In the lobby of the Nanjing Governor's Office.

Niu Chenshi and a group of officials were all stunned. The first thunder in the third year of Longqing came earlier than usual.

In fact, to be honest, officials are very welcoming to these two new policies.

Especially the whip method.

You have to know that the taxes collected by the government before were mostly grain, silk and cotton, as well as local specialties such as dried bamboo shoots and tea. The corvée was performed by smelly laborers in turns. Only a few small taxes such as door stall silver and collapsed house tax could see some silver money.

Except for big cities like Nanjing and Suzhou with prosperous industry and commerce, the counties below would be lucky if they could collect a few thousand taels of silver a year.

Moreover, those taxes in kind were not easy to preserve, and the humidity in the south of the Yangtze River caused a lot of loss every year, and it was not easy to convert them into cash. Officials could only eat and drink a little, and it was very difficult to make a little money, so they did not have a comfortable life.

Now that the new policy has been implemented, all taxes and corvées will be converted into silver, which will not only make collection easier and reduce losses, but also improve everyone's income. Naturally, the officials support it with all their heart.

"You are worthy of being the Prime Minister. These two new policies will greatly benefit the court and the people!" As the new year went by, Niu Chenshi Mowang became more and more skilled in flattery.

"Such a bold reform can only be approved by the court if it is proposed by the Zhongcheng!" Commissioner Wang quickly followed.

"It's a pity that the Southern Ministry of Revenue is as timid as a mouse." Haidou said angrily, "They still insist on collecting the grain taxes sent to the capital from the two prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang in the form of rice... Little do they know that the people of these two prefectures have been paying taxes by buying rice for many years. Why do they need to do this again?"

"Minister Guo may be worried that if we rashly change to collecting silver and money, and let the government purchase grain, there will be no problem in a good year, but what if the grain price rises in a bad year? If we can't buy enough grain, everyone will be in trouble."

Niu Chenshi consoled him, "We still have to ensure the stability of the grain supply."

"To put it bluntly, the government is unwilling to take the risk." Hai Rui snorted. How could it be safer and more cost-effective for the government to centrally purchase grain when the people were buying it separately?

Of course, the government will bear certain risks, but does that mean that the people do not bear risks when buying grain? When grain prices are high in years of disaster, how many people will sell all their property to buy grain and pay taxes?

Moreover, the waste of grain and transportation costs are also major expenses. Centralized procurement and unified transportation by the government will naturally greatly reduce these unnecessary costs... Perhaps this is why some people are unwilling to convert the grain tax into silver for collection?

In fact, the same is true for "corvée labor in exchange for silver". Hai Rui and Zhao Hao had originally envisioned that the tax should be completely distributed according to the land area, regardless of the number of people. In this way, the landlords with land would pay money and hire the poor without land to serve the government. This design is the most reasonable.

But the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue obviously did not dare to take on the responsibility of making the landless people completely free of burden. After all, those stubborn censors always believed that this would cause the court's tax revenue to collapse and social order to fall into chaos.

Therefore, it was not easy for Guo Butang to agree to change the ten prefectures of Yingtian to this extent, and Hai Rui could not force anything more.

"However, these two new policies are quite unfavorable to powerful families and wealthy landlords. Should we take some precautions?" suggested an official.

"That's right, so we still have to hurry up and file a complaint!" Hai Rui nodded and said in a deep voice, "Wait until the other wealthy families in the prefectures are like the landlords in Suzhou, and have a lot of cases against them, then they will all behave themselves."

“Haha…” The officials couldn’t help but laugh. The case had been sentenced but not executed, just like a knife hanging on the neck. Who would dare to jump?

"So, Zhongcheng, where is our next stop?" Niu Chenshi rubbed his hands together, with white air coming out of his nose.

"Songjiang!" Hai Rui said firmly.

The officials looked stern when they heard this. They had not forgotten what Hai Gong’s primary mission was when he came to Yingtian.

"Zhongcheng, when do we set off?"

"No rush. Let's wait until the people get the news and calm down." Hai Rui said calmly.

~~

Songjiang Prefecture, Huating, Tuisi Garden.

Xu Ge Lao had the most lonely year since he passed the imperial examination. Except for his fellow villagers who were too embarrassed to give him a chance to show respect, no one came to wish him a happy new year. Even when he was in mourning and was suppressed by Zhang Cong, he was not so miserable.

This made the Xu Fan brothers very angry, but what storms had the Xu Ge Lao not experienced? He was used to the warmth and coldness of human nature, so he was neither angry nor annoyed, and he sang operas in the garden to entertain himself all day.

On the stage today, Lord Xu is dressed in a green costume and singing the newly staged play "Du Shiniang".

He was seen pinching his orchid fingers, swaying gracefully, and singing in a sad voice:

"Li Lang was a greedy man who betrayed the good heart of the beautiful lady.

It's okay to give it to others.

Du Shiniang, full of hatred, regrets that she had entrusted her whole life to a heartless man.

My dear, I only regret that I had no opinion at the beginning.

It turns out that you are just a fake and are waiting for red makeup."

In the past six months, Lord Xu has devoted himself to polishing his singing style, and his singing level is much higher than when he was in the capital. He really sang out the sorrow of Du Shiniang, "holding ice in her arms and with a broken heart."

However, even the original accompaniment band had mostly gone, leaving only one person playing the sanxian and one holding the pipa. His eldest son had to play the flute himself to provide the accompaniment.

Lord Xu was sobbing and singing with tears streaming down his face when he saw Xu Ying running onto the stage in a panic and almost tripping over the stairs.

He waved a tattered notice and shouted in panic: "Father, father, something bad has happened."

"What~happened~~?" Lord Xu looked calm, but forgot to change his operatic tone back to normal speaking tone.

Xu Ying stepped forward and presented the notice.

Xu Fan waved his hand, and the two musicians quickly stepped off the stage and got out of the way.

Lord Xu held the notice in both hands and read the contents on it. His face gradually turned pale, he felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Xu Fan was quick and nimble and held his father up.

"Where~~is this coming from?" Xu Jie's face was gloomy, no longer as calm as before.

"It was posted by the prefectural government. Our family saw it and quickly tore it down and sent it to us." Xu Ying said with a sad face, "The man named Hai is going to attack us!"

Xu Fan took the notice from his father and saw that it was the two new policies promulgated by the governor's office. His face gradually darkened.

He knew what his father feared the most. Such a big thing must at least be approved by the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, but until the governor's office issued it and posted the notice, his Xu family was still kept in the dark!

There were at least eighty people who had been bribed and placed in government offices at all levels. How could they not know about it?

There is only one possibility, that is, everyone has abandoned them and is unwilling to have any connection with the Xu family anymore...