Chapter 299: Premature Baldness [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
Gu Chi did some calculations for Shen Tang.
Based on current farmland yields and the minimum standard of living, three to four mu of inferior land can support one person. This is assuming low taxes and simple tax categories. If land rent, poll tax, tax on taxes, and corvée labor are added on top of each other, the burden on ordinary people is quite heavy.
They were basically teetering on the edge of starvation and survival.
Ignoring other factors, let's just consider the average output of one mu of land. One person needs to cultivate four mu of land to survive. Shen Tang brought commoners, recruited soldiers, and Zhao Feng's 1,000 people from Sibao County, totaling about 5,000 people. The minimum standard is to cultivate 20,000 mu!
Besides these people, there were also more than 10,000 people in total, including the original self-cultivating farmers of Fugu City and the tenant farmers who did not own their own land. These families in Fugu City joined forces and occupied 60% of the land in Heyin, leaving mostly inferior land in the hands of the common people.
If taxes are added...
Let alone four mu of land, even adding two more mu would be difficult.
Looking at the calculation Gu Chi provided, Shen Tang felt almost numb and her soul almost left her body—was she watching Gu Chi do accounting?
No, she was looking at her own "poverty"!
I rubbed my forehead, trying to suppress the urge to explode in my brain.
Gu Chi keenly noticed her discomfort.
He asked with concern, "Is my lord listening?"
Shen Tang: "I'm listening, I'm listening... but, you know, it's giving me a bit of a headache. It's a very subtle feeling, hard to describe. It's like eight hundred Gong Xi Chou ganged up on me, punching and kicking me until I see stars..."
The key point is that these accounts are all recorded in text, and they're vertical, from right to left, densely packed together. The reading experience is simply indescribably "exhilarating"! It's so intense that you could roll your eyes and foam at the mouth immediately!
What kind of office conditions are these?
Haha, her low work efficiency isn't because she's slacking off!
The more I look at it, the angrier and more furious I get!
If this continues, she'll probably go bald prematurely.
Gu Chi's lips twitched.
"...premature balding?"
"It's baldness! Every middle-aged man and woman faces a midlife crisis, but some people are lucky enough to experience it earlier."
For example, myself.
Shen Tang could already foresee her future, with clumps of hair falling out! She was going to discuss with Gu Chi whether they should reform the way they kept accounts before starting to cultivate the wasteland.
It all had to be recorded word by word—for example, "On XX year XX day, in XX place of Fugu City, X hectares of land, X mu, tax XX shi"; or "On XX year XX day, in XX place of Fugu City, X households, X people, tax XX"—how long would that take?
It's tiring to write, and it's tiring to read.
If something goes wrong later, they'll need to check the accounts...
Haha, even checking and verifying accounts can be exhausting.
If we don't reform the bookkeeping system, we'll be doing a disservice to her shining "protagonist" aura! If we do it right, happiness will be ours!
Gu Chi: "..."
Shen Tang's thoughts were always quick, urgent, numerous, and complex, with a few important pieces of information mixed in with a pile of nonsense. Even Gu Chi couldn't fully understand what she was saying.
But he understood one thing: his lord wanted to change the way the accounts were kept.
He said gently, "I would like to hear the details."
Shen Tang retrieved several blank bamboo slips—although papermaking technology existed at the time, paper production was still limited, making it a relatively luxurious consumer good, due to labor costs, raw material costs, and technological limitations. Shen Tang was merely a poor prefect.
Even if they became rich overnight through confiscation of property, they were still far from having freedom of paper, and their offices were still mainly made of bamboo slips.
As long as you don't give up, there are always more solutions than problems. Shen Tang used the gaps between the bamboo strips as the "vertical" lines of the table, and then used a carving knife to draw the "horizontal" lines. In the end, he created a simple bamboo slip table.
Since there are many characters, numbers are used instead.
Shen Tang listed out the numbers corresponding to the characters one by one.
"See, isn't it clear now?"
Gu Chi picked it up and looked at it. He found that, aside from the slightly awkward reading experience, this kind of thing was indeed convenient and simple for bookkeeping, not only for recording but also for subsequent accounting. However—
He hit the nail on the head: "It's easy to fake."
Inserting a number is not easily detected.
Shen Tang's expression froze: "Huh?"
Gu Chi changed the subject and praised with a smile: "Even so, it is indeed a clever method and easy to use. As for falsifying accounts, it is not difficult to solve. The settlement can still be done using the old recording method. If the numbers do not match, it will be obvious at a glance."
Shen Tang's eyes lit up several degrees.
"So, my method works?"
Gu Chi chuckled and said, "If it works so well, why not use it? But this method shouldn't be something our lord invented, right?"
"Hehe, how could I create something myself? It's commonly used in my hometown."
Gu Chi did not delve further upon hearing this.
He had traveled extensively throughout the northwestern countries over the years, and while he wouldn't claim to have visited every place or understood every custom, he had certainly never seen such peculiar symbols representing numbers and tabular-style ledgers before. Perhaps…
Is he simply ignorant?
Or perhaps, it is because our lord has something special about him.
As a smart man, Gu Chi naturally understood that distance was necessary between people, especially when one of them was his lord. His scholarly ways had already deprived his lord of any "secrets," and if he still harbored strong curiosity, he would be killed sooner or later.
"Proportion" is also an essential lesson for literary scholars.
Furthermore, adopting this convenient bookkeeping method is also beneficial to oneself. As long as one enjoys the benefits, why bother to investigate the origin of this method? Gu Chi revised the previous arithmetic content so that Shen Tang could see the current gap more intuitively.
Reclaiming wasteland is imperative.
And it's urgent.
We need to get it done before spring plowing.
If spring planting is missed, it means a poor harvest the following year, and without tax revenue, there will be no more capital to absorb displaced people. At the same time, the construction of Fugu City must also get on track.
Otherwise, where would they put so many refugees?
Shen Tang covered her face with her hands in worry. Gu Chi asked again, "What does the lord intend to do with the confiscated land? Divide it or..."
"Rent it out."
It's impossible to divide them.
Shen Tang doesn't have that much land to divide.
She rested her chin on her hand in worry: "If we were to distribute our land to the common people and let them cultivate it, who would get the good land? Who would get the bad land? How many acres of good land? How many acres of bad land? These are all complicated issues, and the workload would be too great... Furthermore, in this day and age, it's very difficult for common people to hold onto their land. If there's a major illness or minor disaster in the family, they might have to sell their land, whether voluntarily or involuntarily..."
It would be better if it were in Shen Tang's hands.
The rent was incorporated into the land tax. They could cultivate the land, and the amount of grain they produced would determine their harvest. As long as they worked hard, they could support their families. The land tax was levied at a fixed percentage per acre, based on the quality of the farmland and the average yield per acre in a given area.
If the harvest is good, harvest more.
If the harvest is poor, harvest less.
With the average yield per mu as an indicator, it is relatively difficult to falsify the harvest. As for other miscellaneous taxes, we will discuss them later.
Among the hundreds of countries on the continent, each country has different tax types and rates. Gu Chi did some mental calculations and it seemed feasible.
“…Wait, there’s one more thing.” Shen Tang rubbed her temples, reflecting on what she hadn’t considered. “…These next few days, I’ll trouble Wang Chao to personally lead a team to measure the land and assess its quality based on previous years’ yields per mu…”
It's best to leave this matter to Gu Chi.
No one can deceive him.
The collected data is also relatively accurate.
Shen Tang mentally estimated: "Try to finish this before the New Year, and then 'rent' the land to the common people during the New Year. The rental amount will be based on the number of male and female members in each family and their age... Oh, speaking of which, we still need to re-register the population."
She covered her face with a pained expression.
I can't live like this anymore.
*sobs* (╥╯^╰╥)
Just thinking about the workload made Shen Tang's eyes dry and her head spin, so she summoned a bluebird to fly to Kang Shi.
Let Kang Shi and Lin Feng take charge of this matter.
Originally, I wanted Chu Yao to do it.
But considering Chu Yao's gray hair and the hardships he had endured in his early years, and fearing that his body might not be fully recovered and he wouldn't be able to withstand it, Kang Shi took over. He was young and could stay up all night.
Kang Shi: "..."
Gu Chi then asked, "How much does it cost to rent male and female members?"
Shen Tang said, "Let's discuss this at the meeting later. If there are any martial artists or farmers in the family, we can rent more."
She still hadn't given up on the idea of having martial arts practitioners farm, and even planned to encourage it extensively. Shen Tang discussed many things with Gu Chi, and by the time she came to her senses, it was almost dark outside. She then asked someone to light an oil lamp for her.
Why isn't there a room full of lights?
Because scholars have better senses than ordinary people, plus excellent night vision, one lamp is enough for them to work.
Poor families save wherever they can.
Shen Tang quickly ate a meal to mark the meal's end, then continued working. The main task was to check the prisoners to be dealt with tomorrow. Although they were all heinous criminals, and few were truly innocent, there was no rule out the possibility that some might be pure and untainted.
There are also some who don't deserve to die. Shen Tang plans to send them to repair the city walls or pound rice. If they are shameless and want to cause trouble, then they will be killed!
There were also some innocent women, such as concubines who were forcibly taken without committing any evil deeds, and their children...
Should they be punished?
How should it be punished?
Qi Shan and the others suggested killing them all to prevent future troubles. According to the charge of exterminating three generations of a family, these children wouldn't survive either; keeping them alive would be a threat. However, Shen Tang felt a pang of pity; these women and children were, after all, innocent…
Being forced was not their choice. As for the potential risks... they were worried that if any of their offspring became successful, they might seek revenge, cause trouble, or try to overturn the family's record. In that case, they would focus on ideological education and cut off the possibility of three generations of their family members holding official positions.
Gu Chi and the others still outwardly disagreed.
But their attitude softened.
This matter really shouldn't be taken too far.
Heyin is indeed a small place, but there are many places in similar situations, and there are also local bullies there. If Shen Tang goes too far, it may arouse strong vigilance and resistance from these local bullies, which will be detrimental to the future.
The immediate gains are small; the future is what truly matters.
By day, Shen Tang dominated the high platform, and by night, she worked herself to the bone on case files. She felt that her life had become bleak. When she opened her eyes, she saw government affairs piled up to the ceiling, and when she closed her eyes, she was being brutally beaten in the ocean of government affairs.
"Grass (a type of plant)."
It would be much more satisfying to fight Gongxi Chou on the battlefield.
For seven consecutive days, I worked so hard that I developed dark circles under my eyes.
The local bullies of the seven families in Heyin have been largely dealt with.
The common people also gathered around the high platform to watch the beheading trials for seven days. Seeing those faces that made them grit their teeth in their dreams go to the underworld, they felt that drinking two extra bowls of water at home would keep them full for a day! No one who deserved to die was spared, and those who didn't deserve to die went to their respective places.
They were either sent to cultivate wasteland, build city walls, or pound rice for labor reform, contributing to the construction of Fugu City.
As for the "lingering poison" of various families that have spread elsewhere...
Shen Tang wasn't afraid of them causing trouble.
The government issued a reward order: anyone caught would receive a reward or be exempt from paying for seedlings for the next three years.
In today's world, most ordinary people work from spring planting to autumn harvest. They live a little better during the harvest season, but after a long winter, they become poor again, to the point that they can't even afford to buy or keep seedlings.
They often have no choice but to borrow money at high interest rates. If the harvest is bad for a year, after deducting land taxes, miscellaneous taxes, and other miscellaneous items, they are left with a mountain of debt, and the previous debts are compounding with interest...
Shen Tang also made multiple preparations for this reason—since he was going to borrow money anyway, he might as well borrow from her.
With extremely low interest rates and no violent debt collection, plus no need to worry about interest snowballing to the point of ruin, why not take advantage of it?
Gu Chi and the others were worried that this was not feasible.
Are you worried about being bankrupted by borrowing at such low interest rates?
Even if they don't go bankrupt, Shen Tang will still bear the losses of money and seedlings, and sooner or later he will lose everything... But after hearing Shen Tang's idea, his doubts were temporarily dispelled.
If surplus grain is purchased from the people at a low price when the harvest is good, and sold at a higher price when the harvest is bad, the income and expenditure can be balanced. At the same time, the impact of weather on grain production can be mitigated, which is conducive to stabilizing the livelihood of the people.
But we'll have to go back to the meeting to discuss the specific details.
The common people of Fugu City are now all poor.
Anyone you pick out is carrying debt.
Even if Shen Tang rented them enough fertile land, they would still struggle to have enough seedlings. If reporting a "legacy of poison" could earn them three years' worth of seedlings, who wouldn't be tempted?
In any case, the common people of Fugu City are already tempted.
The government also announced that once the household registration system was re-established, they would be able to cultivate land, and the land tax would be quite low.
They all craned their necks, eagerly anticipating what was to come.
I wish time could fly by.
However, no matter how much they hoped, Shen Tang's side only had so many people. They worked overtime for seven consecutive days to finally clear up the messy accounts of the seven local bullies. Shen Tang, as their lord, was so exhausted that he was practically dazed, wolfing down his meals every day…
Eating too fast can cause choking.
"belch--"
What you say comes true.
Shen Tang frowned, put down the bowl, picked up the soup beside her, took two gulps, and finally swallowed the lumpy bread.
Before she could catch her breath, a strong, slight tremor ran through her feet, and dust fell from the roof beams above her head, landing on Chen Tang's head. She jumped up on the spot and quickly darted outside, her expression almost contorted.
"Holy crap—was there an earthquake?"
At this point, the earth dragon will turn over?
Shen Tang seemed to see the malice that Heaven was against him.
Shen Tang wasn't the only one thinking this; several veteran officials in the administrative center shared the same thought, their faces either deathly pale or filled with anxiety. They muttered to themselves—in all their years in Fugu City, they had never heard of an earthquake here!
Everyone was feeling uneasy.
Just as they were worrying, another earthquake struck. Not only did the ground shake, but they also saw two beams of martial energy light in the distance—uh, martial energy...light? ???
Shen Tang suddenly leaped onto the roof.
(σ)σ:*☆
For the sake of the title, where are your monthly votes, my darlings?
Hehe, the more monthly votes the better, we'll accept them all.
By the way, let me promote my good buddy Wan'er's new book, "After the Male Protagonist Goes Crazy." Hehe, this book is released this month, so you can start ripping it off now.
P.S.: I made a mistake regarding the ancient conversion between mu and qing. The setting of over 600 qing for the He Yin Zhang family is a bit outrageous, since the He Yin territory is only that small, so I changed it to 100 qing (actually, it still feels a bit too much).
(End of this chapter)
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