Chapter 272: The Ming Execution Threshold

Two thousand mu, three households — household share 0.02 percent, landholding roughly twenty thousand mu, land share 2.59 percent. One thousand to two thousand mu, two households…

(Attached chart: compiled from Ming north-south consolidation differentials, Republican-era data, the size of the Laoting bureaucratic class, and a generous dose of fabrication — not real data.) A single glance, and Lu Zhenfei's pupils contracted sharply.

When literati through the ages spoke of land consolidation, it was always with empty phrases like "the rich hold fields stretching to the horizon, the poor lack even ground to plant an awl."

Who had ever seen numbers so naked, so cold, yet precise to a maddening degree?

Behind every figure, it seemed, stood a living, breathing human being.

"So, roughly sixty percent of this county's land is in the hands of common folk…" Lu Zhenfei murmured.

Wu Kongjia shook his head, poured himself a cup of wine, and said evenly:

"More than that. If the corvée system remains unchanged, the hundred-to-five-hundred-mu stratum can only be counted as common folk as well."

"If they are conscripted as grain captains now, they can be assessed at any moment for tax-grain collection and forwarding, requisition of fodder, transport of army horses, and the like — they may not be much better off than those below them."

Indeed, the silver levy for equalized corvée on the books was never the full price.

The matter of equalized corvée had always been a process of continuously converting labor obligations into silver while continuously creating new labor obligations.

Lu Zhenfei's head snapped up, his mind racing through silent calculations.

"Then that makes it eighty percent of the land…"

But he immediately caught the problem with sharp perception.

"Wait! These figures are wrong!"

Lu Zhenfei pointed at the totals on the paper and frowned.

"Laoting's population is estimated at one hundred five thousand, so the number of households should be around twenty thousand — why do you have only fourteen thousand households here?"

"And this total acreage — only seven hundred seventy thousand mu — that doesn't match the nine hundred thousand mu you told me before either!"

"Brother Yuanhui, where did you get these figures? The Fish-Scale Register or the White Register? The data tallied should absolutely not look like this!"

In that moment, Lu Zhenfei revealed the solid grounding of a hands-on County Magistrate.

The so-called White Register, counterpart to the Yellow Register, was the actual collection ledger local authorities used for their own tax assessments. Now that the Yellow Register system was deteriorating by the day, this White Register was the real tax ledger at the local level.

In the Southern Metropolitan Region under its high-pressure administration, this White Register had even been officialized and standardized, turned into the Complete Book of Taxes and Corvée.

But in the northern regions, the White Register was still the common practice.

As for the Fish-Scale Register, that was the ledger recording land ownership, containing details of individual plots — their shapes, sizes, boundaries, and the like.

Wu Kongjia laughed heartily, brimming with self-satisfaction.

"How could I possibly use the Fish-Scale Register or the White Register?"

"The former hasn't yet undergone your cadastral survey — it's riddled with 'flying-off' and 'fraudulent registration,' bound to be full of errors and omissions."

"As for the latter… that old Chen has held the Revenue Office in his grip for years. If you don't let him taste the ruin of his household, why would he ever hand over the real ledger so easily?" Wu Kongjia reached out and tapped the sheet of paper.

"Since the Huangshan case in the tenth month, when I was demoted and sent here, it's been nearly two months."

"These figures — I went village by village, sought out grain captains, licentiates, old farmers, and asked household by household."

"Laoting is organized into twenty-seven li — I've only managed to cover twenty-one so far."

"With information gathered by word of mouth, such gaps and errors are ultimately unavoidable."

"This table — I was waiting for you to complete a thorough cadastral survey to help me fill it in properly."

Lu Zhenfei was stunned.

He looked at this colleague whose expression was so composed, and suddenly felt that the few sheets of paper in his hand weighed more than a thousand jun. Two months, twenty-one li — that averaged one li every three days.

This was not coming here to serve as an official; this was coming here to do hard labor!

"Spending two months on investigation… I knew you couldn't possibly be here just to serve as a Constable!"

Lu Zhenfei dropped all courtesy and reached out directly to demand:

"Quickly — hand over the rest!"

Wu Kongjia passed over the second sheet.

Draft Estimate of Laoting Commoners' Living Standards

At the top were several baseline assumptions.

Yield per mu, population size, grain prices, harvest ratios… these differed little from what Lu Zhenfei had calculated earlier.

Further down were assumptions he had not used in his earlier discussions with his advisors.

Minimum monthly grain ration per person: 0.3 shi (the Ming standard for disaster relief, the standard for widows and orphans in the Public Welfare Home).

Average household size: calculated at five persons per household.

From this it followed that each household required 18 shi of grain per year, which converted to silver came to 10.8 taels per year.

Beside it was a line of small annotated script: This is the Laoting commoners' execution threshold.

Lu Zhenfei could not help but look up and point at those three characters.

"This… how can it be called an execution threshold? Isn't this… somewhat excessive…"

Too naked.

Too cold-blooded.

As if those were not human lives, but livestock awaiting slaughter.

Wu Kongjia shrugged and said helplessly:

"For the naming of the other indicators, His Majesty only gave a general direction. For this indicator alone, His Majesty specifically instructed that this term must be used." Lu Zhenfei fell silent.

This was indeed that sovereign's style — cutting, cold.

And it was clear that this cutting edge was not aimed at the common folk, but at the world that had created such cruel conditions.

He continued reading.

Total acreage 900,000 mu, total population 105,000.

From this, the average landholding per household was 43 mu.

Calculated using the above per-mu yield, grain price, and input ratio, each household's net income converts to 13.49 taels of silver.

Lu Zhenfei's gaze shot downward, finally fixing on the two most critical rows of data.

Under the nominal tax rate, annual surplus income: 1.5 taels.

Under the effective tax rate, annual surplus income: 0.31 taels!

A deathly silence fell over the room.

Only the charcoal fire occasionally popped with a soft crack.

Lu Zhenfei had served as a County Magistrate; he knew all too well what those figures meant.

"0.3 taels………"

Lu Zhenfei's voice was somewhat hoarse. "Never mind 0.3 taels — even if 1.5 taels remained, how could that possibly be enough to live on?"

"If we calculate based on an average of 43 mu of arable land per household, the annual seed cost alone requires over 1 tael."

"And that does not yet account for wear on farming tools, or for the occasional headache or fever…"

"To say nothing of when a famine year or bad harvest strikes — then they go straight into the red!"

Lu Zhenfei snatched up the first sheet, cross-referencing the two, his expression growing even grimmer.

"Moreover, Brother Yuanhui, this table of yours should correspond to the 2,050-mu group — the cohort that makes up 42 percent of the population and holds 19.41 percent of the land." "If we go further down… those commoners whose households average less than 43 mu…"

Lu Zhenfei could not go on.

Those people, he feared, lay beneath the "execution threshold."

Wu Kongjia nodded, his expression still composed.

"This is only armchair theorizing; in the end, it can only serve as a reference."

"The common people may weave cloth, or work as smiths or craftsmen, or hire themselves out as day laborers — they will, after all, have some additional income."

"And as for this so-called 0.3 shi per month…"

Wu Kongjia shook his head. "From what I have observed these past two months, those who can truly live by that standard are not very many at all."

"Furthermore, commoners with less arable land will all rent and farm the fields of great households, so they are not necessarily executed outright."

"But the income from tenant farming is, in the end, far less than from tilling one's own land, and so they must also expend far greater effort."

He passed over one final sheet of paper.

"This is the execution-threshold calculation I made for the 5-to-20-mu cohort."

"If we calculate based on an average of 10 mu per household, they essentially need to rent an additional 52 mu, working themselves to the bone, just to barely cling to that line." At this, Wu Kongjia finally lifted his wine cup and drained it in one draught; the warm liquor rolled down his throat, bringing a trace of color to his pallid face. "Thus, my worthy younger brother, that proposal you made earlier — consolidating all taxes, the Single Whip law —"

"It is not that I do not agree with such measures; it is simply… that my angle differs."

Wu Kongjia looked at Lu Zhenfei, his gaze deep and penetrating.

"After conducting this investigation, my view of the new policies rests not on the tax rate, nor on equalizing corvée, but solely on this surplus income." "As long as you, my worthy younger brother, can, within the coming year, turn the surplus silver in the common people's hands from today's 0.3 taels into 10 taels —"

"Then, my worthy younger brother, here in Laoting, what endeavor could possibly fail?"

Lu Zhenfei was stunned.

From 0.3 taels to 10 taels.

This was sheer fantasy.

Yet, looking at the unwavering certainty in Wu Kongjia's eyes, he still asked:

"To reach 10 taels… what sort of tax rate would that require? What sort of per-mu yield?"

Wu Kongjia gave a faint smile and raised one finger:

"One shi per mu yield."

He raised a second:

"A ten percent tax rate."

Finally, he spread his palm open:

"Ten taels of income!"

— This is a lie.

One shi per mu yield and a ten percent tax rate can, at most, leave only 9.43 taels. Wu Kongjia, in the end, still cannot shake that wretched habit of Ming literati loving to round up to neat figures.

Lu Zhenfei sank once more into a long silence.

In his mind, he was calculating furiously.

One shi per mu yield? The current yield is 0.6 shi per mu — that would require converting everything to two harvests over three years, wouldn't it? They would even have to turn many dry wheat fields into irrigated land. A ten percent tax rate? That, at least, is easier to manage… just behead all the underlings and clerks and it would drop by a huge margin.

If one could truly achieve a surplus income of 10 taels… what a monumental accomplishment that would be!

By comparison, all those grand words he himself had just spoken about tax reform seemed, before the two words "survival," so utterly hollow and feeble. After a long while, Lu Zhenfei let out a deep sigh.

"Brother Yuanhui… no wonder you feared influencing my train of thought."

"Once this argument is made, the tax rate truly ceases to be the crux."

"Just as you said, this surplus income is the vital gate."

He paused, looking at those few thin sheets of paper on the table, a complex emotion flickering through his eyes.

There was shock, there was admiration, and there was also that sliver of jealousy — the kind a scholar feels toward a rival, yet cannot but concede to.

"If this magisterial essay of yours were submitted, I fear it would stir the court and the realm even more than your earlier 'The Struggle Between Man and Land.'"

Wu Kongjia shook his head and poured Lu Zhenfei a cup of wine.

"This matter is not one I am undertaking alone."

"To my knowledge, several people have received this task from His Majesty; I simply do not know in which counties they have been placed to conduct their investigations."

"And besides, all of this is merely a draft."

"Once the entire framework is set, every secretary in the New Policies Secretariat will, according to these regulations, rotate out to the localities to conduct research."

"Without setting foot on solid ground, without touching the soil, one cannot write essays such as these."

Lu Zhenfei nodded silently.

Yet he still could not help stealing sidelong glances at the thick stack of manuscripts on the next desk over.

"So that's how it is… not bad… truly not bad…"

"But I wonder………"

He sensed that Wu Kongjia still had more to say, that this thick stack of manuscripts could not possibly contain so little information.

But Wu Kongjia understood his hint and ignored it, cutting him off directly:

"It's getting late, and roll call is at dawn tomorrow. Shall we continue this another day?"

Lu Zhenfei's request had barely left his mouth halfway before it was bluntly forced back.

He smiled awkwardly, helpless, and could only rise to take his leave.

Reaching the doorway, the cold wind struck his face again, jolting him wide awake.

Lu Zhenfei suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned back, and asked:

"Brother Yuanhui, this powerful essay — what is its title?"

Lu Zhenfei expected he would hear a title brimming with the style of the New Policies.

Something sensational, like On Calculating the Survival Threshold of the Great Ming's Common People.

Or something long-winded, like An Analysis of the Surplus Income of All Social Strata in Laoting County.

Yet Wu Kongjia, standing in the lamplight's shadow, spoke with a calm expression and gave an answer that completely defied his expectations.

"His Majesty has already decided. All official documents in this series shall use the same format for their titles."

"And the piece on Laoting County is called —"

"The Laoting Survey."