Chapter 818 The choice between peach and conscience
Chapter 818 The choice between peach and conscience
Author: Saragus
Chapter 818 The choice between peach and conscience
Under the torture of Xu Zhiqiong, Shen Shuliang slept for a while and finally figured out the method of sealing the orifice.
But after realizing it, he couldn't control the direction of use, and the first victim was himself.
He would never say anything about secretly watching Zhuo Ling'er bathing, but just now he said it so happily.
What he said was completely different from what he thought, but he couldn't help himself from expressing himself correctly.
This is the most basic skill of sealing the orifice, sealing the spirit of communication. Anything that can be communicated with the inside and outside becomes unknowable.
Shen Shuliang grabbed Xu Zhiqiong and described Zhuo Ling'er's characteristics while shedding tears: "Zhuo Zhonglang, white, broad shoulders, narrow waist, strong conscience..."
Zhuo Ling'er stood on the street and looked towards this side.
Xu Zhiqiong covered Shen Shuliang's mouth and took him back to the officials' residence.
After staying in the officials' residence for more than an hour, Xu Zhiqiong helped Shen Shuliang remove his technique.
Shen Shuliang cried to Xu Zhiqiong: "That bastard Wei Yi took me to see it. I didn't know there was a hole in the room next to Zhuo Zhonglang. I really didn't know..."
Xu Zhiqiong said with a straight face: "If you don't know anything, will this matter be over?"
Shen Shuliang slapped himself: "I am willing to be punished by Chang Shi. Chang Shi can punish me in any way. Chang Shi, please do not tell this matter. I am an honest person. If this matter is spread, my reputation will be ruined." But it’s all ruined.”
Xu Zhiqiong sighed and said: "That's all, don't make any announcement about this matter yourself. You tell me where the hole is first, and I will plug it up myself."
Shen Shuliang learned the skill of sealing the orifice, which solved an important problem. Xu Zhiqiong was discussing the technique with Shen Shuliang, when someone came to report that Qian Limu had returned with more than 200 people.
Previously, Xue Yun complained about the lack of people, so Xu Zhiqiong asked Qian Limu and Zhuo Ling'er to go out to recruit people. Zhuo Ling'er recruited more than a dozen people in the past two days, but Qian Limu remained silent.
But who could have imagined that this time he took action and attracted more than two hundred people.
Xu Zhiqiong went out and looked at these people. Among the more than 200 people, more than 180 were men and less than 30 were women.
Except for the ninth-grade judge, they have no other cultivation levels.
In terms of physical fitness, they are not outstanding, and most of them are sallow and thin.
Looking at their clothes, they are made of ragged coarse cloth and patched together, so they are all poor farmers.
Why do these poor farmers want to be judges?
Before Xu Zhiqiong could ask, Zhuo Ling'er spoke first: "Qian Changshi, isn't it my little sister's fault that you have the nerve to bring someone of this caliber into the Taoist sect?"
Qian Limu walked to Xu Zhiqiong and lowered his voice: "Brother, there is nothing I can do this time. If I don't bring them back, these people will die."
"What happened?"
Qian Limu recounted the story.
These poor people are from Tuodan County, Jizhou.
Xu Zhiqiong went to Jizhou. It was a really poor place. When the women in the family were cooking, they wanted to break a grain of rice in half and put it in the pot.
Tuodan County was hit by an insect infestation this year, and the harvest was less than half that of previous years.
The magistrate of Jizhou knew that the harvest in Tuodan County was not good, so he ordered the magistrate to collect taxes in advance, every grain was counted, and collect all the grain to prepare for the imperial court's autumn taxes.
Some farmers accepted their fate and handed over all their grain, but their livelihood was cut off for the year.
There are also some young farmers who refuse to accept their fate. Because they are not married and have no family ties, they take the grain with them and go into the mountains. They think they are savages and do not hand over the rations to survive.
If it were normal times, anyone who wanted to be a savage could go and do it, and the government would never stop him.
But when it comes to handing over food, how can we let them off so easily!
The prefect of Jizhou personally investigated the matter and determined that these people were resisting the tax and would be punished as treason!
Their grain must be returned to the warehouse!
These evil people must be severely punished and killed until their heads are rolling, as a warning to others!
At first, these farmers thought that the roads in the mountains were dangerous and that the officers and soldiers would not be able to find them.
But they were too naive. Not only could the officers and soldiers find them, they also knew how to deal with them. Once they cut off the water source and blocked the roads, they would trap them alive.
Qian Limu said to Xu Zhiqiong: "Brother, if I don't care about them, they will just wait to die. The entire Yelang Kingdom cannot tolerate them. If we don't bring them to the Taoist gate, where else can they go?"
Zhuo Ling'er stopped talking. When she saw a woman in her mid-teens and sixteens holding back tears, she stepped forward and patted the girl on the shoulder and said: "She is strong and courageous. I will accept it and become a girl."
Apprentice, it’s very good.”
After saying that, Zhuo Ling'er looked at the other girl again: "She's a bit thinner, but she looks smarter, so I'll accept this one too."
This was said to Xu Zhiqiong, because she was afraid that Xu Zhiqiong would not accept these poor people.
Xu Zhiqiong paced back and forth in front of everyone, lowered his eyes, and asked: "Who gave you the courage to do this? Are you all rebellious? Do you really dare not to hand over food?"
Everyone looked at each other, and a young man shouted: "That's what we need to survive, we can't hand it over."
Xu Zhiqiong came to the young man and said: "I asked the government to spare you for once, not to chop off your head, not to put you in jail, but to let you go back home and live an honest life. Do you still dare not to pay the food?"
The young man remained silent for a while, and a girl who was watching shouted: "No! What can we do when we go home? How can we live without food? Why don't we just wait to starve to death? I won't pay!"
Xu Zhiqiong shouted angrily: "How arrogant! Do you really want to refuse?"
A skinny young man next to him gritted his teeth and said, "I just won't pay!"
Xu Zhiqiong shouted loudly to everyone: "Are you serious that we don't want to be friends?"
Everyone hesitated for a while, then shouted a few times:
"No."
"I, I don't pay either."
"No, I won't pay."
Xu Zhiqiong sneered and said, "What's wrong? Are you afraid of asking a few more questions? After all, aren't you still afraid?"
"What are you afraid of!" A man in his twenties gritted his teeth, "We just want to live. There is no way to survive, so what else are there to be afraid of!"
Xu Zhiqiong shouted: "Are you really not afraid?"
"Don't be afraid!" The voice was a little louder than before.
Xu Zhiqiong asked again: "Are you really not going to hand over the food?"
"No!"
The sound is not only loud, but also neat!
"Do you want to live like a human being?"
"Alive!"
The voices of more than two hundred people echoed above the Evil Punishment Department.
"Okay! Bring the seeds!" Xu Zhiqiong praised, turned to Chen Zhengming and said, "Take them to have a full meal first, and then we will allocate a room to each of them.
Find high-quality fabrics and buy spare parts for new clothes.
Go to Gongshu Yan and pick up a weapon each.
Get a good sleep tonight, practice for me tomorrow, and live like a human being from today on!"
"Yes, Chang Shi!" Chen Zhengming's tone also rose a lot.
A group of judges were waiting around, always feeling itchy and wanting to do something.
Xia Hu stood on the balcony, looked at the new judges, and murmured: "I don't know if they can shout as loudly as they did today if they really kill you to the death."
Xu Zhiqiong jumped onto the balcony, stood next to Xia Hu and said, "Food is what they need to survive. If they dare to fight for this morsel of food, they dare to fight their way out."
Xia Hu shook his head and said, "But now that they have food, do they still have the guts to kill?"
Xu Zhiqiong smiled slightly and said: "With food, if someone takes it away, they can kill even more ruthlessly."
Xia Hu sighed: "Looking at their bodies, I don't know if they can withstand the tempering of the ninth grade."
Xu Zhiqiong hugged Xia Hu from behind and said with a smile: "Peach, what I want is what my conscience also wants. You can't have both. To take the peach at the expense of your conscience is called giving and take!"
Xia Hu was stunned for a moment: "Why did you sacrifice your conscience to take the peach?"
Xu Zhiqiong sighed and said: "The lady's peach is very majestic, but her conscience is quite weak..."
Xia Hu raised her foot and kicked Xu Zhiqiong to the bottom of the balcony.
It happened that Gong Shuyan came to see Xu Zhiqiong and sent Chang Shiyin over.
Xu Zhiqiong frowned and said, "It took so many days to make a seal!"
Gongshu Yan blinked and said: "This long history seal is not easy to make. With this thing, it can destroy the cultivation level of fifth grade and below. The workmanship and materials used are quite exquisite."
Xu Zhiqiong accepted Chang Shi Yin and said: "Go to Xia Zhonglang and get some money to build two Chang Shi Halls."
When he heard that business was coming to his door, Gongshu Yan Huan happily went to find Xia Hu.
Xu Zhiqiong called Chang Decai and asked, "How is the investigation of Qiu Fu going?"
This year's Autumn Fu is very important to Xu Zhiqiong.
Chang Decai said: "Qin Yan has sent news that the tax will be increased this year, and the land tax will be increased by 20%."
In previous years, Qiancheng Kingdom collected 50% of the land tax, but this year it will increase by 20%, which means it will collect 70%.
Xu Zhiqiong asked: "Why do we need to add gifts?"
Chang Decai said: "I don't know the specific reason, Qin Yan is still trying to find out."
Xu Zhiqiong shook his head and said: "Stop prying, let Qin Yan be more careful."
He went to Prince Shu's Mansion and asked Hong Zhenji directly the reason.
Hong Zhenji added a glass of wine to Xu Zhiqiong: "Although the land tax collected by the court has always been 50%, the state and county donations from various places add up to 20%, so the talent paid by the people every year has always been 70%.
With only 30% of the harvest, we can barely survive.
The Lord Shen said that the land tax was a gift from all the people to the imperial court and could not fall into the private pockets of the states and counties, so he wanted to collect 70% of the land tax."
Xu Zhiqiong said: "So, the people still have to pay 70%?"
Hong Zhenji pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "After all, states and counties are unwilling to suffer losses."
Xu Zhiqiong was stunned: "They are unwilling to suffer a loss and want to take 20%. How about leaving only 10% for the people?"
Hong Zhenji was silent for a long time and said: "Such things have happened before. People always find a way to survive."
Xu Zhiqiong smiled bitterly and said: "Maybe some people think that this 10% is too much. Isn't this the method of feeding?"
Hong Zhenji gave Xu Zhiqiong another glass of wine: "Marquis Yun, let's have a drink and let's not talk about these things for now."
…
At dawn the next day, Xu Zhiqiong returned to the Evil Punishment Department and saw a group of old judges training new judges.
Advance, retreat, offense and defense, every move, must be taught from scratch.
Xu Zhiqiong looked at it for a long time, shook his head and said: "If you continue to learn like this, you will become a talent too slowly. Call all the old judges together."
Zhuo Ling'er received the order and summoned everyone to one place.
Xu Zhiqiong said to everyone: "Everyone, are you familiar with the prefects of each state?"
Everyone was startled and nodded one after another.
Don’t you think you’re familiar with it? I’ve destroyed the gift twice and walked past the prefect’s house several times.
Xu Zhiqiong said again: "You will set off immediately to send news to the states that all land taxes will be waived this year."
"Free of charge?" Bao Huailuo blinked and said, "How can it be free of charge?"
"I say free of charge means free of charge," Xu Zhiqiong adjusted his breath and suppressed the power surging in his body. "One old one, bring two new ones, and teach them how to do this job."