The light drizzle that started during the night persisted until the morning rain finally ceased.
Early in the morning, the chimes rang out in Big Willow Village.
This was the village chief's way of summoning the villagers for a meeting; upon hearing the chime, everyone had to gather at the threshing floor.
Tan Zhenghong thought for a while before saying, "Wife, I guess it's time to collect taxes. I'll go and see what's happening; you just stay at home."
His guess was spot-on: this year's rental standard was one hundred catties of rice per mu of land, plus a poll tax of twenty catties of rice for each adult.
If paid in silver coin, it was six wen money for every catty of rice.
In recent years, peace prevailed throughout the land, and the weather had been fair. For the average family, the tax was within an acceptable range.
But having to empty their pockets was displeasing to anyone. Naturally, some complaints were unavoidable.