Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 187: Difficulties in Transporting White Grain

The "sky" in the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Lake has changed the most.

Inside the government office of Huzhou Prefecture, the judge Huang Shifeng took another step forward and said to the prefect Chen Youxue who was standing behind the desk with a calm expression, "For so many years, the white grain has been transported by the people. Now it has to be transported to the water warehouse. The grain chiefs of the counties and prefectures are unwilling! The inspector has previously informed the villages, and the people also know that they should not collect the white grain service silver this year. However, if the white grain is transported from the counties to the water warehouse, some service silver must be paid, right? The counties dare not make the decision. The prefect, Changming Zhayang Company is still waiting."

Huang Shifeng was impeached the year before last because he was in charge of the transportation of white grain from Huzhou.

Isn't the purpose to find someone to solve the problem?

Now, there is no need to worry about which family should be assigned to be responsible for transporting the white grain every year, but Changming Zhayang Company is not a grain transport army, and its background is much more solid.

They only waited in the water warehouses of various prefectures to collect grain for shipment. The white grain of Huzhou Prefecture was transported by the people, and for many years the grain had been collected and redeemed by the grain transport troops at the private warehouses set up by the grain chiefs.

In addition, since the white grain was exempted from civilian transportation, after Wang Dewan's propaganda, the people believed that they should not pay a penny for the white grain labor service. However, the grain still had to be transported from various villages to the Shuici warehouse.

Chen Youxue was from Wuxi, Changzhou Prefecture. He was of course familiar with the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou. He was able to serve as the prefect of Huzhou Prefecture because of his past political achievements and reputation.

Looking at Huang Shifeng, Chen Youxue simply said, "If Huzhou wants to cause trouble this year, this government would be happy to see it happen. Otherwise, how can we survey the land after the autumn harvest? This government is proficient in criminal law. When I was the magistrate of Queshan, Henan, I was able to punish the brother of the governor. If the families in Huzhou want to try, they can continue to shirk responsibility."

Huang Shifeng looked at him helplessly: "Mr. Governor..."

This new prefect has such a reputation, but now the burden of transporting white grain to the Shuici warehouse has been put on the grain directors.

Chen Youxue just stared at him and asked, "Could it be that when we sent letters to the counties and prefectures before, they didn't know that these travel expenses could be paid from the public funds?"

"Mr. Futai, where is the public money? It has not been collected yet!"

"If they can't collect the grain, it means that the families are not prepared to obey the imperial decree and strictly implement preferential treatment." Chen Youxue drank his tea slowly and said calmly, "This government is not in a hurry, Chang Xingtou is not in a hurry, and the court is even less anxious. Didn't you also hear what Chang Xingtou said? White grain can be collected slowly, but His Majesty can also swallow brown rice and glutinous rice."

Huang Shifeng was terrified when he heard this and looked like he was about to cry.

At present, the grain collectors have to get the labor service silver before they are willing to transport the grain to the water warehouse. The prefect has also issued a clear order to the counties and states not to collect labor service silver anymore, and let them pay from the public bank first.

And since the public funds have not been collected, where will the funds come from?

He respectfully addressed the prefect as "Taisha", but the prefect only knew how to make things difficult for him. What was the point of this?

During this time, Yingtian Governor Niu Yingyuan and Yingtian Inspector Wang Dewan were inspecting the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou. Wherever they went, there were cries of distress.

The county magistrate cried, and the grain officials also cried.

Even though the distance from the villages to the water storage in the prefecture was not too far and the cost was not much, it just could not be moved.

Wang Dewan flew into a rage in front of his old friend Shu Baiqing: "Taxes and labor service were originally assigned to each village, and each village has a grain chief! Your Majesty has spared the five prefectures from the pain of transporting grain thousands of miles away. Now each village only transports grain to the Shuici warehouse. Why do we need labor service silver?"

Shu Baiqing was the magistrate of Changxing County under Huzhou Prefecture. Although he kept his official position after presenting a "gift" for the emperor's wedding last year, it was really not easy to get the merit of "making up for one's mistakes".

"Mr. Futai..." Shu Baiqing was also very worried. "Mr. Chen did agree that there should still be some money for the labor service, but the county had to pay it from the public funds. But now the public funds... are totally gone!"

After saying that, he looked at Wang Dewan with grievance: "Last year, the governor announced to the village, and the people thought that they didn't need to transport the grain even a mile, so they didn't need to pay the labor service silver for the white grain. But now they are still asked to transport it to the water warehouse, which is why they don't agree. Although I have advised them many times..."

Wang Dewan nodded repeatedly: "Good! Good, good, good! Although there was no decree last year, you still collected taxes according to the previous register, which is understandable. But what about this year? The decree has been issued, even if it is charged from the public bank, it is nothing more than a deduction at the end of the year. What is Huzhou Prefecture arguing about?"

Shu Baiqing stamped his feet and let out a long "Ouch".

"Sir Governor, no matter how much you and the Lord of the Palace force me and others, it is useless now. Even if I and others take the clerks and servants to carry out the transportation, it will indeed cost a lot. Now they are using what you said last year to shut us up!"

The same is true when Wang Dewan gets angry. We are just playing word games with him.

Can the extra expense of transporting white grain from a long distance to Beijing be compared with the expense of simply transporting it to the local water warehouse?

The current agitation of public opinion is nothing more than targeting this year's strict exemptions and land surveys.

"Why did Prefect Chen directly deduct all the white grain and labor service silver last year and list them in the public silver?" "...The prefect's official document said so, and I naturally followed it." Shu Baiqing was overwhelmed. "In fact, even I thought that Changming Zhayang Company came to collect the money. They are just a business..."

Wang Dewan has calmed down a little now.

Regarding the new regulations on white grain from the five prefectures, did the court fail to take this aspect into consideration, or did it deliberately leave it blank?

He was too lazy to spend any more time in Changxing, so he went to find Chen Youxue after returning to Huzhou the next day.

In terms of official rank, Chen Youxue was higher than Wang Dewan.

But the governors were all imperial envoys, officials from the capital who were sent outside the capital by imperial decree.

"Didn't Chang Xingzhang tell the king in detail?" Chen Youxue seemed surprised. "Chang Xingzhang said that His Majesty has a handwritten order. It's ok to eat white grains slowly. His Majesty can also eat brown rice and glutinous rice."

Wang Dewan clenched his fist: "What are you going to do?"

"All the grain has been converted into gold and silver, and there is no need for the people to transport the white grain to the capital." Chen Youxue said leisurely, "This year we need to implement preferential exemptions and survey the land. We only collect a little white grain and labor service silver, so it is better to abolish it all to preserve your majesty's grace. Wang Futai, you are not from the Five Prefectures. You might as well trust me on what to do. Your Majesty is not in a hurry, so let the Five Prefectures wait. This little labor service silver must be paid from the public funds. The public funds must be collected from the strict preferential exemptions."

He invited Wang Dewan to have tea again: "Wang Futai, have you forgotten that this is white grain, not grain for the imperial court?"

Ever since Wang Dewan joined the local trend, his temper has become even greater than before.

In the past, he was just a censor, and he would always speak out when he was angry about many things. Now that he has arrived at the local level, he encounters all kinds of soft-hearted people and local styles, and his emotions are even more easily agitated.

Looking at the calm Chen Youxue, he patiently drank a cup of tea.

After putting down the cup, he said, "It is true that the white grain is mainly tribute grain. Your Majesty is not in a hurry, do you want them to be unable to sit still?"

"The grace has been given." Chen Youxue said with a smile, "Last year, the grain tax was all converted into gold and silver. The five prefectures did not force last year's taxes to be exempted. How could it be easy to do this year? Your Majesty had expected this, so he sent a handwritten order to Chang Xingshou. Why did this white grain come about? It was because Zhang Shicheng received great help from the five prefectures in the past that Taizu imposed heavy taxes on the five prefectures. Now that there are so many graces, the gentry of the five prefectures are still shirking their responsibilities. It's hard to say why."

He continued to pour tea, as if he was not in the spotlight.

"Instead of letting the counties and prefectures force us, it's better to wait until they can't sit still anymore and someone figures it out." Chen Youxue looked at Wang Dewan again, "Last year, the taxes were collected according to the old rules, and the white grain, foot labor, and grain tax surcharges were waived. The counties and prefectures collected a lot less on the surface. But privately... So it's not surprising that they helped the families cry and complain."

Wang Dewan thought of Shu Baiqing's extremely embarrassed expression, and his anger rose again: "Do they dare?"

"Why not?" Chen Youxue sneered, and then said to him, "My dear brother Zichun, it's rare for me to have some free time. Why don't I tell you about the time when I was the magistrate of Queshan County in Henan Province, why did the prefect of Runing rush to ask the provincial government to transfer me to Zhongmu?"

Chen Youxue is thirteen years older than Wang Dewan, so he can indeed call himself brother.

However, he has always been wallowing in the muddy current, and his experience and skills are not comparable to Wang Dewan's.

Wang Dewan heard how he dealt with his brother, who was then the governor of Henan Province, and the family of the Minister of the Imperial Household in Queshan County, and how the prefect of Runing hurriedly asked the province to transfer him, fearing that he would cause disaster by acting on behalf of the people.

"Then I went to Zhongmu, and as soon as I arrived there, I encountered a locust plague..."

Wang Dewan also listened to his practice in Zhongmu. When a locust plague occurred, he allowed the victims to catch locusts to pay part of the land tax, and finally caught more than a thousand stones of locusts.

In order to reclaim wasteland, he ordered the people to hand over ten kilograms of weeds when filing a lawsuit before his case would be accepted. In this way, all the weeds on the barren hills south of the county were pulled out, and more than 800 hectares of wasteland were reclaimed.

Wang Dewan listened to how he re-verified the ownership of more than 130 hectares of land that had been flooded by the Yellow River, how he insisted on distributing these lands to the people for cultivation, how he gathered more than 500 oxen for them, how he planted more than 30,000 mulberry trees, how he got more than 800 spinning wheels for rural women to weave, how he found money from nowhere to build more than 1,200 houses to accommodate poor people, how he dug 198 canals, how he built 80 government offices for the clerks to eat and stay, and then saved more than 600 taels of silver to pay off the arrears...

"I am your brother's inferior in the examination of the Imperial Censors." Chen Youxue said with a smile, "I don't know how Your Majesty knows me, but you promoted me from a county magistrate to a prefectural magistrate. Everyone knows that I came back to Huzhou on the emperor's orders. Although I was born in one of the Five Prefectures, I have no friends here, just like my brother Zichun."

Wang Dewan silently raised his teacup: "I'll use tea instead of wine. I respectfully offer my respect to Brother Zhixing."

Chen Youxue also held up a cup: "Jiaxing and Huzhou are different. Since they belong to Zhejiang, many families here rely on Zhejiang. My predecessor is now the deputy envoy, and before I came, the prefect of Huzhou had been vacant for two years."

Wang Dewan listened to him point out the key point, his eyes fixed: "Chen Jingji Chen Hongyu?"

(End of this chapter)