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Volume 1, Yan Cunzheng, Chapter 13: A debt collection official document

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    While Zi Baifeng was busy sorting out various materials, Yan Laowu was squatting under the big locust tree at the head of the village, smoking a dry cigarette.  He remembered that when he was a child, people in the village did not do farming, and even hunting was just incidental to hunting for jade.  But when there were fewer and fewer jade stones and fewer animals in the mountains, more and more people had to start cultivating mountain fields and follow the example of the people down the mountain to make a living through farming.  Yan Laowu remembers that at that time, his grandfather always smoked a dry pipe and squatted on the mountain to the north of the village, watching the young people leave early in the morning and come back late in the evening.  But now, Yan Laowu is squatting in the south of the village leading to Mengcheng, watching the villagers farming in the thin fields on the hillside or at the foot of the mountain.  Individual figures undulate in the barren fields, like trees damaged by strong winds, falling, standing up, and falling again.  On the path between the messy and barren mountains and fields, a middle-aged man with a short stature wearing soap clothes and a short knife on his waist strode over, leading a horse. The horse was branded  He wears the official seal, his whole body is black and shiny, and he looks very handsome. The middle-aged man is leading the horse in front, and his body is not as high as the horse's legs.  The horse's nostrils were puffing with white air, and its body was covered in sweat. It seemed that it had run a long way.  Yan Laowu knocked on his dry pipe, stood up, walked towards him, and asked in surprise: "Lao Si, why are you here?" This man also had the surname Yan, and was born in Yan Village. He was considered to be the same clan as Yan Laowu. In terms of seniority,  , one generation lower than Yan Laowu, Xingsi, so he is called Laosi.  He is not tall, but has a sharp mind. When he was young, he got a job in Mengcheng as a servant of the Household Tax Department.  Hufang has great power, and the tax department under its jurisdiction is responsible for summer taxes and autumn crops.  Although the fourth child is just an ordinary servant, he has the responsibility of supervising tax collection and does have some power. No matter where he goes on weekdays, there are people who are fawning over him and serving him good food and wine.  But in fact, no one likes to see the tax collector. When Yan Laowu saw him, his heart skipped a beat, but he couldn't show it yet.  The fourth child waved his hand and did not rush to answer Yan Laowu's question. He walked to Yan Laowu's side, shook his head and said, "Uncle Wu, you are going to get into big trouble in Yancun!" "What's wrong?  "Yan Laowu was startled. This fourth lao was too alarmist.  "What's wrong? You can read it for yourself" The fourth child took out a document in his hand. Yan Laowu blushed and said, "fourth brother, you are laughing at your fifth uncle. If I know the words in it, then  Am I still Yan Lao Wu?" Lao Si shook his head and told them about the government's decision to collect taxes and asked them to come down and supervise.  "Three years of tax debt?" Yan Laowu's face turned pale immediately.  No one knows Xia Yancun¡¯s family background better than Yan Laowu.  Xiayan Village has been mining jade for generations, and most of them have no land, so they use a head tax, which is levied upon adulthood. The tax amount is fixed, but it can be offset by different materials.  In previous years, it was fine, and most of them were neat and tidy money. But later, when things went bad, they had everything.  Coming to the countryside to collect taxes is considered a hard job.  In these villages, there is often not a single scholar who can write or calculate, and there are very few tax collectors who are good at calculation. How much they are asked to pay, how much they actually pay, and how much they end up losing are all a mess.  And at the end, the ruler of the mansion calculated the final tax collected, and found that the total was pretty much the same, so it was over. It was really not worth the effort to sort out a clue.  In such an environment, if a village pays less taxes, the village can only accept it and cannot reason with the government. Since ancient times, people have not fought with officials. This is the wisdom of the common people to survive.  "Fifth Uncle, do you think this tax can be collected or cannot be collected?" asked the fourth child.  "It's difficult" You don't need to think about Yan Laowu to know that this tax is impossible to collect. When the tax amount was set for Xiayan Village back then, the average number of the whole village was taken, and then the tax was one for thirty, which was relatively low.  The tax rate is because there is a jade tax every thirty years, which is an additional tax levied only on jade-producing villages. Most other villages have a tax of fifteen to one.  In recent years, the income of people in the village has dropped sharply, to almost one-fifth of the previous year's income. If it were based on the tax standard of 30 to 1 in those years, it could barely be made up. But now that three years of taxes are paid at one time, a family  The harvest of most of the year.  It¡¯s strange that it can be collected.  "I find it difficult too" Lao Si nodded and looked at Yan Lao Wu's sad face, but he laughed and said: "Fifth Uncle, why are you so sad? I know that your family is well-off, and three years of taxes are not enough.  Don't say you can't pay it. " Yan Laowu shook his head and said: "We can pay it if we tighten our belts for half a year, but most people in this village can't pay these taxes  ¡±  Yan Laowu is worried. What if he cannot collect taxes and is punished by the governor?  Yan Laowu understood the saying that the law does not punish the public, but he still remembered a saying, which is to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.  "Uncle Wu, you are really confused." Lao Si shook the document in his hand and said, "Before I came here, I heard an adult in the mansion say that there is an additional village chief in Xiayan Village. Is it the one who spoke?  "Unpleasant Zi Baifeng?" Yan Laowu suddenly realized that the tax collection responsibility was not his, but that of Mr. Muramasa. He suddenly clapped his hands and said with a smile: "That's the one  "Zi Baifeng." "Such a headache should be taken care of by him. Uncle Wu, you are so lucky!" The fourth child gave a thumbs up, and then asked: "This villager is here now.  Where is Mr. Zheng? I will send this letter to him. "He is in the private school in the village. You can go on your own. I will prepare food and drinks for you when I go home."  He watched as Lao Si led the horse into the village, the smile on his lips slowly faded, he shook his head slightly, his eyes were complicated and unspeakable. ?¡­ ?¡­ ?¡­ ?Xiayan Village Private School, under the big locust tree.  "I will give the document to Mr. Muramasa. I will take my leave now." The fourth child carefully put the paper with Zi Baifeng's seal on it, which meant that the document had been handed over to Zi Baifeng, into his arms and held it in his hand.  , led the horse and turned around.  Zi Baifeng stood at the door of the private school, watching him walk around the corner. He had only one thought in his mind: "Damn it, Zi Baifeng, you are in trouble!" On the second day after he took office, he had to deal with tax collection.  , this is really training people.  Whether in his previous life or in this life, Zi Baifeng had never been exposed to the work of tax collection. He thought hard and didn't know where to start or where to end. The document clearly stated that all taxes should be collected within 15 days, and he would be free to collect taxes within 15 days.  Someone from the tax department will hand it over.  What if you don¡¯t pay?  What will happen if we don¡¯t pay?  You should write it for me!  Zi Baifeng could not help but yell at the piece of paper.  At this moment, Zi Baifeng suddenly felt a little envious of Yan Laowu. He really hoped that he could only recognize the word "secret" and not know anything else. He would be fearless if he didn't know.  After sitting there for a long time, Zi Baifeng was at a loss and had no clue. Could it be that he wanted to go from house to house to collect taxes?  After a long time, Zi Baifeng finally made up his mind¡ªto discuss it with Yan Laowu.  It¡¯s not far from the private school to Yan Laowu¡¯s house. It only takes a few steps to get there.  Yan Er was fetching water and brushing his horses in the yard. When he saw Zi Baifeng coming, he raised his voice and said, "The scholar is here!" As he said this, he smiled unnaturally.  Zi Baifeng didn't care. Although he had combined the experience of two lives, he was still just a young man after all. He didn't know much about the ways of the world. He just thought that Yan Er's eyes were wet with sweat. He cupped his hands and said: "Second uncle, the old man is at home."  "Is he inside? He's drunk and just fell asleep." Yan Er said quickly.  "Oh" Zi Baifeng has the consciousness of a modern person after all. He heard faint snoring coming from inside, and felt that it was not polite to disturb a drunk person. He said disappointedly: "Then I will come back later." "Okay, scholar.  Sir, please walk slowly" Yan Er watched Zi Baifeng leave and looked around for a long time, then closed the door and walked into the room.  "Leaving?" Yan Laowu had just lifted the quilt and sat up. He had indeed drank, but he had a very heavy drinking capacity. The one who was really drunk was Lao Si, who was snoring next door at this time.  "Let's go, I said I'd come back later." Yan Er replied dully. Seeing that his father didn't say anything else, he turned around and went out again.  Yan Laowu sat on the bedside, feeling a little uncomfortable.  When it got dark, Zi Baifeng came again. Yan Er said: "He's still in there. Go and see if he's awake." Yan Laowu, who was drinking tea to relieve his hangover, was startled when he heard this and quickly undressed and lay down.  After lying on the bed and covering him with the quilt, Zi Baifeng came in and called the old man twice. He grunted twice and planned to deal with it.  Zi Baifeng pushed him a few more times, but he just pretended to be asleep. Zi Baifeng stood next to him for a while and saw that he was indeed not awake, so he had to leave.  But as soon as he turned around, he saw the half-drunk tea on the table, and then looked at the water stains on the corners of Yan Laowu's mouth, and he suddenly understood something.  Yan Laowu lay on the bed and didn't dare to move, until Yan Er came in and said, "He's gone again." Yan Laowu sat up suddenly, but then lay down again, feeling weak all over.  ¡°This damn old man is so angry with me!¡± Zi Baifeng came out of Yan Laowu¡¯s house and almost exploded with anger.  This guy clearly doesn't want to deal with this trouble.   However, I have the memory of two lives, how can I still be stumped by this matter?  Okay, if you pretend you don¡¯t know, then we¡¯ll start collecting them from your home!  Zi Baifeng turned around and walked towards Yan Laowu's house again, but after walking a few steps, he turned back.  There are two Bo Fengs, one is cold and upright, the other is hot-blooded and arrogant. When the two personalities merge together, they respond to the phrase "think before you act", as if there are really two people thinking.  Normally speaking, as the village leader, he should indeed have this responsibility. The clan elder is just the clan elder, and he really has no obligation to do anything to help him.  The tax collection was only temporary, and Zi Baifeng felt that he could always find a way, but if he really turned against Yan Laowu directly, he would have more troubles in the future.
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