casket of old days

Chapter 4 Selling Fields (Thanks to the leader of 'passerby Chacha' for the reward)
Chu Qiguang looked at the cat with blank eyes, put it back on the ground, looked at his sister and said earnestly: "Sister, if you let my brother know that you wipe your butt with a cat, I will wipe your butt with you in the future. "

The younger sister looked at Chu Qiguang in shock.

Chu Qiguang asked, "Will you lick yourself?"

"Mom!" The younger sister's face was frightened instantly, and the little girl yelled nonsense, but Chu Qiguang grabbed her and covered her mouth.

Chu Qiguang educated: "I'm just kidding you! Girls are like each other, so don't do unreasonable things in the future."

After teaching his sister a lesson, Chu Qiguang felt the psychological impulse in his body, and kept thinking about how to relieve it.

He recalled his past experiences on Earth, and understood that once this problem happened, it would be unbearable to endure it, and he had to prescribe the right medicine to relieve the psychological pressure.

The younger sister at the side looked at Chu Qiguang's paler face and the cold sweat on his forehead, and said to himself, "It must be a big lump..."

At this moment, a faint quarrel came from the room, and Chu Qiguang asked curiously, "Is anyone here?"

The younger sister shook her head: "Aunt Chen next door brought someone to find my mother."

"Aunt Chen next door?" Chu Qiguang's eyes narrowed slightly, and based on what he had seen and heard in the village in the past two days, he already had some guesses in his mind.

He ran outside the door of the earthen house and listened to the conversations of several people inside.

……

In the small earthen room, apart from a small low table, there is only one earthen kang.

But in this almost impoverished home, there are six people crowded together at this moment.

In addition to Ergou's mother, there was Aunt Chen from the neighbor's house next door, the head of the district here, the housekeeper of the Wang family and two servants.

At this moment, Ergou's mother was talking with a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge with a sad face.

The middle-aged man was wearing a blue collar with narrow sleeves and a headscarf. He was stroking his goatee with his right hand, and his eyes rolled from time to time, revealing a hint of shrewdness.

Ergou's mother whispered, "Housekeeper Wang, the average price of dry land in Qingyang County is ten taels of silver per mu. Even in a disaster year, it can be sold for five taels of silver per mu. Now you ask for four taels of silver per mu." I’m about to buy my family’s field, it really doesn’t give me a way to survive…”

The man known as Steward Wang stroked his goatee and said slowly, "Miss Zhou, this is not an old man bullying you. This year's harvest is not good, and it's not easy for everyone."

Ergou's mother said in a low voice, "But..."

Steward Wang glared, and said impatiently: "There is a drought in the field, and everyone can't pay the grain tax from the court. My master has shown kindness and wants to buy your land, so that all the big guys in the village can pay the grain tax." Tax, I will rent the land to you cheaply next year, don’t you know what’s good and what’s wrong?”

Another rough-skinned man in a short shirt was the village chief in charge of collecting grain taxes.

In today's Han Dynasty, one hundred households constituted one mile, and the ten households in Tianduo Dingduo took turns as the head of the mile, one round a year, and was responsible for collecting taxes and corvees.

I saw the 'Li Chang' annoyed: "Ergou his mother, if you can't pay the grain tax, you will force the county yamen servants to collect the tax, but we will not be as easy to talk to as our own people."

Steward Wang said again: "If your family doesn't want to sell the land, then you can borrow some loan sharks and pay the grain tax first..."

Hearing the usury, Ergou's mother quickly shook her head. The usury is the usury issued by the Wang family. The interest rate is so high that Ergou can't afford to sell it. Ergou's mother would never dare to borrow it.

After being persuaded for a while, Ergou's mother, who had already lost her mind, nodded subconsciously, and wanted to sign and pledge, agreeing to sell the family's field.

"and many more!"

At this moment, Chu Qiguang with a pale face opened the door and walked in, and glanced at several people: "Mother, do you want to sell the land?"

Aunt Chen frowned and said, "Gouzi, it's none of your business here, you go out to play with your sister first."

"How many people want to join the Wang family but still can't. You work hard in the Wang family. You don't have to pay taxes or apply for corvee. This is a really good life."

Chu Qiguang knew that the Wang family wanted to take advantage of this year's drought to annex the fields, so he stopped his mother and asked, "How much land tax do we have to pay this year?"

Mother said: "Two stones of wheat are worth two taels of silver."

Chu Qiguang frowned. The county's grain harvesting basins were filled to the brim, and the tip was one bucket, ten buckets was one stone, and one bucket was one bucket.

As for the two taels of silver, Qingyang County implemented the tax of silver a few years ago, that is, instead of collecting food and other physical objects, it collected equivalent silver as taxes.

And ten qian is equal to one tael of silver, which is 2.2 taels of silver in total.

He frowned when he heard what his mother said about two stones of wheat: "Didn't you only need five buckets last year?"

The head of the village at the side said impatiently: "This year, the county's new master took office, and he has to pay back the taxes owed in the past few years. Our whole Qingyang County is in a mess, and it's not just your family who have to make up for it. hole."

Chu Qiguang said slowly: "Our family planed food in the soil all year round, prepared the land, sowed, fertilized, watered, threshed... In addition to farming, we also had to deal with corvees, so there was no day off. After a year, Just harvest five or six shi of wheat.

In addition to paying the land tax and the small tax every year, there are also the average money, material money, truck money, warehouse money...all of which are paid by the county government.After handing over, there is also the worship money and various routine filial piety in the Taoist temple.

In addition, you have to find grain merchants to exchange money to pay taxes, and you have to be exploited again.The grain we handed over had to be dried and shelled, but the grain we bought was mixed with water at the bottom, and we changed buckets. The same bucket of wheat came and went again and again, and the silver was more than [-]% short.

After a year of hard work, there is at most four shi of food left over, which is distributed to our family of three, and spread to the daily expenses, that is, one person has more than four taels a day, and we need to change some oil, salt, and add some clothes...

How much can such a person have left in a day?Do you think it is enough?If it weren't for catching some fish and shrimps in the river, digging some bamboo shoots from the back mountains, and relying on the mountains and water to eat water, we would have starved to death long ago. "

Aunt Chen at the side turned her head when she heard the words, and a trace of unbearable color flashed in her eyes.

But the head of the village was annoyed: "Collecting grain and paying taxes has been a matter of course since ancient times, and you still need to talk about it?"

Chu Qiguang was not frightened, and the symptoms on his body quickly disappeared following what he said.

Feeling this situation, he didn't care too much, and decided to relieve the symptoms first.

So he continued: "The adults above have to pay the taxes owed, but my family pays the grain taxes for the five acres of land every year, which is only a little more, who is owed?

Everyone present knew that Wang's family owed the most land taxes to the village's largest landlord, the Wang family.They donated their property to the Taoist temple, and hid the cultivated land under several extinct households... They tried every means to evade taxes.

But neither the head of the village nor the ordinary villagers can do anything about it, they can only look at the poorer and weaker villagers.

(End of this chapter)