In the early days of the founding of Da Qi, wars were frequent in the north, commerce was in decline, and the provinces were extremely short of cash.
If we directly copy Zhang Juzheng’s whipping method or the Manchu Qing Dynasty’s policy of “growing people and never increasing taxes”, capital’s expropriation and division of land income will sharply increase, and the collapse of the weak farming economy in the north is just around the corner.
In this context, direct control of land production by the state and implementation of polarist rule is an expedient measure - at least it is better than letting farmers go bankrupt on a large scale and become refugees.
Of course, there is actually another way of thinking to solve this kind of problem, which is to carry out more human elimination plans in densely populated areas like the Manchus did to effectively control the contradiction between man and land.
Although Liu Zhaosun was cruel, he had always been pretty good to the people. At least he had not degenerated to the point of self-castration of the empire and artificially reducing the population for the sake of so-called order.
Compared with the depressed north, Jiangnan was rich enough to withstand hardships. Coupled with some other reasons, it became a testing ground for the empire's economic policies.
The New Deal may be able to seduce the untouchables and beggars, deceive the impoverished peasants, and fool a few small landowners who do not know how to live or die.
But he couldn't deceive a knowledgeable person like Wang Heng.
A policy like breeding people and never increasing taxes obviously does not bode well.
Wang Heng knew very well that the imperial court was actually taking food from wealthy and powerful households like them.
To say that robbing the rich and giving to the poor, and making up for the losses, is a false compliment to the imperial court.
Qing's mother-in-law was not perfect as early as Zhang Juzheng's time. Because the aspects involved were very complicated, the chain of interests inside could not be explained clearly in a few sentences.
The focus of Zhang Juzheng's clarification of his father-in-law is not actually to fight against powerful people and pursue fairness.
Integrated inventory is only to increase taxes.
Similar to the Zhang Juzheng era, the land clearing tasks of the Da Qi court were issued in the form of apportionment.
According to the standards set by Emperor Guangde, in the tax collection process, as long as the raw fields have been cultivated for three years, the taxes will be collected as mature fields.
Usually, mature fields with fertile soil and considerable yields are owned by landlords, while raw fields are usually reclaimed by ordinary people at the bottom.
Therefore, to a certain extent, Daqi's land clearing program - if successful - will actually increase the number of taxable objects, regardless of whether the landowner is poor or noble.
To put it more simply, Liu Zhaosun, the thief, had exploited the wealthy gentry, and the next step was to exploit the poor people - of course, the method was more subtle.
First, the land in each province was redeemed from the gentry at a low price or completely free of charge, re-measured, and the land was distributed to tenant farmers at a low price or free of charge. Note that it was a lease, which meant that the ownership of the land was always in the hands of the court.
Then, within a short period of time—usually three years—farm cooperatives were established in each village. The land was taken back from the tenants and returned to the cooperative. The cooperative then assigned it to the tenant farmers for farming. The cooperative was responsible for management. According to the labor performance of the farmers, The distribution of food and supplies is called joint labor.
In the end, the tenant farmers were reduced to the state machine, or a small part of the machine, toiling on the land all their lives from birth to death, dedicating all they had to the empire except the rations needed by individuals and families.
Compared to the past, an ordinary farmer will only suffer more severe exploitation in his life.
Of course, all the hard work and selfless dedication will become more meaningful in the slogan of fighting for the empire and civilizing the barbarians around the world - at least it will make sense when everyone takes the oath.
This is the routine Liu Zhaosun played in the north.
Wang Heng was already familiar with this. He would win over the people at the bottom by eradicating the big gentry families. After controlling the situation, he would then turn around and exploit the bottom even more, mobilizing the majority to "rule" a small number of opponents and defeat them one by one without fail.
Finally, tie everyone to the chariot that moves crazily and drain everyone dry...
Wang Heng could clearly see the tricks Liu Zhaosun had used before.
Wang Heng knew that if he did not take action, Liu Thief's exploitation of Jin Shen would soon begin.
The land tax was paid back, the land was confiscated, and the family was confiscated.
After all, Liu Thief had done this kind of thing in western Liaoning, and now he was just familiar with it.
Wang Heng knew Liu Zhao and Sun Yawang better than other Jin gentry, so at the most dangerous moment, this Daqi court painter who had retired to the mountains and forests decided to lead everyone and fight to the death against the violent Qi.
Of course, fighting to the death does not mean that everyone should risk their lives and run to the battlefield to use white knives to go in and red knives to come out - this is not what civil servants are good at.
"How many soldiers does Liu Zhaosun have?"
"Qi State has twelve major corps. The artillery regiment with the smallest strength has 18,000 people. I guess it must have at least 150,000 troops?"
Wang Heng gently waved his hand and told everyone a shocking conclusion that he knew.
"No, Liu Zhaosun only has 500 soldiers, or less."
"Five hundred soldiers? How is that possible?"
"The Qi army can defeat Zuo Liangyu and Zheng Sen. How can it only have 500 soldiers?"
After everyone's discussion subsided, Wang Heng coughed and then continued:
"Da Qi now has more than 20 provinces in the north and south, and its territory is several times that of the previous Ming Dynasty. There are thousands of prefectures and counties in the country, and at least half of them are not subject to Nanjing's rule. Every place only maintains superficial peace. Liu Zhaosun had 100,000 troops, or 30 The surrender of the army in the Ming Dynasty sounds very impressive, but if we spread this small army to the south of the Yangtze River, what can we do?"
"Liu Zhaosun went against the grain, and now all the provinces in the north and south are rebelling against him. Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Yunnan are all using troops. So I say he only has 500 troops in Taicang, maybe less."
"But Zhang Yunxiu brought a thousand troops from Nanjing this time. Everyone knows it."
Wang Heng smiled coldly: "Don't forget, one thousand soldiers are used in the entire Jiangsu. In addition to Taicang, there are also Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, etc. waiting to send troops... One thousand soldiers can be allocated to Taicang." How many? One hundred?"
After hearing this, everyone felt that what the pimp said was quite reasonable, and the haze that had been suppressed in their hearts for many days suddenly dissipated a lot.
People began to whisper and laugh again.
Eunuch Cao looked at Mr. Wang with sharp eyes: "Wang knows what the county wants, and directly sends people to deliver these soldiers..."
Wang Heng said twice, shook his head and waved his hands: "I know that you all hate Liu Zhaosun deeply, and you are even more eager to eat meat and sleep on Zhang Yunxiu and this group of hawks and dogs, but the time is not yet ripe right now."
"What do you think, Mr. Wang?"
Wang Heng waited for this sentence and reiterated the importance of silver.
"There must be a brave man under a heavy reward. You have to give up your children to trap the wolf. Don't begrudge this little money. If Liu Zhaosun gains power in Taicang, you will have to take out not only these ten thousand taels from your home, but you ’s entire net worth.”
Everyone remained silent and listened quietly to Wang Heng's arrangements.
"If the little emperor wants to reform, we will accompany him to reform, but we must change according to our own way."
Eunuch Cao squinted his eyes. Hearing what Wang Heng said, he found it interesting. He smiled and said, "If you want to take something, you must give it first, and retreat in order to advance. What exactly do you want to do, Mr. Wang?"
Wang Heng said with a gloomy smile: "How to do it? Follow the rules and violate the rules! Overtly implement the reform, but privately create obstacles for them."
"Mr. Cai, you are in charge of the South Canal. Tomorrow, all the canal boats going to Chaoguan will stop, so they say the lock is broken."
Manager Cai grinned and said: "Chaoguan collects tens of thousands of taels of silver a day..."
Wang Heng said angrily: "Didn't I make it clear just now? If you don't overthrow Zhang Yunxiu, Liu Zhaosun will confiscate your property and not leave you a penny."
Director Cai had no choice but to agree, follow Wang Heng's instructions, and prepare to start closing the gate after noon tomorrow.
"Several clan heads." Wang Heng looked at the four major families in Taicang Prefecture and said word by word: "There are at most three or five officials sent by Zhang Yunxiu to Qingtian in the counties below. They should not be difficult to deal with. You should go to the county to prepare in advance. At least you have to Just kill them two and bury them alive, but let them live without seeing anyone and die without seeing their bodies."
The four major families in Taicang nodded. These big families knew in their hearts that instead of being gradually cannibalized by the Emperor of Qi and losing their fortune, it was better to fight now.
Wang Heng finally set his sights on the Admiral of the Weaving Bureau. The head of the Weaving Bureau was also the richest eunuch in Daqi. After the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty, most of the elite guards stationed in Taicang Prefecture joined his disciples and became Eunuch Cao's dead soldiers.
"Eunuch Cao, do you know Huang Wenye?"
Eunuch Cao sneered and said: "Of course I know that this person is not the same kind of person as you and me. He has always been self-righteous, so no one asked him to discuss important matters this time."
I heard that the imperial court sent people to clear out his father-in-law's land. Huang Wenye, who owned one hundred and twenty acres of land, actually took the initiative to hook up with Zhang Yunxiu. He went to the state government office every now and then in the past few days. He didn't know what they were up to.
Wang Heng smiled awkwardly.
In the entire Taicang Prefecture, among the wealthy gentry with more than a thousand acres of land, Huang Wenye was the only one who took the initiative to clear out his father-in-law's acres.
Manager Cai snorted: "In the whole of Taicang, the Huang family's money is the only one that is clean. It seems like we are so dirty."
Last year, Taihu Lake flooded, and people in Loucheng were affected by the disaster and were forced to sell their fields. Huang Wenye always bought the fields at the actual price. Instead of taking the opportunity to lower the price, he bought and sold the fields in cash. For every acre he bought, he gave the tenants a bushel of millet. After some farmers had a bumper harvest this year, they sold their fields back at a low price... These kinds of behaviors are considered an alternative existence in Taicang, where mergers are common.
"Since ancient times, good people are not rewarded. Since Mr. Huang wants to ask for life for the people, we will grant him a favor and take his life."
Wang Heng said with murderous intent: "Please ask Eunuch Cao to send your dead men to sneak into the Huang Mansion tonight, kill him, and pretend to be tortured. His body will be placed at the door of his house, along with something, such as "disobeying the emperor's order" , Notes such as "The crime cannot be forgiven"..."
Everyone took a breath. They didn't expect that Wang Xijue's son would be so vicious. Even if he didn't provoke the Taicang civil uprising, it would be impossible to implement Zhang Yunxiu's new policy.
Eunuch Cao looked calm and looked at Wang Heng with a slightly different expression.
Zhang Yuan suddenly stood up and said: "Master Wang, I remember, the Taicang Wang family's family motto is, 'Don't deceive God, don't harm others.' If you harm others like this, aren't you afraid that you will die in hell and be unable to see your ancestors?"
When Wang Heng saw that Zhang Yuan was refuting him, he snorted and said disdainfully: "The Wang family also has a family motto that you probably don't know: don't cultivate evil tunes and cultivate your vitality. The Liu thief is the evil tune in the world. If you just sit back and watch this thief harm Jiangnan, Doing nothing is truly bullying nature and harming others.”
"As for Mr. Huang, he was killed by us for the sake of the people of Jiangnan, so he deserved it! I believe that his spirit in heaven will also be considerate of us."
Eunuch Cao said neither yin nor yang: "Master Wang, do you think that the people of Taicang are fools? This Huang Gong practiced charity in every possible way, helped the poor and the poor, and rescued the poor. The people in Taicang City called him Huang Fozi. He was killed by the inspector for no reason. Death, how to convince the public?"
Director Cai then asked: "Aren't you afraid that Zhang Yunxiu and the others will strike first and track down the murderer? Arrest us?"
Wang Heng said unhurriedly: "The people only believe what they want to believe. I have my own way to make them believe it. Needless to say, the tooth dealers are all helping us. The other ignorant people value their livelihood the most. They are all bosses who want money rather than their lives, so they will only spread rumors that the new law will take away their jobs, and bribe a few guild leaders, so no one will cause trouble."
"I'm not afraid that Zhang Yunxiu won't investigate. He will investigate according to the rules, so he will give him seven people and form them into the "Seven Gentlemen of Taicang" and let him take them. If he dares to take people, Taicang will immediately have a civil uprising. We just made a secret move and turned it into an open one. Chess, strike! Market strike! Cut off the South Canal! I wonder if the little emperor will give in when the time comes?"
"The officials Zhang Yunxiu sent to various counties to check the fields were buried alive. I have contacted my father's disciples and former officials and sent more money. When this matter gets bigger, they will impeach Zhang Yunxiu together, saying that he is in charge of people's lives in Taicang. , forcing the Wu people to rebel... In this way, with a multi-pronged approach, we can be sure of victory, and the fate of Taicang cannot be changed."
