At the entrance of the ancestral temple, there is an open fire, and the man is wearing an official uniform, but it is obvious that he is the only one here, as an outsider.
Outside the ancestral temple, there were all the people in the fishing village, and the faces of these people were full of anger.
"Mr. Zhang, the rent was increased just three months ago, and now the rent is increased by 30%. How can we people live in peace?" A middle-aged man looked at his face with vicissitudes of life and humiliation. He covered his chest with blood stains on it.
, he had obviously just been injured. This man was the unanimously elected leader of the fishing village, a master of transformation.
The nearby fishing villages and more than a dozen villages all surrendered to a nearby city lord, City Lord Zhu Pei, a master of the Four Transformations of Energy.
The number one master within a hundred miles will collect taxes on behalf of the Northern Qi Kingdom.
The Northern Qi Kingdom, or most cultivation kingdoms, has a city-lord system. The imperial court loses most of its jurisdiction over the region. The strongest person is born from the local area and is selected as the city lord. This city lord collects taxes and manages the area.
The imperial court did not have an army, but instead recruited soldiers for worship.
For example, the worshipers of the Northern Qi Kingdom are all the strongest in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and their strength is enough to crush the city lords in the entire Northern Qi Dynasty.
A dynasty maintains stability in this way, and once an extremely talented person is born from within the dynasty, it is very likely to overthrow the dynasty. Therefore, the overthrow of a dynasty is often relatively fast, but not too fast.
After all, the lifespan of a dynasty's ancestor is at least a few hundred years old, and a dynasty can last at least three to four hundred years.
Compared with most dynasties in the secular world, they can be considered to have lived a long life.
And right now, this dynasty is Northern Qi. The founder of Northern Qi, the Northern Qi ancestor, lived for 350 years in the early stage of Baodan. He was a back seater. The current leader of the Northern Qi Dynasty is the sixth son of the Northern Qi ancestor. He is at the peak of the Nine Transformations of Transformation Energy.
With enough strength, you can step into the Dan Bao stage at any time.
Once entered, the life of the Northern Qi Kingdom can be extended for several hundred more years, but it is a pity that precisely because of the death of the ancestor, the ruling power of the Northern Qi Kingdom is not as good as before.
After all, although there are few monks in the Northern Qi Dynasty who transform themselves into the Nine Transformations, there are still some.
Back to the city lord Zhu Pei, the city lord has been collecting taxes in recent years. However, for some reason, he has started to squeeze out the money crazily and continuously increased taxes. It has reached the point where 10% of the income has been paid and 95% has to be handed over.
The people of several villages were in dire straits, but Kunai couldn't resist.
There are many masters under Zhu Pei. For example, Zhang Xian, who came to collect taxes, transformed into a master with his second strength. He was just an ordinary man under Zhu Pei and had not yet entered the staff office.
But the strongest person unanimously elected by the people in this fishing village was no match for him. In the entire fishing village, there were only two people who could achieve a transformation, and the other one was the old village chief.
"I'll say it again." Zhang Xian's eyes were indifferent and he glanced at the people below. He didn't care about their angry expressions and said calmly, "This is an order from the City Lord's Palace. If you don't obey, the City Lord's Palace will send people down to suppress it. When the time comes,
, it’s not me who’s here.”
"I'm doing it for your own good too."
"I'll give you another half month to collect all the taxes, otherwise..." Zhang Xian sneered.
After saying that, he left with his hands behind his back.
These people's faces were ashen, and they all clenched their fists. They were extremely ugly.
But the word "suppression" made these people's hearts tremble. Suppression actually means that the city lord's palace will send an aide to come and take bloody action to kill the people in this fishing village who have reached the seventh level of Huajin and Xiantian and above, forcing this person to
The fishing villages completely lost their right to speak and then obeyed their orders.
With the madness of the City Lord's Mansion in the past few years, the surrounding fishing villages and villages have gradually begun to resist. As a result, there have been several bloody suppressions. The City Lord's Mansion "massacred villages" five times, wiping out nearby villages.
The five disobedient villages killed all their people above the Seventh Innate Realm, and the surrounding villages were also frightened.
Now, is it their turn again?
After Zhang Xian left, the torches in front of the ancestral temples were still burning. The faces of the people in the village were very ugly. The middle-aged man was named Xu Sang. Xu Sang knew that this Zhang Xian was indeed considered gentle. It would be better to replace someone who was a staff member of the city lord's palace.
If you come here, what you will face today may be a bloody massacre.
"Hey." Xu Sang let out a long sigh, feeling as if he had aged all of a sudden. He turned around, and all the people in the village looked at him. Xu Sang pursed his lips, took a deep breath and said
, "I believe everyone has heard what I said. We really have no other way...just pay this tax."
Xu Sang looked deeply bitter.
How can the people in this village survive when the harvest is 95% out of 10%? Every household will go bankrupt, and maybe someone will starve to death this year.
But, what can be done?
"Don't believe it, Mr. Xu, we, our whole village don't have that kind of money."
"Yes, even after paying this money, we still can't survive."
"Mr. Xu, think of other ways..."
"..."
Facing these voices, Xu Sang took a deep breath and said, "There is really no other way. I will go to the nearby villages and sell off the things in our village, such as some farmland... Hey, let's think of another way."
After saying that, Xu Sang put his hands behind his back and left.
The people gathered in front of the ancestral temple still looked hesitant. Should they sell their land, they still wouldn't be able to survive...
...
"It's strange." After entering the village and walking from house to house, Zhou Tongying said curiously, "Where have all the people in this village gone? I see that the oil lamps are on in this house, but there is no one. It's strange."
Mo Xuan's face was red and she was really tired. She fell asleep on Zhou Tongying's shoulder, pouting her little mouth and breathing evenly.
"People are already near the ancestral temple." Chen Fan sensed it with his mental power, and immediately withdrew his mental power. There were not many people practicing in this fishing village, but most of the people gathered at the ancestral temple, and they didn't know it.
Because of what happened.
But soon, the people in these fishing villages dispersed and came back. At the same time, some people noticed Chen Fan and his party here.
"Are you... eh, foreigners?" Xu Sang walked towards him with his head down, but he saw Chen Fan and his group. A man and two female relatives, one of whom had a black hat on his head, his aura made him...
He couldn't see through it, it was very scary.
When a foreigner walks into this fishing village, it is really obvious that both the accent and the dress are very different from the people in the fishing village.
Xu Sang cupped his fists and said, "My lord, this acting village chief of Xujia Village... Well, look at how you are dressed, could this be someone from the world of heaven and humans?"
The Kingdom of Northern Qi is close to the Celestial Realm, and people from the Celestial Realm often come here, but very few people happen to come to this fishing village. This is the first group in the past ten years. In Xu Sang's memory, it was a long time ago that someone came.
.
"Exactly." He stepped forward. Chen Fan must be responsible for all these things of welcoming and sending people off.
"We entered here by mistake. Our family has difficulty moving. We would like to take a rest. Please be accommodating." As he said this, Chen Fan handed over a hundred spiritual stones.
"Hey, this..." Xu Sang's face turned red, "Some outsiders came over and provided some accommodation. The food was normal, nothing to worry about..." But thinking about the taxes that Zhang Xian urged, the village was currently in a tight situation, so there was nothing we could do.
there is none left.
Xu Sang, who had always been enthusiastic and generous, had to accept the money coyly.
"Guests, please come this way." Xu Sang said enthusiastically.
Xu Sang is the acting village chief of this place. Chen Fan inquired as he walked. Xu Sang said that this is the northwest of the Northern Qi Kingdom and is affiliated with Wuzhui City. There are nearly twenty other villages like theirs.
.
Chen Fan and others were invited to the village chief's office. In a courtyard at the back, Xu Sang ordered people to vacate several courtyards.
"If you need anything, you can come to us again." Xu Sang said enthusiastically.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Xu." Xu Sang was indeed very enthusiastic, and Chen Fan immediately returned the greeting.
"Then I won't disturb you anymore." After saying that, Xu Sang turned around, sighed repeatedly, frowned, and then walked out quickly, as if he was worried about something.
"This place is quite clean and the air is very fresh." Zhou Tongying took a deep breath and looked around in the room, feeling a little like she had returned to ancient times.
This feeling is quite novel.
"It's different from what I imagined."
Chen Fan smiled, "The material life enjoyment of practitioners is indeed not very high." Chen Fan said, "However, if you think the air is fresh, it is because of the spiritual energy. Have you ever felt that the true energy in the Dantian moves quickly?
How much?"
Chen Fan put his hands behind his back and looked at the sky in the yard. There were many stars in the sky, which was particularly clear and bright.
Northern Tribulation Star, I'm back again... Chen Fan murmured.