In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 85 Tax Resistance

"I don't know."

Chen Da shook his head. He and Chen Dao were in the same situation. Chen Ke had only given him a brief notification before rushing off to the next place.

However, he knew that the village chief's sudden call for the entire village to discuss something was no small matter, so his expression was rather solemn.

"Alright! Let's go over there together and find out more."

Chen Dao didn't bother to guess and simply walked with the two towards Chen He's house.

When they arrived at Chen He's house, they found that the living room was already packed with people, and even the front yard was filled with young men.

These young men and women were either standing or sitting on the ground, and none of them looked relaxed.

"Is Daoge here?"

"Brother Dao, go inside."

"Brother Dao, come inside quickly, it's cold outside!"

"..."

Upon seeing Chen Dao and his two companions arrive, the able-bodied men quickly made way for Chen Dao to walk directly into the living room.

The living room was quite warm due to the large number of people inside, but the warmth did little to change the sorrowful look on Chen He's face.

Seeing Chen He's behavior in the living room, the young men and women of the village couldn't help but feel uneasy. They knew from the village chief's appearance that nothing good was going to happen.

"Is Daoge here?"

Chen He looked at Chen Dao and Chen Da who had walked in and nodded, saying, "Sit down first, and we'll talk after everyone has arrived."

"Brother Dao, come sit here."

Chen He's younger brother, Chen Jian, whom the villagers called Chen Lao Er, hurriedly offered his chair to Chen Dao so that he could sit down.

Chen Dao didn't refuse and sat down directly. He looked at Li Zheng next to him and smiled, "Mr. Li, you're here too?"

"Ah."

Li Zheng nodded with a smile. He had a very good impression of Chen Dao, not only because of Chen Ping, but also because he had benefited from Chen Dao's recent treat of steamed buns to the whole village.

"Mr. Li, do you know why the village chief called everyone here?" Chen Dao tried to find out.

"We don't know yet!"

Li Zheng said, "Wait a moment, everyone will be here soon."

Chen Dao nodded and said no more.

Fifteen minutes later, village chief Chen He glanced at the young men and women inside and outside the living room and slowly said, "Now that everyone is here, let me begin."

"Village chief, please tell us quickly, it's too cold outside!"

"Village chief, please speak quickly if you have something to say. I'm in a hurry to get back."

"What happened, village chief? Why did you call us all here?"

"..."

The young men gathered in the living room and front yard asked loudly, equally puzzled as to why the village chief had called them here in the dead of winter.

"The reason we called everyone over is because government officials just arrived."

Chen He didn't keep everyone waiting for long and went straight to the point: "The purpose of the government officials is to inform us of the tax increase! According to the government officials, our Chenjia Village has a total of 103 households, and each household needs to pay 1 shi of grain or 2 liang of silver as the tax for this tax increase."

As soon as Chen He finished speaking, everyone inside and outside the living room fell silent.

Every able-bodied young man gathered at Chen He's house stared wide-eyed, completely stunned.

One shi of grain, or 100 jin, is a lot of food. In this kind of year, there are hardly any families in Chenjia Village who can afford to eat their fill. How could they possibly have 100 jin of grain?

As for two taels of silver, that's even more impossible!

Most villagers didn't even have a few copper coins, so where would they get two taels of silver?

"Village chief, is the government playing a joke on us?"

Chen Gou's father, Chen Sheng, said incredulously, "We can't even get enough to eat right now, how could we possibly have 100 jin of grain?"

"Yeah, damn it! I can't even feed myself, and the government wants to raise taxes?"

"Are these officials trying to force us to our deaths?"

"100 jin of grain? My life isn't worth that much!"

"Is this government trying to force us to rebel? Damn it, we can't even get enough to eat, and they still want to increase taxes so much!"

"..."

The young men were filled with righteous indignation, their anger almost palpable.

In these times of year, everyone is starving. They can't cultivate the land, so not only is there no income, but their food reserves are also dwindling.

For something like this, the government actually wants to increase the tax, and by a whole shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain! This is practically trying to drive them to their doom!

"Sure enough, it's here!"

Chen Dao sighed inwardly. He had known about the government's plan to increase taxes for a long time, and he felt that the government would eventually collect the taxes outside the city; it was just a matter of time.

The news that the village chief revealed at this moment undoubtedly confirmed Chen Dao's previous guess: Chenjia Village could not escape the tax increase after all.

"village head."

Sitting next to Chen Dao, Li Zheng frowned and asked, "Did the government officials say what would happen if we couldn't pay the taxes?"

"said."

Chen He said in a deep voice, "Those who cannot pay taxes will have their entire families exiled to the north to serve in the army."

Military service?

Upon hearing this, everyone shuddered and their faces showed fear.

While being conscripted into the army was terrible, it wasn't enough to terrify them. What truly terrified them was... being exiled to the north!

The north was at war with the barbarians every year, and being sent to the north to be exiled meant that one had a very low chance of survival!

"Damn it, this government is trying to drive people to their deaths!"

"100 jin of grain? I don't even weigh 100 jin of all that fat!"

"This imperial court is really trying to drive us to our deaths! Forget about 100 catties of grain, my family doesn't even have 10 catties of grain!"

"..."

The crowd was shouting, as if they wanted to vent all their anger.

Village chief Chen He added, "Furthermore, the officials also said that the grain to be handed over this time must be sorghum, wheat, and rice; other grains will not be counted!"

"..."

The crowd grew increasingly silent. Many of them could only afford to eat rice husks these days, yet they were being asked to pay taxes in the form of sorghum, rice, and wheat…

"Damn it."

A young man, his face flushed, said, "My family doesn't even have enough rice husks to eat, so where would we get wheat and rice to give to the government? Village chief, why don't we resist the taxes?"

"Yes! Let's resist the taxes! These taxes are so high, we can't pay them even if we die!"

"I can't afford to pay this tax anyway, so whoever wants to can pay it!"

"Damn the government, they're leaving us no way to survive! I don't want to pay a single cent of this tax."

"..."

The young man's words were unanimously agreed upon by everyone. They simply couldn't afford 100 jin of grain, so they had no choice but to resist the tax!

"No!"

Li Zheng hurriedly spoke up: "We absolutely cannot resist taxes! Resisting taxes is a capital offense. Once we resist taxes, it's no different from rebellion. At that time, our Chenjia Village will probably be slaughtered by the imperial army!"

Even in modern society, tax evasion is an extremely serious crime, let alone in the ancient Xia Dynasty.