This village is called Tianshang Village, and it has a large field of ice fruit trees. Ice fruit itself is a relatively high-value crop, and the main tax revenue of Tianshang Village comes from ice fruit wine and ice fruit wood. The lifespan of ice fruit trees is shorter than that of ordinary trees, and it usually dies in ten to twenty years. Some trees are older and can give birth to ice mushrooms. Ice mushroom is a fungus, the appearance is a bit like a straw mushroom, ordinary people will eat it, will be a little uncomfortable, and the weaker body may be poisoned to death. But the undead loved it, and the coolness of this ice mushroom made them feel the temperature of the River Styx, which was a refreshing treat in the eyes of the undead. It's just that the living conditions of ice mushrooms are too harsh, so the price of ice mushrooms is very expensive, resulting in only the nobility being able to afford it.

In some shady mountain crevices or stone cliffs, there will also be wild ice mushrooms, which are much larger in size and value than those cultivated under ice fruit trees. About half of the former tax collector's belongings were wild ice mushrooms.

The village chief of Tagami Village gave the new tax collector the day before, and although he lost two strong laborers, he was safe for a while. And the two brothers have a lot of strength, but they can't do anything that requires a little craftsmanship, so they can only move and lift, but the amount of food is up to two or three ordinary people, and it is also a loss of money to raise in the village, so it is better to give the tax official a favor.

When he was complacent, he suddenly heard a report that the tax collector who had come yesterday had come again today, and he had brought a stupid two, and the village chief panicked, could it be that the tax collector thought those two big guys were too stupid and didn't want it? Or did he feel that he had lost and came back to exchange with him?

The village chief hurriedly dressed and went out, and when he arrived outside the door, the stupid second brother also arrived with the tax collector. I saw the tax collector staring at him with a smile on his face, and two ghost guards standing behind him. This frightened the village chief, the ghost pawn is not something that ordinary people can direct, could it be that the young master who is too lazy to walk the road in front of him is a knight?

"Village Chief, I'm quite satisfied with these two stupid big men you gave me, and I'm here to thank you today. Lu Jingzhi sat comfortably on the sliding pole, and he was not in a hurry to get down, so he said to the village chief condescendingly.

When the village chief heard this, he glanced at Lu Jingzhi's appearance that seemed to be smiling but not smiling, and said in his heart: It's bad, what are you afraid of, it must be a stupid and stupid second disobedient and annoyed the young master, as for any words like thanks, they must be backwords.

In the eyes of the village chief, it is an ordinary zombie who can rarely meet opponents in ordinary people, and it is not a problem to deal with two or three strong laborers; the undead of the level of ghost pawn, that is open to the mind, not to mention that they are proficient in knives, guns, swords, and halberds, but they will use weapons and tools to make it more difficult for people to deal with, and a ghost pawn destroys a village, which is not only a legend, but is well documented in many places.

Thinking so in his heart, the village chief also used his eyes to peek at the ghost pawn standing behind Lu Jing, and when the ghost pawn saw him looking over, he grinned, and immediately frightened him to his soul, and knelt on the ground with a plop.

"My lord, spare us. The village chief fell to the ground and wept silently.

"Hey, Uncle Village. What are you doing here?" Lu Jingzhi said: "Sijiu, pull him up for me." ”

Sijiu was ordered to pull it, but he couldn't pull it. It turned out that the village chief really weighed more than 100 catties, and he was so frightened that he couldn't get up on the ground, and Sijiu couldn't do anything about him.

"Uncle Village, get up. Lu Jingzhi persuaded with good words, but seeing that the village chief still refused to get up, he had to helplessly say to the ghost guards beside him: "This big brother, please pick him up for me." ”

The village chief was prostrating himself on the ground, and his heart was trembling, when suddenly a strong force rushed from the back of his neck, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him up all the time, even if he stretched out his feet, he couldn't reach the ground. I glanced back in surprise, but I was shocked to find that it was a half-rotten grimace, and I was so frightened that I almost turned my back on it, and I couldn't care about pretending to cry.

"Alright, let him go. Sijiu gave me some support, didn't you see that the village chief uncle was peeing his pants?" Lu Jingyi scolded Sijiu for not knowing how to respect the old and love the young, and patted Dasha's shoulder and asked him to put down the slide rod.

Lu Jingzhi walked down from the sliding pole, saw that the village chief uncle was so frightened that his face was pale, and he tried to put on a smiling expression, and comforted: "Uncle village chief, in fact, you don't have to be afraid, I didn't come to collect taxes this time." ”

The village chief said secretly in his heart: I know that you are not here to collect taxes, you must be here to take revenge on me, but he said: "My lord, you don't know what you want to do this time. ”

Lu Jingzhi: "This time I brought good news to the village chief. Uncle Village, I haven't asked your surname yet. ”

Seeing that although Lu Jingzhi was smiling and not smiling, he had no malicious intent, he let go of his heart a little and said, "Adult, the small one is surnamed Wu, and our village is surnamed Wu." ”

Lu Jingzhi called out sweetly: "Village Chief Wu, Uncle Wu." I have good news here, do you want to hear it?"

When the village chief heard it, what else could this mean, there was good news to ask people if they would hear it, and it was clear that they would ask for a message fee. Immediately waved his hand and asked his wife to take out a little treasure at the bottom of the box, and send the adult in front of him first. Although money is important, life is even more important.

When the village chief's wife saw this gesture, she hurriedly went to the kang and took out a small box, in which two hundred-year-old ice mushrooms were placed. This ice mushroom will never rot when placed in a wooden box, and the longer it passes, the nutrients in the wooden box can be absorbed, exuding a fragrant smell. The longer it is stored, the darker the box becomes, and the more intense the aroma of the mushrooms becomes.

When Lu Jing first arrived, he didn't know the preciousness of this thing, but when he saw the village chief and the village chief's wife taking it out so preciously, he also understood that it was a good thing, don't do it in vain, took it and put it in his arms, and smiled at the village chief: "Uncle Wu is too polite, this time I came to tell Uncle Wu that this year's tax will be exempted for you." ”

Are you sure you're right, isn't it doubled? The village chief stared at Lu Jingzhi suspiciously, seeing that his smiling appearance didn't look like he was lying, and said, "Really exempt?"

Lu Jingzhi laughed and said, "Of course it's true, Uncle Wu." In the past few years, you have had a heavy tax burden, and our knights and lords also know about it. Now, seeing your afflictions, you have been exempted from taxes this year. But ......"

When the village chief heard this, he almost went crazy, and thought: It's over, this is not enough, trouble will definitely come.

Sure enough, Lu Jingzhi paused for a moment, and then said: "However, you have to let me know how many people, how many laborers, how many women can give birth to babies, how many forests, how many land, and how many production tools there are in your village." ”

When the village chief heard this, that's it, that's it, that's polite, as long as we don't want the real thing, let's report it a few more times. At that moment, he said: "The small one reports to the adults: the small village has a population of sixty-two, of which there are twenty-six strong laborers over twenty years old, twenty women who can give birth to babies, fifteen who are not adults, and only one who is over fifty years old who can't work......" He glanced at his wife and said: "My lord, don't look at her fat, in fact, she is not old, and she can give me a baby." So saying, he gave a report of the forest, the land, and the basic tools of labor. He also said: "My lord, there are not many people in the small village, but thanks to the blessing of the lord and the knight, this side is quite peaceful, and no one comes to rob it." It's just that last year's tax collection took away the elderly over 50 years old, and this year a few weak babies were taken away. Next year, there will be two or three babies in the small village who can grow to half the size, and they will be able to fill half of the strong labor. ”

When Lu Jingyi heard this, he felt that these people were living a miserable life, but it was good for humans living in the undead world to live like this, so let's struggle with our lives. What human beings can be more tenacious than the undead is their vitality, as long as there is life, they can live and take root, maybe in a few years, human beings can even conquer the undead realm.

Thinking of this, I couldn't bear to continue to think about their suffering, but just told the village chief that on the premise of ensuring that everyone had food, a little more ice fruits and a little more ice mushrooms would be used in the coming year.

Watching Lu Jing and his party walk towards the next village, Uncle Wu, the village chief, suddenly felt strange in his heart. Why was this young man able to command two ghost pawns, and he could also give them tax exemptions? If the knights and lords gave them exemptions, he would not believe them when he died. Whoever has been exploited for hundreds or thousands of years will not be easily believed. So the only explanation is that this young tax collector will bring good luck to himself.

Uncle Wu turned around and howled to the villagers who were gradually gathering in a tone peculiar to excitement: "Folks, this year's rice is enough, let's make big bowls." ”

Lu Jingzhi walked on the road, of course, he didn't know about the reason for this kind of thing in Tianshang Village, but he chatted with Sijiu about the life of these villages without a word. How they produce, what they can produce, how they trade to get what they can't produce, who will keep them safe, etc.

According to Sijiu, although these villagers are no longer slash-and-burn farming, most of them lack the necessary production tools. As for the trade, there is basically no trade in the village, and the trade between the castles is mostly barter, and occasionally some large castles will ask for gold coins, but the lords to whom they belong have no gold output, so they have to use special products to exchange them for gold coins. As for production, taking the village where Sijiu was born as an example, the main specialties are ice fruit and ice fruit wine. Everyone is counting on the ice fruit tree to produce more fruit all year round, and occasionally they will go outside to look for wild ice mushrooms, and the rest of the time they either plant a little ration, or sit in the sky to fall lucky, hoping to harvest an extra three or five buckets this year. When the year is good, it is enough, and if you have more food at home, you can save the lives of one or two more people when you pay taxes. If you don't catch up with the New Year, you will have to pay a tax deduction. When the undead get the living, they rarely use their production capacity, but directly use their bodies to refine into zombies, and their souls wander around the Soul Gathering Tower or the Conjuring Flute, and finally refine into unconscious ghosts, until they become new zombies, skeletons, gargoyles, etc.

"Isn't there any other way out?" Lu Jingzhi asked, lying on the sliding pole.

"Yes. Sijiu's expression perked up, and he said, "It's a ghost pawn or a knight as a servant, this is the best way for a ghost slave to avoid being sacrificed." Sijiu glanced at this strange young master, and found that he was looking at the sky and thinking about something, so he said in a low voice: "Being able to be a servant for you is the greatest luck in my life." ”

"Really?" Lu Jing replied absentmindedly, he didn't want to get any confirmation from Sijiu, just an affirmation of himself. Yes, he replied in his heart, I will be the best way out for you, follow me, follow me, and come out of the way of life.

If you want to know what happens next, let's see the next breakdown.