Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 341: Rongguo in Crisis

Earl's Mansion, Jia Cong Courtyard.

Qingwen and Yinglian also came back from somewhere unknown.

When Daiyu heard the noise at the door, her heart skipped a beat. She pulled the handkerchief from Jia Cong's hand, and her pretty face flushed, looking charming and beautiful.

As if she was afraid that Yinglian and Qingwen would see it, she casually stuffed Jia Cong's handkerchief into her sleeve.

Then he heard Qingwen's voice outside: "Mrs. Lin is here, is there anything wrong?"

Lin Zhixiao's wife smiled and said, "I am here to discuss something with Third Master Cong on the orders of the old lady. Please inform him, young lady."

When Daiyu heard that it was Lin Zhixiao's voice, she pointed to Jia Cong's study and said, "I just asked Zijuan to send her away, and then I came to look for my third brother."

Jia Cong nodded to her. He knew that Daiyu was careful and wanted to avoid going to the study so as not to let Lin Zhixiao's wife know that she was there.

The old women in these big houses have long been very skilled in dealing with people.

If she saw Daiyu in Jia Cong's courtyard at this moment, she might think that it was Zijuan who deliberately tripped her just now. If the news got to Grandmother Jia, it would cause trouble.

……

Lin Zhixiao's family had been to the East Palace several times before, but this time the owner had changed.

After Jia Cong's renovation, the East Palace looked even more elegant and magnificent, which made Lin Zhixiao's family feel very surprised. She had lived in aristocratic families for half her life and could tell good from bad.

Although there are not many servants coming and going in this mansion, all of them have decent appearance, neat clothes and shoes, and strict rules of behavior. They are much better educated than those old servants in the West Mansion.

I don’t know where the Third Master found such a high-quality servant. No wonder he looks down on the servants in the West Mansion and would not even accept them even if the old lady gave them to him for free.

The Earl's Mansion was even more magnificent inside and out than the West Mansion. As she walked along the way, she felt awe in her heart.

Lin Zhixiao's wife was also an old servant in the Jia family for several generations, so she naturally knew the old stories of the Jia family. She thought that the illegitimate son who had a hard life in the East Courtyard in the past would actually have such a day.

Ever since her husband became the chief steward of the West Mansion, she, the former lady, has gained respectability in Ningrong Street, and all the concubines know that she often walks around the old lady.

So he asked her to take care of today's matter and gave her a lot of gifts as a thank you. She didn't think it was a big deal at first, she was just helping to convey a message to the old lady.

But just before she came to the East Palace, her husband told her to just pass on a message about the matter and leave it at that.

Don't just fall into it recklessly just because you've accepted someone's favor. The Third Master of the East Mansion is not someone you can easily mess with. He hates those idle and calculating relatives the most.

Because of these shitty things, the old lady often suffered humiliation in front of the Third Master, let alone her.

Now she entered the East Palace and saw the atmosphere in the palace. She also saw Jia Cong sitting in the hall, looking at her with a pair of scrutinizing eyes.

Lin Zhixiao felt a little frightened in her heart, and thinking of her husband's words, she suddenly felt that it was a mistake for her to take on this matter...

However, she had already brought up the matter in front of Lady Jia, who had agreed and asked him to come over and ask Jia Cong's opinion, so she couldn't back down.

So he said: "Third Master, now that you have been conferred the title, you should have some tax-free land on hand. The masters of the second, fourth, and fifth houses on Ningrong Street have hundreds of acres of high-quality land.

She asked me to ask the old lady, hoping that she could become a disciple of the Third Master, and was willing to take a 40% commission on the income from the land. In previous years, a 30% commission was already very high, so a 40% commission was considered very sincere.

The old lady said that they were all relatives from different branches of her family, and if this matter could be accomplished, it would be a win-win situation for both parties.

Let me ask the Third Master what he thinks. If he agrees, I will have them go to the government to handle the paperwork at the end of this month."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "I heard that the lands of the side houses were originally donated by the families, and now that the court has just issued a new policy, they have turned to me.

If this gets out, I will be accused of resisting the new policy and embezzling state revenue."

Lin Zhixiao's family was stunned when they heard this and said, "It can't be as powerful as Third Master said..."

Jia Cong did not respond to her words at all. He said, "I have just established my mansion and I have to buy property. I have already bought land outside the Liaodong Pass and have used up the quota of tax-free land. I can no longer accept donations. I would like to ask Aunt Lin to pass this message to everyone in the family. If you do not want to pay the land tax, you should sell it as soon as possible to avoid being accused of resisting the new policy and causing trouble for the family."

After saying that, Jia Cong picked up the tea bowl and took a sip.

Lin Zhixiao's wife knew that Master Cong was serving tea to send the guests away and wanted them to leave early.

My husband was right. This guy is a very honest person. You can't play tricks in front of him. I really got embarrassed in vain.

……

Rongguo Mansion, Fengjie's Courtyard.

After looking at the account book of Wang'er's daughter-in-law, Wang Xifeng learned how much land tax the Jia family had to pay in terms of summer and winter taxes. Her face changed for a moment and she was confused.

Wang Xifeng is a hero among women. Since she has been in charge of the family for many years, she naturally knows the background of the Jia family very well.

At that time, my great grandfather Daishan was also a descendant of the rank to inherit the title, but my great grandfather lived up to his ancestors' prestige and became a famous general with outstanding military strategies. He joined the army when he was young and made great military achievements.

Therefore, he still inherited the title of Duke of Rong, and was given a fief of 5,000 dan according to the Duke's title. What an honor it was in those days.

But when it came to the eldest master's generation, he was helpless and could only inherit the title by a lower rank according to the ancestral system. If the rank was low, the property would naturally have to be downgraded as well.

Therefore, the fief of the Duke of Rongguo was reduced from 5,000 dan to 3,000 dan, but the land and property of the title were exempt from tax, and could bring in more than 10,000 taels of silver a year to the Rongguo Mansion.

But these are not the main source of income for the Rongguo Mansion. The Jia family was conferred titles when the country was founded, and many industries have been acquired over the generations.

In Yongzhou and Jinling, he accumulated nearly ten thousand acres of fertile land through personal purchase and donations from relatives and friends.

According to the ancestral system of the imperial court, the title of Duke of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in addition to the property of the title, also allows the holder to own 10,000 acres of tax-free fertile land.

Moreover, the amount of tax-free land would not be reduced with demotion of title within three generations; it was a grace bestowed by the imperial court on hereditary noble families.

That is to say, the output of these ten thousand acres of fertile land does not require paying a penny of land tax. All the income from the land belongs to the family, and the family can also collect a 20% to 30% commission from the land donated by others.

The actual situation is that the fertile land that the Jia family has collected in various places has long exceeded ten thousand acres, but no local officials have ever come to collect land taxes on land that exceeds the tax-free land quota.

This has almost become an unspoken rule in official circles, and few officials would offend the powerful just for a few taels of land tax.

The imperial court would only re-measure the land every five years. The powerful and the government colluded with each other and naturally came up with all kinds of strange ways to conceal the actual amount of land they had occupied.

Therefore, most of the land tax, which is the most important tool of the country, is exploited from the common people and farmers who are barely making a living.

This was not only the case in the Zhou Dynasty. This kind of malpractice has never been truly eliminated in previous dynasties and even thousands of years ago.

Wang Xifeng was quick-witted. The court reduced the tax-free land regulations for nobles to 30%, and the remaining 70% had to be taxed as grain.

According to the amount of land owned by the Jia family of Rongguo, a rough calculation shows that nearly 40% of the silver would be consumed by the deficit in one year.

There is such a big family to feed, and they are all used to living a rich and luxurious life, how can they live like this...

At this time, Wang Xifeng no longer cared about her own discomfort. She tore off the plum blossom ointment on her temple and struggled to get up.

He asked Wang'er's wife to help him dress, and asked Ping'er to invite the old lady and the lady to Rongqing Hall, saying that he had something to report.

Wang Xifeng would not take charge of such a big matter on her own. She would definitely wait for Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang to make the decision.

He also secretly instructed Wang'er's wife to recover all the principal that had been lent out at high interest rates within two days, even if it meant losing some interest.

As long as she told the old lady and the mistress about paying the summer tax, they would definitely become nervous. The next step would be to ask about the amount of silver accumulated in the public treasury in order to get through the difficult times.

I can only delay for one day at most, so the principal I lent out at high interest must be recovered as soon as possible, otherwise it would be disastrous if the old lady and my wife found out.

(End of this chapter)