Chapter 694: Travels to the North
The waiter's eyes were shining, and it was obvious that what he just said was from the bottom of his heart.
The scholar who was traveling with Wei Xiaozhi frowned and said unhappily, "You are the emperor's salary and you should share the country's worries. It's fine if you don't want to repay the court, but why are you speaking for the rebels?"
The waiter glanced at the angry scholar and nodded repeatedly: "Ah, yes, yes, yes, what the guest said is right."
Uh. I'm even angrier now, okay? Why does it sound so weird, as if I'm a child who's making trouble for no reason?
"What's your attitude? Say whatever you want to say. I'm not trying to stop you."
The waiter was helpless and wanted to find an excuse to get away with it.
Wei Xiaozhi laughed and said in a gentle voice, "Brother Yue Ping is straightforward and has no intention of making things difficult for you. Second brother, please forgive me and help Brother Yue Ping solve his puzzle. If he doesn't get the answer, I'm afraid he won't be able to sleep all night."
Although Wei Xiaozhi's face showed fatigue, it did not affect his elegant and calm temperament.
He smiled slightly and sat there quietly, like a snow lotus, noble and unparalleled.
Being stared at like this, Xiao Wai stopped complaining in his heart and even felt a faint sense of guilt.
The waiter whispered, "I don't eat the salary of the master. It is the shopkeeper who pays me. My salary will be high only if the inn's business is good, so I never slack off and work diligently."
The scholar was speechless, thought for a few seconds, and then said: "The whole world belongs to the king. Every time you drink a sip of water and step on a piece of land in Qingping Town, aren't you receiving the emperor's grace?"
The waiter was not convinced. Under Wei Xiaozhi's encouraging gaze, he boldly said, "I paid all the taxes! Land tax, head tax, water fee, firewood fee, which one did I not pay? At the beginning of this spring, Guangde Prefecture also added a hell tax. From the moment I was born to the moment I died, I never stopped paying taxes."
Local government tax?
Wei Xiaozhi learned that "Journey to the West" serialized in "Yunzhou Weekly" was widely acclaimed, and Guangde Prefecture was inspired by it and began to collect underworld taxes.
Anyone who died in Guangde Prefecture would be taxed, regardless of whether they chose to be cremated or buried, or even if they were just wrapped in a piece of torn straw mat.
Those who could not pay the taxes would throw their bodies into the mountains and forests to be eaten by wild beasts.
The scholars looked at each other in bewilderment: "The court does not have such a tax item, it must be the governor who is playing tricks."
"How can he be a governor and come up with such an outrageous tax item?"
Yue Ping coughed twice, and said with a guilty conscience: "Even if you paid the tax, you can live such a happy and stable life, without being invaded by foreign enemies or killed at will. Think about it carefully, whose credit is this?"
The waiter thought about it carefully.
Under Yue Ping's expectant gaze, he said firmly: "I figured it out now. It's all thanks to Duke Yun!"
Yue Ping was dumbfounded. This was not the answer he wanted: "Where did you get this from?"
The waiter counted on his fingers and said, "The Tartars were driven away by the people sent by Duke Yun. Before Xuanzhen County was under the control of Duke Yun, there were many bandits near us. As soon as Duke Yun came, the bandits disappeared. Not only that, there were also hooligans in our Qingping Town before, but a while ago, Duke Yun sent people to the town to maintain law and order, and they all stopped in an instant."
Yue Ping was speechless.
Wei Xiaozhi asked sharply, "Duke Yun sent people to Qingping Town? Why didn't you report it to the county government?"
The waiter looked away and squeaked, "What's there to report? They just had good intentions and sent someone to help."
After saying that, the waiter ran away.
Wei Xiaozhi left the inn and asked around, only then did he understand what had happened.
Li Jin suffered a great loss in Xuanzhen County, and all those who paid attention to this war were frightened by the Yunzhou cannon.
Whether it was the thieves in the mountains or the wealthy families in Qingping Town who had ulterior motives, they all ran to Xuanzhen County to surrender without waiting for Li Jin to lead his troops away.
Unexpectedly, although Yun Guogong Gu Nanxi accepted their surrender, he did not take this opportunity to push the front line forward to Qingping Town.
The mayor of Qingping Town convened a meeting with all the important figures in the town.
Someone suggested in the meeting that the reason why Duke Yun was unwilling to accept Qingping Town was probably because Qingping Town belonged to Jianping County and Duke Yun did not want to overly provoke the Great Zhou court.
This speculation was unanimously recognized by everyone.
But everyone wants to be stronger, especially after Xuanzhen County was captured by Duke Yun, things change every day.
Large quantities of food were transported in, and workers were being recruited everywhere, paying five cents a day, with two meals provided.
It doesn't matter if it's money or not, the key is to provide two meals! Do you know how expensive food is? It takes a lot of firewood to cook a meal!
It was obvious that Duke Yun had invested a huge amount of money.
I am not afraid of my relatives being poor, I am afraid that my relatives are rich while I am still poor.
Seeing that the people of Xuanzhen County were getting rich and were about to live a good life, the people living nearby were so envious that their eyes turned red.
Without further ado, they decided to move!
The same is true for Qingping Town.
When the mayor saw this, he immediately became anxious. There were few people in the town to begin with, and everyone had fled to Xuanzhen County. It was all over!
The mayor wrote three or four letters to Duke Yun, crying and asking for refuge, but Duke Yun politely declined.
Finally, a Taoist nun who often ate in the restaurant gave the mayor an idea.
The mayor was asked to write a letter asking for help, saying that too many people from Qingping Town wanted to go to Xuanzhen County via the Chain Bridge, which had a great impact on the normal production and life of Qingping Town. He requested Duke Yun to send people to help, especially the Chain Bridge, which had been damaged once by thieves. If it was damaged again, the consequences would be disastrous. He begged Duke Yun to send people to guard the Chain Bridge.
The mayor's words were sincere and his reasons were sufficient, so Duke Yun did not refuse.
Since Duke Yun had agreed to help, he naturally would not give them a perfunctory response. All he sent were soldiers from Yunzhou and students from Baichuan Academy.
The mayor's eyes were filled with tears, and he felt that what the nun said at that time was so right: "What does it matter whether you have a title or not? The people who protect Qingping Town are the people of Yun Guogong, and the people who manage Qingping Town are also the people of Yun Guogong. We eat the food of Yun Guogong and pay taxes to Yun Guogong. When the time comes, it's nothing more than a matter of changing the flag!"
Wei Xiaozhi and Yue Ping were walking on the street, with common people who came to seek refuge sitting on both sides of the road.
Fully armed teams patrolled the streets from time to time, and no one dared to cause trouble.
Because there were too many people wanting to cross the Chain Bridge, in order to avoid a stampede, the soldiers responsible for guarding the Chain Bridge registered the names of the people and set the time to cross the bridge according to the order of their arrival at Qingping Town, by village.
Yue Ping listened to them talking about when they could cross the bridge, where to rest, and where to report after crossing the bridge.
Yue Ping sighed: "Duke Yun is quite ambitious."
It is obvious that Xuanzhen County has made preparations to receive this group of people.
Wei Xiaozhi observed his surroundings intently. Besides anxiety, the faces of the people showed more relaxation and peace of mind.
"Look at the bright side. Gu Nanxi also wants to stop the war."
Oh, it’s not the traitor Gu Nanxi, it’s Gu Nanxi.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com