Chapter 102: Addiction to House Raids
"Dad, yesterday Niu Shisan, that kid, captured another merchant and ransacked his house."

Deng Qianqiu looked up and glanced at Deng Jian.

He was worried that Deng Jian would be angry.

But Deng Jian remained unmoved. He just continued to stare at the account book on his desk and uttered a nasal sound: "Hmm."

"That guy is so hateful. He actually dared to evade taxes. He is really blind." Seeing that Deng Jian had no reaction, Deng Qianqiu suddenly realized that his father had such a cruel side.

At that moment, he gritted his teeth and said, "Search his house and goods, and sell all the stuff. With the taxes and fines, it would barely be enough to sell his whole family into slavery."

Deng Jian nasally said, "Hmm."

"Dad." Deng Qianqiu said, "Don't you want to say anything?"

Deng Jian then looked up, thought for a moment and said, "The Hundred Households Office has too few people. It's a drop in the bucket. Ten people can't handle the situation."

Deng Qianqiu said: "I have expanded the enrollment and have recruited some teenagers, but... they still need to be trained for now."

Deng Jian said: "The county will do its best to cooperate with you. Your father is now thinking about the money and grain of the Ministry of Revenue."

As he spoke, he seemed to be thinking about something: "The county has sent many people to the Ministry of Revenue to reconcile the accounts, but after many trips, they still can't reconcile, so they have to return empty-handed. Jing County is right at the foot of the emperor, and it's still so. But if it's a more remote county, the round trip is thousands of miles, and the express delivery station will take a month to go back and forth. What should we do?"

Deng Qianqiu asked, "Don't you know that basically, it is enough to check the accounts of each county once?"

Deng Jian smiled and said, "You mean they took the stamped white paper to reconcile the accounts, and when they got to the Ministry of Revenue, they filled in the amount according to the amount in the account."

Deng Qianqiu said: "Anyway, I heard everyone say this, Dad, you must not learn from them."

Deng Jian smiled and said, "You have reminded me many times. No matter what, this way of reconciling accounts is unreasonable. If the counties use blank seals to reconcile accounts, what are they reconciling? The counties can fill in as much money and grain as they want, so what is the purpose of reconciliation? Is it just to let the counties go through the motions?"

After a pause, Deng Jian continued, "But if we follow the court's rules, many counties will have to travel thousands of miles back and forth. If the accounts don't match, we have to run back and forth. After sending back once, we have to come back again a month later. How can we get the accounts right? Your Majesty has turned a deaf ear to this. This is really strange. It is clearly futile, but he still teaches people to go through such a useless process..."

Deng Jian shook his head in confusion.

Deng Qianqiu looked at Deng Jian cautiously before saying, "Dad, do you think there is a possibility that... His Majesty doesn't know?"

Deng Jian was stunned.

He then sneered: "What nonsense! This is known to everyone in the world, not to mention the Ministry of Revenue and the counties. If you randomly pick a clerk in the county, he knows everything. No matter how stupid your Majesty is, how could he not know? In my opinion, he is just lazy. He knows that this matter is difficult to solve, so he simply turns a blind eye to it."

Deng Qianqiu had a strange look on his face. He couldn't understand Deng Jian's train of thought, but when he thought about it carefully, his father's idea might not be wrong.

It is simply against common sense that the emperor does not know this fact which is known to everyone and even to fools.

Deng Qianqiu asked: "Do you think someone is trying to hide this from him?"

Deng Jian thought about it and shook his head, saying, "It shouldn't be possible. There are hundreds of officials in the court. If the counties don't report, then no one in the Ministry of Revenue will report? If no one in the Ministry of Revenue reports, then... isn't there still the Secretariat? If the Secretariat doesn't report either, then what about the Imperial Censor? What about the Dali Temple? It's impossible that all the thousands of civil and military officials inside and outside the court are deaf and dumb, right? Qianqiu, there's nothing wrong with being on guard against others, but you can't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

"Besides, the settlement of these accounts is the foundation of the country. How can such a foundation be treated as a joke? You have to know that behind these account books, there are countless amounts of money and grain, all collected from countless people. It is impossible for His Majesty not to know about such an important matter. It is probably because he has not yet come up with a good solution."

Deng Qianqiu looked at Deng Jian deeply. He didn't plan to continue arguing with Deng Jian. Anyway, at any time, this father who came from a scholarly family always had his own set of theories and logic, and he was not good at speaking and couldn't beat his father.

"I'd better continue to settle my accounts, hehehehe..." He said as he looked down at his commercial tax account book with a smile that made people feel suspected of being cunning.

…………

Household Department.

The Zhili Qinglisi Yamen. The Ministry of Revenue had 14 Qinglisi, corresponding to each province in the country.

The Zhili Qinglisi was the most important of all the departments, and the Langzhong who was in charge of the affairs of the department was almost a reserve candidate for the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Under the Qinglisi, there were four departments: Civil Affairs, Duty, Finance, and Warehouses. Each department had a chief officer who was responsible for managing the land, household registration, products, accounting, fishing and salt, taxes, the shipment of the two taxes, warehouses, etc. in different provinces.

Now, Chen Yan, the head of the warehouse section of the Zhili Qinglisi, could not help but jump up and almost yelled at the chief clerk from Jiangning County: "I asked your county magistrate to come in person, what's wrong with you in Jiangning County? I have checked the accounts nine times, and they don't match every time! Didn't I say that you can fill in the account according to the Ministry of Revenue's account? Why are they different every time? Are you here to make fun of me?"

The chief clerk smiled bitterly and said, "That's what the county magistrate meant. He said that we should report as many accounts as we have..."

The chief official Chen Yan was furious. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he would not take the magistrate of Jing County seriously. This was the Ministry of Finance. Who wouldn't be a little bit inferior to the people from various prefectures and counties who came here to do business?
"Everyone else is right, why is your Jiangning County the only one that is special?"

"Master Chen, this... I can't do anything about it. This is the order of the county magistrate. How about... check it again? If it doesn't work, I will go back to the county and check the warehouse again."

Chen Yan waved his sleeves impatiently and said, "You are right, right? Ha... It's really inexplicable. A county magistrate puts on such an air. If he gets promoted in the future, even the king of heaven will not take him seriously. It's really absurd. I tell you the truth. Either you prepare a blank seal in your own county and follow the methods of other counties, or... don't come here in the future. The Ministry of Revenue will just assume... that it has not received any account from Jiangning County."

The chief clerk was startled and said hurriedly, "Master Chen, this...what does this mean...the county magistrate means...if it is an empty seal, I am afraid it is unreasonable."

Chen Yan was furious: "I have been working in the Ministry of Revenue since the seventh year of Zhizheng. Before the Ming Dynasty, the accounts were reconciled in this way for seventy or eighty years. How come it becomes special in your Jiangning County? This is really absurd and I don't know what you are talking about."

After saying this, he ignored the Jiangning County Chief Clerk who still wanted to beg for mercy and just walked away.

Chen Yan was so angry that he went to find Zhang Dao, a doctor in the Zhili Qingli Division.

"Mr. Zhang, I don't know what's wrong with Jiangning County. He doesn't want us to have a good life."

Zhang Dao was fat, with a big belly like Maitreya Buddha. When he smiled, his eyes narrowed into slits. He was a very likable person. He smiled and said, "Okay, okay, why are you angry? I have known about this for a long time. The magistrate of Jiangning County is the top of this year's exam. As a new official, there are some things he doesn't understand yet..."

Chen Yan said angrily: "He is ignorant, and the assistant officials under him are also ignorant?"

Zhang Dao looked at Chen Yan deeply and said, "You are so angry because the charcoal tribute that Jiangning County should have sent you in previous years was not delivered to your house at the end of last year, right?"

Chen Yan was stunned, and immediately understood something. He said in astonishment, "You didn't receive it from Mr. Zhang either? Oh, I thought he only looked down on me and refused to send it. If you look at it this way, it's not that Mr. Deng looks down on me, he looks down on everyone."

"Ahem..." Zhang Dao laughed and said, "I mentioned this not because I am greedy for this little bit of charcoal. In fact, these are just some worthless specialties from the counties. How much can a painting be worth? How much can a Buddha statue made of scrap copper and iron be worth? The main reason is that he lost his manners. He is a scholar. What Confucius admired most is etiquette. As the saying goes, even if there are graves and mountains, etiquette is not abolished. He has read so much that he has become a dog."

Chen Yan agreed, "Mr. Zhang's words make sense. Since he is rude, I have nothing to say. Next time his county comes to reconcile accounts, I will block them. Humph, let's see, Jiangning County is the only county in the world that cannot pay the tax and grain books. Can he keep his official hat or not? I have been in this department since the seventh year of Zhizheng, and I have never seen such a blind person."

Zhang Dao said, "To tell you the truth, it's not that simple. It's not as simple as whether he can keep his official hat or not. It's... I've heard something. Some people... have started to sue this man for robbing people's property! I heard that this man has been extorting people everywhere, and the people are already boiling with resentment. You wait and see, something bad will happen to this Deng in a few days."

After hearing this, Chen Yan's anger immediately turned into a smile: "If this dog official has this day, it is worth exposing it."

…………

Zhongshu Province.

Li Shanchang looked at the reports one after another and fell into deep thought.

He didn't look very happy.

Then, he put the report on the coffee table beside him and looked at Hu Weiyong sternly: "Just copy it?"

"Yes, this merchant is from Huaixi. This Deng is really ruthless, even his fellow townsman is merciless. Deng Qianqiu is young and ignorant, and Deng Jian is even adding fuel to the fire. The house and goods were all confiscated. Now the victim has lost all his money and is so angry that he went to Yingtian Prefecture to sue. Yingtian Prefecture thinks this matter is serious and asked the Secretariat to handle it."

Li Shanchang closed his eyes and lay down on the chair. His face was slightly livid. "Then let Yingtian Prefecture handle it themselves. Looting people's property is a serious crime, even more serious than embezzlement. If Your Majesty knew about it, I don't know how many heads would be chopped off. Give Deng Jian and his son a chance, teach them to return the property immediately and apologize in person. Otherwise, let the Ministry of Personnel decide on the punishment."

(End of this chapter)