Chapter 865: The Villages of Xuzhou

"Thirty percent is no small amount — every single grain is grown through hard labor." The old man spoke with deep feeling, but Cui Wensheng was stunned. Having spent much time in the provinces, he naturally understood the ins and outs of taxation. Compared to other places, paying thirty percent was no burden at all — it should be called benevolent governance.

The various taxes and corvée duties imposed by the authorities, when combined openly, did not seem too alarming on paper. For an ordinary farming household, twenty or thirty percent of the yearly harvest was about right. But beyond the imperial grain and state taxes, the local yamen's operating expenses and the officials' and runners' perks and graft all had to come out of that same source. Layer upon layer was added, every manner of pretext invented, until what was actually collected amounted to fifty or even sixty percent of the harvest. This made life a bitter struggle for the common people; the slightest mishap forced them to sell their land, sell their own, and go bankrupt.

And after the new Liao stipend was added, seventy or even eighty percent of the yearly harvest was fleeced away. The common people and farming households were left with no grain to feed themselves at all, and they went bankrupt and became refugees in droves.

"Only thirty percent, and nothing else to pay on top of that?" Cui Wensheng pressed with another question.

"Now you're out of line, master. Why would an old man like me lie to you?" The repeated questioning had irritated the old man, who retorted.

Cui Wensheng gave a couple of dry laughs and continued asking, "Apart from what's handed over, doesn't the government assign much labor?"

"How could they not assign labor? There's never a moment's rest. When it rains, you have to go repair the roads. In winter, you have to go dig the rivers and ditches. The busywork never ends. Tell me, master — after it rains, or in the dead of winter when it's freezing cold, how nice would it be to rest at home? But no, you have to go out and work. Fine if it's fixing the road at the village entrance, but what's the point of digging rivers and ditches? What's that got to do with us?" Once the old man got started, his words were full of grievances.

Just then, a man in his forties walked by carrying a threshing flail. Hearing this, he laughed and teased, "Fourth Uncle, you've got it wrong there. Why don't you mention that when we go out to work, they provide meals and it counts against the imperial grain? Besides, digging ditches to channel water is a good thing. Where do you think such a good harvest comes from, if not from having water to irrigate the fields?"

The old man might have been wary in front of Cui Wensheng, but when a fellow villager talked back to him like that, his temper flared. He shot to his feet and cursed, "What the hell do you know? The harvest is good because we worship the Dragon King with sincere hearts! What's digging rivers and ditches got to do with it? Spout that nonsense and watch out the Dragon King doesn't bring down calamity on you!"

The man, however, had a good temper. He chuckled a few times and went back to his work. The commotion drew attention, and a woman nearby called out, "Fourth Uncle, you complain too much. How much of the harvest did we have to hand over every year before, and how much do we hand over now? How much better has life gotten? This blessed fortune is all thanks to the Earth Granny's protection."

This old man, Fourth Uncle, wouldn't argue with a woman. He just muttered under his breath, "What Earth Granny? Nothing's as efficacious as the Dragon King."

The eunuch Cui Wensheng listened from the side and could only smile wryly. Village bumpkins and ignorant folk — they truly understood nothing. Yet he was able to glean other things from this. These Xuzhou bandits had truly managed Xuzhou well, building waterworks and increasing harvests. But one point also baffled Cui Wensheng: if they built waterworks and increased harvests according to these Xuzhou bandits' methods, they wouldn't actually collect much benefit from it. Could it be solely to win the people's hearts?

Apart from this somewhat muddled old man in front of him, he hadn't seen anyone else show much gratitude. What use was winning hearts and minds like this?

Cui Wensheng swept his gaze across the threshing ground and noticed a few households that were clearly different from the others. They were all busy on the threshing ground, so naturally they couldn't be landlords or rich households. Yet the clothing and appearance of these few households were noticeably more respectable than the others, their complexions healthier. They bustled about with cheerful, joyous expressions, a state that set them markedly apart from everyone else. From a distance, a casual glance wouldn't notice, but up close, it was strikingly conspicuous.

"Old sir, those few households look so happy, it's a pleasure to see. Could it be they've had a wedding recently?" Cui Wensheng asked again. Common folk had their own calculations, and this Eunuch Cui was asking too many questions; the old man was starting to feel something was off. But Cui Wensheng understood human nature well. He fumbled in his pouch, and his hand emerged with a dozen or so brand-new copper coins.

He weighed the copper coins in his hand. The old man started, and his face immediately took on a fawning eagerness. Following the direction Cui Wensheng pointed, he looked over. When he saw those households, his face instantly filled with envy and disdain. He curled his lip and said, "If I didn't have to pay the imperial grain and state taxes, and every bit I threshed was my own, I'd be happy all day too."

"They don't have to pay that thirty percent?" Cui Wensheng asked curiously. If this was how they won hearts and minds, the price was far too high — not a good bargain at all.

"This gentleman, don't you go thinking it's anything good. The menfolk of those families have all sold their lives to that Zhao clan! Doing what? Right, they're called household retainers. Once you become one of those household retainers, the family gets money every month, gets extra land, and doesn't have to pay taxes. We go out to work just to earn a meal, but they earn even more. But without their sons and brothers, what use is earning more? They spend every day on tenterhooks, can't even sleep at night, terrified that any day someone will come bearing news of their death!"

In a village, nothing was harder to stomach than another family doing better, and the older folks were especially full of envy. Cui Wensheng, however, paid no mind to the old man's emotions. It was only at this moment that he felt a jolt of shock. To sell one's life for the Zhao Battalion, for that Zhao Jin, and in return have the family allotted land and exempted from taxes — this benefit was too great a temptation. And it set them apart from the surrounding commoners. Never mind that this old man called Fourth Uncle spoke with jealousy; if a son or younger relative of his could become one of those household retainers, he would surely be more than willing.

Just then, the woman who had spoken of the Earth Granny earlier also sidled over. Glancing in that direction, she said, "Fourth Uncle, don't put it that way. Maybe they're even hoping their own kids get killed or maimed. I hear that if that happens, the family gets silver and grain every month, living it up as well as the big households in our village. Tsk, tsk, a life's only worth a few catties of grain."

With one speaking and then the other, their grievances poured out. The old man slapped his thigh and said to Eunuch Cui, "Tell me if this makes any sense, master. Before, it was always the older, respected men in the village who called the shots, and the officials acknowledged that. But now? Some wet-behind-the-ears kid goes off to serve as a militia man for a few days, takes a blade, sheds blood, comes back crippled, and instead of keeping his head down back in the village, he actually becomes some village chief, bossing everyone around. By seniority, I'm still his grandfather..."

The grumbling went on and on, but Cui Wensheng saw several people emerge from the village entrance. One of them walked with a limp, and the man who had earlier been carrying the flail was among them, pointing and gesturing in this direction.

Cui Wensheng did not stay to listen to more complaints from the old man and the woman. He tossed the copper coins onto the ground, turned, and left. Behind him, he could still hear the scramble: "Fourth Uncle, that gentleman didn't say who they were for — don't you take them all!"

He mounted his horse directly and rode off. No one from Yan Family Village came out to chase him. Eunuch Cui paid no heed to what was behind him and rode off on his own to rejoin the main party. He had no idea that behind him, the limping young man was walking toward the old man. The old man, who moments before had been full of complaints, had already stood up in alarm, his face plastered with an apologetic smile. "Da Zhuzi, aren't you busy? What brings you over here? Don't you worry about the farm work at home — aren't your uncles all helping out?"

The limping young man called Da Zhuzi was very quiet. His gait was strange; though one leg was impaired, he always strove to walk as if marching in step. He came before the old man and looked at him for a moment. The woman gave a dry laugh and slipped away. The old man hesitated, then held out the copper coins clutched in his hand. The disabled young man ignored them and merely asked, in a mild tone, "Fourth Grandfather, what were you talking about with that outsider just now?"

After rejoining the main party, Cui Wensheng remained silent for a long time, so much so that his subordinates grew uneasy, wondering what the eunuch had seen and heard in that village.

"Go meet with the men up ahead and have them guide the way. We need to hurry to He Family Village," Cui Wensheng ordered.

"Gonggong, are you feeling unwell?" a trusted aide ventured to ask, only to be glared at by a grim-faced Cui Wensheng. No one dared say another word.

The reason for the question was that Cui Wensheng's voice carried a tremor. On closer inspection, he looked as though he had been badly frightened.

Cui Wensheng was indeed afraid. What he had seen and heard was not complicated, but it allowed him to deduce a terrifying situation. If things went on like this, in all the territory these bandits controlled, the imperial court would not retain a shred of the people's loyalty. What great righteousness and fealty, what the realm and the altars of state — to the common people, it all came down to whoever let them live a little better. If a scholarly gentleman came here, he might feel indignation and consider the people ignorant. But Eunuch Cui, who had handled affairs since childhood, understood profit and the human heart far better.

The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became. Xuzhou's approach was digging at the very root of the Great Ming. The Great Ming valued the civil and disdained the martial, yet here in Xuzhou, military men clearly received better treatment. The Great Ming stressed routine and precedent, and in matters of tax and corvée, no one cared whether the common farming households lived or died — they were simply fleeced layer by layer. But here, everything was simple and clear: light corvée and low taxes. And there was another point: the common people were actually compensated for their labor. The Great Ming, when conscripting corvée labor, claimed on paper it wasn't unpaid, but in practice, it was forced conscription. If these bandits truly succeeded, then all the respectable figures in the Great Ming would likely gain no advantage whatsoever. In this whole system of Xuzhou, there was no place for any of them.

At this thought, Eunuch Cui shuddered and shook his head violently. What nonsense was he thinking? He was here to offer amnesty and pacification. The bandits were still in Xuzhou; they hadn't seized more territory. Let them carry on with this approach if they wanted. What use was having the people's hearts without money and grain? They still couldn't sustain it.

The Great Ming still held the Mandate of Heaven. Let the bandits run rampant for now; the day would surely come when they were destroyed. Only when Eunuch Cui reached this thought did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Xiao County was not far from He Family Village now. As they drew closer and closer, the mounted household retainers of the Zhao Battalion and the jianghu martial artists on duty no longer stood on ceremony with Eunuch Cui's party. Riders flanked them front, rear, left, and right, and someone, after inquiring about their purpose, had already ridden ahead at speed to report.

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