There Are 20,000 Fewer People in the County

There are thirty-one thousand four hundred and seventy-two persons in the county register. Jiang Heng spent three days counting again. There are only 10,839 living people. What's even more strange is that for those more than 20,000 non-existent people, people have been paying taxes and serving in the military on their behalf over the years, and even received food relief last year. The old official in charge of the old books had just died in the well, but the county magistrate called Jiang Heng into the back office and said only one sentence: "The book you re-counted was burned." Jiang Heng thought he had solved a shocking case. Until the severe drought came, the imperial court actually allocated food relief for 30,000 people according to their old status. He discovered that the real trouble was never that there were 20,000 people missing from the county. But this county has relied on those 20,000 non-existent people for many years.