PS: Happy New Year to everyone! All wishes come true!

In the same Chongzhen year, in the area under the jurisdiction of the Nanzhong Army, people began to make New Year's goods, making all kinds of offerings to ancestors, stoves, and temples of the five organs, and the air from south to north was filled with the sweet fragrance of sugar, vegetable oil and animal oil to cook and fry food. The children are holding aloft the fried food made by their parents, wearing freshly cut clothes, and roaring through the streets, attracting the eyes and reprimands of the adults on both sides of the street, but who will compare with a group of children at the end of the year?

In Wuhua County, Guangdong, which is less than a thousand miles away, there is a gloomy fog in front of a Hakka walled house.

On the grass in front of the enclosure house, which is used for drying grain, enjoying the shade and practicing martial arts, Liao Sicheng, the owner of the enclosure house, is squatting on the ground, smoking dry tobacco vigorously.

This Wai Long House is the residence of the Liao family, built by the mountain, facing the south and back to the north, symmetrical from east to west, low in front and high in the back, the main and secondary are distinct, the location is orderly, the layout is regular, and the pond in front of the house and the "Wai Long" behind the main hall are combined into a whole. There are dozens of living units in the walled house, and dozens of families of the Liao family live here.

This walled house is the pride of Liao Sigong's life.

Can be painstakingly found loess through a special fermentation process to form "cooked mud", and then through several stirring procedures, the glutinous rice milk boiled to melt plus egg white and lime, and then with bamboo, wooden strips as tendons, rammed up the wall thickness of three feet, the height of the building several zhang, covering an area of dozens of acres of this enclosed house, so that a large family can live and work in peace and contentment here, think about it on weekdays, Liao Sigong can go to see the ancestors with a smile.

But. The dragon house, which can resist the attacks of bandits and robbers, cannot prevent the tax collectors from entering the door.

Looking at the bowl of rice noodles at his feet, Liao Sigong suddenly had the idea of kicking it over!

The Liao family, who moved from Meixian County to Wuhua, still retains the eating habits of the Hakka people in Meixian County, and among the three meals a day, the middle and upper class families eat dry rice twice in the morning and middle and porridge in the evening. Alternatively, eat porridge twice in the morning and evening, and dry rice at noon. Generally poor families. During the busy farming season, you may enjoy two meals and one porridge. On weekdays, they eat porridge for three meals. And in front of Liao Sigong is his favorite rice noodles in the past.

"X thieves!" He scolded a verbal word, God knows which one he was scolding, and the offspring around him didn't dare to approach.

"Winter solstice! Come here! ”

Liao Dongzhi, who was seen by the fourth prince, walked over from the side of the wall of the Wailong House with some embarrassment.

"Running Mustang there?! Huh! With so much going on in the house, are you still in the mood to hang out? Turning back, the master of the household in the county town came down to collect taxes. I see what you do?! ”

"Ah Gong! Brother Dong Solstice is planning to go to Meixian. One of his brothers is thriving over there. Brother Dong Solstice plans to borrow some money from him and pay this year's taxes. ”

Liao Dongzhi was beside a young student who was carrying the burden for him, and quickly explained to Ah Gong.

Squinting a pair of somewhat dizzy old eyes, Liao Sigong looked at the winter solstice.

"Borrowing money from a friend? What friends? And also. Go find a friend, why are you carrying a big chai knife on your back?! Are you going to find a friend or a robbery?! ”

"Ah Gong! I literally went to borrow money from friends. I also brought a firewood knife because there are people everywhere who eat big households, borrow rice, and block roads to rob, and I am also for self-defense. ”

"Alas!" Hearing his grandson say this, Liao Sigong couldn't help but sigh, "Our Liao family has moved here, and it has been three generations since I counted. Over the years, I have only cared about opening mountains and cultivating wasteland, building fields and building houses, and I forgot to invite a gentleman here to study for you! As long as one of you can get a reputation such as a showman, our Liao family will not be bullied to this extent! ”

These days, this group of descendants of the Liao family can see Liao Sigong sighing here almost every day, regretting that he did not send his children to study and gain fame.

"You all know how to dance with guns and sticks every day, if there is a person who has a fame, alas!"

Liao Dongzhi and the others were a little tired of hearing it, but the rules of the Hakka people were terrifying, and Liao Sigong would never dare to leave if he didn't speak.

"Say, who is that brother you went to?"

"Ah Gong, it's Wu Liuqi from Tangtian Township, Fengzheng Capital, Haiyang County, and the one nicknamed Wu Hook."

"What!"

If you don't listen, it's enough, and after hearing this, Liao Sigong suddenly became angry, waved the cane that was put aside and hit it headlessly.

"You little thief! Longevity! actually has a relationship with that gambler Da Tianer! Are you planning to lose all the three acres of paddy fields left to you by your mother, and then go out to ask for food?! I sue you, don't ask for food in Wuhua County, I can't afford to lose that person! Fathers and fathers! ”

"Ah Gong! People used to be big days! That's true! But in this Meixian area, when it comes to Wu Hook, who doesn't pick a thumbs up and praise a 'righteousness'? ! And can't it help but let the family change their ways and turn back to the prodigal son? ”

If Liao Dongzhi tells the truth, what is Wu Liuqi's so-called reform of evil and return to the right, and the prodigal son turns back, I believe that the Liao Si Guild immediately ordered someone to ring the bell and drum, put incense in front of the ancestral tablet of the ancestors and gods enshrined in the ancestral hall, and announced in public that Liao Dongzhi would be removed from the clan and not allowed to enter the ancestral grave after death!

The reason is that Wu Liuqi and his younger brother Wu Biao are currently blocking rivers and roads in eastern Guangdong with a group of brothers, collecting tolls, and for passing merchants, they are charging so-called protection fees.

Because of the conflict between the expansion of the territory and several surrounding forces, and the lack of people who can fight, Wu Biao remembered his brother Liao Dongzhi, who had a good hand and had gone to Liancheng, Fujian Province to visit famous teachers.

(If there are book friends in western Fujian and eastern Guangdong, they will know that the Liancheng area has always been known for its ability to fight, and even bandits dare not go to Liancheng to rob.) This shows the strength of the local people. And Liao Dongzhi studied art in such an area, and his kung fu can be imagined. ）

As he was talking, a group of people came from far and near on the mountain road.

"You guys, go back first!"

Seeing that the tax collector in the county came to the door to ask for money and food, Liao Sigong was resolute, pointed at several children and grandchildren with a cane, and asked them to return to the house. Pick up the bowl and pick up the rice noodles that have become a little cold in the bowl and put it in your mouth.

After eating a bowl, the tax collector had already arrived.

He was secretly called a tax collector by the people of Sixiang. In fact, the official identity is just a gray coat in the yamen, similar to the assistant manager or the like, in the canons formulated by Ming Taizu, such a person can only receive some subsidies, but over the years, the various systems formulated by Zhu Yuanzhang when he founded the country have actually been completely abandoned, if he does things according to his system, I am afraid that more than half of the officials in the court will have to roll up and leave. The reason is that they are all businessmen, the so-called lowly industry. But is it. A dog has his day. Isn't it ridiculous that the cheap industry of the year has now become Donglin and Mr. Morality?

The same is true of the yellow pickpocket, a mere gray coat. There is actually a three-entry house in the county. There are two singing fans outside. Where does the money come from? This is the means of collecting money and food.

"Liao Sigong, this is the end of the year soon, should you pay your money and food this year? Frankly. I don't want to force you to be old, but the official body can't help himself, and the urging above is too tight! ”

"That! Just tell me, how much food should my Liao family pay! ”

Liao Sigong just sat on the bamboo chair, and he didn't even mean to get up and be polite. With the group of people who came with the yellow pickpocket, some people began to twist their eyebrows and stare at them. This group of people has always been ruthless, and they are greeted everywhere, with good wine and meat, but they don't want to touch a soft nail here today!

"Go, get the money and food book!"

"Go, get the book and the deed!"

Liao Sigong and Huang Papi almost said the same thing, and someone next to them took out the Liao family's Ding book and land deed.

"There are 347 registered males in your Liao family, and you should pay Ding Yin, and since Zhang Xianggong, this dynasty has implemented that all the taxes are spread into acres according to the land, and they are collected together. It is necessary to pay land taxes, taxes and silver, liao salaries, training salaries, and expropriation salaries, plus fire consumption, etc., ......"

"Don't bother, just say the number!"

"Good! Liao Sigong deserves to be Liao Sigong! In this way, you can give me 1,307.23 cents of silver! ”

"However, there is a word from above, starting from this year, the money and grain will no longer be collected in broken silver, and the brothers who collect money and grain everywhere have received an edict from the county parents that they can only collect silver dollars, of course, if you have gold coins, it will be better! Our brothers don't have to work hard to carry these more than 1,300 silver dollars back to the county! ”

Huang Peel snorted a haha, but his voice did not hide his greed at all.

Since the goods of the Nanzhong Army entered Liangguang on a large scale, merchants and officials everywhere were pleasantly surprised to discover the fact that the same silver, the silver dollars from Nanzhong had more and stronger purchasing power.

As a result, the prefects and prefects in various places, these old parents and old men, have come up with the means of breaking the county order and destroying the door order, and when collecting money and grain in their respective areas, only silver dollars and gold coins are needed. However, the fire consumption is not misplaced.

While talking, several stewards of the Liao family rushed out of the fields and yards, and when they saw the fourth prince talking to the group of people who collected money and grain on the grass in front of the house, they came forward and apologized with a smile on their faces.

A few nephews even instructed Liao Dongzhi's brothers to catch chickens and slaughter ducks, go to the fish pond to touch the fish, and prepare wine and rice for the old man.

Seeing that the Liao family was so knowledgeable and interesting, the few thug-looking people who came with Huang Papi couldn't help but be proud, grinning and laughing endlessly.

"Wait." Liao Sigong used a cane to stop the stammering of several nephews.

"It's not too late to settle the accounts first, and then invite you to dinner."

He motioned for a young man from the Liao family to take out a piece of Tian Deed from a wooden box.

"Mr. Huang, this is the land deed of my Liao family, where the mountains, forests, paddies, and dry land are all here. My family has been working here for generations. However, more than 700 acres of paddy fields, more than 1,100 acres of mountains and forests, and more than 400 acres of dry land are the source of food and clothing for more than 1,000 people in my Liao family. Over the years, my Liao family has been a good citizen, and I dare not have the slightest debt in the imperial grain and national taxes. But why is this tax more and more collected?"

Hearing this, Huang Peel's pupils contracted suddenly, and a murderous intent emerged from his eyes, but in the blink of an eye, there was a smile on his face immediately.

"Liao Sigong, can't you blame me for this! From the beginning of the Wanli Emperor, it was to levy Liaoyu, and now since the accession of Emperor Chongzhen, it is also a levy for training and salary. Spread to each person and each acre of land, there are almost five dollars of silver. ”

"But this year, the rice will not be sold at a high price, and if the imperial grain is finished. I'm afraid that hundreds of my family will starve to death!" An uncle in charge of the Liao family was a little cowardly and complained to Huang Papi, "Can you delay the payment for a few days?" ”

As he spoke, he motioned to his nephew behind him to present a wooden plate, which was full of strings of copper coins.

"A little thing, please ask Mr. Huang to reward a few brothers for tea."

A yellow-skinned subordinate glanced at the copper coins on the plate and pouted, "Who wants these running horses Chongzhen?" If it's not good, you have to take some Nanzhong Tongbao and Jiajing Tongbao, right? With such money, do you want to eat flowers? ”

"Sixth. Several officials don't want it, so forget it. I have a few more words to ask. ”

Liao Sigong's face was full of indifference, as if he had no fear. It's called Huang Papi, and he is a little worried in his heart. I don't know what idea this Hakka guy has in his heart.

"Just now you said that the additional salary per person per mu is almost five yuan, but I can't match this account, does my Liao family have so many people and acres of mountains and forests?"

"Also, the Xie family in Xiawei Village. The acres of land and forests are several times more than that of my Liao family. Why have you never heard of you going to his house to collect the imperial grain? ”

"Four Princes. You don't know about this! According to the rules of the dynasty since the establishment of the dynasty, the scholar has a meritorious name. All are exempted from taxes on money and food, this is a rule set by the grandfather. We don't dare to disobey either. ”

"Really? Then why did the money and grain of the Xie family's more than 1,000 acres of land fly on my family's head? Let my Liao family carry it for his Xie family?! ”

Liao Sigong's old eyes were spewing anger outward, as if he wanted to turn the hatred that had been bullied and oppressed for decades into flames, and burn the group of officials in front of him to ashes.

The so-called sprinkling refers to a means for powerful people to collude with the masters, officials and other characters in the government to reduce the tax money and grain that should be paid in the mountains, forests and fields under their own names into zero, and distribute them to the fields of other peasant households in order to evade taxes. The result of this was that from the point of view of the local government, the total amount of money and grain collected was not reduced, and the interests of the gentry were safeguarded, while the unfortunate ones were the ordinary small landlords and yeoman farmers.

"Less saliva!" Seeing that the hands and feet that he and his father had been playing with for many years were pierced, Huang Peel was a little annoyed and angry, and his yellow and white face was full of anger. "Let me ask you, will you pay or not the money and grain today?"

"No money to pay! This year's grain price is too low, if we sell the grain and pay the national tax on the imperial grain, we will starve to death! ”

The next situation made Huang Peel make a move and decision that he would regret in hell.

"You don't pay it, do you!? Little ones! Go to the enclosure and bring out all the bulls of their Liao family for me! Take it to each room to see that the woman's jewelry and valuable things are deducted from the tax and silver! ”

"Good Lat! Enforce the law for the country! We're willing to do this job! ”

A few of the thugs who accompanied him laughed wickedly, and were about to rush towards the enclosure.

"I think which of you dare?!"

Seeing that a group of wolf-like thugs with yellow peels were about to rush into the enclosure built by their own painstaking efforts, Liao Sigong knew that once this group of guys who were not even as good as bandits rushed into the enclosure, his family would be bankrupt, not to mention that it would be difficult for those sisters and cubs in the family to find their mother-in-law's house.

He stood up and threw his cane down, "The old man has lived for more than sixty years anyway, and he has already lived enough, so I will give you this old life today!" ”

As he spoke, he threw himself into the half-moon-shaped pond next to Heping, which was dug up with his eldest brother, second brother, third brother, fifth brother, and seventh brother to solve the problem of drinking water, fish farming, and fire prevention, and today is the place where his life will end.

However, a figure blocked his way head-on. The huge fat body stopped Liao Sigong's body from castration, and the huge impact made the old man dizzy.

Before Liao Sigong could see the face of the person opposite, the man opened his mouth.

"Old thing, you're going to threaten us with this rotten life? Let Master Huang be saddled with a black cauldron that kills people?! Look for death! ”

The person who stopped Liao Si from throwing water to seek death and talking was a thug who came to collect taxes with Huang Peel.

"If you don't give you a little power, you don't know what the three eyes of the prince are called!"

As he spoke, the big man waved his big slap and slapped Liao Sigong's face.

The so-called seventy does not fight eighty and does not scold, but this guy's actions are a bit excessive. However, Huang Peel was colorful, and when he saw that the blood flowing from the corners of Liao Sigong's mouth had dyed all the white beards red, he began to speak comforting over there.

"Bastard, the one who told you to treat Liao Sigong like this?"

"Sigong, look, this tax silver ......"

"You big-headed tax money! X dog thieves! ”

Liao Dongzhi, who rushed out of the enclosure, was a group of young descendants of the Liao family, and the group was in a raging mood, surrounding Huang Peel and his party. Liao Dongzhi, the leader, held the firewood knife with a head of more than three feet long in his hand, and the snow-bright blade shone with a shivering cold light in the winter sun.

"What? Are you planning to rebel? ”

The yellow chop skin is still a fierce look, under the siege of dozens of lightly armed men holding various farm tools, they are still full of indifference, and the donkey does not fall down.

"We are following the official letter of the county parents to collect taxes, are you planning to beat the tax collector and gather a crowd to rebel?"

Seeing that the dozens of villagers surrounded around seemed to be a little timid, several older villagers even began to retreat, and couldn't help but make Huang Papi and his party feel at ease, they have seen this situation I don't know how many times, but they were all resolved under their threats and temptations, and then they had to come out to make amends, and pay some money. (To be continued......)