Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1074 1069 [The Citizens Do Not Cooperate]

South bank of Shahe River.

Gong Miyuan brought Yan Tao to a village.

Yan Tao admired the scenery along the way and praised it repeatedly, saying: "The fields are connected to the paths, the chickens and dogs can be heard, and the old and the young are all happy. What a paradise!"

Gong Miyuan said: "When the foolish emperor of the former Song Dynasty was in power, there were no such good days. Although the Flower and Stone Gang caused the most damage to the south of the Yangtze River, Huainan also suffered a lot. Every now and then, Huainan civilians were conscripted to transport the Flower and Stone Gang. Now the court is conscripting immigrants, with only three to five hundred people in a county, and the government also provides food. Compared with the former Song Dynasty, it is nothing? The civilians of the former Song Dynasty were not only conscripted a lot and frequently, but also had to bring their own food and drink..."

Yan Tao interrupted, "How can you compare the former emperor of the Song Dynasty with the current emperor?"

"My foolish brother said something out of turn," Gong Miyuan smiled awkwardly, "Later, Shandong bandits came again. Song Jiang alone came and went several times, and the people of Huainan suffered greatly. Later, the canal fell into disrepair, the river channel was seriously silted up, and the water transport was cut off. Hongze Lake flooded every year, and two or three counties were flooded at a time. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Holy Emperor of the Ming Dynasty sympathized with the people of Huainan. He dredged the river channel, exempted miscellaneous taxes, returned farmland to the lake around Hongze, and dug many new irrigation canals. Because of all these, we have the Utopia scene before us."

"It's really not easy," Yan Tao said indignantly, "How can we let those termites ruin such a prosperous era!"

Gong Miyuan said: "Compared to the former Song Dynasty, this is actually nothing. No matter how arrogant the Li family is, they dare not push people to death. No matter how much the clerks bully the people, they must know their limits. If this happened in the former Song Dynasty, the Li family could be called righteous and the clerks could be called innocent. Why are the wealthy families and the officials so cautious? They are all frightened by the thunderbolt method of the Holy Emperor."

Yan Tao nodded in agreement: "The atmosphere has indeed changed. Twenty years ago, it was common for officials to do things, but now both officials and civilians know that they should not do them. Even if they do it, they will cover it up and find an excuse. This is the merit of the court's education. To educate the local areas, not only etiquette and laws should be used, but also laws!"

"The residence of my mentor is in front of us," Gong Miyuan said. "My mentor is called Li Huishuxian, and he is also a relative of Prime Minister Li Gelao. The Li family has many branches in Chuzhou Prefecture, so we can't generalize. My mentor often curses the current practices of the main branch of the Li family, believing that they have ruined the Li family's reputation."

Yan Tao asked, "Has Lord Li ever returned to his hometown?"

Gong Miyuan said: "Lord Li is very busy, so it is impossible for him to return to his hometown in person. But his brothers returned to their hometown to worship their ancestors, split up the family and changed their household registration, and donated the house and land to the Li clan."

"That is to say, Lord Li has severed ties with his hometown," Yan Tao said.

Gong Miyuan said with a smile: "The household registration has been moved, the family property has been divided, and the relationship is of course severed. But how can it be really severed? The actions of the main patriarch of the Li family must be known to the Li Ge Lao. My mentor once wrote a letter to the capital to complain, and the Li Ge Lao immediately sent someone back to angrily rebuke the clan members and told the local officials not to care about his face. But which official dared to do that? Those Li clan members restrained themselves for a few months, but then they relapsed into their old ways. Even worse!"

Yan Tao was also speechless.

He put himself in Li Hanzhang's shoes and found that it was impossible to do better.

The family split up and moved away, not wanting the property, and even sent people back to warn. All these things have done their duty. You can't personally order a thorough investigation of your own people, right?
Yan Tao asked again: "Besides Li Gelao's brothers and sons, who else in the Li family is serving as an official?"

Gong Miyuan said: "There are two more genuine Jinshi. One is Li Ge Lao's cousin, and the other is Li Ge Lao's nephew. They are away from home all year round and rarely come back. The current 'Tiger of Chuzhou' is called Li Xiaojian. In terms of seniority, he is Li Ge Lao's nephew, but he is not much younger than Li Ge Lao. This person has been working as a clerk. He can be promoted to an official position but he refuses to do so. He stays in the government office and refuses to move."

"If he had been promoted to an official, he would have been transferred to another place long ago. How could he have stayed in Chuzhou to make money?" Yan Tao was very disgusted with such people. "He doesn't want to be an official, but insists on being a clerk for life. He has no ambition at all. What else can he do except exploit the people?"

Gong Miyuan said: "The canal from Baoying to Huaiyin is all Li Xiaojian's territory. Although he didn't dare to set up tax stations privately, he often sent ruffians to intercept merchants and travelers by boat. If there were local officials or censors investigating, he would tip off the ruffians. When there was no time to report, he would cooperate with the government to arrest people, and then use his connections to get a lighter sentence, or even directly let the government release the person. Even if someone committed a murder and was executed, it had nothing to do with him, Li Xiaojian."

A gang protector who is a high-ranking official in the government office!
"There was a merchant named Zhang over at Qingzhoujian. He was very wealthy because he owned a dyeing and weaving workshop," Gong Miyuan said, pointing to the southwest. "Once he was caught for tax evasion. The normal punishment was to pay the tax and a fine. But Li Xiaojian colluded with other officials and forced the Zhang family to sell off their property at a low price. The Zhang family's dyeing, weaving and land properties were all eaten up by Li Xiaojian and his accomplices. There were countless such incidents, and it was even difficult to find evidence of his guilt."

Yan Tao suddenly stopped.

Gong Miyuan asked: "Aren't you going to visit my mentor?"

Yan Tao shook his head and said, "Forget it. Let's not embarrass the old gentleman and go to the home of the headman nearby."

Throughout the dynasties, the grassroots positions of village chiefs and village heads were not as glorious as they seemed. Especially before the rural order was completely out of control, they were like "rats in a bellows - being bullied from both ends."

The government forced them to collect taxes and perform labor service, and if the taxes collected were not enough, they had to pay for it themselves, so many of them lost their families.

Once the tax amount is too heavy, no matter how hard they force the people, it will be useless, and they will suffer heavy losses every time they collect taxes.

This situation often occurs in the middle of a dynasty.

In the early days of the dynasty, taxes were generally not heavy, and even if one paid out of pocket, it was not much. As time went on, taxes became heavier and heavier, and more and more people were able to evade taxes, and the village chiefs and village heads who were responsible for tax collection at the grassroots level were finished.

Then, the dynasty entered a stage where reform was necessary.

Tao Ding'an was the village chief here. Because it was the early years of the dynasty, he was usually quite comfortable and even powerful. The people here also lived a good life because he had repeatedly ordered not to collect excessive taxes and fees. Normal agricultural taxes were not a burden in any dynasty.

At this moment, Tao Dingan looked worried.

He looked at the captains under his command and asked, "Not all of them have gathered yet?"

A captain said, "The masters are asking for too much this time. No one except the rich is willing to give money. Even if the rich are willing to give money, they only give a little. As for the big families, they directly pay to Master Li. How dare we go to their door to ask for it?"

Tao Dingan asked: "Didn't they tell the villagers that if they don't pay, they will be forced to immigrate?"

"I have said so," another head of the village said with a sad face, "but there are notices posted on all the main roads, and it is clearly written that our township is only recruiting more than 50 immigrants. When it comes to our village, there are not many people left. There are many educated people in the village. They memorized the notices and publicized them in the village, so that the villagers are not afraid. Even if a family is selected to immigrate, they will consider themselves unlucky."

Another captain said, "Why not report it to the higher authorities and ask the county government to send officials to arrest the man?"

"Who should be arrested?" Tao Ding'an asked. "All the villagers refused to pay. Are they going to arrest everyone? It is clearly written on the notice that only the immigrants will be selected this time. All taxes and levies will be borne by the government, and the common people don't have to pay a penny. Those officials dare not arrest anyone, but only force us to help collect money. If they arrest people and make things worse, we will be the ones to bear the blame in the end."

"Fuck him!"

A captain gnashed his teeth and said, "We are being bullied from both sides. The villagers treat us like running dogs, and the government also treats us like dogs, and they don't even give us a few bones. This time they want to force us to go bankrupt!"

Tao Dingan thought quietly for a long time and said, "Those notices are wrong."

"What's wrong? The top officials didn't dare to offend Li Xiaojian, but they were also afraid of taking responsibility, so they posted the notice."

"It was posted too quickly and the details were too detailed. In the past, notices were not written in such detail. It was obviously to stop Li Xiaojian and his people from making money. Prefect Nie Wen didn't dare to offend Li Xiaojian before, so why is he willing to take the risk this time?"

"It's too big a matter, and he's afraid he can't handle it."

"That's right. It's clearly written on the notice that this expedition to Dali is a major military and national event to expand the territory. Even the prefects are afraid that they can't handle it, so how can we, the leaders of the militia, handle it? The Holy Emperor is in power, and the rules are very strict. Such a major event must be inspected by the Imperial Censor."

"Let's go to the censor and file a complaint!"

"No. We don't know the details of the censor, nor do we know where he is. If we want to sue, we can go to the prefect, because the prefect has stamped the notice. He has already offended Li Xiaojian, and he is our backer!"

"This... this is too risky. What if the prefect becomes weak again and sells us to Li Xiaojian?"

"Then let him not be soft-hearted. Let's bring the villagers to file a complaint! I don't know where the censor is hiding. Hundreds of common people have come to the city to plead for mercy. I don't believe that Magistrate Nie dares to suppress the matter."

"But what should we do if we are retaliated against afterwards?"

"If we don't do this, there will be no need for revenge afterwards. You and I will have to pay compensation until we are bankrupt. There are more than one or two baojia leaders in the same situation as us. We should contact them and take action together. By then, tens of thousands of people will gather in the provincial capital to appeal for justice!"

"If Li Xiaojian doesn't die this time, we will be in a miserable situation afterwards."

"Isn't the imperial court going to conquer Dali? My whole family will immigrate there with the army to expand the territory for our Ming Dynasty. It's better than staying here and losing everything and dying in disgrace!"

Yan Tao asked Gong Miyuan to take him to visit the head of the village, and on the way he saw many villagers gathering.

Gong Miyuan went to inquire and soon came back with the following message: "The matter is about to get out of hand. Li Xiaojian is greedy and the villagers are unwilling to pay after reading the notice, forcing the head of the baojia who is in charge of recruiting laborers to take a risk."

"No need to stop them, just follow them from a distance." Yan Tao said.

It's not that Li Xiaojian was the only one who was greedy, but his existence had corrupted the morals of the Chuzhou Prefecture, and that group of people were all thinking about making a fortune.

The act of Prefect Nie Wen sending people to post notices was almost an open warning, but it still couldn't suppress the greed of many people.

(End of this chapter)