Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

In the golden autumn of October, the Tang King's carriage arrived at Xiu County, Bohai County. The team did not go to the county seat, but stayed in Yongxia Township, Xiu County.

Not far from the official road, several farmers stopped their farm work and looked over here curiously. Children who were playing in the mud by the field hid behind their adults and timidly looked at the knife-wielding guards following the team. It was not until a child got off the cart that their timid looks were gradually replaced by envy.

Lu Bu asked his guards to find an open place to set up camp, while he took his wife, children, Xu Chu and a clerk. The five of them left the official road and walked along the path beside the field to chat with the farmers.

Seeing Lu Bu and others coming towards them, the farmers hurriedly put down their farm tools and bowed in fear and trepidation. Although they didn't know who was coming, looking at the four-horse carriage and the group of guards in bright armor and holding swords, they knew that the person must be of high status.

"I, I, I have met you, my dear..."

A dark-faced man lowered his head and spoke tremblingly. Lu Bu tried to soften his facial expression and raised his hand, saying, "No need to be so polite, fellow villager. We are passing by here and would like to learn something from you. Do you have time to sit down and chat now?"

The man nodded hurriedly, "I'm free, I'm free!"

Lu Bu looked around and saw a few stones placed under a willow tree beside a canal not far away. He thought it was where farmers usually worked and rested. He walked over first and called other farmers around to come over.

When they arrived under the tree, Xu Chu took out a cushion from his backpack and placed it on one of the stones for Zhang Mo to sit on. Lu Bu randomly found a higher stone to sit on, and asked the farmers who followed them to sit down and talk as well. However, no one dared to sit or stand high, so they simply squatted aside.

Lu Qian looked at the children following the adults, took out a few candies from his bag, and asked them to go play in the open space on the other side.

Under the willow tree, Zhang Mo first talked about this year's autumn harvest, asking about the harvest, whether there was enough food, whether the children were enrolled in school, and other questions.

"The King of Tang is kind and has distributed land to us. As long as there is no famine, we can barely survive by paying taxes!" said the black-faced man with a little gratitude.

"Just barely surviving starvation?" Zhang Mo was puzzled. She had visited several villages in Weijun and Qinghe Kingdom before, and they all said that they could save some surplus food.

The man said, "In these chaotic times, it's already very rare for us to be able to settle down and not be displaced, and to have a dozen acres of land to make a living. As for sending our children to school, I dare not even think about it. Although our village has built a school, to be able to afford it, one must be a village head. There is a family in our village that saved money and sent their son to school, but it is said that he didn't learn anything at all."

Zhang Mo asked again, "Then do you know what the current tax rate is?"

The man said, "The government said that the court has waived the head tax, so we no longer need to pay rent to the landlords. We are now taxing 50% of the land. Although the tax is a bit high, it only needs to be paid once a year, and there are no other miscellaneous expenses. It is a little lighter than before. It is enough to eat, but we can't go to school or get sick. If it's a minor illness, we can just endure it, but if it's a serious illness, we can only wait for death."

"One out of five!" Zhang Mo muttered softly, motioning the clerk to write it down. She then called Xu Chu over and whispered, "Send someone to the county and get the magistrate!"

Zhang Mo asked the man again, "Is there a clinic called Ji'antang in this county?"

The man shook his head blankly, but an old man next to him said, "A new clinic opened at the beginning of this year. It's said to be government-run. Pulse diagnosis is free, just pay for the medicine. However, for people like us who can barely make a living, a few prescriptions are enough to feed us for a month or two at the cheapest, and half a year or even a year's worth of food even if we sell our rations for the more expensive ones. And the government won't let us sell our land, so we can only endure it."

Zhang Mo understood and nodded. When she was traveling with Zhang Ji, she knew that ordinary people could not afford medicine when they were sick. At that time, her master mostly dug up medicinal herbs on the road and spent time to prepare them. The only cost was the labor cost. Of course, some rare herbs still had to be bought with money. When her master ran out of money to buy medicine, he would go to the city to find a few wealthy families to make a meal.

However, this is not the case in traditional Chinese medicine clinics. You cannot sell medicines at a higher price if you are rich and at a lower price if you are poor. All medicinal materials are clearly marked with prices.

When the National Medical Clinic was established, Zhang Mo thought that since the land had been distributed and taxes had been reduced, the people would have surplus food and could still afford medicines for common colds and flu. However, the situation here was obviously far different from what she had expected.

After Zhang Mo asked some more questions about food and accommodation, the group headed towards the school in Yongxia Township.

On the way, Lu Qian reported to Zhang Mo some news he had heard from the other children, such as a child named Niu Dan who lived next door. Because his family was a little wealthier, Niu Dan had the opportunity to be sent to school, but after three months, Niu Dan could only barely learn to write his own name. His father was so angry that he broke several sticks.

"I just want to ask if Niu Dan is not thinking straight, otherwise any normal person would not be able to learn only two words in three months."

As Lu Qian walked, he said, "That kid called Gouzai said Niu Dan wasn't stupid at all, and he didn't know why Niu Dan didn't study hard."

He looked at his mother and said, "Mom, I think this is too abnormal!"

Zhang Mo said, "It's incredible. We'll know when we go to the school."

In order to make it convenient for every child in the village to go to school, the school in Yongxia Township was built in the center of the township.

The group arrived at the school gate. The gatekeeper saw that the group was of extraordinary status and was about to go in to report to the principal, but was stopped by Xu Chu.

A few people walked quietly into the courtyard and looked around. Just like the rural schools they had seen before, it only had four simple rooms. The two in the middle were used as classrooms, the one on the left was the principal and teacher's room, the one on the right was an office, and there was a thatched hut surrounded by straw mats in the back corner of the courtyard.

In Tang State, larger townships are generally equipped with two teachers. For example, Yongxia Township, a small township with only five villages, is only equipped with one teacher, who teaches two classes at the same time: one class is for students who just enrolled this year, and the other is for students who enrolled last year.

Zhang Mo quietly walked outside the classroom and looked in through the window. There were a total of twelve children sitting in the class, ranging in age from six to ten years old. The teacher did not arrange the seats by age or height, but obviously by clothing. The four children sitting in the front were all dressed neatly, while those in the back were mostly wearing patched straw sandals and had runny noses. Also, the children in the front each had a book in their hands, while the four people in the back had to share one.

The young teacher was teaching at the top of the class, and he only paid attention to the four students in the front throughout the class. He didn't even glance at the students in the back.

When the get out of class was over, the teacher didn't assign any homework to the kids in the back, completely treating them as invisible.

Seeing this situation, what else was there to not understand? Zhang Mo was furious and directly asked Xu Chu to go in and take the teacher out. At this time, the magistrate of Xiu County and a group of officials also rushed over.