Chapter 72: Money is Heaven

  Zhao Zhe sat in the council hall, with officials and several county magistrates' tax officers on either side. He was calm and composed, while the tax officers were nervous and fearful. They explained their purpose and waited for the prince's response.

  The Song Dynasty implemented a household registration system for the main clients, who were generally not private property of the landowners but were also registered in the household register and became formal registered households. This was considered progress in history, but they had to pay poll tax and bear corvée labor, and some clients directly bore summer and autumn taxes. Even if they did not bear them directly, it was still a case of "the sheep's wool being cut from the sheep's body", as the landlord would increase the land rent and pass on the taxes to them. Although a good harvest is expected now, their worries are even greater, and they do not know what the new landlord will do.

  The Song Dynasty continued to use the Two-Tax Law. The summer tax was generally converted into silk fabrics, so the summer tax was also called "tax silk". Due to the fact that the two Songs were subject to the northern countries of Liao, Western Xia, and Jin, they had to "send" out a large number of forced silks every year; at the same time, many silks were needed for foreign trade and rewarding officials. The government's demand for silk was extremely high, so they formulated the "head tax" and "miscellaneous tax". They often used silk as a substitute for taxes, known as "body silk tax". Both of these taxes had to be "submitted together with the two taxes". Among these taxes, silk accounted for half of the total income of the government's silk at that time. During the Two Songs period, the tax rate of the two taxes did not change much on the surface, but additional taxes such as "peaceful purchase of silk" were formulated.

  After Cai Jing reformed the "Salt Certificate Law" in this dynasty, the pre-purchase had evolved to be completely different. The government not only did not pay seven-tenths of the price of salt, but also did not pay three-tenths of the money, and even forcibly increased the weight of silk handed over by civilians from 2 taels/match to 1 tael/match. From then on, pre-purchase had become a supplementary tax for the two taxes, with only one purpose - to extort people's wealth.

  What's even more pathetic is that as the pre-purchased goods were converted into "white goods" (baizhao), the people would convert the two taxes of grain and silk that they should pay into cash and hand it over, which was called conversion. In fact, this is the monetization of payment methods commonly used today. However, the conversion in the Song Dynasty was not so simple. According to needs, the court could also require the people to convert the cash they should pay into grain or silk, or order them to exchange grain and silk with each other. What's more, the people had to first convert object A into money, then convert the money into object B, and finally convert object B into money before handing it over.

  As a result, the actual tax paid by the people reached more than twice the normal amount, which also increased the burden of taxation on the people. The government often took advantage of the conversion to make profits from the exchange between goods and money. After several rounds of "conversion" and "baptism", some people who worked hard all year round ended up with nothing but empty hands.

  After careful consideration, Zhao had bought almost all the land within a radius of ten miles around him. The people living here were almost all tenants of the Zhao family. If the taxes were reasonable, he did not object to the government taxing them and hoped that the tenants would pay their taxes. After all, paying taxes in accordance with the law was also an obligation that every citizen should fulfill in modern society. However, the tax burden on the tenants had already far exceeded their ability to bear it, and it could not be said to be reasonable at all. To put it accurately, it should be called a heavy tax.

  He also understood that it was impossible to change the entire social situation with his own strength, and all he could do was to let the tenants pay reasonable taxes. Those so-called "folded changes" would be gone. "Zhang Zhushi, I don't oppose you collecting taxes on my estate, but I hope you will follow the rules and not add any messy things in between. Don't think about making a profit from it either. If your actions provoke a peasant uprising, don't say I won't agree, even the emperor won't let you off. When the time comes to lose your head, I'm afraid even your superiors won't be able to save you!" Zhao Ke said slowly after sipping his tea.

  "Thank you, Your Majesty. I dare not be presumptuous. We will handle the matter impartially!" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Zhuobo surprisingly got down on his knees and kowtowed, saying... Everyone in the hall was shocked.

  "Alright, you have been loyal to the country, and I won't let you down. Zheng Shou, you stay with them for a few days." The tea in Zhao Che's mouth sprayed out, suspecting that he had gone mad. It was no wonder he thought so - evil officials, evil officials, but low-ranking officials were just newcomers to the ninth rank, and they were the ones who actually handled affairs. They often spent their whole lives as ninth-rank officials. Iron-clad officials, flowing water-like officials, they didn't have much of a future, so they could only try to make some money on the side. Zhao Che's words had just cut off their "gray income", and they should be resentful, but instead they looked like they were tearfully grateful.

  Having heard the king's praise, several people felt even more grateful and retreated with a humble attitude. Once they reached the door, they wiped away their sweat and suddenly looked at each other, bursting into laughter. Their excitement was as if they had just returned alive from the gates of hell.

  "Director Zhang is actually not as terrifying as they say, he's quite reasonable when it comes to handling matters!" A chubby tax officer whispered to himself, thinking no one was around.

  "Shh, go further away before speaking!" Zhang Zhuo led a few people and walked all the way to the gate of the mansion before saying: "I heard from colleagues in the government office that the young master has a childlike temperament, he hates those who rely on power to bully others, and is cruel to the villagers. As long as you do things according to the rules, he won't make it difficult for you. What I just said is true!"

  "Damn it, that bastard Wu Zhi County didn't take care of us brothers and instead gave us a suicidal task. I thought we were done for, I even prepared my funeral clothes before coming here, just waiting for my head to roll!"

  "Brother is right, that Wu Jinyan guy last time forced us to set up a card here, as a result, the governor and Tong Pan scolded us severely, losing face in front of colleagues, and now he's taking revenge on us, sending us here again, wanting to settle personal scores, borrowing a knife to kill people!"

  "Don't always think of the worst, when I was celebrating the New Year, my second cousin who works in the government told me that they were robbed by the king's men when they were following the imperial envoy to deliver the edict. Their leader was clever and gave them some money to let them pass, but Lord Cai thought he was the imperial envoy and scolded them for a couple of sentences, which almost got him beheaded. Later, they gave in and handed over the goods, but each of his men received a gold leaf as compensation. Do you think it's good luck or bad luck?"

  "Enough of the nonsense, we've all studied 'The Zhao Village Law Enforcement Manual' several times. When handling matters, one must be impartial; when speaking, one must be amiable. As for taxes, what's due is due - after all, a man only has one life!" Zhang Zhoubao interrupted the grumbling of several people.

  "The county magistrate has given us a task, if we can't complete it, we'll be beaten with a stick!"

  "Cut, what's to fear? If we can't collect enough, we'll just say the king has deducted a portion and left us with this much. The county magistrate wouldn't dare go to the royal palace to ask questions even if he had the guts!" Zhang Zhoubao said disdainfully.

  "Chief Accountant Gao is wise, we are inferior to him!" Several tax officials immediately flattered and said, thinking that you are our leader, even if you are beaten, we are not afraid. Several of them had a bottom line in their hearts and happily went to collect taxes.

  It's a pity for Zhao Chu, foolishly thinking he's clever, intimidating several tax officials, but unaware that his 'evil deeds' were being utilized by the cunning and treacherous officials. Not only did they successfully complete their tax collection task, but they also profited greatly, putting all the blame on him. The tenants were overjoyed as well, for this was the least amount of summer taxes they had ever paid in their lives. Of course, this merit was also credited to the young master's account!

  After the summer harvest, the tenants were busy planting rice, fortunately, this spring, the dam was repaired and the irrigation channels were cleared, most of the fields were filled with water in time, ensuring that the seedlings were planted on schedule. In contrast, other people's farms around us were not so lucky, after they finished harvesting wheat, there was a long drought without rain, they could only plant some miscellaneous grains to make up for it, delaying the harvest by half a year, and now they are worried about paying the autumn taxes, the whole family can only go begging along the street.

  The tenants are grateful for the kindness of Wang Ye, and after finishing their work in the fields, they immediately pave the main road and build a new village. Everyone knows that once the new house is built, they will have one room for themselves, so they are particularly careful and don't need to be urged to work hard, as they all want to spend the New Year in their new home.

  The weather is getting hotter and hotter, Zhao Zhan now spends most of his time hiding in the house or garden to avoid the heat, rarely going out. Every day he either reads books or writes and draws on paper, it's not clear what he's busy with.

  "This workshop will continue to expand, and the refinery will also be established by the end of the year. After the winery distributes its dividends at the end of the year, production can begin immediately. This year's drought has resulted in a lack of water in the reservoir, making it impossible to raise fish, so we'll have to wait until next spring. However, the feed factory and breeding farm must be built quickly, otherwise the wine lees will all go to waste. The mill also needs to start operating soon, as wheat bran can also be used as feed. The pigs and chickens raised can still be sold before the end of the year. The greenhouse also needs to be prepared for construction, aiming for a scale of 20 mu this year. Although the investment is not large, it can still bring in a substantial profit. Shouldn't we also build a textile mill, gather all the women from the farm households together, and give them something to do? It can also increase their income." Zhao Ke calculated the money in his pocket while planning for the future.

  "Money, why can't I just pick up a golden ingot on the road or grow a money tree in the ground?" After calculating for half a day, the deficit was still huge. This year's investment in the government is too much, it's not enough," Zhao Yi couldn't help but lament.

  "Second Master, it's really not possible, let's raise the land rent a bit, we can also increase our income!" Jian Xi couldn't help but advise, seeing Wang Ye getting angry over money.

  "No, the tenants barely scrape by, and in a year they can't even save a few dollars. How can we bear to increase the rent?" Zhao Yi immediately rejected Xixi's suggestion without hesitation.

  "Second Master, let's suspend the workshop for a while and reduce production. The warehouse is already full of harvesters, and just the labor and material costs are not a small expense!" Jian Xi suggested again.

  "It won't work, in a few days our big orders will arrive, and by then this little inventory won't last for several days either. Next year we'll be profitable, this can't stop!" Zhao Ye vetoed again.

  "Second Master, you've spent so much money, all that fuss and bother has been for nothing, now it's only good for scrap!" Xiwu said helplessly.

  "Is that so, you think the valuable thing in this house is worth taking out to pawn? Those two small turtles aren't very valuable, are they? You've pawned them for a good price!" Zhao Xiao felt amused by what Jian Xi said and pointed at the two green-haired turtles on the windowsill, thinking to himself: "I, the great King of Chu, a time-traveler from a thousand years ago, have to rely on pawning things to survive? It's laughable!"

  "Cut it out, Second Master! You think you're so great? The pawnshop doesn't accept living things, and even if they were given away for free, nobody would want them. That porcelain vase can still be exchanged for a few hundred taels!" Xie Xi said with a smile, knowing that Wang Ye was teasing him.

  "Glassy glaze, mother of glass glaze, isn't this the thing that turns yellow earth into gold?" Zhao Ke heard Ji Xi's words and fell ill again, his face showing a foolish color as he muttered to himself.