"I said, Shopkeeper Mu, you are a merchant and you should do your business well. You are a distinguished guest of the prefect. I don't want to embarrass you, but I still want to advise you. When you get to Dangyang City, you can ask what you should ask. No.
Don’t ask what you should ask.”
Mu Liulang had a cruel temperament, but he had been warned by Sun Li in advance not to be disrespectful to Chu Nanzhi at this time, so he just reminded him casually.
Ma Laifu was very angry at these words and was about to step forward to argue. Chu Nanzhi immediately stopped him and said with a smile: "Since you know that I am a distinguished guest of the prefect, you should know the principles of hospitality."
After finishing his words, he turned his eyes back to the injured man and asked: "Why did the old man run away? But the family was hit by a disaster?"
The strong man secretly glanced at Mu Liulang, who had a fierce look on his face, and then glanced at the boys who were already frightened out of their wits. He suddenly did not dare to speak.
After a long time, he gritted his teeth and silently pulled out the arrow feathers on his leg. Enduring the severe pain in his leg, he limped towards his family, bent down and hugged the young girl who fell on the ground tightly.
, replied in a calm tone: "Thank you to my benefactor for saving me. It's all the villain's fault. It's not easy for my benefactor to interfere."
After saying that, he faced the aggressive Mu Liulang and begged for mercy in a very unreasonable manner: "This villain is guilty. I will go back to Zhoukang County and ask for your kindness."
"Easy to say."
Mu Liulang glared and smiled evilly, and motioned to his men to escort the family back to Zhoukang County.
Looking at the lonely Chu Nanzhi, before he left, he suddenly turned his horse's head and shouted at her with a sinister smile: "Hey, since the prefect has spoken, I will not handle your business in the six counties in the west of the city.
If you're in a dilemma, remember to bring enough money, otherwise you won't even be able to see an acre of land, let alone the title deed."
Then he shouted to the horses and drove away.
Chu Nanzhi stared blankly at the blood stains on the ground, recalling the panicked eyes of the refugees, and it took a long time before she came back to her senses.
"Where does this person come from?"
Chu Nanzhi looked at the uneasy Sun Huai hesitantly.
"Oh, he is Liu Lang of the Mu family in Dangyang. Apart from the clan members and the three powerful families of Tang, Ji and Yin, the Mu family is also the number one noble family in the land of Qinghe."
Sun Huai explained with lingering fear: "In the early years of the founding of our dynasty, almost all the Mu family died in the battle to guard the three states of Qinghe, except for the youngest son who was not yet underage and the old lady of the Mu family. The great ancestor was grateful for the Mu family's meritorious service.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the old general of the Mu family and his five sons fought with Duke An to die in Xiazhou in order to resist the invasion of the Rong and Di people. In these years, the imperial court granted death-proof iron certificates to the noble families of the three states of Qinghe.
All the bonds have been recovered, but the Mu family still has the iron bonds given by the Grand Ancestor. It is such a high honor that even the governor has to respect the Mu family."
"I see."
Chu Nanzhi nodded deeply.
It can be said that the martyrs of the empire worked hard and made great achievements in fighting for the country. In order to protect the family and the country, from Ji Huaili of the Ji family to the sons of the Mu family, all of them were heroic figures who could sing and cry. I never thought that there would be such scum in the family.
"No wonder this Mu family's Liulang is so confident."
Chu Nanzhi said with a helpless smile: "I have an iron coupon to protect me."
But in my hands, even if I have an immortal body, I will never be lenient as long as I violate the law.
Secretly clenching her fists, she returned to the carriage and told the driver to continue moving forward.
"Even if the Mu family is brave, Mu Liulang should not harm the people like this. Wouldn't this make those martyrs feel chilling?"
Looking at Sun Huai who was full of melancholy, Chu Nanzhi scolded dissatisfiedly.
"Brother Xian, Brother Yu appreciates your character, so he is willing to have a few more honest words with you."
Sun Huai said earnestly: "The three states of Qinghe are no different from other places. If you meet a wealthy family casually, they may be related to the imperial court, or they may be military families with outstanding military exploits. We cannot afford to offend them.
Don't say it's you, even if you are the governor, you have to give me a little less respect. Let's talk about my elder brother. The sister of the Sun family has served the governor for many years. Our Sun family can be regarded as the most influential in Tanzhou. But really.
I don’t even dare to fart in front of those nobles, the water in Tanzhou is deep.”
"But since I have chosen to come to Tanzhou to do business, I should know more about the local situation, especially the real estate business."
Chu Nanzhi saw that the greasy uncle was now somewhat sincere to her, so she took the opportunity to test it out: "If you can't know yourself and your enemy, I'm afraid not only will your money be in vain, but your life will also be at stake."
"You are right to have such concerns."
Sun Huai sighed happily: "You must have heard something on the way to Tanzhou. Logically speaking, we in Tanzhou have been doing well in recent years, but this year has been extremely difficult. The reason is nothing more than the common people.
Without the land in his hands, he could only be managed by others. King Qinghe failed to ascend to the throne smoothly back then. After arriving in Mengzhou, he had been working on taking over Jingling City. However, the Empress Dowager and the late Emperor were not unaware of it.
Yes, the party struggle in Beijing was fierce, and all they were fighting for was money and food for the army. Therefore, there was a trend of land annexation by the Tang, Ji, and Yin families.
If you were not in Tanzhou a few years ago, you would not know how powerful it is. Especially in the past ten years or so, almost every household in Tanzhou has to choose a camp in order to protect themselves. The Tang family relies on the dominance of King Qinghe and his family to exploit the people.
The Yin Ji family and many noble families also took the opportunity to win over people from all over the country, firstly to fight against the Tang family, and secondly, by merging hundreds of families into one family, they can pay a lot less taxes every year."
"Hundreds of households merged into one?"
Chu Nanzhi looked stunned when he heard this: "The common people are also willing?"
"Whatever they don't want to do is just the fish on the chopping board."
Sun Huai couldn't help but became happy: "Think about it, they will hand over the fields to noble families for management, they will no longer need to pay taxes to the court, and they will be protected from exploitation by the Tang family, why not do it."
"If that's the case, why are so many people trying every means to flee?"
Chu Nanzhi asked puzzledly.
"It's not the chaos caused by the New Deal."
Sun Huai explained with a grimace: "The New Deal has abolished the tradition of nobles not paying taxes, and has to re-account the land in the hands of nobles. The nobles do not want to return the land they have received to the tenant farmers, but have to find a way.
To stabilize them and allow them to continue to work for themselves willingly, they re-formulated the rules so that every household must pay a certain amount of taxes on the original basis, so that everyone can continue to maintain it."
"I'm afraid many people won't be willing, right?"
Chu Nanzhi sneered and shook his head: "Under the New Deal, everyone pays only one to two percent of the total tax according to the land they are allocated. But if you continue to follow the noble family to avoid taxes, you will have to work hard for a year to grow the crops."
The grain must be taxed according to the highest level, half of it goes into the treasury, and the rest is given to noble families, and no one is willing to let it go."
Hearing this, Chu Nanzhi vaguely understood the reason why there were so many songs in Qinghe Land.
According to the previous ancestral system, clans and noble families did not have to pay royal food. In addition, due to the persecution of the Tang family, many common people were willing to merge their fields into the hands of these wealthy families, which not only provided them with protection but also exempted them from paying taxes.
The agricultural taxes in the Dahe Empire are divided into field tax and capitation tax. The land tax is paid according to the household. Even if hundreds of households are merged into one household, they only need to pay the land tax for one household and the capitation tax for adult men.
The common people have benefited from the opportunistic efforts of noble families, and are naturally willing to fight to the death for them.
At this moment, Chu Nanzhi also roughly understood why Sun You and those noble families were eager to sell their fields at low prices. They were eager to raise money to fill the hole and stabilize people's hearts.
"Ahem, what I did as an undercover agent is finally worth it."