Zhang Juren said goodbye and left Shanghe Village after Zhu Pingan's "Study Valley" move. He came to his parents' house with his wife and could not stay for a long time. Zhu Pingan, the village elder and others sent him to the entrance of the village to watch him leave.
After sending Zhang Juren away, Zhu Ping'an was invited to Cun Zheng's home by the village leader and the village elders to make plans for the school valley. The village elder was more concerned about the school valley than erecting a monument. It was almost noon.
, Zhu Pingan was able to escape.
Before I even got home, I heard the sound of people in my yard, as if going to a market.
"Master Zhu is back!"
Before Zhu Pingan could enter the door, he heard an excited voice coming from the yard.
Master Zhu?
When Zhu Ping'an heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and then he walked in and was surrounded by the excited crowd in the yard.
"This little old man is a good farmer. I beg Mr. Zhu to take him in and make him a cow or a horse." An old man in patched clothes came to Zhu Pingan very respectfully, but very excitedly, and his tone was a little confused.
"Mr. Zhu, our family is a family, and we can't live without a cook. I am the second pillar of Bianjia Village. I have been working as a ladle in the town for more than ten years. Please let me be our cook. The cooking will be delicious.
"
A man with a big head, thick neck, greasy face and clothes patted his chest to confirm.
"I am a rough man, but I have plenty of strength. Let me be a servant."
"Mr. Zhu, my two daughters are both yellow-flowered girls. Leave them here to bring tea and pour some water for Mr. Zhu, and they will be able to work more efficiently. If Mr. Zhu likes it, they can also warm the bed.
"
There was even an uncle who single-handedly pushed his two well-groomed daughters to Zhu Ping'an and asked Mrs. Wang to recommend them.
Then Zhu Pingan saw the uncle's two little girls with pigtails looking at him with big round eyes and innocent faces. One of them was biting his finger and drooling.
The older one is at most six years old. The younger one is only four or five years old!
It’s not as high as the legs of a table, but you can warm a bed at this age, right?!
Zhu Pingan has a black line on his face
Looking at the people in the yard vying to recommend themselves as slaves, the corner of Zhu Pingan's mouth twitched. This must be the contribution of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Pingan also knew something about dedication, and most modern history book reviews were critical of it.
Attitude. It is almost defined as an important reason for the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.
In fact, in Zhu Ping'an's eyes, contributions should be considered separately. For the country, contributions must be harmful but useless. But for the villagers, this is not the case.
For a voluntary contribution like this, if it was not good for them, they would definitely not do it.
how to say.
This is like a tax avoidance method, which was also studied by the wisdom of the working people in ancient times. The imperial court did not collect taxes or levy corvee for officials or the families of the people, so the working people thought that if I became an official, the family of the people would be
Isn't it also exempt from tax and corvee? How can it be done? It's OK to donate land and become a tenant. It's also OK to donate yourself to become a domestic slave.
In the Ming Dynasty, although the court explicitly stipulated that the land tax was very low, no more than one-tenth, it could not withstand the increase in taxation at every level. The heavy burden on ordinary farmers was heavy, such as kicking the stems, burning the stems, and burning the trees.
Okay. Another point is that the corvées of the Ming Dynasty were quite heavy, including building roads, building bridges, escorting grain, and even transporting three melons and two dates to the capital, which required traveling thousands of miles to the capital. It was time consuming and expensive. It was miserable.
Therefore, some farmers "donate" their fields to the families of officials. In fact, they still farm their own land, but the dignitaries have the privilege of tax exemption. They do not have to pay taxes, and farmers save tax expenditures. Even if they have to pay land rent to wealthy families, it is only less than the court tax. They are all happy with the low daily expenses of the local officials. This is just like when foreign companies in my country enjoyed various preferential treatment in the past, many people went to great lengths to find foreign or overseas shareholders and put up a foreign investment brand. Tax avoidance and land donation are similar to this.
However, in any case, making contributions is of no harm to officials and officials. This is also the advantage of those in power, well, the so-called exploiting class.
Understanding is understanding, but
"Yaya can warm the bed"
The drooling little lolita of four or five years old waved her chubby little paws and repeated the uncle's words in a milky voice, which made Zhu Pingan almost spit out a mouthful of old blood.
"The pig is here, come in quickly."
At this moment, Mrs. Chen, the mother who heard the commotion, excitedly waved her hand at the door of the house and called Zhu Pingan over.
With the rescue of his mother, Mrs. Chen, Zhu Ping'an was able to walk through the yard through the crowd and come to the house.
The villagers were still very respectful to Zhu Pingan, the master of civil affairs. When they saw that Mrs. Chen asked Zhu Pingan for something, they all consciously made way for Zhu Pingan.
"Hurry up, look." Mother Chen excitedly took Zhu Pingan to the back room and pointed at the various gifts placed on and under the bed for Zhu Pingan to see.
"This is?" Zhu Ping'an looked at the various gifts arranged randomly in the room, a little confused.
"Just when you were at Muramasa's house, many people came one after another and brought these things. You had to put them down no matter what, and I couldn't stop you." Mrs. Chen looked at the gifts all over the bedroom, her eyes filled with tears.
Is shining.
You didn't stop me, mom.
Looking at Mr. Chen, whose eyes were shining brightly, Zhu Pingan silently cursed in his heart.
However, it doesn't matter. I am not a pedantic person. It's just a human thing to welcome someone away.
What's more, mother Chen is still so excited, so she won't ruin the scene. But she can no longer accept gifts in the future.
"Oh, I almost forgot, there are also these land deeds. This is fifteen acres of paddy field. This is also fifteen acres of paddy field. Well, this is more. This is fifty acres of irrigated land. And these fields are about 50 kilometers away from our village.
It’s quite close, and it was given by a rich man nearby. There is also a grocery store in the town, who gave it to me, and these banknotes, my mother hasn’t had time to count them yet.”
As her mother, Mrs. Chen, suddenly remembered about the land deeds, she took out a small stack of land deeds from Father Zhu's worn shoes under the bed, then took out several banknotes from under a certain brick on the ground, and sat on the bed and handed them to her one by one.
Zhu Pingan said.
"Mother," Zhu Ping'an just started to speak, but was interrupted by his mother, Mrs. Chen.
Mother Chen held the land deed firmly in her hand and said, like a miser, in the same tone as when she confiscated new year's money, "Mom, keep these things for you."
In the morning, Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and gave fifty taels of silver to Murakami as a school boy. When he came back, Mrs. Chen was very distressed. Thanks to these rich people who had just arrived home, they sent people to send these gifts, land deeds and other congratulatory gifts. Chen's mood
Only then did things get better, so Mrs. Chen didn't give Zhu Ping'an a chance at this time.
Seeing his mother, Mrs. Chen, covering the land deed as if she was protecting a calf, Zhu Ping'an was speechless, and then looked at the gifts piled under the bed.
"Don't even think about those things. If you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are, you still have to give those things as gifts. Mother has put them away. Well, the Wang family's gift will be returned to the Zhang family; the Zhang family
The congratulatory gift is a return gift to the Wang family."
Mother Chen pointed to the pile of gifts under the bed and told Zhu Pingan their destinations one by one.
"Forget it this time, don't take in your mother in the future." Zhu Ping'an could only smile bitterly. (To be continued)