You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 149 Ruthless Suppression of the Middlemen~
3 days!
Jiang Qingyun recruited a total of 35 villagers in the Mentougou area.

The imperial envoy's headquarters continued south, entering the Taihang Mountains, where they used the same tactic again, recruiting more than 200 honest and simple mountain people.

In his words:
He lacks ability, but he is also naive, simple-minded, and speaks a dialect that is difficult to understand, making it hard for him to collude with outsiders.

……

Zhuozhou.

"They're here! The Imperial Envoy's entourage is here!"

"Drums and firecrackers, start!"

Suddenly, things became lively.

More than 30 people, including the prefect, went out of the city five miles to greet him, and more than 100 yamen runners and archers were dispatched to maintain order.

"Zhao Tongzhi, I will need your kind words later."

"You're too kind, Prefect."

Zhao Zesheng responded calmly to his superior. As Jiang Qingyun's confidant, he had been stationed in Zhuozhou as the prefectural assistant for a year and had been suppressed by the prefect Pang Wanchun.

Now, the opportunity to turn things around has arrived.

"Your humble servant Pang Wanchun greets Your Majesty the Imperial Envoy and invites you into the city. We will prepare some wine and water to welcome you and wash away the dust of your journey."

Jiang Qingyun suddenly stopped.

"Pang Wanchun? Why choose the name of a traitor?"

"This, this~"

Pang Wanchun, sweating profusely with embarrassment, suddenly blurted out, "I was originally a servant in the Prince Duanzhong's mansion. Because of my meritorious service in entering the pass, I was transferred to Zhuozhou as an official. I was a loyal subject of the Qing Dynasty in life, and I will be a vengeful ghost of the Qing Dynasty in death."

"Did you know that Prince Duanzhong was confined to his residence due to a crime, and his princely title was also revoked?"

Pang Wanchun was dumbfounded.

"When did this happen? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

……

Jiang Qingyun sneered and turned to leave.

He first declared himself to be a prince's servant, trying to intimidate him.

His subsequent ignorance of the events in the capital suggests he was merely a marginal figure. His relationship with Bolo was likely several layers removed; he was simply a bully using someone else's power.

Pang Wanchun was sweating profusely.

His subordinates and clerks silently distanced themselves from him, not wanting to be tainted by his bad luck.

The imperial carriage drove directly into the prefectural government office and began working on-site.

"Zhao Tongzhi".

"The subordinate is here."

"Seal off the prefectural government office and order all subordinate officials to write confessions. If they are guilty, they must confess now. If they are innocent, they may submit blank papers. If their confessions are verified, they will be severely punished."

"I obey your orders."

"Where is the prefectural judge?"

"The subordinate is here."

One person fell to his knees with a thud, trembling with fear.

"Quickly send me the fish-scale map, the yellow register, and the tax collection information for Zhuozhou. I need to take a look."

……

Jiang Qingyun has always been very efficient in his work.

The following day, the Zhili Censor arrived upon hearing the news and imprisoned Prefect Pang Wanchun on charges including "embezzlement and perversion of justice," "failure to collect taxes effectively," and "failure to strictly implement tax reform procedures."

The two tracks run in parallel without interfering with each other.

The censors investigated corruption and bribery, while Jiang Qingyun reformed the tax procedures.

After Prefect Pang Wanchun was taken in, he "confessed" to more accomplices within three days, including the prefectural judge, clerk, inspector, and tax commissioner.

An atmosphere of terror permeated the Zhuozhou prefectural government office.

Half of them became prisoners.

The rest of the people were terrified.

Only one person was truly happy: Zhao Zesheng, the acting prefect, who was tasked with overseeing the reform of the tax collection process. ...

5 days later.

A notice was posted at the gate of Zhuozhou city.

The prison cart drove out of the city gate, led by Prefect Pang Wanchun, followed by more than twenty carts.

"The Imperial Envoy has arrived!"

The hundreds of neighborhood chiefs present all knelt down.

As usual, Jiang Qingyun put on heavy armor under his civil official robes before stepping onto the stage and beginning his speech.

"By imperial decree and the Ministry of Revenue, effective immediately, the tax collection process will be reformed, emphasizing process over outcome. Those who disobey will be replaced; the prison cart we just saw is an example."

"From now on, 10 households will form a pai, 10 pai will form a jia, and 10 jia will form a bao. The bao chief will be appointed by the state government, and the bao chief will appoint the jia chief himself."

"The tax collection process consists of five steps. The first step is for the head of the village to visit the household and deliver a tax payment notice in triplicate, with one copy each for the state government, the head of the village, and the individual, for verification purposes."

"The second step is for the farmer to pay the tax to the tax office's bank account within the specified time and receive a receipt on the spot, which is the tax payment certificate. Two copies are made, one for the tax office and one for the individual, for verification purposes."

"The third step is for the tax office to inventory the goods and hand them over to a qualified official escort agency. A transportation agreement is signed in duplicate, with each party signing and affixing their seal. The escort agency then transports the goods to the provincial administration office."

"The fourth step is for the Provincial Administration Commission to count the tax revenue into the treasury and issue another receipt in triplicate, with one copy each for the Provincial Administration Commission, the prefectural and county governments, and the security escort agency. After that, the Provincial Administration Commission will make unified arrangements for the Green Standard Army to escort the tax revenue to the capital."

"The fifth step is for the Ministry of Revenue to count the taxes and deposit them into the treasury."

……

"Throughout the entire collection process, the Ministry of Revenue will continuously send personnel to supervise, conduct random checks, and carry out routine inspections. If any violation of procedures is discovered, there will be no leniency, and those responsible will be arrested immediately."

"From this day forward, the Ministry of Revenue shall allocate funds annually to print standardized vouchers, shipping vouchers, and transport agreements, and distribute them to the tax offices of each prefecture and county."

"From fingerprinting to stamping tickets, every step must be assigned to a specific person. I can tell you clearly that if any link goes wrong, the person in that link will be removed. The court is prepared to replace 5% of the local officials."

"This Imperial Envoy reiterates: Procedural justice! Procedural justice! Procedural justice!"

"If the program is wrong, the result will definitely be wrong. If the program is right, the result will definitely be right."

"The imperial court doesn't care about the outstanding payments, it only cares about the procedures."

……

"Zesheng, this pilot project in Zhuozhou is of great importance. You must take it very seriously and make it a success."

"Rest assured, sir. If I fail to do this well, I will jump into the Juma River myself."

"Your attitude is very good. By the way, this is a very important matter. Do you have any questions? Please ask now."

"Yes."

Zhao Zesheng hesitated for a moment, but decided to ask for clarification anyway.

"My lord, what is the fundamental purpose of the Ministry of Revenue reform?"

"Yes, that's a good question. The goal is to prevent a situation where the national treasury doesn't receive any silver, but the farmers pay several times the amount. The silver is being taken by the middlemen."

"I understand."

Zhao Zesheng did not ask any more naive questions, such as "What if the farmers owe too much money?"

As long as the intermediate links are effectively suppressed, there will be no situation where too much is owed.

Farmers are all honest and hardworking people.
Everyone will hand it in if they can.

……

Dinner was at Zhao Zesheng's private residence.

After the meal, Jiang Qingyun earnestly advised, "Zesheng, you came from the Five Cities Military Command. Your future is far more than just that of a mere prefect."

"This humble official is willing to serve you with his life."

There's something I must tell you.

"Please give me your orders."

"An official should not be too greedy for money. You should be more open-minded. Money is something you can't take with you when you die. Just have enough. If you want to climb higher, don't be too greedy. Otherwise, you'll be drinking from a golden cup, but a sword will not spare you."

"I will keep it in mind."

"I can tell you the truth: the reform of the Ministry of Revenue benefits the court, the people, and us. We must seize this opportunity to firmly grasp power!"

(End of this chapter)