At this mont, another person couldn’t hold back any longer. Recalling past events, Yang Chuxia could feel his rage even from her elevated position.
"Madam," soone picked up the thread, "the fact that he gave us less relief grain is one thing, but our villagers have long been accustod to seeking shelter during the rainy season, which is why we would transport our grain elsewhere in advance. We could barely scrape by without the relief grain, but after that year, not only did our relief grain disappear, our land tax was increased by thirty percent, thirty percent! And we had to pay it twice a year! Even paying once a year is difficult for our region in Mianyang, yet our village had to do it twice! Even after last year’s floods, we received no relief grain, yet we still had to pay heavy taxes. Family after family had no choice but to sell their children when they couldn’t afford the taxes."
Hearing this, Yang Chuxia’s expression turned grave.
The court never waived the taxes for this region, including the other flood-affected counties in Jiangsu.
But the court only collects taxes once a year, which is twenty percent of each household’s total harvest. This tax is not a fixed figure; it fluctuates according to your harvest. Compared to Funan Prefecture, which pays a fixed amount as dictated by the court’s regulations, this system is already quite humane. It was the court’s way of indirectly reducing Mianyang’s burden.
But now there’s a thirty percent tax? And it’s twice a year, which amounts to sixty percent of the total annual harvest?
"Keep talking, I want to hear exactly what happened!" Yang Chuxia said, very angry at this point.
The leader glanced at her and continued, "Later, we inquired and found out that the nearby villages all paid twenty percent, only our village was charged thirty percent, and twice a year at that. The reason for this was engineered by that Old Master. His family had relatives in the governnt office, and he made it clear that unless the Land Officer’s daughter was handed over, our village would continue to suffer. Eventually, the Land Officer, not wanting the entire village to endure hardship, decided to send his own daughter. But the night before she was to be sent away, the Land Officer’s daughter drowned herself in the river. After that incident ca to the Old Master’s attention, he declared even more vehently that as long as he was alive, our Shoutao Village would never escape this fate. Upon learning this, our Land Officer took his own life too."
"Scoundrels!" Yang Chuxia slamd her palm down on the table after hearing this, startling the few people below. They thought she was referring to them and turned pale, thinking that Shoutao Village was beyond help.
However, in the next mont, Yang Chuxia’s words lifted a glimr of hope, "Who is this Old Master? Have you found out whether he is from a rchant family or an official one? I didn’t know we had such a tyrant in Mianyang."
No sooner had Yang Chuxia finished speaking than the leader was taken aback, then hurriedly said, "The Zhou Family, it’s the Zhou Family!"
"Principal Clerk Zhou’s family?" That was Yang Chuxia’s first reaction; as Principal Clerk Zhou managed the tax collections, he indeed had the power to do this.
But the leader shook his head, "Not Principal Clerk Zhou’s family, but it’s definitely not unrelated to his. I heard that the Old Master’s brother-in-law is our Principal Clerk in Mianyang."
Upon hearing this, Yang Chuxia asked the person beside her, "Does Madam Zhou’s maiden na also happen to be Zhou?"
Brother Li thought for a mont and said, "Correct, Madam Zhou’s maiden na is also Zhou. I heard that it was by leveraging the connection of having the sa surna that Principal Clerk Zhou managed to get in with the Zhou Family of the county town. Later, with their support, he secured his position as Principal Clerk and married into the Zhou Family."
"Very good, very good, the Zhou Family is indeed formidable!"
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