Ye An was about to tell her his own solution, but the baby's cry suddenly stopped, followed by the woman's painful cries and whimpering.
The expressions of the two changed, and Ye An asked Tieniu to go and see what happened. These victims were already living a miserable life, and if they encountered some unnecessary accidents at this time, it would be even worse.
But Tieniu came back after a while and whispered in Ye An's ear: "Master Hou, don't ask, this is someone else's family matter, and we have nothing to do with it!"
Ye An was a little strange: "I asked you to ask, what are you talking about? What happened? Why did the baby stop crying?"
Tieniu's expression was full of unbearability and he said: "If we don't raise a son, this family has three sons and one daughter, and they really can't afford to raise this one, so they can be killed in a basin..."
Following Tieniu's words, both Fan Zhongyan and Ye An were shocked, but soon fell silent at the same time. The child belonged to someone else, and it was not against the law for parents to drown their newborn babies in the Song Dynasty, and even if they were rescued now If it's taken down, people will drown it in the future. It's impossible to watch it forever. Even if it's sent to Futian Yard or a foster care hall, the end is probably worse than being drowned.
"One more baby means one more child in the family. When the child reaches fifteen or sixteen years old, exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes will come. It would be better to drown him as early as possible!"
The neighbors on the side didn't have any regrets when they saw it. They just lamented the misfortune of the family to be pregnant with another child. At the same time, they scolded the man in the family for not being able to control his lower body. But how could he control it? thing?
There were no family planning supplies in this era. Whether or not a child would be born depended entirely on God's will. Some families could not ask for it, while others could not give it away and could only drown it after giving birth.
If there were no Dingkou tax and other exorbitant taxes, it would not be difficult for a family to raise seven or eight children. One more boy would provide more labor and allow more land to be cultivated. This is a very important thing for a family. It was a good thing, but now it has become the biggest obstacle.
Fan Zhongyan leaned weakly against the earthen wall. He levied excessive taxes and forced the people to drown their babies. This bloody reality made it difficult for him to accept it for a while. Even if he had known about this custom for a long time, it really happened in front of his eyes. Sometimes, it will still give this scholar-bureaucrat a strong impact.
Ye An asked Tieniu to buy red cloth and send it to others. Even if it was just to express his feelings, he was not the savior. When encountering such a thing, he could only respect the family's choice.
Even when other people see her, they will always say, "Poor baby, let's give birth to a rich family next time!" Although saying this, everyone knows that this is a helpless move.
The family cried and wrapped the child in a red coat. To say that they were vicious-hearted was a bit too much. After all, it was a piece of flesh that fell from the mother's body. Who could not feel distressed?
Fan Zhongyan did not dare to look at the baby's face, but Ye An whispered from the side: "You don't have to be like this, Mr. Fan. I don't know how many children this is. Since the drought locust disaster in the Jianghuai River until now, I don't know how many children have drowned. Some families with good lives are like this! How much more so in the homes of disaster victims?"
Wu Zunlu, who had just come over, had a red face. Ye An said this casually, but it was like a slap on his face. Looking at the helplessness in the eyes of the victims around him, Wu Zunlu felt his face burning and uncomfortable.
Seeing that the two scholar-bureaucrats were extremely embarrassed by this scene, Ye An thought this was an opportunity, so he did not wait to return to the government office, but took Fan Zhongyan and Wu Zunlu under the thatched shed to discuss relief measures.
"Disaster relief is like putting out fires, but disaster relief cannot save the poor. It will still be the same in another disaster year. The people of Jianghuai can endure hardships, have perseverance, and more importantly, are pure and simple. As long as they are given a chance to make a fortune, they can keep going!"
Ye An's words were impassioned, but Fan Zhongyan and Wu Zunlu looked at him with vigilance. They both knew that this young talent was notoriously restless and liked to win by surprise.
Seeing the expressions of the two of them, Ye An curled his lips in disdain: "Both of you have seen it, it's against human ethics, but even if the disaster is over, won't such a tragedy happen? After all, I'm so scared.
, the court's Dingkou tax, and a large number of miscellaneous taxes, I heard that every year our Song Dynasty officials plundered nearly ten thousand yuan of miscellaneous taxes from the people's heads..."
Ahem...!
Fan Zhongyan frowned and coughed, interrupting Ye An and saying: "Longevity, be careful! Since the end of the Five Dynasties, the country has had no miscellaneous taxes..."
"Fan Gong, you have served as a local official. Do you believe this? And Wu Zhizhou, after all, you have served as a magistrate in Tongzhou for two years, and there are no miscellaneous taxes?"
Ye An's rhetorical question made Fan Zhongyan feel disappointed. Wu Zunlu hid his face. The court's policy was inherently contradictory. On the one hand, it said that only the summer and autumn taxes would be retained, so it was necessary to increase it to "a stone per acre of land and a fight for officials."
The promise to abolish miscellaneous taxes was not fulfilled.
Sure enough, Ye An sighed: "The two taxes of the state and dynasty were more important than those of the Han and Tang Dynasties. In the Han Dynasty, thirty taxes were one. Although there were miscellaneous taxes, people seriously reduced the two taxes. In the Tang Dynasty, there were fifteen taxes.
First, the same is true. People also collect miscellaneous taxes, but the two taxes are exempted! But our country uses the guise of reducing and exempting miscellaneous taxes. It increases the two taxes and also increases the miscellaneous taxes. This is a big mistake.
!”
Ye An discussed this issue with Fan Zhongyan when he was in Yingtian Mansion, but the result was that he and Wu Yu signed a letter together, asking Zhao Zhen to exempt him from miscellaneous taxes this year, just this year!
At that time, Ye An felt dissatisfied, but did not say it out loud. Along the way, Fan Zhongyan gradually discovered the horror of miscellaneous taxes, which forced a family to drown their own children!
Now that the time is ripe, Ye An will not take care of Fan Zhongyan and Wu Zunlu. At this time, he will tear apart the tax system of the Song Dynasty, crush it into pieces, and show them in front of them how this decadent tax system affects the bottom class.
The people were driven crazy.
"Quqian, cowhide money, salt money, shoe money, foot money, farm tool money, public money. Some people need to pay these, and some people don't. I won't go into details about their uses. I believe you both understand. Other than that,
There is also Dingkou Qian, which is a human being. A living person living in the Song Dynasty must pay money. How is this different from those who rob people on the road?"
Fan Zhongyan and Wu Zunlu were frightened by Ye An's high profile, but Ye An did not stop.
"Human life is a right given by God. Why do we have to pay money to the government to live? If we force people to death in this way, we don't have to pay money? Isn't that how this "not to raise a child" comes from! The people don't raise money.
Son, then the people are taking the initiative to reduce the population! What will happen if more and more people do this? Then the population and harvest will decrease, which is also the reduction of the national power of our Song Dynasty!"
"The taxes of the state and the dynasty are like this, but there are also showdowns, transfers, errands, official services, yamen, free money, assistant money, leftover money, free husband's money, free service... In addition, there are: farm and house
Deed tax, misdirected money, free warehouse tax... look at these! The three of us are scholar-bureaucrats, and Mr. Fan and I are officials in the capital. These have nothing to do with us, but as long as we pretend not to see it, this matter will
Doesn't it exist? Today I saw a baby being drowned in a basin, and tomorrow I may see it being abandoned on the road! Maybe you and I can also see the day when the number of people in our country becomes less and less, and finally we can no longer collect taxes. Don't forget it.
Okay, we are not the only ones who don’t have to pay miscellaneous taxes. The exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes imposed by the state are aimed at the poor people!"