When the people who were originally a little angry heard that it was actually the master of the county office, they were immediately shocked, and hurriedly returned the salute respectfully:

"Little Lao'er has seen Master Xiao!"

Xiao Fang smiled and waved his hand and said, "Don't be polite, Xiao came here this time to solve his doubts!" ”

The people were stunned when they heard this, and they were puzzled: "What confusion does the master want to solve for the little old man?"

Little Lao'er doesn't seem to have any doubts now,"

Xiao Fang shook his head, pointed to the Hu Dou who was loaded with grain, and said:

"Yes, of course.

Uncle, aren't you wondering why the servants didn't let you continue to pour grain into the bucket? ”

The man nodded at once, and then complained:

"That's the case, it's not that the little old man said, Lord Bookkeeper, the officials in this yamen still have to recruit some clever ones, just this fool, I don't even understand how to count Hu Dou as a fight, and I dare to come to collect taxes, it's just nonsense!"

Xiao Fang shook his head with a smile and explained: "Uncle, you misunderstood, but this official is not wrong. ”

The old man and the people were stunned for a moment: "Could it be that the little old man is wrong?" ”

Xiao Fang still shook his head and said, "Uncle, you're not wrong!" ”

So who's wrong?

Question marks appeared on the heads of the old man and the official at the same time.

Xiao Fang pointed in the direction of Guan Nei and said, "It's Da Song's mistake!" ”

The two didn't understand very much, and still looked at Xiao Fang blankly.

Xiao Fang sighed and explained: "Normally, a bucket of grain only needs to be filled with a bucket, which is also the most correct way to use the bucket."

But in the Great Song Dynasty, those officials and traitors invented a new idiom in order to be greedy for the grain tax! ”

"New idioms?" ×n

When Xiao Fang said this, not only the old man and the officials, but even the surrounding people also gathered around curiously to listen to him.

Xiao Fang said four words unhurriedly: "Drenching the tip and kicking Hu!" ”

After saying this idiom, Xiao Fang first looked around at the people present, and then explained:

You may be unfamiliar with this idiom, but if it is those who have been or are still working as errands in the Guannei Yamen, they can describe it as familiar.

The so-called drenching and kicking the bucket means that when the tax collector collects taxes, the people first let the people pile up the bucket with sharp tips.

Then he deliberately kicked the Hu with his foot, so that the tips of the Hu noodles were spilled, and the spilled grain was not allowed to be recovered by the people, which was considered a loss.

And after kicking, the food in the bucket will be tighter, and the food in the bucket will be much less, and these are also made up by the people.

Then the common people will weigh the rest of the grain in the hut, and the scattered grain will go into the pockets of the officials and officials and become their extra income.

In addition, when they pay taxes and grains to the upper side, they don't have to kick the hu, so the grain that is packed more because of the kicking will eventually go into their pockets. ”

"What!! Isn't that spiky grain a loss on the way to transporting grain?

How could it be that those officials deliberately made it out to be greedy for ink? ”

As soon as Xiao Fang's words fell, a citizen who had experienced similar incidents before immediately exclaimed in disbelief.

The rest of the people joined in.

"Yes, at that time, the official in our hometown said that these scattered grains belong to the loss of grain on the way back to the capital, otherwise the amount of grain transported to the capital will be less, and then we will remember that we have not paid enough taxes, which will be troublesome.

How could it be that they were corrupted by those officials and petty officials? ”

"That's right! If they are greedy for these losses, will our grain be short after it arrives in the capital?

How are they going to explain it to the above? ”

A group of people in the original pass asked one after another, full of puzzlement about this matter.

In their opinion, this is a very reasonable thing, this grain is on the way to the capital, and the people who transport it must also eat the grain, and these losses are for them to eat.

In this way, they will not eat the grain tax they pay, and when the time comes, the grain will be properly accounted for when it goes to the treasury.

If this is greedy by those who are officials, won't the food be worth the account?

It can't be, right?!

In the face of the people's doubts, Xiao Fang's heart is complicated.

There is not only the helplessness of these people because they are too simple, but also their trust in the government and their guilt and gratification.

Guilty is that the Great Song government has betrayed their trust.

As a scholar, he was angry at the officials who were also scholars, but after becoming officials, they were so despicable and shameless to exploit the people.

Where do these people still behave like a gentleman who reads the books of sages, this is clearly a hypocrite who is full of benevolence and morality, but is despicable and shameless in actual action!

But what made Xiao Fang happy was that for the reasons that the hypocrites said, the kind silver actually accepted it, and they actually felt that this matter was very reasonable.

They themselves thought that they should pay this money, otherwise the people would have nothing to eat.

Xiao Fang understands the reason for their thoughts.

First, because of their knowledge, these people did not understand the system of the Great Song Dynasty.

Second, they themselves empathize, thinking that if they don't give these grains, the government will not give the grain to the people who transport the grain, and they will be hungry, so they willingly give these "losses".

In fact, according to the law of the Great Song Dynasty, the loss on the road has been included in the grain tax levied.

The imperial court will determine the corresponding road loss according to the distance between the local area and the capital, as long as the grain is put into storage, the remaining quantity is the amount above the deduction of the loss, which is considered correct.

Therefore, the food consumption of those people has already been calculated in the grain tax collected, and there is no need to increase it at all.

The reason why those officials want to do this is to increase their income.

These losses are not something that the imperial court needs to collect at all!

And after Xiao Fang told the truth, the grain collection point that was still noisy just now suddenly quieted down.

All the people who heard Xiao Fang's words all looked at the Hu Dou on the ground in a daze.

In the silence, an old man raised his trembling hand, took two steps forward and gently stroked the edge of the mouth of the bucket, and kept muttering:

"There's no wear, there's no pointing, there's no kicking......

Those who killed a thousand knives, they deceived me, deceived us!

Where are they deceiving food, they are deceiving our lives!

It's fate! ”

In the murmuring, tears have unconsciously hung on the old man's face covered with ravines and years.

And the other people also bowed their heads, thinking back to the past, tears couldn't help but fall down.

The sobs rang out in an instant!

After a long time, the old man who was crying at the beginning came to Xiao Fang tremblingly, and respectfully gave Xiao Fang a big salute.

With gratitude in his tone:

"Thank you, Lord Bookkeeper, for answering the doubts of us ignorant grass people, if it weren't for your words today.

I can't say that we and other people will be kept in the dark by the lies of those corrupt officials and corrupt officials in this life, thinking that everything is reasonable.

Master Xiao's book is really a green master! ”

Xiao Fang didn't dare to accept the old man's gift, so he hurriedly hid aside and waved his hand again and again:

"Don't be like this, don't be like this!

Xiao, as the chief bookkeeper of Sue County, naturally wants to explain these things clearly to you, so as not to be confused.

This is really not grateful, it's just a matter of duty. ”

Xiao Fang hidden, but the old man insisted on saluting, and when he saw Xiao Fang dodging, he also turned around and saluted.

went back and forth a few times, and saw that the old man was tired and out of breath, Xiao Fang could only let him salute.

But what Xiao Fang didn't expect was that just after the old man finished his salute, the people behind the old man who had just recovered from the sobbing actually saluted him together, and shouted loudly at the same time:

"We grass people thank Master Xiao for solving our doubts!"

Xiao was numb.

He didn't expect that he just explained to the people what it meant to drench and kick, and the reaction of these people would be so big!

In this way, it looks as if it saved their lives.

Xiao Fang couldn't quite understand all this.

He didn't know that for these people who had been kicked and kicked, the extra food was in the past, and even if he knew, he couldn't come back.

But knowing the truth is the greatest comfort to them.

can know the truth, instead of being fooled for a lifetime, although the people are sad that they have been deceived, they are very happy, they have not been deceived for a lifetime.

I am even more happy that among the county officials I am today, there is a good official like Xiao Zhushu who will not deceive the people.

The combination of these two points is the main reason why the people are so excited.

And after understanding the meaning of the drenched kick, a common person immediately stepped forward and asked cautiously:

"Master Xiao, since you informed us of this matter, wouldn't there be no more such a thing as a sharp kick in the county in the future?"

……

Those who love to read history should know something about this idiom, right?

It is really a policy at the top, a countermeasure at the bottom, and it is the people who suffer.

(End of chapter)