The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Wei Zhan sent people to accompany the low-ranking Xiang Zhi officials collecting these taxes, recording how much grain each household turned in.

Zhouhe County had a total of twelve townships, each township having about a dozen villages, with each village supposed to consist of at least ten households.

However, some villages had sparse populations, some even lacking ten households.

Something was clearly off.

Wei Zhan relayed all this information to Yingbao: “Many people in this county are evading their land taxes, with the majority of resources concentrated in the hands of government officials and wealthy gentry. They even register their high-class farms as lower-class farms and asses households that own multiple courtyards as fourth-class villagers.”

These fourth or fifth-class villagers pay much less in taxes, hence the gentry colludes with officials to maintain their lower ratings.

As a result, these gentry can pay much less in taxes.

But the county office keeps records of both high and low-class farms to use when reporting taxes to the Imperial Court.

However, because of the deceptive practices carried out by these officials, the county government struggles to collect the required amount of grain and thus pushes the remaining tax burden onto the impoverished populace.

It is likely that this was what happened in Zhouhe County, leading to many powerless citizens being driven away.

Yingbao, after perusing the investigation documents, stated, “Start with the most arrogant of the gentry, compare his land records with those of the county office, then report to the Ministry of Revenue. If there is any evidence of concealment or deception, arrest all the parties involved, using their punishment as a warning to others.”

The Emperor’s master gave this county to her likely in hopes that she would govern it well.

With this in mind, she wouldn’t hold back.

Wei Zhan nodded: “Okay, I will start the investigation tomorrow.”

“When you go, bring Song Changshi with you.” Yingbao said: “From now on, take more people with you when you go out, to avoid any planned retaliation.”

Wei Zhan replied with a smile: “Don’t worry, I always have dozens of people with me.”

He was not a fool, knowing that doing these things was essentially cutting off people’s income, which would undoubtedly arouse resentment.

But since this county had become his wife’s domain, it had to be well-managed. Otherwise, they would not escape reproach if the people were unable to make a living.

After chatting for a while, they commanded servants to bring meals, and they both would eat, wash and rest.

In the following days, Wei Zhan was kept very busy and indeed arrested a bias gentry member.

However, pulling out the radish revealed the hole, and Wei Zhan quickly unearthed several officials who had dealings with this gentry, which equated to helping this gentry conceal his land and underreport taxes.

Among the culprits were the principal and county magistrate.

Thereafter, Wei Zhan had the county magistrate order the arrest of this gentry and several related officials.

The county magistrate was almost exhausted, but he dared not disobey, so he had to issue several warrants of arrest and let constables catch the culprits.

The next day, all these culprits were brought to the county office, and the county magistrate conducted the trial in court.

In the end, the gentry household was ordered to compensate the Imperial Court with several thousand stones of grain. If they were unable to do so, their land and property would be seized as collateral.

The other officials who colluded with him were flogged several dozen times and stripped of their positions.

Wei Zhan then recruited several ethically excellent scholars to make up for lower-level official work.

Next, the process of tax collection went smoothly. Knowing that they were up against a tough opponent, the gentry did not dare to hide any information, silently paid all taxes and did not dare to cause any trouble.

As she watched the state granary gradually fill up, Yingbao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“The people regard food as their sky.” She could finally spend her rest of the year in peace.

As the twelfth lunar month swiftly arrived, after the Kitchen God’s Festival, several households in the county town delivered New Year gifts and greeting cards to the Princess Residence.

Yingbao picked up a greeting card to read, then instructed Magnolia, “Have these greeting cards and gift lists checked against each other, then send return gifts. If there are any invitations, reply with a letter, saying that I’m currently too busy.”

Magnolia agreed, took the greeting cards and gift lists, and left.

In the evening, Wei Zhan returned and began discussing the weaving machines with Yingbao.

“We have distributed the five hundred custom-ordered weaving machines, as you instructed, to the Five Virtuous Families.”

“Five Virtues” referred to families who were law-abiding, harmonious, filial to elders, loving to siblings and youngsters, hardworking, and friendly to neighbors.

In order to improve the economic circumstances of the poor in her county, Yingbao purchased five hundred weaving machines out of her own pocket, allowing these virtuous yet impoverished families to repay only two taels of silver per year until the cost was fully repaid.

“I also asked Chu Shun to bring a batch of cotton seeds from Qinchuan County. Come next spring, the townsfolk can plant them.” Wei Zhan sat down at the table and began to eat.

“That sounds excellent.” Yingbao served him dishes, carefully removed the bones from the fish, and placed the fillets in his bowl.

Wei Zhan had been working outside all this time, appearing darker and thinner. Seeing this, Yingbao felt heartache.

But managing two counties was no easy task. If they wanted the people of their territories to have enough food and clothes, hard work was necessary, especially in Zhouhe County. Wealthy individuals were unkind, poor ones turned ruthless, and some villages even formed groups to rob travelers during idle farming seasons.

“After the New Year, I’ll accompany you to see the four townships.” Not only did she want to make the entire county prosperous, she also planned to establish free schools in each township, so all villagers’ children could receive an education.

Only by instilling in them a sense of integrity and moral etiquette could their behavior be changed.

She already had people create pictorial books promoting diligence, humility, kindness, filial piety, and love. During market days, these books would be posted in the gathering areas of each township for the locals to see. Even those who couldn’t read could understand the illustrations.

Wei Zhan glanced at her and said, “The villagers here are barbaric and not as civilized as those in Qinchuan County. You’re better off staying at home.”

He didn’t want his wife to face any danger. Not only were the villagers barbaric, but some of the wealthy landlords were even more unrestrained. Twice while dining out, someone had tried to poison him.

Fortunately, he was always cautious. Even if he accepted food and drink from others, he would not consume them; instead, he would feed them to chickens and dogs first.

Yingbao retorted, “Don’t worry, here, no one can defeat me.”

Wei Zhan chuckled lightly, “Alright, when it’s time for the spring inspection, I’ll take you with me. But when we do go, you must follow my instructions.”

Yingbao nodded, “I’ll do as you say.”

The New Year’s Eve arrived in a flash. The whole family gathered for a meal to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one.

Wei Zhan took his wife to his parents’ house to celebrate the festival.

Upon entering the gate of the Wei Mansion, they saw the courtyard was full of people.

All seven concubines of family head Wei Shixian had come to Zhouhe County, and were now residing in the Wei Mansion.

Not only that, but the children born to these concubines were also present, forming a larger, assorted group. Some were even held by wet nurses, leaving Yingbao dazzled.

They all bowed to Yingbao and Wei Zhan, speaking over each other in greeting the Princess.

Wei Shixian, standing under the eaves of the main room, watched them with a delighted smile on his face.

Wei Zhan, rendered silent by the sight, waved his hand, “All of you go play elsewhere, stop crowding around here.” He then walked towards his mother’s courtyard, hand in hand with Yingbao.

Upon seeing this, Wei Shixian also followed. His favorite seventh concubine wanted to tag along, but he glared at her: “Back off!”

The Madam couldn’t stand seeing his concubines; their presence would only embarrass themselves unnecessarily.

The seventh concubine sulkily turned away, her eyes welling up with tears.

One of the Cao Family members came over and whispered to her, “Why bother, Seventh Aunt? The Madam and the Princess dislike us the most. Even my husband, who works tirelessly to earn money for the family, is still unwelcome in their eyes.”