Madam, She Has a Tender Heart - Chapter 455

Chapter 455 Fishing Tax

Su Qing, Qing Xing and others were stunned when they saw the mighty water-carrying army coming towards them.

“Sister, is the whole village mobilized?” Qingxing was stunned.

Village Chief Zou was a little embarrassed.

He returned to the village. Before he could speak, the villagers following him spread the word. It was said that a group of noble people came to the beach and wanted fresh water for ten coins a load.

 The young and old in the village immediately started to move.

They all took buckets and basins from home, fetched water and carried it over.

Zou Cheng was afraid that the nobles would blame him, so he asked the villagers to stop from a distance.

“Sir, we have brought water, do you want it?”

Su Qingyu nodded blankly.

 Firstly, they really need water, and secondly, looking at these villagers wearing patches on top of each other, they can’t bear to refuse.

The villagers following Zou Cheng were immediately happy and came over carrying water.

Dabao, Xiaobao and others looked at this group of people blankly. Seeing that they took ten cents, they seemed happy. Dabao and others were stunned and felt a little touched in their hearts.

“My lord, do you still want water?” a group of villagers asked cautiously after taking the money.

“These are enough. We don’t have anything to free your barrels. Do you have anything useful at home?”

　　　”Yes, yes, you don’t have to worry, you can use it at home.”

“Okay, then when we free the bucket, you can take it back.”

 “Okay, okay. Don’t be in a hurry.”

Siwa followed his grandfather, carrying a basket of dried fish and other items, and walked up to Su Qingyu: “My lord, this is our family’s seafood. Take a look, do you want it?”

 “Sir, I have some here too.”

 “I have it at home too.”

Seeing Su Qingyu and others looking through Siwa’s dried fish, others gathered around with dried fish and other items in their hands.

Just now, the fourth child and several other children returned to the village with copper coins, and the village was in a state of excitement. When did the worthless clams on the tidal flats sell for hundreds of coins? Five cents a pound.

 Do you still want it, noble man? They can dig overnight.

“Come here one by one, you can’t watch even if you are surrounded like this.” Guo and others shouted.

The village chief drank the villagers back, and everyone lined up with peace of mind, waiting for the nobleman to look through it.

The mother of the little girl Cai Ya held her hand tightly, holding the basket in her arms, her eyes filled with anticipation.

This group of nobles seemed to be rich at first glance, so they just gave Cai Ya 120 Wen for selling clams. She and Cai Ya’s father carried a load of fish to Haizhou City late at night, but they couldn’t sell it for more than a few dozen cents a day.

 Caiya dug half a basket of clams and got 120 Wen.

Cai Ya’s mother waited excitedly and took out all the best things in the house.

Su Qingyu took Youbai Guo and others to pick them up carefully.

Lu Bocheng and others also followed and watched.

“Mom, what is this? There’s also a whisker.” Xiaoqi asked, holding a piece of dried squid in his hand.

“This is dried squid.” Su Qingyu took a piece of it in her hand, put it under her nose and smelled it.

 It was well dried, bright in color, and large in size. Su Qingyu was satisfied.

“Why should I keep such a good catch at home instead of selling it in the city?” Seeing that every family brought a lot, Su Qingyu was a little confused.

“We can’t sell it at a high price in the city. It’s a day’s walk from Haizhou here. We go in the morning and come back at midnight. The fresh catch is no longer fresh. We need to dry it and make it dry. But the dried catch can’t be sold at a high price. Our Haizhou is close to the sea, so there is no shortage of fish to eat, so the price is naturally not high.”

Village Chief Zou said. After saying this, I sighed in my heart. “Aren’t there any foreign merchants coming to collect it?”

“In the early years, foreign businessmen also came to collect goods, but when foreign businessmen came in, the taxes were high. When we transported it to the city, we had to be peeled off by the tax collectors. We asked for high prices, and foreign businessmen were not happy. If they could not make money, foreign businessmen would naturally not coming.”

Su Qingyu nodded. He glanced at Lu Bocheng.

Lu Bocheng then asked: “Old man, my wife is still waiting to eat fresh food. You just said that you have a fishing boat and went to sea today? I wonder if there will be fresh catch today?”

Village Chief Zou smiled bitterly and said: “We make a living by fishing, how can we not have fishing boats. Originally, every family had fishing boats, but later, the policemen would always come to collect taxes when we came ashore. We haven’t caught them yet. Once they were brought ashore, they were harvested, and even if they had good catches, they would take away a lot of them. Gradually, many people in the village left the village to make a living, and there were not many fishing boats left. “

Lu Bocheng frowned: “Are there still people who come here every day to collect fishing taxes?”

“They have come less and less in the past two years. They used to come almost every day, and every time the fishing boat docked, they would pop up.”

Someone echoed: “It seems that we haven’t come here a few times this year. I heard that our Haizhou has changed its owner. If we don’t come here in the future, then our life will be easier.”

Su Qingyu saw Lu Bocheng frowning and looked at Village Chief Zou: “Isn’t the fish tax collected when you go to the city to trade? Why did you come to the beach to collect it?”

“That is to say, we collect one line at the seaside, and we carry it into the city and collect another one. We are fighting in the sea, wind, and rain, risking our lives, and we can’t make any money. Who is willing to risk going to sea.”

“And sometimes, when we can’t collect good things, we plan to keep the food for ourselves, and they also collect taxes. We don’t trade. And it’s not like we don’t pay a small tax every year.”

The villagers present saw that the noble man was very easy to talk to, and they all expressed their dissatisfaction.

 The fish caught cannot be sold for money, so they have to dry it and eat it at home.

But they live by the sea and have been fishermen for generations. The land by the sea is also barren and cannot be harvested. They cannot make money from fishing and have no food. They are getting poorer and poorer.

Dabao and Xiaobao felt sympathetic after hearing this.

“Mom, I think their things are quite good. Let’s buy more and send some to grandpa and grandma.”

Su Qingyu looked at her two sons and nodded: “Okay.”

 When the villagers heard this, they became even more happy.

　　　Caiya’s mother was very excited as she held the one tael of silver in her hand.

 She didn’t believe in such a good thing just now, and she didn’t get much from her family’s catch. Now she looked at the money in her hand, wondering how much more the dried fish and sea vegetables at home could be sold for.

Cai Ya was pinched in pain by her mother. She raised her head to remind her, but when she saw her mother trembling with excitement while holding the silver coin, she pursed her lips.

  She was so happy that her family finally had money.

The village chief’s family also sold it for two taels of silver, and he was very excited and said, “Noble sir, I still have some in each house. I wonder if you want more.”

Su Qingyu nodded: “If you still have the same quality, I will.”

Village Chief Zou was so happy that he couldn’t even speak clearly: “Don’t worry, noble man. I will definitely keep an eye on them and bring you the best goods.”

“good.”

Su Qingyu responded and directed Guo and others to collect all the seafood.

“Is your nobleman setting up a tent? Let’s help you too.” Without waiting for Su Qingyu and others to agree, he led the villagers to take action.

 With the help of everyone in Leshan Village, the camp was quickly set up.

The village chief and others were stunned.

I thought it would be difficult to live in the wild, and I was trying to persuade the nobles to live in their village. But when I saw this tent, it was better than the house they lived in. It had beds, quilts, pillows, quilts, and even a coffee table.

 This is what people call life.

 All the villagers were stunned.

“It’s back, the village fishing boat is back!” Several children shouted excitedly with sharp eyes.

 (End of this chapter)