When the old woman talked about this, she felt bitter, and her expression gradually darkened: "Not only is it a famine, the grass woman also heard some shocking rumors a few days ago, and the villages to the east are already in a state of misfortune."
What? !
Eat by exchanging children?
Qin Feng's heart sank. He knew that Pingyao County was suffering, but he didn't expect it to be so painful.
Under Qin Feng's repeated urging, the old woman gradually told the truth.
"Pingyao County has neither water shortage nor rainfall. There is neither drought nor flood. However, in recent years, floods have been occurring in the south. Countless hungry people have fled. In addition, county government officials have been unable to take office. The county government has long been Abandoned and lacking control, countless hungry people poured into Pingyao County."
"Although they are all poor people and understand their own difficulties, it doesn't matter if the hungry people come here. They will not let go of anything they can eat. The fields have been destroyed, the vegetation has been destroyed, and even the fish and shrimps in the rivers and ponds have been caught. Jing. This Pingyao County was originally a prosperous place, but in just three years, it was destroyed."
After hearing this, Qin Feng wanted to be angry, but he couldn't find a reason to be angry. After all, the hungry people had no choice but to do so.
Qin Feng sighed: "Because the hungry people disturbed us, why can't we collect the food tax?"
The grass woman suddenly became angry: "Why can't we collect it? The thirty-six counties in Kyoto are so rich. In the past few years, the tax was thirty to one. I heard that there were continuous wars on the border. In recent years, it was changed to fifteen to one. Master Qin, can you? Do you know the taxes in Pingyao County? They are five taxes and one tax, and they are collected every year and never fail!"
Qin Feng has always had a big heart, and he thinks he has a strong endurance, but when he heard the old woman's remarks, he was still furious.
The so-called "five taxes and one" means that one-fifth of all grains are paid to the land tax. If other taxes are added up, let alone food, it is worth the sky to save seeds!
You know, even in the most difficult time, Daliang only received one tax per fifteen.
The tax rate in Pingyao County is actually three times higher than in other places!
The most irritating thing is that the hungry people from the south are destroying the fields. The people are already unable to make ends meet, but the grain tax is not in vain every year. However, the county government has a huge deficit in grain tax. Doesn't all the grain tax collected go to the government? Zhou Yufu's pocket?
No! It's in Gao Ming's pocket!
Forced taxation and the influx of hungry people turned Xiaoqiang County into a poor county with starvation and death in just a few years.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Qin Feng would never believe that such a thing could happen around Kyoto, at the feet of the emperor!
Qin Feng took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, reached out and gently touched the old woman's shoulder, and said sincerely: "I already know the difficulties of Pingyao County. There is one last question, why are there more women than men in Pingyao County?"
Whether in the county or in the countryside, 70% of the people Qin Feng met were women, and the remaining men were all old, weak, sick and disabled.
That's fine if it's at the border. After all, when enemy troops invade, most of the time they only kill men, leaving women a way to survive.
It's not that the enemy soldiers are kind-hearted, but they just regard women as livestock. In the future, if they conquer the territory, they can let the women reproduce for themselves.
In troubled times, both men and women suffer equally, but men lose their lives, while women lose their dignity and human rights.
Pingyao County is located in the hinterland of Daliang. How could there be such a situation where there are more women than men?
When asked about this, the old woman was filled with righteous indignation and shouted loudly: "Zhou Yufu threatened that the reason why Pingyao County is in such pain is because of poor water conservancy, so he asked the strong men in the county to build water conservancy. I heard the man who escaped said, where It was to build water conservancy, and he was obviously going to plant sugar cane! Hearing that the sugar industry in Kyoto was very profitable, Zhou Yufu took up the idea of sugar industry..."
This time, Qin Feng was completely annoyed.
A small servant of a Taiwei is actually more cruel than a tyrant, and he dares to do hard labor without authorization!
In addition to the influx of hungry people, the appalling taxation of five to one tax, coupled with the arrests and hard labor, and the increase in layers, this is why Pingyao County is so miserable.
and……
That Zhou Yufu actually stole Qin Feng's business and got involved in the sugar industry?
Qin Feng gritted his teeth and said word by word: "Okay, okay! I know everything."
Just when Qin Feng turned around angrily, the old woman shouted: "Master Qin, when can you cure Zhou Yufu? A year and a half? March or May? It's good for this poor woman to have hope."
Qin Feng took a deep breath and said word by word: "It won't take that long, one night is enough...Tomorrow morning, let the people go to the city gate to admire Zhou Yufu's head!"
The old woman was extremely excited and was about to kneel down to thank her, but she heard a sneer coming from not far away.
"Hahaha, as expected of Master Qin, he speaks with great style."
"My master has been operating in Pingyao County for so many years, and you actually want to destroy it overnight? Hahaha, what a shameless statement!"
"You still think this is Kyoto and you can do whatever you want?"
Looking for a sound, he saw a middle-aged man in black, riding a tall horse, slowly walking into the village. At the same time, torches flickered around the village, which had already been surrounded by Zhou Yufu's men, three levels inside and three outside. I can't tell how many there are at a glance, but I guess it's a few hundred people at least.
These people all dressed like domestic servants, but the weapons in their hands were all imperial standards.
Apparently Zhou Yufu had already emptied the county government offices and armed his servants with the weapons of the imperial court.
I have seen bold people, but I have never seen such bold people.
Qin Feng secretly sighed. Compared with Zhou Yufu, he, the most ruthless person in Kyoto who is known as fearless, has to stand back a little.
It's also a bad thing. The higher the official position, the more careful one's words and deeds are, for fear that if one is not careful, he will be doomed.
On the contrary, the squires entrenched in the county were more ruthless than the others.
Is this what the old saying goes, it's easy to deal with the king of hell, but it's difficult to deal with the kid?
The old woman had never seen such a battle before, and her face turned pale with fright.
Qin Feng didn't take it seriously and said softly: "Auntie, you go back to the house and hide first. I will solve this matter in a minute."
Although the old woman didn't know how Qin Feng should solve the problem, she had no choice but to believe Qin Feng at this time, and she quickly ran back to the house with her daughter.
At the same time, Shufeng and Li Lang had already set up their stance and were ready to fight.
The middle-aged man held the reins with one hand and walked over slowly. Seeing that Qin Feng was still calm and composed, he couldn't help but sneer: "Qin Feng, I know that you are gaining power in Kyoto, and even the Minister of Order wants to avoid you. Three points. Unfortunately, this is not Kyoto. It’s just a matter of words to make you disappear..."
"Even if the six departments gathered together, plus Dali Temple sent out all the famous detectives, they couldn't even hope to find out anything! If you kneel down and surrender, and work for my master from now on, your life will be spared."
Hearing this, Qin Feng couldn't help but laugh out loud, with his hands on his hips, without any sense of nervousness about his life hanging by a thread: "You speak so boldly! Dare I ask this big brother, what is his background?"
Qin Feng actually called himself eldest brother? The middle-aged man's head was almost raised to the sky, and he said proudly: "I am a high-ranking official!"
