Feng Chengshi was a member of the Longwu Dynasty, and he was considered to be in the same class as Tao Qian. He had never been an official before joining Zheng Chenggong, but he had heard too many things about the officialdom.

In comparison, his son Feng Xifan followed him into the officialdom and worked under Zheng Chenggong's staff. As well as working in the Ordnance Bureau, the Zheng family's most indispensable thing was the accountant, and it was very difficult to tamper with the accounts; and the army

The Equipment Bureau was built by Chen Kai. As soon as Chen Kai entered the door, he got rid of the corrupt and extortionate factory tyrant. He was also not interested in such small money. In addition, Feng Xifan had been in such an environment for a long time and was influenced by it.

After a while, when I heard what his father said, I realized that an official in this world could still be like this, and my horizons were opened immediately.

In fact, since the concept of taxation began, taxes were collected to maintain the expenses of the royal family, bureaucracy and the army. People with power here would inevitably use their power for personal gain, collect firewood from links, pour water and kick dendrobium, etc., and use links

There are endless ways of deducting taxes. Local gentry and ordinary people, who are responsible for paying taxes, also have tax avoidance methods such as making donations and colluding with officials to modify fish scale books. The phenomenon of tax evasion has never been less.

.

This kind of thing corresponds to the saying that the world is as dark as crows. It is not just the government and the people, it is the same in China, but also in other countries, because the word "interest" is inevitable for ordinary people with mortal bodies.

.

Feng Chengshi didn't know that there would be weird theories in the future such as "Foreigners are highly qualified and will not be able to embezzle or evade taxes. This kind of thing is caused by the bad nature of the Chinese people." He also couldn't imagine Mingshi's self-respect and self-love.

Hundreds of years after the arrival of the Chinese, many people would actually feel inferior to that point. But as a father, he who knows something must always pass it on to his son. This is the inheritance of knowledge and the transmission of family ties between father and son.

After talking about this, Feng Chengshi continued to eat the last few mouthfuls of rice. After talking so much, he always felt as if he was not full, so he asked his servant to fill up half a bowl and continued to eat. In comparison

After absorbing so much new knowledge, Feng Xifan seemed to be full. His mind was full of money matters, and he could not even think about eating.

"Father, as far as I know, there are two counties in Xinghua Prefecture, nine counties in Fuzhou Prefecture, Funing Prefecture is one state with two counties, and Yanping Prefecture, Nanping, Shaxian, and Yong'an seem to be seven counties.

If the calculation is based on 10,000 taels, then this time we have collected money and grain worth 210,000 taels!"

After just one trip, he could get so much money and food, which was indeed more money than sea trade as Chen Kai said. Feng Xifan swallowed and looked a little strange. Feng Chengshi noticed all of this.

Seeing this, Feng Chengshi had no choice but to put down his chopsticks and continued to explain:

"The kickbacks, in total, are 20%. Calculating, that's more than 40,000 taels of profit given to the officials up and down. However, not all counties have 10,000 taels. Seeing the benefits, they sent some officials some time ago.

In the second batch of collection, each team got back no less than 15,000 taels, and the most even reached 23,000 taels. My father doesn’t know the details of this account, but the number is definitely not higher than

That 210,000 taels!"

Speaking of which, 210,000 taels, even if the rebates are excluded, 167,000 taels is an astronomical figure. Feng Xifan was speechless and did not know what to say at all. In this regard, Feng Chengshi did not

Satisfied, after thinking about it, he still felt that he should let his son have more experience.

"The idea of ​​collecting grain and wages was Guo Xing's initiative, but after Guo Xing wrote to Chen Jingcheng, Chen Jingcheng reportedly suggested adjusting the methods in his reply. Guo Xing is now following Chen Jingcheng's method. In addition, it is only September.

It is said that there will be collection next month, and if nothing unexpected happens then, the money will definitely come in faster than this time."

………………

At the end of September, the whispers between the Feng family and his son at the Zhongzuo Institute came true in October. Zheng Chenggong sent a note to the counties, asking them to prepare money and food for the army in preparation for collection.

Regarding this, all the officials in Fujian officialdom were overjoyed, but as Liu Qingtai and Tong Guoqi were worried about the storage capacity of the warehouse, these Qing officials who had been in the officialdom for a long time and knew how to cater to Shangguan's preferences immediately expressed their support for Shangguan.

Insightful approval and support.

"Captain Huang, as you know, the bosses of Zhijun and Fujun are not very happy about us using the prefectural and county warehouses..."

With the cooperation last time, this time, the magistrate of Fuqing County quickly left the city after the messenger arrived and interviewed Huang Kai at the last handover location. However, this time, Huang Kai was told

He was very unhappy, and his unhappiness was clearly written on his face without any cover-up, and even reflected in the eyes of the magistrate.

Seeing this, before Huang Kai could say anything, the county magistrate quickly added: "But we also know that recruitment is of great importance, and it is also very difficult for Haicheng Gong. So, the official and some colleagues thought about it, and simply started from the private sector.

What do you think about collecting taxes to supply the army?"

When the magistrate said this, Huang Kai felt slightly relieved. But when asked what he thought, he just said, "I don't care where the money and food come from. I just take it back and don't care about anything else." That was the end.

This was a conversation. However, the magistrate hadn't finished speaking yet, so he had no choice but to continue talking.

"Huang Shuai, you have been following Duke Haicheng for many years, so you must be a man of great insight. You must have seen many local people resisting donations and taxes. The official thought, if this happens, those unruly people will inevitably start to make trouble. When the time comes,

I'm afraid I might miss the important event of Duke Haicheng and Huang Shuai."

"What do you mean by the county magistrate, asking me to lead troops to conquer?"

Huang Kai has always done the work of collecting wages, and is not good at fighting. Besides, Zheng Chenggong had already given instructions before departure. All things, especially things that offend people, should be done by the Tatar government. They are only responsible for collecting money.

, open a note, give a kickback, and leave, it's that simple. As for the rest, except for Zheng Chenggong's instructions, he will not care at all.

Seeing that Huang Kai's face looked a little unhappy, the magistrate quickly explained: "Of course I won't cause any trouble to Huang Shuai. We have our own local green camp to deal with those unruly people. But you also know that when this army moves, you must give some

The good thing is that those Green Camp officers can do their best, and this kickback..."

After eating a portion, I still want to continue to ask for it. The reason is that I have it and it is sufficient. However, it is also the first time for the magistrate to meet with Huang Kai, and he is not very familiar with it, so he can't help but feel a little restrained. Fortunately, Huang Kai seems to be

He was born to be familiar with it. After understanding the request, Dangjie said that he would immediately ask Zheng Chenggong for instructions. However, this would only require them to give a price first.

"Don't worry, Mr. Haicheng won't spend too much money. Just add half an hour and it will be enough."

"Well, I'll send someone to report first. You can just wait for the good news."

"Thank you, Huang Shuai."

Since it was business, Huang Kai was sincere and quickly sent someone to report back to the Zhongzuo Institute. Zheng Chenggong quickly gave instructions - for these hard-working officials and green campers, Zheng Chenggong felt that adding half a percent would be enough.

It was acceptable. So, the instructions were sent back to the mouth of Longjiang River. After Huang Kai had a secret discussion with the magistrate, the latter quickly took action.

"Collect recruitment tax, money for raising soldiers, one tael of silver per household, silver, copper coins, cloth, grain, porcelain, these can be used to offset. The court has said that as long as the recruitment of Haicheng Gong is completed, the war in Fujian will be eliminated, and the money and food will be

If the fees are reduced, you will still benefit. But if anyone dares to resist and refuse to pay the taxes, they will be killed without mercy!"

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government talked about abolishing the three rates, but in fact, it only abolished the training rates and the suppression rates at first, and later restored them for a while. The so-called abolition of the largest Liao rates was only

It was after the Wanli Dynasty was abolished, but the Jiuli Silver before the Wanli Dynasty was completely integrated into the Zhengfu.

In addition, let’s not mention the subsequent Kangxi, Yongzong and Qian dynasties, except for the Shunzhi dynasty. Whenever there was any trouble in the Qing court, taxes would be levied. This was not limited to wars, but even the rebuilding of the palace that was burned down by Li Zicheng.

The whole world must pay for it.

Nowadays, the increase in taxes to appease the Ming army is actually not surprising to the common people. It is nothing more than a new reason for raising taxes. As long as you can't bear to part with the property and houses in your hometown, or in the city,

Shops in the town are reluctant to leave their wives, children and children at home, so they always have to tighten their belts to endure it.

Among them, the only thing that makes ordinary people feel a little better is that the confiscated items are no longer limited to silver and grain. With more categories, we can avoid the exploitation of the people by merchants since the implementation of the One Whip Law. However, each household only needs one tael per household.

Money, this is definitely a big burden. Soon, all the prefectures and counties that implemented the collection were filled with complaints.

"Last year we levied additional taxes, this year we increased levies for raising money, and we increase levies every year. How should we live like this?"

"There is no other way to endure it. If you go up the mountain or into the sea, there is always a way to survive. At the very least, it is better than dying of suffocation like this!"

Next to the clerks, the bright swords and guns of the green camp looked particularly eye-catching. Some people did flee into the mountains and forests for this purpose, but the vast majority of the people were reluctant to part with them and had no choice but to endure and hand them over.

Supplies were collected quickly in various counties, and petty officials went to the countryside and brought back a large amount of goods every time. As for the unruly people who resisted taxes and donations, just as the county magistrate said, they had their own green camp cuisine.

On October 11, an "anti-Qing armed force" consisting of dozens of men, women, and children hiding in the mountains to avoid taxes had just been wiped out. The confiscated property and women were pulled on the cart, and heads were hung on both sides of the war horses.

Level, the Green Camp team strode back to Fuqing County, most of which showed off their power.

Returning to the county seat, the magistrate no longer had to greet him in person like the previous few times. The officers of the Green Camp did not care about this. They made a statistics of the wealthy children, and then went to the county government office. The magistrate, the officials and others looked at the statistics.

, and then he wrote a document to report his merits.

"... there are more than three hundred bandits in Huangbo Mountain, occupying a dangerous place and causing trouble. During this expedition, the soldiers fought bravely and did not avoid the arrows. They finally defeated the bandits, burned the bandits' stronghold, and beheaded two out of thirty, and the rest dispersed...

"

The Green Camp officer looked at it carefully and couldn't help but have a higher evaluation of the exaggeration level of educated people like the magistrate. Subsequently, the two sides discussed the matter of going out for grain and grass. After the agreement was settled, the magistrate picked up his pen and wrote it down again.

I wrote a document about warehousing consumption reimbursement.

"...In this expedition, we sent out 200 green battalions and recruited 1,000 local civilians. After three days of expedition, we carried 40 dan of grain, several pigs and sheep, 50 taels of silver to buy vegetables, consumed 30 dan of grain, and put the rest into the warehouse.

All the pigs and sheep are used to reward the soldiers..."

We went on an expedition yesterday and returned today, even if we were rich enough for one day's consumption; the dietary standard was one pound of grain per person per day, plus pork and mutton, and money was also given to buy pickles, but the Green Camp officers never let the actual food in their hands

The two hundred civilians who were recruited had enough to eat, let alone meat and vegetables. This was another considerable income.

Three times, five times and two times divided by two, the accounts that needed to be revised were clearly corrected. The two parties divided the money and sold the abundant grain to the county's grain merchants. The money was automatically sent to the back door of everyone's house.

The silver came into the house, and the prepared goods were sent to Huang Kai for accounting. The latter counted the amount, converted it into silver according to the market price, and then issued a 10% and 50% rebate, which was directly handed over to the Green Camp officer.

The captain of the soldiers and the county official's pian, this transaction can be regarded as a settlement.

"My county has entrusted a gentleman to ask Governor Huang whether he will come again to collect food and salary next month."

"It should come. We, Mr. Hai Cheng, are preparing to be favored by the imperial court."

"I understand. I will report it to the county magistrate now so that I can prepare food and grass for Governor Huang to take back."

The magistrate was overjoyed when he received the response. Apart from other things, the magistrate's benefits have never been less than those of his subordinates, especially him, the responsible person. As long as these Ming troops come to collect food and wages every month,

They just have extra money every month, wouldn't it be nice?

In this way, the official was about to say goodbye to Huang Kai and go back to report the good news to the county magistrate. However, Huang Kai stopped him again, saying that Zheng Chenggong knew that he had been fighting against the Qing army in Fujian for many years, and many elders in the province had

There are many interruptions, so I plan to open a porridge restaurant. Firstly, it comforts my heart. Secondly, I want to do my best for partners like them. In addition, I also have the idea of ​​​​adding blessings and merits, and I ask the county magistrate to agree.

"this……"

"Don't worry, we won't go into the city, we will only stay outside the city. We won't bring many people with us, we will only be with the cooks and the people carrying rice and grain."

"That's it. That villain immediately returned to the city to ask for instructions from the county magistrate."
To be continued...