The sound of the north wind pushed countless wooden boats meandering southwest, stirring up white waves on the Xiangjiang waterway from the Yangtze River to Changsha. The flag of "The Reincarnation of Emperor Taizu Gao" was displayed on one of the huge wooden boats. Colorful paintings of hunting are floating on the official boat.
On both sides of the Xiangjiang River, there are countless able-bodied refugees from the North, moving southward on foot. If you look down from a high place, you will be shocked by the size and momentum of this refugee army heading south along the Xiangjiang River.
This army of refugees always numbered in the hundreds of thousands and marched by waterway. Led by Zhu Cixiang, the prince of Fujun in the Ming Dynasty, they marched southward in a mighty manner.
They...went to beg!
It's really awesome. Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them heavily armed, came to beg for food from the landlord Lao Cai in Hunan. Not only is he powerful, but he is also confident!
Because they are begging for food!
If the wealthy landlords in Hunan do not give food to eat, then they are resisting the decree. Resistance to the decree will result in beheading. Let me ask who on both sides of the Xiangjiang River dares to test the sword?
Moreover, Zhu Cixiang not only had a sword, but also a whole division of new officers and soldiers, right in front of the strong refugees who were walking in. Every time they arrived at a prosperous town, they would follow the governor He Tengjiao into the city to enforce martial law, and then arrest the local wealthy businessmen and gentry and go to the dock to wait for the begging army led by Prince Zhu himself.
Qiaokou, a large town at the intersection of Xiangjiang River and Qiaojiang River, is the third most prosperous place in Changsha Prefecture after Changsha and Xiangyin - Qiaojiang River is inconspicuous, but it connects the two major water systems of Zishui and Xiangjiang River. Therefore, this Qiaokou became the only way for merchant ships from Zishui to enter the Xiangjiang River, and it naturally became increasingly prosperous.
In addition, the land around Qiaokou is also very fertile. This is part of the Dongting Lake Plain, with a dense water network and endless paddy fields. Now is the autumn when the rice has matured, so from a high place, all you can see are the golden waves of rice, and occasionally there are some villages with smoke curling up from cooking stoves.
It was truly a field scenery that could be captured in a painting, but at the edge of this scenery, there was an extremely incongruous scene.
Countless refugees in ragged clothes, carrying spears, carrying bows and arrows, carrying waist knives, and some wearing somewhat tattered armor of various colors, swarmed like a tide to the outskirts of Qiaokou Town, which was protected by high walls.
The legendary refugees from the North have arrived!
The richest man in Qiaokou Town and the largest rice merchant in Hunan, Zhang Tingsu and Zhang Xiaolian, were standing on the city wall at this time, looking at more and more refugees with a pale face...
The regiments in the town had already been mobilized. Each of them had received a reward of one tael of silver from Master Zhang, and now they were all on the city wall.
But no one dared to think of resistance - these regiment members were not honest farmers who had never seen fighting and killing. The areas along the Xiangjiang River have not been peaceful in recent years. Zhang Xianzhong came here once before, and Li Zicheng's soldiers (some stragglers) also came not long ago. As for the kind of grass bandits who are not on the stage, let alone them.
However, Qiaokou Town was able to carry it through with its tall and solid city walls and the team training that Mr. Zhang took the lead in setting up with money - oh, it's not as hard as a steel plate, but with a lot of money and food, it was so tight. Close the city gate and avoid disaster.
But this time... Hunan Governor He Tengjiao has arrived outside Qiaokou City together with the cavalry of the new army of Kenan who were stationed in front of the attack.
"Quickly, Kaicheng..." Zhang Xiaolian sighed and looked back at a group of trembling gentry and wealthy businessmen behind him, all of whom were prominent figures in the town, "Let's go together and listen to what Governor He has to say. ?”
What can He Tengjiao say?
He now believes that Zhu Cihong is the reincarnation of Zhu Yuanzhang - he even knows how to beg for food, what else is there to say?
Now only a few of them follow Zhu Cixiang to Hunan to beg for food! There are still many people staying in Wuchang. Zhu Cixiang mobilized some food from all over Huguang to relieve them. At the same time, he also asked them to build new cities in the three towns of Wuhan under the command of Fang Yuegong and Qiu Yu. These people will be resettled in the future. In Wuhan, Zhu Cixiang would select the best from them to form a new army, and would also allocate military camps and official land in Hanyang and Wuchang to them.
Others followed Wu Sanfu, Jing Muqing (the prefect of Xiangyang), and Yuan Jixian (the governor of Henan and Shaanxi, stationed in Xiangyang) to Xiangyang Prefecture to beg for food. Xiangyang Fucheng and Nanyang Fucheng were both captured by Wu Sanfu in late July. Liu Zongmin retreated to Guanghua and Gucheng and continued to resist.
Others followed Li Yan and Hao Yaoqi to Jingzhou Prefecture to beg for food - Jingzhou Prefecture was still the same, with Huya Mountain and the west of Yidu controlled by Tian Jianxiu, and the east belonged to the Ming Dynasty.
These two routes are also about begging and settling down. After the food problem is solved, all the refugees will settle down in Jingzhou or Xiangyang. The best among them will be recruited into the army, and the rest will try to allocate a little land close to the city.
It is not difficult to divide the land in Xiangyang Prefecture, because it is originally planned to equalize the land there, but only 20,000 to 30,000 northern refugee households are added.
It is a bit difficult to get land in Jingzhou Prefecture, because Li Zicheng allocated land in Jingzhou Prefecture, and most of the land has owners, and it is not easy to take it back. However, Jiangling City was purged because of the Zuo Family Fire, and the city and the nearby Shaguan City were empty. Li Yan simply selected a group of refugees who were doing business or had some skills and took them to Jiangling Mansion, and settled them in the city and Shaguan City.
And the majority of the refugees from the North who gathered in Huguang have now followed Zhu Cihong to Hunan... Hunan has not been captured by Li Zicheng, and there are many big households!
If you want to eat big food, you should naturally come to Hunan!
"Fu, Futai... there are too many people. Are they all coming to Hunan to beg for food?"
After welcoming He Tengjiao into Qiaokou Town and into his mansion, Zhang Da Xiaolian made some polite remarks and then tentatively asked about "begging".
He Tengjiao frowned and glared at Zhang Tingsu: "Zijia, what nonsense are you talking about? That's just eating!"
Although he and Zhang Tingsu were quite different in age, they had been friends for many years. The Qiaokou Zhang family was a wealthy family in Hunan, and He Tengjiao received a lot of help from him when he was recruiting and training troops in Hunan.
Therefore, the two of them talk more casually in private.
After giving a lecture, He Tengjiao lowered his voice and said: "There is nothing we can do...500,000 people have followed us! All the gentry in Hunan have not escaped."
"Ah!" Zhang Da Xiaolian's fair face was twisted into a ball, "His Royal Highness means..."
"These 500,000 people have to be fed by you Hunanese!" He Tengjiao said, "And you have to go out to get food to feed the refugees staying in the southeast... But the prince will not take you in vain. , these grains can be used to pay for the land tax in the future. One stone taken out now can be used to pay for the land tax of one stone and five dou in the future."
"So... Juren can't be exempted from tax?"
"The tax exemption for Juren..." He Tengjiao shook his head, "All Juren are gone!"
"No more?" Zhang Xiaolian was stunned, "How could..."
His candidate was bought for three thousand taels of silver! I just bought it not long ago, why is it gone...
"No more! All honors and titles for people in Huguang will be cancelled," He Tengjiao said. "Starting from Hunan three years later (Prince Zhu gave Hunan people the preferential treatment of three years of tax exemption), the officials and gentry have to pay grain and tax together! The average land tax is one mu. For two dou, the tax will be determined according to the quality of the land.”
"Two bushels per acre..." Zhang Daxiaolian, no, Zhang Daxiucai (there are still some scholars) felt so distressed that his face began to twitch, "Then I have to pay 20,000 shi a year! "
Twenty thousand shi of white rice! How could I give up...
"No, you don't have to pay so much." He Tengjiao shook his head repeatedly.
Fortunately... Zhang Daxiu had just breathed a sigh of relief when the really fatal words came.
He Tengjiao said: "Many of your family's lands are official fields, military villages, and hidden fields... all of them need to be taken back. Only private lands need to pay taxes."
"What? Want, want..." Zhang Tingsu couldn't believe his ears.
He Tengjiao smiled bitterly: "Seven prefectures including Yuezhou, Changsha, Changde, Baoqing, Hengzhou, Yongzhou plus Chenzhou all have this rule! The fields must be cleared and the land inspected, and the gentry families must also lend grain to His Highness the Prince. "
"I don't agree...my family has no food!" Zhang Tingsu was speaking through gritted teeth!
It's not that he hates the prince, but that his heart is twitching...it hurts!
He Tengjiao sighed: "If you don't agree, 100,000 people will come to your house for dinner tomorrow... You know the big eaters, right? Whether there is food or not is up to you!"
"One hundred thousand people eat a big family..." Zhang Tingsu rolled his eyelids and fainted on the spot.
