This middle-aged official's name is Zhang Tingyan. He is a food clerk at the Wuxian County Government. He is also the direct boss of the Anletang society and the person who provides food for the society.
To modern people, the word "liangshu" sounds like a rustic.
But in the Ming Dynasty, the word "grain" in the grain books was not just grain, but also money and grain, which was also the name for taxation.
Therefore, the meaning of grain book is the clerk responsible for tax collection, and also has the power to divide the tax levels of fields.
In local government affairs, money and food are the most important. Especially in the Jiangnan area, which is the largest financial source of the imperial court, money and food are the top priority in all work, and are directly related to the food, drink and diarrhea of the imperial court and the palace.
It is so important that a grain department can be separated from each household in the sixth house of the county government office to be responsible for the collection of money and grain.
Officials in the grain department are called grain officials, and they are definitely considered powerful figures in the county. They are considered to be the top class among county officials.
Anletang's territory is within the area governed by Zhang Liangshu.
Zhang Liangshu's treatment was indeed different. After he sat down on the chairman's chair, he was immediately attended by two fans. A copper basin was also brought to Zhang Liangshu to wash his face and hands.
Lu Yibin, the leader of Anle Hall, laughed and said, "Mr. Zhang, look, Heyi Hall doesn't take you seriously at all. How dare you be late today!"
Zhang Liangshu put down his handkerchief and said coldly: "Let's not talk about the Heyi Hall first, let's talk about the problem of your Anle Hall first!
When will you pay the 1,050 taels of gold and silver, 880 shi of grain, 720 taels of silver, and 84 shi of white grain that you owed last year?"
Lin Tailai, who was preparing to learn knowledge from a five-dollar pink-headed girl, was also slightly distracted and surprised.
The memorization of this chapter of the food book is very good, so many subjects can be listed one by one casually, and I can occupy the position of the food book in the county government. I really have a lot of brushes.
Hall Master Lu's face suddenly turned bitter, "I didn't report the flood last year, so I owed an extra 20 to 30%.
Mr. Zhang, you also know that we owe taxes every year anyway, and everyone who owes them is exhausted, and it is extremely difficult to collect the taxes owed from previous years from households."
Zhang Liangshu slapped the table and yelled: "I don't care about the tax arrears from previous years, and neither do the county officials! The county officials only need to make up for last year's tax arrears!"
If Lin Tailai hadn't inherited his original memory and had a little understanding of current taxation knowledge, he might not even be able to understand these few sentences of dialogue.
The connotation of "tax arrears every year" is that although Suzhou Prefecture has the heaviest tax burden in the world, it has also formed a "tax arrears culture" to adjust accordingly, and it is rare to truly collect all taxes in a year.
On average, Suzhou Prefecture basically owed about a quarter of the money and food to the court every year.
As the years go by, more and more debts are accumulated, which leads to the mentality that if you have more debts, you won't have to worry about the lice, so Hall Master Lu said, "It is as difficult as climbing to the sky to collect taxes owed in previous years."
However, there is an unspoken rule in the official circles of Suzhou and even Jiangnan. If the money and food collected reach 70% of the prescribed amount, the local officials will not be punished.
If it reaches 80%, the local official's performance evaluation is qualified; if it reaches 90% or even fully collects the tax, it is excellent!
Suzhou Fucheng is divided into two counties, Wu County in the southwest and Changzhou County in the northeast.
Last year, due to reports of floods, Wuxian County only collected 60% of the money and grain, breaking the 70% safety line.
Moreover, this arrears occurred during the term of the current magistrate, which seriously affected the magistrate's performance evaluation.
Therefore, Zhang Liangshu will say: The county official does not care about the taxes owed in previous years, as long as he pays back last year's taxes!
The task was too difficult, Hall Master Lu stopped answering, and just sighed to himself.
Zhang Liangshu pointed at Hall Master Lu and scolded: "This is a task assigned by the county magistrate. I ask you if you can do it? If you can't do it, replace it with someone else!"
The second leader Song Quan responded quickly: "It can be done! It can be done! Anletang will do its best!"
Zhang Liangshu's expression softened slightly, "Don't say I won't give you a chance. If you are capable of doing things, I will consider handing over the city next to you to Anletang!"
When Lin Tailai heard this, he felt that the words and deeds in this chapter of Liangshu were actually closer to the image of a club boss in his mind.
In this era, rural areas were accustomed to using "capital" and "tu" to divide territory, similar to the concepts of township and village.
It can be understood that the capital is a township and the map is a village. There are also smaller units called Wei, which are similar to production groups.
There are thirty-six capitals in Wu County. The areas in charge of Zhang Liangshu are First Capital, Eleventh Capital, and Thirteenth Capital. They are the most important grain books.
Another example is Lin Tailai's household registration address: Nanzhili, Suzhou Prefecture, Wuxian County, Shisandu (township), Wutu (village), Luziwei.
The main territory of Anletang is the Thirteen Capitals. In technical terms, the Thirteen Capitals are "all in one color".
As for the capital mentioned in Zhang Liangshu, you can tell how important its status is just by listening to the serial number!
The first capital of Wuxian County is to the east of the Thirteen Capitals, adjacent across the Grand Canal, and its range is roughly east of the Grand Canal, west of the city wall (Nanhao), and south of Fengtang!
In other words, Yidu is geographically adjacent to Suzhou City, and the two most prosperous commercial districts of Fengtang and Nanhao are also within the geographical scope of Yidu. Of course, commercial districts do not pay agricultural taxes.
This is the reason why although Yidu and Shisandu are only separated by a Grand Canal, one is "One" and the other can only be "Thirteen".
If Wuxian in the same city as Suzhou is the capital of Suzhou, then Wuxian is the capital and first township of Suzhou!
In fact, to be more confident, it is reasonable to say that this is the best township in the world. No township has a better economic foundation than Wuxian Yidu.
Lam Tai-lai understands based on his own film viewing experience that the nature of occupying a city is almost equivalent to the unified "Yau Tsim Mong" in the Hong Kong film universe.
Obviously, Zhang Liangshu drew a big cake.
Faced with the big pie, middle-aged people who have experienced vicissitudes of life will feel uneasy.
Hall Master Lu and Chief Song looked at each other, both vaguely worried. Would Zhang Liangshu be so kind?
But when teenagers are faced with big cakes, they often have excited thoughts flying around.
The cake smelled so good that Lin Tailai was distracted again and stopped learning from the five-money girl. He couldn't help but fall into fantasy.
If he takes over a city and then further monopolizes Fengtang and Nanhao, two of the world's best commercial and trade centers, it will not be difficult to become the richest man in the Ming Dynasty with gold and silver.
At that time, with today's social atmosphere in which etiquette is broken and music is broken, everything is opened with gold and silver. Thousands of silver are thrown at it. What else can't be done? Fame and fortune are like picking things out of a bag!
If you can come up with one hundred thousand taels, I'm afraid even Emperor Wanli, who is famous for his love of money, can bribe him! Even if one hundred thousand taels doesn't work, hundreds of thousands taels will certainly do!
For example, give Zhu Yijun so much money to buy him the top prize, and see if the person named Zhu will do it?
When the fantasy reached its extreme, Dr. Lin seemed to have entered the time of the sages, and everything became boring.
Because it’s too tiring to be practical step by step, it’s easier to just retreat.
Isn't it easy to find ways to hype up your reputation and then follow the celebrity route without touching the glamour?
Let’s start by learning knowledge!
Lin Tailai put away his other thoughts and stopped paying attention to the chores discussed by Zhang Liangshu, Hall Master Lu, and Uncle Song.
Then he stretched out his arm that was strong enough to run a horse, gently hugged the five-dollar girl, and asked politely: "Do you understand poetry?"
The journey of many poets who traveled through their predecessors began on such an occasion.
The five-money girl pretended to be shy and lowered her head, then secretly rolled her eyes and replied: "This good man, if you want to talk about poetry, please go to the Eighth Courtyard. Why are you making fun of the slave family?"
Eighth courtyard? Lin Tailai's eyes lit up, this was the industry knowledge he wanted to learn!
When he was about to continue studying in depth, three more people suddenly came in. The leader shouted in a hoarse voice: "Ah hey! I'm late!"
You don't need to think about it to know that this is the arrival of people from Heyi Hall.
The leader was probably Wu Yikui, the leader of the Heyi Hall. He was in his forties, with a face as thin as a knife and a rat's beard. He looked like a wolf as he walked.
After Wu Yikui glanced at the situation, he suddenly stretched out his hand and pinched the face of the five-dollar girl next to Lin Tailai.
Then he sneered at Hall Master Lu and said, "Look at you women, Anle Hall is no longer big or small?"
No wonder you, the leader of the hall, are getting worse and worse as you go around, and you are not even as good as a minion!"
Thank you to Xiao Jinhua for being the leader! I am also an old friend who tipped me on the last book. Thank you again!