In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 35 The Terrible Tax Increase

20 coins!

This price filled Chen Dao with immense joy.

He carefully examined the two fruits in Li Ying's hand, and found that the fruits were the size of eggs, perfectly round, and had a reddish tinge on their skin, unlike most of the fruits Chen Dao had ever seen.

"These two blood-clotting fruits are for you!"

Li Ying directly stuffed two blood-clotting fruits into Chen Dao's hand.

Knowing that Li Ying was a wealthy woman, Chen Dao did not refuse and accepted the fruit directly. Then he said goodbye, "Miss Li, I have other matters to attend to, so I will be leaving now!"

"Go!"

After saying goodbye to Li Ying, Chen Dao boarded a donkey cart and left with Chen Cheng and the others.

Li Ying then returned to the backyard of the martial arts school.

"Giggle!"

In the backyard of the martial arts school, the crowing of roosters rose and fell.

Li Hu stood by the chicken coop, thoughtfully examining the white-feathered and yellow-feathered chickens inside.

"father."

Only when Li Ying's voice came did Li Hu turn his gaze and ask, "Yingzi, did you buy these chickens again?"

"Yes!"

Li Ying sat down at the stone table and said, "Father, we can have white-feathered chickens to eat again recently!"

Li Ying is a foodie, a consensus among everyone at the Fuhu Boxing Gym. As a foodie, Li Ying has a special fondness for chicken, but she has long been tired of the taste of gray-feathered chicken and can't forget white-feathered chicken.

After all, compared to gray-feathered chickens, white-feathered chickens not only have more meat but are also more succulent, and their chicken meat tastes far superior to that of gray-feathered chickens.

"You ah you!"

Li Hu pointed at Li Ying, well aware of her foodie nature. In fact, not only was Li Ying a foodie, but Li Hu was one as well.

Li Hu also craved the taste of the white-feathered chicken; otherwise, he wouldn't have stood by the coop observing the chickens earlier.

"Was this chicken delivered by that guy named Chen Dao again?"

Li Hu sat down opposite Li Ying and asked a question.

"Yes."

Li Ying replied, "Brother Chen Dao and his team have it tough too! They have to risk their lives to go into the mountains to hunt every day."

"Ugh!"

Li Hu sighed softly, and couldn't help but think of what had happened in the county government office a few days ago. In fact, when the county magistrate asked each family to contribute some money and grain, Li Hu himself wanted to agree, but he couldn't resist the other major families and martial arts schools' unwillingness.

Fuhu Boxing School still needs to operate in Taiping County, so it's impossible for them not to stand together with the four major families and the two martial arts schools.

"There's probably going to be some trouble in the city soon!"

Li Hu looked up at the sky. The cold weather had no effect on him, who was now a martial artist, but it was quite unbearable for the common people.

The crops were barely profitable, and with income not even covering expenses, they were also facing increased taxes from the government...

Trouble is probably just around the corner!

…………

…………

East Market.

Wu Han sat behind his goods, looking worried and distressed.

"Brother Wu, what are you doing?"

Just then, a voice came from behind him. Wu Han turned around and a surprised smile immediately appeared on his face: "Brother Chen, what brings you here?"

Chen Dao jumped off the donkey cart, gave Wu Han a light hug, and said with a smile, "Brother Wu, how's business lately?"

"Oh, don't mention it!"

Wu Han said with a gloomy expression, "I can't sell any goods lately."

"how come?"

Chen Dao glanced at the stall in front of Wu Han, where several chicken coops were displayed, and several gray-feathered chickens were clucking inside.

Wu Hanxian greeted Chen Da and the others, then said, "Brother Chen, you don't know! Business in this county town is tough these days! Take live poultry, for example, nobody's buying it!"

"Why?"

Chen Dao asked, puzzled, "Eating meat is one of the most basic human needs. Logically speaking, live poultry shouldn't be unsellable!"

"Of course it's because the government has increased taxes!"

Wu Han said with a worried look, "The government just issued an order requiring every household in the county to hand over at least one shi of grain. If they can't produce enough grain, they have to pay two taels of silver. Brother Chen, tell me, under these circumstances, who would be willing to buy meat to eat?"

"Tax increase?"

Chen Dao was stunned!

Having lived in China in his previous life, he found it difficult to understand this practice of increasing taxes during years of famine.

In my past life, whenever a place suffered a disaster, the government would usually allocate funds for disaster relief, but here... the situation is the opposite.

The government not only refused to allocate funds for disaster relief, but also raised taxes!

Is the imperial court really going to force all the people of Taiping County to their deaths?

Do not!

It's not just Taiping County!

This cold disaster affected the entire Qingzhou, and even the two neighboring states were affected. The court's tax increase could not be limited to just one county; it would probably be imposed on the entire Xia Kingdom!

With such a natural disaster, adding taxes would likely lead to widespread famine and cannibalism in Qingzhou!

"That's right, it's raising taxes!"

Wu Han said angrily, "Those damn officials don't even think about collecting taxes from the wealthy and powerful. All they know is how to squeeze money out of us commoners!"

Chen Dao frowned. Chenjia Village belonged to Taiping County. Even the people in the county seat were going to have their taxes increased. Chenjia Village would probably not escape the fate of having its taxes increased as well. The reason why Chenjia Village had not heard the news of the tax increase was probably just that the government was short-handed and had not yet collected the taxes outside the county seat!

The thought of Chenjia Village also incurring additional taxes sent a chill down Chen Daobian's spine. Given the village's circumstances, he feared there wouldn't be a single household in the entire village capable of paying two taels of silver...

"Brother Wu, what will happen if we can't pay the tax?" Chen Dao asked.

"What else?"

Wu Han replied without hesitation, "The government has made it clear that any family that fails to pay taxes will have their entire family conscripted and sent to the north to serve in the army!"

Conscripted into the army!

Chen Dao was shocked. Xia Kingdom was not the Hua Kingdom of his previous life. The treatment of soldiers in Xia Kingdom was extremely poor!

Of course, for ordinary people who couldn't survive, being conscripted into the army was a way to barely have enough to eat, and it was a viable option!

But things are not that simple.

Wu Han had said that this time the conscription would be to the north, where the Xia Kingdom was at war with the barbarians. The battle was extremely fierce, with countless people dying every day. Going to the north to conscript, not to mention whether he would die on the battlefield, it was a question whether he could even get there safely!

After all, the north was thousands of miles away from Qingzhou, and such a long journey was enough to cause many civilians to die on the way to be conscripted.

"This really is... a case of officials forcing the people to rebel!"

Chen Dao couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This tax increase was truly leaving no way for the people to survive. The people, already struggling to feed themselves in the face of the cold disaster, were now facing another tax increase...

Those who couldn't pay their taxes were sent to the north to serve in the army, facing the constant risk of dying on the way...

If the people don't rebel, then there would truly be no justice in the world!

"Brother Wu, didn't the government say they wanted to collect 1 shi of grain? Can we use rice husks or something similar to hand it over?" Chen Dao asked, his eyes darting around.

If rice husks can be used to cope, then this tax increase is still bearable for ordinary people.