Chapter 367

367. Chapter 367: Weighing Gains and Losses

After speaking, Zhao Jin turned and said a few words to his companions, then walked down from the wooden platform and headed toward the large shed behind it. As soon as he stepped down, Chen Sheng, Shi Manqiang, Ji Xiang, and Dong Bingfeng came forward in turn, calling out the company commanders and squad leaders under their command to follow. The rest were assigned shifts by Chen Sheng and began taking over the defense of the entire He Family Village.

Ruhui and Zhou Xuezhi walked up to the guests and said with a smile, "Please take your seats, everyone. Tea will be served shortly."

These matters had been arranged beforehand. The guests watching from both sides now understood the weight that Ruhui and Zhou Xuezhi carried, and they all hurriedly responded with polite courtesy, making their way toward the large shed.

As they walked, those who were acquainted, from the same hometown, or had past connections all discussed among themselves.

"I had thought that this time Master Jin wouldn't hold anything back, that coming here would let us learn some real skills. But after seeing today, these things are only possible for Master Jin — only someone with such great ability could do them."

"I told you long ago, those people from Tian Family Village and Lin Family Stockade look the part when they're here, but once they go back, they're nothing. Putting on a show of force is one thing, but when it comes to actual fighting, they're not much better than before."

"That's only natural. In all these years, Xuzhou has only produced one Zhao Jin!"

"I heard that back then, Zhao Dadao was taking his wife back to her parents' home. They took shelter from the rain halfway there. His wife had fallen asleep and dreamed that a tiger came lunging at her from the woods. She woke up in fright, and then gave birth to Zhao Jin. Later, when she watched an execution, the blood aura stirred something, and that tiger came out!"

Each had their own praise. Those who saw the scene today all felt that Zhao Jin's success was heaven-sent. Setting aside everything else, those rules and regulations alone seemed unfathomably profound.

The large shed was built on a grand scale, able to seat nearly a hundred guests from various places. The company commanders and squad leaders from each unit stood in formation around the perimeter. In front of the door to Zhao Jin's main hall, seven chairs were arranged on a low platform, while everyone else sat opposite.

The centermost of the seven chairs was a high-backed grand armchair, a full size larger than the other six, making it very conspicuous.

This seat was, without question, Zhao Jin's. Zhao Jin showed no polite hesitation and walked straight over to sit down. Chen Sheng did not hesitate either, taking the first chair directly to Zhao Jin's left.

As for the chair on the right, Ji Xiang initially started toward it, but after two steps he stopped and turned to look at Shi Manqiang. The usually single-minded Shi Manqiang now hesitated, glancing at Zhao Jin, then turning to look at the others. Dong Bingfeng was also waiting with focused attention. Someone even looked toward Ruhui, who was standing off to the side, but Ruhui smiled and waved his hand, turning away to attend to the guests. Only Liu Yong paid no attention to this, instead continuously scanning the crowd.

"Zhao Jin, why not leave that seat on your right empty? Treat it as reserved for that bookworm Wang Zhaojing," Chen Sheng suddenly said.

Zhao Jin paused, then a smile spread across his face. He pointed at that seat and said, "Leave this seat empty — consider it reserved for Wang Zhaojing. Shitou, you sit beside Dasheng. Daxiang, you sit next to this seat. Bingfeng, sit beside Shitou. Xiaoyong, you take the one on the right. I'm putting you in an undeserved spot!"

Hearing Zhao Jin's arrangement, everyone looked at one another and nodded. Shi Manqiang and Dong Bingfeng both quickened their pace toward their seats. Ji Xiang stared at the seat beside Zhao Jin for a moment, but then seemed to relax, walking over to his own seat and sitting down. Liu Yong smiled and said, "It's nothing, Big Brother," and sat down on the right.

Seeing everyone seated on the platform, Ruhui called out loudly, "Honored guests, please take your seats."

After this announcement, Ruhui and Zhou Xuezhi quickly stepped forward and guided the prearranged prominent figures to their seats. A gentry notable like Scholar Cai naturally had to sit in the first row. Once the first and second rows were settled, everyone behind them understood the order. The only disputes were over left and right positioning, and with someone mediating, those were quickly resolved.

No one's attention was on this, however. Everyone was looking at the seating arrangement on that frontmost low platform, whispering incessantly among themselves.

Ever since Zhao Jin's name became known, a fixed topic of conversation had gradually emerged across Xuzhou: the ranking of Zhao Jin's brothers. From the former "Eight Little Heroes" to the present "Seven Outstanding," who was stronger, who was weaker — Zhao Jin in the chief seat was a given, but what was the order of the others? Chen Sheng seemed to be the acknowledged second, yet Wang Zhaojing, with his noble family background and superior martial skill, should also hold that second position. As for the other few, the debates were even more numerous.

Discussing these matters was purely for amusement, much like the rankings of heroes and champions in the tales and romances of Water Margin and Three Kingdoms, providing ample fodder for the tea-time and after-dinner chatter of Xuzhou's common folk.

All this debate and speculation was to be settled today. Setting aside the earlier Zhao Character Battalion positions, this seating order now made things perfectly clear. Zhao Jin in the center as first was beyond dispute. The left was the place of honor, so Chen Sheng at the first seat on his left was second. The empty seat on the right, it was said, was reserved for Wang Zhaojing — he was the third seat. Counting down one by one, Shi Manqiang was fourth, Ji Xiang fifth, Dong Bingfeng sixth, and Liu Yong seventh. Someone also remarked that if Sun Dalei were here, who knew where he would rank, but few paid that any mind.

The ranking followed neither martial prowess nor family status. It seemed to be a synthesis of several aspects, and it appeared quite reasonable.

As the discussions buzzed below, the few seated on the platform were not entirely at ease either. Ji Xiang, Shi Manqiang, and Dong Bingfeng each glanced left and right before settling their nerves. Zhao Jin, Chen Sheng, and Liu Yong, however, seemed entirely unbothered.

Before long, Zhao Jin gestured to the side, and the gong sounded again. The scene fell into habitual silence. Tea had long since been served to every guest, and Zhao Jin and the others also had tea tables at hand. Zhao Jin casually picked up his tea bowl and raised it in a gesture like a toast, then spoke: "These are the private affairs of the Zhao Character Battalion, yet we have troubled all of you to accompany us. You have all worked hard!"

He did not rise from his seat, but the guests seated there all stood up one after another to return the courtesy, speaking in a jumble: "Master Jin is too polite."

"Ever since Zhao came to this He Family Village, all of you have been eager to help. During the previous relief of Xuzhou, you lent your full and righteous support. I won't list the more recent matters one by one. Your goodwill is something Zhao will not forget, nor will Zhao leave any of you shortchanged. In the past few days, everything has been discussed and made very clear. Zhao will now lay out the regulations here, item by item, and set them in stone. If anyone has second thoughts, speak now — do not speak of it later." After setting down his tea bowl, Zhao Jin spoke calmly.

Those sitting in the back rows leaned forward, straining to hear Zhao Jin's words. They were simply too far away to make them out clearly. Here, Zhao Jin did not need to shout as he did outside.

"First, some good news for everyone. This year's disaster in Xuzhou has been so severe that it has damaged the very vitality of the region. The Prefect has decided to report the disaster conditions upward, requesting that the higher authorities and the imperial court exempt our Xuzhou from grain taxes and levies for three years," Zhao Jin said with a smile.

Those in the front were stunned. Some in the back rows stood up directly, and those even further back, unable to hear clearly, urgently asked what was said. Once they understood, they could no longer remain seated either.

Seeing the faces of the crowd filled with surprise, delight, and anticipation, Zhao Jin smiled and said, "Judging by everyone's expressions, you all look like law-abiding, tax-paying good citizens — to be this overjoyed!"

Happy as they were, everyone wanted to hear what came next and kept quiet. The room remained utterly silent. When Zhao Jin spoke that line, no one could hold it in any longer, and they all burst into laughter.

One-fifteenth tax per mu of land — the statutory tax, surcharges, miscellaneous levies, apportionments, the Great Ming's laws, local taxes, the personal take of the yamen and its runners — when all these were added up from every side, it was far more than that one-fifteenth. The yield of one mu of land would have nearly a third taken away. And that was when things were done by the rules, when those handling it still had a conscience.

That one-third of the harvest often took another cut when converted into silver. At the autumn grain harvest, silver was dear and grain was cheap — it couldn't be sold for a good price. Once the grain was exchanged for silver and paid in, it amounted to far more than a third. Sometimes, it could consume half the harvest.

After a year of bitter toil, to have a third of the harvest taken away at once — the days that followed would be very tight. If half was gone, then when the new crop was not yet in and the old was exhausted, there would be serious trouble. The lives of common people and farming households were very hard.

However, those who could enter this large shed and had a seat did not need to worry about this. They held large amounts of unregistered land in their hands and did not need to pay a single coin in taxes, so naturally they had no such concern. There were also some whose landholdings were registered, but they had blades in hand and backing behind them, so the tax runners dared not come to their doors to collect.

"Master Jin, is this matter certain? I've heard that getting local taxes and grain levies exempted is very troublesome these days," someone below asked.

Zhao Jin smiled and replied, "Please rest assured, everyone. Prefect Tong will only be sending the official dispatch. The esteemed Elder Wangshan will be writing letters to persuade the relevant high officials. When refugees from Shandong came to our Xuzhou to wreak havoc, it makes no sense that only Shandong gets relief while we get nothing."

At the mention of Wang Zhaojing's father, Wang Youshan, intervening, everyone's doubts vanished like smoke. When a region suffered disaster, the court's relief was often untimely and far from sufficient in quantity. The local gentry and commoners had to manage on their own. The only thing that could be done was to exempt the grain taxes and levies, reducing the local burden.

A presented scholar serving as a prefect was one with the least promising future; no one would do him such a favor. But Wang Youshan was from the capital's pure-stream officials. A single letter from him, and there would be quite a few willing to do him a favor. The likelihood of this matter succeeding was thus much greater.

Once the crowd below had largely absorbed this news, Zhao Jin put away his smile and said, "In our discussions a few days ago, it was agreed that beyond the government taxes, my side would take an additional ten percent, and I would bear the burden of major corvée labor. Now that the grain taxes and levies are to be exempted, what was said then must be revised. If it is a three-year exemption, then in the first year I will take thirty percent. In the second and third years, twenty percent each. The corvée labor will still be borne by my side."

The people in the seats fell silent for a moment, then an uproar broke out. They did not dare act recklessly in front of Zhao Jin and could only exchange glances and whisper among themselves.

In the end, it was Scholar Cai in the first row who stood up. He smiled and said, "Young Master Zhao, the regulations were already agreed upon that day. The court's exemption of grain taxes and levies should logically have nothing to do with these regulations. That ten percent for you, Young Master Zhao, everyone is still..."

"Zhao has shielded all of you from many things. If I don't speak of them, everyone assumes they are unrelated. Just yesterday, someone came to see Zhao, asking Zhao to take over the grain tax collection. Of the taxes collected, Zhao could keep half. Doing the math, that comes to fifteen or twenty percent." Zhao Jin spoke leisurely.