Transmigrated into a minor official in a county government, with children at home waiting for rice t

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhang Sanlang arrived at the household office as promised.

This place is much more spacious than the clerk's office. Four long desks are put together, and three rows of wooden shelves against the wall are filled with tax registers and land records.

The three accountants were already there. They were all in their early thirties, a few years older than Zhang Sanlang. Each of them had a stack of account books in front of them, their pens never stopping, but their brows were furrowed.

Zheng Tiesi put down his pen and rubbed his wrist.

Wang Tiesi moved the abacus beads back and forth, recalculated, and muttered to himself, but still couldn't get it right.

Liao Tiesi didn't say anything, but just stared blankly at a tax register, his eyes fixed on a certain page for a long time, as if waiting for that line of numbers to change by itself.

Zhou Qianxing sat behind a desk at the far end of the room with a dark expression, the abacus beads clicking loudly.

Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw Zhang Sanlang. His face immediately lit up with a smile, and he stood up and cupped his hands in greeting. "I've been waiting for you. Please sit down."

He dragged a chair over and gestured with his chin toward Zheng Tiesi, "Go get that packet of compressed tea from my cupboard and brew it for Zhang Tiesi. Don't use warm water, use boiling water from the stove."

Zheng Tiesi responded, took out a small coarse porcelain jar from the cabinet, opened the lid, used bamboo tongs to pinch out a small piece of tightly pressed tea cake, broke it into pieces, and put it into the teacup.

He quickly went out and retrieved the kettle. A plume of scalding white steam rushed into the cup, and the aroma of tea mingled with the heat.

Zhou Qianxing pointed to the rows of wooden shelves against the wall, "These are all the account books that need to be audited for this year's autumn tax. The local tax alone involves more than 4,000 households in the county."

"Each household was taxed according to the fertility of their land, and divided into three classes: upper, middle, and lower. Urban households and rural households were listed with different tax rates. There was also a special register for commercial taxes, in which urban merchants were classified according to their trade, and dock merchants were taxed according to the goods they carried."

"Land tax and commercial tax are collected in two separate sets of accounts. There are no fewer than a dozen different taxes and levies. Every year during the autumn tax season, I spend from mid-August to the end of October calculating them."

"Officer of Postings, this year for the autumn tax, I want you to take charge of the land tax. The increase or decrease in acreage, the rise or fall of household status, and the conversion of tax exemptions in the four townships and thirty-six villages are all issues that are constantly being calculated and are always in disarray."

He patted the stack of account books on his right. "I keep an eye on the commercial taxes myself. How much monthly turnover the stationary merchants make, how much tax they collect from each ship of the traveling merchants, and whether there are any discrepancies in the figures reported by the head of the fleet—these things rely on my reputation."

"Zheng Tiesi has been dealing with those merchants at the dock for several years and knows the quality of their tax returns. He has always helped me check the commercial tax register. This year, it's the two of us working together again."

Zheng Tiesi was carrying a stack of account books past the shelf when he heard this and nodded to Zhang Sanlang, confirming Zhou Qianxing's words.

Zhang Sanlang chuckled upon hearing this, "Why doesn't Clerk Tao hire a few more people to help out?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qianxing couldn't help but complain, "Zhangshi, is your household registration office a restaurant? You can't just hire as many staff as you want! The number of clerks in each department is controlled by Clerk Feng, and the staffing is fixed."

"Three clerks are already the maximum for the Household Department. Do you want one more? If Clerk Feng doesn't agree, I can't even bring in an extra desk."

He got angrier and angrier as he spoke, picked up his teacup and took a sip, "This summer's tax season has been so busy that we've had no time to breathe. Clerk Tao has submitted two applications to Registrar Gu, hoping to get a clerk position."

"Registrar Gu wrote four words: 'Expense reduction not approved.' The Prefect is drinking tea and playing with birds in the back office; how could he know that everyone has to stay up until midnight every year when taxes are due?!"

"Besides," he said, setting down his teacup, "even if the government were willing to release the quotas, would they be able to recruit anyone?" "There are plenty of illiterate people in Juancheng, and those who can read are all focused on the imperial examinations. Who would want to become an official?"

"Once you're registered as a clerk, you can never take the imperial examinations again. Not only will you carry the stigma of being a lowly clerk for the rest of your life, but it will also bring shame to your descendants. Families with even two acres of land would rather have their children farm than enter the government office."

"Of my three clerks, Zheng Qian is someone I brought from Leize County, while the other two are fellow villagers brought by Clerk Tao. They are at least somewhat literate and can do math and writing."

"It's enough to check the deed tax for daily use. After all, there are only three or four thousand people in Juancheng, so there aren't that many trivial matters on a daily basis. It's just that when the two taxes are due each year, the account books pile up like mountains, and these three are so busy that we have to borrow them."

Wang Tiesi looked up from the pile of account books and interjected, "I heard the other day that Hu Tiesi from the workshop resigned and went home to grow radishes."

Zhou Qianxing nodded in agreement: "That's right. With such meager rations, we're constantly being gossiped about behind our backs, with people saying that none of the tax collectors are any good. At least radishes are sweet, and when people from our household go out, even the radish sellers are more respectable than us."

He turned to Zhang Sanlang and said, "To be honest, regarding the Zhang family's ancestral land matter last time, firstly, I felt indignant on your behalf, and secondly, I wasn't afraid of offending Brother Zhang. By gaining a favor, it would be easier for Tao Yashi and me to ask to borrow you, wouldn't it?"

Seeing his sincerity, Zhang Sanlang couldn't help but laugh: "Zhou Qianxing, you're being too polite. I can distinguish between public and private matters. If it weren't for Brother Zhou and Clerk Tao's help, those ten acres of land would probably still be in someone else's name."

"It goes without saying that personal relationships are lasting, and the inter-departmental transfers within the county government are simply official business. Brother Zhou, just hand over this year's land tax register. If there are any mistakes, come to me."

After a few pleasantries, the two opened up to each other and soon began to call each other brothers.

Zhou Qianxing then solemnly explained that the account books sent by the scribes from various villages were not in the same format. Some were written by household, some by plot of land, and some had torn pages and illegible handwriting.

They would flip through several books from morning till night, sometimes having to search through several books just to find a single number.

Zhang Sanlang nodded to indicate that he understood, and he pulled out a booklet and opened it.

Each page is densely filled with the head of household's name, the amount of land, and the amount of tax payable. The handwriting is messy, the ink is of varying shades, and some places have been corrected three or four times.

He closed the booklet and asked Zhou Qianxing what order the account book was arranged in, whether it was by township, by village, or by household, etc.

Zhou Qianxing rubbed his eyes. "In previous years, the scribes from each village would send their documents in whatever order they were submitted. Each village head had their own way of writing their name. It was good enough if you could remember them all, let alone pay attention to the order."

"It's the same every year. We flip through the pages one by one, and we finish the calculations in about two months."

Zhang Sanlang put the booklet back on the shelf: "So that means we're wasting most of our time flipping through the booklets every year. Brother Zhou, let's do something different this year. Don't rush to settle the accounts. Let's categorize them first."

He stood in front of the wooden frame for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the rows of account books before turning to the other two clerks.

"Brother Wang, break down all the land tax ledgers into separate piles according to townships and villages. The four townships of the county will then be divided into four piles, and each village will be stacked separately."

"Brother Liao, please arrange the account books of each village by household level, with one book for each of the upper, middle, and lower-class households. After that, verify the taxes, verifying each household and each village, and finally I will summarize the results."

Upon hearing this, both of them looked towards Zhou Qianxing.