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The Storm in the Late Ming Dynasty Volume 11 Chapter 661: Returning to Hometown Without the Brocade Clothes (1)

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    "What's that on the bulletin board?"

    "Old man Li, I asked you to go to night school to learn how to read. You old man just refuses. You come here every time to ask what is written on the bulletin board. What is written on it? If you can read by yourself, wouldn't you?  You can see it yourself, why ask someone?"

    "Liao Xiaoji, you have forgotten that a few years ago, when you were hungry and you were still an old man, I gave you a vegetable bag to help you survive. Now, after learning the words from the teacher in the school for a few days, you dare to speak like this to the old man.  ?¡±

    In Genglou Village, eighteen miles northwest of Liangshan, Li Yangshi, an old man known as Li Laoguan, waved his whip at the young man named Liao. The young man named Liao was not afraid of him and laughed: "I'm just a vegetable pocket boy."  You remember all the things, Mr. Li, no wonder people say you have a good memory."

    "If you can't even remember Cai Duo, you must be an ungrateful little boy. It doesn't matter if you can't remember how good I am, old man, but don't even remember how good the commander is. If it weren't for the commander-in-chief, how could a boy like you be?  If you have school and food, there will already be hungry corpses on the roadside"

    The old man began to babble. He knew that he really couldn't fight with this little kid. In the past five years, thanks to the blessing of the Chinese Military Strategy Commission, these little kid's have all entered the school - although each school only has two students.  He is a teacher, but after all he went to school, became literate, and learned arithmetic.  Therefore, this little Yaozi often reads newspapers and knows what is going on outside. Compared with them, as the little Yaozi often says, the old man "can't keep up with the times."

    "The bulletin board said that this year the village's income is 1,960 copper dollars. The expenditure is 2,541 copper dollars. Genglou Village's deficit is 479 copper dollars, and the deficit rate is 100%.  Within twenty-five"

    The old man listened very carefully, and then nodded to show that he understood the matter.

    The situation in the village is not good because the village has newly built a gravel road leading to the official road.  This is a big deal for Genglou Village, which in the past only relied on trails.  If you want to go back to the city, you have to go around for half a day, but now it is different. After the gravel road is repaired, at least the old man Li Yangshi has benefited from it. His family's big animals travel between Anping Town and Yuncheng every month.  Made some money.

    "But the old man still felt a little disappointed. What's the use of earning all this wealth.  He this property cannot fall into the hands of his son.

    He originally had two sons, who were strong-tempered in their early years.  It's easy to fight against injustice.  He has been away from home for many years, and there has been no news. The previous ten years were chaotic, but he has lived a good life in the past six or seven years. I think these two sons have died long ago.  The old man has been thinking about whether to adopt one of his nephews for the past two years, so that he can take care of himself until he is a hundred years old.

    "The bulletin board also said that next year we will try to harden the road surface and build it into a cement road similar to the official road."

    "It's blowing." The old man muttered.

    "You're an old coward. When did you see our village office blowing the whistle? When did you never admit to what the village office said?"

    I heard the Village Department was mentioned.  The old man was silent.

    For the whole of Shandong, the village office was a new thing in the past, but in the past two years, everyone has become accustomed to it.  At first, Old Man Li had a strong resistance to the village office - since ancient times, village affairs have been arbitrarily determined by squires and old people. However, since the Chinese Military Strategy Commission took control of Shandong, it has stationed troops in every village.  In the village office, an outsider was appointed as the director, and a retired Chinese Army soldier was appointed as the director. In addition, two school teachers and a shopkeeper were stationed.  All matters in the village were discussed by these five people. At first no one listened to them, but later the armed militiamen circled the village and kidnapped all the gangsters who dared to come and take them for fun.  , and then in the "public trial" in the village, everyone will understand that although these five people are outsiders, they have the support of the government behind them!

    Some squires just looked at them coldly, but first two school gentlemen opened a primary school. Children who came to school here were also provided with a snack every day, so all the half-grown boys and girls were sent here.  Then I looked at the shopkeeper who was called "manager" by the people in the village office. More and more general merchandise came out of the small shop, such as salt, lamps, glass mirrors, needlework, and other gadgets. The people in the village gradually  I think this village office is pretty good.

    They also collect taxes on behalf of the government. The so-called tax collection is very simple, much less than in the Ming Dynasty. This tax is not calculated based on head count. In their words, it is "divided into acres", based on the amount of land in the family.  To collect taxes, the more fields there are, the more taxes will be collected.  Some of the squires defended themselves by saying that they were talented people and could be exempted from paying money and grain, but this was not feasible in front of the village bureau.  Fortunately, the amount of land tax is limited, and by paying it to them, they don¡¯t have to deal with the subordinate officials from the county who come to collect the tax. In total, it saves some money. Therefore, although the squires are dissatisfied, they still have several acres of thin farmland at home.  All the farmers joined this "Village Department".

      The first benefit of joining the "Village Office" is farmland water conservancy. Normally, floods and droughts are determined by the weather, and the government only regulates the main rivers. But now it is different. As soon as the winter farming slack season comes, the Village Office will organize people to go to the next level.  The rural bureaus of the country have participated in water conservancy construction.  In the past, during the Ming Dynasty, everyone also had to perform corvee service. At first, everyone thought this was a new form of corvee service, and everyone brought their own dry food and tools.  As a result, I found out later that this kind of farmland water conservancy not only manages food and tools, but also provides labor subsidies!  Although the stipend is not as large as that of Old Man Li, who uses the slack season to drive a carriage as a footwork, Old Man Li is also willing to go. Firstly, it is a lively scene. Secondly, the Village Office understands that people who participated in the "battle" of farmland water conservancy are willing to go.  , priority will be given to water supply during the spring drought next year, and those who have not participated should not even think about it.

    For this reason, a conflict broke out the year after the Farmland Irrigation War. A certain squire was usually domineering. During the spring drought, he directly dug canals and put water into his fields.  The village office immediately called in armed militia, who not only changed the channel, but also arrested the squire for "intentionally occupying and damaging public property" and fined him heavily.

    Originally, the squire was so angry that he went to the county to file a complaint, but when he came back, he was in a state of despair. As soon as he opened his mouth, he said, "The situation has changed." He sighed.  I heard that there were squires from other places trying to organize manpower to confront the village office, but armed militiamen turned around and arrived.  The squire and the participants were slaughtered completely, and even the old and weak in the family were sold overseas as mining slaves!

    Therefore, although Mr. Li disliked the village office in one way or another, and occasionally complained, when he was questioned face to face, he just smiled and said nothing.

    After walking around in front of the village office and seeing nothing else going on, Mr. Li drove his carriage toward Anping Town.  From Genglou Village to Anping Town.  The journey of more than thirty miles, if it had been done in the past when the road was not repaired, would have taken a whole day, but now, it can be reached in half a day.

    Anping Town is now an important water and land transportation route. The canal and the Yellow River meet here, and a large amount of maritime cargo is produced.  It was transported by train from Qingdao Port to Dezhou, and then transferred to the canal by ship from Dezhou.  Arrive at Anping Town and then turn to the Yellow River.  Go deep into Kaifeng and Luoyang areas.  Mr. Li has been working here for the past few years, so he is used to it.

    "Lao Li, you came just in time. Can your big car take guests?"

    His carriage had just parked outside the pier, and a steward of the pier waved to him, which made Old Man Li happy.  I never thought that I would be lucky today, and I would have business just now.

    "Yes. Yes, it's safe. It doesn't matter if we have ten guests."

    "It's not necessary for ten guests. There are eight guests here. The main reason is that they have a lot of luggage. They have their own horses. You can help carry the luggage."

    Then, Old Man Li watched the eight guests appear in front of him. At a glance, he recognized the identities of these eight people. They were all soldiers, and they were soldiers of the Chinese Army, not the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.

    ¡° Four of the eight people were wearing military uniforms, while the other four were wearing civilian clothes. However, the military temperament on their bodies made Mr. Li dare not look at them more.

    "Distinguished guests, please, please, here is the little old man's carriage. You see, the place is huge. Although it is not a Xinxiang produced carriage specifically for carrying passengers, the little old man has replaced it with rubber wheels and can run smoothly.  !¡±

    "Move things, move things, you old man talks too much."

    Among the four men in military uniforms, the oldest one looked the most impatient. His words were not polite, and his accent had a southern Xinxiang accent, just like the five people in the village bureau.  But before he spoke, another young man in casual clothes glared at him, then grinned and scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.

    Old man Li looked familiar to this man, but the aura of the Chinese military uniform made him unable to remember where he had seen this man.  And he also noticed the epaulette on the opponent's shoulder. There was a star there. Based on Li Laoguan's knowledge of the Chinese army, a flower was a great official. The one with a star seemed to be a more powerful official in the legend.  A big official.

    When high-ranking officials like the Ming Dynasty came out, they were all cheering in front of them, holding umbrellas and fanning, serving tea and holding snuff bottles, and there were at least dozens of people following them.  But when officers of the Chinese Army come out, they are often followed by one or two.  From this point of view, Li Laoguan felt that although the officials of the Ming Dynasty were grand, they were not as bold as the officials of the Huaxia Army.

    The other party¡¯s luggage was piled up on the pier, as well as eight horses. However, seeing so many things, not to mention eight horses carrying people, even carrying luggage, it would be difficult, and it would require a big car.

    "Where are you going, gentlemen?" Mr. Li asked after loading his things.

    "Shou Zhang Ji."

    "Shou Zhang Ji" Li Laoguan felt nervous when he heard this place.

    He was originally from Shouzhangji, but his two sons caused trouble and were said to have killed officials. In order to avoid trouble, the family had to move to Genglou Village.  More than ten years have passed in a flash.??He turned from a strong man into an old man, his back was hunched and his body was shrunken, his face was wrinkled and his hair was gray, but there was still no news about his son.

    "Sir, do you think we haven't been back for so many years? Can this be considered a homecoming?" the older Chinese soldier said.

    The man who was honored as "Senior" was the man in casual clothes. He looked about thirty years old. Hearing the words, he smiled and said: "Of course, you have made great contributions in these years. Among our generals, you know your hometown well."  It¡¯s just you, so I want to follow you back to my hometown to have a look.¡±

    "I don't know what's going on at home. It's been more than ten years I can't even speak my hometown dialect." At this point, the officer said something in the local dialect.

    As soon as he said this, Mr. Li's body trembled and the carriage stopped.

    "Old man, why don't you leave? I'm in a hurry to get home to see my father." The officer said.

    "I? Dad?" Li Laoguan threw the riding crop in his hand and threw it at Li Guan's face: "Li Qingshan, you little son of a bitch is driving for me, I am your daddy!" (To be continued.)  )

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