Chapter 1154 - 1156: Imperial Decree_1
Yangyang blinked in confusion, as if trying to decipher the meaning of that sentence.
Just when it seemed like he wasn’t going to say anything more, he pointed to himself and asked, "Then am I stupid?"
Ye Zi’an was a little dumbfounded by his question.
It was Yang Chuxia who said, "You told him that smart people don’t say they are smart which he interpreted as not calling yourself smart means calling yourself stupid. So when he says he’s stupid, of course, what he wants to express is that he’s smart, but he just phrased it differently."
Ye Zi’an paused for a while before saying, "Son, I take back my words when I called you stupid earlier." If this is called stupid, then what’s considered smart?
"Pfft..."
Yang Chuxia couldn’t help but laugh, and even Lele the bun found it amusing.
Meanwhile, Yangyang was baffled, What is everyone laughing at?
His little puzzled face made Ye Zi’an unable to help but cover his face, "Is he really smart or just foolish?"
Yang Chuxia, slightly irritated, rolled her eyes, "You’re worrying about this too soon, your son is only a little over one year old."
Just then, Ming Liu came in with a box and after setting it on the table said, "Young master, Ye Yi is looking for you outside."
Ye Zi’an went out shortly after hearing this.
A quarter of an hour later, he came back with an unmistakable joy on his face.
"What’s got you so happy?"
"The imperial court has issued a decree. For the next five years, all the taxes collected in Mianyang County don’t need to be handed over to the imperial court, they can be freely allocated by the Mianyang governmental office."
Even as poor as Mianyang County was, its annual tax revenue was not small and now without having to hand it over, they could allocate it themselves. This meant that there was funding for building dikes and improving water conservancy.
"How did the court come to issue such an order?" Yang Chuxia was quite surprised at this.
"Hmph, when I first arrived in Mianyang last year, I knew the Governmental Office of Mianyang was poor and lacked funds for any project. I thought about applying to the prefecture for silver, but Principal Clerk Zhou said they apply every year but have never gotten approval. So, I thought about tapping into Mianyang’s tax revenue. You know that Mianyang only keeps thirty percent of the total tax it collects, seventy percent has to be turned over to the imperial court. But once the silver enters the imperial treasury, getting them to allocate funds for our water conservancy projects is begging to no avail. Since that’s the case, I wondered why not keep the other seventy percent as well? The Emperor can wait for Mianyang’s situation to improve before taking tax. So I brought up this issue with the prefecture, hoping they would petition for it on our behalf."
Talking about this, Ye Zi’an was quite unsatisfied; they were quick to collect taxes, but slow to allocate funds for infrastructure.
It was essentially taking from the people and then not investing it back.
So, he discussed the matter with the chief, but that chief turned out to be someone afraid of stirring trouble.
It was a pity for such a good position to be wasted.
Seeing his disgruntled expression, Yang Chuxia somewhat understood, "The prefecture did not agree?"
"Of course, they wouldn’t agree; they’re all afraid of being blamed by the imperial court. That’s why I had my uncle forward a petition directly to the Emperor. Hmph, if they are too timid, then I’ll do it myself. But the Emperor’s reply was really slow, almost missed this year’s tax collection."
"You, you directly went over the head of your superior, aren’t you afraid the chief will make things difficult for you?"
"Afraid of what?" Ye Zi’an shook his head, "As long as I achieve something significant, the Prefect of Jiangsu wouldn’t dare to give me a bad evaluation. Besides, if I do well, he gets a share of the glory too."
Ye Zi’an’s reasoning was sound. It was him who went to the court; if the court was displeased, they would blame Ye Zi’an, not the Prefect of Jiangsu.