Chapter 346 Another tax
So, a group of refugees followed Jiang Sanlang to chop bamboo.
Many of the wild bamboo forests here have been bought by Jiang Sanlang and other villagers, so refugees who want to get a long bamboo pole must obtain the consent of the villagers.
After cutting down the bamboo poles, it will be much easier to pick honey locusts.
Now Yingbao often sees a group of adults and children in ragged clothes holding bamboo poles to pick honey locusts.
By November, the snow finally fell.
Zhou Wuchang took advantage of the snow not blocking the road and rushed to the county town with his eldest apprentice. His second apprentice Zhang Min and Ying Bao were still left behind.
Zhang Min didn't feel uncomfortable this time, but was very happy. He hung out with Wei Zhan, Hu Zi, Jiang Wu and Xiaoyao every day. When he had time, he went to the wild to hunt pheasants and hares, and had a great time.
The pheasants and hares on the southern slope were so unlucky that they were almost extinct.
Li Xu finally came back at the end of the month. He was not listed on the list, but he was not discouraged at all. Instead, he happily returned to Dongchen Village and continued to teach the children.
His mother was not disappointed either. She was already self-sufficient in being able to live peacefully here with her son for the rest of her life. However, her son was getting older every year, and it would be a bit shameful for him not to marry again.
But in this small mountain village, there were very few girls who could match her son. While An was anxious, she set her sights on the Jiang family.
The Jiang family has good tutoring and all their children are outstanding. Unfortunately, the Jiang family has no unmarried girls of similar age to her son.
After Li Xu came back, Mr. Wu sometimes went to the school and occasionally gave Li Xu some advice, but most of the time, he sat under the wall with the elderly in the village, chatting while basking in the sun.
Every time Jiang Jie came back from Xiu Mu at the end of the month, Mr. Wu would ask about his schoolwork, correct his homework, and explain to him the classics he didn't understand.
The days passed like this, and soon we entered the twelfth lunar month.
Ying Bao has been very free recently. Apart from occasionally reading prescriptions, she just walks around with rhubarb.
The market is a place she often goes to, even in the snow and ice.
Chen Zhao's candy business is good. Even if there is no market, he can still earn one to two hundred cash every day.
Ying Bao often sees Chen Wan coming to help her sister.
Nowadays, Mrs. Chen Feng no longer criticizes her granddaughter, but sometimes she asks Chen Zhao to pay for salt and sesame oil.
Naturally, Chen Zhao was not willing to spend his own money, but he could not defeat Chen Feng because he, his eldest sister and his younger brother also had to eat.
"Ying Bao, come and try the candy cake." Chen Zhao waved to Ying Bao. "It's caused by red bean paste today."
Ying Bao was not polite, took a candy cake and started eating it.
It is very comfortable to eat some sweets in the ice and snow.
Chen Zhao's stall is a small thatched shed with straw curtains surrounding it on three sides to keep out the cold wind.
Ying Bao was eating candy cakes while looking at the stalls outside.
This market was well planned by my father. There are rows of thatched huts built on both sides of the road. These stalls also have places to take shelter in rainy and snowy days. There are several thatched huts not far away, which are owned by my uncle's eldest cousin and his wife. There is an oil shop, Erni's mother-in-law Leng's tailor shop, a bamboo shop, and a shop selling water jars and pottery.
Erni helped build Leng's two thatched houses with money, and her second uncle didn't stop her, but he never looked over there and Huzi was not allowed to have contact with her.
"Yingbao, do you want some tea?" Chen Wan suddenly said.
Ying Bao glanced at her and nodded.
Chen Wan is thirteen years old this year and will be fourteen after the Chinese New Year. She is already very beautiful.
But when she comes to the market to help, she always wraps her face with a blue cloth scarf, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Chen Wan used the stove to cook a pot of bamboo leaf tea with jujubes in it. Two soft boiled red jujubes were added to each bowl of tea.
Yingbao drank the tea in one gulp, put ten copper coins on the small table, and returned to the village with rhubarb.
In this life, it seems that many things have changed, including some people.
When I walked into the village, I saw my father and a group of people carrying stones to build a sentry tower.
The sentry tower was built very high, more than two feet tall, just above the height of the honey locust tree.
The interior of the stone tower is also very spacious, with a spiral staircase leading up to the highest point, which can accommodate several people fighting at the same time.
If you stock up on enough bows, arrows and stones, as well as some food and water, a few people can protect one side.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Two villagers came to Dongchen Village on the south slope with a gong and shouted: "The imperial court has issued an order! Every household must pay an additional 10% of grain per acre! Those who do not have land must pay an additional 20% of the head tax. Pay in full within three days! Violators will be punished according to law!"
Jiang Sanlang and others stopped what they were doing and looked at each other worriedly.
"Why does the imperial court need to requisition food again?"
"Didn't you just pay taxes and grain last time?"
"Are you still going to let people live?"
Jiang Sanlang also looked solemn.
This year's taxes were heavier than in previous years. For this reason, he even made a special trip to the next town to ask if it was the same. It turned out that it was the same in that town, and the villagers complained.
This world is extremely unfriendly to farmers. All taxes are imposed layer by layer, which can peel off the skin of the people.
Fortunately, their village is relatively wealthy, otherwise many people would have to flee.
Complaints are complaints, and the grain that should be paid must still be paid.
Fortunately, the people of Dongchen Village have the habit of collecting grain, otherwise they would not be able to pay taxes.
Because the entire Qinchuan County was very short of food, even Jiang Quan came back and said that the price of food at the food store had increased. For this reason, the county government even opened a charity warehouse and set up a pot at the entrance of the vegetable market to cook porridge and distribute it to the refugees stranded in the county.
Ying Bao only felt that there was something wrong with the county magistrate's mind.
For such a long time, the flood victims were not resettled and were still allowed to wander in the county.
Or is it that the county magistrate used this to open the charity warehouse and wanted to secretly sell the food in the charity warehouse in the name of disaster relief?
But these were none of her own business, and she had no ability to interfere with the county magistrate's decision.
Now we can only take one step at a time. If there are refugees causing trouble again, Dongchen Village can resist it.
Soon it was January.
The Jiang family is very lively.
Not only did Wei Zhan not go home for the New Year, Mr. Wu also didn't leave. Even Zhou Wuchang came to Jiang's house with his eldest apprentice and brought a large box of books as gifts to Jiang Jie.
Fortunately, Jiang Sanlang's house has many houses, otherwise it would really not be enough.
After the New Year, Zhou Wuchang left again with his eldest apprentice.
Ying Bao and Zhang Min had long been accustomed to it and almost forgot that they were his disciples.
In early spring, before the ice and snow have completely melted, the refugees living on the southern slope are looking for wild vegetables to eat.
There are so many wild vegetables outside Dongchen Village. The shepherd's purse grows in patches. Not only are they big, but they are also tender and tender. It is impossible to dig them all.
They dug up the shepherd's purse, washed it, chopped it, and mixed it with rice to cook it, so that the whole family could have a full belly.
The refugees' rice was exchanged with saponin rice from the Jiang family and other villagers, so they could eat sparingly and have enough food until the summer harvest.
During this period, as long as they find a job in Dongchen Village, they can live without any worries.
Although this life is miserable, it is already a hundred times better than their previous life.
The days when they were in their hometown were called despair.
The harvested grain was taken away by the county government one after another. In order to survive, they had no choice but to sell their fields and embark on the road to escape famine with the grain they bought.
Finally they discovered this village, which was so wealthy that people were jealous.
So Lin Wulang, their leader, decided to stay and not leave.
Facts have proved that Lin Wulang was right, and they were finally able to settle here.