The Daily Life of a Rich Peasant's Boy in the Imperial Examination

Chapter 1506 Lack of enthusiasm for tax collection indicates a problem with one's mindset.

Dege'er led the Sun Wang caravan off again. Uncle Sun waved goodbye reluctantly and said, "Dege, do a good job. Make a lot of money and get rich. Your father's happiness depends on you."

Upon hearing this, Dege'er paused, then left quickly without looking back.

Originally, I was going to linger and chat with Sun Shan for a bit, but after Uncle Sun said that, my speed instantly changed from riding a bicycle to riding a rocket, and I led the team away in a flash.

Little Fatty and Little Blackie stood on either side of Uncle Sun, watching Dege'er's departing figure with reluctance.

The chubby girl complained, "Blackie, did Derber hear what I said at the end?"

The girl with dark skin said uncertainly, "Xiaoxiao, I don't know either."

The chubby girl muttered, "This time I don't want big dates, I want big gold bracelets."

The little black girl comforted us, saying, "Xiaoxiao, Derber will bring us back a big gold bracelet."

As for Hu Ming? He was sent to school by Sun Shan early in the morning and did not appear at the farewell scene.

Pay attention once, but don't care twice.

There will be many more business opportunities for Dege in the future, and we can't always have to see him off and disrupt his studies.

Not long after Dege'er left, Yuanlu County began a vigorous campaign to collect grain taxes.

This was also the happiest and most exciting moment for all members of the Yuanlu County government.

Hehe, once the grain tax is collected, the wages will be plentiful.

A healthy society should rely on commercial taxes, but unfortunately, commerce is not very developed.

In addition, commercial taxes suffer from serious corruption, tax evasion, and double taxation, resulting in a large amount of tax revenue being intercepted by intermediaries and failing to become an important pillar of tax revenue.

"Land tax" refers to the relative stability and controllability of agricultural taxes.

The imperial court prioritized agriculture and suppressed commerce, maintaining tight control over land and closely monitoring grain taxes.

In Yuanlu County, "land tax" accounts for 80% of the total tax revenue.

The entire staff of the yamen was thrilled when they heard that a grain tax would be levied.

The usually lazy Magistrate Wang walked happily to the front line and said with a smile, "Sir, I will write the notice immediately. Hehe, it's time to collect taxes."

He then asked, "Sir, should we levy taxes the same way we did in the first half of the year?"

Thanks to the fertilizer provided by bird droppings, Yuanlu County has achieved a bumper harvest of grain.

However, the land tax submitted to Chenzhou Prefecture was fixed, so Yuanlu County had to calculate a tax amount belonging to Yuanlu County based on the yield per mu.

Sun Shan nodded firmly: "We will levy taxes according to the tax rate of the first half of the year."

He paused, then added, "This rule only applies to the use of bird droppings as fertilizer. For those not used, the previous tax rate will apply."

Because there is a quota for purchasing bird droppings fertilizer, it is very clear who used it and who didn't.

Sun Shan is not afraid that anyone will deliberately conceal the farmland that uses bird droppings as fertilizer.

Lord Wang chuckled and said, "Yes, sir, everything as usual. I will take care of it right away."

The lack of enthusiasm for tax collection indicates a problem with their mindset.

County Magistrate Wang's favorite pastime was collecting taxes. As soon as Sun Shan issued the order, he immediately mobilized all members of the yamen to go to the countryside to collect taxes in a grand manner.

Not long after Magistrate Wang went to the countryside, Sun Dingnan returned with the village chief of Da Niao Village.

Sun Shan's eyes widened as he looked at Sun Dingnan, whose face was full of bitterness.

It seems that working in a bird droppings fertilizer workshop is a tough job. Look at Sun Dingnan, he wasn't very handsome to begin with, and now he's even less handsome.

Sun Shan couldn't help but say, "Brother Nan, thank you for your hard work."

Sun Dingnan didn't feel that it was hard work.

Farmers do hard labor everywhere, and besides, he didn't have to do much work at the bird droppings fertilizer plantation; he just supervised the work. Even when they were moving goods, he didn't have to go with them.

All you need to do is coordinate well, manage logistics effectively, and keep accurate records of incoming and outgoing goods.

The work itself wasn't very difficult or arduous, but it was mentally exhausting. I was afraid that if the coordination wasn't done properly, the farmers wouldn't be able to use the bird droppings.

Sun Dingnan is a genuine farmer. If farmers use a lot of fertilizer for various reasons and the crops in the fields don't grow, then that's a sin.

Sun Dingnan smiled and said, "It's not hard work."

Sun Bomin, however, did not think so. Seeing Sun Dingnan's face tanned dark and his black hair now streaked with gray, he felt extremely distressed.

He quickly pulled Sun Dingnan to his side and asked, "Brother Nan, you've suffered so much. The village chief is heartbroken to see this."

Before setting off, the village chief asked Sun Bomin to take good care of Sun Dingnan. What would he say if the village chief saw his chubby grandson looking so old?

Sun Dingnan shook his head again and said, "Grandpa, I'm not tired. It's not too hard at the bird droppings fertilizer workshop."

Sun Bomin disagreed, saying, "How can it not be tough? It's a remote mountain area; it's difficult to even get out. Let alone have a decent meal."

Thinking about the food that Grandpa Xiaoyazi of Da Niao Village cooked, it was almost the same as pig slop, just enough to fill one's stomach, and had nothing to do with "delicious".

The poor village chief's grandson lives a life of misery, even more so than in Sunjia Village.

Su pursed her lips, seeing Sun Bomin again pitying this person and that person.

Hmph, what hardship is there? Working with her family's Shanzi is pure bliss, how could it be hard?

Uncle Sun thought so too, and quickly stopped Sun Bomin from showing pity.

He patted Sun Dingnan on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Brother, how can a young man succeed without enduring hardship? Our Nan-ge is capable, which is why Shanzi entrusted him with such an important task. Hehe, look at his physique, so strong, he doesn't suffer at all."

Sun Dingnan agreed, saying, "Third Master is right. Master asked me to stay in the workshop to work, so I have to do a good job and not let Ashan down."

Uncle Sun gave Sun Dingnan an approving look.

How pleasant it is to hear the greeting "Third Master".

He raised an eyebrow and said cheerfully, "Nan-ge'er is really perceptive. No wonder Shanzi has his eye on him."

Seeing that they had finished talking, Sun Shan took Sun Dingnan to his study and asked him about the workshop's situation these days.

Sun Dingnan explained in detail: "Master, the task will be completed this month if the fertilizer for next spring is finished."

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Sir, some merchants from the neighboring county have come to ask if we sell our fertilizer here. They also want to use our fertilizer."

Despite the lack of radio and telephones in Yuanlu County, the speed of information transmission is by no means slow.

The moment fertilizer was used here, word spread over there.

After two seasons of bird droppings fertilizing the land, the neighboring county of Yuanlu was green with envy at the sight of their crops.

They wished they could move the county monument and become citizens under the jurisdiction of Yuanlu County, so they could also use fertilizer.

Businessmen are often the most astute; this is a blatant business opportunity, and naturally they want to seize it.

As a result, people traveled from afar to the bird droppings fertilizer workshop to negotiate the sale of bird droppings fertilizer.

Sun Dingnan continued, "Sir, I have given a unified reply that we will not be selling bird droppings fertilizer to outsiders for the time being, and those people are extremely disappointed."

Sun Shan never expected that bird droppings fertilizer would be so popular, with these merchants coming to his door again and again to buy it.

I thought it would take some time before people outside the community believed in the effectiveness of fertilizer.

In Yuanlu County, the fields of neighboring villages yielded a bountiful harvest, yet a small number of people, despite their intelligence, refused to believe it and were unwilling to buy fertilizer.

Sun Shan believed that outsiders would be even less likely to believe it.

It seems that the great wisdom of Yuanlu County misled Sun Shan.

They misjudged the situation, mistakenly believing that bird droppings fertilizer needed to settle before it could be widely publicized and believed.