When the third master came, everyone in the village called Li Zheng this way.
When and why the third master came, the neighbors knew long before he came.
There are more than 300 households in Wangjiazhuang, but they owe rent and taxes to the eldest boss Yanshenggong and the Qufu County government. The total of various exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes has exceeded 5,000 taels.
The third master stopped at the tea shop at the entrance of the village. At Zhang Sanniang's shop, he drank two cups of tea and ate two chicken drumsticks, and then took a carriage to Wang Guojie's house.
As early as a few days ago, Mr. Li Zheng heard that Wang Guojie had returned home. Although the old man of the Wang family is dead, the blacksmith tax and land rent he owed Yan Shenggong must be repaid in full.
Now that Blacksmith Wang's son is back, it is only natural that the father's debt should be repaid by the son.
Mr. Li Zheng walked into the Wang family with a thick stack of tenant rent books.
A group of neighbors gathered at the door of Wang's house, peering into the house.
At this moment, the three members of the Wang family were sitting at a dirty table in the corner. Pictures cut out of newspapers were posted on the walls of the room. One of them was a battle report of the Emperor's expedition to Japan to kill Tokugawa Iemitsu. Tokugawa Iemitsu, who had transformed into a dragon, was now smoked into a black loach, and his appearance The majestic Emperor also became Zhang Fei.
Under the portrait of the Supreme Emperor, something was still cooking in an iron pot.
Tenant Wang Guojie coughed violently, crossed his arms on his chest, and stared blankly at Mr. Li Zheng and his servants who came in.
"You owe one hundred and ten taels of silver? You still have sixty days to repair the canals?"
When the third master said this, he looked at the sick farmer in front of him with suspicion and checked the account book again.
Wang Guojie looked numb and continued to cough.
Master Li Zheng subconsciously covered his nose and continued: "Last October, before his death, your father paid three taels of tax to Yan Shenggong. Since then, you have never given him a penny."
Mr. Li Zheng raised his head, stared at Wang Guojie's wife, and asked with concern:
"Why is this, aunt? Are you trying to make Mr. Yan Shenggong a big grievance? We Qufu people need to be reasonable."
"Show mercy, Master," Aunt Wang said. Because she was so excited, the old woman's missing front teeth kept leaking, like a leaking cymbal and gong.
"Third Master, let me tell you this. Last year, when his father was still alive, Mr. Zhang from Tunpu, Qufu came to my house and said, "Blacksmith Wang, sell us your iron... You can sell it," said the child's father. What's wrong with that? I have about one hundred taels of iron materials to sell, all of which are top-quality iron materials..."
As Aunt Wang spoke, she turned back to look at the other neighbors, as if she wanted to invite them to bear witness.
"I don't understand why you are talking about this," said Mr. Li Zheng, "I ask you... I ask you why you don't pay taxes? You don't pay, do you want me to pay money to the great master?"
Aunt Wang swore to the sky: "We have no money!"
"It's nonsense!" Mr. Li Zheng said. "My emperor, the Holy Ming, abolished the forts just to punish those of you who steal women and do tricks. Blacksmith Wang made a lot of money by forging iron for the forts. I heard that They say that the old man is an alcoholic and spends all his money on drinking. Now Duke Yan sees you as pitiful and gives you land to farm and only charges 80% of the rent, but you say you have no money?"
"Do you still have a conscience?"
Master Li Zheng wrote a few words in the account book, then walked out of Wang's house, got on the carriage, and ordered the servants:
"When people are taken away, their homes are torn down."
Four ferocious servants immediately stepped forward, wielding hammers and pickaxes, and smashed at the remaining wall of the Wang family.
Wang Guojie's wife cried and stepped forward to stop her.
"Don't smash it! We are farmers in Liaodong, and we have been cultivating land for Daqi all our lives... You will be punished!"
A servant dropped his hammer and punched the woman in the back of the neck. Wang Guojie's wife slumped to the ground like a noodle. The servant tied her up with a rope, tied her to a horse, and rode away.
The other three servants blocked Aunt Wang.
Wang Guojie caught up with a wooden stick. He had just taken two steps when he was hit by someone.
Ding kicked him over.
Aunt Wang chased him closely behind her. She was hunched over, panting, and fell to the ground several times.
The old woman suddenly stopped, like a dancing goddess, clenched her fists and beat her chest hard, and let out a howl that didn't sound like a human voice:
"There is no justice, the Supreme Emperor! Duke Yansheng is bullying me! Guanyin Bodhisattva who saves the suffering, Kong Youren wants to drink blood! Oh, oh, the emperor is blind and wants to force us to rebel!"
"Old man!" the servant said sternly, "you are tired of living!"
"I have lived for seventy years, and I no longer want to live. I want to go to the capital to complain. The emperor is blind."
The servant ignored the crazy woman and walked away.
The few pieces of furniture in the Wang family were smashed to pieces, leaving only two bare walls.
The onlookers pointed at the Wang mother and son, with weird smiles on their faces, like blood-sucking monsters. When they saw Wang Guojie struggling to get up, the neighbors quickly dispersed.
Wang Guojie cleared his throat, picked up a wooden stick, and went to find Mr. Li Zheng.
The sky is gray.
There were faint will-o'-the-wisps floating in the wilderness, and owls were cooing strangely on the tops of the birch trees. For the first time, Wang Guojie felt that the world he was in was not a human world, but more like hell.
Mr. Li Zheng lives in a villa in the east of the village. It has green bricks and green tiles and is shaded by bamboo trees. It is completely different from the thatched house in Wangjiazhuang.
Wang Guojie stood at the door and knocked on the door. He kept knocking for an unknown amount of time when a chubby head popped out of the crack in the door:
"Third Master, please show mercy and return my wife to me!"
"It has been sent to Yan Shenggong's house. Bring me three taels of silver and you can take it back tomorrow."
"I can't take it out."
Mr. Li Zheng waved his hand impatiently and was about to close the door. Wang Guojie rubbed his palms, thought for a while, and said:
"Give me your wife back! She is not from Wangjiazhuang. If she dies, I won't be alive either."
The fat-headed and big-eared Li Zheng suddenly rushed out and kicked Wang Guojie in the chest:
"Grandma, if you don't pay the rent, I've been scolded by Yan Shenggong so many times, get out!"
~~~~
Ten days later, Mr. Li Zheng entered the village again.
Heavy snowfall made the roads difficult to walk, and the neighbors were in great pain. Another farmer's house was demolished, and the woman was caught to pay off a debt.
On the day of the Lantern Festival, several refugees from other counties happened to pass by Wangjiazhuang and went to beg for food from house to house, but they did not get a grain of rice. The three refugees were so angry that they cursed Dengzhou:
"Guapizi, you are a bunch of poor people! It's useless to have a son!"
At night, they huddled in front of a dilapidated house in the east of the village and warmed themselves by the fire.
The three people were originally farmers in Dengzhou. Like Wang Guojie, they lost their land and there was no work for them in the village. After selling their sons and daughters, they became refugees.
They lit a few dead trees on fire. The few outsiders didn't know that the dead trees were also the private property of Yan Shenggong.
But his life is almost gone, regardless of whether he is Duke Yansheng or the emperor.
The three of them talked about their experiences in the past two years together, which sounded like a collection of horror stories.
One of the tramps jumped into a well after the woman was kidnapped because he defaulted on rent payment from the landowner;
Another refugee was fined money because he failed to recite "Dazhongjue Mi Lu" three times, and then set the Wendeng County government office on fire and fled here;
Just as the third refugee was about to tell his story, he suddenly felt a chill behind him, as if something was staring at him. When he looked back, he heard a whooping sound and was so frightened that he almost fell into the fire.
On the wall behind him, a stooped man was suspended by a rope, his feet dangling in the air, floating in the wind...
The three refugees put the corpse down and searched it carefully. They found that the hanged ghost was so hungry that only skin and bones were left, and his orifices were black. He was probably a consumption ghost, so they gave up the plan of eating human flesh.
The three of them recalled things that happened long ago, and then thought about their respective experiences:
Who is to blame for this?
"It's the new emperor's fault!" said a refugee. "It's not him who's to blame.
who? "
"***The New Deal has enriched those landlords and destroyed us all,"
Although no one knows what the New Deal is, everything, including tenancy, famine, and harvest failure, are all related to the New Deal.
The refugees talked about God not sending the snow yet, and talked about where they would go to beg for food tomorrow, but the villagers in the surrounding villages seemed to be poorer than them...
It turned out that ten to twenty years ago, when the Emperor first ascended the throne, you only had to pay a small amount of land rent for farming, no more than 10%, which was huge. In those days, if you had food to eat and clothes to wear, you could become a soldier if you wanted to, and the landlords all disappeared...
Everyone was quiet for a while.
Remembering that they hadn't received any food today, the three of them started arguing about who was to blame.
"The emperor should be blamed! If not him, who should be blamed?"
"The emperor asked the gentlemen to talk about "Dazhongjue Milu" every day, saying that he was right and everyone who was wrong was a traitor."
The hanged ghost lying in the corner suddenly said quietly:
"Go to rebel, go to Liaodong! Become a rebel!"
