Punishment punishes criminals for the people, and the Imperial Prison punishes officials. Without the emperor's decree or a warrant from the Grand Inquisitor, no one is allowed to enter the Imperial P...Chapter 573 This is Favoritism and Nepotism

In the fields, an elderly couple is working.

"My father-in-law."

Li Chen dismounted and stood by the edge of the field, pointing at the sweet potato seedlings in the ground. He pretended to be ignorant and asked, "What have you planted in your field"

An old man wearing a straw hat stood up from his crouched position and walked over to answer, "It's sweet potato seedlings."

"That being said, he curled his lips and said, 'It's no wonder you young folks don't recognize it. Even I, an old man, don't know about it. This is what the government ordered us to plant. They say that if every household plants one-third of their land with sweet potatoes, they can offset 10% of their taxes when harvest time comes.'"

Li Chen smiled, but said nothing.

He naturally knew about such policies.

In fact, even if he had ten times the courage, Zheng Bao Rong would not dare to propose such a policy without his approval.

"I remember that sweet potatoes grown in a certain kind of three-part field could offset 10% of the taxes. If you planted half an acre, not only could it offset 20% of the taxes, but you could also avoid paying one person's head tax. This half acre is the most cost-effective. Why don't you plant more" Li Chen asked.

Hearing this, the old farmer beamed and said with a grin, “You young fellow, aren't you an official You sure know your stuff.”

Li Chen shook his head and said, "I'm not from the government. My family just has a few acres of farmland, but unfortunately it's not within the capital city limits. I can't enjoy such good policies for now. But my father heard from friends in the capital earlier this year and that's how I found out about it."

The old farmer nodded, not doubting him for a moment.

After all, Li Chen is too young.

A young man in his twenties, even if he were a government official, was most likely just a clerk or errand runner, not an actual high-ranking official.

So he simply opened up and said, "Little one, you're still young and don't understand the ins and outs of things."

"Oh"

Li Chen raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on her face. "What else could there be to this Grandfather, enlighten your granddaughter. It's always good to learn something new."

The old farmer seemed to like Li Chen's humility. He spoke in the tone of an elder, saying: "The government's words are not wrong, but this old man has one and a third acres of land, and Old Wu next door also has less than two acres. We both only planted sweet potatoes on three-tenths of the land, but according to the government's records, it says that we both planted sweet potatoes on five-tenths of the land."

But our village head Wang's family hasn't planted any sweet potatoes in their fields. Yet, according to the government records, it says that he has cultivated several acres of them.

"Young people, do you understand what I mean"

Li Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "I understand, father-in-law's meaning is that someone is unwilling to plant these sweet potatoes, so they colluded with the government officials, inflated their numbers falsely, and then used your share to offset their debts. In this way, they enjoyed the tax reduction policy without taking on the risk of losing money if the sweet potatoes failed."

The old farmer grinned and said, "You young people are very perceptive."

"This is nepotism!"

"Besides, they're using your share. Are you just going to let them take advantage of you"

The old farmer glanced at Su Jinpa and said, “You little girl are so naive. We peasants all eat by the grace of the wealthy landowners. Who would dare to report them Moreover, things have been strict lately, even the landowner doesn't dare to bully us too much. They give each household an extra hundred jin of grain, which is much better than before. We're all very happy.”alary and benefits were high, but there were few things to do, and most importantly, there was no power.Their primary responsibility is to handle matters within the royal family.Royal enfeoffment, fun...