The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 730 The Night Before the Storm
The third master has arrived, and everyone in the village calls him the head of the village.

The neighbors knew when the third master would come and why he would come long before he arrived.

There are more than 300 households in Wangjiazhuang, but they owe rent and taxes to the head lord, Duke Yansheng, and the Qufu County Government. The total amount of various levies and taxes has exceeded 5,000 taels.

The third master stopped at a teahouse at the entrance of the village. In Zhang Sanniang's shop, he drank two cups of tea, ate two chicken legs, and then took a carriage to Wang Guojie's house.

A few days ago, the village head had heard that Wang Guojie had returned home. Although the old man of the Wang family had passed away, he still owed the Duke of Yansheng the ironwork tax and land rent, which he had to repay in full.

Now that Wang the blacksmith’s son is back, it is only natural for the son to pay off his father’s debts.

The village head walked into the bare-bones Wang family with a thick stack of rent records.

A group of neighbors gathered at the door of Wang's house, peeking into the house.

At that moment, the three members of the Wang family sat at a grimy table in the corner. The walls of the room were covered with clippings from newspapers. One of them was a report of the retired emperor's expedition to Japan, where he had slain Tokugawa Iemitsu. Tokugawa Iemitsu, transformed into a dragon, had been reduced to a black loach by the smoke, and the majestic retired emperor had been transformed into the image of Zhang Fei.

Under the portrait of the retired emperor, something was still cooking in an iron pot.

Tenant Wang Guojie coughed violently, crossed his arms over his chest, and stared blankly at the headman and servants who had barged in.

"You guys, you owe me 110 taels of silver? You still have 60 days to repair the canal?"

When the third master said this, he looked at the sick farmer in front of him with suspicion and confirmed the account book again.

Wang Guojie looked numb and continued to cough.

The village head subconsciously covered his nose and continued, "Last October, before your father died, he paid an additional three taels of tax to the Duke of Yansheng. Since then, you haven't paid a penny."

The village head raised his head, stared at Wang Guojie's mother, and asked with concern:
"Why is that, Auntie? Do you think Lord Yansheng is a big enemy? We are from Qufu and we should be reasonable."

"Have mercy, sir," Aunt Wang began, and in her excitement the old woman's missing front teeth kept leaking like a leaky cymbal.

"Third Master, let me report back. Last year, when his father was still alive, Master Zhang from Qufu Tunbao came to our house and said, 'Blacksmith Wang, sell us your iron... Go ahead,' the child's father said. 'Why not? I have about a hundred taels of iron to sell, all top-quality iron...'"

As Aunt Wang spoke, she turned her head to look at the other neighbors, as if she wanted to ask them to be witnesses.

"I don't understand what you're saying," the village head said. "I'm asking you... I'm asking you why you don't pay your taxes. If you don't pay, do you expect me to go and pay the tax to the master?"

Aunt Wang swore to the heavens, "We have no money!"

"Nonsense, outrageous!" said the village head. "Our emperor is wise and has abolished the garrisons to punish you cunning and sly people. Blacksmith Wang used to make a lot of money for the garrisons, but I heard that the old man was a drunkard and spent all his money on drinking. Now the Duke of Yansheng has taken pity on you and given you land to farm, but he only takes 80% of the rent, and yet you say you have no money?"

"Do you still have a conscience?"

The village head wrote a few words in the account book, then left the Wang family, got into the carriage, and ordered the servants:

"People were arrested and their homes demolished."

Four ferocious servants immediately stepped forward, brandishing hammers and pickaxes, and smashed the only remaining wall of the Wang family's house.

Wang Guojie's wife cried and stepped forward to stop him.

"Don't smash it! We are settlers from Liaodong, and we have been farming for Da Qi our whole lives... You will suffer retribution!"

A servant dropped the hammer and punched the woman on the back of the neck. Wang Guojie's wife's body went limp and she collapsed to the ground like noodles. The servant tied her up with a rope, tied her to the horse's back, and rode away.

The other three servants blocked Aunt Wang.

Wang Guojie chased after him with a wooden stick, but after taking two steps, he was kicked over by the servant.

Aunt Wang was chasing him closely from behind. She was hunched over, panting, and fell to the ground several times.

The old woman suddenly stopped, and like a sorcerer, she pounded her chest with her fists, howling in a way that was not human:

"It's unjust, the Emperor! The damn Duke Yansheng bullied me! Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Rescue, Kong Youren wants to drink blood! Oh, oh, the Emperor is blind and wants to force us to rebel!"

"Old man!" the servant said sternly, "you are tired of living!"

"I'm seventy years old now, and I don't want to live any longer. I'm going to the capital to file a complaint. The emperor is blind."

The servant ignored the crazy woman and walked away.

The Wang family's limited furniture was smashed to pieces, leaving only two bare walls. The onlookers pointed and talked at the Wang mother and son, each with a strange smile on their face, like a vampire monster. But when they saw Wang Guojie struggling to get up, the neighbors quickly dispersed.

Wang Guojie cleared his throat, leaned on a wooden stick, and went to find the village head.

The sky is gray.

There were faint ghost lights floating in the wilderness, and owls were hooting strangely on the tops of the birch trees. For the first time, Wang Guojie felt that the world he was in was not the human world, but more like hell.

The village head lived in a villa in the east of the village. It was made of green bricks and tiles and was shaded by bamboo and trees. It was a world apart from the thatched house in Wangjiazhuang.

Wang Guojie stood at the gate and knocked. After knocking for an unknown amount of time, a chubby head popped out from the crack of the door.

"Third Master, please have mercy and return my wife to me!"

"It has been delivered to the Yansheng Duke's Mansion. Bring three taels of silver and you can take it back tomorrow."

“I can’t get it out.”

The village head waved his hand impatiently and was about to close the door. Wang Guojie rubbed his palms, thought for a moment, and said:
"Give my wife back to me! She's not from Wangjiazhuang. If she dies, I won't live either."

The fat and big-eared village head suddenly rushed out and kicked Wang Guojie in the chest:

"Damn it! I haven't paid the rent. How many times has the Lord Yansheng scolded me? Get out!"

~~~~
About ten days later, the headman came into the village again.

It was snowing heavily and the roads were difficult to travel on. The neighbors were suffering. Another farmer's house was demolished and his woman was captured to pay off debts.

On the Lantern Festival, several refugees from other counties happened to pass by Wangjiazhuang and went door to door begging for food. They didn't get a single grain of rice. They were so angry that they cursed in Dengzhou dialect:

"You idiots, a bunch of poor bastards! You gave birth to a son without an asshole!"

At night, they huddled by a fire in front of a dilapidated house in the east of the village.

The three men were originally farmers in Dengzhou. Like Wang Guojie, they lost their land and had no work in the garrison. After selling their children, they became refugees.

They set fire to a few dead trees. Unbeknownst to the outsiders, the dead trees were also the private property of Duke Yansheng.

But his life is almost over, so who cares whether he is Duke Yansheng or the emperor.

The three of them talked about their experiences over the past two years, and it sounded like a collection of horror stories.

One of the homeless people was caught jumping into a well after his wife was kidnapped because he owed rent to the landlord.

Another refugee, who failed to recite the "Da Zhong Jue Mi Lu" three times and was fined, set fire to the Wendeng County Government Office and fled here;
The third refugee was about to tell his story when he suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if something was staring at him. When he turned around, he screamed and was so scared that he almost fell into the fire.

On the wall behind him, a hunched man was hanging by a rope, his feet dangling in the air, swaying in the wind...
The three refugees put the body down and searched it carefully. They found that the hanged man was starving to the point of being skin and bones, with all seven orifices black. He was most likely suffering from tuberculosis, so they gave up the idea of eating human flesh.

The three of them recalled things from long ago and thought about their own experiences:

Who should be blamed for this?
"The new emperor is to blame!" said a refugee. "If not him, who else can we blame?"

"The damn new policy has enriched the landlords and ruined us all."

Although no one knew what the New Deal was, everything, such as tenant rent, famine, and poor harvest, was closely related to the New Deal.

The refugees talked about how God hadn't sent down snow yet, and where they would beg for food tomorrow. However, the villagers in the surrounding villages seemed to be even poorer than them...

Originally, ten to twenty years ago, when the emperor had just ascended the throne, farmers only had to pay a small amount of rent, no more than 10%. In those days, people had food to eat and clothes to wear, and they could join the army if they wanted. Landlords had disappeared...
Everyone was silent for a while.

Remembering that they hadn't gotten any food today, the three of them started arguing about who was to blame.

"Blame the Emperor! If not it, who else can we blame?"

"The emperor told the gentlemen to talk about the 'Great Loyal Awakening Record' every day, saying that he was always right and those who were wrong were traitors."

The hanged ghost lying in the corner suddenly said in a low voice:
"Go rebel, go to Liaodong! Go become a rebel!"

(End of this chapter)