The efficiency of the Embroidered Uniform Guard has never been questioned, so their investigation yielded results quickly.
Just as Zhu Yunwen had initially predicted, the tax revenue in Baicheng remained unchanged.
They continued to use the previous tax system and did not implement the new tax system as ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang.
In other words, many taxes that the imperial court had already reduced or exempted, including commercial taxes that had been halved, were not implemented in Baicheng.
The people continue to pay taxes as before, and because their lives are now better, they are paying even more taxes in various aspects, so naturally they are paying more.
Although Zhu Yunwen was somewhat angry upon learning of this situation, he did not do anything immediately. Instead, he sent someone to summon the magistrate of Baicheng.
The county magistrate had no idea that Zhu Yunwen had discovered a major problem. He was so eager to get there that he immediately began to flatter and fawn over him.
Zhu Yunwen didn't immediately reveal any problem. Instead, he smiled and casually exchanged a few words with the magistrate, then feigned curiosity and asked:
"Magistrate Li, please show me the tax records from your Baicheng County government office."
Upon hearing this, the magistrate didn't think much of it and quickly ordered someone to bring up the tax record book.
Zhu Yunwen opened the booklet and looked at it. Before the policy was implemented, the taxes were indeed very complicated. After the tax reform by the court, some of the complicated taxes that used to be recorded in the booklet of Baicheng were simply gone.
Only the poll tax and the commercial tax, which had indeed been reduced by half, were recorded.
This left Zhu Yunwen somewhat bewildered. According to the people, they had paid all sorts of miscellaneous taxes.
However, the registers in this government office only recorded the poll tax and the commercial tax levied by Zhejiang Province, which were indeed being collected in accordance with the regulations of the imperial court.
Here's the problem: Did the people lie?
Surely not everyone is lying?
Therefore, there is only one possibility: the tax records in the county government only recorded the poll tax and half of the commercial tax according to the regulations of the imperial court.
As for other taxes, the government collected them, but didn't record them in this ledger.
Zhu Yunwen then looked at Magistrate Li, frowned, and said:
"Magistrate Li, you have quite the nerve."
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Li hurriedly knelt on the ground and said:
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die... but I don't know what I did wrong to anger you?"
Zhu Yunwen snorted and said:
"You deceived your superiors and subordinates, embezzled public funds, and don't you know you're guilty?"
Magistrate Li, looking completely innocent, said:
"Your Highness, I do not understand what Your Highness means..."
"not understand?"
Zhu Yunwen snorted, then threw the account book hard on the ground and said:
"Tell me yourself, do you agree that every tax recorded in your tax ledger matches the actual tax collected?"
Upon hearing this, Magistrate Li immediately felt a bit nervous.
He swallowed hard before saying:
"Your Highness, it's absolutely correct... The imperial court has issued an order and implemented new policies, reducing or exempting many taxes. So we are simply following the court's instructions. Therefore, this year's tax collection has reduced the number of tax types, only the poll tax and commercial tax..."
Seeing that the magistrate was still pretending to be confused while knowing the truth, Zhu Yunwen lost all patience.
He slammed his hand on the table and shouted:
"You scoundrel, are you still trying to evade the issue? Since you know about the new policy, and you yourself said that it will be levied according to the population tax and half of the commercial tax."
But why do ordinary people say they also pay all sorts of other miscellaneous taxes? For example, land tax, shop tax, and corvée tax, etc.
"Didn't the imperial court reduce or exempt these taxes for them? And you didn't collect the halved commercial tax as requested by the Zhejiang office, did you?"
Magistrate Li trembled with nervousness. He didn't know how Zhu Yunwen had learned the true situation of taxation from the people.
So at this moment, it's clear that this evasive answer won't work.
Then he hurriedly said:
"Your Highness, let me explain this matter to you... We received the court's tax reform policy, but it was already too late."
At this time, we have already collected taxes from various places. As you know, it is summer now, and there is a summer tax, which is collected during this period.
When we receive the imperial decree, a portion of the people's taxes have already been collected. If a new tax policy is implemented under these circumstances, it would be unfair to those who have already paid taxes.
Therefore, we can only continue to collect taxes using the original methods; this new policy can only be implemented from now on.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Yunwen revealed a cold smile.
This Magistrate Li was quite clever. He took advantage of the time difference between the old and new policies, saying that the new policy could not be implemented for the time being and that the old policy could continue for the time being, with the new policy to be implemented later.
But he treated Zhu Yunwen as if he were a fool, and so he heard Zhu Yunwen say:
"Oh, I see. Then explain it to me. Since you're collecting taxes according to the old policy..."
Why is it that the data entry process for this tax step is based on the new tax regulations?
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