The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 476

In the evening Hu Gensheng returned to Tunbao and summoned the brothers in the fort.

Just about to speak, tears flowed out, and the brothers all asked what happened.

Hu Gensheng said, I was in the magistrate's yamen just now and overheard Gao Ba always crying. It is said that Mr. Ding paid [-]% of the tax for us and used the rations of the Liaodong army and civilians. Many Liao people are suffering from cold and starvation to support us.

It is not easy for Mr. Ding to feed hundreds of thousands of people in Liaodong, and he has to pay taxes for us. The court is unfair.

Everyone was furious immediately, and many people shouted and wanted to fight back.

Most of the hoarders were Kong Youde's surrendered troops, and they were quite elite after being trained by Ding Yi for several years.

This will lead to rebellion, pick up weapons, and become elite soldiers one by one.

Hu Gensheng hurriedly persuaded everyone, calm down, you are like this, it will be very difficult for Mr. Ding, the court will call him to rehabilitate, should he beat us, or let us go?Master Ding, what is he doing with himself?

Everyone was helpless, and soon someone in the crowd asked, how can we help Master Ding?Could it be that we pay [-]% more tax?

Of course, you can't pay too much, I would rather hand it over to Mr. Ding than favor the court, Hu Gensheng said.

Everyone thinks it makes sense.

Hu Gensheng said again at this time, I heard that this year, Dengzhou Prefecture was taxed 8000 taels by the imperial court, and only 10,000+ mu were included in the regular tax. In fact, there are at least one million mu that do not need to pay taxes.

Everyone cursed, scolded those officials, scolded those landlords.

"The new magistrate said that the land is difficult to measure and the points are difficult to determine. It is really impossible to collect taxes." Hu Genchang sighed: "If the energy is released from the fields and they are forced to pay taxes, the pressure on Mr. Ding and us will be greatly reduced."

"Where is the field? Let's do it and measure it." Someone in the crowd shouted.

Then many people made a fuss and went to measure the fields to force them to pay taxes.

"This, this, everyone, don't worry, this kind of thing needs to be discussed in a long-term way, and we are not experts." Hu Gensheng hurriedly dissuaded.

At the beginning of September, the Terengganu hoarders gathered everywhere to count the points for all the fields in Terengganu.

At this time, the rice fields were clear and waiting to be harvested, and they had no intention of training, and all wanted to do this. So Hu Gensheng and other fort chiefs took the lead, and soon recruited a group of people from Dengzhou who knew how to measure land, and taught the hoarders how to clear the land. amount of land.

In mid-September, hoarders gathered in groups and spread all over Dengzhou. Under the guidance of caring people, they cleared the land and even came to ask for taxes.

Landlords and Jin gentry officials were miserable and helpless. After all, Zhang Juzheng did the same thing back then, and there was nothing wrong with the law.

Some landlords gathered guards and servants to take action, but unexpectedly, the soldiers of the fortress were even more powerful. They used sharpened bamboo spears to massacre all directions. They came down several times and almost triggered a new riot. Letters from the government went like ants to the governor's office in Denglai and the governor's office in Dengzhou.

September 9, Laiyang County.

When Kong Youde rebelled, Laiyang County was one of the few counties in Dengzhou that was not taken by the rebels. The county magistrate at that time was Liang Heng. Because the rebels rebelled for half a year before attacking, he made sufficient preparations, so the defense Very good, until the rebellion was put down, it was not broken.

But after the war, not only was Liang Heng not promoted, but he was accused of embezzling 2 taels of silver. He was first imprisoned and then exiled into the army.

It is said that he had some disagreements with Song Zhishang, who was involved in Dengzhou, and they accused each other of being guilty. However, because Song Zhishang had a lot of land and money in his family, Liang Heng was sent to prison and exiled into the army.

At this time, the magistrate of Laiyang County was Song Zhiyan.

At the county government office that afternoon, Song Zhiyan called many people to discuss matters.

All the people sitting here are rich and big families in Laiyang County. Only those with fields of more than 20 mu, including the squire Song Chengping, the powerful Lu Wenfeng, and Song Zhizhen himself, have more than [-] mu of land, and there are nearly [-] people.

And these people basically do not pay taxes, or only pay a little tax.

For example, Xu Youji, a squire, was one of the three generations of his family. He used the excuse of being a scholar as an excuse. His family had [-] acres of fertile land and only paid two taels of silver a year, which is unimaginable.

"Song county magistrate, a lot of refugees have been measuring their fields recently, and they even came to ask for taxes. This is a mess." Song Chengping, a large household with tens of thousands of acres, complained when he saw Song Zhiyan: "Is this still going to be done tomorrow? Why is no one caring?" Take care."

"These are refugees, they are more elite than battalion soldiers. I heard that Huang County's mighty Zhou family has defeated more than 100 guardians."

"I heard that they were all trained by Dengzhou general Yang Zhen's subordinates. What does Yang Zhen want to do?"

"When will it be the refugees' turn to measure the fields? Who gave them the courage?"

There was a lot of noise in the house, and the major households filed complaints and complained.

Song Zhiyan frowned, and after listening for a while, he couldn't stop, so he quickly stretched out his hand, "Don't make noise, don't make noise at all."

Then everyone stopped slowly and looked at him eagerly.

Song Zhizhen had a grim expression on his face, and said viciously, "I probably know the cause of the incident."

"The imperial court has increased Liao's salary. Governor Liu Yuan of Denglai is incompetent and can't collect all the taxes. That's why he thought of a way to exploit our fertile land."

"Deliberately provoking hoarding troops to come to your door to find trouble."

"These soldiers are all under the command of Xu Fuzuo, the commander-in-chief of Denglai. They must be secretly united by the governor of the commander-in-chief to get our money."

There was an uproar all around, and everyone shouted, wanting to report to the imperial court and expose the evil deeds of their governor general.

"What does Xu Fuzuo want to do? I see that there are bunkers everywhere in Dengzhou Prefecture, guarding all the main roads, and training soldiers privately. Could it be that he wants to learn from Kong Youde again."

"But I heard that those hoarding soldiers belong to the thousands of households." Some people said, "I'm afraid it's not Xu Fuzuo's soldiers, but military households."

There were also people with better news, and the mighty Lu Wenfeng said in a deep voice, "Is everyone's news accurate? But I heard that these hoarding soldiers are all under the command of Ding Yi, the general soldier of Dongjiang."

"Can the general army of Dongjiang reach Dengzhou? Master Lu, you are worrying too much."

"I heard what other thousands of households said." Lu Wenguan blushed: "The surname Ding is arrogant and domineering. In the name of disaster relief and resettlement of refugees, he hoards land and trains troops. The court can't do anything about him. Ordinary generals, who would repair such a thing?" Doburg."

There was another debate on the spot.

"Don't be noisy." Song Zhiyan slammed the table hard, finally calming everyone down.

"No matter who is behind this, we must not give in."

"The imperial court is not qualified to measure the fields, and hoarding people are nothing."

Someone asked: "What's your opinion, my lord?"

Song Zhixuan sneered and said: "Everyone, pull out the family guards, and I will send fifty people from my side to form an army led by the county government servants. Whoever dares to come here will be punished as a bandit and be arrested and chopped down. "

Someone's face changed: "Will it lead to another Kong Youde military rebellion? The rioters besieged the city?"

"It's good to cause chaos, and the imperial court will pay attention to it. We must send troops to encircle and suppress it. At that time, we will impeach and report together. Whether it is Liu Yuan, Xu Fuzuo, or Ding Yi, we will all be impeached. We will never miss it."

"Back then, Kong Youde's tens of thousands of troops failed to break through our Laiyang, so a mere few hundred hoarders are nothing."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)