There was no suspense about the destruction of Dashuixia Village. When Yu Chixin led the players into the village and killed the boss, the bandits surrendered one after another.
When the third master in the backyard saw the captured second master, he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.
In this battle, except for one player who was accidentally injured by a friendly force, no other players were injured. This result can be regarded as a complete victory.
"Old Cui, these bandits are indeed making counterfeit money. These stoves and money fans are all evidence."
Cui Tao stepped forward and took a look, and sure enough there was still red hot molten iron in the furnace.
Next to the stove, there are stone coin models. The red-hot molten iron is poured into these money models, and after cooling, they are aged and turned into fake money.
The courtyard is facing hematite ore and a large amount of charcoal. This is the place where these bandits make counterfeit money.
The third leader of the bandit den was a simple and honest man like a farmer. He was escorted to Cui Tao.
Cui Tao asked: "Do you know what the crime is for making counterfeit money privately?"
The third leader said with an ashen face: "According to the law of the Tang Dynasty, he should be executed."
"Since you know this, why do you want to mint counterfeit money privately?"
The third-in-command raised his head, looked at Cui Tao and said, "If the government doesn't give me a way to survive, how can I starve to death?"
This question can be asked by Cui Tao.
I only saw this farmer-like Third Leader prostrating himself on the ground and saying:
"My family is originally a soldier from Dashuixia Township in Guazhou, Longyou Province. My father went to Goguryeo in the fourth year of Tianbao's reign. He died in battle without even a trace of his death!"
Cui Tao lowered his head. Although Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty created the prosperous Kaiyuan Age, after this era, Cui Tao understood better that the prosperous age was created by the blood and sweat of many ordinary people.
The third head of the family raised his head and said: "My father died for the country. My mother never regretted that my father joined the army. She also taught us brothers about my father's loyalty to the country. My eldest brother replaced my father and served in the military. In the first two years, there were letters from home.
After I came back, like my father, I lost all contact with him."
"Be loyal to your country. My mother will not complain about this, and I won't complain either!"
"However, the Hukou Sex Service Officer patrolled all over the country. When the activity came to Guazhou's Ding registration, he said that my father and brother were not dead and the Ding registration was still there, and they asked my family to pay 30 years of rent!"
"My father and brother are dead, and only my mother and young me are left in the family to cultivate the thin fields. Officials came to collect the rent from my dead father and brother, forcing my mother to sell the Yongye field in the house, but she still couldn't make up the shortfall."
"My mother was arrested by the government and imprisoned. She was hanged in prison three days later. My ancestral home was also occupied by rich people in the countryside. What else could I do if I didn't become a bandit at that time?"
After saying this, Cui Tao avoided the third master's gaze.
However, he knew that what the Third Master said was true. The military system of the Tang Dynasty was corrupted. The Third Master sang songs like this from generation to generation, but many people died because of the soldiers. In the great poet Du Fu's "Army Chariots",
"Even if there are healthy women to plow the hoe", it refers to the situation when the imperial court dispatches soldiers and there are no men in the family to plow the land, so women and children can only be allowed to work in the fields.
In order to replenish the national treasury, Li Longji, who was in Tianbao's fourth year, ordered Wang Gong to take up the post of household registration and sex servant in the Ministry of Household Affairs. This Wang Gong was also a cruel official who catered to the emperor.
Originally, according to the military system of the Tang Dynasty, the families of soldiers who left the government were exempted from rent, and they were also exempted from the land tax on Yongye fields and granted fields.
However, in order to squeeze oil out of the hands of the people, the Wang CCP determined that those soldiers whose death was not clear were not killed in the battle, but fled back home, and required these families to pay rent.
Originally, it had lost its backbone due to the war, and had been required to pay back many years of rent.
This has also caused many Fubing families like the Santang family to go completely bankrupt.
Many people sold their fields, sons and daughters, and in the end had to sell themselves into slavery to survive.
This third head of the family is an ordinary family that gradually went bankrupt during the prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty.
And such things are common in Longyou, let alone Guanzhong where land annexation is more serious.
Cui Tao looked at the bandits around him. They said they were bandits, but they were all sallow and thin, and they looked more like a group of victims fleeing famine.
Isn’t this game too real?
The players felt that their emotions had been moved by this group of NPCs. Several college student players, who had never seen the poverty of the people, turned away and shed tears.
Cui Tao then came back to his senses and said: "There is no doubt that the counterfeit money was minted privately. I will escort you back and ask His Highness King Jianning to make a decision!"
Cui Tao then packed up all the tools and semi-finished products they used to cast counterfeit money, as well as the iron money found in the backyard, and escorted them back to Guazhou City.
Upon arriving at Guazhou City, Cui Tao immediately asked to see Li Yan.
After listening to Cui Tao's words, Li Yan was silent for a long time and asked:
"Cui Canjun, what crime do you think this Dashuixia village deserves?"
Cui Tao lowered his head and said: "Dashuixia Village is a bandit's den. The meat stamps for cutting firewood in the den were tied up just a few days ago. There are also the bones of merchants who were torn apart by them in the back mountain."
Li Yan nodded, this Dashuixia village is indeed a bandit, and they have a lot of life-threatening lawsuits on their hands.
Cui Tao said seriously: "Your Highness, the problem of the soldiers is not a problem of Guazhou, nor is it a problem of Longyou. The people in the village are indeed pitiful, but they defied Tang law and committed murder and robbery.
It is a fact, and he should be beheaded according to the law."
Li Yan nodded.
Cui Tao continued: "But the problems mentioned by these three leaders must be numerous in Guazhou."
"Many families of soldiers in the government paid for it. Not only did the men die in battle, but the women and children left behind were bullied by local powerful men and forced to sell off their property."
"This is not a problem of three heads and one household."
Li Yan nodded and said, "What should we do? What should I do?"
Cui Tao said categorically: "Clear the land! Redefine the rent regulations! Your Highness, I request a large survey in Guazhou!"
Li Yan sat up straight and read the land, which was to re-clear the land and register the population based on the appearance records in the Ding Register and the Field Register.
Starting from Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty until Wu Zhou Dynasty, there was a practice of regular inspections.
However, during the Wuzhou period, Datang gradually lost its control over the grassroots, and the Great Suo Maung Yue also came to a halt.
Except for a large survey in the early years of Kaiyuan, which failed in the end, the Tang Dynasty never again cleared the land or counted the population.
Large households hid their population and paid less rent, while local officials and subordinate staff transferred taxes to ordinary people.
This is also the reason why ordinary farmers in the Tang Dynasty have been going bankrupt since the prosperous age of Kaiyuan, and bandits in various places have become increasingly prosperous.
Li Yan sat upright and said, "Good! Then follow what Cui Shenjun said, conduct an inventory of all the land in Guazhou, and do a thorough inspection!"
Li Yan added: "I ordered Fa Cao to try the case of the Dashuixia bandits' counterfeit money, and the case of the Dashi merchant's counterfeit money to be tried together. The entire trial process was recorded and posted in all Tongyi in Guazhou!"