Time Travel: The Foolish Lady is Forced to Become a Female General

"I think," Xia Qin stood on tiptoe and kissed Mo Ye's cheek playfully, "the sour taste here is not very strong."

Mo Ye became serious: "Xia Xia."

"Ok?"

"Just like Yin Ruoshui said just now, there is indeed a lot of movement in the Qin family. I'm afraid that one of your old acquaintances will be in trouble first."

"My old acquaintance?" This time Xia Qin had a hard time guessing, "Who?"

"You'll know in a few days. There won't be any danger," Mo Ye pretended to be mysterious. "But tomorrow, we should go deal with Yuan Tao. We've let him have a good time recently."

Xia Qin nodded: "Well, everything is almost ready. Once we get rid of Yuan Tao and his gang, Jinghai County will be peaceful for a while."

The afternoon in July was unusually hot, especially today, the sky was gloomy and it was extremely hot and humid.

Yuan Tao once again led a group of people to the county government office in a threatening manner. This group of people did not seem to be the same group as last time.

In the lobby, Xia Qin, Mo Ye, Gongsun Xin and others had been waiting quietly for a long time.

Seeing Yuan Tao entering the lobby, Xia Qin immediately asked softly: "Yuan Tao, wasn't the last matter resolved? Why are you here again?"

"Hmph! Lord Mu, I am too lazy to mention what happened last time, but I came here today for another important matter." Yuan Tao said to Xia Qin with hostility.

"Tell me, what's the matter?" Xia Qin looked at him calmly.

Yuan Tao's face was gloomy, and his emotions were more agitated than last time: "These days, the Lord of the Mansion sent people to measure the land, claiming that we have occupied other people's good farmland and demanded that it be returned?"

"Yes, do you have any questions about this?" Xia Qin took out a stack of account books that she had prepared long ago, "This is the registration record of all the fields in Chongchuan County. The number of fields you own does not match the account, so you should return it."

Yuan Tao argued: "We bought the land from other farmers, but we didn't register it with the county."

"If it's not registered, it doesn't count," Xia Qin didn't intend to argue with him, "return it to the farmers as soon as possible."

"Master, you can't say that, and you can't do that, right?" An old man who came with Yuan Tao spoke in a very unfriendly manner, "We bought these fields with real money, and we didn't force them to buy or sell them. Why can't they be counted?"

At this time, Gongsun Xin whispered in his ear: "My Lord, this man is called Sima Cheng, the head of the Sima family. The Sima family is the largest aristocratic family in Jinghai County."

Xia Qin was unmoved and said coldly, "Didn't I just say that? How can it count if you haven't registered with the county or prefectural government?"

"Then let's register now!" Sima Cheng did not intend to back down. He believed that he had reasons and should be supported.

"Okay!" Xia Qin's lips curled up slightly, with a sly look in her eyes. She had expected the other party to answer like this, so she sneered and said, "Since you said there was no forced sale, then call the farmers who sold the land to you now and re-sign the contract in front of everyone!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Tao smiled disdainfully and said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, "My Lord, are you kidding me? Even if we find so many farmers, it will take at least three to five days to call them all over, right?"

Xia Qin looked at Yuan Tao's self-righteous look and laughed in her heart, but she responded calmly: "It's not that complicated, they are all waiting in the other courtyard. Come on, bring ten farmers to the lobby first!"

Hearing Xia Qin's words, Yuan Tao, Sima Cheng and others were shocked. They looked at each other and their faces instantly became extremely ugly.

It was not until then that they realized that they might have fallen into Xia Qin's trap and felt extremely regretful.

Not long after, ten farmers from Chongchuan County were brought into the lobby.

Xia Qin glanced at them sharply and asked directly, "You are all landless farmers in Chongchuan County, right? Who did you sell your original land to?"

These farmers pointed at Yuan Tao and others without hesitation, and everyone's eyes revealed their dissatisfaction and anger towards these people.

Xia Qin nodded and then asked, "Let me ask you again, did you voluntarily sell the land to these people?"

Yuan Tao and the others had frighteningly gloomy faces, their eyes filled with ferocity and threats.

However, the farmers who usually feared them like tigers and dared not even breathe were shaking their heads.

Obviously, they had already received instructions from Xia Qin and others and were unmoved.

"You bastards! You..." Yuan Tao never expected that these farmers, who had always been obedient, would dare to openly resist, and he couldn't help but curse in anger.

"How dare you!" Xia Qin's face darkened and he said sternly, "Yuan Tao, do you know where this place is? How can you be so rude in the hall of the county government?"

"Your Excellency, please be wise! These are all ignorant farmers. They have never received any teachings from a sage, and they do not understand the great principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness. How can we trust their words?" Sima Cheng on the side said sarcastically.

Xia Qin glanced at Sima Cheng coldly, but did not get angry. Instead, she turned to one of the farmers who looked younger and asked softly, "What's your name? Tell me the details of what happened."

"My name is Qi Dazhu," the young farmer said confidently in a loud voice, "I am from Qijia Village in Chongchuan County. I was forced to sell my land to Mr. Yuan."

Xia Qin looked at him and asked, "What is the specific situation? Please tell me in detail."

Qi Dazhu took a deep breath and told him the whole story.

"The process is actually very simple. In previous years, the tax rate was 12%, but since the Yuan family became a landlord a few years ago, the tax rate has become 7%, and they also charge extra for fire and transportation costs. Common people simply can't afford it. One year there was a drought and the common people had no harvest. They had no choice but to mortgage the 20 mu of land of the four people in their family to the Yuan family and exchange it for 10 taels of silver to pay the tax."

At this point, Qi Dazhu's eyes were slightly red, and his voice was a little choked up: "A year later, when I wanted to redeem it, Mr. Yuan calculated that I actually owed him thirty taels of silver! How could an ordinary farmer like me come up with so much money! So he proposed to give me another five taels of silver, and the land would belong to him."

Xia Qin frowned and asked, "What happened next?"

Qi Dazhu clenched his fists and said angrily, "I naturally don't want to lose my land like this, so I filed a complaint with the county government, but the county magistrate at the time said that Mr. Yuan's account was correct, so my land was gone."

Qi Dazhu said it simply, but everyone present knew clearly what had happened. The Yuan family used their power and means to force the people to sell their land, and even deliberately raised the tax rate, and then used various reasons to make them owe huge debts and finally took away the land.

This behavior is simply blatant plunder.

Another farmer also said, "Sir, my land was also taken away by Mr. Yang in this way."

"My Lord, my mother is ill, so I borrowed five taels of silver from Mr. Wang. When I returned the money, it became twenty taels."

 …

"Write it all down," Xia Qin looked at Mr. Pu, then looked at Yuan Tao and the others and asked, "Is what they said true?"

Yuan Tao still looked disdainful: "My Lord, when they raised the silver, they agreed to the loan. We didn't force them to borrow money."

"Don't play word games in front of me. How would they know about the interest on these money? Also, the imperial court stipulates that the tax on farmers is 12%, so what is your reason for collecting more taxes without authorization?"

"Lord Mu, this is not our own decision," Yuan Tao said, his expression suddenly becoming complacent, "These are all orders from the Governor of Yangzhou, Yuan Shijun. The border wars have been tense in recent years, the treasury is empty, and the people must suffer."

"Let the people suffer?" Xia Qin was furious when he heard him say that. He slammed the table and stood up: "Why don't you make yourselves suffer? The people's lives are already hard, and you..."

However, Mo Ye gently pulled her sleeve and whispered softly: "Xia Xia, there is no need to conflict with the governor at this time. Deal with the matter at hand first."

Xia Qin calmed down and said calmly, "I am a reasonable person. Although your methods are a bit despicable, after all, you bought the land with real money. I will send people to pay back the money owed by these farmers twice, and return all the land to them."

"Thank you, sir!" The farmers in the hall knelt down excitedly.

"Lord Mu," Yuan Tao said with a grim expression, "Are you really planning to do this? Do you know how much of the annual income of Jinghai County is paid by the noble families and merchants? I heard that you want to change the tax system? I wonder if Lord Mu has reported this to the governor, Lord Yuan."