Chapter 91: Eating the Rich (V)
It was already May when Huo Chong arrived in Muping County. It was already summer, and according to his experience over the past few years, a large amount of hornwort would be washed up on the beach in July. Huo Chong had to make agar with these hornworts.
When they arrived at the county town, they had to pay a visit to the county magistrate. This was the first time Huo Chong met County Magistrate Dong. He saw that this 40-year-old Jinshi was chubby and wore a loose official uniform. He looked more like a monk than a Jinshi.
The two sat down, and Magistrate Dong politely expressed his gratitude. Huo Chong waved his hand, "Brother Dong, I'm just paying taxes. It's what I should do."
County Magistrate Dong sighed, "Alas, Brother Huo. If only all the gentry in the world were like you."
Huo Chong was not incited at all after hearing this honey sutra . He and County Magistrate Dong were just temporarily helping each other in interests. Huo Chong needed the county magistrate to restrain those officials and prevent them from making trouble. County Magistrate Dong needed Huo Chong to pay taxes so that he could be promoted quickly. Once the points of interest began to loosen, the two of them would have the opportunity to turn against each other.
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard County ask, "Brother Huo, are you willing to pay more taxes on behalf of the household registration in Mouping County?"
"I have already offended so many gentry. If I ask for more payment, something bad will happen."
After hearing what Huo Chong said, Magistrate Dong immediately replied, "It's okay. If those gentry dare to touch you, I will administer justice."
As the two were talking, someone came in and whispered something to Magistrate Dong, who immediately served tea to see him off. After Huo Chong left, Magistrate Dong asked the official document from the provincial government to come in. After opening the document and taking a few glances, Magistrate Dong's face had changed.
At this time, Kangxi was also looking at the memorial sent by Li Shude, the governor of Shandong.
"I, Li Shude, the governor of Shandong, respectfully report. Recently, some candidates from Mouping County sent a petition from a scholar. They reported that Huo Chong, a candidate for the sixth rank of Shandong official, had gathered a crowd to cause trouble under the pretext of 'planting blessings'. I ordered someone to investigate privately. When Huo Chong was paying taxes on behalf of the people, he told the people that others were planting blessings to seek a place to rest after death. He did not understand these things and did not want to say so. Since it was planting blessings, why couldn't they enjoy it while they were alive. With this as an excuse, all the people who joined the planting blessings association on Huo Chong's side had to pay the planting blessings money, and when taxes were collected twice a year, the excess would be refunded and the shortfall would be supplemented ... Last year, Huo Chong paid more than 3,000 taels of tax silver. I think both sides have their reasons in this matter. Please make it clear to the master."
Seeing that Huo Chong paid more than three thousand taels of tax in a year, Kangxi, who had been smiling, gradually put away his smile.
Shandong was a big tax-paying province. Kangxi remembered that although Shandong did not pay enough tax silver every year, the total tax revenue seemed to be 3.35 million taels of silver. As a slave of the Zhenghuang Banner, Li Shude had always been trusted by Kangxi. I think Li Shude would not lie. In other words, Huo Chong paid one thousandth of Shandong Province's tax silver in one year.
After reading the memorial again, Kangxi understood what had happened. Huo Chong had originally worked in some local religious sect in Zibo County. Because of his good luck, he became an official. In order to expand his livelihood, he used the method of "cultivating blessings".
Now Huo Chong had established a business in several counties around Zichuan County, which naturally offended the local gentry. In particular, the magistrate of Mouping County wanted to use Huo Chong as a tax model and asked other gentry to follow suit. Of course, the gentry would not agree, so they tried to destroy Huo Chong's example.
Kangxi was very disgusted with the folk missionaries. They spread all kinds of lies to confuse the people, make money, and harm people. In particular, they deceived people into believing that they would be blessed after death, which deceived many fools and women.
Although what Huo Chong said was not wrong, that blessings should be gained during one's lifetime rather than after death, he still used this method. The only difference was that Huo Chong himself obviously did not believe it.
But this is not a reason to indulge Huo Chong. Kangxi thought about it, then wrote in his instructions: "You should be serious in your work. Find out whether Huo Chong has gathered people to worship evil gods. If not, reprimand Huo Chong. Since he has run a business, he should abide by the etiquette and laws. He should not use those crooked ways. In addition, although Huo Chong must be reprimanded, it is not an excuse for those gentry to default on tax silver. You should know the grasp of this."
The imperial edict was sent to Li Shude, who finally felt relieved. As the governor of Shandong, Li Shude knew the nature of Shandong gentry in the matter of repairing Xiaoqing River. In the end, it was just four words: "I don't want to pay taxes." After all, Huo Chong, who was willing to pay taxes, appeared. Of course, Li Shude didn't want the gentry to do the same as Huo Chong.
The gentry were all scholars and knew how to attack. If this group of people had not seized the handle of Huo Chong's "planting blessings" and filed a complaint, Li Shude would have never known that Huo Chong had eaten this way. Originally, Li Shude just thought that Huo Chong was a very peculiar and skilled craftsman.
However, this also solved Li Shude's long-standing doubts. Huo Chong was eloquent and very different from those skilled craftsmen with strange personalities. It turned out that he had been involved in the "planting blessings" and learned a lot from it.
Just as he was thinking about how to punish Huo Chong and the gentry at the same time, the official document from the magistrate of Mouping County arrived. After opening it and reading it, Li Shude was so angry that he slammed the document on the table. After the magistrate of Mouping County received the petition from the governor of Shandong, he immediately investigated whether Huo Chong really used the rhetoric of "planting blessings" in paying taxes on behalf of others.
Huo Chong did say so, and then Dong, the county magistrate of Mouping County, immediately surrounded Huo Chong in his residence and wrote an official document to report, asking the Shandong Governor's Office to give instructions on the next step.
Did County Magistrate Dong become stupid because of reading so much? Li Shude couldn't understand what County Magistrate Dong meant.
Those who set up religious sects all use various tricks to make money, and then incite the ignorant people to fight against the government. Their methods are no different from what they do. In the final analysis, they just "don't want to pay taxes."
Huo Chong's methods were indeed not acceptable, but the people Li Shude sent to investigate reported that Huo Chong did not burn incense, yellow paper, or cut off the head of a chicken. He just used "planting blessings" as an excuse to persuade the people who paid taxes on his behalf to pay Huo Chong.
What was the point of putting Huo Chong under house arrest? Was it to make those gentry even more arrogant after they won this time?
Thinking of this, Li Shude immediately ordered, "Call County Magistrate Dong to the provincial capital! Um... bring Huo Chong and the scholar who filed the complaint as well!"
When the gate was slammed again, Yu Xiucai felt like dying. Passing the imperial examination was a matter of honor for the family, and Yu Xiucai also dreamed of passing the imperial examination to become a juren or even a jinshi.
But I didn't expect that the upper class world was much darker than I imagined. I was frivolous for a moment and was involved in the struggle among the juren level. I, a scholar, was just bullied in the world where juren were in power.
Now I have become the laughing stock of the village, and even avoided by the villagers. Now someone is knocking on the door so confidently, it seems that those scholars outside have no intention of letting me go.
Yu Xiucai was so angry that he went to open the door. He was about to ask the people outside what they wanted to do when he saw some officials standing outside.
In an instant, Yu Xiucai's fierceness disappeared. He lowered his head and asked, "Sirs, what can I do for you?"
