Qing Yao

Chapter 14 Students Want to Learn Something

I don’t want to pay the money, but I want the goods. Is there any way?
Of course there are, thieves rob each other.

The suggestions Zhao An gave were undoubtedly innovative, positive and of high quality.

The main focus is on information gap.

Fire a fake cannon on the premise of maximizing the personal interests of the county magistrate.

There is some loss, but the effect is real.

There is nothing to be uneasy about, because this can not only solve the county magistrate's imminent difficulties, but also is a good thing for the welfare of the people. After all, the people will have to pay their property tax the day after tomorrow even if they don't pay it today or tomorrow.

Since the transfer of ownership is inevitable, we should take advantage of this opportunity to get the job done quickly. In this way, the people can save money, the county magistrate can collect money, the court can get military pay, and everyone will be happy.

What kind of cannon is this?

Taiping Cannon!
It doesn’t matter whether it is a rumor or not. The county magistrate sympathizes with the people’s difficulty in making money, so he made an exception and gave the green light. He collected less, so long as the people are satisfied.

When it comes to work, flexibility is the most important thing. It won’t work if you hold on to old ideas.

No one said you can only set off firecrackers twice.

"This method?"

Wang Tai looked at Zhao An, the assistant who had come up with the idea, then looked at Master Ji and Manager Zhang, and nodded slightly: "It's not impossible to do this."

To describe the reactions of Master Ji and Manager Zhang in Sichuan dialect, that's what they want!
But the final decision was not in their hands, so they both nodded to the guy from the tax bureau and went to report the matter to the county magistrate.

The subsequent developments were beyond Zhao An’s control.

On the way back, Wang Tai did not feel dissatisfied with Zhao An's unauthorized suggestion. After all, this matter would benefit all parties. He even praised Zhao An, saying that he was smart and came up with such a good idea. If this matter could be accomplished, Master Ji would definitely give Zhao An credit. Maybe Zhao An could be "promoted" to a regular position in the company without waiting until the end of the year.

After being converted to a regular employee, Zhao An would not only become a formal accountant in the accounting room like Wang Tai, but his salary would also be increased to more than 20 taels a year. After a few years of hard work and seniority, he would be a big shot in the company.

It's exactly the style of his cousin Wang Defa.

This path may seem ordinary, but for most people, it is a path they will never be able to take in their entire lives.

However, becoming a regular employee is not Zhao An's ultimate goal. He wants to go further, otherwise he would not have given Master Ji and the others the idea of ​​​​faking it. Doing so is nothing more than leaving a good impression on the county leaders.

It's a rare opportunity to meet county leaders. If I don't seize it, I will be sorry for the two months he spent cleaning the house.

After returning to the Taxation Bureau, Wang Tai went to report to Ambassador Ding Zhenglong. It is not known whether he said that the idea of ​​setting off fake cannons was proposed by Zhao An. Anyway, Ding Zhenglong called the heads of the four departments responsible for the land and house sales tax to his office that day. It is estimated that he arranged for the people in the four departments to be prepared first, so as not to be too busy when too many people came to pay.

Over the next few days, Zhao An, Liu Xiaolou and Wang Tai followed Wang Tai to calculate the account books they had received from the household registration office. These were all miscellaneous market accounts from recent years, in order to prepare for a possible major inspection by the Governor's Office.

There are random inspections every year, sometimes by the provincial governor, sometimes by the government, but most of the time it’s just a formality, with some food and drinks and then it’s over.

Although this was just a formality, Zhao An and his colleagues, as grassroots accountants, could not afford to be careless. There were so many account books that they were exhausted day and night. On two days, they even worked overtime until late at night, leaving them no time to pay attention to what was happening outside.

However, one afternoon, Zhang Quan, the manager of the accounting office, came over to chat with the people from the second office and talked about the court's deployment of troops on the plateau. Zhao An, who was using an abacus, vaguely heard something about lamas, Gurkhas, and the minister being replaced by the court.

I guess I saw it in the palace gazette.

The Dibao was a newspaper used by the imperial court throughout the dynasties to convey government documents. It was distributed down to the county level and was similar to the daily newspaper in Zhao An's previous life.

If officials, gentry and common people wanted to know what important events were happening in the court, they could only read the court bulletins; there was no other channel.

Officials, however, had other means of obtaining information. Because the news in the imperial gazettes was relatively "popular" and their publication time was slow, it was difficult to obtain effective information from them and to grasp the latest developments in officialdom. Therefore, whenever conditions permitted, officials would dispatch dedicated attendants to the capital and provincial capitals to gather information.

This type of long-time attendants may be stationed in the capital, the provincial capital, or even the government office.

These attendants are usually the closest people to the officials, as they are also responsible for the important tasks of delivering gifts and bribes on behalf of their masters and delivering their masters' private letters.

Can officials feel at ease if outsiders do the job?

Combining the opinions of Zhang Quan and others, Zhao An roughly guessed that the Qing court's use of troops against the plateau this time was definitely the last of Qianlong's so-called "Ten Complete Military Achievements" - the "Gurkha Campaign."

Who is Gurkha? It is Nepal in later generations, a country that cannot be any smaller.

During the Qing Dynasty, however, Nepal became a power on par with Britain and France, leaving the Qing dynasty in dire straits. Qianlong, the old emperor, had a tough time. During his sixty years on the throne, he faced only the most formidable enemies the Qing could only manage once in a century. These included the Jinchuan tribes (a combination of Ming loyalists and plateau dwellers), whose territory was only the size of a county; the Dzungars, whose population had been reduced to 20% to 30% by plague, leaving them unable to muster a large army; and the Khoja brothers, who commanded perhaps a thousand men. Furthermore, there were the powerful Burmese and Annan tribes to the south, who completely annihilated the Qing army.

Including Lin Shuangwen, the leader of the Tiandihui who was in Taiwan and forced the Qing army to cross the sea to encircle and suppress him, this is the so-called "Ten Complete Military Achievements".

At first glance, it sounds very intimidating, but after careful study, there is only one conclusion - it is not valuable enough and is even more watery than the sea.

The affairs of the plateau were a far cry from the situation, and were a matter of concern to Emperor Qianlong and high-ranking officials of the Qing court. They had nothing to do with Zhao An, so he just treated it as a piece of news and continued to work hard on his calculations.

Two days later, the office suddenly became bustling. As soon as the door opened in the morning, dozens of people rushed in and clamored to transfer ownership.

It's really a case of paying money and getting the certificate at the same time. After a busy day, there are still a lot of people queuing outside to pay and transfer ownership.

The news that the county magistrate was about to be promoted to an official position elsewhere also spread throughout the Taxation Bureau. Those who knew the inside story smiled and said nothing, while those who didn't know were really surprised, because this county magistrate had only worked in Ganquan for more than a year and was promoted. This promotion speed was quite fast.

Of course Zhao An understood what was going on, but he didn't tell anyone, including his cousin Wang Defa.

Judging from the reactions of the people from the fourth room, the Taxation Department has been making a lot of money these days. A conservative estimate is that it can easily reach 30,000 or 40,000 taels.

The amount that Yangzhou Prefecture gave to Ganquan County was 50,000 taels. Even if the money could not be raised, the county government could still make do by squeezing in money from other places.

One day, when Zhao An was chatting with Wu Laoer in the gatehouse, someone from the county government came to inform him to go to the government office. Zhao An asked the person what he wanted, but the other person said he didn't know.

Zhao An did not dare to delay and told Wang Tai about the matter. Wang Tai asked him to go to the county government office quickly to see what was going on, and he could tell the manager Zhang Quan about the absence.

Zhao An hurriedly thanked Wang Tai and hurried to the county government office. When he arrived at the gatehouse, he gave his name and explained his purpose. Perhaps after being informed by his superiors, a bailiff came out and pointed to the room of the legal advisor Ji Bochang, and told Zhao An to go there by himself.

It turned out that it was Zhao An who was found by Master Ji.

Zhao An thought that it might be related to his idea of ​​setting off fake firecrackers. When he arrived at the place, it turned out to be for this matter. It was a good thing, because Master Ji directly handed Zhao An a silver note worth fifty taels, saying that it was a reward from the county magistrate.

It's understandable. If the county magistrate doesn't know how to behave, how can his subordinates help him share his worries?

Fifty taels is equivalent to Zhao An's current three-year salary. It is an ordinary amount in the eyes of Master Ji, but it is a huge sum of money in Zhao An's eyes.

However, after thinking about it, he handed the banknote back to Master Ji.

This action made Master Ji stunned for a moment, frowning slightly: "Why, do you think it's not enough?"

Zhao An hurriedly said respectfully, "I dare not. It's not that the money is too little, I just don't want it."

"for free?"

Master Ji laughed. He had never thought that there were people in this world who didn't love money. He looked up and carefully examined Zhao An, who was standing before him with an extremely sincere attitude. He tapped the table and said calmly, "What do you want? Tell me. As long as it's not too difficult, I, your master, can help you with it."

After a pause, he thought of something and suddenly realized, "Yes, you haven't been in the Taxation Department for long. Do you want me to help you inform Ambassador Ding and get the official approval in advance? Even so, you have to take this money. You must know that this is a reward from the county magistrate, not from me, Ji Bochang."

After saying that, he pushed the banknote back in front of Zhao An.

One thing at a time, if it weren't for this kid's idea of ​​setting off fake firecrackers, how would the county magistrate have made up for the shortfall of 50,000 taels of silver?

Reward for merit and punish for fault. There must be principles in everything we do.

Ji Bochang would not swallow up the fifty taels of silver.

Unexpectedly, Zhao An pushed the banknote back again, his face flushed and he said embarrassedly: "Sir, I thank the county magistrate for his kindness, but I really don't want this money, and I don't want to trouble you. I just want to..."

"What are you thinking about?"

The young man's behavior aroused Ji Bochang's great interest. He stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and encouraged him, "Speak boldly, it's okay."

"Students want to learn something from their teacher."

Zhao An looked as if he had mustered up his courage.

Well, this gave me the idea of ​​moving from the tax bureau to work in the government office.

Taking the secondment route allows me to achieve a small leap forward.

(End of this chapter)