Boss Zhou came back with a smile, “No one died in the village, only a few people were bitten by wolves.”

Second Zhou reported, “However, the chickens in the village are basically gone, and there are still a few The fence is not high. After the pigs were killed by wolves and devoured, the remaining pigs were carried away. A cow also died in the village. There was not much of it left. All that could be carried away were taken away, leaving only the cow’s head. and bones.”

The poultry raised in the village was basically gone.

Yang Dayong asked, “Didn’t anyone kill any wolf?” 

Second Zhou shook his head, “No, this time the wolf came down the mountain and came for the poultry. It did not break into the door or window to get into the house. The injured people were also bitten trying to save the poultry.”

Zhulan knew that wolves had strong cooperative abilities, especially in following commands and strategic planning. She really didn’t expect to encounter this firsthand in ancient times; it was premeditated!

Yang Dayong smoked a cigarette, “The wolves listen very much to the alpha wolf, and this alpha wolf is very smart and only stares at domestic animals. This is not a good thing. After this experience, the wolf learned quickly and will continue to do this next time. The good news is that the poultry in Lijia Village is gone, and so Lijia Village is safe.”

The bad news was that other villages will have to suffer.

The rest of the words were left unsaid, and everyone understood in their hearts.

It didn’t snow in the next few days, the roads were open, and news could be exchanged. These days were indeed as expected. The wolves swept several villages one after another, and basically all the poultry died. Zhoujia Village was not spared, but no matter how powerful the wolves were, they were also animals, and many wolves died. Some people also died, including an old man who lived alone.

About seven days later, it started to snow again. The snow was quite heavy. Human beings seemed particularly insignificant in front of nature. Especially in ancient times, there was no technology to predict and defend against it.

The heavy snow fell for two days and stopped, and then it stopped falling again. It took nine days for the road to open again.

Zhulan liked to stock up on supplies. She bought a lot of salt and other supplies in the winter. She went to buy some after the heavy snowfall last time. The road was open. Zhulan asked Second Zhou to go back to Zhoujiacun to check on Xuemei and gave her ten kilograms of meat, a few big bones, and a chicken. Three of their own hens froze to death.

The meat was Zhulan’s own pork. After Zheng Yang left, Zhulan killed both of her family’s pigs and sold none of the meat. She kept them all for her own consumption and for next year’s wedding banquet.

Zhou Shuren went to the county to inquire about the news. In the afternoon, Zhou Shuren and Boss Zhou came back.

Zhulan asked, “What news have you heard?”

Zhou Shuren said, “The disaster here is small, and the disaster near the capital is serious, but there are already ways to provide disaster relief.” 

What Zhou Shuren was most afraid of was that the Northeast and foreign tribes were severely affected by the disaster, and the Northeast border areas were severely affected in winter. It was already unstable. If the disaster was serious, the border tribes would definitely send troops to start a war in order to survive. By then, the situation in the Northeast would not be stable. The establishment of the new dynasty was not yet complete. The main focus was on stabilizing the domestic situation and improving the rule. There was no extra energy to spend on completely resolving border issues. The borders had never been stable since the establishment of the dynasty.

Zhulan said: “How to solve the disaster? In the 12 years since the establishment of the dynasty, there have been many disasters, such as droughts and floods. After a few years of good weather, snow disasters came again. Now the border has been unstable for many years, and the annual food and grass expenses are extremely high. The national treasury doesn’t have much money, and it doesn’t have much food. How can they provide disaster relief?” 

Zhou Shuren brushed off the chill on his body and sat up on the kang, saying, “I don’t know whose idea it was to distribute the disaster relief grain to each prefecture, with each prefecture responsible for providing a certain amount of grain, which would then be transported to aid in disaster relief.”

Zhulan replied, “It must not be for the relief of the granary in Kaizhou City. The city allocated grain to each county, the counties allocated grain to each village, and each village distributed grain to each household. In other words, it’s still food being taken from the mouths of the common people.”

Zhou Shuren said, “The county magistrate just received a document stating that there have been no additional taxes in recent years, and with the favorable weather in recent years, farmers are required to contribute grain based on their own land. For every mu of land, one jin of grain is to be contributed. Scholars and officials such as those who passed the imperial examinations have enjoyed tax exemptions. Now, in addition to contributing grain based on their land, scholars must also contribute an extra fifty jin of grain, while officials, regardless of rank, are required to contribute all of their grain.”

Zhulan furrowed her brow and asked, “What about the merchants in the county and those without land?”

“I don’t know. This is all I know. The merchants will probably pay less. There shouldn’t be many people who have no land.”

Zhulan frowned, “This approach doesn’t seem wise. If people start to see benefits from this, won’t they do the same thing in the future when disasters strike? In the end, it’s the lower-class people who will bear the brunt of it all.”

Zhou Shuren sighed, “This time, the Emperor must have been forced to do it. Although taxes were just collected, our expenditures have been barely manageable for years. Every dynasty has levied grain at some point. Our dynasty has been relatively lenient; even with continuous warfare, we haven’t increased land taxes. This time’s levy isn’t excessive either.”

 Zhou Shuren continued: “I have analyzed the Emperor. It is rare for a wise king to have good policies in recent years. After the snow disaster, the business that has been suppressed for more than ten years for the sake of taxation may be relaxed. I guess the Emperor originally wanted to leave it to the new Emperor to show his kindness, but it is a pity that the natural disaster came. The wars are going on, so we have to move in advance, and once the policy on business is relaxed, it means that we will soon use troops to solve the border worries.”

Zhulan’s mind was quick to react. “The Zheng and Yang families have seized the opportunity. Now, with small-scale conflicts accumulating military achievements, when actual warfare breaks out, Wu Chun and a few others with the support of the Zheng family won’t just be ordinary soldiers. At least they’ll be safer. And if they truly achieve merit, they won’t have to worry about someone else taking credit.”

Zhou Shuren thought about his family. The grain to be handed over was 130 kilograms of grain. “Fortunately, this year’s grain has not been sold. The price of next year’s grain will definitely increase.”

Zhulan lamented that survival in ancient times was not easy, “Food has not been cheap in recent years.”

The next day, Li Zheng organized a food donation. After donating the food, he waited for the Yamen to collect it. Thanks to the good weather, although there were not too many complaints, the Emperor’s favorability also dropped a lot.

Not everyone was righteous. Most people at the bottom only cared about their own families and never cared about national worries.

Fortunately, there was no heavy snowfall again, and the disaster area in the capital was also resolved. Half a month later, each village was reading a thank-you letter from the Emperor issued by the county government, thanking the people for donating food to relieve the disaster. This routine was profound enough. No one knew if the letter was written by the Emperor himself, but the popularity of the Emperor increased a lot thanks to this letter. The people were excited. This was a letter of thanks written by the Emperor thanking them!

Zhulan listened to the letter Zhou Shuren memorized, “Our founding Emperor really knows how to play with people’s hearts.”

Zhou Shuren smiled, “Which founding emperor is simple.”

Zhulan thought about it. Those who could establish a country were not simple, especially the rebellious founding Emperor.

Time flew by, and Zhulan had a pleasant winter, free from troublesome people. Maybe Zhulan and Zhou Shuren were too comfortable, and when the new year was approaching, big trouble came.

(End of this chapter)

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