Chapter 596 Both husband and wife are afraid of dogs
Jiang Fenghua continued, "Such a big thing happened, didn't your county magistrate and prefect do anything about it? How come there are people begging for food at the town entrance? How did you deal with the locust plague?"
The old man said, “Mayor Sun is a wealthy and powerful man in our area, which is why he was able to become the mayor of Zhushan Town. The county magistrate is also quite influential. In any case, neither of them are people that we ordinary folks can afford to offend. The prefect has come to visit and has visited all the townships and towns, but nothing has come of it since then.”
Jiang Fenghua looked at Xie Shang and said, "How come this is different from what you said? Didn't you say that the people of the Great Zhou Kingdom have no shortage of food and clothing?"
After hearing this, Xie Shang said in a deep voice, "The old man told the people to step back. We will block the dogs if they run out. They won't hurt you. Everyone will have food soon."
The people's eyes lit up when they heard there was food, but when they heard that the door was going to be banged on, they didn't come forward. They were afraid of being bitten by the dogs and all stayed far away.
Lin Feng called a few people forward, and then found a piece of wood about the thickness of a bowl and started smashing the door. He could have climbed over the wall and opened the door, so he didn't need to put in so much effort to smash the door. The door of Mayor Sun's house had obviously been reinforced.
They weren't really going to break down the door, but rather to make a commotion to lure out the Sun family's people.
Sure enough, after they had only banged on the door a couple of times, someone inside spoke up, "Who dares to bang on the door? Stop right now, my master isn't home."
They seemed not to hear the woman's voice inside and continued banging on the door.
Fearing the door would be smashed, the woman quickly opened it. Behind her, three wolfhounds glared menacingly at the person at the door, barking wildly as if they were about to rush out. This frightened all the people, who all hid in fear.
The woman asked fiercely, "Who are you?"
The three dogs barked wildly, one after another.
Lin Feng said, "We're looking for Mayor Sun."
"Mayor Sun isn't home," the woman said directly. "I don't know where he is either. Whoever you are, leave now, otherwise, if those beasts bite you, I won't be able to stop them."
After saying that, she was about to close the door; she was adept at handling this kind of situation.
Lin Feng was afraid of these dogs by himself, but he was surrounded by his brothers, and he didn't believe that they knew martial arts and would be afraid of four-pawed beasts.
So he simply held his sword to the crack in the door and said coldly, "Let Mayor Sun come out..."
Before he could finish speaking, the woman sneered, "One, two, three."
After she called out three times, the three dogs rushed out.
The scene was thrown into chaos.
At the same time, Xie Shang was also a little scared and wanted to hide when he saw this. Jiang Fenghua also hid behind Xie Shang. The couple hid behind each other, and their actions were somewhat comical.
Xie Shang raised an eyebrow and forced a smile, saying, "I'll protect you." He hadn't expected these three dogs to be so big. He was fearless, but he was a little afraid of dogs, especially the sound of them barking.
He hadn't thought to come out when he heard the dog barking in the carriage, but unexpectedly Jiang Fenghua got out of the carriage on her own.
Jiang Fenghua could feel his body trembling slightly. So he was afraid of dogs! He was terrified of her, yet he still protected her behind him.
She leaned close to his ear and said, "The more afraid you are of them, the fiercer they become. If you act like this, they won't dare to come near. You must stay calm and not lose in terms of momentum."
She bared her teeth and pretended to be fierce.
Xie Shang was amused by her expression. He picked up a pebble from the ground and hit the dog's nose accurately. After several pebbles fell, the dog instantly lost its fighting ability and was subdued by Lin Feng and the others.
Jiang Fenghua said, "You can clearly subdue them, so why are you afraid of them?"
"Who said I was afraid?" Subduing them shows his ability, and has nothing to do with whether he was afraid or not.
"I felt it just now!"
Xie Shang straightened his back, exuding a dignified and imposing air. "Someone's coming out."
At this moment, Mayor Sun gracefully emerged from the house. He was dressed in fine clothes and addressed Lin Feng and the others, saying, "Who are you people? Why are you causing trouble in front of my house? I haven't offended you, have I?"
"Are you Mayor Sun?" Lin Feng asked.
Mayor Sun was about to say no when the old man who had been hiding far away came closer again. "Mayor Sun, we've finally met you."
Immediately afterwards, more villagers crowded around, chattering, "Mayor Sun, I'm from Baishi Village. I heard the imperial court has distributed disaster relief funds..."
"I'm from Shizi Village. Why is the tax revenue still so high this year? Our village only has 36 households, and none of them had a harvest. How are we supposed to pay the taxes?"
"Mayor Sun..."
The voices of the people grew louder and louder, making Mayor Sun's ears hurt. He said coldly, "I have no choice. I really don't know if the disaster relief funds have arrived or not. Taxes are decided by the higher-ups. I'm only responsible for statistics and collection. If you don't pay, I can't explain it to my superiors. I've always treated you well, so please don't make things difficult for me. Everyone should grit their teeth and get through this disaster. Once we get through a year, everything will be alright."
“We can’t even get enough to eat, how are we going to survive?” A man with a hoe and a club blocked the entrance to the Sun family’s house. “The Sun family should have food, right? We’re all going to eat at the mayor’s house today.”
The man's call was met with enthusiastic support; with no vicious dogs blocking their way, they squeezed directly into the Sun family's courtyard.
Xie Shang, Jiang Fenghua, and the others were pushed aside, and within a short time, twenty or thirty people squeezed in.
Seeing this, Mayor Sun's wife immediately started throwing a tantrum with her children, shouting, "Our crops have also been affected by locusts, our land has yielded nothing, and our children haven't had a proper meal! You're the only ones going hungry, not us! You're going too far..."
The Sun family's children also started to sob.
When the men who led the charge into the Sun family saw the women and children crying together, they hesitated to take action.
Mayor Sun had also prepared his explanation: "If you all go back, blocking my door every day won't solve anything. I'll go to the county immediately to ask the county head for his opinion. Heaven will eventually give Zhushan Town a way out..."
"It's been so long, and winter is just around the corner. When will this be resolved? Mayor Sun, please give us a specific timeframe." A woman's voice cut through the crowd and reached Mayor Sun's ears.
"I already said..."
Before Mayor Sun could finish speaking, Jiang Fenghua led a group of elderly, weak, women and children to the front of the crowd. "Your children haven't had enough to eat, and your fields have been damaged by the disaster. As for them, not only have they not had enough to eat, but they've been starving for days and nights. The imperial court's disaster relief funds and grains have already been sent to Qingzhou. Mayor Sun, do you really have no idea about this? Or is there some hidden reason that you can't say for sure?"
Mayor Sun shouted angrily, "Who are you?"
“We were just passing through Zhushan Town when we happened to see this disaster. We heard that the imperial court had already taken corresponding measures for the disaster in Qingzhou. Why did you not only not receive disaster relief grain, but the imperial court also had to collect taxes from you even though it knew you were suffering? Did Mayor Sun find out how the taxes were collected this year?”
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