A Husband Who Traveled Through the Famine and Developed a Chronicle

Chapter 13 Grain Tax
Li Xiuyuan knew what a severe drought was, and also knew that people would die if they didn't eat or drink water.

But he didn't know what it would be like to die.

Bai Xia's heart is heavy.

She was born in a good era. In the era she lived in, as long as people were hardworking and willing to work, they would not starve to death. No matter how bad it was, there was still state support.

But here is the backward ancient times, the ancient times where it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

She has a whole body of ability, but she can't use it here.

Not to mention making money in business, without capital, it is impossible to do business. After saving a little money, I was defeated by poverty before I started to develop. If I want to develop, people must first survive. When survival is difficult , any development is useless.

"Have you ever seen a severe drought?" Bai Xia asked Li Xiu Yuan.

Li Xiuyuan shook his head while fanning his eyes in confusion.

"I have seen"

Bai Xia's eyes became dark.

To be precise, the original Bai Sanya had seen her before.

The state capital where she lives is suffering from a drought, the grain in the fields cannot be harvested, the family has no food to eat, the wells in the village are all dry, and the lack of water makes the whole village unable to survive, so everyone starts to flee to the south. Because there is a lot of rain in the south, their idea at the time was very simple, as long as they could drink a sip of water.

At that time, besides their village, many other people fled.

Villagers who fled their places of origin became refugees, also known as displaced persons.

There is no fixed place to live, and no grass grows wherever he goes, because they have dug up everything that is edible and has a little water.

Even so, people on the road continued to die of thirst and starvation. Hunger prompted them to eat everything they could eat. Finally, they finally reached that point...

Bai Xia's eyes were a little dazed.

The memories buried deep in the original owner Bai Sanya's mind began to slowly recover.

At this moment, a gong suddenly sounded in her ear, waking her up.

"It's the notification gong in the village, and the village chief called the villagers together"

Bai Xia listened attentively, and there were nine rings in total.

"A major event happened in the village, and all the villagers gathered at the ancestral hall," she murmured.

"Go, Brother Yuan"

After finishing speaking, she took Brother Yuan with her, locked the courtyard door and walked towards the ancestral hall in the village.

All the ancestors of the Li clan are enshrined here. When they arrived, there were already a hundred people gathered in the village.

"Sanya, come to the second wife's side"

Seeing the two of them, Mistress Li hurriedly waved her hand and greeted the two of them to her side. The front was full of people, and the two of them were so small that they couldn't see what was going on.

"Second wife, what's the matter?"

Bai Xia led Li Xiuyuan to Erpo Li's side, and asked in a low voice.

"It's a crime, it doesn't rain in the sky, and the officials collecting grain and taxes are here again. They are trying to force us ordinary people to death." Mistress Li patted her thigh with a bitter face, and asked, "Where is your mother? What's the matter?" Didn't come?"

"It's a big deal for officials to collect food and taxes. The whole village has to come. If one household is missing, they may be hated and searched twice more." Li Erpo hated it in her heart.

Each of these official posts wants to eat people.

If you offend them, you will be punished by the boss.

Bai Xia's heart skipped a beat.

It is not only a matter of food tax, but also a matter of grudges for officials.

She said that she had an ominous premonition in her heart when Mrs. Lin went out today, and it could be that it should be here.

Lijia Village has a grain harvest official sent, I am afraid that Linjiacun will not be able to escape, it is possible that the Lin family will hit the muzzle of the gun?
"There's no autumn harvest yet, why are you here to collect food?"

Bai Sanya in the past didn't understand, but Bai Xia who came here has understood the tax collection system of this era. Under normal circumstances, after the autumn harvest, [-]% of the grain tax is collected, but now it is only when the rice is filling. It is far from the autumn harvest, how could these official missions come early?

"Who knows that?"

Mistress Li is also very uncomfortable.

There is not much food or water in the village.

Harvesting grain at this time is probably not going to starve to death the people in their village.

In just a short while, almost all the people in the village arrived. The village head in front of the ancestral hall nodded and bowed to a middle-aged man wearing a uniform of an officer, and said, "My lord, everyone in the village is here, look?"

The man's sharp eyes scanned the villagers in front of him. His sallow and thin faces showed a bit of panic, and he looked at him shrinkingly. Every time his eyes fell on a person, that person lowered his head in fright. go.

None of the villagers at the scene dared to look at him.

"Now that you're here, let's start clearing people up"

As he spoke, he took out a roster from his bosom, and the village head jumped in surprise, and hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "My lord, what are you doing?"

In the past, the number of people who harvested grain was never counted. It was only based on the number of acres of land, and [-]% of the amount of two hundred catties per mu was collected. The amount of grain tax was paid according to the number of acres of land each family had.

Counting the heads now makes the village chief feel uneasy.

"The county magistrate said that the war in the frontier fortress is tight, and the court needs to raise food. In addition to collecting food taxes in advance, I also brought the county magistrate's decree. This year's tax, in addition to the usual practice in previous years, An additional head tax will be charged per person, ten catties of grain per person, no matter how big or small”

The official sent a glance at the village chief, and said indifferently.

Hearing the words, the village head felt his eyes go dark, so Xuan didn't faint, his heart was beating and his throat was dry, and he said tremblingly: "My lord, yes, did I remember wrong?"

This is not giving them a way out.

"The county magistrate's handwriting is here, what objection do you have?"

The officer raised the warrant in Yang's hand and glared at the village chief imposingly. The two officers standing behind him made a "crack" sound and pulled out the big knives slung around their waists.

The sharp edge of the blade was so cold that the village chief was frightened.

"No, dare not"

The village chief took a step back, clutching his chest and breaking out in a cold sweat.

Seeing that the village head was frightened, the official sent a cold snort and turned to look at the villagers.

At first he spoke to the village chief in a low voice, and the villagers didn't hear them, but the officer's movement of drawing his sword could not be concealed from others. Seeing him now, they all took a step back, for fear of being targeted by him.

The officer nodded in satisfaction, and then began to clear the list of people.

There are about forty households in the village, some are small, lonely, and many, there are ten or twenty people. At this moment, each household is called to go forward and count them one by one. Write and draw on the booklet.

Soon it will be Li Erpo's turn.

There are sixteen people in the Second Granny Li's family. The Second Granny Li and the Second Grandpa Li, plus four sons and daughter-in-laws, and six grandchildren, it's not too abrupt for the whole family to stand up, because most of the families in this village are like this, There is no separation of families in a large family, and there are countless three and four generations living under the same roof.

When a family stands up, no one will say that the population is prosperous.

Soon, their house was counted, and it was Bai Xia's turn.

"Li Linshi, Bai Sanya, Li Xiuyuan"

The officer lowered his head and read it once, then raised his head and looked sharply at Bai Xia, who was holding Li Xiuyuan, and asked, "Why are there only two of you, where is the Li Lin family?"

(End of this chapter)