Chapter 67: The Epitome of Niu San

The arrival of Qin Zhen was like throwing a stone on the surface of a calm lake, making Tong'an Town, which was originally silent and numb, surging for a while.

Han Wenzhi has rich experience in grassroots civil affairs, and he divided his limited dozen people into several groups, reasonably arranged the scope of work to be taken, and everyone began to get busy.

Announcements of the Flying Eagle Regiment are posted on all streets and alleys of Tong'an Town, but because more than ninety percent of the people in Tong'an Town are illiterate, these announcements often require everyone to get together, find a literate teacher or scholar to read to them, and explain them again in a language they can understand.

Han Wenzhi seems to think that this method is too slow, and the dissemination is not good, so he directly asked people to memorize the content of these announcements, and they can also repeat them fluently in a language that ordinary people can understand, and then let them go through the alleys and beat the gong, constantly read the content of the announcement loudly, and when there is a place where the public gathers, he takes the initiative to explain to everyone, this kind of high-intensity and strong propaganda, in less than two days, almost every person in the entire town can retell this announcement.

Thanks to the persistence of the Weizhou Zhichong Mansion headed by Wang Sheng in recent years, the Zhichong Mansion has a high prestige among the people of Weizhou, so when Qin Zhen issued an announcement in the name of the Weizhou Zhichong Mansion Flying Eagle Regiment, it quickly won the trust of the people of Tong'an.

In a low adobe house in Anmin Lane, Tong'an Town, Niu San came back from a day's work, half-lying on the clay kang and watching his wife He Shi busy with dinner, and he silently recited the contents of the announcement over and over again in his heart.

Among the neighbors in the neighborhood, Niu San was the only one who was literate, so when the announcement was posted, Niu San was pulled by the nearby neighbors to explain the announcement to them, and after explaining it several times, Niu San could be said to have memorized the content of the announcement.

Niu San's original name was Niu Dequan, because he was the third in the family, so the neighbors called him Niu San, according to Niu San's grandfather when he was alive, Niu Sanzu was originally a Fengxiang person, just because he passed through Tong'an Town on business, and met a local girl in Tong'an Town, so he didn't want to be tired anymore, so he married this girl, and used the surplus money from business in recent years to buy dozens of acres of land, and settled down in Tong'an Town.

It is said that Niu San's ancestors lived a good life, not only with dozens of acres of fertile land, but also in Tong'an Town, a small shop, do some small business, although not as good as those local landlords, but also worry-free.

But the good times did not last long, the whole Central Plains had a war, affected to Tong'an Town, the prosperous Tong'an Town in the past was depressed overnight, Niu Sanzu is also a generation is not as good as a generation, to Niu San's grandfather's generation, sold the only ten acres of ancestral property left in the family, had to put a barren wasteland in the middle of the mountain more than ten miles west of Tong'an Town, to Niu San's father's generation, in order to marry a daughter-in-law for his son, he sold the ancestral house and moved to a low adobe house.

Niu San's eldest brother Niu died early, and the second brother Niu Er, in order to reduce the burden on the family, went to Weizhou Zhichong Mansion to join the army, and died in a battle, and it didn't take long for the second sister-in-law to remarry with her young nephew.

Niu San originally wanted to join the army, but because there was only one son left, Niu's father resolutely did not allow Niu San to join the army, and when Niu was thirty-eight years old, Zhang Luo married He, and soon Niu's father died, and the old mother, wife and newborn son of the family, the family's food all fell on Niu San's body.

Fortunately, Niu San has been industrious and simple over the years, and with his wife being good at managing the family, he finally supported the family, but the price was that Niu San, who was in his thirties, was already tired and bent over, walked with an obvious hunchback, a face with furrows, looked older than the average person in his forties, and a pair of rough hands were also full of chapped cuts.

But now Niu San is much easier than before, the eldest son Niu Zilu and the younger son Niu Zishou have gradually grown up, because of their own hardship, they are also good at farm work, and now they can help Niu San support the burden of the family.

But the family is facing this new predicament, the two sons have gradually grown into young men, can help work, but the amount of food has also increased significantly, the output of more than a dozen acres of thin fields at home has no way to meet the problem of the family's sharp increase in food, and they have to pay various taxes to the government, and almost half of the annual output is handed over to the government, which makes their poor family even worse. Needless to say, adults can see the figure of the person who is clear.

can't eat enough, not to mention that his son is getting bigger and bigger, and he is about to face the problem of marrying a wife and having children, Niu San doesn't dare to think about it now.

This kind of life makes Niu San desperate, he can't see the end, he can only numbly push the day down, he even thought about selling the only old cow in the family, in exchange for some money, not to mention marrying a daughter-in-law, at least let the family eat a few full meals, but soon Niu San vetoed, the old cow is now the lifeblood of the family, without it, the dozens of acres of thin fields can not be cultivated, and the family will really have to drink the northwest wind in the future.

Just when Niu San was thinking about what to do in the future, the announcement of the Flying Eagle Regiment suddenly spread all over the streets and alleys of Tong'an Town, which made Niu San's heart instantly come alive.

"Boss, is what this announcement says true?" While cooking, He asked her husband Niu San, who was sitting on the kang.

"It should be true, the formation is so big, it doesn't look like it's fake, and now the whole Tong'an Town is talking about things." Niu San also has some uncertainties, but as the head of the family, he must have his own opinions.

"It's a little too good about this matter, I can't believe it, those good fields on the Pingchuan River are allowed to be cultivated by us, and they are tax-free in the first year, and only ten taxes and one acre tax are levied later, and other taxes will no longer be levied, I don't want to say that I have seen it in my life, I have never heard of it, I am afraid that after we have worked hard to reclaim those lands, the two families of Li and Wang will come over and want the land back." He said with some concern.

In fact, now the tax per mu set by the imperial court is only 15 taxes and 1, which is much lower than the 10 taxes set by Qin Zhen, but in fact it has completely changed in the hands of local governments, except for the 15 taxes and 1 tax per mu through a series of secret operations such as fire consumption and buckets, nominally 15 taxes and 1, in fact, it is basically 10 taxes and 1. In addition, there are all kinds of miscellaneous taxes, such as the tax on people, the tax on rent, the tax on entering the city, the tax on labor, and so on, and as long as the imperial court is short of money, the bureaucrats can always come up with a new tax law and distribute it to the people, and the miscellaneous taxes alone will account for almost half of the people's harvest in a year.

Although the imperial court no longer pays attention to Weizhou in recent years, as if it has given up the border of Weizhou, and the taxes of Weizhou have not been handed over to the imperial court for several years, but those grassroots officials in Weizhou still collude with those big families to levy harsh taxes on the people of Weizhou.

Niu San thought for a while and said: "Although those lands are now owned by the Li and Wang families, but the rent they collect is too high, and after paying their family's rent and the government's taxes, they will basically be wasted in a year, so how many years have these lands been wasted, the world is so chaotic, and it is not impossible for the government to recycle it for us to cultivate now." ”

He snorted coldly: "The two families of King Li are not wearing a pair of pants with the government, our family's good land on the ancestors was bought for two taels of silver per mu, just because your grandfather borrowed two taels of silver from them, and the profits rolled down, and the ten acres of land belonged to them, what is the difference between this and Ming robbery, what do you see the government said?" ”

Niu San said: "The officials of Zhichong Mansion and those officials of Weizhou are different, you see that this year, the party people attacked south, the Zhao team of Zhichong Mansion is escorting us all the way to Weizhou to hide, there is no place in Weizhou City, we went to the barracks to take refuge I heard that it was Guo Duwei's order, the party people slaughtered the people outside the city, Wang Xiaowei and Tang Xiaowei sacrificed in order to save the people, at that time I looked at the blood boiling, I couldn't wait to follow them out of the city to kill those party devils, the most regrettable thing in my life is that the old man did not let me join the army, Otherwise, I'll have to kill a few party devils to get angry. ”

He smiled: "Come on, you just brag in front of me, and kill the party devils?" Your life is the life of holding a hoe. ”

Niu San reprimanded: "It's really a woman's opinion. ”

Hearing her husband's reprimand, He didn't care, such a conversation had happened between them I don't know how many times.

Niu San was silent for a moment, and then said: "I think we should try, I see that many people have signed up today, and the reclamation of those wastelands is just a force anyway, we don't have anything else, we still have some strength, if the government doesn't talk at that time, we will lose some strength, if the government really speaks, then our family will be able to eat enough, maybe we can take back our family's ancestral property, anyway, our family is already like this, no matter what, it shouldn't be a loss." ”

He Shi responded simply: "Okay, you are in charge, you have the final say." ”

Seeing that his wife agreed, Niu San was also very happy: "Okay, since you also agreed, then I will go to the barracks tomorrow to register." Alas, you said that you want our eldest cub to join the Flying Eagle Regiment, but I didn't say it, one person joining the army can be exempted from taxes for the whole family for five years, and the age of the cub is enough......."

He picked up the spatula and said angrily: "Don't even think about it." ”

Niu San reprimanded: "It's really a woman's opinion. ”

Immediately Niu San sighed and stopped talking, he really wanted to become a soldier who galloped on the battlefield, but it was impossible in this life, so he pinned his hopes on his son Niu Zilu, hoping that Niu Zilu could inherit his ideals, but He resolutely disagreed with this, especially after Niu Er died on the battlefield, He had a shadow on the matter of joining the army.