Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 1: The land tax

Fang Yong washed away the last grain of rice residue in the pot with water, drank it all, licked it, raised his head, looked at the old man opposite him who seemed familiar yet strange, hesitated for a moment and said:

"Dad, I'm not full."

Snapped!
As expected, I got slapped on the back of my head.

The old man scolded, "Good boy, you are getting lazier and lazier at work, but your appetite is getting bigger and bigger. If you eat as much as you want, who can be full? Just bear with it!"

Fang Yong's stomach was growling. Having traveled across time from the modern era, how could he have ever experienced hunger?

But there is no other way now.

After all, this is no longer modern.

After finishing their meal, the father and son went to work in the fields despite being hungry.

The family had a total of three acres of poor-quality paddy fields. The father and son, both strong laborers, had already taken care of the fields and were now going to work for the landlord.

White wine.

"Dad, why do you work for others for no reason?"

Bang! Another slap on the back of the head.

"Why? Tell me why, you don't lend people oxen for spring plowing! You don't lend people plows!"

"Dad, please don't hit me all the time."

Snapped!
"I'm your father, why should I hit you?"

……

After working hard under the scorching sun for a whole day, Fang Yong's skin was tanned red and his legs were pricked by some grass, which made him itchy and painful.

What’s more important is that the landlord didn’t provide lunch, so he was now starving and had no strength left in his body.

This is not something a human would do.

Fang Yong put down his hoe and prepared to take a break.

Bang, here it comes again.

"Why are you so lazy lately? Dad tells you, a hard-working man will never starve in a famine, but don't always think about resting, that's not a good thing, resting will only make you sick."

Fang Yong sighed when he heard this.

He no longer had the energy to argue with the old man.

Close your eyes and look at the panel.

[Talent: Farming (Beginner)]

【Progress: 4/10】

【Effect: You reap what you sow. 】

The system panel is now his last comfort.

There are still six days left. I hope there will be some good changes after the progress reaches ten.

In the evening, the father and son cooked some thin porridge again.

A large amount of bran was mixed with rice, which was something that even pigs wouldn't eat in his previous life. But now Fang Yong licked it clean and washed it down with water twice before swallowing it.

Even so, he still couldn't eat enough.

Fang Yong touched his empty stomach and looked at the full rice jar at the innermost part of the house. He couldn't help but walk over.

A faint voice came from behind.

"That's the imperial tax that needs to be paid in the autumn. If you dare to touch it, Dad will hang himself on the beam!"

Silent all night.

Six days passed in a flash. Human adaptability is truly terrifying. Fang Yong has now quickly evolved from being unbearably hungry to being able to tolerate hunger.

[Talent: Farming (Normal)]

【Progress: 0/100】

【Effect: You get what you sow. 】

There's really nothing much to say about daily life. It's either starving or working.

In addition, Fang Yong learned how to catch fish, and every time after work he would try to fish, but without a net, he couldn't catch any big fish by just fishing.

[Talent: Water (Entry Level)]

【Progress: 2/10】

【Effect: A person who is good at swimming may drown, but one should not follow his hobbies. 】

This went on for another ten days.

On this day, the village was beating drums and gongs, and a man who looked like an official appeared in the village.

The village head called all the villagers together to listen to the man's lecture.

The man stood on the platform, looking down at everyone.

Although he looked at the crowd with a bit of arrogance, his words were still quite friendly. The villagers all listened attentively.

"Well, the emperor sympathizes with the fact that life is not easy for you common people. This year, the tax system will be reformed and a new policy of allocating taxes according to the amount of land will be implemented..."

After a long while, after listening carefully to what the man said about the policy, the villagers all went back with smiles on their faces.

This was also Fang Yong’s first contact with the outside world.

The current dynasty is called the Daxi Dynasty, and the emperor is called Emperor Longqing.

Now it is the sixteenth year of Longqing's reign. The country is at peace, the people are prosperous, the treasury is full, the seas are clear and the rivers are peaceful. Emperor Longqing sympathizes with the people's hard work, so he promulgated a new policy.

However, Fang Yong felt that as a commoner, he was not very wealthy.

He works himself to death every day and still can't get enough to eat. Is this what you call wealth?
And it was still good for him. His family had three acres of paddy fields and there were only two of them, father and son. At least they had food to live on. If they lived frugally, they sometimes even had some surplus, so they were considered a rich farmer in the village.

There are many families with four or five members in the village, but they only have one or two acres of paddy fields. Some even have no land at all and work as tenants for the landlords. No one knows how they survive.

Wouldn’t that mean you have to sell your children?

Fortunately, the current emperor seems to be a wise one.

Fang Yong remembered that he had learned about the policy of "taxing on the basis of land" in his textbooks. It was a good policy. It changed the original tax system from collecting taxes per person to collecting taxes based on the amount of land owned by the family, which was very beneficial to the people.

Originally, there were only two people in Fang Yong's family, him and the old man. They had to pay 200 kilograms of grain (coarse grains) to the emperor per person.

Now the tax system has been changed, with the tax rate being distributed according to the amount of land. If a family has three acres of land, and one acre yields 50 kilograms, they only need to pay 150 kilograms.

The old man was so happy when he got home that he even added half a scoop of extra rice bran when cooking rice.

At night, the old man suddenly said:
"Yongwa, you are old enough now. Daddy will find you a wife."

……

The old man acted very quickly. Within half a month, he asked someone to find a matchmaker and arranged a marriage for Fang Yong.

The woman's name is Lian Jie'er, a girl from the next village. (To avoid being criticized, I'll explain in advance that this is a minor supporting role.)
In this era, Fang Yong has no say in the decisions of his parents and the words of the matchmaker.

The two families exchanged gifts and agreed to get married after the harvest, with the bride price being a bushel of rice.

During the whole process, Fang Yong didn't even see the other person.

During this period of time, Fang Yong's talent in water had already achieved a breakthrough.

[Talent: Water (Normal)]

【Progress: 24/100】

【Effect: Like a fish in water, at ease. 】

After upgrading to the level of being like a fish in water, Fang Yong's physical fitness also improved.

He grew taller, became stronger, and his skin became whiter. The most remarkable thing was his ability to swim. When in water, he was just like a fish. Not only could he swim freely in the water, he could even breathe in the water. This was simply amazing.

Thanks to his amazing swimming ability, Fang Yong no longer went hungry. He began to use his spare time to fish and save money.

I heard that there is a martial arts school in the city that teaches martial arts. No matter your background, you can join as long as you pay ten taels of silver.

There is also a private school that costs less than the martial arts school. One can learn to write essays for the imperial examinations for only four taels of silver as tuition, but one needs someone to introduce one.

With Fang Yong's systematic ability, as long as he studies hard for a period of time, he will definitely achieve extraordinary results whether he is learning martial arts or literature.

There was a boy named Niwawa in the next village. His family was even poorer and he often went fishing in the water. Over time, Fang Yong became acquainted with him.

One day, Niwa heard that Lian Jie sometimes went to the upper reaches of the river to wash clothes, so he took Fang Yong to see her.

The two of them moved stealthily, and Fang Yong finally saw what his wife looked like.

It was small and skinny, and looked like it hadn't even reached adulthood, but its skeleton had grown already, with a thin waist and round hips, which were even more obvious when it squatted to wash clothes, and Fang Yong was very jealous.

The only regret is that her skin is a little yellow, and her appearance is not very good-looking, and can only be said to be barely pretty...

After more than a month, the rice in the fields had started to grow.

This is the Jianghuai region, where rice is harvested twice a year.

We have already harvested one crop before, and now is the second crop.

The old man was pleasantly surprised to find that this crop of rice was growing unusually well, with each rice plant being tall and big. If it continued like this, the harvest would most likely be several percent higher!

The villagers all looked at him with envy.

"Could it be that the ancestor appeared in spirit?"

The old man was overjoyed.

The rice is growing so well this year, and the Emperor has implemented good policies and reduced taxes. As expected, even God will bless hardworking people.

The old man happily prepared Fang Yong's wedding, hoping that he could have a prosperous new year this year.

After a while, the rice ears formed. Each one was surprisingly large, and the grains were full. Even the landlord, Mr. Fang, was alarmed and came to check in person.

The three acres of paddy fields in Fang Yong's family were all poor quality fields, and the yields had always been very low. This was also the reason why Master Fang had not acquired the fields for so many years. But now...

Touching the rice ears that were bigger than the palm, Mr. Fang's eyes kept flickering.

(End of this chapter)