Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 342: Violating the Law Leads to Disaster

Rongguo Mansion, Daiyu Courtyard.

The windows had just been replaced with a new veil, and the soft afternoon sunlight shone in, leaving smoky and foggy shadows in the room.

The light and shadow cast on Daiyu added an indescribable hazy beauty to her graceful figure.

Zijuan served some warm tea and asked, "Young lady, now that you are back from the East Palace, what does Aunt Lin have to say?"

Daiyu smiled and said, "She was asked by the concubines to transfer the land to the name of the third brother, but the third brother refused because it was risky."

Zijuan didn't understand where the risk lay, but Third Master was such a smart man that he understood everything, so naturally he knew there was nothing wrong with what he did.

But he saw his girl suddenly took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, unfolded it gently, and stared at it in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking about.

However, Zijuan recognized that the handkerchief was not one that girls usually used.

……

Rongguo Mansion, Rongqing Hall.

Grandmother Jia, Mrs. Wang, Jia Zheng and others were all present.

Just now, Wang Xifeng told Jia Mu and others about the matter of paying summer and winter taxes on the land owned by the Rong State after the new policy was promulgated.

Everyone present had a solemn expression. After the court's new policy was implemented, according to the account calculations just now, Rong State's annual revenue had actually decreased by more than 30%.

In actual conditions, various losses must be added, and the resulting deficit will only be greater, not less.

God has not been kind to us in recent years, with all kinds of natural disasters occurring from time to time. The harvest from the fields is not as good as in previous years, and with so much land tax being lost, we cannot avoid the situation of having more expenses than income every year.

In fact, even if the income was reduced by more than 30%, the annual income of Rongguo Mansion was still a very large amount for a middle-class family.

However, the Duke's Mansion has to support so many people, and the splendor and extravagance accumulated over the years cannot be easily reduced, not to mention that it would be embarrassing and shameful to outsiders.

Even if one's family is used to being wealthy, it is impossible for them to lose weight all of a sudden.

Grandmother Jia looked even more depressed. Before she got married, she was the daughter of a marquis, and after she got married, she was the wife of a duke. She was destined to be extremely rich and noble all her life, and she really enjoyed a life of glory and pleasure.

At first she thought she could still live a carefree life like this, but she didn't expect the court to come up with a new policy, which cut off half of the Duke's Mansion's assets. Grandmother Jia was heartbroken.

At this time, Lin Zhixiao's wife entered Rongqing Hall and reported to Lady Jia about her visit to the East Palace to discuss the donation of land with Jia Cong.

After hearing this, Jia's mother became even more unhappy and said, "This boy is also a spendthrift. If he wanted to buy land, he should have bought it in this province or in the rich places south of the Yangtze River. But he chose to buy land outside the Great Wall.

It's ridiculous to buy so much land in such a remote and uninhabited place. Didn't he get the property too easily? Why did he waste money like this? "

Jia Zheng had seen Jia Cong's outstanding performance in the past two years and felt that even if Jia Cong acted a little abnormally, he always had his own reasons and would not be doing it without a purpose.

Said: "Old lady, Cong'er has always been cautious in his actions. He will buy land outside the pass. Maybe the land outside the pass has benefits that we don't know about?"

Wang'er's daughter-in-law on the side suddenly said: "Old lady, I have heard a lot about land and land taxes outside recently, and I know a little bit about it.

At present, the emperor's new policy only applies to this province and Jiangnan. The new policy will definitely not be implemented in uninhabited areas such as outside the Great Wall.

I also heard from people outside that the land outside the Great Wall is very cheap. If you buy 1,000 acres in this province, you can probably double the price outside the Great Wall.”

Wang Xifeng was quick-witted and her eyes lit up when she heard this. After all, this Third Brother Cong was a scholar and had a very lively mind.

As long as the new policy is not implemented outside the Great Wall, I am afraid that his tax-free land will not be discounted by 70% in those places. With the same amount of silver, he can buy more land there. This calculation is really shrewd.

It’s just that kind of freezing cold place, and I heard that people don’t farm there. So what’s the point of him buying more land?

After hearing what Wang'er's wife said, Jia Zheng smiled and said, "There is indeed a mystery. I said that Cong brother must have a reason for doing this."

Grandmother Jia looked at her naive son with some disgust. She thought everything the boy did was reasonable and pleasing to the eye, except for her own Baoyu.

However, after listening to what Wang'er's wife said, Jia's mother felt that Jia Cong was not fooling around and that he had some rules.

...But at the moment, it is impossible for the Jia family to follow Jia Cong's example and buy large amounts of land in a place like Liaodong.

Because the Jia family has tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, which cannot be sold just like that.

Among these are family properties accumulated over several lifetimes. How can the ancestral property be easily abandoned? In addition, there are also many places donated by students, old friends and elders of various families. None of them can be moved easily.

Jia Mu knew that Feng Jie had always been cunning, so she asked, "Feng girl, now that you are in charge of the family affairs, what should you do to deal with it?"

Wang Xifeng was a person who was best at observing the situation and was even more sensitive to matters concerning money. In fact, she had some plans in mind before she came, but she was unable to make a decision on her own.

She was just waiting for Lady Jia to say this before she could speak out the idea that came to her mind.

"Old lady, if we have to pay the land tax according to the new law of the court, we will be short of so much money all at once. It must not be the case for our family.

Why don't we take our time and not rush to submit it? Let's see how other companies do it first. It won't be too late to do it later..."

When Grandmother Jia heard this, she also felt that it made a lot of sense, and asked Jia Zheng, "Zheng'er, now you are the only one in the family who is the hall official, can you tell me whether this method is still feasible?"

Jia Zheng is a man of law-abiding temperament. He is neither a member of the New Party nor of the Old Party. Mainly because he is mediocre and has a special identity, people from both parties will not recruit him to join...

Therefore, Jia Zheng had no obvious likes or dislikes about the new law. He just felt that since it was issued by the emperor, it seemed inappropriate to deal with it perfunctorily.

However, although he was not familiar with worldly affairs, he knew that if his family lost 30 to 40 percent of their money every year out of nowhere, it would be a huge matter.

So he was hesitant for a moment, unable to make up his mind, and did not dare to say that Fengjie's method was not working.

"Madam, I am not the only official in the family. Congge also holds an official position, and his official rank is higher than mine. He often comes to the palace and has many discussions with the emperor. Why not ask him to come and ask for advice?"

……

Now, Grandmother Jia and her grandson are becoming more and more angry because she is always at a disadvantage in front of him.

Just look at what this kid has done since he was conferred the title, and everything he has done has been against you.

And this kid is always right and nobody can find fault with him at all. Grandmother Jia has never met such a younger generation in her life. She is so restricted to the extreme and it is really too frustrating.

Under normal circumstances, she would never let him come near her. Even regarding the clan members' tribute just now, she asked Lin Zhixiao's family to pass on the message, so as to avoid being made uncomfortable by this kid again.

But right now this is a big family event, and that kid is indeed a man with his own ideas, so he didn't care about all these things and asked Yuanyang to go to the East Palace to call for help.

After Jia Cong entered Rongqing Hall, Wang Xifeng told him everything and also told him about the method of delaying the payment of summer taxes and waiting to see the direction of the wind.

Although Wang Xifeng was smart and capable, and had a clever mind, she was, after all, just a woman in the inner court. How could she understand the severity of the risks in the court's political situation?

Therefore, she was unsure whether this unorthodox method could be implemented.

……

In fact, when Lin Zhixiao's wife came over to talk about the surrender just now, Jia Cong knew that the new law was promulgated and implemented on a trial basis. With the arrival of summer taxes, its power began to show.

The amount of tax-free land owned by officials and gentry decreased, a large amount of donated land was abandoned, and countless middle-class families racked their brains to find ways to donate land.

All kinds of dirty words and complaints are bound to make the market noisy.

The wealthy and powerful families were unwilling to pay large amounts of land taxes and tried to maintain their original luxury and wealth, so they would try every possible means to avoid taxes.

As summer tax collection continues to increase, more and more dissatisfaction and friction will erupt.

Although those officials and gentry suffered huge losses in their interests because of the new law, it was far from the point where they could not continue. All they had to do was struggle to the greatest extent possible.

Could it be possible that the officials and gentry would rebel because of this? In Jia Cong's opinion, the possibility of this was extremely small.

Therefore, the final winner must be Emperor Jiazhao. The only question is how much blood will be shed in the process of implementing the new law.

Therefore, Wang Xifeng's method of delaying the payment of summer taxes in an attempt to wait and see and get away with it is completely useless and may even bring disaster.

(End of this chapter)