Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 165: Signs of a New Policy

In the inner house of the county government, Weng Chengjun reported what he had seen and heard in the past few days and said, "Sir, Jiangnan has just had a big disturbance, so there won't be a big mess in the land tax this year. What matters now is how to control the county government from top to bottom."

Although Weng Chengjun was born in Yangzhou Prefecture, he has been following the Chang family, one of the ten major merchants in Shanxi, for many years.

Meng Xikong became the son-in-law of the Chang family, and Weng Chengjun, the most capable assistant of the Chang family, came to Meng Xikong to serve as his legal advisor.

"It's not easy to subdue the county government. From what I know now..."

Meng Xikong introduced some of the initial information he had learned, and Weng Chengjun shook his head: "I came to Leping earlier and know more. But the situation was tight in the past, but there is no way out. To govern a county, we must first govern the officials. My son-in-law, the autumn harvest is a good opportunity..."

The two men continued to discuss, and before dusk that day, another person arrived at Leping County.

He looked very tired, but he still managed to ask where the county government was.

After the message was passed, he came to deliver a letter to the county magistrate.

The letter was delivered to Meng Xikong, who said to the messenger in a very serious tone, "Thank you for your hard work. I am also short of manpower here. I will talk to the mail office later. You can stay with me in the future."

"Thank you, Lord County!"

The so-called post office is a post delivery business that began to appear in the private sector during the Yongle period. Post stations only delivered military intelligence documents, and the large demand for letters from the private sector gradually gave rise to such businesses. Initially, they were only available in the wealthy areas of Jiangnan, but after the Shanxi merchants became more successful, they also began to operate these businesses and meet internal needs.

The message that was rushed to Meng Xikong today from this post office run by Shanxi merchants in the Donghuo system was extremely important.

By the time the porter went to rest, Weng Chengjun had finished reading the letter.

"...Sir, this is even better!" Weng Chengjun looked at Meng Xikong, "If we first talk to County Magistrate Lu and Chief Secretary Wen, they will know that you are well-informed and have connections in the court, and they will not dare to interfere! You will evaluate the diligence and integrity of the county officials and pay them from the reserve, which will be easy! Expanding the staff and setting up a public bank in the county government will be good for the county government. If we can control the people and the money, the county government will be in control!"

The first thing that the post office gave to people like Meng Xikong was the local financial strategy that the central government was planning.

The fact that Meng Xikong was one of the first to know the news indeed proves that he is "extraordinary".

Then he called Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping and said, "A letter has just arrived. It is of great importance. You two will also receive the news later. Now I have to discuss with you first to see how Leping will deal with this drastic change."

Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping were shocked to hear him speak so seriously: "County Master, what is the news?"

"It's still the aftermath of a previous major case."

What Meng Xikong said made the two men even more frightened, but unexpectedly, what they heard from Meng Xikong afterwards was good news - at least it was good news for the officials.

No wonder they both knew the news later. After all, it was an order from the court, and it would take several months to discuss a strategy.

But now the magistrate is obviously very confident, as if some measures will definitely be taken.

They couldn't help but look at Meng Xikong in surprise and doubt.

"You and I don't need to hide the truth about the local situation." Meng Xikong said seriously, "The court has allowed the local government to set up public banks, so many expenses in the future will not have to be donated by the gentry. But where does this money come from? The court does not want the local government to send more money, so it can be kept in the local government, but it is definitely not okay to impose additional taxes on the common people. After this matter is decided, the gentry will probably have complaints."

"...After this year, the rewards for local officials' diligence and integrity will be paid from the public treasury?"

Meng Xikong looked at them meaningfully, "There are also allowances for clerks and servants. Your Majesty is considerate of all officials and used the treasury to pay them last year, but this year such a big case happened in Jiangnan. The court is making this move to improve the administration of officials. If privately-owned enterprises are changed to public ones, local finances will be more relaxed, so naturally they cannot accept donations. If they still take bribes and extort money, they will be severely punished in the next step."

Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping looked at each other. There was bad news hidden in the good news.

The amount of silver awarded for diligence and integrity is much different from the tributes everyone receives privately.

But for local officials, this is indeed a grace. After all, they can legally take a lot more money and legally use public funds.

If you still accept extra gifts from others, your crime will be even more serious if you are investigated later.

In addition, there were only a few people in the county government who could receive regular tributes from others. And this public silver also involved the "allowances" of clerks and servants.

If we don't find a way to collect and preserve this public treasury, how are we going to deal with them demanding salaries when the time comes?
"Your Excellency, are you really not going to allow an increase in the levy?"

Meng Xikong immediately shook his head: "Don't even think about it. You two are seniors, and I have also listened to the teachings of the sage. The local areas are not without resources. Now the court wants to see whether the local officials are from the court or the local gentry. Everyone should think clearly about what to do." After saying that, he looked at them deeply: "I am afraid that how much tax was collected this year, how much was collected, and from whom, is also the basis for the court to allow the local areas to have new officials and retain public funds. The evaluation results of the diligence and honesty reward silver and the details of expenditures must be submitted to the Ministry of Personnel for review and approval, and then distributed in the middle of the year."

The young and inexperienced magistrate spoke bluntly, which made Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping feel even more embarrassed.

After all, isn’t the biggest piece of meat the one that the gentry and wealthy families get extra exemptions?

"My Lord, this is probably very difficult." Wen Ping, the chief clerk in charge of the finances, said, "My Lord, I'm sure you've seen the fish scale book and the yellow book of this county. Among the civilian fields, the common people cannot be taxed, and most of the land owned by the gentry and big families are exempted. The key is the official land. To avoid trouble, the county naturally lets the gentry and big families cultivate it. The land tax on the official land is also higher than that on the civilian land. It can also be said that the gentry and big families pay most of the land tax every year."

The so-called official fields are inherited from the previous dynasties, and gradually became more and more land through various searches and confiscations over the years. The ownership is in the hands of the government.

But the government naturally would not cultivate the land itself, so it rented it out. The land tax rate for government land was higher than that for private land. But as long as one worked hard, there would still be a lot of income.

At the beginning of the country, ordinary people were able to cultivate government fields. Up to now, for the sake of ease of management, local governments have basically distributed government fields to wealthy gentry, who are then allowed to organize the cultivation.

The land owned by the gentry mentioned by Wen Ping just happened to meet the requirements of the preferential exemption policy, which was also true. However, among the civilian fields, many fields had two owners. The land bottom rights were given to the gentry, while the land surface rights were still in the hands of the common people. When the land tax was to be collected, it was said that the land belonged to the gentry and was exempted; the common people paid a "rent" to the gentry to avoid the burden of taxes and labor service, which was called "contribution".

The key lies in whether local officials are willing to make a detailed distinction, whether they are willing to make a distinction after receiving benefits from the gentry, and whether they can bear the risk of large-scale abandonment of the government-owned land they rent.

Lu Xinyi also said: "Even if we strictly investigate the extra exemptions, those who have made contributions will still not be able to escape taxes and labor service. Do we have to thoroughly investigate the actual number of people in the gentry and wealthy families and have them pay the labor service silver?"

Meng Xikong looked at them and said, "What's the difference from the past? Is this amount of money more than what they used to pay as tribute every year? As long as they don't show off their loyalty, they still pay as much as before. It's just putting the money out in the open. There's nothing different."

Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping remained silent.

How can the money paid according to the rules and the favors accumulated through private filial piety be the same?
There are two rewards for each payment: it not only maintains the operation of local government offices, but also turns local officials into their own people.

If the preferential exemption policy is to be strictly followed today, the gentry and wealthy families will not only lose the land rent from the people who have contributed to the cause, but will also have to pay the same labor service silver as ordinary people, and will not be able to gain the personal favor of local officials.

"I'm afraid it's the general trend. Think about it carefully. Everything is difficult at the beginning, but as long as this situation is opened up, the county government will be well-off in the future, and the local government will have the final say. Your Majesty was extremely angry at the court meeting. If you give such a big benefit to the local government now, if the local government is still timid, I'm afraid it will be used as a warning to others. If you two are hesitant, you might as well go to the officials from Leping and ask for their opinions."

Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping were inspired and thought this was indeed a solution.

They would also face such pressure if they were officials in other places; would their clansmen and fields in their hometown be willing to cooperate this time?

"It will take some time, but I am letting you know in advance out of my good intentions." Meng Xikong bowed, "If you can work together in the future, I will recommend you with my kind words. The county will have more officials, and the prefecture and the province will naturally do the same. As long as the public funds can be collected, the local government can support more officials, and the actual salary will be much higher than in the past. If the local gentry can obey orders, will the life of the local officials be worse than before? Think twice."

"We will remember your kindness, Your Excellency." Lu Xinyi and Wen Ping looked at Meng Xikong, "We two don't have that much ability. Whether this can be done depends on Your Excellency."

Meng Xikong just smiled and said, "This can be done naturally. You two said you rely on me, but I rely on Your Majesty."

His words shocked the two men, as if these new officials heading south were carrying special instructions and trust from the emperor.

Perhaps other prefectures and counties still governed by the old officials will not be targeted, but Leping will definitely be targeted.

The question of whether local officials belong to the imperial court or to local gentry and wealthy families is very serious.

Where to go?

The Jiangnan case only revealed a glimpse of the true situation of local taxation. When the emperor distributed financial power to local governments, it was hard to predict whether it would bring good or bad consequences.

The capital was no longer divided into the so-called Zhejiang Party, Su Party, and Northern Party. Everyone saw the signs of the new policy.

So it will naturally evolve into the "new party" and the "old party".

The Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Censorate still had to spend a lot of effort to discuss the strategies required by the emperor, and none of these discussions were easy.

There was a lot of discussion within and outside the government, and concerns about separatism after the decentralization of financial power were repeatedly raised.

At this time, the emperor left the palace again. He was going to inspect the newly reorganized Beijing camp.

It also seemed to be sending a signal to the court and the public: because there was a worry of separatism if the financial power was decentralized, the emperor had already paid attention to the military power in advance.

Let's split it up and see?
(End of this chapter)