North and South groceries

At dawn this day, Luo Yong got up.Yesterday, the county captain and others submitted a lot of materials to him, all about the situation of some poor households in various villages and towns.

He was too busy these two days, he had accumulated a lot of these materials, and he didn't have time to read them carefully. He had no other arrangements this morning, so he got up early to read this.

Looking at it, Luo Yong felt that something was wrong, so he changed his clothes and went to the front hall, and sent someone to call the county magistrate and others over.

The county lieutenant, Guo Fenglai, had already woken up at this time. He had just arrived in Changle County not long ago, and he was not very familiar with many places. In addition, he had the imperial order, so he dared not be lazy.

The county magistrate probably hasn't woken up yet. He was very tired when collecting taxes a few days ago, and he probably hasn't calmed down yet. When he came to Luo Yong, his face was still somewhat tired.

"I looked at the villages and towns early this morning who couldn't pay taxes, and found something wrong." Luo Yong said to them when all the waiters had arrived.

"What's wrong?" The county magistrate asked.

"That's right..." Luo Yong was about to say this when he heard another commotion outside. The officer guarding outside said that the county magistrate and others were discussing matters, so he told him to wait in the small hall first.

As soon as Luo Yong heard the voice of the old county magistrate Tan, he told the guards outside that they should invite the old county magistrate Tan in. The old county magistrate Tan should be more clear about today's matter than the others present.

"Why are we discussing matters here so early in the morning, and I don't know what to discuss?" Old county magistrate Tan asked Luo Yong and others after he came in.

"It's about these unregistered households in Changle County." Luo Yong first reached out his hand to signal the old county magistrate Tan to sit down, and then said to him: "I think these people who can't pay taxes can clearly be classified as unregistered households." Class households, why do they still have to pay rent, and there are so many households?"

At this time, the population was mostly counted by the number of households. The number of households in that village, who was the head of the household, how many members of the family, etc., were all compiled into books, so these people were also called compiled households.

In terms of taxation standards, these registered households are further divided into registered households and non-registered households. Class refers to taxation. Registered households who need to pay rent, reconciliation and corvee, as for land tax and household tax, under normal circumstances, as long as the family has land to plant, as long as they live in Datang as registered households, they generally have to pay.

The group of non-class households, in addition to some nobles and their relatives, slaves, etc., also includes monks, nuns, old people, widowed wives, concubines, disabled people, etc. The last few are aimed at the situation that some poor people in society cannot afford taxes.

When Luo Yong was in Lishi County in the past, although the criteria for distinguishing registered households from non-registered households were not strictly in accordance with the above standards, they were not bad. Many disabled families are also required to pay rent adjustments, and there are obviously no strong laborers in the family, only some half-sized children, which is also the case.

"The Ming government should also know that the division of registered households and non-registered households is not updated frequently, only once every few years. Officials in various places are often strict in the actual evaluation. If not, where to collect so many tax?"

The current county magistrate of Changle County has traveled to many places in the past. He is not surprised by this situation. In his opinion, the situation in Changle County is not very bad.

"Although I know about it, I didn't expect it to be so serious in Changle County." In the eyes of the county magistrate, the situation is relatively optimistic, but in Luo Yong's place, it seems quite serious. After all, everyone's experience Not the same, the standard is naturally not the same.

"Tan is ashamed." Old county magistrate Tan said with shame.

In the past, there was a villager who was coming to the mansion, and wanted to ask for some households there. The previous county captain ordered the guards to beat them out without saying a word. After several times, three times, Then no one came to beg for non-class accounts.

Many years have passed, and the local people probably have no expectations for the non-class account. Luo Yong has been in office for more than half a year, and no one has ever mentioned the non-class account to him.

"Mingfu thinks, what should we do at this time?" Guo Fenglai asked at this time.

Luo Yong sighed and said, "Let's do the statistics again."

"For those households that are newly classified as non-registered households, if they have already paid taxes, they will be refunded if they should be refunded, and if they have not been paid, they will be exempted if they should."

"There are still a few households, this, this, this... You have already understood and verified these, so let's avoid it first."

"This... how to return the rent that has already been paid?"

"Let's get it out of the household tax."

"Here."

"Someone came here today, and I have something to ask." The old county magistrate Tan said again at this time.

"Tan Weng, please tell me." Luo Yong said.

"There are still some orphans, widows, old and weak under the jurisdiction of Changle County. Not to mention taxes, if no one helps them, they can't even support themselves. In the past, I distributed some firewood and rice from my job field to help a little bit. I wonder what the Ming government plans for this year?"

It is said to allocate some firewood and rice, but in fact, the old county magistrate basically puts in the output of his own field every year. If the year is not good, he has to use some salary to supplement it, because this The wife and children at home complained about the matter.

"What happened in previous years, this year will be the same. I have to trouble Tan Weng a lot about this matter."

"Why does the Ming Mansion need more courtesy? The kindness of the Ming Mansion is the blessing of the people of Changle."

Also on the same day, in Jinchang City not far from Changle County, Chen Jiao had a drink with the county magistrate of Jinchang, called Fu Bingcao over, and asked him what he had seen and heard in Changle County these days.

Fu Bingcao then told what he saw, and while he was talking, he watched the two people sip their wine leisurely and comfortably, and couldn't help but think of Changle County, where they were so busy going out early and returning late all day long. Luo Yong et al.

At the beginning, Luo Yong used the tea business as an excuse to borrow troops from Jinchang. Now that winter is approaching, the peak trading period has passed, and the Hu merchants have almost left.

In addition, Tang Jian brought a new county lieutenant to Luo Yong this time, and I heard that it was hand-picked by the sage, so naturally there was nothing to do with Fu Bingcao.

It's just that after staying in Changle County for a while, seeing those people busy every day, and seeing the thriving scene of the whole Changle County, returning to Jinchang City, I really feel a little uncomfortable.

They are also officials, people like Chen Jiao are from the gentry, they are born to be officials, and being an official is their destiny and their destination. Eating wine and enjoying themselves is very common, and sometimes they show kindness, It is a great kindness to be considerate of the hardships of people's livelihood.

Seeing him sitting here eating wine and chatting today, is it because there is nothing to do in the government.

It's not nothing, it's just that those things are nothing in their eyes.

"...That's all there is?"

"That's all I heard and saw in Changle County."

"Good, you go down first."

"Here."

Winter is coming, Fu Bingcao should also go to prepare for the winter. Recently, I have seen the salary of those county servants in Changle, and then look at the group of people under him...

Fu Bingcao, who walked outside the palace, couldn't help but look back again, frowning slightly.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away.

The group of young talents selected by the aristocratic families in Chang'an City were about to cross the Yellow River at this time, and after crossing the Yellow River, going west was the Hexi Corridor.

Before they reached the ferry, they were walking upstream along the Yellow River. On the bank of the Yellow River, they encountered some villagers blowing sheepskin rafts.

Blow up the empty sheepskin raft, then tie the air outlet tightly with a rope, and then firmly tie the vegetables and other things that they each carried from the village to the sheepskin raft, and push it to the shallows. Sit on it and go down the water.

Most of these gentlemen of the gentry lived in Chang'an City in the past, and they were not the key training objects of the family. If the family refused to provide financial support, they naturally would not be able to travel around to increase their knowledge. It's the first time I've seen it.

There was a talkative young man among those villagers, and he chatted with these young gentlemen, asked them about Chang'an City, and told them that today he was going to transport these two baskets of reeds to the downstream towns to exchange money. When I went there, I took a sheepskin raft, and when I came back, I walked back along the bank of the Yellow River on two legs.

Listening and watching, these young gentlemen found it very novel. They saw the villagers boarding the sheepskin raft one after another, drifting farther and farther, and when they were about to leave, they saw the young man's sheepskin raft being carried away by the turbulence After hitting Xuan'er, the young man seemed to be panicked, unable to stabilize, his raft turned upside down, and he fell into the river...

Those young gentlemen on the river bank had never seen such a scene before, they were stunned for a moment, and when they realized that the river was rushing, they were all not good at water, and no one dared to say the word of going into the water to save people for a while .

Fortunately, the young man was good at swimming, and after a while, I saw him popping his head in the river, pulling his sheepskin raft with one hand, bobbing up and down in the water, looking around, probably looking for his two baskets of reeds, It's just that the river is deep and fast, and after a while, I don't know where his two baskets of reeds have been washed away.

"Don't look for it anymore, let's go ashore quickly." A young gentleman here couldn't help but shouted at him.

"..." The boy ignored him, he was ups and downs in the water, and was carried downstream by the river. After a while, he was seen climbing onto the sheepskin raft again, his eyes still searching the surrounding water.

These young gentlemen who were born in the gentry stood on the bank of the river, watching the young man wandering and searching on the river, slowly drifting farther and farther with the river, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart.

"Young gentlemen, let's hurry up, don't miss today's ferry."

"...Let's go."

The horseshoes made a rattling sound on the road, the carriage shook, and outside the window was the turbid and swift water of the Yellow River, and on both sides of the Yellow River were endless stretches of vast rivers and mountains.

Walking among the mountains and rivers, it was the first time for the young gentlemen to feel the vastness of the world and the insignificance of manpower.