Chen Yushan would hang himself? That would be the biggest joke of the year!
Qin San Niang stepped forward to examine it and indeed found that the ligature marks on the neck were crisscrossed, indicating that the person had been murdered and the death had been staged. But who had done it? Oh well! In any case, it saved her the trouble of doing it herself.
After their master fell, it seemed that all the henchmen of Chen's Tavern vanished overnight. Perhaps realizing the dire situation, most took what they could, leaving only the steward, Wang Laishun, to keep the tavern afloat. But as a mere steward, he was hardly taken seriously by anyone, and within a few days, he left. Rumor has it that he took a woman of low social standing from the Drunken Red Pavilion with him, having redeemed her before he left…
After sighing over all of this, Qin San Niang realized that this was a real-life example of "when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter"!
Three days later, news came from the prefectural city that the prefect had ordered the conscription of soldiers!
To put it nicely, it's called conscription; to put it bluntly, it's about robbing people to start a war!
When Chen Sheng relayed the news to everyone, the villagers were stunned and at a loss, unable to come to their senses for a long time!
Life was going so well, why the sudden conscription? Didn't they just have conscription at the beginning of last year? More than twenty young men left their village, and not one of them has returned. Where they went, whether they're still alive—nobody knows. The families of these young men turned pale with fright when they heard about the conscription!
They've already lost one son; they absolutely cannot lose another! Besides, what family has so many sons to cause trouble?
Village head Chen Sheng squatted on the ground, puffing on his water pipe, seemingly lost in thought.
The group started chattering and discussing, but after a long time they couldn't come to a conclusion, so they could only turn to the old man for help.
"Brother Village Head, what are we going to do? Is my second son going to follow in his elder brother's footsteps? Then my family will never be able to live!" The old man said, tears streaming down his face. Life had just started to look up, why couldn't they just let people have some peace?
"Yes, village head, what did they say about this conscription? Didn't twenty men leave our village already? They shouldn't be leaving again this time!"
"Yes, yes, this time they should recruit soldiers from Da Liu Village, right? They missed out last time."
...
Everyone chimed in, hoping their expectations would be met, but Chen Sheng didn't budge. They exchanged glances, and disappointment was evident in each other's eyes.
Someone spotted Qin Sanniang and, as if grasping at a straw, hurriedly asked, "Da Wa's mother, you're well-informed, do you know what's going on with this conscription?"
"I don't know either." Qin San Niang sighed inwardly. Now that the Great Sheng Royal Court is located in Lin'an, the vassal kings in various places are moving. If she has no soldiers under her command, how can she deal with so many brave and skilled soldiers? Although conscripting soldiers from the common people is a last resort, it is better than nothing. However, this trip is sure to be more dangerous than safe.
"Uncle Village Head, please explain this to everyone quickly," Qin San Niang advised, though she already knew in her heart that this so-called conscription was probably just forced recruitment.
Sure enough, when Chen Sheng heard Da Wa's mother ask, he had a plan in mind. Why not go up the mountain?
"Quiet! This conscription is a decree from the royal court. It says that any boy who is fifteen years old can enlist in the army to serve in Lin'an City. Every household with a fifteen-year-old boy must send at least one."
What?! Fifteen years old?! The villagers were stunned again. Weren't they always eighteen?
In ancient times, conscription had to be humane. Eighteen-year-old men were generally already married with children, making them the most suitable age for conscription. Fifteen-year-olds, however, were mostly unmarried, which would leave a bloodline uncarved!
You think you can sneak around and avoid it? That's impossible. Everyone's household registration is on file with the government; it's crystal clear.
Many women had already collapsed to the ground in tears. In Shiligou, there were countless children over fifteen years old.
When Qin San Niang heard this, she gasped. Her eldest son, Lu Song, Diao Xi, Diao Qing, and Zhang Cheng all met the requirements. She had thought that only Zhang Cheng was eligible, and that she could just pay some money. But she never expected that the age would be reduced to fifteen!
However, compared to others, she was much calmer and asked, "Uncle Village Head, if you don't want your child to join the army, can you pay money to offset it?"
Zhang Shi shared the same thought, and her face turned pale! The Lu family elders were also deeply saddened. They had finally found their grandson, and they didn't want to send him to the battlefield as cannon fodder! Besides, others might not know, but they did. The battlefield was no place for humans. The royal court didn't provide food, and countless underage children had starved to death before even having a chance to fight. What was the point of risking their lives for such a royal court?
No matter what they think in their hearts, there are some things that cannot be said! To say them is tantamount to treason. For ordinary people like them, those high-ranking officials and nobles can control them more easily than crushing an ant.
"It can be offset, but it will cost a full thirty taels of silver!" Chen Sheng sighed.
What?! Thirty taels!
The villagers were astonished when they heard the number! Thirty taels? Even if they sold everything they owned, they might not be able to scrape together that much!
The elderly Lu couple breathed a sigh of relief. Thirty taels was indeed an outrageous demand, but they had sold their land and could still scrape together the money! As long as their child was alive, everything else was negotiable…
Qin San Niang hadn't expected it to be so expensive, thirty taels? This was simply a joke! Knowing that a farming family couldn't save even two taels of silver a year, and that they were unlikely to be able to afford this amount, this was practically a form of forced conscription!
Suppressed sobs gradually rose from the crowd. At first, the sounds were faint, but this acted as a trigger, and many women and old men finally couldn't hold back and began to sob. They had suffered their whole lives, enduring famine and bandit attacks, never expecting that they would ultimately be defeated by the selfishness of those in power.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "What kind of royal court is this?! Don't they care about the lives of ordinary people? The children are all being sent to their deaths, what's the point of us old bones being alive?!"
Normally, such treasonous words would have made Chen Sheng's eyelids twitch in fright. Even the other villagers would have quickly covered the old man's mouth. They were all of the same clan and lineage. If someone with ulterior motives heard this, it would be a crime of treason. It was a basic requirement to punish the entire clan. They were still within the five degrees of kinship!
At this moment, no one dared to voice any objection; clearly, they were all beginning to resent the tyranny of those in power! But what could they do? They could only engage in verbal sparring here. If the higher-ups really sent officials to escort the conscripts, what could they do?
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