Rise From the Humble

After Zhu Pingan's move to "learn from the valley", Zhang Juren said goodbye and left Shanghe Village. He came to his parents' home with his wife and could not stay long. Zhu Pingan, the village elder and others sent him to the entrance of the village to watch him leave.

After sending Zhang Juren away, Zhu Ping'an was invited to Cun Zheng's home by the village leader and the village elders to make plans for the school valley. The village elder was more concerned about the school valley than erecting a monument. It was almost noon. , Zhu Pingan was able to escape.

Before I even got home, I heard a lot of people in my yard, as if going to a market.

"Master Zhu is back!"

Before Zhu Pingan could enter the door, he heard an excited voice coming from the yard.

Master Zhu?

When Zhu Ping'an heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and then he walked in and was surrounded by the excited crowd in the yard.

"The little old man is a good farmer. I beg Mr. Zhu to take him in and work as a cow or a horse." An old man in patched clothes came to Zhu Pingan very respectfully, but also very excited, and his tone was a little confused.

"Mr. Zhu, our family is a family, and we can't do it without a cook. I am the second pillar of Bianjia Village. I have been working as a ladle in the town for more than ten years. Please let me be our cook. The cooking will be delicious. "

A man with a big head, a thick neck, a greasy face and clothes, patted his chest in assurance.

"I am a rough man, but I have plenty of strength. Let me be a servant."

"I can also farm."

"Master Zhu, please accept us." Others gathered around, vying to recommend themselves.

"Mr. Zhu, my two daughters are both yellow-flowered girls. Leave them here to bring tea and pour water for Mr. Zhu. They can do their job easily. If Mr. Zhu likes it, I can also warm the bed. "

There was even an uncle who single-handedly pushed his two well-groomed daughters to Zhu Ping'an and recommended them to Mrs. Wang.

Then Zhu Pingan saw the uncle's two little girls with pigtails looking at him with big round eyes and innocent faces. One of them was biting his finger and drooling.

The older ones are up to six years old. The younger ones are only four or five years old!

It's not even as tall as the legs of a table, so you can warm a bed at this age, right? !

Zhu Pingan has a black line on his face

Looking at the people in the yard rushing to recommend themselves as slaves, the corners of Zhu Ping'an's mouth twitched. This must be the dedication of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Ping'an also knew something about contributions, and most modern history book reviews were critical of this. This is almost defined as an important reason for the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, in Zhu Ping'an's eyes, donations must be viewed separately. For the country, donations must be harmful but useless, but for the villagers, this is not the case. This must be viewed separately.

Judging from the voluntary contributions in front of them, it must be good for them, so they are so proactive. If it's harmful to them, why would they rush here?

For them, donation was a means of avoiding taxes. In ancient times, taxes and corvee were very heavy. In order to avoid taxes and corvee, the working people in ancient times came up with this method of making donations.

How should I put it? The rulers of the Ming Dynasty levied taxes and corvees on different targets. Officials do not have to pay taxes or perform corvee service, and their entire family does not have to pay taxes or perform corvee service, including masters and slaves; the same applies to the entire family. The taxes and corvees in ancient times were so heavy. This type of tax and that kind of tax were exploited layer by layer, and the burden was even heavier. As for the corvee, it was the top priority, such as building roads, building bridges, escorting grain, and even sending three melons and two dates. There were corvees who had to travel thousands of miles to the capital, which was time consuming and expensive. The working people in ancient times were miserable.

In order to survive, they came up with ways to contribute. The families of officials and civil servants do not collect taxes and do not perform corvee service, right? Then I cannot become an official or civil servant, so I can just become a slave in his family. In other words, if I farm the land and you charge land tax, then why not do it if I don’t farm the country’s land? If the land of the Juren Officials’ House is not taxed, then I will give my family’s land to the Juren Officials’ House. Isn’t that enough? Of course, they still farm their own land, but the land has become the home of the Juren officials. They do not have to pay taxes to the state for farming. Instead, they pay rent to the officials and Juren families. The amount is much less than the tax. .

Some people are rushing over to become their own slaves and to give their family's land to their own family. How can the family of a scholar or official refuse such a good thing?

If you contribute, the people will benefit, the officials will benefit, but in the end it will be the country that will suffer.

Of course understanding is understanding, but

"Yaya can warm the bed"

The drooling little lolita of four or five years old waved her chubby little paws and repeated the uncle's words in a milky voice, which made Zhu Pingan almost spit out a mouthful of old blood.

"The pig is here, come in quickly."

At this moment, Mrs. Chen, the mother who heard the commotion, excitedly waved her hand at the door of the house and called Zhu Pingan over.

With the rescue of his mother, Mrs. Chen, Zhu Ping'an was able to walk through the yard through the crowd and come to the house.

The villagers were still very respectful to Zhu Pingan, the master of civil affairs. When they saw that Chen asked Zhu Pingan for something, they all consciously made way for Zhu Pingan.

"Hurry up, look." Mother Chen excitedly pulled Zhu Pingan to the back room and pointed at the various gifts placed on and under the bed for Zhu Pingan to see.

"This is this?" Zhu Ping'an looked at the various gifts arranged randomly in the room, feeling a little confused.

"Just when you were at Muramasa's house, many people came one after another to bring these things. You have to put them down no matter what, and my mother can't stop you." Mrs. Chen looked at the gifts all over the bedroom, her eyes filled with tears. Shining light.

You didn't stop me, mom.

Looking at Mr. Chen, whose eyes were shining brightly, Zhu Pingan silently cursed in his heart.

However, that’s okay. I’m not a pedantic person. It’s just human nature to welcome and send someone away.

What's more, mother Chen is still so excited, so she won't ruin the scenery. But I can no longer accept gifts from now on.

"Oh, I almost forgot. There are also these land deeds. This is for fifteen acres of paddy field. This is also fifteen acres of paddy field. Well, this is more. This is fifty acres of irrigated land. And these fields are about 50 kilometers away from our village. It's quite close, and it was given by a rich man nearby. There is also a grocery store in the town, who gave it to me, and there are these banknotes, my mother hasn't had time to count them."

As her mother, Mrs. Chen, suddenly remembered the land deeds, she took out a small pile of land deeds from Father Zhu's worn shoes under the bed, then took out several banknotes from under a certain brick on the ground, and sat on the bed and handed them to her one by one. Zhu Pingan said.

"Mother," Zhu Ping'an just spoke, but was interrupted by his mother, Mrs. Chen.

Mother Chen held the land deed firmly in her hand and said, like a miser, in the same tone as when she confiscated new year's money, "Mom, keep these things for you."

In the morning, Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and gave fifty taels of silver to Murakami as a school boy. When he came back, Mrs. Chen was very distressed. Thanks to these rich people who had just arrived home, they sent people to send these gifts, land deeds and other congratulatory gifts. Chen's mood Only then did things get better, so Chen didn't give Zhu Ping'an a chance at this time.

Seeing his mother, Mrs. Chen, covering the land deed as if she was protecting a calf, Zhu Ping'an was speechless, and then looked at the gifts piled under the bed.

"Don't even think about those things. If you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are, you still have to give those things as gifts. Mother has put them away. Well, the Wang family's gift will be given to the Zhang family in return; the Zhang family The congratulatory gift is a return gift to the Wang family."

Mother Chen pointed to the pile of gifts under the bed and told Zhu Pingan their destination one by one.

"Forget it this time, don't take your mother in again." Zhu Pingan could only smile bitterly.