Chapter 955 - Summer Tax

Of the four tasks assigned by the Executive Committee, labor recruitment had been more or less dealt with—though at a discounted rate. Land consolidation, thanks to the Agricultural Committee and Tiandihui, could be considered a passable answer. Disaster relief and replanting—this was a strength of the transmigrator regime, with specialists in charge; it wouldn't go wrong.

But the most critical grain problem still showed no sign of resolution.

The gap in disaster relief grain and seed grain had temporarily been filled from the Planning Commission's Qiongshan granary, per their approval. But this grain account—Wu De would eventually settle it with him. If he couldn't give the State Council and Planning Commission a satisfactory answer on the grain issue, his report card for the past six months in Qiongshan wouldn't look good at all.

Being a local official really wasn't easy. Liu Xiang sighed sincerely. In the past, he had thought local officials were practically earth emperors, true "lords of a hundred li"—but that pleasant illusion had now been shattered.

"I'm also thinking of ways to handle this." Liu Xiang responded vaguely. "I just can't get the grain. Do you have any ideas?"

Chang Shide smiled subtly: "No wonder Du Wen says you've developed a petty-bourgeois tender-hearted tone since coming to Qiongshan. Of course there's grain—it just depends on your methods."

Liu Xiang knew that Red Flag had recently been using him as a target for fierce criticism. Though not many people read it, it was adding to his minor worries.

"Is that what you think too? I'm worried that since we've just established ourselves in Qiongshan and people's hearts are unsettled, we shouldn't be too aggressive..." Liu Xiang had always assumed Chang Shide was a "moderate," but hadn't expected him to sometimes take such a radical stance. He nodded: "Let me think about it some more!"

Liu Xiang returned to the county office. This was something he had no one to consult about. Chang Shide had already made his position clear—but he wasn't a local cadre after all, lacking direct stakes. As for Wan Lihui, Yang Yun, and the other Elders who had come for disaster relief—they were even less involved. He felt very alone, with practically no one to discuss major decisions with.

Using coercive measures would of course be convenient. He wouldn't even need the various compromising materials the Political Security Bureau and county office had compiled. Just detaining a few of the less cooperative major landowners and bringing them to the county, then holding a meeting the next day to apportion levies—each family would obediently hand over all their grain.

But deep down he didn't want to use such coercive methods. He always felt it would make him look like he lacked "ability"—Liu Xiang had been agonizing over this recently.

"Why don't I have the main character's 'sudden flash of inspiration' ability from transmigration novels?" He muttered behind his desk, casually flipping open the newly delivered document from the Finance Supervisory Department.

After browsing a few pages, he came across a document regarding summer tax collection—this was serious business. He immediately began reading it carefully.

The document was lengthy, detailing everything. Because the independent tax department had only just been established, the tax system was still incomplete and understaffed. It was temporarily impossible to establish vertically managed local tax bureaus. Therefore, county-level tax collection was currently handled by the Tax General Bureau setting specific policies and rates, with each county office organizing its own Grain Levy Bureau to collect taxes. Professional personnel for the Grain Levy Bureaus would be dispatched by the Finance Supervisory Department on short-term assignment to guide and oversee the work.

According to this Finance Supervisory Department notice: this year, except for Lingao which would begin piloting the new tax system, all other counties would continue collecting the summer and autumn levies according to the Ming government's per-mu collection system. In areas where land surveys had been completed, collection would strictly follow the new land registry's acreage figures. In areas where surveys were incomplete, collection would continue based on the existing fish-scale registers. The Liaodong military surcharge added to grain levies would be discontinued. Various miscellaneous taxes would be abolished or continued at each county's discretion based on local conditions.

The grain levy figures for each county would not exceed 180% of the former collection quota, with a minimum of at least 100%. However, the document explicitly stipulated that past practices of "extra levies" and "surcharges" must be eliminated, ensuring that every grain of rice and every copper collected was clearly documented and auditable. The practice of using the pretext of collecting imperial grain and national taxes while enriching a crowd of handlers would be absolutely prohibited.

As for payment methods, except for Lingao, all counties would pilot a dual system accepting both Circulation Vouchers and grain. Silver and copper cash would no longer be accepted for tax payment. They had to be exchanged for Food Circulation Vouchers at grain prices before taxes could be paid.

Liu Xiang read very carefully. Perhaps he could do something with the summer tax? He suddenly perked up: levying was an ugly word, but collecting taxes was perfectly legal and proper.

Of course, this tax couldn't be extracted from common people—it had to come from the major landowners.

"Hmph, let's see where you can slither off to now!" Liu Xiang thought of those gentry and major landowners, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "This is a system established by Emperor Zhu..."

He continued reading the document. At the end was a thick booklet: Detailed Account of Former Tax Levies for Counties of Qiongzhou Prefecture: Qiongshan County Volume, stamped with a red "Confidential" seal. This reference material had been compiled by the Finance Supervisory Department based on historical records, county archives, and confessions from the clerks and minor officials of the household division—specifically distributed for each county office's use.

Liu Xiang knew nothing about tax systems and had no intention of meddling, but he was intensely interested in how much tax could be collected. He opened the booklet and began reading. At first glance he was disappointed, because Qiongshan County's summer tax was a mere eight shi and six dou—not even a fraction of the autumn levy.

Reading further, he saw entries for "commercial tax," "fishing duty," "miscellaneous categories," "local tribute," "miscellaneous requirements," "corvée labor," and various other items. His eyes lit up—here was the real path to money!

Though the amount for each category was modest, the variety was enormous. From fish glue, feathers, medicinal herbs, silk and cotton, and muntjac hides to the paper, brushes, and ink used by the government offices, officials' salaries, clerks' wages and provisions, and finally sacrifices for the state altar and Confucian temples—nearly everything had to be levied from the populace. Some were paid in silver, some in grain, some in various goods, and some in labor service. Of the wealth collected, some was remitted to the imperial treasury, but most was retained for local use. If the grain levy was a national tax, then most of these miscellaneous taxes were local taxes. The prefectures and counties of the Great Ming basically operated on these revenues.

For Liu Xiang, the greatest benefit lay in corvée labor. The entire Qiongzhou Prefecture had an official corvée burden totaling 2,587 labor units. After Wanli adopted the Single Whip Reform, these corvée duties had basically shifted to a silver-in-lieu-of-labor model. The Qiongzhou Prefecture's corvée silver quota alone was 13,450 taels—though according to standard practice in this timeline, the document noted that actual collection of this corvée silver was probably between 25,000 and 30,000 taels.

As the prefecture's premier county, Qiongshan County held roughly 600 labor units between the prefecture and county levels. This meant that even without overcollection, Liu Xiang could obtain at least 3,000 taels of silver. Adding other miscellaneous taxes and levies, collecting 5,000 taels in summer taxes from Qiongshan County should be no problem.

Naturally, Liu Xiang would never be satisfied with just five thousand taels. He immediately ordered that Ma Benyuan, the retained personnel from the county yamen, be summoned.

Ma Benyuan had originally been the Gou family's "connection" in Qiongshan. After the Gou family's downfall, he was coerced by Lin Baiguang using compromising materials into becoming part of the Qiongshan intelligence network. After the Spring Awakening campaign, he became a "hidden cadre" controlled by the Political Security Bureau's Qiongshan surveillance network. Outwardly, he remained retained personnel from the Qiongzhou Prefecture yamen.

Ma Benyuan was clever and capable, and an extremely pragmatic man. While serving Lin Baiguang might have been under duress, after the Chengmai campaign—the moment the Ming flag came down—he served the "outlander pirates" without any psychological resistance.

He was a veteran of Qiongzhou, thoroughly familiar with local conditions. Though he had no formal appointment, he was effectively the secret advisor to the Qiongshan County Office.

After hearing Liu Xiang's idea, he pondered for a moment, then fixed him with his sharp little eyes and asked: "Chief, in trying to get this money from the gentry and major landowners, have you asked the Executive Committee what their position is? This cannot be accomplished without tremendous resolve."

Ma Benyuan paid close attention to the "Chiefs'" political system.

"No problem." Liu Xiang nodded.

"This isn't difficult, it's just that it gravely offends the gentry's dignity. Please take note, Chief."

Liu Xiang was puzzled: "Offends what dignity?"

"What you want to do, Chief, is implement 'unified gentry-commoner taxation and service'..." Ma Benyuan's voice dropped as he spoke, as if he were saying something treasonous.

Liu Xiang had seen this phrase in novels but didn't really understand it. Seeing the Chief's confusion, Ma Benyuan hurried to explain: according to the dynasty's system, those with scholarly degrees were entitled to exemptions from a certain amount of corvée labor based on their rank. This was similar to how passing the xiucai examination exempted two shi of grain—both were meant to show favor to scholars and gentry.

According to Liu Xiang's calculations, he was now planning to apportion all 600 labor units' worth of corvée silver entirely to the county's gentry and major landowners—after the disaster, it wasn't realistic to ask common people to pay corvée silver anyway.

"The silver is a small matter. The moment you announce that the gentry must pay corvée silver, won't they mourn as if their parents had died?" Ma Benyuan continued in a low voice. "If they kick up a fuss, wouldn't that conflict with the higher-ups' major policy of 'stabilizing the situation'?"

Liu Xiang suddenly understood: no wonder Ma Benyuan was being so mysterious. This was a G-spot. Press it and Qiongshan County's scholars would definitely climax. He recalled the various plot developments he'd seen in novels and TV dramas about unified gentry-commoner taxation, and nodded.

Fundamentally, he wasn't interested in these people's attitudes. Under Senate rule, there was no place for gentry and scholars. If they really kicked up a fuss, he'd just deal with them cleanly.

He didn't fully trust Ma Benyuan and didn't reveal his true stance, merely nodding: "I understand. You may go." Then he added: "Keep our conversation confidential."

"Yes, this humble... I understand." Ma Benyuan looked at Liu Xiang, seeming to want to say more but restraining himself, and carefully withdrew.

(End of Chapter)