Chapter 63: Quiz with Rewards

  The county magistrate came to solicit donations, which was within Zhao Min's expectations and didn't surprise her. What did surprise her was that this county magistrate was indeed straightforward: as soon as they met, he complimented her on her beauty, seeming a bit too familiar. Now, before even entering the door or drinking tea, he opened his mouth to ask for silver, truly being very direct.

  Zhao Min still had many polite phrases prepared but hadn't said them yet.

  "It's rare for County Magistrate to visit us in person. Since the tea hasn't been served yet, why don't we chat while having some?" Zhao Min said with a smile.

  A bachelor and a widow chatting in the midst of a large crowd, under the watchful eyes of many people, seems a bit awkward and not solemn enough. Zhao Min decided to act as host and grant him an opportunity, also following Father's words, to entertain County Magistrate properly.

  When Zhao Min extended the invitation, Lu Haoshan smiled wryly and said: "Now the tax collection task is heavy, the common people are all oppressed by these taxes and levies, and they can't even lift their heads. They are so worried that they can't eat or drink tea. The sooner we raise the money and grain, the sooner the ordinary people will be relieved. The Zhao family is a well-known wealthy household in Jiang County. I hope the head of the Zhao family will have a kind heart and set an example."

  "County Magistrate, this way please." Zhao Min didn't respond directly, but smiled and invited Lu Haoshan to enter the house. Unbeknownst to them, they had already walked to the center of Zhaojia Village, where the grand mansion of Zhao Yuqing, the patriarch of the Zhao clan, was located.

  To show respect to the county magistrate, Zhao Min, although the host, followed behind Lu Haoshan's side, half a body length behind, to show his respect. Looking at Lu Haoshan's agile figure, Zhao Min thought to himself: This county magistrate, though young in age, is indeed experienced in handling affairs. At first, he was called Zhao Village Head, but when asking for money and grain, he changed his tone to Zhao Clan Head. Although only the title had changed, the meaning was already vastly different.

  Avoided suspicion of bullying the weak by the strong.

  While Zhao Min was deep in thought, Lu Haoshan appeared to be sightseeing the surroundings, but in fact, he also felt a bit depressed. The host was not present, and a weak woman was pushed out, seemingly uninterested in doing charity work. This way, things would not go well for him, and future work would be even harder to do.

  Choosing to take action against the Zhao family, Lu Haoshan also considered it repeatedly. Firstly, they had a strong foundation, secondly, they were good at saving face, and thirdly, they were outsiders without any roots. Even if they suffered a bit, they would still acknowledge it. Lu Haoshan had already thought of many methods, but he didn't expect the other party to use a move that left him punching empty air, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

  It's frustrating! Zhao Yuqing is avoiding me and won't see me, even if I were as eloquent as a flower in bloom, it would be of no use.

  "County Master, this is the new Bai Mao Silver Needle, please try it and see how it tastes?" The maid poured tea for the two of them after which Zhao Min softly asked Lu Haishan to taste it.

  Bai Mu Yin Zhen is produced in Jianyang and Shuiji of Fujian Province, named for its white color like silver and long shape like needle. When brewing, the tea cup is full of floating tea cream, with silver needles standing upright and intersecting each other, looking very beautiful. The tea color is bright yellow and clear, tasting refreshing and sweet, it's a top-grade tea. Even if you don't drink it up, just looking at it is a wonderful feeling.

  Lu Haoshan was also tasting this tea for the first time, seeing the tea leaves standing upright like pine needles, feeling very interesting, and couldn't help but say "Baihao Yinzhen? The name is quite good, not only fitting, but also elegant. This official has never had this kind of tea before."

  "This tea-making process is complex, and the kneading time is long. It requires a very skilled tea worker to produce such high-quality Bai Muo Silver Needle." Zhao Min said with some pride: "Looking at the whole of Jiangyou, I estimate that there isn't another household that can produce such high-quality Bai Muo Silver Needle."

  Jiangyou is located within the scope of the Tea-Horse Ancient Road, and there are many tea leaves. However, in the Central Plains, those minority groups have a dominant position in tea leaves, with inferior ones being passed off as good ones, and good ones being treated as top-grade products. Those top-grade white silver needle teas, which amount to less than 100 kilograms per year, are actually unaffordable for ordinary people even if they have money.

  "What a good tea, I don't know how much it's worth?"

  "About ten taels of silver per package."

  "A pack of one hundred catties?"

  Zhao Min smiled and shook her head, saying: "No, one package is two taels."

  Lu Haoshan was shocked and said: "If a two-liang package costs ten liangs, then wouldn't a one-jin package cost fifty liangs?"

  "Yes," Zhao Min hesitated for a moment before saying quickly.

  "Tea is good tea, but thinking of the taxes that can't be paid, I don't know how many common people will go bankrupt and sell their children, how can this official drink it?" Lu Haoshan shook his head, with a look of distress on his face.

  Zhao Min was taken aback, she hadn't expected that this County Magistrate Lu would cleverly steer the conversation back to the fundraising topic again, making her feel a bit guilty. Fortunately, she was extremely intelligent and quickly responded: "County Magistrate Lu is kind-hearted and benevolent, with an official like you as their parent, Jiangyou is truly blessed."

  "A good housewife cannot cook without rice, and a good official cannot govern without money. This time, we need to collect taxes, so I hope you all can contribute generously." Lu Haoshan said with some bitterness.

  Zhao Min was not moved by Lu Haoshan's emotions of worrying about the country and the people, but instead said lightly: "County Master is actually being too kind, others say that our Zhao family is very prestigious and wealthy, but it's all rumors, saying it out loud isn't afraid of County Master laughing at us. Our Zhao family does have some silver, but most of it was used when buying land in the village, now it's just a facade, secretly struggling, already empty inside. These years, the people of Jiangyou suffered disasters, our Zhao family couldn't escape either, I'm afraid we're willing but unable."

  "It's all unbearable," Lu Haoshan said with some emotion. "The famous Zhao family is in such a situation, let alone ordinary people."

  "Sir, I wonder how much silver is needed for this tax collection?" Zhao Min asked curiously.

  Lu Haoshan hesitated for a moment before speaking up: "Adding the Liao tax, that makes two white silvers in total."

  "Twenty thousand taels? That's too much!" Zhao Min exclaimed in surprise: "If one county can have ten thousand taels, the imperial court and the emperor won't have to worry so much."

  "Our Jiang oil fields are vast, but the fields that can be exempt from taxation are few. The imperial court's dispatch of grain rations is one mace and two cents per mu, this item alone is a huge hole, plus once a year to collect taxes, the common people are burdened with more weight, suffering."

  Lu Haoshan said this with a somewhat complicated mood. Relatively speaking, the agriculture of the Ming Dynasty was very developed. During the Hongwu period, under the strong encouragement of Zhu Yuanzhang, who was pragmatic, agriculture had made great progress. According to historical records, there were over 18 million hectares of registered land, averaging 1.2 million mu per county across the country's over 1,400 counties. Even with light taxation, the Ming Dynasty's finances should not have been in a bad state. However, in reality, the Ming Dynasty's finances were actually in a terrible mess.

  The Ming dynasty was rarely in good financial health, and most of the time it was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Zhang Juzheng was an exception, and during his tenure, the national treasury had a surplus of several million taels. However, after the Jin dynasty's rebellion, that small amount of silver was quickly depleted. By the Chongzhen period, the annual revenue of the national treasury was between 3-4 million taels, but the cost of the Liaodong war alone was around 3 million taels per year, which means that almost all of the country's income went into that bottomless pit. However, it was impossible for the vast Ming dynasty to spend all its silver on Liaodong, so the court had to cut back on everything, border soldiers were owed wages, and various expenses were reduced. In desperation, they imposed the Liaodong tax, and after that, there were also the Campaign Tax and the Drill Tax.

  Take the Liaodong tax as an example, one mu of land is taxed 0.12 taels, and a county has nearly 13 million mu of land. At the end of the Ming dynasty, the cultivated land decreased slightly. Calculating with 1 million mu per county and 0.01 taels collected per mu, there would be at least 100,000 taels in one county from Liaodong tax alone. With over a thousand counties nationwide, it should be at least tens of millions of taels. However, the allocated Liaodong tax was approximately 6.7 million taels, and the actual collection was only over 5 million taels. Taking this taxation as an example, Jiangyou County had to submit 20,000 taels. With over 1,400 counties nationwide, it should be at least 200 million taels, but in reality, no more than one-third of that amount was actually collected.

  The reason is simple. Those aristocratic families and royal families occupy a lot of land but do not have to pay taxes, shifting the burden of labor to the common people. On the surface, they collect less, but there are too many miscellaneous taxes, such as fire expenses and grain expenses, which all add pressure on the heads of the common people. They collect more, but in reality, little is paid into the national treasury, leaving it empty. With constant additional levies, how can the lives of the common people not be difficult?

  It is precisely this diligent and unassuming quality of the Huaxia nation that can endure such a life, but it is also this quality that allows the Huaxia nation to stand tall in the East of the world.

  Lu Haoshan's words came from the heart, sincerely speaking for the people of Jiangyou. Even Zhao Mian was moved by his words, her eyes turned around and she smiled, asking: "Assisting others in doing good deeds, our Zhao family has always been unwilling to lag behind. As the parents of Jiangyou County, how much will you donate?"

  "I'll donate a year's salary." Lu Haoshan said without hesitation.

  "All right, that little girl will represent my father and donate ten times the salary of a senior official." Zhao Min said immediately, for her, these few hundred taels were just a small matter.

  Lu Haoshan's annual salary was about 40 taels, and ten times that would be 400 taels. For ordinary people, 400 taels were already an astronomical figure, but for the richest man in Jiangyou, it was just a drop in the bucket. Lu Haoshan couldn't be satisfied with that.

  "This official position is low in salary, usually still considered clean and honest, can't be compared to the Zhao family, it's actually laughable for a young lady like you. This official has the heart but not the power, can only throw out a few words to inspire others, Miss Zhao has both the heart and the power, please excuse me for asking you to put in more effort."

  "Oh, how much should our Zhao family donate, as said by the county magistrate?"

  "The more the better, the less the worse."

  Not yet, just donated 400 taels and obviously not satisfied. It's really better to say than to sing. However, Zhao Min had already taken countermeasures. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said: "County Master is indeed dedicated to the people of Jiangyou, and we Zhao family have some savings, but it's not blown in by the wind. Seeing that you are so sincere, we can also make an extra effort. However, I have a small condition."

  Lu Haoshan immediately said: "What conditions do you have, Miss Zhao, just tell me."

  "The adult is a scholar, presumably with great talent and intelligence. As long as the adult can answer my questions, I will take out my own money to do a good deed." Lu Haoshan was taken aback - is this some kind of rewarded Q&A? PS: During the mountain climbing period, every day is spent crossing mountains and rivers. Now that no one herds cattle, the roads are all overgrown with weeds and need to be cleared before proceeding. It's exhausting, please sympathize, thank you!"