General Constitution of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 173 Houbang Village

Listen to what Na Lifu said.

Ning Jue was silent all the way.

Until the driver of the ox cart reined in the reins.

"Houbang has arrived."

Lian Yue suddenly raised her head when she heard the words.

"Miss, we should get out of the car."

Ning Jue came back to his senses, followed Lian Yue and Gu Qingnong and jumped off the bullock cart.

A small river runs through the middle of the village. The river is dark green and bluestones are built along both sides of the river. A stone bridge on the river is also covered with weeds. Except for one or two large households with blue tiles and white walls, the whole village is mostly thatched bamboo buildings. Or a wooden house.

Three rhubarbs bared their teeth and rushed towards the group of people.

Gu Qing subconsciously hid behind Ning Jue, but the three vicious dogs wagged their tails when they smelled the smell of Lian Yue.

"You still recognize me?"

Lian Yue hesitated for a moment, but finally took out a piece of sweet-scented osmanthus cake from the snack box she carried with her, crushed it and scattered it on the ground.

Not long after, those "vicious dogs" licked the sweet-scented osmanthus cake on the ground clean.

Ning Jue breathed a sigh of relief.

It's a shame to be bitten by a dog. It can't kill you, and it hurts.

"These three should all be named Rhubarb, right?"

Unexpectedly, Lian Yue smiled and said: "Master, you are joking, we don't even have a proper name, let alone animals."

Ning Jue was stunned and said, "Then how do you usually call them?"

"Squeeze, sip, sip."

Hearing these three words, the tails of the three rhubarbs visibly wagged more vigorously.

"The end of the village is my home, it's getting late, let's go there quickly."

The group of three couldn't help speeding up their pace. After crossing the stone bridge, they saw a small courtyard with a fence. Outside the fence, there were two dolls, a man and a woman, who were about seven or eight years old and looked somewhat similar to Lian Yue, watching vigilantly. Ning Jue and his party.

"Father, mother!"

"We don't know you, whose family you belong to!"

"It's not your parents!"

Without waiting for Lianyue to enter the yard, he was stopped by those two brats and walked out of the yard.

Hearing the yelling of the brats outside, two couples with slightly bent backs in the yard also poked their heads out.

"Nurse? It's true that she's back."

Lian Yue simply knelt down on the ground.

"Father, mother, my daughter kowtowed to you."

And the two brats outside the yard knew they couldn't stop them, and then started crying.

"I haven't been back for such a long time, and today the big sister stewed meat is back."

"Elder Sister is coming back to eat meat."

This is probably the case for children. They can fight hard to grab a stutter. After finally waiting for a meal of meat, they have to add three pairs of chopsticks.

Just hearing the cries of the son and the daughter, Lian Yue's parents stood in the courtyard with a bit of embarrassment on their faces.

Ning Jue subconsciously wanted to touch the purse, only then did he remember that the little money he had left was used to make wat boards.

It was still Gu Qingnong who stepped forward and said with a smile: "Both of you, we are from the Gu family, and we may have to bother you at home for a few days. Please take this little money."

It wasn't until they saw the two pieces of broken silver that they came out to welcome them.

"Why didn't Nannan send someone to bring a letter back in advance? The family didn't prepare it. The two distinguished guests will wait for a while, and we will burn more like this."

"Father, do you have any at home? I'll go to the market and buy some more."

"No, no, no, the court has implemented a new law. The rich man Wu said that he will not have to go to the army this year, and he can save two or three hundred catties of grain. The family finally sees some surplus, otherwise they would not see meat."

But just when Lian Yue's parents pulled Ning Jue and his party into the house, the sound of gongs came from the village.

"Stop eating, Mr. Wu is going to talk about big things! The heads of every household hurry up to the bridge to discuss matters."

Hearing the sound of the gong, everyone in the courtyard was startled.

Then hurried to the village.

There were already four long-term workers standing on the small stone bridge just now, and someone moved a chair.

I saw that almost everyone in the village came.

Sitting on a chair wearing a brocade, rich man Wu said: "Everyone, I just went to Zou's house and asked about this year's grain price."

"One stone of grain is four renminbi. Earlier we estimated that it was six renminbi. We paid twelve catties of grain per mu. After this discount, we have to pay another four catties per mu of land."

"I also asked about the equal service. It's not eight dollars per dime, but fifteen dollars, and I have to pay another seven dollars."

Hearing this, many excited villagers shrank.

This is only half a year's land tax.

A year of wheat and rice per acre of land is no more than five shi, and the landlord gets half of it, that is, the tenants can get two and a half shi of grain per mu, and the conversion of silver per mu is no more than ten renminbi.

Tenants need to cultivate [-] mu of land to feed a family of five without starving to death.

There is still 32 catties of grain to be paid per mu per year. After [-] mu of land tax, there are more than [-] catties of grain and the output of two mu of land, which is [-] mu of land.

This is not counted as corvee.

But the really scary thing is that there is still land to rent.

I don't know which family lives by the bridge, and they yelled loudly towards the yard.

"Collect the meat first, this year's surplus is not so much, save some to eat!"

Not long after, the sound of children crying came from the yard.

"My lord, can you save some money on the corvée?"

The rich man Wu raised his mouth and replied: "It can be saved, it can save a hundred catties of grain."

"The government is still calculating the account of the corvee, but there is also an account of fire consumption. I asked roughly, one tael of silver is charged for one money, and our village pays four hundred shi grains this autumn, which is 100 taels of silver. You need to pay another six taels of money and five cents for fire consumption, and I wiped off the change, sir, and it counts as six taels of money."

"The grain is 24 and a half shi, and the whole village has almost [-] mu of land, and the fire consumption of each mu of land is about one catty."

"That is to say, even with fire consumption, seventeen catties of grain per mu of land, that is, each family pays five catties of grain per mu, and the autumn tax of the next year in our village will be over."

In fact, the common people don't have that much resistance to Linjian kicking Dendrobium.

After all, the so-called tipping, the so-called kicking Dendrobium.

He couldn't support more than three to five catties of grain, but he just felt disgusting. In the face of Zhe Se and Huo Xiao, kicking and kicking Dendrobium seemed so insignificant.

Hearing what rich man Wu said, Ning Jue's complexion sank a little.

Gu Qingnong asked with some doubts: "Officer, didn't Zou Wang say earlier that he would hand over the imperial rations from Xishan this year? Why are you collecting rations now?"

"That old fox Zou Wang, he said that he paid for one year, which must have been less than a year. The summer grain entered Beijing in August, and the autumn Fu entered Beijing in February of the following year. What Zou Wang paid on behalf of Xishan was the remaining summer grain of this year. Right now, the rich man Wu The harvest is the autumn grain that will be sent to the capital in February next year."

A little surprise appeared on Gu Qingnong's face.

"Can you still play like this?"

Ning Jue was noncommittal, but looked at the rich man Wu on the bridge and said loudly: "But Mr. Wu, the court has ordered that the tax mu does not tax the people, and the people have no land. Isn't it all right to pay the labor?"

Seeing that Ning Jue was well-dressed, the rich man of Wu respected him very much, he stood up and shook his head at Ning Jue: "What this gentleman said is that the court's land tax should indeed come from the landlord."

"Then why should these matters be handed over to the fellow villagers?"

Hearing Ning Jue's question, the landlord was not annoyed.

"It's true that the land tax is paid by the landlord, but I have to tell all the folks that the land rent in our fields has increased so much this year. The Wu family didn't take the money. It's the land tax for the court, the emperor's father's food."

After the rich man Wu finished speaking, the long-term worker behind him was still beside him and said: "Please trouble the master to wipe off the zero, the villagers are still a little embarrassed."

"It's okay, it's all from the folks in the village, five cents."

Looking at the appearance of the rich man Wu, Ning Jue couldn't help murmuring in a low voice.

"One mu of land, two crops a year, is less than five stones of grain. His Wu family took away 32 catties first, and the tenants had to pay [-] catties to the court for the remaining [-] catties."

"Is it embarrassing for the whole village to exempt five cents of silver?"

"Old bastard, you have a thick skin."

After joking a few words, the rich man Wu noticed that Ning Jue was staring at him all the time, so he said, "This gentleman looks strange, but he just came to our village?"

"Yes."

Rich man Wu hurriedly got up and said, "Does the gentleman know about the learning of the mind?"

"Know a thing or two."

Rich man Wu was even more delighted to see Gu Qingnong and Lianyue behind Ning Jue.

"Second Chen! You have a distinguished guest at your house, why don't you come and report to me!"

After all, rich man Wu didn't wait for Lian Yue's father to open his mouth, so he hurriedly trotted to Ning Jue.

"Please, sir, come with me to sit on the bridge for a while. After we finish talking, Mr. Wu has some dirty wine at home, so Mr. Wu can ask Mr. for some advice."

Ning Jue felt Gu Qingnong tug on his lapel from behind, and then said softly: "Officer, I know you are angry, but a strong dragon does not overwhelm a snake..."

Before Gu Qingnong could finish speaking, Ning Jue looked at Rich Man Wu and said with a smile, "Yes."

Then Ning Jue broke free from Gu Qingnong's hand and followed Rich Man Wu to the bridge.

While walking, the rich man Wu did not forget to casually say: "Mr. Yangming's disciple or Mr. Ganquan's disciple? When Xieliang went to Jinling last year, Mr. Wu also heard a lecture given by a famous Confucian in the city. Listening to your words is really better than reading ten words." Annual book."

The surrounding villagers also looked at Ning Jue, and Ning Jue only smiled perfunctorily and said: "Knowledge and action are one, and you can recognize the principles of heaven everywhere."

Just by these few words.

It was enough to attract the attention of the rich man Wu.

"Our village is full of rough people. I have no one talking about it all day long, and I feel aggrieved. Good job, sir, good job!"

The rich man Wu was still chattering about his "sentiment".

"The sages say that the heart is the law of heaven, and Wu believes it deeply. What's wrong with this human desire? If it is completely destroyed, wouldn't it be a beast?"

"I finally understand that people live their whole life, eat what they need, and wear what they need. Do you think this is the unity of knowledge and action?"

When the two walked to the bridge, Ning Jue mechanically said, "Forget it, why not."

Rich Man Wu looked at Ning Jue suspiciously.

"Why are you rolling up your sleeves, sir?"

Before rich man Wu finished asking, Ning Jue kicked rich man Wu directly on the shoulder, kicking rich man Wu off the bridge.

With a sound of "Plop", rich man Wu was kicked into the ditch with a confused face.

"Fuck you! The people don't even have cattle for farming. They can only survive by planting [-] mu of land a year. What nonsense are you talking about here?!"

Ning Jue still felt puzzled after scolding, so he picked up the chair and threw it into the river.

After splashing twice in the water, rich man Wu, who just showed his head, was immediately thrown back into the water again.

"In the whole village, you are the only one who is human, and you are the only one who has human desires. Others deserve to work hard to keep your human desires, right?"

"Wipe a piece of five cents on three thousand acres of land, and let the people thank you?!"

(End of this chapter)