Suddenly several gongs rang, and the chickens in the house were strung together and the dogs kept barking. Several officials beat the gongs and shouted loudly: "The barbarians have invaded, and all life has been ruined. If you have money, give money, and if you have food, grain."
It’s strange, why did the government come to collect taxes not long after paying taxes?
What's more, it's February, a lean month. What does the family have that deserves the government's tax collection?
Butler Wu Jie hurriedly stepped forward to invite the official into the gate.
Hearing the sound of the gong, Zhao Ping came out of the backyard and hid under the yellow jue tree with Lan'er to secretly look at it.
An official took out the paperwork and posted it.
The main idea of the document is that in order to fight against the Hu people, the government wants to collect more than ten kinds of miscellaneous money such as general money and so on at one time.
Zhao Ping did not expect that there were so many taxes in the Southern Song Dynasty!
Moreover, there were several rural soldiers wearing Fanyang hats, holding guns and knives, standing majestically aside from the butler, and did not sit on the stool handed to them by the butler.
Is it difficult to escape this tax?
Unwilling to be reconciled, Wu Jie continued to serve tea and water to the officials. He said that he had all the good words and said that he was not in the business now and hoped that the officials would take it easy.
However, Xiang Jian, an official in his forties with a sinister face, suddenly slammed the tea in his hand on the table. With a "bang" sound, a lot of tea splashed out of the bowl. He slapped the table with his thick palm and shouted: "Steward Wu, today you will Let’s be honest, do you want to give it to me or not? Do you plan not to give it to me? Do you want to test whether the military master’s knife is sharp?”
Another kind-faced man named He Jie Xiangsi, who was about thirty years old, quickly held him down and said: "Sun Erlang, calm down your anger."
Unexpectedly, he turned around and said softly to Wu Jie: "Steward Wu, we also know that you are in trouble, but you must also understand your pain. You also know that the Hu people are attacking fiercely in Jiading, Tongchuan Prefecture, and Jinzhou. The soldiers The blood flowed like a river. To tell you the truth, our officials may seem majestic, but what is their salary? They are Huizi."
Having said this, he took out a few huizi and put them on the table, then his eyes turned red, and he said bitterly: "What huizi can be sold for now, not only that you can't enter the restaurant, but even the hawkers are not willing to take it. But listen When it comes to next month, there will be no party. Butler Wu, how can we go back to deliver errands to our wives and sons? Besides, Zhou Xiaoliang didn’t complete his errands yesterday and already got twenty slaps on his butt. Zhou Xiaoliang, come here and give me Butler Wu, take a look."
"Here we come." A lean official in his twenties limped into the courtyard from outside, his hands still covering his butt, which was bigger than a woman's.
Zhao Ping thought, this person's butt is so big, could it be stuffed with cotton or something like that?
Butler Wu opened his mouth to speak when his mother's gentle voice came: "Old man Wu, give them all the miscellaneous works."
Butler Wu's eyes were as wide as an ox's eyes and his face was red. He held his head high and waved his hands urgently: "Mother, we will have no food next month. We are all doing what we want. What should we do?"
After saying that, he seemed to lose all his strength and suddenly sat on the ground.
The few officials didn't care about this. They picked up the sacks and measuring buckets, pushed the donkey-drawn rickshaw, and immediately ran towards the family's granary like wolves and tigers.
Looking at the empty granary, Wu Tian hugged her grandchildren and cried bitterly.
Lan'er pulled Zhao Ping's sleeve to wipe her tears from crying. Cuizhu hugged her mother's right hand and kept sobbing.
But her mother hugged Zhao Ping tightly without saying a word.
Wu Di broke off a tree branch and left traces on the bluestone floor!
Wu Yun picked up stones one after another and threw them in the direction of the officials, cursing continuously: "Dogs kill talents."
Wu Tianshi cried for a while and said to the housekeeper: "I shouldn't have said this in the first place. I also saw it. One of the two officials was a bad person and the other was a good person. They also let the colleague get a gentle spanking on the buttocks. Instead of being heavy-handed, he actually stuffed cotton officials into deceiving his family's sympathy. There are so many miscellaneous gifts this time, which one of them can collect them all at once."
"Shut up, you stupid woman." Wu Jie raised his palm, about to slap her.
Wu Tianshi cried even harder, stretched out her face towards Wu Jie, took Wu Jie's right hand with both hands and slapped her face, saying: "Hit me, beat me, you will say it even if you are old."
My mother sighed and said softly: "Old man Wu, let's tell them."
Wu Jie closed the door to the front yard, looked at everyone, looked at Zhao Ping softly, then glared at him fiercely, and then said in a deep voice: "Today this is a confession, who may not be able to say it" Go out. We want to hide, but can we completely avoid it? Didn’t you see the officers and soldiers coming? They kept harassing me. Xiao Langjun’s body is still recovering. What should I do if something goes wrong? What’s more, the officers and soldiers are indeed coming. Jiading, Tongchuan Prefecture, and Jinzhou fought to the death with the Hu people. They have no pay, how can they fight against the Hu people on an empty stomach? This place is only more than a hundred miles away from there. What if the officers and soldiers mutiny? Do you want to go up and fight for your life? "
Wu Tianshi let go of Wu Jie's hand and looked back at her three grandchildren and Wu Jie while sobbing: "I know the truth, but we can't let the whole family starve."
Wu Jie closed his eyes and thought for a while and then said: "The collection of miscellaneous taxes is so urgent this time. It seems that the court is anxious, not just our family. There may be refugees by then. The mistress has already made preparations in the underground granary for emergencies. Spare food. This food is barely enough for the family to last until the summer grain harvest, but don’t expect three meals a day.”
A smile suddenly appeared on Mrs. Wu's face, and she stepped forward to express her deepest blessing to her mother: "I have not thought well of this, so please forgive me, mistress."
At this point, he suddenly knelt down.
Mother hurriedly stepped forward to help Wu Tianshi up and said, "My aunt is out of touch. I don't know how to run the house. I hope my aunt can forgive me."
Hearing this, Zhao Ping suddenly remembered that one of the real reasons for the defeat of the Song Dynasty in the late years was that the court had no money at the end of the war, and now he just felt the economic difficulties of the Song Dynasty.
Let yourself feel the heavy pressure and use your own efforts to revitalize the Song Dynasty's economy that is facing collapse.
The next day, my uncle and a group of five people suddenly came here. He has outstanding appearance, fair skin, black pleated shirt, purple gauze gown and long turban. He brought Zhao Ping a box of ginseng and a pack of candied haws.
My aunt is in her prime, wearing a light blue pleated skirt and a beaded crown on her upturned bun. She has fair skin and plump and enchanting figure. She is pulling her mother to talk about women.
A girl in light pink clothes, with a bun and pink makeup holding her aunt in one hand, looked at Zhao Ping carefully and then stared at Zhao Ping with her big eyes, full of hatred, and kept waving her little fist. .
This made Zhao Ping feel very puzzled. When did he offend this little loli?
When it was my uncle's turn to talk to my mother, my uncle always spoke hesitantly, which puzzled my mother. The uncle glanced at the housekeeper Wu Jie and the four maids. His mother waved gently, and the housekeeper and the two maids closed the door and went out.
The aunt lightly touched the uncle with her elbow, and the uncle coughed, and then finally said: "Yue Niang, you must have suffered a lot from this government tax collection."
My mother nodded, stared at her uncle and said, "If anything happens, brother, just tell me."
The uncle sighed, and then said: "Yue Niang's family still lacks a pillar. As far as Brother Yu knows, the miscellaneous gifts of those powerful families have been reduced by at least half or more this time. Brother Yu has a classmate who has won the lottery. Fa Jie test, my family has a lot of wealth, my wife passed away not long ago, and I am looking for a replacement, my little sister, can I see if it is suitable?"
When Zhao Ping heard that his uncle wanted to find a father for him, and a stranger suddenly came to be his father, he felt uncomfortable. He glared at his uncle and aunt hatefully, stretched his hand towards his mother's sleeve, and pulled her. , hoping to hold her hand and not agree.
My mother put the tea bowl on the table and said calmly: "Thank you for your love, brother, but my little sister is determined not to marry twice in this life."
My aunt also stepped forward and took my mother's right hand, and then said: "Yue Niang, this world is a man's world. When we are women, don't we marry into a good family? Now while you are young and beautiful, it is just the right time for you to marry me." If you marry yourself, besides, the juren has said that he will treat Ping'er as his adopted son."
What made Zhao Ping happy was that her mother said word by word: "Once again, I will never marry twice in this life."
My aunt became anxious and blurted out: "Yue Niang, what other options do you have? Lijia Village has already expelled you."
Zhao Ping thought to himself, it was just a good time for him to start his own business!
My mother suddenly covered her forehead with her hands, swayed a few times, and suddenly fell softly from the stool to the ground.
The aunt was so panicked that she forgot to support her, covered her mouth with her right hand and screamed.
Zhao Ping struggled to lift his mother up from the ground. At this time, his aunt also woke up and helped her mother sit down on the armchair, but her mother was still unconscious.
It seems that my mother was hit hard!
It seems that I must become independent as soon as possible!
But he had no silver or copper coins!
No starting capital required!
You have to think of a way!
