mage in the late qing dynasty

Chapter 688 Sending Beggars
After sending the telegram, Zhao Chuanxin erased the traces and recalled Wang Yuan.

Wang Yuan asked: "Taoist Priest, how many words did you pronounce?"

Zhao Chuanxin said: "Oh, I just sent ten or eight words."

Wang Yuan was stunned. Isn't this just telling lies?Only ten or eight characters for such a long time?
But thinking about the ocean in his pocket, he said: "Okay, then I'll pay ten words."

Zhao Chuanxin stood up: "It's a shame, poor people and poor people, we all have to live in poverty and live happily. Since we are poor, don't mention money. Let's go first, let's take credit."

Wang Yuan: "..."

Never seen such a brazen person.

As soon as Zhao Chuanxin left the post and telecommunications office, he was pulled aside.

Wang changed his name and said furtively: "Shopkeeper Zhao, Liangzhou City can no longer organize another grain resistance. The swordsmen I gathered have been arrested by the whole city. The shopkeeper has extraordinary abilities. Please save them..."

Ever since he was incited by Zhao Chuanxin to rebel in Liangzhou City, Wang changed his name and had not been able to eat well or sleep well, nor had he accomplished anything. Now he is like a bereaved dog being chased all over the city.

He knew that Zhao Chuanxin often came to the post and telecommunications office, so he squatted at the door every day, and he found Zhao Chuanxin.

Zhao Chuanxin instinctively wanted to refuse.

He opened and closed his mouth, his eyes flickered, and then he smiled: "They are all anti-feudal heroes, how can a poor man stand by and watch? Well, let's meet at the north gate in the early morning."

"Um..." Wang changed his name and felt uneasy: "Shopkeeper Zhao must come, otherwise we will be in catastrophe."

Zhao Chuanxin covered his mouth and nose with a scarf and put on sunglasses.Because there is a storm today, blowing the desert sand everywhere.

When he reached the notice board, he saw the notice posted on it. There was a portrait of Wang's name change on it, and there were several people beside him.

But the portrait on the wanted notice only bears a slight resemblance.

No wonder Wang changed his name and was afraid of becoming like that.

It was still early, and Zhao Chuanxin was walking around the city.

The area around Liangzhou was particularly dry last year, and it still hasn’t rained this year.

The drought lasted for more than 400 days, with no grain left and the source of drinking water exhausted.

Wherever Zhao Chuanxin went, the people in the city all had chapped lips, regardless of the rich or the poor.

Food prices are extremely high, households are empty, and beggars can be seen everywhere on the roadside.

However, the landlord's family also had no surplus food.

When he came to the corner of the street, Zhao Chuanxin was tripped by a man lying on the roadside.

The man was kicked but did not respond.

The storm gradually intensified, and Zhao Chuanxin saw sand being blown into his nostrils. The man didn't react at all. He frowned, leaned over and took a breath, and found that the man was dead.

Tianshangfei is in the desert, but Zhao Chuanxin dug an underground well, so water is not a problem.

But I didn't expect that the drought would be like this in Liangzhou City.

As we were walking, a group of people came and a patrolman helped to clear the way.

I saw this group of people knocking on doors from door to door.

When they arrived at the butcher's shop, they said, "It's time to hand over the meat."

The man selling the meat held the carving knife tightly: "Master, I just paid the house rent a few days ago, and I haven't recovered yet..."

"Stop talking nonsense, if I ask you to do it, do it quickly!"

The patrolman was watching closely, threatening to handcuff him if he disobeyed me.

The man who sells meat has a bitter look on his face: "I only sell meat, I don't slaughter it, but I still have to pay the slaughter tax. How can people live in this world?"

Even so, he still handed over the flesh.

They went door to door to collect fees, and Zhao Chuanxin followed them out of curiosity.Salt tax, alcohol tax, coal tax, cigarette tax, sugar tax, pawn tax, tooth tax, meat tax (slaughter tax), oil beam grinding tax, camel tax, gold tax, shoulder tax, stamp tax, house tax, donation, new tax , rent extraction, advance loan, military support, foot transportation, mule price...

In just one street, more than 20 projects can be created.

Zhao Chuanxin was dumbfounded.

If anyone resisted the donation, he would be severely beaten, and the clerk at the yamen gate would issue a warning of "destroying the family and destroying the family," but no arrests were made on the spot.

Zhao Chuanxin grabbed a passerby, pointed at the group of people and asked, "They said they wanted to destroy their families. Are they serious?"

The passer-by spat: "Then you think there is still a lie? They have many ways to make it difficult for you to live. The people in the city can barely hold on, and the farmers, tenants, and powerful gentry outside can take another layer of skin. , Wenjiazhuang was starved to death, and seven or eight households in the village died. There was no food, and everyone was cannibalizing in order to survive..."

It was indeed quite miserable, but Zhao Chuanxin was no longer unmoved as he had just arrived.

Zhao Chuanxin pointed at the group of people and asked, "Who are those people collecting money in front of you?"

A passerby said: "Hey, the man-eating tiger in the lead is the governor (magistrate) Mei Shunan, and the man behind the tiger is the chief Jin gentry Wang Zuocai in charge of patrol affairs. In other places, such as Yongchang, there are also Jin gentry Li Tesheng and others, and Wang Buying, the prefect of Liangzhou, is the biggest scourge of Liangzhou... In Liangzhou, the most filthy and lowly people have their ashes and excrement donated, and the most delicate and microscopic things include firewood, charcoal, sauce and vinegar, down to a chicken, a duck, a sheep and a pig. If you have a burden on your shoulders and a burden on your back, if you have something ordinary for daily use, don’t donate it, and you can’t escape it.”

Zhao Chuanxin listened to the other party's words and looked at the noisy streets. He thought to himself that Wang Chang's name was really a strong-mouthed king. How could he incite rebellion?

What he saw was not angry people, but explosives that were about to ignite.

Because in Liangzhou, the heavily armed Mancheng was a key place in the northwest, and it had to deter Xiaoxiao and Japan, otherwise Zhao Chuanxin would have thought of going into battle to encircle the territory himself.

After all, this is a key military point in the northwest, unlike Ao Island and Hong Kong Island. If Zhao Chuanxin really does something, the Qing court will have to fight with Zhao Chuanxin to the end, even if the Qing Dynasty loses its head.

He inquired for a while longer before letting the "honest" passerby leave.

Then I saw several sneaky men holding long cigarette poles, passing letters with chicken feathers in them, and hurried away.

Zhao Chuanxin grinned.

Wang Gaiming was too ambitious and too weak to accomplish anything, but it was clear that Wang Gaiming was not the only one operating in Liangzhou.

Zhao Chuanxin continued to wander around the city, looking for people to ask questions from time to time.

These corrupt officials could not stop the public from talking, but Zhao Chuanxin knew a lot of things.

But how can you not get your shoes wet when you often walk by the river?
Finally, around three o'clock in the afternoon, when the wind and sand were the strongest, Zhao Chuanxin was also stopped.

Mei Shunan may have returned to the yamen gate, but the person who stopped Zhao from passing on his salary was Wang Zuocai with two patrolmen.

Wang Zuocai said: "I recognize you as an old Taoist. You have been wandering around the city all day. Monks don't stay well in Taoist temples. Since they come out, they have to donate Luli."

Good guy, I don’t know if he made it up on the fly or if there really is such a Luli.

Zhao Chuanxin said "Oh", took out his pocket honestly, fumbled around for a long time, took out two copper coins and handed them over: "Here."

When Wang Zuocai looked at it, his nose felt clenched and he said, "How can you pay a beggar with such a small amount of money?"

"Okay, why do the beggars think the rice is sour?" Zhao Chuanxin said cheerfully.

"You..." Wang Zuocai was furious.

A man stood up behind him, glared like a King Kong, and said eagerly: "I am Zhang Fulin, the arresting officer. How dare you, an old man like you, offend our chief police officer?"

"Hey... I apologize if I have offended some of the officials. Heed Pindao's advice and don't be too arrogant when you are an official." Zhao Chuanxin seemed to be very scared.

Zhang Fulin sneered: "Who can be an official if you are not angry?"

Wang Zuocai snorted: "What nonsense are you talking to him about? Capture him first and imprison him. I suspect that this old Taoist is a member of the old gang."

Lao Chou Hui is the evolved version of Ge Lao Hui.

Zhao Chuanxin originally wanted to tease the fools, then beat them up and find a place to wait until midnight.

After hearing Wang Zuocai's words, he had an idea, put his hands behind his back and said, "You want to arrest Pindao? Then lead the way."

(End of this chapter)