Mythical Three Kingdoms

Chapter 2399: Chapter 2117: Blood Replacement

Once the doctors, teachers, and agricultural product retailers successfully settle in, the roads are opened, and the water network construction is completed, even if they return to their hometowns, no one would actually leave. People might complain, but it doesn’t really count as public grievance; it’s more a problem with the execution method.

This is why even when Cui Yan criticizes Liu Ye, Liu Ye remains unaffected and has the leisure to mock Cui Yan for having a mental problem. The most likely point for public discontent has passed, and in retrospect, everyone recognizes that Liu Ye was right.

At most, people just say Liu Ye is too aggressive, and there are problems with his execution method. As for chasing Liu Ye like before, that’s almost impossible now. After all, the facts speak louder than explanations.

Now that the village merging has successfully concluded, the gloves prepared for several years have lost their value, and Chen Xi already has other means to replace the local wise landlords for tax collection.

Previously, Chen Xi turned a blind eye to this matter because there was no network system then. With an official to civilian ratio of eight thousand to one, it was impossible for officials to handle such matters. Moreover, the ratio included the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, those central court officials.

Speaking of the county-level officials, the official to civilian ratio was terrifyingly high. At the time, as an agricultural nation, the biggest part of national income was agricultural taxes. For officials to collect taxes based solely on their efforts was like daydreaming.

In the absence of infrastructure solutions, visiting twenty families a day was already a great achievement. Spending over two hundred days a year for tax collection was simply nonsense.

Indeed, during the Western Han period, it was common for officials to collect taxes directly in the fields during the autumn harvest, but this was only from large households. The small households were actually taxed by these large households.

The so-called local wise men, Three Elders, landlords, and clans often handled local tax collection in exchange for obtaining exclusive local power.

Certainly, there was considerable exploitation involved, as Chen Xi knew. But he hadn’t tackled this issue before because he couldn’t organize a new team to handle it.

Although the local wise men, Three Elders, landlords, and clans had many downsides, they were already there, managing and collecting taxes. Despite their unorthodox and exploitative methods, Chen Xi could still obtain national tax revenue.

But if others were to do it, aside from the local resistance, how could Chen Xi determine the number of taxpayers and regional populations and handle tax evasion, all of which were a series of problems? Thus, until this year, Chen Xi had been calling it out for nearly six or seven years without implementation.

The reason is simple: there was no capital for execution, or no confidence to penetrate the national power structure deeper into townships and villages.

That was before. Now, Chen Xi had unified the measurement standards on one hand, and Liu Ye had forcibly completed the village merging on the other. At this point, the gloves Chen Xi hadn’t dealt with in six or seven years could finally be discarded.

After all, post-village merging, the total acreage and registered population of each village are documented, thus providing an accurate figure for agricultural tax totals for each village.

If the measurement standards weren’t unified and calculations were still done using bushels, discrepancies would arise from different bushel sizes, but it would be much less exploitative than before.

Currently, Chen Xi has already launched new measurement standards and distributed them at the grassroots level. Anyone still using the old standards is likely malicious, and thus disregarding their survival, it’s better to take them all down.

After all, the tax collection model has changed post-village merging. At worst, temporary workers could be recruited annually for tax collection. As for tax evasion, what a joke! Every village’s land is recorded on government ledgers. If you still manage to evade taxes successfully, then the government shouldn’t be considered this incompetent!

Although Chen Xi can be haphazard at times, he certainly plans three steps ahead in major directions. Previously lacking action against the local tyrannical families was due to their significance in securing local tax. Now, having the courage to act means being prepared to bear the responsibility and surpass their performance!

As for now, Chen Xi is confident in extending national authority to reach down to the village level, necessitating a reevaluation of the matters previously overlooked with a blind eye.

“This completely doesn’t solve my problems!” Liu Ye looked at Chen Xi speechlessly. Although he understood the situation as soon as Chen Xi spoke, it didn’t relate to his circumstances at all.

“No, it does relate. With two to three thousand people per village post-village merging, they qualify for a Retinue Officer.” Chen Xi playfully raised his index finger, causing Liu Ye and the others to instantly realize the implications—a blood replacement is in the works?

“I’ve endured and compromised for six to seven years, but it wasn’t idle time. Educational dissemination, infrastructure development, water networks, aristocratic family migration northward, land acreage assessments, village merging—some completed, some ongoing—but collectively sufficient.” Chen Xi declared with pride.

“For years, I’ve been told I’m just shouting meaninglessly. Now, let Suzhi conduct investigations from the top down, and notify all graduates within the last five years to claim an Official Position. All the vacant Retinue Officer positions need filling!” Chen Xi coldly remarked.

“You’ve indeed completed everything before unification.” Li Youu said with mild admiration, recognizing that Chen Xi, who had long turned a blind eye to the bureaucratic system, finally acted as it prepared to share unification benefits.

“Haha, didn’t I say they’d all dance with madness in anticipation of unification’s arrival?” Chen Xi chuckled, “Originally planned for early next year, but seeing as it’s time, let’s start the replacement by year-end.”

“However, have you considered how to handle those at the county-level post blood replacement?” Lub Su asked while lightly tapping the table.

“Expel those severely implicated. Their positions can be filled by Retinue Officers. It indeed needs blood replacement and a boost in officials from low-tier backgrounds.” Chen Xi calmly spoke, “It’s time to cleanse the bureaucratic system of its bad habits.”

“Which to prioritize: ability or ethics?” Liu Ye asked another question.

“I hold little hope for ethics. Self-discipline pales in comparison to legal restraint for most people. Let’s use the law to define the baseline for officials, rather than judging personal ethics.” Chen Xi paused before stating, explicitly showing a preference for candidates based on merit. Liu Ye and the others nodded at this.

“With the laws in place, ethics shine brighter.” Xun Yue said, recognizing that precisely due to widespread legal constraint, human morals appear more radiant.

“Then let’s proceed. I’ll instruct Suzhi to take action on one to two percent of the positions.” Liu Ye nodded. With this decision, let’s proceed; there isn’t much else to say. However, Liu Ye specified the scale to maintain stability.

“That’s sufficient. To me, few of the current students truly qualify for official positions. Hopefully, after some grooming as Retinue Officers, there will be progress.” Chen Xi sighed.

Honestly speaking, Chen Xi knew such actions were skewed. After all, not many among those emerging post-education spread were usable compared to those from aristocratic families, who benefited effortlessly from their surroundings.

Indeed, Chen Xi’s method was not entirely fair, but without it, he had no good recourse either. The advantageous positioning of aristocratic families was glaringly obvious, to the point where Chen Xi couldn’t see any hope.

While ordinary folks toil in the fields, aristocratic family members are receiving guidance from elders. As ordinary folks sow in spring and harvest in summer, aristocratic family members are imitating elders’ actions. When ordinary folks are lucky enough to read from a book, aristocratic family members are already exploring human intricacies.

This isn’t mockery or irony, even when both sides’ study materials are curated by Chen Xi; he remains helpless facing such disparities. The home environment providing aristocratic children with so much outstrips that of ordinary families.

This isn’t just losing at the starting line; accurately speaking, some are born on another’s finish line. In such circumstances, discussing fairness is awkward, even for Chen Xi.

“Why are you eager for students to occupy a portion of county official positions?” Lub Su sighed, familiar with the level of competence due to prior involvement, acknowledging they’re somewhat decent.

“Preparing for the future, that’s all.” Chen Xi replied helplessly, “Below county level, let these Retinue Officer positions be practice grounds for them. Eventually, they’ll step out, so why not gain some experience?”

Lub Su and others fell silent for a while, aware of what’s forthcoming and all nodded. They understood it might be late for these actions, but unavoidable nonetheless. It has taken so much time—even without errors—to advance from the start; Chen Xi certainly gave it his all.

“Let Suzhi handle it.” Li Youu quietly suggested, “Boning, have someone monitor them, and if evidence is solid, just arrest them directly.”

“No issues on my side.” Mann Chong said calmly, despite feeling helpless internally, realizing plans to deal with Fa Zheng and Guo Jia would be delayed again.

“Then let it be. Lord Xuande handle the signings, and I’ll post the Official Announcement.” Chen Xi slowly stated, “Additionally, it’ll be the final notice. Lower official disruptions hold some responsibility from us, wouldn’t you agree?” Chen Xi asked cheerfully while scanning everyone present.