All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 73 Autumn Tax Has Three Major Aspects

"You don't even know that the Hundred Poison Peach has been picked? What use are you?!" the middle-aged beauty shouted sternly.

At this moment, the girl beside her gently raised her hand.

"Wow!"

The small blue cauldron in the middle-aged woman's hand trembled, making a tinkling sound. Countless corpse worms stopped at the feet of the man in black robes and remained motionless.

"Perhaps a capable person has come from above; no wonder." The girl's face was veiled, her voice ethereal and otherworldly, her eyebrows like spring mountains and her eyes like autumn waters.

"Thank you so much, Holy Maiden, for sparing my life! Thank you so much, Holy Maiden, for sparing my life!" The man in black robes kowtowed repeatedly.

"Get out of here!" the middle-aged woman shouted sharply, and the corpse worms made way for her from behind.

"Thank you, Protector Li! Thank you, Holy Maiden! I take my leave!" The man in black robes scrambled away.

"Holy Maiden, is it really someone from the Demon Suppression Division? Is there any news from the Sect Leader?" the middle-aged beauty asked in a low voice.

"It's just finding an excuse to pardon the patrol officer." The girl shook her head.

"These great martial arts masters are bound by the agreement and dare not easily enter the mountain, and ordinary martial arts masters cannot get close to this place either."

To harvest the Hundred Poison Peach without anyone noticing, one would need to be a junior officer in the Demon Suppression Division who possesses extraordinary skills or divine weapons.

"The defenses on Black Wind Mountain are weak. Should we send more people over?" the middle-aged woman pondered.

"After Protector Shen's lineage betrayed the sect, we are already short-handed. Let's wait for the sect leader to emerge from seclusion before making any decisions," the girl said calmly, her eyes showing no emotion.

"What if the Wood Demon Corpse is discovered before it matures? Wouldn't that ruin everything?" The middle-aged woman was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

Upon hearing this, the girl didn't speak, glanced at her, and then turned and left.

At the southern entrance of Heishan Town, under an old locust tree, several wooden tables were temporarily set up.

The county clerk sat behind a wooden table, drinking tea, while a wooden measuring cup, about half a person's height, sat on the uneven cobblestone path.

A minor official was holding a roster and calling out names one by one.

"Liang Asi, a fisherman."

Uncle Liang walked from the back of the crowd to the wooden table, with Liang Chao carrying two large bags of rice beside him.

After breaking through to the Skin Refining Realm, Liang Chao's cultivation stagnated. He chose to stay at the Chasing Wind Martial Arts School to do odd jobs, fishing with his father Liang Asi while continuing to save money to practice martial arts.

Liang Chao placed the two bags of rice steadily on the ground, and two constables came over carrying the official scale to weigh them.

"Liang Asi from Heishan Town, delivered 200 jin of grain, actually delivered 1 jin."

The clerk in charge of recording glanced at the markings on the official scale, then at the character 'Li' on Liang Chao's blue training uniform, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

"Young man, could you perhaps be from the Wind Chasing Martial Arts School in town? Have you ever broken through the training grounds?"

Upon hearing this, the two constables who were weighing the scales placed their hands on the weights.

"It's just a minor skin injury," Liang Chao said with an embarrassed smile.

"My apologies, my apologies." The junior official bowed in apology.

The two bailiffs adjusted the weights on the scales, and the clerk glanced at them before announcing loudly, "Liang Asi, deliver two hundred catties of grain. This will offset five coins of fish tax!"

Upon hearing this, Liang Asi, who was standing nearby, took out some loose silver from his pocket to make up the difference.

There was a temporary notice regarding this year's autumn tax, requiring each household to pay at least 100 catties of grain based on the number of people paying the tax, and not just cash.

The clerk took the silver, weighed it in his hand, then weighed it and recorded it in the register.

After paying the tax, Liang Chao did not leave, but ran to the back of the crowd to help the old lady push her cart.

“Feng Jinshui, a farmer from Shiban Village,” the clerk continued, calling out names.

A middle-aged man dressed in coarse linen clothes stepped out from the crowd, accompanied by a thin boy who looked to be thirteen or fourteen years old.

Feng Jinshui carried a bag of rice that he had managed to scrape together after emptying his rice jar at home, and came to the wooden table.

Then, he had his son, Feng Gou Dan, take out a burlap sack from his pocket, which contained loose silver coins.

Two bailiffs lifted the rice sacks to weigh them, while the clerk looked at the markings on them, recording the weight as he weighed it.

“Feng Jinshui, deliver 100 jin of grain, actually deliver 80 jin.”

Upon hearing this, Feng Jinshui panicked and hurriedly said, "Master, that's not right! This big bag of rice is exactly ten dou, a full one hundred jin!"

"Huh?!" The clerk's face darkened immediately when he saw that the man still dared to argue. "Don't you recognize the character for 'official' on this scale?"

After saying that, he waved his hand, signaling the two constables to bring the measure.

The bailiff opened the rice bag and poured the rice into the bushel.

This wooden official container is shaped like a four-sided pyramid, with a small opening and a large base.

When the bailiffs were pouring rice into the container, a lot of rice leaked out from the edge and fell to the ground. Feng Jinshui's son bent down to pick it up, but the bailiffs kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Stop! These are all losses! Who gave you permission to pick them up!"

After the rice bags were emptied, the bailiffs took out a wooden board and repeatedly pressed and flattened the pile of rice, then kicked it several times onto the official measuring cup.

The rice inside had gone down another layer, and it was far from the standard white line for 100 jin (50 kg).

"Feng Jinshui, seventy catties of rice. Record it!" After kicking the official measure, the bailiff glanced at the white line inside.

Upon hearing this, Feng Jinshui's eyes immediately reddened with anxiety, and he knelt down with a thud. "Master! Thirty catties are missing!"

The honest, simple man cried out in pain after being bullied, while the other people waiting to pay their taxes were also filled with righteous indignation.

"This scale is an official scale, this measure is an official measure, the word 'official' is as important as the heavens! If anyone doesn't recognize the word 'official,' don't blame the word for not recognizing you!"

Seeing the crowd discussing this, the minor official immediately rebuked them.

"Master! We really have no food left at home!" Seeing the clerk's behavior, Feng Jinshui pleaded with the clerk who was sitting behind the wooden table drinking tea.

"Guards! Hang these two troublemakers on a tree as a warning to others."

The advisor put down his teacup and said calmly.

"Yes!"

Several officers rushed forward, pinned Feng Jinshui and his son to the ground, tied them up, and hung them from an old locust tree nearby.

"They're really leaving no way for people to survive!"

"Even more ruthless and vicious than Zhao the Skinflint in town!"

Faced with the enraged crowd, the officials gripped their swords.

Seeing this, the crowd quickly quieted down.

Liang Chao was about to step forward to reason with them, but his father, Liang Laoshi, held him back tightly.

The subsequent tax payment process went much more smoothly.

Faced with the situation of being shortchanged, the people either went home to carry rice back or had to pay extra money, and from then on they would have to tighten their belts.

“The Yin family of Caisang Village are weaving households.”

As the official called out her name, the old woman pushed her cart through the crowd.

"Greetings, sir. This old woman has moved to town, changed her household registration, and is raising silkworms with Aqing, a silkworm farmer," the old woman explained, stopping her cart.

Weavers paid more taxes than cocooners, and they also had to provide woven cloth.

"How dare you! Do you think the register is fake? Even if you changed your household registration, you'll still have to pay the silkworm cocoon tax next year. You old codger, trying to cheat and shirk your duties!" the clerk shouted, directing two bailiffs to carry the rice to the scale.

Seeing this, the old woman touched the ample silver she had prepared in her bosom and dared not argue any further.

The clerk looked at the scale and announced loudly, "Mr. Yin, you have to pay 200 catties of grain, but you have actually paid 160 catties!"

"It's really too much!"

"These officials are in for a world of trouble! Ah Qing is a martial artist who has broken through the barriers!"

"They dare to make things difficult for Grandma! They're just picking on Ah Qing!"

Among the onlookers, some were gloating, their faces beaming with satisfaction.

They also realized that these officials from the county were more capable of dissecting and humiliating people than in previous years, but they wouldn't make things difficult for martial artists who had broken through their barriers.

The old woman was all alone, so naturally she could only endure the bullying from these officials, but Ah Qing was not someone to be trifled with.

“Sir, one hundred catties of rice in here is for Ah Qing to pay.”

The old woman wasn't stupid; she couldn't let herself suffer such a huge loss for nothing. She stepped forward and quietly explained the situation.

Hearing the crowd's discussion and the old woman's explanation, the clerk's expression changed slightly as he realized what was going on.

This old codger has changed his allegiance and is now working for a martial artist who has broken through the skin barrier; we should at least give him some face.

However, the rice has just been weighed, so we can't change our tune immediately, otherwise there will definitely be trouble when collecting taxes later.

The clerk approached the advisor, exchanged a few words, then returned to the center of the room and announced loudly, "Pass the measure!"

The constables, having received their orders, no longer hesitated and proceeded with the process according to the previous procedure.

"The Yin family has seventy catties of rice. Zhou Qing, a silkworm farmer, has one hundred catties of rice. Remember this!"

The constables loudly announced the numbers.

"Sir, could we make up for the missing rice with silver?" The old woman took out some loose silver from her bosom.

(End of this chapter)