I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 213 Lei Mengsha's Experience

"What are we waiting for?"

Lei Mengsha asked weakly: "Also, you asked me what I saw, what did you see?"

Chu Zhao smiled and said, "You must have seen many scenes like this, right?"

Lei Mengsha didn't understand, but he still hummed: "I saw them often when I was in Jiangnan before, but the people in Jiangnan were not so poor. After I entered Tianqi and went to school, I saw them less often."

There was a hint of pride in his tone, pride in the wealth of his hometown.

"No wonder."

Chu Zhao laughed and said seriously, "You asked me what I saw. I will tell you now. I saw that the city was full of singing and dancing, but the ordinary people were hungry. I saw that they were ragged and skinny. I saw the oppression of the ordinary people by the Beili court."

Lei Mengsha was stunned for a moment, and said stubbornly: "It's the same in every place. In comparison, Beili's taxes are already the lowest in the world."

Indeed, from what Chu Zhao had learned, the taxes collected by the Beili court were indeed the lowest in the world.

The tax rate is 15%, and sometimes in good years, it will be 20%.

However, the local governments in Beili imposed numerous heavy taxes and levies.

For example: city tax, ice tax in summer, charcoal tax in winter, etc.

In good years, ordinary people could still get enough food and clothing, but in bad years, starvation to death was common.

Especially in the northwest region, the west and the north are relatively the poorest places, but the people in these two places are subject to the most and heaviest taxes.

When I watched TV dramas in the past, I only saw people drinking and eating meat in the rivers and lakes and the protagonists spending money lavishly. But when I really entered this world, I found that this world was not as glamorous as in the dramas. There were too many ordinary people in dire straits, so much so that Chu Zhao often felt a sense of disconnection.

The same thing happened to Lei Mengsha now. The original image of Lei Mengsha in his mind seemed to be torn apart in an instant.

Among the eight young masters of Beili, only Xie Xuan can be called a young master.

It was not because Xie Xuan joined him, but because Xie Xuan saw the suffering of ordinary people and took it to heart.

However, Xie Xuan chose to change the Beili syndrome by educating students and letting them enter the court. In Chu Zhao's opinion, this path...can't be said to be wrong, but it is not correct either, and it is a bit too idealistic.

As for the other seven people, they have lived in wealthy and powerful families since childhood. How could they truly understand the difficulties of ordinary people and put themselves in their shoes to think about them?

Just like Li Changsheng turned a blind eye to the evil deeds done by Xiao Chongjing, they were probably used to these things.

Occasionally when they are traveling around the world, they may lend a helping hand to the oppressed people, but they will never think about whether the oppressed people will be retaliated against doubly after they take action.

Chu Zhao was not trying to vilify them on purpose. He had seen this happen with his own eyes. It happened to Jun Yu, one of the Eight Young Masters of Beili.

After all, Li Changsheng's disciples are actually people from the martial arts world, but they are just people from the martial arts world.

Whether it is Li Changsheng or his apprentice, who can be called a hero?
Maybe Li Changsheng could be considered as such in the past, but he is not qualified now!

As for Lei Mengsha, he could barely be called one, after all, he later died fighting for his country on the battlefield of the Southern Final.

This is also the reason why Chu Zhao is willing to look up to him.

Perhaps someone will say, didn’t Xiao Ruofeng also lead troops to fight for the country?

But don't forget that Xiao Ruofeng is the Prince of Beili, and going to war for the country is just his responsibility and obligation as a prince.

Just saying that Xiao Ruofeng ignored his friends and soldiers who followed them and handed over the throne to Xiao Ruojin, he is not worthy of the word "knight".

The officialdom and the underworld are in the same world, but they are two separate worlds.

Thinking of this, Chu Zhao sighed silently: "After today, you can go to the city that we have recovered in Western Chu and take a look. Maybe you will understand."

Lei Mengsha nodded thoughtfully, said no more, and looked quietly at the grain collection point not far away.

At this time, a woman in tattered clothes, with a sad face, holding a child, brought a bag of food.

Without saying a word, the clerk who collected the grain poured the grain from the grain bag into the official measure, took a closer look, and read out loud, "Total 48 catties, two catties short."

After reading it, he waved his hand and said, "Go to the front to register your household registration. You have three days to make up for it. Otherwise, I will punish you according to the law."

The woman's originally wooden expression suddenly became lively, and grief, pain, grievance, etc. instantly surged into her heart.

She fell to the ground, crying, "Sir, this is impossible. I have weighed it at least ten times before I came here. It must be 50 kilograms. Please weigh it again and take another look!"

"Ha~"

The grain collector sneered, as if he was used to this kind of scene. He immediately poured out the grain from the official bucket and sneered at the woman, "The government has always been fair and just in collecting grain. You should open your eyes and watch carefully."

After saying this, he poured all the grain back into the official bucket, and after stirring it twice, the clerk sneered and said, "It seems that I was wrong just now."

Then he shouted again: "Forty-five catties in total, five catties short."

Hearing this, the woman was struck by lightning and tears instantly flowed down her face.

Two tear marks appeared on the wrinkled face.

Then he hugged the clerk's calf, kowtowed and cried, "Sir, this must be wrong, wrong!"

The child in her arms cried loudly out of fear, and the woman also cried aggrievedly: "When I weighed it at home, it was indeed 50 kilograms, and the bag was not broken, so it couldn't be less, there can't be any mistake."

The woman knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and repeated to herself that it was not wrong.

The grain collector kicked her away impatiently and said angrily, "You are wrong. I weighed it for you twice. What's wrong? Get out of here now, or don't blame me for being rude."

After saying this, the clerk swung the whip in his hand, making a loud bang.

The woman seemed not to hear and continued kneeling on the ground muttering.

The grain collector became angry, his face darkened, and he was about to whip the woman on the back with the whip in his hand.

But as soon as he raised his hand, he was grabbed.

"Be bold!"

The grain collector felt his hand being grabbed by someone. He subconsciously yelled and was about to turn around to teach the other person a lesson, but he saw that it was one of the two noble young men just now, and a flattering smile instantly appeared on his face.

"Sir, you have seen it too. This wicked woman is ignorant and is trying to deceive people."

Chu Zhao hummed and smiled faintly: "It's not easy for her either. Give me some face and let it go, how about that?"

"This..." The clerk looked embarrassed. In fact, he just wanted to extort some more money from Chu Zhao because he was easy to talk to and generous.

Chu Zhao saw through his thoughts at a glance and smiled faintly, "My friend's temper is not as good as mine, and he is the senior brother of the Ninth Prince Xiao Ruofeng. I'll kill you if I want to. Go back and tell your city lord that Yunyang's city tax will be waived this year. Just say it was Master Zhuo Mo's idea."

The grain collector was startled and asked cautiously, "Are you Lei Mengsha, Master Zhuo Mo?"

Lei Mengsha had no intention of answering. He threw the clerk to the ground and shouted angrily, "Get lost. Tell your city lord that I will go find him."

"Yes Yes Yes……"

The grain collector got up and ran towards Yunyang City without looking back.

Seeing this, the people who saw this scene roared in unison, then knelt down in a large group to express their gratitude to Lei Mengsha.

This made Lei Mengsha laugh heartily, and a joy he had never experienced before lingered in his heart.

Chu Zhao ignored the thanks to the people and the silly smile from Lei Mengsha. He lowered his head slightly and looked at the woman kneeling on the ground. He saw her crawling directly to the side of the official bucket and quickly putting the grain back into the grain bag.

Then, he kowtowed to Chu Zhao and said, "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir!"

Chu Zhao waved his hand: "They say that you should help others to the end, and send the Buddha to the west. I know a little about medicine. Let's go and take a look at your house."

Hearing this, Lei Mengsha said stupidly: "Is there a patient in her family?"

"Look carefully at the grain delivery team. She is the only woman there. Either her husband is too sick to come, or..."

Chu Zhao didn't continue speaking, but Lei Mengsha was shocked all over, because there was no man left.

The woman thanked him again, quickly got up, and took Chu Zhao home.

This is a dilapidated home, which can be described as bare. The only thing worth mentioning is that it is kept quite clean and tidy.

With just a casual glance, you can take in the entire house, and naturally you will see a middle-aged man lying on the bed, unconscious.

It was a good thing that he met him, otherwise the man lying on the bed would be dead, because there was no smell of medicine in the house.

In other words, they had no money to see a doctor, and the man on the bed could only wait to die.

After a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Immortal Master, thank you, Immortal Master..."

The couple knelt on the ground and kowtowed continuously, showing their utmost respect.

That’s right, in the eyes of the couple, Chu Zhao is a god.

After all, only gods can make a dying person become full of energy and normal again after a cup of tea.

Moreover, only gods can look so beautiful.

Chu Zhao shook his head and laughed: "I am not a deity, I am the Emperor of Western Chu."

The Emperor of Western Chu? The couple was startled. When they looked up again, Chu Zhao and Lei Mengsha were no longer in the room, as if everything that had just happened was just a dream.

But some change on the table told them that this was not a dream!

……

……

The sun is shining brightly and the clouds are rolling and unrolling.

It seemed as if clouds from all over the world were gathering towards the southwest sky, looking like thousands of horses galloping.

After experiencing the war, the land of Western Chu recovered unexpectedly quickly.

There is constant traffic of merchants and travelers on the road, farmers are busy working in the fields, the sounds of chickens and dogs can be heard in the villages, and playful children are running and chasing each other, showing their innocence and romance at their carefree age. There is a vibrant atmosphere everywhere.

A fat horse and light clothes are walking on the road. It is a good time for the young man. But unfortunately, the young man on the horse has a depressed look on his face.

At this time, it was the autumn of the second year of Kaiyuan.

During this year, Lei Mengsha went to many places and saw scenes that were completely different from Beili.

The Western Chu that was restored in the flames of war did not look as prosperous as the Northern Chu. However, from the officials to the common people, almost everyone in the Western Chu was full of energy, almost everyone was filled with joy from the bottom of their hearts, and almost everyone had a vision of a better future on their faces...

Even people in prison are no exception.

Don't ask him why he knows what happened in prison, because he was imprisoned in prison not long ago.

As for why he was thrown into jail, the reason is very simple.

A month ago, he met a group of people chasing a gangster in the city. It happened that the gangster was familiar to him and was famous in the world for his light Kung Fu and amazing skills.

So, Lei Mengsha boldly came to help.

Then, he was captured by Su Muyu who came from Yuelu City.

Considering that he did not know the reason, he was detained for seven days and all the silver he had on him was confiscated as compensation for the damage to the people's property while he intercepted the Inspectorate personnel.

It's true compensation.

He saw with his own eyes that the people from the Inspectorate delivered the silver to the small vendors who had suffered losses.

Of course, the money he had was not enough, so he was ordered to work with the people from the Inspectorate to arrest the person.

After chasing for seven or eight days, he finally caught the man yesterday and was able to escape.

After a long period of running around, he is now tired and hungry. He just wants to have a good meal and a good sleep.

Dusk.

In the villages beside the official road, wisps of smoke were rising slowly, and children in groups of three or two were running and playing in the village. There were also farmers in the fields by the roadside... Well, why would soldiers be harvesting rice in the fields?
Lei Mengsha, who was riding a horse, was in a daze. A soldier who was busy in the field happened to notice him and immediately stopped him and asked, "Judging from your attire, are you from the martial arts world?"

"Yes."

"what is it call?"

"Thunder...Lei Mengsha from Jixia Academy."

"Jixia Academy?"

The interrogating soldier was startled and suddenly shouted, "Come quickly, there is a Beili spy!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the people working in the fields rushed over to surround Lei Mengsha.

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Although I am from Beili, I am not a spy. This is my pass." Lei Mengsha quickly dismounted and took out the pass to give to the nearby soldiers.

After checking, the leading captain nodded and continued to question: "There is a war going on ahead, what are you doing here?"

"Just passing by, take a break."

The captain hummed, returned the pass to Lei Mengsha, and said solemnly: "Don't cause trouble in our Xi Chu, otherwise we will arrest you even if we chase you to the ends of the earth."

Lei Mengsha has already experienced this deeply. After all, he just helped the people from the Supervisory Department arrest an acquaintance.

"I know. I will definitely not cause any trouble. It's just that it's late. Come and stay for one night. I will leave early tomorrow morning."

"Well, you go."

The captain waved his hand and led his soldiers down to the fields to work.

Lei Mengsha led his horse towards the village with doubts. As soon as he entered the village, a yellow dog guarding the village started barking.

At this moment, an old farmer came over from the field and stopped the big yellow dog. He looked up at Lei Mengsha and smiled apologetically, then asked, "I just heard from you that you want to stay overnight in the village. If you don't mind, you can stay here with me."

"Thank you, husband."

In this way, Lei Mengsha successfully stayed there.

However, to express his gratitude, in addition to helping with the rice harvest, he also shot two wild rabbits nearby.

At night, the lights flicker.

At the dinner table, a man in his thirties poured Lei Mengsha a glass of muddy wine and said with a smile: "Thank you very much for today, my humble abode is simple, and I only have home-brewed wine, please don't mind it."

Lei Mengsha shook his head, picked up the wine bowl and drank it all, then laughed happily and said, "Good wine!"

Frankly speaking, this was the worst quality wine he had ever tasted, but it felt countless times better than the fine wines in Apocalypse City. Even the wine brewed by Baili Dongjun was far inferior to it.

"As long as you like it, would you like another bowl?"

"Thank you!"

After three rounds of dishes and five flavors, Lei Mengsha put down his bowl and chopsticks and asked with a smile: "Brother Wang, who were those soldiers before?"

The man drank a lot, his face flushed a little: "You mean them? They are the army stationed in Heyuan, specially coming to help us with the autumn harvest."

"Why did the army come to help you collect food?"

"I heard that there has been heavy rain recently. Your Majesty is worried that we won't be able to harvest the crops in time, so he asked the officials of each city and the army stationed nearby to help us harvest the crops."

"Chu...Your Majesty is in Heyuan now?"

The middle-aged man opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, he heard his father beside him cough violently. He sobered up instantly and looked at Lei Mengsha with a strange look in his eyes.

"Sir, I can't hold my liquor well, so let's stop here today. It's getting late, so you should go to bed early."

After saying this, the middle-aged man hurriedly left the table.

Although he was heading towards the inner room, it was obvious that he was planning to sneak in to give a tip-off.

The acting is too deliberate!

Lei Mengsha didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Father-in-law, I'm really not a spy. Although I'm from Beili, I'm friends with Chu Zhao... the Emperor of Western Chu."

"Well, the old man believes it. Mr. Lei, drink, drink!" Old Man Wang smiled sincerely and poured wine for Lei Mengsha.

Lei Mengsha: "..."

If he remembered correctly, the people in this village were all from Beili.

It has only been half a year since this place was recaptured by the army led by Chu Zhao, and now they are turning to Western Chu?

"Why, father-in-law? You are all from Beili." Lei Mengsha looked puzzled, with obvious accusation in his tone.

Old Man Wang was stunned for a moment, then replied, "We didn't even have enough to eat before, but when His Majesty came, he killed the wealthy families who oppressed us, distributed life-saving food to us, and gave us land, so that we can live a peaceful life. I, this old man, recognize him as our emperor."

Public trials, beating up the local tyrants, dividing the land, robbing the wealthy and giving them grain…

Lei Mengsha should be very familiar with this set now, because he has seen it too many times in this year.

"I haven't read much, so I certainly don't know as much as you do. So I'd like to ask you a question: Will the Emperor of Beili worry about the people being affected by the disaster and send soldiers to help us collect the grain?"

This question made Lei Mengsha silent.

"When I was young, I traveled to many places and even served in the army. I participated in the war to destroy Chu. I know what the Beili army is like, but do you know what the Xichu army is like?"

The old man took a sip of wine from the bowl and said respectfully, "Since they came, they have not robbed us of anything, nor have they killed any civilians, even though we are from Beili. Even when they came to help us work and collect food, they never ate the things we sent them, saying that military discipline does not allow it, saying that they are the people's army and cannot take even a needle or thread from the people. This is the army of Western Chu."

"Young Master said that we are from Beili. Yes, I used to be from Beili, but now..."

The old man paused for a moment and said in a resounding voice: "I am from Western Chu!"

Lei Mengsha was stunned and opened his mouth, but didn't know how to refute.

At this moment, there was a bang and the door was kicked open from the outside.

The middle-aged man rushed in with his soldiers, pointed at Lei Mengsha and angrily shouted: "Damn you dog spy, you still want to get the whereabouts of the emperor from me, do you think I am a fool?"

The captain waved his hand and said, "Catch him."

Just like that, Lei Mengsha was arrested again...

(End of this chapter)