After transmigrating into a stepmother, I transformed my whole family to work on farming

Li Zheng suddenly fell silent.

The hearts of the other village chiefs suddenly sank.

"Li Zheng, did you tell me what Village Chief Qin asked?"

"Is it possible that taxes have increased this year?"

Qin Yao also frowned.

Li Zheng motioned for everyone to sit down first, leaving his son to greet everyone for tea, then turned and went into the back room to get a volume of documents.

Not all village chiefs have the ability to check documents, so Li Zheng did not give the documents to the village chiefs for circulation.

He unfolded the document and read the contents.

Qin Yao couldn't understand the official descriptions in the document, but he could clearly understand the sentence "one-twelfth of the grain tax is collected".

After reading all the contents, Li Zheng respectfully rolled up the documents and put them in a bamboo tube and put them away. Then he sighed and said in a deep voice:

"It has increased a bit, but not too much. In addition, the harvest in each village this year is pretty good, so there shouldn't be any problems."

That's what they say, but except for Qin Yao's Liujia Village, other villages don't have such good harvests.

Although the county magistrate brought everyone to Liujiacun to learn farming during spring plowing, the actual practice was completely different.

There are many stubborn people, and the more remote they are, the more stubborn they are.

The village chief and the young people who came to study were all talking about it, but in fact only a small half of them worked hard with Liujiacun.

Before seeing the benefits, human nature dictates that one will naturally be wary and suspicious of new things.

People who went to Liujiacun had seen it with their own eyes, so they believed it.

But other villagers who didn't go with him didn't believe it. After all, this kind of thing was unprecedented and there was no reference. It was natural for them to be fearful and conservative.

This means that the increased taxes this year will be an obvious loss to most villagers.

Remembering that they had to mobilize the villagers to pay grain taxes when they returned to the village, the heads of each village turned dark.

Who doesn’t have a few particularly unreasonable pricks?
Even if one or two taels of grain tax is not enough, the village chiefs changed their previous joy in talking about the harvest and turned into bitter and resentful people. They began to export like crazy. Tongli was complaining about the difficulty of taxation work.

Li Zheng felt that his ears were about to explode and his throat was about to become mute. When he turned his head, he found Qin Yao holding a teacup and calmly drinking tea while looking at the blue sky and white clouds outside the house. Such a stable emotion made Li Zheng "bang". !" He stood up and slapped the table, yelling at several village chiefs:
"Shut up, everyone!"

"What's the use of telling me this? This is a government decree. If you can, go to the county magistrate to argue!"

The tea cup in Qin Yao's hand shook slightly, but she managed to steady her hand and prevent the tea from spilling.

Qin Yao innocently turned to look at the dumbfounded village chiefs. Qin Yao wanted to comfort her, but then she thought that if she spoke now, she might be seen as showing off, so she had better keep her mouth shut.

Qin Yao put down her tea cup and asked Li Zheng to lend her the tax collection document and copy it.

Wang Xiaoyu, the head of Xiahe Village, chased her out and asked her: "Mrs. Qin, aren't you anxious? Do you know how much food is missing from the increase from one-fifteenth to one-twelfth?"

Qin Yao answered the first question first, "It's useless to be anxious. You have no joke. Government orders cannot be changed. You and I can only accept the reality."

"While we're still quarreling, it's better to think of ways to appease the villagers, after all."

Qin Yao turned back and glanced at Li Zheng's house, "When the time comes, Li Zheng's situation will be yours and mine's. I don't want to be drowned in spit."

Wang Xiaoyu frowned, feeling even more worried.

Qin Yao then answered the second question, "Uncle Xiaoyu, my arithmetic is okay and I know the difference between twelve and fifteen."

"I don't know what's going on in other villages, but most of the people in our Xiahe Village work in my stationery factory. This year's harvest is pretty good. I think the villagers' resistance won't be too high. You just need to comfort them." Wang Xiaoyu looked at her in disbelief, "How can you say something that has nothing to do with you? Food is everyone's life, but you said it so lightly!"

"Then what else can we do?" Qin Yao asked in a calm tone without changing her expression.

Wang Xiaoyu suddenly became speechless. Yes, what else can be done?

"Dad!" Wang Yu shouted as he led the ox cart by the roadside.

Wang Xiaoyu looked at Qin Yao angrily: "My son has come to pick me up, shall we go back together?"

Qin Yao waved her hand to refuse and whistled, only to hear the clatter of horse hooves coming from the river bank. After a while, a tall brown horse ran in front of Qin Yao and nuzzled her obediently. .

"Uncle Xiaoyu, we are the village chief. The village chief's task is to complete the tax collection and ensure the safety of the whole village. It is better to put aside my personal emotions."

After saying that, Qin Yao got on her horse and took one step ahead.

Wang Xiaoyu was shocked, as if he was awakened by Qin Yao's words, and his mind suddenly came to his senses.

Grain tax is of great importance. If it cannot be paid as scheduled, the whole village will be destroyed if the government pursues it!
At this moment, the priorities are revealed. If you don't want to die, you have to be cruel.

Qin Yao rode her horse, but instead of going straight to Liujia Village, she turned at the fork of Guandao Road and entered Dingjiazhuang.

She was going to see the harvest of her tenants this year and explain this year's tax situation.

Liu Ji is now a scholar, and his family's taxes are exempted, so the rents of the tenants have to be adjusted.

At first, Liu Ji and the tenants agreed that they would each bear the taxes.

But since the family no longer needs to pay grain taxes, the tenant farmers no longer need to bear the taxes.

Qin Yao planned to make a compromise and reduce the taxes that the tenants had to pay by half.

This year's tax is 1/12, and she only wants half of it, leaving the rest to the tenants.

Other landowners did the same, and some even asked for not half but more than half.

But for the tenants, as long as they have a small amount to earn, they are more willing to rent fields for cultivating talents and raising people.

By the time Qin Yao returned to Liujia Village from Dingjiazhuang, the sunset had filled the entire sky.

Everyone in the village was paying attention to Qin Yao's movements. On the way home, villagers carrying millet asked how much the grain tax would be this year.

Qin Yao didn't say anything, only said: "I will copy the documents tonight and post them on the notice board at the entrance of the village tomorrow. Everyone will know then."

The villagers smiled and did not continue to ask any more questions.

This year's harvest is good, and each family has income from working in the stationery factory and income from growing melons. Seeing that life is getting better, it's hard not to be happy.

But the happier the villagers are at the moment, the guiltier Qin Yao feels.

It's one thing to pretend to be cool with the head of Xiahe Village, but it's another thing to actually be the villain yourself.

Before the tax documents were posted tonight, she had to quickly think of a way to divert her hatred.

Qin Yao entered the house thinking about it. Before she could think of anything, Yin Le, who was leading the four Dalang brothers and sisters to harvest millet in the backyard, ran over and handed Qin Yao two letters.

"Master, this is the letter that Manager Song just brought you."

After delivering the letter, he returned to the backyard in a hurry and continued to collect grains.

Qin Yao raised her eyebrows. This apprentice has the potential to be a great talent~