The little girl closed her eyes and lay quietly in the wooden tub.
Her little mouth was slightly open, revealing her pink little tongue, her nostrils were moving, and she was sleeping soundly.
But at this moment, the little girl's face was pale and her lips were purple, as if she had not eaten for a long time.
Murong Yanran frowned, gently picked up the little girl, held her in her arms, and reached out to check her breath.
Still alive.
"call--"
Murong Yanran breathed a sigh of relief and frowned, "Whose child is this?"
"How can these parents have the heart to abandon their own flesh and blood?"
"Perhaps her family could no longer support her, so they abandoned her. I hope she can meet a kind person."
Li Yinhuan also stared at the child, her eyes full of love and pity.
Qin Yuan looked at the child, thought for a moment, and then ordered, "Let's set up camp here today."
"Xiao Li, please arrange for the guards to go out and take a look. Then cook some rice porridge and feed it to the child."
"If there's a village nearby, see if you can get a woman who's in labor to come over."
"Okay, big brother!"
After receiving Qin Yuan's order, Li Dejian immediately got to work.
soon.
The guards who explored the surroundings got something back and found a mass grave.
More than a dozen abandoned babies were buried in the hill.
Ten boys and three girls.
"What the hell is going on!" Murong Yanran clenched her fists and said angrily.
Li Yinhuan was equally furious and angrily asked, "Why are there more abandoned male babies than female babies?"
"What on earth happened in Jiangnan?"
"What...what does this mean?"
Murong Yanran listened to Li Yinhuan's words, full of confusion.
How could the scenery of Jiangnan be different from what was written in the memorials, different from what the ministers had said, and different from all the places she had been to!
She came from a wealthy family and had never seen anything like this before, so she had no idea why.
How could someone abandon even their own child?
There seemed to be a fire burning in Li Yinhuan's eyes. She clenched her fists tightly and said angrily:
"If it's a girl, some families think it's a loss of money to raise her, or they want a boy to carry on the family line."
"I can't afford to raise it anymore, so I have no choice but to give it away or abandon it."
"But now, there are more abandoned male babies here than female babies."
"Obviously it's not because they need strong male laborers."
"Something must have happened in Jiangnan, otherwise, no one would be so cruel as to abandon their own child!"
"Hasn't Jiangnan always been richer than the North?"
“Why is this happening?”
Qin Yuan patted her shoulder and comforted her: "The dead are gone. Now that we are here, we can't let this happen again."
After that, he turned his gaze to Murong Yanran and asked, "Murong, you just said that the tax in Jiangnan is three dou of rice?"
"Um."
Murong Yanran nodded, she was very sure of this.
Immediately, she asked again: "Qin Yuan, is there anything wrong with this?"
Qin Yuan frowned and said, "The paddy fields in Jiangnan have extremely high yields per mu, so in recent years, the court has imposed heavy taxes on Jiangnan."
"If we follow common sense, although the taxes in Jiangnan are heavy, it should not be a problem to support a family, let alone abandoning a baby."
Hearing this, the two nodded in agreement.
The court is not stupid either.
If Jiangnan were not rich and had high grain production, such high taxes would not have been levied.
Otherwise, do you really want to force all the people in Jiangnan to death and force them to rebel?
Think of this.
Murong Yanran already had the answer in her heart.
The people in Jiangnan can no longer afford to raise children.
What on earth did the nobles who controlled Jiangnan and the officials who served in Jiangnan do?!
Her eyes were filled with murderous intent, and she gritted her teeth and said, "I will write a letter to His Majesty right now!"
"A bunch of crooked officials, turning a blind eye to such a thing happening under their jurisdiction!"
“I don’t know how long this tragic scene in Jiangnan will last!”
"None of these bastard officials can escape!"
Qin Yuan shook his head: "It's not the time yet."
"Why?" Murong Yanran didn't understand.
"Stirring up trouble will only alert the enemy." Qin Yuan said slowly, "You can't kill them all. The important thing is to find the cause."
"Well, let these people live a few more days." Murong Yanran suppressed her anger.
Qin Yuan sighed and murmured, "It's probably been twenty days since the decree on the distribution of labor service to the land was issued to Jiangnan."
"These people are so brave."
Obviously, Jiangnan has only recently become like this.
"You mean?!" Murong Yanran seemed to have figured out the answer and exclaimed, "They really dare to do it!!!"
The two of them were talking back and forth, which made Li Yinhuan confused. What was going on?
Why did it bring up the "tax burden per acre" issue again?
Isn't it a good thing to abolish corvee labor?
How could they allow the people of Jiangnan to lose their families and cruelly abandon their children?
Before Li Yinhuan's little brain could figure out the crux of the problem, her thoughts were interrupted by her brother's voice.
"Brother, something bad has happened!"
Li Dejian ran back in a hurry, sweating and panting.
Li Yinhuan glanced at her brother, feeling angry, and took the opportunity to vent: "It's only a few steps, and you're already so tired. It's a good opportunity to practice well these few days!"
Li Dejian: "o(一︿一+)o"
sister……
I didn't provoke you!
"What happened? Tell me now!"
Li Yinhuan noticed the resentful look in her younger brother's eyes and shouted.
Li Dejian shuddered, almost weeping, and quickly said, "A few days ago, the imperial court ordered all areas of Jiangnan to remeasure the land in preparation for the land tax."
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