Doctor Jia, Doctor Zhao and others warmly invited Zhu Ping'an to Zhang Guanku's office and wanted to talk to him about the "customs" in Taicang. With the encouragement of Liu Siku, Zhang Siku and others, they also brought up the reason that Zhang Guanku had been waiting for a long time. It was hard to refuse such a kind invitation.
Since he had invited me in front of everyone in the East Factory, I thought they wouldn't dare to do anything dirty at this time.
At the same time, Zhu Ping'an also wanted to see what they were up to, so he reluctantly followed them to Zhang Guanku's place.
"Haha, Zihou is here, come in quickly."
Zhang Guanku heard the noise outside, and before Zhu Ping'an walked in, he came out to greet him with a warm laugh. His enthusiasm was quite similar to that of Cao Cao who welcomed Xu You with his shoes turned upside down during the Three Kingdoms period.
"I am unworthy of your generosity, Lord Zhang. Please come in, Lord Zhang." Zhu Ping'an bowed in return.
After repeated courtesy at the door, Zhu Ping'an followed Zhang Guanku and others into the house and sat down as host and guest.
Zhu Ping'an was politely allowed to sit opposite Zhang Guanku by everyone.
It was already dark outside, and three oil lamps were lit in the house with the wicks raised high, illuminating the room.
"Zihou, do you know some of the 'customs' in Taicang?"
Zhang Guanku was sitting on a chair, his body straight as if relaxed, looking at Zhu Ping'an calmly, his eyes like an endless sea, and he asked softly like a famous scholar.
"I don't know, I'd like to hear the details." Zhu Ping'an shook his head and then put on an attitude of seeking advice.
Zhang Guanku glanced at Doctor Jia, who understood what he meant and nodded slightly. Then he smiled and attracted Zhu Ping'an's attention. He then smiled and said to Zhu Ping'an, "Zihou is also a newcomer to Taicang. It's normal for him to not know the 'customs' of Taicang."
"Then let's talk about 'four taels equal' first." Doctor Jia said with a smile.
"What is four taels?" Zhu Ping'an asked curiously.
"Four taels is equal, haha. Zihou has also been in Taicang for several days, and you should have seen that the warehouse soldiers have worked very hard to transport the silver. Although we don't do any physical work, we are also very worried. Zihou, you don't know that every year when the taxes and salt taxes are collected and converted into silver, staying up late and working overtime are commonplace for us... Just think about it, the provincial governments and the prefectures, counties and cities in the north and south of Zhili have to pay more than 20 items of silver, including tax silver, horse grass, silk, cloth, banknotes, money yarn, grains, yellow wax, deductions, ship materials, commercial taxes, deed taxes, salt taxes, fines for corruption, Liao salaries, and grain tax discounts. It can be said that there are so many books that it takes us more than a month to stay up late and work overtime." Doctor Jia looked at Zhu Ping'an with a tired face and said with some emotion.
The beginning is so serious and the following content is definitely not serious.
After listening to Doctor Jia's preparations, Zhu Ping'an came to this conclusion in his heart.
really.
After hearing Doctor Jia's explanation of the four-liang balance, Zhu Ping'an scoffed at Taicang's "custom" in his heart.
"The local authorities, seeing how hard we work, sympathize with us. Every year when various places donate silver to Taicang, they always donate an extra 4 taels of silver for every 100 to comfort us. We have refused many times, but this is a custom formed in Taicang and the local areas over the past hundreds of years. The local authorities insisted on doing so, and we had no choice but to abide by this custom. As for the extra 4 taels of silver, according to custom, 2 taels are distributed to the treasury soldiers, and the other 2 taels are distributed to us treasury officials and treasury inspectors. This custom is commonly known as 'four taels equal'." Doctor Jia slowly explained the custom of four taels equal, and his words sounded as if they were forced to abide by this custom.
After hearing this, Zhu Ping'an had no expression on his face, but he was already in shock and scorned Jia Langzhong and his men. For every 100 taels of silver, they collected an extra 4 taels of silver. Taicang collected about 2 million taels of silver every year. Just for this "four taels of silver", they collected more than 80,000 taels of silver every year.
This has added so much burden to the common people!
"How many in a year?" Zhu Ping'an pursed his lips and asked calmly.
"It's not much. It's just over 80,000 taels of 'hard-earned money' a year." Doctor Jia shook his head disapprovingly and said lightly.
You call this not much?! Isn't more than 80,000 taels of silver enough? It's more than 48 million RMB. A fourth-rank official only receives a salary of more than 140 taels of silver per year. The money you get from this "custom" is enough to pay the annual salary of five or six hundred fourth-rank officials.
How many fourth-rank officials are there in the entire Ming Dynasty? !
Not much... ... Haha, it shows that they have more than one "routine" to make money, and it shows that they made much more than 80,000 taels.
Haha, "hard-earned money"? What you did was just part of your job, and you call it "hard-earned money". Isn't this just picking up money without doing anything? !
Zhu Ping'an had a new understanding of the greed and shamelessness of Jia Langzhong and others.
"In the past, the inspectors sent every year were all officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Household. This year, since Zihou has taken so much trouble to inspect the Taicang, I believe that the higher-ups will no longer send officials from the Ministry of Rites to inspect the treasury. In this way, out of the 80,000 taels of silver, Zihou can get about 10,000 taels of silver as 'hard work money'. Although it's not much, it can be regarded as a consolation for Zihou's hard work in inspecting the treasury." Doctor Jia raised his head and said to Zhu Ping'an with a smile.
"Ten thousand taels?!"
Doctor Zhao, who was standing by, looked unhappy when he heard this.
Look at what you have accomplished!!
Zhang Guanku, who had been in control of the situation in the room, glared at Doctor Zhao the first moment, and the words that Doctor Zhao was about to blurt out were swallowed back into his stomach.
Doctor Zhao was stunned under the gaze of Zhang Guanku, and he muttered and kept his mouth shut. He was very dissatisfied in his heart. Why should he be given 10,000 taels of silver to Zhu Ping'an? In previous years, the amount of silver given to the treasurer for this item was only 4,000 to 5,000 taels of silver.
Now that we have given Zhu Pingan more than double the amount, doesn't that mean we will get less money? !
"Ten thousand taels..." Zhu Ping'an smacked his lips.
It's good that you're moved. Haha, you, Zhu Ping'an, are just like that. I can buy you off with just ten thousand taels of silver.
Seeing Zhu Ping'an smacking his lips, Doctor Jia's smile widened, and Zhang Guanku also smiled.
"Does the higher-ups know and agree to this 'custom'? If they do, I can accept it; if they don't, I won't accept a penny." Zhu Ping'an glanced at Doctor Jia, Zhang Guanku and others one by one and shrugged slightly.
"Well, this... has been done this way for more than a hundred years, and this practice is also the norm in Taicang. If Zihou refuses to accept it, wouldn't that be breaking the rules?" Doctor Jia advised earnestly.
Well.
How come I broke the rules by being clean? ! What kind of rules are these!
Zhu Ping'an smiled speechlessly, bowed his hands and apologized, "Zihou doesn't know the rules, please don't blame me. However, there is no reward without merit. Checking the treasury is Ping'an's job. It takes a few days to check in and out of the office normally. I don't have to stay up all night to work overtime for more than a month like you gentlemen, so I have no face to accept this money."