"I ask you one last time, will you pay the tax or not?!"
The tax collector squinted his eyes, looking impatiently at the family of three before him.
Zhang Shun said with righteous indignation, "Sir, our family paid the autumn tax ten days ago!"
The tax collector held up the register in his hand, snorted coldly, "If you paid, then why isn't your family's name written here?"
Zhang Shun shouted, "I saw with my own eyes as you wrote it, you're trying to deliberately collect the tax from my family twice!"
The tax collector slapped his whip down, knocking the young man to the ground, "Why don't I collect double from other families but only from yours?!"
A bloody gash appeared instantly on Zhang Shun's face.
He gritted his teeth, attempting to argue, but Aunt Li hastily stopped him, putting on a smile, "Shun, keep your mouth shut, if the official says we didn't pay, then we didn't pay."
The child was young and unaware of the tax collector's ferocity.
There's a saying, "Fear not the official, but the one who enforces," don't look at the tax collector as just a minor official, sometimes he's more terrifying than the County Magistrate!
"Sir, please wait, I'll go back home and get the money to make up for it!"
Aunt Li had no idea when they had offended the tax collector, planning to deal with the current problem before anything else.
She hurriedly went to retrieve the money.
Soon after, a desperate scream echoed from the house.
"Where's the money——"
The thirteen taels of silver hidden under their water jar had vanished without a trace!
Hearing the commotion, Mr. Zhang with a lame leg stumbled in, and after seeing the empty hiding spot, he fell to the ground, "Thief, there's been a thief!"
The tax collector lost his patience, whipping Mr. Zhang twice in the back, "Are you playing me for a fool here?!"
Mr. Zhang grimaced in pain, "The silver was right here, there were thirteen taels, thirteen taels!"
The tax collector scoffed, "I could also say I have three-thousand taels of gold in my house, if you have no money, just confess your crime honestly!"
Zhang Shun, seeing his father beaten, rushed forward in a panic, only to be knocked down by a whip, his face covered in fresh blood.
He lay on the ground, not understanding what was happening.
Only when he saw two figures in white robes in the crowd giving him a triumphant smile did he have a sudden realization.
Zhang Shun staggered to his feet and charged at the two disciples, "Give me back my silver!"
The slightly overweight disciple kicked the young man down, "Where's the proof?!"
Zhang Shun could no longer contain his anger, "You're in cahoots with the tax collector!"
Hearing this, the tax collector raised his hand and delivered several more whip lashes, beating the young man until his skin was torn and flesh exposed.
"Like a rabid dog, barking at everyone, take him away!
"The old fool to Cangzhou to repair the city wall, the youngster to Hezhou to repair the riverbank!"
The onlooking villagers were silent as cicadas in cold weather.
Seeing this, almost everyone understood what was happening, but nobody dared to say anything.
Officials, martial artists, neither were people ordinary folks dared to offend.
If the lords wanted you dead, you had to die.
Zhang Shun was covered in blood and dirt, screaming in extreme frustration.
He had toiled from dawn to dusk catching fish, saving up for four whole years to learn a few moves, just to have an easier life in the future, how did it come to this?
Was it because he hadn't worked hard enough?
A powerful voice rang out.
Chen Shanshi squeezed through the crowd.
He saw the two Martial Arts Academy disciples and quickly guessed most of the story.
Shun's act of splashing the golden liquid had offended them, so they sought revenge by bribing the tax collector to tax them twice and then stealing the silver, aiming to directly cause the death of Shun's family.
Thinking it over, Chen Shanshi himself felt a chill.
If Qin Xiong was willing to spend silver on bribes, he might very well have ended up with the same fate as them.
He stepped forward, "Sir, may I pay the tax on their behalf?"
On hearing this, Zhang Shun felt so ashamed he couldn't lift his head,
He hadn't insisted on taking out the silver to help Brother Shi before, how could he have the nerve to let Brother Shi help him now?
Aunt Li and her husband felt the same shame, wishing they could just crawl into a hole and hide.
Not just them, the watching villagers were also taken aback.
The tax collector's face darkened, "Boy, are you sure you want to meddle in this affair?"
"I dare not interfere with the official's duties."
Chen Sansi pulled the tax collector to a corner and pointed to Mr. Zhang, whispering, "But this cripple, how could he handle the work? He's likely to die on the way, and that would just be a waste of food."
The tax collector raised his eyebrows, "You mean to say…"
Chen Sansi quietly slipped two taels of silver into his hand, "Sir, let's forget about the cripple. As for Zhang Shun, he was disrespectful to you, so he deserves to do hard labor."
That was all he could do.
Clearly, the tax collector had come for Zhang Shun; Mr. Zhang was merely collateral damage.
If Chen Sansi tried to intervene, it would not only fail to alter the outcome but would also draw disaster upon himself.
While he was speaking, the two Martial Arts Academy Disciples were staring at him intently from within the crowd.
Better to save one if he could not save both.
After all, Zhang Shun was young; there was at least a 20% chance he would survive the conscription labor.
"Hehe, you sure know how to handle things, kid."
The tax collector was amused.
He took the money to teach Zhang Shun a lesson; the old man was essentially dispensable. Two extra taels of silver? Why not?
Thinking this way, he discreetly accepted the silver and announced, "The head of the Zhang family has made up his tax payment. Let him go, and take the young one away to be dispatched to Hezhou!"
The decision was final.
Those present mostly understood what had transpired.
"Little Stone, that move was clever. He didn't offend anyone and managed to save Old Zhang's father."
"This kid really values loyalty and friendship."
"Such a pity he stopped his schooling; he would have made a good official if he'd pursued it."
"Little Stone, I, Lai Zi, am truly convinced by you this time!"
The villagers whispered among themselves, expressing their admiration for Chen Sansi's actions.
Chen Sansi walked over to the thin and dark young man, gently patting him on the shoulder, "I did my best."
Zhang Shun knelt down with a "thud," "You saved my life and now my father's life. If I can make it back alive, I will be forever in your debt and work like an ox or horse to repay you!"
He knocked his forehead to the ground three times, making a loud sound each time.
"What the hell, putting on a grand play? Cut the crap and get moving!"
The government office constables took Zhang Shun away, while the tax collector continued to tally the next household.
Aunt Li watching her son being taken away, collapsed crying and lost consciousness, and Mr. Zhang sat numbly on the ground.
Scenes , on the last day of the autumn tax collection, continued to play out.
In Po Yang County, at least one-tenth of the male population would be taken away.
Most of them were farmers.
After three hundred years of land consolidation, more than ninety percent of the land in and around Po Yang County had become the property of the rich people and the Martial Arts Halls.
The farmers were essentially tenants.
Each year, they had to give half of their harvest as rent, and the remainder was taxed so heavily that they barely had enough to feed themselves.
"For several years the harvest has been poor, and we are required to plant ten percent 'Spiritual Grain' on every acre; we simply cannot survive this way."
"Stop your nonsense; take them away, take them away!"
The Great Sheng Dynasty's taxation was multifaceted and intricate.
The most bizarre was the "Immortal Tax."
Fifty years ago, in the twenty-first year of Longqing, Emperor Longqing had a dream. He claimed to have met an Immortal in the dream, who gave him some seeds and proclaimed that these could grow Immortal Herbs. These Immortal Herbs, when offered to the Immortals, could ensure the empire's prosperity for thousands of generations.
Consequently, from the twenty-second year of Longqing, the Emperor decreed:
All cultivated land in the country must allocate ten percent to the planting of "Spiritual Grain," and those without cultivated land were required to pay the equivalent in silver tax.
The problem was, this "Spiritual Grain" was not some mysterious Immortal plant; it was inedible and even poisonous—deadly poisonous!
Anyone who consumed it would die instantly!
This effectively wasted land resources, making life even more difficult for the already struggling tenant farmers.
Chen Sansi stood by the field ridge; within half an hour, he saw at least three or four households that had their men taken away, not even sparing men as old as seventy.
The people were suffering!
They were oppressed materially, which was bad enough; but the mental oppression was even heavier. Officials and Martial Arts Academy Disciples were considered masters; who would dare provoke them?
Just like what happened earlier when Chen Sansi saved someone.
The look in the eyes of the two Martial Arts Academy Disciples was something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
It seemed like a single wrong word could lead to his undoing.
The feeling was truly unbearable.
Just because he was a commoner, he was oppressed and exploited in every way, living his life with utmost caution.
He suddenly made up his mind.
Uncle Xu was wrong in what he said.
In such an era, living peacefully was a luxury far beyond the reach of the common people.
Only by fighting vigorously might they have the chance to turn their lives around!
"Tomorrow, I will enlist in the army!"