Ming Zuo

Chapter 15

"Dispose of these properly."

What hung on the tree seemed not to be corpses, but sharp needles to pierce Zuo Menggeng's heart.

It made him wish for an evil fire to burn down this evil world.

Old Qin got the order and hurriedly called out a few young men to remove the hanged corpses from the tree and carry them out of Zhuangzi.

Don't think about it, it must be a wasteland and hastily buried it.

Human life is like a mustard, hurried away, leaving not even the last trace in this world.

Old Qintou felt that it was not enough, so he tapped on his cane and deliberately spoke loudly.

"Remember, it was that bastard Liang Yue who committed the trouble, and the family's death is also his own fault. Now the young master has shown great mercy and spared us the rent. If anyone dares not to remember this kindness, the little old man will be with him. I promise not to give up."

This old man is also shameless.

Obviously all of this was caused by the Zuo family's excessive oppression, forcing the tenant's family to collapse, but when it came to his mouth, it was all the fault of the escaped Liang Yue.

But Old Qin Tou did this, but it was helpless.

The dead are dead, and the living are still alive.

If these villagers want to survive, it is all in the Zuofu's mind.

Finally, Zuo Menggeng showed great kindness and saved them from renting their children. Do they still have to fight against the government, and everyone is dead?
It's not a matter of good or evil, it's just a struggle to survive.

Zuo Menggeng knew that the fault was his own, but he could only accept the result.

Can't really dispose of all the domestic servants who killed people?
If that's the case, why don't these farmers say anything, I'm afraid that the domestic servants will be detached immediately.

The world is so ironic, he can only be regarded as a confused account.

Finally came to Zhuangzi once, Zuo Menggeng was curious about everything and went around to have a look.

Old Qintou and Zhang Yan followed, staying by their side, answering any questions they had.

Zuo Menggeng observed that the land on Zhuangzi was really bad.

It is quite far from the river, and even if Feng Yuanwai allows water to be drawn, it will not be able to irrigate much land.Moreover, the soil here has some signs of desertification, indicating that there are few nutrients left in the soil.

"If I could irrigate, how would the harvest be?"

Old Qin Tou's answer confirmed his guess.

"Ten years ago, the land here was pretty good, and one mu could always produce just over a stone of grain. Then it didn't work out. Even if it was a good year, it would be thankful to have seven or eight buckets. In the past two years, there were only two or three. Dou, I can't even feed my family."

This is due to the reduction of yields caused by soil degradation and the natural disaster. Under the double blow, farmers are on the verge of life and death.

Zuo Menggeng remembered that there were some methods in the historical web article, so he asked, "Why don't you plant some corn and potatoes?"

Old Qintou and Zhang Yan looked at each other, and Zhang Yan asked, "Master, what are corn and potatoes?"

Zuo Menggeng thought that these American crops were called differently at this time, so he gestured and described them.

Guess what, Lao Qintou and Zhang Yan were still at a loss, not knowing why, apparently they had never heard of it.

Old Qin Tou asked a question that Zuo Menggeng could not have thought of anyway.

"Master, if you plant those corn and potatoes, can the government recognize it? Does the owner recognize it? Is it easy to sell it?"

Three consecutive questions, like three heavy hammers, smashed Zuo Menggeng into a daze.

Only then did he realize that he had been fooled.

Talking about the agricultural situation in the late Ming Dynasty, it has been written in many books, as if the comprehensive promotion of high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes can be properly solved.

But in reality, in this era, it was discovered that this was not the case at all.

Why were many American crops not accepted and cultivated by the common people until the middle of the Qing Dynasty?
It's not just poor promotion.

An important reason is that the burden on them prevents farmers from planting new crops.

Farmers want to grow corn and potatoes, even if the yield is high, what if the government does not recognize them?
What if the landlord does not recognize it?
What if the grain merchant does not recognize it?
Farmers are severely restricted in paying taxes, paying rent, and selling grain. Even if they want to grow some new crops, they don't have the energy to spare.

Why did it go again in the middle of the Qing Dynasty?
Because after decades of war in the late Ming Dynasty, the population dropped sharply and the per capita arable land increased.Coupled with the social stability in the early Qing Dynasty, farmers were freed from extortionate taxes and exploitation by landlords, and they could of course enrich their planting varieties after they were relieved.

In the late Ming Dynasty, all kinds of extortionate and miscellaneous taxes are overwhelming, the government is constantly corvée, and the wheat and beans that the people have worked so hard to plant are not enough to make up for it. Where can there be spare energy to plant new crops?
For example, the Zhuangzi of Zuojia in front of him did not grow wheat and beans, but instead grew corn and potatoes.

It is hard to say how high the output can be, and it may not really be like the later generations.

Even if there is, how can I pay taxes to the government?
How do I pay rent to the landlord?
How much recognition do grain merchants have for these new things when they are sold in the market?

It will inevitably lower prices, and farmers will be a loss.

Unless they own their own territory, abolish exorbitant taxes and land rents, and control the right to speak on food prices.Otherwise, promoting new crops is nonsense.

The living reality taught Zuo Menggeng a vivid lesson, allowing him to put away his high-level overlooking perspective and seriously think about the social problems of this era.

"How many acres of land does each of your families have?"

Old Qin pointed to the piece under his feet.

"My family rented [-] acres of land from the mansion, and I was barely able to make ends meet. In this age, it is up to me whether I can survive or not."

Zuo Menggeng thought for a while and asked, "I heard that many people have escaped from Zhuangzi, and there must be a lot of vacant land next year. So much for your family, can you slow down?"

Not only was the old Qintou not happy, but he smiled bitterly.

"Young master doesn't know, this farmer's land is not as much as possible."

Zuo Menggeng was surprised, why do people still dislike so much land?
The truth that Lao Qintou said gave Zuo Menggeng a vivid lesson.

"The more land you have in your family, the more taxes you pay. If the season is good and the harvest in the land is guaranteed, it will be passable. But now, I don't know when this famine will end. No matter how much land there is, it will be blind if there is no harvest. Besides, each household has limited manpower, and no matter how much land there is, it will not be able to grow."

The mentality of the peasants surprised Zuo Menggeng.

"What if, I mean, if you don't have to rent fields, but have your own land, how about that?"

Old Qin was stunned, pursing his lips, as if thinking.

Zhang Yan said: "Master, what if you have your own land in this year? Say one thousand, say ten thousand, and there must be a harvest in the field. Whether the land that has been harvested is not your own, and how much there is, is fundamentally important. It doesn't matter. If there is no harvest, people will starve to death. Damn God, they just don't let people live."

Zuo Menggeng's mentality was a little broken.

Once again deceived by historical web articles.

Those books say that as long as the land is equalized and the taxes are exempted, the people's hearts can be gained, and then the hegemony can be achieved.

But now it seems that is not the case at all.

Juntian was not very useful during this period.

Although Li Zicheng relied on Juntian's slogan, he quickly expanded his strength and overthrew the Ming Dynasty.But he quickly collapsed, which is enough to show that the support of the people's hearts for him is not enough.

Thinking about the subsequent land reform, I immediately got the full support of the people.

Countless people, stunned, used a small cart to launch a new China.

The same is divided into fields, where is the difference?
Li Zicheng's Juntian is not just a slogan.Historical data show that it was really done, and there were indeed many people who were allocated fields.

Then why did Li Zicheng not gain the support of thousands of people and achieve hegemony, but instead quickly withered away?
Zuo Menggeng never thought about this issue, but now through the mouths of farmers, he found the reason.

The root cause is the natural disaster.

Ancient agriculture was very weak, and there was no advanced technology.

The farmers face the loess and turn their backs to the sky, and the farming methods are very primitive.Most of the time, you have to rely on the sky to eat.

But in this period of the late Ming Dynasty, God has been acting as a demon.

Some areas in the south are not bad, although disasters are frequent, but they can still persevere.

In places like Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, where there have been droughts for several years, the sky is full of locusts, and the fields are not harvested, what is the difference between whether the farmers have land in their hands?
No matter if there is one mu of land or ten mu of land, all of them will not be able to harvest food, and they will starve to death in the end.

Under such circumstances, even if the land is distributed to the people, they still cannot support themselves.

That is to say, although Li Zicheng's measures to equalize fields have gained the support of the people, they have not been converted into real resources.

The peasants who got the land were surprised to find that they were still starving.

Li Zicheng could not get support from these farmers, and his equalization of fields became an empty slogan.Once a military failure is encountered, the demise is irreversible.

If Zuo Menggeng did not discover this mistake in time, he would also implement the rough equalization strategy in the future.

When faced with a situation of thousands of miles and no harvest, I am afraid that the end will not be any better than Li Zicheng.

(End of this chapter)