After Dou Ying left, it took Cui Yun several days to readjust to her solitary life of having no relatives nearby.
Winter had arrived. The farming households, who had been busy all year, could finally look forward to some leisure time. However, as the mistress responsible for the livelihoods of over thirty people, she could not afford to rest.
The charcoal kilns puffed smoke day and night, and a steady stream of charcoal was pulled from the kilns to be transported to various locations.
Perhaps the Meng family harbored some lingering apprehension, or perhaps they simply hadn’t found a weakness in Cui Yun yet; regardless, they remained completely dormant during this time.
Consequently, the only remaining issue causing grief for the Lizheng the local village chief was the collection of taxes.
It had been several years since the imperial court abolished the old Zu-Yong-Diao system in favor of the Two-Tax Law, but the process of tax collection had always been fraught with difficulty, resulting in various chaotic disputes year after year.
To put it simply, under the Zu-Yong-Diao system, in addition to land taxes and household taxes, levies were collected based on the number of able-bodied male adults. For instance, if a household possessed three adult males, regulations dictated they could receive a total of one hundred mu of land, divided between hereditary estates and personal allocations. When paying taxes each year, aside from the tax on this one hundred mu of land and the household tax categorized by social standing, they also had to pay a poll tax for those three individual men.
The Two-Tax Law, however, abolished the poll tax entirely, levying taxes solely based on actual land holdings, property, and household registration.
At the founding of the dynasty, when the fires of war had just subsided, the number of households across the empire amounted to only a few million. Thus, the Equal-Field System was implemented, allowing every single individual to receive one hundred mu of land according to regulations.
Yet as the realm stabilized and the populace settled into peaceful labor, generations multiplied. Soon, the available land was insufficient to distribute equally among tens of millions of households. Many people clearly never received their full one hundred mu, yet they were still forced to pay a tax quota calculated as if they held the full amount. Burdened by such heavy taxation, the common folk wept in misery.
Under the current Two-Tax Law, the tax rate was determined by the actual amount of land one owned, while the household tax continued to be paid based on nine distinct wealth tiers.
While this alleviated the burden on the impoverished commoners, the primary beneficiaries under the old Zu-Yong-Diao system had been the tax-exempt official households and wealthy gentry. Now that the Two-Tax Law was in effect, these elites who possessed far greater assets were required to pay substantially more taxes than before. How could they possibly be resigned to this?
As it happened, one of the Lizheng’s duties was to press these elites for tax payments. If they refused to cooperate, and if the Lizheng proved incompetent, he would have no choice but to pay out of his own pocket to fulfill the quotas handed down by the government.
Cui Yun was well aware of the Lizheng’s plight. After the first batch of charcoal was sold, she gathered enough copper coins to cover this year’s tax and handed it over to him.
Qi Shi, the Lizheng, looked over the official tax receipt, a sharp light flickering in his eyes. Feigning ignorance, he asked Qingxi, “Has the Cui family paid too much in tax coins this time?”
Qingxi replied, “Seven qing of fertile land, two qing of woodlands, and the household tax have all been paid strictly according to our actual holdings.”
Qi Shi smiled to himself. He knew precisely what this meant: Cui Qi-niang was preparing to launch a war against her eldest uncle to reclaim her family estate.
In the past, those lands were not in Cui Yun’s hands, so the matter of paying taxes naturally hadn’t been her concern. Now that she had voluntarily paid the taxes for all these properties, she was effectively announcing to everyone that these lands and assets belonged to her.
He had no intention of entangling himself in the Cui family’s internal feuds, but he also had no reason to reject the tax coins delivered right to his doorstep.
With Cui Yun leading the way in paying her taxes, Qi Shi’s work in extracting levies from the rest of the village proceeded much more smoothly.
Not long after, the very villagers who had previously obstructed Cui Yun from burning charcoal came to her door to beg for aid.
“For what reason have you all come to my door today?” Cui Yun asked.
The villagers looked awkward and plagued by guilt. They muttered sheepishly, “In the past, we were foolish. We were incited and misled by others to make things difficult for Cui Qi-niang. We already know our wrongs, and we only hope that Cui Qi-niang can find it in her heart to forgive us.”
Cui Yun replied placidly, “I know you were all merely compelled by circumstances, so I shall not pursue past grievances. What is it that brings you here today?”
Confronted by a woman of such broad-minded magnanimity, the villagers were flushed with shame. They all began speaking over one another, frantically laying out the predicament they needed help with.
As it turned out, they wanted Cui Yun’s assistance in converting their grain and silk into copper coins.
During the era of the Zu-Yong-Diao system, the common folk could simply pay their taxes using grain, cloth, and silk.
However, since the implementation of the Two-Tax Law, the imperial court no longer accepted grain or silk; they demanded hard currency.
The only sources of income for a commoner throughout the year, aside from grain, were the bolts of cloth woven by the female members of their households. Silk cloth was a legally recognized currency in the markets, used regularly to purchase daily goods, which meant the common people rarely accumulated actual copper coins in their homes.
To pull together enough coin for their taxes, they had no choice but to take their grain and silk to wealthy households to exchange them.
The wealthiest household in Zhaoping Township was none other than the Meng family which was precisely why the villagers had previously allowed themselves to be driven by the Mengs to cause trouble for Cui Yun.
But this time, because they had failed to block Cui Yun from reclaiming those two qing of mountain forest as the Meng family desired, the Meng family vented their anger upon them, refusing to convert their goods into coin.
Even when they were willing to make the exchange, they depressed the prices to an extreme degree. Last year, a bolt of silk was worth two thousand coins; this year, the Mengs were only willing to offer one thousand six hundred coins. A loss of a full four hundred coins was something the villagers simply could not accept.
Furthermore, with the final deadline for the autumn tax drawing near, a severe currency shortage was plaguing the region. They truly could not find any other wealthy household willing to exchange their silk without driving down the price.
Somehow, they suddenly thought of Cui Yun, who had so proactively responded to the Lizheng’s call for tax collection.
Having run out of options, they could only turn to her.
Hearing this, Cui Yun’s brows knitted slightly.
It wasn’t that she was unwilling to aid these villagers, but rather that she herself did not possess many copper coins left.
To reward the local garrison soldiers for saving her life previously, she had already handed out a substantial amount of coin. Later, to gather enough for her own taxes, she had even sold her charcoal at ten percent below the market price. At present, even if she had some coins remaining, she could only help one or two households. She simply could not support so many villagers.
Without giving them a definitive answer, she merely instructed them to return home for the time being.
Once they left, Cui Yun asked Qingxi and Xilan how this matter ought to be handled.
Her expression remained perfectly serene without a trace of panic. Observing this, the two servants understood that she wasn’t seeking their advice out of desperation, but was rather testing their capabilities.
Qingxi spoke first, “We can assist them.”
Xilan nodded in agreement, “This maid thinks the same.”
Qingxi continued, “Although the faces they showed us when they obstructed our logging and charcoal-burning were indeed abhorrent, they were, in the end, merely coerced by the Meng family. If Xiao Niangzi wishes to establish a foothold in this township to contend against the Meng family, she cannot do without winning over these villagers. Even if we do not actively court them, we must do our best to avoid making enemies of them, lest they sabotage us in secret.”
Cui Yun nodded. This mirrored her own thoughts. Her foundations were currently unstable; since she could not win over the loyalty of servants like Nanny Du, she could only seek allies among the local peasantry.
The best way to buy people’s hearts was to extend a helping hand when they were in dire straits.
“…The only issue is that the copper coins remaining in our storehouse are scarce. Thus, what we must consider is not whether we should help them, but how we can help them,” Qingxi added, completing his thought.
“Xiao Niangzi, Nanny Du might still have copper coins in her possession,” Xilan suggested in a low voice.
Cui Yun lowered her eyelids, concealing the brief flash of internal conflict in her eyes.
As if remembering something, Xilan added, “However, Nanny Du will certainly be unwilling to part with them. Even if she is, she would undoubtedly humiliate Xiao Niangzi first before handing them over. Rather than looking for her, it would be better to seek out Vice-General Zhang.”
Cui Yun raised her eyes to look at her, while Qingxi wore a face of complete bewilderment: “What use would it be to find Vice-General Zhang?”
“What do you think military stipends are paid with?” Xilan countered.
Realization dawned upon Qingxi.
During the era of the Fubing militia system, soldiers were required to bring their own provisions. Later, when that system collapsed and was replaced by a recruited professional army, the military stipends distributed by the imperial court consisted primarily of clothing and grain, supplemented by coin.
Consequently, the soldiers in the army would keep their monthly grain rations for themselves, while saving the coin to send back to their families.
Cui Yun shook her head and said, “Let us try Nanny Du first. We cannot rely on Vice-General Zhang for every single matter.”
She worried that the more frequent her interactions with Zhang Zhaoge became, the deeper their entanglements would grow. Each interaction was like a single thread; if too many threads intertwined, their relationship would end up as a tangled mess, which was by no means a good thing.
Cui Yun went to find Nanny Du, and as expected, she hit a wall.
Nanny Du had been watching coldly as Cui Yun resolved those previous difficulties. Upon learning that the young mistress had actually paid the land taxes for all the family estates, she immediately saw through her intentions. Without hesitation, she dispatched someone back to Nanyang County to report the news to Cui Yuanfeng.
“To think that Qi-niang would guard against us to such an extent. We are her own flesh and blood!”
Wei Yannia, the wife of Cui Yuanfeng, expressed deep grief over Cui Yun’s clear estrangement from the clan.
Cui Yuanfeng’s face was dark, yet he remained silent.
His second son, Cui Duo, looked particularly indignant. “How can she be so ungrateful? If our family hadn’t stepped in, those estates of hers would have fallen into the hands of outsiders long ago.”
Beside him, his wife, Wang Yi, curled her lips and remarked, “If you ask me, she simply has too much time on her hands. Once she is married off and her mind is occupied with serving her husband and raising children, she won’t be obsessing over those lands all day long.”
“You always insisted she would eventually understand our good intentions. See now? We helped her, only to breed an enemy!” Wei Yannia could not help but grumble at Cui Yuanfeng.
Only then did Cui Yuanfeng finally speak, “Enough. She lost both her parents and has spent these past few years living under someone else’s roof. Her heart is filled with insecurity, so it is only human nature that she desires some assets to rely upon. You are her aunt, her brother, and her sister-in-law; you ought to show her more tolerance.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “Our new daughter-in-law’s words just now reminded me. Qi-niang is already seventeen, and she recently concluded her period of ritual mourning. This grand matter of her marriage can no longer be delayed; it is time we begin looking for a suitable match for her.”