[Plane] History of the struggle of the lords

Li Dahan didn't know the inside story, so he smiled frankly: "My lord, I'm afraid I've never seen someone from a big place. Our land renters have to pay taxes and food to the yamen every year besides paying rent!"

Shen Tugu should be more cautious. He doesn't know the details of Wen Run, so he doesn't easily offend him, but he still left half of his words: "Taxes and grains are just paid as a matter of routine. Where does this young master come from?"

Wen Run smiled: "I'm from Lin'an Mansion."

Shen Tugu's hanging heart was half relieved, he still knew about the fact that Mr. Fuchun went to Dadu, Lin'an has nothing to do with Dadu, this must be just a rich young master with too much money and nowhere to spend, come to Fuchun Just play around.

While talking, Wen Run walked over, and outside the open courtyard gate were parked two ox-drawn carts, on which were many large baskets, and the buckets of grain handed in by Li Dahan were weighed and poured into the cart. In the basket.Wen Run looked at it, and suddenly said: "This is strange. I heard that several shopkeepers who went out of Fuchun once told me that the parents and officials on Fuchun's side are sympathetic to the people and have exempted the agricultural tax. Now it seems that he is Are you bluffing me?"

Shen Tugu was taken aback, he had a guilty conscience at first, but now he was pointed out in person, there is something wrong with not being afraid.But after staring at Wen Run's expression carefully, he really couldn't guess whether this sentence was intentional or unintentional.Wen Run's expression was very innocent. After saying this sentence, he didn't speak again. It seemed that he just suddenly thought of this topic and blurted it out.

After thinking about it, Shentugu still felt that he needed to say a few words, otherwise the farmers would inevitably be overwhelmed by what he said: "What is collected here is not an agricultural tax, but a land lease tax. Previously, this tax was added to the The land rent paid by the tenants to the farm, now that Fuchun has set the land price, then this money will be surplus to let the farmers pay separately, in fact, if you want to calculate it, it has already decreased a lot compared to before."

Li Dahan, who didn't know the inside story, nodded repeatedly, as if he agreed with his words very much.Wen Run nodded with a sudden realization, and said, "So that's the case. Hahaha, I came from Lin'an and saw the methods of various merchants. I thought it was a miscellaneous tax collected by the people privately. According to this, Fuchun's taxes and fees are indeed It’s much less than Lin’an.”

Seeing that he was fooled, Shen Tugu also heaved a sigh of relief, and nodded with a smile: "It's also the first-class lord who is wise, otherwise the tenants would never have such a good life."

Wen Run laughed loudly: "I can see at a glance that you, Lord Shentu, have a noble character. You are a thousand times more honest than those officials I usually see who violate the law, corrupt the law, corrupt the people and oppress the people. Is your master who manages agriculture in Fuchun, Lord Dalada?"

Could it be that he knew Dara?Shen Tugu's heart trembled, and he became vigilant: "Young Master, do you know Mr. Da?"

Wen Run glanced at his expression without a trace, shook his head and said, "I just heard something." Seeing that Shen Tugu was obviously relieved, he said maliciously, "But I will be with you, Mao Yin of Fuchun County. My lord, Mr. Mai is a little friendly."

"Dare... dare, dare to ask...?" Shen Tugu's heart trembled, and a row of sweat broke out on his back, Mai Lingtong! ?If this person leaked what happened to him to Mai Lingtong, then he might be completely finished!

Wen Run laughed as if laughing at himself: "My uncle is in charge of the family's business. I heard that he just had dinner with Mr. Mai. Haha, it's a pity that he can't speak well for Mr. Shentu. A pillar like you must one day sooner or later If you meet Bole on the road, the pearl will not be covered with dust!"

Shentugu swallowed dumbly. In the cold winter, he was forced to sweat all over his back. He stared at Wen Run's expression tremblingly. It seemed that he couldn't find anything suspicious. He was so angry that he gasped for breath. , Talking scares people to death! ?

Now, no matter how rich Wen Run is, he has no intention of making friends. The grain harvest is scary enough, and the millet is a little wet. He has no time to worry about it with Li Dahan. Seeing the rice entering the basket, he immediately turns and leaves.

After he left, Li Dahan stared at Wen Run with admiration: "Master, you actually know such a high-ranking official as Mr. Mao Yin. You must be doing big business in Lin'an. I am a native of Fuchun, and I have never met Mr. Mao Yin." How many eyes have grown!"

"I'm bluffing him," Wen Run smiled, and raised his brows from Li Dahan, "My brother heard that he was going to make things difficult for you, so he sent me out to scare that corrupt official."

As he spoke, he took out a few silver locks from the purse on his belt, handed them over and said: "It's getting late, we should leave, I was so much taken care of by you yesterday, this trivial kindness, please accept it, sir. "

This is the first time Li Dahan has seen silver with his own eyes, he was so frightened that he didn’t know where to put his hands and feet, he waved his hands repeatedly and said, “It’s impossible! Your single piece of silver is enough to buy my house, It’s just a night’s sleep, how can I ask for money!”

Wen Run saw that he was so honest, not greedy, and admired him even more, and finally understood why Wen Le liked dealing with these people.This is simply another kind of gentleness, honesty and rough nerves, and it is really labor-saving to intersect.

Forcibly stuffing the money into Li Dahan's hands, Wen Run hurried back to the room without giving him a chance to refuse.

Li Dahan held those silver coins and stared at them stupidly for a while. The biggest money he had ever seen in his life was copper coins. Rare things are used by rich people, he never dreamed that he would get such a large sum of money just by sleeping in his son's new house in the future for one night!

Wen Le stuck to the door and listened for a long time, until Shen Tugu left before sitting back on the bed with a sigh. As soon as Wen Run entered the room, he raised his head: "How is it?"

"It has nothing to do with Mai Lingtong and the others. When I mentioned them, this man surnamed Shentu seemed almost frightened to death."

Wen Le sighed, and the expression on his face finally became clearer: "If this is the case, then I can rest assured."

Because Li Dahan took the money, he went back to the house and called his wife. When Wen Le went back, they insisted on giving Wen Le a pork leg as a thank you. Finally, the haze was swept away, and he said to them with a smile: "Brother Li, if you encounter difficulties, you can come to Fuchun Yamen to find me in the future, just tell the Yamen servants that your friend's name is Wen Le. You are so kind If you want to earn a lot of money, I know that Fuchun will start some farming in the near future, if you are interested, you can come to the yamen in the city to have a look."

The convoy set off again and arrived at the Hou's Mansion in Juncheng before noon.

Cang Zhu was already waiting at the door with Yong'er in his arms, when Wei Shi saw his grandson there, he was the first to get out of the car, hugged Yong'er and did not let go, his eyes slowly turned red.She is the person who loves Yong'er the most in the whole house. On the way to Dadu, she talked about her grandson more times than she missed the old lady. Before she arrived in Dadu, she regretted not bringing her grandson with her. Along the way, it was her grandson who she talked about the most. Now that she had finally met again, it was strange that she was not excited.

Wen Le patted her on the back, kissed Yong'er again, turned to Cang Zhu and said, "Go to the Yamen to see if Master Mai and Master Da are there, and call whoever is."

Cang Zhu nodded, and quietly untied a horse and galloped away. Wen Le turned around and said to Liandong, "Send a letter to Zheng Rui and tell him that the brothers' family members in the team have brought Fuchun, let him Hurry up and come back from Jianzhou. In addition, you find a few girls to take these women and children to Dr. Liu for a pulse check, see how the body is doing, and come back with some nourishing soup."

Cang Zhu quickly turned around and led the convoy towards the city.

"Mother, let's go to the mansion first, it's not unreasonable for a group of people to gather around here." Wen Le said as he stepped forward to hold the child in his arms, stepped back to let Wei Shi go first, and walked side by side with Wen Run.

The relationship between Wen Run and Yong'er is actually closer. Seeing Uncle, Yong'er took the initiative to say hello, Wen Run asked him with a smile: "Uncle and your father have been away for so long, is Yong'er very obedient?"

Yong'er nodded, eyes wide open: "I learned the Analects of Confucius and the abacus with my husband in the school!"

Wen Le thought for a while, then remembered Wu Yingcai, looked around and saw that Cangzhu Lonicera was not there, and there was no one to ask, so she smiled and teased him to recite a few words.

After seeing off the child and Webster, Wen Run came back and said to Wen Le: "What Mr. Wu, he taught very well. You asked him to teach Yong'er alone besides the advanced courses, right? I passed the school exam He understands Yong'er's few words very well."

Wen Le rolled his eyes: "I pay him such a high salary every month, if he doesn't teach well, he will be sorry for his money."

Mai Lingtong and Dara came quickly, and both of them looked much more haggard than when Wen Run left. When seeing Wen Le, Mai Lingtong cried directly, knelt on the ground and shouted: "My lord, you are back. "

Wen Le leaned back on the chair and let them sit, holding the teacup Wen Run handed him and shaking it back and forth: "Is there anything special during the time I'm not in Fuchun?"

Mai Lingtong was the first to say: "My lord, the sales of pearls and jades in Lin'an are very good these days. I have been writing to urge you to order the goods as early as last month. The stock you left has already been dispatched. If you don't come back again, I'm sorry. I'm going to transport my head there."

Wen Le smiled: "Thank you for your hard work, come and ask for goods from Lonicera tomorrow."

Dala interjected softly from the side: "My lord, I don't have anything particularly important here, the main thing is that the rice field I tried to plant in winter seems to have failed, and it's almost spring and there are no seedlings... The rest is the breeding farm on the middle of the mountain. , There is a little shortage of manpower now."

"The rest are gone?"

Mai Lingtong and Dala looked at each other puzzledly, and said in unison: "Probably not."

"If you want to plant the experimental field, you can continue to plant it. It may be that the season is not selected well. You can try it a month later." Wen Le squinted his eyes, stared at the two of them, and suddenly asked, "Do you know Shentu Valley?"

"Shen Tu?" The two of them were puzzled at first, and carefully checked Wen Le's eyes, but Wen Le's squinted and closed eyes made them unable to see anything, and the Wen Run on one side was making water and pouring tea with a smile.The two people who didn't understand the meaning could only rack their brains to think about it, and Mai Lingtong suddenly raised his head like a jerk: "Shen Tugu, I remember the group of tax officials who caught us talking about agricultural taxes at the gate of the yamen last time. That seems to be called that name!"

Wen Le was also remembered by what he said. He still remembered the tax official whose chin and neck were at the same place, and recalled the voice he heard this morning, it was probably him.

Wen Le sighed, rubbed his face, and finally got out of the horns.No wonder they feel familiar, they have met each other before, and looking at the appearance of Mai Lingtong and Da Chunyi, I think they are really frank about it.

"I don't blame you," Wen Le said, "How many tax officials are there in Fuchun County?"

This is still clearly remembered by Mai Lingtong: "Because of the lack of farmland in the county, there is only one tax official in charge of the farmers. If the Lord counts the merchant tax and poll tax in the city, there will be four. The other counties are usually rural One for each, and then report to the county tax collector's office, there are also special tax collectors near large-scale farms, plus the salt tax collectors at the seaside of Jianzhou, there are about a hundred tax collectors in the county!"

"Will the commercial tax, salt tax, and head tax be removed?"

"That's about eight or nine?"

Wen Le shook his head, took a sip of water, and motioned for Wen Run to speak for him.

Before Wen Run went to sea, he was quite respectable in the Yamen. At the beginning, because of Wen Le's relationship with Mai Lingtong, they would sell him more face, but later on, they were simply subdued by his personal charm.As soon as he opened his mouth, both of them shut up and looked over eagerly.

"Yesterday we arrived in Fuchun County. Because it was getting late and there were many female relatives in the team, we didn't pass through the Mizong Forest, and stayed overnight in a village with many tenants in front of the Mizong Forest." Wen Run glanced at them, not in a hurry He said, "Before we set off today, we met a tax official named Shentugu who was collecting taxes and grains along the village. He cleverly set up a trick to exchange the abolished agricultural tax for tenant rent tax to collect. According to the wishes of those farmers, if they don't pay for a year, There will be no land to rent in the coming year. I think these tax officials have already colluded with the farm owners. If, as you said, these tax officials who manage the agricultural tax have gathered in the Yamen before, it is very likely that this group of people has colluded in private. I'm afraid that if you don't know Fu Chuncheng, the local counties will not be spared."

Mai Lingtong and Darla were shocked.

The first thing they thought of was to get rid of their own suspicions. They looked at each other and then knelt down in front of Wen Le: "Your Excellency, although those tax officials gathered to find the lower officials before, they were afraid of avoiding them every day. They are too late, there is absolutely no way to collude with them!" Thinking of Wen Le's lazy attitude towards them today, Mai Lingtong and Dala felt even more disturbed.

Working under Wen Le, although it is hard and busy, the rewards are really rich.Only Mai Lingtong himself, a fifth-rank official, received monthly salary equal to the salary of the prefect of Lin'an. Now there is no shortage of food in Fuchun, and Lumi is a hundred times more generous than before, let alone warm. Le opened his eyes and closed his eyes and let him reap the benefits.Fuchun has only been developing for more than a year, and Mai Lingtong's family has already saved more than ten times more savings than when Dachunyi took power!What's more, Wen Le has a kind personality. Although he is tall and important, he never shouts and abuses his subordinates like ordinary officials. Ask yourself that you are all ironic about this kind of treatment, not to mention that Wen Le is a person who does practical things!There is no one who does not yearn for a job that lasts forever, and who can do things with conscience while making a fortune. No one can find a better job than this!

He is still selfish. Dala, who is a hundred times more honest than him, can only think more radically than him. Although there are few other officials in Fuchun who are as favored by Wen Le as they are, as long as they enter the Yamen, it is not the previous Dachunyi. Among the diehards, almost no one has expressed dissatisfaction with Fu Chun today.Can eat enough, can wear warm clothes, has a good reputation, and is also loved. Compared with the shame that Da Chunyi had to help when he did bad things in the past, the sincere respect he gets when he occasionally goes to the street and is recognized by farmers is really wonderful. .

They were afraid that Wen Le would directly sentence himself to death without listening to the explanation.

Wen Le waved to them both, shook his head and said, "Get up, I don't doubt you, Fuchun County has so many official duties to worry about every day, it is inevitable that some places are not taken care of."

Mai Lingtong and Dara Qiqi breathed a sigh of relief, helped him to stand up, only to realize that a layer of cold sweat had formed on his back.

Mai Lingtong was so angry that those bastards who deceived others, they should have dropped these ignorant things when they announced the abolition of the agricultural tax, and they sowed disasters in a moment of good intentions!

Dala opened his mouth and said, "My lord, how should we deal with this? Let the lower officials punish all these tax officials!"

"Don't worry, send people to various places to secretly find out if they are also collecting taxes, and then write down those farm owners who have private contacts with the tax officials, and watch it when the time comes."

Dala nodded, and Mai Lingtong said again: "I remember, the surname Shentu is rare. There is a concubine in Lin Duha's family named Shentu. My lord, you brought it into the mansion more than a month after you left. And set up a table of wine for the officials to eat!"

Dala suddenly realized: "Yes, I also remember."

Lin Duju?Lin Yong?

Wen Le sighed in his heart, some people, even if you want to forgive him, he will try his best to kill himself.Wen Le originally asked Zhu Chen and Zheng Ping to study at Fu Chun Bing Ma Si, and what he reported was to let them replace Lin Yong, but gradually Lin Yong became more and more honest, so he temporarily dismissed this plan. Shelved it.Unexpectedly, Jiangshan is easy to change and nature is hard to change. Lin Yong still can't change this kind of stealthy problem in his life.

"You guys go back to rest first." Wen Le thought for a while, and waved to Mai Da and the others, "There is no need for Lin Yong to disclose, the news should be locked up a bit, and if you don't teach them a lesson, they will think that I am weak and can be bullied." .”

……

After lunch, Yong'er was going to the school. Wen Le hadn't been to the school a few times since it was completed and classes started, so he happened to have nothing to do and wanted to take a ride to see it together.

The Shushu is actually quite unattractive. The current Fuchun has not reached the economic level that pays attention to the appearance of the city. It is quite good to have a practical place.The Shushu was built on a small, secluded hill, and a simple school district was built by covering all the hills. The school district has a fairly wide front and rear yards, and a square sand house in the middle.

This sand house is made of sand bricks that Wen Le asked the Yamen to study before. A considerable amount of shaping water originally used for road construction can be used to pour more mud bricks. After all, the penetration of the shaping powder after dilution is Quite strong, the amount needed to build houses in a small area is not greater than that required for road construction. Although the selling price of powder is quite high, it seems to be nothing compared to the cost of logging and rushing to work.

But I don’t have native paint, the house will look bad after it’s built, and you can’t buy earthen doors and windows on the plane, these necessities still have to be purchased from the folks by Wen Le, and things like metal don’t have to be bought from the folks in the future. When the Central Plains purchases and can produce by itself, it will not be as troublesome as it is now.

Playing the piano and drawing these things, Wen Le pointed out from the beginning that there is no need to teach them, unless very gifted children, the people who come here because of the free book school seldom need those things to adjust their lives.Especially some young people in their 20s who have delayed their early studies and just want to try their luck to learn Braille. What they need most is nothing more than to know how to read and know how to think for themselves.If you want to learn more, you need to stand out from the elementary class and enter the intermediate or advanced class. In the intermediate class, there are often government officials who want to earn extra money to give lectures. They are usually very attentive. The advanced class is Wu Yingcai Combining several scholars who I met later, I will give students more detailed and in-depth teaching, but so far, the advanced class has not been useful. He usually focuses on teaching Wen Daoyong in the Shushu. class.Sometimes, Dr. Liu and the others would come to teach about the principles of traditional Chinese medicine.

The atmosphere here is quite good, you can hear the sound of reading loudly and neatly from afar, dismounted and walked towards the courtyard, the sound became closer and closer, after careful identification, Wen Le realized that everyone was reading "University".

Hearing his arrival, Wu Yingcai led a few brothers to wait in the courtyard, with a joyful expression on his face: "Your Excellency can be regarded as returning to Fuchun. It has been half a year since he left, and my subordinates are always thinking about it."

Although Wen Le didn't know when he took him in as his subordinate, but he would not easily express his dislike for his intimacy, pinched Wu Yingcai's face, Wen Le smiled and said: "How long has it been, old Wu, you are better than me before I go Get fatter." When Fuzhou was hit by the disaster, people like Wu Yingcai fled in panic and came to Fuchun thousands of miles away. They were already black and thin and looked ten years old. Now that their lives are stable and nourished, they are slowly growing younger. .

Wu Yingcai smiled shyly, then slowly shifted his gaze to Wen Daoyong, who was hugged by the nanny behind Wen Le, and frowned slightly.

"Put me down!" Wen Daoyong yelled immediately, broke free from the nurse's embrace and jumped to the ground, bowed to Wu Yingcai: "Hello, sir."

"Daoyong is fine too," Wu Yingcai nodded to him, "Let's go to the classroom with you, Mr. Lu, have you memorized the four to seven chapters I taught you in the morning?"

Wen Daoyong pursed his lips, looked back at Wen Le nervously, turned his head again, and stammered a few words.

Wu Yingcai sighed: "I'm still not familiar with it. There are a few sentences in total. You have to understand the meaning and memorize them fluently to be the right way. Let's go to the classroom with you, Mr. Lu, to review a few more."

Wen Daoyong lowered his head sullenly, Wen Le patted his head, and pushed him towards the unfamiliar Mr. Lu. After he left, Wu Yingcai quickly said: "The young master is talented and intelligent, and my subordinates really can't bear to deceive others." My son, maybe I will be stricter, and I hope the lord will not blame me."

"You teach your book, why do I blame you, come to the school, he is your disciple, don't let me break it." Wen Le didn't care, if the boy was treated like a flower, it would be fine ?Wen Daoyong will inherit his wealth and land in the future, if he becomes an ignorant person, then he will die of anger when he grows old.

Wu Yingcai laughed loudly: "It's my subordinates who are narrow-minded and want to save a gentleman's belly!"——