Zhu Ci took a deep breath and asked, "Who did it?"
It.. it was Miss Jiang who led them..
Jiang Xueyan.. not just her, but also the girls and boys who came along with her; every single one of them, I expect, won't be able to escape.
Zhu Ci felt a sudden headache; had he adopted a bunch of little devils?
He threw the ledger onto the table and said angrily, "Call them all here!"
Li Cheng had originally wanted to plead for mercy, but seeing Zhu Ci's expression, he said nothing and simply slipped away to call everyone over.
The county office was not large, especially since Zhu Ci was currently presiding over the back office, resulting in a crowd of boys and girls standing both inside and outside the room.
Zhu Ci said with a dark expression, "Jiang Xueyan, are you treating my orders like wind in your ears?"
Jiang Xueyan shrank her neck, but then straightened her back and said, "In response to your question, Young Master, those people resisted like mad; we had no choice but to take action."
Forced by necessity?
Zhu Ci was almost moved to laughter by anger.
The Magistrate's retainers didn't even touch you before, after you wiped out all his guards and retainers, do you think the remaining people could resist?
He looked around the room expressionlessly, tapping his fingers on the armrest as he said, "Tell the truth."
Jiang Xueyan pursed her lips, looking extremely stubborn, yet her eyes gradually reddened.
Jiang Quan stood up behind her and said, "Young Master, the Magistrate's family are all bad people; why should we let them off? Many of our people have been oppressed by the Magistrate's relatives. Jiang Xueyan's aunt died by drowning because she refused to become Zhang's concubine."
Zhu Ci fell silent for a long while after hearing this before asking, "Even if they are guilty and deserve death, they must wait until they are convicted before being executed. If everyone in this world ignored the law to settle their personal vendettas, what kind of world would that be? Would you then be safe?"
As a local magistrate, fleeing the city was naturally a crime punishable by death, so Zhu Ci had not held back, his relatives had certainly committed no shortage of illegal acts.
However, Zhu Ci would not use the Magistrate's crimes to implicate his family through collective responsibility; such laws should have been abolished long ago.
He did not pity those people's lives; he was only more worried that these children's values would become warped, leading them away from the righteous path.
Jiang Xueyan knelt down decisively on one knee and said, "Young Master, I was the one who insisted on rooting out the evil completely. I ask for your punishment."
As she knelt, the others followed suit one after another.
Zhu Ci felt a bit of a headache. He thought for a moment and asked, "Which book are you all studying now?"
Jiang Quan replied, "We have already finished studying the Thousand Character Classic."
Zhu Ci waved his hand. "Everyone must copy it three times when you return. Hand it in tomorrow. If you fail to do so, there will be further punishment."
Jiang Xueyan and the others breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Young Master."
After they left, Li Cheng served a cup of tea and said, "Young Master, please calm your anger. Although Miss Jiang acted out of a personal grudge, she did nothing wrong; leaving weeds in the ground will only invite future trouble."
Zhu Ci glanced at him and felt a sudden ache in his teeth; what kind of people were around him, shouting for blood and killing without even blinking?
He sighed and said, "It's not that I think they are doing something wrong, but rather that I worry they will only know how to fight and kill in the future, that those who kill will themselves be killed."
Most importantly, these children were each bolder than the last; this was their first time following Zhu Ci out.
At that time, Zhu Ci did not have time to gather his retainers to follow him, since he was also anxious to gather news, he could only take the older children out first. Oh, even the several girls he had rescued previously had joined him in the confusion to reach the County Town.
So, let alone killing people, this might be the first time these children have ever laid hands on anyone after learning martial arts.
As a result, these children.. didn't even blink.
He did not think these people were all born killers; it was more likely that they had an excess of adrenaline at the time, causing them to not realize anything else, by the time they did realize it, they would be terrified.
Making them stay up late copying books was also a way to prevent them from sleeping, in order to avoid causing them psychological trauma.
The only question is.. will they really suffer psychological trauma?
Zhu Ci was skeptical of this.
He looked through the ledger once and was surprised to find that among the items the Magistrate had taken, there were actually quite a lot of grain.
Zhu Ci couldn't help but take a look at the current accounts of the county magistrate's office; they could only be described as.. a total mess.
Previously, the Magistrate had simply said there weren't enough runners, but now it seems.. it's not just that they're insufficient, there are hardly any people at all!
The County Vice Magistrate said that the Magistrate frequently arrears monthly salaries, which is why everyone has fled.
Working as a runner for the imperial court without getting paid was worse than being a retainer for a wealthy household.
Besides that, the accounts were a complete mess; he took a glance and discovered that taxes had even been collected for twenty years into the future!
That wasn't even the most outrageous part. The most outrageous part was that there were all sorts of strange tax items, such as breeding taxes, garbage taxes, all kinds of other miscellaneous charges.
The livestock tax here means that as long as you raise animals, you have to pay tax, even if it's just a cat, a dog, or even a single bird.
The garbage tax, on the other hand, is charged whenever you throw away trash, the monthly fee is a fixed amount.
Zhu Ci had not known about these taxes before. Aside from the fact that Magistrate Zhang did not dare to collect them, the main reason was that he also held a fake identity as a Scholar.
In the Great Ming, passing the examinations to become a Scholar was like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate; from then on, they would no longer have to pay taxes, no matter what kind of tax it was, it would have nothing to do with them.
Therefore, he had never even come into contact with these tax categories.
It was only natural that these taxes all went straight into the Magistrate's private pocket, since the imperial court had no such tax categories.
Zhu Ci stayed up until midnight, early the next morning, he summoned County Vice Magistrate Li Bingqian and said, "Aside from the taxes stipulated by the imperial court, all other taxes are to be abolished starting today. Remember to post a public notice later, meanwhile, send someone to visit the various villages to notify them."
Li Bingqian glanced at the tax categories Zhu Ci had crossed out, hesitated for a moment, said softly, "Young Master, I'm afraid some of them cannot be abolished."
Zhu Ci looked at him. "Why?"
Li Bingqian explained, "These items are regulations set by the Prefect; all commoners within the Suzhou Prefecture must pay them."
Oh, so it's just exploitation layer upon layer.
He wasn't particularly surprised, after a moment of contemplation, he said, "Has all the tax for this month been collected?"
Li Bingqian nodded. "Yes, most of them have been collected."
Zhu Ci said bluntly, "Set aside the matter of the ranking list for now; I will communicate with the Prefect about it later."
Huh?
Communicate?
What is there to communicate?
Unless this Young Master still insists on canceling these tax items.
He had originally wanted to advise him, but it would have been a thankless task, offending the Prefect would have caused trouble.
But considering that this person could strike with a blade and even kill a Magistrate, coupled with the Crown Prince's decree in his hands.. it seemed.. he truly had no need to fear the Prefect.
He thought of this and decisively shut his mouth.
Zhu Ci instructed again, "By the way, help me post a notice as well. Say that I am recruiting retainers, list the benefits here."
After Li Bingqian took the paper, he saw the monthly salary of two taels written on it, for a brief moment, he even wondered if he could apply to be a retainer himself.
This amount of money was a lot anywhere, he could even imagine how many people would come to enlist when the time came.
Actually, Zhu Ci had no choice. He had originally intended to focus on training elite troops, which was why he had not conducted large-scale recruitment of retainers, but now it seemed that wouldn't work.
With the Qing Army advancing southward ahead of schedule and Nanjing having fallen, he didn't even know where the enemy would head next; he had to start making preparations first and couldn't worry about so much for the time being.
As for the money.. didn't the Magistrate just "subsidize" him with a large sum?
After finally sorting through the situation at the county magistrate's office, Zhu Ci stood up and said directly, "Thank you for your hard work. Go back and rest. I won't be at the county magistrate's office for a while, so handle things as you see fit for the time being. If there are difficult matters that aren't urgent, set them aside for now; if they are urgent, send someone to give me word. I'll be at Xialiang, not far away."
Li Bingqian immediately asked, "Where is the Young Master going?"
Zhu Ci smiled and said nothing.
Where else could he go? To his Xinghuo Factory, of course!
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Is this a group of living Yama Kings I'm raising under my command? Mao looks confused while wiping his blade. jpg
Next update tomorrow morning at six o'clock~
Chapter 60
“Young Master, you have finally returned.”
Zhu Ci looked at Xi Ping's tearful appearance, then looked at the young men behind him, all of whom were covered in wounds, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. "What happened?"
Xi Ping said, "Not long after you left, some Sea Bandits landed.."
Zhu Ci's expression changed. When he left, he had mobilized almost all the soldiers, leaving only a small portion behind to guard the home.
He immediately asked, "What are the casualties?"
Thirty-seven were wounded, ten died.
The only good news, perhaps, was that those Sea Bandits had gained nothing and had stolen nothing.
Zhu Ci arranged for a retainer named Chen Jin to guard the house. After Chen Jin knelt on one knee to report the situation, he said no more.
Zhu Ci asked, "Why was no one sent to report this?"
Whether it be the firearms from the Xinghuo Factory or the firearms stored in the military camps, none could be mobilized without his orders. If there had been firearms in the village, things would not have turned out like this.
To answer you, Young Master, it's too late," Chen Jin said. "The Sea Bandits arrive fast and flee just as quickly; by the time a messenger reaches the County Magistrate's office, it will be too late for anything.
Zhu Ci fell silent for a moment. Sigh, he had previously seized some horses from the mountain bandits, but they had all been taken when he went out to pursue the Magistrate, leaving behind only a few stubborn donkeys and foolish mules. They were fine for daily travel, but one couldn't expect to rely on them to deliver messages.
He rubbed his forehead and said, "Let's save the people first."
Fu Qiulu was somewhat surprised. "Is the Young Master not going to suppress the Sea Bandits?"
Zhu Ci said irritably, "I have no ships and no navy, so what am I supposed to use to suppress them?"
Why did he start with the mountain bandits first? Wasn't it because the danger from mountain bandits was relatively low?
To wipe out the Sea Bandits, one first needs ships, then soldiers who do not get seasick, most importantly, a helmsman who does not get lost.
Originally, he had planned to take things step by step. The Sea Bandits would inevitably come to raid, once they arrived, his current strength would be sufficient to defend the village. Not only that, but he could even capture one or two survivors to force them to reveal the Sea Bandits' lair.
As a result, the Qing Army's sudden arrival had disrupted all of his plans. Now, even with his ships and men, he wouldn't dare venture out to sea easily; who knew what the Qing Army's next move would be?
Fortunately, he had already begun recruiting retainers, quite a few people had come to answer the call.