Bizarre Tax Types

The old village chief knelt on both knees, like a candle in the wind, carefully holding seven or eight pieces of broken silver in his hands as if they were precious treasures.

These pieces of silver had been cut into various strange shapes with scissors, resembling silver dregs.

His heart was as clear as a mirror; these pieces of silver combined probably wouldn't be enough for the lords in the city to buy a cup of tea, so he feared Chu Jiang would look down on them.

There was no other way. Besides their worthless lives, this was all the village possessed, not a single tael of silver left.

But to give nothing would lead to an even worse fate.

"Keep it yourself!" Chu Jiang glanced at the silver and continued walking towards the edge of the village. After a moment's hesitation, he stopped and looked back at the old village chief. "You won't have to pay the Demon Extermination Tax anymore."

"If anyone asks, tell them to come find me directly."

The so-called Demon Extermination Tax was merely a means for some officials to extort money.

The imperial court had no such tax; it was a new tax created by local officials.

The imperial court already offered rewards in silver to officials who participated in suppressing demons, but people are greedy. They already had a lot of silver, but they wanted more.

Moreover, fighting demons was too dangerous.

Directly extorting from the common people was a sure profit, a business with no risk. After all, they were submissive and wouldn't resist, and even if they did, they would be suppressed.

After collecting the Demon Extermination Tax, not a single demon was eliminated; at most, they were driven away. This was the current situation in Baishi County.

As for other regions, he didn't know, but he guessed it was probably similar.

While the old village chief was still in a daze, a piece of flawless silver, about the size of a thumb, fell into his hand.

"This is for what the imperial court owes you!"

With that, Chu Jiang strolled away.

He left behind only a receding figure, carrying the heads of a pig demon and a goat demon, gradually disappearing into the sunlight.

"Thank you, my lord!"

The old village chief bowed deeply, kowtowing three times, as he watched Chu Jiang's retreating back.

This bow came from the heart.

Every word Chu Jiang had spoken had shaken his soul.

Even if it was only for this moment, it was real.

The expressions of the villagers of Daxing Village also changed at this moment. It wasn't respect that filled their eyes, but complexity.

Chu Jiang, the "Great Yama King" who had been exploiting them daily, had declared they no longer had to pay the Demon Extermination Tax and had even left them a piece of silver. The world had turned upside down.

"Shouldn't we thank him too?"

"Yes, we should."

Without a word, the nearby villagers followed the old village chief's lead and knelt down.

The villagers behind them, not knowing what was happening, saw those in front kneeling and joined them. Soon, a vast crowd was on their knees.

At this moment.

They seemed to have forgotten that Chu Jiang was the one who had brought the demons yesterday.

Baishi County Yamen.

Chu Jiang, familiar with the route, walked into his office area, the Demon Hunting Office.

The Demon Hunting Office was responsible for matters concerning demons. Only martial artists at least at the First Stage of Body Refinement could be selected to join it. After all, anyone who wasn't even a Houtian martial artist fighting demons was simply seeking death.

The Demon Hunting Office had four captains. Besides the original body, each captain was at least at the Seventh Stage of Body Refinement.

As for the head of the Demon Hunting Office, Li Feng, he was a Xiantian expert.

In the environment of fighting demons, the status of the Demon Hunting Office had risen dramatically. Years ago, it had become independent from the seventh department of the yamen, becoming the largest enforcement agency in the county.

Although the original body's strength was not high, almost no one in the entire Demon Hunting Office, except for the head Li Feng, dared to provoke him.

This was naturally due to his special relationship with the demons.

With this alone, he could act with impunity in Baishi County, a veritable local overlord.

Baishi County's overall situation in the fight against demons was stable. They had passed multiple inspections from higher authorities, saving most people's official positions.

It was also the original body who mediated and navigated relationships in various quarters.

Just then, a thin figure rushed in.

Upon seeing Chu Jiang sitting in the official chair, he immediately put on a fawning expression. "Lord Chu, you're finally back! Without you, our Demon Hunting Office has lost its backbone."

The newcomer was named Zhang Liancai. He was fifty years old and had been with Chu Jiang the longest. He was the original body's most trusted subordinate and represented Chu Jiang outside.

There was a rumor in Baishi County that Chu Jiang was the Great Yama King, and Zhang Liancai was the Old Plague God.

No one liked him.

His methods of accumulating wealth were even more varied; the Demon Extermination Tax was his proposal.

It quickly spread throughout Baishi County and received high praise from the yamen.

After tasting the benefits.

He once again utilized his cleverness and came up with all sorts of bizarre taxes.

Single Tax: Citizens who were still unmarried at eighteen had to pay the Late Marriage Tax. Pay one year for ten years of being unmarried.

Furthermore, if you didn't have a child within three years, you had to pay the Infertility Tax.

Clothing Tax: As long as you were wearing clothes, you had to pay taxes. Some poor commoners, unable to afford the Clothing Tax, didn't even dare to go out.

Rice Tax: You had to pay taxes to eat rice.

Medical Tax: You had to pay taxes to see a doctor and get medicine at a clinic.

Even more extreme, there was even a Sun Tax. You had to pay taxes just to bask in the sun. The excuse was that it was a gift from heaven and earth, and the taxes weren't paid to the government, but to the gods.

The gods would receive the offerings and protect the people from harm by demons.

However, no matter how much money people paid, the demons never stopped, and they continued to harm the populace.

There were countless others like these.

It was purely to create an excuse to extort money. Later, the government felt that there were simply too many types of taxes, and the commoners' opinions were very strong, even leading to significant conflicts.

Only then were many bizarre tax types abolished.

But later, they significantly increased the tax rates and introduced a so-called Tax on All Things. From then on, only this tax would be paid, and other taxes would no longer be collected.

Of course, the Demon Extermination Tax still had to be paid.

Now, only these two types of taxes remain in Baishi County. While it sounds like very few, the amount of money that needs to be paid hasn't decreased much.

In short, what bastards.

But on second thought, he himself wasn't much better. The original owner of this body was also a bastard.

The only difference was:

Zhang Liancai was an old bastard, and the original owner was a great bastard.

The identity he had transmigrated into was truly a terrible start, like a pile of bombs strapped to him, ready to explode at any moment.

Chu Jiang sighed inwardly, but his face showed no expression. He asked calmly, "I haven't been at the county office for the past two days. Has anything happened here?"

"My Lord, I was just about to tell you about this. You haven't been here for these two days, and our brothers have suffered greatly. You must seek justice for us." Zhang Liancai cried so pitifully, wailing loudly, as if his parents had just died.

"That new Captain, Liu Guangwu, is acting like he's lost his mind, opposing us at every turn. This morning, when we went to collect taxes on East Street, that damned Captain Liu stopped us. Not only did he accuse us of collecting taxes illegally, but he also beat up the brothers who were collecting taxes."

"We invoked your name, but they beat us even more fiercely, saying you're just a local tyrant. They clearly don't respect you."

"We must teach him a lesson. In the Demon Hunting Office, in all of Baishi County, everyone gives you seven parts of face. How dare he, a captain who's only been here for a month, be so arrogant."

Chu Jiang frowned slightly, appearing very angry. "This happened?"

Given Zhang Liancai's character, there were definitely exaggerations involved.

Liu Guangwu was one of the rare exceptions in the Demon Hunting Office. He was the newly recognized adopted son of Baishi County's second-in-command, Assistant Magistrate Liu. He was not very sociable, did not take bribes, and did not allow his subordinates to collect the Demon Extermination Tax.

He had only been serving in Baishi County for a month, yet he had already gained some reputation.

However, why did he feel like he was playing the villain?

A minor villain in the early stages, committing all sorts of evil deeds. A righteous protagonist, unafraid of power, bravely fights against the detestable arch-villain, ultimately defeating the villain and winning over the hearts of the people.

Then, he would be promoted step by step?