Entering the door was a middle-aged man with a yellow face, a kind face, and a sturdy body. When this person entered the door, he was still carrying a horse whip in his hand, a short knife pinned to his waist, and a leather holster for driving mountain roads was wrapped around his calf.

The He family is a Han clan that has moved south to Guangdong since the fifth generation, and now it has been passed down for hundreds of years, and the He family has long become a local. And He Tong is the head of this generation, the most traditional landlord in China.

"Oh, it's Master He here."

Seeing the owner enter the house, Shopkeeper Wu also quickly got up to greet him.

"Hehe, I just came back from the mountains, and as soon as I entered the door, I heard a happy guest, no, I'll come over quickly."

He Tong is younger than the two people in the house, and his generation is also a generation younger, and he speaks loudly. He said with a smile, took off his heavy coat, and then sat down without seeing it: "Uncle Zhong, send someone to my house to say, let me send a few dishes, today I want to catch up with Shopkeeper Wu." ”

Since Shopkeeper Wu has been dealing with Steward He all the year round, he naturally knows He Tong, and the relationship between the two sides is not bad. In ancient times, the caravan was originally an important way to transmit news, and a place like Hejia Zhaizi not only needed the goods of the caravan, but also needed information, and people like He Tong naturally would not let go of any opportunity to collect information from the outside world.

Not surprisingly, the first topic that the owner of He Zhuang talked about after he arrived was still the suppression of bandits that caused great ideological stimulation to the surrounding people.

As a result of sweeping away the bandits in the area overnight, the people are even a little uncomfortable. Nowadays, the owner of He Zhuang dares to take people to inspect the small cultivated land industry in the mountains, and it can be imagined how much change the crackdown on the people's lives has been.

After feeling the current stable and peaceful environment, Mr. He, who was in a good mood, drank two glasses of wine, and as soon as his voice changed, he began to explore the latest situation around the county.

The various information in the Chengguan area is equivalent to the various policy decisions issued by the capital in later generations. It's just that in later generations, there was telecommunications, and people in remote areas could also grasp information synchronously, but in the Ming Dynasty, Hejiazhai could only rely on businessmen, after all, the He family could not afford to open foreign offices.

Knowing that this was the proper meaning of the question, Shopkeeper Wu was not in a hurry to drink wine, sandwich dishes, and talk about the sky, and by the way, he told the story of the recent events in the county.

As a result, the original two-person dinner became a three-person game, and with the arrival of He Tong, the atmosphere became warm again.

But then, Shopkeeper Wu slowly felt that something was wrong. Master He seems to be chatting here, but he always intentionally or unintentionally leads the topic to the recent conscription.

"Master He, Xu is in the matter of conscription, what is the inconvenience in Zhuangzi?"

Everyone has known each other for many years, so when Shopkeeper Wu noticed something, he asked bluntly.

Finding that the other party was aware of his thoughts, He Tong just smiled bitterly at this time, then shook his head and raised his wine glass.

Steward He on the side saw that He Tong didn't speak and only drank, and knew that his master was upset, so he took over the topic and said: "Brother Wu doesn't know, a few days ago, the county sent an official to urge him very tightly, saying that he wanted someone from Zhuangzi to serve...... Alas, this is the New Year, and the dealers don't want to move. ”

"Oh......"

When Shopkeeper Wu heard this, the old driver instantly understood everything.

In the early and middle Ming Dynasty, the systems of "grain chief" and "lijia" were still implemented. In the late Ming Dynasty, the government's control was greatly reduced, and these institutions slowly collapsed.

Nowadays, in the more remote places, the landlords, who have real power in their hands and have money and grain, have almost confiscated most of the local rights of the government, especially with regard to taxation. Errands such as the local grain chief are usually done by these people, and they profit from it.

This is also the case with Hejia Village. Don't look at the gentle face, but He Tong is actually the overlord of the soil on this territory, no, without his nod, the government can't receive a grain of rice or a single ding from this small basin where Hejiazhai is located.

However, this year's situation is a little different than in previous years.

First of all, the anti-bandit campaign optimized the environment, and the people in Hejiazhai here have not been happy for a few days, and the official messenger actually came to the door and came to Hejiazhai, a remote place where only white servants came in the past.

The official messenger came to the door to ask for taxes as usual, and incidentally conveyed an important instruction issued by the county honorable: levy the annual levy in advance, and double the service silver.

Regarding the previous tax, He Tong didn't care. As the grain chief of Hejiazhai, he has to go through this twice a year anyway, and he has long been used to it: when collecting taxes, he fights famine with the county government, complains about hardships and pushes back and forth, and then bargains in the end, and pays some similar amounts.

But there was another policy in the county that was a headache for him: forced labor.

He Tong learned part of the truth about the conscription from the official messenger at that time: this time, the county government doubled the service silver, and its purpose was to ask for people, so as long as it was in the register, they would probably not be able to escape, and they would all go to the service.

Not only that, but this time the conscription was to levy Dingkou according to the records of the real fish scale book in the hands of the household, and the vast person who lived more than a hundred years old on the official register of the county government should not come out and be embarrassed.

In previous years, the clan paid the money to deal with the past, and if Guy was born, this forced labor would not only be time-consuming, but also unpredictable, such as work-related deaths.

Not this year, however. The official messenger clearly told He Tong that even if he paid double the silver, he would probably have to go: "There is a shortage of people at the big construction site outside Guangzhou and the Great Wall of Yizhou." ”

In this way, in the face of the crazy county government, He Tong had a headache.

Of course, there are still many ways for landlords to deal with this kind of thing. The easiest and most effective way to do this: procrastination.

However, this is not the same time.

After Master He delayed the matter for a while, it turned out that shortly before the New Year's Festival, the official messenger came to the door with a swagger for the second time...... In other words, this crackdown on banditry is not only convenient for the people, but also for officials to go to places that they didn't dare to go to before.

This time, when he came to the door, the official was not so easy to speak: "The old men in the county town and the surrounding areas have all sent their own households to serve." Master He, there are no servants now, but they are idle people like the He family's village. ”

"Hmph, Master He, inquire more, now come to the old one, I'm afraid it won't work, this person must be recruited! Otherwise, the next time I come, it won't be a few of us, hum, farewell! ”

Finding that the county government's attitude had changed dramatically overnight, He Tong felt that he could no longer sit idly by on this matter, so he recently began to inquire about the news in many ways.

However, the development of the matter is the same as what the official said: the big households around the county have already sent people to the county according to the regulations, and according to the grapevine, the county government went crazy this time, and someone supported it behind it.

He Tong was surprised, but he was still undecided, and in the end, he waited for the shopkeeper Wu after the New Year's Festival, which was also the reason why he hurriedly looked for the shopkeeper Wu as soon as he came.