I will lead the whole village to occupy the land and become the king.

During the Dai Viet Dynasty, the people would pay taxes to the imperial court after the autumn harvest every year. However, usually the taxes would be collected by all villages and sent to the county government offices in various places.

Only in very rare cases would officials come to collect taxes in person, and these were mostly villages that were in arrears with taxes, unwilling to pay taxes, or paying too little.

Dingshui Village now arranges three shifts of people to guard the watchtower every day. Last night's shift was Li Dachui and Liu Erleng, and they will not hand over to the next shift until noon.

But it wasn't time yet. Li Dachui looked into the distance and saw a group of black spots coming towards the village.

He rubbed his eyes, pointed in the distance, and asked Liu Erlang, who was standing on the other side of the lookout, "Erlang, stop dozing off. Look ahead, is there anyone coming?"

Liu Erlang yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes as he looked ahead, then blinked hard. "No, Dachui, why do I think it's a group of officials coming? Look at their clothes, black and red. We ordinary people don't wear that."

Li Dachui looked over again. This time, because the person was closer, he could see more clearly. He immediately slapped his thigh and said, "Oh, it's the police, isn't it? Why are they coming to our village?"

They came in a large group, it doesn’t look like anything good is going on!

"You wait and see. I'll go notify the village chief and everyone else!" Liu Erlang came down from the observation deck and quickly ran towards the village, shouting, "Help! Village chief, everyone, come out quickly! A large group of officials are heading towards our village!"

After Jiang Qinyu came out of the yard, she went straight to the village ancestral hall.

Most of their supplies were stored in the ancestral hall, so Village Chief Li even led people to dig two large cellars in the hall.

No matter what the officials came for today, it would be safest for her to put away all the supplies first.

Jiang Qinyu moved quickly. As soon as Liu Erleng shouted in the village, she had already collected all the supplies in the ancestral hall.

After collecting the supplies, she hurried towards the village entrance, and after a few steps she ran into Village Chief Li and his group.

"Village Chief, why are the police coming to our village? We haven't caused any trouble."

"Could they be here to collect tax grain? But our crops haven't yielded a single crop this year, and we're starving. How can we pay?"

"No way! If the county magistrate really comes to collect taxes and grain, won't he kill us?"

"..."

Village Chief Li's face was pale, sweat dripping down his forehead, but he managed to remain calm and said, "Everyone, please don't speculate. The County Magistrate is our father and mother. There's no way he's going to force us to hand over grain."

In fact, he himself did not believe this. After all, no one else in the village had ever dealt with the county magistrate, but he had seen him and had suffered losses at the hands of several other villages.

This matter dates back to three years ago, when the drought had just started. They heard from people in the neighboring county that the court had issued silver for disaster relief, but there was no movement in Yongshan County, so he went to the county government with people from several other villages.

When they went there for the first time, everyone still held out hope. The county magistrate was also very polite to them, saying that he understood their difficulties, but that the county government also had its own rules, so he asked them to go back in a few days.

But when they went there for the second time, the county magistrate pulled them aside and complained bitterly, saying that the disaster relief money from the court had not been distributed to him at all.

Although they are the village chiefs, they are just ordinary people. Naturally, they believe whatever the county magistrate says.

However, not long after they returned, he heard that the county magistrate had spent a large sum of money to marry three new concubines and had hosted a banquet for all the prominent people in Yongshan County.

This was completely different from the time when he cried poor in front of them. It was then that he realized that they had been fooled by the county magistrate.

"Uncle village chief, in addition to worrying about the government coming to collect taxes and grain, the first group of us who went to Qinggang Mountain to rob grain must also hide first, especially Uncle Dachui and Liuyazi and the others." Jiang Qinyu took two quick steps forward and said cautiously.

Village Chief Li came back to his senses after hearing this. After a moment's thought, he understood. "You're right. I'll have them hide in the mountains first."

After saying that, he asked someone to notify Li Dachui and the others.

The biggest thing they have done recently is robbing Qinggang Mountain. If the government gets the news, it is not certain what they will do, so it is better to be on guard.

Jiang Qinyu was dressed as a man that night, so there was no need to avoid wearing women's clothes at this time.

As they were talking, Village Chief Li, Jiang Qinyu and others had already arrived at the village entrance.

At the same time, Li Dachui was dragged away, and the first person in an official uniform appeared at the intersection at the entrance of the village. Soon, a large group of people came and walked straight towards Jiang Qinyu and the others.

Village Chief Li quickly stepped forward with a smile on his face. "Gentlemen, what brings you here? Look at what's happening! It's so dry, our village doesn't even have a drop of extra water. We can't treat you to tea, gentlemen. Please forgive us."

"Who wants to drink your tea?" the leading official shouted arrogantly, "I'm here today to collect this year's tax grain, but now the border war is urgent, the court has temporarily increased the tax, this year we have to collect 50%."

He extended a palm and glanced at everyone, "Don't think it's too much. This is all going to be sent to the soldiers at the border. If the border can't be defended, won't we be the ones who suffer?"

"How can they charge 50% tax?" Village Chief Li asked with a pale face and trembling lips. "In the past, they only collected 30%. We had to pay taxes and other levies on what was left, and the rest was barely enough for our family to make ends meet..."

"Sir," Jiang Qinyu said, seeing that Village Chief Li was already flustered by the sudden 50% tax, "we've had a severe drought for three years. The fields are completely unfertile this year. Our village has no harvest this year. How are we supposed to pay the tax?"

The leading official looked at Jiang Qinyu and asked, "What's the matter? You still want to defy the imperial court's order and refuse to pay taxes?"

The hat was so heavy and large that no one could bear it. However, Jiang Qinyu looked at him fearlessly and spoke calmly, "We are just ordinary people. If it were a good year, the government would ask us to pay 50%, and we wouldn't dare to pay only 30%. But now the fields are barren and the villagers are almost starving to death. What can the government ask us to pay?"

The other people in the village also came back to their senses from their shock and astonishment. They looked at the officials in front of them angrily and bravely stepped forward to argue with them.

"In previous years, when disasters like this occurred, the government would allow the people to buy on credit or simply reduce or exempt taxes. This year, we are in such a difficult situation, and not only does the court not provide disaster relief, but it even requires us to pay taxes. Are you trying to force us to death?"

"Yes! Don't go too far!"

"I have no food, but I have my life. If you want it, take my life!"

"Oh my God! The government won't even give us a way out. I might as well die..."

The more they talked, the more excited they became. They couldn't help but feel sad when they thought that they had finally achieved their current situation, but the government wanted to take advantage of the situation to rob them.

"What are you arguing about? Our county magistrate knows whether you have food or not! Don't think we don't know. Other villages have fled the famine, but you didn't. How could there be no food? Hurry and pay the taxes you owe, or don't blame us for raiding the village!"

When the topic of searching the village was mentioned, the expressions of the people in Dingshui Village all changed, and they all looked at Village Chief Li.