It’s still extremely hot in the southeast in early autumn.

Windless and dull.

The farmer who had just finished weeding sat under the tree and took out the lunch he had prepared early in the morning.

This lunch is not a strange thing, but the most common multigrain coarse rice.

There are also some boiled vegetable roots.

This may be because in this era, farmers are eating very well.

Ouyang Xiu said in the article "Yuan Hu": "One year of farming is only enough to feed the public, but the people can only feed themselves for a few months. What's worse, when the farm work is done, they will winnow the bran and eat barnyard grass, or gather acorns and livestock vegetable roots. To extend winter and spring. Unfortunately, if there is a flood or drought, then we will die of hunger if we sleep together. This is very sad!"

This means that the harvest from farming in a year is only enough to last for a few months. The busy harvest season has just ended. Farmers can only use the bran or barnyard milled out as food, or pick oak seeds and store vegetable roots to survive the winter and spring. famine season.

The land in the south of the Yangtze River is fertile, the water is abundant, and rice is produced, so farmers can eat rice.

However, this rice was also leftover from the batch with the worst quality. The good rice was handed over to the landlords and taken away by the local officials as taxes.

Therefore, there has been a saying in later generations that it was difficult for farmers in ancient times to eat the rice they grew.

Just like some people earning a salary of 3,000 yuan in a large company and negotiating a contract worth tens of millions.

In ancient times, if there was a famine year, not to mention the chaff, the grass roots would be eaten, and the bark of the trees would be eaten after the grass roots were eaten.

On the trail ahead, a fair and fat man rode a mule, followed by several strong men.

"Everyone come here! There's something important! Everyone come here!" The fat and white man shouted loudly.

The farmers who were eating under the tree looked over.

"It's Li Baozheng."

"What is this Li Yuanpang going to do!"

"Keep your voice down, don't let him hear you!"

The farmers carried their rice bowls and walked over while eating, gathering around Li Baozheng.

"Go and call everyone over there. Everyone needs to come over. There are important things."

Everyone gathered together, not talking, still immersed in eating.

"Li Baozheng, if you have any questions, please tell me quickly. We have to work after eating. If we don't finish the work, the landlord will deduct the grain. The rent is getting higher and higher these days, and we can't survive!" "A young man with a dirty face was hunched over, chewing wild vegetable roots in his mouth, looking a little anxious.

Li Baozheng ignored them and waited for everyone to arrive.

There were more and more people, and finally Li Baozheng said loudly: "Let me tell you something, this year's autumn tax will be paid more!"

As soon as he said this, the free farmers in the crowd were the first to explode.

"Why do we need to add extra pie again! Didn't we add extra pie last year?"

"That's it! Why do we need to add more!"

"Whether we let others live or not, we won't even have enough to eat!"

"..."

Li Baozheng shouted loudly: "Everyone be quiet and listen to me!"

The crowd was still discussing, and the tenants continued to eat as if it had nothing to do with them.

Li Baozheng said: "The imperial court wants to fight a war and make an expedition to the north, so we need to send more troops!"

"Why are we going to fight again? Who are we fighting? If we fight all day long, we won't be able to live anymore!" The person who spoke was a young man named Liu Xi.

Liu Xi had read some books before and took the exam, but failed and never took the exam again. The family really had no money, so he went to work in the fields.

Li Baozheng didn't care about the mood of these people, and looked at the tenants on the side and said: "Don't eat, everyone, listen up, the Lu family's rent will also increase, to eight out of ten! There are also the Wang family, the Xie family, Zhang family..."

As soon as he said this, the tenants also exploded.

The rent for this tenancy is inherently high, and as a rule, it is seven out of ten.

Usually, tenants only keep 30%. If they want to support their families, this 30% cannot even make ends meet.

Therefore, the tenants were busy with farm work when the farming was busy, and begging, doing hard labor, or digging weeds during the slack time.

Why did the poll tax in the Song Dynasty lead to infanticide, but the population grew so rapidly?

For these farmers, one more person means more strength. Let’s talk about it first. It’s good luck to live and grow up.

When the harvest is not good, or the government wants to seize the land, it is normal to sell wives and daughters.

What's even worse about this group of people is that in history, they were just mud-legged people, and there is no trace of them in most historical data.

Literati would not describe them too much, and even those who made money by writing novels in ancient times would not describe such people.

Why?

After all, the audience doesn't want to see it.

The audience is more willing to listen to the poignant love stories of wealthy families and find the glory of Chinese military force in history to satisfy their own emotions.

Among the leaders in China's thousands of years of history, only one person truly managed to make these people express their voices and express their demands: enough food!

At this moment, both free farmers and tenants shouted loudly: "Why do we need to add more! We already don't have enough!"

"If you don't let people live, you have to work hard all year round to cultivate some land, and all of it will be given to the landlords and government officials!"

A middle-aged woman shed tears and cried: "Our family still owes the Xie family money. If this continues, we will never be able to pay it back in our lifetime!"

"The children are not even allowed to eat. This is forcing people to die!"

Liu Xi shouted: "Li Baozheng, the villagers can't live like this!"

Li Baozheng shouted loudly: "Why are you making such a fuss! This is an order from the government, and I can't control it! If the court wants to go to war, it is to protect you people. Don't know what is good and what is evil!"

"The imperial court wants to go to war, so it goes to the landowners to get food. How can they suppress us ordinary people and plunder it hard! Leave one bite for my children, just one bite!"

"Liu Xi! What do you mean by this! How dare you slander the court! Be careful, I will arrest you!"

"I won't pay! I have no food! I have worked so hard for a year! If I add more, I will have nothing!" Liu Xi said angrily.

"Yes! No!"

"Well, Liu Dalang, you dare to resist the imperial court! Someone is here! Arrest him and send him to Dantu County Yamen!" Li Baozheng's tone became cold, "No one in Zhenjiang Prefecture dares not to pay taxes! Nor can tenants.

Pay less, you all signed the contract!"

As soon as he said this, the crowd immediately fell silent.

People started to eat.

Several big men grabbed Liu Xi and smashed the bowl in his hand.

Liu Xi said angrily: "Aren't you afraid of the people's rebellion if you do this?"

"Be brave! Hit me!"

A big man punched Liu Xi in the face, and Liu Xi fell down next to his rice bowl, feeling heartbroken when he saw the spilled rice.

Li Baozheng stepped on Liu Xi's head and crushed him hard: "How many years have you studied to become a rebel?"

Everyone else kept their heads down and continued eating.

At this time, in the quiet fields, the sound of horse hooves came.

And listening to the sound, it's not just one or two horses, but many horses.

Everyone looked for the sound and saw a group of people approaching quickly on the country road.
Chapter completed!