When has Li Xiuyuan seen such a scene, his face turned pale with fright when he saw the official's eyes, and he wanted to cry when his mouth was deflated, but Bai Xia's hand was faster than him, covering his mouth with one hand, blocking all the crying in the palm of his hand, and calmly replied: "My mother went back to her parents' house today, and no one is in the village."

The official looked at her fixedly, suddenly smiled, and asked, "Where is her maiden home?" ”

"Linjia Village"

Linjia Village is also under the jurisdiction of Wu County, and the fact that the Lin family was born in Linjia Village is also recorded in the archives of the county government, but this official is in charge of Lijia Village, and he does not have the roster of Linjia Village at hand. ”

Bai Xia took a breath and said, "I can"

"Very good"

The official took a pen and wrote on the booklet, and at the same time said: "Your family has a total of three acres of paddy fields, one acre of dry land, each mu should produce 200 catties of grain, a total of 800 catties, 40% of the grain tax is calculated as 320 catties of grain, and another 10 catties per person will be charged according to the head, and three people will be 30 catties, and the grain tax will be 350 catties in total.

Three hundred and fifty pounds, this is a robbery, right?

Bai Xia dared to be angry and didn't dare to speak, when he didn't look at the inventory in front of him, although every family looked like a dead father and mother, but who said it.

Didn't even dare to intercede.

Just because the knives in the hands of the other two masters behind this official have been unsheathed, they are waiting for a bird to let him kill chickens and monkeys, no one is a fool, and they feel that they dare not kill.

The county order dared to let them collect grain in advance, and they thought that the people would not cooperate obediently, and at this time, I wished that someone would jump out to oppose it, or jump out to plead.

"Do you hear me?"

Seeing that Bai Xia didn't speak for a long time, the official repeated.

"Hear me"

Bai Xia lowered his head, and the other hand holding Li Xiuyuan squeezed hard, and Li Xiuyuan's tears fell even more fiercely.

"Just hear it clearly, go and wait to go"

After that, I called the next one.

Bai Xia took Li Xiuyuan back to the crowd, and hundreds of people didn't make a sound.

The younger ones didn't know what was going on, they were only led by the adults, restrained from crying or talking, and the older ones were already sensible, so they naturally heard what the official said, and knew that they were going to pay grain to the government.

Bai Xia stood in the crowd, and he was not a maverick.

Soon, the official finished counting the heads and called the village chief to the side: "Five days later, prepare food according to what I said, remember, not a pound is missing, this is to be sent to the side, if there is a problem, don't say it's you, even if it's me, I can't keep my head."

"Yes, yes, sir, the little old man must let everyone raise food"

The village chief's face turned pale and his body trembled repeatedly.

Seeing that he was frightened like this, the official didn't pay attention to it, and led the people away with the booklet he had memorized.

"Oh my God, this won't give us a way to live."

"More than 700 catties of food, how can we live?"

"Village chief, you go and beg the county master, we really can't get so much food."

"It doesn't rain on this day, and the crops in the field are dying, so where can we get the grain and hand it over?"

When the official errand walked away, everyone suddenly couldn't hold back, one by one, their legs were weak, they sat on the ground and cried and grabbed the ground, all of them were like mourning, Bai Xia let go of the hand covering Li Xiuyuan's mouth, his face had been pressed red by Bai Xia's hand, and he was crying at the moment.

The adults cried, and the children cried even though they didn't know what was happening.

The cries of hundreds of people buzzed in Bai Xia's ears, making her brain hurt.

She sighed, and saw that the village chief also looked like she had no choice, so she could only take Li Xiuyuan's hand and go home first.

On the other side, after the official returned, he began to send people to investigate the whereabouts of the Lin clan.

first asked the official who went to Linjia Village to inquire, saying that he didn't see anyone, and then asked someone else to inquire, saying that he did see the Lin family going to Linjia Village, but this person disappeared mysteriously.

And this news, Li Xiuyuan and Bai Xia, who returned home, didn't know at all.

As soon as he got home, Bai Xia began to pack his things, completely ignoring Li Xiuyuan, who was still crying and in shock.

Li Xiuyuan was tired of crying, and while hiccups, he asked, "Three, hiccup, ya, hiccup, what are you doing, hiccup?" ”

Bai Xia put away all the things he could bring, sat on the ground, and when he heard his question, he didn't answer, but got up and walked towards the kitchen, holding a kitchen knife and walking towards the pigsty.

She's going to have to kill the pigs.

While there is still water in the village, the pigs are cleaned and made into jerky.

More than 300 catties of grain, close to 400 catties, even if they sold their whole family, it was impossible to get it, and there was almost no way but to escape.

She prepared first, and when the Lin family returned, they set off.

The five-day deadline, now other villagers must still be trying to raise food, the government's manpower and material resources are limited, no one would have thought that on the first day, someone would flee, people leave their hometowns, villagers have different feelings for their own villages, they are not forced to a dead end, they will not choose to leave their hometowns.

Everyone's life is not easy, and most of the food can't be scraped together.

They will definitely not sit still, and will find someone to go to the county government to intercede.

I didn't dare to ask in front of the officials, because there were many people, and when there were few people, I would ask a respected township elder to go to the county order to cry and beg, and it may not be impossible to pay less or extend the deadline.

But other families can wait, but theirs can't wait.

There is some hope if the crops in the field can be harvested, but the weather is obviously not normal, and it doesn't look like it's going to rain.

The crops in that field are basically dead, and if there is no food, they naturally can't pay the grain tax, so their family will have no way to live.

She hadn't been here for long, she hadn't had a good life, and she didn't want to die.

The knives used to kill pigs are generally special, and the kitchen knife in Bai Xia's hand is not suitable for killing pigs, but she can't care about it so much.

"Be good, don't be afraid, it'll be fine soon"

She held a kitchen knife in her right hand and touched the pig's head with her left hand, coaxing it like a child.

The tone is particularly soft, and then the attack is fast and accurate.

I saw her throw away the kitchen knife, take out a hammer and hit the head of the pig that was screaming on the ground, the pig's cry suddenly became terrible, and she didn't eat for two days and turned up from the ground because of the pain, and ran around in a circle.

The screams of the pigs startled Li Xiuyuan, and he ran to the pigsty in a panic, and saw a scene that he would never forget.

The girl in a coarse cloth dress with a head of hair like a chicken nest and a hammer about the size of her slap in her hand rode on the back of a half-sized pig, pulling the pig's ears with one hand and smashing the pig's head with the hammer with the other.

The pig was smashed and screamed, and finally fell to the ground weakly, with a panting sound from its mouth.

"Go and bring the basin"

Bai Xia looked at Li Xiuyuan outside the pigsty, his eyes were bloody, and he was sweating profusely, Li Xiuyuan was so frightened that he retreated, and then stumbled towards the kitchen.