Heavenly Dao Formula

"So there was no evil tax before?" Xia Fan asked.

"Yes, this is something that Mr. Hu came up with after he took office. He said that evil spirits are becoming more and more frequent, and it is difficult to cope with the allocation from above, so he asked the county residents to share some. Benedict, can you talk to the big men above Is it? We really can't afford the money..."

When it came to the end, the old man stood up tremblingly supporting the door frame, as if he wanted to kneel down, Xia Fan quickly stood up and supported him.

"I will find a way, you don't have to rush for a while. By the way, when did the magistrate take office?"

"I remember it was... ten years ago."

Ten years and eight years... the difference is not that far apart, plus the later evil tax, is this some kind of coincidence.

Wait any longer! A flash of lightning suddenly flashed in Xia Fan's head. If this guess is followed, wouldn't the stable life of the past ten years be——

He picked up the bowl and took a sip of the cold well water to make his voice less dry, "Do you remember how many prefects have been changed in Gaoshan County?"

"This..." The old man hesitated, "I don't know the generation of my parents, but in the past few decades, there should be four or five. The short ones are three or four years, and the long ones are more than ten years."

"How long has the county magistrate before Mr. Hu worked?"

"It's quite long, about fifteen or six years."

Fifteen or sixteen years, isn't this a perfect connection with the frequency of evil spirits appearing?

Xia Fan suddenly felt a chill down his back.

He has always wanted to find clues from abnormal cases or disappearances, but now he realizes that the clues may be right in front of him.

"By the way, do you still remember the name of that county magistrate? Was he promoted and transferred away, or..."

"Back to Engong, the lord's surname is Zhu, and he has passed away."

"How did you die?" Xia Fan asked subconsciously.

"I heard that it was entangled in unclean things, and finally died of illness."

...

Xia Fan returned to the inn when the sky was turned a blood-like orange by the afterglow.

In order to avoid omissions and wrong information, he deliberately visited a few more families who had received funding.

And the answers were basically the same.

There is a strange correspondence between the frequency of evil spirits and the replacement time of local officials.

After settling down the fox demon first, Xia Fan called the other companions into a wing room, and explained everything he had learned from the beginning to the end.

After listening to the last narration, Wei Wushuang gasped, his eyes widened in disbelief, "Do you suspect that Huzhi County is related to this matter?"

"It's just speculation at the moment, and I'd like to hear everyone's opinions."

"But there really hasn't been any major problems in the county—"

"The problem is that there are no major problems," Wang Renzhi interrupted Wei Wushuang. "If you want to make a dozen lives disappear quietly, it will be more convenient to have an official cover."

"Where did you come from?"

"Shipped from outside!"

"Ah?" Wei Wushuang didn't expect the other party to answer like this, so he couldn't help but pause, "What is the magistrate planning..."

"Picture money! Isn't there a tax to get rid of evil? I think he just wants to use it to make money!" Wang Renzhi patted Xia Fan's shoulder appreciatively, "Oh, you are quite courageous. I made a mistake before. I count on you."

"But...that's actually not much money." Wei Wushuang whispered.

"What? Not much?" Young Master Wang frowned.

"Just now, while listening to Brother Xia, I made some calculations in my heart. The evil tax is only collected from the neighbors who have been attacked by evil spirits. Each household is ten taels of silver, and there are only about three hundred households in a block. And the sale of land can be discounted. The county magistrate is exempt from paying for farming, and it would be good if three hundred households can receive two thousand taels. In addition, he will distribute the money to the families of the victims, and each person who dies can receive thirty-five taels. In addition to the hard work of the guards and the police, the county magistrate can probably keep this amount—" Wei Wushuang stretched out a finger.

"one thousand?"

"Almost, and this is already a high estimate."

"Is there only so much?"

"Of course we can't say that one thousand taels of silver is a small amount—" Wei Wushuang glanced at Xia Fan secretly, "It's just that it's obviously not very cost-effective compared to what we have to do."

"If it's not for the money?" Shangguan Cai said suddenly.

"Then what else?"

"If you just want money, it's unreasonable to collect taxes uniformly. Instead of setting up so many reductions and exemptions, it's better to expand the scope of apportionment and get more money from big families." She pulled out half of her spear and stroked it lightly on the ground, "He The purpose of this line is to push those who are in dire straits into a corner without affecting the majority of the county."

"You mean...fields?" Wei Wushuang quickly realized.

"That's not accurate. He wants both fields and people. In other words, what he wants is the grain produced in the fields." Shangguan Cai raised the corner of his mouth slightly, "You may not know that the locust plague occurred in Fengguo last year, affecting several states in the west. , Foods that can be eaten have been fired to sky-high prices, and this year has not completely subsided, so that riots have occurred in many places. Similar things happened seven or eight years ago."

"Where did you hear this news?" Wei Wushuang asked in surprise, his family was selling grain, and they didn't even know about it.

"There is no shortage of well-informed people in Beijing, as long as you can find them." She spread her hands, "Of course, if you want to resell grain at this time, you are asking for death. Those who are approved by the government like yours, do you know?" There is no difference. What can be sold at a high price is only unstated private grain, and there must be a channel to transport it to Fengguo. A small magistrate is probably just a partner."

"I would think that neither of these may be the main motive."

Xia Fan spoke slowly after listening to everyone's speech.

"What's your opinion?" Shangguan Cairao asked with interest.

"It's not a good opinion, it's just that the county magistrate didn't mention the evil tax more than 20 years ago, and it's impossible for the locust plague to happen every year." Xia Fan looked around the crowd, "But at that time, evil incidents still occurred frequently, so we might as well Keep things simple."

"Simplicity means..."

"Someone instigates, bribes or needs the magistrate to do so, which already includes risk compensation. Compared with his predecessor, the only difference between Hu Zhixian and his predecessor is that the former is more greedy."

His summary caused a brief silence in the wing room.

"That...Brother Xia," Wei Wushuang cleared his throat after a while, "I have said so much, after all, it is just everyone's guess. If there is no actual evidence, no one will believe us. If we say it, it will be slanderous. The suspicion of court officials."

"That's right, but at least we have a direction for further investigation." Xia Fan stood up, "The next step is to find out the opponent's flaws!"

"You already have an idea?"

"That's right," he decided to make a quick decision, not giving the opponent a chance to calm down, "the result will be known in a day tomorrow."