On June 30th of the first year of Wuding, the Taxation Branch of the Linqing Customs Department (Note 1) was located at the intersection of Henan and North. Standing high on the bank is the most famous Aotouji in Linqing Prefecture City. Wanghe Tower.
Li Dongyang (note 2), a great scholar during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, said in his poem "Aotouji": Ten miles away, people live on both sides of the bank, and their buildings are as high as the sky. Official ships and ships passed by one after another, and drums and gongs were heard everywhere. It writes about the wealth and prosperity of Linqingzhou City, a big canal city.
Linqing was home to a large number of merchants and a dense population, so the Wanghe Tower on Aotouji had a prosperous literary style and was a gathering place for literati, poets, and Qing guests. On a normal day, the Wanghe Tower around Chinese Valentine's Day would have been crowded with helpers who came to listen to books and drink tea. Those who had lost their jobs due to rain on their way home would vent their anger and grievances by saying "Jinba after the battle of General Xuanwu". Classic storytelling repertoire such as "Yasa" or "The Affair of Emperor Wu Ding" to spend the long summer.
However, during these days, there was no one on the Wanghe Tower. They were commenting on the love affair between Emperor Wu Ding and Dayu'er. Not even a beggar was seen. In the words of an Eastern official, "I held a basket." Then you can catch a bird."
At noon on the 30th, Dongfang Daguan, the owner of the drug store in Baoantang, West Street, Zhoucheng, invited several prominent figures from Linqing to discuss matters in the private room on the second floor.
After three rounds of drinking, Dongfang Zhu thought of asking Sister Li Gui from Lichun Courtyard to drink with him, so he asked his servant Daian to call.
Daian went away for a long time and came back sweating profusely: "Sir, all the women in the city have been dragged by Qiu Bala to weave armor pieces. They say the soldiers from the south are coming!"
The Dongfang officials were impatient to wait and said angrily to Daian: "I don't care if Qiu Ba fights, there are several gentlemen waiting to drink, where are the people?"
"Sister Li Gui also asked Qiu Bala to do the work and paid ten cents for half a day."
Hearing that his wife (mistress) was also being dragged away, he straightened up his ignorant karma, stretched out his finger and cursed:
"You useless thing, I'll hit you on the head!" Dongfang Zhu slapped the servant on the head and cursed in a thick Linqing dialect.
The servant Daian covered his face in grievance. Fortunately, he ran fast, otherwise he would have been caught and thrown stones by Qiu Ba just on the street.
Dongfang Zhu finished beating the servants, looked up at the other people sitting in the private room, and raised a glass to accompany the wine. They all dressed up to look like officials, like the clerks in the yamen of Linqing Prefecture.
Dongfang Zhu drank all his wine in one gulp and slammed the glass on the table. His face was full of alcohol and he said angrily:
"This group of Liaodong Qiu Ba actually established a foothold in Linqing City and refused to leave. Now they have ruined many banknote businesses! It is really hateful!"
A clerk sitting opposite Dongfang Zhu shook his chopsticks, picked up a piece of greasy deer breast, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it without chewing:
"This idiot Kaiyuan soldier has just finished causing harm to Jining, and then came to Linqing. In the past few days, he has divided the fields for the mud-legged people, recruited trackers to join the army, and also accepted many Shaanxi thieves. It seems that he doesn't want to leave! "
The fat pawn next to him listened to the conversation between the two and said with disdain:
"Their emperor is gone, the Tatars are rioting in Liaodong again, and the boat in Dengzhou was burned by Shaanxi thieves. Where can these Qiu Ba people escape? They say they are helping us put down the White Lotus Sect, but in fact they want to occupy the city. Recruiting soldiers and horses here to steal our cash and taxes!"
The more Dongfang Zhu listened, the angrier he became, and he gritted his teeth and said:
"Since Qiu Ba came to the city, I have sold Jingang Powder and Chang Ting Dan in Jiangnan's eighteen stores, and each bottle has been charged an extra two cents! When the medicinal materials arrived in Yangzhou, no one took over them. In just six months, I lost money. More than thirty thousand taels! In the past, when Huang Zhizhou was here, he would never compete with the people for profit like this! Damn, he was more ruthless than the tax supervisor of the Wanli Dynasty! (Note 3) "
After hearing this, the fat official put down his wine glass, pointed at the east gate and toasted his nose, with a lewd smile on his face.
"Hahaha, it would be better if those pornographic drugs in your shop cannot be sold. Don't you have a wife and six concubines at home? Just keep them for yourself!"
"A high-ranking official in the East Gate not only has one wife and six concubines, but half of the women in Linqing City are his concubines!"
"Don't talk nonsense. Wherever there is only Linqing, up and down the North Canal, to Qinhuai in the south, to the capital in the north, there are no traces of high-ranking officials, senior officials and senior generals in the east gate..."
Several minor officials laughed lustfully with their stomachs full. Dongfang Zhu's face turned pale and red, but he couldn't get into trouble, so he had to drink a few more glasses of wine with his neck raised.
Dongfang Zhu is in his mid-thirties this year. He is originally from Qinghe County, Shandong. His parents offended Wu Dalang, the bully in the county, and the family had to move to Linqing. He opened a medicine shop and passed it on to Dongfang Zhu. , relying on his cleverness and intelligence, his business grew bigger and bigger, and he made friends with the local magistrate. I heard that Deng Yushi in the capital also had his relationship.
Dongfang Zhu was born very carefree. He wore a tassel hat, gold bells and hairpins, and jade railings on his head. He had a long waist and was wearing green ruffles. On his feet were fine-soled Chenqiao shoes and clear water cloth socks. ; Shaking the Jinchuan fan in his hand.
In the words of Wang Ganniang of Linqing East Street, the Dongfang official was Pan An's good-looking and pleasant person.
“It’s been one bad thing after another this year.”
The Shangyuan Festival had just passed, and the Cao army soldiers stationed at Chaoguan were arguing about pay. Wu Bian stormed the state government office, and the magistrate Huang finally calmed down. Then the remnants of Bailian came to rob merchants and burn grain ships, until Jining (Kaiyuan) The army station) sent more than 4,000 soldiers to suppress the White Lotus Sect.
After General Pu finished killing the White Lotus Sect, he had just left, when a group of Shaanxi thieves rushed from the east of Henan to Shandong. The leader of the thieves was Liu Fangliang, who led the elite of the old battalion to burn, kill and loot everywhere, from Qingzhou Prefecture to Linqing.
There were less than 2,000 Cao troops stationed in Linqing. On weekdays, they could do nothing but blackmail and bully Bai Chuan and make trouble for pay. This group of people saw the bandits like a mouse seeing a cat.
So Mr. Huang, the governor of the state, had no choice but to once again plead with the Qi army who had just returned to Jining to come back for rescue.
After a fierce battle, Pu Yingguan drove away Liu Fangliang with 4,000 soldiers, and forced the bandits back to Henan. In a blink of an eye, on the sixth day of May, there was a sudden thunder, and everyone in the capital suddenly changed. It was said that Emperor Wuding was missing, and the emperor's men Many of the soldiers died.
When the Qi army stationed in Linqing received the news, they simply did not return to Jining. Instead, they gathered the defeated soldiers who had fled from various places, guarded the canal, and began to take root in Linqing.
Everyone in Linqing knows that Emperor Wuding of the capital was originally a member of the Liaodong Army before he became famous. It is said that he was still a servant under General Liu Wei. Somehow, the tomb of his ancestor Jide was smoking for seven or eight years. Time becomes an emperor.
However, Linqing was not under the control of Emperor Wu Ding. There were thousands of Kaiyuan troops stationed in Jining on weekdays and could not control it at all.
"Dozens" or hundreds of merchants on Ma Shi Street, Wan Shi Street, Guo Shi Street, Tan Factory, etc. had no feelings for the shattered Emperor Wu Ding, let alone grief for the death of the Ma Emperor.
Just die.
It's just that these Liaodong Qiu Ba who stayed in Linqing didn't follow the rules at all after occupying the city. They first handed over the weapons of the Cao army, beheaded all the Cao soldiers who had made a fuss about pay last time, and dispersed the rest and drove them out of the city. They controlled the banknotes, sent some civil affairs officials to collect taxes, and forced merchants to invest in defending the city. The more than 200,000 people in the city who did not escape were organized by them. Men built walls, carried bricks, dug trenches, and women woven armors, sewed and mended them. They acted like they were clinging to Linqing and made Linqing a mess.
"We can't be squeezed and bullied by these Qiu Ba people. They rely on giving Mud Legs a few pennies every day to win people's hearts and make Mud Legs work hard to defend the city. All they use is our money!"
Dongfang Zhu smashed his wine glass on the table and looked at everyone fiercely.
The fat pian official squinted his eyes at the Eastern officials with their wives and concubines, and said with a smile:
"What's the point of asking you for a few taels of silver? Looking at this situation, the Yamen will have to be replaced by their people. We brothers who live in the government will have to go to the underworld to get together if we think of gathering together to drink like today!"
The Dongfang officials looked around, with murderous looks on their faces.
He waved to the servant standing at the door of the private room, and Daian immediately retreated out of the room, carefully closing the door when he went out.
When the servant went out, another clerk said:
"When Superintendent Liu (Liu Zongzhou) surrounds Linqing and there is no food in the city, Qiu Ba will rob us and kill us."
Everyone was silent. They knew this was true. It was said that this group of Kaiyuan soldiers did this in Jining.
In their words: attack local tyrants and divide their fields.
The fat official clenched his fists, the kind smile on his face disappeared, and said viciously:
"Liu Zhaosun is a thief. He even dared to kill the Holy Duke Yan of Qufu back then. There is nothing else they dare not do. We must make preparations in advance. We cannot be meat on the desk and be slaughtered by others."
After hearing this, Dongfang Zhu suddenly stood up, pulled out a sharp dagger from his waist, and stabbed it on the table.
"Each family provided money and men, and sent a few medium-sized green-skinned men to go to Yangzhou Fucheng to find Superintendent Liu, and made an agreement with him. When the Ming army attacks the city, we should cooperate inside and outside, set a fire, and all the servants will come out. Kill people, cooperate inside and outside to kill these Qiu Babu from Liaodong. From now on, Linqing will still be our world!"
Several minor officials nodded after hearing this, and then everyone began to discuss in detail how much money each family would pay. After just a few words, they started to quarrel.
Finally, as a local gangster in Linqing, Dongfang official, who was usually treacherous, greedy and lustful, actually took the initiative to express his willingness to go out to various merchants to take the lead and give more money than others. He just wanted to find the right person to make this happen. thing.
Note:
1. See Zhang Tingyu's "History of the Ming Dynasty" Volume 81, Food and Goods Records, Commercial Tax
2. Li Dongyang: Born on June 9, the 12th year of Zhengde, and died on July 20, the 11th year of Zhengde (July 21, 1447 - August 17, 1516). His courtesy name was Binzhi and his nickname was Xiya. His ancestral home is Chaling, Huguang (now Chaling, Hunan). Because his family has been in the military for generations, he joined the garrison in the capital and belongs to the Jinwu Zuowei family. The chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet. Many writings.
3. Linqing Civil Revolt: In the twenty-seventh year of Wanli (1599), the eunuch Ma Tang imposed a tax on Linqing, Shandong Province. Hundreds of his minions robbed during the day, and those who resisted were charged with violating the prohibition; the tax also extended to rice and beans. This triggered a civil uprising. Markets went on strike near and far, and citizens gathered in tens of thousands of people and set fire to the Magistrate's Office, killing thirty-seven of his minions.
