Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

Students brought out a few chairs, and Lu Bu and his wife sat in the middle of the schoolyard. The teacher knelt on the ground, pale and trembling. The Xiu County magistrate and his officials didn't know what had happened, but judging by the situation, it was definitely not a good thing. They approached with trembling hands. The county magistrate bowed and saluted, "I didn't know that the king and princess were arriving. I apologize for not coming to greet them."

He knew that the king might pass by here in the next two days, but he had already found out in advance that these two masters were not people who cared about ostentation. Last time, the Cui family tried to show off for them, but ended up flattering the horse and not only got his head chopped off, but also implicated a group of people. So even though he knew that the king was coming, he had no plan to take people out of the city to welcome him. However, he did not expect that this alternative king would not go to the county town, but instead ran to this remote area.

"There's no need to be so polite, County Master Li. Please sit down!" Lu Bu looked at him calmly and pointed to another stool next to him.

The county magistrate looked at the low stool covered in mud with a bit of disgust, walked over, put his butt against the edge, put his legs together, and sat down carefully.

Lu Bu said, "I called you here today because I want to ask you a question. What is the tax rate in our Tang Kingdom?"

His voice was as calm as his eyes, but the county magistrate shuddered inwardly after hearing it and almost fell off his stool. The officials following behind him also broke out in cold sweat on their foreheads and their legs were trembling.

"Yes...it's one tenth of the tax!" the county magistrate replied with forced calmness.

Lu Bu nodded. "It seems the document issued by the higher authorities is correct, but I just heard from the farmers that they pay a 50% tax. What's going on?"

"This... this is impossible..." The county magistrate's hands began to tremble in his lap. "I-I have always collected 10% of the tax, and at most I'll add another 10% to cover transportation losses."

"Really? Then those cunning people were deceiving me!" Lu Bu narrowed his eyes and shouted, "Come here!"

The sudden, loud shout frightened the county magistrate so much that his legs went weak and he tumbled to the ground with a thud. Without even looking at him, Lu Bu ordered his two guards, "Go and capture those people. Then go to the nearby villages and ask a few village heads and local residents how much they paid."

"Yes!"

The guard turned and left. Lu Bu glanced at the county magistrate, who was sitting awkwardly on the ground, and said to the officials standing behind him, "Hurry and help your magistrate sit down!"

After saying that, he ignored these people and looked at his son. Holding a small notebook, Lu Qian said seriously, "Your Majesty, I just asked about the family backgrounds of these students. Of the four sitting in the front, three are from the local elders, Qiangfu, Youjiao's family, and one is from the family of the pavilion chief. The same is true for the class next door. The ones sitting in the front who are more well-dressed are either from the pavilion chief's family, or at the very least, the family of the village head. The other children from ordinary families sit in the back. Moreover, they all share a book with four or five people, and they bought it with their own money. The teacher usually doesn't pay any attention to them."

Lu Bu looked at the teacher and said, "How could I remember that every student in Tang State is given an introductory textbook upon enrollment? Where are their books?"

The teacher was so frightened that he couldn't speak. Lu Qian said, "It must have been secretly sold by this evil-minded person. This book isn't worth much in Tang Country right now, but if it's sold elsewhere, the profit is still considerable..."

He looked at the county magistrate and said, "If you add up all the schools in a county, there are quite a lot of them."

"This, this is none of my business!" the county magistrate cried out in injustice.

At this time, Zhang Mo whispered a few words to Xu Chu. Xu Chu nodded and walked out of the school, but went to the large team to send people to schools in other townships to inquire about the situation.

"Tell me! Where did the book go?" Lu Bu asked again.

"Great, Your Majesty, please spare my life. I really have no other choice. My old mother fell seriously ill at the beginning of the year. The huge medical bills have drained our family's money. I can't bear to see her die from lack of medicine... Wuwuwu..."

Lü Bu glanced at the brocade clothes he was wearing and said coldly, "That's a filial excuse. Come, let's go to his house and take a look. If he's really that poor and can't even afford to eat, I'll spare him. If not, I'll confiscate his property and send him to forced labor without pardon."

The man's face turned pale with fear. He crawled to Lu Bu and kowtowed, begging for mercy. "No, my king, spare my life, spare my life. I admit it, I admit it. I was bewitched and sold the book to a passing merchant. I am willing to pay you back double. Please give me another chance. I won't dare to do it again, I won't dare..."

Lu Bu kicked him away, and the man fell on a minor official. Both of them fell to the ground wailing.

Seeing this, the county magistrate was so frightened that he didn't know what to do. After a while, the farmers were brought over, along with the village heads and pavilion chiefs of several nearby villages, as well as the three elders, Qiangfu, and Youjiao of Yongxia Township.

The farmers knelt down upon seeing Lü Bu. The dark-faced man hastily argued, "Your Majesty, I'm not lying. I have ten mu of land. Based on the average yield of three dan of grain per mu, I paid a full six dan this year. That's a perfect five-tenths tax, and the same goes for other families."

The others nodded in agreement. Lu Bu then looked at the village heads and asked, "Is what they said true?"

Those people subconsciously looked at Qiangfu, who was in charge of collecting taxes, and Qiangfu subconsciously looked at the county magistrate. Lu Bu understood at a glance that this was corruption from top to bottom, and they were bullying the ignorant people.

"Tell the truth, or I'll torture you!"

Lu Bu just said this very calmly, but no one could bear the majesty and murderous aura that was revealed invisibly. Everyone knelt down, some begging for mercy, some crying out for injustice, some trying to explain themselves, and some trying to shirk responsibility.

Lu Bu was too lazy to question them one by one, so he brought them all back to the camp and handed them over to the accompanying officials for interrogation. In the end, it turned out that the county magistrate took the lead and the people below followed suit. Among them, there were two people who did not want to go along with the crowd, but with the pressure from the county magistrate above and colleagues below, they could only go with the flow in order to keep their official positions and their lives.

"Why didn't you report it to your superiors?" Zhang Mo asked one of the village heads who was forced to go along with the crime.

The man smiled bitterly. "I'm just a small official. Where can I report this? Besides, most of the officials in this county, big and small, are related to County Magistrate Zhang. If he finds out by mistake, my whole family's lives will be in danger."

After hearing this reason, Zhang Mo believed what the head of the village said, because although Bohai County also split up the various families, due to lack of manpower, only a few senior executives were sent over, and the lower-level officials still used the original ones. These people had formed a group long ago. This is the so-called clan autonomy. The king's orders could not be passed down to the villages at all. The people had no idea what the tax rate of the Tang Dynasty was. These corrupt officials were omnipotent and dared to collect double the taxes.

"It seems that this phenomenon may exist in many places in Bohai County, Hejian State, and Anping State. The light taxation and low levies of our Tang State have actually paved the way for these middle and lower-level officials!" Zhang Mo said with a sneer.

Judging from this situation, even if the people are given the right to petition, it will actually be of little use. First, the decrees they receive may have been completely changed by the county magistrate. Second, once someone tries to petition, they may be quietly dealt with by the people above. The Flying Eagle Team has limited personnel and currently has no way to dispatch them to various places. Only some people have been sent to the Southern Xiongnu to monitor.

The problem actually comes back to the lack of talent. Wherever the old officials are used, there will be more or less the impression that officials oppress the people. After a thorough investigation, these three counties will have to undergo another major purge, and then no one will be able to do things in other places.