Punishment


    The people of Hu Family Vige still had a good impression of Zhang Zhan. They did not know who this person was, but no one would believe that he could bring food for disaster relief so quickly after being saved. It was easy to add icing to the cake, but it was difficult to send charcoal in the snow. “We’re all here,” Vige Chief Hu said to Zhang Zhan.


    “There are two things. The first is that there will be no spring tax this year and no conscription until March,” Zhang Zhan said word by word.


    The vigers were immediately shocked. Spring tax exemption? No conscription?!


    “There’s no need to pay taxes or join the army for the time being. We can farm in peace this year!”


    “Thank you, Lord Heaven! Thank you!”


    “We can live, we can live!”


    The vigers were first stunned before they were overjoyed. This time, they were really crying. They were even more pleasantly surprised than before.


    How could the importance of the food distributed bepared to the spring tax?!


    The excited vigers knelt down. One moment, they were kowtowing to Zhang Zhan, and the next moment, they were kowtowing in the direction of Changning City.


    They kept shouting their thanks.


    Little Ah Yu sat on Wang Eng’s neck. When she saw the vigers kneeling down, she hurriedly slid down her brother’s neck.


    She ran over and wanted to pull her aunt up. However, she had only taken two steps when Wang Eng grabbed her arm.


    “Ah Yu, don’t run around.”


    Little Ah Yu was puzzled.


    “Why are they kneeling? Did they make a mistake?” Only people who made mistakes would kneel.


    Wang Eng thought for a moment and said, “Perhaps it’s because of the spring tax exemption. The spring tax is very bad!”


    In the past, in order to pay the spring tax, the family had to work from morning to night in the fields, fighting to improve the harvest.


    Although it was called a spring tax, it was actually a food tax that had to be paid at the end of spring and the beginning of summer. There were sorghum, spring wheat, broad beans, peas, and barley. It looked like a lot, but the production of each of them was very low. Only by putting them together could one pay the amount of taxes.


    Wang Wng felt a headache when he thought of the spring tax. “That’s right, it’s so tiring. Last year, when Third Brother became a servant, we paid another portion of tax. That tired us out so much that we had no time to y!”


    Wang Sang also felt depressed. “Our permanentnd is not even enough topensate for it.”


    “What is permanentnd?” Little Ah Yu felt that she had a lot of questions. She didn’t understand anything.


    “It’s thend given to us by the Imperial Court,” said Wang Wng.


    Wang Eng simply told Little Ah Yu what a permanentnd was.


    ording to the rules of Great Chang, when a man reached the age of 14, he would be considered an adult man. After bing an adult, he could originally obtain 30 mu ofnd. Among them, 20 mu was statend and 10 mu was permanentnd.


    Thend of the country could not be bought or sold, nor could it be inherited. Itsted from adulthood to death and was taken back to the country after death.


    A permanentnd was permanently divided to individuals. It could be bought, sold, rented out, or passed down to future generations.


    Theposition of the vigers’nd was basicallyposed of the portion given by the country plus thend passed down by their ancestors, and thend developed by themselves.


    It seemed like a lot, but very few people could have muchnd in their hands.


    There were all kinds of reasons why they had to sell or swap theirnd. They did this out of poverty.


    The Wang’s family’snd was given by the country to the grandchildren after they became adults. However, they had already sold some. The entire family lived a tight life.


    A mu of fertilend could only produce 150 catties of grain. Everyone did not have much fertilend and usually only produced 70 to 80 catties per mu. It was not considered a good yield.


    Each male had to pay one “shi” of food in spring and autumn. The others,posed of men who had yet to be adults, and women, would pay one “shi” of food per three people.


    It sounded little, butbined, it was impossible to afford.


    Little Ah Yu felt dizzy as she listened. Her two small eyes blinked as she tried her best to understand the contents of her brother’s words.


    But she only remembered one thing. There was very little permanentnd, and farming was very tiring.


    She raised her arms and rubbed them with great effort. Under the surprised gazes of her brothers, she puffed up her cheeks and said in an exceptionally serious tone, “Don’t be afraid. Ah Yu knows how to farm too. Let’s farm together!”


    Wang Wng covered his mouth andughed secretly. “You’re too young to farm.”


    Little Ah Yu was anxious. “The vegetables Ah Yu nts are very delicious! They’re even more delicious now!” With the help of the elf, she could water the vegetables with the sweet water. The vegetables would definitely be even more delicious!


    Seeing that Ah Yu was as anxious as a buggy fruit, the Wang Family boys could not help butugh.


    They fought to appease her. “Alright, alright, alright. Ah Yu’s vegetables are very delicious. Ournd and farm will depend on Ah Yu!”


    Little Ah Yu grinned, so happy that her two little buns swayed.


    In her joy, she forgot to ask, “What is a conscription?”


    Before Little Ah Yu could remember, Zhang Zhan spoke again.


    When everyone calmed down, Zhang Zhan continued, “The second thing is about the fight between your vige and Shanyang Vige.”


    The vigers all looked at Zhang Zhan, hoping to hear good news.


    Zhang Zhan said, “We’ve already investigated this matter clearly. It’s not your fault.”


    The few officials that Zhang Zhan had left behind not only stayed behind to protect the vige, but they were also in charge of investigating the matter here.


    On the way back, the Wang brothers had already exined the matter clearly. However, they could not listen to one side of the story only, so they naturally had to investigate.


    The results of the investigation were simr to what Wang Chuanman and the others had said.


    The people of Shanyang Vige ate their own children. Later on, a few families who were stipted to give their children to the vige were unhappy and simply wanted to steal the children of Hu Family Vige.


    This was because they had heard that a child had been picked up from Hu Family Vige and if they ate that child, the people of Hu Family Vige would definitely not make a fuss.


    In Shanyang Vige, when Zhang Zhan asked about this, a man even said with hatred on his face, “We can’t even live anymore, but they actually still picked up children to raise! If they gave us the food they left behind, we wouldn’t have to resort to snatching the child!”


    “That’s right. Their Hu Family Vige is the poorest vige in the first ce. All these years, the viges around them have helped them a lot. Now that we’re in trouble, they only gave us 50 catties of food. How can we take this lying down!”


    “Our viges are so close to each other, so we’ve interacted a lot. They would rather give the food to a girl they don’t know than give us a way out. They forced us to do this!”


    ...


    “They even caused a few of our people to die. We want them to pay with their lives!”


    “They even asked us topensate them with money. Heavens, this is the most wronged thing in the world!”


    The more the people from Shanyang Vige spoke, the more agitated they became. They even requested Zhang Zhan to punish the group of ingrates from Hu Family Vige.


    This act of ming others left Zhang Zhan and the other officials dumbfounded.


    They could actually say that?


    Not only did those who had eaten children say so, but even those who had never eaten human flesh before, including some respected elders, expressed that they were not at fault.


    When Zhang Zhan left Shanyang Vige after his investigation, his heart was very heavy.


    He originally thought that the act of eating another’s child was extremely vicious and should be severely punished.


    Unfortunately, the officials below reminded him that this was usually not within the scope of the investigation for the officials. It was more likely that such cases were handed over to the local families or country squires for trial.


    If the victim did notin, the matter could only be left unsettled.


    At most, they would capture the offender and imprison him for a few days to teach him a lesson.


    ...


    He originally thought that not everyone in Shanyang Vige would eat their children. There would always be some people who were unwilling to be involved in this but were forced to.


    But when he asked, “Is there anyone who wants to seek justice? I can help you.”


    Everyone in Shanyang Vige fell silent.


    This included some women who had cried their hearts out when their children were taken away and eaten. He asked if they wanted to report their husband or father-inw, but they kept shaking their heads.


    “Lord, you can’t arrest him. How can we live without a man in the family!”


    His face was cold. “They’re people who can ignore their own flesh and blood. Are you really going to forgive them?”


    The women whimpered, not daring to cry out loud, but no one answered.


    Their children were already gone. They could not lose their men.


    Although he was an Imperial Envoy and he could interfere in this matter, he could not extend his hand too far.


    In the end, he could not take it anymore and asked the officials to arrest those who went to the Hu Family Vige to cause trouble and send them all to the county city.


    Even if the matter of them sacrificing children to eat could be discussedter, they hadmitted a crime by causing trouble in another vige and causing the death of their own vigers.


    At this point, Zhang Zhan looked at the innocent vigers of Hu Family Vige andposed himself slightly. He said, “Shanyang Vige took the initiative to provoke you and cause trouble, and they injured the people of the Hu Family Vige. This is a serious crime. You didn’t take the initiative to provoke them, and you retaliated for the sake of self-preservation. It’s not your fault that the snake nest was mobilized. Therefore, your vige is innocent. But—”


    Zhang Zhan changed the topic and everyone became nervous, afraid that he would say something.


    “Shanyang Vige took the initiative to provoke Hu Family Vige first. Other than the medicalpensation they proposed, Shanyang Vige will take over your June conscription quota. If the Imperial Court summons the army, they can go in your ce.”


    As soon as he finished speaking, the vigers’ eyes widened.


    Shangyang Vige had to take over the June conscription quota for the Hu Family Vige!


    In that case, the men in their vige would have at least six months to recuperate. This was something that they could not even ask for.


    “Sir, are you serious?” The vigers were trembling with fear. They mainly wanted to ask if what he said counted.