Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

Who is Grand Duke Zhan? He has been on the battlefield and killed people. He cuts off more heads than eats salt. How can we not see the praise of this boy?

"In that case! Just tell me how much food my Zhan family should pay this year!" Grand Duke Zhan just lay down on the bamboo chair and didn't even have the intention to stand up and be polite.

Presumptuous, too presumptuous!

A little old man can be so arrogant.

Some of the group of people who came with the weasel started to frown and stare. We are the masters who are flattered by others wherever we go, and treated with good wine and meat, but we don’t want to hit a hard nail here today!

"Master, do you want to teach me a lesson?" a follower beside him said.

There is no such thing as old or young in their eyes. As long as the eldest brother gives instructions, they can come to Zhan's house for a banquet and receive red envelopes tomorrow.

The weasel sneered and said, "Go and get the money and food book!"

This old guy has some experience in Chang County and is always ready to do anything.

But since he was so proud of himself, he naturally had the means to deal with him.

Someone next to him quickly took out the Zhan family's membership book and land deed.

"There are 435 registered males in your Zhan family, and they should pay tribute, land tax, tax money, Liao wages, expropriation wages, plus fire expenses, etc..."

"Don't bother me. I don't know if you are right or not after saying so much, so just tell me the number!"

"Okay! If you are always so cheerful, I won't touch and hide it anymore. In this way, you can always give me one thousand three hundred and five taels and seven cents and three cents of silver!" The weasel said "Haha" , but there was no hint of greed in his voice.

I just want to see if you, a little Zhuangzi, can get so much money. It is best to take it out. If you can't take it out, the old and new grudges will be settled together.

While they were talking, several stewards of the Zhan family rushed out from the fields and yards. When they saw the grandpa talking to a group of people collecting money and grain on the field in front of the fenced house, they came up to apologize with smiles on their faces.

Some of the nephews also ordered Zhan Chenjiu and others to catch chickens and slaughter ducks, catch fish in the fish ponds, and prepare wine and rice for the tax collectors.

"Yes, you guys still have some eyes."

Seeing that the steward of the Zhan family was so knowledgeable, the few thugs who came with the weasel couldn't help but look proud, grinning and laughing.

"Wait a minute!" Grand Duke Zhan used his cane to stop the fawning of his nephews.

"It's not too late to settle the accounts first before inviting you to dinner."

He signaled a young man from the Zhan family to take out a piece of land deed from a treasured wooden box at home.

Then he took it to Weasel and handed it to him and said: "Master Tax Envoy, this is the land deed of my Zhan family. All the mountains, forests, paddy fields and dry land are here.

It is clearly written on it that there are only more than 600 acres of paddy fields, 1,034 acres of mountain forests, and more than 500 acres of dry land, but they are the source of food and clothing for more than a thousand members of my Zhan family.

Over the years, my family has been a good citizen and has worked hard. Although we have been frugal and deprived ourselves, we have not dared to default on the royal grain and national taxes. But the tax money is getting more and more collected, why is this? I hope you will tell me the reason clearly, and the young people from the province will go to the county and ask other adults. "

After hearing this, the weasel's pupils shrank suddenly, and a murderous intent suddenly emerged from his eyes, but in the blink of an eye, there was a smile on his face again.

"Old grandpa, you can't blame me for this! Ever since Emperor Wanli, the Tatars outside the Pass have been tyrannical. Isn't this the beginning of the Liao Dynasty's tax collection? Now, since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, there has been a lot of noise outside the Pass. "Last year, there was another banditry in Shandong. Not only did we impose training and expropriation taxes, but every person and every acre of land received almost six cents of silver. Do you think I'm right?"

"But the price of rice has plummeted this year, and we can't sell it for the price at all. If the royal grain is late, I'm afraid hundreds of members of my family will starve to death!" An uncle in charge of the Zhan family begged the weasel timidly, "Can we postpone the payment? When the price of rice comes up, you will be able to pay a good price."

As he spoke, he motioned to his nephew behind him to bring up a wooden plate, which was full of strings of copper coins.

"Just a few words, please invite Mr. Huang and a few brothers to have tea."

One of Weasel's men glanced at the copper coins on the plate and curled his lips, "Who wants these horse racing money? At the very least, you have to get some Keelung Tongbao? Is this kind of money a beggar?"

Due to the popularity of Keelung money and grain in the southeastern coast, most officials now only recognize Keelung's money.

The sharp drop in grain prices in the past two years was also caused by the impact on Keelung's grain market.

When food becomes expensive, the people who grow it suffer, because after paying taxes and land rent, they can no longer afford to buy food; when food becomes cheap, they suffer even more, because they can't even pay taxes because food is cheap.

Without the same grain price balance system as Keelung, the people of Ming Dynasty would not get any benefits no matter what they planted.

"Xiao Wu, a few officials don't like it, so forget it."

Zhan Taigong's face was full of indifference, as if he was confident, which made Weasel feel a little uneasy. He didn't know what the Hakka guy had in mind.

"Just now you said that there will be an additional three taxes per person per acre, which is about six dollars, but I can't keep up with this account. Does my family have such a large population and acres of forest? I think you made a mistake in your calculation."

"Also, the Wu family in Baitu Village has many times more acres of land, mountains, forests, and fields than my Zhan family, but I have never heard of you going to collect taxes from his family?"

"Grandpa Zhan, you don't know this! According to the rules of the country, all scholars and those who are famous are exempted from money, food, taxes and corvee. This is the rule set by the great ancestor. We dare not violate it."

"Fuck your mother! Do you think that I don't know what tricks you are playing without reading? Grandpa Taizu's rules say that there is a quota for scholars. The Wu family can only produce one scholar, and it will only last three to five hundred acres." Without tax, his family has more than 5,000 acres of land.”

Grand Duke Zhan's old eyes were spitting out anger, as if he was going to turn all the hatred of being bullied and squeezed for decades into flames, and burn the group of subordinates in front of him to ashes.

While pointing at the subordinates, he cursed: "You are just corrupt and perverting the law. You added the Wu family's taxes to my family. I want to see what you have to say."

"Stop talking about it!" Seeing that his tricks were exposed, the weasel became a little angry, and his yellow-white face was full of anger. "Let me ask you one question, will you pay the food tax this year or not?"

"No money to hand over!"

"You won't hand it over, right!? Then don't blame me for not giving face to this old guy like you." The weasel picked up the steel knife in his hand and roared to the sky, "Brothers! Come in and give me all the cattle, sheep and pigs of the Zhan family. Take it out! Take a look at the house and take away the jewelry and valuables of the Zhan family women to offset the tax! "

"Great! To enforce the law for the country! We are willing to do this job!"

Several of the accompanying thugs laughed ferociously and made a show of rushing towards the Zhan family's enclosed house.

"You guys, which one of you dares?!"