Under the laws of Great Yan, becoming a Martial Scholar exempted every member of one's household from the poll tax and corvée labor. After passing the provincial Martial Examination, the tax exemption quota for farmland registered under one's name expanded to between eighty and two hundred mu, depending on whether one was an A List, B List, or C List Martial Provincial Graduate.
There were other rewards, of course, but those had nothing to do with the villagers and neighbors.
The tax-exempt farmland alone held a great deal of significance. After Zhao Feng became a Martial Scholar, their longtime neighbors Old Zhong and Auntie Yuan transferred the few mu of poor farmland under their names to the Zhao Family and became its tenants. They still farmed the land themselves, but each year they only had to pay the Zhao Family a token rent. They no longer had to pay any of the various taxes, and the rest of the harvest was theirs to keep. This was called land donation. It had been an enormous help to both households. Before, they had never had enough to eat, their faces were sallow as wilted greens, and they had barely scraped by, unable even to afford medical treatment. Since donating their land, however, their lives had visibly improved. At least they had enough food and warm clothing now, and even a little money left over for doctors, medicine, and household necessities, making the whole village envious.
The only exception had been a while ago, when Auntie Yuan became so obsessed with the Red Lotus Cult that she seemed possessed. Her fields went untended, and she nearly starved again. Fortunately, after the Red Lotus Cult was exposed, she found her way back from that misguided path, and things gradually improved again.
The villagers had