Chapter 550: Could it be worse?
At night, with the bright moon shining in front of the window, Cui Sanlun could not sleep.
Hezhong Mansion is in such chaos. Officials, soldiers, bandits, powerful and wealthy households, many forces are like a mess, entangled together.
Cui Sanlun frowned tightly.
He knew what Li Mingde and others meant. They wanted him to tell Gu Nanxi to go south as soon as possible.
Cui Sanlun sat up, walked to the window, looked at the bright moon in the sky, and thought hard.
Is this the case in Hazhong County, or did Li Mingde and others deliberately let the situation sink to this?
People's hearts are fickle, especially after entering the officialdom. In the face of fame and fortune, it is not surprising that a person makes any choice.
Going south?
Not going south?
Cui Sanlun only felt that he was in a fog and could not tell the direction. Behind the fog, there might be countless human-eating monsters hidden.
Following the loud crow of the cock, Cui Sanlun walked into the yard and happened to meet Song Da's family.
Cui Sanlun of the Song Dynasty saluted: "Our family discussed it last night and originally planned to stay in Hezhong Mansion to recuperate."
Song Da squeezed out a wry smile: "But looking at the current situation, Hezhong Mansion is not suitable for us. So we plan to follow you all the way north to visit Yunzhou."
"Yunzhou has just experienced war, and I'm afraid it won't be as prosperous as it used to be."
Madam Song's eyes were shining: "But the general is there. The place where the general is is always different."
From Hezhong to Shuozhou, you can only take the land route.
Li Mingde arranged for Cui Sanlun to be a caravan from Baida Express, with about fifty guards.
If the Song family wanted to travel together, it was just a matter of buying a carriage, which was very simple.
Cui Sanlun didn't want to stay in Hezhong Mansion any longer.
On the third day, a group of people were ready to set off.
This time we still have to pass through the west gate of Hezhong Mansion. There are so many guards there, but no one who is not discerning dares to provoke them.
While waiting in line, a commotion broke out not far from the city gate.
A lame old woman grabbed a woman by the skirt and yelled: "A little slut stole from me! Where did you hide my money?!"
The old woman hammered and beat her, her dim eyes full of fierceness.
The lady tightly protected the baby in her arms, shedding tears while being beaten.
"You bastard! If you die, you should go to the eighteenth level of hell!"
Cui Sanlun: "Isn't that the old woman selling fish in the village?"
In the past few days, Cui Sanlun had been in a very heavy mood. When he saw this scene, he stepped forward and said, "It's all a blind date between neighbors. How much money are you missing? I'll replenish it for you."
The old woman didn't even look at Cui Sanlun. She was like crazy and kept tearing at the little lady: "Widow Deng, tell me where you did my money! If you don't tell me, I will throw your child away." ”
After saying that, the old woman was about to snatch the baby from Widow Deng's arms.
Widow Deng suddenly raised her head, pushed the old woman away, and said angrily: "No! All that money was taken away by the tax collectors! What kind of widow's tax and head tax have been collected by our ancestors for eighteen generations! My son is less than one year old." When you are old, you still have to pay the poll tax!”
Widow Deng sat down on the ground and cried heartbrokenly: "My family has even sold its land, why do we still have to pay land tax?!"
Widow Deng looked at the old woman fiercely: "You damn old woman has a good life. You have lost both your son and daughter, and there is still someone willing to help you!"
The old woman seemed to be greatly stimulated. She covered her head with her hands and squatted down: "You are talking nonsense! My son went to the army and often wrote to my daughter! My daughter married into the county and lived a good life. !" Widow Deng sneered: "Stop fooling yourself! Your son went to serve as a soldier and got five hundred copper coins for you, but he was actually dragged by the governor to dig in the quarry and died in the mine!"
"Your daughter said she was married to the county, but she was actually sold to a brothel by her husband's family and tortured to death! Only the little Tao Hongxin in the brothel hired a scholar from the street to write a letter to her family every month. You send it!”
The old woman kept shaking her head: "You are talking nonsense, you are talking nonsense!"
Widow Deng has been hungry for three days and cannot express any milk. She also owes the Wu family 700 yuan for water bills and has no way to survive!
Widow Deng cried and laughed, and could only stab the weaker person with a sharp dagger: "If not, why don't you accept my money?!"
As if struck by lightning, the old woman could no longer deceive herself. She covered her chest, sat down on the ground and slapped her thighs.
"My son! My mother hasn't touched a penny of that five hundred dollars! My poor young lady, I paid three dowries to get you married, but I only got back a piece of red silk!"
Wrapping five hundred dollars in this piece of red silk was the old woman's only belief in surviving.
The two women cried heartbrokenly.
But the people around him didn't even bother to take a look, and they didn't even stop for a moment.
Cui Sanlun clenched his fists tightly and squeezed out a sentence through his teeth: "Li Mingde, Dazhou encourages remarriage, when will the widow's tax be collected?! Why should the head tax be paid to one-year-old children? What about the water fee? What’s going on?”
Li Mingde's eyes were dark and he didn't hide anything: "At the beginning, the government wanted to build a star observatory and let the states fund it. Hezhong Prefecture has not recovered, how can it get the money? So the tax items were increased."
Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!
Cui Sanlun: "Didn't the government suspend construction?"
Li Mingde: "It is easy to raise taxes, but difficult to lower taxes."
“Where’s the water bill?”
A strange smile appeared on Li Mingde's face: "It is said that there is nothing in the world but the king's land. In order to solve the problem of insufficient finance in Hezhong Prefecture, the governor sold the fields and mountains. Every river in Hezhong Prefecture has it. ”
"Nonsense! This is simply rebellion against Tiangang! Why don't you report this to the court?!"
Li Mingde sighed: "Yi Zu, which one of these people doesn't have one or two officials from the capital standing behind them? Guess who is behind the family with the most people on the hilltop?"
"Master Tong?"
Li Mingde burst into laughter, his eyes extremely complicated: "No, it's Mr. Li Ge."
The old woman and Widow Deng were still crying loudly, their cries were harsh.
Cui Sanlun stood there and was silent for a long time. He took out two taels of silver from his purse and gave it to the old woman and Widow Deng: "Don't cry. You two have one tael each. Don't fight over it."
After Cui Sanlun threw away the silver, he climbed into the car.
Li Mingde sighed secretly, gave the two strong men a few words, and then got into the carriage.
"What did you tell them?"
Li Mingde: "Let them protect Widow Deng and the old lady and spend all their money."
"It's only one tael of silver, so what?"
"Even a steamed bun can easily lead to death." Li Mingde knelt down and kowtowed.
"Yizu, you can save one person, but you can't save one county or one county. Please take pity on the people in the river and relieve their suffering!"
Cui Sanlun didn't want Gu Nanxi to rush south at this time. Going south at this time would be too great a test for Gu Nanxi.
"Have you ever thought that this might lead to death?"
"What could be worse than now?"