The next day.
Ishikawa County was in a state of panic, and the streets were empty.
The constables in the county office were all standing by.
The Zhao family and the Zhang family have been feuding for a long time, and a few days ago, the Zhang family's son was killed, which completely ignited the feud between the two families.
Last night, the two families fought several times on the street, leaving the streets covered in blood.
In this situation, who dares to go out?
...
As for Stone Village, it wasn't quiet at the moment either.
At the entrance of the village, there were dozens of high horses, and on each of them was a sturdy Wang Family's houseguard.
These houseguards were all equipped with war swords on their waists, exuding a ferocious aura, not at all comparable to the few dog-legs that Duke Wang had brought over back then.
"Village Chief, my second young lady has descended, why don't you come out to greet her."
Accompanied by a loud roar in the middle of the air, the village chief came out cowering.
Seeing this formation, even though he had lived for so many years, he couldn't help but feel fear in his heart.
In previous years, when they came to collect the field rent, it was just Butler Wang bringing a few ordinary family members over.
What is this going to do this year? Slaughter the village?
"Old me ... greets Second Miss!" The village head bent down and made an arching gesture with a very humble attitude.
The villagers in the village also all walked out from their homes at this time, and seeing so many people, they were all too scared to make a sound.
The village chief bent over for more than a minute, and when he was so tired that his body was trembling, a white stallion slowly came out from the herd of horses.
On the white steed, Wang Suqin was wearing red soft armor, her expression cold and her eyes indifferent.
"Butler Wang had an accident, this year by this young lady personally come here to collect the rent, I hope you guys don't make things difficult for me.
In the past, when Butler Wang treated you all generously, it was because there was peace within Shichuan County.
Now that there is unrest within Shichuan County, our Wang family is not having a good time, so for this year's field rent, add fifty percent."
As soon as Wang Suqin's words fell, there was an uproar among the villagers.
Whether Steward Wang was generous or not, let's put it aside first.
The key is that this year suffered a flood, no harvest, in order to get enough rent, they have lost all their money, not to mention, but also owed a butt of debt.
Now they even want to add another fifty percent, this is not to force them to a dead end?
The village chief was also angry in his heart when he heard the words, and tremblingly took out a contract from his bosom, "Second Miss, we planted the land for the Wang family, so how much rent to pay is all agreed upon beforehand, so how can it be added arbitrarily?"
Before the village chief could finish his words, there was a clanging sound of a sword, and the contract turned into two halves.
Wang Suqin sheathed her sword and said in a cold voice, "I said, now that Shichuan County is in chaos, the rules have changed, and I don't want to say similar things a second time."
The crowd of villagers looked at each other in disbelief as they listened to this, their faces turning white.
Let them pay fifty percent more, they also have to be able to pay it out, can't just change out of thin air ah.
Seemingly anticipating this situation, a family member next to Wang Suqin spoke up at this time.
"Our Wang family is not trying to push you to the brink of extinction, if you want to not pay the field rent, you can also, sign this deed of sale, and from now on become my Wang family's domestic slaves, and this matter will be considered over."
The village chief was so angry that he coughed violently when he heard this.
The people of Stone Village were all tenants, but tenants were also free people, not slaves.
But if they signed the contract of sale, then they would completely become slaves of the Wang family, and whether they would live or die in the future would depend on the Wang family's decision, how could they be willing to do that?
"Let's go plant the fields of the Zhao and Zhang families!"
"Our Stone Village has always been a free people, why should we be slaves?"
"Not bad! I don't want my children to become slaves before they are even born!"
A young and vigorous villager shouted.
The family man smiled coldly at his words, a cold light flashing in his eyes.
"The Zhang Family, the Zhao Family are at war now, do they have the time to care about you mudbloods?
Let me tell you, this Shichuan County is in chaos right now, if anything happens to you on your way to the other families, no one will care!"
The warning meaning of his words was very obvious, the few villagers who had just spoken all turned off their voices, their eyes desperate.
At this time, the village chief was already in tears, and with a plop, he knelt down, and prayed to Wang Suqin, "Second Miss, please be kind, some children in the village have not yet grown up, and I can't let them turn into slaves of other people from a young age!"
Wang Suqin's eyes were filled with disgust when she heard this.
A group of pariahs are always picking and choosing here, does being a slave of the Wang family dishonor their status? It was simply outrageous!
The house servant at the side was good at reading people's words and seeing that the second young miss was upset, he hurriedly roared, ''It's good enough to give you guys a mouthful of food, you don't want to be slaves? Look at these crooked people in your village, their faces are so cheap, they are born to be slaves, second young lady is letting them make the best use of what they have, if you are not thankful, why are you still whining?"
The family man finished yelling and slapped the village chief's cheek with the sheath of his sword, his face full of provocation.
Right at this moment, Chen Shen suddenly stopped in front of the village chief, pushed that knife sheath aside, and looked up at the family man.
"Is it true that if you pay fifty percent more field rent, you don't have to sign this deed of sale?"
"That's of course, pay the field rent, sign the deed of sale, you must choose one today."
The family man slung his sword over his shoulder, his tone contemptuous.
In his opinion, this group of pariahs would have difficulty even paying according to the number of previous years, let alone paying an extra fifty percent.
They were forcing this group of mudbloods into slavery today.
Knowing that the Zhang and Zhao families are in a firefight, when that happens, both families will be damaged, while they, the Wang family, can take the opportunity to rise.
It might be able to get a lot of new fields.
How is it most cost-effective to plant new fields? Of course it was to make these pariahs contribute more.
As long as these untouchables became slaves, then their Wang family could exploit them to death, as long as they didn't die of exhaustion.
As for some of the old, weak, sick and disabled, they should also get off the land.
Instead of dying of sickness at home, it would be better to die in the ground, and that would be considered maximizing value.
Chen Shen listened to this and looked deeply at this family man, then suddenly laughed and said loudly, "There are a total of fifty families in my Stone Village, and each family should logically pay twelve hundred wen, which is a total of sixty thousand wen.
Now that you guys are raising it by fifty percent, that's ninety thousand wen.
The extra thirty thousand Wen, or thirty taels of silver, I'll pay for everyone."
After saying this, Chen Shen pulled out thirty taels of broken silver from his pocket and placed it on the stone tablet at the entrance of the village.
As the saying goes, found money is not money, so Chen Shen was not at all distressed by this.
On top of that, he had been in Stone Village for so many years and had received a lot of care, so it was only right for him to pay out so much money for the villagers.
The most crucial thing is that he knows that even if he contributes money, he can't avoid a fight today, and with this formation of the Wang family, it's impossible to get thirty taels and just pat his ass and walk away.
He wants to take advantage of this opportunity to establish absolute prestige in Stone Village, and in the future, when he goes to cultivate immortality, his parents will be able to get a group of loyal people to take care of them.
...
Looking at the white silver, whether it was a group of house guards or the villagers present, all of them were dumbfounded.
Thirty taels of silver, sounds not much, but for the villagers of Stone Village is a huge sum of money, sold a few families may not come up with.
However, Chen Shen had pulled it out without batting an eyelid, which made them suspect that they were dreaming!
"Little Shen! From tomorrow onwards you are the village chief!"
The village chief trembled with excitement and directly gave up the position of village chief to Chen Shen.
Chen Shen was a bit speechless, did he look like the type of person who scarcely cared for the position of village chief?
Seeing this scene, the leader's family man's face was hard to see.
Did their Wang Family care about these thirty taels? What they really wanted was to make all the villagers of Stone Village into slaves that they could exploit for generations to come.
That value was simply not comparable to thirty taels.
Thinking of this, the family man glanced at Wang Suqin.
Wang Suqin didn't say anything, just coldly looked at Chen Shen standing in front of the stone monument, the longsword in her hand slowly came out of its sheath.
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