Second-hand time travel: Liu Bei, the big-eared bandit

Chapter 334 Armed Tax Collection
August fifteen.

Many people have come to Linzi recently.

Apart from the officials who came by imperial decree, most of the others were people who had received Liu Bei's order to solicit taxes and had come to do business.

There are also many mysterious people whose origins are unknown.

Compared to fighting wars, debt collection is a more attractive business because it doesn't necessarily require an army.

About half of the prefectures sent their officials to Linzi, because Liu Bei required each prefecture to convert the tax into cash and make up for last year's tax arrears before the fifteenth of August. If they still cared about the court, they should of course send someone to explain the situation.

Liu Yu, Liu Biao, and others also sent envoys. Liu Yu's representative to meet Liu Xie was Tian Chou, an Attendant Gentleman, while Liu Biao sent his brother-in-law Cai Mao, who was also Liu Biao's Attendant Gentleman.

Yuan Shu also sent his cousin Yuan Yin to the meeting, and specifically commented that the portrait of the treacherous minister was quite accurate, asking Liu Bei who the next treacherous minister would be.

High-ranking officials from Luoyang, including Yang Biao, Xun Shuang, and Fu Wan, all came, and Fu Wan came to apologize on his own.

They came after receiving an imperial edict from Liu Xie, but logically they should have arrived earlier than Dong Zhuo.

In fact, their very presence was already an effect of the extermination of the Kong family.

Cao Cao did not completely exterminate the Kong family of Lu. He only purged more than 700 members of Kong Rong's clan in Lu County and more than 100 members of Kong Zhou's clan in Chenliu, which was basically a clan extermination. However, he did not implicate anyone outside the Kong family, nor did he kill any servants.

Kong Zhou was a branch of the Kong family in the State of Lu. His family was not actually killed by Cao Cao, but by Feng Dai, the governor of Chenliu. This was obviously an effect of the extermination of the Kong family.

The Kong family of Lu was a large clan with over a thousand members and tens of thousands of retainers and servants. The more than seven hundred people that Cao Cao killed were all members of the Kong family. After interrogation, Cao Cao did indeed obtain evidence of their collusion with the bandits of Mount Tai.

All of Cao Cao's servants were conscripted into laborers and sent to Pei State... This was a benefit that Cao Cao himself reaped.

Those members of the Kong family who survived were all demoted to criminals, their homes were ransacked, and their property was distributed among dozens of gangsters.

Everyone benefited, and Cao Cao's actions were all supported by evidence, so the fact that he could handle everything within a few months was extremely efficient.

The Kong family had marriage ties with most of the powerful families in the Han Dynasty, and it was impossible to truly exterminate their entire clan. After careful investigation, it was indeed necessary to target and eliminate them precisely.

It was precisely because this task was so troublesome that Liu Bei deliberately assigned it to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao understood that Liu Bei wanted to tie him to the opposite side of powerful and influential families, but he had no choice but to accept it. After all, both father and son were under someone else's roof and had to bow their heads.

Furthermore, the Kong family did indeed collude with the bandits of Mount Tai, and there is no doubt that they committed treason.

Colluding with bandits to commit crimes in order to gain political status is actually very common, and everyone knows it. It's just that in the past, no one wanted to break off relations, and everyone tacitly agreed not to bring this kind of thing to the forefront.

Typically, in wealthy families with two or more children, one son would inherit the family business while the other would go out and associate with thugs, operating in both the legitimate and criminal worlds.

Cao Cao's own family had his cousin Cao Ren who gathered a group of chivalrous men from the Huai and Si rivers—that's a nicer way of putting it, but in reality they were just river bandits and gangsters. Xiahou Yuan also mingled in the underworld.

The Yuan family was even more so. Yuan Feng was in the imperial court, while Yuan Wei colluded with the Taiping Dao (a group of outlaws). In this generation, Yuan Ji was clean in the court, Yuan Shao kept loyal followers, and Yuan Shu associated with bandits. Currently, Runan is still the stronghold of the Yellow Turban remnants, and Yuan Shu is still the leader of the bandit gangs in Huainan.

The Yang family of Hongnong also had ties with the Baibo Army of Hedong, but the Yang family kept it relatively secret, and few people knew that Yang Feng (Yang Feng) was a illegitimate son of the Yang family of Hongnong. However, Xu Huang knew, otherwise Xu Huang would not have followed Yang Feng for so long.

The Kong family originally consisted of two branches. The branch of Marquis Baocheng, Kong Wan, was indeed always clean and innocent. However, the branch in Lu State had been colluding with the bandits of Mount Tai for generations. Kong Rong's father, Kong Zhou, was the Commandant of Mount Tai, and Kong Zhou's father, Kong Xian, was once the Prefect of Mount Tai... It wasn't that the bandits of Mount Tai were impossible to eliminate, but rather that they were always protected by the Kong family, so no one dared to attack them.

This is true of every era; the righteous and the wicked always complement each other. Where there is light, there is shadow; a world without light does not exist.

However, these kinds of dirty deeds are easy to do but hard to talk about, since everyone does them, and if you pull down your pants, everyone will look bad.

Liu Bei, however, did not care whether it was ugly or not.

Because everyone knows that Liu Bei started out as a criminal, and his prison record for committing crimes in Luoyang has been kept, Liu Bei himself doesn't care about being called "Big-Eared Thief".

Liu Bei was happy to first expose the true nature of the Kong family of Lu, revealing the true nature of these aristocratic families to the public, and bringing all the glorified noble families to the same level—they were all gangsters, and none of them were more noble than the others.

Cao Cao understood this intention, and for him, bringing everyone to the same level was indeed beneficial.

In fact, the aftereffects of this matter have not yet begun to appear, but the benefits are very direct—after exposing the true nature of these thousand-year-old aristocratic families, these officials from wealthy families now appear very humble.

Fu Wan carried thorns on his back to apologize and requested to resign from his post.

Yang Biao came to Linzi alone and immediately hid in Yang Xiu's house, staying inside and not seeing anyone except when attending court.

Xun Shuang also didn't interact with many people; he simply visited the Jixia Academy.

Wang Yun, Huangfu Song, Gai Xun, and many others were absent due to illness—all the Luoyang officials who were absent were said to be sick, and it felt like half of them were ill, as if there was a plague...

In any case, the fact that they could ask for leave and claim illness at least shows that most officials now care about the Linzi court.

After all, if you can destroy the Kong family, you can destroy them too...

No one is cleaner than anyone else; everyone has something to hide.

Of course, there were also many who did not take the imperial court seriously; half of the prefectures in the country did not send anyone.

"...Currently, apart from Qing and Xu provinces, no other province has made up for last year's tax arrears. However, You, Yong, and Bing provinces have all submitted their tax reports, and the tax payment is being prepared and will arrive within the month." Jian Yong was reporting on the tax collection situation at the court meeting: "Besides these five provinces, twenty-six counties have submitted tax reports, but twenty-five of them reported disasters within their counties and requested tax reductions... Only Feng Dai, the prefect of Chenliu, paid his taxes in cash."

This is an expected result.

This is because it requires the payment of last year's taxes—if Liu Bei hadn't issued national bonds to bind Dong Zhuo, the taxes for Yong and Bing provinces certainly wouldn't have been paid.

Cao Cao just took over the affairs of Yan Province this year, so last year's taxes certainly have nothing to do with him, but they are related to Liu Dai.

As for the case of Feng Dai, the prefect of Chenliu, it was purely accidental. He was frightened by the extermination of the Kong family and paid money to buy peace.

"Every prefecture in the land is reporting disasters, but Qing and Xu also suffered from war last year, yet all the prefectures in Qing and Xu were able to pay their taxes..."

"First, we will commend the various units in Qing and Xu provinces. The commendation order will be issued separately and will not be discussed today."

Liu Bei surveyed the officials in the court and the tax collectors of various prefectures: "I will not pursue the responsibility of each prefecture. If a prefecture fails to pay its taxes, the governors and inspectors of each province shall investigate it themselves... What is owed last year must be paid in full before the winter solstice this year. This year's regular taxes must also be paid before the winter solstice. These are just regular taxes, not harsh policies."

In fact, Qingxu did not pay taxes...

Qingzhou and Xuzhou obtained tax revenue through land reclamation and profit sharing, which was one of the benefits of the land reclamation system.

Apart from the government-run military farms, the rest of the land belonged to various powerful clans. Last year, these clans provided grain as logistical rations for the army, so there was no need to collect taxes anymore.

No taxes were levied in the three provinces of You, Yong, and Bing. The taxes that were paid were actually money paid in cash—Liu Yu had been using the Rushui copper mine to mint coins, and Dong Zhuo was also minting coins privately.

However, as long as it's acceptable, at least it was actually submitted.

"...Last year, the world was in chaos, and indeed, the various prefectures and counties..."

The one who defended himself was Han Fu, who had been refusing to go to his post as the Prefect of Jingzhao, saying he wanted to go with Dong Zhuo.

"Shut up! When did it become your turn to speak?!"

Dong Zhuo glanced back from the front row.

Han Fu shut her mouth before she could finish speaking, drenched in sweat.

Liu Bei glanced at Han Fu and continued, "Since the various prefectures cannot collect taxes, then let those who can collect taxes do so... Mengde just took charge of Yanzhou this year, so last year's tax is not your fault. However, this year's taxes for Yan and Yu provinces need to be supervised by Mengde."

This essentially meant that Cao Cao was put in charge of the finances and grain of the two provinces of Yan and Yu. This job was actually very suitable for Cao Cao... after all, his father had served as the Grand Minister of Agriculture, and the Cao family had always been familiar with the Grand Canal.

To be honest, transporting supplies from Yanzhou to Qingzhou was much more convenient than transporting them to Luoyang—the canals and waterways were all connected to the Ji River, and the supplies flowed downstream.

"Yes... however, the position of Governor of Yu Province is still vacant..."

Cao Cao didn't say much. He had long expected that Liu Bei would entrust him with the responsibility of Yu Province, since he was in charge of military affairs in Yan and Yu.

"The governors of Yuzhou and Jizhou will both be rewarded with this."

Liu Bei turned his head and said, "Please let Minister Dong oversee the capital region of Yong and Bing, and let Prefect Tao and Colonel Mi jointly oversee Yangzhou. I will oversee the taxes in Hebei."

This was expected beforehand, and no one had any objections.

The tax inspector also served as the military inspector, which meant he was a "general." Dong Zhuo had already been given the title of Grand General, but the title of general was usually a temporary appointment.

“Three months ago, I issued a tender to gather heroes from all over the land to help collect taxes, but at that time I did not know the amount of taxes owed… Now it seems that all counties in the land need to collect taxes.”

Liu Bei continued, "This bidding process is for tax collection. The amount of tax recovered by the winter solstice will be used as the basis for the bidding. Each governor is requested to supervise the process. The governor with the highest recovered tax amount will be awarded Ji Province, the next highest Yu Province… In addition to the provinces that have paid their taxes, the vacancies of prefects in other commanderies will also be used as prizes…"

"Listen up, all prefectures! If any prefecture is still unable to pay its taxes by the winter solstice, it is the prefect's dereliction of duty... This is the law of the Han Dynasty, not an oppressive policy."

"In mid-May, the Emperor issued an edict ordering all officials of the rank of two thousand shi to accompany him on a tour of Mount Tai. By the winter solstice this year, anyone who fails to accompany the Emperor to Mount Tai will be considered to have disobeyed the edict, a capital offense... and shall be executed!"

"Governors... I only ask one thing of you—the labor of the common people is the foundation of tax payment. If anyone harms the common people, please kill them!"

Prefects who couldn't collect taxes would be dismissed anyway, and Liu Bei didn't collect money for buying official positions or exorbitant taxes; regular taxes were the most basic administrative matter.

Disobeying imperial edicts is a capital offense, and regardless of whether one actually dies, there will be many vacancies in official positions.

If you can recover the taxes, you can become a governor or prefect... Nowadays, governors have military power, which makes them more valuable than prefects.

This is essentially sending out heroes from all walks of life to pursue taxes with armed force, but the intensity of the fighting won't be too high. After all, it's just about making money—if they can't hold out, they'll just pay up. It's obviously not worth it for the governors to lose more money and grain for the sake of the regular taxes.

There will definitely be many counties that exploit the land because of this, there will certainly be rebellions, and there will most likely be instances of officials forcing the people to rebel.

The governors of each prefecture would certainly collude with each other, and a large-scale rebellion could potentially form.

Tragedy is inevitable... because it always has been.

This is why several governors were appointed—although these governors themselves were not exactly good people, they would at least try their best to quell wars and get the various prefectures and counties to pay their taxes for the sake of their own interests.

(End of this chapter)