Chapter 2531: Thoroughfare, Busy, Wearying, Difficult

"Councilor Wei, Chief Zhang wants to see you!" Chen Wuren called out to Wei Bifu, who had been dozing behind his rosewood desk.

The Councilor's Office of Guangzhou Special City employed more than ten Councilors, though precious little "official business" ever came their way. Most of the time, attendance was optional—show up if you felt like it, stay home if you didn't. Several Councilors had already found other occupations, becoming small farm owners in the countryside or running businesses. Yet regardless of whether they had outside interests, none could resign. Weekly meetings and mandatory sign-ins at the Councilor's Office remained inescapable obligations.

Wei Bifu ran no enterprises of his own, but he had purchased a considerable number of non-preferred stocks when several Violet-mark companies issued them in Guangzhou years ago. The annual dividends proved quite generous, and combined with his substantial savings from his former official career, he lived comfortably enough. Still, to demonstrate his "enthusiasm," he made a point of wandering into the Councilor's Office every workday, regardless of whether anything required his attention. After Zhang Xiao assumed office, Wei Bifu's visits became even more diligent—he now stayed the entire day. He had a feeling that the new Chief would eventually summon him to consult on local matters.

When he heard that Zhang Xiao wanted to see him, Wei Bifu jolted upright, removed his glasses, and touched his face. "Fetch water!" he ordered his servant.

The servant hurried to bring him a basin of wash water. Wei Bifu wiped his face, examined himself in the mirror, and satisfied that he looked sufficiently alert, walked out of his office.

Since entering the city, Zhang Xiao had been run off his feet—so overwhelmed with duties that he hadn't exchanged a single word with Wei Bifu for several days. Just as Wei Bifu began to doubt his own judgment, wondering if the new Chief had forgotten him entirely, came this sudden summons. This had to be a request for advice. Though Wei Bifu's career in the Great Ming had been relatively brief, years of navigating the treacherous waters of officialdom had honed his political instincts. He remained keenly attuned to the recent personnel changes in the Guangzhou Municipal Government.

Where there are people, there is Jianghu, Wei Bifu reflected. This Great Song officialdom isn't so tranquil either.

Zhang Xiao received him warmly. "Councilor Wei, please sit! Make yourself comfortable."

Wei Bifu knew the Australians disliked empty formalities, so he simply pulled up a stool and sat down.

"When you served under the Ming, how long were you posted to Guangzhou Prefecture?" Zhang Xiao asked.

"I'm ashamed to say, when the Heavenly Army entered the city, this student had only just taken office—less than a year in total," Wei Bifu replied.

Zhang Xiao felt a twinge of disappointment. Less than a year was too short. How much could the man really know about local conditions? Moreover, as a Vice Prefect—an auxiliary official rather than the principal one—Wei Bifu would have assisted the Prefect with only a portion of local affairs. He couldn't possibly have grasped the complete picture.

Wei Bifu noticed the disappointment immediately. A veteran of officialdom, he was exceptionally shrewd—but he also recognized that Chief Zhang particularly disliked subordinates who appeared "excessively shrewd." So he simply played dumb, assuming an expression of patient deference, waiting for instruction.

Zhang Xiao remained oblivious to these calculations. Disappointed or not, Wei Bifu was the only person available who could illuminate Nanhai County's situation. Masking his emotions, Zhang Xiao pressed on. "So you don't know much about Nanhai County's circumstances either."

"Regarding the specifics of Nanhai County, this student's knowledge is indeed limited. However, after a year in office, I became reasonably familiar with the general situation across both Nanhai and Panyu counties."

"Then please enlighten me about Nanhai County's geography and local conditions."

Wei Bifu considered for a moment before answering. "If the Chief wishes me to summarize Nanhai County's situation, four words capture its essence: Thoroughfare, Busy, Wearying, Difficult."

"Oh?" Zhang Xiao leaned forward. "Explain what you mean by that."

"In response to the Chief: Thoroughfare means it serves as a key passage. Busy means its administrative affairs are multifarious. Wearying means tax arrears plague it constantly. Difficult means its people are unruly, its customs contentious, and lawsuits and banditry run rampant. This is the most important county in Guangzhou Prefecture—indeed, in all of Guangdong Province."

With just four words, Wei Bifu had distilled the essential nature of Nanhai. Zhang Xiao found himself developing a new respect for this former Ming magistrate's abilities. It seemed Chongzhen had not lacked for talent after all.

In the old timeline's history, the four-character evaluation of Thoroughfare, Busy, Wearying, Difficult for prefectures and counties only appeared during the Qing Dynasty. But obviously, such an assessment wasn't invented overnight—it wasn't surprising that officials had conceived of it during the late Ming.

Nanhai County was densely populated and served as the economic and political heartland of Guangdong. Combined with its characteristics of Thoroughfare, Busy, Wearying, Difficult, the scale and complexity of governing it could only be imagined.

"The 'key passage' part I understand," Zhang Xiao said, tapping his fingers on the table in sequence as if playing piano keys. "Both the West River and North River flow through this county. The water network is dense, with countless tributaries. Nanhai's jurisdiction stretches from Huashan in the north to Jiujiang in the south—a straight-line distance exceeding a hundred li. It borders Sanshui to the west and Guangzhou City to the east. Commercial traffic here is the heaviest in all Guangdong. People are the source of everything; large populations breed complications, especially when so many are transient. But what exactly do you mean by 'multifarious administrative affairs'?"

Hearing this question, Wei Bifu understood that the new Chief wasn't entirely clear on the administrative realities. "Ming State regulations require that—except during busy farming seasons—the County Magistrate receive monthly lectures from superiors on Imperial Edicts, laws, and moral exhortations, then transmit these to the elders in various forts and to the common people. Monthly sacrifices to the Confucian Temple and to Heaven and Earth must be led by the Magistrate alongside local scholars. This county's literary tradition is the finest in Lingao, with many academies to oversee. The triennial provincial examination also falls under the Magistrate's responsibility. And since Nanhai occupies half of Guangzhou City, the metropolitan examination requires his attention as well. The asylum system and the Hall of Chaste Women go without saying. The West and North Rivers flow through this county, and since the Jiajing reign, Guanyaojiao and Lubaochong have gradually silted up, causing frequent floods that demand relief efforts to soothe the people. Any Magistrate who manages to build even one or two water conservancy projects earns the reputation of a great official. Beyond all this, there's bandit suppression, tax collection, receiving superiors and seeing off guests..."

Zhang Xiao's head began to throb just listening to this litany. Ming Dynasty governance separated officials from clerks; only officials and a handful of "permanent staff" received government salaries. More than ninety percent of county government personnel worked without pay. Moreover, the question of local finances in the Ming had always been murky at best. Magistrates bore heavy responsibilities but commanded pitifully few resources. In a remote backwater like Lingao, life would actually be easier. But in a "Thoroughfare" and "Busy" place like Nanhai County, being magistrate offered great prospects—yet came with crushing pressure. Hence the terms Wearying and Difficult.

How did things compare now? The Senate had at least equipped him with far more established personnel than the Ming ever had, and he needn't worry about paying wages. Meaningless rituals—moral exhortations, Confucian Temple sacrifices, offerings to ghosts and gods—had been abolished. The Guangzhou Cadre School now handled civil servant training and selection. The Guangdong Region National Army provided local security. The Guangzhou Finance and Tax Bureau led tax collection efforts. The drawback was that cross-departmental matters were the easiest to pass off onto someone else; doing well was difficult, and doing badly meant taking the blame. As for hosting and entertaining officials—with everything still being built from the ground up, the Senate hadn't yet degenerated into the bureaucratic decadence of the Ming and Qing dynasties. There shouldn't be much wining and dining of superiors or escorting fellow officials on scenic excursions.

That left education, health, water conservancy, and developing the local economy as areas where he could actually achieve results.

Yet even these, under the Senate's demanding vision of modern governance, were no small undertaking.

A thousand threads above, one needle below, as the saying went.

Zhang Xiao continued his inquiry. "I've long heard that Nanhai and Panyu rank among the wealthiest lands under heaven. Taxes here aren't as heavy as in Su, Song, Chang, and Tai [Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Taicang]. So why are there still so many arrears?"

"The Chief surely already knows: official-merchant collusion to evade commercial taxes, Guiji [registering land under another's name], and Feisa [shifting the tax burden onto others]. The great families' landholdings grow daily, while the number of people actually paying taxes shrinks daily," Wei Bifu replied.

Zhang Xiao nodded. He had witnessed these methods in Lingao as well; they had once been key obstacles during the tax reforms of Lingao and Hainan.

Official-merchant collusion in the late Ming had reached epidemic proportions. Some smuggling vessels could pass as legitimate maritime traders simply by paying enough bribes to officials. Conversely, legitimate ships that failed to pay could find themselves blackmailed with invented pretexts to extract taxes. Guiji was a scheme whereby owner-peasants and small landlords falsely registered their land under the names of gentry who enjoyed tax exemption privileges, thereby evading corvee labor and taxes. Feisa involved landlords colluding with officials to break up their land tax obligations into fragments and scatter them onto other farmers' land to avoid payment. Over time, officials' and gentry's pockets swelled while the national treasury shrank day by day.

"How do they make up for the owed taxes?"

"The Chief is probably unfamiliar with 'Dinggong Xushui'—Fixed-Bow Empty Tax," Wei Bifu said. "The suffering and exhaustion of the Yue people finds no greater cause than Nanhai's Dinggong. The term Dinggong exists nowhere else but here."

"Oh? Explain this 'Fixed-Bow Empty Tax' to me," Zhang Xiao said.

"In the ninth year of Wanli, Nanhai's land was surveyed. Floods had caused widespread erosion and collapse. Calculating against the quota of over 15,400 qing established for this county in the sixth year of Longqing, the lost quota amounted to 1,828 qing. The officials in charge at the time dared not report this loss. Compelled to fulfill the original quota regardless, they used the actual measurements from the ninth year of Wanli, counting 0.0836 of a unit as one mu, then adding an empty tax of 0.0164 per mu to compensate for the unmeasured loss. This is the origin of the name Dinggong. To make up the lost quota, they actually added 400 qing beyond the original Longqing quota. Nanhai County thus incurred a total of 2,228 qing of Fixed-Bow Empty Tax—more than 7,780 taels of silver assessed annually on land that simply didn't exist. Despite continuous supplementary payments, the amount still falls short. For fifty years now, the people paying empty tax have surrendered over 300,000 gold. The people of Nanhai are utterly drained." Wei Bifu finished speaking, deliberately drawing out the final syllables to convey his earnestness.

Zhang Xiao gave a cold laugh. "Quite the ingenious scheme. I suspect it wasn't as simple as flood damage. You officials probably skimmed off a fair share of benefits, didn't you?"

Wei Bifu tensed immediately. He had only been in office for less than a year—just eating hotpot and singing songs when the Kun thieves attacked, as the saying went. How much silver could he possibly have embezzled? The "share" he was entitled to hadn't even reached his hands yet.

While he was still pondering how to respond, Zhang Xiao moved on without pressing the point. "With such a heavy burden, do the local gentry have no complaints?"

"The Chief sees clearly: both gentry and commoners in the county have long resented this matter. The former Nanhai Magistrate Huang Xiyin was close friends with the former Guangzhou Prefecture Judge Yan Junyan. The two had discussed this issue extensively, and so Brother Yan submitted a petition requesting that, in accordance with the clear example set by the Grace Edict Statutes, the Dinggong Empty Grain Tax be exempted to relieve this long-festering grievance."

(End of Chapter)