Tibet.

Chapter 1468 Audit and Liquidation
The inspection team arrived as expected.

Led by Zhao Huanwen, the chief of Xiangyang, two inspection teams entered the Du family and the Huang family respectively.

In the lobby, Zhao Huanwen placed a declaration form and tax payment documents on the table and said to Du Youguang, "Please confirm, this is the number of slaves and the taxes paid this year that your Du family reported to the county government. Please see if it is in compliance?"

Zhao Huanwen actually had a very good relationship with Du Youguang and they often ate together, but at this moment all their friendship was gone, and there were not even any extra nice words for each other.

There was a row of people standing in the hall. The four warriors on the far right were the inner guards. They were looking at Zhao Huanwen coldly. How could Zhao Huanwen dare to reminisce about the past or talk about friendship at this time?
Zhao Huanwen added: "If it is confirmed to be correct, please sign and seal it, and then we will conduct an audit based on it for ten days. We will not live in the Du Mansion, but we will seal and check all the account books, ask the relevant family members, and investigate the manor. Please cooperate with the owner of the house."

Du Youguang signed nervously and asked, "What if there is any discrepancy?"

"If there is a slight discrepancy, we will pay the tax and fine, and then everything will be fine. From now on, we will use the final amount as the basis for taxation. If we pay taxes on time every year, there will be no more audits."

"I understand!"

Zhao Huanwen glanced at the inner guards in the hall and said, "But I have to say something ugly up front. If your government sets up obstacles and obstructs the inspection, so that we cannot submit the inspection report, then the next step will be for the inner guards to conduct the inspection, and the consequences will be serious."

Du Youguang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "I understand! I understand!"

"Okay, I've said everything I need to say, let's get started!"

The inspection of the Du family began, led by the prosecutor Wu Shaohan. More than twenty people participated, including four internal security soldiers, who were only responsible for supervision.

Zhao Huanwen brought another inspection team to the Huang family and was also respectfully invited into the lobby by the Huang family.

Zhao Huanwen also placed a document on the table and said, "Please confirm, Mr. Huang. This is the number of people and taxes reported by the Huang family to the county government. If it is correct, please sign and seal it!"

Huang Min took a look and frowned, "No, we reported two cases to the county government. This is just one of them. What about the other one?"

Zhao Huanwen was startled and asked quickly, "When was the second payment reported?"

“The last day!”

Zhao Huanwen secretly cursed his men for being too impatient, as they ran to the county government office to get information before ten days had passed.

"Maybe there was a mistake in the handover. Let's go check it out."

As soon as he finished speaking, the county magistrate came running over with sweat all over his forehead, "Zhao Changshi, there is another thing here that was missed!"

Zhao Huanwen snorted, took the document and looked at it carefully. He added up the number of people on the two declaration documents and found that it was exactly the same as the list on the internal security list, and there were even a dozen more people.

Looking at the application time, it was the afternoon of the tenth day, and there was only half an hour left before the county government closed. This was the last-minute application.

Zhao Huanwen immediately understood that this move was really cruel, leaving the Du family alone on the top of the mountain.

"Have all the taxes been paid?" Zhao Huanwen asked again.

"Reporting to the Chief Secretary, we have all been converted into civilians and no longer need to pay taxes!"

Zhao Huanwen took another closer look and found that they were all converted to civilians. He nodded and said, "Okay! That means there are 1,376 people, and they have all been converted to civilians. They really don't need to pay taxes anymore. According to regulations, we will report to the court after we verify that everything is correct. Because the Huang family was converted to civilians one month after the Slave Law came into effect, whether they need to pay taxes during this month is decided by the court. If the court believes that they don't need to pay taxes, then the case will be closed. Of course, there will be no fines even if they pay taxes, because the Huang family reported truthfully."

Huang Min didn't say much, just smiled and signed. He knew what he should know, and he also knew what he shouldn't know. His father told him that things often go wrong because of talking too much, so silence is the best way to go. Zhao Huanwen nodded, "Then let's start the review!"

If Du Youguang was a little more generous in his daily life, a little more lavish in his spending, and gave gifts a little more appropriately when necessary.

So at this critical moment, there will definitely be people who, because of his usual generosity, will risk losing their job to tip him off.

What a pity! Du Youguang's usual stinginess had ruined all the favors left by his ancestors.

Everyone knows that tipping off at this time is likely to be discovered by the internal security, so who would be willing to take the risk of delivering a letter to the Du family?
Therefore, Du Youguang didn't know from the beginning to the end that the Huang family had completed the rectification, and the inspection of the Huang family became a review, which was completely different in nature.

Ten days passed in a flash. With the internal security spies there, the Du family could not escape the inspection. The inspection team quickly found 3,200 slaves in the Du family's Gucheng County manor.

Three days after the inspection, a notice of the inspection results was handed to the Du family. The Du family resisted the court and evaded taxes on a huge scale, so they were ordered to pay the taxes of 3,200 slaves, 6,400 strings of cash, within ten days, and were fined tenfold, 64,000 strings of cash, which had to be paid within ten days, otherwise the inner guards would come to confiscate their property.

In addition, since the Du family only reported 540 slaves, the government will only recognize the slaves they reported. The remaining 3,200 are illegal slaves and will be dealt with separately by the government.

This is the ruthlessness of the imperial court. Not only did they deprive illegal slaves of their rights, but they also required them to pay heavy taxes and fines. It was like losing everything, leaving only a mess.

Du Youguang collapsed to the ground immediately, wanting to cry but without tears. He went to find the county magistrate Wang Ning, but the magistrate refused to see him, saying he was not feeling well.

However, Wang Ning could not afford to lose face and sent his aide Wang Xiu'ang to meet Du Youguang.

In the inner hall, Wang Xiu'ang slowly said to the dejected Du Youguang: "The county lord asked me to tell you to quickly pay the outstanding taxes and fines and turn more than 3,000 slaves into civilians. This will pass the test. Don't make mistakes again."

Du Youguang was about to cry, "But there are more than 60,000 strings of cash, and more than 6,000 strings of tax, which adds up to more than 70,000 strings of cash. How can we afford it?"

Wang Xiuang sighed, stood up and said, "I am just kindly advising you to leave a way out for the Du family. If you don't, once the inner guards come to your door, you Du family will have to live under the bridge and beg on the street. Don't think I am exaggerating. If you don't believe me, just wait and see! My county lord has done his best. Goodbye!"

Wang Xiuang started to walk away, and Du Youguang hurriedly followed him and asked, "Does the Huang family have to pay, too?"

Wang Xiuang stopped and sneered, "The Huang family is smarter than you. They turned all 1,300 slaves into civilians during the rectification period, so he doesn't have to pay a penny and won't be severely fined!"

"what?"

Du Youguang's eyes widened, and he said angrily: "He and I agreed to boycott together, how dare he betray me?"

Wang Xiuang said calmly, "I suggest you give the position of the head of the family to other brothers! An incompetent general can tire out the whole army. Master Du, I have one last thing to say to you. The inner guards have already mastered how many slaves you have. The emperor is determined to deal with the Du and Huang families. Huang Min is smarter than you and escaped. You should quickly hand over the 70,000 strings of cash, and maybe you can escape this disaster. Otherwise, if the inner guards come, the Du family will be completely finished. You'd better take care of yourself!"

Although Du Youguang was stingy, he was not stupid. Once he finally realized the serious consequences, he also wanted to survive and save himself.

Du Youguang immediately convened a family meeting and told all the clan members exactly what had happened. He originally wanted everyone in the clan to share the heavy punishment, but unexpectedly this aroused great anger among everyone in the clan. They all stated that the matter had nothing to do with them and that it was Du Youguang's stupidity and that they should not be implicated.

The clan members left one after another, and finally Du Youguang was the only one left standing in the lobby in despair.

Three days later, eight days after the tax payment notice was issued, Du Youguang hanged himself.

Five days later, three hundred guards from Luoyang entered the Du family and confiscated all the Du family's property, including houses, land and shops. All more than 30 households of the Du family were driven out of their houses, and the Du family completely disappeared in Xiangyang.

(End of this chapter)