Chapter 377: The Great Ming Myriad Taxes

The Crown Prince's unfilial defiance, his cruelty and inhumanity, his debauchery, greed, and baseness — Chen Yongxi, who came from Shanxi, had heard people speak of these as soon as he entered Huguang. It was not only the Shun officials of Xiangjing Prefecture and the followers of the Zuo family in Wuchang Prefecture who said such things; in the merchant town of Hankou, where Chen Yongxi hired a boat to travel east, quite a few people said the same.

"Steward Chen, if you had taken this commoner's merchant boat east last year, this commoner would have been only too glad — how could I have asked you for money? With the signboard of a princely establishment official alone, the journey to the Southern Capital would have passed without hindrance. This commoner could ship a boatload of Huguang white rice, say it was being sold on behalf of the princely establishment, and the customs duties saved along the way would have more than covered the passage fare. But things are different now. Even an official boat, to pass duty-free, must have a tax-exemption certificate issued by the Chief Tax Office of the Ministry of Revenue, and the certificate must specify the vessel type, the cargo carried, and the persons and livestock aboard. So even if you obtained a tax-exemption certificate from the Tax Office, this commoner's whole boatload of cargo still could not share in the benefit! And such certificates are very hard to obtain — they are issued only to boats actually engaged in official or military business."

The man explaining the Great Ming's latest tax policies to Chen Yongxi in a teahouse near the Hankou docks was a rice merchant named Yao Daqiao. He owned two five-hundred-dan river boats, capable of carrying a thousand dan of Huguang white rice east in a single trip. Although the Southern Metropolitan Region and Zhejiang in the southeast of the Great Ming had long been known as a land of fish and rice, in recent decades sericulture and cotton had flourished, so that in Zhejiang and the Jiangnan prefectures of the Southern Metropolitan Region, many rice paddies had been converted to mulberry fields and cotton fields, which yielded greater profit.

One consequence of this was that the so-called land of fish and rice in the southeast gradually could no longer feed itself, and had to purchase grain from Huguang, Jiangxi, Jianghuai, and other regions. After selling their white rice, the grain boats would buy silk, cotton cloth, all manner of household goods, salt, and other commodities to sell back in Huguang, Jiangxi, Jianghuai, and elsewhere.

Thus the goods transported along the Yangtze each year were extremely numerous, and the volume of trade enormous. Yet because of the corrupt old practice of the "Three No-Taxes," this golden waterway could bring almost no tax revenue to the Great Ming court.

"How can it be so harsh?" Chen Yongxi could scarcely believe his ears. "Collecting taxes like this — are they not afraid of officials driving the people to revolt? In the time of the old Emperor of the Divine Temple, the people of the southeast made no small trouble! With the realm in its present state, is the court not afraid the southeast will rise in chaos?"

"Chaos? What kind of chaos?" Yao Daqiao smiled bitterly. "Like those ennobled houses in Nanjing that have lasted over two hundred years? Going to their deaths and throwing in their family fortunes, wives, and daughters as well?"

"Has no one stood up to resist the taxes and smash the customs posts?"

Yao Daqiao shook his head. "Who would dare? That sort of thing requires local protection — otherwise you'd be beaten to death on the spot!"

Those tax-resistance incidents in the Wanli years may indeed have had an element of officials driving the people to revolt, but more often they were collusion between officials and merchants, with the rioters shielded by local powers. Take Ge Xian, for example, who "led" the Suzhou tax-resistance incident: after the affair he surrendered himself, was sentenced to penal servitude, and spent twelve years in the Suzhou prefectural prison. Having stirred up such a great disturbance, he was not even beheaded — merely sentenced to twelve years. With the protection of the officials and gentry of the entire Suzhou Prefecture, one can well imagine what his prison life was like.

If the local strongmen and gentry had been of one mind with the old Wanli Emperor, ten Ge Xians would have been beaten to death on the spot!

"And now the local powers dare not shield them?" Chen Yongxi asked in astonishment.

"Shield them with what?" Yao Daqiao shook his head repeatedly. "At least in the places where the seven Yangtze customs posts stand — Hukou Pass, Anqing Pass, Wuhu Pass, Longjiang Pass at Nanjing, Zhenjiang Pass, Jiangyin Pass, and Shanghai Pass — there will be no shielding. Whoever dares make trouble there will be beaten to death on the spot, no discussion!"

"Why?"

"Because the tax revenue from these seven river customs posts is tied to the quotas of xiucai, juren, and jinshi degrees for seven counties!"

Yao Daqiao paused, then continued: "Moreover, wherever a customs post is smashed, that locality must pay compensation. If it does not, the xiucai and juren of that place will have their degrees suspended, and the staff officials will be dismissed one after another. If compensation is not made within one month, one-third will be dismissed; if not within three months, all will be dismissed, and personnel from neighboring counties will be sent to take over! Tell me — what is there for the local gentry and officials to make trouble about? Make trouble and then let outsiders come and skim the profits?"

This was, of course, another of the wicked schemes "thought up" by that unscrupulous, smoke-belching Wei Zaode. Now many important prefectures and counties in the southeast had begun implementing the new policies, and there were large numbers of staff officials — all local powerholders. As long as they lent their strength, no trouble could arise locally.

Ah! So it could be done this way! Chen Yongxi's eyes went wide, and his mouth opened into a perfect circle — he could almost have stuffed his own fist into it.

Yao Daqiao had not finished. He sighed and went on: "And these seven river customs posts are all equipped with sword-bearing guards, all drawn from the Xiaoling Guard New Army. They will cut people down. Do you know what the background of the Xiaoling Guard New Army is?"

"What background?"

"Imperial clansmen! All of them are imperial clansmen who fell on hard times in various places. The Crown Prince took them into the Xiaoling Guard New Army and drilled them; they suffered plenty, and every one of them has become fierce as a wolf or tiger, all of them, damn it, seething with pent-up malice! They can take a cut from the customs revenue! Whoever blocks their road to wealth can wait for the blade! They are clansmen who have been poor to the point of madness — what reason can you talk to them? They all hold a share in the Great Ming realm; is it not right that they collect a little tax? Who would dare strike them? What is the crime for beating an imperial clansman to death?"

This was the fine post Zhu Cilang had arranged for his "brothers" — to serve as "enforcers" in the Chief Tax Office directly subordinate to the Ministry of Revenue. Their establishment remained with the Xiaoling Guard New Army; they were merely posted out on assignment, usually for three years at a time, after which they returned to the Xiaoling Guard New Army to await the next posting.

During their external posting, they not only drew pay from the Xiaoling Guard New Army but also received a second generous salary from the local customs post. Tax officials serving at customs posts were like censors serving in the Censorate — under the Left and Right Bureau Secretaries of the Chief Tax Office, once you entered a customs post you were committed for life; thereafter you could serve only in customs posts and military agricultural garrisons. But their income was well assured: though they had no office fields, they could take a percentage of the customs and military agricultural revenues.

"What? What? Imperial clansmen supervising taxes?" Chen Yongxi was utterly stunned. "How can this be? Do the court officials not remonstrate?"

"Remonstrate about what?" Yao Daqiao snorted. "Was this not all the suggestion of Wei Zaode, the Donglin chieftain?"

"Donglin chieftain Wei Zaode?" Chen Yongxi was baffled again and again. "How has Chief Grand Secretary Wei become a Donglin man?"

"Elected by the Donglin Assembly! The Donglin Faction no longer pleads for the people — now it devotes itself entirely to extorting wealth and harming the people for the Crown Prince!"

What? The Donglin have turned into the eunuch party...

Chen Yongxi thought to himself: I am a proper gentleman — I absolutely cannot go and become one of the eunuch party!

The merchant named Yao Daqiao now said with a chuckle: "Steward Chen, you have a whole household and have brought along quite a lot of goods. This commoner will not overcharge you — just fifteen taels of silver. Once you reach Nanjing and take office under the Crown Prince, even as a seventh-rank official you will have an income of five or six hundred taels a year. Fifteen taels is nothing."

"A seventh-rank official gets five or six hundred taels?" Chen Yongxi shot Yao Daqiao a glance. "Do you take this official for a corrupt official?"

Yao Daqiao smiled. "Bribery and corruption are not to be spoken of — the court's Censorate is formidable now! The five or six hundred taels is simply the court salary plus the rent from office fields."

"That much?"

Yao Daqiao smiled. "Indeed. The Great Ming court now collects taxes ruthlessly, but official salaries have also risen considerably. This is what they call high pay to foster honesty. You are a northern official; if you have no property in Jiangnan, the post will be quite rewarding!"

That was true! Chen Yongxi thought it over — he was right! He was a Shanxi man with no property in Jiangnan; the "Great Ming Myriad Taxes" could not reach him. But a salary of several hundred taels a year... would that not cover food, drink, and expenses for his whole household?

He must take this post! Best of all if he could become a tax-collecting official! His own family had business dealings, so he knew best how unscrupulous merchants evaded taxes and smuggled goods! When the time came, he would certainly be able to collect more taxes!

At this thought, Chen Yongxi nodded emphatically and said: "Very well, very well — fifteen taels it is. When do we depart? This official has urgent military intelligence from the north to report!"

Yao Daqiao laughed. "Today. We leave today!"

(End of Chapter)