Money Making Plan, Gentleman's Conspiracy!
"Increase taxes? Sir, what do you mean by this?"
Seeing that Yang Yi had decided to increase taxes, the county magistrate, Huang Yisong, asked curiously. He wanted to know who would pay the taxes.
If it was a farmer, the difficulty would not be small.
"That's right! Didn't you object to increasing taxes?”
Not only was Huang Yisong surprised, but Liu Fulai was also surprised. He wondered if Yang Yi would go back on his words.
He swallowed back the words he had said.
"This is my decision. According to the laws of the imperial court, we will recover all the taxes owed by the wealthy merchants and gentry. I'll write another document and send it to the state capital to see if I can get back the money that was stolen.
Even if we can't get it back, we have to let the state capital know that we don't have money, so that they won't ask for money when they see us repairing the city wall.”
Seeing the two of them looking at him in confusion, Yang Yi immediately made his decision.
After listening to the story, Huang Yisong and Liu Fulai finally knew what was going on.
When the two of them heard that Yang Yi had decided to pursue the taxes of the wealthy merchants and gentry, they looked at each other without saying anything. It was obvious that they agreed with this.
However, he wasn't too optimistic about this.
Moreover, there were some people who had a good relationship with the two of them, so they kept quiet about it.
"I will personally take charge of this matter. Let me remind you, you have to know where you stand.”
Seeing that the two of them remained silent after hearing his decision, Yang Yi could see some clues.
Huang Yisong and Liu Fulai had worked in Yanggu County for many years. He would never believe that they had nothing to do with those people.
"Yes, sir!"
The two of them did not dare to object and immediately retreated respectfully.
Yang Yi's words were very obvious. If the two of them dared to cause trouble, they would definitely be investigated to the end.
Thinking that the young man was smart and not to be trifled with, the two of them decided to listen to his advice.
"Summon a few class heads. I have some instructions.”
If they wanted to collect taxes, they would definitely need the bailiffs to carry it out.
After finding a few class leaders to explain, Yang Yi asked them to collect taxes at the homes of the rich and wealthy merchants.
He had been looking at the income situation for the past few days and found that the taxes basically came from the farmers. The gentry and rich businessmen basically did not pay taxes.
It belonged to the kind where the gentry's money was returned in full and the farmers 'money was split equally. Not only did these gentry not pay taxes, but they also benefited from it.
He decided to collect the money and repair the city walls.
The bailiffs did not dare to be negligent and immediately began to carry out the order.
Yang Yi thought that if he personally came forward to collect the tax, those gentry and wealthy merchants would be very cooperative.
Who knew that after a few days of urging, the yamen runners received very little money.
Those people were used to not paying taxes. Now that they heard that they had to pay, they were all extremely resistant.
The group of gentry and wealthy merchants saw that the bailiffs were pressing them harder and harder.
Hence, they gathered at Ximen Qing's house to discuss countermeasures, hoping to continue the tax exemption.
At Ximen Qing's residence.
Today, Ximen Qing's house was especially lively. A group of well-dressed, big-bellied old masters and young masters had gathered in his house.
They discussed how to deal with Yang Yi's tax collection.
In the past, when the county magistrate was in office, they only needed to show some filial piety and give the county magistrate some money to pass the test.
However, after Yang Yi took office, he was very busy every day.
They just wanted to show their filial piety, so they couldn't even see the youth's face.
Realizing that Yang Yi, who was a top scholar, was not easy to fool, these people decided to think of a way.
"Welcome, masters. Everyone knows the purpose of coming here, so I won't be too polite. Everyone should think of a way!”
As the host, Ximen Qing waited for everyone to sit down in the spacious hall.
Dressed in luxurious clothes, he appeared in front of everyone.
He glanced at the rich people in the room and said with a solemn expression. He was a little anxious.
"In my opinion, the newly appointed County Magistrate Yang's behavior is really childish. Offending us rich people won't do him any good.”
A middle-aged man with a big belly sneered with dissatisfaction after his master, Ximen Qing, spoke.
They were too naive to think that Yang Yi was a powerful person if they joined forces.
Yang Yi had nothing to gain from offending them.
"You can't say that! This wasn't the first time such a situation had occurred. It had happened before. Yang Yi's actions implied that he had a huge appetite and that we needed to pay more.”
After the fat middle-aged man finished speaking, a skinny middle-aged man with a fair complexion replied with a smile.
It was as if he had seen through Yang Yi's thoughts and felt that his asking price was very high. Everyone did not have to be too anxious.
"I agree with that! Being an official for thousands of miles was only for money. Yang Yi, with his status as the top scholar, wanted to plunder more money.”
An elderly man wearing a traditional Chinese robe.
He agreed with the skinny middle-aged man.
They also thought that they had seen through Yang Yi's thoughts. The youngster was faking his urging, and the lion was really asking for too much.
As long as they fulfilled his requirements, everyone would naturally pass.
In an instant, these gentry and lords discussed animatedly, guessing what Yang Yi was thinking.
"Everyone please be quiet, I have something to say.”
Ximen Qing saw everyone discussing and thought that Yang Yi only wanted money. He was very worried.
After all, he had tried to bribe Yang Yi, but he had failed.
"Everyone, be quiet and listen to what Rich Ximen has to say.”
The crowd that was chattering saw that Ximen Qing had something to say, so they all looked at him and then quieted down.
She wanted to know what he had in mind.
"Everyone, I once tried to rope Yang Yi in. Guess what?”
Seeing that everyone was very optimistic, Ximen Qing decided to tell them about his plan to rope them in so that they wouldn't fail again.
"What? You once roped in Yang Yi?”
"Old Master Ximen, you're not being nice. You actually secretly tried to rope in Yang Yi.”
"How's the situation? Did Rich Ximen succeed?"
"Can you finish your sentence in one go? You're still keeping me in suspense at this time!"
When they heard that Ximen Qing had once tried to rope Yang Yi in, the others were envious and jealous. They thought that Ximen Qing was not good enough and actually secretly tried to rope him in.
They all looked at him and asked him to tell them quickly.
"Everyone, there's no need to show hostile expressions! Last time, in order to win Yang Yi over, I killed dozens of ducks and dozens of donkeys, forming two plates of duck tongue and donkey lips.
In the end, after the county magistrate finished eating, he wiped himself clean and left. He's not moved at all."
Facing everyone's gazes, Ximen Qing said helplessly and sighed.
When they heard that Ximen Qing had failed to win them over, many people's expressions became much better. They were gloating in their hearts.
His hostility towards Ximen Qing had lessened quite a bit.
"There's no county magistrate in the world that can't be bribed! Since the rich man Ximen is familiar with Yang Yi, let's gather more people and try to take him down.”
"Yes! I don't believe that the young county magistrate would not be tempted by so much gold and silver!”
"Let's do it this way! This time, each of them paid a little more money to take down Yang Yi and ask him to let them off.”
After hearing what Ximen Qing said, everyone felt that Ximen Qing had offered too little.
He decided to give everyone a little more. He didn't believe that Yang Yi wouldn't be tempted.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]