Chapter Eighty-Six: Excessive Taxes and Miscellaneous Taxes

Satisfied, he returned to Tanzhou, and everything acted according to the previous plan.

According to Shi Bin, everything can be controlled in all of Xiangtan County as long as it is done step by step, and then better soldiers can be trained and then gradually expand their power. But in less than two months, Shi Bin felt helpless and helpless.

Although it will not be accidentally cut off from the military and become a bachelor in an instant, it is not much better. The painfully exorbitant taxes alone made him less passionate.

Sitting on the chair in the study, listening to the county minister's announcements one by one, and constantly emphasizing when the various taxes and fees of the government and the imperial court should be paid, Shi Bin was like sitting on pins and needles. Although he did see yellow-faced and thin-skinned and malnourished refugees when he came down from the mountains to sell animal skins, he also read descriptions such as "starvation all over the wilderness" in history books, and he also saw scenes of eating grass roots and bark on television.

But it was just a feeling of being a spectator, and I didn't deal with it personally. Therefore, at the beginning, he was still tentatively asking if the county could increase taxes to reduce the pressure on the supply of his army.

Hearing this, the county Cheng shook his head with a bitter face, if he didn't know that this county Cheng was now an anti-Yuan hero and a civil official for the first time, otherwise he would definitely think that Shi Bin was a master who ate people and did not spit out bones.

Wang San next to him, he used to be a city gate guard, and he also knows a little bit about eating official food, but he won't understand it so deeply. Only he, a county official who has been collecting grain and taxes all year round, can estimate an approximate idea from the descriptions and specific data of those subordinates.

Knowing how corrupt the government at the end of the Song Dynasty was, Shi Bin naturally wouldn't fully believe the words of the county Cheng's family, people have selfish intentions, let alone a small official who has been in the officialdom for a long time. The county Cheng has served Shangguan for many years, and he knows that Shi Bin may not even believe "seeing is believing", let alone the words of his old fritter's family, so after the report, he kept silent and stopped speaking.

After thinking about it quietly, he took out the county man who was standing awkwardly, leaving only Wang San in the room, but he didn't speak. Now that Xiangtan County is in hand, as long as there is no big mess, no one can take it away. But this tax made him even more pressured, although he didn't believe the words of the county Cheng, but the situation he saw all the way from Tanzhou City was estimated to be not too far away.

Xiangtan is also the most developed place on Jinghu South Road, the land of fish and rice, and the most developed place for water transportation in Tanzhou. If you take this place, it is not as good as being the commander of Tanzhou before, it is too ridiculous. Therefore, we have to do everything we can to develop this place no matter what.

Finally, Shi Bin spoke: "Brother Xian, although you and I know that Xiangtan has a lot of exorbitant taxes, we only know its name, and if we don't know why it is, we can't find a way to deal with it." What do you think I'm going to be there? ”

Wang Sanyi, who originally wanted to do this, immediately echoed Shi Bin's intention when he heard this, and expressed his very much agreement. So the two decided to disguise themselves as two fleeing young men and go to various villages and towns outside the city.

Shi Bin originally planned to send two guards to follow him from afar but was rejected by Shi Bin, and was just about to set off, but was discovered by Jia Ling and stopped.

The dress of the two naturally made Jia Ling understand that of course she would not miss such a "good thing", and after some bargaining, she finally disguised Jia Ling as a female beggar who asked for food.

Looking at this 'hungry' female beggar who was overly excited, Shi Bin and Wang San could only shake their heads, saying that they could only act at the opportunity.

It was lunch time in Qingshan Town, which was the nearest town, and these young masters and young ladies who had hardly been hungry didn't mind this first time they didn't have enough to eat, and Jia Ling was even more excited. So much so that a few refugees squatting on the side looked at this girl who hadn't eaten with puzzled eyes, and she was still smiling so cutely.

Of course, she couldn't stand being so hungry all the time, and Jia Ling naturally began to have a bitter face. However, in order to truly experience these feelings, Shi Bin said that the three of them must eat something, but they must only eat some leftovers on the table.

At this time, the first thing that made people feel angry appeared: eating leftovers had to help those bosses do things for the day.

Of course, Jia Ling will not chop wood or herd cattle, at this time, she has no ability even if she wants to, and she can no longer have any curiosity, only a tendency to vomit.

Just as he was about to coax this pampered eldest lady, there was a noise. For a long time, another young master was smashing a stall cart. Today's Shi Bin is just coming to see these, so naturally he can't help others.

In his memory, there are always underworlds, but there are still good officials to take care of these things, but when he first arrives here, he is not familiar with the Tao, so he naturally can't act abruptly, so as not to do bad things with good intentions.

Seeing the boss lying on the ground screaming, he couldn't wait to ask the crowd of onlookers. Soon he understood that this kind of trivial matter really can't be an official, and the gain of reporting to the official is not worth the loss.

Because it seems that such disadvantaged groups have to pay 'both wins and like money' if they win the lawsuit, and once they lose, they have to pay the heavier 'two lawsuits and fines'. Therefore, it is reasonable to have a big fist at this moment, and if the fist is small, you can only be beaten, otherwise the punishment will be heavier than being beaten.

At this time, Shi Bin remembered the word 'fainting to death', and it was understandable that he was beaten in the lawsuit, and he had to pay for both ends.

After sighing, I sat on the side of the street and found a more interesting phenomenon, all the people who were targeted by the government officials immediately left the shop where they were and turned to leave. It's another movie, black humor, of course.

However, what he saw were a few shops selling tea and silk, and Shi Bin understood it if he thought about it carefully. Tea and silk are high-end products, and there are huge profits, so the officials should be chasing those who evade taxes.

Jia Ling couldn't stand the leftovers anymore, but she didn't want to leave this experience, so she discussed a plan with Shi Bin: Shi Bin and Wang San did more things to exchange for two fairly clean black-faced nests. It is of course the most appropriate way to let this eldest lady feel the inhuman life of ordinary people.

In this way, the little leftover cold rice in the restaurant that lacked salt and oil was far from enough, and the three of them had to buy some coarse salt to eat.

When he walked to the door of a grain and oil store, he saw a servant running over, and before he could react, the servant had already stretched out his hand to signal for payment. This made Shi Bin feel very surprised, but he still thought that this was the officer's mistake, and immediately explained: "This big brother of the officer, I just buy a few taels of coarse salt, it's not a big deal, I shouldn't pay taxes." ”

"Who says don't? If you buy and sell, you have to pay this 'total money' (transaction tax), do you want to be special? Then don't buy it. He said brutely.

Shi Bin still understood from time to time, so he asked the official to explain, and it took two more sentences to understand. If it is 1,000 yuan, 56 yuan will be charged, and this is only an announcement issued by the government, and the real amount to be collected depends on the specific executors. For example, Shi Bin's 'verbosity' made this transaction tax reach 100 Wen.

Of course, Shi Bin paid the money according to the rules, and with this experience, Shi Bin has the most intuitive understanding of the suffering of the people. Firewood, rice, oil, and salt are necessities of life, and others can be avoided and escaped, but even if these escapes a few times, most of the cases will be caught. After such goose plucking, which people can live a good life?

Before he could finish sighing, an old man with inconvenient legs and feet walked to the rice shop to buy rice, and the official immediately ran over with a smile and expressed his willingness to help, but the old man knelt down with a flutter. This scene was deeply related to what he had just experienced, which brought tears to his eyes.

At this time, Shi Bin and Wang San were already frosty, and even Jia Ling, the eldest lady, was filled with righteous indignation. also angrily shouted for Jia Nidao to help get rid of these harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, looking at that appearance, Jia Nidao seemed to be her father and not a strange old man. Looking at this kind and innocent woman, the two brothers finally found a trace of happiness in the pain.

Before he finished being happy, the county at the end of the street put on a posture and put away the 'consuming rice'.

I originally thought that the county would feel a little guilty when he collected these harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the people who were collected would be a little indignant, but he didn't expect that these refugees who were sitting with Shi Bin and a few people would feel relaxed and happy. Such a ridiculous and nonsensical scene surprised Shi Bin too much, in order to fully understand all this, he could only watch it patiently, and Jia Ling was like watching a black humor movie, in addition to anger and some smiles.

The word 'consuming rice' first reminded him of the loss and the military rations that were hundreds of thousands of stones at every turn. I learned from the county that this year's rice consumption is one stone per household, which is the same as last year. Now that the county is playing the leading role, he, a senior audience, naturally has to watch carefully.

"May I ask the county, how much is the rice consumption this year?" A man who was so thin that he seemed to fall down as soon as the wind blew asked.

The county is also an official, of course he will not pay attention to such an obscene person, a servant on the side walked over arrogantly and patted the man on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Da Zhuang, it seems that you are doing well this year, you are really much stronger, I remember that you were slapped down when you came to pay the 'rice' last year, hahaha!" ”

Before the thin man could finish speaking, he immediately replied with a smile: "Thanks to your care, I have eaten a full meal during this time, and your great kindness is unforgettable, toothless。。。。。 ”

At this point, a hungry man next to Shi Bin suddenly spat on the ground, wanting to reprimand him for not paying attention to hygiene. But at the end of the words, I swallowed back, and it was too strange to talk about hygiene like this.

Although he didn't swallow the unhappiness, he found that the man looked at the official and Da Zhuang with disdain.

The strangeness of this asked curiously, it turned out that the man made his wife dress the servant in order to fill his stomach. You must know that in the past, there was absolute trust between men and women. If a man fails to protect a woman, it is the greatest shame, and a woman's infidelity will be executed, even if the husband dies and the wife remarries. And the man called Da Zhuang still behaves like this, which is really despicable.

Turning his mind, Shi Bin began to listen to the words of the two again, "If you think my mother-in-law is good, you can come at any time, but can you have less this time?" ’

'Fart! Am I that kind of person? But it's pitiful to see that you're so thin, so I'll just kill you with one stone. ’

When Da Zhuang heard this, he was not happy at all, and he was still surprised. But with the officer's horizontal eyebrows and cold eyes, he immediately smiled and said, "Thank you for your care, thank you, villain." ”

watched Da Zhuang leave with disdain, and the official continued to shout about the person who handed over the 'rice'. Patiently, the official really took care of Da Zhuang, and the rest of the people except him received one stone and eight buckets. Once, that guy wanted to collect the family's 'consumption rice' to two stones, but he was kicked to the ground by the county man.

Seeing this, Shi Bin was naturally very angry, but he felt helpless for the time being. That county Cheng is naturally not a good fellow, but 'how can he walk by the river without getting his shoes wet', and if he doesn't follow this rule, he won't even have to eat this mouthful.

After returning home, Shi Bin could only sit silently in the hall and calm down, because he knew that this matter must not be brutal, and if he dared to do it, he would kill himself. He stayed up all night.