Chapter 986
Chapter 986
If the Gu family is like this, what about other families?
There are countless hidden farms and households in private.
The Gu family is now cooperating fully with the land survey. They not only returned all the land they had entrusted to them to its original owners, but also registered all the land they had bought or reclaimed over the years that had not been registered. Other families were uneasy and hesitated when the village head and his constables came to their door. They could only stand by the field and watch them measure the land.
Seeing that the amount registered by the yamen runners was getting bigger and bigger, they couldn't help but slip money to the village chief.
The village chief pushed the money back and whispered, "It's not that I'm unwilling to help, but the county magistrate has already returned the money he received. It's clear this is a bad idea. Don't get me into trouble."
"Village chief, please plead for us one more time. If things continue like this, we won't be able to live our lives anymore."
"Why can't it be done? Those families with only a few acres of land are doing just fine, aren't they?" the village chief said in a low voice. "Don't go too far. This is His Majesty's new policy. Since the county magistrate has returned the money, it means this can't be done, it can't be done!"
"The emperor is far away, and he probably doesn't even know where Dehua County is. Could it be that the county magistrate is getting old and has become timid?"
The landlord from another plot of land also came over, flanking the village head from the other side. He stuffed a silver ingot into the village head's hand and whispered, "Please, village head, put in a good word for us. In this kind of situation, the bold get rich while the timid starve. The county magistrate still has several years left in our county. Does he expect to live off that meager salary for the rest of his life?"
The village chief shook off their hands and said angrily, "How can you be so insensible? If you cause trouble again, you can become the village chief!"
The two remained silent.
The village chief took a deep breath and said, "Although the emperor is far away, there are still censors and the Embroidered Uniform Guard! Besides, it's just a land survey, not a matter of you paying back land taxes. Each of you owns at least three to five hundred acres of land, and there are probably fifty or a hundred hidden. If you're making such a fuss, what about those poor farmers outside who only have two or three acres of land but have to pay double or triple the land taxes? How are they supposed to survive?"
“Village Chief, this isn’t something we do alone. Your family also has hidden land, and you have a scholar in your family who is in charge of collecting land. The extra land taxes paid by the poor people outside are also paid to your family and the Gu family. We can’t bear the consequences of this!”
"That's right, we won't carry it!"
"Fine, don't take it if you don't want to," the village chief said irritably. "I'll just say one thing: you have to measure this land, whether you want to or not! Also, the land that you two families have registered under my name, come back and get the land deeds."
Both families choked.
But I'm not afraid of the village chief anymore.
They curry favor with the village head simply because his family produced a scholar who passed the imperial examinations, thus allowing them to receive tax-free land.
Without this benefit, who would bother with them?
The three parties parted on bad terms, and such situations are not uncommon in Dehua County.
The land survey in Dehua County was carried out in a great deal of effort, and the news quickly spread to neighboring Yongtai County and Quanzhou City.
There was also competition among county magistrates.
If the magistrate of Dehua County discovers a significant amount of farmland during a land survey, while other counties merely go through the motions, then the report would look rather dismal.
Moreover, there are rumors that the Imperial Inspector Xue Shao is currently conducting an incognito investigation in the countryside. Who knows where he is hiding and watching them?
Xue Shao was not an upright man at all. Unlike other censors who followed procedures and took things step by step, he did not bring any guards or notify any level of government. He just wandered around with a page.
He doesn't show himself, so nobody knows where he's gone.
Last time, he disguised himself as a martial arts practitioner and infiltrated the bandit-suppressing heroes. It wasn't until he returned from Japan that everyone realized he had participated in the joint bandit-suppressing operation of the Martial Arts Alliance and the Celestial Master's Mansion.
Last time, he was a merchant's accountant who was kidnapped by mountain bandits and taken to their den. It wasn't until he led the second and fourth leaders of the bandits into the city and sent them to prison that the bandit den was wiped out. Only then did everyone realize that the censor had infiltrated the bandit den and, in less than a month, had become the fifth leader of the bandit den.
And last time, it wasn't until the prefect of Jiujiang was arrested by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and his house was ransacked that everyone realized that the out-of-town scholar who had been captured by the prefect's eldest son and brought to his residence to write essays and do homework for him was Xue Shao. If the Embroidered Uniform Guard hadn't arrived in time, he would have had to take the imperial examination in place of him this year.
Besides last time, there was also last time.
In any case, in the eyes of the local officials, Xue Shao was like a dragon whose head was seen but not its tail, and sometimes even the Embroidered Uniform Guard had a hard time finding him.
At least half the time, Xue Shao had to contact them first before they could find him.
It was precisely for this reason that the Embroidered Uniform Guard, after much painful reflection, realized that their intelligence network among the people was not yet perfect.
An imperial inspector, whose area of activity was restricted, and who always cooperated with him, still managed to lose track of each other.
Is this reasonable?
Therefore, this year both the Northern and Southern Garrison Commands have strengthened the training of the Embroidered Uniform Guards and increased the difficulty of the assessments.
This directly affected the selection of Imperial Guards in the capital.
Yun Yan specifically submitted a memorial to the emperor, arguing that the selection process for the Embroidered Uniform Guard should be broadened and more detailed and categorized.
It's not necessary for the Embroidered Uniform Guards to be skilled in martial arts or good-looking. Those assigned to intelligence work in the civilian population can be of average appearance and martial arts skills, but they must be sharp-witted and have a good memory.
Of course, these are things to follow.
At this time, based on various rumors about Xue Shao, Dehua County and its surrounding prefectures and counties were on high alert. On the one hand, they vigorously implemented the policy issued by the imperial court to survey the land, and on the other hand, they had to carefully maintain local relations and deal with all kinds of difficult people.
The magistrate of Dehua County was lucky; the biggest landlord and the highest-ranking official in their county was the Gu family.
The Gu family cooperated voluntarily, but the magistrates of other counties were not so lucky.
Which of those big landowners and gentry didn't have a family member or relative who held an official position in the imperial court?
Those of the same or similar rank are fine, but the real problem is those of high rank and power.
If the county magistrates are too assertive, they will be afraid of offending the other party, and their lives will be difficult after making enemies.
If they handle things lightly and try to get away with it, once Xue Shao finds out, he might get rid of them before the big landlords and gentry even have a chance to make things difficult for them.
After much internal struggle, I finally chose the path that best suited my immediate interests.
Xue Shao had no idea that news of his presence in Dehua County could spread so quickly; with Pan Yun by his side, their journey was even faster.
They rode south at breakneck speed and soon passed Zhangzhou and entered the Chaozhou region.
Xue Shao did not stop to conduct a detailed investigation in every county. Because land surveying was an urgent matter, he consciously focused on major cases and let minor ones go, using the major cases to intimidate the minor ones. This was commonly known as "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" style law enforcement.
Hopefully, after killing one chicken, the other monkeys will learn from this experience, retract their claws, and act with caution.
But before the chicken could be caught, it had already terrified a group of monkeys.
Chaozhou belongs to Guangdong Province, and its fishing industry is thriving, no less so than that of Quanzhou.
The three entered the country from Zhangzhou and went directly to Haiyang County, the seat of Chaozhou.
Upon entering the city, they could immediately sense that the culture here was completely different from that of Quanzhou.
It was late autumn, but most of the people here were wearing short jackets, shorts that went past their knees, straw sandals or wooden clogs, and many were carrying palm-leaf fans.
Along the street, there were many vendors hawking their wares. The two rode side by side on their horses, looking down from their vantage point, and discovered that most of the stalls here sold fish balls and rice noodles.
It smelled pretty good. Pan Jun's stomach rumbled, and she immediately decided to eat it by the roadside.
She glanced at Xue Shao: "Eating here?"
Xue Shao nodded: "Alright."
As soon as the two dismounted, Xi Jin also dismounted immediately. They found an open space nearby, pulled the horse over, and were about to run over when a young man stopped them: "Wait a minute, stop the horse and pay the fee."
It's not very accurate Mandarin, but you can understand it.
Xi Jin was taken aback, looked back, and said, "This is an open space."
“That’s right, this is the open space I’m guarding. One horse costs two coins, three horses cost six coins.”
This was the first time Xi Jin had encountered something like this, and she looked at him with suspicion: "I've never heard of having to pay to park a horse on an empty lot by the roadside."
"Well, you've seen it all this time. I won't charge you for the knowledge you gained; you'll get it for free."
Xi Jin felt a lump in his throat, unwilling to give it, but Xue Shao, who was sitting not far away, had already called out loudly: "Xi Jin, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, give it to him."
Xi Jin muttered a couple of times, but still took out his money bag, counted out six coins, and handed them to him.
When he sat down at the table and learned that a bowl of fish balls only cost three coins and rice noodles only cost five coins, he immediately felt a pang of heartache: "Young master, that's enough for a bowl of rice noodles and three fish balls."
Xue Shao smiled and pushed the first bowl of rice noodles to him to eat: "Alright, alright, I just asked the stall owner. Whether you're a local or a tourist, you have to pay to park your horse here. It costs two coins to park our horse, but over there, it costs five coins to park a car. It's not just us."
Xi Jin looked back and saw people coming out of the restaurant and getting into carriages. The driver took out five coins and handed them to the people standing by the roadside.
He couldn't help but gasp: "Isn't it too easy to make money here? Just fence off an empty plot of land and sit back and wait to collect the money."
Pan Yun shook her head: "On the contrary, money is the hardest to make here. Do you think anyone can just buy land and make money in this city?"
Xue Shao handed him a pair of chopsticks: "Alright, I know you're worried about money. Don't worry, once we're settled, I'll set up a stall and write articles for people. Making money won't be difficult."
Xi Jin, remembering that his young master's articles were always popular, felt relieved and happy, and handed the bowl back: "Young master, you eat first?"
"You eat first. You've been running around taking care of things all this way; you've worked harder than any of us."
Xi Jin then passed it on to Pan Yun.
Pan Yun said, "You eat first. We didn't eat much at noon. Xue Shao and I are hungry, but you can't be."
Xi Jin: "Miss, please eat first. I could hear thunder rumbling in your stomach just now."
Pan Yun glared at him and said, "Just eat first, why are you talking so much nonsense? I'm not hungry, I'm just craving it!"
Xi Jin then pulled over the bowl and started eating voraciously.
As he slurped up the noodles, the aroma of the broth filled the air, making Pan Yun even more hungry.
She covered her stomach to stop it from growling.
Xue Shao smiled and saw that the stall owner was still cutting rice noodles, but there was a large pot of fish balls ready. He simply said, "Shopkeeper, please give us three bowls of fish balls first."
Upon hearing this, the little girl who was helping her parents immediately set out three bowls, scooped them up with a large spoon, and then tilted and tossed them, filling each bowl with ten glistening white fish balls.
The little boy, who was even younger than the little girl, brought the bowl over.
Pan Yun stepped aside to let him put his feet on the table, glanced down at his bare feet, and asked with a smile, "How old are you?"
The little boy's clothes were clean, and his face and fingers were also very clean. He didn't even have straw sandals on his feet, so he walked on the stone slabs with a pattering sound. Hearing this, he looked up at Pan Yun, turned around, and mumbled a string of words.
As the little girl added firewood to the stove, she replied in broken Mandarin, "Miss, my little brother is six years old, and he can't speak Mandarin yet."
Actually, not only was the little boy not very good at speaking, but the stall owners were not very good either; the little girl relayed the order on his behalf.
Pan Jun glanced at the busy little girl with a mixture of curiosity and relief, then scooped up some fish balls from her bowl.
Their fish balls aren't pure white; they have a touch of green and a touch of red in them, arranged symmetrically on the left and right.
Pan Yun glanced at it curiously, then lowered her head and took a bite.
The fish balls are bouncy and firm, with no fishy smell at all, only the fragrance of fish. The best part is that the fish balls have a slightly crispy texture in the middle, as if they are filled with some kind of filling.
Pan Yun ate with relish, and Xue Shao also enjoyed a bite.
By the time the rice noodles were ready and served, the two had already finished a bowl of fish balls and were sipping the soup.
It wasn't mealtime, so after preparing food for the three of them, the family had some free time again.
After finishing a bowl of fish balls, Pan Jun wasn't so hungry anymore, so she ate her noodles while talking to them: "Your fish balls are so delicious, what do you put in them?"
The stall owners looked troubled and mumbled a few words, which Pan Yun could barely make out—the word "scallion."
The little girl said, "As long as the customers enjoy the food, that's good. Our fish balls are the best on this street. Some customers have said that even the fish balls made at Piaoxianglou can't compare to ours. So we have to keep this secret recipe, because we want to use it to make money in the future."
Pan Yun nodded: "I understand."
She glanced at her parents, then at her, and asked with a smile, "Why is it that you're the only one in your family who speaks Mandarin so well?"
The little girl looked confused: "I don't understand either. I can learn it by listening, but my parents can't learn it no matter what I do."
She's also very troubled, okay?
Pan Yun burst into laughter and said, "It's probably because there are few people here who speak Mandarin."
After eating, Xue Shao put down the money and asked them about the schools and bookstores in the area.
It was the little girl who gave me directions.
Xue Shao thought she was very clever and said, "If the court opens more community schools, you can go to study. You can not only learn Mandarin, but also learn how to expand your family's fish ball stall and open a shop in the future to do bigger business."
The little girl's eyes lit up at this question, and she asked, "Can girls go to school too?"
“Of course,” Xue Shao said, “the imperial court has opened up many private schools and has never restricted men and women.”
Pan Jun also liked her cleverness. After thinking for a moment, he folded a lucky charm into a triangle and gave it to her, saying with a smile, "She can bring you good luck. If you work hard, you might be able to achieve your wishes."
The little girl took it with shining eyes, thought for a moment, then turned and pointed to another place, saying, "Young master, young lady, Piaoxiang Pavilion is over there. I heard from the guests that there's a poetry gathering there. You are scholars, wouldn't you like to go to the poetry gathering?" (End of this chapter)