White-robed Minister

Chapter 144-0142 [Xu Laohu is here!]

Chen Xiaoyi not only got back the land that had been seized, but even the land he had sold to pay for his father's medical treatment returned to his name because the white contract transaction was invalid.

Of course, he cannot register the land ownership for the time being.

Because they had to wait for the government's judgment, and the wheat in the fields also had to wait for the tenant farmers to harvest it.

More importantly, the taxes levied in recent years need to be thoroughly investigated.

After the land was sold through the white contract, the land was not transferred to the owner's name. When the government collected land taxes, Chen Xiaoyi's family still had to bear the tax burden.

But Chen Xiaoyi was only ten years old at the time, and he was the only minor left in his family. He didn't have the money to pay taxes, and his uncle couldn't possibly help him pay them.

The Wang family also did not pay taxes.

Where did the taxes that the government should have collected go? That's the real issue that needs to be addressed!

This situation was extremely common in ancient times.

Some land taxes existed only on the government's books, in a state of unresolved "pending accounts." They would eventually be recorded as "absent taxes," waiting to be written off in years of disaster. In the event of a major disaster, the imperial court would order the exemption of "absent taxes."

The county magistrate couldn't possibly live in the countryside; he would return to the county seat after only half a day of investigation.

Chen Xiaoyi stayed in the village and moved back into his uncle's house.

Bu Chao also moved in.

My uncle's family was shrouded in gloom, as if the end of the world had come.

Chen Xiaoyi was about to reclaim his land, but they felt no joy whatsoever. The judge and the magistrate were both being transferred, but the Wang family wouldn't move; they couldn't imagine how ruthless their future retaliation might be.

"What are you shouting about being wronged for? Do you want to get us all killed?" Uncle Chen Fusheng complained angrily.

While feeding the chickens, my aunt muttered, "I feel sorry for you, you lost your parents, we took you in for years. We fed you, clothed you, and even arranged for you to learn carpentry. Now you turn around and harm my family, you ungrateful wretch!"

Chen Xiaoyi hesitated, unsure how to refute the argument.

After being told this by his uncle and aunt, he felt that he was in the wrong and that he shouldn't have gone to the government to appeal his case.

Bu Chao asked, "Which other farmlands in the village have been seized?"

No one answered.

Bu Chao then asked Chen Xiaoyi, "You still won't tell me?"

Chen Xiaoyi said, "I don't know, I've only heard about it, I don't know if it counts as taking over."

"Tell me about it," Bu Chao said.

Chen Xiaoyi said, "Yuan Changbao's family in the village doesn't have many men, only the father and his two sons, and the children are all still underage."

His eldest son was conscripted by the county government to work as an archer for seven years, and his second son was conscripted for labor every other year. The family couldn't possibly cultivate all the land, so they had to allocate some for tenant farming.

"Wait, his family is a third-class household?" Bu Chao was not familiar with other laws, but he was very familiar with the laws related to archers, because he himself had served as the deputy head of the archers.

Chen Xiaoyi said, "Fourth-class households."

Bu Chao said, "Archers are only conscripted from third-class households, but this county is indiscriminately conscripting archers! When did this happen?"

Chen Xiaoyi said, "It was several years ago. His eldest son had stopped being an archer, and now all their land had been used to pay off debts. The whole family became tenant farmers for Master Wang."

It was simply that Master Wang saw that this family owned several dozen acres of land and had a small number of male members, making it easier for him to take action.

Master Wang secretly colluded with local officials to conscript archers, preventing one of the men from farming for several years. The following year, he conscripted labor from the family again, making it difficult for the other male laborer to concentrate on farming.

As a result, only the elderly man, over fifty years old, was left, and he simply couldn't manage to cultivate so much land. Gradually, the family fell into financial difficulties, and the wealthy Wang took advantage of the situation to lend money at exorbitant interest rates, eventually acquiring all the land.

There's no need to even use violence.

Throughout the entire process, the primary responsibility lay with the officials who had previously levied excessive taxes and corvée labor; Wang Yuanwai was merely engaging in illegal usury.

Of course, in order to evade taxes, Wang Yuanwai also concealed his land holdings; the land he received as collateral for the debt was never actually transferred to his name.

Wang Daochen's family.

After nightfall, county officials and clerks came in the dark.

"Something terrible has happened," the clerk said to Wang Daochen. "The magistrate plans to investigate the fields in Guishan Township."

Wang Daochen exclaimed in surprise, "How dare he?"

Magistrate Wang Chunzhong was too lazy to investigate the messy details, so he used a crude and direct approach: investigate the hidden fields!

However, Wang Daochen was not the only wealthy household in Guishan Township that had concealed their land holdings; the county magistrate's crackdown was too extensive.

That evening, Wang Daochen and his sons discussed the matter and decided to take the opportunity to escalate the situation. Didn't the county magistrate say he was going to investigate the farmland in Guishan Township?

Okay, I'll spread rumors that the government is going to investigate all the farmland in the county and drag all the powerful families in the county into this mess!

Two days later, Wang Chunzhong personally led a team to the countryside to investigate the landowners, focusing on the land recorded in Wang Daochen's household register.

-

The investigation was very slow; as long as Wang Chunzhong wasn't watching, the county officials would dawdle and procrastinate.

Not only that, but the summer tax was due in a month, and the government needed to prepare this year's tax registers in advance. All the village clerks in the county started slacking off, delaying the completion of the tax registers for each village.

These village clerks were also subject to service; they came from wealthy households in various villages and assisted the county government in formulating tax collection plans. If you dismissed them, you would be exempt from service.

Replacing the village scribes doesn't change the situation, because village scribes are meant to be rotated.

Even if the village clerks didn't do their job well, the worst that could happen was a beating and a fine. Compared to inspecting the fields, they would rather be beaten and fined; they would endure it even if they were beaten to death.

The clerk went to the registrar and cried, saying that if the land was investigated at this time, the summer tax could not be collected this year.

The registrar knew the clerk was using this opportunity to exert pressure, but he was powerless to do anything about it and could only advise the magistrate to temporarily stop. Even if they wanted to investigate hidden lands, they should wait until the summer taxes were collected. Otherwise, this year's performance evaluations for officials would be completely ruined!

Ignoring everything else, Wang Chunzhong continued leading his men to inspect the fields, but secretly summoned Bu Chao: "This letter must be delivered to Judge Xu personally. If he doesn't take action, I can't move an inch here. Don't follow Chen Xiaoyi anymore; no one will touch him now."

Wang Chunzhong didn't say one thing: if something happened to Chen Xiaoyi, he would actually have a breakthrough point. But the local powerful families weren't that foolish; they wouldn't cause trouble for Chen Xiaoyi right now.

Bu Chao carried the private message and ran all the way back to the prefectural city.

After reading Wang Chunzhong's letter, Xu couldn't help but laugh and said, "As expected, he's using land tax to threaten the county magistrate again."

Holding the letter, Xu Lai went directly to the prefect.

"Your Excellency, wealthy households in Yucheng County have colluded with village officials to resist taxes." Xu Lai's first words were a complaint.

Gong Dingchen wasn't stupid: "Just tell me straight, what did you do this time?"

Xu Lai gave a general overview of the situation.

Gong Dingchen sighed, "Alas, you really know how to cause me trouble. I'm afraid I'll have to be transferred."

Xu Lai said solemnly, "Reversing wrongful convictions is an imperial decree. Investigating hidden land is also an act of loyalty to the emperor and serving the country. How can such a righteous matter be considered troublesome?"

"Stop talking nonsense. What are you planning to do?" Gong Dingchen asked.

Xu Lai said, "Please, Your Excellency, issue an order appointing me to investigate the farmland. This will allow the magistrate of Yucheng to focus on the summer tax collection."

Xu Lai usually only works in the signing and judging hall. He can only leave the signing and judging hall to handle matters when he is appointed by the prefect.

Gong Dingchen felt like he had boarded Xu Lai's pirate ship.

He could certainly refuse, but there seemed to be no need to.

The imperial court had become such a mess that no one cared about local affairs. At this point, even if Xu Lai turned Yingtian Prefecture upside down, and some officials formed cliques and filed false accusations, the emperor and his ministers were too lazy to intervene.

Offend?

Even when Gong Dingchen was still in the imperial court, he had offended all the prime ministers and censors. Otherwise, how could he have been demoted to Yingtian Prefecture?

He offended people everywhere, and they were all people of great influence. Compared to those offended by Gong Dingchen, the people Xu Lai offended were all child's play.

"Take this and do as you see fit!" Gong Dingchen immediately issued the assignment order.

Xu returned to the signing hall, arranged the daily official duties, and then drew officials from the signing hall and the government office to do the work.

It suddenly became lively.

The officials who were fortunate enough to be selected by him were all smiles. Now everyone was no longer afraid, and instead had a kind of amused mentality, just following orders and messing around with the judge.

Following Xu Laohu to investigate cases in rural areas and counties is much more interesting than staying in the government office.

Government affairs are tedious and tedious.

Prefect Zhuang Gongyue soon received the news as well, because several officials had been transferred from his office.

"This man really can't stay idle," Zhuang Gongyue remarked.

Last year, Zhuang Gongyue would have been shocked, but now he's actually gotten used to it. No matter what Xu Lai does, Zhuang Gongyue will no longer be surprised.

Whatever!

Meanwhile, at the Transport Commissioner's Office, Wang Yirou was meeting with the son of an old friend.

"You want me to recommend Xu Lai and get him promoted and transferred quickly?" Wang Yirou looked at the other person in disbelief.

The man said, "Not only my family, but all the prominent families in the county are hoping for his departure. If the Prefect Wang can recommend him for promotion, all the prominent families in Yucheng County will surely reward him handsomely!"

"Do you think I need your little bit of money?"

Wang Yirou wasn't a corrupt official after all. He would take the illicit income he was entitled to, but he never accepted bribes or favors: "I'm letting this go this time out of consideration for your father. But if you dare ask me to recommend Xu Lai again, I'll sever all ties with your family!"

"Uncle————"

"roll!"

Wang Yirou gave the man a good scolding and kicked him out of the Transport Commissioner's Office.

Sitting alone in the side hall, Wang Yirou grew angrier the more he thought about it. He had given Xu Lai a bad review just three months ago, and if he were to recommend Xu Lai now, he feared he would be laughed to death when Xu Lai came for the evaluation!

Because an official is recommended, it could trigger an early review and audit of that official's annual performance evaluation. One minute he's giving negative reviews, the next he's recommending someone—isn't that just being a buffoon?

Moreover, Wang Yirou was beginning to feel disgusted by the powerful families of Yingtian Prefecture. Where did all these dirty deeds come from, giving Xu Lai something to hold against them? Damn it, they deserved to be investigated!

Wang Yirou paced back and forth in the side hall, gradually making up his mind that he would no longer concern himself with the local troubles.

Whatever.

Meanwhile, Xu Lai led his men to Yucheng County, but they had only gone halfway there, and had not even left the territory of Songcheng County, when the powerful clans of Yucheng County received the news.

Chaos erupted as the news spread like wildfire among the clans: Tiger Xu is here!