…
Once the atonement scrolls were issued, in just three days, Honglin's Ministry of Internal Affairs had an extra four million taels of silver.
This amount surprised Hong Lin, who had always liked to be extravagant and extravagant in his life.
Looking at the fine Ku Yin, Honglin felt happy but could not help but frown.
Li Shen, who was accompanying him at the side, saw Honglin's complexion change slightly, thinking that he was dissatisfied with the amount of the crime silver, and immediately whispered: "Long live Lord, these are just the self-redemption silver of hundreds of officials in the capital.
Now that the self-redemption edict has been sent to the world, it is believed that it will not be long before the treasury of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be more abundant. "
Honglin remained silent and suddenly asked: "Do these officials really voluntarily hand over the crime settlement silver in order to obtain self-redemption certificates?"
Li Shen: "Returning to Long Live Lord is of course voluntary. I don't dare to offend the civil and military officials of the dynasty."
Honglin's frown deepened: "Does this mean that no one in the civil and military dynasties is innocent?"
Li Shen was startled and immediately replied: "Long live my lord, I have investigated and found that the crimes committed by the officials are within the scope of the national law. They are just minor offenses occasionally, and they are not serious.
The slave thought that the officials just wanted to spend money to buy peace, so he asked Long Live Lord not to think too much about it. "
Honglin: "I can't believe that the officials of our Jin Dynasty are so wealthy."
Li Shen immediately replied: "Long live my lord, most of our officials in Dajin come from aristocratic families. Naturally, our families are well-off, so there is no need to worry."
Honglin relaxed his brows and nodded to Li Shen: "Well, that's true. There was no one above the fourth rank in the dynasty who didn't have a rich family. Let's take Guozhen as an example. His uncle ran two teahouses, one with a thousand yuan. Mu of farmland, these 80,000 taels of criminal silver can be explained."
Then he waved his hand and smiled brightly: "Li Shen, now we have the money to build the garden for the seventeenth princess. You have to pay more attention to the garden."
Li Shen was flattered: "My servant will definitely make the princess's wedding grand and get married in a dignified manner."
Honglin smiled and patted Li Shen on the shoulder: "With your words, I feel relieved. You can go ahead and do it boldly!"
"I thank you, Long Live the Lord!"
…
It didn't take long for the crime settlement system to spread from the capital of China to every corner of South Australia.
When local officials saw this new policy, they felt numb. Isn't this blatantly taking their own money?
However, when he learned that after getting the self-redemption scroll, all the crimes he had committed in the past would be wiped out, which would eliminate the possibility of having any trouble, his thoughts immediately became active.
Soon, officials in yamen from all over the country began to raise money to buy amulets for themselves. Not only the corrupt officials, but also the honest officials wanted to buy psychological comfort and began to discuss their own crimes and hand over the money.
All of a sudden, officials throughout Daijin were rushing to discuss the crime, and they did not hesitate to go to the local government office to state their charges and hand over the required silver.
From a few hundred taels to tens of thousands taels, officials at all levels tried their best to purchase a self-redemption certificate. Those from wealthy families were lucky enough to spend several thousand or tens of thousands taels to cancel all their previous crimes, while those from poor families were better off. Some even went to underground banks to borrow money from usury in exchange for a self-redemption coupon.
The money was transported to Shendu like flowing water, and was finally put into Honglin's Ministry of Internal Affairs.
During this period, Honglin looked better than before. After all, having more money meant that he could squander it again.
However, soon, just one month later, the shortcomings of the criminal bank system became apparent.
Those aristocratic families who inexplicably contributed money were naturally unwilling to accept it, and the officials who borrowed money to pay the crime bank also had their own evil intentions in order to repay the high principal and interest.
As a result, farmers and traders from all over the country became the targets of these officials to recover their principal and interest and stop their losses.
Early on the morning of the second day of February, a new tax notice was posted on the official notice in Huanglong Mansion.
"Due to the intensification of the drought, all people in Huanglong Mansion need to pay an additional 3% head tax from now on to support the court's disaster relief."
"Huanglong Mansion Yamen announced that starting from this month, all merchants under the rule will be levied an additional three percent commercial tax to provide disaster relief."
"..."
The boards covered with notices are full of official orders to increase taxes.
Many people were illiterate and looked sad after hearing what was said above.
Huanglong Mansion is the gateway to the Capital of Gods and is also a well-known big city in the entire Jin Kingdom.
But unfortunately, the appearance of the people in Huanglong Mansion is no different from that of beggars. They all look sallow, thin and sluggish.
Obviously this is the result of long-term oppression by the government, which has made the people unable to hold their heads up and straighten their backs.
"Oh~ let's go."
In the crowd, a middle-aged man picked up his daughter, sighed and pushed his way through the crowd towards home.
This middle-aged man's name is Chen Laosan. He came to South Australia eighteen years ago to make a living.
At that time, due to the war in the Central Plains, in order to avoid being implicated, he followed the advice of others and moved his family across the ocean to this continent known as the "Utopia" to continue living.
However, the journey was not smooth. Chen Laosan and his family of sixteen stayed in the crowded cabin for half a year. Due to the harsh environment, thirteen people died of illness. His mother and two sons also died in the sea. On the way.
After finally arriving at the border of South Australia, he did not usher in the life he wanted.
He vaguely remembered that as soon as he and the accompanying expats arrived at Guiao Hong Kong, they were surrounded by a group of wolf-like indigenous officers and soldiers. They were roughly pulled into an open square, their clothes were stripped off, and then they were raped. The salt water cooled my heart thoroughly.
Because his wife couldn't bear the insult, she got into trouble with another group of migrating women and children that night, leaving her and her sister alone to live a difficult life together.
Later, Chen Laosan's family was assigned to Huanglong Mansion and did not get the land they wanted. However, because of his skills as a carpenter, he could barely make ends meet for so many years.
Then, in the third year, he married another widow through someone's introduction. After giving birth to two sons and a daughter, his life became stable.
If that were all, then Chen Laosan's life would be pretty good. Unfortunately, the local government's excessive taxation, coupled with the extreme discriminatory policies of the indigenous class against expatriates, made his life miserable.
However, all this has long been numb to Chen Laosan. After all, no matter how bad South Australia is, at least there are not those terrible wars, right?
As for the issue of discrimination? Wasn't he being discriminated against by aristocratic families in the Central Plains? Just change the place.
If life is hard, then be hard. As the saying goes, it is better to live than to die. As long as you have food to eat, what else can you hope for?
With this old thinking, Chen Laosan returned to his home with his child in his arms——
It is a house surrounded by clay and the roof is covered with thatch. This is his home here.
