I thought it was just the past and the present

087

The aristocratic family lying on the common people sucking the people's fat and the people's ointment will only be more cruel than the methods of the ancient aristocratic families. Sadly, the common people in this world are completely unable to raise their arms.After all... 10,000+ ordinary people can't stand the sword of a cultivator.

Under Xiao Qi's worries, the bullock cart arrived at the gate of the town wall. The town wall made Xiao Qi see a little comprehension. The progress of the world, the city wall is at least as high as a four-story building. In ancient times, let alone a town, Even some small cities cannot build such high walls.Moreover, Xiao Qi guessed that this kind of city wall that uses cultivation means is not just a simple wall, there may be magic circles and the like.

There were already two bullock carts waiting outside the city gate, and they must have been brought by the nearby village head to choose immortals with their children.The third grandpa parked quietly behind them, and the other ox carts lined up.No matter the adult villagers or the children, each one is quieter and more orderly.But Xiao Qi didn't think it was civilization, he only saw fear.

At dawn, Xiao Qi saw the city wall more clearly - as far as he could see, there were many mottled repair marks on the city wall.It seems that this city wall is not just a facade project, it has been used many times with outstanding achievements, and every scar shows the danger of this world.

When the danger comes, are the villagers outside the city eligible to enter the town?In other words, did they have time to run all the way to a safe town under the threat of ghosts and ghosts?

If the demons and goblins were not encircled by all sides, they might still be able to come after getting news from other places.The premise is to get the news. If there is no news, these people scattered around the town of the family will become a barrier of flesh and blood instead.

Xiao Qi stuffed himself into the quilt, he was too sad recently, his thoughts were completely prejudiced, he had to calm down.

I don't know if it's quiet or not, anyway Xiao Qi is quite cold.

When the city gate opened, the other children poked their heads out from under the quilt, and looked at the town and made various exclamations.Xiao Qi was still lying down, only showing a pair of eyes to look at those adults.Not only the village head of their village, but the expressions of other adults, even if they are smiling, are very fake.

There were no soldiers guarding the city gate, only a man dressed as a manager and two servants stood at the gate to collect the city fee.Everyone has to pay, including the adults who came to send the fairy children, as well as their children.

——The local aristocratic family also has the surname Xiao, and there are many people with the surname Xiao in the institute, some of them are branches of the real Xiao family, and some are changed, for example, the Xiao family in Wangshan Village is a surname specially changed by the ancestors, just to be able to It seems to be closer to the family.

The selection of immortals is for mortals within the sphere of influence of the entire aristocratic family, and it is a mandatory thing. Those who do not come or hide young children will have their taxes doubled the next year.But obviously he came here at his command, but he still had to pay his own city entry tax.This amount of city entry tax has also become a mandatory tax every year.

When the village chief was paying taxes, Xiao Qi saw the world's currency for the first time - jade money.As the name suggests, it is money made of jade. The quality of jade is very bad, it is off-white, and it looks like a copper coin with a square hole, but it is thicker. After all, jade is more fragile than metal.

Each jade coin was carefully wrapped in coarse cloth by the village head, and he was even more careful when handling it.

The village head took two coins, but the money collector was still rubbing his hands at him, so the village head could only hand over another one with a heartbroken face, but the money collector got impatient, and directly snatched it from the village head's hand. One is gone.

Xiao Qi felt that this was definitely not because of his dark mind, the exploitation of civilians was aggravated from many aspects.It's a little strange, this is a major power struggle within the Xiao family, so is it a new group of bastards?

Everyone was finally able to pass through the city gate, and then they could no longer move forward.Several servants stood at the gate of the city and told them that the bullock carts were not allowed to move forward.

It's not the first time for the village chiefs to come here. Judging from their situation, this is also a newly changed rule this year.

The children all got off the bullock cart, but there was no need to go too far inside. There was a manager sitting behind the table, and everyone lined up in front of him.

The process of selecting immortals is like a blood test. The steward cuts the child's finger with a jade knife, and then drops the blood into a jade bowl.It's just that the utensils used by the steward were not done with care once, and the jade knife has never been changed.The children's hands were cut deep or shallow, big and small, with varying amounts of blood.The jade bowl tested one person, and he just used it to test the next person after rinsing it with water.

The village head told them in a low voice, if the bowl shines, it means there is a fairy fate, if it doesn't shine, it doesn't.

With the rough operation, and the tattered bowl with cracks, Xiao Qi couldn't believe how accurate it was.This shows that the aristocratic family's attitude towards selecting immortals from among the common people is very casual, dispensable, and prefers none.If they are selected, they are just servants. If they cannot be selected, they will have one more old cow.As for ordinary people being selected with one trick and then ascending to immortality in the future, that is nothing more than the rhetoric of ordinary people's mental anesthesia.

Adding up all the current circumstances, Xiao Qi hoped that he would not be selected.Although Wangshan Village is suffering, he can still control his own life to a certain extent. If he is really selected and enters the family, as a child, he will be completely slaughtered.

In the village in front of Xiao Qi and the others, there was a girl whose blood didn't make the jade bowl shine, and the little girl was about to pass by, but the manager grabbed the little girl's arm, pinched her chin, and said with a smile: " Qualified! Stay!"

Xiao Qi heard the village head let out a low sigh, and he also knew why in the second half of this year, his father always asked him to wash his face with water before standing outside in the wind and sun——he now has dark skin, chapped cheeks, completely There is no desire for people to take a second look.

Xiao Qi stood second in their village, the previous girl was not selected, when he stepped forward, the steward even forgot to clean the jade bowl, Xiao Qi's blood dripped together with the previous girl's.

"Alas!" the manager frowned and yelled, "Forget it, that's it. No qualifications, pass!"

The village head quickly pushed Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi's small body was pushed so quickly that he fell to the ground.His knee probably was broken, but he didn't say a word, he got up and stood on the side.

None of the four children from Wangshan Village were selected.After they finished selecting immortals, the members of the Xiao family came over to push and shoved, but the village head was not angry, instead he happily took the four children back home.

When the ox cart was gone and the city gate was no longer visible, the village chief patted Xiao Qi's head: "Donkey Dan...you are a good boy, when you grow up, you will know why Grandpa Sanzu didn't let you go." gone."

"Grandfather, I know..." Xiao Qi whispered.

When he returned to the entrance of the village, Xiao Qi saw his father, mother and second sister standing at the entrance of the village, stretching their necks on their feet and looking towards them.When Xiao Qi waved his hands at them, father immediately picked up second sister, pulled mother, and ran towards the bullock cart...

After this year, people died again in the village. Two of the three girls who went with him to participate in the selection years ago died of illness.

The second sister got the news and got sick with fright when she came back.Mother cooked custard for her to eat, but she cried and refused to eat: "Mother, don't send me away, I'm good, I don't eat."

"Stupid boy! Stupid boy!" Tong cried as she hugged her second sister, but...after all, she didn't promise to send her away.

When the second sister recovered from her illness, she became more and more taciturn.

In addition, mother is pregnant again... It should be a happy event, but father and mother are crying at night.The pregnant mother will not be able to do heavy work in a few months, what will happen to their family's tax.

"Mother, marry me too." Not long ago, the second sister, who was crying and refused to leave, now stood up instead.

In the second half of the night, my mother was still crying but she was not hugging her father, but her second sister.But she still didn't say that she would not let her second sister marry, even though she was only eight years old at this time.If you want to marry, you can only be a child bride-in-law like the eldest sister.But if she was kept, she couldn't pay the tax, and the whole family would be ruined. Let the second sister be a child bride, maybe... maybe she would survive.

Xiao Qi bit his lips to bleed, but he couldn't say anything to let the second sister stay.

What can he do?Urging his parents to sell snacks?Who buys it?Their family is poor, and most people in the village are like their family.So do other villages.Snacks can only be sold in the town, but his family has to pay the city gate tax.Even if he borrowed money, as a commoner, if he dared to set up a stall and really made money, the servants of the Xiao family would come to grab it in the next second.

Xiao Qi didn't sleep all night, and the next day when he heard Xiao Beigen get up, he also sat up: "Father, I thought of a way to make it easier to get the silver thorn thread, can you listen to me? "

"I know our Da Lang wants your second sister to stay, but your mother and I can't help it." Xiao Beigen's back bent even more, "It's your father and I are bad, I shouldn't touch your mother. But you are too young to take the iron thorn."

"Father! I mean there is a way, not that I should follow!" The snow outside was at least a foot deep, and with his height of less than three feet, going out was not to help, but to hold back, "Give it a try! If you really can Easier? Just try it!"

Xiao Qi's voice was too loud, he cried all night, the mother and daughter who had just fallen asleep hummed twice as if they were about to be woken up, but at this time Xiao Qi didn't bother to keep his voice low.

"...Okay! Tell me, what is the solution." Xiao Beigen looked at Xiao Qi, gritted his teeth and nodded.

Xiao Beigen had been driven to a desperate situation, and his elder sister had been sent away. Even though he and Mrs. Tong searched carefully for that family, and everyone agreed, he didn't even dare to take a look at it.The second sister will also be sent away, and when the donkey egg reaches the age of five, she will have to pay taxes, so is he going to give the donkey egg away again?Then what?After all the children are given away, is it his turn to hang himself with his own wife in the end?Even if it is the idea of ​​a three-year-old son, as long as there is a slight possibility, why doesn't he try it?

Xiao Qi has observed how the villagers take iron thorns, and when the villagers are resting, he has observed the iron thorns closely, and summed up some of the habits of this kind of thing.

What he asked Xiao Beigen to try were two methods, one was to stick a wooden stick into the open space where the iron thorns had been dug out after he finished his day's work.The second is to take a broken grass basket, fill it with soil, and then put this basket in the open space that has been dug.

Xiao Beigen has been digging iron thorns for many years, when Xiao Qi mentioned it, he vaguely felt as if he had thought of something, but when he thought about it carefully, he couldn't think of anything.

Regardless of success or failure, Xiao Qi asked Xiao Beigen to say that he thought up this matter himself.This Xiao Beigen understood, and even turned to Xiao Qi and said: "Son, if you succeed, this reputation can only be carried by me, being a child prodigy will cost you your life."

"Father, I know." In the cultivation world, sects and aristocratic families rule the world. It seems that everyone is free and no one is the ruler. In fact, it is similar to slavery.

"Okay." Xiao Beigen patted Xiao Qi's head, kicked on two cold cakes, and left alone.

Xiao Qi went to the kitchen, took two eggs, and made a pot of egg porridge for his mother and sister.

It was almost noon when Tong Shi and Second Sister woke up, Tong Shi was shocked, but Xiao Qi still grabbed him and fed him a bowl of porridge, and asked her to carry a jar to deliver the porridge to Xiao Beigen.

The second sister had a fever again, so when Mrs. Tong left, she was asked to lie down and rest.

"Second sister, drink..." Xiao Qi walked up to the second sister with a broken bowl.

The second sister raised her head, her eyes were a bit gloomy, but in the blink of an eye, the gloomyness disappeared, and a few tears fell from her red and swollen eyes.The second sister wiped her face: "Brother, did you do this?"

"I did it."

"That's great...Brother, when I leave, you have to take care of your family and your younger siblings in the future."

"Second sister, don't worry! If there is any trouble at home, I will also be someone else's child bride-in-law!"

The second sister who was drinking porridge burst out laughing: "You idiot!"

Xiao Qi's methods were all ineffective that day, and he had nothing to say for a day, and Xiao Beigen and Tong Shi left together in the morning of the second day, and not long after, Xiao Beigen came back with a happy face.

"Useful! Useful!"

When the iron thorns grow outward to a certain extent, the rhizomes close to the ground will grow new roots and penetrate into the ground, and will be automatically cut off from the mother plant.So the iron thorns seem to be in small clusters, but in fact they grow from one plant.

It takes a lot of effort to take the silver thorns, soak them in water, and smash them with a hammer, but the most time-consuming process is actually the process of digging out the iron thorns from the soil, because in just one night, the roots of the iron thorns can penetrate deep, even though their roots have no iron. The stems of thorns are tough, but they also take a lot of effort.The process of root digging requires wearing wooden armor and standing among the thorn bushes. Even if mortals in this world have much better physical strength, they are still mortals, and their physical strength is extremely exhausting.

The two ideas Xiao Qi gave to Xiao Beigen were both useful. The first idea was that the iron thorn really climbed up the wooden pole, and if you pull the wooden pole, the root of the iron thorn was underneath.The second idea is that an iron thorn grows directly in the grass basket, and the root system grows to the ground through the gaps in the grass basket, so it is easy to dig up the roots of the thorn, and even if you are reckless, just put the thorn on the ground. Lifting the basket and pulling off the root system saves more effort than using a planer.

"Father, put a wooden stick in the straw basket today."

"Hey!"

"Then take the village head to see it tomorrow."

"Hey! Naturally, you can't hide this matter from other people, and you can't hide it either!"

"Tell the village head grandpa again... You can't tell other villages about this for the time being."

"Hey... ah?"

"The situation in the past two years is not right. The taxes set by those in charge are not something we can work hard. I don't know if these in charge really don't understand, or they have other plans. Once these methods are spread, it will be a blessing or a disaster. Unexpected."

At first Xiao Qi only thought that the steward was greedy, but the stewards who managed the nearby villages were all like this, and the people who chose immortals were also like that a few days ago, the situation is not right.

Adding five catties of silver spines to each person's head is absolutely impossible for other families except for a few with abundant labor.Next year... will be a year of blood.

Xiao Qi has to be cruel, he needs more information, he wants to see how the upper echelons of these aristocratic families will react when the bottom people suffer heavy casualties due to excessive exploitation.

"...Mmm." Xiao Beigen also nodded.

The working methods of the ancestors in Wangshan Village have not changed for many years, but they have changed several times in just a few days.

At the beginning, the grass baskets filled with soil and with wooden poles were placed crowded together on the ground. When they got up in the morning, the men used hooks to pull out the straw baskets row by row.They didn't need to dig the soil, they just put the straw baskets down, and when the wooden poles were pulled out, the thorns were cleared away.

The thorns grow along the wooden pole, so they are very smooth. The women happily bundled the thorns into bundles and threw them into the water tank with the liquid medicine. This speed is already several times faster than in the past.

Within two days, the straw baskets turned into wooden crates covered with sparse straw mats, and two or three layers of shelves were built and stacked in the field of iron thorns.

The two three-year-old girls who were said to be dead before suddenly came back "alive". Xiao Qi guessed that they were sent to someplace to wait to die, and they were picked up again.Every day, there will be more things at the gate of Xiao's house, maybe a bowl of sauce, an egg, or a piece of coarse cloth, which are all sent by the villagers.

Soaking in the swaying and beating of iron thorns, Xiao Qi naturally has ways to improve.But at least until this year's tax payment is over, he will see the situation and say or not.

The villagers were very obedient, and after the village chief gave orders, no one leaked the affairs of their own village.People in the nearby villages had heard a lot about selling their children and daughters, but everyone gritted their teeth. Even Mrs. Tong just cried when she heard that her eldest sister was being beaten every day at her "in-law's house" and didn't mention it. The eldest sister is coming back.They are selfish, but in this world, they have to.

Xiao Qi...has a younger sister.

But because of too much work, and crying every day during pregnancy, Tong Shi has no milk at all just like when Xiao Qi was born, and the family used the same method to feed Xiao Qi, borrowing goat milk from neighbors, and then feeding goat milk Mix it into the rice paste.

Mrs. Tong went to work in the field seven days after giving birth, and the labor intensity of his father and the men in other villages was horrific.People also know that using their brains, the improved wooden crate and the frame of the wooden crate are not Xiaoqi, but the improvement method that the villagers came up with themselves.

They don't lack strength, hard work, or wisdom, but they lack a spiritual root...then they can only be stuck in the mud for the rest of their lives.

If this world is not full of food, mortals would have died long ago, right?

It's tax time of the year again...

"Qing, Qingyang villages... were massacred..." The village chief sent people to the village that paid the tax first to inquire - go on the day when the tax cannot be paid, otherwise the person in charge doesn't care if he is from the neighboring village, anyway you In the village, you have to pay taxes.We can only go the next day. The villager who inquired about the news brought everyone such news.

From old people to babies in Qingyang Village, everything was killed.Cultivators will not kill mortals for no reason, because they are afraid of catastrophe.But even if the stewards sent by these aristocratic families to collect taxes are also monks, how many of them can cultivate to the golden core?There is no hope for the establishment of foundations in this life, where do they have such scruples.

That day the village chief summoned all the men who were in charge of the family, and before leaving, Xiao Qi stopped his father: "Father, if the village chief says to send the excess silver thorn silk to other villages, you must stop it. "

"Big brother! Why are you so cruel!" Before his father could say anything, his mother grabbed him by the neck and cried, "Big sister is also from another village now!"

"Father! This matter is even more wrong!" Xiao Qi was so ripped off that he couldn't breathe, but patiently explained to his parents, "Even if the whole village of Qingyang Village doesn't pay enough, he should only kill a few people at most. That's enough. The whole village, men, women, and children, will be slaughtered. He will lose one village's tax next year. Even if he raises the taxes of other villages, it will be very difficult to fill this gap. If his goal is silver thorns, then so It's the most stupid way. Father, and although our village has a surplus of silver thorns, we can't make up for the poor taxes of all the surrounding villages. If we only make up for a few people, the news will definitely leak out. At that time, our village will be in great trouble!"

Xiao Qi was only suspicious before, but now he is sure that there is a problem.

Xiao Beigen was the same as Tong Shi at the beginning, feeling that the child was too hateful, but after listening to him say so much, some understood it, some didn't understand it, but they knew there must be a reason in it: "Donkey, you, Tell me more about it."

"Oh... Dad, it's too late. You can take me there too. Just say that my mother is not feeling well, and the second sister can't look after the two children by herself, so she had to take me away. I will whisper in your ear, Tell the village chief what I say."

"Hey! Good!" Xiao Beigen hurried away with Xiao Qi in his arms.

What the village chief said was indeed about sending the silver thorn silk to other villages. Qingyang Village is a big village, and it also has marriage leave contacts with Wangshan Village.What happened to them has to be said.

Because of Xiao Beigen's reminder before, the village head asked the villagers not to tell their surplus silver spines to send to relatives or sell them.Now there are two relatives in Qingyang Village looking at Xiao Beigen with resentment.

"Village chief, everyone, this silver thorn thread cannot be let out, otherwise our village will... also die." Xiao Beigen resisted the urge to glance at his son. There is a cold air below.

The author has something to say: there will be no more new worlds, and I will just jump from side to side in the future~~~