The two-year deadline had arrived, and both the Emperor and the Ministry of Revenue were intensely curious about Gu Fengchao's promise that Yong'an Prefecture's tax revenue would satisfy the imperial treasury.
Initially, to be hst, n of them—including the Emperor—had taken Gu Fengchao's words seriously. They thought that even with the imitation silver charcoal kiln, tax revenue would at most double compared to previous years. Could it possibly increase tens of times?
Therefore, the Emperor's task for Gu Fengchao, the County Magistrate, was simply to double the tax revenue within two years. He didn't expect them to achieve anything spectacular.
However, the reality was that this task had been exceeded and completed ahead of schedule, as early as last year.
The tax system was based on the Zu-Yong-Diao system, requiring two tax collections per year: spring taxes and autumn grain taxes.
Both the poll tax and the land tax had to be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue. Other taxes, such as commercial taxes, unless forcibly levied by the court, were generally for the local county government's self-sufficiency.
The commercial tax system was also quite detailed. Taxes for ordinary vendors were extremely low, percent. But for large-scale businesses like Chen Liejiu's, which involved tens of thousands of taels annually, the tax rate was much higher—thirty percent.
The year before last, Chen Liejiu paid over thirteen thousand taels in commercial taxes to Magistrate Wu of Mishan County. Magistrate Wu was overjoyed. He not only repaired roads in various villages of Mishan County but also procured a significant amount of ginger seeds from across Changnan and distributed them to the villagers under his jurisdiction for planting.
Although the ginger they grew couldn't be sold to medical clinics in Shengbei like the ginger grown by the villagers of Xinghua Village, the demand for ginger planting was high. The ginger they grew could be kept as seed ginger. When the ginger planting season arrived, buyers would naturally come for the seed ginger.
The poll tax was a fixed quantity of silk and cloth paid per household, based on population. This would only increase significantly if Yong'an Prefecture's population exploded; otherwise, it generally remained stable.
The land tax, however, was different. It was a ten percent levy on the harvest output of agricultural crops.
Thus, last year, relying on ginger, Mishan County paid a land tax of over thousand taels to the state. Xinghua Village al contributed over three hundred taels in ginger tax, not to mention other crops.
And this was just the land tax from Mishan County. What about the other counties?
Magistrate Sheng of Pingxi County, with the help of his son-in-law Duan Youyan, who was skilled in medicine and whose family ran an herbal medicine shop, knew that Pingxi County was most suitable for growing astragalus. With such a capable in-law family, Magistrate Sheng directly promoted astragalus cultivation in several villages simultaneously.
While astragalus typically takes two to three years to harvest in most regions, the soil in Pingxi County was exceptionally suitable. Not only was the quality high, but it could also be harvested once a year, with a yield of about five hundred jin per mu.
Due to its high quality and high demand for astragalus in medical clinics, despite the price not being low, Magistrate Sheng had little trouble selling it. The astragalus grown just in the experimental villages allowed Magistrate Sheng to pay five hundred taels in land tax to the Ministry of Revenue.
Anning County's sugarcane sugar was even more remarkable. Sugarcane is a high-yield crop. Through the collaboration of Anning County's magistrate and Meng Fangxun, who took pride in ginger cultivation, experiments were conducted in Meng Fangxun's village.
Sugarcane yield per mu could reach between three thousand to five thousand jin. About twenty jin of sugarcane produces jin of sugar, so mu of land yields at least hundred fifty jin of sugar. With sugar priced at hundred wen per jin, the income per mu was at least fifteen taels. Although the villagers wouldn't necessarily earn the full fifteen taels, and it wasn't as lucrative as ginger or astragalus, it was stable.
Ginger and astragalus were expensive precisely because they weren't widely cultivated. Once these two counties promoted large-scale planting, their prices would fall within a few years. Furthermore, too much medicinal material would be hard to sell.
His sugarcane sugar, however, faced no such sales problems. Moreover, villagers were receptive to growing sugarcane.
Last year, after seeing Meng Fangxun's family make a fortune from ginger, many villagers in his village dedicated mu of land to sugarcane when Anning County promoted its cultivation. The whole village, with over hundred mu, yielded over three hundred thousand jin of sugarcane. Purchased at twenty wen per jin, the village profited six thousand taels, paying six hundred taels in tax!
Yunmeng County went even further. Yunmeng County cultivated silkworms, and mulberry trees were everywhere. From April to June, mulberries would fall to the ground, unwanted.
After returning from Taoyuan County last year, the magistrate of Yunmeng County sought out winemakers. During the mulberry ripening season from April to June, over ten masters worked on developing mulberry wine.
They actually managed to create a fruit wine with excellent taste, suitable for all ages. Being a fruit wine, it didn't waste grain, and the raw materials were cheap, even gathered for free.
But the selling price wasn't low. As the dynasty was newly established and needed recovery, private brewing was restricted. Only small-scale workshops were allowed, not large s, so the market had limited wine varieties. Yunmeng County's mulberry wine was in short supply as soon as it launched—it couldn't even meet demand within Yong'an Prefecture, let al other prefectures. It became something my couldn't easily buy.
With the wine proceeds, the magistrate compensated every household in Yunmeng County for the mulberries. The mulberry wine al paid seven hundred taels in taxes!
Finally, there was Taoyuan County. The magistrate of Taoyuan County was profiting immensely. Chen Liejiu's imitation silver charcoal shipped from his port, and now that the charcoal was famous elsewhere, merchants from various places daily took boats to his port hoping to see the charcoal popular in the capital.
Shops in the county town, previously quiet for ten days or a half-month, were now packed daily. Several inns had opened after another.
Furthermore, whether it was Mishan's ginger, Yunmeng's mulberry wine, Pingxi's astragalus, or Anning's sugarcane sugar, all had to pass through his port.
Not to mention, he also vigorously promoted the planting of pinellia tuber in the county. Although the yield per mu wasn't high, the price was astonishingly high, and cultivation was simpler than ginger or astragalus. He mentid it to the village chief of a familiar village, and the chief agreed to lead the villagers in planting it.
Last year, after harvesting the pinellia tuber, he didn't even need to find medical clinics—Jian Medical Clinic from Changnan purchased it all upon hearing. Effortlessly, he paid eight hundred taels in tax.
Just the additional land taxes from these five counties in Yong'an Prefecture increased by two thousand six hundred taels, not to mention other regular taxes.
The previous land tax for Yong'an Prefecture was around three thousand taels. Last year, the land tax submitted was seven thousand taels! More than double!
Gu Fengchao reported that this was just the first year, an experimental phase, and it had already doubled. Starting from the second year, Yong'an Prefecture's revenue should multiply.
Because each experimental village succeeded, surrounding villages and magistrates from neighboring counties saw hope and were all showing signs of readiness to act.
Even without Gu Fengchao's guidance, the magistrates of the other seven counties outside the five counties including Taoyuan were already seeking their own paths.
The entire Yong'an Prefecture was operating like interconnected gears, just as Gu Fengchao had said.
The news that Yong'an Prefecture doubled its tax revenue in just year shocked the entire court, especially the Ministry of Revenue!
Although doubling from three thousand to seven thousand taels didn't seem like much at first glance, what if all prefectures and counties nationwide doubled their revenue? Wouldn't the imperial treasury have a surplus every year?
Especially since Gu Fengchao said this year would see even more—another doubling? Fourteen thousand taels?! The entire court gasped.
Remember, this was just the land tax, not including the poll tax. If poll tax was included, wouldn't Yong'an Prefecture's total tax revenue be around forty to fifty thousand taels? Comparable to some of the most prosperous prefectures! The tax revenue of the wealthiest Suzhou Prefecture was only just over fifty thousand taels annually.
For the previously unheard-of Yong'an Prefecture to now rival Suzhou Prefecture was astounding!
By this year's autumn tax collection, the Emperor couldn't wait to know Yong'an's progress. He directly sent envoys to investigate: first, to see Yong'an's development, and second, to have Gu Fengchao submit the tax revenue directly to the envoys instead of reporting through Changnan, for them to bring back to the capital. He had no patience to wait for the Ministry of Revenue's slow, hierarchical reporting.
The Ministry of Revenue also wanted to know what Yong'an was doing to double its land tax in just year. Both parties agreed to send people to supervise each other and prevent favoritism.
As a result, upon arriving in Taoyuan County and seeing the bustling, crowded streets, the endless flow of traffic, and the rows of shops, they were utterly stunned.
"Are you sure this isn't Suzhou Prefecture?!" The envoys and the Ministry of Revenue officials looked left and right, unable to believe this level of prosperity belonged to a remote county town.
"It definitely shouldn't be!" Some pointed at the many shops still under construction. "Look, many shops are newly built; the bricks on the walls are brand new."
"Indeed." Every followed his gaze and saw that, apart from a very few shops using old bricks, most of the blue bricks on the shop fronts still had the fresh color straight from the kiln—clearly newly built.
The group walked further inland from the dock, discovering the number of new shops was substantial. They marveled as they walked: "In just two years! They've built so many shops in two years? Even the capital couldn't achieve this?!"
"More than that!" another envoy said. "Shops in the capital don't have business as good as these! Look at the common people shopping in those stores—almost every who goes in buys something. That fabric store over there has already served three or four customers buying cloth in just this short while!"
Every observed for a moment and found it was true. Even the busiest fabric store in the capital wouldn't see every customer make a purchase; they would ask prices repeatedly before finally buying from the cheapest store. But not this fabric store—almost no came out empty-handed. This was truly astonishing.
Some else noticed another difference: "And their clothing is also good. In the capital, many people wear patched clothes, but here we hardly see any?"
"There are some, just few." Some disagreed, pointing to a few people on the street with patches. "But although they wear patches, their faces aren't sad. They seem full of energy and purpose."
This was completely different from the common people they had seen everywhere else on their journey south.
Forget the capital—even in the capital, few prominent families had much to smile about these past two years. Take Suzhou Prefecture, the closest to Yong'an, where people lacked neither food nor drink—they were still immersed in discontent over the imperial exam reforms. People elsewhere were numb and lost, but the people here were full of vitality; hope for life sh from their eyes and faces.