This place is only two hundred miles away from Zhiyou's palace, but there are groups of beggars on the streets of a county town, and the yamen runners and legal advisors are looting them extensively.

Jiang Yu was so angry that he was about to burst out. Chen Xinli noticed his state and signaled him to restrain himself first.

On this side, only Fan Yamen was heard quietly saying to the people drinking at the table: "Master Li, to be honest, I think it's better to follow you than to follow the county lieutenant, the chief clerk and others. From now on, we will all follow you. What do you think?"

The lawyer's mouth curled up slightly. He thought, it was because he had solved the tax problem of several recent refugee villages. In order to take advantage of the opportunity to make more money from those people, these yamen runners were used to changing their attitude according to the situation.

However, he still chuckled and said, "How can that be? I am doing things for the adults. As long as the adults give orders, I will obey them."

"It's easy to talk to the lord." The bailiff also smiled.

"No one must be killed." The lawyer pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Of course, I won't cause trouble for myself." Seeing that the legal advisor agreed, the yamen runner was in a good mood and sent all the good wine and food to the legal advisor. He finally had time to look at Chen Xinli and the others out of the corner of his eye.

Seeing that the servant Fan kept glancing at them, Xu Huai and his men immediately drew their swords. The servant Fan thought they were people from the underworld and dared not look at them anymore.

He continued to whisper with the master.

Listening to these people's conversation, Jiang Yu's mood fell to the bottom.

The agreement signed with Beirong includes compensation, and now the people of Dali have to repay this debt.

When he left the Shu King's palace, he had already discussed with his uncle the matter and decided to put this year's taxes on hold. After all, the plague in Shu had only just ended, and it would take time to resume farming. Why was there another labor tax here?

After about half an hour, after having a full meal, these people left in a swagger and headed towards their next destination, a place called Zhangzhuang.

The shopkeeper called the waiter out to clean the table with a look of despair. Looking at the mess of cups and plates on the table, he was so angry that the corners of his mouth trembled.

After cleaning up, he walked towards Chen Xinli, Jiang Yu and the others with a dejected look on his face, "My apologies, distinguished guests. We just ran out of ingredients to entertain you, and we're still short of a serving of mouth-watering chicken."

"It's okay," Jiang Yu said in a deep voice, his expression having returned to normal.

The shopkeeper felt relieved. When it was time to pay the bill, Chen Xinli asked curiously, "Shopkeeper, do you know where there is an inn here?"

"Inn?" The shopkeeper shook his head and sighed, "There are no inns in our county anymore."

"Why is that?"

Jiang Yu also looked at the shopkeeper, but heard him say, "Hey, what else could it be? The commercial taxes are too heavy, and small shops can't afford it, so they're all leaving!"

After looking around, the shopkeeper dared to utter a small complaint: "If officials like today come to eat a few more times, this fifty-year-old shop will be unable to bear it."

Jiang Qi thought for a long time, and when he saw the silver that Jiang Yu took out to pay the bill, he suddenly said, "Grandpa, you mean, they didn't pay you for the meal."

"Oh, young master, don't you dare talk nonsense," the shopkeeper was shocked.

"It seems we have to go meet the county magistrate here." Jiang Yu was silent for a moment and said in a stern voice.

"Don't you dare act recklessly." The shopkeeper waved his hands repeatedly. "The county magistrate is a man of his word. If he wants to throw you young masters into jail, you will be in dire straits."

"Thank you for the reminder, shopkeeper." Chen Xinli responded to the shopkeeper with a smile.

"You must be from out of town. There are no more posthouses in Ziyun County. Even the innkeepers have run away.

After the plague last year, most of the people in our county were killed or injured. We were lucky that the King of Shu sent people to distribute medicinal materials, so we survived. We thought we had hope for the future.

Unexpectedly, in the spring, a new county magistrate took office. Various grain taxes, labor taxes, silk taxes, and commercial taxes emerged one after another. This government simply doesn't care about the lives of the people. "The shopkeeper's face was full of bitterness.

"Hey, I'm being too nosy. Why am I telling you all this?" The shopkeeper scratched his head and said very considerately, "If you don't mind, our shop does have two bedrooms where you can take a short break."

In the middle of the night, when I was about to take a rest, I heard someone knocking on the door outside the shop.

“Bang, bang, bang!”

"Open the door. Whoever's inside, open the door for me!"

“Bang!

The ghost guardian who was knocked unconscious had his hands and feet tied up and was kept together with the mules and horses. He had just woken up and was groaning for food with his hungry stomach. When he heard someone knocking at the door, he had to return to his original place.