"This official cannot hold his liquor well, and the journey has left me quite weary. I'm afraid I cannot keep you company this evening."
"This young lady is called Jinyuan. She is the younger sister of a close friend of mine — she has a head for business, so I've been bringing her along to train her."
"I'll leave her to keep you all entertained."
Lin Xuejin was escorted outside by the assembled guests, and when they returned, they found the little girl already seated in the prefect's chair.
Though somewhat displeased, no one said anything. Out of respect for the prefect, they greeted her warmly all the same.
Jinyuan wasted no time in launching into complaints.
"Everyone says living in the capital is expensive — I'd say Qingjiang Prefecture is no different. The costs are simply enormous."
"His Excellency the Prefect has always been a man of honest, upright character. Goodness knows how he'll manage from here on out."
She finished speaking and looked around at everyone with wide, expectant eyes.
The guests exchanged glances. What was this girl getting at?
Good lord.
Was she just flat-out asking for money? Had scholars no shame left whatsoever?
But then many of them reconsidered — actually, asking for money was a fine arrangement. Had there ever been a newly appointed prefect who didn't want money?
As the saying goes, he who takes your gifts is in your debt. Take the money, and wouldn't all manner of things become easier to arrange?
It was only money, after all. Give it! They'd been puzzling over how to hand over funds without making the prefect lose face. Now there was no need to puzzle over anything — the road ahead was wide open and clear.
When the previous prefect had first arrived, everyone had found various pretexts to give him three or four thousand taels combined. This one was asking outright from the start — they couldn't afford to give too little.
Grit your teeth and be generous!
One by one, the guests excused themselves to use the facilities, and found their way to the handful of attendants the prefect had left behind. A few who gave too little were met with a look of undisguised contempt from the young attendant, who asked coolly: "And your master is which gentleman?"
The panic set in immediately. With so many people sending gifts, the prefect might not remember those who gave — but those who didn't give, he would most certainly remember with perfect clarity.
Some guests hastily mumbled that they had misspoken, then gritted their teeth and added another sum.
That evening, when Jinyuan came back, she was beaming.
"Master, guess how much we got?"
"You're smiling like that — it must be a good amount. Let me think... three thousand taels? Five thousand?"
"Hehe — you've nearly finished this year's tax quota in one go! Thirty-eight thousand taels in total!"
"Thirty — thirty-eight *thousand* taels?" Lin Xuejin was stunned speechless.
"Hehe, I didn't think they'd give that much either."
Lin Xuejin laughed — a laugh bleak with grief, helplessness, and heartache. "Ha ha ha. Well then. Well then. Qingjiang Prefecture's entire annual tax revenue barely tops twenty thousand taels, and these men hand over thirty-eight thousand in a single round of gift-giving. These people really are fat with wealth, aren't they..."
On the third day, the prefect sent out invitations and hosted a banquet for the city's prominent figures.
The prefect showed his face at the gathering and then retired, and once again Jinyuan was seated in the same chair.
More than a few guests shuddered at the sight of that familiar silhouette.
Jinyuan furrowed her brows and said, "His Excellency worries himself to the bone over Qingjiang Prefecture. Day and night, all he thinks about is making something of this place."
"Yesterday, His Excellency hit upon a splendid idea."
"Corvée labour has always been a miserable burden. His Excellency had actually been thinking of abolishing it altogether — but then, work still needs to get done."
"So His Excellency concluded that if the workers were well-fed, the work would naturally get done faster and better."
"But how does one ensure everyone is well-fed?"
She looked around at everyone with wide, expectant eyes once more.
She had such an adorable little face — and yet to every person in the room, she looked exactly like a tiger poised to devour them.
Qingjiang Prefecture had roughly a hundred thousand registered households. One able-bodied man per household on average meant a hundred thousand men subject to corvée. In previous years, ten to twenty thousand of them would pay silver to be exempted, which had been a reliable source of income for those present.
To keep one man fed — even on the coarsest grain — cost at least five copper coins a day. Two months came to three hundred coins. A hundred thousand men came to thirty thousand taels of silver.
"His Excellency needs achievements, and this initiative would be reported up as a major accomplishment. His Excellency would not forget the contribution each of you has made. I trust you'll all find a way."
What was there to find? It was only money.
Grit your teeth. Pay.
That evening, Jinyuan returned with two cartloads of silver — another thirty thousand taels.
"Master! Master! This year's tax quota is complete!"
"After submitting the forty-four thousand taels, we still have twenty-four thousand left over!"
Lin Xuejin managed a smile that looked worse than a grimace.
He had expected to spend months persuading farmers, devising plans, working diligently at local governance — half a year at least before the quota might be met.
And yet this girl had done it in three days, and exceeded the target.
He sat in a daze, no longer certain what he was supposed to be doing.
"Jinyuan — what do you think we should do next?"
"It's simple enough. First, clean up the streets — the smell is truly unbearable. Then buy land — or requisition it. Get sweet potato seeds from Taoyuan Village, plant as much as we can, and by the autumn harvest, a great many people won't be going hungry."
Of course. It was that straightforward. Simply follow the same path as Taoyuan Township — keep the people fed. That was all.
Being back in his old position had awakened the old ways of thinking he'd once held.
"Jinyuan — Master Zhao was right about you back then. You are more capable than I am."
The previous year, Taoyuan Township had planted over a thousand mu of sweet potatoes and harvested four million jin in the autumn — enough to feed ten thousand people for a year. By the bare minimum standard of staving off starvation, it could sustain several times that number.
Zhao Baihui was eager to spread the cultivation of sweet potatoes far and wide, but few had come to buy seeds.
Part of the reason was that news simply travelled too slowly in this age. Word of what happened in one village might spread throughout that village easily enough, but rarely reached the next one over.
Part of it was inertia — as long as people could survive, they had no desire to change, and by the time they were desperate enough to want to, they were nearly starving already.
Those with the means and ability to make a difference saw it as none of their concern. They cared nothing for the lives of common people — why would they care what those people planted?
"Jinyuan, take all sixty-eight thousand taels. Buy land and hire people to work it. I want Qingjiang Prefecture to have a good harvest this autumn."
"Understood. Though I should mention — asking everyone for money again will probably be harder from here on. The first time they were all quite generous, but by the second time they'd already coordinated beforehand, agreeing on a total amount and then dividing it up among themselves."
"They may not have that much cash left to spare."
"But that's fine — this time I won't ask for money. I'll ask for land instead."
Lin Xuejin nodded, then shook his head. "No, wait — thirty thousand taels of that cannot be touched. That's the money set aside to feed the labourers."
"It's fine, Master — we can use it. I'll just ask everyone for grain later to make up for it. They've always been very agreeable. They've never once refused me!"
Had the city's gentry overheard that, they would likely have been spitting blood.
When word of the second banquet invitation went out, more than a few men arrived trembling.
"His Excellency is deeply devoted to the welfare of the people. He has a great fondness for land and loves farming too. Why don't we all share how much land each of you owns? Don't be shy — one at a time."
Jinyuan blinked her seemingly guileless eyes and looked around expectantly once more.
The assembled gentlemen fell into despair.
Over ten thousand mu of land changed hands, and Jinyuan departed in high spirits.
The local gentry were beside themselves with fury. When in heaven's name would this wretched prefect finally get out of their lives? Search all of history, forward and backward, and you would never find a more insatiably greedy scoundrel!
Once Jinyuan had secured the land, she went straight to work calculating figures: how many mu one household could farm, how much grain the labourers would need from now until harvest. She worked out the numbers, then went ahead and purchased another twenty thousand mu for sixty thousand taels of silver, bringing the total to thirty thousand mu.
No one dared refuse to sell. Better to take the silver now than to find out what happened when she came asking next time. Receiving payment at all felt like a stroke of fortune.
Five thousand taels remained.
With Jinyuan buying up land in such quantities, there was no keeping it quiet. Throughout the prefecture, wealthy gentry cursed the new prefect's greed with abandon. They'd been told explicitly that the money was going toward grain for a public works initiative — and the whole bloody lot of it had gone into buying land for the prefect's own use. What bottomless avarice! Search all of history, and you would never find a more brazen, shameless human being!
Then another invitation from Jinyuan arrived.
No one wanted to go. No one dared stay away. Many arrived with sliced ginseng tucked in their robes, ready to place a piece under the tongue should the shock prove too much for their hearts.
"My sincerest apologies to everyone. His Excellency simply cannot help himself when it comes to land — he got a little carried away, and as you can see, the money is entirely spent."
"No need for anyone to worry — I won't be asking for money this time."
The guests had barely begun to exhale when the demon child's voice reached them again.
"Everyone surely keeps a fair amount of grain in reserve at home. Why don't we go around and each share how much you have? Don't be shy — one at a time."
*Shy?* Go to blazes with your shy!
Hands flew to pockets for the ginseng slices.