When Zhou Chuchu ran home, he saw the two leaving, and his father respectfully sent him away in the back.

"This is your boy?" asked the middle-aged man in silk when he saw the boy running back.

"Yes, my son has come to see the tax collector. ”

Zhou Zhizhi looked at his father and knew that it was not what he thought, he secretly let go of his fist and said to the middle-aged man in silk: "I saw the tax envoy at the beginning. ”

The tax envoy had already looked away, but when he heard the young man's words, he was slightly surprised, "At the beginning?"

Zhou Laohan hurriedly replied: "My son's name is Zhou Chuchu. ”

"Nice name, who came up with it?"

"This is my son's original name. ”

"Oh?" the tax envoy looked at Zhou Chuchu, and for some reason he always felt a little strange, this kid was level-eyed, and there was no fear of the inferior fools at all.

"I heard, you don't remember the past?"

"I don't remember. ”

The tax envoy shook his head, as if he was sorry, and then turned his head to Zhou Laohan and said: "With a son, there will be hope for the future, and you are blessed Zhou Da." ”

"Thank you for the tax envoy's auspicious words, it's just that my son is new to the city, and his health is still sick, can this tax be ......?"

"Add Ding to increase taxes, add Ding to increase taxes, how can the rules of the court be messed up. The tax envoy's face immediately changed, and he waved his sleeves impatiently, and turned to walk down the mountain.

The man with the knife looked at the father and son of the Zhou family with disdain, raised his head and followed the tax envoy down the mountain step by step.

There are many types of taxes in Daxia, but the peasants are mainly field tax and poll tax, which are not heavy at the beginning of the founding of the country, the field tax of fifteen taxes and one copper coin poll tax, the peasants' lives are very solid, but for hundreds of years, the war has been going on for many years, and the fifteen taxes have become twelve taxes and one one, and then ten taxes have become one, until the current five taxes and one.

There were originally a few hundred people in Qianshan Village, and the poll tax has not changed since then, but now the population is withering, and the poll tax of a few hundred people can only be divided equally between the old and young women and children who are now less than 100 people, and as long as they are over 13 years old, they must pay it, and the number of women will be halved.

The arrival of the beginning of the week meant that the Zhou family had to pay nearly ten taels of silver more every year for the field tax and poll tax.

You must know that Zhou Laohan sells firewood every year, and in addition to paying taxes, he can only not starve to death, and ten taels of silver is undoubtedly a fantasy.

But that's not the worst, the worst thing is that all taxes have to be converted into rice grains to pay taxes.

"Dad, wouldn't our family have to pay a thousand catties of grain. ”

"It's 1,000 catties per person, and the field tax is 500 catties, which is five stones, one stone of rice and one tael of silver, plus five taels of poll tax per person, ten taels of silver per person per year, and ten taels of grain per person per year, and I have to pay 2,000 catties of grain with you, alas......"

More than 20 years ago, that is, the great war in which Father Zhou participated, Daxia lost, and 100,000 people died at the border, an important reason was that the logistics were not good enough food and grass, and since then the Daxia court has issued a decree to the northern border, and all money and taxes must be converted into rice grain.

The field tax is allocated according to the number of people, each person is calculated according to five acres, the woman is halved, you want to open a few more acres of wasteland, the tax is added, but the court does not know, most of the places in the north are mountainous, not grain-producing land, the former mountain village is located in a ravine, surrounded by mountains and rocks, there are very few lands that can open up the wasteland and grow grain, plus the five taxes are calculated according to the bumper yield, pay 100 catties of grain per mu, and each person must pay 500 catties (five stones) of field tax every year, regardless of the good or bad year, the field tax must be paid in full, otherwise you will be imprisoned or directly assigned to slavery.

But in fact, even if it is a good year, the output of one acre of fertile land is only more than 400 catties, and it is said that it is five taxes and one actual four taxes and one and three taxes.

If you can't produce grain, you can only buy it, but every time you pay taxes for grain, rice merchants take the opportunity to raise the price, originally in the south of the Yangtze River, you only need one or two hundred copper coins, or even dozens of copper coins can buy, but when you get to the north, you need one or two silver and one stone, which makes the villagers around the rugged mountains miserable.

In order to pay taxes, there are many daughters sold in the north, because girls have no labor to do heavy work, but they still have to pay half of the tax.

At the beginning of the week, he knew why his father's sister was sold, and why Blacksmith Zhang would say that his daughter was a money-loser.

I thought that Qianshan Village was a paradise, but I didn't expect it to be still the vicissitudes of life.

"Dad, do we have a field in our family?"

Father Zhou pointed to a small vegetable garden behind the house, "That's it." ”

The boy estimated that the land was only about one acre.

"Originally, there were still three acres, and I couldn't take care of it. ”

"Why?"

"It's better to cut firewood for farming, a bundle of firewood is ten or twenty yuan, and ten bundles are sold in a month, and it can be sold for one or two taels of silver. ”

"Can't you sell more?"

"Silly boy, I have to use my own firewood to chop firewood, it's good to have ten bundles left in a month, and I'm not the only one who sells firewood in the city, and I can't sell it if I have more. ”

Seeing that the young man stopped talking, Father Zhou said again: "But it's good that my son is here, and when he recovers, he will open a few acres of wasteland, and his life will be fine." ”

"When will this year's taxes be paid?"

"This year's tax has been paid at the time of the autumn harvest, so you don't have to worry. ”

At this moment, it is late autumn, and I see that winter is about to begin, and the autumn harvest has already passed.

The young man's heart relaxed a little, at least he didn't have to worry about taxes this year, and he asked why the two of them came before.

Daddy Zhou told him that it was not the tax envoy who came before, but the tax collector, and the family member with the knife was not a family member, but a tax collector, and the real tax envoy was not something that Father Zhou could see.

They didn't know out where they knew that Daddy Zhou had taken in a son, so they came to confirm it, and also explained some things about paying taxes next year.

"But this is not a bad thing," Father Zhou clicked on the smoking pot and said, "The tax collector said that as long as you pay taxes, you will settle in Qianshan Village." ”

Daddy Zhou may still resist the characters in the rivers and lakes, but in the face of an omnipresent behemoth like the imperial court, Daddy Zhou has never thought of resisting, and he will not even have the slightest thought of this.

Not only Daddy Zhou, but all the grass people didn't expect to resist, as long as they had something to eat, even if they were curled up in the lowest and dirtiest corner of the world, they were content.

At the beginning of the week, he untied the hairpin and held it in his hand hard, he thought he was strong enough, but today he realized that that strength was not enough to form real strength, he needed to be more powerful, more special strength.

That night, Zhou Zhizhi sat in the courtyard, looking at the starry sky, holding the magic weapon in his hand, and thinking about the extra knowledge in his mind, which was a practice, a practice exercise.

The exercises have no name, and the knowledge in my mind is not like a book, but like a mountain, this mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist, and the exposed part is thousands of feet high, and I don't know where it is hidden in the clouds.

At this moment, Zhou Zhizhi is standing at the foot of the mountain.

Cultivation is like climbing a mountain, and climbing immortals is like facing the abyss.

These are the first ten characters seen at the beginning of the week, and it is engraved on the stone tablet at the foot of the mountain.

Zhou didn't understand it at the beginning, but he could feel the loneliness, loneliness and danger exuded by these words.

What is spiritual practice? The inscription seems to be exhorting, as if encouraging, and more like instructing.

If the dust is worried, then the dust will be surpassed,

If the world thinks too much, then cut off all the vulgar thoughts.

What is Dengxian? At the beginning of the week, he didn't even dare to think about it.

The young man wanted to climb the mountain, and saw a path at the foot of the mountain, paved with black stones, and stretched up with the mountain, and he didn't know where to go.

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Zhichu strode up the Blackstone Trail. And then I couldn't walk anymore.

He stared at the black stone beneath his feet, and there was light and shadow on it, like stars in the night.

These stars shine and change, full of mysterious rhythms, and the boy can see the gods.

At the beginning of the morning, Father Zhou got up to find his son sitting motionless in the courtyard, and his body was covered with frost.

"Son, wake up quickly, why did you fall asleep in the courtyard, you want to catch a cold. ”

Zhou Zhichu opened his eyes, saw his father's worried eyes, smiled slightly, and said, "Don't worry, Dad, my body is strong, and some morning frost can't help me." ”

Father Zhou wondered if he had talked too much yesterday, his son was on his mind, and he fell asleep in the courtyard one night, and said that it was okay.

On the cold water, the boy washed up, and had breakfast with his father, breakfast is the kind of porridge that wakes up from a coma at the beginning of the week, it is cooked with rice bran and crushed corn, it smells a little fragrant, but it is difficult to swallow, but at the beginning of the week, he is always hungry, so it doesn't matter.

Snoring, after a few efforts, Zhou Zhizhi finished drinking the porridge and was about to put down the bowl, when Father Zhou suddenly poured the remaining half of the bowl of porridge into his bowl.

"I'm full, you eat more. ”

Daddy Zhou put down the bowl, wiped his mouth, took out the smoke pot and smoked it on the fire.

The boy looked at the porridge in the bowl and didn't know what to think.

"Eat, only when you are full will you grow strong, and only then will you have the strength to work. ”

"Dad, I'll go up the mountain with you today, I have the strength, I will work. ”

Daddy Zhou smiled, and there were more wrinkles on his face.

"Good. ”

The boy laughed too, and drank the porridge happily.

packed up, and followed my father up the mountain at the beginning of the week.

Father Zhou took his son to walk slowly on the mountain path, the two were silent, and there were birdsong in the woods on both sides.

“...... Picking the weed, picking the weed, the weeds are also soft. said to return, and his heart was also worried......" Father Zhou's heart was happy and hummed a song.

"Daddy, what are you singing?" the boy asked, which he had always wanted to ask.

"The name of the song is Cai Wei, my father came to middle school in the army twenty years ago, and he was taught by the general. ”

"Did the general write it?"

"No, the general said, it was handed down thousands of years ago, it seems to be called Qin and what Yong wrote, the name is quite difficult to remember, the general likes it, and the soldiers in the army also like it. ”

At the beginning of the week, he suddenly thought of the murals in the monuments, "Qin Jiyong?"

Father Zhou was stunned, "It seems to be the name, you know." ”

"Among the monuments, Wang Shanwei once said that three thousand years ago, the founding monarch of the pre-Qin Dynasty was called Qin Jiyong, and my father forgot?"

"Oh, I really don't remember, when people are old, their memory is not good, I didn't expect to be an emperor. ”

The boy remembered those murals, a founding monarch, who could fight, suppress demons, write songs, and have dealings with immortals, what a strange person.

"Do you like it? I'll teach you. ”

Zhou Zhizhi had already remembered it after listening to Yueyue humming, but he still smiled and said, "Okay." ”

The singing of an old man and a young man slowly came from the forest: "Picking the weed, picking the weed, and the wee stopping." It is said that it will return, and the years will not end. The house is beautiful, because of the descent. Not to mention the start of the house, the reason for the ......"

Daddy's singing voice is like an old twilight drum, and the young man's singing voice is like a crisp morning bell.

When he came to a dense forest with a rising sun, his father explained: "I'll cut it, you will tie it up, and we will divide the labor today and chop more firewood." ”

The boy nodded in response.

When people are old, they talk a lot, and my father not only taught the boy to sing "Cai Wei", but also taught him how to chop wood.

What kind of branches are dryer, what kind of branches are easier to cut, what kind of branches are cut down without hurting the root of the tree, and how to bundle so that they will not fall apart, and how much to bundle are also particular......

Before the sun set, the old and young did cut more than before, and the young man did not ask his father to carry firewood, but carried a bundle of firewood taller than a person and went down the mountain with his father.

Under the light of the setting sun, the two walked home, and the day passed.

When night fell, Zhou Zhizhi lay on the bed, he closed his eyes, and came to the mountain of cultivation again, he was still standing on the first black stone, which was like the stars under the night changing all the time, interpreting the mysterious unknown.