Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 4, how a pain can be described

"Tang Tiger~"

A cold light flashed in Liu Jin's eyes.

From the memory in my mind, I know that this Mr. Tang is simply a tiger who eats people and does not spit out bones. Everyone calls him Tang Tiger behind his back, which shows that this man has a bad reputation in the surrounding villages.

"It seems that with this Tang Huhu, either you die or I live, but now... it's better not to mess with him, but if you don't take the imperial examination, it seems a bit difficult to protect yourself just by relying on the status of a scholar .”

Thinking of this, Liu Jin couldn't help frowning.

Since this Tang Huo dared to kill Liu Jin, it shows that he has nothing to fear, and he doesn't care about Liu Jin's status as a scholar, even though his status as a scholar is not bad. Power before the county magistrate.

But a scholar could not be an official, nor did he have the right to be exempted from taxes and corvee. In fact, he still did not break away from his original class, but the Ming Dynasty treated scholars favorably, and a scholar was half a foot out of his status as a mud leg.

"It's not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, let's talk about the development of Weisuo first."

After much deliberation, Liu Jin couldn't think of any good countermeasures for a while, so he could only put this matter aside.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Liu Jin's mother, Wang Shi, came in with a big bowl.

"Come on, eat this bowl of noodles."

Wang brought her face to Liu Jin's bedside, and said with a smile on her face.

Liu Jin picked up the bowl, which was a big and thick bowl, and there was only half a bowl of noodles in the bowl, and the rest was noodle soup.

From the memory in my mind, I know that Liu Jin's family has more than ten acres of land, and today's life is always light and poor. After a year of hard work, life can still be passed, otherwise the Wang family would not have sent Liu Jin to study .

However, not every household can afford white noodles, especially every day. For an ordinary family, if the family does not have land, eating white noodles every day is also a luxury.

"It's delicious, and it's still my mother's craftsmanship."

Liu Jin was really hungry, and he ate the noodles with big mouthfuls. When this person was hungry, everything tasted delicious.

The bowl of noodles made by Wang didn't put anything in it, it was just noodles in clear soup, but Liu Jin tasted it very fragrant, and soon even the noodles and soup were clean.

"Looks like I'm starving, I'll cook another bowl for you."

Seeing that Liu Jin ate cleanly, Mrs. Wang was all smiles, guessing that Liu Jin was not full, so she turned around and prepared to cook another bowl.

"Mom, I'm full, I don't need to cook any more."

Liu Jin smiled and said, there is not much food in the family, Wang always puts all the good things in Liu Jin's mouth, this white flour, she herself is not willing to eat more at all, and often goes to the beach to pick up some Seaweed, shrimp and crab to satisfy hunger.

Seaweed, shrimps and crabs belonged to seafood in later generations, and they were much more expensive than white noodles. However, in the Ming Dynasty, these things were only eaten by poor people, and those with conditions mainly ate white noodles and rice.

At Wang's insistence, Liu Jin recuperated in bed for three days before he was allowed to go out.

The village where Liu Jin lives is called Xiahetun. There is a small river passing by the entrance of the village, hence the name. The people in the whole village all migrated from other places, so the surnames are quite mixed, unlike some other villages. , the whole village has the same surname, or there is a common surname that dominates.

Liu Jin was wearing a robe, a square scarf on his head, and dressed as a scholar. He wandered around the village very leisurely, admiring the ancient village.

The whole Xiaohetun Village is not too big, there are only more than 40 households and hundreds of people. The houses in the village are also some low mud houses, which are made of yellow mud and covered with thatch. As for the built houses, although Liu Jin's house is dilapidated, it is still a house built of bricks and wood, and it is considered the best house in the village.

"Brother Jin, are you okay?"

"It's okay, I'm not alive~"

"God bless you, Brother Jin, you survived the catastrophe, and you will be blessed in the future."

"Borrow your old auspicious words."

"Brother Jin, study hard, get a good name in the exam, and become a Juren master in the future so you don't have to be afraid of that Tang Huo."

Along the way, the villagers Liu Jin met warmly greeted Liu Jin.

Although Liu Jin is a scholar, he doesn't have the airs of a scholar. He has a good relationship with the big guys in the village. The people in the village are also kind people. They have always taken good care of the orphans and widows of Li Jin's family. What, otherwise, it would be very difficult for the Wang family to plant more than ten acres of land alone.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Liu Jin's cheap father. When Liu Jin's father was there, if anyone in the village had difficulties or something, Liu Jin's father would help, and everyone kept it in mind.

Xiahetun is not big, and it took Liu Jin more than ten minutes to go shopping. The young and old people in the village are busy in the fields. Now is the time to plant winter wheat, and even older children have to pick up hoes. , Go to work in the field.

In the whole village, there are only some old people who are too old to work in the fields, some women with babies, and little babies running around.

"It's really poor enough, and the so-called ZTE is nothing more than that."

After visiting the village, Liu Jin couldn't help shaking his head again and again.

The whole of Xiahetun is very poor, every family is poor, dilapidated thatched huts, mud houses, everyone’s clothes are very tattered, and they don’t even have a pair of shoes on their feet. Straw sandals are luxury goods. Liu Jin even I saw some children walking around with their buttocks naked.

Everyone I saw was dark and thin, and some were even skinny, as if suffering from a serious illness, but in fact it was only caused by long-term lack of food and clothing.

You must know that this is the tenth year of Hongzhi, and Emperor Hongzhi is considered a very good emperor. He has always been diligent and thrifty, and he is very opposed to extravagance.

It should be said that under such a rule, the lives of ordinary people should be good, but this time belongs to the middle of the Ming Dynasty, and land annexation is becoming more and more serious.

Taking the entire Xiahetun as an example, only half of the more than 40 households have their own land, and the remaining 20 or so households all have no land and can only make a living by farming land for landlords, which is also the most miserable in the village.

There are more than 20 households with fields, and there are not too many fields in the family, at most three or four acres, but each household has seven or eight members, and there are even more than ten or twenty members.

The output of the field is very limited, and it is conceivable that everyone's life will be difficult if they want to support such a big family with just a few acres of land.

Liu Jin's family has more than ten acres of land, and there are only two people, Wang and Liu Jin. This is a wealthy family in Xiahetun. With more than ten acres of land, Liu Jin can be sent to study, otherwise, he can't afford to study at all. .

In the final analysis, it is actually a question of land.

Every time a dynasty changes, the most important land will undergo a huge change, and as time goes by, the phenomenon of land annexation in successive dynasties will gradually become more and more serious.

It has been more than 100 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and land annexation has become quite serious. More and more people have lost the land they depended on for their livelihood and become farm laborers for wealthy households. Can't eat enough.

As for those families with some land property, life is actually not easy, because all kinds of taxes and so on will eventually fall on these people.

As for those big landlords and big gentry, they often have the privilege of tax exemption and sit on a large amount of fertile land, but they do not need to pay taxes or pay grain.

Therefore, as time goes by, more and more gentry have privileges, and they occupy more and more land, while taxes are slowly transferred to those peasants who own a small amount of land. Getting heavier and heavier will eventually intensify the annexation of the land.

People seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Farmers with land will invest their land in the name of gentry with tax-free privileges. In the end, the imperial court will collect less and less taxes. The Ming Dynasty is so big that it is now a The tax money collected annually is only more than 300 million taels, and no one believes it when it is said.

Under such circumstances, ordinary people can barely survive in good times, but once there is a natural or man-made disaster, it is difficult for ordinary people to survive, so there will be hooligans everywhere, countless Chen Sheng, Wu Guang, etc. The scene of chaos that emerged.

As Liu Jin walked, he also kept thinking about the situation in Xiahetun.

Liu Jin has read a lot of historical novels, and there are many historical novels about the Ming Dynasty. The most fundamental reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty is the same as that of previous dynasties. It is the issue of land annexation. , factory guards and so on are just external factors, and they have been indispensable in all dynasties.

"If you think about these things, you should think about your own affairs first."

Soon, Liu Jin also shook his head. As an ordinary person, there is no need to eat carrots and worry about it. It is true that he should find a way to make himself better first.

After visiting the village, Liu Jin also walked towards the sea. Xiahetun is near the sea, very close to the sea, only a few miles away. This sea is also the Bohai Sea in later generations.

　For some cognition of history, there must be mistakes, please give me a lot of advice~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)