The first year of Chongzhen - April 18th, a sunny day.
In the early morning, after breakfast, Jin Yuniang carried a small medicine hoe and a thin bamboo basket on her back and walked to Lianglang Mountain, more than 30 miles away, to collect medicine. She had no choice but to live in poverty. It's all on her shoulders, and there's no room for slacking off.
Qin Feng originally wanted to go with him, but Jin Yuniang refused and asked him to stay at home and recuperate.
Unable to bear to spoil the beauty's kindness, Qin Feng had no choice but to stay and look after the house. Anyway, he had nothing to do, so he should clean up his personal hygiene!
After closing the door, he brought up a bucket of water from the deep well in the courtyard. Qin Feng took off his clothes and washed them carefully. He was soon clean, revealing fair skin with large red lines on it. It's the trace left by that lightning!
The lines start from the heart, climb up over the left shoulder, extend from the back to under the right rib, then go forward to the left side of the lower abdomen, and then go down the thigh... It's like a red dragon wrapping around the body, from head to tail, vivid!
The only drawback is that this dragon has no eyes.
There is a saying: the finishing touch, the finishing touch, fly straight to the sky, and fly proudly in the universe!
The dragon without eyes is like a soul missing, trapped in the mortal world and unable to achieve greatness!
After taking a bath, Qin Feng sat on a bluestone pier, basking in the sun while thinking about life plans... By chance, he came to this world. Since he came, he had to live well, and to think about it... To live well, you must first understand the situation in this world.
Sitting on the dragon throne now is Zhu Youjian, the 16th emperor of the Ming Empire, who has been on the throne for less than a year. He is only 18 years old this year, and his reign name is Chongzhen!
Young people are inevitably impatient and do things improperly, and the emperor is no exception.
After Zhu Youjian ascended the throne, he immediately used thunderous means to kill the 9,000-year-old Wei Zhongxian who had controlled the court for several years. He destroyed three tribes, killed hundreds of his party members, and swept away the eunuch forces in the court. Light.
Eradicating eunuchs and consolidating imperial power cannot be said to be wrong.
The problem is that in the previous Ming Dynasty, the political situation was one in which the Eunuch Party and the Donglin Party fought and restricted each other. Now that the Eunuch Party has been wiped out, the Donglin Party has become the dominant one.
The Donglin Party members have always regarded themselves as clean-blooded people, shouting all day long the noble slogan of "serve the public with integrity, revitalize officialdom, and eradicate the accumulated abuses of the government and the public". In fact, they are the spokespersons of the interest groups of big landowners and businessmen.
After taking control of the court, they immediately deceived the emperor into exempting commercial taxes, customs duties, mineral taxes, reducing tea taxes, salt taxes, etc. (About more than one million taels of silver, as well as some physical objects, accounted for about one-fifth of the national fiscal revenue at that time.)
Young people are easy to fool. Zhu Youjian immediately agreed to the suggestions of the Donglin Party members. As a result, he gained a few false names as a 'sage king', but it harmed the country's plans.
Liaodong has been using troops for many years, and military expenditures are huge. The population of the royal family surnamed Zhu is constantly increasing, and they need a lot of money and food to support them. The salaries of civil and military officials, maids and eunuchs are also not small... Now that the national treasury revenue has dropped sharply, where does this money and food come from? Coming?
No money will fall from the sky, no money will grow in the ground, and commercial taxes have been cancelled... We have no choice but to squeeze money from the people who farm the land.
More than two months ago, Emperor Chongzhen issued a decree: "From this year onwards, an additional three cents of silver will be levied on each mu of farmland in the world, and the proceeds will be used for the war in Liaodong!" '
The imperial edict was issued, and the whole world was in an uproar. To be more precise, there were complaints!
You know, in the spring of the forty-sixth year of Wanli, Nurhaci announced his "seven hatreds" and launched an attack on the Ming Dynasty... The Ming Dynasty showed no weakness and immediately decided to send troops to suppress it.
If you want to fight, you have to spend money!
The problem is that the Ming Dynasty’s treasury is empty and cannot come up with money at all. Emperor Wanli is also known as a stingy man and refuses to use his private treasury. There is no other way but to increase taxes... The world’s farmland, every acre An additional three and a half cents were sent, and a total of more than two million taels of silver was obtained, which was called: Liao's pay!
It was agreed at that time that it would only be collected for one year.
Unexpectedly, in the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming army was completely defeated, with more than 100,000 casualties. The situation in Liaodong further deteriorated. The Ming court had no choice but to continue to increase troops and increase pay: In the forty-seventh year of Wanli, every acre of farmland in the world was Add another three and a half cents.
Forty-eight years of Wanli, add two cents per mu.
Now that Emperor Chongzhen has ascended the throne, instead of reducing taxes for the people, he has increased the land tax by three cents, adding up to one cent and two cents of silver. It would be strange if the people don't curse.
Someone asked, is it a lot to charge one cent and two cents of silver per acre of land?
To be fair, not much.
In today's Ming Dynasty, one cent and two cents of silver can be converted into only a dozen copper coins, which can buy five kilograms of white rice. Compared with the output of one acre of land, it is insignificant and will not impose much burden on the people!
The problem is that the administration of the Ming Dynasty was too corrupt, with collusion and plundering at all levels.
The imperial court levied one cent and two cents of silver. This order was sent to the Ministry of Household Affairs. The officials of the Ministry of Household Affairs thought that they worked too hard for the country every day. In order to appease the suffering little hearts, it is not too much to increase a little bit of gray income, and we also Don't be greedy, just double the quantity. The common people can definitely afford to charge two and a half cents of silver and a few kilograms of rice!
When the order was sent to each province, the chief envoy thought that he was working too hard and needed to increase his income a little. Don't be greedy, just double the amount, four and eight cents of silver!
Prefect, double it again.
County magistrate, double that again.
Master...
Class leader...
Little official...
Officials, big and small, have increased their fees step by step, and by the time it reaches the common people, the land taxes that need to be handed over have become several times, ten times, or even dozens of times the amount collected by the state.
The climate in the south is mild, rice is harvested twice a year, and the yield is high. The people live frugally, tighten their belts, and still barely pay taxes.
The weather in the north is cold, crops are ripe only once a year, and the yield is low. Even if the people cut off their belts, they still can't make money!
There was no other way. In order to pay the land tax, the people had to sell their cattle, fields, houses... and even their sons and daughters.
When all the children are sold, there are only two options left. One is to hang themselves in a big tree and try to find a good family in the next life; the other is to cut down the big tree, cut down the wood for soldiers, and rise up.
In fact, anyone with any brain would choose the second path.
…
It can be expected that a vigorous peasant uprising is about to begin!
The world is about to be in chaos, what should I do?
Rich experience told Qin Feng (obtained from reading third-rate novels) that as a time traveler, the easiest, safest, and most promising way is to hug someone's lap.
For example, if you travel to the end of the Western Han Dynasty, you will hug Liu Xiu's thigh. This guy is a son of the plane. He has unlucky luck and cheats in battles. He can win regardless of whether he fights or not!
Time travel to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, hugging Prime Minister Cao's lap, with high officials and generous salaries, and lots of beauties, he will definitely have a good life.
Traveling to the end of the Sui Dynasty, I hugged Li Shimin's thigh.
Traveling to the end of the Yuan Dynasty, I hugged Zhu Yuanzhang... Wait a minute, this thigh is too dangerous. It is very likely that the birds will be hidden and the rabbits will die and the dogs will be cooked. It is better not to hug it and find a place to live in seclusion!
It's the end of the Ming Dynasty, whose lap should I embrace?
Immediately set off for the capital to meet Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian, give him good advice, correct his mistakes, and strive to be a good minister who helps the country and be famous in history?
inappropriate!
The capital was thousands of miles away, and he was now penniless and weak, and the road was not smooth. He was afraid that he would die before he even reached the place.
To take a step back, even if I arrive in the capital, how can I, a son of a small family, meet the emperor?
If you take a step back, even if you meet Emperor Chongzhen, will he listen to your persuasion?
Emperor Chongzhen was famous in history for being headstrong and unkind, and he was never merciless in killing ministers. If you hang out with such an emperor, you may not be able to serve the country as a good minister, but you will lose your head.
If you can't hug the emperor's thigh, how about hugging that Yinchuan postman's thigh and strive to become a founding hero?
Also inappropriate.
The Yinchuan postman has great talent but no strategy, is short-sighted and has no understanding of people. Moreover, he only knows how to destroy and does not know how to build. At most, he can be a bandit leader. Following him in trouble will have a good result.
Who else is left?
The horse dealer surnamed Gao - he has great ambitions but little talent, but it is difficult to achieve great things!
The agent named Zhang - a despicable villain, capricious!
Several vassal kings of the Zhu family - with human heads and pig brains, one is worse than the other!
…
Descendants of the "wild boar skin" outside the customs - forget it, even if you are killed by a head-on collision, hanged by a rope, or jumped into a manure pit and drowned, you will never surrender to the Tatars and disgrace your descendants!
Qin Feng picked up his fingers and went through all the influential figures in the late Ming Dynasty that he knew, but none of them caught his eye.
Alas, there are no heroes in the world today, so what can we do?
If that doesn't work, how about being the hero who saves the world?
No, it’s too tiring to be a hero. It’s more comfortable to be a tyrant, dominating all directions, looking down on the world, not afraid of criticism from the world, not afraid of notoriety... holding a murderous sword when awake, lying on the knees of a beautiful woman while drunk, hehe!
