Chapter 983: Awakening

Gu Qingyan was raised to believe that one should act according to one's ability, and protect as many as one's resources allow.

He said: "It is customary for officials, gentry, and those with scholarly degrees to shelter villagers and hold their land in trust."

"Common practice does not mean it is right," Xue Shao said. "This is embezzling state wealth and shifting the burden onto other villagers whose land is not held in trust—they must shoulder your tax obligations, paying two tenths or even more extra per mu."

Pan Yun smiled lightly: "The Gu family enjoys an excellent reputation in the countryside; even beyond this region, people praise them as great benefactors. This is because the common folk only know the taxes assigned by the government office runners—they spend their entire lives unable to calculate their true tax burden, and thus never realize that part of what they pay—through selling land, homes, even children—is meant to cover the taxes of villagers sheltered by the Gu family."

"They do not know, but heaven knows, earth knows, and every wise person with conscience knows—the Gu family is already entangled in karmic debt, yet now you speak of 'customary practice'?"

Xue Shao said: "What is called 'established by custom' is merely what happens when the first person commits a wrongful act and is not stopped; others, seeing him profit, follow suit. Two follow, then three, then many—and it becomes 'customary practice.'"

Gu Qingyan's face flushed faintly as he protested: "My family has never profited from this—we charge only one-tenth as a management fee."

"That management fee should rightfully belong to the state treasury," Xue Shao said, smiling faintly at him. "If you, Young Master Gu, use your private wealth to substitute for state funds, yet refuse to repent or even understand the mechanism behind it, I see no point in you taking the imperial examination. Even if you pass the eight-legged essay, you will be a mediocre official."

Gu Qingyan sprang to his feet, paced twice in place, then turned to confront Xue Shao: "Then what should my family do? Let one member grow rich while watching relatives sink into poverty? Never mind that they once helped our family—simply by kinship, we cannot be heartless and ignore their pleas."

Xue Shao, seeing he had finally touched the core issue, reminded him: "The founding Emperor of Great Ming set Quanzhou's tax burden light. Why, then, do they grow poorer year by year if they pay taxes normally?"

"The land tax is light, but Quanzhou's grain tribute to Jingcheng travels by waterway—cargoes suffer losses, and the government office apportions these losses equally among every household. In total, the land tax has effectively doubled. Besides land tax, there are corvée labor duties—Great Ming's corvée is heavy, and you know this well. When villagers entrust their land to us, the government office, out of respect for the Gu family, assigns them fewer labor duties."

"Beyond that, there are countless miscellaneous levies and surcharges. Every year, after paying taxes, villagers have barely enough grain left to eat—no savings, no reserves. Should disaster strike or a family member fall ill, they risk total ruin."

Gu Qingyan took a deep breath: "My father saw too much of this suffering and could not bear to watch neighbors and kin endure it—that is why he accepted their land in trust. The one-tenth we collect, after paying the managers' wages, is entirely used for annual relief. If you doubt me, ask around—every winter, the Gu family distributes porridge by the roadside, and every orphan, widow, and weak in the village receives a sack of relief grain."

Pan Yun glanced at Xue Shao and shook her head in disappointment.

Xue Shao asked calmly: "You understand why they grow poorer—have you considered how to solve it?"

Gu Qingyan: "Have we not already solved it?"

Xue Shao gazed at him, silent and heavy.

Pan Yun rose: "Let's go. This man has kindness to spare, but lacks wit."

Gu Qingyan: … That sounded like an insult.

Xue Shao rose and followed Pan Yun toward the door. At the threshold, he sighed and turned back: "Young Master Gu, the village head manages one li, the county magistrate manages one county, the Prefect manages one prefecture—and you, a Provincial Graduate, will one day be a Metropolitan Graduate. Your ambition must lie with the empire. If you see the problem, you should seek its solution—not carve a narrow path to temporarily conceal it, shifting the disaster onto even weaker commoners." Xue Shao said sternly: "What you and your Prefect father do is human sentiment, not a solution."

With that, Xue Shao caught up with Pan Yun and left.

Gu Qingyan stood frozen in place, staring blankly. When he came to himself, he hurried after them: "Wait—"

He ran after them, calling out urgently: "Lord Xue, then what is the solution? For a thousand years in Huaxia, the people have paid taxes to the state—it is natural. The founding Emperor and wise rulers imposed light taxes at first, yet over time, local officials kept adding levies. People lost their land, then their homes, and finally themselves. What is the solution?"

Xue Shao and Pan Yun stopped and turned to look at him.

Gu Qingyan asked, troubled: "I once asked my father the same question. He listened in silence—and still has no solution. You tell me: how do we fix this?"

Xue Shao said: "Reform the tax system."

Gu Qingyan's eyes brightened: "How?"

Many changes are needed—for example, merge land tax, head tax, and all miscellaneous levies into a single tax, and to eliminate loss burdens, replace grain payments with silver coinage;

Also, abolish the practice of land trust entirely: require officials and gentry to pay taxes like everyone else, with no exemptions—even the privilege of avoiding corvée must be removed. Instead, add the corvée exemption fee to their salaries; when their turn for service comes, they pay the silver themselves to avoid it.

Xue Shao looked at Gu Qingyan with sharp, bright eyes and asked: "If this system required your Gu family to pay land tax like common villagers—with no exemption—would you accept it?"

Gu Qingyan's heart jolted. He fixed his gaze on him: "Officials and gentry pay taxes?"

Xue Shao said nothing, only watched him calmly.

Gu Qingyan lowered his eyes, thought briefly, then asked: "Would officials and gentry paying taxes truly lighten the people's burden?"

Xue Shao: "Since your family holds land in trust, you know how much land tax a Provincial Graduate, Metropolitan Graduate, or official can avoid. Calculate how many officials, Metropolitan Graduates, and Provincial Graduates there are in Great Ming now—plus the imperial family, nobles, and meritorious clans. If all of them held land to full exemption, how much tax grain would the state lose annually? And beyond official channels, there are countless hidden exemptions through collusion between officials and gentry. Your Gu family is praised for its virtue—you say you take no personal gain, yet still shield villagers from corvée and miscellaneous levies. What of other officials and gentry?"

"I can tell you now: the total you can calculate is only half the missing amount. This half is entirely borne by ordinary people with no protection, no foundation. The other half—unquantifiable losses—is lost to the state treasury, and every year, local governments fall into deficit."