In Leize County, the Sun family belongs to the new rich and powerful, while the Qian family is the old and famous family (descendants of the founding general Qian Shoujun).
The two families were once married, and the Sun family even relied on the support of the Qian family to make their fortune in the first place.
At that time, there were sons of the Sun family who passed the examinations in various subjects, and the Qian family married their daughters and trained them.
After that, both families' official careers were bleak, and they rarely produced high-ranking officials. Especially during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, thieves in Puzhou made trouble. The governor and the supervisor were both kidnapped, and the Qian and Sun families were also burned, killed, and looted. The Qian family has not yet been reunited.
Rejuvenate.
After Wang Tian left the city, he did not dare to go to the territory of these two families.
To be on the safe side, he detoured several miles from the southern suburbs to the west, carefully avoiding the villages controlled by the Qian family.
When he arrived at a village, Wang Tian shouted: "Where is Wei Dian? I am the county magistrate. Let him come and see you as soon as possible!"
Upon hearing that the county magistrate was here, the villagers were terrified and hurriedly went to find the village elder and security chief.
Not long after, an old man was surrounded and cautiously came to greet him: "Old man..."
Wang Tian was very anxious at this moment and interrupted directly: "Find Wei Dian quickly, I want to appoint him as the head of the archers!"
The old man said happily: "Wei Dian is at Er Weng's house..."
"drive!"
Before the old man could finish speaking, Wang Tian hit his horse and ran out.
He came to the village last year and accompanied the eunuch to conquer Taoist priest Wei Erweng.
This was also a true Taoist who cultivated inner elixirs. His surname was Wei, he was the second eldest, and he was still in good health even though he was over seventy years old. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty admired him for his conquests, but Wei Erweng avoided seeing him and even used some "magic" to scare away the eunuchs.
Riding horseback to Wei Erweng's house, Wang Tian shouted: "Wei Dian, come out quickly!"
There were only a few thatched houses in front of him. Wang Tian called for a long time, but no one answered.
Suddenly I heard a voice coming from behind: "Why is the county magistrate looking for me?"
Li Bao looked back and saw an old man and a strong man, both carrying hoes on their shoulders.
The strong young man was lame in one leg and had tattoos on his face.
Wang Tian said happily: "Wei Dian, we have recruited you as the capital of this county. Please quickly pick up your weapons and follow me into the city!"
"I won't go." The young man named Wei Dian did not give the county magistrate any face.
The villagers gradually came over and persuaded Wei Dian to agree. The people in this village became public servants and could take care of everyone, so they were not so ruthlessly exploited by the government.
Wei Dian sneered: "I killed a bandit, but was imprisoned by Sun Jiagou, and was exiled to Hebei to serve as the thief's army. I was successful in suppressing bandits in Hebei, but not only did I not receive any reward, I was not even given treatment for my leg injury. No matter what I do for justice
Or being a soldier, how can you get any benefits?"
Wang Tian asked: "Do you want to take revenge?"
Wei Dian said: "I have many enemies, which one is the county magistrate talking about?"
Wang Tian said: "The magistrate came to the county in person and captured the Sun brothers. Now they are blocked in the county office by the Xianyishe. If you apply for the army, you can take revenge. In the future, when the Sun brothers are transferred to the prefecture city, you will also have to escort them and guard against them.
Horse thieves robbed prison cars!"
"Do we really want to bring the Sun family to justice?" Wei Dian was half convinced.
Bai Sheng took out a piece of paper from his arms: "Zhi Zhizhou has an order. Puzhou is exhausted, the people are poor, and they are already overwhelmed. Next year's farm money should be reduced to seventy cents per bucket!"
As soon as this statement came out, it caused an instant sensation.
The village elder and Baozheng rushed over excitedly and asked hurriedly: "Is it true?"
Bai Sheng said: "Can Zhizhou's words be false? Are you saying it to make you laugh?"
When everyone thought about it, it was indeed true. There was no need for Zhizhou to joke about this.
This thing was originally called "branch transfer", that is, due to special circumstances, people did not pay taxes locally, but had to be sent to a designated place. Generally, the township capital was used as a unit, and everyone shared the transportation costs and selected some young people to go.
Deliver food.
For example, when people in Shaanxi pay taxes, they sometimes have to walk four to five hundred miles to deliver food to the front line.
Ten years ago, Cai Jing reformed this, and the people were no longer allowed to "transfer", and everything was changed to "money from the land." The people only had to send the grain to the county government, and the government took care of the rest, but everyone
You have to pay extra.
The money earned from farming is 56 wen per bushel, which is equivalent to regular tax.
It was first implemented on Jingxi Road, and then spread across the country. To put it more directly, it means doubling the land tax from farmers!
However, local officials took advantage of the opportunity to prey on the people, and implemented it at the grassroots level, often levying several times the tax. Double the amount was given to the court, and the rest was kept by themselves. The fourth and fifth-class households in the countryside could not grow enough to pay taxes, and there were many people who sold cattle and land.
.
Because of the civil unrest, an edict was issued six years ago to exempt the small taxes, and then exempted the fifth-class households whose taxes could not be paid.
The revenue here on Jingdong Road is particularly high because land annexation is serious and there is too much hidden land to collect taxes. Large households also have to pay too much money for purchases, and arrears often occur, so they have to make up for it from ordinary people.
The imperial court stipulated 56 wen per dou, but Ju Ming ordered it to be reduced to 70 wen. Although an extra 14 wen of miscellaneous taxes were collected, the villagers were extremely excited.
He doubled the land tax and illegally increased the land tax by 14. With such brutal levies, Ju Ming was actually regarded as the great master of Qingtian!
Wang Tian was stunned when he heard this. It turned out that Zhizhou had some reservations about him.
Ju Ming's trick is to reduce the land fee, to coerce and induce the landlord to cooperate with Fang Tian.
Wang Tian had already guessed what Ju Ming was doing. Those who cooperated honestly with Fangtian would reduce the amount of money earned from the land. Those who did not cooperate honestly would double the amount collected, and the actual tax paid would be even more.
If it can be strictly implemented, the landowners will definitely be willing to cooperate.
But the landowners are also worried that after Ju Ming leaves office, he will leave and the government will cease, so he will have to pay more land taxes and more land fees. At that time, life will be even more difficult.
No matter what happens in the future, Wang Tian seized the opportunity and said: "Zhizhou is so kind to the people, but today he is blocked by gangsters in the county office, and his life may be in danger. Are you going to sit back and do nothing and let a good official who is dedicated to the people die? You still
Do you want to pay less money?"
Wei Dian threw away the hoe: "I will go with you to save Zhizhou!"
Baozheng said: "I will go too."
Wang Tian said: "Bring all the horses in the village that are worthy of riding, and they will be returned afterwards!"
Except for those that are pregnant, sick, old and weak, there are four horses that can be ridden in the village. This is all thanks to the Jingdong Road Horse Administration. Landlords with a little wealth must raise horses for the government.
Although it is used too often as a war horse, there is absolutely no problem riding it on the road.
Wang Tian recruited four "cavalry" in the village and immediately rushed to the next village.
Don't talk nonsense, just come up with the tax reduction order.
Hearing that it could reduce farm income, the small and medium-sized landowners, and even large landowners, were afraid that such a good magistrate would be in danger, so they sent young men from the village to rescue them.
In just half a day, Wang Dan had more than sixty riders under his command.
Although the horses are extremely weak and the weapons are various, more than sixty riders can still run with great momentum together.
…
The county is surrounded by suburbs.
The thieves, who were also riding bad horses, were sent out to get information.
These guys wanted to ambush the county magistrate, but as soon as Wang Tian left the city, he took a detour to avoid the Qian and Sun family's spies, leaving the horse bandits unaware of where the county magistrate was coming from.
In the middle of the afternoon, a horse bandit guarding the northern suburbs of the county suddenly heard the rumble of horse hooves.
He looked out from the small slope and was almost sure that the county magistrate was back. He quickly took out his whistle and blew it while running.
"Uu!Uu!"
The horse bandits in the northern suburbs gradually gathered, blowing whistles to call for more companions.
Their current number is too small, only eight people, but the county magistrate has dozens of riders.
"Second brother, north, the county magistrate is in the north!"
"Calling people, all go to the north of the city!"
The bandit leader Xu Er immediately galloped on his horse, gathering his men along the way.
Before he arrived at the scene, Wang Tian had already bumped into several horse bandits.
"Bai Er, how many people can you bring to protect the county magistrate?" Li Bao took out his bow and arrows and ordered, "The rest, follow me to kill the bandits!"
"What?" Bai Sheng didn't hear clearly.
It is impossible to command at all. A group of young men recruited temporarily have poor riding skills and ride inferior horses. All orders are given by shouting, and they are completely inaudible while running. In this case, one can only rush to the front and the other young men follow.
A swarm of swarms rushed forward.
Li Bao drove his horse closer, changed his mind and said, "You protect the county magistrate when he enters the city, and I will deal with the robbers!"
"Okay!" Bai Sheng shouted.
Li Bao pulled the reins and left the army. Wei Dian saw clearly and immediately shouted: "I will go with you!"
Two people and two horses rushed straight towards the eight horse bandits.
Landowners were forced by the government to raise horses. They were basically kept as livestock. It was fine for grinding and carrying goods, but it was too nonsense to use them for horse fighting.
But although the mare under Li Bao's lap is not a good horse, it is given plenty of fodder and bean cakes, and he has even consulted a horse breeder for advice. He walks and rides the horse every day, giving the horse enough exercise, which is enough
It's comparable to an ordinary war horse.
At this moment, Li Bao sped up and ran, throwing Wei Dian away in an instant, and Li Bao started to charge alone.
Taking advantage of the large number of people, the horse bandits also surrounded and killed Li Bao, hoping to get rid of him first.
Of these eight horse thieves, three had bows and one had a crossbow.
Li Bao took the lead in drawing his bow and setting up an arrow. Seeing this, the horse thieves immediately raised their bow and crossbow to fight back.
Both sides were charging, about twenty or thirty steps away.
Li Bao's arrow did not hit the horse bandit, but hit the inferior horse in the crotch. The inferior horse went crazy with pain and threw the horse bandit off on the spot.
The opponent's four arrows also shot one after another, and their accuracy was so far off that they didn't even hurt Li Bao's hair.
Li Bao hung up his bow and raised his spear. When the two sides were fighting each other, he raised his spear and thrust it out, knocking down a horse bandit in front of him and taking advantage of the situation to break out of the enemy's encirclement.
Wei Dian followed on horseback, holding a simple sword and roaring: "Weizhuang Wei Da is here!"
Although this guy was lame in one leg, he was quite famous in Leize County, and he was so frightened that the horse bandits hurriedly ran away.
Wei Dian's horse was too weak, and the horse bandits turned around and fled. He beat the horse wildly and could not catch up, and it was difficult for him to show off his skills.
Li Bao was eager to kill. After provoking a horse bandit, he rushed far away. He reined in his horse and turned back, intending to chase down the remaining bandits.
Eight horse bandits, two of them were gone in one encounter, and it was inevitable that they would be frightened.
"The idea is hard to come by. Let's go find the second brother first." The remaining six horse bandits scattered and fled.
At this time, Li Bao was not yet a navy general who had annihilated 3,000 to 70,000 soldiers. He completely forgot what his mission was. His brain was so hot that he only wanted to chase the enemy. He actually caught up with one of them, and he shot and fired easily.
Provoke.
"return!"
Wei Dian shouted again and again but couldn't catch up, so he had to dismount and go pick up the loot.
He picked up a crossbow and replaced the simple knife with a hand knife. He also picked up two bad horses for nothing, and the other one was hit by an arrow and ran away.
He casually finished the attack and sent the horse bandit who was not completely dead back to the west.
Li Bao, who was chasing on horseback, suddenly saw more than ten enemies coming in front of him. His fevered head suddenly woke up, he reined in his horse and laughed: "I won't fight today, you can clean your neck and wait for me to behead you another day!"
"
"Kill that birdman!" the bandit leader Xu Er shouted.
Li Bao turned around and ran away, relying on the speed of his horse to quickly throw away the enemy.
But Wang Tian and Bai Sheng returned to the city with dozens of young horses, and found that the city gate was closed in broad daylight.
Wang Tian angrily rebuked: "I am the county magistrate Wang Tian. Please open the city gate quickly. Are you planning to harm this county?"
"Don't dare," said the soldier guarding the city, "there are robbers outside, so we are closing the city now. Please wait a moment, sir."
After a while, the city gate opened.
Wang Tian led his men straight to the county government office.