Life Is Hard Under Any Ruler
This statement was extremely pointed, and the three words “outsiders” were especially jarring.
Jiang Yimian and the others looked at the speaker, their expressions unreadable.
It was the young woman who had initially looked at them with a disdainful glance.
Li Yishi glared at the speaker, raising his voice: “Even if the village’s things aren’t yours, what’s there to worry about? Mind your own business! What outsiders and non-outsiders? Once you’ve entered Qing Stone Village, you’re all villagers! If I hear that kind of talk again, get out and reclaim wasteland!”
The woman who had spoken was startled. Just as she was about to retort, she saw several constables nearby. She immediately snorted coldly and stopped speaking, but her gaze toward Jiang Yimian and the others still held resentment.
Jiang Yimian didn’t feel much about it. After all, what the other party said wasn’t wrong; they were indeed outsiders.
Many villages are very exclusionary. Some refugees are even driven away before they even enter the village. They were already considered fortunate.
Moreover, they wouldn’t appear in the village often, and they probably wouldn’t encounter this person again; just a stranger. She didn’t bother to pay her any mind.
However, she did take another look at the Village Chief. She had initially thought he was a kind and honest man, but now it seemed he still held some authority in the village.
Indeed, if he were too kind and honest, how could he manage a village?
Zhao Da said that the road leading to the village was blocked by people sent by the Qing Stone Village Village Chief. It was indeed clever, and also a bit lucky.
The reason the mountain bandits were able to so quickly learn about the villages near Apricot Flower Village was because of Wang Ergou. That fellow probably didn’t know about Qing Stone Village, so he didn’t bring people there.
If they had known, Qing Stone Village would have also suffered.
Soon, the registration of the people in front was completed one by one, and it was Jiang Yimian’s turn.
Ma Ming nodded to them as a greeting.
Jiang Yimian mentioned the people in the small low-lying land. Ma Ming registered them one by one, a look of surprise in his eyes. “I thought there were few people on the mountain, but I didn’t expect there to be over a dozen.”
If so many people were to be arranged to go to the same village, it would be quite troublesome. Fortunately, these people wouldn’t go down the mountain, only having their household registration recorded in the village.
After the registration was completed, the old man next to Ma Ming limped out of the courtyard with his cane, appearing to be a villager.
Li Yishi then smiled and approached them. “We have many empty houses in our village. Whenever you want to move down, you can. There are several houses in the west of the village that you can live in. Shall I take you to have a look?”
Although these people only registered their household registration, they were also considered villagers. He should take care of them.
Liu Dayong thought for a while before nodding. “Thank you, Village Chief.”
Li Yishi merely waved his hand and took Liu Dayong and the others to look at the empty houses.
Jiang Yimian called Zhao Da aside and whispered, “Big Brother Zhao, when will the Magistrate’s reward arrive?”
The promised One Hundred Silvers hadn’t arrived yet. Song Quanzhao wouldn’t have tricked her, would he?
One Hundred Silvers was a considerable sum, but it was still easy for a Magistrate to come up with.
That fellow wouldn’t have gone back on his word.
Zhao Da was a little embarrassed. He knew she would ask about this. He quickly explained, “Miss Jiang, it’s just the start of the new year, the Yamen is busy, and there are many things going on in the Prefectural City. The matter of the silver will have to be postponed. I estimate that the silver will arrive in at most half a month.”
He couldn’t ruin his superior’s reputation because of his few words.
Jiang Yimian nodded and didn’t press further about the silver. Instead, she asked about the land in Apricot Flower Village.
Jiang Family’s land was all under Old Man Jiang’s name; their First Branch didn’t have any, so they didn’t have to worry about that.
But the Chen Family and the Liu Family still had a few mu of land in Apricot Flower Village. They couldn’t have their land gone just because Apricot Flower Village was destroyed.
Zhao Da just smiled and said, “Don’t worry about that. The land in Apricot Flower Village has already been bought. Once the money arrives at the government office, the amount of your land will be calculated into silver and distributed to you.”
The other people in Apricot Flower Village were also the same. Most of them had returned, but they were scattered in villages under various towns.
As for the few who hadn’t returned, they either died or settled down elsewhere, so there was no need to worry about the small amount of land in the village.
Jiang Yimian nodded. Converting it to silver was not bad. If she wanted to continue farming, she could buy a few more mu later.
However, although Apricot Flower Village wasn’t a particularly large village, its land area was at least two hundred mu. Who was it? Such a large sum of money. Even if the village land was calculated at the average price of four silvers per mu, that would still be over eight hundred silvers.
The lives of the rich were truly unimaginable. That was eight hundred silvers; she didn’t even have that much money now.
Jiang Yimian sighed and suddenly remembered the matter of paying taxes. “What did the Magistrate say about paying taxes this year?”
In the small low-lying land, they only had barely three or four mu of land. It sounded like a lot, but that was for several families together. If they had to pay taxes on the grain grown on that land, they would be working for the Imperial Court for nothing.
Previously, the tax was fifty percent, but due to various reasons, the amount of tax actually paid by most villagers was about sixty percent.
After working hard all year, a large portion was paid in taxes. If the grain yield was poor, they wouldn’t even have enough to eat. They had to exchange everything for cheap corn flour and some mixed grains just to eat for a longer time.
If it continued to be this way, the life of ordinary people would still be difficult.
It was true what they said, during prosperity, the common people suffer; during ruin, the common people suffer.
Zhao Da laughed. “Miss Jiang, don’t worry. The Magistrate and the Prefect have already submitted a memorial to the Imperial Court. News has come down that several prefectures affected by the war will not have to pay taxes for two years. The tax will still be fifty percent afterwards, but the tax in other prefectures has increased by ten percent these two years, probably to balance the missing taxes.
Miss Jiang, rest assured. Since it was stated above to be fifty percent, the Magistrate will strictly enforce it. At least in the villages and towns under his rule, each village will only collect fifty percent, no more.”
He had also heard about the Magistrate’s previous tax collection. It was stated above that the tax was fifty percent, but the actual implementation was sixty percent. Clearly, because they were far from the mountains and the emperor, they acted recklessly, disregarding the Imperial Court’s orders.
Now, the original Magistrate has been beheaded. Not to mention that Magistrate Song wouldn’t embezzle the common people’s money, even if he did, the Prefect would pay special attention to the situation in Qinghe County and wouldn’t give him the chance.
Jiang Yimian was a little surprised. She didn’t expect there to be a policy of not paying taxes for two years, and she was momentarily stunned.
Last year, because of the war, the people were displaced, and the Imperial Court had already lost a lot of taxes. She thought that to make up for last year’s losses, this year’s taxes would increase.
Unexpectedly, they were exempted from taxes for two years. The Imperial Court could make this policy, there must have been a lot of people’s efforts involved.
Although the tax in other prefectures increased by ten percent, this was a good outcome for them. At least the prefectures that were still recovering from the war had these two years to recuperate.