Farmer's eldest sister becomes rich

Chapter 328 Book of All Peoples

Li Jing walked out of the crowd carrying about a bushel of wheat grains.

The village chief bowed to the leading official and said, "As the head of the village, I have no intention of disobeying the official order. These wheat grains are last year's sunken grains, and they are the only food for my family."

After saying this, he signaled his son Li Jing to hand a bushel of wheat grains to the officers and soldiers.

He said earnestly: "Now the villagers are already digging tree roots for food. There is really no extra rations. I hope the officials will show some mercy."

A bushel of wheat grains was temporarily taken from Anyue's home as an emergency measure.

On the one hand, An Yue's intention was to give the officials a way out, and on the other hand, she also did not let them return empty-handed and gave them enough face.

She first asked the village chief to state the facts of the disaster, then talked about the difficulties, and finally expressed his attitude.

In this case, even if the county magistrate came in person, he would have no reason to complain.

The leading officer and the officers and soldiers behind him looked at each other and nodded.

After a moment, the leading officer said, "Village Chief Li, we can't make the decision on this matter."

"How about this, let's go back and report the specific situation of this village to the county magistrate and see if we can reduce or exempt some taxes?"

When the village chief Li Huairen heard this, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But he still tried his best to hide his joy. He pretended to be gloomy and bowed in displeasure, saying, "Okay, I'll send you off, gentlemen!"

After the officials left, Li Huairen turned to the villagers and said, "This is the best outcome today! Next, we need to carefully discuss the countermeasures for the future."

The villagers nodded in agreement.

A man asked, "Village head, is that bushel of wheat grains really the only food for your family?"

The village chief shook his head and said, "I borrowed it from Yueyue temporarily, but this should also be counted on me."

After he finished speaking, he turned to his son Li Jing and said, "Jing'er, go home in a while and give Yueyue a bushel of wheat grains."

Li Jing said respectfully: "Okay, Dad."

Li Huairen looked at the villagers and said earnestly, "Fellow villagers, next time the officials come to collect taxes, what should you do?"

The man who was standing in front said, "Next time they come, we will fight them violently!"

Li Wu's wife waved her hands and said, "No, no, if the government investigates, we won't be in the right."

The man asked, "Then tell me, what should we do?"

Li Wu's wife was scratching her head, not knowing what to do.

Everyone began to talk, discussing how to deal with it if the officials came again.

An Yue suddenly said, "Unless it is absolutely necessary, try not to have a physical conflict. Once a fight breaks out, someone is bound to get hurt."

The village chief signaled for everyone to be quiet, and of course everyone soon quieted down.

He said, "What Yueyue said just now is absolutely right. We should not take action if we can. But if they dare to take action first, we are not afraid of them because we are in large numbers. So don't be restrained at that time."

"But that's the worst-case scenario. In my opinion, we have to leave this matter to the women in our village."

The village women all looked at the village chief with interest and asked, "What do you mean by that, village chief?"

The village chief suppressed a smile and said leisurely, "When the time comes, you can all use your own strengths. Those who need to cry should cry as hard as possible, and those who need to make a scene should make a scene as hard as possible. We will create chaos and get away with it."

Li Wu's wife covered her mouth and laughed: "Haha, my goodness, I never thought that our ability to cry and make a fuss would be useful one day?"

Another woman standing nearby patted her chest and said, "Don't worry, village chief. Leave this matter to us. We are good at this."

All the women smiled and said, "Yes, yes, yes...we are good at it."

The man added: "And when they knew the officials were coming, they smeared their faces with dirt as much as possible, and acted like they were in extreme hardship and hadn't eaten for days."

Li Wu's wife joked, "It's you, Li Ergou, who has to play this role. It's the most suitable person for this role."

When the villagers heard this, they all burst into laughter.

This time the official was successfully sent away, and the villagers' food supply was temporarily saved. Everyone was immersed in this joy.

After a while, the village chief said, "Everyone go home and pack up. Tomorrow morning, we will go to the stream to dig taro just like last time!"

At this moment, An Yue, who was standing in the crowd, thought to herself that these officials would not be able to solve the problem if they came again next time.

We must find a way to solve this problem completely from the root.

......

So, she said to the village chief Li Huairen: "Uncle, Yueyue has another idea, but I don't know whether I should tell you or not."

Village chief Li Huairen quickly said, "Yueyue, just tell me what you think."

An Yue took a deep breath and said slowly: "We can write a letter to all the people, report the situation in the village truthfully, and ask the higher authorities to reduce taxes."

The village chief asked doubtfully, "But the government already knows about all the natural disasters, and yet they still sent people to collect the summer tax!"

An Yue folded her hands in front of her, analyzing things quickly in her mind.

After a moment, she said, "No, no, no, what Yueyue is referring to is not reporting to the county magistrate, but to someone higher up." After saying that, she pointed her index finger toward the sky.

Everyone naturally understands what this means.

Li Jing scratched his head and said, "But we are just peasants, how can we do that?"

An Yue raised her head and said firmly: "We must prepare for this matter in advance. After all, opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared."

The village chief folded his hands in front of him, supported his chin with one hand, nodded and said affirmatively: "Yes, Yueyue is right. Once the time is right, we only need to take one step to achieve what we want. This matter requires our concerted efforts."

After hearing this, some people seemed to understand but not quite, but they all knew that this was a good idea.

An Yue said: "The old saying is right; 'Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it'. We should unite as one and face the outside world in unison."

"Although I don't know whether this Book of Ten Thousand Peoples can play a role, no matter what, let's draft it first. With more people joining together, the flames will rise higher. I believe that as long as there is a chance, we will be able to succeed."

The villagers all agreed with An Yue's opinion. As long as they could gain benefits, everyone was willing to give it a try.

An Yue immediately started preparing materials for the Book of All Peoples.

"Dear uncles, grandfathers and elders, please wait here for a moment while Yueyue goes back to get paper and pen."

——A quarter of an hour passed.

An Yue ran out of breath from home to the road with paper and pen in her hand.

She discussed the contents of the Book of All Peoples with the village chief and several literate village elders, and first of all, they had to ensure that the text was clear and accurate.