Qing Yao

Chapter 13: Fire a Cannon at the County Magistrate

The Ganquan County Government Office was more than three miles away from the Taxation Office. Wang Tai was just an ordinary accountant in the accounting office, and the office could not provide him with a bus for such a short distance, so he walked there with Zhao An.

From time to time, shop owners from the neighboring streets would greet Wang Tai, the accountant from the "Tax Bureau", and Zhao An would nod his head several times as well.

This is the face of the people in the unit.

Judging from Wang Tai's expression, there shouldn't be anything important, otherwise he wouldn't stop from time to time to chat with acquaintances.

When Wang Tai was chatting with others, Zhao An always stood more than one step away from him with a smile on his face, neither too close nor too distant. Occasionally, when Wang Tai talked to others about something in the department, Zhao An would nod slightly, as if what the teacher said was completely reasonable.

The Ganquan County Yamen is a typical north-facing and south-facing building with a width of three rooms. There are brackets under the eaves of the gate, and eight-shaped walls made of blue bricks on both sides. It is about one and a half meters high and covers an area that is probably more than twice that of the Taxation Office.

Perhaps it was because he was used to seeing luxurious office buildings in his previous life, so even though the Ganquan County Government Office was much more imposing than the Taxation Bureau, Zhao An had no feeling about it. In his heart, he thought that this place was just a township government compound in a remote mountainous area.

There were no stone lions at the entrance to the yamen, only a gatehouse guarded by yamen runners. Zhao An noticed a large drum placed next to the gatehouse and curiously asked Wang Tai, "Sir, is this the drum for hearing reports?"

"Dengwen drum?"

Wang Tai smiled and shook his head, telling Zhao An that this drum was not a drum for reporting news, but a hall drum for the yamen, whose function was to notify the county yamen staff to go to and from get off work, just like the bell in the tax department.

When the morning drum sounds, it’s time to go to work and people come in to do business; when the evening drum sounds, it’s time to go off work and people can come back tomorrow to do business.

Zhao An was puzzled. "Where is the Dengwen drum? I heard at home that ordinary people would beat the Dengwen drum when they went to the government office to file a complaint."

"There is a drum for filing complaints, but it's not located at our local government office. It's located at the Que Gate, the main gate of the imperial palace, outside the court. Ordinary people can't knock on it. Few people in this world dare to file a complaint with the emperor. Don't listen to what others say. If ordinary people want to file a complaint, they can just go to the government office to register and submit it. There's no need to beat a drum."

As they were talking, Wang Tai led Zhao An to the gatehouse. Perhaps because he often came to the county government office, the gatekeepers recognized him as the accountant of the Taxation Department and politely invited the two of them in without asking for registration.

When Wang Tai entered, he asked one of the yamen runners he knew well, "Old Li, is Mr. Ji in the household office?"

"Yes, I just came here from Secretary Lu."

The Secretary Lu mentioned by the yamen runner Old Li is Lu Qing, the chief clerk of Ganquan County.

The chief clerk and the county magistrate are both assistants to the county magistrate, responsible for assisting the county magistrate in managing finances, arrests, water conservancy and other matters, which are also known as assistant officials.

Usually, there are only these three people who can be called officials in a county.

The county magistrate is of the eighth rank, and the chief clerk is of the ninth rank. Both have separate office areas, which are usually connected to the county government office.

Because the chief clerk was also known as "secretary", Lu Qing was called Secretary Lu by the people in the yamen.

Secretary Lu's words were like thunder to Zhao An's ears, so explosive that he almost trembled.

Like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden, Zhao An stepped into the core area of ​​a county for the first time with great curiosity. The first thing that caught his eye was two rows of houses connected together, with words such as "Workers", "Soldiers", "Punishment", and "Households" hung on the houses.

I think it is the legendary Sixth Room.

There are some houses in the distance with signs hanging on them, but I don’t know what they are used for because they are too far away.

Further in is the hall where the county magistrate holds court to hear cases. Behind the hall is probably where the county magistrate's family lives, and ordinary people cannot enter.

"Sit here for a while and wait for me to call you in."

After bringing Zhao An to the household office, Wang Tai gestured for Zhao An to sit on the bench outside the corridor and went back into the household office. But he came out again after a while and sat down next to Zhao An and said casually, "Master Ji and Manager Zhang are talking. Let's wait for a while."

Zhao An nodded, thinking that Manager Zhang was probably the head of the Household Department. He had heard from Wu Laoer before that the heads of the six departments of the county government were all clerks, at the same level as Ding Zhenglong of the Tax Department, or even one level higher than Ding Zhenglong.

Because the Taxation Department seems to be responsible to the Household Department. In other words, the Household Department is the superior unit of the Taxation Department, or the Taxation Department is the subordinate executive unit of the Household Department.

The door of the household was closed. I could vaguely hear someone talking inside, but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

People came in and out of the rooms from time to time, but no one even glanced at Wang and Zhao who were waiting.

The sun was high in the sky, and Zhao An felt overwhelmed by the heat. He moved to a shady spot and asked Wang Tai curiously, "Sir, what does Master Ji do in the government office?"

"Master Ji is the tax collector of the yamen, specializing in managing the household registration office for the county magistrate," Wang Tai paused and lowered his voice slightly, "He is also in charge of our tax department."

This confirmed Zhao An's guess that the Household Department and the Taxation Department were indeed in a superior-subordinate relationship.

He also asked Wang Taizheng what he meant by "compared to the master".

"He's the county magistrate who's in charge of collecting taxes. You understand, right?"

Perhaps because he was bored, Wang Tai spoke a few more words to his assistant Zhao An.

According to him, there are several types of legal advisors in the yamen. There are criminal legal advisors who are responsible for laws and decrees, money legal advisors who are responsible for money and grain, tax legal advisors who are responsible for tax collection, registered legal advisors who are responsible for receiving and sending documents, notices and arrest warrants, and also legal advisors who are responsible for drafting various letters and replies for the county magistrate.

"Oh."

Zhao An nodded, thinking to himself, isn't this the legal advisor, financial advisor, engineering advisor, and tax advisor hired by the county magistrate?

Wang Tai continued, "The three advisors, Xingming, Qiangu, and Zhengbi, are the big ones. The registration and book issuance are the small ones. The county lord always leaves matters to them. The advisors are also the most respected in the county. Even Ambassador Ding has to be polite to this advisor Ji."

"Sir, the monthly allowances of the masters must be very high, right?"

Zhao An's question was a bit gossipy.

"Well, the big banquet costs three hundred taels per year, and the small banquet costs two hundred taels."

When he said this, Wang Tai's face was clearly filled with envy.

How can I not be envious? A big boss’s annual allowance is equivalent to his for several years. Besides, big bosses don’t live on allowances, they have a lot of gifts from people.

Zhao An suddenly thought of something and said hurriedly, "Oh, sir, I heard that the lawyers are all from Shaoxing. Is that true?"

Wang Tai nodded and said, "Yes, Master Ji and Master Jiang are from Shaoxing."

"Except for people from Shaoxing, people from other places can't be legal advisors?" Zhao An thought this was quite interesting.

"It's not impossible, but..."

Wang Tai chuckled softly, "If the governor's advisor is from Shaoxing, the prefect's advisor is also from Shaoxing, but the county magistrate's advisor is from somewhere else, do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing for the county magistrate?"

"I understand. It's definitely not a good thing."

Zhao An really understood. The reason is not complicated. The staff of the leader above are all from Shaoxing, but you, as a subordinate, have a foreigner as your staff. How can you get into the leader's small circle and leave a good impression on the leader?
You know, the leader relies on his advisor to get things done!
One word from the master is worth a hundred words from others.

Then another thought came to my mind, that is, how to see whether this Shaoxing lawyer was the real behind-the-scenes ruler of the Qing Dynasty.

Just as he was sighing, the door of the household office opened and someone inside called Wang Tai in.

When Wang Tai stood up, he reminded Zhao An, "Come in with me. Once you're in, don't look around. Just do whatever you're told to do."

"Hey!"

Zhao An responded in a low voice, lowered his head and followed Wang Tai into the house.

There are several desks in the room, most of which are piled with documents, with only two empty. It looks like a school teacher's office.

"Wang Tai, the last account submitted by your tax department has been reported to the government office. The county magistrate will come to the government office to reconcile the account the day after tomorrow. If there is any mistake in the account, the county magistrate will be in great trouble."

The person who spoke was Zhang, the manager of the household department. He was a man in his forties and looked very serious.

The lawyer named Ji was sitting at the innermost table, holding a tea bowl in his hand, and looking at Wang and Zhao who came into the room with a smile.

Wang Tai smiled and stepped forward: "Don't worry, manager, our company has checked the accounts several times, there is absolutely no problem. This is Zhao An, who just joined the company. He is diligent and smart."

After saying that, he gave Zhao An a look and said, "I haven't met Master Ji and Manager Zhang yet!"

Zhao An quickly stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Student Zhao An pays respects to the two gentlemen!"

"okay,"

Manager Zhang pointed to a mess of documents piled on a table to his left and said to Zhao An, "Pick these up and sort them by year. Then take them back to your department and calculate the accounts and hand them over to me within five days at the latest."

Wang Tai also nodded. This time he came to the household office to take these accounts back to settle. Because there were too many account books for one person to carry, he brought Zhao An with him.

Zhao An didn't dare to say anything more, so he just walked forward and started to clean up.

Manager Zhang gestured for Wang Tai to sit next to Master Ji. As soon as Wang Tai sat down, Master Ji complained, "Your Taxation Department is in such a mess right now. You know the County Master is short of money, but you don't even bother to help him. Do you think you should wait for him to ask for help?"

"Master Ji, what you said is true. How dare we in the Taxation Department delay the County Magistrate's important affairs? But you know that Ambassador Ding is the boss of the department, and I am just a calculator."

There were some things Wang Tai couldn't say too directly. Given his status, there were some things he really couldn't say. He also knew that Master Ji wasn't targeting him, so he stopped there.

If you have any problems, please go to Ding Zhenglong and don't bother with me.

"I won't waste any more time talking to you. There's something you need to tell Ding Zhenglong when you get back. The imperial court wants to send troops to the plateau, and this requires money. The Ministry of Revenue just sent an official document to the provincial government, and the provincial government has given the government a specific amount. Ganquan County is required to raise 50,000 taels of silver. Your tax department must find a way to raise this money no matter what."

Master Ji's tone was unquestionable. As the spokesperson for the county magistrate, he had the right to say no.

"Fifty thousand taels?"

Wang Tai was shocked by the amount and then said with embarrassment, "To be honest, Master Ji, we've already asked merchants to contribute to the miscellaneous taxes three times this year. If we ask them to contribute again, there will definitely be some people making a fuss. If something goes wrong, it will be very troublesome."

After hearing what Wang Tai said, Manager Zhang couldn't help but glance at him. He knew that Wang Tai was speaking for the locals and didn't want the locals to be exploited too harshly.

As a local, he certainly wants to speak for the locals, but as the head of the household department, he has no control over some things.

He sighed inwardly, coughed lightly, and said, "Besides the tax collection, is there no other solution for you at the Taxation Department? The court needs this money, and we can't delay it. Think of a way. We can't let these 50,000 taels delay the court's important affairs."

Wang Tai gave a bitter laugh: "What other solution can we come up with? The county magistrate has been in office for over a year. We can't just fire cannons again."

Shoot off?

Zhao An, who was busy tidying up documents, was attracted by this statement and didn't know what setting off firecrackers meant.

Master Ji, however, shook his head and said, "We can't fire this cannon. When the County Magistrate took office last time, he asked your tax department to reduce the price of land and house tax. We collected over 40,000 taels at once. That was last year. How can we reduce the price again this year?"

After saying this, he also looked helpless, "If we set off firecrackers again this year, then the county magistrate won't be able to set off firecrackers when he leaves office."

Zhao An heard a general idea and concluded that this matter should be related to the four departments responsible for the tax on the sale of land and houses. According to regulations, taxes must be paid for the transfer of land deeds, and the tax rate is set relatively high. Therefore, those county magistrates who borrowed money from loan sharks to work would attract people to transfer their land deeds by reducing or offering discounts on land taxes as soon as they took office, so that they could easily get the "first pot of gold".

Similarly, when leaving office, he would take advantage of the people's desire for small profits to impose another round of reductions, exemptions and discounts. Every time he took office and left office, he could probably collect tens of thousands of taels of land tax alone.

The money collected will definitely not go into the government treasury, but will all go into the officials' own pockets.

The magistrate of Ganquan County had already fired a cannon when he took office, and he had to save another cannon to fire when he left office. If he fired it now, he could collect the money, but the problem was that the money collected had to be handed over to the government to the court as military pay, which would be a huge loss for the magistrate.

This is equivalent to taking the money that should have gone into one's own pocket out in advance and giving it to the court. Who would be happy with this?
The lawyer surnamed Ji is also unhappy. Why?

The county magistrate gets his share of the income from firecrackers!

Master Ji obviously took this into consideration, so he did not mention the matter of setting off fireworks, but only asked Wang Tai to go back and tell Ambassador Ding Zhenglong about the matter. The spirit was just one thing - if there are difficulties, it must be completed; if there are no difficulties, difficulties must be created to complete it.

What could Wang Tai do? He could only do as he was told.

Just as he was about to stand up and prepare to go back, he heard the assistant Zhao An, who was collecting documents behind him, say, "Master Ji, Manager Zhang, I think the people don't know when the county magistrate will leave office. Why not spread the word that the county magistrate is being promoted to another position and wants to give the people some benefits before he leaves, so he specially reduces the land and house tax again. That way, the people will rush to pay the money."

After saying that, he added cautiously, "Afterwards, they'll say it was a rumor spread by someone with ulterior motives. Can the people still ask the government to return their money?"

(End of this chapter)