1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 283 Once a high-ranking official, now a prisoner

Peng Gang still has some recollection of Chen Xingwang.

After all, Peng Gang's home was in Honglianping, Pingshan.

During Chen Xingwang's tenure as the garrison commander of Bitan, Bitan quickly became a distribution center for goods in the Pingzai Mountain section of the Qianjiang River basin.

Chen Xingwang could make a few hundred taels of silver every year from Bitanxun, a poor and remote village. While making money for himself, he also helped solve the livelihood problems of dozens of Green Standard Army soldiers' families in Bitanxun.

Chen Xingwang was promoted and transferred at the end of the 28th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign.

Xie Bin and Peng Gang took over Bitan Xun, a place that, while not wealthy, had a full range of docks and berths, as well as public and private warehouses. They even developed a regular ten-day sailing service to Guiping, the capital of Xunzhou Prefecture.

Although Chen Xingwang was capable of managing a small riverside commercial center with a few hundred people, Peng Gang still had doubts about whether he was capable of managing a giant distribution center with over 100,000 people.

"Is Chen Xingwang doing a good job at Shengku?" Peng Gang looked up at Peng Yi and asked.

When Peng Gang first assigned Chen Xingwang to Shengku, he didn't expect Chen Xingwang to achieve anything significant.

Just because Chen Xingwang saved his teacher Liu Bingwen, they casually arranged a job for Chen Xingwang.

"That's a polite way of putting it," Peng Yi said with a smile. "He's my right-hand man now. If the treasury hadn't been short of income lately, I really wouldn't have been willing to push him out. For the past three months, he's been in charge of purchasing grain and fodder in Hankou, and he always completes his quotas on time and in full."

“It’s been almost a year since I last saw him after settling him in Shengku. Let him come and see me,” Peng Gang said.

Hankou is the largest commercial town and distribution center in Hubei Province. Its commercial status in Hubei is even higher than that of Hanyang and Wuchang.

The selection of the person in charge of managing Hankou and collecting commercial taxes in Hankou must be carefully considered.

He must personally interview Chen Xingwang before deciding whether to let Chen Xingwang try to manage Hankou and be in charge of Hankou's tax revenue.

Upon receiving the notice to meet Peng Gang, Chen Xingwang, who was in Hankou, quickly tidied himself up and took a boat to the Northern Prince's Mansion in Wuchang to meet Peng Gang.

Before entering the Northern Prince's residence, he made sure to tidy up his appearance one last time.

Although Chen Xingwang did not know why Peng Gang had suddenly summoned him.

However, since the Northern King summoned me personally, it must be something important. I must make a good impression on His Highness the Northern King.

"Chen Xingwang, the official in charge of the imperial treasury, pays his respects to His Highness the Northern King. May His Highness the Northern King live a thousand years!"

Upon entering the West Flower Hall, Chen Xingwang lifted the hem of his round-necked robe and bowed to Peng Gang, who was sitting upright in front of his desk.

"Get up." Peng Gang gestured for Chen Xingwang to stand up and reply.

"Thank you, King Bei!" Chen Xingwang thanked Peng Gang and stood up, waiting for Peng Gang's questions.

"You've been working in Hankou for over three months. What do you think of Hankou?" Peng Gang asked slowly.

"Hankou is the largest commercial market I have ever seen in my life, and it is exceptionally prosperous," Chen Xingwang replied.

"There's a saying in Hankou about the 'Eight Great Attire.' Do you know what those eight great attire are?" Peng Gang continued to ask.

"Hankou prospered because of commerce. The eight most profitable industries in Hankou were money lending, pawnbroking, copper and lead industry, oil and candles, silk and cloth, general merchandise, medicine, and paper," Chen Xingwang answered as if reciting a familiar list.

Before becoming a military officer in the Green Standard Army, Chen Xingwang and his family worked as private brokers in Jiangkou Market, the largest market town in Xunzhou Prefecture. He had always been very interested in business.

When purchasing grain and military supplies in Hankou, it was inevitable to deal with local merchants. Chen Xingwang was quite familiar with the eight major merchants in Hankou.

Throughout the Qing Dynasty, the core force guiding the socio-economic development of commercial towns was various guilds, rather than the government.

Brokerage firms are intermediary organizations established with government approval. They have official franchise rights in specific regions or industries and engage in monopolistic buying and selling.

In addition to managing market order, supervising transactions, and mediating disputes, brokerage firms also had the function of collecting commercial taxes, such as brokerage tax.

The brokerage firm has a strict entry system.

Brokerage firms and brokers had to apply for licenses (brokerage certificates, brokerage licenses) from the government, pay a deposit, renew them regularly, and pay taxes in order to become official brokers.

In contrast, unlicensed intermediaries operating in the black and gray areas are considered private brokers.

The eight major players in Hankou dominated the Hankou market. If anyone wanted to extend their reach into Hankou and collect taxes there, they couldn't bypass the local players and brokers.

"If our court wishes to levy taxes in Hankou, where should we begin? And which taxes will be the main ones?" Peng Gang was quite satisfied with Chen Xingwang's performance and nodded slightly as he continued to ask.

"We should start by reissuing the brokerage certificates and records. The brokerage firms and brokers in Hankou were originally buying the certificates and records from the puppet Qing government. Now that Your Highness is the ruler of Hankou, you should issue new certificates and records and levy brokerage taxes," Chen Xingwang said eloquently.

"For any commercial market, brokerage tax is a heavy tax. In Hankou, brokerage tax, pawnshop tax, and land tax on goods entering the market are the main taxes, while other taxes can be postponed."

Hankou is the largest town in Hubei. If our court can successfully collect taxes in Hankou, it will set an example for other places, and there will be much less resistance when collecting commercial taxes in other areas in the future.”

Chen Xingwang, who comes from a family with a private dental practice, knows all too well how to navigate the dental industry and its practitioners.

The status of a brokerage firm is granted by the brokerage certificate and the brokerage record; without official endorsement, brokerage firms and brokers are nothing.

By answering Peng Gang's questions, Chen Xingwang understood that Peng Gang had summoned him specifically to discuss the collection of commercial taxes in Hankou.

The most direct and effective way to extend the influence of the Northern Palace into Hankou in a short period of time is to reshuffle the brokerage firms in Hankou and cultivate a new batch of brokerage firms and brokers who can listen to the Northern Palace and serve the Northern Palace.

Faced with Peng Gang's questions, Chen Xingwang answered fluently and clearly.

Peng Gang was increasingly satisfied with Chen Xingwang's performance, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly that the small Guiping County was truly full of talented people.

"If you were asked to reissue dental certificates and dental tax in Hankou and collect the dental tax before the New Year, could you do it?" Peng Gang asked.

Say it, say it, do it.

Peng Gang was quite satisfied with Chen Xingwang's performance in the interview.

Whether he is competent to manage Hankou and be responsible for collecting commercial taxes in Hankou will require further training and assessment before a decision is made.

"Give me a tax police company, and a few bookkeepers from the treasury or schools. If I fail to complete this task before the New Year, Your Highness may decide my fate." Chen Xingwang pledged his loyalty.

Peng Gang still wanted to see Yang Xun, an old friend.

It was learned that Yang Xun had surrendered Huangmei County and handed over the entire county.

After Peng Gang officially took over Huangmei County, he ordered Hou Jiyong to send someone to deliver Yang Xun to his residence in Wuchang City.

Hou Jiyong treated Yang Xun fairly well.

Although Yang Xun was a county magistrate under the Qing government, Hou Jiyong did not put him in shackles; he simply assigned people to guard and escort him closely. As for his diet, the lavish meals Yang Xun had enjoyed as a county magistrate were certainly gone, but he was still provided with a sufficient amount of staple food.

They were being escorted by a platoon of soldiers from the Northern Palace, traveling by boat to Wuchang.

I sat on the deck with my knees drawn up, feeling the chilly autumn wind blowing on the river, gazing at the desolate autumn scenery on both banks of the Yangtze River.

Although he was filled with anxiety about his future, Yang Xun felt an unprecedented sense of relief.

At least the 21,849 taels of interest-laden debts, including the Lajing debt, the Duikou debt, and the Sanjing debt, which were weighing heavily on him and making it hard for him to breathe, do not need to be repaid for the time being. Of course, given his current situation, he is not able to repay them anyway.

Lajing bonds, Duikou bonds, and Sanjing bonds were high-interest loans that no Qing Dynasty official who was not from a wealthy family could escape.

Lajing bonds were usurious loans used to pay for travel expenses to take up a post, hire servants, and purchase official clothes and ceremonial regalia. They were usually subject to deductions of 80% and 90%, plus 30% interest.

"Eight or nine deductions" means that if you borrow 100 taels, you will actually receive 80 or 90 taels, and the interest will be calculated based on the principal of 100 taels.

Adding three times the interest rate means an annual interest rate of over 30%, with interest compounding.

The loans were specifically for buying official positions, used to pay for the cost of obtaining the official title and for living expenses in Beijing during the waiting period.

The meaning of "deduction" is as follows: if you borrow 4,000 taels, but only receive 2,000 taels, you repay the principal and interest based on 4,000 taels.

The "Three Respects" refers to loans used to cultivate relationships. The three respects are: Farewell Respect (a farewell gift to officials in the capital when leaving the capital to take up a new post), Charcoal Respect (a gift from local officials to officials in the capital or superiors during the winter), and Ice Respect (a gift from local officials to officials in the capital or superiors during the summer).

The Sanjing Bond was an urgent loan, and the officials who borrowed it were usually in a hurry to use the money. Therefore, the interest rate on the Sanjing Bond was the highest, with a monthly interest rate as high as five percent (annualized 60%), and it had to be repaid in a short period of time.

For almost all officials in the Qing Dynasty, behind their appointment certificates lay countless usury networks that bleed the people dry, and Yang Xun was no exception.

Although Yang Xun was considered one of the lucky ones, he only waited in line for seven years before finally getting the substantive post of magistrate of Guiping County, Xunzhou Prefecture, Guangxi, and he also made more than 30,000 taels of silver during his tenure in Guiping County.

However, due to the compounding interest on his three debts, Yang Xun is now burdened with a debt of more than 21,000 taels of silver.

As for Yang Xun's official income, it amounted to a mere 45 taels of salary for two years and 1,200 taels of allowance for maintaining integrity. This sum wasn't even enough to cover the interest.

If we were to discuss which industry was the most developed, most profitable, and most stable in the Qing Dynasty, the answer would undoubtedly be all kinds of usury.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, Yang Xun finally arrived at the Northern Prince's Mansion in Wuchang and met his old friend from Guiping County.

"Lord Yang, how have you been?" Peng Gang received Yang Xun in the Xihua Hall, where he usually worked.

Yang Xun was transferred away through connections just before Peng Gang's rebellion, which was only two years ago. Apart from not shaving his forehead these days, Yang Xun's appearance has not changed significantly since he was in Gui.

"I was once an official in the court, now I am a prisoner. I am a corrupt official who falsely claims to be Qing, how dare I address Your Highness as a superior? Your Highness is too kind to me." Yang Xun knew in his heart that the person sitting in front of him was the Northern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, not Peng Tuan Dong from Pingzai Mountain in Guiping County. He knelt on the ground and said tremblingly.

"Magistrate Yang was able to think of the people of Huangmei County, voluntarily surrendering the city and abandoning darkness for light, thus saving the people of Huangmei County from the calamity of war. He is far better than those hypocrites who seek fame and fortune and drag the people of the county down with them. Based on this act alone, regardless of his past, he deserves my title of Magistrate Yang." Peng Gang gestured for Li Ruzhao to help Yang Xun, who was trembling like a leaf, to his feet so that he could reply.

Since Peng Gang started his uprising, the local officials he encountered either fled, committed suicide with their families, or resisted to the bitter end.

This is the first time we've encountered someone like Yang Xun who voluntarily surrendered peacefully before the battle even began.

"I am a prisoner of the Northern King, and I am at His Highness's mercy. Whether you cut me down or torture me, I will have no complaints." Although Yang Xun was trembling all over, he still spoke clearly.

“The crime should not extend to family members. I only beg Your Highness the Northern King to have mercy and spare my family.”

“I didn’t even kill Tao Enpei. You’re much more pragmatic than that scoundrel Tao Enpei. Why would I kill you? In your heart, am I such a murderous person?” Peng Gang said irritably.

Upon hearing that even the prefectural governors of Hengzhou, Tao Enpei and Peng Gang, had not been killed, Yang Xun's trembling subsided considerably.

Tao Enpei led the Hengzhou Prefecture garrison to defend Hengyang, the capital of Hengzhou Prefecture, to the death. Peng Gang didn't even kill Tao Enpei, so there was really no reason for him to kill Yang Xun, the magistrate of Huangmei County who had surrendered voluntarily.

"It's widely rumored in official circles that you killed Tao Enpei, Liu Zuosu, and others. It seems that these are all lies and slanders against Your Highness," Yang Xun said with a sigh of relief.

"Not only will I spare your life, but I will also reward you with a new official robe." With that, Peng Gang clapped his hands, and the guards at the door quickly brought in a set of plain blue round-necked, wide-sleeved robes without rank badges, a black gauze hat, and a plain silver belt. This was a county magistrate's robe that Peng Gang had ordered the female battalion to make in imitation of the style of the official robes of the Ming Dynasty.

After the new official robes were carried into the West Flower Hall, Peng Gang said to Yang Xun.

"Why don't you try them on?"

Yang Xun dared not disobey Peng Gang's orders, so he had no choice but to take off his dark blue, double-breasted, horseshoe-sleeved Qing Dynasty official robe and obediently put on a blue, round-necked, wide-sleeved shirt and a black gauze hat.

After Yang Xun put on his official robes, Peng Gang felt something was off. It turned out that the braid at the back of his head hadn't been cut. So he ordered someone to bring scissors and cut off Yang Xun's braid.

"That looks much better; that's more like the appearance of a Han official," Peng Gang said to Yang Xun.

"I have heard about your situation. Your accountant was someone the creditors planted by your side to collect debts, right? I have already had Ji Yong deal with him. From now on, your debts are cleared, and you no longer need to carry debts as the county magistrate."

I'm giving you a chance to be a proper and upright official. I'll take good care of your family in Wuchang, providing for their food and clothing, and ensuring their safety. Are you willing to serve me and be a good county magistrate?"

Although Yang Xun was greedy, at least he would do things for money, so Peng Gang's impression of Yang Xun wasn't that bad.

During the flood in Guiping County in the 28th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, Yang Xun also controlled the grain price in Guiping County and raised grain for the disaster area.

Although Yang Xun ultimately failed to bring grain prices down to normal levels, he did manage to suppress them somewhat. This shows that he was not an incompetent man who only knew how to make money, and that he did have some ability and resources.

Peng Gang was willing to give Yang Xun a chance and mold him into a model of a Qing official who had defected to the Qing court.

Whether Yang Xun can become a positive role model and serve as an example depends on his own performance.

If Yang Xun's performance falls short of expectations, Peng Gang wouldn't mind taking his head and official hat along with him.

You even cut off my braids, do I have any other choice?

Yang Xun muttered to himself.

However, Peng Gang not only did not kill him, but also gave him a proper and respectable opportunity to become a county magistrate, which greatly surprised Yang Xun.

"I wonder which county magistrate His Highness the Northern King intends for me to serve as?" Yang Xun asked boldly.

"Continue to serve as the magistrate of Huangmei County. If you do a good job as the magistrate of Huangmei County, the position of prefect of Huangzhou Prefecture will remain vacant. In the future, it will be fine to give you a scarlet official robe." After rewarding him with the official title, Peng Gang asked about Yang Xun's situation in Huangmei County.

"How many people and how much land does Huangmei County currently have? What were its annual tax revenues? What are the county's expenditures?"

Peng Gang specially sent Yang Xun to visit him, not only to see his old friend and to grant him an official position.

The main purpose was to gain a detailed understanding of the tax situation of the Qing Dynasty's county-level administrative units in person.

Yang Xun spent his entire official career as a county magistrate, and was a relatively capable one at that, making him a suitable candidate to answer this question.

(End of this chapter)