Tianliangyuan

Chapter 137 It's a disaster!

When Deng Xuan arrived at Dengjiazhuang, he was so shocked by what he saw that he almost fainted.

All the crops he could see around him looked lifeless; some of the wheat stalks looked like old people who might die at any moment, as if they would crumble at the slightest touch.

"My lord, you've finally arrived! I never expected such a drastic change in just a few hours. My lord, I'm not exaggerating, but with crops like this, I'm afraid there will be no harvest at all!"

Deng Xuan was furious and immediately thought of finding a broker to sell the land.

Dengjiazhuang has a total of 15 households. The largest household has 14 members, including the elderly and children, while the smallest household has only two members.

If Deng Xuan were to sell his estate, it would essentially mean selling off the tenant farmers and farmhands who lived there as well.

As for the servants who made mistakes and were sent over, they would naturally be placed in other places. After all, they were not of good status. Whoever took them over would either take over their indentures or the original owner would take them away.

Soon, Deng Xuan's estate was sold for ten thousand taels of silver.

During the Daxing Dynasty, one string of cash was equivalent to one thousand coins, or one tael of silver.

This sum of ten thousand taels of silver is equivalent to ten thousand strings of cash, which is quite a large sum.

At first glance, it seems that the person who bought Deng Xuan's estate was very generous, but in reality, Deng Xuan was the one who suffered a loss.

The market price for a mu (unit of land area) of top-quality farmland is generally between eight and ten guan (a unit of currency).

This estate alone covers more than 1,460 mu (approximately 167 hectares), which, even at a rate of eight guan (a unit of currency) per mu, would amount to 12,000 guan (another unit of currency).

But now, this huge estate, including the houses and everything else, has only sold for ten thousand strings of cash, which shows that Deng Xuan has also suffered a great loss.

Deng Xuan was eager to sell, but there weren't many people who could come up with 10,000 strings of cash at once. Moreover, several potential buyers sent people over to take a look and felt that the place was unlucky. So even though Deng Xuan kept lowering the price, no one was willing to buy it.

At this moment, Gao Da Kui made his move.

Ten thousand strings of cash—a year ago, Xu Zhaozhao might have had to ask her mother for help.

But now, she can take it out without even blinking.

As for the tenant farmers or farmhands on the estate, Xu Zhaozhao directly instructed Gao Da Kui to register them with the government.

Of course, Dengjiazhuang must be renamed first.

Because it was a private estate, Gao Da Kui could apply to the government to change the name after obtaining the land deed. After the name change was completed, Gao Da Kui immediately reported the names and number of tenant farmers there.

This is a real disaster!

The Daxing Dynasty had a poll tax, in addition to which there were other taxes and corvée labor.

The tenant farmers on Deng Xuan's estate became unregistered households.

In other words, they are all unregistered individuals without official household registration!

Land consolidation has been a serious problem for hundreds of years, especially at the end of the previous dynasty, when many landless peasants had to become tenant farmers.

In order to reduce their tax burden, some landlords often hid their tenants, making it impossible for the government to accurately grasp the actual population. These hidden tenants became known as unregistered households.

Most importantly, these hidden households not only affect the government's tax revenue, but also make it difficult for the court to make accurate predictions when making certain decisions due to the inaccurate number of households.

Overall, the practice of concealing one's household registration created obstacles for many of the court's policies and caused trouble for many officials.

Therefore, those in positions of power are most averse to anyone concealing their household registration information.

Unfortunately, Deng Xuan ran right into the line of fire!

Fifteen households, totaling over one hundred people, how much money would the poll tax alone amount to in a year?

This doesn't even include the Yao corvée labor, agricultural taxes, and so on.

In short, Deng Xuan is in big trouble this time.

The magistrate of Wannian County was promoted by Marquis Xu, and because of the Hundred Fruit Garden, his political achievements were outstanding and he had always received a lot of attention from his superiors. Therefore, the magistrate of Wannian County dared not hide such a big matter and reported it directly to the Jingzhao Prefecture.

It's no secret that there are hidden households in the countryside.

Similar situations are common among wealthy and powerful families, so it's not particularly unusual.

But as an official appointed by the imperial court, it's hard for people to understand why you would knowingly break the law.

What's even more ridiculous is that Deng Xuan was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, specifically in charge of managing the Daxing treasury. Now, this very person in charge of the treasury is actually stealing money from it himself. Who could tolerate this?

Deng Xuan had long forgotten about these tenant farmers.

More accurately, it was because he sold the estate too quickly, before the estate manager had a chance to report on the tenant farmers to him, and then it was exposed so blatantly.

Deng Xuan had been having trouble sleeping for several days, plagued by nightmares, and was already in poor spirits.

Moreover, Gao Da Kui deliberately referred to those people as long-term laborers in front of him, which naturally led Deng Xuan to believe that they were all long-term laborers as well, so he ordered the steward to hand over those contracts as well.

Since they weren't his servants, Deng Xuan never considered the matter of Yin Hu.

The manager didn't know what was going on; he handed over the items in a daze without even checking to see if they were all signed with work contracts!

This has really stirred up a hornet's nest!

Zhao Changqing dared not conceal the truth and went directly to the palace to meet the emperor.

Although Gao Da Kui took over the estate, it ended up directly under Xie Zheng's name.

In other words, Xie Zheng bought the estate, and Gao Da Kui was only helping out because of his master.

No one cares whether Deng Xuan was framed or not; most people are busy examining and reflecting on themselves, afraid that this fire will spread to them!

Even Xu Han returned home with a solemn expression, urging his wife to quickly check if there were any hidden households.

A noble family like Xu Han's would naturally not be short of money.

But the problem is, who knows if the subordinates might come up with some crooked ways to profit from it?

The number of hidden households exceeded one hundred, enraging the Emperor!

"What a fine Deng Xuan! He's the Vice Minister of Revenue, personally promoted by me, yet he knowingly breaks the law! Where does he place my Great Law Enforcement? Guards, drag him out and execute him!"

If the emperor is angry, who dares to say another word?

Even Grand Tutor Jiang was trembling with fear at this moment. After all, Deng Xuan was introduced by him and was also related to the Jiang family by marriage. Now, no one would believe the Jiang family if they claimed to be innocent.

When the secret of the hidden households was exposed, Emperor Yong'an was so angry that he wanted to kill someone on the spot.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Deng Xuan has indeed made a mistake, but the matter has not yet been investigated. Whether it was Deng Xuan who instructed the matter or whether his subordinates concealed it, we beseech Your Majesty to make a judgment!"

Emperor Yong'an looked at the person who had stepped forward; he was an upright and incorruptible censor. In the end, he managed to restrain himself from taking his anger out on him.

Seeing that the emperor had not lost his temper, the censor continued, "Your Majesty, regardless of whether Deng Xuan was aware of this matter or not, I believe he is no longer suitable to serve as the Vice Minister of Revenue. I request Your Majesty to dismiss him and investigate the matter!"