Stepmother in charge: Making a fortune through farming and raising her children to fight back

Qinjia Village.

The village chief summoned the heads of each household to a meeting at the village entrance.

"The main reason I called everyone here this time is to talk about the potato tax."

The village chief stood on a large rock and spoke loudly, "Although we have already paid taxes on the wheat harvest, the county magistrate is also aware that according to the laws of this dynasty, we should also pay this part of the tax on potato breeding..."

Before he could finish his words, someone disagreed: "Village chief, we have already paid taxes once before. This time the potatoes are an unexpected bumper harvest, and the court has not ordered us to pay taxes. How can we send the grain for free?"

The village chief glanced at the man who had spoken, his voice gradually becoming serious. "As I just said, the laws of this dynasty stipulate that all grain grown on fertile land must be taxed. Although the court hasn't mentioned this, the county magistrate knows about this. If we don't pay it voluntarily, and the soldiers come to collect it by force, it will be a very ugly scene."

"Besides, the county magistrate has previously stated that our village only needs to pay 10% tax, which is very little compared to what we paid."

Yun Zhenzhen also spoke appropriately: "I heard that there were floods in the south this year, and many people were displaced. They relied entirely on the court to open the granaries to release grain. If the court's grain is not enough, it will definitely increase taxes in other places. When the time comes, we will still have to pay grain..."

After hearing Yun Zhenzhen speak, everyone calmed down and thought.

Without food, we will become victims of disasters. Once there are too many victims, everyone’s life will not be easy. When the world is in chaos, the current peaceful days will be gone.

After figuring it out, everyone stopped worrying and went home to calculate the amount of grain they had to pay.

The village chief then prepared a new booklet, registered the grain handed in by each person, and presented it to the county magistrate when the time came.

The average potato yield per mu in Qinjia Village this time was 300 kilograms, and the entire village paid 20% in taxes, which added up to about 20,000 kilograms of grain.

The village chief called on all the ox carts in the village and towed a flatbed cart behind them, but there was still not enough space. He had to use the ox cart to tow part of the goods to the county first, and then come back to transport them after handing them over.

Three ox carts carrying several thousand kilograms of grain traveled all the way from Qinjia Village to Yunding County, attracting countless people's attention.

The group finally stopped at the gate of the county government office.

Upon hearing the news, the county clerk rushed out, his eyes filled with shock: "Village Chief Qin, what are you doing?"

"Greetings, Chief Registrar. This year's potatoes have yielded a good harvest. These were handed over by our village. Please check them."

Village Chief Qin bowed deeply and said, "The potato tax for Qinjia Village is a total of 190 dan. We only have 20% of it here. We will transport the rest to the county town when we return."

The chief clerk was already ecstatic before he even finished listening. "You've already voluntarily submitted your grain tax even before the county magistrate issued an order. You're truly worthy of being the Qin Family Village that the county magistrate has high hopes for, and it's well worth the magistrate's commendation for your entire village."

Ever since Qin Yun discovered new crops and new agricultural tools, the county magistrate had already written a memorial and submitted it a few days ago. In the memorial, he did not forget the contributions of not only Qin Yun and her family, but also the entire Qinjia Village.

However, the efforts made by the county magistrate himself were not recorded in it.

He had previously felt sorry for the county magistrate.

But now, when he saw the potatoes handed over by Qinjia Village, he seemed to vaguely understand something.

The chief clerk stroked his beard, and in his heart he had expectations for the future of the county magistrate and the entire Yunding County. As long as he followed the county magistrate and worked hard, it would not be impossible for him to be promoted to a higher position in time.

County Magistrate Wang and County Magistrate Lu walked out of the back hall and saw so many potatoes piled up at the door, their eyes became slightly tearful.

The potatoes had just ripened these past two days, and the county magistrate was so busy that he had no time to issue an order for everyone to pay taxes.

The collected grain will be sent from Yunding County to Yuzhou and then to Shangjing, where they will distribute it to the disaster-stricken areas. Although it is not known how much of it can be delivered to the people, it is better than nothing, and it can save many people from starving to death.

Moved, County Magistrate Wang spoke in a serious tone, "Master Registrar, draft a notice and issue it today, requiring each village to collect taxes based on potato production and deliver them to the county granary within five days. Anyone who violates this will be severely punished."

"As ordered!"

The chief clerk didn't even bother to stay and give orders, and went straight to handle the matter.

Except for Qinjia Village, other villages in Yunding County have basically had good harvests. Some villages have thought about paying taxes, but they always have a lucky mentality. After all, if they don't pay taxes, the potatoes they save can be sold for a lot of money.

But once the decree is issued, they have no choice but to hand it over in full.

Genting County collected the tax money promptly, but it was not so easy for the other counties. They started planting late, and many people were skeptical, so they only planted a small amount of the potato seeds they dug out and ate the rest themselves, so the harvest was not that good.

Only Taiyin County is slightly better. Other counties are already very lucky if they can collect 20 shi of grain.

The nearby towns were in chaos because of the potato tax, and Yun Zhenzhen was at home making dumplings with her children.

The whole village gave him nearly a thousand kilograms of potatoes, and she also wanted to give something in return to repay the villagers' trust.

Qin Li walked to the nearby Sancha Market and bought 100 kilograms of flour, which was enough to make thousands of dumplings and give a bowl to every household. Although it was not a very precious thing, it was considered good food in that era.

As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor, and human relations require giving before there is receiving.

There were so many dumplings to make that Yun Zhenzhen could only call a group of aunts who had helped build the house to come home.

The dough for dumplings is made entirely of white flour, and looks very sweet. Those who are strong are responsible for kneading the dough, and those who are careful are responsible for making the filling. There are still a lot of wild vegetables left over from the wine drinking in the new house a few days ago, so I fry a pot of eggs and make dumplings with wild vegetable and egg filling.

While wrapping the dumplings, Yun Zhenzhen was responsible for putting them into the pot to cook. It took dozens of times to cook thousands of dumplings. As soon as they were out of the pot, she arranged for the children to deliver the dumplings to each household.

The villagers were extremely happy when they received the dumplings that Yun Zhenzhen sent back.

"Oh, this girl from the Code family is really good at doing things. We sent her potatoes, and she sent us dumplings in return. She is such a kind person."

"Who says he isn't? He was a jerk who beat the kids a few months ago, but now he has turned over a new leaf and is bringing prosperity to the whole family."

"Why talk about the past? Isn't it enough to just live a good life now? Look at the big house they built and the bullock cart they bought. In a while, we won't be able to compare with them."

"That's right. Even though their family conditions are getting better and better, they don't look down on us villagers. Look, they even gave us dumplings to eat. They're so delicious!"

"I just ate it too. It has eggs in it. It's a rare thing."

"..."