I'm so hard

Chapter 200 The Weakness of the Court

At dusk, Yunling Village.

Zhao Yan and Hei Wa rented a small courtyard in the village.

This small courtyard is the house of an old couple.The three big tile-roofed houses are very clean, and no one has lived in them yet.

As for bedding and some daily necessities, you still need to go to the county to buy them.

This small courtyard was originally prepared by the old couple for their son's marriage, but his son bought a house in Xingyuan County and lived in it. The old couple did not want to leave the old courtyard, so this courtyard remained.

And when Zhao Yan and Hei Wa said they would come to rent and pay three months' rent immediately, the old couple agreed immediately.

After renting the house, Zhao Yan and Hei Wa walked around Yunling Village.

It's not the busy farming season yet, so there's nothing to be busy with.But there are almost no adults in Yunling Village except for children running around.

Because as long as people in the village can still walk, they basically go to work in one place.

That is Cui's paper-making workshop in the south three miles outside the village.

The Cui family owned many bookstores, so they naturally needed a paper-making workshop.

In Dazhou, bookstores are a huge profiteering business, and if you don't have an identity background, you can't open it at all.

When night fell, the people of Yunling Village returned, and the smoke rose one by one.

Just when Zhao Yan was about to show off his skills and cook a pot of porridge, the old couple came over.

He also held a small bamboo basket in his hand. The small basket was covered with a white cage cloth, and there was obviously some food in it.

"Young master, this is the pancake my old lady just made. It's still hot. You just came over and didn't light a fire, so try our pancake first!"

After finishing speaking, the old man lifted the cage cloth, revealing several steaming pancakes.

"Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu, you are so polite!" Zhao Yan hurriedly asked Hei Wa to take the food, and then thanked the two of them.

"Young Master gave us so much money, it's nothing for us to take a few pancakes!" Uncle Liu said with a smile.

He had never seen a son with Zhao Yan's temperament, and he believed that Zhao Yan's status must be very high, and he should have come to experience rural life.

Zhao Yan exchanged some pleasantries with him and asked, "Uncle Liu, it seems that everyone in this village works in Cui's paper-making workshop. Is this better than farming!"

Uncle Liu said with a smile: "No, no, go to Cui's papermaking workshop and just have a lunch, no money!"

"Ah? If you don't pay, why do people still do it?" Zhao Yan asked suspiciously.

"Having a lunch is pretty good. Who would dare to ask for money? The land we planted all belonged to the Cui family. Without the Cui family, we would have starved to death long ago. And those of us who still live in the village, most of us They are all incompetent, and they are all too old. A day's work and a meal are worth it. If your aunt and I were not too old, we would have to do it too. We would have a big meal at noon. There is no need to eat at night, and there is a lot of food left over!"

Hearing this, Zhao Yan couldn't help feeling a little sad. Under years of oppression, these people's pursuit of life has stopped at the need for food.

"Then do you think that with the Cui family in Xingyuan County, everyone's life has changed for the better?"

Uncle Liu thought for a while, and said: "My grandfather, my father, and I are all long-term workers of the Cui family. Only my son went to the county town because he wanted to start a business, but he is still working for the Cui family. The life of our family has always been like this, not particularly good, but we can still live, if there is no Cui family, I may not be able to raise my son!"

……

After Zhao Yan chatted with Uncle Liu for a few words, the old couple left slowly.

Hei Wa on the side, holding the cake basket, licked his lips and said, "Master, this cake is quite delicious, it might not taste good when it's cold!"

Zhao Yan rolled his eyes at him and said, "Eat!"

Heiwa was overjoyed immediately, first took out one for Zhao Yan, and then began to swallow it by herself.

Looking at the silver moonlight in the yard, Zhao Yan took a bite of the pancake, and couldn't help saying, "It's so delicious!"
After eating a pancake, Zhao Yan lost his appetite.

He was thinking about a question: How can the common people live with more dignity?
Take Yunling Village as an example. In the eyes of the villagers, the Cui family is their backer and benefactor. Without the Cui family, they don't seem to know how to live at all.

These villagers don't trust the imperial court at all, because in their eyes, the imperial court has brought them no benefits at all except for continuous collection of taxes and continuous conscription.

But now, the purpose of Zhao Yan's new policy is to return more fields to the people, so that they can truly feel the joy that they can't run out of food.

But the common people don't trust the imperial court at all.

Does the Cui family treat the people well?
not good.

A day's work can only be exchanged for a meal.No matter where it is, this is the behavior of profiteers.

But the people think that the Cui family is doing good, because the court has done too badly, and the people don't believe that the purpose of the new policy of the court is to let them eat well and wear warm clothes, so that their families have surplus food, so that they don't have to eat every day. Live at the mercy of others all day.

The goodness of the Cui family and the kindness of the Cui family were completely set off by the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The more Zhao Yan thought about it, the more he felt that he, the emperor, was not doing well enough. He looked at the night sky until late at night before going back to his room to sleep.

Early the next morning, Zhao Yan heard commotion outside.

"Hei Wa, what happened outside?"

Hei Wa ran over and said, "My lord, the villagers are all preparing to go to the county seat. They say they will sit quietly at the gate of the county government for a day. The Cui family is willing to give each person a hundred Wen. Even Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu were sitting on crutches just now. The donkey cart is going to the county seat!"

Sitting in the county office?A hundred cash a day?

Zhao Yan couldn't help being a little puzzled.According to what he knew about the Cui family, the Cui family was not generous to the common people.

And a young and strong laborer can only earn a few tens of dollars by working hard for a day.

One hundred articles per person per day, obviously there are other articles.

Zhao Yan said to Heiwa, "Let's go, let's go to the county government too, and bring those two cloaks, so that the Cui family can recognize her, and that Cui Yanyan should be in hot pursuit again!"

……

But at this moment, beside the county government office in Xingyuan County, it was full of excitement.

The common people, especially some uncles and aunts, moved small benches one by one, and some even sat bare buttocks in front of the county government, and surrounded the gate of the county government tightly.

The few people in front of them also pulled out a white cloth, which read: Laboring the people and harming the country, abolish the New Deal!

And not far away, a few scholars stood on a high platform, talking about the many disadvantages of the New Deal, and some people had already begun to write poems to ridicule.

In front of a teahouse next to the county government office, Cui Yixiong, the third master of the Cui family, said with a smile on his face: "This is the effect I want. It is best that the reputation of Xingyuan County can spread to Changdan City!"

"Father, will we risk going to prison if we do this?" A young man at the side asked with some fear.

Cui Laosan smiled lightly and said: "Son, you remember one sentence: the law does not blame the public, this is the weakness of the court!"

(End of this chapter)