Outside, the warden hurried after Steward Wang, then grumbled, "Mrs. Zhou has always been a pushover, but I didn't expect Ergou to be so rebellious this year. I'll make sure to teach him a good lesson and force him to pay the owed tax."

All of the wardens in the Wang Clan Village had already been bribed by and fallen under the control of the Wang Clan, and the Wang Clan's approval was required before the wardens submitted their population and farmland census data to the county office. The average villager didn't even know how to read, so their census information documents were naturally filled out on their behalf by their respective wardens.

"What are you planning to do?" Steward Wang asked with a cold harrumph.

"If they don't pay their taxes, then all of their neighbors will be implicated, so even if I don't do anything, their neighbors will surely make them suffer," the warden replied with a faint smile. "If they still refuse to pay, I'll just have Zhang Da and the others beat them into submission."

Beat them into submission. It was a very simple and barbaric plan, but Steward Wang simply nodded in response and raised no objections.

This was a common occurrence in many of the villages in the Great Han Empire. The wealthy clans in an area never had to put much thought into how they would deal with poor households as violence was always the answer.

The disparity in economic, political, and physical power between the two sides was simply too great, and the imperial court lacked the jurisdictive power needed to prevent such injustices, so these cases were always very simple and straightforward. In fact, there was no need to collude with the minor officials or the six ministries to hatch any elaborate plots.

Even if the average person wanted to make a report to the county office, they would usually be turned away for overstepping, and their report would instead be redirected to the senior wardens of their village. Only in cases that the senior wardens had definitively deemed irresolvable would an appeal be made to the county office. Needless to say, the senior wardens were also in the back pockets of the village's wealthy clans.

The village tycoons, the wardens, the senior wardens, the minor officials, and even the proper officials were all colluding to form a system of mutual interest. It was an all-encompassing network that robbed the average person of any hope of ever receiving a fair and just outcome. For these people, the only options were to submit, run away, or take their own lives.

The warden pulled a few pieces of scrap silver from his sleeve, then offered them to Steward Wang.

Steward Wang weighed the pieces of scrap silver in his hand, and he estimated that they weighed around half an ounce. However, they were rather yellow in color, indicating that copper had been mixed in, so they were probably only worth two to three qian of silver. Steward Wang's annual income was only around twenty to thirty taels of silver, so this was already a decent bribe for him.

He accepted the silver discreetly, then asked, "What do you want this time?"

"I heard that you have some connections in the county office, and I was hoping you could arrange a job for me there this year," the warden said in a flattering tone.

At the sight of Steward Wang's furrowed brows, he hurriedly added, "I'll be satisfied just being an attendant, but there will be more where that came from if you can make it happen."

Steward Wang chuckled. "An attendant?"

Attendants were only servants of the county office, but they were responsible for receiving and seeing off guests. That meant there were many underhanded things that they could do, such as leaking information to people on the outside, delivering things to someone on the inside, securing benefits from the plaintiffs and defendants of a case, going a little harder or a little easier on someone when administering a flogging...

As long as one knew how to take advantage of the position, they could earn up to a tael of silver a month in additional income. On top of that, it was a much easier job than farming and harvesting in the Wang Clan Village, and he could also make some connections in the county office.

"You're a smart guy," Steward Wang remarked. "That said, there are many others with their eyes on the same position, so I can't make any promises."

"I understand," the warden hurriedly replied. "Even if it doesn't work out, I wouldn't dare blame you."

***

Meanwhile, Chu Qiguang shook his head in resignation even as he basked in the comfort of his relieved symptoms. He knew that he couldn't do anything about his condition, so he turned his thoughts back to his current situation.

At the same time, he could feel that his mind seemed a little clearer after the symptoms passed. All kinds of thoughts and ideas were rushing into his mind, allowing him to think much more clearly about his current situation

It was almost as if satisfying his condition had made him smarter. However, he simply chalked this up to his imagination and didn't dwell on it.

I've only been able to temporarily turn them away today, and I'm sure they won’t give up this easily. Most problems in the village are usually handled privately by the villagers themselves. For trivial matters like catching thieves, people voluntarily band together to capture the culprits, and even major projects like the construction of public infrastructure are funded by donations from the village's wealthiest residents.

The village tycoons, the Daoist temples, and local officials of the county—they are the true rulers of Azure Sun County. No ordinary county magistrate would dare issue an order for the recovery of owed taxes, so there must be more to this than meets the eye. It's also strange that the Wang Clan is trying to take advantage of this opportunity to gobble up land. Do they have some type of solid backing, or have they been blinded by greed?

Even before the earlier confrontation, Chu Qiguang had already gained a very thorough understanding of the state of the Wang Clan Village. He had seen far too many of these tricks used in feudal systems back when he studied history.

For example, the Wang Clan's strategy of spreading their grain tax onto other households was called tax evasion by distribution.

All of the farmland that we've sold to the Wang Clan in previous years is probably still officially registered under our household. This means we still have to pay tax on the land that no longer belongs to us, while the wealthy clans that bought the farmland don't officially acknowledge the purchases.

Chu Qiguang could see through the dirty tactics used by these village tycoons like an open book, and he was able to guess most of the tricks they had up their sleeves.

The Wang Clan's methods are far too unpolished. If it were me, I'd have at least a dozen ways to make the Wang Clan Village completely untouchable, to the point that even the county magistrate wouldn't be able to easily interfere with the village's affairs.

Chu Qiguang couldn't help thinking that he would be in a much better position if he had transmigrated into the body of a wealthy landowner.

As an underprivileged commoner, the Wang Clan had far too massive an advantage over him, making retaliation extremely difficult. Even though Chu Qiguang had already come up with quite a few strategies to use against the Wang Clan, he still hadn't decided which one he would employ for one reason or another.

Should I go and meet that orange cat tonight? 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

A curious look appeared on Ergou's sister’s face when she saw Chu Qiguang’s blissful expression, and she asked, "Did you shit yourself?"

"I did, and I just so happen to be looking for something to wipe my ass with!" Chu Qiguang said with a grin as he reached out to grab her.

Ergou's sister was horrified. She ran outside in a panic with her hands over her head as she yelled, "Mother! My brother shat his pants, and he wants to use me to wipe his ass!"

"Shush!" Chu Qiguang snapped.

If she ran all over the village while yelling this nonsense, then he would be too embarrassed to ever show his face in the Wang Clan Village again!

With that in mind, he hurriedly grabbed her and threatened in a menacing voice, "You're not going to get anything to eat if you keep yelling!"

The threat worked instantly. Ergou’s sister quickly clapped a hand over her mouth and said in a muffled voice, "I don't know anything."

She then tugged timidly at Chu Qiguang's ragged clothes and pleaded pitifully, "I won't tell anyone that you shat your pants, so can you not use me to wipe your ass?"

Chu Qiguang rolled his eyes in exasperation, then explained, "I didn't shit myself. I forced it back in!"

After Ergou’s sister settled down, Chu Qiguang sat down on the stool in the courtyard and continued to ponder his current situation.

There are quite a few ways I can deal with the Wang Clan, but I can't use any methods that are too modern.

Chu Qiguang had considered several ways to improve his quality of life by using the superior knowledge and insights that he had gained from his time on Earth, but they all seemed too double-edged.

Maybe I can do something with the Daoist temples...

Chu Qiguang began sifting through Ergou's memories, picking out scenes of the villagers throwing people into the river to drown as part of ceremonies to worship and pay respects to the deities.