Deng Zipu withdrew the gun, shook his head, and smiled bitterly at Zhu Lin on the side,

"Don't make Arin laugh. Originally, there were many water bandits in the south of the Yangtze River, and there were few bandits. It may be that there was another flood in the west a few days ago, and the villagers are becoming more and more unruly. ”

Zhu Lin stared at the figures of the thieves who were rolling away, and wanted to laugh a little, but suddenly felt like something in his heart. People can't be confused, if they always think about one thing in their minds, they will always think about him. The same is true of this Zhu Lin. That cranky thought in the morning, still circling in my mind, what kind of Chinese homeland and Chinese people I haven't seen for a long time should be to welcome me? When I returned to my homeland for the first time as an adult, what kind of homeland and people did I look forward to meeting?

Shaking his head, Zhu Lin urged the horse forward. Although there are many traces of rivers and lakes on this road, except for those few bandits, it is surprisingly uninhabited, not only the fields, but also the villages that have passed by. There were just some traces of heavy water rushing through, and the fields were even more muddy pools, dotted with rags and wooden strips. Obviously, as Deng Zipu said, a big flood has just come. But now that the flood has gone, where have all the villagers gone?

After walking for more than half an hour, I looked at the boundary card, and it was already in Kunshan County. The group rested and took a breath, got up and walked again, and after a short walk, they turned a forest and climbed over a hill, and suddenly opened up in front of them, and a small town at the foot of the mountain was filled with smoke, and there were vague human voices.

The group breathed a long sigh of relief, and after walking for more than half a day, they finally had a place to rest. Although the rain in the south of the Yangtze River is not annoying, it is not a pleasant thing to always soak in the rain.

Deng Zixing took a few men who drove in front of him, and entered the town on horseback. Zhu Lin walked at the end, looked east and west, and suddenly saw a stone tablet towering on the side, and the stone tablet was covered with a hat brim. Zhu Lin rode over and saw that the right side of the stele was written "Kunshan County Feng Edict Prohibits Reform and Bad Regulations", and some of the handwriting on the stele is no longer legible. Zhu Lin skimmed the past, but it was a monument erected in the seventeenth year of Kangxi, and the article prohibiting floating income. It is said that I have seen a lot of such inscriptions along the way, either standing in the guild hall or standing in the City God Temple, and it is the first time I have seen it standing alone in front of the town like this.

This inscription has some meaning, and there are more than ten prohibitions on it, and Zhu Lin went back and counted it again, and saw that this short inscription of thousands of words mentions dozens of floating harvest patterns. For example, drenching, kicking, side dragging, and virtual pushing...... I don't know whether this monument is erected here, whether it is explicitly forbidden by the public, or whether it is a memo to tell the tax collectors these tricks.

Zhu Lin was watching himself intently, and the noise in the distance was terrible, and with the wind whistling, a brick was smashed into Zhu Lin's head in the air.

With one side of his head, as soon as he stretched out his hand, Zhu Lin copied the brick in his hand, and did not look at it, but still looked back at the inscription. According to Zhu Lin's expectations, it would not be long before someone would come to apologize, but when he finished reading the inscription, it was just noisy, but no one paid attention to the brick at all.

"The people of this homeland are so rude!" Zhu Lin secretly smiled bitterly, shook his head, and walked towards the noisy place.

There are already a lot of people around there, three floors inside and three turns outside, only to hear a burst of Wu Nong's soft scolding inside, vaguely what is the matter of paying rent. It's not clear to see, it's boring. Zhu Lin looked around and saw a large tree in the distance with lush branches and leaves, one of which was oblique, pressing against the center of the circle. Zhu Lin threw away the bricks, walked around to the tree, toes a little to the ground, his figure jumped up, reached out and grabbed the branch, turned over with the help of a force, fell into the tree, and climbed to the branch in three or two strokes. Zhu Lin chose a comfortable position to sit down, and then looked at the center of the crowd.

There were actually only four or five people in it, and two of them were thin and lean-wielding men dressed in the clothes of Manchu officials, one with a mustache on his mouth, and the other with a bare head and a scar on his face—it looked like they were here to collect taxes; The rest should be a family, a sturdy man in his twenties, armed with a sharp knife, with a sad expression, and a woman next to him is crying.

The man raised his eyebrows angrily, the sharp knife in his hand swayed, and he argued loudly: "Zhao Laosi, Hu Mashui, you can't be so conscienceless, I just handed over the grain last month, why did you come to collect it today?" You people who eat imperial food are really black-hearted wolves who can't fill it, even the flood is better than you, and there is a letter when the flood comes, you people who eat imperial food, talking is a fart! Have you forgotten what you said when you handed over the grain last month? ”

Zhao Laosi is the guy with a mustache on his mouth, he saw the bright pig-killing knife coming and going in front of him, but he didn't look at it, only raised his eyes to the sky, his right hand picked out a piece of earwax for a long time, took it in front of his eyes, and flicked it casually - he didn't pay attention to it at all! After listening to the man's words, Zhao Laosi squinted his eyes, but his eyes lingered more on the crying woman. Zhao Laosi snorted coldly:

"Ma San'er, don't be embarrassed! This is personally assigned by the new Zhang County Order, how many heads do you have, dare to disobey the orders of the imperial court? ”

"Phew!" Ma San'er shook the pig-killing knife in his hand, and smashed a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground, "Zhao Laosi, don't want face!" Last month, you said that it was the Su County Order, why is it the Zhang County Order this month? Are you easy to coax me as a horse San'er? ”

"Ma San'er! I, Zhao Laosi, respect your dead father as a figure on the ground in Changshu, but don't be afraid of you, Zhao Laosi! If you don't pay the grain today, I will report to Zhang County, if Zhang County's order is annoyed, your family will not want to live! ”

After Zhao Laosi finished speaking, his face suddenly pulled, and he changed into a serious look.

"Brother Ma San'er, it's not the fourth brother who said you. I told you about this court, and you can't understand it. Brother, I have been on duty in Kunshan County for some years, and today I will talk to Ma San'er brother in my heart, since the Qing Dynasty has changed, do you know how many Changshu county orders have changed? I can't even count it, Xuantong changed in one day in three years! Now Yuan Datou is dead, but there is still a war around Changshu County, this year, change the county order to a ball! ”

These words were both soft and hard, and after some rubbing, Ma San'er's high head gradually lowered. In the past four years of the Republic of China, the stability of the local area was far inferior to that of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. During the four years of the Republic of China, a province was independent at every turn, and a war was a war between two provinces. If the province is independent, most of the following places also have their own belongings, or are independent or self-entrenched or rebel; At this time, not only did the two provinces go to war, but also the two counties often went to war, and sometimes the war subsided, and the inter-county war never ended. The four-year Republic of China has been a four-year confused war for many places. As for the big king flag at the head of the city, it is changed several times a day, and the villagers do not think it is surprising. It's just a little bit, every time the king's flag is changed, there is always a new tax and grain. and not only the present, but also the past, and now they will receive their children.

"Don't coax me!" Ma San'er suddenly seemed to settle the account, tightened the pig-killing knife in his hand, and opened his mouth to shout: "Why do I have to pay grain once when I change the county order?" Is there any royal law left? My Ma San'er handed over the grain to the imperial court, and changing the county order is also the county order of the imperial court, could it be that the emperor is gone, so he bullies people like this? ”

"Hey!" Hu Mashui touched his bald head on the side, opened his mouth and scolded: "Ma San'er! The fourth brother respects you as a man, so he said these words to you, and he will put his face around you, no matter how much he talks, he can't say it, we will go back to Zhang County to give you a taste of prison! ”

Turning his head to look at the people around him, he spitted and said, "What are you looking at?" I tell you, all go home to prepare food, Zhang County Ling said, this time the grain tax, he will not collect much, just after the flood, Zhang County Ling also knows that the villagers are not living well. Zhang County ordered a special kindness, and this time the grain was only received from the Republic of China for 20 years. ”

"Haha," Zhu Lin listened to it, and couldn't help it anymore, and he was happy.

Hearing the laughter, Hu Mashui looked left and right, but he didn't see the person who was laughing, "Go back and get ready, if anyone's house is missing a grain of rice, don't blame me Hu Mashui for not thinking about it!" ”

Who knew that after Hu Mashui finished speaking, the surrounding people were still motionless, just looking at the field. Hu Mashui has just been a servant, so he naturally doesn't know what to do here. Although this Ma San'er is only in his twenties, the Ma family has a great reputation in this Lu family, and several times the bandits came to rob the village, and it was Ma San'er's father who led everyone to beat the bandits out. This Zhao Laosi has been a servant for almost ten years, so he naturally knows the rules here, if he can't obey Ma San'er and let this thorn head go on here, this Lu Jiabang's grain will be collected.

"Ma San'er! You've got it right! Zhao Laosi suddenly turned his face again, and spewed his spit at Ma San'er sharply: "The new Zhang Xian Ling is from the Alliance, and the most hated is the Manchu lackey, if you have to hit this knife, it will be light to turn around and ask you to copy and behead all over the door!" ”

"Lao Tzu is not a revolutionary party!" Ma San'er opened his mouth and scolded: "You are the revolutionary party, and your whole family is a revolutionary party!" I, Ma San'er, will beg for breath today, why should I pay the grain if I change the county order! Do you have to pay more than ten years? We also have a forbidden monument in Lujiabang, and we are offering it there,"

"Good! Ma San'er, you are really obsessed! Zhao Laosi laughed a few times: "What is that inscription?" It was established by the dog emperor Kangxi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, what year is it now? It's the Republic of China, you actually keep reciting the Manchu Dynasty, I can't say it, my brother has to tell Zhang County, there is a man named Ma San'er here, guarding the law of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and resisting the indoctrination of the Republic of China! ”

Zhao Laosi turned around and left after speaking, the woman who was crying on the side was coaxed by Zhao Laosi's words, and when she saw that Zhao Laosi was leaving, she rushed over, knelt in front of Zhao Laosi, and cried loudly: "My man is not sensible, Fourth Brother Zhao, you must not reply to the county order like this!" ”

Looking at the young woman crying in front of him, Zhao Laosi's heart fluttered and jumped a few times, swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva, Zhao Laosi was about to speak, Leng Buding's Ma San'er flew over and kicked on the woman's shoulder, the woman might as well be kicked to the ground.

"Zhao Laosi! You want 20 years of grain in the Republic of China, let me tell you, my Ma San'er will not live for 20 years in the Republic of China! I can't pay this grain! ”

As he spoke, Ma San'er stabbed himself in the chest and abdomen with a pig-killing knife.