The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

The next day, after Zhang Ping'an arrived at the yamen to report for duty, he asked Tao Zhubo to prepare to post a notice announcing the tax increase.

Because he had known about this matter years ago, Tao Zhubo was mentally prepared and nodded in agreement.

"Another issue is the grain price. Grain merchants are not allowed to take advantage of the opportunity to hoard goods and sell them at high prices. You can raise prices, but not excessively. You, County Magistrate Yang, will be in charge of this matter," Zhang Ping'an continued.

County Magistrate Yang opened his mouth and agreed with a bitter face. This was an offensive job.

After finishing all the official business piled up in the county government office, it was already noon and time for lunch.

Zhang Ping'an stretched his stiff body slightly and invited, "Jianqiu, come back with me to the back hall for dinner. After dinner, we can go see Green Bean Eye together and give him the things his family asked me to bring."

"Okay," Chen Jianqiu nodded in response, and then smiled. "But you don't have to worry about him. He's recuperating well and recovering well. He can eat and sleep well. He's even gained weight in the past two days."

"That's called a big heart and a fat body!" Zhang Ping'an responded. After saying that, he thought of the Ge family's tangled household affairs. He admired Green Bean Eyes very much. At least he didn't just stare at the little piece of land at home. He had a big heart and could endure hardships.

The two walked and talked. When they reached the back court, Xu had already ordered the servants to set the table. Seeing the two of them come in, Xu and Zhang Laoer asked with concern, "Jianqiu, have you stored enough food at home?"

"Thank you for your concern, uncle and aunt. I have already bought enough food," Chen Jianqiu bowed and replied in a gentle voice.

"That's good. It would be fatal if there wasn't enough food," said Mrs. Xu.

After lunch, the two went to the inn to see Green Bean Eyes.

Zhang Ping'an was sitting in the carriage. Along the way, he could hear people discussing tax increases, and their voices of worry and complaints were endless.

Chen Jianqiu sat aside, watching Zhang Ping'an's face grow increasingly gloomy. He couldn't help but sigh, then consoled him, "Aren't you planning to vigorously promote Annan rice during this spring planting season? Once the yield increases, the people's lives will be much better. You don't have to worry too much. If you can find a way to keep the people from going hungry, you're a good official!"

"I just don't know how long I can stay here," Zhang Pingan said in a deep voice. "Although I'm 70% sure that I won't be transferred out of Ci County for the time being, there's always a chance of something happening. I don't know how powerful my father-in-law is!"

After a while, the two of them passed by the grain store in their carriage, and Chi Bao shouted loudly: "Make way, make way!"

Chen Jianqiu lifted the curtain slightly and peeked through the gap. "There's a long line in front of the grain store. People are everywhere, holding rice bags, ready to buy food."

"Yeah, I guessed it," Zhang Pingan nodded.

It took a long time for the carriage to arrive at the inn.

Green Bean Eyes was listening to storytelling in the lobby on the first floor.

It is usually packed, but there are only a few people this afternoon. The shopkeeper is fiddling with the abacus beads behind the counter, looking very worried.

At a glance, most of them are familiar faces. After all, those who can still leisurely listen to storytelling at this time all have some background at home.

Seeing the two people coming over, Green Bean was very happy and stood up and said, "Why are you here? Come and sit down!"

"Let's come and take a look at your injury. Let's go upstairs and talk. It just so happens that your family sent you some things, so we brought them here for you," Chen Jianqiu said with a smile.

"Okay!" Green Bean Eyes nodded, said hello to several tea friends around him, and then took the two of them upstairs.

After eating, he followed behind, grunting and carrying three large bags.

"My dad is so vulgar. There's nothing I can't buy in Ci County, but he still specially brought me these food and clothes from Lin'an. I feel like I'm still breastfeeding," complained the girl with green eyes as she went upstairs.

Zhang Pingan glanced at him, and seeing that Green Bean Eyes complained with his mouth but smiled in his eyes, he commented: "You are just saying one thing and thinking another!"

"That's right!" Chen Jianqiu rolled his eyes and agreed, his smile almost overflowing from his eyes, as if no one had seen it!

"What's the situation with the tax increase? I heard there's a war going on on the front line," Green Eyes asked after pouring a cup of tea for the two of them and sitting down.

"It's just what you heard," Zhang Pingan said lightly.

"As the saying goes, 'food and fodder must be sent before an army moves.' Last year, a lot of the autumn tax we collected was used to transport food and fodder to the front lines. Now that the war has been going on for so long, it's probably almost all gone. If we don't increase taxes, where will the food and fodder come from?"

"Ordinary people can handle it once or twice, but more than that is definitely not possible," Green Bean Eyes immediately understood. "That's why Lord Zhou values ​​sweet potatoes so much and insisted I go to Luzon to find that damn thing, right?"

"Well, it should be," Zhang Pingan nodded.

"Tsk tsk, after fighting these years, I've finally seen clearly that the purpose of ordinary people's existence is to serve as stepping stones for the ambitions of a small group of people. It's so difficult to live a good life!" said the man with green eyes, shaking his head.

"That's not the case. Heaven doesn't create an unlucky person, and the earth doesn't grow nameless grass. Everyone is unique," Chen Jianqiu retorted seriously.

"By the way, what has Fatty Wu been doing recently?" Seeing that the two were about to argue, Zhang Pingan changed the subject and asked.

"What can he do? He's at the inn!" Green Eyes replied casually.

"I went to see him the day before yesterday and brought him a bowl of dumplings and fried pork. He looked in good spirits. What's wrong?" Chen Jianqiu also replied.

"It's nothing. Sweet potatoes are going to be planted in February. The injuries of those who are still alive after returning from your ship have almost healed. I plan to let you go to the farm together to teach the people there how to plant them," Zhang Pingan replied.

"Don't worry, growing sweet potatoes is not difficult. Find some experienced farmers to learn from you and you will learn it in no time," said Green Eyes, waving his hand.

"I hope so!"

"I feel that raising taxes is more likely to cause public resentment. Have you restrained those big players?" asked Green Eyes again.

Zhang Pingan's eyes flashed with confidence when he heard this. He picked up the teacup and smiled faintly, "Of course I held it down!"

"That's good!" said the man with green eyes with a smile.

Because they learned in advance that the court was going to increase taxes, they deployed Yang Xiancheng and Tao Zhubo to keep an eye on those wealthy families.

With the wealthy taking the lead, although the people still had many complaints privately about the tax increase, tax collection was relatively smooth.

When Fang Ziqi returned, tax collection was in full swing.

When leaving the yamen that day, County Magistrate Yang deliberately lingered until the last moment.

Zhang Pingan knew at a glance that he had something to discuss privately, so he waited until everyone else had left before asking, "Go ahead, what's the matter?"

County Magistrate Yang touched his shiny forehead, chuckled, and rubbed his hands before stepping forward and saying with a shy smile, "Sir, the county's wealthy families have almost paid their taxes. Logically, since they've taken the lead, we should give them some money as a reward. This has been a rule passed down by successive county magistrates. What do you think?"

"Really?" Zhang Ping'an put the pen back with a "snap" and said seriously, "Then go tell them that from today on, the rules have changed and there's no going back!"