Fang Laoer came to the Changyi County government office with trepidation and seventeen taels of silver in his pocket, preparing to pay taxes.
Fang Laoer was an only son and inherited twenty-one acres of dry land from his parents who died young. He was timid and fearful of trouble. Seeing that this year's harvest was good, he came early to pay taxes with money.
"The rent is called summer tax, and it is called autumn grain, all of which are second-class. The summer tax is not past August, and the autumn grain is not past February of the next year."
Weak peasants like Fang Lao'er were the targets of the government officials' oppression. The land taxes that should have been paid by the tax-evading gentry were piled on Fang Lao'er layer by layer. The government officials listed various names and insisted on
Fang Laoer is required to pay a summer tax of one stone and a dou for the twenty-one acres of dry land, and a six-stone and three dou tax for the autumn grain.
According to the current grain price of two taels and four qian per stone, Fang Laoer would have to pay 17 taels and seven taels of discounted silver a year.
This land tax was a heavy burden on Fang Laoer.
After excluding the remaining seeds and land tax, Fang Laoer could only bring in eight stones and five buckets a year to his home. This was only on the books. In previous years, when he sold grain to the grain farm, he would have been bitten by those gentry masters.
The grain farm sells rice for three liang for one shi and collects rice for 2 liang for one shi. In order to pay seven shi and four buckets of silver, Fang Laoer sometimes has to put in nine shi of grain in the end.
Therefore, Fang Laoer was very poor, and no one would introduce him to a wife when he was twenty years old. Fang Laoer thought that with his worthless temperament, he would be poor for the rest of his life, so it would be impossible for him to marry a wife.
However, this year, Fang Laoer's income is a little better. The actual income of his family is one and a half stone more rice and noodles than in previous years. This is all due to the fact that the Duke of Tianjin has made decisions for the people. In recent years, affordable grain stores have been opened in various towns and counties in Shandong. Nowadays, grain stores
Zhuanghe farmers bought rice and flour for 2, 2, and 3 yen per stone, and sold rice and flour to farmers for 2, 2 and 5 yen per stone. They only made a small profit, which greatly benefited small farmers like Fang Laoer.
Fang Lao'er sold rice and noodles in the Fair Price Grain Store and earned a lot of money. So Fang Lao'er came to the Yamen early this year to pay taxes. Only by paying the taxes did he solve the problem that was weighing on his heart. Fang Lao'er
Only then can we happily enjoy the extra one stone and a half rice of noodles this year.
With more than one stone and a half of food, Fang Laoer can eat cakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, buy some meat for the New Year, and pull out a few feet of cloth to make a new cotton-padded jacket.
Fang Lao'er thought about it and walked to the Changyi County Yamen. When he walked to the yamen's house, Fang Lao'er felt that it was particularly deserted. The domineering yamen who used to set up tables here to collect taxes were all gone.
There was only an old man sitting in the gatehouse in the yard, dozing off against the wall at the door.
Fang Laoer thought for a long time, then walked up to the old man tremblingly and asked, "Master, why isn't the tax collector here?"
The old man was awakened by Fang Laoer's inquiry, opened one eye and looked at Fang Laoer.
After looking Fang Laoer up and down with one eye, the old gatekeeper said: "Don't you listen to the report? Now you have to pay taxes at the tax bureau of Jin Guogong, what are you doing here?
"
Fang Laoer was stunned and asked: "Don't the tax bureau only collect commercial taxes?"
The old man snorted coldly, closed one of his open eyes, and ignored Fang Laoer again.
The people in the yamen usually just want to collect a few more taels of tax, and they would like to eat all your bones. The people in the yamen said that they should go to the Duke of Jin to collect taxes, which must not be false. When Fang Laoer saw the old man, he stopped talking to him.
Then I walked to the Changyi County Taxation Bureau.
When he walked to the door of the tax bureau, Fang Lao'er saw two long lines of people lined up at the door. Fang Lao'er couldn't figure out the situation and was looking there when an office worker from the tax bureau wearing a round collar walked up and greeted Fang Lao'er cordially.
The second child said: "This brother, are you going to hand over Tianfu? Please wait in the queue over there!"
Fang Lao'er quickly bowed and saluted the "bad man" who reminded him, and then got into the queue to hand over the land tax. After waiting in the queue for half an hour, Fang Lao'er finally reached the front of the queue. There were ten people at the front.
There were several tables, and behind each chair sat a gentleman. Fang Laoer chose a gentleman who looked kind and walked over.
"Fang Laoer, Qingquantun Village, Taibaozhuang Township."
"Brother, wait a minute!"
The tax collector took a hurried sip of tea and went to the warehouse to check the account books. After a while, he came out holding a yellow book of taxes and a book of fish scales and faced Fang Laoer.
Right.
"Your family has twenty-one acres of dry land, right?"
"The enemy! Mr. Cha, the enemy!"
The poor man and Fang Lao'er had a land plot, and they started to calculate Fang Lao'er's land tax.
Fang Lao'er didn't know how much money and land tax the Duke of Tianjin would charge him. Logically speaking, based on the consistent policy of the King of Jin, he would not charge more land tax from the common people. However, before knowing the result, Fang Lao'er didn't dare to expect that things would suddenly happen.
Get better. This land tax is directly related to Fang Lao Er's life. He watched the poor man fiddling with the abacus quickly and became more and more nervous.
The poor man finally settled Fang Laoer's account, shook the cattail leaf fan to fan himself, and said with a smile:
"Brother, the standard land tax in Shandong is seven liters and five liars per mu of land. For 21 acres of land, you pay one stone, five dou, seven liters and five liars of rice and flour, which is equivalent to three liang, seven qian and eight cents in silver!"
When Fang Laoer heard what the poor man said, his mouth suddenly opened wide and he was speechless for a while.
He only had three taels of silver and field tax a year. Wouldn't he suddenly have fourteen taels of silver? How would he spend the money if he had so much money at once? He felt like he was flying.
"A year's land tax only costs three to seven cents?"
The taxman laughed and said: "There are eight cents left, three to two and seven cents to eight cents!"
Fang Laoer couldn't help but confirm it again: "This is my year's land tax? I won't have to go to other places to pay my land tax in the future?"
The tax collector shook his cattail leaf fan and said with a smile, "That's right!"
Fang Laoer had a look of shock on his face, and his hand holding the money bag started to tremble a little. He took out a few pieces of silver from the money bag and handed it to the taxman.
The taxman weighed the money, asked Fang Laoer to take his fingerprints, and handed Fang Laoer a tax payment certificate stamped with the big seal of the tax bureau.
Until he finished paying taxes and walked out of the tax bureau, Fang Laoer still felt a little dizzy.
Fang Laoer walked to the door of the tax bureau. Standing at the door, he still couldn't react. He grabbed the tax payment certificate in his hand and looked left and right.
Matchmaker Wang from Taibaozhuang Township who had been waiting there saw Fang Laoer. Matchmaker Wang walked up to Fang Laoer with a smile on her face and said loudly: "Fang Laoer, how much land tax do you pay for your 21 acres of dry land now?"
"Thirty-two-seven dollars..."
"Oh, Fang Lao Er, you have really become rich all of a sudden. What's wrong? Do you want to get a wife? Grandma Wang will introduce you to a good one!"
The matchmaker who had never looked at him took the initiative to introduce his daughter-in-law to him. Fang Laoer felt more and more like his whole body was floating. Even if he got the scholar's excitement, it was nothing more than that, right?
"Okay! Okay! Granny Wang, please introduce me to someone who can have children!"
