Chapter 61 Yang Pu
Huguang Stone Head,
The entire Yang family sat around, not daring to say anything to each other.
An elder in the Yang family said: "I just asked the county government officials, and they said they would increase the levy by 30%. To be honest, if the levy is increased, our family can afford it. After all, Feng Shui has been good in the past two or three years. The iron man was also replaced at home, and a few acres of newly opened wasteland were not included in the register. It's just that the tax stamp he gave was wrong. On the tax stamp from the court, there was no additional tax at all, just like before. Thirty percent was more than ten shi of grain. This But you can’t give it to me for free. Tell me, what should we, the Yang family, do?”...
The Yang family is not a big family. Although there are many people, there is no one who can speak to the government. A dozen dan is spread among everyone, so it's not too much. After all, the taxes enacted during the Hongwu period were not high to begin with.
But for ordinary people, every grain of rice is money. We have just escaped from the fate of starving to death, why don't we take more than ten shi of food into consideration.
It’s just that ordinary people also have their own wisdom.
They knew that if the imperial court did not ask for these more than ten stones of grain, someone must have asked for it. If they came forward, they would offend someone. I don’t know what the outcome will be in the future. And if you don't step forward, it will be difficult to give up these dozen stones of food and wealth. And there is a first time, and there is no second and third time.
So everyone expects others to come forward and hide behind. But no one wanted to come forward.
At this time, a young man in his twenties stood up and said: "Uncles, I am in trouble today, but there is one thing. If something happens to me, Yang Pu, please help me take care of my mother. .”
When these people saw that Yang Pu was willing to come forward, they were naturally very happy. They all said, "Please rest assured, nephew. Your family's affairs are my family's affairs."
Yang Pu thanked him one after another.
In fact, Yang Pu also had his own concerns. His father died early, and he always relied on family support for his studies. Speaking of family support, it was very high-end. But in fact, this uncle has a bucket of rice, and that uncle has a bag of grain.
After all, the Yang family is not a big family, and it is already a big deal to have a scholar.
On the one hand, the Yang family supports scholars because they want to have an official in the family, which will be good for the family. Secondly, when a scholar is born in the family, they will have to deal with the government in the future. Someone comes forward. After all, it is very easy for someone who does not know a person to suffer a loss when dealing with the government.
People in the government can use their hands to make you unable to express your suffering.
Just like this time, an additional 30% tax was levied. If it weren't for Yang Pu, a scholar in the Yang family, he wouldn't know what happened and why he went back. I just think the imperial court is raising taxes. No one dared to resist the imperial court.
If you want to increase taxes, just increase them. Anyway, we can still live well now.
If Yang Pu hadn't noticed something fishy in the tax stamp, everyone would have paid it long ago.
This matter started from Yang Pu, and Yang Pu will naturally be responsible to the end.
Secondly, Yang Pu also knew that the imperial examination was held for the first time in the 29th year of Hongwu, and it was too urgent. When Yang Pu knew it, he had already missed the time. Now Yang Pu is naturally preparing to take the exam. And if he doesn't find a way to make the family pay less taxes. When borrowing money from the clan, he is not adamant.
What's more important is that Yang Pu has a sense of righteousness in his heart and feels that this matter should not be like this.
In any case, He Xi has been running a newspaper for more than ten years, and Yang Pu has many old newspapers in his hands. Naturally, a lot of content in newspapers has been deleted, and only the good ones are mentioned, not the bad ones. But it also lets the people below know some of the court's policies, so that they don't know nothing.
Because of this, Yang Pu was very sure that the local government would raise taxes privately.
I naively think that the emperor is wise but only corrupt officials exist. Once exposed, these corrupt officials will definitely be punished.
That's why Yang Pu made this decision.
However, Yang Pu was quickly taught a lesson by the world.
Yang Pu went to the county government office, met the county magistrate as a scholar, and told the matter. As a result, Yang Pu was quickly deprived of his fame. And hit him hard with a dozen boards. Even more taxes were collected from the Yang family. Originally, the Yang family only wanted
I paid more than ten shi in grain, and now it has doubled.
For a time, Yang Pu lost everything.
My mother was even more scared and sad. I was worried again and fell ill, but it passed within a few days.
Yang Pu knelt in front of his mother's grave. There were only a few close family members around him, namely his uncles, and other distant branches of the Yang family did not dare to come see him.
"Pu'er, there are a few taels of silver here. Let's go. I heard someone said that the county leader wants to kill him as a warning. The rest of the family can't do anything. Hey, it's all fate." The clan leader sighed.
There was nothing he could do.
Yang Pu's expression remained unchanged, and there was even a hint of a smile on his lips as he said, "I understand."
This is the life of the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty. The high officials and powerful people only use their hands. It's enough to take a person from heaven to hell. Yang Pu before was a scholar. The future is bright. Although the family is relatively poor, it doesn't matter?
Why are the other members of the Yang family so miserable that they are willing to lend money and food to Yang Pu? Didn’t he just see Yang Pu’s future?
Now there is nothing.
As a scholar, Yang Pu did not have many teachers and classmates, but it was a pity. If Yang Pu is suppressed, he is from a different system. For example, those from Xungui's group might be able to find a teacher directly to find someone at a higher level. But this time, it's not a different system.
The people who suppressed Yang Pu were the people in the civil service system.
There are countless scholars like Yang Pu in this era, and how many people can be officials. Once these officials become officials, they feel that they are no longer fishes.
They don't care about low-level scholars like Yang Pu.
not to mention.
As mentioned earlier, this was not the idea of a county official. When Zhu Yuanzhang was here, he suppressed these bureaucrats to death. Now that Zhu Yuanzhang is gone, they will naturally find a way to get it. The county magistrate is not the first, and the money does not belong to him alone. This is not the first time that we have made peace with this matter.
To be honest, if it wasn't to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys, there would be no need to make Yang Pu so miserable. After all, what is a dozen stones of food?
Because the first bird will be beaten badly. The people below dare not mess around.
This has been a successful experience for many people.
Is it just that Yang Pu is an ordinary person?
Historically, Yang Pu was able to become one of the three Yangs. Ranked in the cabinet. Mind, wrist, and character are all top-notch. For an ordinary person, such a blow from the county magistrate would make him unable to recover forever. But for people like Yang Pu. If he wasn't killed directly, it would be the county magistrate's problem.
Of course, for the county magistrate, he felt that it was enough to do this to Yang Pu. It would not be good to kill people and get blood on them. Not to mention, Yang Pu is a scholar after all.
A few days later, Yang Pu left his hometown.
This is also He Xi's good governance. He Xi stipulated a new road guide system, and any common people could leave their hometown after reporting. In fact, with this liberalization, many people who have not reported it can leave their hometowns.
The capabilities of the lower-level officials in feudal society were far behind. Many more detailed policies are simply impossible to implement.
The place Yang Pu went to was no other place.
It's Nanjing.
He wants to fight to the death with certain people.
After he came to Nanjing, he did not go directly to the imperial court.
Smart people just won't suffer a second loss.
He went directly to the county magistrate before, which was how he ended up today. He didn't learn his lesson. He made a living by copying in Nanjing. Although movable type printing and copper plate printing are already very mature. But the manuscripts that have been passed down for thousands of years still have a certain value.
For example, many Buddhist texts only need to be copied by hand. Express sincerity.
And the high-ranking officials and nobles have resentful wives in their back houses. Naturally, I won’t be able to copy it myself. They just paid people to copy them. The temple has such activities all year round. Yang Pu stayed in Nanjing like this for half a year, and many connections were sorted out.
We also found out the county magistrate’s backing in the officialdom.
After all, most information is not confidential. Many people don’t have insurance these days.
Secret meaning. Just see if you can find the information. And Nanjing is a gathering place for information from all over the world. The news you want is probably just something that others can talk about after dinner.
