Jiangxi, Ngee'an, Dabi Village.
The village is not big, with about thirty households.
Surrounded by mountains and trees, the mountain road out here is winding and winding.
Looking along the mountain road towards the village, you can see large and small rice fields scattered around the village. The grains of the rice in the field are full, and the yellow and clear grains bend the rice.
This year will be a good harvest.
The sun was shining brightly, and the billowing heat waves seemed to be radiating from the ground, making people feel like they just wanted to stay in the shade without moving.
In the field, an old man shouldered his farm tools and prepared to walk to a big tree not far from the rice field. It seems that he has finished the farm work here and is going to enjoy the coolness under the shade of the trees.
Calling him an old man is a bit much. He is only in his thirties, because he usually does hard farm work and lacks oil and water supplies. Being exposed to the scorching sun all day long, there is no need to take care of it. Therefore, people in their thirties live like they are nearly fifty or sixty years old.
At this moment, the "old man" who was close to the shade of the tree found that there was another person enjoying the shade. He walked over naturally, put down the shovel on his shoulder, and sat on the wooden handle.
"King Damu, have you heard? There is a rebellion in the south." After the old man sat down, he turned his head and looked at the man in the shade of the tree and said.
"Oh, it's Brother Liu San! It scared me." Wang Damu said as if he suddenly came to his senses.
"That's when you noticed it was me? What are you thinking about, a woman? Haha..." Liu Laosan joked.
"I miss your sister." King Damu said angrily.
"Haha... I don't have a sister for you to think about." Liu Laosan laughed.
"What did you just say?" Wang Damu asked.
"I said there is a rebellion in the south, have you heard about it?" Liu Laosan said loudly to Wang Damu.
"I heard. I heard from the servants of the rich man Li that they have all invaded our Jiangxi province." Wang Damu replied.
"No. I heard from the village chief that the court may increase taxes again." Liu Laosan sighed, turned his head to look at the rice fields covered with yellow millet and said, "You damn rebel, okay?" It's easy to have a good year. I'm also thinking that I can sell more millet when the harvest is harvested, and then buy some more pieces of meat for the boy at home to eat, so that he can grow some meat."
"Hey, it's not possible, I will definitely increase it. Don't even think about buying any meat. It will be good if this year's harvest can survive the additional tax. I heard from the servants of Rich Master Li's family that what they are most afraid of is that they have to catch young men." Wang Damu said Then he lowered his voice unnaturally.
"Capture young men? No way. Even if you want to arrest them, you shouldn't come to a remote place like ours to arrest them." Liu Laosan said in horror.
"I hope so!" Wang Damu sighed and replied.
The sun was still scorching, and the sunlight shone through the gaps in the dense leaves. The cicada's chirping that had just stopped became noisy again.
a few days later
Most of the rice in the fields has been harvested.
"Dang...dang...dang...dang..."
The rapid ringing of gold sounded in the village, and every household was notified to gather in the village's grain drying field.
Liu Laosan followed everyone in the village to the grain drying field. He saw the village chief, two government officials standing next to the chief, and seven or eight people with swords and guns in their hands and wearing Qing soldier uniforms standing there talking. .
As people from the village continued to gather, the village chief saw that everyone was almost here and stopped waiting.
"Everyone, please calm down and listen to me." Village Chief Liu Shiman waved and shouted.
After Liu Shiman finished speaking, everyone looked at him quietly. The village chief is really insignificant in the eyes of the people in the yamen, but for the villagers who rarely go to the county seat, the village chief is the sky above their heads.
"Everyone must have known these days that rebels have appeared in the south. The imperial court has spent a lot of money and food to suppress the rebels, and now the treasury is empty. For this reason, a special 'anti-thief tax' has been levied."
"I wonder how much it will be levied?" Someone in the crowd in front of Liu Shiman asked anxiously.
Everyone knows about the tax increase, but no one knows how much it will increase. Sooner or later, they will have to suffer this blow. The villagers just hope that the court can cut it lightly this time, so that they can have a chance to eat more bowls of dry rice.
"Each household received seven taels of tin silver and one stone of tax and grain." Liu Shiman said a little helplessly.
Although Liu Shiman, as the village chief, can be exempted from tax and grain, the broken silver is still unavoidable. The weight of miscellaneous taxes this time was completely beyond Liu Shiman's expectation, and it exceeded the imperial summer tax.
As soon as Liu Shiman said this, the villagers were in an uproar. Many people wanted to directly scold the imperial court, but when they saw the government officials and Qing soldiers here and did not dare to cause trouble, they had no choice but to scold the rebels desperately.
However, what the villagers did not expect was that Liu Shiman's next words were even more difficult for them to accept.
"In addition to collecting money this time, the imperial court also requires every household with two Ding members to provide one Ding member to defend against the enemy."
"What…"
At this moment, someone finally shouted uncomfortably.
"Village chief, can you give me more money and food, but no more members?"
"Yes, Shangguan said. Anyone who can contribute ten taels can be exempted from serving as a Ding member." Liu Shiman replied.
"Twelve..."
Ten taels of silver is not worth mentioning in the eyes of officials, and it is an easy thing for wealthy people. However, for farmers who only have to cultivate two acres of land with their faces facing the loess and their backs to the sky, it is really an astronomical figure. Even they themselves believe that even if they sell themselves, they may not be worth ten taels.
Twelve taels is enough to deter many common people, knowing that they will die but they can only accept the draw from the court. You might be able to avoid this disaster by borrowing money, but after nine departures and thirteen returns, the days to come will be worse than death.
No one dared to resist, because anyone who dared to resist the court's orders would have their entire family beheaded. The government officials even warned Liu Shiman without any concealment that if he dared to visit any village, he would be slaughtered by the soldiers and horses from the imperial court. Therefore, Liu Shiman also advised the villagers not to lose big because of small things.
…
"Dad, you must come back. Gouwa and I are waiting for you at home." Liu Laosan's wife cried and sent her son off all the way, just to see Liu Laosan a few more times.
Since ancient times, many people have returned to the battlefield, but they have been alone to miss and shed tears.
For the sake of his son and wife, Liu Laosan had no choice but to accept his fate and pay the "anti-thief tax" and then left with the Qing army.
"Boom..."
There was an explosion of artillery shells, and the powerful air wave directly threw Liu Laosan, who was panicking on the battlefield, up and down.
Liu Laosan felt his eyes go dark, and a tear flowed from the corner of his eye at the moment he lost consciousness.
"My dear, I'm sorry, it seems I can't go back."
"Bang...bang...bang..."
At this time, the sound of artillery fire on the battlefield finally stopped, but the continuous sound of volleys of gunfire rang out.
"Damn it, this rebel is so shameless just because he is powerful with firearms, how can we fight this battle?" Fu Heng, who was looking at the battlefield, couldn't help but cursed loudly.
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