Chapter 19 Autumn Tax Part
Learn martial arts?
Martial arts genius?
Everyone present chewed over the two words, feeling something was strange, as if such a person should not appear in Yixing City, at least not in Liang Qu.
Who is he?
orphan.
An identity that is extremely heavy in any era.
Apart from selling themselves to survive, most of them became beggars and starved to death quietly in a winter.
The Liang family father and son had never lived a good life. Many neighbors still remembered the death of the widower Liang Dajiang. After his death, his body was not wrapped in a straw mat, but only a thin coffin was bought. He was hastily buried in the back mountain and a wooden tablet was erected.
Liang Dajiang's fishing skills were also quite average. Apart from a good boat left behind, his family didn't even have a fishing net. As his son, Liang Qu naturally wouldn't be much better.
Perhaps the only good thing about him was that Liang Qu was good-looking, but in this world, no matter how good-looking a boy was, no one would come to propose marriage to him, and he would not even have enough food to eat.
But seeing the three brothers fleeing in a panic, it seems that this is the only explanation.
Everyone looked at each other.
I thought Liang Qu's final path would be the same as those orphans, either selling himself or begging, but I didn't expect that he would be completely different from what everyone thought, as if he had been reborn.
At first he was good at fishing, with a daily catch of nearly a hundred coins. Later he caught a precious fish, a good one at that, and sold one for the price of two. Now it seems that the money he earned from selling the fish was used to learn martial arts.
Studying and practicing martial arts have always been the two best ways for ordinary people to succeed.
Let’s not talk about studying for now. Learning martial arts is not far away from everyone. I have seen it or heard of it, but I have never heard of anyone in the village becoming successful by learning martial arts.
After finishing my studies, I came back to help my family occupy the river mouth, irrigate two more acres of land, or catch two more fish, but I couldn't do it, it wasted money.
On the contrary, it seems that Liang Qu has made a name for himself.
No matter what, the fact that he has reached this point today proves that Liang Qu is different from ordinary people, and some people began to compliment him.
"A Shui has made great progress. He will be the master's man in the future."
"If you really become a martial artist, don't forget us neighbors."
"That's right, that's right. If you become a martial arts master, I will let my son learn from you!"
Liang Qu looked at the reactions of the crowd and was not very happy. He just said that he was lucky.
The reason I told you that I practice martial arts is that I don't want any more scoundrels to come to my house every other day, so I'm telling you two pieces of information.
First, I have no money left. I used all the money to pay for martial arts tuition.
Second, I have a talent for martial arts. If you want to take advantage of me, you should think twice before doing so.
Of course, there is another purpose. His changes will become greater and greater in the future. Don’t ask me when the time comes. If you ask, the answer is that he is practicing martial arts.
What? You ask why others haven’t had this change? Do others have such excellent roots as mine?
The beginning plants the seed of talent in everyone, so that the later part won’t be too abrupt if it’s a little outrageous.
After the crowd had dispersed, Liang Qu returned home, moved the rice jar, dug out the silver and money buried in the soil, and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that not a penny was missing.
The autumn tax will have to be paid soon, and if I don’t have money, I’ll be a Muggle.
Fortunately, thanks to the Single Whip Law and the land-based tax system, it was very easy for fishermen to pay taxes, just one or two taels of silver per adult male.
However, the quality of the silver paid was different, and the standard was official silver, which led to the problem of fire consumption. This fire consumption was naturally borne by the common people, and the actual tax paid was about one or two or three cents.
Dashun was sixteen years old when he reached adulthood, so Liangqu was still a few months away. But those who understand will understand that, let alone a few months away, even if you are half a year away, you are still "sixteen".
It’s a pity that, according to the rules, they should have just paid silver, but several prefectures in the Jianghuai and Zeye areas still had to continue handing over grain for use in the capital.
For this reason, we should go buy rice tomorrow, otherwise the price will go up sharply.
Liang Qu made a plan, put the money in his arms, then took out a branch, drew a table on the ground, and started practicing boxing.
Recording growth through tables and determining the best time and efficiency for practicing is a scientific method of physical training.
The next morning, Liang Qu took the silver and went to the rice shop early, and found that there were quite a few people buying rice.
He entered from the door opposite and saw a long counter in front of him. Next to it was a row of rice boxes, all of which were half filled with rice for display. If he bought a small amount, he could take the rice away. If he bought a large amount, he would get the rice from the small warehouse.
The shopkeeper was sitting behind the counter, fiddling with an abacus and drawing with a brush. When he saw someone come in, he glanced at them and continued doing his own thing.
Liang Qu was dressed shabbily and didn't look like a rich man, so he naturally had no interest in entertaining him.
"Here, take it. It's thirty-six coins in total. Pay at the counter."
"Xiao Lang, take a look. What kind of food do you want?"
The guy next to us greeted us warmly, and came over quickly after finishing his work, and even had time to answer questions from others.
Liang Qu looked and saw quite a few kinds of rice, including polished rice, brown rice, inferior rice, glutinous rice, and sweet potatoes, but none of them had price tags.
"How much is one pound of refined rice?"
"Ten cents a pound."
"So expensive? Didn't you pay nine cents a pound a few days ago?"
The waiter laughed and said, "This is the autumn tax. There are many people coming to buy rice, and no one wants to do hard labor. Naturally, the price changes every day. If you come two days later, it might be eleven or twelve."
Things are changing so fast, no wonder there is no price tag, Liang Qu thought.
"Can't it be cheaper?"
"This……"
despair.
The shopkeeper put down his brush, raised his head and said indifferently: "This price is the same everywhere now. If you want to buy, buy it. If not, leave quickly. The front store is not big, so make room for the people in the back."
The corner of Liang Qu's eyes twitched, and he really wanted to take off his shoes and slap him, but there was only one rice shop in Yixing City, and if he offended it, he could only go to Pingyang Town to buy rice.
A stone of rice weighs more than 150 kilograms. If you carry it for more than ten miles, you will be exhausted. If you take a ride, it will be an unnecessary expense.
Besides, one stone of rice may not be enough. If you encounter a devil, one stone of rice may be counted as seven dou. You have to buy one and a half stones to be safe.
With money and food, he is truly arrogant.
Liang Qu, who didn't want to go against the money, could only ask: "A pound of rice is ten coins, so if I buy one and a half stones, how about paying with silver?"
"One and a half dan in silver?" The shopkeeper pondered, took out his abacus and fiddled with it, "Then how about one liang and six qian?"
Liang Qu calculated silently. He was not very good at bargaining, so he basically just listened to the other party's offer. If he thought it was okay, he would buy it, otherwise forget it.
One and a half shi, one liang and six qian, is also okay.
"Okay, then one tael and six cents." Liang Qu took out his purse. The waiter next to him was about to reach out, but was dodged. "Can your rice shop deliver the grain packages to your home?"
"Your home is"
"In Yixing City."
"Of course it's packed."
"Okay, let's move the rice."
Liang Qu paid the money directly and didn't worry about being tampered with.
Coming to this ancient time, the only thing I feel is that the shops will not commit any fraudulent acts against local people. If they want to bully people, they will do it openly, just like in the fishing pens. It's a matter of willingness to fight and to be beaten. They will cheat you as much as they say they will. They will not do bad things secretly. Otherwise, with the population mobility here, it is impossible to survive.
After the rice arrived home, Liang Qu bought two baskets to store the rice, a quilt, two sets of clothes, two pairs of cloth shoes, a good fishing net, a bar of soap, a pig-bristle toothbrush and some tooth powder, and spent all the money.
Liang Qu was carrying a mattress and a bunch of things, feeling that money was really hard to spend. He only bought some daily necessities, and the remaining one or two taels of silver were gone.
But hugging the soft quilt, I will definitely have a good sleep tonight.
(End of this chapter)
