A Clash of Gods - Chapter 78
Chapter 78 False Pretenses
Yang Ning and Gu Qinghan walked to the village with their horses and saw a group of people in the front, including men and women, elders and children. There was a number of at least one hundred people. It was noisy as a mess in the village, with chickens and dogs running.
The two locked the horses aside and then moved closer to the crowd, to see that all the villagers glared at several people in the front resentfully.
The people were different from the villagers at a glance as they wore sportswear which was short and all of them were strong. Five or six burly men gathered behind a middle-aged man dressed in grey sportswear, who had a grey belt around his head and was about forty years old, with muscles on his face. Judging from his ferocious look, anybody knew that he was not a nice person.
Behind them were several fast horses. Obviously, they came here on horseback.
Yang Ning knew that in this country, the fast horse was rare, and an ordinary family couldn’t own a horse. These people appeared to be from powerful families.
The man in grey glanced over the villagers with farm tools in their hands and asked playfully, “What? Are you going to fight or kill somebody? If you want to kill somebody, your hoes won’t work.”
At the moment, a tall and big man with dark skin stood in front of the villagers. He was nearly forty years old. Yang Ning could only see his back and didn’t know what he looked like. Beside the big man were more than ten strong peasants with farm tools in hands who confronted the group in the front.
Yang Ning and Gu Qinghan were in the middle of the crowd. Although some villagers glanced at them in surprise occasionally, they paid attention to the group of burly men and nobody asked the two.
The big man in front of the villagers responded loudly, “Steward Luo, they just came back from the farmland and don’t intend to do something like you said. But we have discussed about your requirement. I am afraid that we can’t do as you required. Everybody wants to stay alive and you can’t force us to die.”
“Wait.” Apparently, the man in grey was Steward Luo, and he raised his hand to stop. “Han Yi, you are the head of the Luwang Village and should know that the requirement is not my idea but a decision made by the family of Marquis of Honor.” Afterward, he cupped his hands to the right. “Marquis of Honor has passed away, and everybody in the country feels sad. He was a pillar of the country and his funeral is different from the ordinary family’s. It would cost a lot of money. Marquis of Honor represents Jiangling, and all of us depend on him. Now that he has gone, if you have a conscience, you should respect him, but what have you done? You refuse to give anything. Aren’t you supported by Marquis of Honor?”
Yang Ning didn’t expect that Steward Luo mentioned the Marquis of Honor as soon as he spoke and realized that the news that the Marquis of Honor had died had spread to Jiangling.
While Gu Qinghan looked cold and kept silent.
The dark-skinned man Han Yi replied in an instant, “Steward Luo, we certainly won’t forget the favor Marquis of Honor did us, but this time, you asked each family for one dan of grain, and we can’t afford it.” He turned around and pointed to the villagers behind him. “Steward Luo, have a look. I can’t say that the villagers from the Luwang Village look sallow and emaciated, but they are so thin. Although we have just collected the grain, we have to sustain to the next year, and many families don’t have enough to eat. If every family gives out one dan of grain this time, wouldn’t you let them survive? I ask you, Steward Luo.”
“So you mean the dignity of Marquis of Honor is not important?” Steward Luo sneered. “Marquis of Honor is upright and free from corruption, and his family’s income is from us. At this time, if we don’t do anything, who can do it? Who will support Marquis’ family? Would you let his family lose face in front of all officials for the sake of your grain?”
Yang Ning frowned and looked at Gu Qinghan next to him involuntarily. She knew what he wanted to do and shook her head.
Suddenly a villager shouted, “Steward Luo, have we ever paid less grain these years? You said that Marquis was on the battlefield and the country was in trouble, so we had to pay forty percent of the grain as the tax, and we didn’t argue with you. You still asked each member of a family to pay 0.1 dan of grain as the personal tax, and we didn’t say anything. You chose some people randomly to work as corvee at ordinary times and didn’t provide them with food, but we still didn’t complain. In the final analysis, we did it for Marquis’ sake. All of us know that we didn’t worry about food and clothes in the past because of Marquis’ kindness. In a difficult time, we should share his worry.” His voice got emotional. “These years, we keep far less grain and don’t have enough to eat, but you collect more and more taxes under false pretenses repeatedly. If it goes on like this, how can we survive?”
All the villagers around were filled with righteous indignation, and somebody howled, “When the old Marquis passed away, nobody said we should pay more grain. Now Marquis has gone, but why is the rule changed?”
Yang Ning looked cold, and Gu Qinghan’s beautiful face was frosty while she even clenched her fists.
Steward Luo sneered, his eyes cold. “It appears that Marquis was too nice to you in the past and indulged you. Your farmland was given to Marquis by His Majesty. Even if he takes back your land, you should hand it in, let alone paying some grain to show respect.”
Han Yi stated in a deep voice, “Steward Luo, you are unreasonable. I hear from the scholars that all the land in the world belongs to His Majesty, but we have never heard that the imperial court takes back the farmland at will. The cropland of our village was passed down from our ancestors and was farmed by several generations of each family. We paid all the taxes that we should pay. Even if Marquis comes here now, he has no right to take back our farmland.”
Steward Luo laughed and stared at Han Yi. “Han Yi, I am polite to you now, but you want me to punish you. I will ask once more. Will you pay the grain to support the funeral of Marquis’ family?”
Han Yi replied loudly, “I have told you that all of us want to stay alive and need grain. We have paid the grain that we should pay. If somebody wants to collect more grain under false pretenses, we have nothing.”
“Great. You are a man.” Steward Luo showed a thumbs-up sign. “Han Yi, don’t you think I know that somebody went to the capital city and reported to Marquis’ family, saying that the fiefdom collected taxes randomly. Did you get involved in this matter?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Han Yi laughed scornfully. “But if you push us too hard, I will really go to the capital city and ask Marquis’ family directly why we have to pay so many taxes these years.”
Steward Luo responded indifferently, “Can you enter Marquis’ mansion? As soon as the one who went to the capital to report last time came back, we broke his arms and legs. He would be laid up for a lifetime. Haven’t you heard about that?”
Han Yi laughed loudly. “Of course I have. Steward Luo, do you want to break my leg today?”
The villagers next to him immediately raised their hoes and carrying poles.
Yang Ning couldn’t help but move closer to Gu Qinghan and whispered in her ear, “Somebody went to the capital to report?”
Gu Qinghan’s face was frozen, and she still shook her head.
“Han Yi doesn’t plan to pay the grain. Are you going to follow him?” Steward Luo scanned the crowd. “He doesn’t want to be the village head. Don’t you want to stay alive?”
Somebody answered in an instant, “No. We won’t pay anything this time.”
The other villagers shouted one after another.
Steward Luo sneered and pointed to a villager, questioning in a deep voice, “Come out, you. What did you say?”
That villager who was pointed by Steward Luo was frightened, but he still nerved himself and took two steps forward. “I… I said that I won’t pay the grain. We have paid what we should pay…” Before he finished his words, a man behind Steward Luo rushed out and raised his hand, trying to grab the villager’s neck.
The villager was shocked. He was thin, much weaker than the burly man who rushed over, and raised his carrying pole as a conditioned response. The burly man had been trained obviously and grabbed the carrying pole easily. He pulled it with strength and took it away. Then he raised the carrying pole without demur, aiming at the villager’s head.
A scream was heard, as the burly man hit the villager’s forehead. The villager shook and then fell on the ground, with a broken head bleeding. All the villagers were astonished, and some of them looked angry, but most of them were scared.
Han Yi yelled harshly, “Stop. What are you going to do?” He rushed over and wanted to check the villager’s injury. Some young men behind him thought he was going to risk his life, so they got warm-blooded and shouted, running with him. The burly men behind Steward Luo also rushed over.
Yang Ning furrowed his brows as he could see at a glance that the burly men brought by Steward Luo had more or less practiced martial arts. Although they were not powerful, they were good at fighting, and these villagers were no match for them.
As expected, the burly men were inferior in the number, but it seemed as if wolves met a group of sheep, and they used arms and legs at the same time. Screams could be heard, and five or six villagers were knocked down instantly. Somebody had broken arms and legs and lied on the ground, crying miserably.
Although the other villagers were resentful, almost nobody dared to rush to them as they saw those burly men’s cruelness.
Han Yi was tall and big with much strength. He didn’t want to fight against those burly men in the first place, but he could do nothing to stop them as they started fighting. Seeing that a burly man rushed to him, he had to walk to the attacker and grabbed his hand at the same time, fighting against him. A burly man next to them beat two villagers and then grabbed a carrying pole, trying to hit Han Yi’s head from behind since he was still resisting.
He raised the carrying pole but felt it tight before he hit Han Yi. He didn’t realize what was happening when the carrying pole was pulled and left his hand.
This burly man was surprised and thought that another villager came. He turned around and found a young man who was about sixteen or seventeen years old standing behind him. The teenager wore different clothes from the ordinary villager’s and the carrying pole had been snatched by him. The burly man was shocked since this teenager looked like a scholar but had strength to grab the carrying pole from him unexpectedly.