Since Cheng Jingzhou was planning to operate on the Du family, how could he allow their family to be exposed so easily?
You need to know the land in Feng County. In addition to the Lord Jiahua County, there are also many farms among the royal family in the capital. Although there are not as many fields as the Lord Jiahua County, they are all good farmland, and some of them have decades of experience in Feng County. , the foundation is very deep.
Therefore, Cheng Jingzhou chose the Du family as the leading bird to fight. If he could shock the head of Jiahua County and get him to cooperate, then his goal would have been achieved.
Of course, if the head of Jiahua County does not cooperate, Cheng Jingzhou will naturally have other ways to deal with it.
In short, since Cheng Jingzhou dared to attack the Du family, he must have a perfect plan.
Half a month later, all the Du family's fields had been measured, and the total unreported land was 382 acres. Just in time, if these fields were added, it would exceed the Du family's tax-free share.
In other words, they deliberately concealed the report in order not to pay taxes.
Mr. Du was born as a Jinshi. Even if he was removed from office, he would still enjoy the treatment of a Jinshi, and he would have a lot of tax exemptions in his name.
After Cheng Jingzhou carefully checked Mr. Du's resume, he sent someone to invite Mr. Du to the county government to speak.
Mr. Du has a great reputation and does not have to kneel when he meets an official, but he still has to bow.
"Dumou meets Mr. Cheng."
Cheng Jingzhou had a smile on his lips: "Mr. Du, please sit down. I'm inviting you here today. I want to inform you about something. If Mr. Du is willing to cooperate, then we will be fine. If you are not willing to cooperate, , then I can only act in accordance with the law."
As soon as Mr. Du heard the official tone in his words, he knew that the matter of clearing his father-in-law had come to an end.
"But please give me Master Cheng's orders. As long as Du can do it, it will be obligatory."
What he said was quite upright.
It's a pity that all they do are dirty things!
"Mr. Du, this is the amount of land you have concealed in your name. Could you please take a look at it to see if it's correct?"
Master Du took a look at the booklet handed over by Xie Xiuqi, and his expression immediately changed.
"How is this possible? My lord, although Du has never measured it himself, he knows that it will never exceed this much. It is as light as two or three hundred acres. How can this be nearly two thousand acres more?"
Cheng Jingzhou smiled: "What Mr. Du said is true. According to the law of the Great Dynasty, the land exempted by unofficial Jinshi can be up to 3,350 acres. Of course, I said the highest. Obviously, Mr. Du's identity is Those who cannot reach this number. In addition, Mr. Du is a Jinshi who was dismissed from the official position. According to the law, he does not enjoy this honor. Instead, he can only get 60% of the Jinshi's exempted land. Mr. Du understands my explanation. ?”
Master Du suddenly froze on the spot, confused!
He has always regarded himself as a Jinshi master, and even the previous county magistrates never had trouble with him.
He had completely forgotten that he was dismissed from office by the imperial court, which was completely different from his taking the initiative to not become an official.
Mr. Du was a Jinshi scholar and had been an official, so he naturally knew this law and rule, but for a while he forgot how to refute it.
In other words, even if he could think of this, he was really unable to refute it.
So, he is equivalent to concealing nearly two thousand acres of farmland?
Once he is asked to pay taxes, how much will he have to pay?
Mr. Du suddenly felt palpitations in his heart. Those were all real money!
After thinking about it like this, Mr. Du felt his heart hurt even more, and he subconsciously covered his chest.
"I would like to ask Mr. Cheng to be more noble. This is indeed Du's confusion, but it was not intentional. I hope Mr. Cheng can be accommodating."
I have to say that Mr. Du's reaction was quite quick. After all, his pigtails were grabbed by others and he had to bow his head.
"This officer has found out the transfer time of your land deeds and the exact number of acres. Mr. Du should also know that if no one reports it, then you are just concealing the tax return. As long as you pay the tax amount and fines, I can forget the blame. But if someone comes to the government, I can't just sit back and ignore it. What do you think, Mr. Du?"
Master Du gritted his teeth, this is a threat! A naked threat!
But he had no power to resist and could only let the other party manipulate him.
"What Mr. Cheng said is absolutely true, but have you ever calculated the amount of taxes and fines to be paid by the county magistrate?"
Cheng Jingzhou looked over, and Xie Xiuqi brought another booklet over.
This time, when he saw the number on it, Mr. Du almost passed it.
"This, this is too much! Our Du family really can't afford so much money, so I ask Master Cheng to forgive me for once."
Cheng Jingzhou raised his eyebrows and asked: "So Mr. Du means that he is unwilling? Then I have to deal with business matters. Mr. Du must be familiar with the law. Knowing that such a high tax amount, I have the right to directly take it." Human.”
The implication is, if you don’t pay, then you’re going to be jailed!
Mr. Du's face turned pale.
As a Jinshi master, he has the best face in his life.
If he is imprisoned, his dignity as a scholar will be completely trampled under his feet. How can he endure it?
For Mr. Du, face is more important than anything else.
"Don't worry, Mr. Cheng, Du will step up preparations when he gets back." After saying this, he seemed to feel that his words had no weight, so he stretched out three fingers and said: "Three days! Please allow me three days, and Du will definitely pay all the taxes and money. Pay the fine."
"Can."
Mr. Du breathed a sigh of relief and said again: "Master Cheng, if we really can't raise the tax money, can we use food to offset it?"
"Yes, but if it's old grain, the amount of money will have to be halved according to the market price. After all, it's not easy to store this old grain."
"What Mr. Cheng said is that Du has taken note of everything and will definitely try his best to collect enough money. If it really fails, he will have to pay for it with old grain."
Cheng Jingzhou nodded, and after finishing the conversation, he asked Xie Xiuqi to send him out.
Cheng Jingzhou thought about the current warehouse and couldn't help but sneered: "If it weren't for you bastards, the county treasury in Feng County wouldn't be like this!"
When Xie Xiuqi came back, he said with a face of surprise: "You still have a way, sir. This Master Du has always used his status to run rampant in Feng County. It's rare that someone restrained him today. It's really a relief!"
"It was him who acted improperly, otherwise he wouldn't have let us take the blame. However, he said that within three days, he probably wanted to go to the capital to find the county master to make the decision for them."
Xie Xiuqi was stunned: "Isn't it just to collect money?"
Cheng Jingzhou said disdainfully: "Uncle, you think the Du family can't come up with this little money? It's only ten thousand taels of silver, even if it's full of calculations. With the way the Du family has bullied the people and dominated the market over the years, how can they care about a mere ten thousand taels of silver?"
Xie Xiuqi was stunned. Is he the only one who dares to be ignorant? (End of chapter)
