Similar complaints can be seen everywhere in the Ming Empire.
Moreover, the officials of the Ming Empire did not pay much attention to these private opinions.
Although there are many voices complaining.
But the social atmosphere is much more open.
Not to mention making fun of the court.
Even Emperor Zhu is sometimes arranged.
In fact, this is wrong, because according to etiquette, one cannot be disrespectful to the emperor - so it is not that there are no local officials who want to punish him with "gross disrespect".
But if things go wrong, the most you can get is a fine. If you can't pay the fine, you'll be exiled - to Nanyang or Australia.
But the magistrate who does this.
It is said that he was criticized by Emperor Zhu: Don’t focus on business!
That is to say.
In Emperor Zhu’s opinion.
Officials who focus on how to cover people's mouths every day.
It's just nonsense.
Have this idea.
Instead of thinking more about how to develop the local economy, why not collect more taxes?
Can such a huge Ming Empire collapse with just a few complaints?
Definitely not possible.
If the Ming Empire collapsed, it must have been because of economic and financial problems first. If there were no financial problems, there would be no problems with the army. If there were no problems with the army, let alone complaining, even if Li Zicheng and Hong Xiuquan rebelled. It can be pressed down in minutes.
The collapse of any dynasty begins with the collapse of its own financial problems.
Let people speak.
The sky won't fall down.
So that magistrate's future was limited to this - he was on the emperor's blacklist, right?
Therefore, the local police officers would not care what these farmers said.
I'll take care of it.
On the contrary, it's the gangsters.
Right now, a guy happened to be walking over.
Seeing these people sitting and not working, I immediately got angry: "What are you doing! All the work is done? Master, I hire you to work for ten cents a day, and I also provide two meals of white rice. I want you to stay together for days." Yes? Why don’t you get to work quickly!"
The visitor was also dressed as a farmer.
But the clothes are very clean.
And it's very irritating to talk about.
Annoy people.
"Mr. Li, what do you mean, why don't we stop working? We do want to work. Isn't the work in this field finished? Why, if I take you a dime, I have to work hard for you. ."
"That's right, it's just one cent. The spinning mill in Chengdu gives you three cents a day."
"Yes, Mr. Li, we need to increase the salary. If you go to Borneo to plant rubber, you can earn 60 cents a day!"
"Go! Go! Go! Go quickly!"
The man called Master Li was none other than Li Zhongren and the great scholar Li Zhongren - he is no longer a scholar, because he was awarded the title in the previous dynasty examination, but the Ming court did not recognize it. The imperial examination in the Ming Dynasty had an age limit, and Li Zhongren could not pass the examination.
So I can only be regarded as Li Papi.
"As for you, you're lucky not to die on the road! Return to Borneo! You should go if you have the guts!"
Li Zhongren shouted loudly.
Although the faces of the farmers who were squeezed by him were not convinced.
But I didn’t dare to speak anymore.
Although everyone calls him "Master Li".
But I am definitely not convinced in my heart.
Their second eldest child, Li Zhongyi, was an eighth-rank official in the Ming Dynasty and could be called a master.
What kind of master is he, Li Zhongren?
But after all, the Li family has accumulated prestige in Daqiao Town.
The second eldest son of the Li family is an official.
So these farmers really didn't dare to provoke him.
Li Zhongren saw that everyone was afraid to speak.
He snorted coldly and said: "If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of people who do it! If you don't want to do it, just get out as soon as possible! Go to Chengdu and see if the spinning mills run by those Zhejiang guys and Cantonese guys will want you rough hands and feet." Farmers? If you want to go to Borneo, it’s not easy! I’ll go to the county magistrate now and ask him to send people down to take you there. Do you want to go? Haha, it’s easy for you to go. You just need to sign up, but the county magistrate The gentlemen here can get a rebate of more than ten dollars. And what about you? You have been living in the open air all the way, traveling across the ocean, many of you have to die before you get there, and you have to fight with the natives when you get there! Just like you, Don’t throw away the lives of your entire family.”
actually.
Li Zhongren said this very rudely.
But it's really a good thing.
at the moment.
The industrial development of the Ming Dynasty and the immigration from Northeastern and Southeast Asia caused the price of rural labor in Guangdong and Jiangnan to rise.
But these are in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, and there are some factories in Sichuan and Chengdu.
in vast rural areas.
It was still densely populated.
There is no shortage of labor at all.
One cent a day, no matter drought or flood, the harvest is guaranteed.
If you do it for 300 days a year, you will earn more than 30 yuan a year.
I earn much more than when I was a tenant - when I was a tenant, I couldn't make any money, and it was hard to just eat enough.
Now Li Papi still has to take care of at least two meals.
So I really don’t have to worry about recruiting people.
"Can you finish the work in the field? After harvesting coptis, you won't be able to weed or loosen the ground? Work quickly. I am happy today, sir. I will get off work early in the afternoon. I will add vegetables to dinner, and there will be wine and meat."
Finished speaking.
Li Zongren left with his hands behind his back.
Don't look at how fierce he was just now.
But I'm actually in a good mood.
Farming has really flourished this year.
Here in Sichuan, two acres of land can be planted a year.
Plant Chinese medicinal materials in one season and rice in the other.
Although the price of rice is not high, it has not fluctuated much in recent years and is considered very stable.
The price of medicinal materials has skyrocketed.
The price of Coptis chinensis has doubled compared to last year!
A rough calculation.
Just from the more than 100 acres of land in his hands, he earned more than 3,000 yuan.
Deduct costs.
The net profit is more than 1,000 yuan.
It seems that we can buy some more land and continue to expand the scale.
Moreover, Chinese medicinal materials can be cultivated in mountainous areas.
Mountains are cheap.
Li Bapi was happy.
Liu Guangzong, the magistrate of Luojiang County, Sichuan, has a big headache.
Liu Guangzong took the Sichuan Provincial Imperial Examination at the beginning of this year, and then studied at the Official Training Academy in Chengdu for a month before taking office as the magistrate of Luojiang County.
Liu Guangzong, who is only 25 years old this year, can be said to be the star of this Sichuan imperial examination.
Ranked fifth in the province.
Most of the people on the same list as him are now eighth- and ninth-grade Sesame Officials.
And he, Liu Guangzong, is now a dignified seventh-grade county magistrate.
In terms of career, he can be regarded as one step ahead.
Taking this step first may mean taking the first step!
First be promoted to prefecture-level officials in Sichuan Province, and then have the opportunity to be assigned to other provinces.
In the future, it is not impossible to seal off borders and join the cabinet.
However, this county magistrate is a parent official and has a lot of troubles.
The first thing that gets most upsetting.
It's just a local matter, but it's really not easy to manage.
In the Ming Dynasty, scholars were appointed as officials.
The original local masters, scribes, policemen, government servants, etc. are now filled by scholars and Wu scholars.
However, the abilities of the officials tested in these examination rooms are really mixed.
At least those who couldn't play with the officials in the original place - these unemployed officials were quite a stumbling block.
besides.
The collapse of the gentry system also meant that magistrate Liu Da now had no assistance from the gentry when he was managing the local area.
It becomes more difficult.
Good thing.
Most of the scholars sent to the local areas were also part of the original gentry group.
These are relatively familiar to the local area.
Coupled with the establishment of the county council, some powerful local people were absorbed into the ruling group.
So after those first few months of chaos.
The "ruling structure" of Luojiang County has finally stabilized.
The inspectors sent by Sichuan Province have visited several times, and they are all quite satisfied, so the county magistrate is at least doing a stable job.
And after becoming the county magistrate.
Liu Guangzong, who had the ambition to join the cabinet, was naturally not willing to be a salty county magistrate and enjoy the benefits of civil servants.
But he really wanted to achieve some solid political achievements.
He soon found out.
Luojiang County.
There is a serious problem that is happening - land is being concentrated into the hands of a few large households at an accelerating rate, and at the same time, a large number of tenants have been surrendered in the process.
Land annexation is nothing.
In a de-society with land at its core, land is the most important social wealth and resource. Concentrating wealth and resources to a few people is what will happen in the development of a society.
The problem lies in the withdrawal of tenancies.
There were also cases of tenant withdrawal in the former Qing Dynasty. But not serious.
Because in the past.
Most of the land was concentrated in the hands of the gentry.
But the gentry did not manage the land themselves, but leased it to tenants.
Therefore, there are not many cases of tenant withdrawal.
But in these two years.
Due to the implementation of various policies, especially after the upper age limit was set for the imperial examination.
Many landowners either choose to sell their land or leave the countryside.
Or, take back the land, take care of it yourself, and hire people to farm it.
This will inevitably lead to a concentration of tenant withdrawals.
In this over-commitment, various disputes will inevitably arise.
Every now and then someone will die.
The tenants beat the landlord to death.
The landlords drove the tenants to death.
It's all happened.
And the clan members of the tenant farmers often carried people to the government offices to beat the drums of injustice - these drums of injustice were from the previous dynasty, and there were no drums of injustice in the county offices of the Ming Dynasty.
It’s not that no one complained about injustice, nor that there were no injustices.
The Ming Dynasty was not a harmonious society with extremely high moral standards.
A semi-feudal, semi-capitalist imperialist country.
Of course there are injustices everywhere.
However, the county magistrate of the Ming Dynasty was not responsible for judging cases.
But Sichuan used to be a military-administrative place, and now judges from all counties are being trained intensively in Chengdu.
so.
As the county magistrate, Liu Guangzong had the opportunity to judge the case.
These county magistrates, who have no judicial training, can only decide cases based on their own intuition and conscience.
The county government office is very lively today.
A group of people cried at the gate of the county government office.
There was a family of seven or eight people kneeling neatly.
There are clansmen behind them who support them.
What they accused was Li Zhongren of the Li family in Daqiao Town.
However, it was Li Zhongren who actually submitted the lawsuit.
Li Zhongren sent the land sale documents and land deeds, sued Chen Asheng's family in Daqiao Town who refused to surrender their tenancy, and asked the county government to evict Chen Asheng's family.
But Chen Asheng’s family doesn’t want to do that.
The Chen family was also a wealthy family in Daqiao Town, and many of the Chen family members immediately went to the county government office with Chen Asheng to cause trouble.
Both sides.
One side came with the land deed.
On one side was someone kneeling at the gate of the county government office, crying and howling.
Axiomatic axiom.
What should I do?
Liu Guangzong's head was getting big.
In the end, he could only attribute the responsibility to Li Zhongren.
"How can this Li Bapi be so unkind for the sake of wealth? Isn't he afraid of arousing public anger?"
Liu Guangzong walked around in the office room inside the county government office.
There are words in his mouth.
All they said were complaints about Li Zhongren.
He also dealt with Li Zhongren.
This guy is known as "Li Bapi".
You can see what the reputation is like.
But dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction.
He didn't dare to dismiss Li Bapi's lawsuit.
Because this Li Bapi is a big business owner in Luojiang County.
The amount of tax paid is among the highest.
He is also a member of the County Council.
At the same time, he also joined the Ming Dynasty Royalist Association and supported the Royalist Party, which is now the largest political party in the Ming Dynasty Council.
Although he is not an official, he has the power to supervise and impeach officials. Although the request he made now is unreasonable, it is in compliance with the law! If Wang Anguo does not act in accordance with the law, the county assembly will definitely impeach him!
"County office, you don't need to worry, this matter is just a matter of business."
The one who was speaking was Wang Shuisheng, the chief of public security in Luojiang County.
The Public Security Department is considered the real power unit in a county.
In charge of patrols, county guards, etc.
Different from Liu Guangzong wearing Dahongpao.
Wang Shuisheng was wearing a Ming Army officer's uniform with his epaulettes removed, and a revolver hung on his waist. Only his right ear was left, and half of his face was still pitted.
Take a look at this.
Just know that he is a retired military officer who retired due to injury.
The officials of the Ming Dynasty except those who came from the imperial examination.
Some of them retired from the military and changed careers.
Because the mid-level officers of the Ming Dynasty all had military academy experience - whether it was a short-term assault class or a long-term military academy officer.
And he also has management experience in the military.
Therefore, many military officers were assigned to serve as local officials after retiring.
This is actually the "sand" that Emperor Zhu mixed with the gentry class and the bureaucracy.
Most of these officers were "one of his own" whom Emperor Zhu could trust.
"Business matters?"
"That's right, business is business. This Li Papi is right. We can't interfere after he quits his tenancy. The most we can do is get some compensation for Chen Asheng."
Wang Shuisheng said.
Liu Guangzong sighed.
"But if you do this, aren't you afraid of public dissatisfaction?"
"Public resentment is boiling?"
Wang Shuisheng shook his head and said
"No matter what era, the people at the bottom have to endure hardships. Now my country still has Northeast and Nanyang. Those who want to make a fortune should go to Northeast, Nanyang or the New World!"
"If you don't even have the guts to go to these places, do you still have the guts to rebel?"
Wang Shuisheng said with a sneer.
"Want to rebel? You don't even have to wait and see if my bullets will allow you to agree!"
Liu Guangzong looked at Wang Shuisheng blankly.
He secretly cursed "soldier ruffian" in his heart.
He ordered people to invite two groups of people from outside the county government office.
"Sir, brother, is there anything wrong with the contract document for the land sale? Do the skins and bones of these twenty acres of irrigated land belong to the brother? The deed tax and stamp duty payable, brother, have not paid a penny less, right?"
Li Bapi, who is a member of parliament, stood in the county office and said with a pinched neck.
As for Chen Asheng's family, they have become much more honest after joining the county government.
(End of chapter)
