Rebirth of the High Family's Beloved

Yan Ci's outfit was really shabby.

Wherever she walked, everyone pinched their noses and avoided her, as if they could smell the beggar's odor on her from a long distance away.

Yan Ci couldn't help but sniff her body. Although her clothes looked tattered, she still smelled fresh. People are visual animals. If they see that she is dirty, they will think she stinks.

But it was exactly what she wanted. At least no one suspected that she was a fake, and she arrived out of the city unhindered.

The city defense soldiers had been on guard against refugees rushing into the city, but unexpectedly a refugee in the city took the initiative to leave.

It's really strange.

Looking at the refugee jumping out of the city gate, the two city defense soldiers on duty couldn't help but shook their heads. What a fool! How can he survive if he gets out?

Relying on his ability to make people retreat, Yan Ci quickly found the place where a large number of refugees gathered.

But upon comparison, I found that I was the real refugee.

Although the refugees looked disheveled, they were all dressed neatly. There was even a woman who looked dusty and dirty, but she was leaning against a tree and braiding the hair of her seven or eight-year-old daughter.

They try to keep themselves as respectable as possible when conditions permit.

And he himself couldn't stand Yan Ci's deliberately unkempt appearance.

If I had known I wouldn't have made it so messy.

Although the refugees were not xenophobic, they looked at the strangers who suddenly appeared with some caution.

Yan Ci came to infiltrate their group, so of course she had to create the same miserable situation as theirs. She tugged at her patched clothes with curled edges and walked timidly towards the mother and daughter with braids.

"Can I sit here?"

Yan Ci pointed to a stone next to the tree and said to the mother.

The woman didn't look very old, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, but after a long journey, coupled with poor eating and sleeping, her face looked a little pale.

But the gentle look she gave her daughter made Yan Ci choose to start with her.

If she hadn't been forced to do so, she wouldn't have led her daughter into such a precarious life.

This mother should be the kind of person who would ensure that her daughter has enough food and clothing even if she only has a piece of good land.

But looking at the girl, although her clothes were neat and her pigtails were combed neatly and shiny, her cheeks were thin and her spirit was a little weak, which showed that she had not had a full meal for many days.

Hearing Yan Ci's question, the woman raised her eyelids and looked at Yan Ci with pity in her eyes, but her voice was soft, "Please sit down, there is no one over there."

Yan Ci smiled at the woman with gratitude and sat down on the stone next to him.

The little girl also smiled, "Sister, are you also fleeing here?"

Yan Ci wanted to inquire about the refugees, so she couldn't say that she was also a refugee. She shook her head and said, "No, I'm a beggar. There have been more beggars in Dongdu in recent days, so I was driven out."

The little girl nodded, "Is Dongdu big? Are there a lot of delicious food in it?"

Yan Ci's throat tightened, and when he saw the little girl's eyes full of longing, he almost softened his heart.

But she remembered the purpose of her trip. If she softened her heart at this moment, not only would she not be able to help them, but she might not even be able to return to Dongdu.

"The capital is quite big, but not everyone can eat the delicious food. For beggars like us, we should be thankful to have enough food to eat."

Yan Ci paused for a moment and began to ask: "But little sister, where are you from and why did you come to Dongdu?"

"My family lives in Licheng. We used to live a good life, but there was a landlord who took our land and beat my father to death. My mother and I had nowhere else to go, so we came to Dongdu. But we didn't expect that Dongdu would not accept us."

"Don't you have a government? They took your land and killed your father. Why don't you sue them?"

The little girl's mother took over the conversation, "The official and the bully are in cahoots. What's the point of suing the official? They colluded with us and forced us into slavery. It's a blessing from God that we can escape alive."

"Have you thought about how you will live in the future?"

The woman shook her head blankly. "It's better to live one day at a time than to be a slave, working hard all year round and owing money to the landlord at the end."

From the woman's words, Yan Ci slowly understood that the reason they became refugees was because officials and businessmen colluded to rob their land and forced them to be slaves and farm the land for them.

Originally, these farmers had to pay taxes to the country. Now that they are slaves, they not only have to pay taxes to the country, but also pay rent to the landlords. Their already meager income is not enough to meet their basic needs.

Not only did the government not reduce or exempt their taxes, but it arbitrarily increased taxes because they were slaves.

Eventually, they were overwhelmed and had to abandon their homes and businesses and leave their homeland to seek a way to make a living.

The emperor attaches great importance to people's livelihood. They probably think that Dongdu is at the feet of the emperor and that this will be their ideal home. However, they don't know that the one who caused their current situation is the emperor they wanted to surrender to.

Taxes are paid per person. As long as a new person is born in the family, it means paying an additional head tax, regardless of whether the new person has the ability to work.

Those who lost their land should not have paid taxes anymore, but according to the laws of Daxing, they still had to pay taxes according to the number of people, regardless of whether they still had good land to pay.

Landlords who owned large amounts of land only needed to pay a head tax to get the harvest from dozens or even hundreds of acres of land.

On a day like this, it would be strange if people didn't run away.

Yan Ci had learned how to manage the household from Jiang Qingqing for a while and knew that the Yan family had a lot of private land. Yan Ci had never seen the taxes on these lands in the account books of the Yan family.

It seems that someone also paid the head tax for the Yan family.

The Yan family took advantage of this darkness to evade taxes from the state.

It is not unfair that Yan Tonglin was suspended.

Yan Ci sat on the cold stone, thinking that maybe she could think of a way to change this situation.

As the afternoon gradually approached, the group of people finally waited for the officials who came to accommodate them.

A large group of soldiers came to an open space not far from them and set up a tent. A small cart was placed underneath, and the aroma of rice wafted from the cart.

It seems that they are preparing to distribute porridge.

Yan Ci huddled in the crowd and lined up with the refugees, but heard the official in charge of distributing porridge say, "After you have eaten your fill today, you can rest here first. Someone will escort you back to your hometown tomorrow. If you have any problems, the local authorities will solve them."

The refugees all stopped where they were. Wasn't this sending them away and letting them go back just like sending them back to their deaths?