Daxiayueshan North Road, Xiashan Village.
Li Erniu, Yan Xiwen and others spent two days touring every corner of this place.
Li Erniu didn't know what Yan Xiwen was looking at, but he had no complaints, because if it weren't for this brother Yan's men who saved his son that night, according to Sun Quezi, his son would have had no chance of survival.
Now his son is still lying in bed, and his daughter-in-law Wu Hong is taking care of him at home.
The food has improved a lot these days, and we are eating the rice brought by Brother Yan.
But there was a lot of mystery about this Brother Yan - he had clearly brought eleven strong men with him, but two of them had left silently in the past two days.
He said they were going outside the mountain to do something. Li Erniu didn't know what they were going to do, but he felt that this Brother Yan seemed to care a lot about this mountain village.
"Brother Yan, look, those fields are called Kantian. They didn't exist originally. It was only after the founding of Daxia that the people in our village reclaimed them themselves."
"Initially, the newly reclaimed fields were not included in the tax. The county magistrate told us that he was encouraging us to reclaim the wasteland, and whoever did so would benefit."
"Of course this policy was good. We thought we saw hope, so every household took advantage of the slack season to cultivate a lot of land. In those years, we were able to eat our fill every day."
"But those good times only lasted three to five years. The next county magistrate changed the previous magistrate's policy, saying that all farmland belonged to the state. We could profit from the newly reclaimed land for free for three to five years, but after that, we would have to pay taxes like normal farmland."
"Actually, even if we pay taxes normally, we still have enough food to make ends meet. We just need to plant less rice and add more water."
"But the good times didn't last long. Two years later, taxes were raised, by 30%. They said the country was going to war, and we ordinary people had to support it and tighten our belts to live a hard life..."
"Hey, Brother Yan, you've seen the world, but I just can't understand. If a country needs a place as poor as ours to pay for grain even when it's at war, then wouldn't the people in Daxia's main grain-producing areas have even less chance of survival?"
"Our place is remote and isolated. The officials from the county government come every year to talk about war and to collect taxes. Does Daxia have so many enemies?"
"Who are you fighting with?"
Yan Xiwen sat down on the edge of the field. Zhang Qishan handed him a water bag. He took it and said to Li Erniu, "Brother, Daxia has indeed fought a few wars, but if I say that the court has never collected a single grain from the people because of the war, would you believe me?"
Li Erniu was stunned and shook his head. "I don't believe it. Although I haven't seen the world, I have studied in a private school for a few days and I know the saying that food and supplies should be prepared before troops move."
"Brother Li, Daxia has no shortage of food. In fact, Daxia's food is even being sold overseas!"
"Besides, Daxia has won all its battles, and they were fought in other countries. They pose no threat to our country. Do you think we need to increase taxes on you?"
"That……"
Yan Xiwen opened the water bag and took a sip, then handed it to Li Erniu. "Believe me, the culprit for your poverty is not His Majesty, but the officials here."
"Although His Majesty is in the palace, he has already sent out various imperial envoys to conduct inspections. I believe that this day will come soon. Once the imperial envoys have investigated the situation here, all those corrupt officials will be beheaded by His Majesty!"
"And for all the losses incurred by those corrupt officials over the years... His Majesty will certainly compensate you! Your good days will return!"
Li Erniu couldn't believe it.
Can something that has been eaten be vomited out?
Besides, even if the emperor is really wise, he can execute those corrupt officials and restore the policies to the past, which is already what we want.
How could he dare to expect the emperor to compensate them?
The emperor doesn't owe them anything.
But is what Brother Yan said true?
"The outside world has undergone tremendous changes. In fact, according to your majesty's policy, it is to benefit the entire Great Xia. But in the final analysis, it is still the officials from top to bottom... In fact, it is mainly because the officials at the top have not paid attention that the current situation has been caused."
Yan Xiwen stood up from the ground, patted his butt, and looked at the gloomy sky, fearing that it was going to rain.
"Let's go, let's go to Liu Erniang's house again..."
He turned to look at Zhang Qishan who was following behind him, "Qishan, send someone to deliver some more rice to Liu Erniang."
"Master, there is not much rice left."
"...Send a few people out to buy more tomorrow."
Liu Erniang lives under the old locust tree at the east end of the village. She is now fifty years old and has glaucoma, which is very serious and almost blind.
Her son and daughter-in-law died in the mountains while hunting last year, leaving behind a granddaughter who is only six years old this year.
The grandmother and granddaughter depended on each other for survival, but now they could no longer do so.
Their livelihood depended entirely on the six-year-old girl named Du Xiaoyun who dug up some wild vegetables every day. However, those vegetables were not nutritious at all. The six-year-old girl was obviously shorter than other children of the same age.
According to the laws of Daxia, families like Liu Erniang's should be listed as extremely poor households, and the Ministry of Household Affairs should provide sufficient living expenses to extremely poor families every month.
At the age of six, Du Xiaoyun has the right to study for free.
But no one here knows about those laws, and no one publicizes and implements them.
This is the sorrow of Daxia!
This made Yan Xiwen feel ashamed and embarrassed!
He had already written a letter to the emperor, strongly requesting the Ministry of Revenue to allocate a large amount of grain to help these people survive the famine.
He also asked the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to send officials and craftsmen to rebuild the dilapidated houses of families like this one free of charge by the Daxia government.
He asked the Ministry of Personnel to send officials to bring young candidate officials to take up their posts directly, and asked the Ministry of Justice to cooperate with the Ministry of Personnel and the Imperial Office to escort those corrupt officials and parade them through the villages that they had ruined to expose them to public scrutiny!
Only in this way can we change the people's views on Daxia and make them have hope for their future lives.
Izumo Mountain’s external transportation must be opened up.
The establishment of engineering troops is urgent!
In addition, the financial situation in Yueshan and the two regions is extremely bad. No one knows where Yan Xibai got so much tax money. We have to wait for the Censorate and the Ministry of Personnel to investigate. However, the production and construction in Yueshan and the two regions are urgent, and the special funds for poverty alleviation from the Ministry of Revenue must be implemented as soon as possible.
Only when the people are prosperous can the country be prosperous, and only when the people are prosperous can the country be prosperous!
This is what the emperor once said: The road ahead is long and arduous, but I will continue to search for it!
Liu Erniang knelt in front of Yan Xiwen.
Yan Xiwen also knelt down in front of the shocked gazes of Li Erniu and Zhang Qishan.
"If the people can't stand, then the officials can only kneel!"
"This is not your fault, but the fault of the Daxia government!"
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