1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 104

The captain at the dock was the most sensible. When he saw Lin Jishun's merchant ship, he immediately gave him the best seat at the bow and kept quiet about the fare, so as not to make things difficult for him.

This town mayor is no longer a newcomer; he has established himself and gained influence in the local area, making him a true local official.

On the way to the county town, Lin Jishun saw many more young people on the boat, which made him a little curious.

It's spring planting season now, so logically speaking, how could these strong young men have time to go to the county town?

It's not that there's a shortage of labor in rural areas now; in fact, there has always been a surplus of labor in rural southern China because there are too many people and too little land. Everyone only works together during the busy farming season. During the off-season, the elderly at home take care of the land, while the young and middle-aged usually go back to work as day laborers for landlords.

After listening to the conversation of these young people, Lin Jishun finally understood that even the landlords could no longer afford to hire day laborers. The landlords in Meihua Town had been rendered powerless by the Republic's "Eleventh Tax".

Rural land is moving towards intensive and efficient farming, and traditional low-value crops can no longer afford heavy taxes, unless you are a tax-exempt household.

However, land concentration is an irreversible trend. Capital will always flow to channels with higher profits, and a large amount of land began to flow from the hands of landlords to higher-value channels such as infrastructure projects, economic plantations, and industrial zones.

Small farmers also harbored ambitions to become landlords. Having been exploited in the past, their greatest ambition was to become landlords who exploited others. However, after witnessing the horrific "eleventh tax," they could only obediently remain as self-sufficient farmers.

The central government of the Republic is moving towards two extremes regarding agricultural taxes: either exempting them from taxation or levying taxes that bankrupt people. It is extremely lenient towards land used for basic sustenance, but extremely brutal towards land used for profit.

The higher-ups' message was very clear: controlling rural areas through land cultivation was no longer an option! Zhao Yan wouldn't allow such a powerful person to exist!

The rural voice must be dismantled; the central government can no longer tolerate the continued existence of landlords and gentry who control rural areas by relying on land and grain.

However, if you use the land to grow cash crops such as tea, silkworm farms, and medicinal herbs, the higher authorities will wholeheartedly approve, because these are cash crops and will be managed in accordance with commercial taxes.

The impact of grain crops and cash crops on rural areas is vastly different. At the grassroots level in rural areas, no matter how many cash crops you have or how much money you have, the higher-ups won't care about you. But if you have a large amount of grain and a huge influence on farmers, the higher-ups can destroy you in no time.

As for the possibility that such practices would lead to a decline in rural grain production, Zhao Yan didn't care, because this grain production would not end up in the mouths of ordinary people, but would instead become a tool for landlords to enslave farmers.

Furthermore, massive amounts of American grain are currently flowing into China across the Pacific Ocean. Market opening is a double-edged sword; both Chinese industry and agriculture will begin to face the impact of overseas dumping.

The central government is further developing arable land in Northeast China, North Korea, and Xinjiang. Grain production is bound to increase steadily. The land that can feed more than a billion people in the future, even though chemical fertilizers are not yet widely available, can still feed more than 400 million people.

As a result, a trend of rural labor migration to urban areas began to emerge. The Republic's eleventh tax forced a large amount of capital from agriculture to the industrial sector. The labor force needed by industry was no less than that of agriculture, and the demand was even greater. In those days, no matter what kind of industry it was, it was all labor-intensive.

If everyone farms, who will make steel and build roads?

At 11:40 a.m., Lin Jishun arrived in the county town. As soon as he arrived, he felt a little unfamiliar with it. It had only been two months since he last came here, and the county town had almost turned into a huge construction site.

Many streets are being widened and rebuilt into standard roads that are passable by vehicles, and the county seat has even started building highways!

Near the riverside dock, a paper mill and a shipyard are also under construction. The paper mill is newly opened and has introduced some machinery and equipment produced by the Hanyang Arsenal. Relying on the abundant local bamboo and wood resources, it has become a star enterprise in the county this year.

The shipyard has always existed; it was originally just a shipbuilding workshop that built wooden fishing boats and ferries, and sometimes even bamboo rafts. However, after some processing equipment was introduced last year, it was renovated.

The county shipyard began building wooden-hulled steam-powered ships of 200 tons and above, because they were capable of processing large modular components. There was still a huge demand for shipping timber, bamboo and other specialty products in the Zi River basin, and no one would let go of an opportunity to make money.

Lin Jishun saw a large wooden steamship sailing upstream from the city at the dock. The ship was over fifty meters long and carried hundreds of tons of steel bars and a large amount of fertilizer. The dockworkers were currently struggling with the steel bars, which were often bundled into tonnes.

"A bunch of idiots! If you can't move the bundles, then cut the wire and move it one by one!"

"Get to work! It has to be finished by dark tomorrow. This boat costs fifty yuan a day to be parked. If you delay the work, none of you will get paid!"

"And the fertilizer must be moved down immediately and stored in a dry, cool warehouse. It must not get wet!"

Old Zhang, the former head of the education department and now the deputy county head, is personally directing the unloading of supplies at the dock. He is worried about the migrant workers, since they have never seen such a large quantity of industrial products before.

Many people are seeing so much steel piled up together for the first time in their lives. It's a pity that it's all been made into thin, long iron rods. If only it could be made into hoes and plows.

While scolding and directing the workers to unload the supplies, Old Zhang turned around and spotted Lin Jishun, who had just disembarked. He immediately greeted him, "Mayor Lin, what a rare guest! What brings you to the county today?"

Lin Jishun quickly ran forward and handed over the things he was carrying: "Congratulations! I heard that you, Lao Zhang, became the deputy county head, so I came over to congratulate you right away."

"Tsk tsk, I've been the deputy county head for over a month now, and you're already in such a rush." ​​Old Zhang looked at the things in his hands, stroked his chin, and joked, "Yellow catfish and jicama, is this how you, Mayor Lin, test your superiors?"

Lin Jishun was shameless: "I'm afraid you won't dare to accept too much, the reformatory is not a good place to stay!"

Upon hearing this, Old Zhang's expression immediately changed drastically, and he quickly grabbed Lin Jishun: "You know the news too?"

Lin Jishun was confused: "What news?"

Old Zhang turned around, waved his hand, and called out to the dockworkers to finish work and have lunch, then continue working in the afternoon. He then pulled Lin Jishun's arm and walked home.

"Come to my place and we can chat. I'll have your sister-in-law make fish soup and stir-fried jicama. We can have a nice drink together at noon!"

"You wouldn't believe it if you stayed in the countryside, but a major incident has happened in the province, and a lot of people in the city and county are in deep trouble!"

Lin Jishun was also shocked when he heard this. If something happened in the province and it also affected the city and county levels, this must be no small matter.

The two arrived at Lao Zhang's house. Lao Zhang handed over the fish and vegetables that Lin Jishun had brought to his wife to cook, then poured himself a cup of tea and sat down at the octagonal table with Lin Jishun to start talking.

Old Zhang didn't hold back and told Lin Jishun everything without holding anything back.

The county magistrate has now been arrested and caught red-handed. He was a county magistrate during the Qing Dynasty and was transferred to the position of county magistrate after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but he still has no clean hands.

When he was arrested, more than 3,000 taels of silver and more than 10,000 yuan in banknotes were found in his home, along with a thick stack of various land deeds and a whole box of antiques and treasures. He had so much property that he wouldn't have earned even if he had been a county magistrate for his entire life. It was obvious that he had embezzled it.

The cause of the matter is very simple: a scandal broke out in the province involving a vice governor surnamed Zhai, who was in charge of infrastructure and water conservancy and wielded considerable power.

The construction of roads, bridges, and water conservancy facilities in various cities and counties of Hunan all required the signature of this Vice Governor Zhai to allocate funds. This guy thought that everyone above was a fool, so he skimmed money from it.

This guy pocketed over a million yuan from all the project payments last year! He thought the central government officials were like those lazy, incompetent pigs and dogs from the Qing Dynasty, so he felt free to embezzle without restraint.

But during the Spring Festival this year, by sheer bad luck, Zhao Yan found the 1908 Infrastructure Project Progress Report submitted by Hunan Province in the Imperial Study. Who is Zhao Yan? He started out by swindling people. His first pot of gold came from forging his academic credentials to get a job as an accountant in a large company. In the end, he falsified accounts to steal U-shields and emptied the family fortune of the boss who appreciated him.

Zhao Yan's eye for accounts was sharper than his eye for women; he could tell at a glance that the accounts sent from Hunan Province were problematic, and seriously so!

There was no need for detailed calculations; just looking at the last few figures of the various expenditures revealed something fishy. The report was then sent back to the audit department. After the central audit department completed its review, the head of the audit department resigned that same day, before Zhao Yan could even confront them.

Zhang Mingqi, the chief civil servant in the Prime Minister's Office, personally apologized to Zhao Yan, because it was eventually discovered that two million yuan of Hunan Province's infrastructure funding was not accounted for, and who knows how much more was not found!

Multiple departments in the Prime Minister's Office reviewed the case but failed to detect it. In the end, it was Zhao Yan who discovered it in the Imperial Study. This time, it was a complete disgrace.

Two senior officials at the audit department and the prime minister's office resigned voluntarily, and several ministerial and departmental level officials were held accountable and prosecuted.

With so many people in the central government suffering misfortune, Hunan Province, the culprit, couldn't escape the consequences. Right after the Lantern Festival, the central government's inspection team headed straight for Changsha.

The governor of Hunan Province was forced to resign due to his leadership responsibility, retaining only the general retirement benefits. The culprit, Vice Governor Zhai, was escorted to the capital. Even if Zhao Yan did not give the order, Zhang Mingqi would have killed him.

Vice Governor Zhai's entire family was also detained and sent to a reformatory by the inspection team dispatched by the Ministry of Supervision. From Vice Governor Zhai's 80-year-old mother to his 8-year-old grandson, no one escaped. All his immediate family members were implicated and sent to a reformatory in northern Inner Mongolia.

The mayors of Yiyang and Changde were also detained for investigation, and their families were sent to Xinjiang reform camps at the same time. More than a dozen county heads were arrested, and their families were not spared either.

The investigation is still ongoing, but so far the inspection team has seized as much as 3.7 million yuan, more than 12,000 mu of land, and more than 600 properties. If this money could stay in Hunan, the province would be much better off this year.

But that's impossible. The spoils from the confiscation would definitely have to be handed over to the central government. The central government suffered such a huge loss, so Hunan certainly wouldn't be able to gain anything.

Chapter 177 A Major Earthquake in Hunan's Officialdom

"Good heavens, millions of dollars! How dare they?!"

Lin Jishun was so astonished by Lao Zhang's vivid description that he could hardly close his mouth.

Last year, the national fiscal revenue was only over 450 million yuan. Hunan Province's retained local taxes plus central government funding meant that its total fiscal revenue for the year was less than 20 million yuan. Yet, this one vice governor and a group of city and county officials uncovered nearly 4 million yuan in embezzled funds before the investigation was even over.

This group of people pocketed roughly a quarter of Hunan's fiscal expenditure!

Old Zhang gently tapped the table: "I estimate that by the end of the investigation, the embezzled funds will definitely be over five million. Most of this money must have been swindled by those people over the years."

Don't forget, many of these people were officials during the Qing Dynasty. Their greed back then was truly astounding. They wouldn't let go of money allocated from above, and they wouldn't even let go of money from below—they were profiting from both sides. That's true greed.

Old Zhang recalled the days when he was a clerk in the county government during the Qing Dynasty. Back then, nobody lived off their salary; everyone resorted to trickery, extortion, and deception.

Every year, these clerks and officials earn hundreds of taels of silver plus dozens of acres of fertile land. County magistrates and prefects are even more corrupt, making money off their excrement. A clean prefect can earn 100,000 taels of silver in one term, which is not just a saying.

Lin Jishun swallowed a mouthful of tea to calm his nerves: "No wonder we can't even pay our subordinates' wages. It turns out all the money went into the pockets of the higher-ups."

"Damn it, the police officers in my town have even sold their service guns, and the teachers and principals have to mooch meals from students. I, the town mayor, spend my days doing things like freeloading and pimping, just to barely make ends meet."

They've embezzled millions; if that money were allocated, how much could they have accomplished?

Old Zhang sighed: "This is insatiable greed! They still think it's the Qing Dynasty. Those so-called high-ranking officials are probably not as smart as me, Old Zhang!"

"From the very beginning of the revolution in Changsha, I knew that China had another Zhu Yuanzhang."

"When the massacre of the Manchus took place in Changsha, I was visiting relatives there. The wailing and screaming throughout the city never stopped all night. Hundreds and thousands of Manchus were dragged to the banks of the Xiang River to be beheaded late at night. The screaming was the loudest in the middle of the night. It was truly horrific. By dawn, the whole city was completely silent!"

"To this day, the local chronicles of Hunan Province only dare to record that in October of the Jia Chen year, there was a great fire in Changsha that killed tens of thousands of people."

"But everyone knows what really happened that night, yet who dares to say it's wrong?"

“From that day on, I knew that the world had changed, and that the leader was a true dragon defying the heavens, unstoppable. Whatever he said, I would do.”

"At the beginning of the Republic, I was demoted from a clerk to an eighth-rank official. Since then, I have not dared to touch a single penny. Unfortunately, those clever people always thought they could fool me."

"Little did they know, their cleverness backfired! The meaning from above was very clear. When the head of state met Zhang Zhidong in Wuhan, he said, 'What is past cannot be forgotten, but what is to come can still be pursued!'"

"We don't have time to investigate the past, nor do we want to. Let's all just stop now and move on."

"But they just wouldn't have it. They still wanted to reach out and make things worse, so the higher-ups were all caught up in it. The accounts of the Republic had to be settled, and the accounts of the Qing Dynasty had to be investigated as well!"

Lin Jishun nodded: "You, Lao Zhang, are really smart. You retired successfully, gained the benefits, got promoted, and didn't miss out on anything."

Old Zhang smiled and said, "Hehe, don't underestimate me just because I come from a small place. I've spent half my life in Hua'an County."

"As the saying goes, a scholar can know the affairs of the world without leaving his home. This is similar for a county and a country. As an official, you have to keep an eye on the higher-ups at all times. You have to be very observant. If the situation changes, you have to change accordingly."

While we were talking, Old Zhang's wife had already prepared the meal and put it on the table: a pot of yellow catfish and tofu soup, a plate of stir-fried jicama shreds, and two plates of seasonal vegetables.

The milky white color of the yellow catfish soup, combined with the tofu stew, filled the entire house with its aroma as soon as it was cooked.

Old Zhang's wife didn't eat at the table, and the child was at school; only Lin Jishun and Old Zhang were at the table.

Old Zhang took out his treasured wine and poured it for Lin Jishun.

"Fill it full, what do you mean by only pouring half a glass?" Lin Jishun was a military man who served in the northern desert. He had a very high alcohol tolerance and could be said to be unable to resist alcohol.

But the Meihua Town government was so poor that it was even in arrears on food expenses, and Lin Jishun hadn't touched a drop of alcohol for almost half a year, and he was really craving it.

"Drink less, we have important business to attend to this afternoon!" Old Zhang felt a pang of regret, even regretting bringing out the good wine. Who knew Lin Jishun would be so impolite?

"Old Zhang, who do you think you are? This little jar of wine of yours is barely two and a half pounds, I can finish it all by myself. Don't be stingy, give me half a pound to satisfy my craving!"

Lin Jishun downed the two ounces of wine in the rough pottery cup in one gulp, then switched to a large bowl, snatched the wine jar, and filled the bowl himself.

"Come on, Lao Zhang, don't be shy, this is your home! Drink as much as you want!"

"I'll show you what it means to swallow something whole!"

Lin Jishun picked up the bowl, opened his mouth wide, and gulped down the half-jin of wine in one go. He swallowed it all in just two or three seconds without making a sound, not even a drop of wine dripped down his chin.

Old Zhang was furious: "You little brat, you're trying to freeload here, aren't you? Hurry up and eat, stop drinking!"

In those days, alcohol was a precious commodity. When food was scarce, even landlords didn't dare to drink like Lin Jishun.

After having his fill, Lin Jishun let out a burp, then picked up his chopsticks and started eating heartily, even chewing up the bones of a fish before swallowing it.

After a few bites of food, Lin Jishun said with satisfaction, "Awesome! Life in the county town is so much more comfortable. Back in the countryside, we can't even fry a fish; we can only boil it, which is so bland!"

"Come on, Lao Zhang, tell me more. What's the latest story from the inspection team's investigation? You tell me the facts, and I'll use them as fodder for our drinks. This is even more delicious than peanuts!"

Lin Jishun picked up the wine jar and filled his bowl again, leaving Old Zhang completely helpless.

"You heavy drinker, drink less!"

"The inspection team from above is still in Changsha this time. They are only focused on checking the accounts and are too lazy to inspect the cities and counties below. Anyway, if the money in the accounts doesn't match, then someone has to be executed to fill the hole."

"I'm reminding you, from now on, no matter what it is, if it's a piece of paper that you need to sign, you have to read it carefully and think it through before you sign it!"

"This time, the inspection team from above dug up all the appropriation documents and receipt letters signed by the Finance Department, and they found them all!"

Lin Jishun nodded as he chewed on a fish bone: "I know that. Those papers I signed, they can check them all. If they find anything, the higher-ups might even have to give me extra money."

"By the way, now that the county magistrate has fallen, doesn't that mean you, the deputy county magistrate, are in charge of the county?"

Hearing this, Old Zhang put on a feigned humble smile: "Hey, you can't say that. The higher-ups have already appointed me as acting county magistrate."

"But I guess it's just temporary. I was promoted too quickly. It's only been a month since I was promoted to deputy county head. It's impossible for me to become county head so quickly."

"The higher-ups will eventually send down a new county magistrate, but until then, I, Old Zhang, will be in charge of Hua'an County affairs!"

Lin Jishun said with envy, "Tsk tsk, your Zhang family must be incredibly lucky to have produced a county magistrate. Even if he's just acting, he's still a proper county magistrate, a Marquis of Baili!"

Old Zhang's face lit up with a smile, and he handed the wine jar directly to Lin Jishun: "We're brothers, why are you saying all this? Come on, drink up!"

Despite Zhao Yan's supposed reform of the civil service system, in the eyes of the public and grassroots, it's just a change in name only. The nine-level civil service system is still essentially the same.

For a family like Lao Zhang's, a local power broker with a long history of bureaucratic power, they would be very satisfied to have managed to get a certain rank through this reform. Even Lao Zhang himself did not expect that, by such a coincidence, he would have made it all the way to the position of acting county magistrate.

This is equivalent to being a county magistrate in the past! Something I never dared to dream of, but now anything is possible.

After taking a few sips of wine, Old Zhang began to speak from the heart: "Ji Shun, ever since you took office as the mayor of Meihua Town, I've taken good care of you."

Lin Jishun nodded: "Old Zhang, I'm a straightforward person, so just say what you want to say."

Old Zhang took a sip of wine and laughed, "Then I won't beat around the bush. From now on, in Hua'an County, we'll help each other out. When I get promoted, I'll definitely remember you, my brother."

In officialdom, having more friends means having more options; it's beneficial for both of us.