The weather was insanely hot.
Liu Yigen from Huanglin Village stood by the rice field under the scorching sun, his brows and beard wrinkled with worry - there was a lack of water. The rice seedlings in the rice field, which were about to ear, were now dying.
The rice fields have cracked, and the leaves at the bottom of the seedlings have begun to turn yellow. What the weather is like... Liu Yigen looked up at the sky. The sky was as blue as a crystal, and there was no sign of rain at all.
"This is killing people!"
Li Xiucai, a fellow villager, came over wearing a straw hat and carrying a hoe. "Uncle Liu, is your kid's injury healed?"
Uncle Li lit a pot of dry tobacco with a tinder and took a puff. "Fortunately, people born in the Year of the Dog are lucky. No bones or muscles were injured. I should be able to go out in the next two days."
Li Xiucai came to Liu Yigen, took the pipe from his hand, and without disdain, put it in his mouth and took a deep puff, then handed the pipe back to Liu Yigen. "I heard that a new official has arrived. It does sound a little different."
"What's the difference between officials? They're all the same kind of people!"
"Uncle Liu, don't look at this new era with such old-fashioned eyes. Let me tell you something. Yesterday, I went to the market and happened to run into a former classmate. I heard that the new government has issued a policy to exempt us farmers from all taxes... You don't believe it? Just wait and see. I guess the policy will be announced soon."
Liu Yigen looked at Li Xiucai with disdain. "You're educated, but for thousands of years, when has the government stopped collecting taxes from us farmers? They live a life of luxury, enjoy the pleasures of marriage, and have concubines. How can they get the money without us paying taxes?"
Liu Yigen took another drag on his cigarette, the smoke blurring his eyes. He sighed deeply, "Ah... It's the same no matter which emperor sits on the throne. This year, it's such a horrible world! I was hoping that the sheep would do well this year and give birth to four lambs, and I was even thinking of proposing a marriage for my son... But what a ridiculous marriage! I have to sell it to pay taxes and support those gentlemen."
"We can't count on the crops in these fields anymore. If it doesn't rain within three days, we won't get any harvest in Huanglin Village... This place is really doomed."
Li Xiucai also looked up at the sky and said, "Let's go, there's no point in looking at it. Let's go sit in the shade."
The two of them came to the poplar forest beside the official road and sat down leaning against the old poplar tree.
Li Xiucai took off his straw hat and fanned himself with the wind, then suddenly said, "Hey, Uncle Liu, I think the people of Daxia are a little different. Think about it, your son was taken prisoner. In the past, he would have been chopped to pieces. But they released them, hundreds of thousands of prisoners, and except for a few leaders, they released all the others."
"You said they weren't afraid of these people gathering together to rebel again. But the strange thing is that we haven't heard of any uprisings in Heye County or even Fengtang Prefecture. I heard that the soldiers who were released also returned to their hometowns in an orderly manner. Isn't this a bit strange?"
"I actually heard at the market yesterday that agricultural taxes are being waived. I'd be a fool to lie to you! This is what my former classmate told me. He works as a clerk in the county government. He said there might be big changes soon. Magistrate Sun of Heye County is like an ant on the hot pot, so panicked!"
"That damned Magistrate Sun embezzled an unknown amount of silver. He sent his trusted confidant to Dading Prefecture to find his patron to get the lowdown on the situation. But his trusted confidant returned with the silver, and not a single ounce of it was given away."
"Uncle Liu, what does this mean?"
Li Xiucai blinked and looked at Liu Yigen. Liu Yigen took a puff of his pipe and blew it in Li Xiucai's face. "What does this mean?"
Li Xiucai quickly fanned his straw hat to disperse the smoke, and said mysteriously, "This shows that the situation is very tense. Up there..." He pointed to the sky, "The people up there are probably in danger!"
"real?"
"Why would I lie to you? My classmate said..." Li Xiucai looked around. Not a single person, not even a bird, was there. "He said this new governor has an army of 10,000 men! He's going to kill a lot of people! Kill those officials who used to oppress us!"
Liu Genzhi was startled and looked at Li Xiucai suspiciously, "Are you bullying me because I'm uneducated? I've been a soldier myself, and I know that officers protect each other."
"Besides, Daxia has only sent one Taotai. He needs people to govern such a large area. Otherwise, even if he has three heads and six arms, he wouldn't be able to handle it. He doesn't know the situation in our area, so he needs to use those officials. If he kills them, what will he use to govern? Such a simple truth, and you believe it even if you are educated?"
Liu Genzi's words immediately made Li Xiucai doubt himself.
Yes, even if the Taotai was an honest official, he still had to manage the Far North Road through the officials below.
As a newcomer, his first priority was to win over the officials and, through their influence, stabilize the region. As long as he bribed them, the people of Far North Road would be powerless, and his position would be secure. What could the Great Xia Emperor, thousands of miles away in Guanyun City, possibly know?
As long as the Far North Road remains in order, it will be his best political achievement!
As for the lives of the common people...how many emperors in history have cared about the lives of the common people?
Could it be that my classmate cheated me?
"Don't harbor any illusions. When you passed the imperial examination, you were still squeezed out and even labeled as a scholar, stripping you of your status as a scholar. This is power. There's nothing ordinary people like you and me can do. The real thing is to think about where to get the money to pay this year's taxes."
Liu Yigen finished a pipe and knocked the pipe against the tree roots, his voice low and helpless... "Or, think about where to escape to."
Escape?
Li Xiucai became melancholy.
I have an elderly mother who is bedridden at home. Where can I take her to escape?
"This God... is so blind after all! Will he not give us poor people a way out?"
"Why……"
Liu Yigen sighed deeply and suddenly looked towards the official road.
A long line of people came up the official road!
That team is clearly soldiers!
They were wearing the same silver armor that I saw that day in the rain!
There were more than ten carriages among them.
But the carriage seemed a little big.
"Daxia's soldiers, are they coming from Xixia?"
"I guess it's to maintain order in Far North Road."
"Well, let's go, but don't provoke them, they might just kill us without us knowing why."
The two of them got up and left, each returning to their own home.
That was the convoy of Fu Xiaoguan and his group.
At this moment, Fu Xiaoguan lifted the carriage curtain and said, "Liu Jin, there is a village ahead. Tell Ning Fatian to lead the team to find a shady place. Let's go to that village and take a look."
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