behind me is the earth.

Chapter 5 005. Exorbitant taxes
"There is no limit to the trend of ambition, and there is no limit to the distance between the poor mountains and the sea."

"That is to say, one must aspire, the aspiration must be lofty, and the distance is infinite, but it must also be achieved."

In the evening, at the desk in the north room, Ren Pingsheng was answering questions for 12-year-old Xiaowan.

Xiaowan is young, but has a lot of experience, and is more mature than ordinary children of this age.

She cherishes her current life very much. Ren Pingsheng asked her to read more and study more, so she became serious about reading and studying hard.

"Master, what is your ambition?"

Xiao Wan asked curiously.

Ren Pingsheng shook his head.

The peaceful life was broken by the golden right hand that was obtained by chance. In this strange world, Ren Pingsheng only knows a little bit about it, and he doesn't even have a definite goal. What ambition do you set?

"What about you? Xiaowan, do you have any ambitions?"

Ren Pingsheng threw the question back.

"What is the young master's ambition? My ambition is to follow the young master's direction."

Xiao Wan said seriously.

The corner of Ren Pingsheng's mouth curled up, and he reached out to touch Xiaowan's little head.

"Master, it's cold now, let me warm your bed."

Xiaowan looked at Ren Pingsheng expectantly and said.

"Need not."

Ren Pingsheng shook his head.

Xiao Wan didn't understand: "But I heard that other maids have to warm the young master's bed."

"I have an electric mattress."

Ren Pingsheng shook his head.

"Oh."

Xiaowan went back to sleep in her side room a little glumly.

Hate electric mattresses!
Ren Pingsheng also fell asleep in the warm electric mattress.

The next day the weather was a bit gloomy. When Ren Pingsheng woke up, it was almost nine o'clock. Xiao Wan pinched the time for him to wake up and had already prepared meals for him.

Eggs, flower rolls, spicy soup, and ground soy milk.

"Drink more milk and grow taller."

Ren Pingsheng pushed a box of milk to Xiaowan.

Girls develop early. Xiaowan, who is already 12 years old, is less than 1.4 meters tall. If she doesn't move around, she may be less than 1.5 meters in the future.

"Ah."

Xiao Wan obeyed obediently.

After dinner, Xiao Wan cleaned up the dishes.

Master Ren put his bow and arrows on his back and went out, heading towards the martial arts field in the village.

The Martial Arts Field is just to the east of the cross road in the village. It is said to be a Martial Arts Field, but it is actually a relatively flat open space.

When Ren Pingsheng arrived, there were more than a dozen young people fighting with Shi Suo.

Beginning of winter is approaching, and it is the slack time for farming. In two days, there will be less prey in the mountains, and the people in the village will be even more idle.

"village head."

Ren Pingsheng saw the village chief who was lame on one leg teaching two teenage boys to stand upright, so he greeted him.

"Mr. Xiao Ren, are you here to practice archery?"

When the village chief saw that it was Ren Pingsheng, he also greeted him with a smile.

The word "Sir" was exchanged by Ren Pingsheng's superb and rejuvenating medical skills in the past two months.

"Ah."

Ren Pingsheng nodded with a smile, put on the cowhide finger guards, stood firmly on his side, bent his bow and set up an arrow, aimed at the grass handle ten meters away, and released his two fingers.

"call out!"

The arrow had already hit the grass handle's chest.

It was a little bit off, Ren Pingsheng had originally shot at the head of the idiot.

Ren Pingsheng shot five times in a row, and when he persisted until the sixth arrow, his arm trembled and missed the target, and shot into a section of the dirt wall behind, without any arrow feathers.

"Good bow!"

The village chief came over and looked eagerly at the bow in Ren Pingsheng's hand.

"Try the village chief?"

Ren Pingsheng handed the bow in his hand to the village chief.

"it is good!"

The village chief took the glass bow enthusiastically, stroked the bow lightly, and then casually pulled out an arrow at his feet. He didn't pay attention to the standing posture, and he was very familiar with bowing and archery, and shot it smoothly.

There was almost no need to aim, and the arrow shot out with a "swoosh", hitting the head of the humanoid straw handle.

"This bow is easy to use and strong, much better than the bow I used when I joined the army!"

The village chief liked it very much.

This 75-pound slide bow is not only powerful, but also the wooden handshake is very handy. The black slide bow is also embossed with silver moiré patterns, which is very beautiful.

"If you like it, I'll give it to you when I have a chance."

Ren Pingsheng said with a smile.

"Haha, let me forget it, old man. It is more difficult to make such a good bow than a firecracker. It would be a waste if I put it in my hands."

The village chief just shot a few arrows and returned the bow to Ren Pingsheng.

At this time, it was raining lightly in the sky, and the light rain was mixed with snow.

Everyone ran to the door hole under the adobe city wall not far away to shelter from the rain.

"As the weather gets colder, more refugees outside will die, and the living corpses may become a disaster again."

The village head looked up at the rain and snow falling from the sky, with a worried expression on his face.

"A tyrannical government is fiercer than a tiger."

Ren Pingsheng couldn't help but sigh when he thought of the refugees he met on the road.

"Yeah, this exorbitant tax makes people unable to live.

Especially in the past few years, in addition to the regular taxes such as land tax, there are also head taxes, corpse suppression rates, monster suppression rates, donation rates, and military training rates. Our county magistrate has also come up with car donations, cattle donations, and charity donations. Taxation, as well as layers of exploitation by corrupt officials and cruel officials.

There is hard labor in peacetime, and it is too difficult to catch strong men in wartime.

While our Liujia Village is cultivating the land, we also often go hunting in the mountains in order to barely survive. "

After all, the village head has been a soldier, he has done so much, he has seen the world, and he is capable. Under his leadership, Liujia Village can be regarded as an easy village in Qingcheng Town, but most of the villagers are still hungry and poorly clothed. body.

There are even poorer households who have no clothes to wear, so whoever has something to go out wears clothes, and those who have nothing to do can lie at home to maintain their strength and save food.

In such an environment, Ren Pingping never dared to eat and drink openly in the whole life, and he had to close the door every time he ate, so as not to be envied by the villagers.

"The imperial court still collects demon township wages. Are there really demons in this world?"

Ren Pingsheng asked.

"I've never seen the matter of chasing after rumors. I'm afraid it's just an excuse sent by the court."

The village head shook his head in dismay.

"By the way, didn't you say you wanted to go to the town to see it? Tomorrow happens to be the Qingcheng Fair. Now it's cold, and the village plans to sell some leather."

The village head said again.

Qingcheng Town used to be an important commercial town connecting the north and the south because of the Qingshui River, vehicles, boats, horses, and pawns. Now, with the sharp reduction of business activities, it has long since lost its former bustle, but the horses are thin and long-haired. It is still a big town second to none.

Ren Pingsheng had wanted to go to the town to investigate for a long time, so he immediately agreed.

After agreeing on a time, he bid farewell to the village chief and the militia, and Ren Pingsheng braved the light rain and returned to his small courtyard.

Xiao Wan has already put away the herbs drying in the yard.

The two were under the eaves of the dripping rain. While reading a book, Xiaowan peeked at Ren Pingsheng holding two dumbbells for strength training; .

The light rain continued to fall until night, and the temperature also dropped. I am afraid that it will be frozen in a few days.

Ren Pingsheng also put an outdoor power supply and electric mattress in Xiaowan's room.

An outdoor power supply can store 1.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity when it is fully charged, and it is also equipped with a foldable solar panel. It is no problem to power the electric mattress in winter.

It cost Ren Ping a little over [-] to buy two outdoor portable power supplies before.

At night, the north wind outside the window was blowing against the small courtyard, and Xiaowan was lying on the warm blanket with a smile on her lips.

The electric mattress is really nice!
After a night of nothing to say, Ren Pingsheng woke up abnormally early the next day, carried a hiking bag on his back, and under Xiao Wan's watch, he joined a few militiamen in the village.

(End of this chapter)