Chapter 864

Li Qingyan and Yun Kexin wandered around the stockade. They met many people in the stockade, men, women, old and young.

They greeted Yun Kexin and Li very warmly.

Even if he went far, Li Qingyan could still feel the eyes of those people on him.

At present, he is the only outsider in the whole stockade. He is full of freshness to these people.

When he reached the edge of the stockade, Yun Kexin slowed down.

In front is a dense forest. From here, you can only see trees and nothing else.

Yun Kexin wrote on the small blackboard: you can't go forward.

Li asked softly, "why? I want to go into the woods."

His current scope of activities is limited to the stockade, and he has never been out of the stockade.

He can't live here all the time. When his injury recovers, he will have to leave here.

Although the people in Dafu stronghold showed great enthusiasm for him, his heart is separated from his belly. He can't put all his hopes on others. He has to leave a way back for himself.

He wants to go outside the stockade, find out the terrain of this generation, and find a way to get out of here.

After this period of observation, he found that several exits of the stockade were haunted from time to time, and only this forest had never been set foot.

So he paid attention to the woods.

Maybe you can find the way out of the mountain through the woods.

Yun Kexin didn't have so much thought. She was obviously afraid of the woods in front of her and didn't want to go in.

Li Qingyan saw that she wouldn't move and walked down the sidewalk.

"Go back first. I'll go in alone."

Yun Kexin immediately shook her head. She wrote on the small blackboard: I'll go with you!

Li said softly, "aren't you afraid?"

Yun Kexin wrote: you are not afraid.

Li Qingyan looked at the six words on the small blackboard and couldn't help smiling.

The little girl is really cute.

They walked into the woods.

The woods are very quiet. The sun shines through the cracks between the branches and leaves, and there are large spots on the ground.

The wind blew the branches and leaves, making a slight rustle.

Yun Kexin held the small blackboard and followed behind Li Qingyan.

She was caught by a vine and almost fell down. At the critical moment, she spoke hard and reached out to hold her.

She stood up in a hurry, looked up and whispered to Li, her eyes showing gratitude.

Probably because she can't speak, her eyes can always express very rich emotions, so that people can see what she is thinking at a glance.

Li Qingyan was afraid that she would fall again, so he simply led her forward.

Yunkexin felt that the hand he was holding was very hot, and the palms were sweating.

From small to large, in addition to her father, this is the first man to hold her hand.

She remembered the picture of being touched by Li's soft words before, and added a sentence silently in her heart——

It was also the first man to touch her head except her father.

Probably because her heart was full of harsh words, she even forgot her fear of the woods.

Until they passed through the woods and saw a wetland.

Yun Kexin suddenly remembered that this forest is the forbidden place of Dafu stronghold!

Li Qingyan stopped and looked at the scene in front of him. He couldn't help but look frightened.

Dozens of small bones floated in the dark mud.

From the shape, these bones should be babies less than months old.

Li Qingyan's heart set off a storm.

If it's an epidemic, it can't be just the bones of a baby.

Unless someone is deliberately killing a baby.

No wonder the people in the stockade never go this way. No wonder Yun Kexin shows fear when facing the woods.

They must have known that there are many baby bones hidden in this forest!

Li whispered and turned his head, staring at Yun Kexin.

Many thoughts came to his mind. If these babies were killed by people in Dafu stronghold, what kind of demons should they be?!

Yun Kexin's face was white and his body trembled slightly.

She noticed the anger and doubt in Li Qingyan's eyes and hurriedly wrote on the small blackboard: we didn't kill the children!

Li lightly asked, "who killed that?"

Yun Kexin's fingertips trembled with white stones, and the handwriting was far from as correct as usual.

But now she didn't care so much. She wrote a paragraph quickly:

It was many years ago. At that time, taxes were extremely heavy. Many people could not afford to pay poll tax. They had to strangle their newborn children and throw them into the mountains and forests. This is a place where they abandoned their child's bodies.

When Li Qingyan saw these words, his startled anger dissipated.

But his face was still very ugly.

Poll tax is a tax levied according to the number of heads. Some are paid once a year, some will be paid twice a year. This number is not regulated by specific regulations.

Some officials blindfolded by lard seized the loophole.

Either to make up for the deficit or to make their performance better, they will increase the number of head taxes.

Li Qingyan once heard the most exaggerated speech, which was that a place asked the people to pay poll tax every ten days.

Of course, the official's grave grass is already one person tall.

But this is enough to prove that in some small places far away from Shengjing City, there is indeed a situation of mandatory tax collection for many times.

If the people can't afford to pay poll tax, they can only take their fields and houses as collateral. If they don't even have their fields and houses, they can only sell themselves as slaves and give them to large local families as slaves and maidservants.

Some people are unwilling to sell land, let alone become slaves, so they can only kill and throw away their newborn babies.

Because according to unwritten regulations, the death of a premature child is not included in the poll tax.

I've only heard of these things before, but I've never seen them with my own eyes.

At this time, looking at the tragic scene in front of him, he only felt very heavy.

These are living lives. Just because their families can't afford to pay taxes, they are killed by their parents and families and abandoned in the wilderness.

Yun Kexin saw his calm face and didn't speak, so he was worried.

She wrote on the small blackboard: don't be sad. We don't need to pay taxes now. Such things won't happen in the stockade again.

Li Qingyan was stunned at first, then frowned: "you don't have to pay tax? Why?"

It is impossible for anyone who is a member of the Dasheng Dynasty not to pay taxes, except those aristocratic families with privileges.

Yun Kexin continued: because it is too remote here, the government doesn't know there is a Dafu stronghold here, so no one has ever come here to collect taxes.

The place is almost isolated from the world.

It drifted away from the ruling scope of the imperial court.

The people living here do not need to pay taxes, nor do they need to perform corvee and military service.

Accordingly, the laws of the Da Sheng Dynasty could not take effect here.

If someone does something illegal here, the government won't know.