Chapter 89: Eating the Rich (Part 3)
"Is Mr. Yu home?" A voice came from outside the door.
Xu Yu from inside the door responded, "My master is not here. You can go back."
"Since Mr. Yu has gone out, let's wait outside the door for him to come back." the person outside shouted.
Xu Yu's face was grim, and she went back to the inner room. She saw Yu Xiucai sighing with a sad face, but she didn't want to be heard by people outside, so she sighed as quietly as possible.
"Master, are those people outside really sent by Mr. Li?" Xu Yu asked in a low voice.
Yu Xiucai sighed, "I don't know where Mr. Li found these people from. They are so hateful." Although he said they were hateful, Yu Xiucai did not dare to go out and argue with those people. He could only sigh again.
Xu Yu was silent for a moment, and suddenly tears fell from her eyes, "Why is my sister's life so miserable? We wanted to help her, but we met such a bad scholar!"
Yu Xiucai sighed again, feeling extremely regretful. Previously, his wife wanted her elder sister Yu Dajie to live here, so that she could be taken care of by family members. His wife Xu Yu was worried that her sister would be bullied by Huo Chong, so she suggested finding a handle on Huo Chong, which would make Huo Chong hesitate.
This idea is understandable, and Yu Xiucai did not take it too seriously. Until someone here was accused of stealing something and asked Yu Xiucai to deal with it. Of course, Yu Xiucai had to help the people of his hometown and help them out.
After several confrontations, it was soon discovered that the matter was not complicated despite the twists and turns. Huo Chong's business employed many people, and Huo Chong gave these people "benefits". Those employed could buy many expensive items on the market at very low prices, such as boots, rabbit fur linings and other items.
Some people even resell the "benefits" they have received. For example, they buy a pair of boots for only 50 coins. They sell them for 100 coins and make twice the money. Then they say that the item is lost and use the 50 coins to buy a new one.
There were even more despicable people who insisted that the items were stolen. Huo Chong's manager naturally sided with his own people and took people to the village to intimidate the people who bought the items.
The truth of the matter was revealed. Huo Chong immediately drove away those who were talking nonsense, and the manager in charge of local business was also replaced. Yu Xiucai helped the locals to defeat the outsiders and became famous. When the local villagers praised Yu Xiucai, Yu Xiucai was very proud and felt even worse about Huo Chong.
Although Huo Chong took immediate action after learning the whole story, the manager of Mouping County was so arrogant and incompetent in controlling his subordinates.
With such pride, Yu Xiucai boasted about his achievements to his wife. His wife mentioned the idea of getting something on Huo Chong. Yu Xiucai dove right in.
After searching for a long time, Yu Xiucai finally found something that he thought was a handle. The new manager replaced by Huo Chong was quite interesting. Since he had offended the people here, he recruited workers here.
It happened that Li Juren raised the land rent from 50% to 60%. Many tenants could not bear such rent and simply quit their tenancy and went to Huo Chong to make a living. Because there were too many more people who had lost their livelihoods than the number of people Huo Chong could recruit, many people wanted to bribe the person in charge of recruiting in order to work for Huo Chong.
This gave Yu Xiucai an opportunity. The Qing Dynasty law stipulated that if an official embezzled money without the express permission of his superiors, he would be caned 60 times, and if the amount was huge, he would be hanged in prison. If an official embezzled money not in the course of official duties, he would be charged with the crime of not perverting the law. If he had no salary, he would be caned 100 times and exiled 3,000 miles. If the government offices in the capital or other provinces privately took the property of the people, they would be charged with the crime of taking the stolen goods.
Yu Xiucai went to Huo Chong's place with this excuse to make a fuss. When Huo Chong's manager heard about this, he drove away the recruiters.
Yu Xiucai was even happier now, and it happened that Li Juren invited him over to ask about this matter. Yu Xiucai boasted for a while, and when he was drunk, Li Juren asked Yu Xiucai to write a petition. Li Xiucai wrote it without knowing why.
After the matter was over, Yu Xiucai put it aside. Unexpectedly, the government called Yu Xiucai to the government office. After asking, County Magistrate Dong directly told Yu Xiucai the provisions of the Qing Dynasty law in this regard.
Huo Chong was only a candidate for an official post, and his business was not official business at all. The people who recruited workers for him took some benefits privately, which had nothing to do with the official business of the government.
After that, County Magistrate Dong severely rebuked Yu Xiucai for making a false accusation, which frightened Yu Xiucai greatly.
I had thought I would just ignore it, but I didn't expect that Mr. Li would insist on suing Yu Xiucai to the authorities. Now he has sent people to block the door of Yu Xiucai's house.
Mr. Li was a wealthy and powerful local family, and his family had also produced a Jinshi. At this time, Yu Xiucai regretted that he had not thought of the evil of human nature, and he really had no other choice.
But the family didn't have much food left, and the firewood was all gone. Yu Xiucai could only wait until the evening before he secretly went out. He went to the house at the head of the village that Yu Xiucai had helped before and asked them to borrow some firewood.
The family did give Yu Xiucai some firewood, but the head of the family asked with a sullen face, "Mr. Yu, I heard that you sued Huo Chong?"
"Yes." Yu Xiucai replied with some shame.
The head of the family said unhappily, "Mr. Yu, my third son is working in Huo Chong's shop now. Can you please stop suing?"
Yu Xiucai was filled with mixed feelings when he heard this. When he helped this family before, they didn't look like this. Even if someone in their family went to work for Huo Chong, they wouldn't have to talk like this.
Carrying firewood home. As soon as he reached the door, several people rushed out from the corner and dragged Yu Xiucai to the side. They looked like bad guys. The leader said to Yu Xiucai with a fake smile: "Yu Xiucai, we heard that you were suing Huo Chong, the dog official. Why don't you go again?"
Yu Xiucai tried to struggle, but those people were very strong. Compared with them, Yu Xiucai was just like a chicken. He wanted to call for help, but as soon as he shouted, someone covered his mouth immediately.
The leader of the group said with a fake smile: "Yu Xiucai, you'd better go and report to the authorities. Otherwise, we will wait here every day. If you don't go out, your family members will also go out. If they suddenly disappear, will you be worried?"
Yu Xiucai was so frightened that he shook his head repeatedly. The men threatened him a few more times, then left him behind and ran away.
After dragging the firewood back home with difficulty, Yu Xiucai first bolted the door and then found something to prop it up. He fled back into the house trembling all over, so frightened that he couldn't even speak.
Li Changshou Li Juren was inviting several other gentry to dinner at home at this time. Compared with Yu Xiucai's panic at this time, these people were completely on the offensive side. Each one was full of energy.
"This County Magistrate Dong doesn't even know what's good for him. He thinks he can scare us by using Huo Chong as an example. Let's drive Huo Chong away and see what level of tax revenue he can achieve this year." Li Changshou said viciously.
When the other gentry heard the name of County Magistrate Dong, they all looked disgusted and agreed with Li Changshou's suggestion.
Mr. Chen followed up and said, "Brother Li, if the tax is even 10% short, the evaluation will be low. Should we force this Dong to this extent?"
Mr. Li laughed, "Haha. I heard that Magistrate Dong wants to take our jobs away. That's not a bad idea. Let Magistrate Dong collect the taxes owed over the years. Everyone kept the receipts, right?"
"Yeah. They're all well kept."
Li Junren sneered and said, "Haha! That's perfect. County Magistrate Dong is causing trouble for us, so we should just return the receipt to him."
Magistrate Dong did not know that the gentry were holding a meeting. At this time, he was thinking about how to order the officials in the county government to collect taxes. Since the gentry were going against the government, the government had to solve .
I felt that I had thought enough. Magistrate Dong went to bed with a heart full of anger towards the gentry. The next day, the gentry came as promised.
County Magistrate Dong tried to sound confident when he told them that he was going to relieve these gentry from paying taxes on their behalf. After that, he observed their reactions. Mr. Chen immediately pulled out a stack of receipts from his pocket and said, "County Magistrate Dong, since you don't trust us, we won't make things difficult for you. We have paid all the taxes. These are the receipts for the households I paid on their behalf. They never paid the taxes. I didn't give them the receipts. County Magistrate Dong, keep the receipts."
Seeing this well-prepared response, County Magistrate Dong was a little impatient. The Qing Dynasty had a receipt for taxation, a three-copy form. If the tax was paid, the receipt given to the taxpayer was given to them. If the government said that those people did not pay taxes, they could prove their innocence by showing this tax receipt.
Huo Chong never defaulted on paying taxes, so every bill was complete. County Magistrate Dong wanted to make an example of Huo Chong, so he privately sent his people to ask the taxpayers. He found that Huo Chong really gave the bills to the taxpayers. This made County Magistrate Dong feel relieved.
Unexpectedly, the local gentry who owed taxes also cared a lot about receipts. Although their purposes were different, they also carefully kept the receipts. Since these receipts were not distributed to the taxpayers, it proved that the taxpayers had not paid taxes. The government runners could use these to collect taxes.
Even though he knew that this group of gentry was resisting, County Magistrate Dong knew that he could not show weakness. After receiving the tax bills, County Magistrate Dong rebuked: "Mr. Chen, is this how you do your job?"
"County Magistrate Dong. I am just a scholar, how can I understand the affairs of the yamen runners? These people don't pay taxes, I can't force them to death, right? If County Magistrate Dong insists on blaming me, I can only listen."
After saying this, Mr. Chen put on an expression of being on the edge of a knife and listened to the criticism from County Magistrate Dong.
They were all scholars, and some of Dong's words were very harsh. Chen Juren immediately used the words of "benevolent government" and "loving the people" to counter it. Although other Juren did not participate in the verbal conflict, their expressions clearly supported Chen Juren. Although Dong was in a high position and was the county magistrate, he found that he seemed to be the one being criticized.
After driving away the gang, County Magistrate Dong became angry. He called the officers and handed them the tax bills, asking them to collect the taxes according to the bills. He wanted to collect the taxes no matter what.
Three days passed. Without these officials in the government, the government felt much more relaxed.
Mr. Chen had secretly started a banquet. He told the officials who came to collect taxes a few names and said to them in a friendly manner, "I will rely on your help this time !"
