Only then did Eleven Niang know that the current Lizheng surname was Jiang, and he was a member of the Shu branch of the Jiang clan of the Taigu Hao family, and he did not live in Bailing Village, but lived in Jinshui Village, ten miles away.

Taigu Jiang and Taigu Luo are both the two wealthy families in the county, both of them live in the county seat, but some of the clansmen are also distributed in the suburbs, but this Jiang Lizheng is not as poor as the old man in the south, in fact, since the Renzong Dynasty, although the position of Li Zheng is only a small official, but it is mostly held by the rich families in the village, Jiang Lizheng has a two-entry mansion in Jinshui Village, which is not as good as the Bailing village residence is adobe thatched roof.

"During the Dezong Dynasty, there were 120 registered farmers in Bailing Village, but after several disasters, nearly 20 households became extinct, and many families fled or relocated, and now there are only 70 registered households." Nan Lao sighed.

"If it weren't for my father-in-law to appease the villagers, maybe there wouldn't be even seventy households now." Luo Hou said to Eleven Niang: "In Jinshui Village, there used to be nearly 200 households, but now? It's not even as good as the number of households in Bailing Village. ”

However, the land under the jurisdiction of the two villages is very vast, but most of it is not owned by the villagers, but is annexed by the rich families.

"In Jiang Lizheng's opinion, he is not as respected as his father-in-law in the village." Eleven Niang said, because she observed that when the villagers heard about Jiang Lizheng, their faces were either afraid or resentful, and they did not respect Nan Lao Zhang.

"Respectable? At present, high morality and respect are not a condition for judging. When it comes to current affairs, Luo Hou seems to be covered with backthorns, and it is rare to say a good word.

Nan Laozhang coughed twice, but he was not filled with righteous indignation: "This household registration has decreased sharply, and there are many escapes, and Jiang Lizheng has nothing to do, in the final analysis, it is caused by the lack of land, if Ding is a man who gives 100 acres, the tax for a year is only a fur, we live here, if it is not desperate, no one is willing to leave his hometown and abandon his ancestral family business." ”

"Now Ding Nan, how much can you actually get from giving land?" Eleven Niang asked again.

This caused a lot of gossip-

"Grant the field? My boy is eighteen, don't say that the field, even the ancestral Yongye field was taken back by the government, and I insisted that my father who died of illness was granted enough 100 acres of land, according to the law, there are 80 acres to be recovered by the government, the sky is pitiful, my family is only 50 acres of land in total, 40 acres were recovered by the government, only 10 acres remained, I also have two sons, if they are all full years old, I am afraid that they will not be granted land, a family of seven or eight, relying on these ten acres of land, but to bear 400 acres of rent! ”

"Three generations of my family's ancestors and grandchildren have only been granted a hundred acres of land, and it is still Nan Lao Zhang's struggle to get it."

"When I am twenty-one years old, I will only be given one acre of land."

"My three sons, all of whom are adults, have not been granted an inch of land because Yongye has 30 acres of land."

"My family is okay, when the boy was an adult, he happened to meet that year and got twenty acres."

"My family is okay, now Ji Ming Mansion is Kuanren, two Ding men, thirty acres of land have been granted, and they will not starve if they are frugal."

"That's because your father's son and second boy all joined the army, and the second man sacrificed his life for the country, so he was awarded the land." It was noted.

The man sighed, "Although a son died, at least the family will not starve to death." ”

"In terms of the most abundant, it is still Widow Hu, that is really full of thirty acres!"

One person "spit" on the ground and sputum: "That's because she and Jiang Li are hooking up and committing adultery!" ”

As soon as Luo Hou heard this, the topic was about to be crooked, and he was a little worried that Princess Jin would be angry, so he hurriedly coughed, but before he had time to "straighten it out", he suddenly heard a soprano -

"Dog, but the dog is back? Dog, my mother wants to kill you! ”

I saw an unkempt woman, about forty years old, a cloth skirt could hardly see the original color, on a cold day, barefoot, red eyes rushed into the yard, grabbed a young man in his early twenties, and held him in his arms: "Dog, dog, you are finally back, let A-Niang see it...... Ah, when the dog went out, he was a lot fatter? And he burst into tears.

The yellow-faced and thin-skinned guy couldn't cry or laugh: "Aunt Ma, you can see clearly, I'm not your son." ”

Uncle Nan hurriedly called his daughter-in-law: "If you don't help your aunt Ma into it, you can't get your feet frozen, Aunt Ma, you are really, this time I ran out, I didn't see anyone for several days, and even my shoes were gone." He let out a long sigh.

He also explained to Eleven Niang: "Don't be strange to the nobles, this woman is really pitiful, soon after getting married, she fell into the river, although she chose a life, but she suffered from hysteria, and later her husband also died, although she had a son and daughter-in-law...... I don't know what the dog thinks, he fled with his daughter-in-law, leaving his widowed mother and ignoring it, and the family's land property was also confiscated by the government, although she is a widow, and there is no family to rely on, according to the law should grant thirty acres of land, but she doesn't say farming, and even can't take care of food and clothing, even if she gets the land, it is wasted, and she has to bear taxes, so Lao Er didn't fight for her, and advocated that the villagers jointly feed her, but this woman committed hysteria, so she walked around, and couldn't tie her up and not let her move, this no, a few days ago, she ran out, I only returned to the village today. ”

Unexpectedly, the woman listened to Nan's words, and pounced on him and wanted to slap him: "My dog didn't run away, he is so filial, he is a good boy!" There was a drought that year, and there was no harvest, he walked so far to the county seat, begged for a bowl of millet back, he was hungry, and he first asked me to be full, the dog is a good boy, where will I be left alone, Uncle Nan, don't blame the dog. ”

The daughter-in-law of the Nan family was so talkative that she finally persuaded the woman to enter the house.

One of them sighed: "Speaking of which, I don't believe that dogs are so unfilial, can they really leave their widowed mother and run away?" Isn't it...... Didn't you go to work outside and encounter an accident, right? ”

Another person refuted: "If you really go out to take on a job, how can you not confess to your neighbors?" Even Li Zheng was kept in the dark, where did he get out of the place? There is not a grain of corn left in the grain urn, not even a single piece of clothes, shoes and socks for the husband and wife, is it not an escape, what is it? No matter how filial you were in the past, you may have married a daughter-in-law and forgotten your mother! ”

"The old abbot just said that after the dog and his wife fled, the land was confiscated by the government, which seems to indicate that they did not resell the land before they fled?" Eleven Niang asked.

If the average farmer is unable to bear the burden of taxes, he will resell his land before fleeing, otherwise he will be penniless, where can he go? Unless the grass falls into the woods.

"It's true that the land was not sold, but it was close to taxation at that time, and perhaps the dog was worried that the resale of the land would arouse suspicion from the government, but it was not necessarily." Nan Laozhang said: "If you want to say that their family, the population is still small, the dog has no heirs, that is, a family of three, but the field has 20 acres, where is the escape?" But if you want to say it's not a flight...... More than a year has passed, no one is born, no one is dead, no corpse is seen, not to mention the neighborhood, even the government can't find a trace, unless it is killed by someone, a dog, this child, has always been duty, has never blushed with anyone, no grudge or hatred, who will harm him? ”

"The dog's daughter-in-law is also from Bailing Village?" Eleven Niang always felt that this matter was a little strange.

"It's not Bailing Village, but the woman is also pitiful, her parents died early, she has no brothers and sisters, she is supported by her grandfather, when she was thirteen years old, her grandfather also died of illness, she married a dog, or the old son's deceased wife matched from it, to say that the dog's daughter-in-law is not a bad hearted person, she has always been diligent and thrifty, although Aunt Ma has hysteria, she has never been unfilial, just about fleeing, in fact, it is nothing, just ...... It is indeed a bit unreasonable to ignore the widowed mother, and those two children do not seem to be such cold people. Uncle Nan was also suspicious when he said it, and sighed again and again.

"People are poor and short-minded, if you want me to say, although the dog's life is passable, not to starve, but to say that the surplus, is also very limited, the dog has a good strength, if you take refuge in the big clan as a tenant farmer, maybe the days are more hopeful, Aunt Ma's illness, the devil can even light the house, the so-called long-term sick bed without filial piety, the dog is not strange, besides, if the dog's daughter-in-law gives birth to a child in the future, in case she doesn't care, Aunt Ma is sick, maybe she will take the child out and throw it into the Jinshui River, can the husband and wife not worry? It's not impossible to walk away. ”

One more deduced.

"How long did it take for the dog to run away before everyone found out?" Eleven Niang asked.

"I also saw the husband and wife the day before, that day Aunt Ma didn't know where to go, the husband and wife asked around, but at that time the big guy was busy paying taxes, didn't pay attention to where Aunt Ma went, the next morning, or my daughter-in-law saw Aunt Ma sitting at the entrance of the village under the crooked neck tree, so she led Aunt Ma back, I didn't see the dog and the husband and wife, we thought they went to look for Aunt Ma again, at first I didn't care, I didn't know that no one came back at night, the whole village went to look for it, the husband and wife didn't know what to do, and then reported to Lizheng, Li Zheng went to the dog's house to search, and saw a wolf, so he concluded that he had fled. A villager said.

In fact, in recent years, the matter of fleeing is commonplace, although Bailing Village is not serious, but there are more than ten families who can't bear the weight of taxes and flee one after another, so whenever someone doesn't know what to do, the people are preconceived to flee, and they will not doubt the rest of the possibilities without grounds.

It's just that Eleven Niang feels more suspicious, if the dog couple has the intention to escape, where will they take care of the whereabouts of the widowed mother suffering from hysteria to look around, even if the dog originally intended to take the widow mother to flee together, then when the matter comes, it will not be negligent to let the widow go around, even if it is careless for a while, the escape is not that it can not lag behind, why is it so panicked and fled overnight?

There is a contradiction in this matter!