During the Dai Viet Dynasty, the autumn harvest was the time for the people to pay taxes to the court. However, usually each village would collect the taxes and send them to the county government offices in various places.
In very rare cases, officials would personally come to collect taxes, and those were mostly villages that owed taxes, were unwilling to pay taxes, or paid less taxes.
Dingshui Village now arranges three shifts of people to guard the watchtower every day. Last night's shift was Li Dachui and Liu Erleng, and they will not hand over the shift to the next shift until Chenshi (7-9 AM).
But it wasn't time yet. Li Dachui looked into the distance and saw a group of black dots heading towards the village.
He rubbed his eyes, pointed into the distance, and asked Liu Erleng on the other lookout tower, "Erleng, wake up! Look ahead, isn't someone coming?"
Liu Erleng yawned, stretched, rubbed his eyes, looked ahead, and then blinked hard. "Wait, Big Hammer, what do I see? It looks like a group of government officials. Look at their clothes, all black and red. We ordinary people don't wear clothes like that."
Li Dachui looked over again, and this time, because the person was closer, he could see them more clearly. He immediately slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh my, isn't that an official? Why would an official come to our village?"
They came in a huge group; it doesn't look like anything good is going on!
"You keep watch for now, I'll go inform the village chief and everyone!" Liu Erleng came down from the watchtower and ran quickly towards the village, shouting as he ran, "Help! Village chief, everyone come out quickly! A large group of government officials are coming towards our village!"
After leaving the courtyard, Jiang Qinyu went straight to the village's ancestral hall.
Most of their supplies were stored in the ancestral hall, so Village Chief Li led people to dig two large cellars in the ancestral hall.
Regardless of what the officials were here for, it would be safest for her to put all the supplies away first.
Jiang Qinyu acted quickly; Liu Erleng had barely finished calling out in the village when she had already collected all the supplies from the ancestral hall.
After collecting the supplies, she hurriedly ran towards the village entrance, and after only a few steps, she ran into Village Chief Li and his group.
"Village chief, why are the officials here? We haven't caused any trouble!"
"Could they be here to collect grain taxes? But we've had a complete crop failure this year, and people are starving. How are we going to pay?"
"No way? If the county magistrate really comes to collect taxes, won't that force us to our deaths?"
"..."
Village Chief Li was pale and sweating profusely, but he still forced himself to remain calm and said, "Everyone, don't make wild guesses. The county magistrate is our local official, and there's no way he would come to force us to hand over grain."
In fact, he himself didn't believe this. After all, no one else in the village had ever dealt with the county magistrate, but he had, and several other villages had suffered losses at his hands.
This story dates back to three years ago, when the drought had just begun. They heard from people in the neighboring county that the imperial court had distributed disaster relief funds, but there was no such action in Yongshan County. So he and several other people from other villages went to the county government office.
When they first went, everyone was still hopeful. The county magistrate was quite polite to them, saying he knew their difficulties, but the county government also had its rules, and told them to go again in a few days.
But when they went there a second time, the county magistrate pulled them aside and complained bitterly that the disaster relief funds from the imperial court had not reached him at all.
Although they were village chiefs, they were just ordinary people, so naturally they believed whatever the county magistrate said.
However, not long after they returned, he heard that the county magistrate had spent a lot of money to take three new concubines and had hosted a banquet for all the prominent people in Yongshan County.
This was a stark contrast to how he had feigned poverty in front of them before; it was then that he realized they had been fooled by the county magistrate.
“Uncle Village Chief, besides worrying about the government coming to collect taxes, those of us who were the first to go up Qinggang Mountain to seize grain should also hide, especially Uncle Da Chui and Liu Ya Zi and the others.” Jiang Qinyu took two quick steps forward and said cautiously.
Upon hearing this, Village Chief Li snapped out of his daze and, after a moment's thought, understood. "You're right. I'll have them go hide in the mountains for a while."
After saying that, he sent someone to inform Li Dachui and the others.
Their biggest recent act was seizing Qinggang Mountain. If the government gets wind of it, they might not know what to do, so it's best to be on guard.
Jiang Qinyu was dressed as a man that night, so she doesn't need to hide it now that she's wearing women's clothing.
As they were talking, Village Chief Li and Jiang Qinyu and the others had already arrived at the village entrance.
At the same time, Li Dachui was pulled away, and the first person in an official uniform appeared at the crossroads at the village entrance. Soon after, a large group of people arrived, heading straight for Jiang Qinyu and the others without looking to either side.
Village Chief Li quickly stepped forward with a beaming smile, "Gentlemen, what brings you here? Look at the situation, it's so dry, our village doesn't even have a spare drop of water, so we can't offer you gentlemen tea. Please forgive us."
"Who cares about your tea?" the head constable shouted arrogantly. "I'm here today to collect this year's taxes, but the border war is urgent, and the court has temporarily increased taxes. This year, we'll collect 50%."
He stretched out a hand and glanced at everyone. "Don't complain about the amount you're giving. This is all going to the border for the soldiers. If the border can't be defended, won't we be the ones suffering the most?"
"How can you collect 50% tax?" Village Chief Li asked, his face pale and his lips trembling. "We've only ever collected 30% before. After that, we still have to pay all the miscellaneous taxes, and the rest is barely enough for a family to make ends meet..."
"Sir," Jiang Qinyu said, seeing that Village Chief Li was flustered by the sudden increase in taxes, "After three years of drought, the land cannot grow any grain this year. Our village has no harvest this year. How can we pay the grain tax?"
The leading official looked at Jiang Qinyu and asked, "What, do you intend to defy the imperial decree and refuse to pay taxes?"
The hat was heavy and large, and no one could bear it, but Jiang Qinyu looked at him without fear and spoke in a humble yet arrogant manner, "We are just ordinary people. If it were a year with good weather and abundant harvests, and the court asked us to pay 50%, we would not dare to pay only 30%. But now the fields have yielded nothing, and the villagers are on the verge of starvation. What can the government ask us to pay?"
The other villagers, recovering from their shock and astonishment, glared angrily at the group of officials before them and mustered their courage to confront them.
“In previous years when there were such disasters, the government could let the people buy on credit or even reduce or exempt taxes. This year, we are in such dire straits, and the imperial court not only does not provide disaster relief, but also forces us to pay taxes. Are you trying to force us to our deaths?”
"Yes! Don't push your luck!"
"We have no grain, but you can take my life. If you want it, take my old life!"
"Heavens above! The government won't even give us a way out, I might as well just die..."
The crowd grew increasingly agitated as they spoke, overwhelmed with sorrow at the thought that they had worked so hard to achieve their current situation, only to be robbed by the government.
"What's all the noise about? Our county magistrate knows perfectly well whether you have any food or not! Don't think we don't know. All the other villages have gone to escape famine, but you didn't. How could you not have food? Quickly hand over the taxes and grain you owe, or don't blame us for searching the village!"
Mentioning Sou Village, everyone in Dingshui Village changed their expressions and looked at Village Chief Li.
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