Sweet and warm little peasant woman

Chapter 400
Tong Xiaowu was vigilant and stepped forward to stop her, "Xiao Lanniang, what do you want to do?"

"I took the children to Sun's house to argue. Today, even if our three mothers died in their house, they would give me an explanation. I didn't say that I would not pay back the money. Why did they treat us mother and child like this and bully me? Is it a widow?"

Mrs. Zhang was in her 30s, with a dark face and an expression of anger. After saying that, she dragged Xiaohu and Xiaolan away, and Tong Xiaowu stepped forward to stop them.

"Don't worry, everything must be well-founded in order not to fall into the wind. Let me ask you, do you owe their family money, do they have an IOU..."

"It's just an account book. That account book is the booklet for the whole village to rent land from his house, and there are handprints on it."

"What about the others? During the day, Li Chang Sun said that your family owes him a total of four taels of silver, and that's not counted as interest. Is there such a thing?"

Xiaohu said that their family owed a total of [-] Wen, which had already been paid off and only interest was left.

Mrs. Zhang lowered her head slightly, tears fell, and finally nodded.

"Yes, when my elder brother died in battle at the Border Gate, the people at the Border Gate brought my brother's body back. I didn't have any burial fees, so I took three taels of silver from the Sun family.

Last year, Xiaohu got sick and took another one or two from him, but I have already paid back part of it. This year I left two children and have been working outside, just to pay them back. Why are they so bullying? ? "

"Who is the mayor of Tulin Town? Does it have anything to do with the Sun family?"

It was a normal thing in ancient times for the Sun family to pay high interest, and the law here did not stipulate the maximum loan interest could not exceed?
Therefore, many wealthy landlord families will use their spare money to make high interest rates, and many poor families will not be able to return. This is a loophole in the law, and loopholes cannot be used to suppress the Sun family.

So Tong Xiaowu wanted to see if there was any power behind him, if not, things would be easy!
"I don't know..." Mrs. Zhang is just an ordinary person, so she doesn't know much about these things.

Tong Xiaowu nodded, and asked again, "Do you know how much you still owe the Zhang family?"

"I have paid back part of it. His family's interest is five cents. One tael of silver is one and a half a year. The first three taels of silver are owed for two years, which is six taels. After that, the interest on the second two taels of silver is still two taels. , I paid back a total of three taels of silver, and now I still owe five taels..."

Tong Xiaowu frowned, "The interest of five cents a year is really not low! Enriching one's own pockets is also a capital crime... But now he is the head of the village, and we are common people. You have to rush out to tease him to death before you can take action, it seems that this matter can only be tolerated temporarily..."

All Zhang's previous arrogance disappeared, she sighed, and squatted on the ground with a troubled expression on her face.

"I'm currently working in a restaurant in the town, and I can earn [-] Wen a month. Even so, the money I earn is not enough to pay back the interest. In addition, Xiaohu is sick, so I can't just ignore it. I... I……"

As she said that, she even started to cry!

Tong Xiaowu sighed slightly, and said, "Xuanyuan Law currently doesn't have an interest limit standard for usury, you can only pay back the money, and by the way, there are tricks in the part of your brother's funeral expenses.

However, there are people in the court who are easy to handle, and you have no one. Even if you go to sue, it may take a year and a half. Besides, it is not known whether the money is in the hands of the Sun family. If it is, you will sue them. If I return the money to you, he will be able to escape some kind of crime in the future, why not keep this part as evidence, and maybe cut off the chance of their Sun family to stand up in one fell swoop..."

"What? Girl, why didn't I understand what you said?" Zhang's face was confused. She didn't understand Xuanyuan's law at all, and she didn't even know the professional words she said. The only sentence What she understood was the phrase "never turn over". She still didn't understand who turned over and who didn't.

"It's nothing, just let you work hard to earn money and pay back the money. By the way, do you have a lot of people killed in battle in your village?"

"Back then, the robbers in Xijiang attacked the Mazhuang checkpoint, and a total of four people died in Gaga Village..." Mrs. Zhang said.

Tong Xiaowu nodded, and took out a pen and paper, "You write down their names, where they live, and who they are at home. Write them down carefully, and it will be useful when the time comes..."

This is all evidence. According to the law of Xuanyuan, all the soldiers who died in the battle will not only be responsible for the funeral expenses by the imperial court, but also receive a subsidy of ten taels of silver from the family. Seeing this, the Zhang family not only did not get the money, but owed I gave Sun Lichang three taels of silver.

It seems that the money was either deprived of by the superiors, or it was pocketed by the head of the grandson. Withholding military and political compensation is a capital offense!
This corner village is so high that the emperor is far away, does he really think that no one cares about this matter?

"I, I can't write!" Zhang said awkwardly.

Tong Xiaowu pushed the pen and ink to Bichen, "Speak, write! Don't miss anything."

"Yes!" Bi Chen bowed her head and saluted, then sat down and picked up her pen and ink.

Xiaohu on the side saw this scene, leaned over, and lay down at the table watching Bichen write, with envy on his face.

"Does Xiaohu want to learn to write?" Bichen looked down at Xiaohu and asked.

With longing eyes, he nodded heavily.

"Sister Zhang, isn't there a free school in Qiyuan County? There is no tuition fee, so why not let the children go to school? I heard that there are also girls' schools, so that both children can go to school?"

Tong Xiaowu asked, and she found that not only the two children of Zhang Ruomei did not go to school, but also the children of each of the more than 30 households in Koga Village did not go to school. Looking at home, he should have gone to school in the county.

"I've heard of it, but I'm a widow with little income. What can I get for my children to study? Although the tuition fee is free, school accommodation needs money, and there are books, miscellaneous fees, and two children. The cost of eating is not a small amount. Going to school is no better than being at home. You can eat anything at home. You have to pay for eating at school. I have no money..."

Zhang Ruomei sighed, and Tong Xiaowu stopped asking.

After all, this is also a fact. Even if she can build free schools in counties across the country, she still has no way to provide for every child to study. Exempting tuition fees is already the limit, let alone others.

If every child can afford to read, the most important thing is the support of the court, and the common people must have money.

As long as they have money, their children must be the first thing they think of. Now there are not many people in a village who go to the county town to study, so they are poor.

　Is it snowing at your place?We have been here for two days, it is not very big, it has dyed the whole world white!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)