Chu Qiguang looked at the cat with a blank look on his face, put it back on the ground, looked at his sister and said earnestly: "Sister, if you let my brother know that you wipe your butt with a cat, I will use you to wipe your butt in the future." ”

The younger sister looked at Chu Qiguang with a shocked expression.

Chu Qiguang asked, "Can you lick yourself too?"

"Mother!" my sister's face instantly brought a look of horror, and the six-year-old girl screamed nonsense, but Chu Qiguang grabbed it and covered her mouth.

Chu Qiguang educated: "Fun with you! Girls, don't do some things that don't have a score in the future." ”

After teaching his sister a lesson, Chu Qiguang felt the psychological impulse in his body, and kept thinking about what could be done to alleviate it.

He recalled his past experiences on Earth, and understood that once this problem was committed, it was difficult to endure it, and he had to prescribe the right medicine to relieve his psychological pressure.

The sister on the side looked at Chu Qiguang's increasingly pale face and the cold sweat on her forehead, and secretly said in her heart: "It must be a big lump......

At this moment, a faint quarrel came from the room, and Chu Qiguang asked curiously, "Who has come to the house?"

The younger sister shook her head: "It was Aunt Chen next door who brought someone to find her mother." ”

"Aunt Chen next door?" Chu Qiguang's eyes condensed slightly, combined with what he had seen and heard in the village in the past two days, he already had some guesses in his heart.

He ran to the door of the earthen house and pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation of several people in the house.

......

In the small earthen house, there is only one earthen kang except for a small low table.

But in this almost destitute home, there are six people crammed at this moment.

In addition to Ergou's mother, there was also Aunt Chen of the next-door neighbor's house, the chief of the place, as well as the housekeeper and two servants of the Wang family.

At this moment, Ergou's mother was talking to a middle-aged man who looked like a housekeeper with a gloomy face.

The middle-aged man was dressed in a blue shirt with narrow sleeves and a turban, his right hand touching his goatee, and his eyes turned from time to time, revealing a hint of shrewdness.

Ergou's mother said in a low voice: "Steward Wang, the average price of dry land in Qingyang County is ten taels of silver per mu, even if it is a disaster year, it can be sold for five taels and one mu, and you will buy my family's field if you open your mouth now for four taels ......of silver per mu, and you really don't have a way to live."

The man known as Steward Wang touched his goatee and said slowly: "Zhou family lady, it's not that the old man bullied you. This year's harvest is not good, and it is not easy for everyone. ”

The mother of the second dog said in a low voice: "But ......"

Steward Wang's eyes widened, and he said impatiently: "There is a drought in the field, and everyone can't pay the grain tax of the imperial court, my lord has a kind heart to buy your land, so that the big guys in the village can pay the grain tax, and then rent the land to you cheaply in the next year, you still don't know what to do?"

On the side, another man in a short shirt with rough skin was the chief in charge of collecting the grain tax.

Today's Han Dynasty has a hundred families as a li, and ten families in the middle of the field and many dingduo take turns to serve as the chief, once a year, and are specifically responsible for collecting taxes and levies.

I saw that the 'lieutenant chief' said angrily: "Ergou damn, if you can't pay the grain tax, and then force the county officials to collect the tax, but we won't be as good at talking as our own people." ”

Steward Wang said: "If your family is unwilling to sell the land, then borrow some money to pay the grain tax first, and then talk about ......."

Hearing the Yinzi money, Ergou's mother hurriedly shook her head, this Yinzi money is the usury put by the Wang family, and the interest will be rolled up to sell Ergou and can't afford to pay it back, several families in the village have been forced to ruin after borrowing, and Ergou's mother will never dare to borrow.

After being persuaded for a while, the mother of the second dog, who had already been six gods and no owner, nodded subconsciously, and wanted to sign and pledge, agreeing to sell the family's land.

"Wait!"

At this moment, Chu Qiguang, who was pale, pushed the door and walked in, glaring at a few people: "This field can't be sold." ”

Aunt Chen frowned and said, "Dog, it's none of your business here, you go out with your sister first." ”

Chu Qiguang looked at Ergou's mother and said, "Mother, if this field is sold, our family will be a slave of the Wang family from generation to generation." ”

Aunt Chen saw that she was ignored, and said angrily: "How many people want to join the Wang family but can't vote, you work hard in the Wang family, you don't have to pay taxes, you don't have to be conscripted, this is really a good life." ”

Ergou's mother hurriedly accompanied him carefully: "My son just said casually, I will sell the field, and I will sell it." ”

Chu Qiguang knew that this was the Wang family going to take advantage of this year's drought to annex the fields, so he stopped his mother and asked, "How much land do we have to pay this year?"

The mother said, "Two stones of wheat, two taels of silver." ”

Chu Qiguang frowned, the basin of grain collected in the county is full of one pot and does not rise to the point, that is one bucket, ten buckets is one stone, and one bucket is counted as one bucket.

As for the depreciation of silver, Qingyang County implemented the collection of depreciation of silver a few years ago, that is, it does not collect grain and other physical goods, but collects the equivalent amount of silver as a tax.

Ten taels of silver is equal to one tael of silver, which is a total of 2.2 taels of silver.

Hearing what his mother said about the two stones of wheat, he frowned: "Didn't you just want five buckets last year?"

The lieutenant on the side said impatiently: "This year, the eldest lord of the county has taken office, and he has to recover the tax arrears of the previous years, and our entire Qingyang County is a mess of chickens and dogs, but it's not just your family that has to make up for the holes in the past." ”

Chu Qiguang said slowly: "Our family plows food in the soil all year round, prepares the land, sows seeds, fertilizes, waters, and threshers...... In addition to farming, he also has to deal with forced labor, and there is not a day of leisure. At the end of the year, they will harvest five or six stone of wheat.

In addition to paying the field tax and Ding tax every year, there are also the average money, material money, car foot money, and treasury money sent by the county government...... You have to charge money for everything. After handing over, there is also the worship money in the Taoist temple and various common filial piety.

In addition, you have to find a grain merchant to exchange money for money to pay taxes, and you have to be exploited. When we asked them to buy the grain that was mixed with water and changed the buckets, the same bucket of wheat came and went, and the difference in silver was more than 10 percent.

After a year of busy work, there is at most more than four stones of grain left, which is distributed to our family of three, and spread it out every day, that is, more than four taels a day for one person, and it also needs to be used to change some oil, salt, and add some clothes...... How much is left in a day for such a person? Do you think there is enough to eat? If it weren't for catching some fish and shrimp in the river, digging some bamboo shoots in the back mountains, and relying on the mountains to eat and the water to eat, we would have starved to death. ”

The chief said angrily: "Collecting grain and paying taxes has been a matter of course since ancient times, and you still want to share it?"

Chu Qiguang was not frightened, and the symptoms on his body quickly subsided with what he said.

Feeling this situation, he became more and more energetic: "The adults above have to pay off the tax arrears, but my family has paid the grain tax on these five acres of land every year, which is only a lot more, who is owing it? Is it the land property donated to the Taoist temple by the big families in the village? Or is it the cultivated land hidden under those few desperate households? It is obviously the hole that you poked out, but now you want to find my family to make up for it?"