readytorunbook Chapter 392 Corvee
Chapter 392 Corvee
"Oh, never mind. Anyway, they are not attacking us now, and with General Qin in charge, there is nothing to be afraid of."
Upon hearing this, others also echoed, yes, with General Qin here, there is nothing to be afraid of, and they will definitely not be able to attack us here.
As the words on the other side became more and more exciting, the Taoist priest slowly said, "It seems that this county magistrate is quite good. At least he did not force or oppress the people."
You have to know that this was an era where high-ranking officials could crush people to death. Even if you had to perform labor service to repair official roads, as long as the county magistrate gave the order, you had to go whether you wanted to go or not, and you would not be paid.
The fact that the county magistrate levied labor service and paid for it was actually a good thing for the people.
Now is the slack season for farmers, and they have nothing to do at home. Now is like an opportunity for them to work. Although it will be more tiring than usual, at least they can earn money.
And as long as you are an adult and meet the requirements, you can go. Isn’t that a good thing?
If there is a family with five or six able-bodied laborers, excluding those who are doing corvee labor, at least five can go. Five people earn fifty coins a day, and ten days earn five hundred coins. Isn't that one and a half taels of silver a month?
This is much more profitable than working, and it is more stable. It is also OK when there is no man at home during the slack season, as women can hold up half the sky.
Isn't this a good thing? This way the whole family can have a good New Year.
"The corvée labor that the government has collected is about to start. It's almost the end of the year and they have to start working, which shows that the situation at the border is indeed not very good."
"If there is no rush, you can wait until after the Chinese New Year to start the corvée service. It is almost the end of the year, so there is no need to rush now. Since the higher-ups have decided this, it must be because they want to start transporting food and fodder in preparation for the war."
"It seems that our area has not started to get chaotic yet. Food prices and other things have not changed much. We will definitely be safe in the short term."
Xu Han thought for a moment and asked again, "If a war really breaks out, should we also start conscription?"
Grandpa Zhao continued, "That's for sure. Military service is much more terrible than corvée labor. If you go to the battlefield, you don't know if you can come back."
As they talked, they all fell silent. After sitting for a while, they got up and went back to the inn.
At night, Lu Chuan hugged Xu Han and they were discussing the news they heard today. "Do you think they will really attack us? Is it safe for us to live in the mountains? Should we move to another place and go further inside?"
"Where we live now is deep in the mountains for ordinary people. Most people don't dare to go in. For now, as long as no one finds our entrance, it should be safe."
Lu Chuan paused and continued, "Besides, it will be difficult to find our house without someone to lead the way. When things get really chaotic here, we just need to be careful."
Xu Han's eyes lit up. "Yes, during the day we don't light a fire like we do during a drought, so no one can find us."
Lu Chuan rubbed Xu Han's head and said, "Well, let's cook some more food and store it after we go back."
In order to prevent others from hearing it, Lu Chuan did not tell anyone about the space. It was better to be careful when going out. If an expert in the inn heard it, Xu Han would be in danger.
It is better to have less trouble than more, so Lu Chuan did not say it, but Xu Han understood what he meant, nodded, and said nothing more.
After a while, the sound of Xu Han's even breathing could be heard, but Lu Chuan was thinking about something and couldn't fall asleep for a long time.
The next day, after getting up, they had breakfast in the inn, and then continued to stroll around the county town.
Today I mainly want to find out the news about Uncle Zhang and Shopkeeper Li.
Uncle Zhang is a doctor, so he will definitely ask about the medical clinics in the county.
Xu Han asked, "Grandpa Zhao and Taoist priest, do you want to come with us to find out the news, or go shopping on your own?"
Grandpa Zhao replied, "I'll go with you and buy some herbs."
"Then I'll go too. I have nothing to do anyway, so I might as well go shopping with you guys."
Since everyone wanted to go shopping together, Lu Chuan took everyone to look for medical clinics one by one.
After leaving the clinic, Xu Han said, "There is only one clinic left. If they are still not full, they may not have returned yet."
"It's okay, we'll look for it."
After Lu Chuan finished speaking, he walked forward first, and several people followed behind him. When they arrived at the last clinic, there was still no one there.
The Taoist priest suggested, "Why don't we go to the post station and ask if there are any letters sent there?"
"Yes, if they miss you, they will send you a letter if they don't come back. Maybe you can find the letter when you go there."
After hearing this, Lu Chuan thought about it and agreed. If they didn’t come back, they should tell Lu Chuan, so they went back to the post station.
When the people in the post heard Lu Chuan's name, they smiled and said, "You are finally here. Someone has sent you a letter every month recently. We couldn't find the person, so we had to leave it here."
Lu Chuan and Xu Han laughed when they heard this. Finally, there was news.
When the people in the post station handed the letters to Lu Chuan, Lu Chuan hurriedly opened them. Each letter was a greeting, but he had not received a reply for a long time. It could be seen from the words written in the letter that the people on the other end were very anxious and worried.
The last letter was sent last month, which also asked if I was well and asked me to reply as soon as I read it.
Moreover, each letter contained an address and explained the reason why they did not return.
It turned out that during this period of time, their families had settled down outside, got married and had children. Finally, the two families discussed it and decided that since they had already settled down, they didn't want to go back.
Xu Han and Lu Chuan expressed their understanding and didn't say much.
Xu Han suggested, "Let's write a letter and send it over quickly, so they don't worry."
"Yes, yes, let's write it now and tell them about our current situation so that they don't have to worry."
After Lu Chuan finished speaking, he wrote a reply at the post station.
Because the post station was owned by the government, officials and common people would stay there and send things. And it was run by the government, so it was safer.
So there was also paper and tools for writing letters. After Lu Chuan paid the money, he started writing replies.
After finishing writing, he asked Xu Han, "Wife, do you have anything to say?"
"No, don't forget to tell them to keep in touch. If you have anything to say, just write a letter and send it to the post station. We will come to the post station every time we go down the mountain."
"Okay, I see."