When Yang Fan, Lin Yueru, and Xiao Niangpi were discussing the natural and man-made disasters that caused the current situation, the ship finally entered the Ji Canal. Arriving at the border of Zunhua.
Yang Fan was in the grassland during this period, and there was no autumn harvest when he left.
Now that the autumn harvest is over, farmers have begun to flee famine after paying their taxes. Because they have nothing left.
There are victims everywhere, and on both sides of the Ji River, they are all victims in ragged clothes. Both sides of the river bank were littered with corpses of people who had died of starvation.
Every time a ship came by, these hungry victims stretched out their begging bowls and begged passing merchants for some food.
After all, most of the people traveling from Ji Canal were merchant ships coming from Beitangkou. Official ships all use Dagukou, follow the Haihe River, and take Tianjin and the North Canal to Beijing.
These merchants might also give them some food. If they went to the North Canal to ask for food from the official ships, they would be in danger of being beaten to death with sticks on the spot.
Yang Fan stood up and looked at the abandoned land on both sides of the Taiwan Strait with a heavy expression.
A whip law puts all taxes on the land, further increasing the burden on farmers. Peasants abandoned their land and fled.
There are abandoned fields along the way. It's time to plant winter wheat, but the land is all abandoned and there is no end in sight.
Everyone has run away and there is no one left to farm.
A large amount of land was abandoned, exacerbating the disaster. leading to greater food shortages.
"Master, we still have a lot of rations on the ship. The war is over anyway. Can you take some out to help these victims." Xiao Niangpi said in a low voice.
She knew that the military was Yang Fan's foundation, and she must ensure that soldiers and their families had enough to eat.
Yang Fan estimated that after passing Zunhua and entering his own territory, there would be fewer refugees. After all, my territory has a bumper harvest this year, and every family is not short of food.
"Stop the ship, let the soldiers go down to maintain order, set up a few large pots, and cook some gruel for them to drink. It shouldn't be too thick. People who are hungry for a long time have poor digestion and are prone to problems." Yang Fan sighed and said.
The world of Ming Dynasty is like this, and I can only change some of the people who depend on me.
How can we manage so many people in the world?
Seeing Yang Fan's face, Lin Yueru said: "Sir, you have allowed millions of people to live a well-off life in the past two years, which is already amazing. Don't worry about the others. They are His Majesty's subjects, and It's not yours. Don't worry."
"I'm just sad. Zhang Juzheng had good intentions and wanted to reduce the burden on farmers. He spread the poll tax into the fields in order to make the tax fairer. Unexpectedly, without good people to implement it, it turned into a bad policy that harmed the people." Yang Fan He said sadly.
Xiao Niangpi said with emotion: "Since ancient times, reforms to improve the situation have almost always failed because of the people who implemented them. Without good people to implement them, no matter how good the policy is, it will turn into a bad government that harms the people."
Lin Yueru also said: "Yes, Wang Anshi's reform, in order to crack down on loan sharking, introduced the Youth Law. Low-interest loans, with an annual interest rate of 20%. The original intention was to reduce the burden on the people. But for the sake of political achievements, local officials forced a showdown regardless of whether the people needed it or not. Loans. When the people were unable to repay the principal and interest when they were due, the people's properties and land were confiscated under the compound interest rate, which made the people cry loudly."
Xiao Niangpi said: "In the late Southern Song Dynasty, in order to resist the Mongols from going south, financial and military expenditures were very tight. Prime Minister Jia Sidao planned to nationalize the land and then collect taxes based on acres. This would not only increase fiscal revenue, but also reduce the burden on the people. Originally, it was It's a good thing. But the people below wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to annex the land. According to the price of 25 guan of land per acre, they forcibly purchased paddy fields worth thousands of guan. The farmers went bankrupt one after another, and in the end it was the small farmers who were unlucky."
Yang Fan sighed in his heart that the Ming Dynasty was wiped out with a whip.
The Manchus were also afraid. Picked up the poll tax again.
Due to the heavy poll tax, by the end of Kangxi's reign, the people were once again forced into the situation of the late Ming Dynasty.
Yongzheng saw that this was not going to work, so he turned back and imitated Zhang Juzheng and started a business as a business owner.
The result was the same as Zhang Juzheng, the effect was good when he was in power. As soon as he died, Qianlong abolished all his policies. Back to the same old routine.
In order to create his image as a benevolent king, Kangxi imitated Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty and did not add land tax.
On the surface, it reduced the burden on the people, but he did not touch the poll tax. In order to increase the finance minister's income, he began to sell his officials and titles without increasing the land tax.
By the late Qianlong period, the income from selling official positions accounted for 40% of the court's income.
Later, during the Tongguang period, the Taiping Army, Nian Army, and Shaanxi-Gansu Army returned to rebellion. The Qing Dynasty's finances also went bankrupt. Same as the current Ming Dynasty.
But at that time, foreigners came in. You can borrow debt from foreigners for financing. The Qing Dynasty's regular borrowings were several times the fiscal revenue of the year.
On the contrary, it has survived for more than sixty years.
It is a pity that in this era of Chongzhen, there was no way to ask for help. There is nowhere to issue government bonds and nowhere to borrow money. All he could do was stare.
After the fleet docked, the victims suddenly rushed up. They all stretched out their hands, holding broken bowls, and pushed forward as hard as they could. Yang Fan was unable to get off the ship.
Janissary men, wearing armor and holding riding whips. Shouting loudly and intimidating. Drive away all the victims.
The cavalrymen from the personal barracks on the shore came ashore to maintain order. Set up a few military pots and fetch water from the river. Porridge was cooked.
During this expedition, Yang Fan did not bring any coarse grains in order to keep the officers and soldiers well fed. All I brought was white rice.
The victims did not expect that when a noble person gave out porridge, it was all white rice porridge.
For a moment, I was so excited that I almost started to commotion again.
The soldiers fired several shots into the air with firecrackers before they were restrained again.
These people have probably never eaten white rice more than once in their lives.
"Han Qi, go to the boat and bring over a few jars of pickles. People can't live without salt for a long time. Chop them up and put them into the rice porridge." Yang Fan turned around and said.
The victims were trembling one by one, looking at these murderous officers and soldiers wearing armor.
These people had just come off the battlefield. There is evil spirit all over the body.
Under the organization of the army, people queued up to receive porridge.
Every family helped the old and the young to come up and use broken bowls and basins to make porridge. The fire-headed soldiers took a big spoonful of porridge according to their heads.
Those who received the porridge should go to the designated area to drink the porridge and were not allowed to return to receive it again.
Yang Fan's people pay attention to detail and organization and implementation.
Under this management, the porridge was quickly and fairly distributed to the victims.
Some don't even have bowls, because many people only have a few bowls per family.
Yang Fan gave them the munitions on the ship and the small stainless steel basin.
Porridge is given out from noon to dusk. Not only does the number of people coming to receive porridge not decrease, but the number of people coming to receive the porridge is increasing.
Yang Fan looked around and saw a sea of people all around, all victims of the disaster who came after hearing the news.
"Let's get on the ship and leave a squadron and a ship of food until they are all gone. Let's save as many as we can. His Majesty is waiting to be summoned. There is no time to delay." Yang Fan said.
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