Eldest daughter

Chapter 332
Mrs. Zhang ate a meal, feeling very uncomfortable, complaining and annoyed at Mrs. Wang so much, she saw Zhenniang coming out with tea out of the corner of her eyes, and her face sank.

"I asked you to drink saliva, why are you so dawdling, can't you be lazy?" Her annoyance was directed at Zhenniang.

She has disliked this Zhenniang for a long time, and bought people's hearts while she was not around. Except for Fuquan, everyone in the family praised her, and even that boy Fuduo also praised her delicious food. I really want to piss her off up.

Later when she came back, Zhenniang left. Unexpectedly, within a few days, I heard that Wang Chun'er and the others had bought this Zhenniang to be servants at home. This must be to scare her off!
Seeing the bitter face on Zhenniang's face, it turned off my appetite.

"Here, the hot water on the stove has just been sent to grandma to wipe her body, and it has just been boiled again." Zhenniang hurriedly explained.

Mrs. Zhang snorted, looked at Wang Yuan'er and said, "Yuan'er, it's not the second aunt who is targeting anyone. This servant has to be strictly controlled. If this rule is not established, he will ride on the head of the master. Chun My son is young and has always been soft-tempered, it would be a bad thing to be bullied, especially those who have no sense."

She didn't name her name, but everyone knew that she was saying that Zhenniang didn't understand the rules.

Zhenniang also heard it, her face was slightly pale, and she looked at Wang Yuan'er, a little anxious.

She knew that the second wife of the Wang family was a very powerful character, and her mouth was especially vicious. When she saw her a few times ago, her nose was not her nose, her eyes were not her eyes, and she didn't know how she offended her!
"Second Aunt, whether this servant understands the rules or not, I have Chun'er to discipline me, and it's not your turn to speak up." Wang Yuan'er glanced at Zhang Shi lightly, with coldness in her eyes.

Mrs. Wang also stared coldly at Mrs. Zhang: "If you don't speak, no one will say that you are dumb, and no one wants you to come with me. If you don't like staying here, go home."

Mrs. Zhang was stabbed by the two, her face turned red and white, and she slammed the teacup back onto the tray in Zhenniang's hand, the hot water splashed out and landed on her hand.

Mrs. Zhang didn't even look at it, turned around and left.

"This dead woman, how dare she lose her temper!" Wang Pozi was furious.

Fortunately, it is cold now, although it is boiled water, but it is so bright in the air, it also dissipates a little heat, but it is still hot, and Zhenniang's hand is a little red.

Wang Yuan'er's face darkened, and she thought to herself that this second aunt really did not change her temperament even if something serious happened.

"Is there something wrong?" Wang Yuan'er looked at Zhenniang's hand, frowned and said, "Turn back and apply those ointments."

"It's okay." Zhenniang quickly shook her head, but stopped talking.

"Second Aunt's temper is so domineering, don't take it to heart, go and apply some medicine." Wang Yuan'er knew what she wanted to say, so she comforted her.

Zhenniang breathed a sigh of relief.

"In the future, I will let her have a good meal and die." Wang Pozi said angrily.

Wang Yuan'er didn't say a word, and hung up without pain or itching. To Zhang, it was like scratching an itch through clothes. What's the use.

……

Wang Yuan'er didn't pay much attention to Zhang's small incident. Compared with such bitterness and jealousy, she cared more about the border war.

The cold winter was getting closer and closer, and when Wang Chun'er was about to give birth to a full moon, Wang Yuan'er finally heard a very bad news-the battle situation at the border became more and more tense. Families fled, and more and more refugees.

As soon as there are more refugees, there will be people like horse thieves. After all, people want to survive. There is no food or drink, and there are many people who turn grass into bandits.

Therefore, Wang Yuan'er heard from time to time in the tea shed shop that some merchants said that somewhere was robbed by horse thieves again, and a new group of thieves appeared on a certain hill.

For this reason, the major bodyguard bureaus became popular for a while.

This is not the worst. The bad thing is that because of the tense battle, several granaries were found to be out of food. In addition to disaster relief, food is in short supply. Now the imperial court has to ask for food from the people.

"Everyone who has reached the age of seven will pay a bucket of food."

"Oh my god, isn't this too cruel?"

"How long has it been since you paid the autumn tax? Now that you have to collect grain again, will this make the people live?"

"No, I heard that the granaries in many places ran out of food. The blame is on those corrupt officials. They eat food and drink spicy food by themselves, and they are trying to rob the people of our people. It's too hateful."

"Those corrupt officials deserve to be hacked into pieces. This is a fight for each person. God, my uncle's family has so many children, how can this be done?"

Wang Yuan'er stood in front of the bulletin board in Changle Town, looked at the bulletin above, and listened to the discussions of the people around her, frowned tightly, turned and walked back.

This is really good but not effective, the ugly spirit has been afraid of this grain requisition, and it turns out that it is really a requisition.

There are not many people in my family, and there is some food, even if each person has a bucket, it is not a problem, but those days are difficult, and there are many children in the family, what should I do?
Wang Yuaner felt very heavy.

Once there is a war, it is the common people who suffer. This is true, but this is not the case now.

A bucket of rice doesn't seem like much, but there are many families who can't even save a tael of silver all year round.This bucket of rice is also taken from their mouths, especially if there are many heads, it is no different from killing them.

I don't know how many people will sell their sons and daughters in the future, how many people will hide in Tibet, just to escape the grain requisition, and how many people will curse the emperor behind his back.

Wang Yuan'er came to Cui Yuan's residence in the yamen, holding the tea brought up by his servants, without saying a word.

"What are you thinking about so preoccupied? About food collection?" Cui Yuan opened the door and came in, seeing her deeply furrowed eyebrows, he couldn't help asking.

Wang Yuan'er raised his head and forced a smile: "Have you finished your business?"

"Don't laugh if you don't want to, it's too ugly." Cui Yuan blamed her by pointing at the corner of her mouth.

Wang Yuan'er asked: "There was no accurate news about grain collection before. Why is it suddenly necessary to demand grain? Doesn't it mean that there are only a few granaries without grain, and the shortage of grain is like this?"

In such a huge Northern Dynasty country, a small war requires food requisitions. Could it be that the previous food reserves were all fake?

Cui Yuan took a sip of tea, and said in a slightly lower voice, "It's one thing to have an empty granary, and it's also found that old grain was exchanged for new grain, and it was all moldy old grain."

There was faint anger in his voice.

"Moldy Chen Liang?" Wang Yuan'er was dumbfounded.

"It's still the old grain from the late emperor's time. There was a lot of rain a few years ago, and some of the grain was put away before it was dried, and it was already moldy." Cui Yuan sighed.

Wang Yuan'er was annoyed when she heard this, and gritted her teeth and cursed: "These corrupt officials!"

It's no wonder that some people try their best to become officials and gain power, just to take advantage of their positions to benefit themselves and their families.

Seeing that Cui Yuan's expression was not good, she remembered that the person in front of her was also an official, and hurriedly said: "I'm not scolding you, I'm just scolding those corrupt officials who trade old for new."

"I know." Cui Yuan smiled.

Wang Yuan'er sighed, and said: "Now that the food is levied, I am afraid that the price of food outside will rise sharply, and the levy is based on the head. I am afraid that many people will not be able to afford it, and they will only pay the autumn. The tax will not be long, I am afraid that the common people will have more complaints in their hearts, what is the reputation of the emperor?"

The common people don't care about who is the emperor, they only care about whether the emperor can let them live and work in peace and contentment, have enough food and warm clothes to wear. What is the difference between this food collection and tax increase?
The common people will only be happy to hear about tax cuts. No one likes to increase taxes. After all of this, the common people don’t think that the emperor is not a good one?
What's more, those who can't pay will naturally have to be bought, and the price of grain is so high, I don't know how much money it will cost to buy.

Cui Yuan smiled wryly, and said, "Why don't I know this? But there is nothing I can do about it. In addition to collecting grain, the imperial court has already spent a large sum of money to buy grain from grain merchants. We need money for disaster relief, and money to appease the soldiers. Building rivers requires money, and there is money everywhere, and now the treasury is empty, how can he manage his reputation? It can be said that the emperor is also poor."

Wang Yuan'er had just taken a sip of tea when she heard the words, coughed a few times and said in surprise, "What, the emperor is so poor?"

In the whole world, there is nothing better than Wang Tu. To say that the emperor is poor, is it ridiculous to say that?
"Even if the whole world is the king's land, it's not free to take. You can't say that your family has money, so I'll get some for it. It's that simple?" Cui Yuan laughed.

Wang Yuan'er pulled the corners of her mouth and smiled.

She is just an ordinary little woman, and no one told her about the twists and turns in the temple, how could she know so much?Anyway, according to her cognition in two lifetimes, the emperor is the richest person in the world, not only she thinks, but also the common people all over the world think so.

"The emperor is very poor. He has only been on the throne for three years. To fill up the national treasury and his own private treasury, it takes years of accumulation, and it cannot be done all at once." Cui Yuan recalled the brows that had not been stretched, and shouted A high-ranking person who is poor himself doesn't know whether to laugh or sympathize.

"So listening to you, it's not easy for the emperor." Wang Yuan'er also felt a little sympathetic.

Seeing her like that, Cui Yuan suddenly smiled and said: "Yes, that seat is not easy!" I don't know if he regretted it.

"It's really impossible to hand over the grain. Do you really have to serve as a slave?" Wang Yuan'er asked again: "It's really a poor family with a lot of heads. The actual situation? You need to know that this water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn it. If you push too hard, I'm afraid that some people will not accept it and rise up to resist."

It is stated in the official list that those who cannot pay will be forced to serve. Each family can only pay with two people at most, but if they can't even hand over the people, the rest can only work hard. wrestled.

This is what she doesn't like to see.

"How can there be no eggs in a full nest? Only a country can have a family. Sometimes we can only be ruthless, especially those who are in positions of power. What he sees is the whole world." Cui Yuan sighed.

Wang Yuan'er fell silent, the emperor looked at the world, but the common people only looked at their own small family, but since ancient times, the road to becoming a king has always required sacrifices.

Now I also hope that this war will stop soon, otherwise, I am afraid that this year will be difficult.

(End of this chapter)