Chapter 233 232. Gifts and Receipts
There are unregistered residents in Qingmi County.
Quite a few.
At that time, people did not have many contraceptive measures and few entertainment activities. In particular, in order to save oil lamps, many families went to bed as soon as it got dark. Since they could not sleep, the movement to have children began.
This leads to some families having many children but being poor and unable to afford to raise so many children, or hoping to avoid paying the population tax, so they do not register their children to avoid government taxation and inspection.
This is illegal.
Once discovered, the punishment may be a fine or short-term labor service, or even imprisonment, exile, or beheading.
Therefore, in order to evade taxes and avoid inspections, families with many children but not wealthy would hide their extra children in the mountains whenever officials came, and would return them after the storm had passed.
Some families who do not want to take risks will give their children to relatives for adoption. This kind of adoption is sometimes also a kind of transaction, where the children are sold to families who are infertile or have few offspring as their children.
Some families are cruel. When their children grow up to a few years old and become sensible, they immediately sell them to pimps or brothels. This way they don't have to pay taxes or go to jail, and they can still get money. Some families even sell their children to make a living.
Once the second decree of County Magistrate Meng Yao was issued, those families who had no intention of evading taxes, or who were timid and hesitant, would actively register their newborns, but those who dared to escape the law and sell their children would remain unchanged.
At this point, Meng Yao issued a third decree:
[Those who registered as illegal households within this year will not be held accountable for their previous tax evasion offenses. Starting next year, anyone who evades government household registration and fails to complete it within the prescribed timeframe will be fined 100 taels of silver and imprisoned for ten years.]
Meng Yao gave those illegal residents a chance to get by, and was worried that remote villages and towns were unaware of these laws, which would lead to delays in registering their household registration. He also sent people to various villages and towns to publicize the matter with drums and gongs.
Within a month, the number of people coming to the county government to register their household registration increased dramatically, almost the same number of people who registered in the previous year.
Even some children of illegal residents have married and had children, and have several grandchildren. The whole family is illegal residents, and no one knows how they escape the annual tax inspection.
"Many of them are still children, ranging from a few years old to teenagers. They are ignorant and uncivilized, unable to read or speak, and don't even know that household registration exists."
Meng Yao sighed.
He sincerely wanted to do practical things for the people in the county. He continued to retain the good policies of the previous magistrate Xu Xingzhe, and after discussing with Lei Li and Zhou Yi, he abolished and improved the bad ones one by one.
In particular, he inherited and managed the schools, including the Sifang School where children from wealthy families attended and the Wanjia School where children from ordinary families had preferential treatment. He also increased the money allocated by the county for education.
For those complicated rules and corrupt policies that really cannot be changed, he will try his best to weaken them to minimize their impact, and as long as it does not affect people's livelihood, he will turn a blind eye.
For example, if minor officials in the county government accepted bribes and gave convenience to others while on the job, Meng Yao would not care as long as it was not a big deal and would not cause any major trouble.
Meng Yao would also accept the ice and charcoal gifts and other red envelopes and gifts sent by his subordinates and merchants, as long as they were not too expensive.
He was originally a kind of upright and somewhat pedantic scholar. Although he could not tolerate any injustice, he was also noble and felt that if he became an official he would definitely be different from those corrupt officials and would not take a single penny from the people.
But Lei Li said that this wouldn't work.
“When water is too clear, there are no fish.”
Lei Li said at the time, "You don't accept gifts or their tributes. You're being aloof and self-righteous, thinking you're noble and different. But what will the people below you think of you? Will they think you're a good official?"
"No."
"They will think you are asking for too much, and that you don't want their filial gifts because you despise them or look down on them, not because you don't want to accept them."
"They'll curse you behind your back while trying every possible means to find out your preferences, guess what you like, and then give you something. In the end, you'll be put on the spot by them, and whether you want their gift or not is probably not up to you."
"Why?"
Meng Yao was also very confused at the time. Could it be that even if he didn't want to accept the gift, others could still force it on him?
"For example, if you like a calligraphy work by a great calligrapher, and they've gone to great lengths to get it, they don't give it to you directly, but instead sell it to you in a roundabout way at a very low price."
Lei Li said, "You didn't know at the time and bought it happily. Later, when you found out, you wanted to return the calligraphy or buy it back at the original price—"
"But he doesn't want your money or your calligraphy. He just wants you to do one thing for him, a small thing, something so small that you can do it with just your mouth."
"Are you going to do it for him or not?"
Meng Yao was stunned at first, then thought for a moment and asked hesitantly, "How small is it?"
"For example, let his children go to Sifang School to study."
Lei Li said with a smile, "Isn't this a small matter for a dignified county magistrate?"
Anyone with money could attend Sifang School. Even merchants from other places could pay to send their children to study there, and the tuition was just a drop in the bucket for them.
This kind of thing can be done by others by spending money, but the county magistrate can do it with just a word, and it is even reasonable, compliant and not illegal. Of course, it is a small matter.
"But what does he want?"
Meng Yao didn't understand.
As a scholar devoted to the books of sages, he certainly couldn't understand the twists and turns of merchants. What they wanted was the "simplicity", the "ease" of being a county magistrate, and the "guilt" of Meng Yao.
"So, you've fallen into a trap and owe them a favor. Next time they ask you out for dinner, not to discuss business, but just to eat, will you go?"
Lei Li said firmly, "You will go. And if you go once, you will go again. If you accept his calligraphy, you will eat his meal. If you eat his meal, you will be involved in this relationship—"
"Regardless of whether you are willing or unwilling to have any relationship with someone, they can use your name and flag you to get things done."
"Because from an outsider's perspective, the man gave a gift, the magistrate arranged for his child to go to school, and the two of them ate together, so it's a give-and-take relationship."
“!”
Meng Yao's eyes widened in shock. After a moment, he bowed respectfully to Meng Luo and said, "One word from you is worth ten years of reading. I appreciate your advice."
Therefore, Meng Yao learned to adapt to local customs and also learned to leave a way out in everything he did.
Leave room for maneuver for yourself and others, neither completely rejecting nor accepting everything. Before sentencing or punishing someone, give them a chance to reform. If they make the same mistake again and again and refuse to repent, then convict them again.
But giving people a chance doesn’t mean sitting back and waiting for death.
While implementing the new laws, Meng Yao also asked his officials to conduct secret investigations, keeping a close eye on brothels, brothels, and other places. When promoting the new laws in villages and towns, he also had to inquire and observe from various sources.
Once anyone is found buying or selling children, they will be arrested immediately and rewarded according to their merits when brought back to the county government.
Anyone who colludes with human traffickers to secretly transfer the goods will be severely punished, and can be reported. If the report is found to be true, there will be rewards.
This fully mobilized the enthusiasm of the officials and stimulated their mobility and autonomy.
This was also proposed by Lei Li and Zhou Yi.
They expected that someone would commit the crime in defiance of the law and would get rid of the "goods" as soon as possible, but they did not expect there to be so many, nor did they expect the implications to be so serious.
There are dozens of towns and hundreds of villages in Qingmi County, and there are different people buying and selling people. Together with the children who are unregistered, there are as many as two to three hundred people in total, and there is even the embryonic form of an industrial chain.
And indeed, there were people in the county government who were involved.
The chief registrar had dealings with several of the biggest human traffickers and accepted bribes, and the several minor officials under him were all accomplices.
During the Daiyou Dynasty, no population tax was levied on children before they were five years old, and taxes were only levied annually after they were five years old.
The household register took advantage of the loophole and first registered the children. Then, before collecting the population tax, they crossed out their names from the household register to create the illusion that they had died young. Naturally, those children became unregistered.
Afterwards, the children were bought by the slave trade, and the household register forged false certificates to show that these children were legal slaves, thus escaping taxes and having stamped certificates.
When Meng Yao found out about this, he flew into a rage and had the householder beaten with a stick thirty times, and then thrown him into jail.
All the people involved in the incident in the county government and the pawnshop were imprisoned and sentenced to heavy penalties. Some had their homes confiscated, and some were sentenced to death. They were not even kept awake until autumn, but were executed three days later.
The county was in uproar.
Lei Li, who was checking the account books at a Sichuan restaurant at the time, learned about this and immediately rushed to the county government office to meet Meng Yao. He said straight to the point,
"You're not doing this right..."
"What's wrong?"
Meng Yao was already furious. Upon hearing this, he slammed the table and stood up, berating them. "Those are human traffickers! They raise living children until they are skinny, then sell them for money, subjecting them to beatings and abuse. Are they still human beings?!"
"Is this something a human being could do?! These people are unfit to be parents! They deserve to be skinned alive and chopped into pieces!"
Meng Yao was a scholar.
He is a scholar with a good temper and a bit soft.
The fact that he could use words like "pulling tendons and skinning" showed that he was really pissed off by the human traffickers.
"They are unworthy."
Lei Li looked at him calmly, "But calm down first and take a few deep breaths... Can you listen to me now?"
"you say."
After taking a few deep breaths, Meng Yao calmed down a lot, but was still filled with righteous indignation.
"I'm not saying your punishment is wrong, but your method is inappropriate."
Lei Li's eyes were calm, sharp, and even a little harsh. "You must publicize these people's crimes, let the people know how cruel and insane they are, and let the people know how angry you, the county magistrate, are."
"You have to let them know that you are working for the people and for justice, so that you can establish your authority within the county..."
"I don't need it!"
Meng Yao was resolute, his eyes blazing, "I don't need to establish my authority. Even if the traffickers die a hundred or a thousand times, it wouldn't be enough. Their crimes are unforgivable and unspeakable!"
"you need to."
Lei Li stared at him and spoke word by word, "You must make the entire county understand what it means to have compassion for the law and to have absolute authority."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
