Chapter 20 Autumn Tax Part 2

After returning home, Liang Qu cleaned out the rice vat, boiled some hot water, poured it into the rice vat and stirred it. After confirming the water temperature, he jumped in, put on soap, and took a pleasant bath. (っ◔◡◔)っ

It's true that he often gets into the water, but without soap, he always feels like something is missing. He is fifteen or sixteen years old and has a strong metabolism. His head is always oily. He sweats from practicing martial arts all day long, and he doesn't feel refreshed and neat.

During this period, Liang Qu also discovered a magical effect of water flow. He made soap and controlled part of the water flow to wash away and then flow away. There was no need to change the water at all.

At night, Liang Qu spread out his newly bought mattress and had a good sleep comfortably.

For the next few days, Liang Qu would go out on the boat, practice martial arts on the boat, and Ah Fei fish, and then go back in the evening and pretend to catch fish for a day. During this period, more and more expensive fish species began to appear, and he saved another six coins.

Perhaps because he slept well, he was more energetic when practicing and his efficiency was significantly improved.

"Hey, it's getting colder."

That day, Liang Qu hugged the quilt and didn't want to get out of the quilt. He just wanted to sleep again.

There is a real difference between reality and novels. In the past, we could always see some protagonists practicing tirelessly all day long to make ends meet, but the reality is that unless they are robots, they really can’t spin continuously. If they practice for three hours in a row, they will be very good. , if there are more people, it will collapse.

"It's time to collect the autumn tax. It's time to collect the autumn tax. Everyone, go to the port to pay the grain!"

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, Liang Qu heard someone shouting outside the door and was startled.

The autumn tax day is not fixed, only on a few days, and the specific day depends on the official.

He hurriedly put on his clothes and went out, and found that every household began to move grain to the port.

"Mom, isn't it good to pay money? You also have to pay for polished rice. I have to carry more than two hundred kilograms by myself."

It's a pity that he can only complain in private, because he deserves to do it and he has to do it.

More than a hundred kilograms of rice was too much to move in one trip, and it was not easy to move. Fortunately, when he saw Li Libo's family at the port, Liang Qu asked them to help take care of it, and then ran back to move it.

"How's it going? What did you learn at the martial arts school recently?"

Li Libo sighed: "Hey, I just finished learning Ape Fist and started learning Tiger Fist, and my progress has just caught up with you."

Liang Qu patted him on the shoulder, not knowing how to comfort him.

"By the way, why haven't you been there these past few days?"

"I'm not busy with the autumn tax. I don't have anyone to help with it."

"oh."

"Ah Shui, my kid is stupid, you have to help him more." The old man standing aside said something. It was Li Libo's father Li Dakang. He had heard Li Libo say that Liang Qu's bones were good, and he even heard that Liang Qu had News that beat the hell out of the Wang brothers in a few days.

"sure."

Liang Qu felt that the scene in front of him was inexplicably similar to the scene in his previous life when he was in school. He really pitied the hearts of parents in the world.

"Next one! Chen Jiechang!"

In front of the port, Li was taking the household register and calling the names one by one. The head of the household and the secretary of the township were sitting at the table, taking notes with brushes. There were also servants beside them who were kicking the official dendrobium used for weighing grain. Every kick could make Ping Ping. Some of the full rice grains fell down and some spilled out, which was frightening to watch.

There was also Leng Touqing who wanted to pick up rice grains on the ground, but was yelled at by an official: "Don't pick it up, it's a waste! Hey, you are still picking it up!"

The official kicked the man on the ground and kicked him to the ground.

This is the famous Linjian kicking of dendrobium. The grain piles should be piled up in a pointed pile shape. Some of them will exceed the wall of the dendrobium. If you kick it at this time, you can kick out a lot of rice. After kicking, the people will make up for the shortage. .

To put it bluntly, it is difficult to define the amount of losses. There are various transportation risks. Linjian Kihu means that officials transfer transportation risks to the people. If the transportation losses are small, they will be greedy, so the more kicks, the better.

"It seems difficult to deal with this year. Fortunately, we are well prepared." Li Libo was still frightened, and then sighed, "It would be great if I could become a martial artist.

Not only do you not have to pay taxes, but you can also get money, just like the master of Juren, and even more prestigious. "

"Pingyang Town collected taxes yesterday. Ah Shui, you didn't see it. Several warriors who broke through the barriers passed by. How dare the officials kick them? They laughed so hard..."

Li Libo secretly teased, but before he could finish his words, he was kicked hard by his father: "You kid, how dare you say anything? Shut your mouth!"

Li Libo looked sad and fell silent.

The long army moved forward slowly, and from time to time there would be people who couldn't pay taxes and were kneeling and crying. But in the end they could only be whipped and dragged aside, and the final outcome would be to do corvee labor.

Liang Qu looked at the cruel scene and had no choice. All his savings were only six coins and one and a half rice, so he could only wait quietly in the queue. When it was time for him, he handed over the rice and looked at the officials. A lot of it was missing when the member kicked it down, so he went back to get rice to make up for it.

Liang Qu was not stupid enough to bring all the more than two hundred kilograms of rice that he had prepared in advance and make up for it immediately when he saw something was missing. In that case, the officials would not praise you for your efficiency in doing things, but would only make it worse.

After collecting it, Liang Qu saw Li Zheng ticking the box on the booklet, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the officials were not so evil as to include his dead "father". After all, he died less than two months ago. If you move further back, this group of people would definitely be able to do it.

Liang Qu packed up the bag and walked back against the crowd. But before he was halfway there, he heard another cry of begging coming from behind him, and a frightening crack of a whip.

"Damn thing, the snot is all on my legs!"

Liang Qu thought he was another poor man who couldn't pay taxes, but when he looked back, he was surprised to find that the man who was whipped was actually Chen Qingjiang's father, Chen Renxing!

What's going on? Didn't you see Uncle Chen bringing food earlier? That amount should be enough!

Something was wrong. Liang Qu quickly pulled Li Libo: "Brother Li, go to my house quickly to get rice. There are three buckets of rice left."

Li Libo was very surprised, but he also understood that it was not the time to ask questions, so he lowered his head and quickly walked out of the crowd.

At this time, Chen Qingjiang was protecting his father and begging the officials for more time.

"It's not that I don't want to pay taxes, it's just that I have no choice. My son caught a cold a few days ago. In order to treat the illness, my family has no savings. Besides, my son is really only six years old, not yet seven!"

It turns out that Chen Qingjiang did not bring enough taxes. His family of five, including two boys, one girl and two children, should have paid two stones and six dou of rice.

But the officials really kicked it a little too hard, creating a gap of seven buckets. Not only that, they also forcibly counted Chen Qingjiang's eldest son, who was over six years old, as seven years old!

If you are a seven-year-old male, you have reached the tax threshold!

It's just that the share is not as large as that of adults, only three buckets of rice, but the gap is almost as much as one stone of rice!

Chen Qingjiang had thought that there would be a gap, but he only prepared three buckets of rice and another seven buckets, which could not be filled no matter what.

The official snorted coldly: "You mean I wronged you?"

"I don't dare, I just ask the master to give me a little more grace, and I will make up for it!" Chen Qingjiang knelt on the ground, kowtowed to beg for mercy, and the six-year-old Chen Shun beside him was crying loudly.

The onlookers were silent, no one dared to speak out, and no one came forward to help.

That’s seven buckets of rice!

It would cost more than 700 copper coins in exchange. Who would be so generous as to give it?

The crying children made the officials upset: "What can I do if I can't pay the taxes? But it doesn't matter. It happens that Lanzhou is building a canal and there is a shortage of manpower..."

Liang Qu was frightened when he heard this. He didn't know how many people would die in digging the canal. Can they come back?

Seeing that the crying Chen Shun made the officials unhappy, he wanted to crack the whip again.

Liang Qu rushed forward and pulled Xiao Shunzi behind him, rubbed his hands and said with a smile: "Master, please calm down. Uncle Chen is confused and forgot that there is rice at home. I will get it for you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Libo rushed over, shouted to give way, and poured the rice bag into the dendrobium, which was exactly three buckets.

The official sneered: "It's only three buckets, how about four more?"

Liang Qu took out the six pieces of silver he had just saved and said with a smile, "I really have no choice. I have been too busy recently to buy rice. These six pieces of silver should be used as a filial piety."

There is no gap in the first place, it is just an excuse for greed. Six coins can buy six or seven bushels of rice, a total of nine bushels, which adds up to two bushels more.

The official weighed it and accepted it calmly: "Okay, I won't do this next time."

"Yes, thank you sir."

Liang Qu wiped his sweat, quickly helped Chen Qingjiang support his father, then held Xiao Shunzi's hand, and left under the watchful eyes of the officials.