Zhou Yufu's voice became deeper and deeper: "The scribe suffered a stroke. It will be difficult to recover for a while, and I'm afraid he won't be able to bear this heavy responsibility."
Qin Feng felt funny in his heart.
As Zhou Yufu said, the issue of taxation should be handled by officials.
No matter how rich Zhou Yufu is, no matter how powerful he is in Pingyao County, it will not be his turn to intervene, let alone the money from his pocket to make up for the shortfall in food taxes.
This was obviously a bribe to Qin Feng.
As the saying goes, one has a short hand and a shallow tongue. After accepting these thirty thousand taels of silver, Qin Feng can return to Beijing to report on his work and convey the peace that Zhou Yufu and others have carefully whitewashed to the saint.
At that time, the Ministry of Civil Affairs will continue to dispatch officials to Pingyao County.
If he colludes with Zhou Yufu and others, he can secure his position.
If you refuse to go along with others, another "accident" will inevitably happen.
In the current national war, the territory of Daliang is in danger, but these moths pop up one after another, endangering one side and making Daliang's already tight treasury even worse.
It also gave the officials reasons to send themselves to places again and again.
This is so fucking amazing!
As the old saying goes, "In order to deal with foreign affairs, you must first settle the domestic affairs." Now that I think about it, it makes so much sense.
Qin Feng reached out to take the banknote and handed it to Qin Xiaofu. He looked at Zhou Yufu with a smile: "Is there any bank in Pingyao County?"
Bank?
Zhou Yufu murmured in his heart, not knowing what Qin Feng was going to do, but considering that Qin Feng had already accepted the 30,000 taels of silver, it was a reassurance, so he didn't worry too much: "Of course there are banks. Could it be that Mr. Qin wants to exchange the silver?" ?”
Qin Feng shrugged: "What else? I can't go to the bank to eat, right?"
Zhou Yufu's eyes flashed with embarrassment, and he forced a smile: "Haha, Mr. Qin is so funny."
humor? More humorous things are yet to come!
Qin Feng immediately sent Qin Xiaofu to the bank to exchange the banknotes for cash and two large wooden boxes of silver ingots. The largest was fifty taels and the smallest was five taels.
Qin Feng casually picked up a five-liang ingot and walked towards the alley next to him with Zhou Yufu and other wealthy gentry looking puzzled.
Seeing Qin Feng suddenly change his inspection route, Zhou Yufu was startled and ran after him: "Sir, this alley is deep and deep. If something goes wrong, the common people cannot bear it."
Qin Feng pretended not to hear and just walked deeper. After a while, a small door appeared in front of him. He pushed hard and the courtyard door was locked. He then slapped it: "Is there anyone at home?"
Zhou Yufu, whose face was full of flattery just now, suddenly turned gloomy. He quickly winked at the wealthy gentleman accompanying him, and the wealthy gentleman immediately turned around and left.
Qin Feng knocked for a long time, but no one in the yard answered.
Zhou Yufu forced out a smile: "Sir, maybe the master of the house is not here. You must be tired after walking all the way. Why not, let the common people send you back to the restaurant first, and then prepare a table of good wine and food, and wait for you to rest. It’s not too late to continue patrolling tomorrow.”
tomorrow? I'm afraid the whole city has been evacuated by you!
Qin Feng ignored Zhou Yufu's dissuasion, turned to glance at Li Lang who was accompanying him, and grinned: "Li Laoer, do me a favor and open the door."
Li Lang was quite dissatisfied with this title, but considering that he was in disguise at this time, it was difficult to compete with Qin Feng, so he impatiently walked to the courtyard door, kicked it up, and the courtyard door fell down.
Under the gaze of Zhou Yufu with furrowed brows and unkind eyes, Qin Feng went straight into the courtyard and opened a door at random. With the help of the faint moonlight, he could vaguely see two black figures, one large and one small, sitting on the earthen bed.
Moreover, the two people were obviously hugging each other, looking extremely nervous.
Qin Feng took the fire fold from Qin Xiaofu and shook it forward. He saw a mother and son.
The woman appears to be in her twenties, and the boy is two or three years old. He is curled up and held in his mother's arms.
Feeling the fear in the woman's eyes, Qin Feng tried his best to keep his tone as gentle as possible: "Don't be afraid, I am an official who was ordered to patrol. It is too dark in this room. Come out and I will ask you a few questions." .”
In order to win the woman's trust, Qin Feng took the lead in exiting the house and stood in the yard waiting for a long time before seeing the woman walk out in fear.
Seeing that Zhou Yufu was also present, the woman's eyes were obviously filled with fear, and her legs could not stop shaking.
Qin Feng looked around the yard and saw that the yard was extremely clean, even too clean, so he asked softly: "Woman, have you had dinner?"
The woman shook her head subconsciously, and when she heard Zhou Yufu's light cough, she nodded immediately.
Qin Feng already knew it in his heart. He turned his eyes to the boy in his arms and asked softly: "How old is your son?"
After a long time, the woman replied shakily: "Four... four years old."
A four-year-old boy can run around like crazy. The boy in the woman's arms is thin and small, only about two years old at most.
Qin Feng approached decisively and reached out to touch the boy.
The confusion in his eyes was instantly replaced by coldness.
This feeling is not soft and tender baby fat, but hard bones! Especially the shoulder position, Qin Feng could even easily feel out the boy's skeleton.
Due to long-term malnutrition, the boy was completely skinny and bones. He was obviously very scared. His big eyes stared nervously at Qin Feng, but he could not make any cry.
Qin Fengji took notice, grabbed the woman's collar, and shouted loudly: "You witch, you are so courageous! How can a four-year-old boy be so hungry? Are you deliberately abusing him?" !According to the "Daliang Law", anyone who abuses an infant will be punished with three sticks! Come on, give me a beating!"
The punishment of three sticks is not beating three sticks, but breaking three fire and water sticks, which is almost the same as death penalty.
The woman was originally timid, but when Qin Feng yelled like this, she was instantly frightened and burst into tears: "My lord, you are wronged! Tiger poison does not eat its children. No matter how evil a civilian woman is, she will never treat her family like this." The child, it’s just that since the child was born, the women of the common people have had no milk to feed them.”
Hearing this, Qin Feng's eyes widened and he pretended to be fierce: "How dare you argue! If there is no milk, wouldn't there be millet porridge? As long as it is eaten in one bite, the child will not be so hungry."
It's okay not to mention this problem. The woman cried so much that she felt aggrieved and sad. She seemed to be willing to give up and wailed loudly: "If there was food, how could a peasant woman starve her child? A peasant woman has not eaten for three days. She only relies on chewing. Chopped wild vegetables, with saliva in mouth, slowly fed to the children. The men, parents, and parents-in-law of the peasant women have all starved to death! In such a big yard, we are the only orphans and widows left..."
Hearing these words, not to mention Qin Feng, Li Zhang was also stunned.
Li Lang always had a straight temper, his face was red with anger, and he yelled: "This is unreasonable! How can there be such evil behavior in this bright world!"
Seeing that Qin Feng's face was frighteningly dark, Zhou Yufu quickly pointed at the woman and reprimanded loudly: "You...you witch, don't talk nonsense. In this peaceful and prosperous age of Pingyao County, everyone has enough food and clothing, no one picks up things on the road, and no one closes the house at night. How can you?" Will it be as miserable as you said?!"
