On this day, many families couldn’t sleep well, and quite a few got up in the middle of the night, taking their household registration papers and hurrying to the county.

The women at home held back their men, advising: "Don’t be too quick to borrow Silver, ask clearly how much the interest is first. Only borrow if it’s truly less than one hundred copper coins a month, don’t be deceived." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The men replied: "Don’t worry, wife, we’re going with the village chief, and he said to let others borrow first. When others borrow more, then it’s our village’s turn."

These days have been chaotic, apart from people making a fuss at the government office about taxes, there are also evil men like Gao Sanxiong from the county spreading rumors to disturb the people and buying farmers’ property at low prices, and then there’s the new bank offering low-interest loans for farmers to pay their taxes.

The new bank is what everyone cares about the most. Most farmers are honest, knowing that causing a fuss at the government office will have no results, so they place their hopes on the new bank, counting the days until it opens.

Now four days have passed, today is the fifth day, the day the new bank opens.

Dang, dang, dang!

As they were speaking, the sound of a copper gong echoed in the village, and a boy from the village chief’s house was beating the gong while shouting: "Uncle Chang Fu, stop talking, my father wants everyone to hurry to gather at the village entrance, we’ll set off in a quarter of an hour, if we’re late we’ll be overtaken by people from other counties!"

"What? People from other counties want to come too? The bank opened in our county, why should they borrow Silver from it?" Chang Fu’s wife asked urgently, turning to the boy from the Chang Family Village chief’s house.

"My father said, other counties’ people also don’t have money to pay taxes, they’re all eyeing our county’s new bank, they’ll come to borrow money today, we have to hurry up!"

As for why lend money to people from other counties.

"The new bank is opened by Young Master Dou from the Capital, he does business everywhere, not just with people from Tianfu County, and the bank in our county was opened because he came to buy ham."

"Oh no, we must hurry up." Chang Fu’s wife dared not say more, pushing her husband: "Hurry up, follow the village chief, do whatever he does, we must borrow Silver, this is our family’s life-saving money."

"Alright, alright, I’m going now. Things have been too chaotic lately, there have been thieves entering the village to steal things to sell and pay taxes, watch the house, don’t go out." Chang Fu quickly packed his dry food and water, held his household registration papers tightly, and followed the boy from the village chief’s house who was drumming and calling people to the village entrance.

When the people from the Chang Family Village left the village, reaching the official road, goodness, it was all torches, countless torches illuminated the night as bright as day.

Chang Fu looked ahead in the torchlight but couldn’t see the end; looked behind and couldn’t see the tail either.

Chang Fu was very scared and said, "With so many people, we have to run quickly, if we’re late, we really won’t be able to borrow Silver."

With these words, many who heard them started running, and when people from other villages front and back saw this, they also began to run wildly, quickly creating chaos.

Bam, bam, bam!

A group of people rushed in from behind, wielding sticks, hitting those who were running.

Dang, dang, dang!

The sound of a copper gong rang out, Hong Dao and the soldiers from the Military Office ran back and forth on the official road, shouting loudly: "No running allowed! If anyone runs and causes people to be trampled to death, forget about borrowing Silver from that household!!"

After shouting like this a dozen times, grabbing the village chief of the village that ran at the forefront and assigning soldiers to block the road ahead, the chaotic crowd due to the running was finally stabilized.

"No running! If anyone causes trouble, that household will not be able to borrow Silver!!" Hong Dao shouted until his voice was almost hoarse.

"No running, no running, everyone listen to the Military Officer!" The village chiefs and village heads of these villages also came running out, warning the villagers.

Though the villagers stopped, they were still very worried, taking the opportunity to ask Hong Dao: "Officer, we hear people from other counties will also come to borrow Silver, we’re running to get to the county bank early, to prevent Silver being borrowed by people from other counties."

And grumbled: "The bank opened in our county, why lend money to them?"

With a clang, a soldier next to Hong Dao struck the copper gong, and after intimidating the villagers, Hong Dao said: "The new bank is opened by Young Master Dou and the Ouyang Family, they lend to whomever they want. But everyone rest assured, Young Master Dou has already said the Silver will be loaned to Tianfu County people first. But everyone must line up honestly, if you dare cause trouble and grab chaotically, not only will you not be able to borrow Silver to pay the tax, but you’ll also be arrested and sent to the government office, understood?!"

"Really, Young Master Dou will prioritize lending Silver to us? That’s great, we won’t run, we won’t run, we’ll surely be honest and upright."

With reassurance, villagers relaxed their intense anxiety, lining up village by village, advancing towards the county.

Finally, after three hours of traveling, they arrived at the county when daylight broke, only to find the city gates closed, with Old Yu, Section Leader Jiang, and Squad Leader Yang blocking the gates, shouting: "Queue up, disarm, and only after checking household registration will you be allowed into the city!"

Old Yu was the most senior in the Military Office and was the only Chief Commander, with another Chief Commander position vacant, Qin San Lang had already chosen a candidate and would soon fill the other Chief Commander position.

Hong Dao looked towards the city gate, drawing a breath, goodness, he initially thought there were enough people on the official road, but there were even more at the city gate, packed tightly, completely obscuring the view of the gate.

What Company Commander Qin said was absolutely correct, today would be a chaotic day, the villagers coming to borrow money were comparable to refugees fleeing a disaster, they couldn’t relax for a moment.

"Line up, put down any knives, guns, clubs, or other weapons capable of harm, prepare your household registration, and after inspection by the soldiers, you’ll be allowed to enter the city to borrow money!" Hong Dao shouted, explaining to the villagers.

"Why is it so troublesome, when will we finally get to the bank to borrow money?" A villager complained, but queuing to enter the city was essential, if they were let into the city all at once, the new bank would be overwhelmed by these people.

"No more nonsense, first come, first served, those who talk too much will only wait half a day or a full day longer than others." Hong Dao said.

Everyone could only queue up honestly.

"Xu Fengzi’s Family from Songzi Manor, three generations of father, son, and grandson, the household registration is correct, place a fingerprint here, leave your axe, and you can enter, collect the axe when leaving." Secretary Chen said to Xu Fengzi’s three generations, internally wondering why these farmers so loved to carry axes when they left home—did they want self-defense or perhaps plan to chop some firewood home?

"Hey hey hey, thank you, sir." Xu Fengzi took back his household registration, held it tightly, and entered the city with his son and grandson.

The other villagers were the same.

...

Village Chief He also took his son, grandson, and the families of He Tianwa who couldn’t pay taxes to the county to borrow money.

But they got up as usual, not in the middle of the night, taking a note given by Gu Jin’an before leaving the village, joining the people from Lianghe Village already waiting at the village entrance.