Who dares to touch my son in the Red Chamber

Emperor Jin Ming asked strangely: "My lord, I am from the capital city. The land tax over there is ten and two, and even if you add the poll tax, it can't reach three. Why, you have increased taxes here?"

As soon as the words came out, everyone began to look at him vigilantly. The person who had just interrupted knocked on the cigarette pot, raised his eyelids and asked, "Why are you asking this?"

Emperor Jin Ming paused, and then said: "Why? Is this a taboo thing?"

Lin Ziang smiled and cupped his hands and said: "My master is the owner of Zhuyuewaner in front of me. This time, I am here to investigate this year's renter and the head of the village."

"The head of the village is also an old man of my family. Even if he didn't take good care of it and didn't collect grains this year and didn't pay taxes, it doesn't matter. As long as we make it clear, my master doesn't care about these three melons and two dates."

"But there is no explanation at all. What does it mean to commit suicide directly? Isn't this trapping my master in injustice?"

The person who spoke to him before heard this, nodded in understanding and said, "I see, it's no wonder you're so concerned about this."

The one who interjected glanced sideways at Emperor Jin Ming's master and servant, and said, "If your backers are not strong enough, I advise you to go back to your home as soon as possible. Anyway, you rich people are not bad at that Zhuangzi."

Emperor Jin Ming clasped his hands in shock and asked: "Sir, what do you mean by this? Please give me some advice, after all, Zhuyue Bay is not only fertile, but also a promising village, and the scenery is also very popular with my wife. If it is possible, I really can’t bear to let go.”

The man sighed and said, "If you don't want to part with it, it depends on whether you have the life to enjoy it."

Emperor Jin Ming seemed to be frightened by these words, and asked tremblingly: "Who can tell me, but what happened?"

A man at the side looked at Emperor Jin Ming and asked, "Are you really the owner of Zhuyue Bay?"

Emperor Jin Ming spread his hands and said: "How wrong is this, Zhuangtou Li Danian is still an old man left by my father, how about I come here as soon as I hear that something happened to him?"

The man shook his head, patted Emperor Jin Ming on the shoulder again, and then said: "The Zhuangzi must not be named after you now, the Zhuangtou you speak of, that is, Li Dashan in our eyes, was forced to death years ago. .”

Emperor Jin Ming widened his eyes and exclaimed: "Impossible, I just received the message at the beginning of the month that he committed suicide, how could he have been dead for so long?"

The man sarcastically smiled and said: "You have already offended the Zhen family of the earth emperor here, and you are still running up against it, listen to a word of persuasion, turn around and run back, your parents gave you a few legs for him, you Just use it all, turn around, and remember to burn incense for your ancestors."

The other person also shook his head and said: "Li Dashan didn't want to commit suicide, he was forced to death, if you really have the ability to wait, and miss the old love, try to save his children and grandchildren, it's not in vain He is loyal to your family."

Lin Ziang hurriedly said: "Brothers, you have to talk to us carefully, as long as the facts are true, our master is not a vegetarian, and there is no way he was bullied so much and didn't say anything."

Emperor Jin Ming also nodded and said: "Very, very!" Then he said to the stall owner: "It's not time for left and right now, and everyone is not as particular as my husband, so they all drink a bowl of tea and eat some hot food on the spot. The money is mine."

"It's all about thanking everyone for the money you pointed out. You can eat while drinking. By the way, let me tell you what happened to my Zhuangzi. It's just a gossip. I'll just listen to it and find a way to save people later. Seek justice for Lao Li."

After speaking, he motioned to Lin Ziang, Lin Ziang took out ten taels of silver from his cuff and gave it to the owner of the tea shop, the owner naturally happily called the men around to come and eat the rich.

Don't underestimate the ten taels of silver, if you want to drink the water from the Lingquan spring, it will be a long way off. However, if you just use ordinary river water to boil the wild tea on Jinshan Mountain, you can drink it for a big pot for two cents.

One tael of silver is a penny, that is, one thousand wen. Counting some pastries, this money is definitely too much.

Everyone clasped their fists at Emperor Jinming to express their gratitude. These people are like people who burn charcoal but have no carbon to keep warm in winter. They go down to the river every day to sell spring water to sell human-quality tea, but they are reluctant to buy a sip of hot water on the shore to drink. To warm up the body.

If it is said that outsiders have accidents in the water, it is out of ten that they do not know the waters here, and the accidents of local water collectors are almost caused by leg cramps in the water due to hunger and cold.

One of them poured a mouthful of tea boiled in river water, wiped his mouth and said, "I don't care if the word gets out today, anyway, even if there is nothing wrong today, I may not be able to go back alive tomorrow, even if I make enough After tax money, how will we spend the winter?”

The eyes of the others were also red, obviously depressed.

The man said to Emperor Jin Ming: "I don't know, brother. We are all near Zhuyue Bay. In the early years, even if the land was not as fertile as your Zhuyue Bay, it was considered a good land. Every family can have a little surplus at the end of the year. Life is rich. Go ahead."

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"Since the year before last, there has been a change of magistrate here. He is a branch of the local big family Zhen's family. He came here a year ago and said that he wanted to conscript corvee and repair dams. If he didn't go, he would pay one out of two, 20 taels of silver per person."

The "two out of one" here means that in the household registration, one of the two strong men must be selected to serve in the military. The strong men refer to adult men between the ages of 15 and 45.

"20 taels of silver. Even if we don't eat or drink, we can't save 20 taels a year. We have no choice but to do coolies. There are too many people dying there."

"Those of us who came back by chance almost peeled off a layer of skin. That's not counting. When we came back, we were told that the emperor was going to tour the south. The scenery on our side is good. We will be forced to go there for the emperor to repair. Royal Road, and your Zhuyue Bay was forcibly confiscated to build a viewing platform for the emperor."

"Li Dashan said that the emperor would never come here, let alone confiscate the people's homes. This is simply the Zhen family doing evil under the guise of the emperor."

"This angered the magistrate of the Zhen family. He insisted on charging the young master of the Li family and imprisoned him. He said when the Li family signed the letter and when they would release him. One head crashed into the stone lion in front of the yamen."

"The prefect went to Patriarch Zhen's house and suppressed the matter, saying that Li Danian committed suicide at home. The entire Jinling City knew about it, but they didn't dare to say it."

"You know, the old lady of Zhen's family is the emperor's proclaimed concubine, and the concubine Zhen Guifei in the palace is a favorite concubine who has been favored by the emperor for more than ten years. She even gave birth to the eldest son and the third prince for the emperor. , as long as you listen to the wind, who will take such a small matter to heart?"

"Prefect Zhen also said that if the Li family members signed their names and left, that's all. If they don't know what's good and what's wrong, they're stubborn, and when they die, it's still his."

At this moment, Emperor Jin Ming was really angry, not because of Li Danian, but because the Zhen family had completely failed his trust.

Situ Zheng stretched out her little hand to comfort Emperor Jin Ming, and said in a low voice, "Don't be angry, Daddy, let's clean them up and vent our anger later!"

Emperor Jin Ming reluctantly grinned at Situ Zheng.

Li Ziang continued to ask: "Then your fields have also been foreshadowed?"

Another man on the side replied: "The Zhen family originally went to Zhuyue Bay, but things got stuck here, and our fields were all held by the yamen, and we didn't give them back, and there was no explanation. , we have no income, and we have to find ways to pay taxes, hey! There is no way to live this life!"

Lin Ziang said again: "The imperial court clearly stipulates that for those who die in hard labor, the state will burn and bury their money."

The man pursed his lips and said in disdain: "The order from above is useless? The emperor sat in the Golden Luan Hall, and the minister made a note, basically just talking about it. If you have any doubts, find a relationship and find a lady to match some money." , Blowing the wind on the pillow, the emperor's upper and lower body felt comfortable, and when he pulled up his trousers, his doubts just turned a blind eye, closed eyes disappeared, who cares if we people are wronged or not?"

The person who talked about Li Danian's family before said with a sneer: "Besides, even if it is carried out, it has to be really working for the court to repair the dam."

Emperor Jin Ming and Lin Ziang looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Lin Ziang said, "Really work for the imperial court? Privately recruiting corvees is a serious crime of treason!"

The man took a mouthful of phlegm, and said after a while, "That's only if the matter can be spread!"

It's useless this time. Jin Mingdi and the others asked, so naturally someone asked: "Big beard, what are you talking about? My elder brother didn't come back this time. Tell me, you can't die and you don't know how to die." right?"

The bearded man picked up the teapot and took another big sip, then said: "I also found out by accident that the money for building the embankment was secreted from above, and then I don't know who gave it to the emperor." Zhezi, said this."

"But the news leaked out. In order to cover up the truth, they also heard that His Majesty was furious and planned to come over to check it out in person, so they hurriedly recruited corvees privately."

"It just so happens that the prefect of Zhen wants to please Mrs. Fengsheng, and knows that the old lady likes to watch operas, especially on the big boat in Jiangxin, where she can watch them at a distance."

"Prefect Zhen's mansion happens to have a house near the river, and people just built a river embankment for more than ten miles along there. This time, it was built with real materials."

"This way, the emperor can handle it. After all, he is pampered. If you let him walk ten miles in the hot weather, can he bear it?"

"Secondly, this is to be given to Mrs. Zhen after the emperor returns. How dare you fake it?"

Lin Ziang said in his heart: Brother, you are awesome!You can fool the emperor, but you dare not lie to an old slave. If someone dares to do this, you dare to tell the emperor that you are a real man!

However, without waiting for Emperor Jin Ming and the others to ask any further questions, a group of people suddenly stood up and said, "It's ten o'clock at noon, we have to fetch water quickly, or we won't be in a hurry!" Leaving the river, swim to the spring.