Chapter 106: Tea Garden 1/2

Li Qingzhi didn’t bring much luggage this time, just a big backpack and a small suitcase.

His clothes were all in the big suitcase, and the small suitcase only contained some odds and ends.

He didn’t even bring the pens, ink, paper, and inkstone that other scholars usually take when they go out. He planned to borrow them from Zhu Xunmiao when he needed them.

He didn’t usually need them; Zhu Xunmiao needed to take notes when he received teaching from the county magistrate, but Li Qingzhi didn’t. He could remember everything.

Li Qingzhi came to the place where the county magistrate, Gou, lived behind the county government office. When the gatekeeper saw him, he immediately let him in.

The county magistrate, Gou, had already washed up, eaten breakfast, and was packing his luggage. When he saw Li Qingzhi, he asked him to wait for a moment and ordered someone to bring some snacks for Li Qingzhi.

The county magistrate, Gou, had already noticed that Li Qingzhi could eat a lot.

He suspected that Li Qingzhi might have a weak stomach; otherwise, why could he eat so much and still be so thin?

“Zixiao, is this all you’re bringing?” After packing up his own luggage, the county magistrate, Gou, asked Li Qingzhi.

“It’s enough.” Li Qingzhi smiled.

“I have more than twice as much stuff as you.” The county magistrate, Gou, sighed. “I plan to bring another servant besides the two bodyguards.”

The two of them chatted, and as they chatted, the county magistrate, Gou, eagerly said, “Zixiao, when you come back this time, my wife should have arrived in Chongcheng County. Then please come and have a meal with you and your wife.”

The county magistrate, Gou’s wife, and children did not come with him to Chongcheng County.

Originally, they were going to wait for the county magistrate, Gou, to settle down here, and then they would come over, but when the county magistrate, Gou, first arrived in Chongcheng County, he was hindered in every way and didn’t have a good time, so he didn’t bring his wife and children over.

Towards the end of last year, his situation improved, and he wanted to bring his wife and children over, but at that time, it was close to the New Year and the weather was cold, so his wife and children did not make the trip.

But recently, the county magistrate, Gou’s wife, and their children had set off, and it wouldn’t be long before they arrived in Chongcheng County.

The county magistrate, Gou, had never mentioned his wife to Li Qingzhi before, nor was it appropriate to mention her, but he had mentioned his children. The county magistrate, Gou, had been too busy studying before and didn’t pay much attention to women, so he only had three children, one son and two daughters, with the oldest son being thirteen this year.

Magistrate Gou wanted to invite him to dinner, which was a good thing, and Li Qingzhi immediately agreed.

While they were chatting, Ding Xi, Zhu Qian, and Zhu Xunmiao arrived together.

They were all very happy to go out with the county magistrate. Zhu Qian even helped prepare the boat.

With the county magistrate accompanied by two guards and a servant, along with Ding Xi, Zhu Xunmiao, and Li Qingzhi, and two boatmen and a servant arranged by Zhu Qian, they made a group of ten people.

At about ten o’clock, their boat set off from the county office and headed for Linhu County.

The area of a prefecture in Jiangnan is not large, and they would definitely arrive in Linhu County before dark.

There was an Eight Immortals table on the boat. On the way, the county magistrate, Li Qingzhi, Ding Xi, and Zhu Xunmiao sat around the table, chatting.

The county magistrate was very interested in Ding Xi’s experiences outside and asked many questions. At the same time, he also talked about some of his own experiences, such as when he went to the capital to take the imperial examination and almost had nowhere to stay. Fortunately, his wife’s family had some connections, and he ended up staying at an official’s house.

After Zhu Xunmiao returned home yesterday, he told Zhu Qian about Li Qingzhi’s request for him to take notes on what the county magistrate taught.

After listening, Zhu Qian told him to take out a pen and paper and make notes if he could write. So now he took out his pen and paper and started writing quickly.

The county magistrate didn’t have a deep impression of Zhu Xunmiao before, but now, the more he looked at Zhu Xunmiao, the more he liked him. He talked more about imperial examination-related knowledge.

Zhu Xunmiao used a simple method, but Li Qingzhi was different. While the county magistrate was speaking, he observed the county magistrate’s expression and praised him from time to time…

His expression was sincere, and he listened attentively, which made the county magistrate particularly happy.

Li Qingzhi asked about the matter this time.

The county magistrate said, “The magistrate of Linhu County, Yan, reported to the prefectural governor that their tea garden in Linhu County was hit by pests and requested a reduction in tea tax… The prefectural governor must not believe it, which is why he sent me to take a look.”

Here, the county magistrate also talked about some tea tax-related matters.

In the previous dynasty, the tea tax had never been high, but the first emperor of this dynasty believed that the grain tax should be reduced so that the people could eat well. He considered things like the tea tax unnecessary and increased it to collect more taxes.

So in Daqi, the grain tax was one-fifteenth, while the tea tax was three-tenths.

When it actually comes to collecting taxes, hardly anywhere really sticks to the set rules; there’s always some extra collection.

The methods of tax collection vary from one county to another.

For instance, in Chongcheng County, grain taxes are usually distributed to each village, and then the villagers are responsible for delivering them to the warehouse.

In Miaoqian Village, taxes are typically collected jointly by the village chief and the bailiffs, and the transportation of grain is arranged by collecting money from the villagers to hire boats. In the past, the one in charge of transporting grain was mostly Mr. Yao.

In Yu County, where the original father lived, it’s different. Grain collection in Yu County is a form of corvée, where the tasks are allocated to the common people. These people, called “jiehu”, if they cannot collect enough grain, have to supplement it with their own, and after collection, they are responsible for delivering the grain to the warehouse.

Li Qingzhi felt that this was mainly because Yu County was too poor, the county government had few personnel, and transportation in Yu County was inconvenient.

Chongcheng County has well-developed waterway transportation, making it much easier to transport grain than in Yu County.

As the group chatted, two boatmen continued rowing, while two servants brewed tea at the bow of the boat and prepared some simple meals.

“Let’s stop the boat over there and have something to eat before we continue,” Magistrate Gou said. They needed to eat, and so did the two boatmen.

After the meal, the boat continued forward, and before long, they arrived at Linhu County.

In the morning, Magistrate Gou had talked quite a bit with Ding Xi, but in the afternoon, he stopped chatting and began discussing some knowledge related to the imperial examinations with Li Qingzhi and Zhu Xunmiao.

For Magistrate Gou, the imperial examination was already a distant memory, and he found it too simple to discuss… So he talked about the rural examinations.

After mentioning the rural examinations, both Zhu Xunmiao and Li Qingzhi listened attentively. Zhu Xunmiao even crazily took notes.

Magistrate Gou glanced at Zhu Xunmiao, feeling increasingly satisfied with him.

Their boat was not moving fast, and sitting in the cabin, they could see the scenery along the riverbank.

While Magistrate Gou talked, Li Qingzhi occasionally glanced at the shore.

Adjacent to Chongcheng County, Linhu County’s natural scenery was similar, and at this moment, they could see vast fields filled with rapeseed flowers.

Some of the rapeseed flowers had begun to wither, while others were in full bloom, looking very beautiful.

“The east wind rustles through the fields, veiling the distant willows in smoke, and the rapeseed flowers bloom as golden as gold.” Magistrate Gou also noticed this scene and recited two lines of poetry from the ancients, saying to Li Qingzhi and Zhu Xunmiao, “Zixiao, Xunmiao, why don’t you two compose a poem about the rapeseed flowers?”

Li Qingzhi and Zhu Xunmiao immediately started pondering.

Both of them had average talent in poetry, and the poems they produced were not particularly stunning. Fortunately, Magistrate Gou himself was not good at poetry but had mastered some techniques, so he explained them to them.

Around four or five in the afternoon, their boat docked at the pier in Linhu County.

The county town of Linhu County looked similar to that of Chongcheng County, but Li Qingzhi noticed that the men working at the dock in Linhu County were not particularly strong.

In Chongcheng County, there were also thin and weak-looking men trying to make a living at the dock, but most of the men there were strong and sturdy. Here, however, it was different; it was all a group of thin and weak men.

At this moment, someone came up and said to Magistrate Gou, “Master Gou, Master Yan asked me to wait for you here!”