"Now even if delicacies from mountains and seas, ginseng and bird's nest are placed in front of me, I don't even bother to take a look." Yang Ruoqing joked.

Luo Fengtang also laughed. "Me too, this meal is really enjoyable!"

Xu Mang said: "We live, why do we work so hard to make money? It's not just about eating!"

"Eat well, eat well, everything else is empty!"

In the afternoon, the two children left their jobs and ran out to play. I don't know where they went to play. Anyway, the adults didn't interfere in this matter. It was rare to get together during the New Year, as long as they were happy.

Xu Mang's wife stoked the fire in the two braziers in the main room and gave one to the two men. Neither man wanted it, so Xu Mang's wife and Yang Ruoqing each guarded one.

It's warm and really comfortable.

Xu Mang and Luo Fengtang were talking and talking, and the topic turned to interesting things in Wanghai County.

"By the way, a lot of beggars have appeared out of nowhere in Wanghai County recently. These beggars all speak with foreign accents, and some even bring their families with them. This reminds me of that year." Xu Mang said.

"Which year? Was it the time when the good people in Huguang County adopted little beggars and street children?" Luo Fengtang asked.

Xu Mang nodded.

Luo Fengtang then looked at Yang Ruoqing.

Yang Ruoqing looked at Xu Mang and said, "Brother Xu, when did this situation begin? Were there many beggars in Wanghai County in the past?"

Xu Mang said: "Probably since the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, there used to be beggars in Wanghai County, but not very many. Now there are more and more, including those with families, old, weak, sick and disabled."

"I asked some of them, guess where they came from?"

"Where did it come from?" Yang Ruoqing asked curiously.

"To the east, near Tianhai County!" Xu Mang said.

"Where did they come from too?" Yang Ruoqing was surprised, and then looked at Luo Fengtang: "We met Brother Xu, can't we be the same group of people?"

Luo Fengtang shook his head, "Not sure."

Yang Ruoqing looked away and continued to ask Xu Mang: "Brother Xu, who are the people you asked about? Do you have children, little girls?"

Xu Mang shook his head: "I'm asking an old couple who don't have children."

"Why, you also met beggars coming from the east?" Xu Mang asked again.

Yang Ruoqing nodded, "Yes, we met a mother and daughter. They said they came here as a family. When I asked why, the mother said there was a famine there and they didn't have enough to eat."

"But the reason the old couple here said was not famine!" Xu Mang said.

"What is that?" Yang Ruoqing asked.

Xu Mang glanced at Luo Fengtang with a troubled expression on his face.

"Brother Xu, just say what you want to say, we brothers don't have that kind of consideration between us!" Luo Fengtang said.

Xu Mang then continued: "I asked them why they have to leave their hometown to beg here at such an old age? Don't they have children at home to support them throughout their lives?"

"They said that in the past two years in Tianhai County, all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes have become higher and higher day by day. The output in the fields, the harvests in the workshops, and the operations in the shops are all subject to taxes. The tax rates are high and there are many names."

"Even later, when any family wanted to marry a wife, the government had to extract a certain amount of wedding money, which made many men in the village dare not marry when they reached the marriageable age."

"Then the local government issued new regulations. Those who fail to get married and have children by the marriageable age will be fined!"

"The common people are complaining, but they dare not speak out. Many people are really forced to sell their daughters to make ends meet. Those who drag their families and families to other places do so because they can no longer survive there!

"

After hearing Xu Mang's words, Luo Fengtang's face darkened.

"My army of protectors has been stationed near Tianhai County for more than two years, but they don't even know that the people of Tianhai County are being exploited in this way? I, the general of protector of the country, am really blind and deaf!" he said solemnly.

, every word reveals shock, anger, and self-blame.

Yang Ruoqing said: "You can't say that, this is not your responsibility."

"Your garrison is stationed in the mountains and forests dozens of miles outside Tianhai County, beside the Tongtian River. Your troops are trained in the mountains and forests. It is completely militarized and is completely isolated from the world. And you run the army.

Sen strict, my subordinates never disturb the people!"

"The exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes are managed and controlled by the Tianhai County Sheriff and other local officials. If something like this happens, the responsibility should also be found on them. The duty of your military is to protect your home and country and fight against the enemy.

And the rebels, if you, the general who protects the country, have to worry about such trivial matters as running the place, then what else will the imperial court do to hold scientific examinations to select talents?" Yang Ruoqing comforted Luo Fengtang in a low voice.

"Qing'er and sister-in-law are right, Fengtang, this matter is not your fault, it is the problem of the local officials in Tianhai County!" Xu Mang also said immediately.

Luo Fengtang said: "Brother Xu, Qing'er, there are some things you don't know clearly. This matter has nothing to do with me."

"How do you say this?" Xu Mang asked again.

Luo Fengtang said: "During the more than two years since our national defense army was stationed in Tianhai County, half of the army's food and grass supplies were directly allocated by the court, and the other half were transferred from the stationed area."

"So, the people of Tianhai County are living in a state of misery. They are overwhelmed by all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. They have no choice but to go to other places to beg for a living. We, the National Guard Army, cannot escape our involvement!"

Hearing Luo Fengtang's words, Xu Mang and Yang Ruoqing were both surprised.

Xu Mang said: "The soldiers and horses have not moved, but the food and grass have gone first. The reason why our Daqi can have today's peaceful and prosperous era, where the people can live in peace and contentment without having to endure the baptism of war, is because you soldiers guard our homes and resist."

foreign enemy."

"What if you didn't risk your lives to live and work in peace and contentment? Therefore, it is only natural that the people pay taxes to support the soldiers. Only those who pay will be rewarded. We cannot let the soldiers prepare their own dry food from home.

Are you going to fight in battle?"

"Brother Xu, what you said is certainly reasonable, but right now, there is one thing that worries me." Yang Ruoqing took over the conversation and said.

"What are you worried about?" Xu Mang asked.

Luo Fengtang also looked up at Yang Ruoqing, waiting for her next words.

Yang Ruoqing continued: "It's obviously the local local officials who are doing this, and they use clever pretexts to squeeze and exploit the people, making them miserable. In the end, the blame may be put on the National Guard Army and Tang Yaozi. This

It’s not good!”

Xu Mang's face also darkened, and he said: "Qing'er's brothers and sisters are rightly worried. It is true. When the time comes, they will plunder the people's fat and people's anointing themselves, and claim to the outside world that it is to raise food and fodder for the National Guard Army. The common people will not be able to survive. This is a fool's errand."
Chapter completed!