Looking at the porridge bowl on the table, Jiang Shangyan's eyes were a little straight, this was really a veritable gruel, there was a lot of soup and water, but there were not many rice grains in sight. In addition to the porridge pot, there was also a large bowl of green wild vegetables on the table, all of which were newly sprouted buds, which were the things in Wei Li's back basket when he met Wei Li before.

Seeing that Jiang Shangyan was a little flustered, Wei Li stood up, took a soup spoon and stirred it in the basin, and finally some rice grains floated up from the bottom of the basin, he put a large bowl of slightly thicker porridge in front of Jiang Shangyan, and his black face was a little red: "Captain Jiang, this is wronged by you, let's just eat a little." ”

"Don't be wronged, where is the grievance!" Jiang Shangyan picked up the porridge bowl, "Sometimes when there is a war, you don't have to eat and even gnaw on the bark, Brother Wei knows." ”

"That's right!" Wei Li smiled and scooped a bowl for his daughter-in-law, but it was much thinner than the porridge in Jiang Shangyan's bowl. The woman held the child in her arms and fed the rice soup little by little with a small spoon.

"Children need to be fed to grow stronger!" Drinking porridge, Jiang Shangyan looked at the child sipping soup and said. A little little guy, his face is not as big as Jiang Shangyan's hand.

Wei Li smiled bitterly: "Adults don't have to eat, the milk that comes to feed the children, it's good to have rice soup to feed them." ”

Jiang Shangyan's mood was a little heavy, "Is this like this in the village?" ”

Wei Li nodded heavily: "My family is still good, although I am crippled, but I am still a strong laborer, and there are still some families in the village, which are much worse than me." It's just hanging for your life. I don't know when this day will be the end! ”

"So heavy on taxes?" Jiang Shangyan asked.

"There is no way to do it, just the tax is easier to do, there are a lot of forced labor, the village is full of old and weak women and children, how can the heavy forced labor endure, it is going to die, it can only be converted into silver money to deliver, so that two times, don't you toss a little money in your hand? Captain Jiang, now the common people are just alive. Wei Li gulped down the gruel and said with some embarrassment.

Jiang Shangyan couldn't eat anymore, since he came back, he first participated in the alignment battle continuously, and finally stabilized the Jinghu defense line, and then was ordered to form a training cavalry, and soon after the army was formed, he went directly to the battlefield, he really didn't know anything about the people's livelihood, and he didn't know much about it.

He's just good at fighting.

But even if he didn't understand, listening to Wei Li's words, he knew what the people were suffering now. Just living, the meaning contained in these words is too heavy.

What if one day, ordinary people can't even live?

Zeng Lin, the county warden of Jinghu County, is not a corrupt official, Jiang Shangyan is clear about this, and the rule of officials in Jinghu is also quite clear, but in such a place, the common people can only barely live. What kind of situation has the entire Da Chu reached now? Not every local official has Zeng Lin's ethics.

Jiang Shangyan suddenly remembered that for a while, the old man told him very painfully about the current situation in Dachu, which was summed up as internal and external troubles. In addition to the fact that Da Chu was fighting with Qi, there were also thieves all over the inside, and the beacons were everywhere. A large number of troops had to be busy going around suppressing these rebellious bandits.

"Can't you survive?" He asked himself inwardly.

Jiang Shangyan has a deepest feeling that before the Ming Dynasty took control of this place, the people here were indeed very hard, and even couldn't survive, but as long as the tentacles of the Ming regime extended to these places, in a short period of time, this place will burst out with great vitality, and the people's lives have improved so quickly that they can almost be described as a miracle.

The peasants' taxes in the Ming Dynasty were very low, not to mention the need for forced labor, and the government had to take out real money to hire the people whenever they wanted to do anything, and some places even directly contracted to the merchants, and then the merchants recruited hired workers to do it, in short, the common people took a salary to do a job. But in the end, the benefits of these jobs fall firmly on the heads of the people themselves.

For example, rivers are dredged, roads are repaired, and water conservancy projects are built. Even the delivery of supplies for the army does not need to be borne by the common people.

In the state of Chu, these jobs are all done by the people for free.

Jiang Shangyan knew very well that Qin Feng's Ming Dynasty had always been short of money, and Qin Feng, the emperor, often had empty pockets, and the local governments were basically in a state of lack of money, and they often had to borrow money to get by. But it was such a seemingly poor dynasty, and the people under their rule lived an extremely prosperous life.

Jiang Shangyan didn't understand this kind of grandeur very well, but he knew that the people of the Ming Dynasty had the kind of heartfelt support for the Ming Dynasty and the resolute support for the Ming Emperor.

"Is Brother Wei at home?" There was a shout outside, and when he heard this voice, Wei Li's face, which was still a little happy just now, suddenly collapsed.

"The county warden has come down again." He sighed and said to Jiang Shangyan.

"Taxes?" Jiang Shangyan asked.

Wei Li nodded: "Some of this year's taxes, as well as conscription, must have been apportioned by the county, and the wardens are sending them from village to village." In our village, I am a young and strong man, and everyone elected me to be the head of the village. ”

Looking at Wei Li's sad face, Jiang Shangyan knew that this village was in power, but he was afraid that it would be extremely difficult.

"Pawn Zhang." Wei Li stood up and bowed to a thin middle-aged man who walked through the door.

"Got a guest at home?" Zhang Dianguan looked at Wei Li, "Look at a good horse tied to your door, Brother Wei, you still have a big friend!" ”

"It's a brother in the former army!" Wei Li said: "I came back from visiting relatives and passed through here, Captain Jiang, this is our county's Sinong Zhang Dian. ”

"Captain Jiang?" Zhang Dianguan was taken aback, a lieutenant can lead thousands or even thousands of middle-level officers, in Jinghu County, the identity of an officer is very popular, even if it is a county master, in front of a captain, he can only bend down.

Jiang Shangyan nodded.

"Dian Zhang, the numbers are out?" Willy asked.

"It's out." Zhang Dianguan took out a piece of paper from his arms, pointed to one of the lines and said: "Brother Wei, this is the tax amount of your village this season, knowing that no one in your village is going to do labor, I will simply convert it into silver for you, a total of twenty taels of silver." ”

Wei Li jumped up suddenly: "Why did you get an extra five taels, wasn't it all fifteen taels in the previous season?" ”

"Brother Wei, my brother didn't pit you, this year's spring endowment can be added, in the past, our army was only defensive, and the cost was small, but now Bian Dashuai has taken office and recovered Wanzhou, and then he will raise a large army to attack the Qi people and prepare to recover the remaining five counties, do you say that this tax empowerment will not rise? This is still the actual situation of your village in the county. Zhang Dianzhi sighed.

Wei Li's face darkened, "Dian Zhang, you also know that our village is like this, and it has just passed winter, so there is a lot of silver there, can you drag it back, let me think of a way?" Our imperial army has recovered the six counties, won't the imperial court give money? Why do you keep adding taxes and taxes to us? ”

"Brother Wei, this is also something that can't be helped, a few days ago I saw a newspaper in the county, there are several big bandits in Ganzhou, and they almost even captured the county seat, and now the imperial court, there is more money allocated to us there? Alas, Cheng Dashuai has entered the capital, see if you can ask us for some benefits to come back? Zhang Dian's official also looked distressed, "Those damned thieves should cut off their heads and hang them on the city wall." ”

Hearing this Zhang Dian's official talk about Cheng Wuben, Jiang Shangyan couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart. These low-level officials don't know what it means for Cheng Shuai to enter Beijing, and they are still dreaming that Cheng Shuai can bring them some more benefits!

He stood up, found his package from the side, opened it, and took out a few tickets from inside, which were the banknotes of the Ming Kingdom, but in Jinghu County, the Ming banknotes were now common money.

"I paid for them." took out a few pieces from a stack of money and made them into twenty taels, and Jiang Shangyan handed them to Zhang Dian.

"How does this work?" Wei Li's face turned red all of a sudden: "Captain Jiang, how can we ask you to help pay our taxes?" ”

"Brother Wei, they are all brothers in the army, what's so polite, didn't you win a big battle some time ago? This is my bounty! It's very easy for me to get money, it's nothing more than riding a horse and carrying a knife to cut down all the people, and the more you cut, the more you will get the more money. He stuffed the remaining few bills into Wei Li's hand, "Take it and buy some rice, at least let your daughter-in-law eat enough, you see your dolls, they are all so thin and out of shape, such a small person, don't damage your body, if you don't raise it now, you won't be able to grow up stronger." ”

Lifting the package and grabbing the clothes that Wei Li's daughter-in-law had already baked, Jiang Shangyan walked out gloomily, in fact, he still had a few thousand taels of silver tickets in the package, but this could not be given to Wei Li, that would scare him. This money was the salary he received when he was in the Ming Dynasty, but he never used it.

Zhang Dianzhi and Wei Li looked at the silver ticket in their hands, and then looked at the back of Jiang Shangyan, who had left, they were all a little flustered, especially Wei Li, when he looked down at the ticket in his hand, he was startled again, and several of them added up, there were one hundred taels of silver.

"Captain Jiang!" He immediately chased after him.

However, at this time, Jiang Shangyan had already turned over on his war horse and galloped away with his whip.

"Brother Wei, this friend of yours is really ambitious." Warden Zhang glanced at the banknote in Wei Li's hand, "At least your village's tax payment this year is settled." By the way, his surname is Jiang, what is his name? ”

"Captain Jiang's name is Jiang Shangyan!" Wei Li looked at the distant war horse, a little excited, and a little uneasy.

"Egami Yan!" Zhang Dian's eyes blinked, and he suddenly shouted: "Jiang Shangyan." Wei Li, what kind of captain is this Jiang Shangyan, he is the general next to Cheng Dashuai, with tens of thousands of cavalry under his command! ”

Hearing this, Wei Li was immediately dumbfounded.