Ink panel: Hunting the sun and surveying the sky from the bow.

Chapter 82: Tax collectors enter the village, harsh rule is as fierce as a tiger
Shen Qing walked out of the house and took a look at the book Zhang Shuyuan gave him.

The yellow cover was already worn, and on it were written four large characters: Strange Stories of Mountains and Rivers.

Shen Qing flipped through it and roughly understood that this was a geographical book, interspersed with introductions to many humanities and historical stories.

Some records date back five thousand years.

Although it is a bit general and exaggerated, for people like Shen Qing, it is the best way to broaden their horizons.

It's a good book.

In addition to this book, Zhang Shuyuan also gave him a novel story book.

It contains chapters full of supernatural stories involving many demons and monsters, and martial artists fighting against evil.

It has a bit of a Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio feel.

There are also many small illustrations.

Shen Qing suddenly became more interested in this kind of story novel.

Just as he was about to flip through the pages, the sound of a gong interrupted his thoughts.

This was followed by a shrill scream.

Shen Qing put away the two books and rushed towards the direction of the gong sound without thinking.

Figures flashed in the village and ran to the place where the gong sound came from. Many villagers had already rushed over.

Shen Qing recognized this as the home of Chen Yixiang, a hunter in the village.

At this time, one side of his adobe house had collapsed, and the ground was covered with blood. If you looked closely, you could see half a piece of intestine dragging on the ground.

"what happened?"

The hunter holding the gong said with a pale face: "I just saw six or seven wolves rushing in together and carrying away Chen Yixiang's entire family. That wolf was as big as a calf... I... have never seen a wolf like that before, and its expression was just like a human's... I almost thought I was going to die..."

Haha!
There were gusts of wind on the distant mountains, and the trees were rustling.

The villagers were suddenly like frightened birds, and they all took out their bows and arrows and weapons.

The scene was solemn.

After waiting for a long time and seeing no other movement, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The experienced old man said with lingering fear: "Dragons come from the clouds and tigers come from the wind. The tiger is the king of all beasts. It must be that evil tiger that caused this."

"The demon tiger is coming!"

As soon as these words came out, a stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The bad news hung over Hongshanzhai Village like a dark cloud.

The hunters still living in Hongshan Village were even more frightened.

Zhang Baoqing saw Shen Qing and hurried over to ask, "Qingzi, what do you think about this? What should we do?"

Shen Qing said: "I will go to the county town right away and ask the head of Linfeng Hall and the county government to make the final decision. This matter is obviously beyond our ability to handle."

Now he has entered the Bone Refining Realm, and the blood in his body is surging like a river.

Even if a dozen or twenty hunters in the village attacked him together, they would not be his match.

Even so, facing such a strange thing, he still felt unsure and did not intend to take the risk himself.

"Okay." Zhang Baoqing sighed and said, "This is the only way."

At this moment, there was a sudden sound of horse hooves coming from the entrance of the village.

Shen Qing looked up and saw two tax collectors from the county riding two large donkeys and rushing into the village aggressively.

They were dressed in official uniforms and wearing fuku hats, with an expression of arrogance on their faces.

The villagers all avoided it.

"Xu..."

The two tax collectors rushed up to the villagers, pulled the reins, and looked down at everyone.

One of the tax collectors took the tiger-head knife from the donkey's back, held it in his arms, and shouted loudly: "Where is Chen Baotou? Come out and talk."

These two men were tax collectors.

They are old faces. Every year they come to collect taxes and plunder.

Seeing the two of them, all the hunters in the village realized that the spring ban had begun and they had to pay the spring tax. In the past, Chen Yuan's family would host such events.

The village was isolated from the rest of the world and the two tax collectors apparently did not know that Chen Yuan's family had been killed.

At Shen Qing's signal, Zhang Baoqing stepped forward and said, as politely as possible, "Chen Bazi and his family met with misfortune in the mountains."

"All dead?" The two tax collectors looked at each other, and saw the surprise in each other's eyes: "Who is the boss in Hongshan Village now?"

Zhang Baoqing subconsciously glanced at Shen Qing, and the latter looked away at the right moment.

He understood and said, "I am not talented, but I hope the young and old masters in the village will trust me and take on some responsibilities."

"Okay, then follow the old rules. Lead the way."

The two tax collectors climbed off the donkey and walked forward holding the reins.

They passed by villagers gathered nearby and asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

A hunter thought it was a good opportunity and hurried forward to say, "A demon tiger appeared in the mountains and took away Chen Yixiang's family. The two adults should think of a solution quickly, otherwise our entire village will be in trouble."

"Hahaha..." The two tax collectors laughed, "You are hunters. If there was a tiger in the mountains, you should be happy. A tiger is full of treasures. It is enough for you and your whole village to enjoy delicious food and drink."

"But... that's a demon tiger, sir!"

"Enough, stop talking nonsense. Do you think you don't have to pay taxes if you do this? A tiger is a tiger, and it's a demon tiger..."

The two tax collectors obviously did not believe what the villagers said.

They are often on the road and have encountered various methods of collecting taxes.

Some people jumped into the cesspool and acted crazy and stupid.

Some say it was caused by plague.

It is said that there was an evil sow in the village that climbed up a tree.

There are also those who castrate themselves and sell their wives.

There are so many different things.

It's nothing new.

They had come out with great difficulty, relying on the chance to get a child at this time, so how could they believe these nonsense?

Zhang Baoqing didn't dare to say more, and quickly invited the two tax collectors into his wooden house and made a fire to boil water.

Then he notified the villagers to prepare good wine and food to entertain them.

The two tax collectors did not appreciate this at all. They looked around with dissatisfaction in their eyes.

"Is this your home?" One of the tax collectors pointed at the simple wooden house and said with a disdainful smile: "How shabby! It seems that you Hongshan Village will have to pay more taxes this year."

Zhang Baoqing's heart tightened, he knew that these two tax collectors were starting to make things difficult for him.

He suppressed his anger and said with a smile: "My Lords, our family is not as well connected as the Chen family, so I'm grateful for your help."

The two tax collectors ignored him and continued chatting among themselves.

Zhang Baoqing didn't dare to interrupt.

All the people in the imperial court who have been nurtured with martial arts are martial artists, and their realms are basically not low.

It's not something that small families like them can afford to offend.

After a while, each household gathered together and prepared a table full of delicious food and wine.

Shen Qing was not stingy and specially took out some for them.

When the two tax collectors saw the wine and food on the table, they frowned.

Zhang Baoqing observed the situation and explained: "The harvest this year is not good, we have tried our best."

The tax collectors were unmoved.

They snorted coldly and buried their heads in eating.

Zhang Baoqing smiled apologetically and said tentatively, "Sir, there is indeed a demon tiger in our village. Now everyone in the village is in a panic. I wonder if the government can do anything about it. Otherwise, we won't get much hunting trophies, and there will be a spring ban soon, and we have to pay taxes. If all this goes on, we will have no way to survive."

"This is easy to do. In addition to the forestry tax, the male tax, and the leftover women tax... you just need to pay a tiger extermination tax."

"The tax for killing tigers doesn't need to be much, one or two ounces of silver will be enough."

(End of this chapter)