In the evening, the sky was already starting to get dark.

The blood-colored remnant sun is reflected on a small town, this town that relies on the Xuansu leading to Xiangping official road, which was prosperous in the past, and people came to play, but now the atmosphere is a little cold.

The location of the town is close to the Hou City of Xuansu County.

This town is called Guishan Town, relying on a Angelica Mountain, living a population of more than 100 households, because relying on the official road, many caravans coming and going will settle here.

This town has had a good time over the years.

But because of the invasion of Goguryeo, the town fell, every household was robbed of food, the inns and markets were smashed, and many families were captured to participate in the bloody battle of Xiangping City, with countless casualties.

Nowadays, almost every household wears linen and filial piety.

As the sun set, there was a threshing floor in front of the town, and several middle-aged and old men were squatting together, chatting about something, but their faces were not very good-looking.

"Tell me what about this year's taxes?"

An old man with gray hair looked at the others.

"Old Hu, now that Uncle Qing and Uncle Daba are dead, you are the only one left of the three elders in our town, you should pay attention to one!" A strong man squatted beside the old man and said.

The three elders, in fact, are the land protection, generally small villages and small towns, the scale is not large, so a few respected old people are invited to call the shots, called the three elders.

"This year, because the Goguryeo people came, all the food in our town is gone!"

This old man named Hu Lao thought about it, held his cane, and said: "Now that the taxes are definitely not paid, what is the attitude of the government, we don't know yet?" Although many small towns have rumored that the court will be tax-free. But we don't know if it's going to be tax-free, and if they insist on making us pay this year's tax, we're in trouble."

"They shouldn't embarrass us, right?"

One of the old men in his early fifties said in a low voice: "In the past few years, because of this pipeline, our town's life has been much better than in previous years, and we have paid our taxes every year. Even if it drags on for a year, it should be okay! ”

Since Liaodong opened up the sea road to Jiangdong, Liaodong's economy exploded, and many places began to become rich, at least there was no starvation to death.

"That's not what I said, whether you pay taxes or not, it's the court that says!"

The white-haired old man said: "We had better prepare for the worst, if we want to pay taxes, we will move them to each family." Fill it in as much as possible, the war has passed, I heard that Goguryeo has been bulldozed by the Wu State, and we will be peaceful here in the future, and life will be a little better! ”

"A few uncles, I'm here to ask for directions, how to get to Houcheng?"

At this time, follow the shadow of the slanting sun. A personable young man with a teenager and a young girl. Walked into the town's threshing floor.

"You follow the official road and walk through this mountain peak, you can see Hou Cheng!"

The white-haired old man at the head was very kind, looked at the three of them, then pointed, and said, "But go to Houcheng from here." The journey is not slow, if there are no horses, you will have to walk for at least half a day, and now that it is dark, you should be careful! ”

"Thank you, uncle!"

The young man sat down along a piece of bluestone. looked at the old man and asked, "Uncle, we have been walking for a day, can we ask for a sip of water?" ”

"Dafang, look at the way they are in a hurry, they are somewhat hungry and thirsty, get them some water, and get them a few steamed buns!"

The old man thought for a moment and said to a middle-aged man.

"Okay!" This middle-aged man walked into a house in a hurry, and there was a label on the house, Guishan Inn, and after a while, he came out with a few bowls of water and a few cold steamed buns.

"Thank you, uncle!"

The young man touched his body, but there was no more hair, and his eyes looked at Sun Lang and Sun Shangxiang.

Bring money?

Sun Shangxiang and Sun Lang understood his eyes, but their expressions were a little red, spread their hands, and made a helpless move.

Didn't bring any money!

Sun Quan suddenly patted his forehead, the two little bastards are really pampered, and they don't bring money when they go out!

Sun Quan was really a little helpless, he ate other people's things, drank other people's water, he couldn't eat and drink in vain, he thought about it, ripped off a piece of hanging jade from his waist, handed it to the old man, and said: "Uncle, we have a few brothers and sisters, from Jiangdong, from the Shan family, go to Xuansu to join the family, and the entanglement is gone, this jade pendant should be our little heart!" ”

Sun Quan put the jade pendant in the old man's hand.

"This is unacceptable, young man!"

The old man hurriedly shook his head and said, "A little water, just a few steamed buns, don't be so polite!" ”

"Yes, Uncle should be our little care!"

Sun Quan asked the old man to put away the hanging jade.

The old man said that he couldn't say that Sun Quan, so he accepted the hanging jade, he took a closer look at the jade pendant, the jade pendant was green and transparent, and there was a word carved on it that he couldn't understand.

Sun Quan's three brothers and sisters took a few steamed buns, drank water, sat on the bluestone, and began to chat with a few people in the town, and several people in the town were more talkative.

"Uncle, I've heard that the Goguryeo people can enter the town this time, and they will not light you down, you will not have a good time this year!"

Sun Quan gnawed on an unpalatable steamed bun, looked at the old man, and asked.

"Who says it isn't!" The old man sighed and said: "When the Jiangdong people came, we panicked, but the Jiangdong people made our lives better and better, so we put our hearts at ease, and saw that the days were getting better, but as soon as the Goguryeo people came, there was nothing, and now the Goguryeo people have retreated, but we have also died in Guishan Town, and now we can't even pay taxes!" ”

"Uncle, apart from paying taxes, can you eat enough?"

Sun Quan thought for a moment and asked.

What he has to do most is whether the people of Wu can have enough to eat.

In his opinion, nothing is more important than a full meal.

In the past, he once said that as long as the people under the rule of Wu State, none of them could starve to death, and over the years, he has been haunting this goal to do.

"The Goguryeo people have robbed us of all our grain, and now it is impossible to eat enough in the winter season, but we also have a lot of food in our own hiding, enough for this town to survive this winter!"

The old man's words were opened, and he slipped away: "But I'm afraid that they will urge us to pay taxes, and if this tax is paid, many people in our whole town will starve to death today!" ”

"I heard that this year is tax-free?"

Sun Quan's eyes were slightly cold, he remembered that he explained that all the villages and towns affected by the war would be exempt from tax.

"That's true, but we can't confirm whether it's true or not!"

The old man said: "Without official documents, how dare we not pay taxes!" ”

"It may be that the paperwork has not arrived, and I heard the news that the court is going to be tax-exempt in Xiangping!" Sun Quan's comforting sentence.

"If you want me to say, then don't pay it, if you pay taxes, what will you eat?"

Sun Shangxiang couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to starve to death?" ”

"Little girl!"

A tall middle-aged man said with a smile: "You don't understand this, back then, Wu had not yet entered Liaodong, we had a hard time, digging weeds, digging roots, eating tree bark, as long as we can live, we can eat anything, pay taxes, we can still live, if we don't pay taxes, we will be guilty!" ”

"Are those things for human consumption?"

Sun Shangxiang's pretty face changed slightly, and she called out.

When several people in the town heard this, their faces were a little ugly.

"Xiangxiang, shut up!"

Sun Quan drank a sentence, then looked at a few people, and said: "I'm sorry, my sister has been pampered since she was a child, and she doesn't understand the difficulties of life, she has no intention of sarcastic you!" ”

"I'm sorry!"

Sun Shangxiang also knew that he had said the wrong thing, so he hurriedly apologized.

"Alas, little girl, you are too young to know how difficult life is!" Everyone didn't blame the little girl too much, and the old man sighed and said, "We couldn't eat a full meal all year round!" ”

"Uncle, if you want me to say, it's the fault of the Wu Kingdom, since the Wu Kingdom is your people, you can't even stop the Goguryeo people, it's really a bit disappointing!" Sun Quan answered.

It's his fault, he can't stop the Goguryeo people, he can't protect his people, no matter what he wants, it's the king's fault.

"That's not right, young man!"

The old man glanced at Sun Quan and said: "The Goguryeo people came, the people of Wu sent troops, and Wu did not leave it alone, although we suffered, but we can't complain about Wu Guo, these years, it is not Wu Guo, we have come from there for a peaceful day!" ”

"Uncle, Wu Guo is here, are you having a good time?" Sun Quan squinted slightly, which was a bit of a surprise.

"Young man, don't talk about the rest of the Wu Kingdom, one day, they won't increase taxes, and also, look at that official road!"

The old man pointed to the bluestone road in front of him: "That's Wu Guoxiu, you are looking at our town, it was just in tatters back then, but because of the location of this official road, no one has starved to death in the town in the past few years, this is all the merit of Wu Guo!" ”

Sun Quan looked at the official road, and the whole person was a little stunned.

This official road?

He remembered that when he went ashore, he was the first project to be approved, and he personally approved it.

So it's so easy to buy the hearts of the people?

It was an accident!

Sometimes, you try to buy it, but you don't get it.

But sometimes, it's as simple as that.

Perhaps, this is the will of the people. (To be continued......)