Xu Youde opened his mouth so wide his jaw nearly dislocated.
As an old fox who had mingled in officialdom for years, his first reaction was—this girl had gone mad.
How was this a reform? This was simply taking a knife and stabbing it right into the hearts of the noble clans!
But.
Xu Youde tremblingly picked up the abacus from the floor, his mind beginning to calculate frantically.
If all the poll taxes were spread across the land acreage...
Clack, clack, clack.
The abacus beads danced under Xu Youde's fingertips, emitting a rapid series of crisp sounds.
The more he calculated, the paler his face became.
The more he calculated, the harder his hands shook.
"This... this..."
Xu Youde stared at the astonishing number on the abacus, his throat feeling as if it were blocked.
According to his daughter's bandit logic, those noble clans that occupied tens of thousands of acres but only had a few dozen family members would have to pay dozens, or even hundreds of times more in silver taxes every year!
Meanwhile, the poor commoners who only had a few acres of barren land but large families would suddenly have no taxes at all because they had little to no land! They wouldn't even have to perform that deadly corvée labor anymore!
This was practically slicing the meat off the noble clans to subsidize the poor!
"Daughter..."
Xu Youde's voice trembled. He looked up at his daughter, who was standing on a chair with a bandit-like expression on her face.
At this moment, in his eyes, Xu Qinghuan's figure was no longer that of a greedy, prodigal daughter.
But a compassionate saint radiating golden light!
"How is this collecting protection fees!"
Xu Youde's face flushed with excitement, his two hands gripping the corners of the table tightly.
"This is clearly... an earth-shattering method to rob the rich to feed the poor and reshape the universe!"
Xu Qinghuan was taken aback by her old man's exaggerated reaction.
No, I just wanted to collect a bit more tax to buy cotton, how did it become reshaping the universe?
Before she could even open her mouth to explain, Xu Youde's overactive imagination had already entered its second stage.
He suddenly realized an even more terrifying, and far-reaching, consequence.
Xu Youde abruptly stood up, pacing in circles around the room, muttering to himself.
"No... it's not just a matter of money..."
"Once the poll tax and corvée labor are abolished, the common people will no longer have to sell themselves into slavery to the noble clans just to evade taxes!"
"Those who signed indentured servitude contracts, the hidden population clinging to the clans, the people who had to work like horses and oxen for others just for a few taels of tax silver... they will be free!"
Xu Youde suddenly stopped in his tracks, turning to look at Xu Qinghuan, his eyes filled with fear of the unknown, as well as deep worship.
Xu Youde only felt a chill shoot straight up from the soles of his feet to the top of his skull, making his scalp tingle.
This was tearing them out by the roots!
This was digging up the ancestral graves of all the noble clans in the world!
"Daughter..."
Xu Youde's voice carried a crying tone. With a thud, he knelt on the ground, old tears streaming down his face.
"Are you... trying to fight against all the powerful elites in the world with your own strength alone?"
"Are you willing to be smashed to pieces, just to usher in an era of peace for all generations?"
Xu Qinghuan looked at her old man kneeling on the ground, completely dumbfounded.
She complained frantically in her heart: "No, Dad, why are you being so dramatic? I just purely want to make money!"
But she couldn't say this out loud.
If she did, her persona would collapse.
Xu Qinghuan could only bite the bullet, trying hard to maintain an unfathomable expression on her face.
She curled her lips disdainfully, raising her hand to point toward the backyard—where the Spinning Jenny was stored.
"So what if I dig them up?"
Xu Qinghuan snorted coldly, her tone brimming with the ruthless cruelty of a capitalist.
"They occupy the latrine without taking a shit. How much money can you make scraping food from the dirt?"
"Driving these people out of the fields is perfect to get them to pedal my sewing machines... ah, no, to work in the workshop!"
"My machines are short on manpower! Hundreds of machines need at least thousands of people tending to them. If these noble clans keep everyone penned up at home as slaves, where am I supposed to recruit workers?"
When these words landed in Xu Youde's ears, they were automatically translated through a saintly filter.
Xu Youde: !!!
His daughter meant that she had already thought of a way out for them!
Not only did she want to liberate these suffering commoners, but she had also prepared a new livelihood for them!
Freeing them from the bitter days of facing the yellow earth with their backs to the sky, letting them enter that so-called workshop to live with dignity from now on!
What kind of profound foresight was this?
What kind of merciful heart was this?
"How am I, Xu Youde... so worthy and capable!"
Xu Youde, with snot and tears streaming down, bowed deeply toward Xu Qinghuan.
"To have actually birthed a saint who takes the world as her chessboard and holds the common people in her heart!"
Xu Qinghuan's mouth twitched wildly.
She quickly jumped down and helped her old man up, terrified that the old guy might pass out from excitement.
"Dad, don't rush to cry just yet."
Xu Qinghuan softened her tone, as if coaxing a disobedient child.
"You also know that those old geezers definitely won't hand over the money obediently. If they dare to cause trouble..."
Xu Qinghuan began to deliver her lengthy speech.
Listening to his daughter's words, Xu Youde silently shook his head in his heart.
Oh, daughter, you are still too young.
Once this merging of the poll tax into the land tax is implemented, it will be slicing the flesh off all the scholars and gentry in the world! It will lead to being condemned by thousands and leaving a stench for ten thousand years!
The civil and military officials of the entire court, the noble clans of the world, they will pounce like mad dogs and tear you to pieces!
How can you... how can you bear such infamy?
Xu Youde looked at his daughter's childish yet feigned fierce face, and the fear in his heart gradually dissipated.
He, Xu Youde, had been greedy his whole life, cowardly his whole life.
He could haggle with someone for half a day over a few taels of silver.
But.
This was his daughter.
The precious daughter he held in the palm of his hand, terrified she might melt!
Since his daughter wanted to be this saint, wanted to be this savior.
Then this murderous blade, this eternal infamy...
Let him, as her father, bear it!
Xu Youde backhanded a tight grip on Xu Qinghuan's hand. Those hands, slightly deformed from years of flicking the abacus, were now incredibly firm.
"Daughter, rest assured!"
Xu Youde took a deep breath, his eyes burning with the flames of looking death in the face without flinching.
"Dad will be the villain!"
"Dad will shoulder the burden of offending all the powerful elites in the world!"
"Dad will submit this memorial to the throne!"
Xu Youde gritted his teeth, enunciating every word: "Even if it means being smashed to pieces, even if it means our entire family is executed... Dad will definitely help you push this tax reform through!"
"As long as Dad still has a breath left, I will absolutely not let anyone touch a single hair on your head!"
Xu Qinghuan: ???
No, Dad, calm down.
I just want to make some money to buy cotton, how did it turn into being smashed to pieces and getting our whole family executed?
Weren't we just discussing how to collect taxes reasonably?
Isn't the direction of this plot a bit off?
"Dad, it's actually not that serious..." Xu Qinghuan tried to salvage this derailed vibe.
"No! It is very serious!"
Xu Youde waved his large hand, interrupting his daughter's words.
Outside the window, a flash of lightning tore through the night sky, illuminating Xu Youde's figure and making him look incredibly tall and imposing.
"Li Sheng!"
"Come! You will ghostwrite for me!"
Xu Youde shouted loudly, his imposing manner like a rainbow.
Xu Qinghuan was awed by this sudden burst of domineering aura.
In her heart, she was frantically cursing the system.
System, come out and explain this. What kind of evil spirit has possessed my dad? Did I feed him some weird mushrooms?
As usual, the system ignored Xu Qinghuan.
Xu Qinghuan rolled her eyes.
Forget it, I am exhausted, let the world burn.
As long as I can make money, he can mess around however he likes.
Li Sheng picked up the brush. Although his wrist was trembling slightly, his strokes were incredibly firm.
On the rice paper, he wrote several large, bold characters that seemed to pierce through the page:
Memorial Requesting the Merger of the Poll Tax into the Land Tax.
Your subject, Xu Youde, Magistrate of Jiangning, kowtows and weeps blood to report: The flaw of the world lies in the land not paying grain taxes, while the people drift like duckweed...
Every word was like a hammer, smashing ruthlessly against the icy surface of Jiangning's stagnant waters.
The rain outside the window fell heavier and heavier, and the wind howled as if a giant beast were awakening.
Looking at her old man, Xu Qinghuan suddenly felt that his chubby back did not seem quite so wretched anymore.
In fact... he even looked a little bit handsome?
Tsk, the old man is really going all out to get money for me.
Xu Qinghuan sighed silently in her heart. Then, she pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from her clothes, leaned against a pillar, and snacked on the seeds while admiring this touching scene of a father's towering love.
If she had known what kind of stormy waves this memorial would cause once it was submitted, she probably would have stuffed the sunflower seeds directly into Xu Youde's mouth right then and there to gag his righteous words.
But at this moment, all she could think about was the silver that was about to roll in, and the rows of rapidly operating Spinning Jennys.
The night in Jiangning City was deep and heavy, and this memorial, soon to be sent to the capital, was destined to turn into a bolt of lightning tearing through the night sky.
Let it blow this seemingly calm but actually rotting officialdom of the Great Qian Dynasty entirely upside down!
