Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1076 1071 [Exploiting the Villagers]

The Governor's Office.

Facing this group of officials in front of him, Tao Dingan's legs already felt weak.

He was just a village headman, his family had some land and could be considered wealthy, but they were not even close to being rich. He had studied for seven or eight years, but he had not even passed the county examination, and was still very far from being a scholar.

The officials he usually came into contact with the most were just informal clerks in the county government, commonly known as temporary workers.

Occasionally, you would see official officials, but that was when they were taking the villagers to pay taxes.

It’s rare to meet a county magistrate, let alone a provincial official.

Tao Ding'an was full of enthusiasm when he came, but he was frightened by the commander-in-chief outside the city, and he was already afraid and regretful at that time.

At this moment, I have to hold on.

"I, Tao Dingan, greet you gentlemen!"

Tao Dingan knelt down with a thud, and more than 20 villagers who were arrested with him also knelt down quickly.

Censor Yan Tao suddenly spoke up: "The Ming Dynasty Code, Rituals and Etiquette clearly stipulates that except for important ceremonies and sacrificial activities, officials and civilians are not allowed to kneel and worship at will. If an official kneels and worships the emperor in a court meeting, he will be fined three months' salary as a punishment. If civilians kneel and worship officials in government offices, streets, or outdoors, and officials do not correct them, it is considered a dereliction of duty. Officials who force civilians to kneel and worship will have their achievements deducted once they are found to be guilty! Even if you want to kneel and worship your teacher or elder, you should do it at home. Kneeling outside is immoral."

"Cough cough!"

Yang An, the Left Provincial Government, said quickly, "Stand up quickly. How can you kneel down and kowtow so often?"

"Thank you, gentlemen." Tao Dingan and the villagers stood up.

Yang An said again: "This is not an interrogation of prisoners, untie them quickly."

Yan Tao reminded: "Even if you are interrogating a criminal, if he is not a suspect in a serious crime, or if he has not resisted arrest or fled, you cannot just tie him up and interrogate him."

Right Provincial Governor Zhang Su smiled and cupped his hands: "I admire that Censor Yan is so well versed in the Great Ming Law."

Yan Tao didn't respond well: "Shouldn't every official know this?"

"Indeed." Zhang Su was not angry even though he was criticized.

Prefect Nie Wen suddenly spoke up: "You claim to be here to look for me, so ask me anything you want to ask now."

Tao Dingan said, "We are all country folks and don't understand government policies. But there are government notices posted in the towns and post stations over there. I have studied for a few years and I recognize that it is the seal of the prefect. The notice said that the people are not required to pay a penny for this recruitment. If someone is selected, they will be given two strings of cash for resettlement. But the county officials said that we should pay the exemption fee. The prefect and the county officials have different opinions, and we country folk really don't know who to listen to."

"That's unreasonable!"

Yang An slammed the armrest of his chair, angrily saying, "How dare those clerks pretend to obey and secretly violate the rules by collecting exorbitant taxes!"

This is to remove yourself first.

Huang Shilian, the provincial governor, asked, "Which official asked you to collect the exemption money?"

Tao Dingan replied: "Wan Changsheng, an official in Shanyang County."

Huang Shilian raised his voice and asked, "Where is the magistrate of Shanyang County?"

"I am here," said Guan Zhongfu, the magistrate of Shanyang County, who stood up and bowed. "Please allow me to report to you, my superiors. This county has never issued a decree to collect exemption money."

Huang Shilian said: "It must be that some clerk was so bold as to be so arrogant."

After saying this, Huang Shilian also stood up and said, "This is already a criminal case, and it involves officials. Please transfer it to the Censorate for handling."

Feng Liang, the deputy censor and academic official, said: "According to the imperial system, this case should indeed be handed over to the censor for trial."

If the provincial prosecutors were really given full responsibility, it would surely reduce the big issues to small ones and eventually turn them into a misunderstanding caused by clerks. As for the exemption money, it would definitely not be collected and had never been collected.

Yang An looked at his nose with his eyes and at his heart with his nose, his mind wandering outside the world and not saying a word.

Zhang Su sat quietly and just smiled.

A Huainan provincial councillor named Rong Song said: "It is best to follow the imperial system."

Nie Wen expressed a different opinion: "Even if we follow the imperial system, the Chuzhou Prefecture Law Office should be allowed to investigate first. How can the Censorate take over the case directly?"

Huang Shilian said: "If you encounter a major case, the Censor General has the right to take charge of the case. This time, thousands of villagers gathered in the provincial capital to petition. If it weren't for Guo Duzhi leading troops to disperse them, the number of people would have continued to increase. There is no such thing as a trivial matter. This is a major case, and it is not against the rules for the Censor General to personally hear the case."

This made sense, and Nie Wen immediately shut up.

Yan Tao took out a temporary appointment letter and showed the seal of the emperor and the Inspectorate. "I am ordered to inspect Huainan. If you encounter a major case, you can summon officials at all levels in Huainan to assist in the investigation. The Inspectorate has taken over this case and it will be tried here in the Provincial Government Office."

Huang Shilian's expression turned cold.

Inspectors and local prosecutors usually give each other face.

This is because the Censor General is unwilling to offend the Inspectorate easily, and the Inspectorate also needs the Censor General's cooperation in handling cases.

Apart from other things, putting the case before the Censorate for trial is a basic respect for the Censorate. If not, it would be a blatant betrayal, indicating that the Censorate does not trust the Censorate and even suspects that the Censorate itself is involved in the case! Yan Tao's statement instantly changed the color of many officials in the room, realizing that Huainan might have to bear the consequences again.

Yan Tao stood up and paced towards the main seat in the hall.

The Left Governor Yang An also stood up and gave his seat to Yan Tao.

Yan Tao bowed and said, "Please invite the two governors to serve as jurors."

Yang An and Zhang Su bowed in return.

Yan Tao said, "Please ask Magistrate Nie to be the chief clerk of this case, and ask all the councillors and councillors to be clerks. As for the officials of the Censorate, please assist in the trial."

The people who were named stood up and bowed to Yan Tao.

Everyone sat down and the pens, ink, paper and inkstone were quickly prepared.

Yan Tao said, "Send the message to the official Wan Changsheng of Shanyang County. The rest of the officials of Shanyang County, if they don't have important government affairs, should all come to the Provincial Administration Office and wait for the summons."

Soon, many officials from Shanyang County gathered at the Provincial Government.

However, a clerk came over and said, "Wan Changsheng has fallen ill from overwork in recent days due to his work in handling immigration matters."

Yan Tao was furious: "Is he dead or not?"

The clerk replied, "He just fell ill."

Yan Tao said: "Even if he dies, his body must be brought to the court!"

After a while, Wan Changsheng was carried in, looking very weak.

Yan Tao asked, "But you went to the countryside to collect the exemption money?"

"Cough cough cough cough..."

Wan Changsheng coughed for a while, and was supported by his colleagues to answer with difficulty: "No...no."

Yan Tao pointed at Tao Dingan and said, "Do you recognize this person?"

Wan Changsheng weakly turned his head to take a closer look: "I recognize him... He is Tao Dingan, the head of the second village in Mokou Township, Shanyang County. I took people to the countryside to post notices, and after posting the notices, I went to find the heads of the villages to arrange immigration. I also showed him a notice that had not been posted, saying that no money or grain would be collected for this immigration, and the selected immigrants would also receive two strings of cash as resettlement fees."

"He lied!"

Tao Dingan immediately became anxious: "He said that according to the number of households, each household must pay 300 coins for exemption from military service. This is just for small households. Rich households must pay 5 to 50 strings of coins according to their family property. The former Song Dynasty did not collect such harsh taxes. They relied on the wealth of the people in the Ming Dynasty to collect more and more harsh taxes! After reading the notice, the rich households were unwilling to pay the full exemption money. They just sent a few of us away for the sake of face. The small households did not pay a penny and would rather be selected as immigrants than pay. If the people do not pay the exemption money, we, as the head of the village and the head of the village, have to pay to make up for it. How can my family have so much money to make up for it?"

Wan Changsheng was still weak and powerless: "Sir, if we went to the countryside to collect money, why would we post the notice? I personally led people to post the notice. It clearly stated that we would not collect money. No matter how brave I am, I would not dare to do anything reckless."

Yan Tao asked: "Tao Dingan, do you have any evidence?"

Tao Dingan felt cold all over: "They collected excessive taxes and fees, how could they leave evidence? They always said how much they would collect."

Wan Changsheng seemed to have recovered some of his spirits, and cried out, "Sir, you have to help us petty officials. These baojia leaders have no respect for the law, and they exploit the villagers in the name of the government, and they also throw dirty water on us petty officials!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the twenty or so people who were arrested with Tao Dingan all became excited and started cursing.

Because many of them are also baojia heads.

If corrupt officials cannot be eliminated, they will become criminals who collect taxes indiscriminately, and they collect taxes indiscriminately under the banner of the government. The punishment will be imprisonment at the least and beheading at the worst!

Yan Tao continued to ask the baojia leaders: "If the officials don't leave tax payment receipts, how dare you collect taxes at will? Aren't you afraid of being held accountable?"

Before Tao Dingan opened his mouth, a head of the jia said, "If you don't pay enough money, the head of the bao and the head of the jia will be retaliated against later."

"How to take revenge? Tell me one by one." Yan Tao asked.

Tao Dingan said:

"Although the imperial court has set a tax rate based on the amount of land used, and people are no longer required to serve for free, even ordinary corvée labor is paid. However, if it is related to water conservancy or military affairs, sometimes people still have to serve for free, and the government only provides some food rations."

"If a village head offended an official, they would assign the most difficult and tiring tasks to all the villagers in the village, mix sand into the old rice, and use small buckets to measure the rice to deduct the grain. If the imperial court encountered a major war, they would also conscript civilians to transport grain, and the officials would specifically conscript those they disliked."

"There are also taxes. In order to ensure that there is enough grain for the tribute, several provinces along the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal are not allowed to pay all the taxes. Each county has a grain quota. Shanyang County also has a grain quota. If you offend the officials, you will be repeatedly harassed. One moment they say the grain is not clean enough and has stones, and the next moment they say the grain is not dried. The villagers move the grain to the city to pay the tax, and if it does not meet the standards, they have to move it back. Moving the grain back and forth dozens of times can be exhausting!"

"This is just official retaliation."

"To the east of Beishen Town, there is a headman named Wu Kai. Because he offended an official, his son was lured into gambling and owed gambling debts, forcing him to lose everything."

"There was a village headman named Zheng Lin in Xiayou Township. His family ran a tofu shop. Because he offended the officials, the local thugs came to his house and said that he had a stomachache from eating tofu, and they dragged him to the county government to sue. The officials found rotten beans in the tofu shop and framed him, and then they made many local thugs say that he ate rotten beans and asked him to pay compensation. In the end, Zheng Lin was forced to sell the tofu shop and more than ten acres of land at a low price, and then the lawsuit was settled. The tofu shop and the good farmland were also bought by them."

"And Qingjian Township..."

(End of this chapter)