After Xi Chun and the servants tidied up the courtyard and put away all the things they had brought, Fu Changfeng went home.
"What's wrong? Why do you look so dejected?" Xichun asked with concern, noticing his expression.
"Sigh, it seems that Shaoming County is a deep and complicated place. I'm afraid we'll have to be extra careful to deal with it. I'm thinking, should we send you back first and wait until everything is settled here before you come back?"
“Is the situation really that serious? I promised to come with you, so I didn’t intend to leave you here alone. We’re husband and wife, we share happiness and hardship. No matter what troubles we have, we’ll sort them out and solve them one by one. If you’re afraid of everything, then you shouldn’t have taken the imperial examination and become an official in the first place.”
"How could that be? This has been my wish for many years. I have only just taken office. I am just a little worried, but I am not going to back down." Fu Changfeng shook his head and told Xichun what he had just talked about with Lord Wang.
"Lord Wang said that he was already fifty years old when he came here. He was not in good health and had no powerful backing, so he dared not confront Chief Long head-on. Therefore, he had to keep a low profile. Chief Long was no pushover either. He was already sixty years old this year, but his family controlled 40% of the land in Shaoming County."
The family employs many thugs and guards. The people here are also belligerent, so they are never afraid to die in a fight. If Chief Long feels threatened, he will send these people to fight, and he will compensate the families of whoever he kills.
Holding this land in your hands means holding the lives and deaths of those people in your hands. So those people dare not resist. Instead, they are all willing to work as farmhands and tenant farmers, hoping that you can support your whole family with that little bit of land.
Lord Wang told me that they charge 60% of the rent for the land they lease to those people. Think about what that 60% means. The rent our family receives is only half of theirs. Other large families only collectively control 30%, and the remaining 30% is in the hands of the common people.
It is said that the common people made up 60% of the population back then, but in recent years, the chieftain Long has been buying more and more, not only through normal means, but sometimes even through forced buying and selling. If the common people wanted to report to the authorities, his thugs would beat them so badly that they dared not report to the authorities.
Lord Wang had initially considered getting involved in the matter, but after only a brief investigation, he was threatened the very next day. They said their people weren't afraid of death and would trade one life for another. Lord Wang was also afraid; he had finally reached this age, and if he were gone, his children and grandchildren would have no one to rely on for the rest of their lives.
Nowadays, other families can only follow suit and raise rents. People don't dare to go to the county government to resolve any issues, which is why the Dragon Chieftain is becoming more and more arrogant. I'm afraid our arrival has already attracted their attention.
By the way, I heard that the Long chieftain dominates the business in the entire Shaoming County. Many things can only be sold by him; others have no channels and can't sell their goods, so they have to rely on him.
After hearing Fu Changfeng's words, Xichun also sensed the trouble here. Such a local tyrant was undoubtedly an obstacle to the county government's work, but if they really wanted to suppress him, it would probably not be an easy task.
"It seems we still need to bide our time and proceed slowly. If they find out, we might end up like Lord Wang. They're a bunch of reckless fools. Fighting them head-on will only hurt our own people."
"Yes, fortunately, Lord Zhang told me something that day. The prefect was also very dissatisfied with these chieftains, so he was plotting to get rid of them as soon as possible in order to establish the authority of the government. We cannot act rashly, but should act secretly and wait for the right time to wipe them out in one fell swoop."
"That's great. Don't tell anyone else about this yet, so the news doesn't leak out." Hearing that he was confident, Xichun felt relieved.
"Well, the most important thing now is to gradually strip him of his power in Shaoming County. I think we can't start with the common people, but we can start with the other families. They have been suppressed by the Long family for so many years, and I'm afraid they have long harbored resentment."
That chieftain is the kind of person who eats meat himself but doesn't allow others to drink soup, and he never lets other families grow their businesses. I think we can start from this point, win over other families, and take over their businesses little by little. Once they all trust us, we can dismantle their businesses first.
With the prefect's help, would we still be afraid of not being able to manage the land issue? The taxes alone would be enough to give him a lot of trouble.
"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Xichun asked curiously upon hearing this.
"The chieftain of Nalong has occupied so much land, but he has secretly hidden his own land. Every year when the county government urges the payment of grain tax, he only pays half or even pays only if he feels like it. Therefore, in recent years, Lord Wang's political achievements have not been able to improve."
However, concealing or underpaying grain taxes is a serious crime. Only if someone in the family studies and obtains the title of Xiucai or Juren can the family be exempt from taxes. In recent years, although the Long family wanted to send their children to study, intending to obtain the title and avoid taxes and strengthen the family's power, the local education was too poor. Despite their efforts over the years, they only managed to produce one Xiucai.
The number of tax-exempt positions for a single scholar is far greater than the number they are concealing, so as long as there is military suppression, their objections will be futile.
"I see. Just like how I had to report the quantity of my estate to the government and pay taxes back then, their behavior is definitely not acceptable. It seems that our confidence can be increased even more."
"Well, let's not talk about these things for now. Let's think about how to boost the economy of Shaoming County first."
"Don't worry, we've got this under our control, along with Dad and the others. It's not that far from here to Yizhou. Let me figure out the current business situation in Shaoming County before we make any plans."
"With my wife here, I really don't have to worry about anything. When you go to investigate, be careful and remember not to act alone, lest you be watched. Make sure to keep the guards we brought with you at all times to protect yourselves."
"Well, don't worry, I will definitely be careful. You also need to be careful. I think that Chief Long is a smart man to have gone to such lengths. He might even send someone or test you himself. You need to be careful."
"Don't worry, I will definitely be careful. We can discuss it further if anything happens. I'm afraid I won't have much time to spend with you in the coming days."
"Hehe, you make it sound like you used to have time to spend with me. I've built up all those businesses myself. We all need to be well. Our parents and children are back home, and they're all hoping to come and see the good life we're living now."
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