Myth: Heaven and Earth

Chapter 157
From the day of "going out for a walk" to Lu Heng's return to Zaoshan Town, it was almost another half a month.

"The way is to go south for leisure, I see why I am still so busy."

Lu Heng said so.

Gong Lan gave him a straight look: "I asked for it!"

She said: "You can't be quiet and quiet, but you want to run around, and you have a hot temper. If you get angry, you will beat or kill. Who do you blame?"

Lu Heng laughed: "Then you can't be aggrieved. If you are not feeling well, you have to vent it. Otherwise, you will grow old quickly."

Huang Chun'er laughed out loud.

Jiu'er said: "The mentality of the head of the family is becoming more and more casual."

He said, "This time, we stayed in Suzhou for a few more days? Master, when will you teach us to take a look at the outhouse you raised?"

Lu Heng said: "My yin and yang are weird with me, be careful and I will deal with you."

Jiu'er's face turned red immediately.

Lu Heng said: "It's winter now, I'm thinking about this year's New Year, let's go to Suzhou."

Gong Lan nodded and said: "I really have to go and have a look. The garden has been bought for more than half a year, but I still haven't seen what it looks like."

Back home, that one is at ease, needless to say.

All you need to do is wander up and down the mountain every day, look at the medicine fields, do experiments, or bully and bully tigers.

Speaking of the medicine fields in the valley, Gong Lan said that the more they had an extraordinary appearance.In the past half month, the cloud of medicine that filled the air became much thicker.The growth of medicinal materials has completely violated the laws of the four seasons. The weather is cold, and the vitality is not hidden, but it is still flourishing and high-spirited.

This makes the Medicine Valley stand out even more, attracting many wild animals to covet.

Fortunately, there was a tiger in the valley, but nothing irreversible happened.

Gong Lan said only one thing, that is, the lynx may have tasted some small sweetness at the beginning, so that she couldn't forget it, and often sneaked in when the tiger was napping.

But often not available - how vigilant is the tiger?As soon as the lynx slipped in, the tiger drove it away with a roar.

Gong Lan would go there every so often to weed and cultivate soil, or to observe the tiger's demeanor and practice the shape, meaning and tiger shape.

"However, during this period of time, Zaoshan Town is not very stable."

Jiu'er said: "A few days ago, some county officials came and made a lot of noise. I asked Brother Zhu and they said they were here to collect taxes."

"Collect taxes?" Lu Heng said, "Didn't you pay them all?"

The taxation of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was very bad. Generally speaking, the specific operations were handed over to the local gentry, and the above only collected money from the local gentry.

The local gentry are the so-called Baochang and the like.

That is the Baojia system.

There are no big landlords or big businessmen at the gentry level in Zaoshan Town, and there are only a few rich peasants at most.

One of them is Baochang.

Because he is not very powerful, it is difficult for him to be a domineering person, so it is still his duty to collect taxes.Did not increase taxes on their own.

Like those places where there are big landlords and tyrants, they are very violent.Local taxes are in their hands, and they can increase or decrease as they want.

Those who are shameless should at least mention a plausible name; those who are shameless will do it directly.

Anyway, the poor and the poor are being squeezed hard.

The local tyrants and evil gentry who will be overthrown later—these are the local tyrants and evil gentry!

The tax of Zaoshan Town has been collected at the juncture of the year.This time, I came to collect it again. I don't know what it is called.

Lu Heng said: "I'll go to the Baochang's house to find out about the situation later."

These days, the tax is as heavy as a mountain. If it is collected once, the common people will not be able to bear it. If it is collected again, they will starve to death.Such a peaceful place in Zaoshan Town, Lu Heng doesn't want it to be destroyed!
After dinner, Lu Heng strolled out and went to the Baochang's house.

Passing by the blacksmith's shop, he went in and chatted with Zhu Dachui.

When asked about tax collection, Zhu Dachui spat: "All crows in the world are generally black. I said that this happened last year. I thought the south was better than the northeast. I was too naive."

He said: "The officials in the county came over and said that there was a war in the north, and the imperial court was fighting fiercely with foreigners, so they wanted to collect anti-foreign tax. The head is five cents, and the heart is as dark as coal!"

When Lu Heng heard this, a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes: "It's a good title!"

Anti-foreign tax!
This name is both grand and foreign!

Five renminbi per head is definitely not a lot!

In Zhu Dachui's blacksmith's shop, apprentices who are successful in their art and can get paid are paid five renminbi for two months!

Most of the hundreds of households in Zaoshan Town live on a few acres of Susukida, and usually have almost no direct money income.How should this tax be paid?

sell things!
Sell ​​rations first.

At this time, the gentry made some money.It's called taking advantage of the fire.The current price of grain is about one, two, four, and one hundred catties of silver. When the common people sell their rations to pay taxes, the gentry will cut it off with a knife. That's the norm.

One tael or four coins and one hundred catties of silver. At this time, selling them for one-fifth or one-eighth of the price will make the peasants vomit blood at a loss!

Then when the farmers ran out of food, they raised the price, doubling, tripling, and so on.

Once in and out, the common people couldn't bear it immediately, so they sold their fields, children and daughters!
In the end, the family was ruined.

This is the old society!

As for the so-called anti-foreign tax, Lu Heng is sure that it is definitely not the handiwork of the Qing court—it is not that the Qing court did not want to do it, but at this time, the Qing court has stopped, and the emperor has escaped from the capital. Foreigners occupy it, who ordered the collection of anti-foreign taxes?

Lu Heng nodded: "I'll go to Bao Zhang's house to have a look."

When Zhu Dachui heard it, he laughed: "With you, this matter is settled."

Lu Heng left the blacksmith's shop and arrived at Baochang's house not long after.

Knock on the door, and the security chief's wife opens the door.

Seeing that it was Lu Heng, he put on a smile and invited him in.

Lu Heng is not a local resident of Zaoshan Town, nor is he a big landlord. Except for the medicine valley in the mountains, he has no land under his control, and he is not a bandit, but everyone knows that Lu Heng is not easy to mess with.

I know this guy is extremely rich.

It's just that Lu Heng is relatively dissociated as usual, and rarely communicates with the residents of the town.People want to curry favor but can't curry favor, so Jiu'er has become the most popular object.

Not to mention that.

The Baochang's mother-in-law invited Lu Heng in, and the Baochang had already greeted him.

"Master Lu is here, the succulent is shining!"

After hearing this, Lu Heng waved his hands directly, and cut to the chase: "Master Huang, I just came back from Shanghai, and I heard that the county is going to collect some extra money to resist foreign taxes. Tell me, what is the reason for this?"

Seeing that Lu Heng came to Xingshi to inquire about his crimes, Bao Chang's face immediately turned ugly.

He hurriedly asked his wife to bring tea, then sighed, and said, "Master Lu, the county is here to collect taxes, and it has nothing to do with my surname Huang."

He said: "That's an order from the county. I'm just a security chief. What can I do?"

Lu Heng said: "Stop talking nonsense with me."

He said: "You are able to be the head of the security. I heard that you have a lot of relationship with the county. Come and tell me, where did this anti-foreign tax come from!"

As Lu Heng said, he slapped the table with his palm, turning the table into a pile of powder and collapsing like quicksand.

"If you don't explain it to me, you and your wife won't go out today."

Baochang and his wife suddenly turned pale with fright.

Under Lu Heng's intimidation, he explained the matter clearly like pouring beans.

(End of this chapter)