The Ming Dynasty's First Tax Official

Handwritten original [Ming Dynasty Setting] [Political Intrigue] [Fast-Paced]

After transmigrating into the role of a tax clerk at a Ming Dynasty border post, Jiang Yu found that his predecessor had died horribly and the ledgers were a complete mess. The only inheritance left behind was half a yellowed smuggling-route map and an IOU for six taels of silver, due by a set deadline or he’d lose his head.

Jiang Yu opened the rotten ledgers and laughed. “You think you can pull this on a finance director at a publicly listed company?”

The tax checkpoint introduced new rules: no matter where goods came from, register them honestly, and the tax would be low enough to negotiate.

The day word got out, salt smugglers, cloth merchants, and ironware kingpins all came flocking. Money was rolling in, and so were the knives.

Captain Liu wanted a cut, the garrison command wanted intelligence, and the smugglers were waiting to see whether he was a pawn or a blade.

Jiang Yu understood better than anyone that on this half-open, half-hidden border trade route, knowing how to balance the books wasn’t enough, and laying down rules wasn’t enough either. He had to make everyone believe:

“Working with Jiang Yu is a better deal than opposing him.”