Otherworldly Days

Chapter 478 Tax Collection

The seedlings of the grain in the field are still green after being planted, and this is the time of the year when the grain is not harvested, and the people's pots are all out of grain, and it is the most difficult time of the year.At this time, the imperial court ordered that this year's tax be collected in advance. For the common people, this is tantamount to making matters worse.

A notice was posted at the gate of the city, and the literate gentleman stood in front of it and read the notice. The more he read it, even the gentleman looked solemn.

The imperial court only conscripted soldiers not long ago, and scraped all the silver in the pockets of the common people.A man without money in the family was taken to serve as a soldier, and the family lost a strong man to work, and the head of the family lost some income.

Coupled with the bad weather this year, many seedlings of the grain in the field have turned yellow, and it is not known how the harvest will be this year.If the drought continues this day, it is hard to say whether there will be food in many places in the Northland. I am afraid that people will starve to death.

At this time, the imperial court will collect taxes. This is not for the lives of the people!

"What? The imperial court is going to collect taxes now?"

"This notice has been posted, how can it be false?"

"This year's tax has also increased, and last year it was only one mu of land..."

"This is killing us. The family has eaten the last meal and there is no next meal. Where can we get the food to pay taxes to the court? Isn't this forcing the common people to live their lives!"

The people standing at the gate of the city are talking about the tax collection by the court. In previous years, the court collected taxes after the grain was collected. At that time, the people had food in their hands, and the court wanted to collect taxes. Squeeze out.It's just that there is no food at the moment, and the court has to collect taxes. Isn't this killing the common people?

At this time, the imperial court is fighting, the national treasury is empty, and the Ministry of Households can't get any money. The money is not enough to make ends meet. Everything in the court is asking for money. The emperor also had a headache for not paying money and food. An official in the court mentioned the matter of tax collection, and then there was the matter of tax collection in advance this year.

News of tax collection was released layer by layer. Upon receiving the news that the court would collect this year's tax in advance, Prophet Zhao frowned, and immediately wrote a letter to Fengdu to ask about the situation.The court is in trouble, and the life of the people is also difficult. At this time, asking the people for food, isn't this forcing the people to rebel?

"Yes, master, this slave will find someone to send it to me." The old steward took master's Xiu's letter and immediately sent it to someone since returning from Nanyang, knowing that the imperial court was at war and the north was dry and there was no rain. Cao Xiangnan was worried.The old emperor is old and dull-witted, several princes are vying for the dragon chair, everyone wants to be emperor, the imperial court is divided into several factions, vying with each other, even the imperial court is restless, can this world be stable?

So at this time, you can hoard as much food as you can eat, and you will have confidence when you have food in your hands.

Cao Xiangnan's concept of food is not limited to rice grains, as long as he can collect food, he will not refuse anyone. The wild animals that go up to the mountains, and the fish and shrimps that go down to the water, can be processed. Easy to store.

In the village, Chen Hong has always been in charge of collecting vegetables, chickens, ducks and poultry in the village. This time, he not only collected vegetables in Caojia Village, but also collected vegetables that could be grown in nearby villages.Their place is close to a water source. It hasn't rained for several months, and their place has not yet reached the point of water shortage. The vegetables in the field are planted and watered diligently, and the vegetables grow well.

This is the peak season for growing melons, fruits and vegetables. The melons, fruits and vegetables planted in the fields are easy to feed. Every household grows vegetables, and the prices are cheap. It is time to harvest vegetables.

After such a long time, everyone knows that Chen Hong works for Cao Jiashiro, and the price of the vegetables he receives is very reasonable. Everyone in this village likes to sell their vegetables to Chen Hong. Those who grow vegetables will go to Chen Hong to tell them first, and when the vegetables are grown, they will bear them to him.

Under the scorching sun, my brother wearing a bamboo hat was working in the field, sweating profusely. My brother took off the bamboo hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.Seeing the man standing by the field, Wang Yan changed her face, clenched the hoe in her hand, and asked in a deep voice, "What are you here for?"

"I, Ayan, I'm here to pick you up, Ayan, I know I'm wrong, you can go back with me." Two fingers were missing from the hand hidden in Cao's sleeve, both fingers were covered People cut it off.This man had lost a lot of weight, his beard had not been tidied up, and he was 20 years older. His eyes were fixed on Wang Yan.

When Wang Yan saw the man standing in front of him, a look of disgust flashed in his eyes. He didn't know why he followed such a man before. He turned his face away and said, "You should give up your heart. I will follow you." I've already reconciled, so don't come to me again."

Cao Laoer came to him not once or twice, he knew why Cao Laoer came to him and wanted him to go back.It was hard to get out of that house at the beginning, and now he will never go back no matter what.

The eldest son said that he stayed with his father, that child now comes to him every day, stays with him after eating, and no one comes to look for him.The rest of the children followed him. One of his elder brothers raised several children, and no matter how difficult it was, they were his own children. He would raise them up even if he worked harder.

Thinking of the money that was taken away by Cao Laoer, it was all saved by him. Thinking of this, Wang Yan hated this man even more.

Wang Yan clenched the hoe in his hand, as if Cao Lao Er dared to hit him with the hoe if he dared to take a step forward.The two stood here silently confronting each other. In the end, Cao Laoer couldn't stand the scorching sun, so he left in despair, leaving a sentence, "I'll come back to you tomorrow."

Seeing that the person had left, Wang Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

The news of the imperial court's tax collection came to Caojia Village, and the village exploded immediately.

Like everyone else, Wang Yan was stunned. To be precise, she couldn't recover from the news of the tax collection so quickly.Is it taxing so soon?The grain grown in his field has not yet bloomed and eared. He only has a few copper coins for selling vegetables in his hand. There are several mouths to feed in the family. The daily dry food is not enough to eat. How can there be any surplus grain at this moment? Money to pay taxes?

After thinking about it, Wang Yan thought of going to his elder brother to borrow some food. Presumably his elder brother must have food there. At this time, the imperial court collecting taxes is like a bolt from the blue for many people. People were stunned and couldn't come back to their senses for a long time.

"Isn't this forcing us to die, ah, the army has just been conscripted, how long has it been, and taxes are about to be collected...God, you are not giving us poor people a way to live..." Then Sitting at the door with one buttocks, weeping loudly, each cry was more painful than the last.

That's right, the court wants to collect taxes and they have to pay them. What if they can't get money and food?That can only be their own way.

It was a bit early to return home from outside today. When Cao Xiangnan came back, Wanfeng had already brought the two little ones home.

Little Bao'er was very enthusiastic when he saw his father came back. Even if Cao Ruile didn't see too many expressions on his Lianshan face, he generously gave his father a look.

"Daddy..." Little Bao'er could speak clearly, when seeing Daddy came back, she even threw away the little wooden horse in her hand and rolled it into Daddy's arms.Cao Xiangnan reached out to catch the rolling child, hugged him, and kissed the white and tender face several times. The child giggled, and liked playing with daddy the most.

"Father's baby, daddy's sweetheart..." Two more kisses.

"..." Cao Ruile had goose bumps all over his body.

"Fu Lang, drink a glass of water" Qi Wanfeng saw Fu Lang came back, and poured water for Fu Lang.He couldn't help laughing when he saw Fu Lang getting tired of Xiao Bao'er as soon as he came back. He hurt this little white-eyed wolf for nothing. Why don't he kiss his father if he brings this child with him every day? .

Cao Xiangnan sat down and put the little baby in his arms on the ground. He reached out and touched his fat boy's head, feeling that the baby fat on the baby's face was disappearing little by little, and he was getting taller.This fat boy is only a few days older than Bao'er, but he is half a head taller than Bao'er, and he will not be too short in the future.

He and Wanfeng are not short, in comparison, he is about the same height as the average man, but Wanfeng is much taller than the average guy.

"Why did you come back so early today?" Cao Xiangnan picked up the water poured by his wife and drank it dry in one gulp. "Lele has a little fever, so I'll take him and Bao'er back first." Pray Wanfeng also poured some water for the child, intending to feed it to the child.Cao Ruile took the cup and poured the water down in two gulps, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

Children have been quiet since they were young, neither noisy nor noisy, so it is easy for people to ignore that he is also a child.If he didn't feel something wrong with the child, he wouldn't know that the child had a fever.

Later, Qi Wanfeng took the child to the old doctor Luo to have a look. The old doctor Luo touched the child and said that the child had a fever due to his deciduous teeth, but he didn't prescribe any medicine, and told him to pay more attention when he came back.

"Oh, it's okay, let him drink more water." Cao Xiangnan took the little fat paper and hugged it in his arms. Their little fat man is the most obedient, "Lele is obedient, drink more water, you know? Is there any discomfort?" Hum twice."

Fat Xiaole raised his drooping eyes and glanced at his own father. The child was not feeling well and was not energetic, and his whole body was listless.Looking at Cao Xiangnan's father, he felt sorry for the child, and comforted him, "It's nothing, just bear with it, everyone has to go through these things."

Are you sure you're really a comforter?Cao Ruile didn't even have the strength to roll her eyes, so let's just lean in Daddy's arms for the time being.

Said to be the child who leaned on him, as soon as his small body relaxed, he fell asleep after a while.

Cao Xiangnan carefully carried the sleeping child into the room and let him sleep well. As for the other child who had already slept, he refused to sleep now.Afraid that little Bao'er would disturb Lele, they coaxed little Bao'er outside to play.

"Today there was a notice in the town saying that the imperial court will collect taxes in advance, and everyone is talking about it. The imperial court, alas, it will not be long before the conscription..." Qi Wanfeng said that the imperial court would collect taxes again Regarding the tax, it took a while for the shop to get some business. Now that the news of the tax collection came out, not even a single person came to the shop.

Not to mention that they can't do business, the people's lives are really hard to live.

"Well, that's what I heard too." Cao Xiangnan also heard about the court's tax collection at the workshop today. When he came back, he passed the city gate and took a look at the notice, so he also knew about it. .

The two of them talked about the fact that the imperial court wanted to collect taxes, and they had to pay them if the imperial court wanted to collect them.

"If the court wants to collect it, let's give it, can't we not?" Cao Xiangnan was also very helpless. He also bought a lot of fertile land this year, and he had to collect taxes before confiscating it.He has no food in his hand, even if he has food, he will not want to pay for it with food, and he will just use silver for everything.

When he came back, he made a special trip to Lizheng, and asked everyone in the village to give as much money as possible, and those who could not use the food did not use the food, and kept all the food.

When Cao Xiangnan mentioned it like this, Li Zheng would keep it in mind, and told the village chief about this matter.