A commoner named Shuai Jiamo went out to hang out in the sweltering midsummer season, and finally walked to the gate of the Huizhou Mansion. Although ordinary people could not easily enter the palace, Shuai Jiamo was free to enter and exit because he had a relationship with a friend in the government.
The Huizhou Mansion was grand and elegant, and Shuai Jiamo finally turned to the door of the account room. He found a lot of disorganized ledgers piled up there, and it looked like no one had been here for a long time.
To others, this place may not be attractive, but for Shuai Jiamo, it is his lucky place.
Shuai Jiamo, an ordinary commoner, became a frequent visitor to the account room of Huizhou Mansion because of his obsession with mathematics and arithmetic. He stumbled upon a bunch of ancient ledgers, which recorded the money, grain, and taxes of the Huizhou government over the years, which were huge, complicated, and had a long time span.
For many, these ledgers may be inconsequential, but Shuai sees the secret. After in-depth research, Shuai Jiamo found that in addition to paying the regular taxes and money and grain to the imperial court every year, the Huizhou government also needed to pay a special tax - the silk tax.
It was a tax based on the specialty of the Huizhou Prefecture and required annual payment to the imperial court. For many, this may be just a trivial discovery, but for Shuai Jiamo, it's a shocking discovery.
His mathematical aptitude and perseverance led him to discover an important tax system from a pile of ancient ledgers. This story teaches us that even in everyday life, it is possible for us to discover the unexpected. As long as we remain curious and have the courage to explore, it is possible to discover those mysteries that people have overlooked.
Silk tax) although Huizhou government produces silk, but the output is not high, mainly by the six counties to share the silk tax, however, over the years, She County has been the sole burden of this tax, the other five counties have not contributed a penny.
There is no sericulture industry in She County, in order to produce raw materials for silk, the people who make a living from agriculture have to sell their grain for money, and then use the money to buy silk in other places, during which there will inevitably be losses, which invisibly increases the burden of the people of She County.
This is unreasonable, Shuai Jiamo consulted the "Daming Huidian" and found that only the Huizhou government was required to bear the Ding silk tax, but there was no provision that She County should bear it alone, and the problem was serious.
She County needs to pay more than 6,000 taels every year, and there are already more than 2 million taels of silver. Shuai Jiamo thought that this kind of tax was unfair, so he went to Nanjing to complain.
Hai Jui took this issue very seriously, launched an investigation, and notified the Huizhou government and six counties. However, Hai Jui was transferred out of Nanjing shortly after the investigation. The other five counties were reluctant to bear the expense, hoping that the problem would be resolved.
Shuai Jiamo hopes to fight for the rights and interests of She County, and no longer pay more than two million taels of silver in vain.
Shuai Jiamo has repeatedly sued people about the silk tax issue, although he has no influence, but his perseverance is extraordinary. The imperial court paid more and more attention to this matter, and instructed the Huizhou government to investigate and give a clear reply.
Although the imperial court agreed with Shuai Jiamo's report that She County should not bear the tax alone, the other five counties also had their own opinions. They believe that it is impossible for the "Daming Huidian" to cover all the regulations in detail, and She County has paid the silk tax for more than 200 years, which is an ancestral system and a law, so She County should bear this tax.
Although She County does not raise silkworms and mulberry now, there were many mulberry gardens in the past, while the other five counties did not, so she County can only bear it by itself.
Shuai Jiamo was dissatisfied with the statement of the five counties, and he felt that the statement of the five counties was unreasonable. He insisted that when dealing with anything, it is necessary to seek truth from facts and take matters into account.
He pointed out that in previous dynasties, the five counties have always been responsible for the accounting and expenditure of the Huizhou government's Ding Si silk tax, but She County has never held the position. He questioned the five counties in monopolizing and harming Shexian.
In addition, he believes that the silk tax is not unique to Huizhou, and the eight prefectures of Shuntian are also levied, and Shuntian is shared equally by the subordinate counties.
Shuai Jiamo and the other five counties argued, and each of them had reasons to dissociate themselves from each other. This led to chaos in the imperial court, similar to the vegetable market that sold discounted eggs.
All parties, the people of the six counties of Huizhou, and the imperial court were involved, and the fights between them even led to armed fights. In order to control the situation, the imperial court no longer studied the ownership and payment method of the silk tax in depth, but successively formulated five versions of the plan to be implemented in Huizhou Mansion.
The Ming court decided that the county would still pay the silk tax, but other types of taxes could be exempted from the county, and these reduced taxes were divided equally among some local yamen.
In this way, She County paid less money, and the other five counties did not have to increase their burden, and everyone was satisfied. It has been eight years since Shuai Jiamo first complained to the court.
The legendary story of the chivalrous Shuai Jiamo makes people wonder about his final destination. Although he failed to be commended and promoted by the imperial court after successfully solving the problem, he was exiled thousands of miles by the yamen on fabricated charges and sent to the army.
To the people, he was a righteous man; But for the imperial court, he is just a weirdo who causes trouble and flips through the ledger. If it weren't for his insistence on investigating the issue of the silk tax, how could it have been delayed for so long?
In any case, the yamen must retaliate against him. People are bustling for profit, and why Shuai Jiamo came and went, maybe even he didn't know. In the scorching summer of the third year of Longqing, the cicadas chirped and the birds chirped, he opened the dusty ledger, and at the same time opened the chapter of his extraordinary life.