Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 202 Officials and Gentry Pay Grain Together

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Qian Youyu's original profession was criminal law, but he wasn't very skilled and couldn't find a good employer. Most of his clients were scholars or "Jinshi" (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) working in remote small counties. Small counties have small populations, so there are naturally fewer lawsuits. Hiring two clerks would be a waste, so he also learned financial matters. Although he wasn't very proficient, he held two jobs at once, which not only gave him an extra source of income but also saved his employers an expense, making everyone happy.

The skills of the tax collectors lay not only in their abacus skills but also in their ability to understand the situation and deal with the clerks. This was because when collecting taxes and land taxes, the Ministry of Revenue only asked for the total amount, not the details. Only the clerks in the county government's household registration office knew exactly who owned how much land, where it was located, and the tax rate. They relied on a secret register passed down through generations, known as the "Fish Scale Register." Without this register, even the most skilled tax collectors could not collect taxes.

The Yulin Register was public property, compiled and revised under the government's supervision. However, over the years, the copies archived in the county were either lost or destroyed, and their whereabouts are now unknown. The "public register" revised by the government has become the private property of the clerk. Whether it is the county magistrate or the tax clerk, they are often constrained by the clerk in order to smoothly handle the annual summer and autumn tax collection.

Because of their possession of the official register, the clerks of the Household Department not only had their official business handled smoothly, but they also made a fortune. For many years, the collection of taxes, grain, and land taxes had been a complete mess. Those who paid taxes didn't necessarily receive the official "grain tokens," while those who didn't pay had receipts for their taxes. Some people had no land to stand on yet had to pay taxes. Others owned thousands of acres of fertile land yet didn't have to pay a single grain of rice. In any case, as long as the "higher authorities" collected the required amount, they didn't care about the misattribution of taxes.

As for the various methods, there are many. Qian Youyu mentioned the two most common ones: "deceptive lending" and "producing grain and storing it."

"What is meant by 'deceptive transfer' and 'production gone but grain stored'?" Liu Ye asked.

"The so-called 'deceptive registration' refers to falsely registering one's own land under someone else's name in order to evade taxes and corvée labor; while 'producing land but storing grain' has a connotation of extortion."

If "deceptive taxation" was the embezzlement of taxes that should have been paid to the imperial court, and the target of the deception was the court, then "production depletion and grain retention" was blatant robbery. Wealthy households colluding with yamen clerks would buy other people's land, but without transferring ownership, the seller would still have to pay grain tax according to the original land register, while the buyer would not have to pay any money or grain. Gou Dafu, who died in Hefeng Village, and his brother Gou Ergui, together committed many such acts, which is why they rose to become the most prominent household in the surrounding area within just a few years.

Even the well-informed Liu Ye couldn't help but slam his fist on the table and exclaim, "This is outrageous! Isn't this blatant robbery? A gentleman loves money, but he acquires it in a proper way. Tax evasion is one thing, but to buy land and then make the seller pay taxes is simply sucking the marrow dry, leaving no way for people to survive!"

Sun Yuanhua exclaimed, "I never imagined that people could be so ruthless in order to seize land and evade taxes..."

Liu Ye stood up and paced back and forth a few steps before stopping and saying, "Regardless of what happens in other parts of the Ming Dynasty, I cannot stand by and watch such things continue to happen under my nose."

He addressed the crowd, saying, "Don't you want to know how to ensure that you pay your taxes in full while also protecting your own interests? To put it simply, it's quite simple. During the Wanli era, Zhang Juzheng did something similar, which was to conduct a land survey."

Land survey? The crowd looked at each other in bewilderment.

Sun Yuanhua asked doubtfully, "Zhang Xiang did indeed survey the land back then, but that was done to promote the Single Whip Law. Now that the grain quota and other levies such as the Liaodong tax have been converted into cash, the original purpose has been largely achieved. What's the point of surveying the land again?"

"His purpose in surveying and measuring land was indeed to implement the Single Whip Law. However, over the years, the number of land plots and the ownership of land have changed significantly. If we still cling to the old fish-scale register, the result will only be the continued exploitation of people with very little or no land, while the wealthy who truly own large tracts of fertile land will not have to pay grain taxes. If this continues, the wealthy will become richer and richer, while the people will be overwhelmed, displaced, and the world will soon descend into chaos."

After listening to Liu Ye's words, Sun Yuanhua felt that he had vaguely grasped something: why, even after the additional Liaodong tax was levied, the court was still unable to make ends meet, the army lacked funds to train, and the north was struggling to hold on, yet the Tartars still managed to enter the pass several times; at the same time, refugees were rising up in the Central Plains, and the government troops that were suppressing the bandits would suppress one side only to have another emerge, making it impossible to eradicate them all.

He couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that the imperial court's shortage of money and food is related to these things?"

Liu Ye nodded and said, “Mr. Sun’s idea is close to the truth. Let’s take Lingao as an example. Suppose the land register records that the county has 10,000 mu of land, but in reality, after several years of reclamation, another 5,000 mu have been added. However, this cannot be found in the land register. So, the grain tax is still calculated based on 10,000 mu. The problem is that the imperial court has preferential policies for officials and scholars with academic titles. In order to avoid paying grain tax, their relatives and friends transfer the land to these people and pay some rent, which is more cost-effective than paying grain tax to the imperial court. Both parties are happy. But in this way, the land registered in the land register is much less, perhaps less than half of the 10,000 mu. In the end, Lingao originally had 15,000 mu of land, but only paid grain tax based on 5,000 mu. Even if the county government tries every means to catch up, using methods such as beatings and public shaming, and finally collects the tax, how much of the money and grain is left after ensuring the county government’s operating expenses and the officials’ benefits?”

He glanced at the crowd and continued, “The imperial court is running a deficit, but the border is in dire straits. Training troops and paying their salaries both require money and grain, so the government has no choice but to continue increasing the levies. These burdens ultimately fall on the poor and needless to say, and have nothing to do with the rich. What happens when the poor can’t survive? To live, they are forced to flee and become refugees. The reason why the bandits keep multiplying despite the efforts to suppress them is because the number of displaced people keeps increasing. As long as someone raises a call to arms, the refugees, in order to fill their stomachs, become the source of soldiers for the bandits.”

Sun Yuanhua felt as if he had been struck by lightning; he suddenly understood. The root of the court's current predicament lay here. In truth, it was quite simple: previously, they had been blinded by a single leaf, or rather, they were unwilling to delve into this matter.

Yan Guang thought differently: "So, if we simply survey the land and uncover all the hidden fields, we can suddenly have a lot more money and grain?"

Liu Ye nodded and dropped another bombshell: "Not only that, within the three counties, I don't care about the court's preferential policies. Everyone will be treated equally, and as long as you own land, you must pay taxes!"

Everyone gasped in shock. Officials and gentry alike were required to pay taxes?