The first assistant of the poor family

Chapter 317 Someone Behind (Second)

Bantou Qian had no choice but to obey the orders of the magistrate and went to collect all the servants in the government office, and went to arrest the mob under the leadership of the magistrate.

Having suffered a loss once, this time Team Leader Qian asked the servants to bring sticks and iron chains. If the mob dared to resist arrest, at least they would have the strength to fight back.

These mobs may have thought that beating up Li Tongzhi and the Yamen servants in succession had the effect of knocking mountains and shaking tigers.The newly appointed magistrate dared not collect taxes anymore, who would have thought that a group of yamen servants would rush to the alley, and they would be caught off guard.

The mob was able to gain the upper hand before because it was prepared in advance and outnumbered.But now they are unsuspecting in their hearts, and they are all separated from each other, but they were caught by the government with a time difference.

After a symbolic resistance, more than a dozen mobs were chained by the yamen servants and pushed back to the county yamen.

According to Bantou Qian, one of them was a small boss.

Although not all the mobs were escorted back to the county government, this result was ideal enough for Xie Shen.

The first thing he needs to figure out now is whether these mobs beat Li Tongzhi purely to fight against taxes. Only after this problem is solved can the next thing make sense.

Xie Shen was promoted for the first time, so he was naturally a little excited.

He slapped the gavel, and said in a deep voice, "Tell Wang Gui and the mob!"

The magistrate issued an order, and the servants naturally followed suit immediately.

The dozen or so unlucky ones were crushed into the hall, staring at Xie Shen angrily.

Xie Shen sneered in his heart, it was obvious that these mobs were wronged, yet they acted like they had been greatly wronged.Could it be that in their eyes, there is nothing wrong with beating court officials?
Before Xie Shen could speak, the servant in the hall stepped forward and kicked these mobs hard in the shins.

The mob's knees immediately softened, and they fell to the ground reluctantly.

Xie Shen asked in a deep voice: "People in the hall, are you the ones who gathered a crowd to resist the tax and beat Li Tongzhi and the Yamen official?"

He didn't intend the mob to admit it when he asked.After all, people are lucky, and it is very difficult for them to admit it without absolute evidence.

Who would have thought that the leader of the mob, Wang Gui, snorted coldly and said, "It's that dog official who took the lead in beating."

Xie Shen was taken aback for a moment, and immediately said: "Presumptuous! Li Tongzhi is an official of the imperial court, how can he allow you and other mobs to bully him."

After a pause, Xie Shen continued: "The imperial court has spring tax and autumn tax. Since you are the people of Ming Dynasty, you should pay food according to the law of Ming Dynasty, but why did you beat Li Tongzhi who supervised the collection of taxes instead?"

Li Tongzhi had been in charge of tax collection before, but Xie Shen didn't take over for a while after he came, so Li Tongzhi was still watching.Who would have thought that Li Tongzhi would encounter such an unlucky thing and be beaten up for no reason.

But Wang Gui did not back down at all, and said coldly: "Your Majesty's words are wrong. There was an earthquake not long ago, and the house was severely damaged. In addition, there was an epidemic, and the fathers and villagers almost couldn't even eat. What do you have to pay for it?" grain!"

Now Xie Shen was choked.

Yes, natural disasters are ruthless, and the people of Lu'an Mansion are indeed miserable.It is indeed very unreasonable to force them to pay food at this time.However, the laws of the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the spring tax and autumn tax must be collected on time. Even if the reduction or exemption is due to natural disasters, the chief official must request the approval of the court.

It will take a month at the earliest to wait for the court's approval, but it is after the spring grain collection deadline.

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, a reform of the whip method was piloted in the local area. In the ninth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng, the chief assistant, was promoting it nationwide.

A whip method changes the tax in kind to the tax in money, which greatly improves the operability.

Under normal circumstances, the imperial court will exempt taxation in the face of local disasters, but no one dares to make decisions without the decree.

After all, food is something that cannot be changed out of thin air.And if it is to collect money, it can be paid in advance with the government bank. If the imperial court orders to exempt the tax in the disaster area, this part of the frozen money can be unfrozen.

This is the advantage of a money tax.

But now it is the collection of tax in kind, Xie Shen is helpless.

At this moment, he really realized the difficulty of local parents and officials.

Not only in the government, the intricate entanglements between the common people and the government, the common people and the gentry, and the gentry and the government also require the coordination of parents and officials.

Xie Shen wanted to fight for tax relief for the people of Lu'an, but the point of conflict was time.

"I will ask the imperial court to reduce or exempt Lu'an Mansion's taxes, but the spring tax will still be collected before that."

Xie Shen obviously felt that he lacked confidence, but he still had to have an attitude, otherwise what would be the prestige of the government.

But Wang Gui seemed to have found Xie Shen's weakness, and asked questions like a cannonball, forcing Xie Shen to choke for a while.

strangeness.
That Wang Gui is just an ordinary citizen, but he is eloquent and full of great principles.

That's all right, but this person stuck to the key points, as if he had prepared a draft in advance and just read it out in class.

Could it be that Wang Gui has the unique skill of predicting and predicting the questions that the government will ask?

Isn't there an expert behind this pointing out?
Xie Shen is not a conspiracy theorist, but at this moment he has to admit that he has such doubts.

This Wang Gui's performance is too perfect, every detail is perfect and impeccable.

Not to mention an ordinary commoner who has never read a book, even a top scholar like Xie Shen might not be able to improvise to such an extent.

You must know that in terms of verbal skills, there are not many civil and military people in the Manchu Dynasty who can match Xie Shen.

Xie Shen felt that the case should not be closed hastily, so he slapped the alarm and said: "Come here, take all the criminals into prison and try again at another day!"

The left and right yamen servants immediately took a step forward and dragged the troublemaker who was kneeling on the ground to the hall.

After leaving the government office lobby, Xie Shen went straight to the office where Li Tongzhi worked.

Ever since Mr. Tongzhi was beaten up by the mob, it's hard to cheer up like a beaten eggplant.

Li Tongzhi, who was recuperating from his wounds, saw the magistrate Xie coming, forced himself to smile and said, "Why is the magistrate here?"

Xie Shen shook his head, sighed, and said, "I have just opened the court to interrogate the mob who beat up Li Tongzhi, but the other party insisted on the disaster and refused to pay the tax."

He told Li Xiaoji the details, and Li Xiaoji was itching with hatred after hearing this.

"Master Zhifu, these mobs must be instigated by others, how could they come up with such impeccable rhetoric!"

Xie Shen nodded and said: "I think so too. It's just that I don't have evidence in hand, and it's hard to make a decision directly, so I came to discuss with Li Tongzhi."

Li Xiaoji continued: "Your Majesty, it's okay to say, as long as the lower officials can do it, you will definitely not refuse!"

(End of this chapter)