Interstellar boss dressed as a peasant girl and became rich

Chapter 12 The fatal corvee

Gu Wu, who was bending down to swing the hoe, heard Gu Shishan's voice, raised his head and said, "It's you Linzi!" Then he said, "I should be able to finish it today. I don't think there is much left in your cornfield. You guys Home should be over today!"

Hearing this, Gu Shishan sighed: "It's early, it may take a few days to finish hoeing."

Gu Wu couldn't help but be a little surprised, why did it take so many days? Although Gu Shishan's land is five acres more than his family's, as far as he knows, Gu Shishan's family has been hoeing it for two days.

There seemed to be other meanings hidden in Gu Shishan's words. Could it be that there was some conflict in their family? Gu Wu put down the hoe, walked to the rock where Gu Shishan was standing, and asked with concern: "Why does it take so many days to hoe five acres of land? Is there something going on at home? If you need help, tell our brothers and us The brothers will help you."

Gu Shishan is Gu Wu's cousin, and the relationship between the two families has not been in the third server. Hearing this, Gu Shishan's eyes became moist.

He turned his head, wiped his face, held back the tears that were about to burst out of his eyes, and said with a choked sob: "Fifth brother, those ignorant people in my family are clamoring for a separation. My old lady is suppressing her and refusing to give her any points. In the past two days, There’s so much noise at home and I’m not in the mood to work, so I really don’t know what to do.”

Gu Wu was stunned. He didn't expect that Gu Shishan's family would be separated, and he didn't know how to give Gu Shishan any good advice.

When he and his eldest sister separated, the family was separated because their parents had passed away. In compliance with their parents' last wishes, they were divided into five acres of land and ten taels of silver.

Because he was the son, he got the old house, and the eldest sister got an extra ten taels of silver, a total of twenty taels, to buy a new foundation and build a house.

Their family's separation did not cause so much trouble, so they could only listen to Gu Shishan's story quietly and comfort him from time to time.

Gu Yu finished hoeing one row of corn and then immersed herself in the next row. Her eyes occasionally glanced at Gu Wu Gu Shishan who was sitting on a stone chatting.

Gu Yu said hello as he passed by the two of them, and then returned to his hard work.

Gao Shishan watched Gu Yu's back and sighed: "Sometimes I think that if I only had one child, maybe there wouldn't be so many conflicts in the family."

Gu Wu was silent after hearing this. He doesn't want to have a family full of children, but the actual hardware doesn't allow it.

If he could have children, of course he would also like to have more children and enjoy the beautiful scene of having children and grandchildren around his knees.

In this life's physical condition, even though he had only given birth to one daughter, he was already content.

When there are more children, the family property will naturally be divided. In the future, when the children start their own families, family separation will indeed cause a lot of disputes.

Having a kid or two seemed like a good idea.

But Gu Wu did not speak directly, a trace of disappointment flashed in his eyes: "You all know my situation. If I can have more children to keep Xiaoyu company, I would be happy, but having a child for Xiaoyu is already a gift from God. How dare I expect more."

Gu Shishan knew the situation of Gu Wu's family, and after hearing this, he felt that it touched Gu Wu's sore spot. He hurriedly said: "Fifth brother, even if your family only has one child, Xiao Yu, there are still her cousins! You don't have to worry about Xiao Yu's future. People help.”

Gu Wu smiled and responded: "Yes! With the help of several of her cousins, I will feel more at ease when my mother and I leave."

"Bah, bah, bah, say you can't leave." Gu Shishan scolded, "You and Fifth Sister-in-law have to watch Xiao Yu become a biological child! Don't think about those unlucky things."

The two of them changed the topic and talked about other things. At five o'clock in the afternoon, Gu Yu finally finished hoeing the grass in the cornfield and cleaning up the weeds on the edge of the field. As night fell, the family of three put away their tools and headed home.

Back home, it was completely dark. Yang lit the candle and was busy cooking in the kitchen. Gu Yu helped light the fire and asked curiously: "Mom, what did Uncle Shishan say to my father today? I saw that he seemed to be crying. ?”

Before, she only vaguely heard Gu Shishan and Gu Wu talking about something, and Gu Shishan's eyes seemed to be a little red, as if he had cried.

Mrs. Yang said worriedly: "Your Uncle Shishan's family has been having a family separation recently. He felt uncomfortable, so he came to chat with your father."

After hearing the news, Gu Yu couldn't help but feel a little sleepy. In her opinion, the population of Gu Shishan's family was twice that of her uncle's family, with only two sons and one daughter, living in three rooms.

Now that the grandchildren have grown up and are married, why do we still insist on not dividing the family? Is it just because of the old saying, "Parents never separate a home"?
Gu Yu feels that in fact, dividing the family is not a big deal. In her opinion, it is a natural process to "divide the branches of the tree and the people will divide the family".

If the family members have grown up and have their own families, splitting up the family is an inevitable choice. This can avoid conflicts and conflicts within the family, and also allows young people to better plan their future and allow the younger generations to live together. Yes, there is no need for several people to sleep on the same bed.

Therefore, she didn't quite understand why Aunt Wang would force her children to stay together because of traditional values.

Gu Yu expressed her thoughts, and Yang rolled her eyes and said, "You have forgotten that the imperial court collects corvees for a month and a day every year. In previous years, when our family was not divided, it was your father and your aunt who took turns to serve. , after the separation, it was your father who took on this responsibility. Later, as your father got older, he was worried about letting him go again, so he paid three taels of silver to the government every year so that the government could find someone to serve in your father's place."

"When you grew up, you served three years of corvee service. The whole family lived together, although they occasionally made noises. When you were doing the corvee service, only one of you had to go, and the others could work in the fields."

"Our area is mostly mountainous and flat land is scarce. Every year, the food grown must be paid an agricultural tax of 30%. In addition to the population tax, children must pay a tax of 100 cents per year after they reach the age of three, and there are other miscellaneous things. The miscellaneous taxes cost two hundred pence per person."

"We have a small family, so we only need to pay 600 taels of silver per year. A family with a large population like your uncle's family will have to pay a few taels of silver for just the population."

"You said that with such heavy pressure, how can you maintain your livelihood without careful planning? How can you support the burden of one person from each family having to do corvee work after the separation of families? Do you still need to do the work in the fields?" Yang His words are full of helplessness about life.

Gu Yu: "..."

She knew that what Yang said was true. Corvee is closely linked to the collection of taxes and is seen as a disguised way of "paying taxes". Its compulsory, gratuitous and dangerous nature has caused great distress to service members, and in some cases, someone may even lose their life as a result.

Gu Yu remembered that when he was fourteen years old, the government suddenly issued an order not to allow him to pay money in lieu of serving. Each family had to send one person to serve as a corvee.

That year, Gu Wu came back after a month's absence. He was so thin that he was only skin and bones, and his health is still not very good.

Yang spent a lot of effort to help him recuperate his body, and his waist and legs still hurt even when it was cold or rainy.

She also heard from her father that many people lost their lives while doing corvee service that year.

Since then, Gu Yu has never asked Gu Wu to serve in the army, nor has he wasted money on giving it to the government. For the past three years, it has been her and her two cousins.

The imperial court generally performed corvee work by building roads, canals, bridges, palaces, etc. Gu Yu built bridges, carried large logs, and repaired canals to pass water.

(End of this chapter)