A knife in love

Chapter 832

Although it was almost noon, Li Qiufeng was only talking to Huang Chong, Yu Fan, Feng Shiye and others this morning, and he didn't run around, let alone fight with others, so he wasn't as upset as he was in the previous two days. hunger.Looking at the four exquisite dishes in front of him, he didn't eat them all like yesterday.

Li Qiufeng carefully recalled what happened in the past two days after Xiuwu County, and the more he thought about it, the more suspicious he felt.He stayed in the city because he was entrusted by Xu Yingyang to find out the murderer who destroyed Wuji Temple, Xiaoyao Temple and Kongming Temple.It's just that although he was the leader of the righteous people, he also found out a lot of news in the past two days, but everything has nothing to do with the tragedy that happened in Yuntai Mountain.Moreover, since yesterday, a large number of people from all walks of life have gathered in Xiuwu County again, which seems to be the shadow of the treasure-hunting event in the imperial mausoleum that day.It's just that Yu Changyuan, Tang He, Zhao Zhen and others who played the conspiracy that day have disappeared.In terms of scale, the incident at Yuntai Mountain is naturally not comparable to the grand gathering of nearly half of the martial arts gangs that day.It's just that the murderer behind the scenes burned hundreds of monks and Taoists in Wuji Temple, Xiaoyao Temple and Kongming Temple to death as soon as he took action. In terms of vicious methods, he was far above Tang He, Yu Changyuan and others.Therefore, the situation he faces today is probably even more dangerous than when he seized the treasure from the imperial mausoleum.

Li Qiufeng pondered for a long time, but he couldn't find any clues. In the end, he only felt that his chest was depressed, and he stood up and paced back and forth in the room.Hearing the sound of bells and drums coming from the front yard, he thought to himself, since he came to this Town God's Temple, he left early and returned late every day, so he didn't even go around the temple.It is said that the Town God's Temple has been built for more than a thousand years, and I can't justify it if I don't look at the gods enshrined in the Town God's Temple.

Thinking of this, he walked out of the house, closed the door, and walked to the front yard.The backyard is where the temple and some servants live. On weekdays, few people come here, so it is very quiet all day long.Just after passing through the corner gate connecting the front yard and the back yard, one can hear the sound of bells and drums, mixed with the sound of pilgrims talking and laughing, which is very lively.Fragrant mist lingered in front of my eyes, almost covering most of the yard.The aroma of incense sticks is tangy, which makes people feel like they are in a fairyland.

Li Qiufeng bypassed a group of pilgrims who were kneeling outside the gate of the main hall, and walked from the right side of the crowd to the gate of the main hall.But he saw that the threshold of the main hall was extremely high, half a foot in length, not much lower than the threshold of the main hall of the Imperial Palace in the capital.Li Qiufeng thought to himself, after all, Xiuwu County is thousands of miles away from the capital, otherwise in the capital, if the censor or the spies of Dongchang and Jinyiwei found that the regulations in the temple were comparable to those of the imperial palace, they would be afraid of a secret letter Send it up, and the person in charge of the temple will be taken to question him.

He stepped into the main hall while thinking.Although the outside of the hall is very lively, the inside of the hall is extremely quiet.In the middle of the main hall is enshrined a statue of a lady with a brocade crown and xiapei, with a solemn demeanor, which makes people feel awe when they look at it.

When Li Qiufeng first entered the Town God's Temple, he saw this statue from a distance outside the main hall.It's just that it was far away and covered by smoke, so I couldn't see very clearly.At this time, I was only a few feet away from the statue, and when I looked up, I saw that the statue was shaped so realistically, I thought to myself, I have been to several Taoist temples in the capital many times, and the statues of the gods inside are all from famous masters hand.But looking at this statue of the City God Empress, it is no less than the gods in the Taoist temples in the capital.I don't know which craftsman this is, but it is very admirable.

When he was in a trance, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, and then someone said: "Master, can you also come here to offer incense?"

Li Qiufeng recognized Miao Zhu's voice, so he turned his head away, only to see Miao Zhu holding a tray with tribute fruits kneaded from white flour on it, and walked into the main hall.Li Qiufeng nodded and said: "I'm ashamed to say that I have lived in the temple for two days, but I didn't come to pay respects to the city god, it's really unreasonable."

Miao Zhu placed the tribute fruits in the tray neatly on the altar in front of the statue of the City God Empress, and said with a smile: "The uncle should indeed come to worship the empress. Our empress can be said to be merciful and merciful, and she will respond to every request. Let's not say anything Three years ago, the old lady of Wang Juren in the east of the city was suffering from a serious illness, and she was about to die. Wang Juren is a sincere and filial person. In order to save his mother, he swore a heavy oath in front of our city god, saying that as long as the old lady can get through this Guan, he stabbed himself and offered it to the Goddess of the City God. Guess the result? Mrs. Wang vomited a lot that night, and finally spit out a fist-sized meat ball, and the disease was cured. The empress stabbed herself in the right eye in front of her to thank the empress of the city god for saving her life. Unexpectedly, just as he pierced the needle in front of his eyes, there was a thunderbolt in the sunny sky, and then a flash of lightning fell in the courtyard of our Chenghuang temple. Look around The lively crowd was so frightened that they prostrated themselves on the ground, even Wang Juren also prostrated himself on the ground, not even daring to make a sound. At this time, an old Taoist priest appeared from nowhere, and he looked like a fairy. Juren said that this is because the city god empress couldn't bear him to mutilate his own limbs, so she made a special appearance to warn him not to stab himself, as long as he served his mother well, it would not be considered a breach of the oath.

"After the old Taoist finished speaking, he disappeared. Wang Juren just woke up like a dream, knowing that the gods in the sky came to enlighten him. Since then, Wang Juren has become more charitable and has become a well-known benevolent person. The thousands of hectares of fertile land in the east of our Xiuwu County are all under the name of Wang Juren, who has become one of the largest landowners in our Xiuwu County..."

Li Qiufeng was stunned when he heard this, and said to Miao Zhu: "I don't understand the last sentence of Mr. Wang. These thousands of hectares of fertile land belong to Wang Juren, so what does it have to do with his kindness? In my humble opinion, this Wang Juren got so much good land in his hands, isn't it suspected of annexing the land?"

At this time, Miao Zhu had arranged the tribute fruits neatly, then turned around, and said with a smile: "My uncle is not a farmer, so I don't know where the joints are. We ordinary people, if we have a few acres of land in our home, we are a family The source of the food and clothing on the body. However, the imperial court has continued to increase taxes over the years. Even in good harvest years, the harvest of the fields is excellent. After deducting the taxes paid to the government, the harvest of the fields will be exhausted. If it happens In a calamity year, even if there is no income, there is no shortage of taxes. How can these ordinary people survive?"

Li Qiufeng was shocked and said: "Isn't the imperial court has a decree? If there is a disaster year, the tax will be halved, or even not collected, and there will be relief money and food distributed, why does your county still have such a bad habit? I heard that Mr. Huang, the magistrate of your county, is a A good and honest official who loves the people like his son would definitely not exploit the people like this?"

Miao Zhu sighed, and said in his mouth: "Master, you are right. But looking at the world, is there any prefecture or county that will exempt the people from taxes in disaster years? These government lords do not add [-]% of the tax, which is considered good Official. The villain is just telling you that the court’s decree is one thing, but the following officials and lords are another. In a good harvest year, they have to increase the loss, and in a bad year, the tax will not be collected. Wrong. As for our Huangzhi County, he is indeed a rare good and honest official. But what is the use of him being a good and honest official? When it comes time to pay taxes, the servants of Luoyang Prefecture and even the Henan Governor’s Yamen will send high-ranking officials to Let's come here to supervise the tax collection of the Xiuwu County yamen. Although Huangzhi County is very kind to the people, there is nothing to do about it."

When Li Qiufeng heard this, he was terrified, thinking that Henan was very close to the capital, and he could reach the capital in a day and a night on a fast horse.But even at the feet of the emperor, these local officials dared to be so vicious and oppressive, and exploited the people. As for those places where the sky was high and the emperor was far away, the officials who did evil were many times more severe than those near the capital.

But I heard Miao Zhu say: "The common people can't live anymore, so they have to find another way. The imperial court has a decree, and scholars, Jinshi, and officials who have become officials can not pay land, taxes, and corvee. And some of these people are themselves in the government. Although some are not, they are inextricably linked with the government. Therefore, ordinary people sell their land to these big families and become tenants of the big families themselves. In this way, the big families have land without paying taxes. Although the common people have lost their land, they don’t have to pay taxes, and they can get food and money from the rich, so both sides are happy, isn’t it good?”

The more Li Qiufeng heard it, the more frightened he became, and he said in his mouth: "But if the court has no tax revenue, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"

Miao Zhu said with a smile: "These officials and big families don't care. Anyway, they don't have to pay taxes, don't have to serve corvee, and they are happy at ease. As for any major events in the world, they have nothing to do with them. The world has not been peaceful these years. Nine times out of ten, it is because of this. Those people who lost their land became tenant farmers for big families, hoping that their owners would give them food. However, some big families are too rich and unkind, and they hate exploitation even more than the government. Tobacco, not to mention extracting money from the tenants, but also bullying their wives and daughters. These tenants can’t survive, they will die if they don’t become tenants, or they will die if they become tenants.

Li Qiufeng was dumbfounded, and murmured: "If this goes on, what can we do?"

Miao Zhu said: "What's the matter? That's something that the court officials think about. It's useless for us ordinary people to think about it. I heard that some officials know the sufferings of the common people, and they have thought about reducing taxes. The land in the hands of officials and big households is bought by the court and then distributed to the people. But how many high officials and big households rely on these fields and tenants to make a fortune? If you move their fields, they will fight you desperately. So these Over the years, none of the officials who wanted to play tricks on the fields of these big officials and big households ended well. Either they were killed by the court, or they were sent to wild lands to suffer endless suffering. It is said that in the Song Dynasty there was a The prime minister, that’s why it’s bad luck. The villain looks at the officials of our Ming Dynasty, but few of them are as kind as the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty. They can live a day to day, and they can eat and drink spicy food by themselves, so they won’t Whether the common people starve to death or freeze to death!"

(End of this chapter)