Tang Dynasty: The seventh rank of official residence, and you will be given the Ten Thousand People

Hearing the commotion, a dark-skinned old man came over, stepping on the snow nest one step deep and one shallow. He looked at Fan Xin with his eyes and said with some relief.

"It looks like you'll be fine. You can go down to the ground and stretch your muscles to keep yourself warm."

"Thank you, old man, for saving me. I will repay you generously the next day." Fan Xin gratefully handed over his hand.

The old man waved his hand: "It's a small effort, so thank you for everything."

After a brief exchange of greetings, Fan Xin glanced at the vast snow forest around him and said doubtfully.

"May I ask my uncle what kind of place this place is and why the mountains are covered with snow?"

Although it snows in Luoyang, the snow has not reached knee-deep, and there are no such dense mountains and old forests.

"Young master, you don't know. This place is Xiaolianzi Mountain in Youzhou. Thirty miles further ahead is Xiaolianzi Village."

"What! You said this is Xiaolianzi Mountain?" Fan Xin couldn't help but exclaimed.

He never dreamed that he would wake up in his hometown.

In his memory, he had been to Xiaolianzi Mountain twice, and then went to Beijing to take the exam to be the magistrate of Wushui County, and never came back here again.

I don’t want to go back to the place I visited as a child after so many years.

Sensing the strangeness in Fan Xin's tone, the old man said with a smile.

"Yes, this is Xiaolianzi Mountain. Why, have you been here before?"

"To be honest, I have a relative who lives in a nearby village. I have been here twice before." Fan Xin said with emotion.

"It turns out that I have relatives in Xiaolianzi Village. That's easy to handle. You can just go there on your own when you get there. We'll live in Dawang Village next door."

At this time, the middle-aged man came over and said: "Uncle Tie is in front of the checkpoint set up by the Youzhou government. We should take a detour."

Hearing this, the smile on the old man's face disappeared: "Tell everyone to be careful when crossing the mountain road, and tie the cow's mouth on the way."

"I know." The middle-aged man nodded and walked to the front to make arrangements.

Seeing Fan Xin's confusion, the old man explained: "There is no way to go over the mountains and ridges. Since Fang Qian, the governor of Youzhou, took office, he has set up twenty tax items privately."

"Among them, the wildlife protection tax stipulates that all prey caught in Youzhou must pay 80% of the tax, and in addition, five hundred kilograms of wild meat must be provided to the government for consumption."

"Anyone who dares to evade taxes will be punished by the mob. Everyone has no choice but to go hunting in other places."

After learning the whole story, Fan Xin frowned.

"It is against the law to levy extortionate taxes without permission. Have you not reported it to the court?"

The imperial court sends a large number of censors and interviewers to inspect various places every year. Youzhou is an important town in Beiguan, and it is impossible for the censor station to ignore this place.

It's okay not to mention it, but when it was mentioned, the old man choked up his anger and snorted coldly.

"It's useless. Several surrounding villages jointly filed a complaint, and the superiors promised to investigate the governor of Youzhou. In the end, Fang Qian was fine, and all the people who complained were arrested."

"The senior official told us that since we can't solve the problem, we can only solve the problem by solving the problem."

"Asshole, which bastard said that?" Fan Xin said with an angry look on his face.

It didn't matter that he was angry, but the majesty he carried shocked several hunters.

After coming back to his senses, Fan Xin coughed: "I'm used to studying on weekdays, and I've unconsciously contracted some of the problems of being an official."

Several hunters breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "We were scared to death. We thought you were also a high-ranking official in the imperial court."

"No, no, I'm just a scholar with no fame." Fan Xin laughed dryly.

Since they had to keep quiet for the rest of the journey, everyone kept silent and walked towards the hills in the vast snow forest.

About when it was getting dark, a group of people finally emerged from the snow forest, sitting on the snow and panting heavily.

"Thank God, I finally came out." The old man wiped the sweat on his forehead and said with white mist.

"Yes, we can have a good holiday this year." Cheng Zhuzhu agreed.

After everyone took a short rest, the old man walked up to Fan Xin and handed him a fur.

"Scholar, Youzhou is no better than Luoyang. It's very cold here. You can go to Xiaolianzi Village by yourself. Just walk two miles ahead."

Fan Xin was not polite, took the animal skin and put it on his body and held it in his hands gratefully.

"The grace of saving my life will never be forgotten. Please take care of yourself all the way!"

Before leaving, Fan Xin knelt down and touched the little girl's face, took out half a silver fish charm from his inner pocket and quietly stuffed it into her hand, whispering.

"Keep your cards away. If you encounter a bad guy who bullies you, show them."

"Brother, I guarantee that no one in Youzhou will dare to harm you!"

"Brother, are you telling the truth?" the little girl asked, blinking her big eyes.

"Of course, unless he doesn't want to live anymore!" Fan Xin smiled.

"Remember, don't tell anyone except you, otherwise it won't work."

The little girl nodded her head hard: "Nanny understands."

After telling the little girl a few words, Fan Xin got up and walked towards Xiaolianzi Village. After many years, he was finally going to see his "parents".

Looking away from him, Cheng Zhuzhu looked at his daughter and said.

"Xiao Nan, what did the scholar tell you?"

The little girl's head was like a rattle: "I didn't say anything."

"you!"

"Okay, let's go quickly, the family is still waiting." The old man said solemnly.

After tidying up their furs, the group took advantage of the darkness and rushed to Dawang Village.

However, just as they were about to enter the village, dozens of government officials holding torches suddenly appeared from the surrounding woods.

Seeing this scene, several hunters shouted bad and drove the cattle cart away, but they were blocked by the government servants.

"Hahaha, I guessed that you would have to take a detour and climb down from Xiaolianzi Mountain. As expected, you were guessed right."

As soon as he finished speaking, a magistrate with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks walked out wearing a fur coat and sneered at everyone.

The old man's face kept changing, and finally he hugged his fists with a wry smile.

"County Magistrate Zhang, I beg you to show your noble hand and let us go through life. From now on, we will be filial to you every new year."

"Showing your noblesse?" Magistrate Zhang said with a cold face: "Don't talk nonsense with me. You smuggled prey into Youzhou without authorization. You have violated the king's law. According to the law, you should all be executed."

"For the sake of you being fellow villagers of this county, as long as you pay a fine of 500 guan and send the furs and fat pigs to the county government, I can let things go by the wayside. How about that?"

When the hunters heard that they had to pay a fine of five hundred coppers, they were all angry.

"Magistrate Zhang, isn't this an open robbery? We don't even have the land to get the money to pay the copper fine?"

"If you don't have any money, take it all back to me!" Magistrate Zhang waved his sleeves impatiently.

"Come on, put these anti-tax mobs in prison and notify their families to come and pay the copper fine."

"Follow the order!"

Several government officials rushed towards Orion with a ferocious laugh...