Chapter 267: The Autumn Levy (Part 32)

“Doesn’t Delong already handle the collections?” Yan Ming was very sensitive to this issue of administrative authority.

“Delong is an agent for the county treasury, not the collecting body itself. Taxes are paid to the bank, but that doesn’t mean the bank is collecting the taxes.”

“You mean to set up a tax bureau, right?”

“Exactly. This agency will have to be established sooner or later. We’ll start with this year’s grain collection.” Wu De explained his idea. The reason it was called the “Grain Collection Bureau” was to maintain the facade of a Ming official agency for the time being.

“This Grain Collection Bureau will nominally be a temporary agency of the yamen. We’ll ask Wu Ya—the county’s deputy magistrate—to serve as the director. Of course, he’s just a figurehead. This way, many things can be done in the name of the Lin’gao County yamen. When necessary, we can even mobilize official forces…”

“What official forces? Aren’t they just our own men?”

“Hehe, you’re right.” Wu De smiled. “The main task of the Grain Collection Bureau is to assist Delong in collecting the autumn grain, while our leadership group’s main work will be to survey the fields.”

From this autumn to next spring, they would conduct a comprehensive investigation of Lin’gao’s land and grain production, preparing for the new tax system. The new system would be formally implemented starting next summer.

First, land ownership would be clarified, new land deeds would be issued, and taxable land would be verified. Because the household scribes had long been engaging in fraud, privately altering the fish-scale registers, the registers no longer matched the actual land ownership.

Second, they would clean up hidden land, “deceptive entrustment,” and other methods of tax evasion.

Finally, they would conduct a basic survey of the land’s fertility, cultivation, and harvest conditions to serve as a basis for setting tax rates.

“…This will require the help of the Agriculture Committee. I’ve discussed it with Wu Nanhai, and he will assign us a group of agricultural technicians as consultants to investigate the land conditions. Once we have a clear picture, we can then design the new tax rates and collection methods.”

“In that case, the Household Office will be effectively abolished.”

“Of course. In the future, they’ll only need to handle routine paperwork. However, we might still need the help of the retained personnel for some matters.”

“Clearing up the land ownership will likely face great resistance. The gentry and landowning households will react strongly.”

“Their passion should have been mostly exhausted by this incident. Even if they want to cause trouble, we now know how to deal with them.”

The biggest benefit of this incident was that they now had a rough idea of how the gentry and large households would act, what they were capable of, and who would react most strongly. Although Chen Minggang’s “land measurement” was ill-intentioned, it gave Wu De and the others an opportunity to observe the reactions of the gentry and large households.

The Grain Collection Bureau then plunged into the intensive work of clearing up the account books. Some of the “better-behaved” personnel from the study class and the retained staff of the Household Office were selected to participate in the organization. All the account books were re-registered in a modern format according to Sun Xiao’s instructions.

The re-registration of the fish-scale registers was quite a task. Although Yu E’shui had boasted about it before, when the real thing arrived, it threw him into a flurry of activity. He mobilized personnel with expertise in classical Chinese and recruited some scholars from the workforce to help. Fortunately, they had Zhou Qi, who had been Chen Minggang’s apprentice for nearly twenty years, to help them decipher the ghost-like data and land maps.

Based on this master register and cross-referencing it with the collection records, the amount collected from each household was verified, and new “grain receipts” were issued based on the principle of “refunding the overpayment and collecting the shortfall.”

“The silver extorted from the landowning households by Chen Minggang’s gang during the land measurement must also be thoroughly investigated,” Wu De said, looking at the newly registered ledger of “land measurement” bribes. “How much did Chen Minggang get himself, and how much did each of his men get? It must all be thoroughly investigated!”

“Is it necessary to investigate this? After all, all their property now belongs to us…”

“No, all these bribes, after being investigated, will be refunded.”

“Ah, is that necessary?” Sun Xiao was very surprised. “This was a bribe to Chen Minggang’s gang. One was willing to give, the other was willing to take. Even modern law doesn’t have a provision for refunding bribes.”

“No,” Wu De shook his head. “Pay attention, these bribes were given for the matter of land measurement. We must draw a clear line with this matter.”

Wu De intended to use the refund of the bribes to inform the landowning households that the land measurement would continue, and they shouldn’t think they could avoid it with bribes.

“Aiya, isn’t this a bit superfluous?” Sun Xiao was pained by the thought of the loss.

“Spitting out a little is insignificant,” Wu De said. “What’s crucial is to establish the rules for these landowning households.”

The changes in the yamen eventually spread to the ears of the common people and the gentry. The sudden change, the city-wide curfew, and the fear brought by the mass arrests made the people in the city and the surrounding countryside very nervous for a while. But later, seeing that everything was as usual, and there was no sign of a change of flags at the city gate, they calmed down. Apart from many faces becoming unfamiliar, the yamen was business as usual. It was the busy farming season, so the yamen was not accepting lawsuits as usual, and the magistrate was not holding court. But Magistrate Wu still took his sedan chair to the countryside several times, supposedly to “inspect the anti-typhoon and flood prevention work.”

Huang Binkun, who had been the most active in the previous stage, was completely lost in a sense of powerless confusion. Logically, he should be happy. His running around and lobbying had finally thwarted the Australians’ attempt to use the clerks to collect grain in the county. Not only was the grain collection temporarily suspended, but Chen Minggang and his gang of grain collectors had also been wiped out, which was a great relief to the gentry and landowning households.

But he still couldn’t be sure whether his activities had been effective, or if the Kun bandits had planned to do this all along.

If it was to control the yamen—they didn’t touch the county’s officials, but they cleaned out the clerks who handled the actual affairs! The clerks were certainly hateful, but without them, no one could manage the county’s affairs. Did the Kun bandits not know this?

To find out what the Kun bandits were up to, he wanted to ask his acquaintances in the yamen for information. The Huang family used to have very good connections in the yamen, and many were willing to take their money. But now, this place where you could find out anything if you were willing to spend money had become heavily guarded, and not a single detail leaked out. The few remaining familiar faces remained silent when Huang Binkun came to inquire, and they resolutely refused to take his silver—it was as if the sun had risen from the west.

He had no choice but to frequently go to the “eight-character wall” in front of the yamen to see if there were any notices.

On the wall, which was tattered from the rain, were several brand-new notices, with a crowd of people gathered in front of them. Huang Binkun’s spirits immediately rose, and he hurried over to take a look.

He was wearing a scholar’s robe, and someone behind him called out:

“Scholar! Help us read it.”

Huang Binkun read as he looked. The first was a notice about the establishment of the Grain Collection Bureau. It bitterly denounced the various abuses of using grain collectors in the past and announced that from now on, the corrupt practice of the Household Office privately employing grain collectors would be abolished and replaced by a specialized agency—the Grain Collection Bureau.

“The Grain Collection Bureau, is that a new yamen?”

“Don’t interrupt, let him read.”

Huang Binkun didn’t have time to ponder the implications. Urged by the crowd, he began to read the second notice.

This one was strange: it was about the county treasury agency. From now on, all transactions of the county treasury would be handled by the Delong Grain Company.

Huang Binkun’s knowledge was limited, and for a moment he was stunned—could the county treasury be handled by an agent?

The common people also didn’t understand what this county treasury agency meant. They knew of the Delong Grain Company; it was a large grain company in the East Gate Market, with many fully loaded ox-carts coming and going every day, looking very grand and prosperous. The most useful circulation coupons for shopping in the East Gate Market were issued by this shop.

While everyone was discussing it, Huang Binkun slipped away in the confusion. Although he didn’t understand how the county treasury would be “agented,” he understood the notice’s statement that all the yamen’s money and grain transactions would be handled by Delong.

Connecting this with the matter of the Grain Collection Bureau, he immediately understood. The Kun bandits were seizing the county’s financial power! In this way, the yamen’s Household Office would be completely stripped of its actual power, and the matter of grain collection would become the business of the Australian-controlled Grain Collection Bureau. This so-called Grain Collection Bureau was the creation of the Australians.

They are really pushing forward step by step, Huang Binkun thought. Now the Kun bandits are no longer content to interfere in county affairs from outside the city, but are openly and directly intervening.

He wandered to the side of the yamen. This used to be the area where the county’s clerks lived. Most of the clerks who worked in the yamen lived here. He wanted to see if he could find their families, perhaps he could get a snippet of information from the women and children.

The entrance to the alley was empty and deserted, with the wooden gate closed. There was even a militiaman from the Zhuang Ban standing guard with a wooden stick. What kind of new rule was this? Huang Binkun found it strange. Just as he was about to ask, the militiaman shouted, “What are you doing?”

The accent was definitely not local, which surprised Huang Binkun. As far as he knew, the county’s militiamen were all locals—because it exempted them from labor service and taxes, outsiders could never get this benefit.

Looking at his posture holding the stick, and the short-cropped hair showing under his hat, Huang Binkun immediately recognized him. This was a “fake Kun”! Most likely one of their “militia” villagers.

Huang Binkun said he was looking for someone, but after a long time, he was still not allowed to pass. The other party didn’t even give him, a dignified scholar, any face. Apart from repeatedly saying “No passage,” he said nothing else.

Huang Binkun took a string of copper coins from his sleeve and tried to stuff it into his hand. “Little brother, do me a favor!”

“I don’t want your money,” the militiaman pushed his hand back with great force. If Huang Binkun didn’t have some martial arts skills, he probably would have fallen on his backside.

“You don’t know what’s good for you!” he cursed under his breath, sullenly putting away the money and leaving in embarrassment.