Chapter 509: Extermination plan

What is in the east?

In the east, there is a town market, mountain springs and dense forests, and an imperial palace.

An imperial palace that hasn't welcomed its master for twenty years.

Chen Guanlou left the capital, went all the way east, and stopped at the market when he was tired, eating a full meal.

People in the market, whether it was their clothing or complexion, were worse than in the capital. People with vegetable complexions were everywhere, clothes were patched and patched, not to mention as many as crucian carp crossing the river, at least one-third. Even the bosses doing business in the market showed an atmosphere of being about to go bankrupt at any time.

He casually chatted with the boss of a small noodle shop, "Boss, business is booming!"

"Guest is joking, this business looks like it can't be done anymore."

"How can it be? It's not meal time yet, there are quite a few people, how can it not be done."

"The landlord raised the rent, the court increased taxes, and the petty officials exploited. If it really doesn't work, I'll go back to the countryside to rent a few acres of thin fields and barely live."

"Did the court increase taxes again this year?"

"I don't know if the court increased it, anyway, the government side is urging us small people to pay corvée money. This is just the first half of the year, and I guess there will be two more times in the second half of the year. Recently, grain prices have risen again, and my business is barely maintained."

"Don't you have to pay corvée money in previous years?"

"At least there was no such rule in previous years, since the court started fighting, there was an extra corvée money. Since last year, the head tax has also increased by 20%. I heard from the government office that the head tax will rise again this year. If this continues, all the money earned will be collected by the government office, and not even a mouthful of soup will be left."

While talking, a group of sloppy petty officials from the government office broke in.

The noodle shop boss hurriedly greeted them, compensated with a basket of good words, took out all the money received today from the drawer, and sent this group of petty officials away.

The guests in the noodle shop all buried their heads, no one looked up, subconsciously avoiding, and they were also used to it, not feeling strange.

Only Chen Guanlou, an outsider, looked at this group of arrogant petty officials curiously.

The petty officials in the capital also collect money, but not in this way. Package, monthly payment. A street, an alley, choose a person to package, distribute to each merchant, and pay money on a fixed date. On the 1st of every month, the package person will hand over the money to the government office uniformly and get a ticket. It can ensure that everyone will do business peacefully for the next month, and no one will interfere and ask for money.

Doing this, not only collected money, but also ensured the peace of the market, and there were no messy things that affected the capital's business environment.

If someone crosses the boundary, the package person will directly reflect it to the government office, and the government office will naturally come forward to handle it. If it can't be handled, then think of a way to share the profits and increase the apportionment.

Of course, in this process, the package person representing the merchants will also participate in the apportionment negotiation.

This market clearly doesn't have these rules, all of them are messing around.

One of the big petty officials, seeing Chen Guanlou staring at them, was very annoyed and pointed at him, "What are you looking at? If you look again, I will dig out your eyeballs."

Chen Guanlou smiled and buried his head to eat noodles.

The petty official snorted coldly, his expression very smug.

After collecting the money, this group of petty officials walked out of the noodle shop and collected two or three more shops one after another.

Suddenly, the big petty official covered his eyes and wailed in pain.

"Ah, my eyes, my eyes..."

"His eyes are bleeding."

"My eyes, my eyes... save me..."

The crowd in the market dispersed quickly, the big petty official rolled on the ground and wailed, his eyes bleeding. Until other petty officials tied him up and beat him unconscious, the big petty official finally stopped howling.

Full of blood, the scene was very ferocious and terrifying.

Chen Guanlou finished eating the noodles and drank two more bowls of noodle soup, "Boss, collect money. The craftsmanship is good, if you have time, come again next time."

The boss originally stood at the door, quietly looking at the excitement, feeling happy in his heart. Hearing the collection of money, he hurriedly regained his senses, and hearing the praise, he put a smile on his face and said: "This is my ancestral craftsmanship. My family has been making noodles for three generations, you can ask around, my family's noodles are the best in the market, and the quantity is the most sufficient."

"The quantity is quite sufficient, I will definitely come again next time."

"That's good! Guest, come anytime, there is always something to eat. Guest, walk slowly!"

Chen Guanlou paid the money and walked slowly out of the noodle shop. He turned his head to look at the excitement, the big petty official was beaten unconscious by his colleagues and carried away, blood dripping all the way.

The accident happened, and the petty officials also stopped the idea of continuing to collect money. The market finally returned to its original appearance. Although not rich, everyone had difficulties, and there were many setbacks in life, but life still had to continue. As long as there was no government harassment and exploitation, everyone's face could show a smile.

Chen Guanlou bought some dry food and carried it on his body, heading toward the imperial palace.

Seeing the scenery of mountains and rivers all the way, I got tired of it.

The closer to the imperial palace, the more desolate the market, and the poorer the people.

In short, out of the capital area, the people suffered from government exploitation and court taxes. What head tax, corvée money, forced poor families to drown all children born, regardless of gender. The head tax doesn't care about gender, as long as you are six years old, you have to pay money.

How much labor can a six-year-old child have, and they have to pay head tax to the court, which is forcing ordinary families to go bankrupt and go up the mountain to become thieves.

No wonder there was no break in bandits and thieves along the way.

Compared to going out of the capital a few years ago, the whole environment was clearly much worse. Along the way, I saw several groups of people fleeing famine, all in units of villages and surnames, dozens of people, hundreds of people, and the largest group had thousands of people.

In this world, no wonder they want to rebel! If you don't rebel, you are not a human.

Passing through certain villages, I didn't see children, didn't see old people, only young and strong men and women remained. What happened in it, I couldn't think deeply.

Facing such villages, Chen Guanlou walked away directly. Can't manage, too dark. Killing them is dirty. This is the court's responsibility, the government's responsibility. I don't know which 'genius' thought of the head tax collection at six years old, crazy poor. And collected every year, and raised the price.

The whole Great Ming, perhaps except for the capital, there is no peaceful place.

This is a pot of boiling water, if you don't think of a way to extinguish the fire and cool down, boom, all explode! The whole world has to explode. The Great Ming will finish sooner or later.

Chen Guanlou hid his figure, avoided the village, and went straight to the imperial palace.

Passing through the fief of the imperial family, the rich are always rich, and the poor are getting poorer. He originally thought that the people in the fief would live more bitterly, because there was an extra layer of exploitation. Actually, I learned a little, it was slightly better than those outside the fief. The good thing is that the old rules are still in the fief, and the head tax is collected from fourteen years old. Just this one regulation alone allowed the people in the fief to breathe a big breath, and the burden was not light, at least it was considered light by one-third.

Fourteen years old, regardless of gender, is already more than half a strong labor force. The reward exchanged for labor is enough to pay the head tax. Greatly relieved the family burden. Compared to the extermination plan of collecting head tax at six years old, obviously collecting head tax at fourteen years old is a benign development.

He inquired, this place is the fief of Prince Haichang, an imperial family member who hasn't left the five clothes, his reputation is not obvious, his status is not obvious, and his existence is very low. ===== CHAPTER 510 =====