"How can it be the same?" Zheng Shiyuan sighed: "Those of us failed to report the information and neglected our duties. Mr. Han spoke up and remonstrated."
"Even if there is something rude, this is Master Han's duty."
They didn't do their job, so they deserve to be punished.
Mr. Han has done his job to the extreme, so of course he deserves the award.
Gu Chen: "..."
Is that so?
This is the truth, but I have given away so many good things.
Shouldn't we just be more generous?
its not right.
Since Lao Zhu likes Lao Han's tone, then when he becomes the censor.
Why don't you spit on his face?
Tsk, what a loss!
If he could do it all over again, he would have to drool all over his face.
Historically, Li Shanchang also helped Lao Zhu a lot, and his contribution was greater than that of Liu Bowen, but he was sentenced to death in old age because of a person who knew better and did not repay the consequences.
Tsk, it turns out there is no sand in the eyes.
In the eleventh year of Hongwu, August 18th.
All the wheat in Zhuanglang County has been harvested. At this time, there are three villages in Zhuanglang County, all with more than 800 acres of terraced fields.
With some anticipation, Gu Chen took the people from the county government to Ganquan Village to collect taxes in person.
Zheng Shili took an abacus and account book and quietly estimated for several people on the road how much tax and grain they would receive this year.
"It stands to reason that for one acre of cultivated land, wheat can produce about two stones."
"It's a pity that the land here is not very good. There is only one and a half stone of wheat per acre."
"According to the regulations of the imperial court, our county should pay a tax of one dou per acre of land, which is equivalent to eighteen kilograms of grain."
In places like Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there are almost eight buckets per acre, which is really almost nothing in comparison.
"Ganquan Village is flat land with terraced fields. Each family has about 21 acres of land."
"So, almost every household has to pay more than 370 kilograms of grain tax."
"Because the land is barren, the imperial court has already exempted our county from household taxes and various other taxes."
"Take Ganquan Village as an example. There are a total of forty-eight households in the village."
"We can probably collect about 20,000 kilograms of tax grain. This is the most among the eleven villages in our county."
The village with the most tax revenue is only one hundred shi of grain.
Based on this calculation, more than a dozen villages combined would not have a tax revenue of one thousand dan.
Just say, is it miserable or not?
In fact, to put it bluntly, we still suffer from a small population.
If the population increases, there will be more land reclamation. Each village has more than a hundred households, and each household has more than 20 acres of land. Then taxes and grain will also come up.
Of course, if the population is large enough, this place won’t become a lower county, right?
Thinking of this, Gu Chen suddenly looked at Wen Zhihui.
"I looked at the tax book of Hongwu for eight years. In that year, the entire Zhuanglang County only paid fifty dan in taxes and grains, right??"
Although everyone has an average of fifteen acres of land, the food in it does not grow well, and it is not enough to feed themselves.
After working hard for a year, we only get a little grain.
You can't force people to pay taxes and starve them to death, right?
Therefore, in the past, there were only a few households in Zhuanglang County who could pay this tax in full.
It all depends on the situation of your own family, and you can pay as much as you can.
More than 7,000 kilograms of grain were not enough to be lost on the road to Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Of course, what they grow is rice, and the yield per mu can be as high as 400 to 500 kilograms.
Zhuanglang is only suitable for growing wheat, not rice at all.
How does this compare?
Can it be compared?
"Yes, Lord Magistrate." Wen Zhihui's face was full of shame: "Ashamed. Fortunately, Lord Magistrate is here, so this year's tax revenue is a little better."
No matter how beautiful it is, it's not that good-looking. This year's tax and grain total is only over 800 shi.
But compared with previous years, it has been much better.
You can't be too greedy as a person. If you can slowly get better, that's good.
The villagers in Ganquan Village are very happy today. The bumper harvest this year proves that they have lived up to their hard work in the past two years.
At the very least, I won’t be hungry this year.
Everyone lined up to take out their own grain and poured it into the grain hopper of the Yamen.
This is the first time that they are no longer restrained when it comes to paying taxes.
As for those villages where terraced fields have not yet begun, they can only feel envious.
Everyone gathered around Gu Chen and asked them when they would go to their place to start making terraces.
Gu Chen said: "Come one by one. If you have time, then work on it yourself first, or everyone can take action."
"I will do my best to help a village in order, and wait until the terraces in this village are completed."
"People will also come to your village and help you with your work, so you can make a lot of progress faster."
Since we can't grow much food in the flat fields anyway, why not just make a big effort and use all our energy to build terraced fields.
Everyone agreed on this decision and asked Gu Chen to decide who would go to the next village.
Gu Chen couldn't favor one over the other, so he had no choice but to let everyone draw lots.
Let God decide, God says, whoever fills his stomach first will fill his stomach first.
"My husband is a good official."
In the evening, Su Wanying was putting away her shoes in front of the table. She looked at her husband who was immersed in settling accounts under the lamp, and suddenly she couldn't help but smile and praise her.
"How to say?"
Hearing his wife speak, Gu Chen put down his account book and asked with interest.
Su Wanying put down her shoes and said with a smile: "When I was in the boudoir, I heard the maid next to me say that in our county, the high-ranking magistrate wanted to collect more taxes."
"Satisfy the prefect, satisfy the people above, make your own black gauze hat more secure, and not only force the people to work day and night."
"It was windy and snowy, and he kept an umbrella to monitor the situation. He didn't pay for meals. When it came time to collect taxes, he was very active."
"The bucket he holds is not the prescribed bucket, but much larger than the bucket prescribed by the court. One bucket is eighteen kilograms, and his bucket can hold twenty-six kilograms."
"Later, because of his good governance, he was recommended to Yangzhou as a general judge."
"I heard that life is going very well."
"My husband was demoted to this place, and he must have wanted to leave as soon as possible."
"But my husband did not force the people to pay more taxes, nor did he force the people to work day and night. Instead, he worked hard and rested, so I say that my husband is a good official."
My husband took Liao Hou and others and worked hard in the fields for nearly two years.
He didn't even think about taking an extra grain of rice from the people. What is this but a good official?
"Those bastards." Gu Chen thought of the common people, who were so hungry that they looked sallow and skinny, and cursed: "If you do evil, you are not afraid of giving birth to a son without the skin of a swallow."
People are so pitiful, can they really do it?
As for the taxes in Ganquan Village, he didn't want to collect them, but he was just a county magistrate and couldn't do things outside the rules. But wouldn't it be unethical to charge more?
"Ms. sir." Su Wanying raised her head and said softly: "Actually, what I want to say is."
"Our county doesn't even have a school, let alone a scholar-elect. The common people are blind and can't read a single big character."
"Not to mention setting up a school, at least the society your Majesty mentioned must be built. When you can't work in the winter, it's good to learn how to read."
Su Wanying firmly believes that everything is of inferior quality, but only education is of high quality.
But my husband always said that he should have a full meal before he can think about studying.
But she still insisted that she should know a few words when she was free.
Gu Chen didn't refuse. Anyway, he had nothing to do in the winter. He and the Zheng brothers could teach everyone how to calligraphy, so he made a sand table.
There is no way, the cost of pen, ink, paper and inkstone is too high, and no one can afford to learn it.
Gu Chen was very successful in helping the poor, but there was a huge quarrel in the court about him.
Ying Tianfu.
In the court hall, Tu Jie came out holding a wat tablet and played loudly.
"I, Tu Jie, go to Gu Chen, the magistrate of Shenzhuanglang County. Fraud is taxation. I deceive the people below and the emperor above. Please punish him severely."
Seeing him joining his apprentice, Han Yike became anxious and immediately spoke out.
"You can eat randomly, but you can't talk nonsense. How can you talk nonsense without evidence?"
Once a disciple, always a disciple. When his disciple is not in the capital, he wants to bully him and frame him. What a beautiful thought.
Do you think he is dead?
"Master Han, what you said is wrong." Tu Jie said in a strange way: "It is our duty to listen to the wind and play."
"If, as Mr. Han said, impeachment cannot be carried out without evidence, then what will Mr. Han say last year when he impeached officials like us?"
Although this is indeed true, do you have any evidence?
Han Yi said coldly: "Of course you have heard the news about the impeachment, but I would like to ask Mr. Tu to clarify, where did the news about Gu Chen's tax fraud come from?"
A county only has a total of 800 shi of tax and grain, which is not enough for His Majesty to pay a princess. With this, Gu Chen is still cheating?
It was so hilarious!
