The first stop Xu Wanghua chose was Huanxian.

Qingyang Prefecture is not very large, with jurisdiction over one state and four counties, including Ningzhou, Qingcheng County, Huan County, Heshui County and Zhengning County, of which Qingcheng County is the location of the Yamen of Qingyang Prefecture, and Ningzhou is Sanzhou.

The smaller the place, the easier it is to govern, but because of the successive years of famine, all parts of Qingyang Mansion have long fallen into unrest, and there is a bit of a sparse taste of mountains here, so it is naturally more difficult to govern. If it is an ordinary year, a place like Qingyang Mansion will never attract the attention of the imperial court, after all, the place is too small, and it is not a strategic place.

From Yansui Town to Huanxian County, 990 miles, it took Xu Wanghua five days to arrive.

The five personal soldiers who accompanied Xu Wanghua had long kept in mind Zheng Xunrui's entrustment, and they had to take care of Xu Wanghua's safety along the way, and at the same time adapt to Xu Wanghua's rhythm.

Huanxian County Ya, the sign to stop the announcement was erected on the gate, and a notice was also posted in the corridor, and the reason for stopping the announcement was that the yamen must collect taxes, and the time to stop the announcement was one month.

Xu Wanghua looked at the notice coldly, according to the requirements on the notice, the collection of taxes in Huanxian County has begun, and it has lasted for four days, no wonder they felt that the villages and towns were a little chaotic after they passed the Qingping Pass.

In the county seat, it is impossible to grasp the specific situation of collecting taxes, and it is necessary to go to the villages and towns.

Xu Wanghua thought of it, since Huanxian County has begun to collect taxes, let alone other places, in terms of distance, Huanxian County is close to five hundred miles away from Qingyang Fucheng, and the rest of the prefectures and counties are less than three hundred miles away from Fucheng at most, and the speed of transmission of government decrees is naturally much faster.

After only resting for one night, early the next morning, Xu Wanghua left the county seat with two personal soldiers and went to the villages and towns to inspect the situation, and the remaining three personal soldiers stayed in the county seat.

Quzi Town is the closest to the county seat.

When the noisy sound came, Xu Wanghua dismounted, he looked like a dusty man, no different from a passerby, led the horse slowly into the town, and at first glance saw a lot of people gathered in a pile, these people were dressed simply and plainly, revealing a dazed and simple atmosphere, but many people's eyes were red, and several women among them were already crying bitterly.

After Xu Wanghua approached, he pulled a slightly older middle-aged man to speak.

"This brother, I'm a passer-by, passing by here, begging for a sip of water."

Asking for water in Huanxian is not something to be said casually, such a thing is nothing in other places, but in Huanxian County, which has suffered from a long period of drought, it is a real troublemaker.

This simple middle-aged man hesitated slightly, but still took Xu Wanghua and the others to his house.

"This brother, I just saw so many people gathered together, did you encounter something?"

The middle-aged man asked Xu Wanghua and the others to sit down, beckoned his mother-in-law to boil water, and when he heard Xu Wanghua ask, he shook his head and spoke.

"The government collects taxes, and there has always been a famine in recent years, and last year I finally had some grain in stock, barely able to eat, and I didn't expect to collect taxes this year, and the government also said that all the taxes owed before were paid, and if you don't take the initiative to pay, the government will go to the house to collect it."

"Oh, in this case, why can't you explain it to the government."

The middle-aged man looked at Xu Wanghua.

"You are a scholar, we people, we dare not say this to the government."

Xu Wanghua smiled self-deprecatingly, and then spoke.

"Huanxian County has also suffered a famine this year, if you pay taxes and there is no food in your family, how will you live in the future."

Xu Wanghua's words resonated with middle-aged people.

"What you said is that if you pay taxes this year, there must be nothing left at home, and the government will go to every household to collect it, saying that it is to use grain to pay taxes, and the grain in the county town is bought at the price of six taels of silver, but the government is only paying at the price of four taels of silver, and everyone wants to buy grain and hand it over, but at this time, the price of grain in the county town has also changed, and it has become three or five dollars of silver, and such a price has not appeared for many years, and many people have no choice......

Xu Wanghua's expression became grim, collecting taxes in the year of the catastrophe was originally a practice that violated common sense, but the government actually colluded with businessmen to harm the people.

Xu Wanghua remembered that Zheng Xunrui had specifically commented on the Donglin Party, pointing directly at the collusion between the Donglin Party and the Shangjia, all of which were for the interests of the Shangjia, so as to get the support of the Shangjia and the scholars, regardless of the life and death of the people, he did not particularly believe it, after all, he had been in the capital for many years, and had not seen the actual situation, but when he came to Huanxian County, the first stop was Quzi Town, and he really felt such a situation.

The price of grain in Huanxian County is far from six taels of silver, and eight taels of silver, after all, it is the year of the catastrophe, yesterday to the county seat of Huanxian County, Xu Wanghua went to the store to inquire about the price, but when the government levied taxes, it was paid according to the price of four taels of silver, which was equivalent to a naked robbery, and the most hateful thing was that the merchant Jia bought eight taels of silver and one stone of grain on the one hand, and bought three taels of silver and one stone of grain on the other hand, could it be said that the government did not know such a situation.

"The food has been handed over, what should I do next?"

The middle-aged man looked at Xu Wanghua, looking a little dazed, and only spoke after a while.

"I don't know, I haven't thought about it."

"These days, the government collects taxes, are there any people who have run out of food?"

"Yes, there are several families in the west of the town, and Su Manzi's house has long been unable to open the pot."

"What's the situation with Su Manzi?"

"Orphans and widows, it's really pitiful, Su Manzi's father starved to death five years ago, also because of the lack of food, there was only a mother and son left in the family, if it wasn't for the mutual support in the town, the whole family was afraid that they would starve to death, and then the government relieved them, and finally survived, but this time they paid taxes, and all the food in their family was collected, and some of the food was given by the government."

"Oh, can this brother take me to Su Manzi's house to have a look."

"That's fine, let's wait until the water is boiled before we go."

"No, let's go check it out first."

The middle-aged man stood up, he had no doubts at all, how could an ordinary person ask about such a situation, and he had to go to the most difficult family to see.

Su Manzi's home is in the westernmost part of the town, two lonely earthen walled houses.

Pushing open the door, a cold breath came.

Xu Wanghua thought that there was no one at home, and it didn't look like it was inhabited, the house was dark, and he felt uncomfortable when he walked in in broad daylight, and after his eyes got used to it, he saw a woman with blank eyes, gray hair, and a pale face sleeping on the kang, covered with tattered cotton wool, if it weren't for the woman's eyes that could still move, no one believed that this woman was alive.

The middle-aged man didn't know how to introduce it for a while, so he simply didn't introduce it.

"This is Su Manzi's mother, her health has always been bad, and the family all rely on Su Manzi, you don't know, Su Manzi's mother is only thirty-five years old."

Xu Wanghua's body trembled slightly, and when he saw this woman, he thought it was the year of the sixtieth birthday.

"Was that the case before?"

"No, I don't know which pit man's idea, saying that Su Manzi's family is the most difficult, if the taxes in Su Manzi's family are all paid, what else do the rest have to say, when they came to collect taxes three days ago, they first came here, all the useful things in the house were moved, even the cotton wool was discounted, Su Manzi had a quarrel with the sergeant at that time, and was imprisoned in the county office, Su Manzi's mother became like this, if it wasn't for the neighbors to send some food, she would have starved to death."

Xu Wanghua's eyes were a little red, and the green tendons on his forehead also faintly appeared.

Quzi Town is the closest to the county seat, there are such situations here, needless to say in other places, isn't this a typical official coercion of the people, if this situation is allowed to continue, I am afraid that in less than a month, anger may drown the entire Qingyang Mansion.

Finally calmed down, Xu Wanghua spoke to the soldiers beside him.

"You have to think of a way to help this miserable woman, you can't watch her starve to death."

In the county government, there have been many people imprisoned, these are all disputes with the officials or sergeants who collect taxes, in fact, it is not a dispute, Xu Wanghua has already understood the situation, it is nothing more than saying a few words, or asking the government to leave something, most of the young people who were imprisoned are already dying.

Xu Wanghua burst out of a lot of thoughts in his head, almost all of them were angry, but he had to control his own feelings, so many problems, there was no way to solve them by relying on him alone, and he came down to investigate secretly, and he had to report the most real situation to Zheng Xunrui, but looking at these scenes in front of him, Xu Wanghua was really difficult to hold back.

The day after he left Quzi Town, Su Manzi's mother suffered too much stimulation, and her only son was arrested by the government, but she was not able to survive and finally passed away.

Hearing the news, Xu Wanghua knocked over the table in the guest room with a punch, he knew very well that in the event of such a change, Su Manzi would definitely take refuge in the Liukou, and he would become a firm rebel.

When Xu Wanghua left Huanxian, he took Su Manzi with him.

Of course, before Su Manzi left Huanxian, he returned home to worship his mother.

Feeling the severity of the situation, Xu Wanghua felt that some strategies might be about to change, and he instructed his personal soldiers around him to secretly collect the following information during the investigation