Chapter 475: The Case of the Charity Granary
Chapter 475: The Case of the Charity Granary
The news of Prince Jin's arrival spread like wildfire. The next morning, thousands of people knelt outside the mansion where Xiao Xia was staying, wiping their tears and shouting their injustice.
Pei Xuanji was terrified, fearing that the people would launch another stone attack, so he quickly brought the county magistrate to comfort and persuade the people. After much persuasion, he managed to persuade some of them to return home.
In the living room, Xiao Xia was listening to Zhang Yunqiu's report.
Zhang Yunqiu said worriedly, "Your Highness, the matter of the charity granary is very complicated and has great hidden dangers. If it is not handled properly, it is very likely to cause a civil unrest."
Xiao Xia waved her hand and said, "Tell me slowly, what's going on with the charity granary in Jiangning?"
"I have carefully looked through the account books. The Xie family that caused the initial disturbance had two dan of grain stored in the charity granary by their parents. Because of his poor health, his father did not perform labor service for two consecutive years, and the grain in the charity granary was used to compensate for the labor service."
Xiao Xia snorted, "So the Xie guy didn't know, and when he found out that his food supply was gone, he ran to the county government office to commit suicide?"
Zhang Yunqiu smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, this is where the problem lies. According to the regulations, tax exemptions can be deducted from the grain stored in the charity granary, but the parties involved must agree and sign their names. However, the officials in charge of the charity granary took the easy way out and directly deducted the amount from the account book without notifying the other party or getting their signatures. At the same time, Xie's father did not tell his son that he had not performed labor service for two years, which led to Xie thinking that the government had embezzled his parents' grain."
"His father didn't do any hard labor for two years. Doesn't he know that?"
"He was a son-in-law and lived in a neighboring village. His parents might not have told him, or maybe they told him and he chose to forget it."
"Okay! Let's just say Xie is a special case. What about the others? Why do everyone who comes to check have problems?"
"Your Highness, the charity granary is a very troublesome thing. It sounds good, storing grain for disaster preparedness and mutual assistance, but in practice it is full of loopholes and the management is very chaotic. Moreover, it involves the vital interests of the people. It is okay in the short term, but over time, big problems are bound to arise."
"Tell me in detail what the loopholes are."
"The charity granary system was implemented in the first year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, and in Jiangnan it was implemented in the thirteenth year. Before that, the people had been managing it themselves, and there were basically no major problems. But in the sixteenth year of Emperor Kaihuang, an imperial decree was issued, allowing the charity granaries' grain to be used as a source of taxation. The charity granaries were then officially transferred to government management, and the trouble began from there.
Your Highness is also aware that the people have many and varied taxes, and many of them are levied arbitrarily by local governments, such as raising funds to build bridges, donating money to run schools, etc. There are countless miscellaneous taxes under various names.
In particular, there were some very hidden taxes, such as requiring the people to serve for one month each year. If they did not serve for a month, they would be fined. For the people, the time they spent on the road was counted as service, but for the government, it was counted from the day they reported. This led to the people thinking they had completed their service, but the government determined they still had a few days left. The government withheld grain from the charity granary for the difference, and the people were unaware of it. Hidden dangers accumulated year after year.
"Are there no officials who embezzled grain from the charity granary?" Xiao Xia asked again.
"Of course there are, all kinds of corruption, big and small. For example, when the government wants to raise funds to build a bridge, they directly deduct grain from the charity granary. Officials only use a small part to slightly repair the old bridge, and most of the grain goes into their own pockets.
The various petty corrupt officials mainly made a fuss about grain loss, and falsely reporting loss was the most common. For every bushel of grain that was moldy, they would report that a stone of grain was moldy. Ordinary people were very careful when storing grain. If there was a little moisture, they would move the stored grain out to dry in the sun, so there would be almost no mold or rot. Therefore, ordinary people would not accept the claim of grain loss.
At this point, Zhang Yunqiu sighed deeply, "I have been here for nearly ten days, and the Jiangning Charity Granary is a complete mess. I went to Lishui County to investigate, and found that the Lishui County Charity Granary is even more of a mess. Many tax deductions were not recorded at all, and they were deducted at will, and then they pushed the responsibility to their predecessors. Because it has been too long, there is no way to investigate.
I estimate that the charity granaries in various places are similar, all in a state of chaos and serious deficits, like abscesses that will fester once they are punctured."
Xiao Xia suddenly felt overwhelmed. He had never known that the local government actually hid such a big abscess. Xiao Xia felt that the fuse of the peasant rebellion in various places at the end of the Sui Dynasty might be related to this charity granary. At this time, Pei Xuanji walked in quickly and said, "Your Highness, these people have dispersed and come back. You must make a decision for them!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "I'll go talk to them!"
Xiao Xia walked out of the county government office and saw a huge crowd of people kneeling in the square outside. There were about six or seven thousand people. Someone shouted, "His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin has come out!"
The people straightened their backs and looked towards the gate together, their eyes full of anticipation.
As Xiao Xia walked out of the gate, thousands of peasants shouted, "Your Highness, please make the decision for us!"
Xiao Xia stretched out his hands and waved to the crowd, and the square gradually became quiet.
Xiao Xia gathered his Qi in his Dantian and said loudly, "I heard that something went wrong with the charity granary, so I came here to investigate. The result made me very angry. Under my rule, I will never allow anything that harms the people to happen. I will severely punish all corrupt officials. Please rest assured, please go back and wait patiently. I will send someone to investigate thoroughly and will give you a satisfactory explanation. I will never let you suffer any loss."
After Xiao Xia finished speaking, cheers suddenly broke out. The people were so excited that their eyes filled with tears. They raised their arms and shouted, "Long live His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin! Long live His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin!"
It is easy to say but difficult to do. You can say a lot of nice words, but how to fill this gap is a headache for all officials.
However, the most urgent task is to appease the people of Jiangning County and not let the matter escalate, let alone evolve into a major political event sweeping across Jiangnan, which would trigger rebellions in various parts of Jiangnan.
Xiao Xia said to Zhang Yunqiu: "The problem of the charity granary is not just a problem in Jiangning. It is estimated that there are problems in all places, and they must be solved in a coordinated manner. You should go back and discuss with Gao Jiong and Liu Wenjing immediately. My principle is to find the problem, solve the problem, and finally close the charity granary.
The first thing is to find the problem. Led by the Supervisory Department, we will set up 20 investigation teams to go to various counties to conduct secret investigations. Don't alarm the people. We will use two months to find out the details of the charity granaries in various places. Then we will find a way to solve it. "
Zhang Yunqiu bowed and said, "I understand. I will go back today!"
Xiao Xia then wrote another letter to Gao Jiong, saying that they had three million kilograms of crude copper in stock, which was originally their property at the bottom of the box and could not be taken care of for the time being. He asked Liu Wenjing to arrange for coin minting immediately, which was the only way to fill the gap in the charity granary.
Zhang Yunqiu left, and Xiao Xia said to Pei Xuanji, "If the people come to ask again, you must take action and not evade the question. You must write down the people's questions and give them an official letter of commitment to guarantee that the problem of food in the charity granary will be solved. Do you understand what I mean? Jiangning is the source of the fire. I don't want the fire in Jiangning to spread to the whole of Jiangnan. You must appease the people."
Pei Xuanji nodded, "Please rest assured, Your Highness. I know what to do."
Xiao Xia thought for a moment and said, "Also, the suspended Jiangning County Magistrate should be reinstated. Let him appease the people. If the people of Jiangning come to Jiangdu to petition, he should not be the county magistrate anymore!"
The charity granary incident was very serious, especially since Jiangnan was not stable. If it was not handled properly, it would provoke civil unrest in various places. His 30,000 troops might not be enough. He had to resolve the hidden dangers of the charity granary as soon as possible.
Xiao Xia changed his plan and no longer went to Meigen Prison in Qiupu County. Instead, he took a boat directly to the Jiangnan Canal to inspect several core counties in Jiangnan.
(End of this chapter)