A mountain village near Duangu.
This place was not far from the county seat. The Chu army was advancing slowly along the official road. Looking at the smoke from the cooking pots hundreds of meters away, Ji Shu suddenly became curious.
"Come on, let's go over and take a look."
"is teacher."
Lu Xun waved his hand, and immediately a commander took Baiqi to the small mountain village to investigate first.
Ji Shu and Lu Xun led more than a hundred people and walked slowly along the trail.
When I got closer, I saw a small village with about a hundred households in the middle of a large stretch of fertile land. A simple fence is built around each house. The main body of the house is mainly made of earthen walls and grass roofs. A large wooden archway is erected at the entrance of the village with the three characters "Zhujiacun" written on it.
The arrival of the soldiers had obviously disturbed the people in the village, but the Yulin Army soldiers did not enter the houses, but only set up guard outside the village.
Seeing that the soldiers did not enter the house to rob the house, the village chief bravely stepped forward to ask, and then waved the onlookers to go back.
"Zhu Xu, the head of Zhujia Village, pays homage to your lord."
The village chief who was waiting at the entrance of the village immediately knelt down and bowed when he saw Ji Shu and others approaching.
Ji Shu quickly stepped forward, helped the middle-aged man in front of him, and said.
"There is no need to be polite, village chief. Our soldiers often disturb you when passing by here, so I just stopped by to take a look."
When Ji Shu said this, the village chief Zhu Xu did not dare to take it seriously. He bowed his head and apologized with a smile.
"My lord is joking, don't bother me, don't bother me, my lord, just watch as you like."
Seeing that the middle-aged man in front of him looked like he was afraid of offending him, Ji Shu didn't say much and just walked casually in the village.
There are not many cattle in the village. When I turned around, I seemed to only see two. Not many families kept livestock. Ji Shu only saw four or five chickens in the yards of three households.
Compared with the villages Ji Shu visited, this place is quite poor. I dare not say that the entire countryside of Chu State is very rich now, but at least when Ji Shu passed through Yizhou, he saw many more cattle and livestock in the villages than here.
Seeing that there was a house nearby that did not have a fence around it, but had a stone table and piled a few stones as stone benches. Ji Shutu planted a big tree next to him for shade and sat down casually.
When the village chief Zhu Xu saw this, he hurriedly shouted into the house.
"Lao Qi, I'm here to have a rest. If you have any tea at home, please bring it up!"
Ji Shu wanted to say that there was no need for tea, but there was already a ping-pong-pong sound in the room, which startled Ji Shu. Before Ji Shu could say anything, a young man in his twenties was already carrying a large shabby The teapot walked out the door.
"Come on, come on, we only have some bitter tea that we grow here, and the merchants who come and go don't accept it, for fear that the officials won't be used to it."
With an honest smile on his face, the man named Lao Qi closed the door, placed a large bowl in front of Ji Shu, poured the tea and stood aside.
Ji Shu was silent for a moment, then grabbed the bowl and took a sip. Even though he was prepared in his heart, the bitterness also made him frown slightly. After swallowing, there was only a hint of sweetness.
"The tea is not bad."
Lao Qihan, who was standing by the side, smiled and nodded, while Zhu Xu seemed to relax a little and showed a smile.
"My lord, you are joking. We usually just keep the crude tea here for ourselves, and there is really no need to entertain us. It's okay, my lord, you don't mind."
Ji Shu raised his head and asked curiously.
"Village chief, I heard that the people in Duangu County were robbed of their food by the Qin army. Are your surrounding villages okay?"
"Here, several villages around here have not been robbed. Xu is an official, Qin, Qin soldiers should hurry up."
Zhu Xu had a few drops of sweat on his forehead. The county seat was only twenty miles away. He was also surprised when he learned the news yesterday. He was secretly glad that Zhujiacun had escaped.
Now this group of soldiers and horses are coming from the south. They are obviously the Chu State's army. Zhu Xu knows it in his heart, but he doesn't know what kind of changes these Chu State's officers and soldiers will bring. Feeling uneasy, he had no choice but to answer whatever he wanted.
Ji Shu saw Zhu Xu's nervous face, his smile did not diminish, and he looked at Zhu Laoqi aside.
"Old Qi, how many people are there in your family?"
Zhu Laoqi scratched his face and replied with a red face.
"There are only two people at home, my wife and I, but I only have one piece of clothing, so my wife hides in the house and doesn't dare to come out to meet guests."
"You only have one piece of clothing at home?"
Not only Ji Shu was stunned, but Lu Xun, who had been following behind silently, couldn't help but widen his eyes and exclaimed.
Zhu Laoqi did not answer, but his face looked even more embarrassed.
Ji Shu's trip was to get a deeper understanding of Qin's situation, but the current situation was beyond his expectation.
"Village chief, how much of the harvest will be paid in Qin's taxes?"
Zhu Xu was a little embarrassed just now and said sarcastically after hearing this.
"Government, the old government had more than a dozen taxes, which changed frequently. The single field tax was twenty to one, but there were also poll taxes, vehicle and boat taxes, and many more. When all were paid, the harvest would usually be 30%."
"Lao Qi's family is a little poorer because the land was used to pay off debts earlier. Now he is farming for the master in Tianshui City and has to pay 20% more rent."
Ji Shu felt a little heavy in his heart.
Under the rule of the Qin State, the people seemed to still be living in the late Han Dynasty with heavy taxes and exorbitant taxes, but no natural disasters had yet to become the last straw for them.
"You have to eat by your own strength. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It's just that half of the harvest has been handed over. Do you have enough to eat?"
Zhu Xu and Zhu Laoqi were both a little surprised after hearing Ji Shu's words, and their expressions became much better. Zhu Laoqi replied with a silly smile.
"Enough, enough."
Is it really enough?
Looking at their sallow complexions and thin muscles, Ji Shu already had the answer in his mind.
"Why not escape to the Chu State. The land in the Chu State is owned by the imperial court, and there is no need to pay rent to the aristocratic families. Although the new fields opened by the refugees have small yields, they are rent-free for the first three years, and then twenty-one taxes are paid. Although the land tax changes occasionally, The State of Chu implemented a one-tax law, with no miscellaneous taxes. Over the years, the largest land tax did not exceed one tax per ten."
Both of them were stunned, as if they didn't expect that someone would advise them to flee to another place. Zhu Xu had long guessed that the soldiers and horses coming to the village were soldiers and horses from the Chu Kingdom in the south. Naturally, the man in front of him was also an official from the Chu Kingdom. He touched his nose and replied.
"There are indeed some rumors that the taxes in Chu State are very light, but most people in the village heard what they heard from a few caravans who came and went. I don't know whether it is true or not. Most people are not willing to give up everything and leave their hometown to gamble. Moreover, life can be lived if it is a little harder. Those who are caught by the pass defenders and flee to foreign countries will be directly reduced to slaves and sent to the army or sold to brothels or farms."
Ji Shu was silent, and the Chu State eradicated its dependence on the fields and established guilds, factories, hospitals, schools, and escort agencies. Before the aristocratic families had even recovered, they had already built a strong foundation in all aspects such as production, roads, logistics, medical care, and knowledge. The huge state dependence system has made the imperial court's influence on the people unprecedentedly expanded.
The Qin State, on the other hand, strengthened its direct control over the people, and instead traced the system of dependence back to slavery during the Warring States Period. The aristocratic families benefited from it, and the more expanded aristocratic families also fully supported Dong Zhuo's rule. If this development continues, when the war is over and the Qin State unifies the world, they will find that the family has become a cancer that affects the rule of the court. However, the problem is that the Qin State is simply unable to unify the world. During the war, these aristocratic families will become Dong Zhuo's strength to resist the Chu army.
Ji Shu touched his chin. Which one was better or worse was not just a matter of words. As the commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, he had only one thing to do - win.
"Oh, it's time for me to leave. Boyan, you will ask the soldiers to bring a cart of food later, and send a bag of rice to each household."
Lu Xun was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
Village chief Zhu Xu and Zhu Laoqi were overjoyed when they heard this and thanked them repeatedly. Zhu Xu enthusiastically led the way and saw Ji Shu and others off at the entrance of the village.
