Chapter 42: Collecting Taxes in the Village
Looking at the increasingly familiar scene in front of him, Qin Feng knew that he was not far from Qinjia Village.

Walking along the path, we soon arrived at the entrance of the village.

"You are Qin Feng?"

"Uncle Tieshan." Qin Feng greeted the middle-aged man in front of him with a smile.

This is Qin Tieshan. When he first entered the county town, he was led by the other party.

"It's really you. I haven't seen you for a few months. I almost don't recognize you."

Qin Tieshan looked Qin Feng up and down, with a look of emotion on his face.

Qin Feng has changed a lot in the past few months.

At the age of sixteen, it was the stage of physical growth. His food was many times better than before, and he also practiced martial arts, and made rapid progress.

Not only did his height increase from 1.7 meters to 1.8 meters, but his originally thin body also became stronger.

The most important thing is temperament. The change is so great that one can feel like a noble person at first glance.

Because of this, Qin Tieshan did not recognize Qin Feng at all when he first met him.

"I heard from your father that you have been studying martial arts in the county town recently? No wonder you have changed so much, you are so handsome!"

Ever since Qin He brought the news that Qin Feng was learning martial arts back to Qinjia Village, Qin Feng's parents have been praising their two sons to everyone they met.

One studies literature, the other studies martial arts.

Although the one who studies liberal arts has not passed the imperial examination yet, the one who studies martial arts has already started to contribute to the family income. How filial!
“I learned a little.”

Qin Feng chuckled and asked, "I heard that the city sent officials to collect taxes today in Qinjia Village."

Before he finished speaking, Qin Tieshan immediately smiled and said, "You came back at the right time. Uncle San just sent someone to the village to call us back, saying that the tax collectors are here. I was on my way back now."

"That's quite a coincidence."

So Qin Feng and Qin Tieshan walked towards the village together.

Officials who went to collect taxes did not go from house to house, but instead went directly to the person in charge of the village, and asked him to gather people together, and finally selected a place to collect taxes.

In their Qinjia Village, the third uncle is naturally in charge.

At this time, under the big tree in the center of the village, everyone in Qinjia Village was gathered here, paying taxes to the three officials one after another.

There are many kinds of taxation in Qing State, including levies and miscellaneous taxes.

But most taxes are related to city dwellers, while for farmers, there are mainly four major taxes.

Land tax, poll tax, corvée and military service.

The first two taxes are paid annually and are normal taxes, while the last two are special taxes.

As for corvée labor, it depends on the situation. Generally, if the government has a project, they will recruit people from nearby areas. If not, then the corvée labor will be exempted for that year.

In Pingchuan County, there has been no corvée labor service for several years.

The situation of military service is even more special. As long as the country recruits soldiers, every household must send a man aged between 16 and 60 to join the army.

However, Qing Kingdom has not fought a war for some years, so no one in Qinjia Village has gone to serve in the military in recent years.

"Sir, in previous years the fee was 2 taels, 4 qian and 7 fen of silver. Why are you charging 1 qian more this year?"

As soon as Qin Feng and Qin Tieshan approached the crowd, they heard the third uncle's questioning.

In the past, the taxes collected by the Qing Kingdom were in the form of grain and cloth.

After Emperor Qing ascended the throne, thanks to Ye Qingmei's various reforms and experiments, taxes are now collected directly in silver.

Of course, this kind of thing is not absolute. After all, Ye Qingmei has been dead for more than ten years, and many previous reforms and measures have now changed.

But the situation in Pingchuan County is relatively good, and many good policies have been retained.

"It's a waste of money. It's been several years and we only collect this little bit more. Is there any problem?"

The one in front of the three officers spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

When their officials went to the countryside to collect taxes, they collected small pieces of silver. In Kyoto, they naturally did not collect small pieces of silver when collecting taxes, so the local government needed to cast these small pieces of silver into silver ingots.

Fire consumption refers to the loss incurred in the process of melting silver and casting it into silver ingots.

In fact, the taxes they collected already included fire consumption fees. The reason they charged the people of Qinjia Village one cent more was mainly because of these officials.

The officer in the lead, holding a small scale, was named Zhou Tao.

That’s right, it was Zhou Tao who stopped Brother Qin Feng from collecting protection money a few months ago.

A few days ago, because of the Pingchuan Lake Literary Society incident, the government offices of all prefectures and counties in Qingzhou Prefecture launched a severe special campaign to "crack down on gangsters and eliminate evil."

In Pingchuan County, many gangs were affected.

Zhou Tao's Wild Wolf Gang was not very lucky and was directly defeated.

Fortunately, Zhou Tao was smart and jumped off the car early. Later, he spent money to find connections and got a job as an official in the county government.

Although he was just a white-collar worker, which meant a temporary worker, he was still an official after all.

Now that Zhou Tao was going to the countryside to collect taxes, after arriving at Qinjia Village, he immediately remembered the beating he had been given by Qin Feng.

He did not dare to retaliate at that time, but a few days ago he heard that Chaoyang Martial Arts School was burned down.

A lot of people died, even the owner of the museum died. He thought Qin Feng was probably dead too.

So today, after knowing that it was Qinjia Village, he thought of taking revenge and making the whole village pay more money.

"There was no fire expense in previous years. You suddenly added more fees. Do you have a government certificate? If not, I will go to the county to sue you!"

The reason why the third uncle has the final say in the village is that he is highly respected.

The main reason is that this person is responsible and he will really do his best when something happens!

Now that Qinjia Village is suffering from unfair treatment, he naturally has to speak out.

"Go ahead and sue if you want! The government doesn't have any proof, but everyone has to pay this year, no one can be exempted!"

Zhou Tao was not talking nonsense. Some yamen runners died this year due to the suppression of bandits and in the previous literary meeting.

Pingchuan County's finances are somewhat overwhelmed, so the county magistrate hinted that more taxes should be collected this year.

Under a nice name, he let his subordinates also participate in suppressing bandits.

Of course, this kind of thing is not allowed to be made public, and there are no clear regulations from the government. You can't catch the county magistrate at all because he only hints at it.

Zhou Tao also knows this, so he is fearless.

It's just that the county magistrate hinted that collecting three or four cents more would be enough. The reason why Qinjia Village collected one cent more at this time was mainly because Zhou Tao wanted to vent his anger!

At the same time, this is also where these officials make their living.

As long as things are not too extreme, the higher-ups won't intervene. Even if they do, it won't be a big deal to just give away some of the profits.

A bunch of insignificant people want to fight against the government? It’s just a dream!

"You, you, you!" The third uncle was a little unsure when he saw that the others looked so confident.

But the people of Qinjia Village were still relatively united. Seeing that the officers were in high spirits, they all surrounded them.

'bass! ’

Zhou Tao drew his sword instantly and shouted loudly.

"What? Are you going to rebel?!"

With just one sentence, everyone stopped and calmed down.

The Kingdom of Qing ruled by force, and the people in the village were all tough, but they were not stupid, and they could not afford to rebel.

At this moment, a slightly teasing voice suddenly sounded beside Zhou Tao.

"Isn't this the leader Zhou of the Wild Wolf Gang? How come he has become a policeman after not seeing him for a few months?"

(End of this chapter)