Chapter 247 Folks
"It would be a lie to say I'm not worried, but I'm not too worried!" Wang Laosan drank a bowl of water and continued, "In fact, not many people died in our Huaxia Division, at least the casualties of our Jiangjin County soldiers were very small.

Among the two or three hundred people in our area who joined the army, only four or five died. Although the families of the deceased must be sad, everyone is still willing to send their children to the army.

Death in war is a common thing. Even when there was no war, people would still die. Some died of starvation, some died of disease, and some died for unknown reasons. Many young people died that year.

If you die on the battlefield, at least you can be given the title of martyr, enjoy sacrifices from the government, and your family can also get a large sum of money. It is much better than dying in misery at home.

Besides, if we hadn't gone to war, we wouldn't have the good life we ​​have now. Before the leader came out, I had four sons and one daughter-in-law. The eight or nine people in the family lived in five thatched huts and had no food to eat.

Now, my four sons have each married and live in a spacious tiled house. They can cook whatever they want and have a meat feast from time to time. To think that it has only been more than a year seems like a dream.

No, it’s better than dreaming. I’ve never had such a good dream before.”

As the old man was sighing with emotion, the old lady and two young women carrying babies on their backs came out with winnowing baskets. The baskets were filled with flatbreads, both wheat and rice. After a while, the two young women brought out a bucket of rice soup.

"It's porridge, not rice soup. It's just that the time is short and the rice grains are not boiled. They are all sunk to the bottom. You can scoop them out yourselves!" Wang Laosan said a little embarrassedly.

"It's okay, just eat something!"

Chen Gu took a triangular rice cake and took a bite. The crust was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, with a slight sweetness. The wheat cake was salty. The old woman also grabbed a bowl of pickled cowpeas.

"It tastes great!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

"That's right. The people in the joint defense team like our women to cook the most. If there were no regulations requiring rotation, the job of cooking in the joint defense team would definitely be monopolized by our family!" Wang Laosan said with some pride.

"Haha, that won't work. Public affairs require that everyone be treated equally." Chen Gu said.

Wang Laosan nodded and said, "I understand the truth. Our Huaxia Department is people-oriented. We value equality for all. We want everyone to make money together."

"That's it. By the way, why doesn't your grandson go to school?" asked Chen Gu.

"He studied, but he just couldn't learn well. But I forced him to go. He learned as much as he could. It's always good to learn two more lessons. Today is the 15th, a day off!" Wang Laosan explained. He was a little discouraged when he talked about his grandson's poor learning.

Chen Gu smiled and said, "It's okay. Those with extraordinary talents can be handed over to the government, and those with dull talents can be kept by their parents. Of course, it would be good to learn two more. Apart from anything else, you must be able to understand the court's announcements and calculate clearly!"

This is Chen's minimum requirement for the people. Only if they can write and count can they avoid being deceived by corrupt officials and manipulated at will.

"Then I'm afraid my eldest grandson will have to stay at my lap!" Wang Laosan sighed again.

Chen Gu smiled, finished his wheat cake, drank the rice soup in his bowl, took out two ten-yuan tax coupons and handed them to Wang Laosan, asking, "Is twenty yuan enough?"

"Enough, ten yuan is enough, it's just 40 to 50 kilograms of grain, not worth 20 yuan!" Wang Laosan said this, but took both tax coupons and looked up at the sky to see if they were real. Chen Gu smiled and didn't care. 40 to 50 kilograms of grain was worth more than five yuan, plus the work of several people, ten yuan was a bit of a stretch, and 20 yuan was indeed a bit too much, but a little more is a little more.

The reason why Chen Ke gave out tax coupons was to see how well the coupons would be accepted by the general public. Since ordinary farmers could accept them and knew how to distinguish the authenticity of the coupons, it proved that the coupons were circulating well.

Seeing Chen Gu paid the money, Zhang Zhe asked his guards to equip their horses and prepare to leave.

After Chen Gu got on his horse, he smiled and said, "Let's go. Thank you for your hospitality, old man. I wish you a long life and peace for your descendants!"

"Thank you so much, thank you so much for your blessing, and I wish you good luck!" Wang Laosan bowed and thanked him repeatedly. People of this era believe that the world is fair. If you have more, others will have less. The blessing from your noble person is just sharing the good fortune with you.

Shortly after Chen Gu and others left, people from various departments of Zhiping Town rushed to Wang Laosan's house, but they only saw Wang Laosan and his family cleaning up the dishes, tables and chairs.

Wang Laosan was very curious when he saw several officials from the market town coming. He also saw his youngest son, so he couldn't help but greet him and ask, "What are you doing?"

The people were not afraid of these low-level officials in the market town. After all, the Huaxia Ministry was very caring towards ordinary people, and the laws were strict but relatively fair. The low-level officials did not dare to abuse their power like the officials in the Qing court.

The officials of the Huaxia Ministry should not only not act arrogantly, but also be more cautious in their daily actions. The last batch of officials who did wrong are still mining in various mines.

"The people who were having dinner at our house just now were most likely led by the leader himself. What did you say to the leader?" asked Wang Laosan's youngest son.

The others also looked at Wang Laosan helplessly, waiting for his answer. Although they had not done anything wrong, they were still afraid of the unexpected. After all, Chen the Executor was ruthless. Although the Huaxia Ministry did not have the death penalty, the days of digging coal in the mines were not so easy.

"Is that the leader?" Wang Laosan was stunned for a moment, then said, "You know what, it really fits. I was wondering why that person looks so young, but so calm.

Hey, why is there no ceremonial guard when the leader travels? "

Once again the officials could not help but be speechless. Do you think this is the Qing court? When a county magistrate travels, there are people carrying a sedan chair, yamen runners clearing the way, and people beating gongs and drums along the way. The Hua Xia tribe does not have such a thing as ceremonial guards at all.

"Dad, tell me first, what did you say to the leader?" Wang Laosan's youngest son asked anxiously.

Wang Laosan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. "He didn't say anything. He just cooked a pot of wife and fried dozens of kilograms of pancakes for them to eat. He chatted about some family matters. When the leader beat me, he also wished me a long life and good health for my descendants!"

"What didn't the town say?"

"I really didn't say anything. With the leader's temper, I really wanted to report you. Why would I wait for you to come? I'm afraid the leader would just arrest you and interrogate you directly." Wang Laosan said unhappily.

The others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when they heard this. Indeed, with Chen Gu's temper, if he really heard something, he would most likely take action immediately, or at least interrogate them.

(End of this chapter)