Lu Shi pulled Zhao Dahai to the place where the villagers of Zhangjiazhuang were placed, and saw from a distance that those villagers were not sleeping, one by one, their faces were full of anxiety, the six gods had no owner, and they were messing around there, and when they saw Lu Shi and Zhao Dahai coming, it was like seeing the backbone of the main heart, and they ran to surround the two of them with a bang, and told Lu Shi about the uneasiness in their hearts.

Lu Shi patiently comforted and answered patiently, surrounded by everyone, Lu Shi and Zhao Dahai came to the middle of the square, and Zhao Dahai shouted loudly: "Folks, everyone be quiet, Mr. has something to say." ”

As a result, the square immediately became silent, and even the people of the Zhangjiayuan clan in Zhangjiabao on the left came over tremblingly, wanting to hear what Lu Shi wanted to say.

Lu Shi saw that everyone was looking at him with earnest eyes, waiting for him to speak, so he smiled and said: "Fellow villagers, this time, we have taken Zhangjiabao and rescued our relatives who were imprisoned in the water prison in the fort, but there are also our relatives who have died, which makes me very sad. When he said this, his expression couldn't help but darken, and there was a sigh around him.

However, Lu Shi immediately raised his head and said firmly: "However, we still have our relatives Ding Zhuang who is imprisoned in the county seat, and I still have to talk to Lord Zhao, ah, now we should call Zhao Dangjia to rescue them, so that our relatives can come back and reunite with you." ”

Hearing this, there was a cheer from the crowd.

Lu Shi raised his hand and pressed it, and when everyone's excited mood calmed down, he solemnly said again: "Brother Zhao and I have embarked on a road of resisting the oppression of the imperial court, and we can never turn back, but this road is dangerous and difficult, and there is a possibility of dying on the battlefield at any time. Then let's go home and live in peace. ”

As soon as Lu Shi said this, there was no sound around at that time, only the beeping of torches in the dark night.

After a while, the lame military man, coming out of the crowd, came to Lu Shi and Zhao Dahai, and knelt down with difficulty, Lu Shi was shocked when he saw it, and rushed forward to help, but the man broke free of Lu Shi's hand, raised his face and wept and said: "Mr. Gaoyi, I am so moved by the small people, but I want to ask Mr., is it true that I am waiting for these old and weak people to be a burden in Mr.'s heart?" ”

Lu Shi shook his hand again and again: "Brother, what are these words?" It's all folks, where is it a burden, but I have already gone up the mountain to be a bandit, and this time I will fight the county seat to rescue your relatives, it will definitely alarm the imperial court, and the encirclement and suppression of the imperial court will continue in the future, so that all the villagers follow me, it is nine deaths, but I have dragged everyone down, so on-"

The lame soldier interrupted Lu Shi's words and said loudly: "Then I take the liberty of asking Mr., in your opinion, even if you distribute money and food to us, can you guarantee that we will be carefree for the rest of our lives?" ”

Lu Shi is angry, how much can he give to everyone? That is, some financial food that can survive the current crisis, and it will take more than ten or twenty years for natural and man-made disasters to occur, where can these money and food be able to get through?

smiled bitterly at the moment: "No, it's just a momentary emergency." ”

The man immediately asked again: "Is it possible that the gentleman will guarantee that after you leave, the government will no longer exploit and plunder?" ”

Lu Shi was even more speechless.

Lu Shi knew that since the Wanli period, Ningxia, Korea, and Banzhou have successively used troops, spending a lot of military spending. The emperor was reluctant to take the money from the outside, and in order to meet the increasing military expenditure, the imperial court continued to pay additional taxes

At the end of Wanli, Liaozuo used soldiers, adding nine cents of silver per mu, and a total of 5.2 million taels were added. In addition, the local officials took the opportunity to fill their own pockets with fish and meat, and increased the weight layer by layer, and it has reached several times and more than ten times the amount of taxation at the bottom. The number of people in the Ming clan increased by a geometric progression of about doubling in thirty years. After the medium term, just paying for the rice of these tens of thousands of dragon sons and grandsons has become a serious problem for national and local expenditures.

In order to cope with this problem, the local officials had to deal with the arrears of the clan on the one hand, and the peasants on the other. Take Baishui County, Shaanxi Province as an example: "Jiajing added 1828 yuan and 7 cents, and Wanli added 735 25 yuan and 5 cents. In fact, there are not so many ownerless "idle fields" in the world, except for the "people who have taken all the sizes", a considerable part of them are replaced by additional rent silver. For example, in Xi County, Henan, 1,157 acres and 32 acres of land in the Fufu Prefecture are all "a case of levy within the county." "King Rui's 20,000 hectares of land is also completely dependent on Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, and Sichuan to pay additional taxes according to the number of acres of land to obtain rent.

In the late Ming Dynasty, due to the fierce progress of land annexation, most of the land fell into the hands of princes, nobles, and bureaucratic landlords. It stands to reason that if a peasant loses his land, he should no longer bear the land tax. This is not the case. The gentry landlords not only enjoyed the right of preferential exemption as rated, but also colluded with the officials to evade the grain tax by means of trickery, sprinkling, and insinuation. In this way, the tax burden of those who do not pay taxes is added to the heads of small people like Zhang Laohan.

Whenever the government starts a campaign, it is miserable to chase and knock on Park. Where can the common people fight against the gentry and cool officials? If one does not comply, he will be taken to prison, and that will be the end of nine deaths.

The world remains unchanged, then these burdens of conscription will not stop, with Chongzhen's ascension, the displaced people from all over the country have risen up, and the salary and salary training must emerge in an endless stream, all of which must be squeezed from these honest people, and the officials and cool officials will even more knock on the bones and suck the marrow of the people, regardless of the life and death of the people, until the last bit of blood of the people is squeezed dry.

And they are these poles that increase the burden of the people in disguise, the poles can travel thousands of miles, relying on looting to survive, and these people who have lost their protection will immediately be forced to exploit by the government under various names.

Thinking of this, Lu Shi sighed and said, "Maybe if I am transferred, the money in your hands will soon become the bag of the cool officials of the government." ”

The man protested again: "Then this time, in order to save Zhang Laoshi, Mr. took the heroes of Woniu Mountain to break Zhangjiabao, killed Zhang Laocai, and killed Xiaobawang, then, that Zhang Laocai's son is at large, so with his Zhang Yuancai's great power, can you guarantee that he will not come back to avenge the killing of his father and son, and take this anger out on us?" ”

Lu Shi opened his mouth wide and couldn't speak anymore, imagining the tragic situation of returning to his hometown and slaughtering the village, and his back was already rippling with cold sweat at that time.

I was so kind to let everyone go back to live, and I wanted them not to be displaced from me all day long, and to live between life and death, but now according to the words of this military man, wouldn't it simply push them into a situation of death and no life? So what is the difference between yourself and a murderer?

At this time, an old man stood up, walked up to Lu Shi tremblingly, knelt down and said, "What this brother is, this king-"

Lu Shi hurriedly stepped forward to help him up in fear, this old man is older than his grandfather, kneeling down for himself, wouldn't he break his yang life? "My uncle is much older than my father, so it's not an exaggeration to call me uncle." In fact, really speaking, Lu Shi's father is not just a few dozen years old? That's a few hundred years old to be true, if you really want to talk about it, Lu Shi really doesn't know what to call people.

When the old man saw that Lu Shi was sincere, he also stood up.

"What does the old man have to say?"

The old man was kindly called the old man by the king of the mountain, and he said honestly and fearfully: "The old man is called the villain, or the king calls me small." ”

Then he trembled and answered Lu Shi's question: "The little one now has a wife at home, a son and a daughter-in-law, and just got a little grandson a year ago. At the mention of his little grandson, the old man's face was immediately filled with a sunny and happy expression.

In order not to talk about this issue anymore, he hurriedly changed the topic and asked with a smile: "But I don't know how the old man's life is." ”

As soon as he mentioned the old man's face, he was immediately filled with sorrow: "So that the king knows, alas, in this world, how can we poor people live." A sigh revealed endless desolation and helplessness.

It turns out that the old man's surname is Zhang, and he is the distant family of the landlord, but he has been out of the five mansions, and has lived in this Zhangjiabao for generations, and the original ancestors have left dozens of acres of good land, and the days are also peaceful, but the good times are not long, and the field production is not enough for the harsh taxes of the prince of the government, and only the land is sold to pay the grain and taxes. Later, I had to take the field to dedicate to become a tenant of the Zhang landlord's family under the name of the landlord Zhang, still cultivating the original ancestral property, but ninety percent of it had to be handed over to the Zhang family, and the sons and daughters including themselves had to work for the Zhang family, the second son was arrested Ding Zhuang went to Liaodong, and now I don't know whether he is alive or dead, and the girl has entered the Zhang family and became a maid, and has been oppressed and abused. Because of this skill in making elm spraying, it will not starve to death in Zhangjiabao, but it is also a year-round melon and vegetable.

Seeing that he has a little grandson again, Zhang Laohan is happy and worried, happy that the Zhang family has a queen, and worried that his daughter-in-law is not having enough milk and cries all day long. In order to give his daughter-in-law an extra bite to eat, his wife has been living in cold water for many days, and she is going to live if she sees it, and she has gone to the owner several times to borrow some rice and grain, but she has been beaten out by the owner. At this point, the old man was already crying loudly, and he couldn't cry silently.

Lu Shi said sincerely: "I don't know what the old man has to ask of the kid?" ”