Dad, this seems to be the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 13 Mo Dao Reading Is Useless

Inside, Sun Yue was studying hard, and outside, Sun Chunming's storytelling was also in full swing.

Sun Chunming and his generation grew up listening to storytelling, so they didn’t know what a little fresh meat was. The happiest thing every day was to hear Shan Tianfang’s voice when they came home from school, so those Mr. Shan Tianfang He has heard the classic storytelling more than five or six times. When he was a child, he could even tell the Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties from beginning to end.

But after so many years, I have naturally forgotten most of it, but after all, the cultural foundation is here. I will edit and revise the foundation I remember, and then create a second creation by myself, and put it in a cultural desert like the early Song Dynasty. I don’t have to worry about no one liking it, and the applause is getting louder and louder.

Crosstalk is a short segment, generally speaking, it’s three to five minutes, and if you’re happy, you’ll have to ask for money. If you do it three to five times, you’ll clear the audience’s pockets and you’ll be able to rest.

Pingshu is different, this thing must be a long paragraph, once it is said, it will not stop for two, three or 10 minutes, and the rhythm in the middle must be kept tense, and it cannot be interrupted casually.

Therefore, the workload of a story telling is much greater than that of cross talk, but the number of times the money is asked for is only once. Although the audience is more sticky, the income is actually much worse than that of cross talk. This is why they keep talking about cross talk instead of The reason for storytelling.

When it comes to storytelling, the audience is very sticky, and the more people are around, the more people are around. In the morning, the shops were not open very much, and the idle people on the pier gathered here in droves, so that after a while, the audience was full of people. The road was blocked, and it was very lively.

But no matter what time it is, it's always wrong to block the road. Even in Nancheng, there are people in charge. After a while, a big man with his arms swaying came over and scolded: "What are you doing?" What are you doing, get out of the way."

Sun Chunming didn't know the person who came, but Lao Cao did. He hurriedly approached him and said with a smile, "It's Brother Liu, are you here to collect taxes?"

"No, the Mengguan family is benevolent. Everything remains the same. I am still in charge of the taxes in our area. Lao Cao, your business is good. There are so many people. My brother charges you [-] yuan a month, not much. "

"Thirty guan? Brother Liu, you see there are so many people around me. They are all listening to books. There are not many people who give money. You can be a good person and accept a few less."

"You don't make money? If you don't make money, why are you blocking the street? If it's gone, let me go. That's twenty dollars a month. I've heard that your business is the best on this street. There are targets from above. If your family pays more, it will be considered as understanding of my difficulties, brother."

Sun Chunming also came over and said: "Brother, you see, we are two families doing business together. There are many people in the family, and the dog has to go to school, which costs a lot of money. Can you see if you can be more accommodating and give me some money?" Erase a little."

"Reading? What kind of book do you want to read? Does your small shop still want to be the number one scholar?"

There was an idle guy nearby who couldn't listen anymore. Sun Chunming said that it's hard to say how much money Pingshu made from cross talk, but the popularity has been accumulated. Tax collectors themselves are not considered officials, especially at this time. Not everyone is afraid of him.

Then I heard someone in the crowd say: "Liu has a big head and his legs are on us. We are willing to come and listen to books. What does it have to do with others? The new officials don't dare to bully the people. How come the change of dynasty has changed your prestige?" .”

With the beginning, these idlers started complaining one after another. Most of these guys are refugees, stretching on the pier. According to the official statement, they are actually troublesome people. Officials are most afraid of contacting such people.

Seeing the anger of the public, the tax collector had no choice but to say: "Okay, okay, then I will reduce it by five more, that's fine, you guys blocked the road and made such a noise, you are not afraid of being scolded by the neighbors for disturbing the people." , Still reading? What kind of books are you reading in such a mess? Do you think I'm a fool?"

Before Sun Chunming could speak, someone joined in and scolded with a smile: "Big head, you have eyes that don't know Mount Tai, dog's eyes look down on people, and the person who reads inside is not an ordinary gentleman, but he is praised by today's officials. Little old man, why don't you hurry up to please him, so you won't be afraid that he will pick your skin when he grows up?"

Sun Chunming waved his hands again and again to persuade everyone to stop talking, the so-called King of Hades is easy to deal with little ghosts, sometimes this kind of petty official is much more difficult to deal with than the official, if you provoke others to hold grudges, some will come to punish you.

Throughout the Song Dynasty, the administrative system was very strange. Later generations only knew that there were layers of officials, redundant officials were serious and inefficient, but they didn’t know that the Song Dynasty’s grassroots officials who really handled affairs were extremely scarce. Not to mention the early Song Dynasty, even the entire Northern Song Dynasty was the best. The tax collector system during the Renzong period was in chaos, and usually there were only one or two small officials in charge of tax collection in a county.

It's fine in the village, but in the city there are simply no regulations at all. A city is divided into several areas, and each area is assigned a tax collector to collect taxes. They are also obligated not to pay wages.

Every month, the county government holds a showdown based on the level of wealth of each area according to the indicators given by the imperial court. It only collects the total amount but does not care how it is collected. It is strange that these tax collectors do not accept the tax.

In short, this tax collector is not a big official, or even an official at all, but he has great power. At least it is not difficult for your family to get along in this area.

Unexpectedly, the tax collector slapped his thigh and said: "I heard before that there is a child prodigy here in Nancheng, who was not only praised by the officials during the night of Shangyuan, but also given a gift from the emperor, which is said to be Wei Zheng. The same person, could it be your child?"

Sun Chunming was stunned for a moment, and could only say, "It's the dog, but it's just a little bit of luck, I dare not compare with Wei Zheng."

"Ha! It's this little prodigy. Let me tell you earlier. Who dares to collect taxes from my little husband? You don't want to collect taxes anymore. I'll take it. It's time to continue talking about this book. I'll cover it."

Sun Chunming was overjoyed: "Thank you so much, big brother. Thank you so much, big brother."

"Thank you, it should be, what's my brother's name?"

"My surname is Sun, and my name is Chunming."

"Brother Chun, don't worry, as long as I continue to be a tax collector for a day, you won't have to pay taxes, but... I have an unkind request."

"Please speak."

"Can you ask your son to take out the imperial bestowal to open your brother's eyes?"

Sun Chunming thought it was a big deal, and when he heard such a small request, he naturally agreed. In fact, Sun Yue had already come out for such a big commotion, and immediately criticized the iron wrench hanging around his neck. Come down, walk over and hold out your hand and say, "Here you are."

The tax collector's eyes gleamed when he saw the finger. He wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants and took it carefully, with an expression like a pilgrim.

Although Zhao Kuangyin had just become emperor for a few days, he did not massacre the city and did not add gifts. Only these two things, the people all over the world, especially the people in Kaifeng, respect him from the bottom of their hearts. He is obviously an ordinary iron finger, The moment it was taken out, a hundred or so idlers lost their voices at the same time.

When the tax collector had seen enough, he returned the precious thing, and Sun Yue happily hung the thing back around his neck. He knew that this thing would be useful, but he didn't expect it to be so useful, legal tax avoidance.

(End of this chapter)