Queen Mother, she just wants to lie down

"Brother He, these fields are leased to local residents. We only need to check the growth of the crops and the basic yield per acre to ensure that they will not fool us when paying rent.

No need to keep an eye on it all the time.

However, we have to go back and exchange letters at home first. The man named Ma is very eager to make contributions. After seeing the crops, he will definitely chase each family to pay taxes. We have to let the family know. "Zhen Zhen grabbed him.

Although the fertile land in Jingshan Town has been collected by the four prominent families in Qingsha, taxes still have to be paid.

After all, they don't have titles or fiefdoms, and they also have to pay taxes on the properties under their names.

However, people in Daxi who have obtained the title of Juren will have certain tax-free properties, and those who are Jinshi will have even more tax-free properties.

All the four prominent families in Qingsha have officials, and more than one has the honor of being a civil servant.

Most of the family property does not need to be taxed, only the excess portion needs to be paid.

Even if only a small part of the land needs to pay taxes, they will still change the upper-class fields into lower-class fields through secret operations to reduce the amount of taxes as much as possible.

There is no way, desire is difficult to fill, and some people will never be satisfied no matter how much they have.

In the hands of ordinary people, the annual tax paid on one acre of land is 10% of the grain production.

When it came to their hands, they didn't even get a fifth of it.

"Send a message? Send a message and want to collect taxes? Then the county magistrate named Ma must be able to collect taxes."

He Jun, who was full of anger, couldn't listen at all and threw away Display's hand.

"Brother He, you go and do your work. I'll go back to the county first." Zhan Chen didn't force himself.

He took the initiative to mention it to He Jun because of the agreement that the four families had made long ago.

That is, in order to better control Qingsha, the four families must watch each other.

He Jun didn't want to spread the news with his family, he couldn't control it, but he was definitely going to spread it anyway.

"Hmph, you are as timid as a mouse. I really don't know why the Chen family and our He family are listed as one of the four prominent families in Qingsha." He Jun looked at his leaving back with disdain in his eyes.

Ruan Qing followed Ma Ziliang around Jingshan Town. When he returned to the county government office, the sun was almost setting.

She patted the dust on her body, took the warm cloth handed over by Lu Liu and wiped the sweat on her face and neck. After drinking two more cups of warm tea to relieve the thirst in her mouth, she asked Ma Ziliang with a sullen face. One sentence:

“When did the fields in Jingshan Town fall into the hands of the He, Chen, Zheng, and Xu families?

Besides this town, which other towns had their fields annexed by them? "

Qingsha is a large first-class county with a population of hundreds of thousands and a total of 16 towns under its jurisdiction.

The big town has a population of 40,000 to 50,000, and the small town has a population of over 10,000.

"Back to Madam, the fields in Jingshan Town were annexed three years ago, and a severe drought occurred in Jingshan Town three years ago.

Many fields were not harvested. Although the court exempted them from taxes, the fields were not harvested and the people's food became a big problem.

The four families, He, Chen, Zheng and Xu, took the opportunity to come forward.

To be precise, it was mainly the He and Chen families who came forward. Most of the fertile land in Jingshan was collected by them, while the other two families accounted for a small share.

They came forward as benevolent people and told the people of Jingshan Town that they were willing to buy their fields at a price that was 20% higher than the normal land price to help everyone tide over the difficulties.

They also promised that within five years, if the land sellers had enough money and wanted to redeem their land, they would be willing to return the land to them unconditionally at the current price.

If it has not been redeemed within five years, the land cannot be redeemed anymore.

During these five years, the people who sold their land can rent their fields for farming, but they have to pay 35% of the rent.

Generally, the rent for tenanted fields is 30%. When the He, Chen, Zheng, and many families bought their land, their bids were 20% higher than the current price. It is appropriate to charge 50% more rent, and everyone has no objection to this.

In this way, the people of Jingshan Town happily and gratefully sold their fields to the four families of He, Chen, Zheng and Xu.

As for buying it back? After the land came into their hands, the price now has more than doubled from three years ago.

These people who live on sharecropping cannot afford it.

In addition to Jingshan Town, the fields in three other towns were almost completely annexed by the He, Chen, Zheng, and Xu families.

The taxes paid by Qingsha have obviously decreased in recent years, and the Ministry of Revenue must have noticed it.

However, the excuses they gave were reasonable. After a severe drought, it is normal for fields to be damaged and yields to be reduced. Ma Ziliang drank the tea in his hand and said.

"Haha, they are really clever. They have obviously taken advantage of them, but they still want the people to be grateful to them.

It's like being a bitch and building a chastity arch several feet high. "Ruan Qing had murderous intent in his eyes.

No wonder Daxi is so poor. Most of the assets in a single county have been pocketed by wealthy family members in various ways. How can the national treasury not be poor?

"Magistrate Ma, do you know how the He, Chen, Zheng, and Xu families paid taxes on the land after they were annexed?" Ruan Qing was silent for a while with a sullen face, and then asked again.

“I know that each of their families has several people with great reputations, and they have a lot of tax-free property.

However, after years of accumulation, the four major families have countless properties in their hands, which have long exceeded the tax-free share.

All the newly annexed high-grade farmland was converted into low-grade farmland for tax payment. " Ma Ziliang replied.

"Do you know the real reasons for the three county magistrates who were exiled and the two who died?" Ruan Qing asked again.

"I can guess that it's just that I don't want to join them, but there is no evidence, so it is useless to guess." Ma Ziliang shook his head.

"Also, with the energy of the He, Chen, Zheng, and Xu families, if they dared to do these things, they would have been cut off head and tail.

By the way, can I ask, why did you become a scholar at the age of fifteen with your academic qualifications, but later refused to take the scientific examination? " Ruan Qing nodded and changed the topic.

"If someone asked me, I would definitely find an excuse to deal with it.

Madam, I think I should tell you the truth. I don’t like Daxi’s imperial examination system and test questions.

There are too many useless knowledge points and few useful ones.

Many people write colorful articles but have little understanding of real practical knowledge.

How many of the officials who pass the exam can be good officials? "Ma Ziliang was silent for a moment and then said.

There are too many useless knowledge points and too little practical ones. Isn’t this exam-oriented education?

This is not only a common problem in ancient times, but also in modern times.

But reforming this kind of thing is not easy in modern times, let alone ancient times.

Ma Ziliang is really a weirdo. He obviously comes from a wealthy family, but many of his thoughts and views are incompatible with this era.

He is also surprisingly courageous. Judging from his series of actions in Qingsha County, there is probably nothing in the world that he dare not do.

"Husband, madam, why are you looking at me?" Ma Ziliang couldn't help but feel a little scared when he saw Ruan Qing staring at him.

Could it be that criticizing the imperial examination crossed her bottom line?

"It's nothing, I just think you are a contradictory but interesting person, and you are also very courageous. Since you are so courageous, how about we just play big?"

"I wonder what Madam wants to do?" Ma Ziliang did not immediately answer whether it was okay or not, but asked cautiously.