At this time, the young man surnamed Tong came over, saluted Mei Yunkai, and asked, "I don't know which adult this is? Where are you going? Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info It's just that I can ask you not to report to the official? My eldest brother must have something unspeakable, otherwise he would never do such a thing. ”

Mei Yunkai introduced himself with a face full of shame: "Mei is not talented, and he is the prefect of Huaizhou." Listening to the eldest brother just now, Mei was really ashamed that such a sensational thing had happened under Mei's rule. Since there are extenuating circumstances, Mei will no longer pursue it. It's just that I hope this big brother won't do this kind of thing again, tell me if you have any difficulties, and Mei will do his best to solve it for you. ”

As soon as the middle-aged man heard that Mei Yunkai was the prefect of Huaizhou, he immediately rushed over and said angrily: "You are the prefect? You dog official! Do you know that we can't live anymore? What kind of household tax do you still forcibly collect? If you don't pay the money, you will let them go to jail? What's more, it's okay if you don't have the money to pay people, but pity my eldest son who has never returned, and now he can't see anyone alive or dead, and you can't see the corpse, you give my son's life back・・・・・・!"

The young man surnamed Tong hurriedly stopped the middle-aged man and persuaded: "Big brother, if you have something to say slowly, what is going on?"

Mei Yunkai was also stunned in the face of the middle-aged man's accusations, he looked at him in confusion and asked urgently: "What do you mean? The second round of poll tax? Why don't I know? When was it levied again?"

The half-grown man next to him stared at Mei Yunkai hatefully, and said, "What are you pretending to be? Who doesn't know that it was an order from the prefect himself?

Mei Yunkai looked at the dozen or so black-clothed robbers around him, all staring at his group with fierce eyes, knowing that he couldn't provoke them. So he softened his tone and said to the young man surnamed Tong: "That's it, this brother surnamed Tong, can we find a place to talk about it in detail, let's communicate the specific situation, I also want to find out what is going on!"

The young man surnamed Tong was also wondering what was going on, so he immediately agreed to Mei Yunkai's suggestion, turned around and discussed it with the middle-aged man in a low voice, and the middle-aged man nodded and agreed.

In the end, he had more experience, and the middle-aged man saw that Mei Yunkai looked calm, not like he was pretending, so he told everyone to restrain himself and not get excited. Then he said to Mei Yunkai: "This lord, if you don't dislike it, go to our house to talk." ”

Mei Yunkai also wanted to see where they lived, and immediately agreed.

The leader of the guard came over at this time and reported the casualties. Originally, I thought that there were heavy casualties, but now it was found that the guards were only injured to varying degrees, and their lives were not in danger. However, because some of them were too seriously injured, it was not suitable to follow them on the road.

Mei Yunkai decided to let the head of the guards return to Huaizhou with the seriously injured guards, and his group went on their own way. The young man surnamed Tong also promised to escort them all the way to the capital, so Mei Yunkai gave the head of the guards a carriage and told them to go on the road at dawn, so he said goodbye to the injured guards and followed the middle-aged man to their home.

Mei Yunkai and his entourage originally had four carriages, and after giving one to the guards, the remaining three carriages followed the middle-aged man and entered a path in the mountains under the reflection of torches, and the carriage could barely jolt along.

After waiting for more than an hour, through the shallow mountains overgrown with weeds and sparse woods, when he came to the home that the middle-aged man said, Mei Yunkai was shocked and speechless like everyone else.

What appeared to everyone was a swarthy hole, which was not easy to spot because it was covered by branches in front of it.

What shocked everyone the most was that there were more than 30 men and women, old and young, living in the cave, each of whom was in tattered clothes, skinny and full of vegetables. The ground was covered with wild grass and shabby bedding, and the old people and children were pulling a bed of sheets, but the young men and women did not even have a place to lie down. Two elderly people and three children coughed incessantly, and when they heard it, they were infected with a cold.

Mei Yunkai held the torch and looked around, this cave was on a gentle slope of a shallow mountain. The slope is overgrown with weeds, and the trees are high and dense, which just covers the hole very well, and it is really difficult to find if you don't look carefully.

Mei Yunkai bowed to everyone very ashamedly at the entrance of the cave, said "I'm sorry", and walked out of the cave in shame. Then I sat down with everyone in the woods, and we talked in detail.

Later, I learned that this village is called Sandouping, and there are more than a dozen families, scattered at the foot of the mountain. Each family has three or four acres of land, which is simply not enough to maintain food and clothing, so the men in the family hunt all year round for a living. Because the village is small, it belongs to the jurisdiction of Lizheng in Longdong Village, which is five miles away from here.

This year, there was already a great drought, and each family could not even collect seeds from a few acres of land, let alone submit taxes. However, Li Zheng not only asked the land tax and poll tax to be paid in advance, but also added an additional household tax on top of this. If you don't pay it, you have to arrest the strong laborers in the family to be strong men, and the girls to replace the taxes. The children of several families in the village have been forcibly arrested by them, and no one is alive or dead. There are also several families who sell their children and daughters, wanting their children to have a way to live.

Later, as soon as everyone discussed, they fled into the mountain and temporarily settled in this cave. The men went into the mountains to hunt, and the women took care of the elderly and children at home, barely barely half-satisfied. However, because of the harsh environment, the elderly and children have been infected with the wind and cold to varying degrees, and they cannot eat enough, so where can they have the money to treat the sick? Three children and two elderly people have already died of illness.

The middle-aged man's name is Yang Baocai, who once served in the army with a young man surnamed Tong, and was the top boss of a young man surnamed Tong at that time. Because one arm was broken during a crackdown, he returned from the army.

Because he used to be a soldier, Yang Baocai never thought of being a bandit even if it was difficult. Even if the eldest son was later arrested by the official and paid taxes, he never thought of becoming a bandit. Later, there were too many people who died in the village, and he was forced to rob those officials and relatives out of desperation, but he never harmed people's lives, which is also Yang Baocai's bottom line.

Mei Yunkai knew the whole story, and delayed for more than ten days to take the Lizheng and county orders who falsely transmitted the holy decree into custody and handed them over to Tongzhi before embarking on the return journey.

Before leaving, Mei Yunkai gave Yang Baocai a hundred taels of silver and asked him to settle down in the village. Later, through some conversation on the road, I learned that the young man surnamed Tong was actually Aunt Tong's younger brother Tong Zhuoxin, who was currently the general of the Lingnan Road Thornton Port garrison from Wupin. And his father, Tong Shiqun, is currently the prefect of Luzhou, Huainan Province, and the family has already moved to Luzhou.

This time, Tong Zhuoxin was ordered to go to Beijing to report to the emperor about the border military affairs, and he rushed to the scene overnight to save Mei Yunkai and his party.

After listening to this, Mei Yunchen was silent for a long time before saying, "Let's come back, I'll mediate in Beijing for you and find a proper position." ”

Unexpectedly, Mei Yunkai refused: "No, big brother, I'd better go back to Huaizhou." After serving for three years, I don't know how the people under my rule are living in such hardship and hardship, how can I have the face to leave like this? Where I fell and where I got up, I hope that in the three years of my re-election, I will completely change the lives of the people and let them live a good life. ”

Xiaocun applied for a QQ number: 572593334, welcome to join. Thank you for your rewards, recommendations and collections, thank you for not giving up and accompanying you all the way, Xiaocun bowed again to thank you, Mo Da!