Luling, Jiangxi.
Lin Tai, the county magistrate, was reading the Analects of Confucius in the back hall of the county government office. From time to time he recited a sentence: "When you see the virtuous, you should think about it; when you see the virtuous, you should introspect yourself." Then he lowered his head and seemed to be thinking.
Song Guogui, the chief registrar, hurried into the back hall and shouted loudly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a letter from the capital."
Lin Tai heard this and quickly stood up and walked out.
At this time, Song Guogui also came closer, handed over the letter in his hand, and said with a flattering smile: "Your Majesty, take a look."
Lin Tai took the letter, looked at it carefully, and said with a smile: "It turned out to be a letter from the military department to Brother Wang Tan who was involved in the incident. Come to think of it, there have been no letters for three months, so it must be a way to reminisce about the past."
Song Baoguo catered to him and said, "Even if we are reminiscing about the past, we will also tell you something about the new things in the capital. Your Excellency, please tell me about it to your subordinates so that they can open their eyes and gain their minds."
Song Guogui had been trapped in Luling for many years and had no information. How could he let it go if he had the opportunity to hear news from the capital.
Lin Tai knew Song Baogui's thoughts and did not hide it. He took out the letter and read it slowly. After raising his head and lowering his head several times, Lin Tai's expression changed and the hand holding the letter began to tremble slightly.
Song Baoguo was very observant. Although he didn't know what the letter was, something big must have happened.
"Your Majesty?"
After Song Guoguo waited for Lin Tai to read the letter, he shouted softly.
Lin Tai shook his body, looked bleak, and said in a deep voice: "This, this is against the ancestral system! Quick, go and call Uncle Fu!"
Song Guogui was confused.
Disobey the ancestral system?
Does this mean the emperor?
Then why are you looking for Uncle Forbes?
He is just your housekeeper, shouldn't he call the county magistrate and me?
"go!"
Lin Tai shouted again when he saw that Song Guogui didn't move.
Song Guogui had no choice but to leave the county government office, looked at the surging water of the Gan River not far away, sighed, crossed the Xixi Bridge, and went along the embankment to find Uncle Fu.
It's almost the spring equinox, and Uncle Fu should be taking care of the fertile land purchased by Lin Zhixian at this time.
Sure enough, Uncle Fu stood at the end of the field, shouting loudly, swearing and ordering dozens of tenant farmers, and waving a whip in his hand. If the fields were not muddy, he would have rushed to beat them.
When Uncle Fu saw Song Guogui coming, he knew that Lin Tai was calling him to go back, so he shouted to the old farmer in the field: "If you don't do well today, no one will even think about eating! You bunch of mud-legged people will starve to death!"
"Lord Registrar, what's wrong with you?"
Forbes asked.
Song Guogui shook his head and said, "Your Majesty seems to be in a hurry, let's go back quickly."
By the time Song Guigui and Uncle Fu returned to the county government office, Lin Tai had become very haggard and uneasy. Before Uncle Fu could ask, Lin Tai sighed and said, "Return all the newly built fields on the river bank. "
"retreat?"
Fu Bo was stunned.
Return to whom?
Why should we retreat? These fields were all taken back by ourselves, so why should we retreat?
Could it be said that someone went to inform the government?
Impossible, these people all know the basics. They are a bunch of idiots who don't even know the words. It's strange that they can go and complain.
"Your Majesty, are you kidding? Haha, are you hungry? I'll arrange for someone to prepare it right away."
Fu Bo smiled unnaturally and said.
Lin Tai looked gloomy and said sternly: "I want you to return all the fields! Return whose fields belong to whose family! Re-sign the field deed and make sure they all take it back. If you can't return it, give it to me." Go back to your hometown!”
"ah?"
Fu Bo really couldn't imagine it. What is this?
If you want to withdraw from the field, you must let those mud-legged people take it back?
"Your Majesty, we bought the land with money. This..."
Uncle Fu was ten thousand unhappy.
Lin Tai turned around and picked up the teapot, smashed it to the ground, and shouted: "I am the head of the house, you are the housekeeper! You can't understand what I said, or it doesn't work?!"
Uncle Fu trembled and quickly knelt down to beg for mercy. When Lin Tai urged him again, he ran to get the field deed and ran to the river embankment.
What's going on!
Why should so much land be returned to them for nothing?
Fu Bo couldn't figure it out.
Song Guogui, the chief clerk, seemed to feel something. Lin Tai sighed, handed the letter to Song Guogui, and said, "Because you still care about me, I will give you this letter to read."
After Song Guogui thanked him, he took the letter and read it. He was immediately shocked and said: "The imperial court wants to clear the land and trace the source? If the source is improper, not only must the land be returned, but also silver compensation must be paid?"
These days, which official of high rank doesn’t have a few acres of unclean land in his hands?
Are all the officials in the capital clean?
Not necessarily!
Although they will not buy land in the capital, they will definitely buy land in their hometown. I heard that for some second-rank officials, their family's land accounted for as much as 30% of the government's land.
How could those officials allow such a ridiculous decree to pass?
Lin Tai lamented and said: "Wang Tan will not bully me. Although the reasons are unknown, I am afraid it is related to a whipping method. The court is going to have a big overhaul. How can we survive now!"
Song Guoguo held the letter and said uneasily: "It also says that the internal affairs department and the Ministry of Personnel are preparing a new salary, and it seems that they want to include subordinate officials in it. Is this possible?"
Lin Tai frowned and said nothing.
There are more subordinate staff than bureaucrats.
If the imperial court includes subordinate officials in the salary list, there will be a huge burden, which may harm the country.
Lin Tai sighed again: "Why can't all the princes in the court see the harm? If the emperor is allowed to do this, in less than a year, the taxes of the people will increase again. By then, there will be great chaos."
Song Baoguo narrowed his eyes and did not speak, but began to think.
If we take the land owned by officials, wealthy gentry, tax them all, and impose a whip, the empire's finances will definitely improve, and even if we add subordinate staff, it should be more than enough.
Afraid of chaos?
How messy?
A whipping method was implemented in Luling. The people in the agricultural tax county department did not directly implement the fifteen-year tax, but gathered all the farmers together and asked them how much they harvested last year, how much taxes they paid, and how much they paid for various taxes.
Calculate the accounts for farmers and tell them that although in previous years it was 30 taxes per 1, the actual tax has exceeded 10 taxes per 1, or even 7 taxes per 1.
Now that the court has changed its policy, from now on there will be only one tax per fifteen, and no one will ever come to your house to ask for other taxes.
What?
Corvee work to build river embankments?
There was no more corvée, only requisition.
In the future, if the imperial court needs to build river embankments, the imperial court will pay fifty cents a day to requisition you to build river embankments. Come if you want to supplement your family's income. If you don't want to come, just stay at home and sleep. No one will arrest you as young men.
Even if you are recruited to transport grain or pull boats, you will be paid, and you will never be allowed to work in vain.
Nowadays, the whip method is very popular among farmers. People from the Agricultural Tax County Secretary go to the fields every day and often say: "If you have any difficulties, come to our Agricultural Tax County Secretary."
Those who didn’t know thought the county government had moved.
Lin Tai couldn't help it. The people from the Chief Envoy's Department were all sitting in the Agricultural and Taxation County Department, so how could they take care of it?
If according to what the letter says, the imperial court is really planning to divide the official land and the land of the wealthy gentry among farmers, then the farmers at the bottom will definitely build a shrine for Zhu Yunwen. This will only lead to peace in the world, how can there be chaos in the world?
While Lin Tai and Song Guogui were deep in thought, Liu De, the official of the Luling County Government Office, also received a letter. The letter was sent by a censor from the capital. Liu De had accompanied him on his visit to Luling. A good relationship was formed.
Liu De was illiterate, so he gave the letter to his fourteen-year-old son.
When his son read, "The subordinate officials are excellent in the assessment, and the subordinate officials and their children may be able to become officials." Liu De burst into tears, knelt on the ground, and shouted towards the north: "The eyes of the sky are open! The emperor is wise!"
Then he stood up, looked at the child's longing eyes, and said with a choked voice: "My child, you can continue to study, you can continue to study!"
