Huangming

Chapter 204 Sweeping the Lands of the Capital Region, Aiming at the Powerful Clans (Bonus Chapter for 600 Monthly Tickets!)
The drought is getting worse.

The April sun was already blazing, scorching the parched fields of Beizhili.

The heat was intense along the loess road, and even the willows along the roadside drooped their branches listlessly.

A group of people slowly approached.

The leader was dressed in the official robes of a fourth-rank civil official, but he was barefoot in straw sandals, and his trousers were rolled up high, revealing his tanned calves.

If it weren't for that official hat, anyone would have thought he was an old farmer who had just returned from the fields.

Hong Chengchou wiped the sweat from his forehead, leaving a white stain on the front of his official robe.

Three months ago, he was still the head of the Ministry of Justice, but now he has become the "King Yama" in the eyes of the powerful and wealthy.

Since being ordered to survey the land in Beizhili, he has traveled to all thirty-six prefectures and counties of Shuntian Prefecture, and has personally measured more land than he has read the books of sages.

Those sunburnt, peeling necks and calloused knuckles were the price of serving the emperor.

As for why he only traveled to all thirty-six prefectures and counties of Shuntian Prefecture, the reason is quite simple.

Although the emperor issued an edict to survey the entire land of Beizhili, Beizhili is a vast territory, encompassing prefectures such as Baoding, Zhengding, Shuntian, and Xuanfu. If all of them were to be surveyed at once, it would be impossible for even a fourth-rank civil official like Hong Chengchou to manage it, let alone all the officials under the Six Ministries.

Moreover, this task of surveying and measuring fields requires not only clerks who are proficient in arithmetic to measure with ropes, but also scribes familiar with the local area to register and compile records, and strong and capable laborers to maintain order.

At present, the court can only allocate a little over a thousand people to him. If they are distributed among various prefectures and counties, he is afraid that none of them will be able to handle things properly.

After much deliberation, Hong Chengchou finally decided on a strategy: first, to concentrate manpower to survey the thirty-six prefectures and counties of Shuntian Prefecture.

Shuntian Prefecture is located right under the emperor's nose, where the land and property of the powerful and wealthy are most concentrated. If we can make a breakthrough here, there will be a precedent to follow in other places.

More importantly, once the land survey in Shuntian Prefecture is completed, all the clerks and runners he personally trained will become skilled. When they are assigned to various prefectures to supervise the work, they will be a hundred times better than the current novices.
This steady and methodical approach, though seemingly half a step slower, is actually the fastest way.

However, those high-ranking officials who hide in the shade and fan themselves probably don't want to understand this principle.

Having visited various prefectures and counties, Hong Chengchou had gained a detailed understanding of the situation in Shuntian Prefecture.

In reality, surveying the land in Shuntian Prefecture was by no means an easy task.

This strategically important area surrounding the capital is fraught with hidden dangers, with three areas being particularly troublesome:
Firstly, Daxing and Wanping counties are the most desirable areas right under the emperor's nose.

Here, noble mansions stand in abundance, and eunuchs' residences are scattered everywhere. A single acre of fertile land is often divided into three parts: what appears to be barren land is actually a vast expanse of rich and fertile land.

Even worse, some people hid the land deeds in the inner layers of Buddhist scriptures, or falsely claimed that the land was from temples and incense offerings to evade land surveys.

Secondly, Tongzhou and Jizhou, vital waterway routes, were interspersed with government-owned farmland and military settlements.

The military farmland cultivated by the laborers had, over the years, become the private property of the thousand households; the newly silted-up mudflats on both sides of the river had long been secretly added to the registers of the Ministry of Works clerks.

Hong Chengchou once witnessed that the same piece of farmland was abandoned in the Ministry of War's fish-scale register, but was recorded as having a bumper harvest in the Ministry of Revenue's yellow register.

Thirdly, the estates of the royal princes in Bazhou and Zhuozhou were deeply entrenched.

Those fields bearing signs for Renshou Palace Estate and Prince De's Mansion should have yielded 500 shi of grain, but the accounts only recorded 50 shi.

The stewards of the Prince's mansion also habitually used the tactic of "flexible contracts," which involved buying land at low prices during years of famine but not allowing the original owners to redeem it during years of plenty, thus forcing self-cultivating farmers into tenant farmers.

The land survey was not simply a matter of measuring land; it was a fierce and complex struggle.

This is why he demanded the authority to mobilize troops when he accepted this mission.

Without soldiers and authority, the land survey will be extremely difficult to carry out.

In order to clear the land as quickly as possible.

Hong Chengchou meticulously devised a strategy that was progressive and combined firmness with flexibility.

Firstly, a rigorous land survey system was established with the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture in charge.

He petitioned the emperor to order the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture to take overall command, with county and prefectural officials each performing their duties, thus forming a three-tiered linkage between the prefecture, county, and township levels.

Each county has a specially appointed "land survey ambassador," who is a senior official selected from the Ministry of Revenue who is proficient in accounting for money and grain.

These people dealt with land tax records year-round and were well-versed in fraudulent methods such as "flying tax" and "deceptive taxation."

Hong Chengchou personally assessed their abilities, and only those who could spot the shady dealings in the accounts at a glance were given important positions.

Secondly, they relied heavily on local forces, using "Tuzheng" as their eyes and ears.

He appointed respected elders from various villages as "Tuzheng" (land officials). These elders had spent half their lives traveling through the fields and knew the ownership and changes of every piece of land like the back of their hand.

Each headman was accompanied by a scribe carrying a fish-scale register and an archer holding a measuring rope, with local militia leading able-bodied men as guards. The group checked each village one by one, and when there were disputes over land boundaries, they used the old Wanli register as evidence and marked them on the spot with red ink.

A local tycoon once secretly moved the boundary marker in an attempt to seize neighboring land, but Tu Zheng exposed his scheme with irrefutable evidence passed down from his ancestors: "Three zhang south of the old locust tree in the east village." Tu Zheng was speechless.

Hong Chengchou also provided benefits to the surveying envoys and map officials who helped with the surveying.

Wealth and land are tempting, and although they are not in accordance with regulations, extraordinary measures must be taken in extraordinary times.

Third, a two-pronged approach, combining both soft and hard tactics.

In response to the common tactic of "passing off barren land as cultivated land" used by nobles, Hong Chengchou ordered people to retrieve the original archives from Zhang Juzheng's land survey, circled the changes in land area over the years with cinnabar, and compiled the "Comparison of Ancient and Modern Land Areas".

At the same time, a strict order was issued: those who conceal the truth must report it within one month, or their land will be confiscated and those in charge will be exiled three thousand miles away.

As for the official lands of meritorious officials and relatives, they would specifically target those plots that were "marked as barren in the Yellow Register and overgrown with crops" for surprise inspections.

The surprise inspection yielded remarkable results, making those noble relatives hate him to the core.

Fourth, mobilize the people to control the powerful.

Hong Chengchou set up an "anonymous petition box," allowing ordinary people to file anonymous petitions.

Three days later, a petition accusing the Marquis of Xiangcheng of forcibly occupying farmland was put into the box. He personally led his officers to inspect the site and dug out the original boundary stones that had been buried in public.

When the case was closed, not only were all the land properties returned to their original owners, but the steward of the Earl's Mansion was also publicly displayed in cangue in accordance with the "Great Ming Code". The local village head was also punished with caning for knowing about the case but failing to report it.

As a result, the number of lawsuits filed surged.

Sometimes, he didn't even need to investigate personally; the people themselves would uncover the hidden land.

The pace of land surveying is accelerating.

In addition, to appease the people, Hong Chengchou implemented a policy of "reducing taxes and encouraging honesty".

The yamen runners beat gongs and went around the countryside, announcing: "Anyone who reports truthfully will be exempt from 10% of their taxes for three years!"

The sound waves swept through the wheat fields covered with green seedlings, startling a flock of sparrows pecking at the ground and shattering the dreams of the powerful.

Even so, resistance still follows closely.

Hong Chengchou was followed by several strong guards who stayed close by at all times and were extremely vigilant.

Where the shadows of the trees sway, the secret sentries of the Embroidered Uniform Guard can be seen appearing and disappearing, and the cold glint of the Embroidered Spring Blade occasionally flashes under the blazing sun.

The existence of these guards is clear evidence of the immense resistance they face from both the court and the public.

Since being ordered to survey and measure the land, Hong Chengchou had long been a thorn in the side of the powerful and wealthy.

Those nobles and powerful families who were found to be hiding land, and those powerful families who were forced to pay back taxes, all hated him to the core.

Just three days ago, the Duke of Cheng's mansion actually raised assassins who launched a surprise attack on the post station at night.

If it weren't for the alertness of the Jinyiwei commander accompanying him, who had set up hidden sentries around the post station in advance, he would probably be dead by now.

"Serving the emperor is indeed not as simple as it seems."

Hong Chengchou stroked the Shangfang sword at his waist, the four gilded characters on the scabbard, "As if the Emperor were personally present," gleaming in the sunlight.

The emperor placed high hopes on him, promoting him to Imperial Commissioner for Disaster Relief and Land Survey in Beizhili, granting him the title of Right Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and bestowing upon him the Imperial Sword and the Imperial Decree Flag.

This special treatment was something many officials in the court longed for.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou's gaze became even more resolute.

Even if the road ahead is full of thorns and hidden arrows are hard to guard against, he must not only carry out this important task of clearing the land, but also do it well.

After all, this not only concerns the imperial court's taxes, but also Hong Chengchou's future career.

Those demons and monsters hiding in the shadows won't be able to stop him even a step!

As long as you can't kill me, then I, Hong Chengchou, will survey and quantify this land in Beizhili!
ps:
Another 12,000-word update!

Bonus chapter for 600 monthly votes!

Next, I'll add an extra chapter once you've cast 800 monthly votes.

Hurry up, get it done!
My keyboard is itching for a workout.

(End of this chapter)