn tax was just a trigger, whose purpose was to use it to bind the big landlords, concentrate grain, and fight against the new policy.
Because before, the big landowners just stood by and watched their officials fighting each other.
...
...
Now, they have finally entered the game.
But when they looked back, they suddenly realized that the police station had arrived in the village quietly.
Basically, there are branches outside this big village.
The reason why the autumn tax starts to increase early is very simple, that is, many branches have been opened and all of them are in place.
In fact, we had only arranged for the Royal Police to promote voluntary declaration and give it some publicity.
Little did they know that the conditions were so ripe that the self-cultivating farmers simply brought their grain to pay taxes.
There is such a good thing.
Pay taxes based on the land title deed.
After paying, everyone discovered that there was no discount in the middle.
In the past, when paying taxes, people usually paid a few more dou, and the losses had to be shared by the people.
But most of this loss money goes to the officials who collect taxes. The officials only need to pay it in full, and the rest is theirs.
Since officials do not receive salaries, they only have a little bit of welfare.
But the Royal Police are different, they receive a fixed salary.
This was truly good news for the self-employed farmers who had suffered from various forms of exploitation, including those second- and third-class households. They all rushed to pay taxes. Some second-class households had more land, and even before the tax was collected on their grain, they directly used their surplus grain to pay taxes.
I was afraid of missing this village, but I didn't have this.
Now that I have the tax money in my hands, I feel safe and secure for another year.
But on the country roads, farmers, like ants, were carrying a bag of rice or pushing a cart, marching towards the branch office.
Under a big tree, a young man was seen looking down the hill at the villagers who were rushing to deliver food. He was sweating profusely and walking around in circles, muttering to himself, "What should I do! What should I do!"
"Xiao Yun! Xiao Yun!"
At this time, an old lady waved her hand and walked towards this side.
"Third Aunt!"
"Xiao Yun! What are you doing here alone? There's a rich family over there looking for people to deliver grain to pay taxes. Go find some work over there."
"Aunt San, I can't pay the taxes! I can't pay the taxes!"
The young man stamped his feet in anxiety.
The old lady wondered, "What are you talking about?"
The young man was so anxious that he stamped his feet: "My family doesn't even have a land deed, how can I pay the tax?"
The old lady was also confused, "Yes! How can you pay taxes if your family doesn't have a land deed?"
"That's it! That's it!"
The young man choked up and said, "Aunt San, will the government send someone to arrest me?"
Just then, a boy of fifteen or sixteen, dressed in ragged clothes, came running over excitedly, "Brother Yun! Brother Yun!"
When we got to the top of the slope, "Aunt is here too!"
The old lady asked, "Little boy, why are you so happy today?"
The boy said, "Aunt, you know, my family doesn't have to pay taxes this year."
The young man was shocked and asked, "Po'er, why don't you have to pay taxes?"
"We don't have a land deed. My father once went there with a small roll of cloth to see if he could get away with it, but the Royal Police refused to accept it, saying that if there was no land deed, there was no need to pay taxes."
"What? You won't accept something that's delivered to your door?"
"Yes! They only look at the title deed."
“Ouch!”
The old lady slapped her thigh happily and said, "Xiao Yun, so your family doesn't have to pay taxes either."
The young man said excitedly: "Yes! My family doesn't have a land deed, so we don't have to pay taxes!"
As they were talking, the three of them hugged each other and cried.
In the past, they all had to pay taxes. For the government, they were not landless, they just sold the land themselves, and they still had to pay taxes.
Earlier, Xiaoyun saw the villagers happily paying taxes, which was simply a free advantage. However, they needed a land deed to pay the taxes. Xiaoyun was so anxious that he was like an ant on a hot pan, seeing the advantage but unable to take advantage of it. How uncomfortable it was.
Now I hear that you don’t have to pay it, I’m so happy.
Just at this moment, a burst of shouting and cursing was heard faintly in the distance.
The little kid exclaimed, "It sounds like the voice of the wealthy Mr. Xu. Who is he scolding?"
The old lady said, "Who dares to offend him? He wants to stop us from paying taxes, but no one pays attention to him. In previous years, when he collected taxes, he would often take away the rice jars of people he disliked, and if he liked someone, he would collect less."
Xiaoyun snorted, "Now that we have the Royal Police, we won't bother with him anymore."
But in front of a large farm, a middle-aged man with a big belly stood at the door and shouted, "You fools, that's a lie. There's no such good thing. Just wait, we will come to collect taxes from you again. Ouch! Ouch!"
"Master, Master, drink some water first."
The butler next to him quickly handed over a cup of tea.
The middle-aged man drank it all in one gulp and panted, "I'm so mad! I'm really so mad."
The housekeeper said, "Master! If they want to do something stupid, just let them do it. It will be their regret later, and it is none of our business."
"It's none of our business? Then guess who will pay these taxes in the end?"
In fact, let alone them, even Wei Yingfang and others who were the driving force behind this matter were stunned.
Big brother!
You can't play like this!
The hole seems to be a little bit big.
Are those landlords still willing to pay the tax?
They hope that the public security, procuratorate and courts can be more ruthless and make the landlords determined to follow them, but this is a bit too much. Without a land deed, they don’t even have to pay taxes.
The landlord may really not be willing to make up for it.
This made many officials in Hezhong Prefecture's hearts beat fast.
How much tax can you collect with this tax method? The finances will collapse, so what's the point of talking about reform?
Today, their government is in a state of sharp turn. Although they are downsizing and reducing the burden, the prerequisite is to smoothly get through this transition period, because on the other hand, they need to compensate the soldiers, and the regular office over there completely relies on the autumn tax as capital.
This fiscal expenditure is still quite large.
Lu Shen, who had originally planned to follow his good friend Zheng Xie to Beijing to take up his post, decided to stay after seeing this scene.
"Brother Zheng, can we collect taxes at this rate?"
"hehe!"
Zheng Xie laughed twice, then said, "If you had asked me this two years ago, I would have definitely told you that it was impossible. But today, don't worry, the tax will definitely be collected."
He had seen this voluntary declaration before, and at first glance, it was clearly the work of Zhang San, who had reserved some tricks for later use.
Lu Chen asked, "What do you mean?"
Zheng Xie sighed, "It was this voluntary declaration that confused the officials in the court. That's why they made up their minds to drive Zhang San to Hezhong Prefecture."
“So amazing?”
"Well, the tax commissioner hasn't arrived yet. No, maybe he has already arrived. This tax commissioner may be the most feared office for officials nowadays. When you go to the capital, you will know that as long as the tax commissioner is mentioned, people will turn pale at the mention of him."
Lu Shen looked at Zheng Xie in disbelief.
Could it be that in these three days in Shu and a thousand years in the world, I missed something?
Qin Mansion.
Qin Yijie asked: "Yanei, how much tax have you collected recently?"
"But it's a lot."
Cao Dongdong said proudly: "If you don't believe me, Brother Qin, you can go to those branch offices and see that everyone is rushing to pay taxes, and there are crowds of people everywhere."
Qin Zhongshou, who was sitting on the upper floor, said, "They are all poor people, so they can pay less tax."
Cao Dongdong said: "Isn't it being collected in advance now? When the time comes, the rich families will come to pay the taxes."
Qin Zhongshou said, "Yanei, you are still not deeply involved in this matter. Uncle Qin really doesn't believe that those big landlords should pay taxes."
Cao Dongdong immediately said: "Uncle Qin, you may not believe it, but Uncle Qin, you must not be confused and evade taxes."
Qin Zhongshou immediately said, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could I do such a thing?"
Cao Dongdong said: "That's fine. I'm afraid Uncle Qin might fall in if he's not careful, and he might not be able to get out."
Is it so evil? Qin Zhongshou's eyes flashed with guilt, and he secretly winked at his son.
Qin Yijie asked: "What will happen if you don't hand it over?"
Cao Dongdong said: "Then we have to deal with it according to the law, which is just a fine."
Qin Zhongshou immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought it was something else."
Cao Dongdong said: "Uncle Qin, you must not be careless. There is a landlord in Bianjing who was tortured because he deliberately concealed the truth. He aged dozens of years overnight. My nephew felt pity for him."
"It's just a fine, is it that serious?"
"Uncle Qin, you don't know that a thief is guilty of his crime. Once he is discovered, how can he sleep peacefully at night? He will have to go to the imperial court for trial, and every inch of the land will have to be checked. If there is something fishy going on, then... then it's hard to say for sure."
Qin Zhongshou broke out in a sweat when he heard this, and thought to himself, I should just pay the tax secretly first and see if it is really that terrible.
Cai Yanqing on the other side was also getting a little impatient, because at present, the taxation power was still in the hands of their government. He had to be held responsible if he could not collect taxes, so he went straight to find Zhang Fei.
"Judge Zhang, how much tax can you collect with this tax collection method?" Cai Yanqing said anxiously: "You can't just look at the land deed, you also have to look at the household registration!"
Zhang Fei hurriedly said, "Prefect Cai, this is the police station's business. No, isn't it your government that asked the police station to assist? Why... why are you still asking me?"
"Do you want me to tell you about your dealings with Scholar Yuan?" Cai Yanqing really couldn't hold it in any longer and was tired of guessing, so he just laid it out.
The key point is that your frequency is too fast, one thing after another, it makes me tired of guessing!
Zhang Fei's heart skipped a beat, and he blinked, and asked in surprise, "What kind of business is this, Governor Cai, what are you talking about?"
Cai Yanqing said, "I have seen it for a long time. Whether it is the salt notes or the military pay, they were all secretly discussed between you and Yuan Xueshi. You set the questions and he solves them. You use this method to interfere with the finances. I just don't want to tell you. How long do you want to hide it from me?"
Zhang Fei looked confused and said, "Prefect Cai, I really don't know what you are talking about?"
"OK!"
Cai Yanqing stood up and said, "I will have someone check to see if your imperial court is secretly interfering with the finances."
After saying that, he walked outside.
Is he bluffing me? Or has he really seen through it? Zhang Fei also looked a little anxious. This matter really can't be exposed, otherwise, it will be difficult for Yuan Jiang to carry out his work.
You must know that after Yuan Jiang came to Hezhong Prefecture, he immediately felt like a fish in water. It was entirely because he was determined to confront the imperial court that he won everyone's support.
But on second thought, Cai Yanqing actually didn't need to bluff me. He just needed to reveal his thoughts, which would naturally arouse the suspicion of many people.
Moreover, even if he admitted it now, he could still deny it once he left the door.
Since Cai Yanqing has been helping to conceal it, and based on Cai Yanqing's previous decisions, he should support himself.
Thinking of this, Zhang Fei hurriedly called out to Cai Yanqing who had already walked to the door, "Prefect Cai, please wait a moment."
Cai Yanqing turned around and gave him a cold look.
Zhang Fei quickly stood up and invited him back to sit down, then said, "Just now, Magistrate Cai asked about the voluntary declaration."
Naturally, we have to avoid that topic.
Cai Yanqing said nothing.
Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "Actually, I really don't know what Governor Cai is worried about."
"What am I worried about?"
Cai Yanqing said: "In fact, I don't want to force the poor to pay taxes, but if the taxes can't be collected, it will cause big problems. Now the police station has announced that they will only collect taxes based on land deeds, but do you know how many tricks there are in this autumn tax?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "I know everything. After all, it's no secret. Many official fields and gentry fields were distributed to the common people, including those landless people."
Cai Yanqing said: "Since you know this, why are you still doing this? I might as well tell you frankly that I have been an official for decades, but today I really can't estimate how much tax I can collect. Even if those landlords are willing to pay, they can't pay all of it.
Next year, Hezhong Prefecture is in urgent need of financial support. If the finances are not good, all your previous plans may fail. Someone will definitely interfere, which may cause great chaos."
Zhang Fei said: "I believe everyone will pay taxes legally. It's how much it is. If it's less, then we will use less. We can't let the Royal Police break the law to collect taxes."
Cai Yanqing smiled and said, "If everyone pays taxes legally, the tax will definitely not be less, but you are taking it for granted."
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "I am not taking it for granted. I will enforce the law impartially and down-to-earth. Since things have come to this point, why not use this opportunity to sort out the mess of land deeds and take a census of how many fields there are in Hezhong Prefecture. We will have to sort it out later anyway."
Cai Yanqing said: "Then do you know that those great gentry all have backgrounds?"
Zhang Fei asked back, "Which prince is it?"
"???"
(End of this chapter)
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