The drought in Shaanxi has been continuing, there has hardly been a decent rain in the whole summer, standing at the head of the village, looking at it from afar, the distant mountains are all a gray patch, under the scorching sun, steaming with coaxing heat, the mountains and rivers are swaying into the illusory general, the trees on the mountains, the weeds and shrubs on the roadside, have been dried yellow and yellow, a hot wind blows, salsa sounds, it seems that a spark goes down, it can be ignited, where is the green vitality of midsummer?

In the distance, there was not a single crop, not even a single weed survived, and when I looked at the cracked earth, the big mouths were like poisonous snakes, as if they were about to devour everything that might contain water, and when they went down, they sank a few inches, stirring up a puff of smoke and dust, and there was no life at all.

But fortunately, the water of the Shajia River is still flowing day and night, look at the left near, the other acres that are too far away from the riverside terrace are cracked, not a single inch of grass grows, and the wheat of thousands of acres of land on the surrounding terraces is growing gratifyingly, like a wave rolling in the wind, looking at the green wheat waves in his eyes, Lu Shi is not to mention how happy he is, this is also the lovely result of his own crossing advantage.

Walking through the strong and dense fields, from time to time with his hands to pull out one or two ears of wheat and rub them in his hands, put those nearly full wheat grains in his mouth to bite, taste the fresh wheat fragrance, he has a sense of accomplishment.

Looking at the joy of the three children who were busy weeding and ridge in the field from a distance, Lu Shi was even happier in his heart, which was also a reward for the kindness of Zhang Laoshi's family.

When the sun was setting in the west, Zhang's honest aunt came to Longshang to carry water to prepare dinner, Lu Shi was busy stepping forward to help, and said to Aunt Zhang: "Sister-in-law, this year's sun is enough, the water is good, look at the growth of wheat this year, I'm afraid it's better than last year, I think it's better than last year's one acre, so that the children don't have to eat bran anymore, and their bodies will be stronger." Then he smiled to himself, and there was a lot of display of his achievements in his heart, and the meaning of children waiting for praise from adults.

Zhang's honest aunt straightened her waist, set up the pergola with her hands and looked at the gray fields in the distance, and then looked at the dilapidated villagers, sighed and murmured: "Yes, we have the master's windmill this year, and the irrigation is timely, and now we have more than three or five buckets of one acre of land than last year." ”

As he spoke, his tone and face were not half happy, and there was a deeper sadness on his old black and gray face.

Lu Shi wondered, why was the harvest even more sad?

I heard Aunt Zhang talk to herself and said to Lu Shi, "The day before yesterday, and yesterday, a few households in the west of the village did not harvest, seeing that there was no hope this year, so they took care of their children and daughters to escape from the famine, and became a homeless, and when they left, they grabbed the soil in the yard, and it was considered to have a root in another country, that miserable, don't mention it, look at them, this time, maybe they will starve to death in which ditch, and they can no longer be buried in the ancestral cemetery, they will become a lonely ghost wandering outside, dig out the soil in their yard, Sprinkle it on the face, even if it is a leaf falling back to the roots, look, at the beginning of the year, there are already more than 30 families in our village who have abandoned the famine, and they have gone away, and those who have not left have some harvest in our dozen families, but, just a dozen of us-" Speaking of this, look at Lu Shi with a blank face, let out a long sigh and lean on his body, walking slowly, and a long sigh came from the evening breeze: "Alas, this world, how can it make people sick." ”

"Yes." Lu Shi expressed sympathy in a low voice, and usually saw those villagers who covered Chaimen and wept reluctantly and left, and his heart was also sad, but he couldn't do anything, in this era of natural and man-made disasters, his own strength, or his own strength, he couldn't change anything at all, and he could only watch them leave but couldn't help.

"But we are not as good as theirs, we don't have to run away, our year is good, and then collect the water money from several other families and Zhang Dahu on the terrace, we are full and have a surplus, you might as well look at other people's families and you can also properly remember them, it's not impossible." Looking at the heavy ears of wheat rolling and rippling in the wind, Lu Shi smiled and comforted with confidence.

With the current income and the upcoming harvest, it is impossible to help the whole village, just to help some neighbors, this confidence and ability is still there.

"What you don't understand, what you don't understand." Aunt Zhang listened to Lu Shi's comfort, just shook her head gently, lifted the bucket and staggered away, leaving a stuffy gourd Lu Shi in a daze on the ridge, "Isn't it good to say that you have overharvested wheat?" ”

When it got dark, I went home with a stomach full of confusion and 3 boys, and after eating wheat and wild vegetable rice, with a stomach full of questions, I consulted Zhang Laoshi under the tree in the yard.

Zhang Laoshi put down the farm tools he was packing up and sighed: "Master, you still don't understand, our Ming Dynasty has an unwritten but legal rule, because our family overcharged these three or five buckets, and other families fled the wasteland and abandoned the fields to become homeless, as soon as those homeless people left, we may be the first to suffer."

What is the reason for this? Lu Shi was puzzled, and after careful questioning, Zhang Laoshi said something.

Listening to Zhang honestly babble about what happened, Lu Shi understood what happened, but he was completely speechless.

But it turned out that the Ming Dynasty to the Apocalypse began endless expropriation, forcing the peasants to flee in large numbers. In order to pay the full amount of taxes sent by the above, the local officials adopted the method of ordering nine households to accompany each household to escape responsibility, and forcing one household to bear the burden alone if the nine households escaped.

In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Wu Yingji, then the governor of Shaanxi, wrote a letter to his friend about what he saw and heard when he passed through Zhenyang, Henan:

"From the morning departure, 20 miles out of the city, another 40 miles. On this day, the sky was very clear, and the curtain was overlooked. The 40 miles of traditional Chinese medicine network are all yellow hair and white grass, and the places where they have passed are all in the acre. The boundaries of the acres still exist and there is no trace of the seedlings, and the traces of cultivation have been abandoned for a long time. That is, he asked the woodcutter, "This county is so barren from east to west, north and south, and its fields are so barren?" He replied, "Nine times out of ten." Xi County is better, but there are also four or five out of ten such cases. When he saw the servants at the post station, he exhaled and asked: "The barren fields you see all the way, there is no difference in food?" Several people said in unison: "To see all the barren fields have been anointed before, how to get poor grain" urgently asked "why not plough" to "no cattle" asked "why no cattle" then said, "many thieves and sell the territory, no cattle so there are no tenants, this one also, nine and their people also fled, people go to the field without owners so do not plow, people go and donate grain is still there, then sit with the household, the household is unbearable to sit in the inside, and then sit on the relatives." In this house, the rich can still donate their bags to pay for it, and the poor will abandon it. Therefore, the village is in ruins, and the fields are barren. That's all about it. He also asked: Why didn't you sell this home and abandon it willingly? He said: The husband is sent to work hard for those who have land, and now the companion wants to give up his property but can't, and if he receives his inheritance, the grain will be sent to his family, can he be worthy? So it was barren and desolate, and it became more and more day by day. And asked: Is there only such a county order for whiteness? Said to him: This county order pays more tribute, is poor in the twilight, insatiable, and the yamen has many malpractices, and the strength is not enough to deal with the district, so he whips and pounces every day, trying to sit and only ask for food, so as to avoid the condemnation of his superiors, why not take care of the escape of people. The barrenness of the fields. Even those who told were scourged, so that though the people were grieved, there was no one who dared to speak. He also asked: This is the thoroughfare, and the way must be from this? Said: Yes. What about this? Yes. What about the state and county? Yes

This passage is indeed a very important historical material, but he convincingly reveals the reason why Zhang Laoshi is sad even though he has overcharged three or five buckets.

In previous years, when the year was still passable, other neighbors could still struggle to survive with hard work, although there were many assessments of taxes and miscellaneous taxes, but it was also good to live without dying, after all, things are expensive from the land, people are cheap from their hometowns, once they escape from the famine, they starve to death in a foreign land, and it is impossible to ask for a whole body, not to mention that the leaves fall back to the soil of the ancestral grave to comfort the soul.

But not recently, in the past two years, there has been no rain and no rain, there is no harvest, uprisings and rebellions in various places, the people are not living, but they do not see the relief of the imperial court, and the various tax items of the imperial court are emerging in an endless stream and continue to increase, and the salary is increased, and the annual service of officials at all levels is the least in all dynasties, the small servants of the family have to eat and drink, and the staff of the subordinate master of the government have to pay money and silver, and the superior capital must also be filial piety and dotting, and it is another apportionment to add apportionment, and the officials are also up and down during the period, knocking on the bone and sucking the marrow, so the pressure is even worse, If you don't obey at all, you will arrest and tear down the house, and even sit and torture, all of which will drive people to a dead end? At this time, where do you still care about the wealth of things from the land, people leave the hometown cheaply, the leaves fall back to the roots of the heart of the ancestral grave, although there is a chance that the famine is dead, but after all, the family can still die together, but staying in the township is indeed a broken family and people will die, so the young ones went up the mountain and threw a pole to survive, and the old and weak women and children ran away with their families, for that glimmer of hope for life.

Now it seems that the taxes of those who have escaped will fall on these dozens of families who have not yet gone bankrupt.

Zhang Dahu? Since the Ming Dynasty, it is the gentry who should not pay for food, which is a symbol of status, and it is also the fundamental interests of the Ming ruling group, even if there are some nominal things, they have been passed on to the small people through various excuses.

Lu Shi was so stunned that he didn't even know when Zhang Laoshi would return to the house, for a long time, he slapped his palm on the table, "Fuck, what kind of son of a bitch era is this, what kind of mother's policy is this?" Isn't this really asking the officials to force the people to rebel? ”