Bachelor

Chapter 262 The Temptation of Mu Shouli
"Hua Daniu, are you willing to marry the daughter of Zhou Xinshu's family?" Sun Danhu asked with a serious face.

"Small...Small...willing."

"Zhou Xinshu, are you willing to marry your daughter to Hua's family?"

Zhou Xinshu struggled to straighten his body from the stretcher row, and coughed a few times: "Hua Daniu is also a hardworking and capable young man. If it weren't for his Hua family's refusal to offer a bride price, how could my Zhou and Hua families be in this state."

Sun Dan: "Don't say these things are useless, you just say whether you want to or not."

Zhou Xinshu: "Of course I am willing."

"Okay, if your two families have no objections, the county will settle the case."

Everyone in the hall said in unison: "But it's up to the master to decide."

In fact, things have come to this point, no matter what plans Hua and Zhou have in their minds, they dare not say a word.

Sun Dan: "The Zhou family married their daughter to Hua Daniu as a wife, and the Hua family gave six acres of paddy fields as the bride price. In addition, Han Yue was responsible for all the medical expenses in the case of Han Yue wounding Zhou Xinshu. Considering that Han Yue had already done The county military master, the medical expenses will be paid from this county. Retire!"

"Crack!" With a sound, the gavel hit the big case.

"Thank you, Master Qingtian!"

……

This was the first case that Sun Dan judged after arriving in Fangshan. To be honest, he was a little tired of wasting time on such small cases.The government of the Ming Dynasty was very small, like the magistrate of a county, who had all the powers of public security, judiciary, and administration in one body, and everything was complicated and troublesome.Unlike modern times, all daily affairs are handled by the courts, public security bureaus, procuratorates and various ministries and commissions.

However, this case still gave Sun Dan some gains, at least he found a breakthrough in Qingzhang's land.

The Hua family's land was returned, but the Guo family must have hidden a lot of land and people, and it is necessary to continue digging along this breakthrough.

Anyone who dares to offend me, Sun Dan, will not end well.

Out of respect for his deputy, Sun Dan personally went to the county Cheng Mu Shouli's house.

Mu Shouliben was reading in the study, and was shocked when he heard that Sun Dan, the new county magistrate, came to visit him in person. He thought that his previous report to Guo Pu had been exposed, and his complexion changed drastically.He didn't bother to take off his clothes, and lay down on the bed with all his clothes on, pretending to be sick.

Seeing Sun Dan, he also bowed feebly: "Xiaguan Mu Shouli has met Mr. Sun."

"No need to get up, no need to get up." Sun Dan kindly pressed Mu Shouli on the bed, and said: "I just arrived in Fangshan, and the local situation is that my eyes are smeared. I heard that Mr. Mu has been working in Fangshan for three years. The county magistrate, the local situation must be very familiar. In the future, I have to remind the official more from the side."

Seeing that Sun Dan didn't come to inquire about crimes, Mu Shouli breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly nodded, and said in a low voice, "That's natural, that's natural." He is also a shrewd person, at least Sun Dan will go to the Three Treasures Hall for everything.When a new official takes office, there must be a few fires.As Sun Dan said, he had just arrived in Fangshan and had no idea about Fangshan's affairs. If he wanted to take action, he really had to rely on himself, a local snake.

Sure enough, Mu Shouli's guess was right, and Sun Dan talked about today's case after exchanging pleasantries with him.

Mu Shouli had a ghost in his heart, so he only said: "Your Excellency, the mirror hangs high, and everyone is convinced by such a decision. It's just..."

"Just what?" Sun Dan's smile looked innocent.

Mu Shouli tested Sun Dan: "Guo Pu is the number one gentry in this county. He has to cooperate with the government in collecting food and labor, and in civil litigation. If he is angered, it may be inconvenient for me to wait for things in the future."

Sun Dan frowned, and said: "Through the Huadaniu case, the county found that the Guo family was suspected of hiding land and population. Originally, it is understandable that a famous gentry has some land and population under the name of a wealthy gentry. Too much is fine. But as far as the county knows, there are more than [-] mu of land under the name of Guo Pu, and more than half of them are affiliated with shabby households. According to my opinion, Guo Pu has hidden at least [-] mu of land and More than a hundred household registrations. This is still Guo Pu’s family. Fangshan is originally a county, and all the gentry have followed his example. In total, it is an astonishing number. After one year, at least [-]% of the taxes that the imperial court applied for in Fangshan have been lost. into a private pocket. It will never be tolerated."

Mu Shouli was excited, "Your Excellency, you mean... really want to clear the land of Zhang Zhang Guo Pu's family?"

Sun Dan nodded, took out two papers from his pocket and handed them to Mu Shouli.

Mu Shouli took it: "What is this?"

Sun Dan: "This is the confession of Hua and Zhou's family, which identifies the land and people attached to Guo Pu's family in the past few years when Hua and Zhou have settled down. Several villages have donated more than 600 mu of good paddy fields to the Guo family in recent years. There is evidence, and the Guo family should be allowed to withdraw."

Mu Shouli became nervous: "The confessions of Guanghua and Zhou's family don't explain the problem."

Sun Dan: "When the Hua family and the Zhou family attached the land to the Guo family, they signed another contract with Guo Pu. The contract stated that the land belonged to the Guo family in name, and the Hua family had to pay you a certain amount of rent every year. But in fact, the ownership of this land is owned by the Hua family, and the land deed is also kept by the Hua family. Master Mu, as long as this contract is in hand, Guo Pu will be inseparable. Tell me, am I right?"

Mu Shouli was in a daze: "Xiaguan... Xiaguan has heard of such things, but..."

Sun Dan, "Master Mu, do you have any questions?"

Mu Shouli continued to ask the same question: "Does your lord really want to withdraw all the land that Guo Pu hid?"

Sun Dan: "I have this idea. Fangshan is an upper county with more than [-] households, and the tax is only a few thousand taels a year. Isn't it a joke to say it? Since the county is here to be the county magistrate, it has to share the worries of the emperor and contribute to the court. , We must not let the imperial court's taxes fall into private pockets for nothing. He Guo Pu is the number one gentry in Fangshan, and he has served as a county magistrate.

Sun Dan spoke righteously, and Mu Shouli sneered in his heart: You, Sun Dan, want to take Guo Pu to the knife, do you still want to continue working as the county magistrate? That master can be offended?As soon as Guo Pu moved, the gentry of Fangshan's gentry were cold-hearted, and they didn't come to trouble you?However, that's fine too, when the time comes, all the squires will join forces to see how long you can work, and it will be cheaper for me.Well, this matter should be made bigger, and all Fangshan landlords should be involved in this whirlpool.

Mu Shouli deliberately pretended to be sincerely convinced, without mentioning Guo Pu's name, he cupped his hands and said, "Your Excellency is right, the gentry in Fangshan are lawless, and they really should be rectified."

Sun Dan smiled: "Master Mu, what can you teach me?"

Mu Shouzhi said enthusiastically: "Your Excellency can send people to interrogate the dilapidated households who have been attached to the big gentry in the past few years, record their statements, and take the contracts and land deeds in their hands. As long as there is evidence, I'm not afraid that they won't spit out the land." If you want to play, you can play big, and it depends on whether you, Sun Dan, can take the bait.

He said excitedly: "Master Sun, according to my opinion, if we go through the land and population hidden by the entire Fangshan gentry, at least six to one hundred thousand mu of land and tens of thousands of people can be cleared. In this way, The imperial court can increase the tax revenue by [-] taels of silver every year. In this way, Fangshan will become the largest tax-paying county in Shuntian Prefecture after Tongzhou. At that time, Mr. Sun's outstanding political achievements will be heard by the heavens. This official is here I wish you great success."

From Mu Shouli's point of view, Sun Dan is just a young man in the political arena.It is undeniable that he achieved the position of the seventh-rank official in the year of weak crown. Apart from the fact that this person is really talented and well-known in the world, he must have a certain background and backing in the court.

However, no matter how powerful his backing is, can it be greater than Guo Hou, can it be greater than Mao Xiang?

A young official like Sun Dan is eager for quick success and quick profit in everything he does. He is eager in his heart and has such a greed for fame that ordinary people cannot match.

If he could be lured into making mistakes, and let him make Fangshan into an uncontrollable mess, if he made a wrong step, he would never be able to turn around in this life.

If you want to make Fangshan chaotic, the best way is to persuade Sun Dan to carry out the matter of clearing the land to the end, and offend all the landlords.When the time comes, those men will not let Sun Dan go without him doing anything.

It's a pity that Sun Dan's shrewdness is beyond Mu Shouli's imagination, and he has insight beyond this era.In Sun Dan's view, although Qingzhang's land is a good government, but it has too wide a scope, and it will offend the gentry, scholars and officials in the world. He is not willing to do such a difficult thing!
Zhang Juzheng's reforms at the beginning were because he offended the ruling class. Not only was his home ransacked after his death, but his body was also dug out of the ground.

I came to the Ming Dynasty to seek real wealth and glory. Let's avoid this kind of thing to share the emperor's worries.

Besides, even if all the land of the landlords is cleared, the tax will only increase by tens of thousands of taels of silver every year. How can I show my Sun Dan's means?
No matter in any age, the primary industry, that is, agriculture, has never been a profitable business.

In fact, in the late Ming Dynasty, the proportion of pure agricultural tax in the court tax revenue also gradually decreased.In economically developed regions in the south of the Yangtze River, agricultural tax is no longer the government's pillar tax source.

Today, the buds of capitalism have sprouted in some corners of the world, and what Sun Dan needs to do is to seize this opportunity.One step ahead, eat dragons and tigers, one step behind, touch the cat's ass.

Sun Dan didn't expect that Mu Shouli was more radical than himself. Seeing him so excited, he felt a little more suspicious.

Ordinarily speaking, clearing the land is a thankless task. In the eyes of the ancients, it is completely against the trend. It seems a little strange that this person is so enthusiastic.

He is not Sun Dan's magistrate, so there is no reason for him to be so enthusiastic about Sun Dan's New Deal.

Behaving abnormally is a demon.

Sun Dan paid attention, only to find that Mu Shouli was lying on the bed, not even taking off his clothes.

Looking at his flushed face and vigorous spirit, he looked a bit like a patient suffering from a cold.

(End of this chapter)