The fat man left.
Said they were going to the sea.
The fat man who had supported him for more than ten years finally passed away. He left when he was not around. I think he did it to avoid the sadness of parting.
Where will he go?
In that distant foreign country... Dad, please take care of yourself!
Fu Xiaoguan let out a long sigh and came to Li Xiucai's house at the village entrance.
Li Xiucai had already seen the arrival of this group of people through the window. He was a little panicked, wondering what such a big shot was doing in such a poor little village?
Fu Xiaoguan stood in front of Li Xiucai's thatched cottage and looked at it carefully. Although it was dilapidated, it was quite tidy. He walked over and knocked on the closed wooden door.
Li Xiucai was silent for a moment. This was a big shot from Daxia, not an official of the Liao Dynasty. He might have come to understand the situation of the old Liao Dynasty, which was a good thing.
This important figure probably could get his message across to the emperor. If he knew about the suffering of the people of the old Liao Dynasty, perhaps the emperor would be able to show understanding and really exempt the people from agricultural taxes.
But if this important figure is also moody and doesn't care about the common people at all...if I tell the truth, will it bring disaster?
I have to support this family by myself. If I make that big shot unhappy and send myself to jail, what will I do?
"Son, it seems like someone is knocking on the door."
Just when Li Xiucai was struggling, his mother, who was lying in the inner room, spoke.
"Oh, Mom, I'll go open the door."
Li Xiucai opened the door with gritted teeth and saw a face that looked tired but full of energy.
His face was bright and sunny, with a warm smile, "My fellow countryman, we are from Jinling. Don't be nervous, we are not bad people. Can we rest here for a while?"
Li Xiucai looked at the three old men and the maid behind the important figure again - the three old men had kind expressions and were quite dignified. They must be the staff of this important figure. The maid looked like a fairy and he dared not look directly at her... Li Xiucai became more and more certain that the young man in front of him was of great importance.
He hurriedly bowed and said, "My family is very poor. If you don't mind, please come in."
Of course, Fu Xiaoguan did not despise him. He walked over the threshold without any hesitation.
Li Xiucai quickly took a few small stools, wiped them carefully with his sleeves and brought them over, but he did not make a pot of tea because he had no tea.
"This place is called Huanglin Village. It's a very fitting name. How many families are there in this village?"
Fu Xiaoguan looked at the simple thatched cottage and spoke. Li Xiucai quickly calmed down his uneasy mood, swallowed his saliva, and replied carefully:
"My lord, there were originally thirty-six households in Huanglin Village. Later, due to years of war and many other reasons, everyone who had a little bit of a way out of the village left. Now, there are only thirteen households left, with a total of forty-five people, who can't leave."
"I came all the way here because I heard that the Liao Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty were constantly at war... My dear, is it still possible to survive like this?"
Li Xiucai's heart skipped a beat. This noble man really wanted to visit him.
He didn't understand the identity of this noble man, let alone his habits. This was an extremely sensitive topic.
Thinking of the mighty army outside the noble man's house, Li Xiucai felt even more flustered. He forced a smile on his face and said, "This... I've gotten used to it after all these years."
Fu Xiaoguan laughed. The man in front of him was wearing a green Confucian robe. Although the robe had many patches on it and had been washed white, it was still very clean. If it weren't for his dark face, he would look more like a scholar.
"What's your name, young man?"
"Your surname is Li, and your given name is Dongsheng."
"Oh, how many people are there in Brother Li's family?"
"...Just me and my mother."
Fu Xiaoguan peeked out and asked, "Where's my aunt? Are you still working outside in such a bright sun?"
"Well, my mother is ill and is bedridden."
"Oh... I just looked at the crops outside. Brother Li, I don't think the rice harvest is very good. How's the food supply at home? I heard that the new governor reduced the agricultural taxes for the people... Now that we don't have to pay taxes, will there be any problems with food?"
His eyes lit up, "Sir, have you really reduced the agricultural tax?"
Fu Xiaoguan nodded seriously, and a look of joy appeared on Li Xiucai's face. It seemed that the news he heard at the market was true.
"That's great. To be honest, sir, we are all worried about this year's taxes."
Li Xiucai took a deep breath, not realizing that the tension in his heart had eased a lot. Perhaps because he was sure of the good news, he opened up his mouth:
"My lord, you don't know that the old Liao's taxes..." He shook his head, "They simply don't give us ordinary people a way to survive!"
"Just the agricultural tax alone was 20% of farmland output ten years ago, 30% five years ago, and 40% two years ago. Last year, new rules were set, with each mu of land now paying a fixed 100 jin of grain, or one tael of silver..."
"The fields here aren't too bad, but an acre of land only yields about 200 kilograms of rice at best, and that's in a good year. But in a year like this, even if there's not a single grain harvested, the government still needs to get its share."
"Agricultural taxes are like this, and in recent years, there have been some other miscellaneous taxes. Raising sheep requires a sheep head tax, and having children requires a head tax. Every year, every household is required to do two months of corvee labor, but there's not much corvee to do, so they convert it into one or two taels of silver and call it a corvee tax..."
"This year, my family cultivated ten acres of land and raised two sheep. If all the taxes were converted into silver, we would have to pay a full fifteen taels! ... I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but if I hadn't cleared some wasteland to plant wheat, and if I hadn't grown a lot of wild vegetables here, I would have starved to death long ago."
Fu Xiaoguan frowned slightly. The path and reasons for the fall of a dynasty were almost the same.
At the end of a dynasty, there will inevitably be heavy taxes, heavy taxes levied and extorted that make the people breathless, until the people can no longer survive and are forced to rise up in rebellion.
Do the people have many demands?
There really aren’t many.
If they had enough food and warm clothes, they would not rebel, but some people do not allow them to have enough food and warm clothes, and force them into a desperate situation.
"A cruel government is more ferocious than a tiger..."
Fu Xiaoguan sighed, "But now everything is fine. Since the new Daotai has completely reduced these taxes, I think your life will get better in the future... Oh, by the way, I heard that the Daotai has mobilized grain from other Daos in Daxia. It will be delivered in two or three months, so we can get through this disaster year safely."
Li Xiucai's eyes suddenly lit up. "Really? To be honest, sir, several families in our Huanglin Village are preparing to flee."
"Really? But this food isn't free. I guess they'll introduce a policy that requires you to pay for it with labor when you build roads or something like that."
"That's fine, it's better than starving to death!"
Fu Xiaoguan stood up and said, "You have to find a way to get through this period. Once the disaster relief food arrives, things will be better next year."
He turned and left, and just stood at the door of the thatched hut, but suddenly frowned.
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