Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 407 Poverty leaves one with only one body, wealth with a thousand bushels of grain.
"Do you think he's trying to force the purchase of Xiaoyao Garden in the south of the city through this behavior?"

After listening to Wei Heng's account, Yuwen Rong immediately frowned and pondered.

Wei Heng nodded, then said, "Bi Gong's son has been visiting me several times recently about this matter, but I have been too lazy to deal with him. Until last time, he came to intimidate me by claiming to be Zhang Dai and Zhang Yan Gong, but I drove him away. Not long after, this matter came about."

Both Duke Yan and Duke Bi were greedy and despicable men, and their descendants, relying on their family's power, were even more greedy. Thus, such a scheme was entirely plausible. Prior to this, Zhang Dai had specifically gone to the province to inquire about the return of the gifts to the border people; upon closer examination, this matter was indeed different, and perhaps he intended to use this to coerce them…”

After hearing this, Yuwen Rong pondered for a moment before shaking his head slightly and saying, "Zhang Dai is no ordinary playboy. He is intelligent, quick-witted, and insightful. Judging from his investigation of my future plans upon entering the province, it is clear that this is not an ordinary attack. Judging from this, we have slightly missed the point."

Although he was dissatisfied with Zhang Dai's interference in the financial affairs and made many criticisms of him, when he truly evaluated Zhang Dai's person and deeds, he could not hide his appreciation for Zhang Dai, believing that Zhang Dai's painstaking efforts in doing these things were probably not for the simple purpose of forcibly buying the villa.

"Whether it is true or not, this person's actions are ultimately detrimental to important matters. Perhaps I should consult with him again and probe his intentions? If we can resolve this amicably, it would be better than direct conflict and dispute."

After thinking for a moment, Wei Heng continued, saying that on the one hand, he was naturally worried that Zhang Dai might interfere with Yuwen Rong's plan to become prime minister, and on the other hand, he was afraid that the other party might take advantage of the situation to hold the border people accountable.

"Interpersonal entanglements are extremely frustrating! But if everyone can be wholeheartedly loyal and work together to plan for the future, what can't be accomplished!"

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong sighed indignantly again, then said to Wei Heng, "You can go and talk to them. If their intention is truly this, we might as well agree for now. Once everything here is settled, I will give you justice!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Heng nodded in agreement and then left the Ministry of Revenue's office. After returning to the Ministry of Personnel, he went straight to the hall where Zhang Dai was staying.

Upon hearing that Wei Heng was requesting an audience, Zhang Dai temporarily put down the dossier in his hand, had someone bring him in, and then stood up and asked with a smile, "Master Wei, what brings you here? Even if you hadn't come, I would have liked to ask you directly later. Why did you come up with such a unique idea to demand the return of the gifts from the border people? From what I've seen, the misappropriation of funds by various departments is not limited to just the gifts from the border people!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Heng frowned slightly, becoming even more certain that Zhang Dai's actions were aimed at him. He then said in a deep voice, "As Zhang Xielu has seen, the border people's gifts were indeed made by misappropriating capital to repay interest. Why can't they be recovered?"

Seeing that Wei Heng was using rhetoric to play dirty tricks, Zhang Dai stopped pressing him for answers. The reason Wei Heng was doing this was simple: to achieve other goals while also causing trouble for his rival, Pei Guangting.

After all, the Ministry of War has a supervisory responsibility for the treatment of these border soldiers. If it cannot protect the rights of the conscripts, Pei Guangting will inevitably be criticized. However, if it protects the rights of the conscripts and stops the matter, it will make the officials of the Ministry of War dissatisfied.

Although Chancellor Xiao Song also held the position of Minister of War, his duties as Chancellor were clearly more important. Moreover, with Pei Guangting revealing his intention to seek the position of Chancellor, his relationship with Xiao Song was no longer purely that of superior and subordinate, but rather that of competitors. If any mishaps occurred in the affairs of the Ministry of War, Xiao Song would certainly hold Pei Guangting accountable.

Given such expectations, is the small amount of blessing bestowed upon a mere thousand or so Long March athletes really that important?

Seeing that Zhang Dai remained silent and seemed to have lost his momentum, Wei Heng was naturally a little smug for a moment, but he quickly realized that his aggressive attitude was not suitable for the next exchange.

After a brief self-examination, he softened his attitude, smiled slightly, and said to Zhang Dai, "Dou Lang from Dou Bi Gong's family visited me the other day and mentioned Zhang Lang's name when he spoke with me. If Zhang Lang has some free time later, could you come home with me and invite Dou Lang to a banquet together?"

boom!
Zhang Dai raised his hand and slammed it heavily on the table, looking at Wei Heng with a face full of shame and anger, and said angrily, "What do you mean by that, Master Wei? Are you implying that I am full of private schemes and have no heart for public affairs! Today, I am here in the capital to investigate the case on the orders of Minister Du. If I find nothing, how can I have time to worry about anything else! Master Wei, please leave and do not disturb me with this private matter!"

Wei Heng had little experience dealing with Zhang Dai, and upon hearing his rebuke, he was stunned. A surge of intense shame and anger rushed to his head, and he immediately snorted coldly and stormed out.

Zhang Dai was naturally unafraid of offending Wei Heng so easily. The fact that Wei Heng had taken the initiative to say a few conciliatory words meant that he had clearly received the signal Zhang Dai had given and had made his decision. Now that the fish had taken the bait, he could just let it run its course slowly; the more it struggled, the better he felt.

Leaving aside Wei Heng's impulsive departure, Zhang Dai, after reviewing the management records of the old government's capital, gained a new perspective on the evolution of the Tang Dynasty's political situation.

Although public office funds were only one aspect of financial affairs and not even the main component of fiscal expenditure, their dedicated nature meant that changes in public office funds directly reflected personnel changes in the Tang Dynasty. During the Kaiyuan era, the number of personnel in various government offices in the capital initially increased, then decreased, and then continued to increase again.

The beginning was mostly during the reigns of Emperor Zhongzong and Emperor Ruizong, the so-called post-Wu Zhou era, when official corruption was rampant and various irregular appointments of officials increased dramatically. In the early years of the Kaiyuan era, the number of people receiving salaries decreased sharply, and the capital of government offices also decreased accordingly. It was during Yao Chong's tenure as prime minister that official corruption gradually returned to normal.

However, this peaceful and harmonious political situation did not last long. After the fourth year of the Kaiyuan era, the number of officials in the capital continued to increase, and the scale of government offices also increased accordingly, which meant that the administrative costs of the court were getting higher and higher.

The idea of ​​abolishing the government office's capital and replacing it with household taxes was proposed as early as the sixth year of the Kaiyuan era by Cui Mian, then serving as the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat. This was to avoid the drawbacks of the government office's capital management, where wealthy households were exempted from corvée labor while poor households suffered. This situation was particularly severe in local areas.

During the implementation of the government's budget, due to various manipulations by wealthy households, the burden was shifted to ordinary households, thus losing the original intention of the system to use the wealthy as administrative costs. Therefore, this part of the expenditure was simply incorporated into the household tax.

However, this is not a clever strategy, because the household tax itself is an additional tax on top of the rent, labor service, tax and regular taxes. Moreover, in recent years, with the increase of various expenses, the proportion of the household tax in the entire tax system has been increasing, which has made the burden on the people heavier and heavier.

A simple example: if the people truly lived in peace and prosperity and had their burdens reduced because of the arrival of the Kaiyuan era, then why would they flee abroad, forcing the court to conduct a household search and investigation? There are many reasons for the fleeing households, and the excessive tax burden is definitely one of the most important fundamental reasons.

As Tang society developed, development varied between regions, and returns in different industries also differed significantly.

The traditional Chinese tax system favored scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. However, in reality, the development of commercial taxes lagged far behind that of agricultural taxes. Therefore, in formulating fiscal policies, it was crucial to ensure more precise and broader tax collection, rather than simply distributing all new expenditures evenly among already heavily burdened households. The increase in taxes on salt, tea, and other commodities after the mid-Tang dynasty reflected this trend.

Zhang Dai himself was not opposed to the system of public funds, but there were significant loopholes in its implementation and supervision.

Although the imperial court had a subordinate department called the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Revenue, responsible for supervising the management of public funds, the only records available were those of the disbursement of funds, the collection of interest, and the use of the interest.

The process of capital disbursement and circulation, as well as the collection of interest, are all absent from the records. From the various government departments to the officials in charge of collecting funds, only these two stages can be traced. However, the impact of the capital disbursement into the market on market trade and manual production is completely unrecorded.

What you did with the borrowed money, how you made a profit, and what your final rate of return was—none of this is reflected.

In other words, even if you borrowed capital from various government departments to recruit soldiers, attack prefectures and counties, and use the spoils from the prefectures and counties to pay interest, it was still permitted within the government capital operation system.

Zhang Dai noticed this during the audit. The illegal lending of public funds he obtained from merchants like Wang Yuanbao was completely untraceable in the relevant records, making it unrealistic to try to uncover old cases by searching old records.

However, since the donations to the border people were paid from the interest in the register, it was very clear.

So, are these old grievances impossible to trace? Obviously not. Is an entire industry so corrupt that all its practitioners are innocent? Since we can't determine your guilt or innocence, let's presume you're guilty, arrest you first, then try you, and you have to prove your innocence yourself.

There were at most a little over a thousand commanders and clerks. If a thousand or so veterans who had served on the border for many years could be arrested so easily, then a thousand or so money-collecting clerks would naturally be no problem either.

You say this is too cruel, but what else would feudal society do besides exploitation? Now it's just a change of targets for exploitation. How much oil can you squeeze out of a poor person's bones?

The rich may not be guilty, but the court protects the poor who are destitute. If it protects you, it must protect your fertile fields, mansions, children and grandchildren, and piles of gold and silver. How can you not give more?
Of course, if that were to actually happen, the public capital system would essentially collapse. But even if the public capital system were to be reinstated, if the old methods were followed without any changes, whether it collapses or not wouldn't matter.

As for the claim that doing so would cause the court's credibility to collapse, that's pure overthinking. What's the big deal about dealing with a thousand or eight hundred clerks? Could it be more sensational than the hen crowing at dawn decades ago?
During the Wu Zhou period, the court was still full of upright officials. Steadfast and experienced ministers such as Grand Secretary Di were concerned about the country and its people. Apart from those who were dismissed, the court was not seen to be completely empty.

(End of this chapter)