Chapter 572: Cui Family
Editor: Atlas Studios
Cui Zhong was from a collateral branch of the Cui family and held the title of the County Deputy in the county office. Regarding the Cui family taking in the hidden households, 50% of those cases passed through his hands. Although he had not come into contact with the core of the clan, just with the booklet in his hand and what Qi Haoran had said previously, it could be determined that they were going to rebel.
When Cui Zhi saw him, he began to suspect that someone had bribed his clansmen to frame the Cui family. Hence, he decisively turned to Qi Haoran and said, “General Qi, can we talk in private?”
Qi Haoran asked curiously, “You two aren’t confronting each other anymore?”
“I think General Qi has some misunderstandings about us. I want to clarify things before that.”
Qi Haoran pursed his lips and waved his hand casually to get the people nearby to give them some space. The three of them were naturally taken away. When there was no one around them, Qi Haoran said, “If you have anything to say, just say it. There’s no need to speak elsewhere.”
Cui Zhi took a deep breath and knelt down to beg for forgiveness.
Compared to a rebellion, he was more willing to admit that he had taken in hidden households. Anyway, everyone was doing this. Although the Cui family was not as influential as before, still, the Cui family weren’t people who could be killed just by a word from Qi Haoran.
When Qi Haoran heard him finish confessing his crime, he snorted coldly and pointed at the tightly shut manor door. “How can you make me believe that you’re only taking in hidden households and not plotting a rebellion?”
Cui Zhi immediately went forward and asked someone to open the door.
The door opened and the suspension bridge was lowered. Only then could Qi Haoran’s army enter.
The expressionless Qi Haoran went in to take a look at the facilities inside.
Cui Zhi quickly handed over the secret register which recorded the hidden households he had taken in these past two years. He didn’t take out the register which recorded those previously taken in.
Qi Haoran only flipped through it before throwing it aside. He got someone to call everyone in the manor over and asked Jin Xin to read Qi Xiuyuan’s decree in public. Then, he stood up and said, “The Imperial Court is rechecking the identity certificates this time and won’t punish those who voluntarily step forward. Moreover, the freehold field that should be included won’t decrease. Starting next year, you won’t have to pay taxes for three years. According to what I know, if you stay here, you have to pay quite a significant rent, right?”
There was a commotion below, but it quickly quietened down.
Qi Haoran tapped his palm with a booklet and continued, “Due to the war in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was heavy taxation in the past few years, causing the people to suffer. The Great General empathizes with the plight of the commoners and has already gotten someone to reformulate the taxes. I don’t dare to promise anything else, but I dare to guarantee that the annual taxes imposed three years later won’t be more than half of last year’s.”
There was another commotion below, and it lasted for a long time. The corners of Qi Haoran’s lips curled up slightly and he did not hush them.
The aristocratic families would not protect those hidden households for nothing. Those hidden households needed to place their fields under the aristocratic family’s name and become servants of the aristocratic family. They also needed to hand over a portion of the harvest from their fields to the aristocratic family, commonly known as land rent.
Land rents also increased with national tax revenues.
The hidden households who relied on the Cui family also knew that the Cui family weren’t good people, but in order to avoid heavier taxes, this was their only choice. Now that there were better conditions, if they could be ordinary civilians openly, they were naturally unwilling to be slaves.
Seeing that the commotion below was getting bigger and bigger, Qi Haoran waved his hand to suppress the discussion below. He casually handed the booklet in his hand to Fei Bai, who was holding a few booklets, and said casually, “These booklets were handed to me by the Cui Family Head. There are names listed on them. However, the treatment of those who take the initiative to step forward is different from those who passively get called out. I’m willing to give you a chance and it’s up to you to grasp it. I’ll stay here for three days. Three days later, those who don’t step forward will be punished as fugitives.”
Qi Haoran turned around and glanced at Cui Zhi and Jin Xin. “You don’t have to worry that the Cui family will take revenge on you. Putting aside the fact that the Cui family’s head has a good conscience, just based on the fact that you were found by me, I won’t leave you behind.”
Cui Zhi’s eyes were filled with malice. He had only given Qi Haoran two secret booklets, but Fei Bai had six in his hands. Those six booklets were obviously random booklets in order to make the people below panic and take the initiative to stand up.
Cui Zhi’s expression was ugly. He was in the wrong previously, so there was nothing he could say now.
Jin Xin shrunk his neck and stood at the side, hoping that Qi Haoran would forget about his existence.
Qi Haoran did not give Cui Zhi a chance to interact with his subordinates and directly locked him up in the manor. The people connected to Cui Zhi were also locked up. The reason he gave was that before the truth was revealed, it was better for everyone to avoid suspicion.
On the other hand, he got his subordinates to secretly bewitch the people in the manor and get them to report that they were hidden households and the fields they had brought with them previously.
This made many slaves who yearned for freedom restless. They wanted to pretend to be hidden households and register their names.
Fei Bai looked at the commissioned officers and chuckled. He whispered, “There’s nothing wrong with that. Anyway, the manor can’t produce concrete evidence.”
“Well, all hidden households have contracts with the steward…”
As a hidden household, they had to sign a slave contract. In order to reassure the hidden households, the manor would usually let the steward of the farmstead sign another contract with them. It stated that they had come to the manor to seek refuge and how much land they had brought with them. Although the meaning was obscure, it was actually proof that they were hidden households.
A true slave did not have that thing.
However, Fei Bai said, “It’s so easy to forge such documents. If anyone wants it, I can get it done. However, this…” Fei Bai rubbed his fingers and hurriedly said, “I don’t want much. It’s just that our brothers have been fighting everywhere for the past few years and haven’t even eaten a hot meal…”
Therefore, a servant exchanged a meal of fine wine and meat for a forged contract.
Servants also had their own channels of information. Although there were soldiers patrolling the manor, the news still spread among the servants who wanted to leave. Many people secretly obtained forged documents.
If that was the case for the servants, the hidden households were even more restless. In addition, Qi Haoran still had the name list in his hands. As they weren’t certain if their names were on it, they decided to turn themselves in.
Hence, in less than three days, some people secretly found Jin Xin and the other county officials who were not detained that night and turned themselves in.
Qi Haoran’s adjutant followed Jin Xin by his side. Even though Jin Xin could tell that those documents were forged, he did not dare to expose them and simply filled in their names.
He only hoped that his family would not be implicated, so he was very obedient.
When Qi Haoran saw that things were going so smoothly, he was a little stunned, too. An older assistant commander advised, “General, you have to restrain yourself too. Timing is on our side this time. If it’s during peaceful times…” He shook his head. In his opinion, things were only going so smoothly for Qi Haoran because he was at the right place at the right time, and he happened to meet with the right people.
It was a chaotic world now. Since they indeed found physical evidence in the Cui residence, Qi Haoran could just say that the Cui family had intentions to rebel and he could wipe out the Cui family. Even if someone questioned it, it would not cause a huge commotion. During peaceful times however, just these weapons and private soldiers weren’t nearly sufficient to determine that the Cui family was going to rebel.
Therefore, he hoped that Qi Haoran could restrain himself and not make a big deal out of it lest things got out of hand. Qi Haoran did heed his advice and told Fei Bai and the rest not to go overboard.
They could inflict some pain on the Cui family, but they must not force them to death.