coobybook Chapter 127: Tax Collection and Life-threatening Layout after the War
Chapter 127: Tax Collection and Life-threatening Layout after the War
"Have you reported to County Magistrate Guo? What is his opinion?" Du Chenyu looked at the table, which was written with the heads of the militias in various forts, or the heads of civil affairs. It was probably the result of a discussion between him and his father.
"After checking in in the morning, we went to County Magistrate Guo and made a detailed report. He was still willing to chat with us. It was said that he would be transferred soon. Therefore, in order not to attract the attention of the county and the prefecture, he insisted on making a big deal out of a small matter and not creating any unnecessary trouble," my father took over.
"Hu Zi, what do you plan to do now? The council has basically stopped functioning, and the county and prefectural governments are demanding the collection of taxes and conscription of soldiers almost every day," Yang Chaoyi asked Du Chenyu.
"Grandpa Yang, Father, since the superiors are eager to recruit soldiers, it means that the counties and prefecture-level governments have no soldiers available. I have decided to start gradually resisting taxes in our jurisdiction. As long as the county does not send troops to collect taxes, we will not pay for the time being, or we can just deal with a small amount. Now that the army is expanding, our funds are extremely tight," Du Chenyu said, lying on the table, looking at them.
"This... is appropriate. Our strength is still very weak, and it's hard to explain to County Magistrate Guo. Every time you speak, your words are shocking, and your actions are earth-shaking, which catches us off guard. In the future, you'd better not come here to hang around. I'm about to get sick from you. Last time I heard that you led hundreds of people to attack Enyang, I didn't sleep that night. Fortunately, Decai communicated with us in advance this time and arranged all aspects before taking action." My father was a little surprised. In this era, rebellion was a trivial matter, killing was common, and being a bandit was also a serious job. However, resisting taxation, intercepting taxes, and robbing taxes were all things that the superiors could not tolerate. Once discovered, they would send troops to collect them.
"We can test our superiors' bottom line. But at the moment, we are not pushovers who can be bullied at will," Du Chenyu clenched his fist and hammered the table.
"Since you, Huzi, have made the decision, let's try to execute it. Without financial resources, all strength is just empty talk. During this period of war, we have consumed a lot of guns and ammunition, and the military expenditure has reached tens of thousands of dollars," said the father heavily after taking a sip of tea.
"Huzi, on the table are some personnel arrangements that my father and I discussed this morning. What do you think?" Yang pointed to the documents on the table.
"I have no overall objection to the arrangements for each fort. I think we should take some time to hold a general meeting of the militia. We can give appropriate reprimands to those heads of aristocratic families who only follow orders and not announcements. In addition, Wu Han and Mr. Shen will be transferred to the county. Wu Han will assist Grandpa Yang in handling the parliament, agriculture, education, medical care, etc. Mr. Shen will assist my father and be responsible for military affairs, commerce, industry, taxation, infrastructure, etc. Zhang Yongsheng will be in charge of Jialing Fort, and Tang Chunlai will be in charge of civil affairs of Tongping Fort. In the future, all civil and government affairs will be handled here. The original six departments in the county will remain unchanged, and the treatment will remain unchanged." Du Chenyu adjusted several important positions, and put all government affairs and military affairs into our hands. He let the various departments in the county start to only receive salaries but not do any work. Several people are paid hundreds of dollars a month, which is still affordable.
"Grandpa Yang, I'm leaving all the affairs of Baizhang to you, especially the coordination of various relationships. We don't understand these things. I also plan to send five students from the government affairs class to each fort to let them learn as soon as possible how to serve the people. I estimate that we will have a great demand for talents in government affairs in the future," said Du Chenyu.
"Okay, this is a very good idea. The county should add a secretarial department and recruit 10 trainees. This will not only solve the staffing problem, but also cultivate talents," Yang Chaoyi added.
"With Grandpa Yang's guidance, we will soon have capable hands," Du Chenyu jumped off the chair and warmed himself by the stove.
Then they continued to discuss some issues about the future development direction, but there was a huge problem, that is land reform. This was really difficult. In the past, they had only added small areas of jurisdiction, but now they controlled most of Enyang and Baizhang. Many of them were decided by word of mouth, and the local family forces had not been eliminated. Land reform was very difficult, and they finally decided to crack down on one-third of the landlords, win over one-third of the landlords by way of redemption, and slightly transform the remaining one-third and take over some of the land, but some of the forest land must be recovered for reclamation, otherwise it would be against the government.
After staying in the county government office for more than an hour, Du Chenyu left with his guards without going to meet the county magistrate, Mr. Sachi. Du Chenyu felt that there was no special need. Anyway, he had his father and others to report to, and Du Chenyu could avoid the embarrassment of the meeting. After all, a 6-year-old child was going to meet a formal government official, and he had not figured out how to communicate.
I rode my horse for a stroll around the street and then returned to the base. Now is a critical period and I dare not walk around casually to prevent accidents. It is safest to stay in the base.
On the fourth day of officially entering Baizhang, basically all aspects were stabilized, except Huangyang Fort (fifth regiment area), Zhengyao Fort (third regiment area), and Baishuiguan Fort (fourth regiment area). However, Baishuiguan is now taxed by Zhaohua District, and these three regiment areas are not currently under actual jurisdiction. In other places, all forces, big and small, have basically surrendered and reorganized the militia.
That night, the Fourth Congress of the Revolutionary Association was secretly held at the base. Only representatives from nearby areas and heads of various projects attended. Seven standing committee members were re-elected: my father, Hu Laosi, Huang Kunyang, Shen Shiyu, He Chaowu, Xue Chen, and He Cunyi, and some additional members were added.
Topic 5: My father summarized the recent war reports. Enyang area has completed the incorporation of 7 fort areas. The preliminary statistics show that the population in the jurisdiction is over 7. After the war, it collected more than 6 silver dollars, 500 shi of grain, more than 2 rifles, and 4 light machine guns. The Qinglongchang area governs Zhenziba, Gaohuang, and Jiulongchang areas, with a population of nearly 4. These two forts initially harvested more than 3 silver dollars and more than 300 guns. The Baizhang sub-county area governs Wuying, Banqiao, Liziba, Lianghuisi, Gaocheng, Luojiaba, Chongqing, Lijiahe, Tongping, Jialing, and Baizhang urban areas, with a population of over 8.
In the battle with Yang's army, Du's army lost 309 people, seriously injured 73 people, annihilated 394 enemies, reorganized more than 500 prisoners, collected more than 850 guns, 5 light machine guns, harvested more than 3 yuan, and 6 dan of grain. At present, the grain reserves are relatively sufficient, the income and expenditure of funds are basically balanced, and the ammunition reserves are seriously insufficient.
In this battle, an entire squadron was sacrificed at once. Although Du Chenyu had known about this for a long time, he was still shocked when he heard the news again, and he thought about it silently.