Chapter 1964 - Exam Assessment

"A separate fiscal revenue account?" Wang Qiyi grasped the implication immediately. Without fiscal entity status, Ai Zhixin remained merely a minor functionary relaying orders between superiors and subordinates. The so-called "Finance and Tax Bureau" was nothing more than an execution arm dispatched from Wudaokou, possessing vanishingly little operational latitude.

"Precisely. The latest State Council bulletin mandated establishing and refining fiscal systems at all administrative levels. Under our current Hainan model, localities cannot genuinely function as fiscal entities—they're indistinguishable from central government field offices. In Guangdong, with local tax revenue so substantial and the distance from Lingao so vast, we cannot possibly centralize everything in Lingao and then redistribute it upon application."

In truth, numerous complications of this nature already entangled Guangzhou and the central government in Lingao. Cadre shortages had forced the Executive Committee into an extreme "streamlined administration" model. The Guangdong Region and Guangzhou Municipal Government shared personnel across many departments—an arrangement whose drawbacks were self-evident. Much remained procedurally "unjustifiable," and no clear regulations governed how collected taxes should be divided and utilized. The Finance Ministry had muddled through thus far using ad hoc "fiscal rebates."

"Let's not rush into this..." Wang Qiyi suddenly recognized that pursuing this discussion would venture beyond finance and economics into more dangerous territory. Financial authority, administrative authority, organizational authority—these constituted the core powers of any government. Control these three, and you effectively controlled that tier of governance. Currently, neither the Transmigrator Assembly nor the State Council had issued definitive statements regarding authority allocation across governmental levels. Wading in prematurely, aligning with the wrong faction—that invited consequences, even under the banner of "purely technical discussion."

After a moment's reflection, he said, "Director Ai, I believe establishing fiscal accounts at each level is acceptable, but frame it carefully. Simply state it facilitates calculating fiscal costs and preparing future budgets. You can elaborate when reporting to Director Cheng—he'll understand immediately. Let him provide cover and confine this matter within our finance and economics circle."

"You're being excessively cautious..." Ai Zhixin shook his head. "Improving the fiscal system is established national policy from the government affairs meeting, published in full to all transmigrators and senior naturalized cadres. There's nothing to conceal."

"Ideally so." Wang Qiyi shook his head and withdrew a document from his briefcase.

The plan the Wangs had modified encountered no objections; Ai Zhixin endorsed their approach entirely. Partly this reflected the couple's extensive front-line experience in tax collection and management from the old timeline. Partly, as Finance and Tax Bureau director, Ai Zhixin now faced overwhelming demands as the department launched operations. Personnel accommodation, transmigrator security, workspaces, operating expenses, internal systems, coordination with other departments and Mayor Liu's office—the burden had exhausted him so thoroughly he hadn't touched Ai Yixin in nearly a fortnight. Since he'd established the overall direction, and Wang Qiyi and Zhang Xiaoqi raised no objections, the specific implementation would fall to them.

A leader must know how to delegate.

The following day, after Vice Director Wang's appointment and specific responsibilities were announced at the cadre meeting, Wang Qiyi officially assumed his post. He wasted no time. His first act was to systematically review personnel files for the entire bureau.

Beyond the students Ai Zhixin and Wang Qiyi had brought from the Fangshaodi finance and tax program in Hainan, the Finance and Tax Bureau's composition was remarkably diverse. Those most trusted and prominently utilized by transmigrators were naturally cadres of naturalized origin—primarily veterans from the Northward Bound Detachment. Another contingent resembled "White Area Party" operatives in origin: personnel from the original Guangzhou Station, mainly naturalized staff from the "Wansheng Rental Agency" who had collected "reasonable burdens." These two groups, combined with the students newly arrived from Hainan, commanded the greatest transmigrator trust and possessed the highest professional caliber.

Then came the retained personnel—numerous and heterogeneous. Despite months of elimination and purging, considerable numbers remained. Though Ai Zhixin distrusted them, their familiarity with local conditions and the acute shortage of operational cadres left him no choice but continued employment.

Finally, there were the "civil servants" whom both Ai Zhixin and Wang Qiyi deemed essentially useless. This cohort had been recruited through Guangzhou's inaugural civil service examination. Though they'd completed a "civil servant basic training" phase, they possessed neither professional expertise nor applicable experience—complete blank slates.

Wang Qiyi decided to assess them collectively through a professional examination.

He'd drafted and printed the exam papers before departing for Guangzhou. Securing a venue capable of accommodating over a hundred examinees required a special application to Liu Xiang for use of the Guangzhou Cadre Training School, still under construction.

No preparatory materials were distributed, nor was the exam scope explained. Personnel were simply instructed to attend at the appointed time. Though the Director's sudden initiative provoked "divergent opinions," non-attendance was obviously impossible. As the saying went, whether you extended your neck or retracted it, the blade still fell—better to verify and take the exam first.

Results were never published. No one lost their position or faced punishment because of it. Yet the examination generated considerable commotion among Finance and Tax Bureau staff. None knew what medicine the Director was selling from his gourd.

Among the naturalized citizens, reactions were muted. Under Executive Committee rule, examinations accompanied everything—familiarity bred acceptance. But for the retained Ming clerks in Guangzhou, the situation differed entirely. They were seasoned tax collection veterans. Though the new "Directors'" rules and regulations employed novel terminology, with careful study they could comprehend seventy or eighty percent. Just days earlier, Director Ai had urged them to set aside their burdens and work diligently. They'd assumed that still wearing this uniform, still holding this rice bowl, already represented immense fortune—naturally they must work conscientiously and "serve the Executive Committee and the people." Now this new Director Wang had arrived demanding "academic examinations." They sought neither scholarly degrees nor military ranks. Why did professionals holding these bowls and performing this work require testing? As for the freshly minted civil servants, it was "complete defeat." Many either submitted blank papers or composed unintelligible archaic prose. This group proved most anxious and uneasy, terrified of failing and being "dismissed."

In truth, Wang Qiyi's purpose wasn't to "test" but to assess. The examination contained little modern tax law theory, instead employing numerous simple cases to evaluate examinees' familiarity with tax operations. As the saying went, despite constant changes in method, the core remains the same. Unlike the inscrutable technological mysteries of industry and engineering, taxation—regardless of how appearances shifted across millennia—ultimately concerned the same fundamental matters.

The examination revealed that certain retained Ming clerks actually exceeded naturalized citizens in overall competence. Their reasoning was lucid, their corrections few. For several questions, the old clerks could provide direct answers. Had seating not been arranged separately, Wang Qiyi might have suspected cheating. Conversely, the naturalized citizens' accuracy rates fell below the old clerks', yet virtually everyone could analyze and solve problems following the procedural steps taught in basic courses. Each case received step-by-step explanations, formulas, results, and conclusions—nothing omitted. Even when final calculations erred, this methodical, systematic approach to problems and tasks held immense value.

That most newly assigned civil servants submitted blank papers matched his expectations. Yet a few individuals left deep impressions. On certain examination questions involving macroeconomic finance, taxation, and monopolies, they could articulate something substantive—evidently having studied relevant literature.

Land taxation, salt administration, grain transport, and river engineering belonged to "practical governance." Though the imperial examinations disregarded policy essays touching these domains, those intent on bureaucratic careers still studied them. Unfortunately, among this batch of civil servants, xiucai degree holders were exceedingly scarce. Most were low-level scholars still struggling at the tongsheng level, or children of modest commercial and industrial families. They couldn't even compose bagu essays fluently, their economic circumstances generally precluding purchase of relevant books—hence their ignorance.

With baseline data in hand, Wang Qiyi knew how to proceed. He resolved to bring about ideological transformation among these people, particularly the retained Ming clerks who had defected. As for methodology, Wang Qiyi had conceived his approach long before departure: learning.

Learning meant mastering tax knowledge and tax collection procedures. Understanding procedures meant understanding rules—the Executive Committee's rules. Understanding rules while possessing knowledge meant truly comprehending Executive Committee taxation. Wang Qiyi believed that anyone who understood why every cent was collected and how it was collected would consciously and thoroughly abandon old habits to become a qualified Great Song tax worker. He harbored no expectations of genuine loyalty—but as long as they could become competent tax cadres, that sufficed.

Subsequently, the Guangzhou Municipal Finance and Tax Bureau issued Document No. 1 of 1635, based on Wang Qiyi's recommendations. This seemingly unremarkable directive would become one of the finance and tax system's foundational institutions in years to come. Regardless of how system slogans and purposes evolved over the decades, "learning" consistently ranked first. What Wang Qiyi anticipated even less was that this initiative would inspire later scholars to venerate him as the progenitor of "learning-oriented government."

The core learning materials were the Provisional Norms for Tax Collection and Management of the National Finance and Tax System and the Taxation Work Manual. Wang Qiyi and Zhang Xiaoqi had compiled these during their spare time after D-Day, adapting the old timeline's tax collection and management law implementation regulations to current realities. The norms classified items and clearly enumerated the policy basis for routine tax work, clarified methodological approaches, highlighted matters requiring attention, provided law enforcement references, and standardized collection and management behaviors, positions, responsibilities, procedures, and standards. The material suited the naturalized citizens' current educational level admirably. Wang Qiyi planned to conduct a training program during the two and a half hours from 18:30 to 21:00 each evening, rotating all business personnel through sessions of forty participants each. Personnel not in rotation training on any given day would conduct self-study.