Tan Guihuang said: "If there is peace in the world, just drying salt can make you have enough food and clothing. [Read the latest chapter]" He said that in fact, this salt field can produce more than a thousand salts every year, and the salt merchants in Guangleizhou produce more than 1,000 salts every year. He came to collect a few hundred dollars. Since it was occupied by a wealthy family, he forced the salt merchants on the mainland to drive away from here in order to monopolize the salt trade.
"Why?" Wang Luobin felt strange. For salt merchants, it didn't matter who bought the salt. Why were the big households occupying the salt field but not allowing old customers to buy salt?
"His family has a salt shop in Qiongshan, and all the salt is shipped to Qiongshan." Tan Guihuang sighed, "He has his own way to sell salt to the mainland, so he doesn't care about merchants from Leizhou."
It seems that there is also an element of collusion between government and businessmen. But no one understands what the salt method of the Ming Dynasty was like, and they can't figure out the key to it.
"As long as there is salt, are you still worried about not having food and clothing?" Xi Yazhou waved his hand, "All the salt merchants on the mainland are extremely rich. How can it be difficult for us to have a hard time drying salt and have enough food and clothing?"
Tan Chengqing suddenly turned silent in her joy and sighed softly, "I'm just afraid that the salt will be exposed and I won't be able to keep it."
"You're not afraid!" Xi Yazhou said confidently, "With us here, do you know about this firearm?" He weighed the SKS rifle beside him. The blue gun steel glowed faintly in the kerosene lamp. "Hundreds of brave villagers in Huangjiazhai are still dead. Why are you still afraid of a few bastards who bully the weak and fear the strong?"
"But what if you left? It would make things worse." Tan Chengqing was obviously worried about the future. "The government said you were pirates, and you said you were a merchant. No matter you are a pirate or a merchant, you can't stay in Lingao for the rest of your life. You have iron ships and fast guns, and you can leave as soon as you want. Gou Dahu can hook up with the government-" Then he detailed how the salt field was occupied by Gou Dahu in the past, and his expression became more disappointed. He emphatically stated that the clerks and servants in the yamen had received benefits and helped the wealthy to oppress them, and they could not find a place to reason.
Xi Yazhou nodded and asked, "How many people are there in the Gou family?"
"There are two big families in his family." Tan Guihuang was obviously more familiar with the local situation than his son. The Gou family originally had two brothers. The Gou family lives in the countryside, and their families have more than a hundred evil servants, some of whom are desperadoes who have fled from the mainland and are very fierce. Because his son was pregnant, Gou Er moved to the county town, where he specialized in communicating with the government and handling lawsuits. The two families colluded with each other and became the local tyrants.
"How many people were in your village at that time?"
"At that time, there were many people in the village, more than 300 households."
"A household of three to four hundred people must have three to four hundred people, right?" Xi Yazhou said, "You three to four hundred people, just watch people take over all your property?"
The two men present blushed and lowered their heads. At this time, I suddenly heard a clear female voice: "It's not everyone's fault! It's all caused by the government."
When everyone saw it, it was the girl disguised as a man. Seeing that everyone was paying attention to her, they realized that they had forgotten their identity as a woman disguised as a man. They became so anxious that they became helpless and stood up to escape outside.
Du Wen was busy comforting her by her side. He couldn't understand anything, so he just smiled and held her hand. With someone of the same sex beside her, the girl calmed down, and a blush appeared on her face that was not blackened by the pot ash.
"Are you Xiaoqin? The daughter of Village Chief Tan." Xi Yazhou said, giving her a fruit candy, "Don't be afraid, we knew you were a girl."
Tan Guihuang accompanied her with a smile: "She is indeed my brother's child. Although she is a girl, she is a single child. Her father is so precious, and the boss refuses to tell her -"
In fact, this girl was only seventeen or eighteen years old, but in the era of early marriage and early childbirth, it was indeed too late. The girl refused to accept the fruit candies, so she ran over and knelt down to Xi Yazhou, kowtowed, and begged him to help save her father and elders.
Du Wen hurried over and pulled her up. Regardless of whether people understood or not, he rambled on about equality between men and women. Zhang Xingjiao was so angry that his face turned red and he simply didn't say a word.
"Don't worry, Xiaoqin, we will definitely help you rescue the fellow villagers who were captured." Xi Yazhou was not willing to give up the opportunity to show off his heroic spirit in front of girls, and patted his chest with an extremely reliable look on his face, "Just say Let’s talk about the government affairs.”
It turns out that in the forty-fifth year of Wanli, after the Lingao earthquake, Ma Niao's salt field suffered great losses. The saltmen specially submitted a petition to the county government at that time, requesting exemption or deferment of salt classes for a few years. Although a lot of salt fields were destroyed, the actual production capacity of the salt fields still had a certain surplus. The main reason is that the damage to people and property caused by the earthquake was huge, and it would take three or four years to recover. However, the Gou family had long coveted the salt farm, so they took advantage of this opportunity and asked Gou Er to discuss with the county clerk's office, whom he was familiar with, and bribed the master to destroy the submission. Gou Da took the opportunity to take over the salt tax, and hired many goons to collect the salt tax in the salt village every day. The village was forced to ask him to pay the salt tax on his behalf, and from then on, it fell into his control step by step. Although the county magistrate later became aware of this matter, it was a golden rule for local officials not to offend local wealthy families. Every year, the salt class can be collected normally, and the Gou family keeps paying filial piety, so they just ignore it.
"In the final analysis, it is the government that supports him." Xi Yazhou said, "right?"
"Well, with the government backing him, who can do anything to him?" Xiao Qin looked helpless, "Even if he comes alone, we don't dare to do anything. Otherwise, it will be just the people under him, Brother Cheng Qing, who can beat him All three will do.”
Xi Yazhou knew that the matter was beginning to get to the core - the Gou family's plan was actually nothing unusual, it was nothing more than "collusion between officials and gangsters." Collusion between officials and businessmen, collusion between officials and gangsters, and collusion between officials and gangsters are common social phenomena in Chinese history. Even in the 21st century, a successful person, no matter which path he takes to succeed, will always have the shadow of an official behind him: a businessman wants to make money To obtain a certain amount of profits, the underworld boss needs a safe backer, all of which must rely on official figures. Even the more aloof intellectuals know that the power of official hat is much stronger than academics. The Gou family in Lingao County, Ming Dynasty, is nothing more than the same model.
To confront the government is to rebel. In fact, the common people do not like the government of the past dynasties that rides on their heads - but the government has strict punishments and laws, and has an army - in modern terms, it controls the "violent machine". Whether you like it or not, you have to listen to it. . Even heroes in the green forest regard "Don't fight against officials" as a golden rule.
For ordinary people to resist the government, no matter what form it takes, is equivalent to "rebellion" - ordinary people will never embark on this road until they are desperate. Of course, Xi Yazhou is not naive enough to think that with just a little encouragement, the common people will throw their lives and blood to fight for the people across the country - his policy is a roundabout approach, which may be called a curved revolution.
"In the final analysis, the Gou family is so rampant because of two things: raising thugs and colluding with the government." Xi Yazhou smiled slightly, "The first one is insignificant. As long as everyone can unite, his few people are not enough to fill the gap between his teeth. The key point is It’s the second one, since he can collude with the government, so can we.”
Several people in Yancun stared at this short "maritime leader" with their mouths open, probably feeling a little incredible. After a while, Tan Guihuang said cautiously: "Is the master also familiar with official figures?"
"To be honest, I'm not familiar with it."
"Then how to make friends with the government?"
"Why do you think the government wants to hand over local tyrants and evil gentry like the Gou family?"
"It's not just for a few dollars." Tan Chengqing looked disdainful.
"Yes, even if the official is coveting yellow and white things, if he gets it, we will get it too." With that, he shared his thoughts with the salt people.
In fact, the plan is not complicated: first, take back the monopoly of the salt class. With this, the Gou family has an official status. Unless this sign is smashed, the salt people will still be frightened. As for how to take it back, the salt people don't need to worry about it, they will take care of it.
Once the salt class rights are taken back, the Gou family will have no legitimate excuse to interfere in the production of the salt farm. What is left with him is nothing more than a bad debt that has been delayed for more than ten years. Xi Yazhou also understood this kind of usurious loan with compound interest in later generations: as long as the debtor still has a little financial ability, the creditor will never say that you have paid off. So instead of continuing to repay this unknown amount of money, I might as well write it off in one lump sum and completely default on the debt.
Without the golden sign of taking over the salt class, the debt issue is purely a civil dispute and has nothing to do with the royal grain and national taxes. No matter how capable he is of colluding with the government, it will not be so easy for the government to stand up for him.
I got back the right to operate the salt farm and was no longer exploited by him. The income from selling salt was guaranteed. I paid the salt class and the county's "regular money" as usual, and the government had no losses in either public or private aspects. , the use value of the Gou family is gone. Without the use value, will the government still be willing to take care of them?
"It can't be that simple." As soon as Xi Yazhou finished his words, Tan Chengqing smiled bitterly, "The Gou family is very familiar with the office clerk of the third class and sixth room in the county government office. They have been in contact with each other for generations, and they are intertwined. Mr. Guang If we want to collect this salt lesson, we will not be able to survive in the household."
In ancient times, county government was not so much "government by officials" as it was "government by officials." Since the Song Dynasty, most of the local officials in prefectures and counties were selected from the imperial examinations. The administrative affairs of prefectures, counties and localities are very cumbersome. In addition to a set of cumbersome procedures and basic laws for various affairs, there are countless examples that should be cited or can be used by analogy. Which law or regulation should be followed for a certain official matter cannot be found in books such as laws and regulations. If there is any mistake or the boss finds something wrong, he will be dismissed at the slightest and reprimanded at the worst. Wouldn’t that mean walking around without food? At this time, you have to try to find out the established examples that have appeared in the past and apply them to ensure nothing goes wrong. But what kind of examples should be found is a science. This is called "official way".
People who came from the imperial examination can speak lucidly about history and policy, and can recite poems and poems by heart, but few can understand the ways of administration in these places - not to mention other things, it is just a fish-scale book, and to outsiders it looks like It's like a ghost painting, but people who can see it clearly know the real estate area, location, form, output, tax amount and the situation of the landowner. Therefore, in order not to make mistakes or find it troublesome, officials can only entrust all these matters to the clerk's office of the 3rd class and 6th room to handle. Officials with humble status actually controlled local administrative power in ancient society.
Because officials are often hereditary, they have deep collusion with local big families, which cannot be severed by simple economic means, so Xi Yazhou's plan sounds a bit idealistic to them.
