I don’t know since when, there has been a saying of “four gatherings” of cities and towns all over the world, which are four urban towns that bring together people, wealth, and things. The four towns are located in the four corners of the world, with Jingshi in the north, Foshan in the south, Suzhou in the east, and Hankou in the west.
In other words, the prosperity of Hankou Town, which is not even a county seat, was comparable to that of famous cities like Beijing and Suzhou. At this time, the prosperity of Hankou Town was centered on Hanzheng Street near Hanshui Pier. From Hanshui Pier to Yuan Gongdi, there were more than 70 streets and lanes in an area of only two to three square kilometers. At its busiest time, hundreds of thousands of merchants come in and out every day, and the number of transactions can reach hundreds of thousands of taels.
And such a good place to make money every day and make a lot of money is now a scene of the end of the world. All the shops in the entire commercial port were emptied, and many of them were lit on fire and burning brightly.
Those profiteers with huge wealth and the gentry and landlords who had fled from neighboring Xiangyang, Yueyang, De'an, Chengtian and other prefectures were all imprisoned in Hanzheng Street by the wolf-like and tiger-like Dashun generals before they had time to escape. superior. There are also some unlucky ones who just look respectable, but are actually empty inside. Because they live in Hankou Town, they are also trapped in Hanzheng Street, which is surrounded by the strong and tough Dashun Warriors. They look almost like lambs waiting to be slaughtered!
Since they were betrayed by Shanxi merchants and Shanxi scholars during the Battle of Shanxi, the Dashun Army is no longer as polite to merchants and scholars as it used to be!
In the eyes of many "old camp warriors", none of these scholars who wear scarves and Taoist robes, or profiteers who wear official uniforms are good, and all of them should be killed!
Only by killing these two types of people can the world of Dashun Dynasty be peaceful... Therefore, many "old camp warriors" have their sharp knives unsheathed and sharp blades in their hands, waiting for the order from Emperor Li Zicheng. It's time to take action.
The people trapped in the circle also felt that something was wrong. The cries and shouts were mixed together, making it more and more noisy. Occasionally, there were shouts and curses from the "old camp warriors". It was really noisy to the extreme.
A dark-faced strong man in his thirties, wearing simple linen clothes, holding a large empty basket on his back, was also crowded in the crowd. However, he seemed not to be afraid of death. Others were squeezing in to get away from those ferocious "old camp warriors", but he tried his best to squeeze out, muttering to himself as he squeezed: "I won't live anymore, I won't." After living, there is nothing left, so what’s the point of living?”
Behind him, there was a woman with a dirty face, dragging him like crazy, crying: "Master, master, you can't die. If you die, how will we three mothers survive?" ?”
"Why are you still alive? Why are you still alive? Are you going to starve to death..." This man was too strong and his woman couldn't hold him back. Instead, he dragged her all the way out of the crowd.
A grey-bearded head of the "Old Camp Warrior" came forward to stop him and cursed: "Who is he? Don't you want to live anymore?"
After hearing this, the man laughed wildly, looking like he was crazy, "I'm not alive anymore, I'm not alive anymore... I am Ye Jiaxin from Jingshan. I have been ruined by you, so why am I still alive? Come on, come on." , you old thief, kill me quickly!"
This man turned out to be a rich farmer from a small county called Jingshan under Chengtian Mansion - of course there are also rich farmers! Although the agricultural environment in the late Ming Dynasty was terrible, not to mention the war and chaos, there were still a bunch of gentry and landlords who were following the feudal route of the commissary system, constantly disrupting the normal market order.
But there are still some farmers who will get rich, or get rich temporarily... This man named Ye Jiaxin is a farmer who can still get rich from farming in the troubled times of the late Ming Dynasty. He is strong and smart, and his ancestors A little bit of a shadow, there is an uncle in the family who was overthrown, and he has always taken care of him, and he is also married to a woman who is very good at running the house. So before the Da Shuntian soldiers attacked his hometown of Jingshan, he gradually became rich and became a rich farmer.
He owns 20 acres of paddy fields, all of which are in the name of his uncle Juren. He also rents 30 acres of paddy fields. The rent paid is not high, so there is a certain profit margin - the rent is different from the tenants. related to the strength. Rich peasants like Ye Jiaxin, who had the strength to pay rent on time, could certainly rent land at a lower price.
Of course he couldn't cultivate fifty acres of paddy fields by himself, so he hired people to farm the land. Although he also participated in labor, his main responsibility was management. In addition to operating 50 acres of paddy fields, he also ran a rice trade and purchased white rice in Jingshan County for Yao Daqiao, a large grain merchant in Hankou.
In addition, he is still engaged in loan sharking... In his own words: He is not trying to make money, but just to help the folks in the countryside, to accumulate virtue and do good deeds!
As a result, his "good deeds" were rewarded with evil!
As soon as the Dashun Tianbing arrived, notices were immediately posted in Jingshan County and every township and town saying "Equalize land according to population, waive debts and interest".
He is not very afraid of the equalization of land between households. He himself has twenty acres of land, and for a couple and two children, the average land for each person is five acres. The fields here in Huguang are wide, and the per capita cultivated land is almost the same. At most, thirty acres of the rented land were taken away and shared equally, and it had little to do with him.
But a "debt-free and interest-free" one made him anxious. He had a lot of "debts" outside. If they were all forgiven, all his years of work would be in vain!
In addition, lending money to poor households and asking them to repay them with rice is also a way for Yefunong to purchase rice. As soon as "debt-free and interest-free" came out, he could no longer continue the business of buying rice.
So he became resistant to the Dashun Dynasty, and was bewitched by his uncle Juren, who was of the same clan, so he took his wife, children and the money he had accumulated over the years and ran to Hankou. He originally wanted to change his career to do some business, but he just arrived, and Li Zicheng's soldiers followed him.
And he even robbed him of everything!
He has almost nothing now, how can he still live?
The gray-bearded "old camp warrior" saw that he was really seeking death, so he was not angry, but he did not kill him with a knife. While enclosing and dividing the land, Li Zicheng was also enforcing military discipline. Now the discipline of the Dashun Army has been It's getting stricter and stricter. You can't just kill people, and you can't just rob people.
There was an order to rob someone in Hankou before! The purpose of Li Zicheng's doing this was not to gain much money, but to attack the gentry and industrial and commercial classes as much as possible. The feudalization of the Dashun Dynasty was achieved in two steps. The first was to enclose and grant land to create "feudal warriors"; The second is to equalize land based on population and exempt debts and interest, in order to combat gentry industry and commerce while helping lower-class farmers.
What Li Zicheng needs is a relatively simple feudal society - he is the emperor at the top, the noble officials of Dashun are at the top, the warriors who grant land are at the middle level, and the farmers are equalizing the land at the bottom. Only in this way can we maintain a strict hierarchy and make a breakthrough.
The old soldier with a gray beard shouted loudly: "Who is here? Tie his forehead... When we are going to kill him later, he will be the first one!"
"Here!"
Several soldiers were already waiting nearby. After shouting in reply, they pounced on him, tied him up with a hemp rope, and held him aside. They waited for the order to kill the first one.
There was also a little man under the "grey beard" who looked stupid. He probably hadn't married a wife yet, so he went to capture Ye Jiaxin's crying woman, but he couldn't do anything complacent. He advised her: "Sister, don't cry. When the man who kills you, you can live with me. He has 60 acres of good land in Yunyang Mansion and a big house, but he doesn't have a wife. You follow me. , Keep it without suffering..."
Ye Jiaxin's mother-in-law cried even harder after hearing this. The gentry and profiteers who were watching nearby were also affected by her and burst into tears.
While crying, he shouted: "Your Majesty, Mr. Liu is here!"
Then I saw a dozen knights riding horses from the direction of Yuan Gongdi. The Dashun soldiers along the way all stood up to greet them.
It was Liu Zongmin who came to convey Li Zicheng's order.
"Wang Laoshun!" Liu Zongmin recognized the "grey beard", so he pointed his riding whip at Ye Jiaxin who was tied to the ground and asked, "Who is this man? What has he done?"
Then he saw Ye Jiaxin's wife again, "And what's going on with that woman? Doesn't it look like she's robbing a civilian girl? Not allowed now!"
"It's not a robbery, it's not a robbery..." Liu Zongmin's words startled the stupid old soldier. He quickly pushed Ye Jiaxin's wife away and stammered in defense, "Don't misunderstand me, little one." Not robbing, yes yes..."
What is it? What do you say? Proposing to the widow-in-waiting?
"Master Marquis," an "old warrior" from Dashun named Wang Laoshun stepped forward and explained, "this strong man is a profiteer. We have stolen his property. He doesn't want to live anymore, so we have him taken away and waiting for orders." He was the first one to kill her when he came down. The girl was his mother-in-law, and he was attracted by the fool. He wanted to ask her back to be his wife after she became a widow. It really wasn't like robbing a common girl."
"So that's how it is," Liu Zongmin shook his head and said, "Then this matter is going to get dirty!
The emperor has decreed that all the profiteers and evil gentry detained in Hanzheng Street will be killed, and they will all rush to Wuchang Mansion to eat at the young prince of the Zhu family! "
Wang Laoshun was stunned, "Master Marquis, let them all go? There are more than 10,000 men in charge here alone, plus 30,000 to 40,000 women and children. Are they all sent to Wuchang to be rich?"
"Yes!" Liu Zongmin said with a smile, "The emperor just wants these bastards who can eat but cannot be beaten to eat the poor little prince of the Zhu family!"
