Looking at the porridge bowl placed on the table, Jiang Shangyan's eyes were a little straight. This was really a porridge. There was a lot of soup, but there was no see many rice grains. In addition to the porridge bowl, there was also a large bowl of green wild vegetables on the table, all of which had just grown buds. It was something in Wei Li's backpack when he met Wei Li.

Seeing Jiang Shangyan being a little stunned, Wei Li stood up and stirred it in the basin with a spoon. Finally, some rice grains floated up from the bottom of the basin. He put a large bowl of slightly thicker porridge in front of Jiang Shangyan. His black face turned red: "Personnel Jiang, this is a pity for you, just eat a little."

"If you don't feel wronged, how can you feel wronged!" Jiang Shangyan picked up the bowl of porridge, "Sometimes when fighting, you can't eat it, and even eat the bark of the tree. Brother Wei knows it."

"That's right!" Wei Li laughed and scooped a bowl of his wife, but it was much thinner than the porridge in the Yan bowl on the river. The woman held the child and fed the rice soup little by little with a spoon.

"Children need to feed themselves to grow stronger!" Jiang Shangyan looked at the child who was sucking in the soup. The little guy was not as big as Jiang Shangyan's hands.

Wei Li smiled bitterly: "The adults have nothing to eat. Then I will feed the baby with the milk, and it would be nice to feed the rice soup."

Jiang Shangyan was in a heavy mood, "Is this the case in the village?"

Wei Li nodded heavily: "My family is pretty good. Although I am disabled, I am still a strong laborer. There are some families in the village that are much worse than me. I just have a life of hangover. I don't know when this day will end!"

"The tax is so heavy?" Jiang Shangyan asked.

"There is nothing to do. Just the tax is easier to handle. There are also a lot of corvee labor. The village is full of old, weak, women and children. How can the heavy corvee labor be withstood? It will be a death sentence, so it can only be converted into silver and paid. After a while, wouldn't it be enough to spend all the money in your hand? Captain Jiang, now the common people are just alive." Wei Li sighed while drinking porridge.

Jiang Shangyan could no longer eat. Since he came back, he had participated in the alignment battles in succession. After finally stabilizing the Jinghu defense line, he was ordered to form a training cavalry. Soon after he formed an army, he went directly to the battlefield. He really didn't know anything about people's livelihood, and he didn't know much about it.

He is just good at fighting.

But even if he didn't understand, listening to Wei Li's words, he knew what the people were in trouble now. He was just alive, and the meaning contained in this sentence was too heavy.

What if one day the people can’t even survive?

Zeng Lin, the county magistrate of Jinghu County, is not a corrupt official. Jiang Shangyan is clear about this. The administration of Jinghu is still fairly clear, but in such a place, the people can only barely live. What kind of situation does the entire Great Chu have now? Not every official in every place has the ethics of Zeng Lin.

Jiang Shangyan suddenly remembered that for a while, the old coach told him about the current situation in Da Chu. In summary, it was internal and external troubles. In addition to fighting with Qi, Da Chu also had thieves everywhere inside, and war fires were everywhere. A large number of troops had to rush to suppress these rebellious bandits everywhere.

"Can't you survive?" he asked himself in his heart.

After being a general in the Ming Dynasty for many years and traveling to many places, Jiang Shangyan had the deepest feeling that before the Ming Dynasty took control of this place, the people here did work hard and could not even survive. However, as long as the tentacles of the Ming regime extended to these places, the place would burst out with great vitality in a short time, and the rapid improvement of the people's lives can almost be described as miracles.

The taxes of farmers in the Ming Dynasty were very low, and there was no such thing as corvee. Whenever the government did anything, it would have to use real money to hire the people. Some places were even contracted directly to merchants, and then the merchants recruited workers to do it. In short, the people took a wage to do a job. But the benefits of these work were ultimately taken to the people themselves.

For example, the completion of river channels, renovation of roads, and construction of water conservancy projects. Even the transport of materials to the army is not subject to the people.

In Chu State, these tasks are all done by the people for free.

Jiang Shangyan knew very well that Qin Feng's Ming Dynasty had always been short of money, and the emperor Qin Feng was often empty-handed, and the governments in various places were basically in a state of shortage of money and often had to borrow money to live. But in such a dynasty that seemed very poor, the people under their rule lived an extremely generous life.

Jiang Shangyan didn't understand this kind of strong attitude very much, but he knew that the people of the Ming Dynasty had the heartfelt support of the Ming court and the firm support of the Ming emperor.

"Are Brother Wei at home?" A shout came from outside. Hearing this voice, Wei Li's face, which had just been a little happy, collapsed.

"The county's official has come down again." He sighed and said to Jiang Shangyan.

"Tax?" Jiang Shangyan asked.

Wei Li nodded: "The county must have distributed some taxes and corvee this year. The Dianjie is sending it to each village. In our village, I am a young man, so everyone recommended me to be the official village."

Looking at Wei Li's frowning look, Jiang Shangyan knew that the village was in charge, and she was afraid that it would be extremely difficult.

"Zhang Dianli." Wei Li stood up and bowed to a thin middle-aged man who walked into the door.

"A guest is here at home?" Zhang Dianli looked at Wei Li, "Look at the door of your house, Brother Wei, do you have a rich friend!"

"I am a brother in the army in the past!" Wei Li said: "When I came back from visiting relatives, I passed by here. Master Jiang, this is Zhang Dianli, the chief farmer of our county."

"Captain Jiang?" Zhang Dianli was shocked. A lieutenant could lead an intermediate officer with thousands or even thousands of people. In Jinghu County, the identity of an officer was very popular. Even the county master could only bend down in front of a lieutenant.

Jiang Shangyan nodded.

"Zhang Dianli, the numbers are out?" Wei Li asked.

"It's out." Zhang Dianli took out a piece of paper from his arms and pointed at one of them. "Brother Wei, this is the amount of taxes in your village this season. I know that no one in your village will be employed, so I'll just convert it into silver for you, a total of twenty taels of silver."

Wei Li jumped up suddenly: "Why is there another five taels? Didn't it be fifteen taels in the past season?"

"Brother Wei, I haven't cheated you. This year's Spring Tax has been added. In the past, our army was just defense and consumed less. Now that Marshal Bian has taken office, he has recovered Wanzhou. Next, he will launch a large army to attack the Qi people and prepare to recapture the other five counties. Do you think this tax capacity will not increase? This is because the county has reduced the actual situation of your village." Zhang Dianli sighed.

Wei Li had a dark face, "Zhang Dianli, you know that our village is like this, and it's just winter. Can we raise so much money there? Can we delay it? Let me think of a solution? Our imperial army recovers the six counties. Will the imperial court not give money? Why do we always increase taxes and taxes on our heads?"

"Brother Wei, there is nothing we can do about this. A few days ago, I saw a newspaper in the county. There were several places in Ganzhou. Even the county town was captured. Now the imperial court, there is more money to allocate us there? Alas, General Cheng has entered the capital. Can he get some benefits for us?" Zhang Dianli also looked heartbroken, "Those damn bandits should chop their heads and hang them on the city wall to show them."

When Jiang Shangyan heard this Zhang Dianli talk about Cheng Wuben, he couldn't help but feel ache. These lower-level officials didn't know what Cheng Shuai meant to enter Beijing, and they were still dreaming that Cheng Shuai could bring them some more benefits!

He stood up, found his parcel from the side, opened it, and took out a few bills from the inside. They were paper banknotes from the Ming Dynasty, but in Jinghu County, Ming Dynasty banknotes are now common currency banknotes.

"I'll pay for this money for them." He took out a few pieces from a stack of money and made up twenty taels, and Jiang Shangyan handed them to Zhang Dianli.

"How can this work?" Wei Li suddenly turned red: "Person Jiang, how can we ask you to help pay our taxes?"

"Brother Wei, they are all brothers in the army. What's the point of being polite? Didn't you win a big victory some time ago? This is my reward! It's easy for me to get money. It's nothing more than riding a horse and carrying a knife to cut all the people. The more you cut, the more you reward." He stuffed the remaining few bills into Wei Li's hand, "Hold some rice, and at least you have to make your wife full. Look at your baby, you're so thin that you've lost your body. Don't damage your body for such a small person. If you don't raise it well now, you won't be able to raise it if you grow up."

He picked up the package and grabbed the clothes that had been baked by Wei Li's wife. Jiang Shangyan walked out sadly. In fact, he still had several thousand taels of silver notes in his package, but this could not be given to Wei Li, which would scare him. The money was the salary he received during the Ming Dynasty, but he had nowhere to use it.

Zhang Dianli and Wei Li looked at the silver notes in their hands, and then looked at the back of Jiang Shangyan who had left, and were both stunned. Especially Wei Li, when he lowered his head and glanced at the money in his hands, he was shocked again. The several bills combined, a total of one hundred taels of silver.

"Personnel Jiang!" He immediately chased after him.

However, at this time, the Yan of Jiang Shang had already turned over the war horse and galloped away with a whip.

"Brother Wei, your friend is so energetic." Zhang Dianli glanced at the banknotes in Wei Li's hand, "At least your village has a tax this year. By the way, his surname is Jiang, what is his name?"

"Captain Jiang is called Jiang Shangyan!" Wei Li looked at the war horses away, a little excited and uneasy.

"Jiang Shangyan!" Zhang Dianli blinked his eyes and suddenly shouted for a while: "Jiang Shangyan, Wei Li, what kind of captain is this Jiang Shangyan? He is a general next to General Cheng, and he is carrying tens of thousands of cavalry under his command!"
Chapter completed!