Chapter 1051: Great Investigation

December in Hangzhou is relatively cold, but it just happened to have a thin snow, which added a touch of warmth due to condensation.

But even without this warmth, it did not affect the enthusiasm of the workers. It was cold, but once they started working, they felt warm. No one wanted to rest, because in this winter, the prefecture yamen's projects still provided two meals a day, still paid daily wages, and even had hot tea and ginger soup to drive away the cold and keep warm.

It was really because Wang Yan raided Hangzhou's top wealthy families, basically all of which involved some tea business. Wang Yan used his power for personal gain and kept a lot of the tea from the spring and autumn seasons. The top-grade ones were for gift-giving and supplying high-level officials in the prefecture, and he also drank some himself. The second-grade ones were distributed to middle and lower-level officials in the prefecture, and the next-grade ones were for the remaining minor officials, yamen runners, catchers, *Xiangjun* soldiers, etc. The remaining inferior products were all taken out as benefits for the workers.

It was mainly because the wealthy families were too rich. Wang Yan raided the top ten families, and their combined family assets were enough to cover the taxes of Hangzhou's 300,000 population for several years. Now the Hangzhou Prefecture Yamen was very rich. In the nine counties of the whole prefecture, there was no place that was idle; everywhere was a construction site, and the great construction of the whole prefecture had begun.

It was also under such circumstances that even though the whole world knew that Wang Yan was holding his breath to increase commercial taxes and was holding his breath to go against the wealthy families, there were still many people coming to Hangzhou to do business. In the past half year, Hangzhou's trade throughput had increased exponentially, and this was still under the condition of the great famine in the two Zhe regions.

However, Wang Yan, who had already gone crazy in the eyes of the wealthy families, still didn't want to be satisfied under such wealth and having already achieved such dazzling results.

So on this snowy day, Hangzhou's fourth official-merchant consultation meeting was held by the West Lake again.

It was still the same appearance as the first meeting, except that everyone was wearing luxurious fur coats, and what was different was that there were fewer people. On this day, which was still slightly warm, the wealthy families held hot tea in their hands, looking at the damned Wang Yan, who stood in the center with his hands tucked in his sleeves and his waist straight. Their hearts were icy cold...

Listening to the report of the list by the minor official under him, except for the twelve families that had already been dealt with, the rest had all come. Only then did Wang Yan take his hands out of his sleeves, and after smiling and greeting in all directions, he tucked his hands back in.

He said loudly: "Today is the fourth time I have summoned you all here. I remember that at the first meeting, you all came. At the second meeting, Qiantang's Zhou, Liu, Qian... At the third meeting... many people didn't come. Today, it's finally complete again, just missing twelve families. It's hard for old friends to meet again; it's a lifelong regret..."

Everyone just smiled forcefully, listening to the shameless Wang Yan in the field saying sour words. After a long while, they finally heard the question from Wang Yan's mouth.

"I don't know if, after these few months, you all have any new ideas about the cleaning fee I proposed?"

Wang Yan stood proudly in the field, with a smiling expression and deep eyes, looking at the face of every wealthy family member.

His words didn't fall to the ground, and immediately someone responded sensibly: "The cleaning fee is all for our Great Song and for the commoners of our Hangzhou. If we pay the cleaning fee, the prefecture will naturally have the surplus to take care of the orphans and widows and build Hangzhou. Since the Assistant Prefect took office, the prefecture has been full of vitality. Even though there is a great famine in the two Zhe regions, it has never delayed our Hangzhou's people's livelihood.

It is even all due to the merit of the Assistant Prefect and Master Fan that so many commoners are taught to work and earn money. Furthermore, for government procurement, we all follow commercial affairs, and we have all earned a lot. The Assistant Prefect is for the country and the people, and we should naturally support him with all our strength."

This person was the representative now. He spoke, and the rest nodded busily, everyone together holding Wang Yan's stinky feet, saying all nice things.

Wang Yan nodded with satisfaction and waved his hand. The newly arrived *Sihu Canjun*, who was actively leaning towards Wang Yan, trotted over and stood in Wang Yan's position, holding official documents in his hand. On the other side, minor officials were also distributing documents to the wealthy families present.

This was the cleaning fee details finalized after detailed investigation and discussion by the prefecture in recent months. The introduction of this detail was greatly helped by those wealthy families who had been dealt with in the past. Many data were actual data copied from the raids. And the corresponding industry information investigation was done by various shopkeepers working for these wealthy families.

After all, being able to work for wealthy families and becoming shopkeepers without being sold, maintaining independence, these people were all industry leaders. They had a very clear grasp of industry trends nationwide. As for the local ones in Hangzhou, they knew them like the back of their hands. They were much clearer than the officials in the yamen.

Based on the principle of not wasting talent, after carefully investigating these related people, a portion still received lenient treatment. They had original shopkeepers, accountants, managers running businesses, etc. These people were all incorporated into the Household Department as minor officials.

They would use their professional knowledge to audit the accounts of merchants. According to the set tax standards, they would carry out grading and quantification, tiered taxation, and tax collection work.

The collection process of the cleaning fee was very simple. The Prefecture Yamen would issue a standard account book, clearly planning the items. Minor officials would audit and carry out the first collection. If they refused to pay, interest would be added for the second collection. If they still refused to pay, catchers would be dispatched. If they dared to resist, *Xiangjun* would be dispatched to suppress them, and their homes would be raided directly.

This was deeply participated in by Wang Yan and was relatively perfect. As time passed, changes could be made to specific collection standards, and some rules could be refined in a targeted manner, and it could be used for decades.

The difficulty of the work lay in ensuring the integrity of the tax department. Anyone with a brain could understand that these tax collection jobs in the future would all be so-called fat jobs, and they would definitely be cared for by large families. After all, compared to the taxes that had to be paid according to regulations, the money spent on these minor officials was nothing.

And for these minor officials, how well the taxes were collected had little to do with them; they couldn't be officials. Only the money that fell into their own hands was the most real.

However, this kind of problem could not be completely solved. If people were scummy, no system could control them; they could only constantly strengthen supervision and deal with them strictly. People's desires could not be killed off.

The *Sihu Canjun* explained the rules. Although the wealthy families were all liver-aching, they had to agree. Today they came, which meant they agreed. They dared to be sure that whoever dared to say "no" today, those from outside the prefecture couldn't leave, and those from the local area might have their families broken and their doors destroyed today.

Just when everyone thought they were about to break up and were preparing to go back and scold Wang Yan well, Wang Yan put down his teacup, stood in the field again, and bowed in all directions.

"Thank you all for your support of the prefecture affairs. You have paid the cleaning fee, and the prefecture has abundant money, naturally investing more in the construction of this prefecture. Here, I will briefly introduce to you the next construction plan of this prefecture. Our dynasty values talent and vigorously promotes literature and education...

With so much construction, the prefecture must vigorously spend money to hire commoners to work. This is a double benefit for you all. First, when the commoners have money, they will spend it, and you all operate more livelihood businesses, naturally earning more. Second, the prefecture's procurement, many materials need to be supplied by you, and you can also earn a full pot. So, you paying the cleaning fee now is not for me, but for you to earn more yourselves.

I know that you all think I am crazy. Now, because of the cleaning fee, I am not tolerated by the court, and many colleagues don't like me. However, I haven't put a single cent into my own treasury; it is all for our Hangzhou, for our Great Song.

Here, I want to apologize to you all. I have offended you many times before; please don't take it to heart and make things difficult for me."

"What are you saying, Assistant Prefect? We are also subjects of the Great Song, naturally wanting the country to be strong. Paying some money for this can also be considered our loyalty to the country."

"Yes, yes, we..."

Everyone stood up again and returned the salute to Wang Yan, buzzing with nice words, continuing to hold his stinky feet.

Wang Yan looked grateful, waved his hand, and continued to speak: "Since you all have the country in your hearts and want to be loyal to the country, I have an immature idea here to tell you all. It's still the same as the cleaning fee. If you all don't agree, this immature idea naturally cannot be implemented in this prefecture. After all, the prefecture affairs all rely on your support."

Unsurprisingly, the scene went cold. Even the wealthy families who had relaxed smiles just now had their smiles stiffened on their faces, as if time had paused on them. The words they hadn't finished were stuck in their throats, but they couldn't say them out, like big white geese whose necks were pinched.

Wang Yan didn't care about the cold scene. He still smiled and continued to speak in humble words: "You all know that when I took office, I worked in the accounting room for more than a month and read the accounts of this prefecture. I found that compared to the time of Taizong, the tax revenue has not increased much, and the population has not increased. I walked around construction sites to investigate the situation, but the commoners all said that the taxes were heavy and unbearable.

At that time, I couldn't understand it. Later, I raided several wealthy families who were kind to their neighbors on weekdays, and only then did I find the reason. It was because the wealthy families colluded with officials, hid fields and households, and evaded taxes. Tens of thousands of *mu* of land only paid taxes for more than a thousand *mu*. There were over ten thousand tenant farmers, servants, and hired workers, but only a few hundred people paid taxes.

I don't understand what the situation is in your homes, but I expect there should be some discrepancies. Therefore, I want to thoroughly measure the fields and check the households of this prefecture. Of course, when I dealt with the Li family and Lingyin Temple earlier, there were indeed some improprieties. As the saying goes, the law does not blame the masses; let bygones be bygones. So this measurement is just for re-registration. Past taxes will not be investigated; in the future, follow our dynasty's laws and pay taxes according to the regulations.

Of course, what I said is also an immature idea, and there are no specific details yet. Everything still needs your agreement. You are all heads of households and should be able to make decisions. It is noon now, and I have ordered people to prepare lunch and heat up hot wine. You can eat here, discuss it carefully, and after the meal, tell me whether it can be done.

Alright, eat well and drink well; I will come back in the afternoon."

Wang Yan politely bowed to everyone, then waved his hand, and a bunch of people drilled out from nowhere, directly starting to cook big pot rice by the river. Not long after, the fragrance permeated, making the commoners working hard in the distance stop their movements, sniffing hard, and then continuing to bury their heads in work while cursing.

Because of Wang Yan's strength, the officials of the government now have a good attitude towards the commoners. As long as they don't slack off at work and do it diligently according to the requirements of the Works Department, there is no problem. Some bold commoners would also chat with the officials, and the officials would occasionally reveal some news to the commoners.

Coupled with market rumors, although some were exaggerated, saying Wang Yan was like a living Yama, the commoners always knew that Wang Yan was specifically going against the wealthy families, specifically grabbing money from their hands, and letting the commoners have food to eat and wages to earn when they worked.

This was naturally a part of Wang Yan's self-marketing. He had to let the commoners know his goodness and not be incited by the wealthy families to make trouble. It also strengthened his reputation, making him no longer the protagonist in folk love stories, no longer the *Wenquxing* descending from heaven, but the "Blue Sky" they hoped would come to govern them...

The commoners working were greedy for good food, but the wealthy families who really had to eat had no intention of enjoying it, and they didn't even taste the food.

What did the dog official say? He said they were all heads of households, and he said that they would have to have results after lunch. Before that, he mentioned the cleaning fee again. What does it mean? Isn't this threatening them? If anyone dares to say "no" today, the example Wang Yan gave was the Li family and Lingyin Temple, which was to deal with them to death.

It seems that after Wang Yan was surrounded and killed, he really became anxious and really went crazy, completely fearless of heaven and earth, just wanting to fight them to the end. What a hard bone.

Thinking of these, they couldn't help but complain about the people of the twelve families who were queuing to go to the border. If he wanted to collect commercial taxes, just let him collect them. When he left, wouldn't everyone have plenty of ways? Now it's good; not only does he want to collect commercial taxes, but he also covets their lifeblood.

Wang Yan made it very clear that there was no room for negotiation today. So they didn't even have excessive communication among themselves, just constantly sighing.

Of course, the rolling eyeballs and gnashing expressions also showed that they hadn't really given up...

Wang Yan was very generous. To cook for this group of people, he even sent out the cooks in his house. As for whether they had the mood to eat, that was not his business. Anyway, he ate quite well at home.

After lunch, drinking tea to digest, and chatting with Hualan for a while, he went out of the city again and met the wealthy families.

Bowing in all directions again, he asked with a smile: "You've eaten and drunk; I don't know what you all plan to do? Do you agree with my immature idea?"

"We naturally support the Assistant Prefect's idea."

"Willing?"

"Naturally willing; we also have the heart to be loyal to the country."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile and turned to ask, "You won't be like the Zhang and Liu families, finding those thieves in the rivers and lakes to surround and kill me, right? You don't need to say more; I know you hate me for not dying, but I must do this matter. Whoever harbors luck and dares to collude with officials, hide fields and households, then it won't be 'let bygones be bygones'."

"Set the details first, and announce them to Hangzhou before the Lantern Festival. You all should take a good look at that time and have a count in your hearts. After the Lantern Festival, start the investigation. If there is any disobedience, raid the family assets and send them to the border."

"In addition, regarding the siege, I will put the words here first. I am not afraid of death; you can use whatever means you have. If I don't die, then it will be you who die."

"Dismissed!"

Wang Yan didn't give them a good face. Before, it was just teasing; now that the matter was settled, he had to fight with real swords and guns. Of course, Wang Yan hoped they would find trouble. After all, money in their hands and money in his, Wang Mou's, hands were different. Every one of them had money that was growing hair, and the copper was green, and they still cast it into various things to hide, which was really meaningless.

They didn't know how to spend money, and Wang Yan was very willing to help...

Just as he said to Fan Zhongyan, if there were no people from the capital here, he would really use those assassins as a raft. At that time, he could wipe out all the wealthy families in Hangzhou, letting Hangzhou's pattern be completely reshuffled.

Now it was not easy to do so, but Wang Yan also planned to deal with it together. Because the timing was ripe, with power and soldiers, and popular support stable, even if they made trouble, they couldn't make much of a mess.

Of course, the main point was still the stability of popular support. The commoners all knew that as long as Assistant Prefect Wang raided a wealthy family, those tenant farmers would be directly allocated land, all paying one-tenth tax. Including the tenant farmers of the wealthy families, I guess they were all coveting it, just wanting such a good thing to fall on their own heads. This was the interest of the people, a raging wave that the wealthy families couldn't suppress.

With the tax collection and investigation settled, Wang Yan began to arrange for officials to promote the auditing work. Within the whole prefecture, it must be completed before the New Year, and the cleaning fee must be collected this year.

Because at the end of the year, all places had to submit reports to the capital to show their achievements. Wang Yan couldn't collude with other officials, so he could only use achievements that made them feel ashamed to speak, establishing his label as a capable official. The substantial increase in Hangzhou's tax revenue was undoubtedly pleasing to Zhao Zhen. A minister who could raise money and suppress trouble was a good minister.

On the other hand, Wang Yan also frequently held meetings with Fan Zhongyan and others to discuss future land tax policies.

Wang Yan intended to carry out some small tax reforms, because the Song Dynasty's taxes were indeed very heavy. The Zhao Song inherited various harsh taxes from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and under the two taxes, there were various miscellaneous additional taxes, which were very uncomfortable. The Song Dynasty was a paradise for scholar-officials, but not for the commoners.

What Wang Yan and others were discussing now was to reduce a portion of the commoners' burden. Because wealthy families paying taxes was much more effective than commoners paying taxes.

Moreover, Wang Yan intended to implement tiered collection for land. The more land under a person's name, the higher the tax. If a landlord dared to disperse the fields to the tenant farmers' names, Wang Yan dared to let their land really become the commoners'. If they dared to leave the land barren, those lands would also be others'; every dynasty had laws that whoever reclaimed the land would own it, and they could be exempt from taxes for several years.

For the surplus land, on the basis of ensuring cost, letting the wealthy families earn a little was Wang Yan's kindness.

A more important point was to ensure the interests of the tenant farmers. Because the wealthy families exploited the commoners too harshly; that was true enslavement, true cattle and horses. Although a thousand years later, people self-mockingly called themselves cattle and horses, if compared with now, they were really living in a fairyland.

Reducing taxes for commoners and increasing taxes for wealthy families was the central topic of discussion.

Time flew by, and the details were finally officially launched. In summary, it was tiered taxation on land, and it was mandatory that tenant farmers' income could only take at most two-tenths, of which one-tenth belonged to the government, and the other one-tenth belonged to the landlord. In addition, miscellaneous taxes such as service exemption money and surcharges were reduced, greatly reducing the commoners' burden.

Wang Yan reducing these taxes was not simple. Still the same sentence: increasing or reducing taxes was the emperor's power. He submitted memorials to Fan Zhongyan several times, reported work achievements in various ways, and only then was it reluctantly agreed.

But it was not implemented immediately; it had to wait until Wang Yan really measured the fields, checked the households, and collected the money before it could be exempted.

In fact, up to now, Hangzhou was already very special, belonging to a slightly relaxed experimental area.

Although there was a chorus of accusations in the court of the capital, as if if Wang Yan continued to work, the Great Song would be finished.

But Wang Yan didn't lack supporters in the court; at least Old Bao stood firmly on his side. Of course, Old Bao's position was indeed a bit low, but he couldn't stand Old Bao's ability to spray; his combat effectiveness was terrifyingly strong. Coupled with other reformists, and the people Wang Yan established connections with in the capital, and Fan Zhongyan's help, Wang Yan also had a voice in the court.

Of course, the fundamental reason for all this was that Wang Yan could cause trouble and could also settle trouble. Although the wealthy families in Hangzhou had long since begged to the court, Wang Yan occupied the commanding heights and was absolutely correct. This point made it difficult for opponents to openly oppose him.

Furthermore, Zhao Zhen watched Wang Yan toss happily, and it didn't affect anything; all things were pressed in Hangzhou. No matter how noisy the court was, there was no actual impact. Coupled with his several dispatches of people to investigate secretly, Hangzhou was indeed well-governed. After all, there was the great famine in the two Zhe regions. Hangzhou didn't need the court to provide disaster relief, but instead supported nearby prefectures and counties, and absorbed a massive number of refugees, playing a key role as a pillar.

Under such circumstances, Zhao Zhen naturally wanted to protect Wang Yan. Every word in Wang Yan's memorials was full of loyalty to the Great Song. A *Zhuangyuan* with talent had always submitted solid memorials to him, concise and capable. He was not stupid; who was better to his Zhao Song, he naturally could see.

And because of Wang Yan's appearance, the reformists had regained new vitality. The recent court was not peaceful, fighting with words every day, and it looked like party strife was about to rise again.

Regarding this, Zhao Zhen was happy, precisely because of the so-called way of balance. One family dominating was not advisable.

Besides, didn't he want face? Although he had hesitations during the Qingli period, he saw the powerful strength of the conservatives even more. Didn't he know where the problem was? Didn't he know what was better for his Zhao dynasty? He just had the heart but not the strength.

Someone was standing up to the conservatives, and Zhao Zhen was happy to see it happen. Wang Yan was both worrying and reassuring. This was the fundamental reason why Wang Yan tossed back and forth in Hangzhou and carried out some reforms without being transferred away and held high.

In short, after a series of struggles, after the Lantern Festival, Hangzhou's vigorous great investigation action completely kicked off... ===== CHAPTER 1052 =====