Chapter 492 Land Annexation
The next morning, the elders came again.
Knowing that Sun Shan would be staying in Guangzhou tomorrow, he came here specially to explain some things.
The village chief took a sip of tea and said happily: "Shanzi, you are going to Beijing to take the exam this time. You must be careful on the way. You have to climb mountains and wade through water, and the journey is long. You must be cautious."
Sun Shan nodded quickly and said, "Grandpa Village Chief is right. I understand. We will be careful."
The clan elder also told Sun Shan to be careful on the road.
Finally, the village chief took out 10 taels of silver, sighed and said, "Shanzi, this village is poor, and this little money is not much. It is a token of our appreciation. Take it."
Sun Shan quickly refused: "Village head, elders, I already have the money for the trip. It's not easy for the villagers either, I can't accept this money."
Sun Bomin also said: "Village head, Shanzi's travel expenses have been paid, return the money to the villagers. It's not easy for everyone to make money, Shanzi can't take it."
Huang also said: "Village head, if Shanzi didn't have enough money for the trip, we would definitely ask for it. But now we have it, we can't take it. The villagers' money is hard-earned, we can't take it."
Uncle Sun rolled his eyes repeatedly, thinking of how Sun Shan was greedy for money last night and how he looked down upon money as dirt now, which was a stark difference.
What a hypocritical Sun Shan!
If he wasn't his biological nephew, Uncle Sun would have exposed him long ago.
The village chief and the elders insisted on giving it, but Sun Shan refused. The two sides argued back and forth, which made Uncle Sun curse inwardly.
In the end, the village chief and the clan elders won, and Sun Shan had to accept the 10 taels.
Uncle Sun's face changed, and he knew that Shanzi loved money and was hypocritical.
See, in the end, it’s all in your pocket.
Humph, after doing so much superficial work, you still have to take the money in the end.
Green Tea-Sun Shan-Bitch!
The village chief said to Sun Shan, "Shanzi, we will take our time to put up the monument for the candidate. As for where to put it, the village has already decided to put it at the entrance of the ancestral hall."
The village chief originally wanted to place it at the entrance of the village so that people from other villages could see it at a glance.
However, people from other villages cannot compare to the ancestors of the Sun family, so after much discussion, they decided to stand at the entrance of the ancestral hall.
Sun Shan had no objection to this, or rather, it was exactly what he wanted.
He had always been in favor of erecting the monument to the successful candidate in front of the ancestral hall. Placing it at the entrance of the village was too ostentatious and exaggerated, and was not like his personality.
Another elder said, "Now that our Sun family has a master who has passed the imperial examination, we need to renovate the ancestral hall. As for how to do it, we can discuss it after you return from the imperial examination."
The ancestral hall of Sunjia Village was built by our ancestors when they fled here, and it has long been in disrepair.
It’s just that the villagers are poor and can’t afford to make major repairs, so they can only repair the rotten parts. It has long been repaired beyond recognition.
The villagers are wondering whether they should demolish the house and rebuild it.
This suggestion was immediately opposed by many elders. After all, their Sunjia Village was so powerful right now. Would moving the ancestral hall involve touching places that could not be moved?
If we build the ancestral hall, what will we do if Sun Shan fails the imperial examination?
Not to mention something as big as repairing a clan temple, even if a family wants to repair a grave, they have to be extremely cautious and find a feng shui master to choose an auspicious day to do it.
If it’s repaired and it’s better than before, everyone will be happy. The worst thing is that after repairing, it will go downhill.
It is better not to repair it than to repair it like this. It is better to maintain the status quo.
Sun Shan had no objection to this. He agreed with building bridges, roads and ancestral halls anyway.
As for the funds, the whole village will definitely contribute. The big households will contribute more, the small households will contribute less, and the poor households will provide the labor.
The village chief and the elders discussed some village matters with Sun Shan, and then the highlight of the day finally came.
The village chief thought about it and decided to quickly state his purpose. We are all from the same village and have the same ancestors, so there is no need to be hypocritical.
The village chief said directly: "Shanzi, I came here today for an important matter, which is that your status as a juren can exempt you from land tax."
Sun Shan understood. Of all the things the village chief and the elders had said, tax exemption was the most important issue.
Sun Shan thought about it. When he was five years old, the entire Sun family had more than 30 mu of land. More than ten years later, there were still more than 30 mu of land.
As for the scattered increases, they are dry land, that is, sandy land or mountainous land.
There is no way to increase the amount of paddy fields because Sunjia Village or Huangyang County are mostly mountainous and have little land.
Eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part fields.
Eight tenths of the land is mountains and hills, one tenth is rivers, lakes and seas, and one tenth is plain.
Sunjia Village is surrounded by mountains and has only a small amount of farmland.
Even though the Sun family had money, they couldn't buy good farmland, so they could only slowly reclaim the sandy mountains and plant trees and flowers on the land.
Sunshan’s 400 acres of land are tax-exempt, including paddy fields and mountainous land.
You can exempt any place you want, as long as you register it with the government.
Sun Shan's family has less than 400 acres of paddy fields or mountain land.
Therefore, the extra tax-free amount can be “distributed”.
The first choice for this allocated quota is naturally Sunjia Village, where we share the same roots and are our own people.
The government's land tax is now much higher than when Sun Shan was five years old.
At the beginning, it was one in ten taxes, but now it has become two in ten. As for labor service, it has been changed from two services a year to one service a year. Other taxes on population and households remain unchanged.
Thanks to Sun Shan's early certification as a scholar, he has not had to pay taxes these years.
But the folks of Sunjia Village were not so lucky.
Taxes are getting higher and higher, and life is getting harder and harder.
In Huangyang County, villagers had no chance to find a scholar, juren or official to rely on, and they had to pay taxes in reality.
Now that Sunjia Village has produced a scholar named Sun, in fact, many landlords have come to find Sun Shan after inquiring about the village customs of Sunjia Village and Sun Shan's character, hoping to be registered under Sun Shan's name so as to reduce taxes.
Landlord Yang also had such an idea, but was politely declined by Sun Shan.
Sun Shan sighed.
He is now a juren. If he passes the imperial examination and becomes a jinshi, the tax exemption will be even greater. By then, all the land in the surrounding area may belong to him.
If his descendants work hard and surpass their father, then the Sun family may really rise in three generations and become the local noble family of Huangyang County.
If a child with bad character is born, the Sun family will find ways to seize land by trickery and plunder, complete land annexation, and become the most influential family in Huangyang County.
The entire land of Huangyang County may belong to the Sun family, and the farmers of the entire Huangyang County become tenants of the Sun family.
A veritable landlord.
He truly became a local tyrant as described in the slogan “Strike down the local tyrants and divide the land”.
Sun Shan looked at the yard dimly, thinking about it for a while, until the village chief called for help, he came to his senses.
The village chief said timidly, "Shanzi, the villagers want to register their family fields in your name. As for the taxes paid to you, they will be exactly the same as those paid to the government, and you will not pay less."
Sun Shan asked in confusion: "Grandpa Village Chief, the taxes are exactly the same as those paid to the government, why don't you pay them directly to the government?"
Isn't this an extra step?
If I hand it over to the government, the land will still be in my name. If I hand it over to Sun Shan, not only will I not pay less tax, but the land will still be in Sun Shan's name. This is very risky and there is no benefit.