Liujiazhuang, where Liu Tantou is located, is in Xinle City, Gaoyang County, and it is a day's journey from Xianyu City, where the county is located.

Early the next morning, Liu Tantou changed into a washed and clean robe early, carrying a few wild vegetable dumplings in his arms, and a blanket on his shoulder, which contained more than a dozen beast skins. He didn't bring the jewelry that the third aunt gave him. Those jewelry are the dowries of these aunts, and they will have to be passed on to their daughters-in-law in the future, so how can they ask for it.

Naturally, he had to rely on himself to marry his relatives, and he couldn't sell his jewelry, so he planned to sell these hides in the city for money. These beast skins are all good skins that are not damaged, and a steward of the Lu family in Liujiazhuang's more than 20 years wants to take them away several times. It's a pity that they are only willing to give a silver coin for such a dozen good skins.

Although a silver coin can now be exchanged for almost 300 yuan, how can this money be enough to buy the things that the relatives want. And one of his skins is a leopard skin, the leopard was accidentally encountered when he went up the mountain to hunt, that time there was no one else around him, almost became the leopard's belly meal, fortunately he was very strong, hugged the leopard and rolled on the ground left and right, and finally beat the leopard to death with an iron fist as big as a sand bowl.

The leopard meat was sent to Shangguan, who distributed the grain uniformly, but he kept the skin. Leopard skins without the slightest swords, guns and arrows are worth a lot of money. Although the price of goods is chaotic now, such a leopard skin is worth at least a dozen yuan before it was chaotic a few years ago, which is equivalent to two years of charcoal burning.

But the Lu family steward, but relying on their Lu family is the largest family in this Xinle City, but he wants to accept more than a dozen skins from himself here, including leopard skins, for a silver coin, how can he agree to such an excessive thing, this is what he wants to use to buy the newlywed.

If it had been a few years ago, maybe he would have agreed in the end, although his heart hurts. The status of the Lu family in Xinle City is even higher than that of the county magistrate in Xinle County. Although Lujiazhuang is called Zhuang. But in reality, the houses are connected and stretch for miles. More than 1,000 families live together, all surnamed Lu, all of whom are members of the Lu family. In recent years, Hebei has been in turmoil, and many landlords and wealthy households have been looted and beheaded by the rebels, but the Lu family has built a dock fort outside Lujiazhuang that is a little stronger than Xinle County, and the dock fort like a fortress encloses the entire Lujiazhuang house with a high wall and deep ditch, and then connects them in a ring, and finally forms a larger and stronger Lujia Town than the county seat.

There are many shops in Lujia Town, and the houses are loquat.

But the farmers of the nearby farms. But he would rather walk more than ten miles to Xinle County than go to Lujiabao to buy and sell things. Because Lujiazhen has always liked to bully others, buy and sell by force.

Lujia Town is a fortified fort, and even the bandits can only sigh.

When Liu Tantou and the others were desperate, they also went to the door of Lujiabao with the villagers to beg, hoping to let them in to avoid the bandits. But the Lu family fell into the well, and it was okay to enter the fort to avoid bandits, but it had to be those nearby people who had land and land. And before entering the town, he had to sell the land to the Lu family, and if he said that he was selling, he basically gave it to the Lu family for free. Those who did not have land and wanted to enter Lujia Town had to sign a contract of sale and become the slaves of the Lu family, helping them cultivate the land they had taken by skill.

Liu Tantou once heard someone say it. Lujiazhuang used to be just a small landowner. Later, someone in the family once served as a small official in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and later annexed a lot of nearby land. Later, there were more and more Lu family members, and each general was like this, taking advantage of the war, they wantonly annexed the surrounding land, and now, they have become one of the best families in Gaoyang County.

The Lu family does not live in the city, they all live in the town of Lujia, and they built a dock fort. It is stronger than the county seat. And over the years, there have always been people in the Lu family who are officials and powerful, even if they are powerful and prosperous in the township, no one dares to care. …,

Liu Tantou walked alone in the snow, the snow had stopped for several days, but the thick snow had not completely melted. As soon as you step on it, it's the sound of hard ice ballast. After walking for more than half an hour, he had arrived not far from Lujia Town.

Far away, all the way around, everywhere is barren and desolate. But only in the vicinity of this Lujia Town. But I could see the tall and sturdy Dock Town like a monster, and there were bursts of cooking smoke curling in the sky. The smell of food wafts through the air from time to time.

Liu Tantou couldn't help but sniff a few times, and secretly said that the Lu family was really comfortable, and they actually had food early in the morning. Unlike them, they usually only eat two meals. And it's all thin, and in winter, there is only one porridge a day. It can be seen that the Lu family lives comfortably in Wuzhen all day long, and never has to work in the field, but they eat three meals a day, and they eat dry, and even heard that the head of the Lu family has eight dishes per meal, and they eat in different ways every day, and they don't have the same kind of food.

Tightening the straw rope around his waist, Liu Tantou continued to walk forward with his coat on his back and stepping on the snow. But after walking for less than a while, the intersection in front of me suddenly stopped.

I saw that in the snow, I don't know when, I actually set up a simple fence, and a wooden gate was opened on it. On the side, there were several long burly men, each holding their heads, and a spear was squatting under the thatched pavilion on one side, roasting the fire.

Liu Tantou hesitated for a moment, but still walked over.

"Stop!" Just as he was about to pass through the wooden door, he let out a loud cry but remembered from behind.

The sound of squeaky footsteps came from the thatched hut, and Liu Tantou stood there, looking back at the big man. He knew this person, a family member under the Lu steward in Lujia Town, and he was called Wang Tou.

Wang Tou walked over and looked Liu Tantou up and down a few times, "Oh, isn't this Liu Tantou who used to send charcoal to our house." Why haven't I seen you deliver charcoal in recent years, and everyone still thinks you've been cooked and eaten by those riotous people. Last time, Steward Liu said that your kid was still alive, and I still didn't believe it, why, are you going to send charcoal to the house today? ”

Liu Tantou frowned, he used to burn charcoal, and those charcoals were sent to the Lu family. After burning charcoal for more than ten years, he is still a single person in the end, and he has not saved any family funds, if he is not often able to hunt some prey, he is afraid that he will not be able to maintain food and clothing. In the past, he had never dared to resist the Lu family, but today, he felt that there was something in his heart.

Maybe it's because I heard that the imperial court doesn't treat those powerful people too much in the world, but is very good to them ordinary people, so he always feels a little bit of a backer in his heart.

"I don't burn charcoal anymore, and the court has allocated dozens of acres of land to me, and I will farm in the future. Today I was going to the county town to run errands, and I was only concerned about walking just now, and I didn't see the king. Liu Tantou said calmly.

Wang Tou didn't embarrass him much, "Then you can go, but the head of the family has made a new rule, and when you pass by this road in the future, no matter how you come or go, you have to pay a toll of five cents at a time, and if you still have goods, you have to collect tithes." I see that you seem to have a leather in your blanket, so my brother will give you a face, you can just take two skins from it and hand them over, and I won't charge you the five cents toll tax. ”

Liu Tantou was a little stunned, this road has a history of hundreds of years, everyone has been here for so many years, why do you have to charge five cents once today, what kind of reason is this. And to collect their own skins, this is even more inconsistent with the king's law. I have only heard that when entering the city, the income in front of the city gate is rui, but only a little money is charged according to the goods, how can there be such a tithe, is there a royal law?

Liu Tantou suppressed the anger in his heart, and said with a smile, "Wang Tou, I really won't hide it from you, the little one has already made a marriage with the girl of the fifth uncle of the Zhang family, and he is about to get married." Only then did I take this skin and want to go to the county town to calculate the money, buy some belongings, and ask the king to raise his noble hand, and when I come back, I will bring two jars of good wine to the king and a few brothers, you see that it is feasible. ”…,

Although Wang Tou is a member of the Lu family, he is also a good person, and he usually does not bully others, and sometimes he can help the villagers. Hearing Liu Tantou's words, Wang Tou stretched out his fist and slapped him on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "I have also seen that Zhang family girl, but you kid has gone out of his shit luck." When the day is set, I'm going to ask for a few glasses of wine. Let's go over, go early and come back early, and remind you kid, this time may be a little uneven. ”

Liu Tantou nodded, and was about to start, but he heard a sound of footsteps behind him, "You dog boss Wang, everyone is waiting for you to drink, who are you grinding with there, it won't be that you want to play tricks." ”

Hearing the familiar voice sound, Liu Tantou immediately felt bad. Sure enough, it was the Lu family's steward who came, and when he saw Liu Tantou carrying an animal skin, his eyes suddenly lit up. Recently, the birthday of the head of the Lu family is approaching, and he has been looking for a gift to take, but he has never found it. The last time I saw the leopard skin in Liujiazhuang, he fell in love with it. As a result, Liu Tantou killed a leopard, and even his courage became bigger. didn't sell it at all, and at that time, he didn't dare to take it because of the large number of people in Liujiazhuang.

In the past few days, he was planning how to go to Liujiazhuang again and snatch the leopard skin. But he never thought that the head of the family would be angry because of the imperial court's Juntian order and grain borrowing order. The head of the family, who was forcibly repurchased by the imperial court, had a lot of land and grain, and his flesh was very painful. In the past few days, posts have been set up on the roads around Lujiazhuang to collect tolls and excise taxes. He was also sent to this post, and he was not empty for a while.

But he didn't expect that this Liu Tantou was sent to the door by himself today, and even the leopard skin was in his coat, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Steward Lu's triangular eyes rolled, and he said with a wicked smile, "Liu Tantou, the toll fee is five copper at a time, I think these skins are all good skins, I will convert them into 100 yuan, tithe tax, you can pay another 10,000 wen and leave." Hurry up and pay the money, brother, I'm still waiting to go back to drink, this snowmelt day, freezing to death outside. (To be continued.) )