Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 609 Reform
Upon hearing that a major assassination attempt had occurred, Cui Youfu was the first court official to rush to Shou'an County. He once served as a county lieutenant here and thought he had more responsibilities to shoulder than others.

When he arrived, there were already people kneeling outside the county office. He pushed through the crowd and walked inside, when suddenly someone hugged his legs.

"Please save me, I don't know anything."

"Are you the magistrate of Shou'an County?"

"Yes, I am innocent..."

Cui Youfu kicked the other person away. In his eyes, the other person was already a dead man. The question was how many people would be killed this time.

He entered the county office and saw that the person guarding the lobby was none other than the imperial guard commander Diao Bing. He quickly stepped forward and said, "I want to see the saint."

"The saint is still resting, please wait a moment, Mr. Cui."

"it is good."

Cui Youfu had no choice but to retreat again.

He looked around and saw Yuan Zhiyuan and other students who were covered in bruises, and his expression became even uglier.

Then he saw Zong Han in the crowd and waved.

Zong Han quickly stood up, stepped forward, and called out softly, "Shaofu."

Shaofu is a compliment for the county lieutenant, and it was also what Zonghan called Cui Youfu when he was here. It reminded him of the glorious years when he first entered the officialdom.

The county magistrate of Shou'an County has been replaced one after another, but Zong Han is the only one still here, which shows his ability.

Cui Youfu became a high-ranking official and returned to Luoyang. Zong Han had always been concerned about this former superior and wanted to contact him, but he never dared to disturb him. He just asked someone to send some herbs such as mugwort and cnidium monnieri, saying that he picked them specially because Cui Youfu often went to bed late and had a cold body.

"Come with me."

"Here."

The two men walked to a deserted place. Cui Youfu stopped, looked at Zong Han, and began to reprimand him harshly.

"How dare you allow them to commit such a serious crime?!"

After hearing such merciless scolding, Zong Han's uneasy heart finally settled down a little. He knew that Cui Youfu's willingness to scold him meant that he still cared about their old friendship and was willing to help him.

He immediately knelt down and cried, admitting his mistake.

"I knew my crime and wanted to sacrifice the county magistrate for the new policy. I knew that Du Wulang had already arrived in Shou'an County, but I still allowed the county magistrate to do whatever he wanted, which led to such a big incident."

Cui Youfu was just guessing and had no evidence. If Zonghan tried to hide it from Cui Youfu by chance, Cui Youfu might give up on him. Because of the trust they had built when they worked together in the past, he was so frank.

"Sacrifice? It's up to you to figure it out."

Cui Youfu was furious and kicked Zong Han over, saying, "The imperial court has worked hard to ensure that the people have enough food and clothing, but now the national policy has fallen into the hands of local officials like you, and you are all only concerned with your own interests. Damn it!"

Zong Han quickly knelt down again, kowtowed repeatedly, and said, "The county magistrate condoned Hu Bugui's usury. I have no power to restrain him, and I don't want to be associated with him, so I have no choice but to resort to this desperate measure."

"Don't you know to report to me earlier at the Censorate?"

Zong Han responded, "I dare not disturb the Minister."

Cui Youfu had scolded and kicked the local rich man, but his anger had subsided a lot. After calming down and thinking about it, he realized that the emperor would definitely not be really hurt by the local rich man. His deeper purpose was to use this incident to once again demonstrate his determination to implement the new policy.

Although he had no stakes in this, he did not want this "rebellion case" to cause too much trouble and cause unrest in the current situation, so he sighed and said, "Do you want to live?"

"I beg the Prime Minister to save me."

"If you want to save your life right now, all you have to do is calm His Majesty down. Do you know how to calm His Majesty down?"

Zong Han was not sure, and answered hesitantly: "I beg the chancellor to enlighten me."

Cui Youfu pulled him up and said, "I know that you are a local tyrant in Shou'an County, colluding with the local nobles. Your power is greater than that of the county magistrate sent by the court. If we want to implement the new policy, we have to go through you."

"New policy? Are you talking about the Spring Seedling Loan?"

"That's just testing the waters. To put it simply, the new policy is about how many acres of land and households there are in the county, and how taxes should be collected..."

~~
Cui Dong waited outside the county government office for a long time and finally met Quanfu, Du Wulang's follower, outside the county government office. He hurried forward and expressed his desire to meet Du Wulang.

Quanfu shook his head and said, "Mr. Cui, it's not that Wulang doesn't want to see you, but there's a major assassination case and Wulang can't leave."

"This is the evidence of the county magistrate's corruption and abuse of power that the Cui family has collected. Please help me hand it over to Yu Wulang. It may be of great use to him."

"Thank you, Mr. Cui, for your kindness, but it probably won't be of any use." Quanfu said, "The magistrate of Shou'an County was guilty of the capital crime of assassinating the emperor."

Cui Dong was surprised that a servant could directly refuse to look at such important evidence. After thinking for a while, he said, "I want to ask if the saint is okay?"

He actually wanted to ask whether such a big incident in Shou'an County would affect the Cui family.

Quanfu said: "I am just a servant. I don't know anything about such a big thing."

Cui Dong thought, Quanfu had been with Du Wulang all along and had personally experienced the situation when the incident happened, how could he not know? With such an answer, it was clear that Du Wulang no longer valued their past friendship.

This made him a little disappointed.

"Mr. Cui, why don't you go ask Yuan Zhiyuan?" Quanfu was about to turn around and leave when he suddenly reminded him, "Isn't he from the Cui family? Maybe he knows something."

Cui Dong was stunned and said thoughtfully: "Yan Fang?"

Quanfu nodded, bowed and said goodbye, but the last sentence he said made Cui Dong shudder and feel goose bumps all over his body.

"Don't worry, Mr. Cui. Yuan Zhiyuan doesn't know about his sister yet."

"Wha...what?"

Cui Dong took two steps forward, wanting to ask for clarification, but Quanfu had already walked towards the officials who had rushed over, leaving him standing there, shocked and wondering how Quanfu could have known about this.

Even he himself only found out about it a while ago.

A person like Du Wulang who doesn't care about worldly affairs would not care about the secrets of the Cui family. So, was it someone else who asked Quanfu to say this?
Could it be that the emperor instructed this?

Thinking that the emperor had already set his sights on the Cui family, Cui Dong realized that there was a high possibility that the Cui family was involved in the assassination case.

He walked towards Yuan Zhiyuan in a daze, observing her and vaguely recognized that the face was somewhat similar to the maid in the past, but he had not noticed it before.

"Young Master." Yuan Zhiyuan was talking to a few students on government academy. When he saw Cui Dong, he stood up and saluted regardless of his injuries, looking very respectful.

"Is the Saint okay?" Cui Dong asked.

Yuan Zhiyuan replied, "At first I didn't know that there was a saint next to Wu Lang, so I didn't pay attention. They came out with the Hu family's steward, and soon, the thugs surrounded them."

Cui Dong wanted to ask another question, but a young man who looked like a scholar next to Yuan Zhiyuan suddenly asked back.

"How did Mr. Cui get the news so quickly and come to care about the saint?"

"I……"

"Don't you call yourself a free and easy person?"

Cui Dong looked at the other person and asked, "Who are you? Do you know me?"

"Lin Ji, my family is also from Shou'an County, Muyu Village." Lin Ji said, "When I was a child, I followed my family to escape famine and went to Yanshi. Now I am returning home to take the exam."

"Why do you know me?"

"Because Muyu Village is now the Cui family's farmland."

"so what?"

"When I was young, I remember that my grandfather was a very hardworking man, but he couldn't support a family of three." Lin Ji said, "Later I realized that someone was eyeing his fields. At that time, Hu Bugui had not yet come to Shou'an County, and it was the steward of the Lingfu who went to Muyu Village to collect taxes."

Cui Dong said: "Don't throw all the dirty water on the Cui family. The Cui family has never occupied any land."

"That's right, one is willing to sell and the other is willing to buy, I have nothing to say." Lin Ji said.

After he finished speaking, he stopped pestering her, saluted with his arms crossed, helped Yuan Zhiyuan up, and politely left.

He said these words because he had learned a lot over the years, understood the laws of land annexation, and had deep feelings about them.

I'd also like to mention Cuidong.

Cui Dong stood there stiffly for a long time, watching those scholars from poor families disappear before his eyes, still motionless.

Until someone patted his shoulder. He turned around and saw Zong Han.

"What is Mr. Cui thinking about?"

"I suspect the Cui family is being targeted." Cui Dong said, "I feel like someone is watching me from above. I can't explain why, but it's like there are eyes in the sky watching me, and they know everything."

"Don't doubt it." Zong Han whispered, "The Cui family is being targeted by the emperor."

"Why?" Cui Dong was confused and said, "The Cui family neither colluded with the county magistrate nor bullied men and women like the Hu family. The Cui family accumulated virtue and did good deeds, built bridges and roads, and benefited the village..."

Zong Han said: "Because the money earned by the Cui family from doing good deeds should have been taxes to the court."

Cui Dong didn't say anything, but he didn't agree with this statement from the bottom of his heart.

In the eyes of the aristocratic families, the reason why the Li family became emperor was that the Five Surnames were willing to let the Li family become emperor. Those lands and people had belonged to them hundreds and thousands of years ago. Why should the Li family charge them money?

By the time it was passed down to Cui Dong's generation, this idea had become vague, but the pride still existed.

Zong Han, however, saw through it very clearly and whispered, "The emperor has come to Shou'an County in person. He is definitely not here to deal with a county magistrate. Mr. Cui should understand this. Please return home quickly and ask Mr. Cui to express his opinion."

"But I still don't understand. The Cui family did nothing wrong. Why did they have to suffer such an unprovoked disaster?"

"The Cui family is right, but things are changing now." Zong Han said, "If it rains, they don't care if you hold an umbrella or not. If the court wants to abolish slavery, they don't care if you are a good master or a bad master. This is the way the world is. In those years, I helped the Cui family buy land, and I didn't care if the landowner was right or wrong."

Cui Dong heard this and asked, "What do you mean? Are you going to betray the Cui family?"

"Yes, to save my life, I will expose the Cui family if necessary." Zong Han emphasized: "This is a major assassination case, and you may lose your head at any time."

After saying this, he turned around and was about to do other things. Suddenly he thought of something and gave Cui Dong a reminder.

"By the way, a while ago, the third steward was sent to the government office for killing a slave and was beaten with a hundred sticks?" "Yes."

"Mr. Cui mentioned that the Cui family was being targeted. I remembered that someone came to visit the Third Steward at that time."

"Who?"

"I don't know who it was." Zong Han said, "He took the Luoyang Prefecture's badge, asked the third steward a few words and left, and told me to beat him gently with the 100 sticks. At that time, I thought it was the Cui family who used their connections, and I thought it was just a matter of instructing me, so why bother the Luoyang Prefecture. Now I think that person might be a spy."

Cui Dong said, "Are you talking about the Third Steward who betrayed the Cui family?"

"It's not uncommon for that kind of bitch to be capricious."

Cui Dong suddenly realized what Quanfu had just said and knew that Chunzhi's matter was leaked by the third steward.

The question is, how many other things about the Cui family have already been reported?

The emperor knew so many things, big and small, but he kept them secret and even went to Shou'an County in person. What was he going to do?
Cold sweat started running down Cui Dong's forehead. He quickly jumped on his horse and galloped back to find Cui Yu.

~~
More and more important court officials gathered in front of Shou'an County Office.

Finally, they were summoned by the emperor and filed into the cramped court.

Xue Bai stood behind the desk, still wearing the same cloth clothes, which were stained with blood of unknown origin.

"Saint be safe!"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so late in coming to your rescue!"

Xue Bai said nothing, looking at the couple who were tied up in the hall. They were Hu Bugui and his manager.

All the officials had no choice but to look at the two men. They were all smart people and knew who they were without asking.

Cui Youfu pondered for a moment, then spoke first, "I guess these are the two culprits who offended the Saint?"

He did not want the matter to become a big deal, so he used the word "collision" instead of "assassination" to identify the two as the main culprits, hoping not to implicate more people.

"Oh!"

Xue Bai slammed the gavel and suddenly got angry.

"Come, repeat to all the officials what you just said to me!"

"The common people deserve to die! The common people deserve to die!"

The Hu family's steward was so frightened that he became incontinent and lost his soul. He lay there paralyzed, unable to utter anything except "damn it". Hu Bugui was not much better either. He was still sweating and looked like a piece of dead meat.

"Don't want to tell? I'll tell it for you."

Xue Bai dropped the gavel in his hand.

"I can't investigate this case because there is no evidence. The farmers took out the Chunmiao loan and gambled away all their money. In Shou'an County, what Mr. Hu says is the law!"

"belch."

When Hu Bugui heard this, he choked and his eyes rolled back, and he fainted from fright.

"I request that this beast be executed to serve as a warning to others."

"Killing him is easy." Xue Bai said, "What about the farmland they have robbed over the years? What about the farmers who have been plundered? Do you have any rules?"

Of course some of the officials knew this, but as soon as Xue Bai finished asking, someone stood up.

When everyone looked, they were shocked to find that it was the new Yin of Luoyang, Zhang Xun.

The appointment of Zhang Xun to the post of Yin of Luoyang happened just a few days ago. No one reacted to it at that time. But now, thinking about today's major case, the court officials understand that the emperor had planned it all along.

"Since I took office, I have checked the land registers and population registers of various counties and found that the magistrate of Shou'an County was corrupt and committed many crimes. I request that you check them one by one."

"allow."

"Your Majesty, should we return to the Eastern Capital first..."

“Check it right here.”

Zhang Xun then waved his hand and had the Shou'an County Magistrate brought up, and at the same time brought in dozens of documents.

When Cui Youfu saw this, he knew he couldn't avoid it.

In fact, everyone knows that what the emperor has to solve is not the problems of individual families, but the ills accumulated over hundreds of years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. This is a tough nut to crack.

He originally wanted to take it step by step, but now he can only go along with it.

As time passed, Zhang Xun was extremely patient in distinguishing the number of acres of land recorded in Shou'an County from the actual number, and analyzing where the acres of land that decreased year by year had gone. Going further, he uncovered the issue of collusion between officials and gentry.

At this time, someone said, "The Minister of Imperial Household Cui Yu wants to see you."

"Is Cui Yu the great-grandson of Cui Xinggong? The son of Cui, the governor of Huazhou." Zhang Xun seemed to recall and muttered to himself, "His uncle Cui Xian married Princess Ding'an, the daughter of Emperor Zhongzong."

This shows, intentionally or unintentionally, that he came prepared.

Those officials in the court who were on good terms with the Cui family and wanted to speak for the Cui family had to think twice.

In full view of everyone, Cui Yu walked into the court and greeted Xue Bai with trembling hands.

"I am an old minister who is incompetent. Although I have retired, I should still look after the region. However, I failed to do my best and caused Your Majesty to be frightened in Shou'an County. I deserve death."

Although the glory of the Bo Ling Cui family had declined, at least in the generation before Cui Yu, they were still granted titles and buried in the imperial mausoleum. When Cui Yu said this, his attitude was already humble.

Xue Bai said: "It is a small matter that I was frightened, but the big matter is that the officials of Shou'an County bullied the people."

Cui Qu glanced at the pile of land books and knew that there must be evidence in them that the Cui family had colluded with the county government to annex land and avoid taxes by illegal means.

No wonder the emperor didn't even bother to look at the evidence of the county magistrate's crime when Cui Dong delivered it.

"I think that the Spring Seedling Loan is a good policy. This guy should not destroy the livelihood of the people for his own selfish desires and offend Your Majesty." Cui Yu said slowly without much hesitation, "This time, the people of Shou'an have suffered a great disaster. The Cui family is willing to donate money, grain, and land to make up for the losses of the people."

This is a very straightforward statement, and there is nothing clever about it.

But useful.

Xue Bai looked at Cui Yu deeply and nodded.

"I'm not here to ask you for money."

"That is not my intention..."

"I am not injured either, so you don't have to blame yourself." Xue Bai said, "Although you have retired, you are far-sighted and should make suggestions for the revival of the Tang Dynasty. The Spring Seed Loan can lead to such a change, so you should also submit a memorial to this effect."

Cui Yu said: "I obey your order."

"I am tired, I am going back to the palace." Xue Bai pointed at the Shou'an County Magistrate, Hu Bugui, and the Hu family steward who were kneeling on the ground, and said, "Behead them."

He said little, no convictions.

After killing the three main culprits, the matter came to a temporary end. However, whether to assassinate or attack the emperor today, Xue Bai would decide based on his mood in the future.

This time he is simply joining the game to show the world his determination.

~~
A few days later, Cui Yu submitted a memorial, stating that his family owned thousands of acres of fertile land due to the accumulation of wealth by their ancestors, but looking around the village, the poor had no place to stand. He was deeply worried that land annexation in the Tang Dynasty would become more and more serious, and the rent and labor system would collapse, so he requested a reform of the tax system.

In order to show his determination to support the emperor's reform, Cui Yu resolutely decided to donate his family's land to the court so that the court could remeasure the land and check the population.

Xue Bai attached great importance to this memorial and immediately sent it to the prime ministers for discussion.

Yan Zhenqing and Du Youlin both agreed with Cui Yu's views. Later, a court meeting was held, and Zhang Xun, Yuan Zai and others strongly supported it, and even Cui Youfu agreed.

As a result, the imperial court once again made a series of transfers, and a group of financial and taxation officials who had been sent to various places for training were transferred back to the court. Among them were Liu Yan and Diwu Qi, who had achieved great results in the reforms of the salt and tea monopolies.

According to Xue Bai's idea, he hoped to completely abolish the rent-and-labor system and simplify the tax system into land tax and household tax, plus commodity tax and special taxes on special commodities such as salt, tea, wine and iron.

In principle, the amount of land tax you pay is proportional to the amount of land you own, and the amount of household tax you pay is proportional to the number of people you have. This involves many complex issues, such as whether to collect grain, cloth, or directly collect money, and then the issue of foot fees and how to calculate them.

But no matter what, he finally started the reform...

~~
In the second half of the fourth year of Zhengxing, the new tax law was still being formulated and had not yet been promulgated.

Yan Zhenqing was busy with these things every day, and in just two months, many more wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

Finally, in November of that year, he went to Mingtang with a thick stack of books to ask for an audience with Xue Bai.

"Before you review it, Your Majesty, please know that there is no perfect tax system in the world."

"Yes."

Xue Bai's eyes fell on the pleasing Yan Kai. He was looking forward to it because it was an improvement he made based on the Two Tax Law.

"The rent and labor service have to be changed. No matter what, we have to move forward."

As he spoke, Xue Bai spread out the scroll.

Let's take a quick look first. The simple tax law is still densely written.

Just as he was about to take a closer look, Yan Zhenqing stopped him again.

"The Tang Dynasty has been through wars, and Your Majesty has only been on the throne for a short time. The court cannot yet fully control the household registration and land accounts of various places. Local officials and even military governors hold great power in the military and political affairs. Although Your Majesty's decree is intended to pacify the people, it may be used by them to levy taxes under this pretext. When the local rent, labor service and new taxes coexist, the people will suffer."

Xue Bai asked, "How do you think we should start?"

Yan Zhenqing closed his eyes and hesitated for a long time.

He never imagined that one day he would have to make such an opinion.

"Your Majesty can send agricultural promotion envoys to various parts of the country to measure the land and investigate the escaped households. Hebei should be the first priority."

(End of this chapter)