Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

After watching the pier, Gu Yunji went out of the city by the way, and took Chen Peishi for a stroll in the suburbs along the river.

The Yangtze River is deep and wide, and the current is turbulent. The silt from the upstream mountains and source areas is washed down, and it accumulates in low-lying places, forming thick silt.The silt has a high water content, and the soil layer is deep and fine. Over time, it becomes a good farmland, and the yield of one mu of land can be equal to three or four mu in other places.

Now is the season for harvesting late rice, Gu Yunji walked on the side of the river bank, all he could see was the golden rice, and the farmers sweating profusely in the rice fields, from a distance it looked like a happy scene of a prosperous harvest.

In a field that has been harvested, an old farmer with a stooped figure is picking up the ears of rice that have fallen to the ground. Clean, not even a rice husk.

Gu Yunji walked over to him and talked to him: "Old man, these rice grains have been crushed into the mud. It is not easy to pick up the dirty ones. Anyway, there are not many of them. Why spend so much time picking them up? The sun is so big. Go home and rest."

Hearing the sound alone, the old farmer thought it was another frivolous young man who didn't understand the preciousness of food, and was about to speak a few words to preach, but when he turned his head, he found that it was a young man with an extraordinary bearing. affordable.

The old farmer quickly suppressed the preaching that came to his lips, looked at Gu Yunji shrunkenly, and saw that his smile did not seem to be malicious, so he said cautiously: "My lord, you grew up with a golden spoon in your mouth. , Naturally, I look down on these scattered ears of rice, but no matter how scattered or dirty, it is still food."

"Don't look at this small amount, if you pick up all the loose rice grains in this whole field, you can have a big handful. There is not enough rice in the first place. Without this handful of grain, my two-year-old grandson might You'd have to starve to death."

Gu Yunji was taken aback, half-believing and half-doubting: "Starvation? Is it so serious? How many people and how many fields does your family have?"

The old farmer said: "My wife and I, my son and daughter-in-law, and my grandson, there are five people in my family. The scattered fields add up to nearly six acres."

Gu Yunji was puzzled: "One mu of a good silt field can produce at least 350 catties of grain, and six mu is 600 catties. After deducting 300% ​​of the tax, there is still more than [-] catties left. Your family of five, the average Each person has more than [-] catties of food a year, and your grandson is only two years old, so he can't eat too much food. Even if he doesn't have enough food all year round, he should be able to fill his stomach, right? How can he not starve to death? "

The old farmer showed a bitter smile: "If it's what you said, sir, I don't need to come here to pick rice grains. My family has six acres of land, but only the one under my feet is a silt field. Mu is either at the foot of the mountain or on the mountainside, and it is considered a good year if it can produce two hundred catties a year."

"What's more, the [-]% tax is the tax of the imperial court. Our family's land is donated to the officials and gentry. The rent tax paid is always [-]% and the rent tax of some fertile good land can reach [-]% or as fast as [-]%."

"Our family has worked hard all year long, and the food in our hands is only eight or nine hundred catties. If there is another flood or bad luck, and uncivilized natives on the mountain come down to steal the food, the family Just wait and drink the northwest wind."

The old farmer looked sad, and sighed deeply: "So even in a good year with good weather, the grain produced in the field is not enough for the whole family to eat, and my son is often asked to do odd jobs on the dock to supplement the family during the slack season. This Your lord, you said that in this situation, if I don’t pick up these loose rice, wouldn’t the family really starve to death?”

Gu Yunji's heart was heavy when he heard that, knowing that in his own capacity, no matter what he said would give the other party a sense of being overlooked by a high-ranking person, he didn't know how to respond for a while.

After being silent for a while, Gu Yunji suddenly realized something, and asked: "Generally speaking, people with fame and fame are exempted from taxation, and others are also fancying this, so they donate their fields for money. Reduce the burden of paying taxes. Who are the officials and gentry you donate to? Why is the tax so much higher than the court's tax? If so, why don't you keep the land for yourself? "

The old farmer smiled wryly: "Who else can it be? If you want to farm in peace, you can only donate the land to them, otherwise they have a lot of ways to force you to hand it over."

Gu Yunji frowned: "The Chen family? Which Chen family?"

The old farmer said: "Which Chen family can it be? I know Chen Xunzhou's original family. Chen Xunzhou is a supervisor and has a reputation. Almost [-]% to [-]% of the land is in his name."

Hearing this, Gu Yunji glanced sideways at Chen Peishi, said nothing, and continued to ask the old farmer: "Are you sure it's Chen Xunzhou who knows you? I think he has a good reputation in the local area. It is said that if you do this There are few things that are beneficial to the local people, how can a 'good official' like him actually bully others?"

As the old farmer said, he bent down and continued to pick up the ears of rice: "Chen Xunzhou doesn't bully others, which doesn't mean that his family members don't bully others. Chen Xunzhou is a magistrate of the same family, so how can he spend so much time to control whose land is donated or not? , it’s all those Chen family members who are of the same clan as him, who use his banner to pretend to be powerful outside, and have done a lot of bullying.

Gu Yunji wanted to ask again, but saw that the other party had already turned around and was concentrating on digging out the rice grains from the soil, so he couldn't say anything, thanked him and left.

Chen Peishi was terrified by Gu Yunji's casual glance before, and now when he walked to a place where no one was around, he immediately explained eagerly: "My lord, this has nothing to do with me! This branch of my family is the Chen family's side house, and it is the same as Mr. Chen's." His blood is far away, not to mention taking advantage of his influence, but we are always oppressed and bullied by the children of the direct line."

"My parents are honest farmers. Although the family is better off than that old man's family just now, at most they can only afford to hire two long-term workers. How can I rent the land to others? It's really none of my business!"

Gu Yunji said helplessly: "I didn't say anything about you, what are you in a hurry for?"

But any big and prosperous family will inevitably produce some useless descendants who corrupt the family tradition. Even the Gu family in Songjiang, where he was born, can have people like Gu Ming'an among the direct descendants, let alone the offshoots a little further away. Well, there's no need to kill everyone with one shot.

What's more, Chen Peishi himself has also checked, and he is indeed a clean and upright person, otherwise Gu Yunji would not have brought him by his side with confidence.

Hearing Gu Yunji's words, Chen Peishi breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to explain a few more words, but suddenly heard a faint noise coming from a distance.