What's to the east? To the east are large towns, mountain springs, dense forests, and a palace. A palace that has not welcomed its owner for twenty years. Chen Guanlou left Beijing and headed east. When he got tired, he stopped at the market and had a full meal. The people in the market are worse than those in the capital, both in dress and appearance. There are many good-looking people everywhere, and their clothes are patched and patched. Not to mention there are as many as crucian carp crossing the river, but at least one-third of them. Even the business owners in the market looked like they were about to go bankrupt and close down at any time. He chatted casually to the owner of the noodle shop, "Boss, business is booming!" "The guest officer is joking, this business is almost unstoppable." "How is that possible? It's not even lunch time yet, and there are already a lot of people there. How come we can't continue?" "The landlord raises the rent, the court raises taxes, and the subordinate staff exploits me. If it doesn't work, I go back to the countryside and rent a few acres of thin farmland to make a living." "Did the court increase taxes again this year?"
"I don't know if the imperial court has done it. Anyway, the government is urging me and other common people to pay the corvee money. This is only for the first half of the year, and I will have to pay it twice in the second half of the year. Recently, the price of food has risen again, and my business has also been limited. Barely surviving.” "You didn't have to pay corvee money in previous years?" "At least there was no such rule in the past few years. Since the imperial court started fighting, there has been an extra amount of corvee money. Starting from last year, the Dingkou money has also been increased by 20%. I heard from people in the Yamen that the Dingkou money will be increased this year. This way When I went down, all the money I earned was taken away by the Yamen, and there was not even a mouthful of soup left.” While he was talking, a group of careless yamen subordinates barged in. The noodle shop owner hurried up to greet them, offered them a bunch of good words, and took out all the money he had received today from the drawer before sending these subordinates away. All the customers in the noodle shop had their heads buried. No one looked up. They were all avoiding him subconsciously. They were not surprised and didn't feel it was strange. Only Chen Guanlou, a foreigner, looked curiously at these subordinate officials who showed off their power. Minor officials in the capital also collect money, but not in this way. Lump sum, monthly payment. On a street or in an alley, one person is selected to do the work, assigned to each merchant, and the money is paid on a fixed date. On the first day of every month, the person responsible for the payment will hand over the money to the Yamen and get a receipt. This will ensure that in the next month, everyone will be doing business peacefully, and no one will interfere and ask for money. In doing so, we not only collected money, but also ensured that the market was peaceful and that no messy things happened that would affect the business environment in the capital. If someone fishes out of bounds, the contractor will directly report it to the Yamen, and the Yamen will deal with it. If you can't handle it, then find a way to share the profits equally and increase apportionment. Of course, during this process, the contractor will also participate in apportionment negotiations on behalf of the merchants. This market obviously doesn't have these rules, it's all chaos. One of the big subordinates saw Chen Guanlou staring at them and was very angry. He pointed at him and said, "What are you looking at? If you look again, I will pluck out your eyeballs." Chen Guanlou smiled and ate noodles. The subordinate official snorted coldly, his expression very sullen. After collecting the money, these subordinates walked out of the noodle shop and took in two or three more noodle shops. Suddenly, the big subordinate covered his eyes and howled in pain. "Ah, my eyes, my eyes..." "His eyes were bleeding."
"My eyes, my eyes...help me..." The crowd in the market dispersed quickly, and the big man fell to the ground and rolled around, howling miserably, his eyes bleeding. It was not until other subordinates tied him up and knocked him unconscious that the big subordinate finally stopped howling. There was blood everywhere, and the scene was very hideous and terrifying. Chen Guanlou finished eating the noodles and drank two bowls of noodle soup. "Boss, collect the money. The craftsmanship is good. If you have time, I will return it later." The boss was standing at the door, quietly watching the excitement, feeling secretly happy. When he heard the payment, he quickly came back to his senses. When he heard the compliment, he put a smile on his face and said, "This is a craft passed down from my ancestors. My family has been making noodles for three generations. You can ask around. My noodles are the most delicious and the largest in the market." foot." "The quantity is quite sufficient. I will definitely come back next time." "That's good! Your Majesty, you can come at any time, and there will be food at any time. Your Majesty, please go slowly!" Chen Guanlou paid the money and walked out of the noodle shop slowly. Turning his head to look at the excitement, he saw that the big subordinate was knocked unconscious by his colleagues and carried away, with blood dripping all the way. When the accident happened, the subordinate staff also stopped thinking about continuing to collect money. The market finally returned to its original appearance. Although we are not rich, everyone has difficulties, and there are many difficulties in life, we still have to go on living our lives. As long as there is no government harassment and exploitation, everyone will have a smile on their face. Chen Guanlou bought some dry food and took it with him, heading towards the palace. Along the way, I looked at the mountains and rivers and felt tired. The further you go towards the palace, the more depressed the market becomes and the people become poorer. In short, outside the scope of the capital, the people suffered from exploitation by the government and taxes from the imperial court. The small amount of money and corvee money forced the poor people to drown all their newborn children, regardless of gender. The Dingkou money does not matter whether you are a man or a woman. Anyone over the age of six must pay. A six-year-old child had to pay a small sum of money to the court for as much labor as he could, which forced ordinary families to go bankrupt and go up to the mountains to become thieves. No wonder bandits and thieves have never stopped along the way. Compared to when I left Beijing a few years ago, the overall environment was obviously much worse. Along the way, he saw several waves of people fleeing the famine in groups. They were all based on their village surnames, and there were dozens or hundreds of people. The largest wave had thousands of people. In this world, no wonder you want to rebel! Otherwise, you are not a human being. Passing by some villages, there were no children or old people, only young men and women. It was impossible to think about what happened there. Faced with such a village, Chen Guanlou simply left. He could not care, it was too dark. He would not want to kill people. This was the responsibility of the court and the government. I don't know which "genius" came up with the idea of collecting taxes from the age of six, which made people crazy. They still collect taxes every year and increase the price. In the whole Dagan, there may be no peaceful place except the capital. This is a pot of boiling water that is about to boil. If you don't find a way to turn off the fire and cool it down, boom, it will explode! The whole world will explode. Dagan will be finished sooner or later. Chen Guanlou hid himself, avoided the village, and went straight to the palace. On the way, he passed the fiefdom of the royal family, where the rich would always be richer and the poor would become poorer. He thought that the people in the fiefdom would live a harder life because there was an extra layer of exploitation. After actually understanding it, he found that they lived a little better than those outside the fiefdom. Fortunately, the old rules were still in place in the fiefdom, and the dingkou money was collected from the age of fourteen. This one rule alone allowed the people in the fiefdom to breathe a sigh of relief, and the burden was not half lighter, but at least one third lighter. At the age of fourteen, both men and women were already considered half of a strong laborer. The wages exchanged for labor were enough to pay the dingkou money. It greatly eased the burden on the family. Compared with the plan of levying dingkou money at the age of six, which was a plan to wipe out the family, it was obviously a healthy development to levy dingkou money at the age of fourteen. He inquired about it and found out that this place was the fiefdom of King Haichang, a royal family member who was not out of the fifth mourning period, a county king with a low reputation, low status, and a low sense of existence.