I thought it was just the past and the present

088

The whole village was in an uproar, the village chief silenced everyone, looked at Xiao Beigen with a frown, and asked, "Beigen, you are the one who came up with the new method of removing silver thorn silk. You are the benefactor of our village. You can't talk nonsense either."

"Village head, listen to me. Qingyang Village is the largest village near us. There are more than 200 households. Only those who should pay taxes are counted. If you count the least, there are at least 800 people. Our village is just Forty households, 160 people. Other villages have more people than ours, that is, eighty or ninety households. It takes four or five surrounding villages to add up, and there are almost as many people as Qingyang Village.”

"..." Many villagers were stunned, unable to figure out how this matter was related to the number of people.There was also something that made Xiao Beigen dizzy, subconsciously counting with his fingers.

"I said, Xiao Beigen, what are you talking about?" The one who asked this question was Xiao Xigen, the third uncle who was clearly in a small village, but Xiao Qi didn't see him a few times a year.

After improving the silver thorn thread method, many people in the village are willing to get close to Xiao Beigen, and there are always people who bring things to their house as guests, but this Xiao Xigen, who is a compatriot with his father and mother, is still missing.

Xiao Beigen glanced at Xiao Xigen, then turned his attention to the village chief again: "In the past, men weighed twenty catties, women weighed ten catties, and children weighed five catties..."

"Who doesn't know that!"

Xiao Beigen was a little nervous, and he couldn't get around his mouth, but Xiao Qi cheered up, gritted his teeth and continued to say: "I, what I mean is that even if we increased the tax by five catties last year, the tax increase for the four villages The tax is not necessarily comparable to the normal tax paid by a village."

"It's all nonsense for a long time! Why don't you let me..."

"Shut up!" The village chief yelled at Xiao Xigen, and then he took a twig to write and draw on the ground, and other villagers looked at the village chief in awe.

Xiao Qi also turned his head, the characters written by the village head were Xiaozhuan.In the Cultivation World, reading and writing are monopolized by aristocratic families and sects. In some villages, no one can write, and they still use knotting to keep track of things. When it's the turn to pay taxes.There is a village head in Wangshan Village who can write, and when paying taxes, he withholds less than other villages—yes, their village did the same last year, and in comparison, they still deduct less.

Xiao Qi guessed that anyone who can write must have been separated from the family by their ancestors.For example, offshoots without spiritual roots, or descendants who were expelled.

"It is true that it cannot be made up. The tax collected next year will not only be less than this year, but even less than last year." The village head straightened up, and Xiao Qi turned pale when he saw him.

"Yes, so, either there are some treasures in Qingyang Village, or... just...they are here to kill people." After Xiao Beigen finished speaking, he was afraid for the first time, lowered his head, and hugged Xiao Qi tightly, trembling .Xiao Qi patted Xiao Beigen's neck lightly, it was hard for this honest man's father.

Unless he is a lunatic, a person must do something for profit—this category is very broad, and it may even be just for his own happiness, or simply to show off his strength.

But as a steward, if he wants to keep his status, he must first do his job well. Killing so many people in one go has seriously affected his income.As for further squeezing the villagers to fill in the gaps... Unless this person is not only crazy, but also a dementia, otherwise he would never have such a magical idea without knowing that Wangshan Village has improved its working methods.

Xiao Qi's understanding of this world is still too little, and after excluding the possibilities he knew, only the two big characters "kill" are left.

The villagers were in an uproar again, and Xiao Xigen couldn't help yelling: "Nonsense! What good is it for the gods to kill us?! Besides, if they wanted to kill us all, they would have done it long ago."

"Shut up!" The village head straightened up, affirming Xiao Beigen's words, and several clan elders looked strange at this time, "I was frightened, so I didn't think much about it, Beigen...but... still Can't confirm..."

The old people in these villages should know something, but now they don't want what they think to come true, and they are still struggling.Xiao Qi hugged Xiao Beigen's neck, and continued to whisper in his ear.

Xiao Beigen also gradually stabilized: "This kind of thing... I don't want to believe it either. If you want to confirm it, the village chief can actually ask someone to go to Qingyang Village to have a look, and then you can be sure."

Village head: "What do you mean?"

"Because...if my guess is correct, other villages that cannot pay their taxes will start killing their own people."

"You are talking nonsense! How is this possible?!"

The village chief yelled: "Use your pig's brains! If our village doesn't have enough silver spines, what will our village do now?!"

what to do?If there are not enough silver spines, the population can only be reduced.Elderly people who are too old to perform heavy physical labor will "die of illness" first, the youngest child or girl in a family with many children will also "die of illness", and those who are bedridden for a long time or disabled will also "die of illness"...

Why not hide people?Because a person died, even if the person was sold, the graveyard had to be opened to examine the body.Even the corpse felt a little warm, and the tax collector dared to ask the villagers to pay all the taxes for a year!

Xiao Beigen continued: "It is said that Qingyang Village was killed by the manager because it did not pay enough taxes. But in fact, who of us knows? Who saw it? See how many people in Qingyang Village 'died of illness', just I can almost know what happened. In addition, I have to look at the death conditions of other people, such as where the corpses are facing, whether they are gathered together or scattered for their lives. What other babies and children were killed, baby They don't get involved in paying taxes, so they should be in the room, did the boss of Xiao Dayan's family see it with his own eyes?"

"I, I should be..." The boss of Xiao Dayan's family who was named was about to stand up to prove himself, but after seeing the eyes of everyone, he was embarrassed, "When I arrived at the gate of the village, I saw blood all over the place, I heard someone crying and screaming inside, so I... just came back..."

So exactly how, he really didn't see clearly.

The clan elders made a decision, and immediately sent six bold young men in the village to go to Qingyang Village in a bullock cart.Everyone else waited in place, no one was impatient.

When the evening approached, all six of them came back, each with an ugly face.

They really went into Qingyang Village and saw the whole village clearly.Most of the dead bodies are at the head of the village. There is a large grain drying field here, and the tax payment is also here. Roll all over the place.

On the other side of the grain drying field, near the villagers' houses, there are several rows of corpses neatly placed. The old, disabled, and young are all here. These are the people who "died of illness" in Qingyang Village.Most of them were dressed in clean clothes, and their hair was neatly combed, which could be seen that they had been carefully cleaned.This is waiting to be inspected by the steward so that he can be buried.

They also opened almost all the houses and went in. They saw children who fell to death, children who were stabbed to death, and boys and girls who were apparently killed by…

Of the six people, one was so sick from vomiting, and the three squatted on the ground with livid faces. Only two of them could still speak normally, but they were trembling while talking, which shows how tragic the scene in Qingyang Village is.

"Third Grandpa, how about...how about we go to the town to report? What if the Xiao family doesn't know, is it the person in charge who did it? Maybe it's because there are monsters in Qingyang Village, those people Was it killed by a monster? Let’s stop thinking about it and go to the town to find some sensible people.”

But at this time, there are still some people who are lucky, such as Xiao Xigen.

"Third brother, don't worry about second brother at this time. Many people in the town have already known about the tax increase we raised last year. Do you think he has returned to the village?" Xiao Beigen said this himself , It's useless to remind Xiao Qi.

Speaking of this second uncle, Xiao Qi remembered the little girl who was taken away when he was selected as an immortal. He was able to go to the town because of similar reasons.

"Bah! It's you who are provoking... ah!"

The village chief grabbed his tea bowl and threw it on Xiao Xigen's head: "If you ask, first you will not survive, and then the whole village will be buried with you! Go and sue!"

Xiao Xigen covered his head, shrank behind the crowd and did not speak.

"But, why? Why did the immortals kill us?" Xiao Xigen was not the only one who was puzzled and didn't know why.

For these farmers, they have never seen a real immortal, the Xiao family is an immortal, and even the steward who comes to exploit them every year is considered an immortal.

The village head sighed, he looked at the other clan elders, they all nodded, the village head wiped his eyes, and said: "I thought... I wouldn't tell you this from me, I didn't expect it ...You all know that our village moved here from other places many years ago, and the original surname was not Xiao, but the ancestors changed their surname to establish a relationship with the Xiao family, but that's not the case..."

With a hoarse voice, the village chief said something that Wangshan Village had concealed from generation to generation for more than 600 years.

A long time ago, there was such an aristocratic family, they had a junior who was sent to the Great Sect, who was about to go through the Golden Core Thunder Tribulation.But in all thunder calamities, personal cultivation is important, but merit is also important.But the righteous way has been prosperous for tens of thousands of years, and the evil spirits and ghosts have long since disappeared. Occasionally, little monsters are born. If a good monster who does not touch human life is killed, it will be no merit.

Killing those ordinary monsters and even wild beasts that eat people has merits, but three melons and two dates are nothing-the merits cannot be counted, but monks can perceive the approximate amount just like perceiving their own cultivation.

This aristocratic family was a little worried, asking around where there were big monsters and evil spirits, and then...they changed seven or eight village stewards in succession.These stewards have their own vices, some like to kill, some like to abuse, some like to be young, and some even like to eat people. Obviously they are righteous monks, but they do things similar to demon cultivators.

Within three years, [-] or [-] villages with a thriving population had suffered heavy casualties.And obviously it was supposed to be a place covered and protected by the big array of the family, but the resentment was overflowing, so that the evil spirits were rampant. Those who were in charge also fed a few demon cultivators with the flesh and blood of the villagers, but these demon cultivators were not good enough. Knowing where he got the treasure, he suppressed his own demonic energy and continued to do evil.

In the fifth year, a great monk finally came, wielding his sword to eliminate demons and purify grievances. On that day, the meritorious deeds descended from heaven were shining like gold...

But in so many villages, only a dozen people survived in the end.These dozens of people... were transferred by that family to the ground of another family, established a new village, changed their surnames, and survived for generations.

"This matter...our ancestors should have completely forgotten about it, but the local steward who was sent to manage us...pity our ancestors, and told him the truth."

Xiao Qi hugged Xiao Beigen's neck tightly, trembling all over.

Didn't the monk who came to slay demons think about why he needs merit, and there is something about earning merit in his own family?

No!Cultivators are very smart, so they will definitely think this way, then he will lose his merit, and instead will increase his demons.But... it can be exchanged.He doesn't have to be the only one who needs merit, and several aristocratic families can exchange it for each other.

As for whether the aristocratic family who knew these things would be punished?As long as these things are not told to future generations, it will only be better for future generations if there is an ancestor of Jindan standing on top of him.The main reason for this is that it is more difficult to cultivate to a higher level, but this life can still be lived comfortably.

I haven't heard that there are any children of the Xiao family in Dazong, but they can also be "hired".The Xiao family, a small sect that looks superior to ordinary people but is actually just a younger brother, is absolutely happy to accept this kind of transaction.As for compensation?A quota to enter the great sect, a magic weapon, a resource, and even... a bottle, no, a pill, may make them happy.

This is the world of comprehension!When he decided whether to join Hongyun Great World in ancient times, he thought that he had thought of human nature badly enough, but he was still wrong.This is not just about knocking bones and sucking the marrow of the living, it is about squeezing the juice out of the dead.

Xiao Beigen thought he was afraid, and Xiao Beigen himself was also afraid, so he hugged Xiao Qi tightly in his arms, but actually Xiao Qi was disgusted!Nausea!

——At this moment, he was disgusted that he was also born as a human being.

"What should we do?" The voices of the villagers' doubts were floating, and they still didn't want to believe it.

In the legends and stories that their ancestors have heard for generations, it is the immortals who protect the common people.Even though the annual tax is so heavy, they still work without complaint and regret, and sincerely thank and protect their aristocratic family—the Xiao family—for the daily peace.But now, the village chief they respect also said that now the Xiao family will deliberately abuse them, kill them, make them full of resentment, give birth to evil miasma, and turn them into evil ghosts and demons, just to beat people to death and accumulate merit.

"I don't believe it!" "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo?"

The erratic voice of unknown origin woke everyone up. Some people started talking nonsense, some squatted on the ground and cried, some walked around in circles, and some even hit their heads against the wall.

Xiao Beigen, who was stunned in place, suddenly heard Xiao Qi's voice: "Let's go... let's go!"

"How are you going?" "Do you want to die outside?" "Where are you going?" "Aren't you afraid of being caught and eaten by monsters?"

"It's already about to ask us to bring out evil spirits. At most, there are man-eating beasts outside. Where are there any monsters? Staying here is death, leaving is death. At least death outside is clean! And, leaving is also the same." There is only one way out!" Xiao Beigen heard Xiao Qi's voice, and the more he spoke, the more excited he became.

"..."

But... No one in the village dared to come out to respond.The people of this world are already like well-bred animals, let them run into the wilderness by themselves?Even if they knew that the shepherd was approaching with a knife, they were afraid.

The village chief looked around and said, "You all know what's going on now, who wants to leave?"

Xiao Beigen said: "I want to go." This time it wasn't Xiao Qi's words, he knew very well that if he stayed, there was only one dead end.

The others looked at him with fear in their eyes.Some people even looked at Xiao Beigen resentfully, thinking that he shouldn't reveal the truth.

"Peken, do you already have somewhere to go?"

"Pegan, where are you going?"

"Pegen, do you know immortals like the storyteller said?"

"That's right! Beigen, have you known immortals for a long time! Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to think of such a way to plant iron thorns!"

Xiao Beigen shook his head: "I came up with that method, there are no immortals. As I said, staying is death, leaving is the only way to survive."

"Staying is the only way to survive! Staying... Even if something happened to raise ghosts, we are not necessarily the ones who died. Aren't our ancestors the ones who survived back then?! Going is sure to die! "Xiao Xigen, who shrank back, started yelling again, this is a habit of opposing Xiao Beigen.

"You have your thoughts, I have mine, even if it's only my family, I will go."

The village chief nodded: "I told everyone today, you know it for yourself. From today on, no one is allowed to leave the village, otherwise the clan will deal with it! Everyone go back and think about it, whether to go or stay, and then wait for the handover Let's talk about the tax..."

In previous years, the person in charge collected taxes from several villages in one day. This time, something happened in Qingyang Village, but the person in charge waited for two days before going to Hongyu Village.

Hongyu Village had already let the person who should have "died of illness" die of illness. After knowing that the person in charge did not kill anyone, everyone in Wangshan Village breathed a sigh of relief.But according to the news from Hongyu Village, next year, their tax per person will be increased by five catties, babies will also have to pay tax, and even pregnant women will have to pay two and a half catties of tax!

The third village is Wangshan Village, and the person in charge this time did not come until two days later.

They honestly moved out enough silver spines, and the managers went from door to door to report, just when everyone thought the matter was over...

"It seems that the people in your village are quite capable. If so, next year everyone in your village will add another ten catties! Children under the age of five will also add ten catties!"

This year, the tax has already been increased by five catties, and adding another ten catties will almost double the tax.Even if Wangshan Village has a new method, the number of silver thorns will not increase to that extent, because the potion for soaking iron thorns is not enough.

The village chief thought that he should beg for something, and Dang even knelt down: "Master in charge, our village is really desperate to pay taxes, it's really..."

The head of the village chief exploded like a watermelon hit by a heavy object!

"Untouchable, who are you and us?" The steward muttered in a low voice, looking up at the rest of the villagers, "Everyone in your village will add five catties next year! Let's go!"

The person in charge didn't even say a word, turned and left.

Xiao Qi hid behind his father, he could clearly see the scene where the head of the village chief exploded.

The villagers collapsed in fright, and many women grabbed their men's clothes and wept.Obviously they have a way to get more silver spines, but why do they still feel hopeless?Those men who knew the inside story were even more flustered. Some self-righteous thoughts in their hearts were broken along with the head of the village chief today...

The respected village chiefs were killed so easily, so what are they?

Monks protect the lives of common people×

If it is profitable, monks want the lives of ordinary people the most √

Fortunately, the arrogance of these monks prevented them from using any means to restrict the freedom of the common people - the vast land of mountains and rivers seems to be a natural barrier, even if there are no special cannibal monsters, tigers, wolves, bears, and even poisonous snakes and insects , can kill weak mortals.So when Xiao Beigen and the other three villagers left, no one would stop them.

Xiao Beigen first exchanged his eldest sister back with his surplus silver thorn silk, and then exchanged two healthy cattle.Tong's made pancakes day and night, made of bean flour, rice flour, and flour, and made four large baskets of pancakes.An ox carried four large baskets, plus some luggage.Tong Shi hugged the younger sister and the eldest sister rode another ox, Xiao Qi and the second sister were also in the baskets on the left and right sides of the second ox.

Both the eldest sister and the second sister understand what it means to leave the village, but she has been smiling since the day she came back.The second sister, who had become deep, suddenly became lively again, and the light in her eyes was dazzling—the eldest sister... was limping when she came back, saying that her leg had been broken, and it didn't grow back.

But without the village head, other people, including several clan elders, even though they had seen what the steward had done, they were still lucky.In the end, there were only two families who left with Xiao Beigen.

Maybe I'm the one who survived?Maybe all of this is really the steward doing his own thing?Maybe tomorrow the steward will be caught by the gods of the Xiao family?Maybe it will be all right tomorrow?maybe……

Everyone thought that maybe, they stood firmly on the spot under their feet.

Both Xiao Qi and Second Sister's baskets were carefully polished by Mrs. Tong, without any burrs. The bottom of the baskets was covered with straw mats. Wrapped in a small quilt, he watched the village getting smaller and smaller.

Leaving is indeed the only way of life, but this way of life is so vague.