Paying Taxes

It was now late autumn, time to pay the autumn tax.

For Outer City residents like Cheng Heng and the others, the tax was simple to calculate: one tael of silver for every adult man, and half a tael for women, children, or boys who had not yet come of age.

If a household had no silver, they could also pay the tax in grain. But if they had silver, they generally still paid in silver.

Because if they paid in grain, there were deep waters hidden within!

It was the Spiking and Kicking the Measure that countless people cursed. Grain had to be piled up in a pointed heap, with part of it rising above the measure's rim. Then a petty official would come over and kick it, knocking out quite a bit of grain. Afterward, the missing portion still had to be made up by the taxpayers!

Losses like these were difficult to define, and in the end, all those losses flowed into the officials' pockets.

The Great Gan Dynasty decreed that men came of age at sixteen.

They said sixteen, but as long as someone had turned fifteen, those lowly officials did not care how many months past fifteen he was. All of them were counted as sixteen!

Early the next morning, Cheng Heng dressed and washed up, intending to first report for duty in the Inner City before heading to the martial hall to train.

But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw many neighbors already moving grain about. Today was the day taxes were due.

Cheng Heng's household currently consisted of only himself and his wife, so they only needed to pay one and a half taels of silver.

When he arrived at the tax collection site, a dense, lengthy queue had already formed.

The official in charge sat properly behind a desk, calling names one by one according to the register and recording them with a brush.

At the side, petty officials specially assigned to kick the official measures sent quite a bit of grain flying with every kick.

From what Cheng Heng could see, even Skill-Transforming Force masters would have to admit defeat before the power of those kicks!

"Brother Heng? What a coincidence—you're here today too!"

Zhang Xiaohu patted Cheng Heng from behind. Uncle Zhang's family lived not far from Cheng Heng's home.

"Xiaohu, it's only been a few days, but you seem to have grown taller again!"

Cheng Heng turned and warmly greeted Uncle Zhang and his family.

Uncle Zhang stood to one side somewhat awkwardly. The injuries he had suffered before had mostly healed over the past few days.

"Cheng Heng, I truly have you to thank for this time. Ever since the River Tide Gang drove away the Black Tiger Gang, the River Tide Gang has never come to our door asking for incense money, all because of you."

Uncle Zhang was honest and simple by nature. His face flushed red as he stammered out his thanks to Cheng Heng.

"Uncle Zhang, you're too polite. It was nothing more than lifting a hand. We're neighbors—if I can help, then I help!"

Cheng Heng said it as though it were nothing.

"Brother Heng is amazing! In the future, I want to be like you too and go to the martial hall to learn martial arts!"

Zhang Xiaohu said excitedly from the side.

"Next! Cheng Heng!"

Hearing his name, Cheng Heng immediately stepped forward and placed the silver he had prepared in advance before the desk.

The official handling the registration raised his head and looked Cheng Heng over. Seeing the Inner City patrol badge at his waist, he even greeted him amicably.

Only after the registration was complete did Cheng Heng let out a long breath.

Fortunately, these officials had not made things difficult for him. Otherwise, if they counted his father, who had gone to perform corvée labor, Cheng Heng would have had to pay another sum.

Sure enough, the stronger one was, the more convenient things became wherever one went.

But not everyone was like Cheng Heng. In the long line of taxpayers, someone would fail to pay from time to time. Though they wailed and begged the clerks for mercy, they still could not avoid a few lashes.

In the end, those officials would even go to their homes and search out anything valuable to make up for the unpaid autumn tax!

Watching this cruel scene from the side, Cheng Heng sighed inwardly, but there was nothing he could do.

This Great Gan Dynasty had rotted to the core!

After everything was dealt with, Cheng Heng left the crowd. Just as he was about to depart, he heard a familiar shout.

"Xiaohu only just turned fifteen this year. How can you count him too?!"

Uncle Zhang stood there with an indignant expression, confronting an official.

"If I say your grain isn't enough, then it isn't enough! And you still dare talk back!"

The official raised his whip in his right hand, just about to lash Uncle Zhang, when he saw a figure flash past. A pair of large hands gripped the official's arm tightly.

"You... you're a Bright Force martial artist!"

The official's face turned red as he repeatedly strained, but those large hands held his arm firmly, leaving him unable to exert even a fraction of his strength.

"Sir, please show mercy. I'll make up the portion Uncle Zhang's family is short."

Then Cheng Heng leaned close to the petty official, took another five mace of silver from his robes, and said quietly:

"You are a great man who does not stoop to the level of lesser men. Please let them off this once. Consider this silver a small token of my respect."

The petty official accepted the silver, and only then did the flush on his face ease. He quietly pocketed it without a change in expression.

"I'll give you face this time, but there won't be a next time!"

"Then many thanks, sir!"

Cheng Heng said with clasped hands.

If this matter remained deadlocked, it would do neither side any good. Since Cheng Heng had offered him a way down, the other man readily let them off, keeping both face and profit.

Cheng Heng then quickly led Uncle Zhang's family away from the place.

"Today, we truly have you to thank, Cheng Heng. For such a great kindness, I really don't know how to repay you."

"Xiaohu, quickly! Kneel and kowtow to Brother Heng! If Brother Heng hadn't stepped forward today, even if our family didn't die, we'd have been skinned alive!"

Uncle Zhang, a man in his forties, thanked him with wet eyes.

If Cheng Heng had not stepped in to resolve the situation just now, those officials would probably have already ransacked their home!

Uncle Zhang had been squeezed too ruthlessly by the Black Tiger Gang before, leaving his household without any extra grain even now.

For people at the bottom, simply staying alive was far, far too difficult!

Cheng Heng held up Zhang Xiaohu, who was about to kneel. "If Uncle Zhang's family has no grain, just come to my home and take some. There's no need to be so distant!"

"Back then, when I failed to borrow money from my ancestral home, if Xiaohu hadn't introduced me to Tiger-Subduing Martial Hall, I would have been at the end of my rope too!"

In the Outer City, people worked bitterly every day to earn a little money, but it was basically only enough to feed their families. They could scarcely save up any wealth, and they could forget about ever turning their lives around!

Cheng Heng understood those hardships. Therefore, when it came to Uncle Zhang's kind and honest family, he helped whenever he could.

"Brother Heng is truly something!"

"Who would have thought that after Brother Heng entered the martial hall to learn martial arts, he'd become like an entirely different person!"

"Exactly! He's just like one of those heroic champions from the old tales!"

The many neighbors watching nearby all began praising Cheng Heng.

Cheng Heng did not take such flattering words to heart. Showing off had never been in his nature. It was only that in these times, he wanted to offer a little help to those who had once shown him kindness.

After escorting Uncle Zhang and Zhang Xiaohu home, Cheng Heng bade farewell to Uncle Zhang, who thanked him again and again, then sprinted toward the Inner City.

He had been delayed for quite a while today. Fortunately, judging by the time, if he returned to the Inner City now, he would make it back without delaying today's work!