Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1689 Noble Character!

Faced with Ye Mingsheng's question, both County Magistrate Wang Chong and Huang Fugui, the owner of Fugui Match Factory, hesitated. However, under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Huang Fugui could only grit his teeth and continue speaking:

"Your Majesty, I rented the venue in Yijing back then, and I rented it for five years straight. Now, land prices are getting more and more expensive, and the rent for the premises is also going up, so the costs are getting higher and higher!"

"This match factory isn't a high-profit business; the profits are carefully calculated. So, in Yijing, the costs are too high, so we can't make much money!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly upon hearing this and said:
"That is indeed a problem. What are the labor costs like in Zhuoxian? How many hours a day do your workers work, how many days a month do they work, and how much silver do they earn in a year?"

Faced with Ye Mingsheng's three questions in a row, Huang Fugui panicked and subconsciously looked at Magistrate Wang Chong beside him.

Seeing Huang Fugui's reaction, Ye Mingsheng also looked at Wang Chong, the magistrate of Zhuo County.

Feeling the emperor's gaze, Magistrate Wang Chong was under immense pressure, but outwardly he still spoke righteously:
"His Majesty is asking you, Master Huang. You must report to His Majesty everything truthfully!"

Hearing Wang Chong say this, Huang Fugui's throat bobbed twice, but he had no choice but to speak:
"Your Majesty, the factory starts work at 3:45 AM every day, working four to five hours a day, with two days off each month. The workers' annual wages are about three taels of silver!"

Seeing Huang Fugui's somewhat guilty look, Ye Mingsheng didn't say much and continued to ask:
Do you provide room and board here?

Huang Fugui answered the question without any hesitation:

"My room and board are all included!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly upon hearing this, then looked at Wang Chong and asked:
"Did your county government offer any preferential treatment when you brought in this match factory?"

Because the preferential treatment promised during the investment promotion process was permitted by the imperial court, Wang Chong answered without hesitation upon hearing this:

"Your Majesty, we originally intended to grant Fugui Match Factory a one-year tax exemption and a three-year tax reduction, in accordance with the regulations of the Provincial Administration Commission. However, the owners of these imported factories, including Mr. Huang, have all expressed their high moral character and said that they do not need the tax exemption and tax reduction policies. They are willing to share the burden with the court!"

Hearing Wang Chong say this, Huang Fugui quickly chimed in:

“Magistrate Wang has already given us tremendous help during the factory’s construction process, and the county is facing such difficulties. How could we possibly ask for tax exemption? We gave it up voluntarily!”

Watching Wang Chong and Huang Fugui sing in unison in front of him, Ye Mingsheng became increasingly suspicious, but on the surface he didn't say anything. He then continued to visit the match factory and met some so-called match factory workers.

After the visit to the Fugui Match Factory, Wang Chong, the county magistrate, wanted to tell Ye Mingsheng more, but Ye Mingsheng had lost interest in continuing the tour.

At noon, while eating at the inn, Ye Mingsheng asked Jingren, who had been accompanying him on the tour, "..."

"Jingren, what are your thoughts on today's inspection?"

At this moment, Jingren was eating a steamed bun. Upon hearing this, he looked up at Ye Mingsheng, chewed a couple of times, swallowed the bun, and said:
"This Magistrate Wang seems quite capable, managing to bring so many factories here. These owners are also very kind, refusing tax exemptions. They truly understand the difficulties faced by the imperial court!"

Hearing his son's answer, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing the smile on his father's face, Jingren seemed to realize that he had said the wrong thing and awkwardly scratched his head.

Seeing Jingren sitting there with half a bun in his hand, looking somewhat lost, Ye Mingsheng pointed to the bun, indicating that Jingren should finish it.

After Jingren finished eating the steamed buns, Ye Mingsheng slowly spoke:

"Jingren, why do you think these factory owners left Yijing?"

Jingren answered without hesitation:
"That Mr. Huang said that land prices in Yijing are high, and rents are rising accordingly. The cost of building a factory in Yijing is too high, and he can't make much money there, so he moved the factory to Zhuoxian!"

"Jingren, what you said is very good. So, in order to reduce costs and pursue higher profits, Huang Fugui went through a lot of trouble to move the factory from Yijing to Zhuoxian. Then, he suddenly became a paragon of virtue and refused the tax exemption. Do you think that's reasonable?"

Hearing his father's analysis, Jingren realized the crux of the matter, paused for a moment, and then asked in return:

"Dad, if he wasn't a man of noble character, then why would he do such a thing?"

"That's precisely what makes this interesting..."

"Jingren, you need to think this through carefully. We'll be staying in Zhuoxian for a few more days, so you have plenty of time to think it over. When the truth comes out, we'll see if you guessed right!"

"Father, do you still not know why Master Huang and his men did this?"

Faced with his son's question, Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"I have some leads, but we always value evidence. As the saying goes, to catch a thief red-handed, you need to catch them in the act; to catch an adulterer in the act, you need to catch them in the act. You can't just make things up without evidence!"
Jing Ren nodded thoughtfully. Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng took a steamed bun and ate it while continuing, "..."
"Jingren, keep eating! These buns are pretty good today!"

"Ok!"

After finishing his steamed buns, Ye Mingsheng returned to his room to rest, his mind replaying what he had seen and heard during the day's visit.

The reason Ye Mingsheng didn't continue visiting other factories in Zhuoxian County wasn't because he was truly tired, or because he lacked interest in them. In fact, Ye Mingsheng was extremely interested in these factories. Since his last southern tour, he had practically never left Yijing. His few incognito visits had only taken him to the outskirts of Yijing; a visit to Zhuoxian County like this was unprecedented for him!

Ye Mingsheng was well aware that Yijing was the political center of Daqian and the economic center of the north, so Yijing's situation was very good in the context of the entire Daqian.

But the Great Qian Dynasty has more than just Yijing; there are other places as well. As an emperor, it is not enough to only understand Yijing. Yijing is not representative of the Great Qian Dynasty. If you want to understand how the people of the Great Qian Dynasty live and how the various places are developing, you should look at other towns and cities, which are more representative!
Therefore, Ye Mingsheng hoped to learn, through this inspection, things he couldn't see in the Imperial Study or in Yijing...
Therefore, under such circumstances, Ye Mingsheng visited the Fugui Match Factory today with great enthusiasm!
Ye Mingsheng had hoped that this inspection would allow him to understand the actual situation of these factories, as well as the actual income and living conditions of the workers.

But to Ye Mingsheng's surprise, Wang Chong and Huang Fugui were putting on an act for him, singing in unison and talking about their noble character. They really thought he was a fool!

The story of Wang Chong and Huang Fugui can only fool Jing Ren, a simple-minded second-generation rich kid who lives in a wealthy family!

He, Ye, was an emperor who had risen from the bottom to become emperor; how could he not see through this trickery!

Although there is no evidence yet, Ye Mingsheng can guess most of it!
Ye Mingsheng didn't know much about this county magistrate, Wang Chong. He just felt that Zhang Zhiwen, the governor of Youyan, had mentioned Zhuo County many times in his memorials to him, saying that Zhuo County had taken over many factories that had been relocated from Yijing and had developed well during this period!
Therefore, in Ye Mingsheng's view, this Wang Chong must be Zhang Zhiwen's man!

This also explains why so many factories moved from Yijing to Zhuoxian. They weren't after Wang Chong. Wang Chong was just a county magistrate. He might be powerful in Zhuoxian, but he didn't have that much influence in Youyan!
Only Zhang Zhiwen, the Provincial Governor of Youyan, could arrange so many things...
Then to talk about lofty moral character is even more nonsense!

Ye Mingsheng had dealt with these merchants far too many times. If you were to say that one or two people were thinking of the imperial court, considering the court's tight finances, and therefore had a strong sense of national responsibility and high moral character, and did not want tax exemptions or reductions, Ye Mingsheng would believe it!

However, based on Ye Mingsheng's own experience over the years, businessmen with such ideals are definitely a minority, or even an extremely small minority!

These merchants traveled long distances, bowing and scraping to G, risking their lives to do business—what for? Were they just here to play around?

Isn't that all for profit?

As the old saying goes, people will do anything for a life-threatening job, but nobody will do anything that loses money!

Therefore, in Ye Mingsheng's view, it is no wonder that so many people are abandoning the tax exemption and reduction policies and instead coming from Beijing to set up factories in Zhuoxian!
There are only two possibilities!

The first group of people were coerced by Zhang Zhiwen and forced to give up the tax exemption and reduction policies.
The second type is Zhang Zhiwen. Wang Chong offered them other benefits, making them willing to give up tax exemptions and tax reductions.
Ye Mingsheng doesn't know which situation it is at the moment, but he has already asked Zhang Hu to investigate.

Ye Mingsheng felt that it wouldn't be long before Zhang Hu would be able to find out the truth!
As for why the government should abandon tax exemptions and tax reductions!

This problem is even simpler!

Against the backdrop of a tight budget in the Great Qian Dynasty, in order to alleviate financial pressure, one of the most crucial aspects of performance evaluation for officials was how much tax they could legally collect.

This means that whoever legally collects more taxes has a greater chance of advancement and can achieve even greater success!
Therefore, G members who still have ambitions naturally want to collect more taxes so that they can stand out among the many G members...
···········
···········
Xiaocaozhuang, Lin'an, Jiangnan

In the southwest corner of the village, there is a large mansion covering nearly a hundred acres. The owner of the mansion is named Cao Heng. He was originally a rogue from the surrounding villages. A few years ago, he got into a fight in the village and stabbed someone to death. He then fled to avoid punishment. However, just a year ago, he returned to his hometown in a grand manner and spent a huge sum of two hundred taels of silver to buy this mansion.

The villagers of Xiaocaozhuang were very curious about where Cao Heng had earned his money, but Cao Heng only vaguely told them that he was now working for the government and that anyone who went against him was going against the government!

As the saying goes, "the people cannot fight against the government." Although the family members of the victim who was stabbed to death by Cao Heng wished they could skin Cao Heng alive, eat his flesh, and drink his blood, they could only back down and swallow their anger in the face of the government. This only made Cao Heng more smug and complacent.

Although Cao Heng was very high-profile and had a nouveau riche-style flaunting, since he bought this mansion, the doors of the house have been locked most of the time, and there are patrols around the clock. There are also six or seven large wolfhounds in the yard, making it seem like strangers should not enter.

Although they dared not speak out against Cao Heng's actions, the people of Xiao Caozhuang were very curious about what was in the mansion that made Cao Heng so wary. Some speculated that there was gold and silver jewelry inside, or that Cao Heng was keeping a mistress for some noble official.

But on this very day, September 17th, in a somewhat gloomy, rainy night, over a hundred burly men in plainclothes quietly sneaked into Xiao Cao Village. After a thorough search, they focused their attention on the large mansion where Cao Heng resided…

Without much effort, they defeated the guards, stormed the mansion, and captured Cao Heng alive. Cao Heng initially tried to act tough, but faced with the methods of these plainclothes officers, he quickly became honest and confessed everything about the mansion's cellar.

Two days later, in Lin'an, Jiangnan

At the governor's office, Liu Yufeng, the provincial judicial commissioner of Jiangnan, reported to Murong Yuliang with a delighted expression:
"Sir, we have found the 500,000 taels of silver that the Sun family father and son had transferred!"

Upon hearing this, Murong Yuliang was initially taken aback. Then, somewhat shocked, he asked again:

"What did you say! Say it again?"

"My lord, I have reported that we have found the 500,000 taels of silver that the Sun family father and son had transferred!"

If Murong Yuliang was somewhat incredulous at first, then upon hearing Liu Yufeng say this a second time, a look of surprise immediately appeared on Murong Yuliang's face.

The Sun family case has been weighing heavily on his mind lately, making it hard for him to breathe!

He knew very well that the truth would eventually come out, and even if Yi Jing's side was slow to react, they would eventually discover the truth.

If I don't have a good solution by then, given the seriousness and severity of this case, even if I am Ye Mingsheng's father-in-law, a veteran of the Fengwu Army, and the top regional official of the Great Qian Dynasty, it is not impossible for Ye Mingsheng to kill me in a fit of rage!
For the sake of his own life and the political future of his family, Murong Yuliang considered this case his most important matter, and now, finally, there's good news...

(End of this chapter)