Chapter 274 War of Words
Pan Yun leaned against the door with his arms folded, and looked at Chen Xiucai. "Do you need help?"

Chen Xiucai shook his head at her and walked forward. "Who said they were lost? Their parents are still alive."

The visitor widened his eyes and said, "Mr. Chen, are you crazy or are you just playing dumb? Their parents were killed by the Japanese pirates a long time ago, so how can they still have parents?"

Chen Xiucai: "It is clearly written in the court document that only eleven people were killed or injured in this invasion of the Japanese pirates. Our village has not obtained their death certificates. If there are no death certificates, how did they die?"

He said, "If you want to take them to the Salesian Home, that's fine. First get a letter of abandonment from their parents and then come back to me to ask for them back."

"You, you, you, they're all dead. Where do you want me to go to get the abandonment letter from them?"

Chen Xiucai: "The government said they are not dead!"

"If you say they are dead, then go to the government office and get a death certificate. Once you have the death certificate and confirm that they are orphans, then come back to take them in!"

"Wow..." Pan Yun looked at Chen Xiucai with starry eyes and couldn't help but clap his hands gently, "I like this cow. I'll learn it. I'll learn it."

Miaozhen and Miaohe also closed their wide mouths to show that they had learned something.

Chen Xiucai drove the angry people away and also helped the neighboring Huaihua Village.

Liu You waited until the people from the Salesian walked away before the blush on his face faded. But he was still very angry and his breathing was rapid and irregular. "They are too much, too much. Just for these pieces of land, they want to take the children away."

"There are so many orphans in the orphanage. They have to plant seeds and rice in spring, weed and catch insects in summer, harvest in autumn, and beg for food in winter. The children that my family risked their lives to save have to live such a hard life. How can I face my fellow villagers..."

Pan Yun: "So you see, the matter still has to be handed over to Chen Xiucai. He has insight and courage. Most importantly, he understands the law and knows how to apply the rules reasonably to beat them back. Liu You, you just assist him and work together with him. I believe that we can take good care of the orphans in the two villages."

Chen Xiucai turned around and said in a deep voice, "Sort out the land of each family in the village, and put the land under the names of you and me."

Liu You's eyes widened. "Put it under our names?"

"Yes, if you don't want it, just put it in my name. No matter who puts it in our name, we have to sign two contracts."

"These fields are just in name only. When the children grow up, the land will be returned to them when they are fourteen years old."

Liu You understood instantly that this was just like taking the land to a scholar or a juren to entrust his name to him.

By paying a sum of money to the scholars and juren, you can register your own land under their names. The land is still theirs and they are the ones who cultivate it, but from the perspective of the yamen, the land belongs to the scholars and juren.

However, they have another document, and if there is a dispute, they can file a complaint in writing.

The purpose of doing this is to avoid forced labor.

There were many types of labor service in the Ming Dynasty. Some were arranged according to household registration, and some were arranged according to the family's land properties.

The more land a person owns, the more labor and taxes he or she will be responsible for.

Except for scholars with official titles such as Xiucai, Juren and Jinshi, as well as officials.

Therefore, many people, as long as they are related to them, want to register their land in their name.

We see that a high-ranking official owns tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, but in fact, the land that actually belongs to him may be less than one percent.

For ordinary people, this was a way to avoid taxes. For the imperial court, it was stealing money from the national treasury. And for the lower class people, who had no one in their family who had passed the imperial examinations or had no relatives who were officials, it was an increased burden.

Because the taxes, donations and labor service of a state, prefecture and county are fixed, if there are fewer people paying taxes and labor service, then the burden will have to be shared by other people.

Although Liu You was a commoner, he knew how to do this because after Chen Xiucai passed the imperial examination, he once brought two kilograms of pork belly to Chen's house and wanted to register his family's land under his name.

But Chen Xiucai did not agree.

Even when his uncle's family wanted to hang him up, he refused.

He said that it would not only hurt the national treasury, but also hurt the common people.

At that time, Liu You thought he was hypocritical and arrogant.

How many acres of land can he, a scholar, be exempted from labor service?

It also hurts the national treasury and the common people...

Isn't he just one of the common people? Not giving him a name would be a disservice to him.

But now Liu You vaguely understood.

If Chen Xiucai accepts the offer, it is possible that the extra labor will fall on him.

So many people died in the two villages, but the government office did not report it, not even issuing a death certificate. When the time comes for them to have forced labor, what if some idiot deliberately assigns them according to the number of people on the list? How long will it take for the two villages to complete the labor?
Liu You thought about it, swallowed his saliva and said: "Well, then all of them will be recorded in your name."

Chen Xiucai nodded, "Okay."

Liu You breathed a sigh of relief. With them watching and Pan Yun and others testifying, they were not afraid that Chen Xiucai would embezzle the land of the two villages.

Chen Xiucai immediately wrote the sales documents and signed the registered contract.

All the children from Huaihua Village and Shuangyang Village came over, and each of them stepped forward to sign.

Of course, they would not sign, they would just draw a circle and then put their fingerprints on it. Because there were too many contracts and Chen Xiucai did not have enough paper left at home, Pan Yun also provided some as a favor.

There was a stack of contracts alone, not to mention the land deeds that Chen Xiucai collected.

Some families couldn’t find their land deeds and had to go to the government office to find ways to get a new one.

Chen Xiucai decided to go to the county government to get it done in a few days.

Liu You wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was very glad that he had handed over the matter. Otherwise, how could he have done it?
Chen Xiucai used two paperweights to press the contract and the land deed, and said to the villagers and children standing in the yard: "Their goal is the land of the two villages. Now that all the land is in my hands, they will not trouble you again."

"From today on, you must live a good life after you get your stuff back. You are not allowed to play around in the fields anymore. Tomorrow the adults will start selecting a site to build a school. You older children will have to take care of the younger ones and work hard for a few more days."

"When the school is built, you will start to study." Chen Xiucai said in a deep voice: "You must live well and grow up well, and take care of your parents, brothers and sisters."

The children responded loudly, holding back tears in their eyes.

Pan Yun took out the list and said, "We have divided the things according to your number. Come and get them."

The children couldn’t take back heavy things like food even if they received them, but it didn’t matter because they had their own way of marking them.

They took their own food bags and filled them with three months' worth of food. Then they took out a piece of charcoal from their pockets and drew a mark on the bag that only they could understand, "This is my ration."

"this is mine."

They were happiest when the books were distributed. A group of children wiped their dirty hands on their bodies again and again, and then carefully took the books.

Chen Xiucai said, there is a golden house in the book, and there is a way to take revenge in the book.

If they want to get rich, they have to study. If they want to take revenge, they still have to study!
After distributing the grain, Pan Yun generously gave them two cows and two carts, "one cow and one cart for each village."

Chen Xiucai and Liu You were grateful again.

Now the village is full of the elderly, the weak, women and children, so cows are very important.

One cow is worth several strong laborers.

It was already afternoon when Pan Yun and his friends left, but they had no intention of staying overnight and decided to return to Sanqing Mountain as quickly as possible.

Liu You and Chen Xiucai led the children from the two villages to stand at the intersection and watch them leave.

When they were out of sight, Liu You said solemnly, "Mr. Chen, when you erect the stele, you must also include these Taoist priests on the stele, especially Taoist priest Xiao Pan, a good friend of Taoist priest Sanzhu. Thank you for your help in making this trip."

Chen Xiucai laughed, then nodded seriously after a moment, "It should be so."

Pan Jun didn't know that it would not be long before both of her names would be written on the monument. At this moment, she was enjoying the ding-dong sound of the merit array.

She was still regretful, "It's a pity that I don't have time, otherwise I would have visited the orphanages in various counties. They are so heartless that they actually drove the children out to beg in the middle of winter!"

She also grew up in an orphanage. Although she lacked the care of her parents and relatives, she received plenty of other kinds of care, not to mention the lack of material things.

In the 26th century, population is very important, and every child in the orphanage is a treasure.

In her previous life, most of the orphans in their orphanage were post-war orphans, and she was one of the first batch of post-war orphans. After she was eight years old, the war caused by the great changes in the world gradually subsided. Since then, the number of new orphans in the orphanage each year has dropped sharply, and sometimes not a single child was admitted in a year.

But it was different in the Ming Dynasty. Here, beggars could be seen everywhere on the streets. They had dry yellow hair and looked at the world timidly and doubtfully like frightened little rabbits. Every time she saw them, her heart couldn't help but feel sour and bitter, and as soft as a puddle of mud.

She didn't know whether being soft-hearted was a good thing or a bad thing, but she knew she couldn't bear to see such a look.

So every time I come into contact with her, I can't help but touch her money.

He touched a handful and scattered all the copper coins on his body.

Pan Yun took the silver coins to the bank to exchange for copper coins, and said to Miao Zhen: "It's hard to make money, but why is it so easy to spend money?"

Miao Zhen: "Little Master, it's easy for you to make money. Don't forget, you still have Mr. Liu's five thousand taels."

"That's not mine, it belongs to Senior Sister. Since I gave it to Senior Sister, it's natural for Senior Sister to earn the money." Pan Jun turned his head and asked Xuan Miao, "Senior Sister, when are you going to earn this money?"

Xuanmiao: "After I send you back to Sanqing Mountain."

They still have to go to Changzhou Prefecture to visit patients, so they must come out.

Pan Jun: "Actually, I can go back by myself."

Xuanmiao: "Shut up, change the money and hurry on. If you don't leave now, you won't be able to reach the next station before dark."

Tao Ji explained: "She is worried about you. You are now shining with gold with the wooden sign."

Pan Yun: "My cultivation is high, most people can't beat me."

Tao Ji: "Fool, I'm afraid you may attract someone other than a human."

　There will be another chapter later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)