Chapter 281: Chapter 281

The summer harvest is over, and each family is preparing for the summer tax. Zhao Hanzhang finally welcomed a harvest - collecting taxes!

As the County Magistrate of Xiping County, Zhao Hanzhang works at the forefront, personally inspecting the tax collection situation in the countryside.

With her presence, the measurement of this year’s Xiping County’s tax grain is exceptionally standard, and the people are as joyful as if it were a festive season.

She not only inspects the summer tax collection but also checks the summer sowing situation to ensure the autumn harvest.

After a winter, everyone has realized that beans can also make many delicious foods. People have more expectations and feelings towards soybean planting. Moreover, the county government now purchases soybeans at fixed prices slightly higher than before, which adds enthusiasm for making money even if not for eating.

Thus, beans which previously received little care after sowing are now tended to by the people, who remove weeds and address pests. Although they are still green seedlings, they look better than in previous years, with a good germination rate.

A benefit of intensive cultivation is that the per capita land acreage will reduce, but yield increases; the same amount of land can support more people.

Xiping County collects taxes, and Shangcai County naturally does the same.

After gathering the summer tax in Xiping County, Zhao Hanzhang visits Shangcai.

Coincidentally, an official document urging each county to submit grain taxes has arrived. Because of the ongoing war, this year’s summer tax has increased somewhat.

County Magistrate Chai is still troubled by this year’s tax submissions, and upon Zhao Hanzhang’s arrival, she immediately divides the collected summer taxes into three portions.

One part for submission, one part left for county government expenses, and one part to be returned to her.

"Returned to you?" County Magistrate Chai is visibly shocked.

"Yes, didn’t Shangcai County and Xiping County borrow so much grain and Copper Coin at the beginning of the year? Don’t they have to be returned?" She explained, "Although the two counties are brothers now, precisely because we are brothers, we must have clear accounts."

County Magistrate Chai: "...But this way, the taxes submitted to the court are far from sufficient, already not very adequate..."

Zhao Hanzhang said, "Don’t worry, County Magistrate Chai. I’ll let Ji Yuan draft a memorial, and you can copy it to send to the Inspector Mansion. The governing officials will understand us."

County Magistrate Chai frowns, feeling uneasy, "Third Lady, how do we account for the one-third of the grain tax you’re taking?"

Zhao Hanzhang smiled: "No need to worry. Ji Yuan will handle it well. Don’t worry, even if someone from above comes to investigate, we’ll manage."

County Magistrate Chai remains worried as this is his first time withholding as much as two-thirds of the taxes. In previous years, even when he withheld secretly, it was only a small amount.

To ease his mind, Zhao Hanzhang reveals that her Xiping County has withheld more taxes.

She said, "Given the continual unrest and natural disasters, our county government must accumulate some resources. Otherwise, if an unexpected event occurs, who will save us?"

County Magistrate Chai starts pondering over this.

Eventually, Ji Yuan drafts the memorial for the two of them. Writing two is no more difficult than writing one.

Since both are to plead hardship, he gains experience from the first draft, making the second quicker.

Therefore, Zhao Hanzhang also lets him draft her memorial, then copies it herself.

The reply memorials from Xiping County and Shangcai County are leisurely sent to Chen County.

Near Chen County, fighting is occurring, resulting in an influx of a large number of refugees.

With no better options, though they mostly fight in the wild, Prince East Sea wants to kill Gou Xi and seize Yan State; Gou Xi wants to drive back Prince East Sea and plans to go to Luoyang to meet the emperor, so they inevitably siege cities and land.

Once the fighting commences, facing death are not only the soldiers on the battlefield but also the citizens besieged.

Especially during the summer harvest, when warfare leads to the massive destruction of farmland, many grains not yet harvested are plundered; moreover, the soldiers lacking food would use blades to demand grain.

The places affected by the conflict instantaneously produce numerous refugees.

They have no choice but to pack up and flee their homes, partly to escape the war, and partly to avoid the summer tax.

Yu State is located by Yan State and near Luoyang, so most refugees choose to settle in Yu State.

Inspector He Ci Shi cannot shut the city gates to refuse refugee entry and can only scatter them amongst various counties.

Meanwhile, accommodating so many refugees in Chen County requires substantial resources and grain. Plus, the court mandates a collection task for He Ci Shi, who directly transfers it onto various prefectures, who further delegate it to various counties.

Thus, the tasks distributed to Shangcai County and Xiping County are heavy, especially Shangcai County.

It’s not only a large county, but last year, many counties in Ru Nan County suffered from military disasters, except Shangcai; therefore, it faces the heaviest task.

County Magistrate Chai is aware of this, so he secretly keeps substantial summer grain and remains quite fearful while refusing the summer tax orders from above.

However, while copying the memorial Ji Yuan drafted, County Magistrate Chai increasingly feels that Ji Yuan made valid points. Last year, Shangcai County faced significant hardships, and several people even froze or starved to death in the winter.

Wasn’t it thanks to Zhao Hanzhang’s assistance in forming a brotherly alliance with Xiping County that he managed to collect substantial summer taxes this spring?

Last year, he frequently sought help from the Inspector Mansion, hoping for the allocation of funds and grain so his citizens could at least survive until March.

By then, wild vegetables would be abundant enough in the field that eating them wouldn’t lead to great hunger, right?

Yet, the Inspector Mansion’s response took ages. When they eventually replied, it was only to say that the treasury was empty and that they should find a solution locally.

Zhao Hanzhang and Ji Yuan are correct; he should reserve something for the county government so that if faced with similar situations in the future and denied help from the Inspector Mansion, he won’t be backed into a corner.

Zhao Hanzhang also copied the memorial quickly, checked it once to ensure no errors, before tossing it aside to have it sent to Chen County.

The next day, she went with people to oversee the grain storage.

Most of Xiping County’s grain went into the granary, and the rest was sent to the military camp.

She finally doesn’t have to rely on buying grain to sustain her troops.

She now has quite a few soldiers, officially over a thousand, but those scattered across various settlements are all soldiers as well. They farm during the day but focus more on training, so their grain output isn’t yet self-sufficient.

Moreover, she still intends to absorb more refugees and open up more land, hence urgently needing grain.

As for the one-third of summer tax grain from Shangcai, Zhao Hanzhang didn’t bring it back to Xiping but left it in Shangcai.

She told Ji Yuan, "Since it’s from Shangcai County, let it be used here."

Ji Yuan was very pleased, "Lady Zhao’s great kindness."

Zhao Hanzhang also was in agreement, so she smiled with self-satisfaction.