The arrival of the People's Liberation Army injected vitality into the economy of Pingliang City.

Although the PLA has sufficient military demand, there are still many materials to be purchased and supplemented locally. In addition, the reconstruction of the PLA's garrison and barracks also requires a lot of building materials and labor, which all require money. The inflow of these silver dollars will naturally promote Pingliang's commercial activities.

However, since large-scale construction has not yet begun, the number of silver dollars flowing out of the PLA is actually not large, and it is not enough to leverage the improvement of Pingliang's overall economy. The most fundamental reason why Pingliang's economy showed a prosperous momentum in just a few days is that the PLA completely abolished the heavy taxes that were tying up and continued in the Zhang Zhaoke period and before.

In the war, the People's Liberation Army is temporarily unable to penetrate the countryside. Since local forces have not been fully cleaned up, it will take some time for rural farmers to see a complete restructuring. However, Pingliang City is different. Within this scope, the People's Liberation Army's action of abolishing levy and miscellaneous taxes has achieved immediate results.

In addition to land rent and land tax, the people of Pingliang also have to bear various positive taxes, surcharges, temporary apportionment, etc.

The number of tax items is shocking, including police fees, education fees, tobacco acres, military miscellaneous fees, labor fees, deed verification tax, slaughtering tax, stamp tax, agricultural instrument tax, tea tax, opium pass tax, land value-added tax, construction donation, borrowing donation, aftermath donation, salt donation, soldier donation, Martin fees, supply difference, freight difference, and grain purchase difference, etc.

The warlord government not only imposed taxes on prostitutes, but also became interested in the feces in the people's homes. It even imposed taxes on feces, so a couplet that came into being was widely circulated. The couplet was written as follows: Since ancient times, there has never been a tax on shit, but now there is only no fart left.

Among these taxes, some taxes should actually be collected, but the key is that these taxes under the warlords not only set the quota very high, but also collected very diligently. For example, the salt tax increased twelve times within five years, and the land tax has been imposed ten years later.

After the People's Liberation Army cleared the burden on the people of Pingliang, the burden on the people of Pingliang was immediately reduced. Not to mention other things, taxes like city gate tax were settled on the same day. Even if they were cancelled for one day, they could feel the difference. In just three or two days, it was of course nonsense to say that people's living standards could improve, but without the heavy taxes, the people subconsciously felt that they had earned a few more silver dollars and consumed much more generously than before.

Wu Anping and Xia Tingbai walked slowly along the main street. Although they brought several guards, the PLA in black can often be seen on the streets in Pingliang these days. The people knew that these soldiers were very friendly. Apart from meeting them, they did not deliberately avoid a few people. In addition to the guards, there were two others accompanying them, one was the aunt in the west who supplied vegetables to the guard division barracks in the past two days, and the other was Russell Yan.

Although the people passing through the streets were still poor, their faces were already smiling and their eyes were flashing with hope and longing. Seeing this, Wu Anping couldn't help but say: "The people have seen hope. Next, we must vigorously build Pingliang so that hope can become a reality as soon as possible."

Xia Tingbai took over the conversation and said, "The Chinese people are the best people in the world. As long as you don't let them down, they will let you down."

Wu Anping was thinking about this when he heard the aunt in the west of the city who was regarded as the guide saying, "Commander-in-Chief, Miss Xia, since you have arrived in the west of the city, why not go to my house to sit there. I will make some authentic Northwest dishes to entertain you." The aunt in the west of the city did have this idea. She felt that the commander-in-chief went on the streets like the emperor on a patrol. If he could invite her to her home, it would be really a glorious.

Xia Tingbai immediately agreed.

Wu Anping smiled. He knew that Xia Tingbai was curious about how the people of the Republic of China lived.

Several people left the main street and turned into the alleyway.

The aunt in the west of the city was very excited. She bought two bottles of wine and a bag of sugar from the department store, and then went to the slaughter shop to cut a tenderloin and a pork belly, and some other melon seeds and peanuts. Wu Anping knew that this was to entertain her and others, so he signaled the guard to come forward to check out, but the aunt in the west of the city stopped her and refused to let her go.

Seeing that the aunt could not compete, Wu Anping asked the guard to buy a bag of white flour and a bucket of vegetable oil and carry it together, which was considered a meal fee. This was more expensive than the money he had to pay just now, and the aunt in the west of the city disagreed even more. Until Wu Anping threatened not to accept it, she felt embarrassed to express her willingness to accept it.

The aunt in the west of the city led the way in front, with her feet in the wind and her waist straight. When she met someone she knew, she called her far away and said that she had a distinguished guest.

Xia Tingbai said, "Look, she regards this as glory."

Wu Anping shook his head and said, "This is actually my glory."

After passing a dilapidated Mingzhuang Kiln, Xia Tingbai saw the broken window paper of the main kiln, and a little girl's face flashed. In a trance, she was shocked by the pair of eyes that were vaguely seen, so she stopped walking: "Let's go into the cave and take a look, it seems that there is a little girl there."

Wu Anping looked at the cave. It was a common Mingzhuang kiln in the northwest. It was built on earth cliffs, with one kiln and three caves.

But the situation of this house is very poor, the cave is very dilapidated, the wooden door of the main kiln has fallen off, and it is slanted on the earth cliff, with a wooden bolt next to it, as if it was used to access the door at night. Even the large window of the door has wooden veneer, and white window paper was originally covered with white window paper, but now it is black and yellow, broken and cannot block the wind and sand at all. Two auxiliary kilns, one opens outward, and there is no door. Looking at the smoke on the wall, it should be a house; the other opened the window, and the wall paper was also broken, and it was covered with a dark cloth curtain with patches.

Seeing that Xia Tingbai had already walked over, Wu Anping hurriedly followed.

The aunt in the west of the city looked a little abnormal since Xia Tingbai suggested going over. Seeing that the commander-in-chief followed him, he was whispering to say something, but he didn't say it after all. He put his hands together and recited something, so he quickly followed him.

The main kiln seems to be used to store debris. There are several cages with paint-cutting and cracking, and there are two pottery jars, one large and one small inside. There are some wooden cages nailed to the wall, and some hemp ropes and other objects are hung on it. The left and right walls are each connected to the auxiliary kiln. The left door is open, so you can see the room, and there are some firewood placed in the corner. The right door is blocked by a blue cloth curtain, and a half-empty cloth pocket is placed in the corner.

As soon as he entered the door, Xia Tingbai saw the little girl.

The little girl was only six or seven years old, with two braids on the back of her head, her eyebrows were very beautiful, but her face turned a little white. She was wrapped in a small floral coat, and although she had patched it, she was washed clean like her hands and feet and hair exposed. When Xia Tingbai came in, she was shaking on a black wooden horse, but she didn't make any noise.

Seeing a stranger coming in, the little girl looked up at Xia Tingbai, her eyes as clear and silent as crystal, but it was indescribable melancholy and sad. She didn't say anything, but just looked at Xia Tingbai quietly, and the Trojan stopped shaking.

Xia Tingbai was shocked by the little girl's gaze, and his heart was suddenly grabbed by an invisible big hand, and it hurts. However, before she could react from that gaze, she immediately fell into a huge embarrassment again.

After the blue curtain leading to the auxiliary kiln on the right, a man's breathing sound came faintly, and it became more and more rapid. It finally came to an abrupt end at a high point, followed by a complex sigh.

As soon as she realized something was wrong, Xia Tingbai held her breath and did not dare to make any sound. More than ten seconds later, there was no movement in the curtain. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that the little girl was still looking at her. The gaze was clear and silent, forming a strange and powerful pressure that made her breathless.

At this time, Wu Anping walked into the main kiln and saw the little girl riding a black wooden horse, and his heart was also shocked. Then, the aunt in the west snatched in before Russellyan. Her eyes moved around. When she saw the cloth pocket on the corner of the wall on the right, her face suddenly changed. She mumbled and said with her lips to talk, and then she saw Xia Tingbai's cheeks red as if it was about to drip. Finally, she sighed quietly and said nothing.

Just as Wu Anping was about to ask if the master was there, he saw a man suddenly walking out from behind the curtain on the right. The man was in his thirties, with a bent back, and his dark and thin face was covered with fatigue and frustration. When he suddenly saw so many people, he was startled, leaned against the wall, and sat on the ground.

The man looked at everyone with a frightened look and looked at everyone carefully. He found that the aunt in the west of the city was among them and was constantly looking at him. So he moved his steps timidly. Seeing that no one was paying attention, he lowered his head and walked out of the house several times. Under the gaze of the guards outside the door, he walked for more than ten steps before he started running.

Wu Anping was attracted by another woman who lifted the curtain and didn't care about it, but suddenly he felt something was wrong, so he shouted to the guard outside the door: "Follow up and take a look." A guard came out and chased the man.

The woman was very young, with a somewhat similar look to the little girl between her eyebrows and eyes. Her face was very good, but she was withered and yellow, showing sick weakness. Her hair was a little messy, her eyes were empty and indifferent, and she lifted the curtain and saw that there were so many people in the house, she was not panicked, and she only forced a smile at the aunt in the west of the city.

She walked to the corner of the right wall and squatted down, slowly put her hand into the mid-air pocket. Then, an indescribable tremor rose from the arm and quickly spread throughout her body. At this time, she suddenly took out her hand from her pocket, and saw grains of wheat slid down from the tightly clenched palm and fell back into the mid-air pocket again.

The little girl wanted to run to her, but she was tripped on the ground by a Trojan horse. She might have felt a little pain and suddenly started to cry.

Seeing this, Xia Tingbai stepped forward and wanted to help her. At this moment, a person suddenly penetrated into her. It was that woman! She saw her protecting the little girl behind her, staring at Xia Tingbai fiercely like a crazy mother beast. Xia Tingbai forced a smile, and saw that the little girl's legs were pressed by a wooden horse, and the woman seemed not to see it, so she reached out to pull the wooden horse.

No one expected that this seemed to anger the woman. She grabbed Xia Tingbai's hand and bit it hard. Xia Tingbai cried out in pain, and was about to slash her hand, her eyes were falling on the woman's eyes. Immediately, she was stunned by the look of anger and despair, hatred and madness, and let the blood overflow from the woman's lips and teeth, and slipped to the ground.

The incident happened suddenly, and Wu Anping and others reacted at this time, quickly stepped forward to help, and tried hard to pull Xia Tingbai's hand back, but there was a bloody tooth mark on the edge of her white palm. Xia Tingbai's body was shrouded in huge fear, and she kept trembling, and her face was even bloodless, which was so pale that it made people feel heart-wrenching.

Russellyan accused loudly: "You are a dog, why do you bite when you see someone?"

The aunt in the west of the city looked ugly and whispered to Wu Anping: "Commander-in-Chief, let's go out first."

Perhaps because of the fright, the little girl cried and said, "My mother! Mama!"

When the woman heard the crying, she felt even more anxious. She pulled a wooden stick from the base of the left wall and waved it wildly at the few people. At this time, she disheveled her hair and protected the little girl behind her. She couldn't help but let out a low roar, waving the wooden stick, and her eyes were flashing with the light of hatred and despair, as if she wanted to be enemies of the whole world.

Seeing that the woman could not calm down, Wu Anping could only say helplessly: "Let's go out first."
Chapter completed!