Mang Shusheng's Ink Painting Practice

Chapter 117 Can’t Cats Be Servants?

No matter how Zhao Yifu did it, he made up for all the years of deficit in Fenglin County within less than ten days of taking office.

The most commendable thing is that he did not make up for it by raising taxes on ordinary people.

Ten days later, when Li Liang came to Zhao Yifu with a face that looked like he was cultivating an immortal, he placed a reorganized account book in front of Zhao Yifu.

According to this account book, the Fenglin County Treasury now has a surplus of about 50,000 taels of silver, which will also be Zhao Yifu's future administrative capital.

After looking through the account book, he asked, "Does the actual item match?"

Li Liang had anticipated that the lazy county magistrate would ask such a question, so he bowed and said, "Don't worry, sir. I have checked them one by one."

Zhao Yifu nodded with satisfaction and said, "I trust you so much."

"Seeing you've been working hard lately, here's a magical medicine for you to take. It's just right for you to regulate your internal organs and boost your spirits."

Zhao Yifu said this as he handed over a small medicine bottle.

This is the 'Chao Yuan Yi Qi Pill' he refined. In the past ten days, he has refined some pills for self-defense.

"Eh..."

But Li Liang hesitated, because he definitely didn't dare to take the medicine given by Zhao Yifu.

Who knows if this is the poison used to control him?
Li Liang, who prides himself on being smart, has always been a "realist," or a "conspiracist."

"Thank you, sir."

But Li Liang still accepted it.

Zhao Yifu nodded and said, "Okay, you have done a great job in the last stage. There is still work for you to do next."

Li Liang's scalp tightened when he heard this, because he felt that Zhao Yifu was about to start talking about serious business.

What is he most afraid of?
Isn't it just about asking him to take charge of the matter of "surveying the land"? This is something that will offend people.

But the next moment, Zhao Yifu said, "Next, I want you to organize an auction and invite celebrities from all walks of life in Fenglin County to come. We will auction off 80% of the items that the Qian family copied."

"By the way, you should also pick out half of the upper fields to sell."

"The remaining land will all be turned over to the government, so the Qian family's original tenants don't have to worry about it. They will be treated the same way they were treated before."

Li Liang asked, "Sir, how do you collect taxes from these tenants?"

Zhao Yifu asked in return: "How did we collect it originally?"

Li Liang said, "Originally, our government-owned farmland had a yield of half an acre for each acre, and the tenants also had to pay summer and autumn taxes."

"As for the Qian family, you only need to hand over 60% of your output to the Qian family, and the rest is tax-free."

After hearing this, Zhao Yifu felt that it was no wonder that the imperial court wanted to rectify the local areas. If this was the case, all the money would go into the pockets of local tyrants, and the imperial court would naturally become poorer and poorer.

Zhao Yifu then said, "It's simple. The tax on government farmland will remain 50-50, but the summer and autumn taxes will be eliminated."

Li Liang was shocked when he heard this. He said, "If that's the case, I'm afraid our county will have a tax deficit again this year."

Zhao Yifu said angrily, "Aren't summer and autumn taxes tied to land? Those tenant farmers don't own any land. This is our government's land, so it's naturally tax-exempt."

"As long as we collect all the taxes we should, how can there be a deficit?"

Li Liang's heart sank after hearing this, knowing that taxation would be the difficulty of his next job.

At this time, Zhao Yifu said earnestly: "I know that it is actually easier to put the summer and autumn taxes on the tenant farmers because they cannot resist."

"But this is not the way for scholars like me. I can do anything that is tyrannical, but I will never bully the weak."

Li Liang silently clasped his fists as a sign of respect.

Zhao Yifu was not prepared to convince him or anything like that, as long as he could do the work, it was good.

He said, "Okay, let's get the auction done first, and let those big families know that I'm determined to promote the land transfer and won't tolerate any rejection."

"But other than that, they are welcome to take over the shops left by the Qian family in the county town, as long as they pay the prescribed transfer fees."

Li Liang immediately understood that Zhao Yifu had drawn a red line for those powerful families.

In fact, for the wealthy, land is always just a guarantee, and the real way to make money is through trade.

So when Zhao Yifu auctioned the land deeds, they would definitely buy them, but they would definitely agree with each other to keep the price within a certain range.

But this shop in Fenglin County...if this property is also auctioned, they will definitely go crazy to grab it!

But Zhao Yifu did not mention auction, but said to pay according to the "regulations".

In other words, only those who abide by Zhao Yifu's rules are eligible to obtain these shops.

Li Liang looked at Zhao Yifu again and realized how formidable this young man truly was. While this might seem like a significant financial loss, it would actually allow the county's wealthy families to acknowledge Zhao Yifu as the one who "divides the pie."

This is a fundamental change in identity.

Li Liang felt that the methods of the person in front of him were unimaginable. He was intimidating as soon as he arrived, and after quickly gaining his foothold, he was able to make friends with others.

Such a skill...

Zhao Yifu looked at him and wondered what this man was thinking. He was simply too lazy to bother.

As for why he didn't auction the shop...it was mainly because he hated real estate speculation the most in his life!

Seeing that Zhao Yifu had almost finished giving orders, Li Liang stood up and said goodbye.

But Zhao Yifu stopped him: "Don't worry, I haven't finished explaining it yet."

"There are still 20% of the items left. You can take the officers from the yamen to help divide them up. Or if they want to join the auction after they have made their selections, that's fine too. This will be a benefit I give to the officers."

Li Liang was surprised. He thought that these 20% of the wealth was left to him by Zhao Yifu, but he didn't expect that he was going to use it in this way?
He asked, "But where is the young master?"

Zhao Yifu pointed to the small porcelain bottle in his hand and said, "I've already got what I wanted. This 'Chao Yuan Yi Qi Pill' in your hand was made from the medicinal materials in the Qian family's inventory. The effect is really good, you can try it."

Li Liang was surprised. He looked at the porcelain bottle in his hand and asked, "Young Master, are you also good at alchemy?"

"Could it be that the young master is also interested in the theory of Xuanmen?"

Zhao Yifu laughed heartily and said, "This young master practices both Confucianism and Taoism. What do you think?"

Li Liang was not surprised to hear this, because there were many officials in the court today who claimed that they were "cultivating both Confucianism and Taoism" or "cultivating both Confucianism and Buddhism" or simply "combining the strengths of all three schools". But in Li Liang's opinion, such people were simply obsessed with reading.

So he bowed slightly to show that he understood, and then said goodbye and left.

Under Li Liang's control, subsequent developments went in the direction Zhao Yifu expected.

The total proceeds from the auction of property were more than 30,000 taels of silver, plus the proceeds from the sale of shops of nearly 5,000 taels, which gave Zhao Yifu's county government a surplus of nearly 90,000 taels of silver.

From a deficit of 120,000 taels to a surplus of 90,000 taels, this inflow and outflow amounted to an income of more than 200,000 taels, which was also the change brought about by Zhao Yifu in Fenglin County in just one month.

On the other hand, his cat runners were sent out to act as constables to fully maintain public order in the county.

It can be said that the security environment of the entire county has changed during this month. There are no more swindlers hanging around on the streets, and the people seem to feel much more at ease living and working in the city.

Everyone knows who brought about the changes, and of course they all remember the good things about the cat runners, and they are all very friendly to them.

At this moment, the cats truly experienced the joy of being respected. They put in the effort and gained the necessary humanitarian will. Even the human forms they transformed into seemed righteous and majestic.

But the trouble they had expected finally came.

At noon that day, a cat came back crying strangely.

Zhao Yifu opened his arms and let the cat jump into his arms. He reached out and stroked the frightened cat, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

The cat meowed, and Zhao Yifu suddenly came to his senses after hearing the meaningless sound.

"Did you encounter a nosy Taoist?"

"Where are the others?"

Zhao Yifu asked.

The cat immediately became alert and jumped onto the top of the wall, meaning to take Zhao Yifu to settle the score with the other party.

A black cat's head immediately popped out from Zhao Yifu's arms. Yiyi looked at the pretentious cat and snorted in disdain.

Zhao Yifu remembered something when he saw this and said, "Yiyi, go inside your sleeves. I'm afraid I'll hurt you if I start fighting."

As he said that, he took Yiyi out of his arms and stuffed her into his right sleeve.

Yiyi struggled in his sleeve for a while, and finally her head popped out from the cuff, glaring at Zhao Yifu with dissatisfaction.

However, when Zhao Yifu covered it with his entire palm and rubbed it, it no longer had any objections.

The cat on the wall was extremely envious.

It's hard to imagine a cat demon wanting to put its head in the palm of a human monk's hand...

Zhao Yifu also jumped up and jumped over the wall.

After landing, he took three or two steps and jumped up again, directly jumping out of the county government office.

But he stopped after taking only two steps.

"Meow~"

The cat-like yamen runner had stopped and was baring its teeth.

Zhao Yifu looked over and saw a slovenly old man holding a jade bamboo stick walking towards him.

The old man saw Zhao Yifu and said calmly, "This world is really interesting. A cat can look like a human by wearing human skin. Then what kind of skin do you, the cat's owner, wear?"

The tone is somewhat vicissitudes and mysterious, but also quite decent.

Although Zhao Yifu was criticized, he didn't feel unhappy at all.

He simply pulled out a set of clothes from his sleeves, put them on, and said, "I, the master of the cat, am wearing the official's skin."

The old man snorted coldly at this: "The world has become a mess because of people like you who act recklessly."

"Using demons to herd people is simply the opposite of Tian Gang!"

"Watch the fight!"

As he spoke, the sloppy old man swung the green bamboo in his hand and hit over.

To be honest, Zhao Yifu didn't blame the old Taoist for being so excited. After all, what he did was indeed somewhat inconsistent with the values ​​of today's cultivation world.

but……

This old man actually attacked him!
Zhao Yi Fu was not polite either. He aimed his aim at the bamboo pole and then reached out and grabbed it in a flash.

Then he tried to grab the bamboo pole with force, thinking that he could break the bamboo directly, which would be a revenge for his cat.

However, he felt something was wrong as soon as he started.

The green bamboo felt wonderful to the touch, and its roundness seemed to possess a unique toughness. When he exerted force on it, a lot of his strength was dissolved into nothingness in a way he couldn't understand.

At this moment, a recoil force came from the bamboo and shook Zhao Yifu's palm away.

Zhao Yifu looked over in surprise and said, "What a good baby!"

The slovenly old man looked at Zhao Yifu with equal surprise and said, "What excellent skills... Did you donate your money to get this position?"

Zhao Yifu said angrily, "I am a successful candidate in this year's imperial examination. You, an old man, have violated the law by attacking an official appointed by the imperial court!"

He also tried to pressure others with his words, after all, this old man seemed to have some background.

However, the slovenly old man snorted coldly and said, "I am a person from outside the world and don't understand the laws of the mortal world."

"I only know that today I must teach you a lesson for being such a rebellious and inhumane boy."

Zhao Yifu was quite puzzled. Why did he become so useless?

But since the other party wants to fight, then fight!

He now put aside his previous contempt, as he knew that this sloppy old man must not be an ordinary person.

As for reconciliation?
Oh my god, another stick is coming at me!

Zhao Yi Fu didn't say anything and raised his hand again to grab the stick. He was a little skeptical. Was his muscle useless?
However, what caught him off guard was that the stick suddenly accelerated and hit him hard on the back of his hand.

The force of this blow even caused the true Qi in his body that was running through the 'Shou Ren Method' to react, and it then recoiled.

Although it didn't hurt, Zhao Yifu knew he had lost a move.

No, it should be said that we suffered a loss in weapons.

"Well, how about this lesson that I gave you on behalf of your elders?"

If Zhao Yifu had been reluctant to make a big deal of the matter before, but now...

He was in a state of rage.

So he reached his right hand into his left sleeve and slowly pulled out... a heavy black iron sword!

This heavy black iron sword was Yong Dalang's former weapon, and now it is his sword.

As for why not use a sword?

After all, the Great Yangming Fine Copper Sword is a pure Yang magic sword. It is fine for dealing with demons and evil spirits, but it is not so effective against upright people.

Zhao Yifu drew out the heavy black iron sword, and his muscles began to swell.

Of course, this was just a normal state of exertion. He felt that it was not yet time for him to use all his muscles to beat the old man.

The old man suddenly became cautious and attacked again with the emerald bamboo pole.

This time, Zhao Yifu fought back with a heavy sword, and the recoil force from the bamboo pole was much weaker.

This made him feel much more at ease, and then he began to perform a set of sword techniques passed down from Emperor Wenheng.

In fact, it’s not a knife technique, it’s just a sense of rhythm in using a knife.

The ease with which he moved at a pace and weightedness that he felt comfortable with soon startled the slovenly old man.

Zhao Yifu swung the heavy sword in his hand. The old man felt that it was so powerful and sharp that he had already blocked it. However, he did not expect that Zhao Yifu's sword was a beat slower at this time.

This meant that the old man's blocking force was not implemented, or at least not completely.

At this moment, the heavy sword arrived and immediately chopped the old man back three steps.

Zhao Yifu had already passed the point of blindly pursuing speed; he now realized that slowness also had its merits. The combination of speed and slowness was truly powerful.

　Chapter 1, recovering from the weekend, this week has really drained me of my energy at work
　　
　
(End of this chapter)