LIGHTNOVELONLINE Book 1: Chapter 85
Just while the bailiff was preoccupied with his own thoughts, Zhou Kong was also lamenting that the Zhang Manor was so powerful. It was good now that the San'shui County was certainly going to be deemed as afflicted by a drought. Taxes will be exempted if the average yield decreases by 40%. If the average yield of the San'shui County has decreased by 60%, then the cloth tax payment was also exempted. If the yield has decreased by 70%, then even the forced laborers did not have to work.
Depending on the situation, San'shui County will at least have it's output reduced by 50% this year. Magistrate Cheng and Zhou Kong made some slight adjustments, and this year's tax does not have to be handed in at all. Forced laborers still had to work since they couldn't reduce the output by 70%. They could help the people here fix the river up ahead. It was a river in front of their houses, so even if nobody told them to fix it, they would still have to fix it anyway. Now it was perfect since it is considered to be all exempted.
The other places were actually affected by the natural disaster, but nothing went on here. The paddy fields of the Ge Manor were like this already, so it can be imagined that the Zhang and Wang Manors were even better.
Zhou Kong admired them in his heart. At this moment, he saw what was held in the hands of the man who was picking things out of the field, and he was stunned again, "What's the matter? Why did you pull the seedlings out from the field?"
Zhou Kong pointed to the rice seedlings in the resident's hand and asked. The bailiff was not sure, so he had to call someone over to ask.
The resident recognized the clothes worn by the bailiff, but he didn't recognize Zhou Kong's casual clothing. Seeing that this was what he was asking about, he opened his hands with a smile, and let the three of them look at the rice seedlings in his hands and said, "It's nothing, there was a strong wind yesterday, so a lot of seedlings were blown over. Some of them snapped, and some of their roots were broken, so they were picked out and thrown away since they're useless."
"Are you even being serious? Mind your own business, don't you know that a person who likes plain carrots shouldn't complain to a person who likes salted carrots1? Whether the tax is exempted or not, it's none of your business. Does your family run the Imperial Court?" When the farmer heard this, he was not happy.
"Ahem!" The bailiff coughed on the side and deliberately blinked his eye at the farmer.
When the farmer looked at the bailiff's eyes, he suddenly understood that this must be an official who came down for a private visit. He changed his arrogant appearance and replied cautiously.
"I don't know, um, every... everyone is not anxious. The Master has replaced the rice seedlings with the seedlings from two Zhang and Wang Manors. Two days later, they can be replanted, and there will be no delays with the schedule. Don't be concerned that we're a few days late; there will be more grains in the fields at the autumn harvest than usual. If it weren't for the fear that the Master could not afford so many seeds, I would really like to pull out all the rice seedlings and replace them with new ones."
"Oh? So the seedlings from the Zhang and Wang families are good?" Zhou Kong was even more puzzled. Usually replanting was the last possible choice, but the residents of the Ge Manor were actually looking forward to it.
The resident threw the rice seedlings on his hand, pointed in the direction of the Zhang and Wang families, and stared at him to say, "It's not good, it's magical. The wind was so strong yesterday, but the people from those two manors came over here to help us fix the seedlings. Guess what? The two Manor's seedlings were like little baby cows. When the strong wind came, our seedlings fell over one by one, while their seedlings just shook their heads and the wind had passed by already."
"Really? Okay, you go continue with your work and I will take a look over there later." Zhou Kong thought the farmer was talking nonsense, so he didn't continue to ask more. First, he went to the side of the field to have a look, and he found that there were a lot of seedlings that had fallen down. That windstorm yesterday had aggravated the disaster even more.
When he finished having a look on this side, he continued forward with his nephew and the bailiff. After a while, they arrived at the small bridge. He saw the people constructing a building below. After looking back at the bailiff, the bailiff quickly said, "A restaurant is going to be built here. The three manors paid for it together. Once the construction is completed, people can enjoy their meals and wine on the surface of the water."
"Hmm, that's a good plan. They're making use of the lack of water right now." Zhou Kong responded and continued to move forward.
"My lord, it is impossible to plant them in advance, otherwise they will freeze to death. It can only be said that these rice seedlings were either well planted or well selected. Look, my lord, there are not many footprints imprinted in this field; it is evident that yesterday's wind had not blown over many rice seedlings in these fields."
The bailiff was not too familiar with agriculture, but he knows how to draw inferences from some aspects since this is a skill that he needs to use when handling a case.
After hearing this, Zhou Kong looked at the field and frowned again. "Why were the seedlings planted so randomly? The Ge Manor's seedlings are all neatly arranged in rows. Is it possible that the residents from the Zhang and Wang Manors are fooling their masters? "
He didn't believe that the masters of the Zhang and Wang Manors would be so clumsy that they would let people randomly throw the rice seedlings into the fields. He wanted to try to help the two families catch the people who were deliberately doing evil deeds.
"Hey~! What nonsense are you shouting about over there? Explain clearly, who fooled the master? Don't talk nonsense if you don't know anything."
Zhou Kong was speaking a bit too loud, and as a result, several people over there heard him. These people walked over immediately and questioned Zhou Kong.
"You are...?" Zhou Kong asked while looking at the group of people.
"We are the residents from the Zhang and Wang Manors. We came out to guard the fields; we're called… we're called the "Strongly Growing Seedlings Protection Team", and I'm the team captain. These are all team members. You're insulting, no, you're slandering the residents of the Zhang and Wang Manors."
This person walked up to Zhou Kong. He straightened his back, pointed at himself and the people around him, and spoke confidently .
"Ahem!" The bailiff coughed again, and said at the same time, "This is the lord sent down here from the court."
"Oh~! So that's the case. A lord? An official? An official can casually slander others? My master has told us already, the Strongly Growing Seedlings Protection Team is only responsible to our masters, and we do not care about other people. It is said that military orders are unmoving like the mountains. A government official can go find other government officials; we only listen to the orders of our Masters."
This person didn't care at all. Wang Juan selected him because of his character. She treated the seedling protection team as a military unit. No matter what happened, she could not let her prowess appear weak. Even if any trouble was caused, the master will be there to bear the burden. There would advance forward even if it was a mountain of knives and seas of fire ahead. If they retreated back a step, then how were they capable of guarding their own money and treasures.
This person understood Wang Juan's spirit and did not give in at all, even if he knew that the identity of the person in front of him was not ordinary since a bailiff was standing next to him.
"Of course, you think we are all idiots and don't know how to plant seedlings? This is called ‘thrown seedlings'. It was decided by the master. We didn't believe it at the beginning, but the master told us to, so we did it. Now we know. When the wind blows, the transplanted seedlings would fall over, but the thrown ones will stay standing upright here. The Master is amazing."
This person was still so confident. Looking directly into Zhou Kong's eyes, he spoke every word clearly.
"Okay, so it is indeed the Zhang Manor. Well-deserved reputation. Even a mere farmer has such a sense of integrity; not to mention the master's. Their method of governance is so powerful that it can unite the hearts of the farmer and the master, and allow them to not fear authority."
Zhou Kong was not angry, but instead, he felt excited. It was nothing different than controlling an army. A soldier who bowed down to outsiders was not a soldier, but a coward. He learned of the master's capabilities through looking at their residents. It must be the workings of the two masterminds, otherwise, how could these people be like so.
Thinking of this, Zhou Kong continued to ask, "Is the master overly strict and is good at governing people?"
It was not expected that when these people heard this, their expressions would immediately turn dark. The team captain glared at the bailiff and said to Zhou Kong, "You're using the heart of a villain to read the mind of a gentleman. Helping us construct houses is considered strict? Making clothing to give to us is considered strict? Giving us lanterns is considered strict? Giving...."
This person explained the benefits that the master gave them from the beginning to end, but did not mention how the master planted cucumbers.
Zhou Kong was stunned as he listened to his words. He had never seen a resident like this before; he was a bit overly boastful. He didn't seem like a resident; he was almost like a certain family's old master.
The bailiff next to him was anxious now since he was afraid that the lord would be unhappy, so he had to speak up, "Do you know who this is? His position is higher than your magistrate. Are you still not going to speak honestly?"
"So what if he's up higher than the magistrate? What do you mean by speaking honestly. I don't understand, all I know is that if the prowess of the seedling protection team is weakened, I will not be able to face my Master when I go back. The Master chose me as the captain. Even if I die, I will still stand up for the Master."
"It's fine, it's fine. Let's not talk about this. I'll ask you to help me inform the Manor that Mister Zhou and his uncle are here and would like to see the Master." Zhou Kong had nothing to say about this. The Zhang and Wang families actually kept charge of the clothing, food and shelter for the Manors' residents, so no wonder they worked so hard like this.
As soon as the team captain heard this, he hurriedly greeted them. "It turns out that it was Mister Zhou and Lord Zhou that arrived. I did not know, and have offended you quite a bit. I'll go report now, and then, I will ask for punishment. My Master has instructed us that when Mister Zhou and Lord Zhou arrive here, we cannot neglect them. I will take my leave first. The rest of you must take good care of Mister Zhou and Master Zhou."
The team captain ran towards the main courtyard of the Zhang Manor after speaking, and he almost fell on the road. Several other people stood directly in the water and stretched out their hands to preemptively support Zhou Kong and the others so that they wouldn't accidentally fall into the water.
Zhou Kong, Zhou Xi'hu, and the bailiff were all stunned. The contrast was too great. When they mentioned their identities earlier, they didn't care at all. But once it was said that they were the Zhou uncle and nephew, everyone jumped into the water. If it was said that they lost pride just now, it can now be said that they were given the utmost respect.
Zhou Xi'hu was boastful at this time. He raised his head, and said to his uncle, "Uncle, what do you think?"
"Good. They just heard your name, and they act like this. Little Hu is well accomplished. You're even more powerful than my position as a Si Cang Can Jun, a six-ranked official. The Zhou family will rely on you in the future."
Zhou You was happy. He was given this kind of treatment when he used the status of being Zhou Xi'hu's uncle, and the treatment was different when he used his status as an official. This shows that these people only recognize close relationships and don't recognize anything else. It was easy to deal with such people.
Naturally, Zhou Xi'hu acted humble. After waiting for a while, a lot of people came over. There were two older people at the front. Without even thinking, it can be inferred that those two were the elders in the Zhang family. This set-up of people was large.
Only then did Zhou Kong remember that he only thought about arriving earlier, but he didn't even bring any gifts, so for a short while, he didn't know what to do.
Translator's Notes
"Mind your own business, don't you know that a person who plain carrots shouldn't complain to a person who likes salted carrots?" 咸萝卜淡操心
This Chinese idiom means "mind your own business because you don't understand the entire situation". The idea behind the idiom is that a person who likes eating mild foods would complain that too much salt is added to salted carrot, but they do not understand that the person likes eating salty foods and that salted carrots need a lot of salt added or else it will easily go bad.