Chapter 62 Four Stones Four
Zhoucun's lips moved but he couldn't answer.
How ridiculous!
He lost his life on the battlefield, but because there was no proof that he was dead, the elderly and weak left in the family had to continue to help pay the rent and taxes.
How could he say such ridiculous words?
The villagers who followed Old Man Chen were confused: "What do you mean? Is Dashan's nephew still alive?"
Old man Chen sat down on someone's half-finished haystack, slapped his thigh, tears streaming down his face, "It's good to be alive, but even though I'm dead, I still have to pay taxes. Even though I'm dead, I still have to pay taxes! What kind of world is this? What kind of world is this!"
Mrs. Chen was so angry that she felt dizzy and was about to fall backwards. She was supported by Sang Luo and Qin Fangniang.
The drying yard became even more chaotic, with the crying and cursing sounding even more suffocating and desperate than before.
Zhou Cun was watching this scene, his lips seemed to be stuck by something, and after moving them several times, he was finally able to speak.
But what to say? What can he say? What can he do?
Standing there silently, listening to the crying and cursing, Zhou Cunzheng closed his eyes.
"Fellow villagers, please go home first. We will discuss the rent and tax payment tomorrow."
Yes, let’s talk about it tomorrow. He can’t make any promises and can only say such useless words.
Zhou Cun was holding the list in his hand, then turned around and strode out of the village.
His wife saw him and hurried after him: "Where are you going?"
Zhou Cunzheng shook his head: "Go out and take a walk."
After wandering around for a while, it was already dark and he still hadn't returned. The whole family was getting very anxious. Several of the sons had already formed groups of two and went to look for him with torches.
On the road heading towards the county town, Zhou Dalang and Zhou Sanlang ran into Zhou Cunzheng who was walking back at night. He was still holding the list from that afternoon in his hand.
The two brothers were overjoyed and went to meet him, calling out to their father: "Dad, where have you been this afternoon? You came back so late. Everyone in the family is very worried and is looking for you."
Zhou Cun was in a bad mood and nodded: "Let's go back."
When he got home, Zhou Cunzheng's wife heated up the dinner and brought it to him, but he shook his head and didn't eat it.
Zhou Cunzheng's wife sighed, "What can you do? Cunzheng, it sounds nice to call you Cunzheng, but what's the difference between you and the other people in our village? Let's eat."
Zhou Cunzheng still shook his head: "I can't eat it, put it aside for now."
Zhou Cunzheng's wife sighed: "Did you go to see Wang Liu this afternoon?"
Zhou Cunzheng then looked at her and nodded.
"What do you mean? Have you seen the old man from the Wang family?"
"Yes, Wang Liu took me to see him." He shook his head again: "Old Master Wang also said that there is no way to deal with this matter. The higher-ups are pressing for grain, and the task is directly imposed. There are many cases like our village in the whole county, and the county magistrate will not let us off the hook."
"But it's not done this way." Zhoucunzheng's wife also slumped her shoulders and sat down on the side. "At the beginning of the year, they said they would collect this autumn's rent and taxes in advance. Many families in the village haven't had a dry meal in more than half a year. We have just harvested the grain and it hasn't even been put into the warehouse yet, but they have to harvest next year's grain. The belts have to be tightened until next autumn, right?"
"It would have been fine if we knew from the beginning that we would be hungry for a year and a half. Now we thought we could at least have three months of good food in the next year. But to be hit like this, no one can bear it."
"Besides, people still have to pay taxes after they die. How can we get justice for this?"
"The crying in the village has not stopped this afternoon."
Crying for the son who died in the family.
Zhou Cunzheng didn't speak for a long time, he didn't dare to say that sentence.
He was afraid that it wouldn't be over until next year.
Rent and taxes can be collected six months in advance, one year in advance, and even two years in advance.
Zhou Jiuzhang felt that the lights were too dim tonight. The tiny lamps were swaying in the wind, and the dark shadows cast on the wall looked like unwilling ghosts wailing. He walked to the door of the main room and looked at the night sky outside the yard. He felt that the night was so depressing that it made him uneasy.
…
The one who was also feeling nervous was Sang Luo, who had returned home a long time ago.
In the afternoon, several families sat together. Before Chen An came and Sang Luo went home, several stall owners came to their senses and decided on the amount of tofu they would sell the next day. Thinking that Sang Luo also had to pay rent and taxes, and also had to pay the share of the deceased Chen Lie, they gave 80% of it in cash, and the remaining 20% was for soybeans.
However, Chen Youtian changed the original quantity for lunch, reducing it to only ten yuan for each of the two kinds of tofu. To be honest, there was no need to carry a load, as Old Lady Chen could sell them with just a basket.
Starting tomorrow, business in this countryside will be difficult.
After Sang Luo returned home, she picked leaves of the magic tree and dug konjac. When she was at Chen's house, she had already asked everyone how to pay taxes based on her family's situation.
In the household registration documents issued by the village head for them, the Shen family's eldest son's family was a lower-class household with a household tax of four dou;
Ninety-nine percent of the people who died in the battle but were judged alive by the government were already men, as they were over 18 years old, and thus had become men, and the man tax was two shi;
She and Shen An and Shen Ning were counted as one middle-aged Ding and two small Dings, and the Ding tax totaled two shi.
Therefore, if Sang Luo did not want to be sent to do hard labor, she had to pay four stone and four dou of rent before September 15th.
Four shi and four dou of grain, and one dou of grain costs seventy wen. Oh, I heard that the price has been raised. The current price of grain in the grocery store in Sanli Village is seventy-seven wen per dou.
Four shi and four dou is equal to three thousand three hundred and eighty-eight coins, assuming the price of grain does not rise again before September 15th.
More than three thousand dollars and less than half a month's time, Sang Luo was confused. She didn't dare to do anything else in the afternoon. She dug some konjac and asked Old Lady Chen for some seasoning, then went home and started to cook.
It is just the beginning of September and the nights in the mountains have become cool. While waiting for the konjac tofu to solidify, Sang Luo takes time to make the magical tofu.
But today, she was a little distracted while working. First, she had to earn more than 3,000 yuan in ten days. Most importantly, she looked at the sky outside and was afraid that the weather would change.
Because he had to get up at four o'clock to make tofu, he went to bed early at night. However, he tossed and turned in bed and couldn't fall asleep. When he finally fell asleep, he was trapped in a nightmare about the world in chaos. He was immersed in it all night, running away and running away.
Sang Luo woke up in a cold sweat when a rooster crowed outside the yard.
Seeing that it was still early, he breathed a sigh of relief, relaxed a little, got up and walked to the kitchen, lit the oil lamp and prepared to start grinding the beans.
Before the millstone was pushed, Shen An and Shen Ning both stood up. The brother and sister came over quickly: "Sister-in-law, let's push the millstone."
The two took turns grinding the beans.
Since last night, the little brother and sister have been particularly silent and have been competing for work, and this has become more obvious today.
Sang Luo looked at the brother and sister, sighed, and said nothing.
Chen An had been paying attention to Sang Luo's expression. Seeing his sister-in-law like this, he became more and more nervous. He bit his teeth unconsciously, and his cheeks hurt slightly. He lowered his head and tried to do his job better.
Sang Luo washed the dogwood, prepared seasonings, and prepared to make vegetarian tripe with chili oil, vegetarian tripe and crystal preserved meat. These were the goods that Sang Luo would bring to the county today.
She was still preparing the ingredients, but Shen Ning had already gone to fetch firewood to help light the fire.
This kind of look made Sang Luo not know what to say for a moment.
If she was preoccupied and didn't pay much attention yesterday, or if she noticed it but didn't take it seriously, how could she not notice today that the brother and sister were more diligent and cautious than usual?
Sang Luo could probably guess what the two younger ones were thinking. They must have known about the rent and tax and felt that they, the two siblings, no, the three siblings, were a burden.
Sang Luo didn't know what to say. It was impossible for her to say that she was not depressed at all. It was not because of the two little ones. Since they lived together, she was still willing to pay the one stone rent and tax for the two children.
What she didn't expect was that a person who was already dead still had to pay two stone of tax.
Really, he was worth three of them.
Isn't this a ghost?
But she couldn't curse the man named Chen Lie, who was nominally her man. If those who died on the battlefield had spirits, they would probably crawl out from the ground, strangle the current emperor by the neck, and send him to the underworld.
Thinking of this, coupled with the nightmares she had all night, Sang Luo couldn't help but feel bad and didn't want to talk.
Until the tofu was ready, the vegetarian tripe was ready and put in a ceramic bowl, and the three jars of crystal jerky were also ready. The three of them sat together and even had breakfast. Sang Luo calculated the time and moved the stone that was pressing on the tofu board. She saw that the tofu had been formed very well and was cut into pieces neatly.
The sky was getting slightly brighter, no longer pitch black.
Chen Youtian and Qin Fangniang came knocking on the door, and Gan and Feng Liuniang also came. Sang Luo went to pick up the goods for them and said that she would go to the county with them today.
After all the things were moved out, it was time to leave. Originally there was nothing that the brother and sister needed to help move, but they each rushed to help carry a small jar and followed them all the way down the mountain.
Chen Youtian was about to leave with the cart, and Shen An couldn't help but panic.
Following Sang Luo for several steps, when Sang Luo asked them to go home and sleep for a while, Shen An and Shen Ning pulled Sang Luo's sleeves together.
He looked around, perhaps because he was concerned about the presence of Qin Fangniang and the others, and didn't know how to start the conversation.
Seeing him like that, Sang Luo simply asked Chen Youtian and the others to wait for a while, sent the little brother and sister back, and comforted them: "Don't think too much, you didn't sleep all night, okay? Go back and have a good sleep."
The brother and sister shook their heads when they heard this.
Chen An whispered, "Sister-in-law, I'm not tired. I'm grown up. I can make tofu, do housework, and go to the mountains to find things. I can also help make money to support the family now. Sister-in-law, please don't abandon me and my sister."
Shen Ning also nodded: "Sister-in-law, I can raise chickens and ducks. If you buy a few geese, I can also raise them well. These can also exchange for some money in a year."
Sang Luo laughed when she heard this. Her gloomy mood all night seemed to brighten up. She patted Chen Ning's head and said, "Okay, when I have money after paying the rent and taxes, I will buy you a few more ducklings and geese to raise. In the future, our family will rely on you for eggs."
This sentence about the future arrangements made the little brother and sister feel reassured, and they all smiled. Shen Ning nodded heavily: "Yes, I will definitely take good care of it!"
Sang Luo smiled and said, "Let's go back. Everyone is waiting. I won't see you off. Just be careful."
After waiting for the brother and sister to agree and watching them walk for a while, Sang Luo turned around and went back to reunite with Qin Fangniang and her group.
There was no one here who was careless. Qin Fangniang whispered, "Do you know that you have to pay rent and taxes?"
Sang Luo nodded: "I was afraid that I would feel that they were a burden, so I just kept working."
In fact, they were probably afraid that she would abandon them and leave.
Several people sighed.
Each of these four families had to pay two shi of rent and tax for their relatives who had gone to the battlefield and never returned.
Two shi, the best land, even if you work hard for a year and God bless you, you can only harvest one and a half shi of grain. If the land is originally tenanted, you have to pay rent to the owner, and the harvest after paying the rent belongs to you.
This means that the two acres of land were planted in vain, and the harvest was given directly to the government.
Not only that, but they also have to pay rent and taxes to these people here. In recent years, many men have died in natural disasters, forced labor, and on the battlefield. In the case of a shortage of labor, there are no oxen for plowing. After working hard from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, they can't plant much land. How much can they leave for themselves?
Gan sighed, "It's a good thing these two children met you."
If he were still in the hands of Shen San and Li, and had encountered what happened yesterday, his fate would really be unknown.
If they were pushed to the limit, not to mention finding a so-called elder sister-in-law to serve as a fig leaf for not caring about the life and death of their nephew, they could just separate the two younger ones, because in order to collect more household taxes, the Dagan Dynasty originally supported the division of households and did not support family coexistence.
For example, the first and second branches of the Shi family were actually separated into two households in terms of household registration, but the brothers were united and Shi Erlang and his wife were willing to listen to Mrs. Gan, so they still lived together on weekdays.
So if they had not encountered Sang Luo who had fled from famine before, Li would not have found the opportunity to bring the siblings Chen An and Shen Ning together with Sang Luo, her cheap niece-in-law. Now that this matter had happened, the siblings might have been thrown out.
"The two children are also very sensible." Sang Luo was actually quite fortunate to have met these two children.
Along the way, they couldn't help but talk about the rent collection this time. Feng Liuniang sighed: "Do you know the Zhou Laizi family next door to ours? The whole family was crying last night. They don't have a lot of land, but they have a lot of mouths to feed. I'm afraid they can't pay the rent this time. There is a big gap. If they really pay it all, they probably won't survive until next spring."
Collecting two years' rent and taxes in one year would crush families with less financial resources.
Thinking of what Zhou Lizheng was thinking about yesterday, Feng Liuniang asked Sang Luo, "Alie's wife, is there any disaster relief from the imperial court in your hometown?"
Sang Luo had received this part of her original body's memory at the beginning of her journey, and she shook her head when she heard this: "I don't know about other counties, but where did anyone provide disaster relief? I haven't even seen a bowl of rice soup without any rice grains in it. Otherwise, why would so many people flee south? My family was not bad, and I don't know how many of our clansmen survived."
Sang Luo never said much about what her family was like, but people like Qin Fangniang knew a little bit. Her family had ancestral recipes, were literate, and were very particular about their daily lives. They even had a flower path paved with stones in the yard. Their family was probably no worse than the wealthy Wang family in their area.
Then everyone was silent.
The court said that the disaster relief expenses were high, which was why the court was in trouble, and that was why they had to collect taxes in advance. Gan and Qin Fangniang and their group did not understand state affairs, but the common people were not stupid. Didn’t the continuous wars cost money and grain? Didn’t the construction of the imperial palace and the villa cost money and grain?
Everyone has an idea of where the money and grain collected by the government eventually went.
From pitch darkness to bright daylight, the gate of Qiyang County was right in front of us. Those who often went to the city to set up stalls would always see some familiar faces. They were still the same people, but their faces were filled with sorrow and numbness.
Sang Luo looked at everyone like this and realized that if she continued to worry, she might be no different from them in the near future, so she quickly cheered herself up.
Worrying won't help her make three thousand dollars, so she has to smile and go in with a smile to find a good buyer for the things she makes.
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