Chapter 916 Taxes
"Brother Li, if it's convenient, I'll go back to the village with you."
Jiang Xiaoxiao pondered for a long time and now the future was uncertain, so she couldn't act rashly.
A lone woman was walking on the road. This was in ancient times, not modern times. There were no trains, planes, or ships.
Traveling alone, bandits are rampant, I have never heard of them before, this is a chaotic time.
A woman walking on the street alone, even though she is not afraid, she will still be involved in all kinds of gossips.
Moreover, the situation is unclear and no one knows where No. 10 is hiding now.
I can't just search the whole world like this.
It’s better to settle down first, let No. 9 slowly look for No. 10’s whereabouts, and then I will find No. 10 back little by little.
With the precedents of the last two world events, we must not alert the enemy here.
This kid number 10 runs too fast.
They are chasing No. 10, and No. 10 is hiding from them. Once they find any trace of their existence in this world, No. 10 will probably escape immediately.
Jiang Xiaoxiao decided to follow Li Tieniu and the others back to the village.
Li Tieniu was actually somewhat happy because the person in front of him was his savior.
When I return to their village, there will always be a time for me to repay my gratitude.
On the other hand, the girl in front of him obviously had some kung fu skills.
No matter whether she is a daughter of an official family or the descendant of a military general, her skills are definitely much better than theirs.
So Li Tieniu and his men packed up and buried the bodies of their companions.
Jiang Xiaoxiao took their belongings and set off directly, walking all the way back to the village with them.
In those days, if you didn't have a bullock cart or a horse-drawn carriage, you had to walk on foot.
These salt merchants did all their business on foot, so naturally Jiang Xiaoxiao had to walk back with them.
This made Jiang Xiaoxiao suffer a lot. Although she was not afraid of hardship, the problem was that the roads of this era were not like the asphalt roads of the future where you could walk however you wanted.
Not only is the terrain uneven, but there are also many gullies and canals.
Jiang Xiaoxiao tried hard to adapt herself to keep up with the pace of these men. Although she appeared calm while walking, only she knew how tired she was.
Of course, she had no idea that her behavior along the way had almost frightened men like Li Tieniu to the point of being stunned.
They are salt merchants.
Walking on these roads was as easy as walking on flat ground, but no one expected that this young lady from an official family could walk on these roads just as well as them.
And because the girl was so fast, the men had to use all their strength.
I just hate that I don’t have a pair of wings.
Jiang Xiaoxiao followed Li Tieniu back to Lijia Village.
Li Tieniu found a house for Jiang Xiaoxiao in the village.
There are many abandoned houses. In those chaotic times, the village was not peaceful. Various types of cholera often occurred. It was either caused by bandits or war disasters, and sometimes barbarians came to rob.
There were many empty houses in the village, so Jiang Xiaoxiao picked a clean and tidy one, tidied it up and lived there alone.
When the village chief heard that Jiang Xiaoxiao had done Li Tieniu and his friends a favor, he welcomed them to live in the village, since there were many houses in the village anyway.
Li Tieniu and his family live very close to Jiang Xiaoxiao's home, almost like neighbors, so Li Tieniu and his family can still take care of Jiang Xiaoxiao a little.
In fact, Jiang Xiaoxiao doesn't need anyone to take care of her.
Li Tieniu's sister Li Tiehua follows Jiang Xiaoxiao all day long. Li Tiehua didn't say anything to her just because their family is too poor.
Even if he told her, she probably wouldn't be able to prepare a dowry. Besides, during the war, Li Tieniu and his brother often had to go out to sell salt.
If my younger sister hadn’t supported the family, my blind mother and sister-in-law probably wouldn’t have been able to make it.
Unexpectedly, my brother is gone now.
The family cried for a long time, and then had to cheer up and continue living their lives.
Jiang Xiaoxiao had lived in the village for half a month, and the autumn harvest was approaching.
Although she had no land in the village, she felt that life here was quite peaceful when she saw the hardworking and kind villagers. Of course, if she was not looking for No. 10, it would not be a bad thing to live in this quiet and remote village for a while.
Unfortunately, this was not what she wanted, but on this day, Li Tieniu hurried to find Jiang Xiaoxiao.
"Miss Jiang, I will send you to live in Yanmen Pass. The silver you have is enough for you to rent a small courtyard there. Miss Jiang, I am not chasing you away, but because we are going to collect taxes here soon. I heard that we will increase the head tax this year, and each person will have to pay one or two taels of silver.
I'm afraid Miss Jiang will be dragged down by us."
Li Tieniu is an honest man. Jiang Xiaoxiao believes that this man will not use lies to deceive her.
There were still 200 taels of silver left in Miss Jiang Xuemei's box.
This amount of silver is nothing to the rich, probably not even a fraction of it, but to the ordinary people in the countryside, it is a huge sum of money.
Jiang Xiaoxiao is also willing to help Li Tieniu.
Over the past half month, Li Tieniu, Li Tiehua and Jiang Xiaoxiao have been getting along very well.
Both the brother and sister are sincere and honest people.
"Brother Li, if you need silver, I have dozens of taels of silver on hand to help you pay the taxes first."
Li Tieniu sighed and shook his head, "Miss Jiang, we appreciate your kindness, but unfortunately our village is not the only one that has encountered this. Originally, the money paid for the tax could have been earned back by selling salt with dozens of our men.
Who knew that such a big thing would happen on the road, and all the silver was lost. That silver was collected by the whole village. Now that the silver is gone, no one can pay the taxes.
Miss Jiang, I understand your good intentions, but you should move to Yanmen Pass first. I'm afraid there will be chaos here. If you can't pay the taxes, the soldiers will come to arrest people. There will inevitably be casualties.
Besides, we are about to harvest in autumn. Once the barbarians get the news, they will probably come to plunder. Our village is located on the outskirts, very close to the northern border, and is often targeted by the barbarians. It is not safe here at all.”
Jiang Xiaoxiao actually admired Li Tieniu in front of her. He was a real man and didn't just care about himself just because she could give him money.
"Brother Li, since you can earn money by selling salt illegally, why don't you quickly raise some money to sell salt again? Maybe you can earn back all the taxes. If you really can't come up with the capital, I can take out the silver I have and give it to you as capital."
Jiang Xiaoxiao is really not someone who is short of money. She doesn't care about the 200 taels of silver. She has food, things, weapons, and skills.
She is not unable to make a living here. Even though this is ancient times, she can still live a prosperous life.
I also really want to help Li Tieniu and others.
(End of this chapter)
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