After looking at the wharf, Gu Yunji went out of the city by the way and took Chen Peishi to wander around the suburbs along the river.

The Yangtze River is deep and wide, and the water flow is fast, washing the sediment from the mountains and sources of the upper reaches of the river, and then accumulating at the low terrain, forming a thick layer of silt. These silts have a high water content, deep and delicate soil, and over time they become excellent fertile fields, and the yield of one acre of land can be worth three or four acres in other places.

Now is the season of harvesting late rice, Gu Yunji walked on the side of the riverbank, as far as the eye could see, all the golden rice, and the farmers sweating like rain in the rice field, looking from a distance it looked like a happy scene of a prosperous harvest.

In a field that has been harvested, there is a rickety old farmer picking up the ears of rice that have fallen on the ground, and his movements are so serious and meticulous that he does not let go of some rice grains that are half pressed in the mud, and the place where he has finished picking up is clean, and there is not even a single rice husk.

Gu Yunji walked over and accosted him: "Uncle, these rice grains have been crushed into the mud, and the dirty ones are not easy to pick up, anyway, the amount is not much, what are you doing with so much effort to pick it up?" The sun is so big, let's go home early and rest. ”

Listening to the voice alone, the old farmer thought that it was another frivolous offspring who did not understand the preciousness of food, and was about to open his mouth to preach, but when he turned his head, he found that he was a young man with extraordinary bearing.

The old farmer hurriedly held back the preaching that came to his lips, looked at Gu Yunji with a shrunken gaze, and saw that he didn't look malicious with a smile on his face, so he said cautiously: "Noble, you grew up with a golden spoon, so naturally you don't look down on these scattered ears of rice, but no matter how dirty they are, it is also food." ”

"Don't look at this little, if you pick up all the loose rice grains in this whole field, you can have a large handful. There wasn't enough food to eat, and without this handful of food, my two-year-old grandson might have starved to death. ”

Gu Yunji was taken aback, and said in disbelief: "Starving to death? So serious? How many people and how many fields do you have in your family? ”

The old farmer said: "My family is just me, my wife, my son and daughter-in-law, and my little grandson, a total of five people, and the scattered fields add up to nearly six acres. ”

Gu Yunji was puzzled: "One acre of good silt field can produce at least 350 catties of grain, six mu is 2,100 catties, and in addition to 20% of the taxes, there are more than 1,600 catties left." Your family of five has an average of more than 300 catties of food per person a year, and your grandson is only two years old, so he can't eat too much food. Why don't you starve to death? ”

The old farmer smiled bitterly: "If it is really like what you said, I will not use it to pick up rice grains here." My family is six acres of land, but only the one under my feet is silt field, and the remaining five acres are either at the foot of the mountain or on the mountainside, and it is a good year to produce 200 catties a year. ”

"What's more, the twenty percent tax is the tax of the imperial court, and our family is a rented land dedicated to the official gentry, and the rent tax paid is from thirty percent, and the rent tax on individual fertile land can reach more than forty percent and fifty percent."

"Our family has worked hard all year round, and the grain that falls into our hands is only eight or nine hundred catties, if we encounter floods again, or if we are unlucky, and we encounter uncivilized natives in the mountains who come down to steal grain, then the family will wait to drink the northwest wind."

The old farmer's face was pale, and he sighed sadly: "So even in a good year, the grain produced in the fields is not enough for the family to eat, and I often ask my son to go to the dock to do odd jobs to supplement the family when the farm is not working." This nobleman, you said that in this case, if I don't pick up these loose rice again, won't my family really starve to death? ”

Gu Yunji listened with a heavy heart, knowing that with his identity, no matter what he said, it would bring the other party a sense of overlooking the high-ranking person, and he didn't know how to respond for a while.

After being silent for a long time, Gu Yunji suddenly reacted as if something was going on, and asked: "Generally speaking, people with meritorious names are exempt from taxes, and it is precisely because others have taken a fancy to this point that they will donate their fields to reduce the burden of paying taxes." Who are the gentry you are voicing? Why is the tax so much higher than the tax of the imperial court? In that case, why not keep the fields for yourself? ”

The old farmer smiled bitterly: "Who else can it be, Chen Jiabai, more than half of the fields in this mansion are under their names." The Chen family has a lot of power in Xuzhou Mansion, and small farmers like me can't fight at all, so if you want to live and farm, you can only take the initiative to donate the land to them, otherwise they have a way to force you to hand it over. ”

Gu Yunji frowned: "The Chen family? Which Chen family? ”

The old farmer said: "Which Chen family can it be, and I know Chen Xunzhou's own family." Chen Xunzhou is a prisoner and has a meritorious reputation, and almost eighty or ninety percent of the fields are hung in his name. ”

Hearing this, Gu Yunji glanced at Chen Peishi, didn't say anything, and continued to ask the old farmer: "Are you sure it's Chen Xunzhou?" I think his local reputation is not bad, it is said that he has done a lot of things that are beneficial to the local people, and a 'good official' like him will actually bully others? ”

The old farmer said as he bent down and continued to pick up ears of rice: "Chen Xunzhou doesn't bully others, it doesn't mean that his own family members won't bully others. Chen Xunzhou is a fellow knower, where does he have so much effort to care about whose family's fields are donated or not, they are all those Chen family members of the same clan as him, who are outside under his banner and fake tigers, and do a lot of things to bully men and women, we ordinary people can only bear it hard, dare to be angry and dare not speak. ”

Gu Yunji wanted to ask again, but when he saw that the other party had already turned around and was concentrating on picking out the rice grains from the soil, he couldn't say anything, and left after thanking him.

Chen Peishi was frightened by Gu Yunji's previous casual glance, and as soon as he walked to a place where there was no one at this moment, he immediately explained eagerly: "My lord, this has nothing to do with me!" My family's branch is the Chen family's partial house, and the blood relationship with Lord Chen is far away, not to mention borrowing his power, we are always suppressed and bullied by our descendants. ”

"My father and mother are honest villagers, although the family is better than the old uncle's family, but at most they can afford to hire two long-term workers, how can they afford to rent the land to others? It's none of my business! ”

Gu Yunji said helplessly: "I didn't say anything about you, what are you anxious about?" ”

But as long as it is a prosperous big family, it will inevitably produce some waste descendants who corrupt the family style, even if it is the Songjiang Gu family he was born in, there can be people like Gu Ming'an among the descendants, not to mention the side branches that are a little farther away, there is no need to kill everyone with one shot.

What's more, Chen Peishi himself has also checked, and he is indeed an innocent and upright person, otherwise Gu Yunji would not have taken him with him with confidence.

Hearing Gu Yunji's words, Chen Peishi breathed a sigh of relief, and was about to add a few more words, but suddenly heard a faint commotion in the distance.