Chapter 1465: Training (Part 4)

Zhao Mingming worked hard and stood out in the Household Department. Not only the Chief Clerk, but even the County Magistrate knew of her.

Doesn’t the Chief Clerk want to advance further?

Doesn’t the County Magistrate want to rise in rank?

With such an outstanding subordinate, they were naturally pleased. Zhao Mingming was not foolish, as her achievements would be the Chief Clerk’s achievements, and the Chief Clerk’s achievements would be the County Magistrate’s political accomplishments.

Moreover, after Zhao Mingming positioned herself as a humble and cautious minor official, she became quite capable of winning people’s hearts.

The population and farmlands had not yet been fully inspected, and with the summer harvest concluded, the government began to collect the summer tax.

As it happened, tax collection was also the responsibility of the Household Department, which similarly required collaboration across various departments. By this time, Zhao Mingming had already become the most valued deputy under the Chief Clerk. Even Fan Lianyin and Zu Daosheng were valued by their superiors for their outstanding abilities, with increasing responsibilities of growing importance.

After the establishment of the new dynasty, to support the Tenant Land System, the state implemented a tax system known as the Rent Seeking Tax, which partially continued the tax policies from the Wei Jin period, with some optimizations in the details.

For example, the tax rate was reduced from the previous ten percent to three percent, additional specific taxes for merchants and artisans were included; and the rent, labor, and tax were collected in two phases, reducing the one-time tax burden on the people, allowing for announcements of favorable taxes for the public according to the seasonal differences between summer and autumn.

Since the establishment of the new dynasty, the court has reduced taxes and labor annually, with different mitigation policies in different regions.

In the past, commoners avoided the government, but now, the bulletin boards in front of the government office and schools have become their favorite places.

Every afternoon and evening, after meals, people would go to the bulletin board for a round. Anyone who went to the county government for the market, no matter how busy or tired, would also go there before leaving.

Ever since Zhao Mingming started working, she would make time to visit the bulletin board whenever possible.

Not just to see the information on the bulletin board, but also to communicate with those who came there.

The County Magistrate noticed and was very satisfied with her, so he said to the Chief Clerk, "She is quite motivated; I think she should be responsible for the bulletin board as well."

The Chief Clerk smiled and agreed, "I have seen her handwriting; it is excellent. She is quite suitable for handling the bulletin board."

The County Magistrate stroked his beard and lamented, "It’s a pity that she comes from a poor family and couldn’t continue her studies. Otherwise, with her talent and ambition at this age, she could definitely try the national exams."

The Chief Clerk immediately said, "It’s not impossible. I visited their rented house, and there were books like the ’Spring and Autumn Annals’ and various commentaries on the table, so it seems they haven’t given up on their studies. Maybe she will take the provincial exams in the future."

The court limits the age for national exams to fifty and does not limit the applicant’s status, meaning she could still take the exams even as a clerk in the county government, as long as she passes the provincial exam.

This is one of the reasons why the Chief Clerk is willing to support Zhao Mingming.

Young, talented, ambitious, and determined, he believes there is a high chance she will take the provincial and national exams and likely succeed.

So he supported her and built a good relationship, as if making an investment.

It’s easy to add flowers on the brocade, but difficult to send charcoal in the snow. The Chief Clerk believes he is sending charcoal in the snow right now.

In the future, if Zhao Mingming passes the national exams in China and becomes an official, her starting position would be a County Magistrate, and the highest could be a Prime Minister.

If he can associate with her, in the future, even if not him, perhaps his son may benefit from this connection.

The County Magistrate had similar intentions, so he was happy to entrust some important tasks to her.

For example, Zhao Mingming was promoted to the group leader this year for collecting increased taxes, leading people in the county government to verify the submitted tax grain.

Zhao Mingming drafted their county’s tax policy for this year, and then posted it on the bulletin board.

The County Magistrate had already explained the tax policy for this year to the village chiefs of each village.

Their county was a poor county in Xuzhou, with the downside being obviously poor.

The advantage was that every year, their county was always on the list for tax reductions by the court, and this year was no exception.

The court’s directive was that this year’s Ding tax would be halved with no national service, and the land rent was set at forty in a hundred, significantly lower than Lin County’s thirty in a hundred.

Their county’s land was poor, and grain yields were always inferior to those in neighboring counties.

Many people knew that the new annual tax policy was being released soon, so many people stayed around the square.

Seeing Zhao Mingming bring the Government Official over to post the notices, everyone immediately gathered around.

After posting the notice, Zhao Mingming did not leave but stood by and read it aloud for everyone, answering their questions as well.

Hearing that this year’s Ding tax would still be halved and even the land rent was less, everyone was very happy and immediately said, "We will go back to prepare the grain tax right away."

They left as soon as they confirmed the news, rushing home.

An elderly man looked at the words on the bulletin board and sighed, "Great, great, the family can save some more grain this year."

Zhao Mingming heard this and asked, "Aren’t you going to sell it? If you store grain until next year, it will become old grain."

The old man laughed and said, "We will sell some, but it’s more important to store it. We need to have enough grain saved for next August, just in case the summer harvest isn’t good, we won’t starve."

In fact, their family would store a year and a half’s worth of grain. Having lived through wartime and grain shortages, storing only enough grain for the following May would make him nervous; he preferred to store it until the spring of the third year.

This way, even if next year’s harvest was poor, their family wouldn’t starve, and they’d have a year’s buffer.

Therefore, even if new grain was expensive and old grain was cheap, he was willing to take the loss and keep storing the grain until the spring of the third year.

He would not sell the old grain unless there was a famine.

Zhao Mingming then chatted with him, "So how much Silver Coin does your family make every year?"

"Quite a bit. If there are no conscripted labor drafts, several of my grandsons work odd jobs. They’re from the new dynasty and can read, which makes it easy for them to work either in the brick kiln or run errands in the county city. I have a granddaughter who was fortunate to learn sewing skills from someone and can operate a sewing machine quickly. By working in a clothing shop for just four months a year, she can earn three strings of coins."

Zhao Mingming was amazed, "That’s more than an adult male earns."

"Indeed, she’s even more capable than her brothers," the old man laughed heartily and said, "So she’s also quite assertive at home, her words are final."

He laughed joyfully, his face full of wrinkles, and said to Zhao Mingming, "Every year, the kids in the family can earn this amount for the family. With this money, we’ll be able to build a brick house; otherwise, just relying on farming, the annual earning in Silver Coin wouldn’t even amount to two strings."

Their family was reluctant to sell grain, and with the current low grain prices, their earnings were limited.

For now, they still needed to seek short-term jobs for income, and if the children could find stable long-term jobs, it would be even more lucrative.