Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 163 The truth about the Ming Dynasty
In the Ming Dynasty, each county did have its own accounts.

In addition to the land tax, the court arranged different annual, official, and miscellaneous affairs. These affairs were different depending on whether the local area was important, the number of families with achievements, and the distance over which taxes were transported.

Even who the "second master" who actually has the final say in each county is different.

Meng Xikong, who has studied hard for many years, has now come to the real officialdom.

Before coming, Wei Yunzhong asked him to write more letters.

After coming here, the barriers of mountains and rivers became more real, and many problems were imminent. How could he ask about everything?

Seeing Meng Xikong was silent for a moment, County Magistrate Lu Xinyi and Chief Clerk Wen Ping looked at each other.

In a county, there will be one to three assistant officials below the county magistrate, depending on the circumstances. The maximum number of county magistrates in a county shall not exceed four.

There are now two assistant officials in Leping County.

The county school instructor is not a good person.

The six departments of Personnel, Households, Rites, Military, Criminal Law, and Works each had a clerk, and the number of clerks was about two.

In addition, the county government's receiving and issuing office, cabinet warehouse, Confucianism school, inspection office, tax bureau, delivery office, water horse post, river and lake office, warehouse, and sluice dam all have clerks, managerial clerks, receiving and issuing offices, postal clerks, and storage clerks according to the circumstances.

Leping County had a total of twenty-five clerks, which was considered a relatively large scale: three in each of the six departments, the Chengfa, Jiageku Dianli, and the Yili, plus two liaison officers for each official from the seventh to the ninth rank.

In addition, the county government had seventeen clerks, including the general clerk who was responsible for collecting tax grain, the district clerk in each grain-collecting area, and the village clerk in each village.

These books were not on the list, and their salaries were distributed according to the county's rules and regulations, with each person receiving about seven taels of silver per year.

Besides the clerks and accountants, there were various kinds of miscellaneous duties, such as the guards at the yamen, jailers, gatekeepers at the yamen, county schools, temples, cooks at the county schools, bellmen, drummers, sedan chair bearers, umbrella bearers, shop soldiers, postmen, and household dispatchers. These were all miscellaneous duties.

Among them, the leaders of the three squads, namely the soap squad, the strong squad and the fast squad, have relatively high status. The soap squad is in charge of internal affairs, while the strong squad and the fast squad are jointly responsible for arrest and security.

At this moment, Meng Xikong was sitting in the hall, and two assistants came from their special yamen and sat on both sides. The heads of the three classes and six rooms stood in front of the hall, secretly looking at the new county master.

Meng Xikong was relatively young, and the young county magistrate remained silent when faced with the county magistrate's questions.

"Don't worry about the gold and silver orders. I have my own ideas." Meng Xikong sensed the subtle atmosphere and raised his head and smiled. "I've just arrived in Leping, so I'd better familiarize myself with the county first. County Magistrate Lu, Chief Clerk Wen, please bring the county's annals, fish scale books, yellow books and previous years' account books to me first. In addition, I must meet the local elders and gentry first. And I have to go to the county school to take a look."

"The elders and gentry of this county have already gone to the county government office to ask several times. Now that the county magistrate has taken office, we will all follow his instructions and prepare a banquet to welcome him at any time."

"Okay, let's set it for tomorrow." Meng Xikong nodded, "Today, let's take a look at the tax regulations for the land, population and land in Leping from the various books."

"Your Excellency, please feel free to ask." Lu Xinyi smiled and looked at Wen Ping, "We both know it by heart. Since we are not seeing any guests today, why don't we serve tea and chat in the backyard of the county government office? I also heard that your Excellency is newly married, and your wife will be brought over soon. You can ask us to do anything you need. And the envoys and clerks that your Excellency should be assigned to..."

"...Okay." Meng Xikong followed suit and asked the head of the clerks from the third shift and sixth room to leave first.

After all, in such a big county, there are only three people who have official rank and wear official robes.

When they got to the backyard, they sat down at the stone table and Wen Ping brewed some tea: "This is our Baimei tea produced in Raozhou and Guangxin. It has white hairs all over, shaped like the eyebrows of the star of longevity, hence the name. It was first passed down by the tea saint Lu Yu in Shangxiao Chashan Temple..."

The two assistant officials, who were old enough to be Meng Xikong's father, had smiles on their faces and chatted with Meng Xikong about the local customs, which helped him understand the local area.

Then he asked about Meng Xikong's experience and knowledge, and boasted that the county school students would be looking forward to receiving academic guidance from the county lord in the near future.

Then I asked Meng Xikong why he came alone without his master?

"…I have lived in poverty since childhood, and I am still young now, so I am not lacking in energy."

"I see..." Lu Xinyi smoothed his beard, and then said sincerely, "This legal advisor is indeed necessary. County Master, you can't be bothered to come in person for many things. If this legal advisor is paid... County Master, the public servant should have been sent here by the joint appointment. During the Hongzhi period, the Xiao Temple granted special favors and allowed the exemption of this corvée by paying ten taels of silver per year. County Master's public servant is naturally extraordinary, and there are still many people in this county who are willing to be sent here and pay silver to be exempted from the service."

"Oh?" Meng Xikong asked, "I know this, but I wonder how the county is doing? How many clerks are missing from the county government?"

Although he was a new official, there were many new officials traveling south with him. The journey was boring, so naturally they talked a lot about the ways to be an official in the future. Some of those with family backgrounds were willing to teach him, so Meng Xikong was not completely confused.

Officials with a regular job are among those who are exempted from preferential treatment.

During the Jiajing reign, the preferential exemption rules were revised. Such officials were exempted from land tax of one shi and one male official. In the 14th year of the Wanli reign, the preferential exemption rules were revised again to exempt 20 mu of land tax and one male official. 20 mu of land can still produce considerable output in a place like Raozhou. With two crops per year, one mu of land can actually yield about five shi of grain per year.

If he is not among the exempted, then the actual burden of land tax, miscellaneous taxes and miscellaneous labor for this adult male on twenty acres of land will be nearly seven stone of grain plus twelve cents of silver.

It may not seem like much, but this is based on the premise that the land belongs to the owner and not rented.

And if these preferential shares are obtained by people who are already on the preferential list, they can be magnified several times.

On the one hand, they completely lose their labor force and have to serve officials all year round; on the other hand, they can pay a sum of "industrial silver" to be exempted from this service and enjoy preferential treatment.

In fact, the ten taels of silver and the preferential benefits that a mere clerk can enjoy are not worth it for ordinary people. If they insist on being sent, they are naturally willing to come.

However, nowadays, these civil servants with a regular job have to go through connections and pay money to get into this "public system". They also have to pay dozens of taels or even more "top silver" or "top money", also known as "trade money", to their predecessor before they can successfully get a job.

But how can such a good thing happen to ordinary people?
This regulation simply allowed officials to receive additional income from the system.

Moreover, it often becomes a bond of interest between local officials and local clans: you take my money, and you should give me exemptions and not cause me trouble.

Meng Xikong listened to Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping introducing the situation in the county, and understood what they meant: if they wanted to redefine the structure of the county government, they must first clarify which officials were hired by which family, and from which family the missing officials were going to be filled.

He also needed to figure out which of the existing officials had come in through Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping's connections, and which others had connections with people in the prefecture or province.

Each county has its own reality. The seventh-rank magistrate Meng Xikong is getting familiar with the county's conditions, while Gong Nai, the magistrate of Jiangxia County in Wuchang Prefecture, has already established warm relations with the provincial and prefectural governments.

As he came from a family with a long history of learning, it was natural for him to thrive like a fish in water.

Having avoided the Jiangnan turmoil, he now only needs to focus on reassuring the local authorities: he is a man who understands the rules and is meticulous in his work.

In the city of Nanjing, Xiao Daheng also toured and appeased the nearby areas in the prefectures and counties of Nanzhili and Zhejiang that were affected this time.

The old officials of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue who had been fined and the new officials like Cheng Qinan were all busy preparing for the collection and transportation of new grain this year. There was also a crucial point: the bidding and subscription of the new gold and silver orders.

The people to be sent from Huguang, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang are all third-rank councilors, while the people to be sent from the prefectures and counties in Nanzhili are either prefects or county magistrates, or assistant magistrates or prosecutors.

It usually starts in November after the autumn harvest in September or October, and should not be later than February of the following year at the latest.

Before the collection, the amount of gold and silver naturally determines the amount of additional "silver consumption" to be collected.

The allocation of these orders must be confirmed by October at the latest.

"Expenditures, you need to sort out the amount of land tax that can be converted into silver for all the prefectures and counties that our department is responsible for. We can't make a mistake in which the land tax converted into silver in one province or prefecture exceeds the land tax at the start of transportation."

Each Qinglisi corresponded to some prefectures and counties that collected taxes on behalf of the government. Naturally, the internal affairs of the Qinglisi were not handled by the Langzhong, but by the Yuanwailang and the Zhushi.

Cheng Qinan also started his work.

The farthest Huguang Provincial Government, the Left Provincial Government Liang Yunlong carefully instructed the Right Councillor Lu Changgeng who was about to go to Nanjing: "It all depends on this year's harvest, see where you can afford to spend more money. Huguang is a long way to transport the money, you can act accordingly. I have written to Xiao Sinong, the cabinet minister, and the Grand Marshal!"

"I understand."

"You are from Pinghu, Jiaxing, so you are from Zhejiang at least. Please speak to Xiao Sinong for help. Huguang is prone to floods, that's the truth." Liang Yunlong stared at him, "Gold and silver can help the local people spend less rice, please!"

Liang Yunlong is already seventy-three years old, but he is quite dignified. At this moment, his expression is very sincere, and he even bowed to Lu Changgeng.

Watching Lu Changgeng set off, his eyes gradually became profound.

When Tian Le was in charge of Songshan, he was called as an attendant in the position of deputy envoy of the Provincial Inspection Commission, and they had a friendship. In the previous ten years, he had been in the northwest as a civil official to command the army.

Liang Yunlong said he wrote to Tian Le because Tian Le had sent the letter first.

But can what Tian Lexin said really succeed?
Liang Yunlong thought of his fellow townsman and good friend Hai Rui, and the letter Hai Rui wrote to him when he passed the imperial examination at the age of 55.

[Your family can use this as a platform to express their daily interests. ]

Now Liang Yunlong has come to Huguang from the northwestern border where he had lived for ten years. At the age of seventy-three, he has "abandoned military affairs and turned to literature". Can this really fulfill his daily interests?
(End of this chapter)