Speaking of grain tax, Yan Zhengqian also had a headache: "I asked the political envoy Master Pu, and he said that he had written an excerpt to ask His Majesty for instructions, asking the imperial court to remember the great drought in Shuzhong this year and give him a certain amount of grain tax reduction, but His Majesty has not replied yet." ”

"The court didn't say anything, and Master Pu didn't know whether to reduce or exempt the grain tax, but only said that we should try our best to collect taxes, pay as much as we can, and then he will give His Majesty a discount depending on the tax and grain paid. Otherwise, it is not easy to talk about it if you repeatedly ask for tax reductions before the summer tax season. ”

Chen Xunzhou was speechless for a while, and said angrily: "Try your best to collect taxes?" Without mentioning specific numbers, how can such an ambiguous statement be regarded as a best effort? I'm afraid that we have done our best, and Master Pu is not satisfied with it, and when the time comes, we will not pay enough, isn't this a change of way to force us to urge taxes? ”

"Ahem, ahem!" Yan Zhengqian suddenly coughed violently a few times, desperately giving Chen Xunzhou a look.

Chen Xunzhou turned around, only to find that Gu Yunji's eyes were slightly narrowed, and he was staring at himself without blinking, exuding a dangerous aura all over his body, with an expression of "I want to see what arrogant words you can say".

Tax urging, of course, is not verbal urging, violent urging, snatching people's grain, and even killing the people, etc., are all common tax urging methods of local officials and low-level officials. Although it is common, it is illegal after all, and if it is stabbed above, the local governor will be reprimanded at the least, and the head of the official will be removed and moved.

Chen Xunzhou has also heard of the unhappiness between Gu Yunji and Yan Zhengqian, and he is really a little afraid that Gu Yunji will be unhappy and sue them to the capital, after all, the Shangshu of the Criminal Department is the cousin of the family, and it is self-evident who the court is towards.

Yan Zhengqian reminded him to pay attention to what he said in front of Gu Yunji, and not to let him catch the handle. Chen Xunzhou hurriedly changed his words and pretended to say: "...... Of course, all of us in Xuzhou are good officials who are diligent and love the people, so naturally they will not do such a violent tax collection. ”

Seeing this, Gu Yunji snorted lightly in his heart, didn't say anything, and silently withdrew his gaze.

Gu Yunji's family background, the capital didn't dare to say, but whenever he went to the local state capital, as long as he wanted to, he could walk sideways in the local officialdom, but he didn't want to do that before.

But now it seems that Yan Zhengqian and Chen Xunzhou are not fuel-efficient lamps, and they use their family background to properly give them some oppression, at least so that they can be more restrained, and they dare not blatantly oppress the people.

Seeing that the scene was a little embarrassing, Yan Zhengqian coughed lightly and pulled the topic back: "It's only May now, and there is at least a little more than a month before the rice harvest. ”

Gu Yunji and Chen Xunzhou bowed their hands to Yan Zhengqian and said politely: "This is natural, please rest assured Lord Yan." ”

They are all adults, and they are officials in the same place, Gu Yunji has no need to tear his face with the prefect Yan Zhengqian for an unpleasant quarrel. In the officialdom, there are no enemies, only common interests, and the ability to talk about people and talk about ghosts is something he will learn sooner or later.

As he spoke, Yan Zhengqian looked at Chen Xunzhou again, with a sincere expression: "Lord Chen, your Chen family is a big local family, and it occupies a lot of land, so you still have to trouble Lord Chen about the grain tax." ”

The corners of Chen Xunzhou's mouth collapsed, but he could maintain the smile on his face, and he had already scolded Yan Zhengqian eight hundred times in his heart, and said insincerely: "...... This is my duty, I know everything, Lord Yan, please rest assured. ”

Most of the land occupied by the Chen family is under Chen Xunzhou's name, and Chen Xunzhou is a nominal prisoner, with a meritorious reputation, and he doesn't need to pay taxes.

The reason why Yan Zhengqian deliberately said this sentence was to imply that he had Gu Yunji staring at him, and they were not good at violently urging taxes, so Chen Xunzhou could only collect more rent from his tenants and make up for the insufficient tax grain.

Chen Xunzhou, who was partial, and Yan Zhengqian and Xuzhou Mansion have been officials together for seven or eight years, and they have more or less the other party's handles in their hands, and they have long been a community of interests.

So Chen Xunzhou scolded in his heart, and at the same time, he had to put on a smile and respond politely.

——

In the blink of an eye, June, the rice waves are golden, and it is the harvest season. Unfortunately, this year's spring and summer drought has reduced grain production, and when farmers are busy in the fields, they always have some sadness on their faces - worrying about their family's livelihood.

On the outskirts of Xuzhou Prefecture, Geng Laohan's family was counting the grain they had just beaten.

Geng Laohan was illiterate and not very good at arithmetic, so he clumsily folded his fingers and chanted words: "...... A total of six acres of land, one acre by the river, three hundred catties of grain; There are three acres at the foot of the mountain at the west end of the village, and two acres on the mountainside...... Scattered and scattered, less than 900 catties of rice. ”

Hearing this, his wife Geng Pozi had a bitter face: "It's only 900 catties, even if it is an ordinary year in previous years, at least 13,400 catties of rice can be beaten, but this year there was such a big drought, and the yield was reduced by almost 500 catties." ”

Geng Laohan sighed and said: "Fortunately, our family has a silt field on the bank of the Mu River, which has not been affected much, and that acre of land alone has produced three hundred catties of grain, otherwise it will be even more difficult this year." ”

"If the grain production is reduced, the rent will not be reduced, if the output of previous years is calculated, this year we still have to pay four or five hundred catties of rent, and the grain that falls into the hands will be less than five hundred catties. Let's have a big family, how can we survive such a little grain until next year's autumn harvest? What a day to live with. ”

Son Geng Mancang pretended to be relaxed and comforted: "Dad, mother, don't be sad, don't we still have artichokes in our family." In less than half a month, the artichoke will be ripe, and we planted sixty catties of seeds at the beginning, if it is really as high as Gu Tongju said, we will be able to harvest almost four hundred catties by then. ”

"Four hundred catties of artichokes, reserve one hundred catties for the next season's seeds, there are three hundred catties left, plus five hundred catties of rice, a total of eight hundred catties of grain, our family has a total of five people, and the food is definitely enough to eat before the artichoke matures in the next season, don't worry."

When his son said this, Geng Laohan's brows instantly stretched, and his heart relaxed: "Mancang is right, I almost forgot that there are artichokes." In previous years, our family had eight or nine hundred catties of grain all year round, and now it is only half a year before the next season of artichoke harvest, but we still have a full eight hundred catties of grain. ”

Geng Pozi's eyebrows were dyed with joy: "It's a loss to have this artichoke, otherwise our family will really starve to death this year." I've heard people say that if we eat too much artichoke and have heartburn, we can mix it in rice to make porridge, so that we can avoid heartburn and let everyone eat a little more, which is better. ”

The daughter-in-law smiled and said: "Our chili peppers are almost ready to be picked, and in two days I will ask Aunt Wang next door how to make the chili peppers delicious, let's also learn from those people in the city to make some chili sauce to taste, just right on the potato rice porridge." ”

At the mention of artichoke, the originally calm atmosphere in the family suddenly relaxed, and the family talked and laughed, imagining the full days and harvest years in the future.

At this time, an untimely and vicious voice sounded outside the door, and the wooden door that leaked wind and light was shaken loudly: "Geng Laohan, open the door!" It's time to pay the rent! ”