I was pulling trees in Daming, and Lao Zhu begged me to come out of retirement

Chapter 20 What, a disaster? Then collect taxes!

A few months later,

An extremely urgent report was delivered to Tuotuo, the Right Prime Minister of the Central Secretariat.

Prime Minister Tuotuo's face changed drastically when he saw the report coming from below.

"Hurry! Change your clothes and go see the emperor!"

There was a panic in the mansion and the servants hurried to change his clothes.

There were not many smart people in the Yuan Dynasty. Tuotuo was one of the few famous officials in the late Yuan Dynasty who worked hard to maintain the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.

Not long ago, the Yellow River flooded, and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled, which made him very anxious.

He advocated building a river embankment in front of the emperor, but was collectively opposed by all the ministers.

He had felt that his physical discomfort was getting worse in the past two days, and at this time another piece of bad news came to him.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Tuotuo anxiously sought an audience outside the palace.
"This is terrible. There has been a sudden outbreak of plague and drought along the Huai River. People have been displaced and there have been large-scale casualties. Nine out of ten houses on both sides of the Huai River are empty. This is terrible, Your Majesty!"

At this time, Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty, who was holding a banquet in front of the palace, was embracing his concubine and watching the many palace maids dancing below.

When he heard the eunuch's report, he looked unhappy.

"Don't you see I'm busy right now? Those southerners are just too troublesome. If they die of hunger or disease, there won't be so many troubles. Why bother with them?"

The imperial concubine beside him smiled sweetly, leaned against Emperor Yuan Shun's side and said in a soft voice:

"Your Majesty, my birthday will be in two months."

Emperor Yuan Shun's expression became lascivious. He laughed loudly, touched the concubine's hand and said:
"Don't worry, my beloved concubine. I will definitely give you a grand birthday so that you can have an unforgettable birthday."

The eunuch next to him whispered to Emperor Yuan Shun:
"Your Majesty, Tuotuo's place..."

Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty waved his hand impatiently and said:

"It's just a trivial matter. After all, the imperial court doesn't have that much money to care about the lives of those lowly people. Didn't you hear from the guys in the Ministry of Revenue that there is only one month's worth of silver left in the treasury?"

"Go, pass on the imperial decree! Appoint Tuotuo as the imperial commissioner to go to various places to collect taxes and silver!"

The eunuch beside him whispered:

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten that we once collected taxes for repairing the Yellow River? Now many unruly people are resisting taxes in various places."

Emperor Yuan Shun frowned and snorted coldly:
"Then appoint Tuotuo as the imperial commissioner. All the people who resist taxation must be suppressed! Then we can collect taxes!"

“Hey~!”

The eunuch twisted his buttocks to convey the imperial edict to Tuotuo who was waiting outside the hall.

Tuotuo saw the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict leave the palace and hurried forward and asked:
"Eunuch, did His Majesty summon me?"

The chief eunuch glanced at Tuotuo with a hint of contempt in his eyes.
"Convey your majesty's order, appoint Prime Minister Tuotuo as the imperial commissioner, with orders to suppress those unruly people who resist taxation, and then collect taxes!"

Tuotuo stared with eyes wide open and froze in place.

"No, now we should release grain to help the people."

Those who resist taxes are resisting because there are no taxes. Even if you suppress them, you have no money.

The chief eunuch glanced at Tuotuo and smiled tenderly:
"Master Tuotuo, it's useless for you to tell us. This is the order of His Majesty. You'd better go quickly, otherwise His Majesty will be angry."

Tuotuo pointed at the eunuch angrily.
"You, you...Pfft~!"

A mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth and he fainted.

The followers behind him were very anxious when they saw this.
"Quick! Call the imperial physician! Lord Tuotuo has fainted!"

The eunuch curled his lips, his face full of contempt.

Why would he work so hard for a mere southerner? He staggered as he passed the message to Emperor Shun of Yuan Dynasty.

Emperor Shundi of Yuan Dynasty was stunned when he heard this.
"What? Fainted? That's really troublesome. Call the imperial physician to give the prime minister a thorough diagnosis and treatment. Didn't the prime minister resign earlier? This is a good opportunity for him to take a good rest."

"Order Tuotuo to be the King of Zheng, with Anfeng as his fief, a reward of one million, and ten carts of cloth, and let him retire." "Also, send someone to suppress those unruly people, and the issue of tax collection should also be put on the agenda as soon as possible."

"Whoo!"

……

The decree quickly spread to all provinces of the Yuan Dynasty.
A large number of Yuan soldiers attacked and turned their knives on the unarmed victims.

In the Dongxiang of Zhongli, Haozhou,

The Fengyang County Magistrate led a team of officers and soldiers to the village again.

The chief clerk at the side held an abacus and a population book with a stern face and shouted at the skinny villagers:
"Fengyang County has passed on the imperial decree that in order to celebrate the Queen's 1,000th birthday, the taxes for the 38th year of Zhizheng will be collected in advance!"

The villagers were in an uproar.
A wave of taxes for building the Yellow River were collected just half a year ago, and at least half of the villagers starved to death.

Now that the world is suffering from severe drought and it is uncertain whether the harvest can last until the next wave of grain harvest, yet another round of taxation is imposed?
Upon seeing this, the landlord Liu Xiaode rubbed his hands and ran to the county magistrate in a flattering manner, swaying with every step.

"Mr. Han, you're here? Come! Someone bring the tea! Sit down, please."

For landlords like him, who controlled most of the land in the village, there was no difference between collecting taxes from the village and collecting taxes from him. The court collected more, and he had less left.

Therefore, every time the county magistrate came, he would offer a considerable amount of tea money.

Taxes are paid by the superiors, but tea and water fees are paid by yourself.

Anyone who uses it will know the tricks here.

Liu Xiaode rubbed his hands and stuffed the "short money" into the hands of the county magistrate named Han.
"Come on, Master Han, this is not much of a courtesy, but give us some travel expenses."

County Magistrate Han weighed the money bag in his hand and squinted his eyes with satisfaction.
Just when Liu Xiaode thought he had it safe this time,
The county magistrate stuffed the tea money into his arms and said sternly:
"Don't try to fool me. For the Queen's birthday this time, any local official who fails to send good things will lose his head. If we can't collect them this time, you'll have to take the blame!"

Liu Xiaode's face darkened.
MMP, why are you charging me money?
Then he heard the county magistrate's words and became anxious.

What does it mean? Those poor bastards can’t collect the money and they want to ask me for compensation?

Liu Xiaode hurriedly stepped forward and stuffed another ingot of silver into the county magistrate's pocket, crying:

"Master Han, Master Han, please give us a way. What does the court mean by this? You saw it when you came here. It's a severe drought. The harvests down there are not good. There's really nothing left."

The county magistrate weighed the silver in his hand and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

He calmly put the silver in his pocket and said with a smile:

"Since you have good eyesight, I'll show you a way. If you have any outstanding treasures, hand them over in the morning."

"Your Majesty is wise and issued an edict to provide us with disaster relief. However, those unruly people in other places dared to resist paying taxes. Our Yuan Dynasty cavalry chopped them down with one blow. Didn't we collect the money?"

"Now that the disaster is over, and Her Majesty is celebrating her 1,000th birthday, we are ordered to collect rare treasures to offer to Her Majesty. If you have any good things, please bring them out as soon as possible and send them to us for our mission."

"If not, we can only use this stupid method, giving money."

Liu Xiaode's face looked a little ugly, and he had already cursed in his heart.

The damn disaster has passed. He has never heard of the imperial court providing disaster relief.

It is obvious that the officials above have already divided up all the so-called disaster relief money and grain.

What kind of birthday celebration is this crappy queen talking about having to celebrate it in advance, in the 38th year of Zhizheng?

It is only the fourth year of Zhizheng now, and it is not certain whether the emperor can live to that time.

But when he thought of what the county magistrate had just said about the Yuan cavalry suppressing the unruly people, his heart trembled.

There were people in the neighboring county who resisted taxes, and they died miserably. Even if he had ten times the courage, he would not dare to resist taxes.

Liu Xiaode's mind was thinking rapidly.

Baby, baby, go get the baby wherever you want. If you have the baby, don’t keep it for yourself and just give it to you as a waste.

Just when Liu Xiaode was at his wit's end,
Suddenly, the image of Zhu Yuanzhang flashed through his mind.

He stood up suddenly and shouted:
"Mom, come here! Yes! Baby! We have a baby!"

(End of this chapter)