Zhu Nao

In Baishui Village near Cuiping Mountain, it was supposed to be a busy season for farming, but not many people were busy in the fields at the moment.Most of the men in the village gathered by the pond at the back of the village, discussing important matters with solemn expressions.

"Village chief, make up your mind!"

"We can't live like this anymore, village chief, please take us away!"

"Yes, if you say a word, the whole village will follow you."

The person who is called the village head is an elder in his 60s and [-]s. His surname is Sun, and he is also known as Sun Lao.At this moment, Old Sun was full of hesitation, and the young people surrounded him, saying they wanted him to make an idea, but in his opinion, people didn't want him to make an idea, but forced him to make an idea.But this idea is really not easy to take.

Recently it was the summer harvest season. Just a few days ago, the officials responsible for collecting taxes and grains came to their village and informed them that it was time to collect summer taxes.

Taxes have been increasing every year in recent years, and the officials who collect taxes are still very arrogant and unreasonable.Every time those officials came, each of them took a thorny cane. If anyone procrastinated and handed in late, or failed to hand in the amount required by the government, the officials would use the cane to beat the person severely. After a meal, they were forced to make up the taxes and rations.Sometimes they would also threaten them that if they failed to pay the extra grain, their daughters would be taken away and sold to Goulan in the city.

However, it's not that they don't want to pay taxes, but that they really can't.There have been more and more bandits recently, although all the men in the village have taken turns guarding the fields in the morning and evening.But the bandits are too cunning, they cut a few crops of wheat in the east, and pluck a few crops of vegetables in the west.The farmers had just beaten off the farmers here, but when they turned around, the fields on the other side had been stripped away, and it was really hard to guard against.Now there are only a few crops left in the field. If they are taken away by the government again, the people in the village will starve to death this year.

Under the current predicament, the farmers couldn't bear it anymore, and they didn't know who started it. People responded, and finally almost every household in the village participated—they decided to rebel!When the tax collectors come in a few days, they will kill those bastards on the spot to avenge the hatred they have been oppressed for many years.The ordinary people who let mermaids give up, and the whole village finds a mountain together, or establishes their own, or goes to a cottage, and they also become thieves!

A young man said: "Old Sun, why are you still hesitating? Haven't you had enough of this kind of life? Those dog officials even beat you last time!"

"I know." Elder Sun was very helpless, "But being a bandit is not as easy as you think. Now there are bandits everywhere, and the fertile mountain has been occupied by people. What will people in our village eat after entering the mountain?" What to drink? There will be wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountains, which is very dangerous. Moreover, some daughters-in-law in the village have just given birth and have not weaned their milk. Can their bodies take it?"

The old man is more far-sighted, but the young man is more emotional and relieved.

One person said: "After entering the mountain, with so many of us and so many hands, can we still find no way to survive? At worst... At worst, we will also be like those bandits, robbing other people's property! We don't have to do so much hard work on the farm. What! If we continue to stay here and let the officials oppress us, we will starve to death this year!"

"That's right, Mr. Sun, it's not that we want to be bandits, but we have to find a way so that we can survive, right?"

Elder Sun was silent for a moment, his nose sore: "I have lived here for more than fifty years, and I really don't want to leave..."

This sentence silenced the excited people.Some people had red eyes and turned their backs to secretly wipe away tears.

Who wouldn't want to live a stable and prosperous life in a familiar hometown?But this day is really unbearable...

At this moment, a woman hurried over.

"Village chief, village chief, two officials have come to the village!"

"What? An official?! Why are you here so soon!"

The men were shocked, thinking that the tax collectors had arrived early.For a moment, anger welled up in their hearts, and everyone picked up hoes, rakes and other farm tools one after another.

"Damn, don't wait! Let's go, we will fight with them!"

"Fight! They want to kill us, and we can't let them live!"

The men ran aggressively towards the village.

"Hey, don't be impulsive!"

Old Sun wanted to persuade everyone, but unfortunately it was too late, the young man with full of vigor was overwhelmed by anger, he just wanted to kill him.Sun Lao can hold that one, but can't hold that one.A group of people rushed forward with murderous intent, unable to stop them at all.Old Sun could only speed up his pace and chase after him.

In a blink of an eye, everyone had already rushed to the head of the village, intending to go up and open the heads of those bastard officials when they saw them, but the scene at the head of the village made everyone stunned.

I saw two young men with thick heads and tiger brains hugging and teasing the children in the village. They still held snacks in their hands and fed them to the children. The children giggled happily.Although those two were wearing official uniforms, they were not officials who usually came to collect taxes from them, but strangers they had never seen before.

Seeing this scene, the villagers were a little overwhelmed and stopped one after another.There were a few extremely impulsive ones, thinking that the officials were not good people, and they would not be wronged if they killed them, so they continued to charge forward, but they were stopped by other people in the village before they could charge up—after all, there were children present, such a thing is still It is better not to do it in front of the child.

At this moment, the two young officials were none other than Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou.

Most of the educated civil servants in the state government, Zhu Nao, were retained, but many of the low-level subordinates were removed and replaced drastically.He is well aware that those subordinate officials act arrogantly and arrogantly, and the people are often able to contact these subordinate officials, and the people's impression of the subordinate officials will also affect their impression of the government.After abolishing the arrogant and rude subordinates, Zhu Nao recruited some people from his shop and farm, and recruited some reliable people from Changming Village, among them were Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou.

The two of them turned their heads and saw a large group of men with farm tools rushing towards them aggressively, and they were shocked.

Lu Qiuyu scratched his head and asked puzzledly, "What are you doing?"

The villagers looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.

Elder Sun was old and frail, and he ran slowly. At this time, he finally caught up with him out of breath.He pushed through the crowd and ran to the front, and was taken aback when he saw Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou.

"The two little brothers are servants in the state capital? Why haven't you seen them before?" Sun Lao hurriedly opened his mouth to stabilize the situation.

"Ah, yes. We are newly recruited by Zhuzhou Mu. We have only been working for two days." Lu Qiuyu put down the child in his arms.The child's father hurriedly beckoned the child to go back.However, because the snacks Lu Qiuyu gave were delicious, the child liked him and refused to leave by pulling his trouser legs.

"Who is Zhuzhou Mu?" Elder Sun asked in surprise, "Isn't it Song Zhoumu?"

Most of the villages far away from the town are closed, and people in the village seldom go out, and people from outside the village seldom come in. Therefore, it takes a long time before the people in the village hear about what happens outside.It has been several days since the state shepherd changed his post, and no one in Baishui Village knows about it.

Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou were also taken aback.Wang Fengshou immediately said: "Songzhou Mu is dead! Now Zhu Zhoumu is in charge. Have you heard of Zhu Dashan's name?"

The villagers looked at each other in blank dismay.They have too little communication with the outside world, and they have never heard of Junao.

Wang Fengshou slapped his thigh and said, "It's a pity that you haven't heard of it! Zhuzhou Mu is a well-known benevolent person in Langzhou. When the flood hit the year before last, he bought a large farm to accommodate the victims, and only accepted one-tenth of the victims. Not only that, but he also invited doctors to treat the victims, so I don’t know how many lives were saved.”

The villagers were all dumbfounded.Song Zhoumu is dead?To change such a person to be a Xinzhou pastor?

Old Sun was also a bit silly, but the old man was calmer than the young man after all, and hurriedly said: "We haven't had any guests in our village for a while, so I just heard about it. I don't know what the two little brothers from officials are doing here. ?”

Lu Qiuyu said: "After Zhuzhou Mu took office, he reformed the tax-related laws and regulations. We are here to announce new laws and regulations."

As soon as they heard the word "taxation", the villagers immediately became nervous.Some people loosened their grip on the farm tools, but suddenly they gripped tightly again, looking at Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou vigilantly, ready to strike at any time.

You must know that officials in the state capital often like to say empty words to fool people. When the officials came to collect taxes in the past, they also said that the government took away their grain to protect them and let them live a better life.But when they were robbed by bandits all day long, they never saw the government stand up to protect them. On the contrary, the officials bullied them harder than the bandits bullied them.Although the two newly appointed officials looked good-looking, who knew if they were the same way as before?Those words just now may also be fooling them.

Lu Qiuyu hurriedly said: "Zhu Zhoumu was very annoyed when he learned that under the governance of the previous state shepherd, the common people had to pay so many exorbitant taxes, so he decided to immediately reduce taxes for farmers."

When the villagers heard the word "tax reduction", they all showed incredible expressions.It has been several years, and taxes have been raised every year, and this is the first time I have heard that the government is going to cut taxes!

Elder Sun hurriedly asked, "Tax reduction? Little brother, how do you reduce it?"

Lu Qiuyu replied solemnly: "All exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes will be exempted. From now on, the state government will only collect land tax, and the tax will be eleven."

There was a sound of sucking air all around.Tax eleven! !You must know that all kinds of exorbitant taxes were added together before, and the tax rate was almost as high as five tenths.As soon as there was a harvest in the field, the government immediately sent someone to collect half of it.Ordinary years are fine, once there is a calamity year and bandits flood, the harvest will be reduced every year, but the tax will be increased every year. It is really impossible to live this life.They thought that the government could reduce or exempt some miscellaneous taxes, and they might still have a way to survive, but they didn't expect that Zhuzhou Mu to directly reduce the tax to eleven! !

Someone was unable to stand on the spot and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, he was supported by the left and right sides.

"Eleventh??? Really only eleven??? Nothing but land rent???"

Wang Fengshou continued: "Of course it is true. Zhuzhou Mu is a good official who loves the people like his own son. After he learned how miserable the people in this state are living, he was so heartbroken that he didn't sleep well for several days! Don't worry, everyone. , with Zhuzhou Mu in the future, everything will be different from before."

The task Junao entrusted to them is not only to let them explain the new tax law to the villagers, but also to make the people understand that the state capital has been renewed.Only in this way can the people regain their confidence in the state capital.Lu Qiuyu is more honest and not very good at flattering others, while Wang Fengshou is more oily than him, and his mouth is much sweeter. With him adding fuel and jealousy, the common people are really more moved.

"My God!"

"There is such a good thing!"

The crowd was in an uproar.If they had doubts about Wang Fengshou's words just now, they completely believed them now.This Xinzhou shepherd is definitely a kind person! !

Several people even hugged their heads and cried excitedly.They thought they had come to a dead end, but who would have thought that another village would turn around so quickly.If they really only need to pay [-]% of the land tax, they will no longer have to worry about going hungry in the future.

"By the way, Zhuzhou Mu still has an explanation."

As soon as Lu Qiuyu opened his mouth, the noisy farmers immediately quieted down and listened to him.

Lu Qiuyu said: "He knows that banditry is a problem in this state, and he wants to get rid of the bandit disaster. I hope that if you have any clues about banditry, such as which mountain has banditry, where is the cottage built on the mountain, and how many are there in the cottage?" People, where the bandits are from, etc... Any clues are fine, and all of them should be reported to the state government. If the clues you provide play an important role in controlling the bandits, the state pastor will reward you."

Before he finished speaking, the farmers couldn't wait to provide clues.

"I know I know!"

"In Cuiping Mountain..."

"Those bandits..."

"I don't want rewards, I just want to kill those bandits!"

Countless voices mixed together, making Lu Qiuyu and Wang Feng's hair grow louder.Elder Sun quickly stood up and presided over the situation, asking everyone to talk one by one.The villagers of Baishui Village have been invaded by bandits, and they have dealt with bandits a lot, so they know a lot about bandits.As they talked, the literate people in the village took notes and submitted them to the state pastor together.

When Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou finished explaining what should be explained, collected what should be collected, and were about to leave, the attitude of the people in Baishui Village towards them was completely different from before.

"I'm sorry, two big brothers." A young man remembered that they almost beat the two of them at the beginning. He was afraid for a while, and he was also afraid that this matter would offend the new state shepherd. He hurriedly found an excuse to explain, "At first we still I thought there were bandits coming, so...you must not be angry."

"Yes, yes, we thought they were bandits. Two little brothers, why don't you stay and have a meal before leaving. We will cook you something delicious and apologize for scaring you." The villagers hurriedly said rescue.

Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou: "..."

The two looked at each other, and they both saw a little guilt in each other's eyes.A few days ago, they were indeed bandits... How should I put it, they suddenly became officials, and even they themselves didn't expect it at all.Life is full of variables...

The villagers enthusiastically asked them to stay, and the two had no choice but to refuse: "We won't eat, we have to go to other villages to announce the new law, it's time to go."

"So fast? Those two little brothers, my family just baked some pancakes, take some to eat on the way."

"I still have a basket of eggs..."

"No, no, no need." Lu Qiuyu waved his hands again and again, "Zhu Zhoumu said that we can't take things from the common people casually."

"Don't let me collect things?? Those bastard...officials in the past stole a lot of things from our house."

"It seems that Xinzhou Mu is completely different from the previous Zhou Mu. Hey, why didn't he come to Langzhou a few years earlier?"

"It's not too late now, he came in time."

"Yes, yes, very timely. Fortunately, he came, otherwise we would have been miserable..."

After chatting for a while, it was getting late, Lu Qiuyu and Wang Fengshou said goodbye to the moved villagers, and rushed to the next village.

=====

In the morning, the officials came out of the official dormitory and went to the yard to have breakfast.

The cook had already prepared the vat and was standing in the yard.The officials lined up and stepped forward one by one. The cook took a spoonful from the bucket, put it into the officials' bowl, and shouted, "Next—"

The official who had made breakfast walked aside and stirred the soup in the bowl with chopsticks.Immediately looked unhappy.

"It's rice cereal again! Let's forget about rice cereal every day, and it's getting thinner every day! Pigs eat better than us!"

"Shhh...don't say it, in case someone hears it, tell Zhou Mu..."

"Tell Zhou Mu what's wrong? I can't pay my salary and let me eat this all day long. I don't want to be an official anymore!"

Most of the civil servants live in the official dormitory of the state capital, and the state government is also responsible for the food.Since all the food in the state capital was robbed by the rioting soldiers, there was only a little money left, so the expenses had to be very frugal, and the food of the officials became worse and worse every day.

Dou Ziyi passed by the complainer holding her own rice cereal. The complainer gave him a wary look and immediately shut up.In the end, I was still afraid that the truth would reach Zhuzhou Mu's ears.

Dou Ziyi finished drinking the rice cereal, washed the dishes, and set off to find Zhu Nao.

……

Zhu Nao was reading official documents when he heard someone knock on the door outside and said, "Come in."

Dou Ziyi pushed the door open and walked in.

"Master Dou, what's the matter?" Zhu Nao pushed the official document aside.

Dou Ziyi was silent for a moment, then said: "Master Zhou, the food in the state capital is terrible. Many people are not satisfied."

Jun Nao tilted his head and let out a "huh".It is not a big problem to be owed a salary for a few days, at least there is hope.But if the daily diet is too bad, it will indeed affect the mood of officials at work and make them passive and slow down.

In the final analysis, there is no need to worry about replenishing the treasury, but there is still a need to raise an emergency food fund. Whether it is used to maintain the operation of the state capital or to control bandits, many things require money.

Dou Ziyi suggested: "Why don't we collect taxes from wealthy businessmen?"

Zhu Nao said, "Zheng? No, let's borrow it first."

Dou Ziyi understood what he meant.The current situation in the state capital is too chaotic, and stability is the top priority. They can't afford to offend wealthy businessmen and big businessmen now.Moreover, because the bandits in Langzhou are vicious, they are not powerful enough to affect the rule of the state capital.

Zhu Nao thought for a moment, then said, "As I said, write a loan order."

Dou Ziyi spread out the rice paper and studied the ink.

……

After the morning regular meeting for the officials, back in the back garden, Zhu Nao told Jing Zhe: "Go and pack your things, let's go."

Jing Zhe asked in a daze, "Where are you going?"

Zhu Nao's eyes fluttered, and he smiled meaningfully: "Let's go see some old friends."