prosperous age

Chapter 134 Chapter 133
Wei Guangde became more and more confused at the beginning, and then he thought of it in a flash of inspiration, and finally figured out what happened.

It has to be said that empiricism kills people.

The executives from top to bottom in the Ming Dynasty were all gentry families, and they were all famous people, so they would naturally speak to themselves.

They used the imperial court's preferential exemption regulations to declare to the outside world that the imperial court exempted people with fame and servitude from the taxes and servitude, and transferred the levies and servitude that should have been borne by themselves to ordinary people.

Wei Guangde threw the "Da Ming Hui Dian" on the table, leaned on the back of the chair, closed his eyes and meditated.

I have to admire the person who thought of this method is really clever.

Under the lure, the entire group of scholars fell to his side, operating in a direction that was beneficial to their own interests from top to bottom.

With fame and fame, you don't have to pay taxes or do hard labor. What could be happier than this?
Not only that, they also hyped up the people below to confuse people's hearts, so that the common people believed it was true.

Apparently, most people in later generations also think so.

Deceiving the up and the down, this move is really slippery.

Wei Guangde could only admire that unknown senior in his heart.

But does this have anything to do with him?

It has become the consensus of the whole world that people with fame and reputation are exempted from taxes and servitude. Naturally, Wei Guangde would not dig his own grave, not to mention that it is not in his interest.

Wei Guangde chooses to be the same as all scholars, acquiescing, and regards preferential exemption as exemption.

Throughout the 32 years of Jiajing, Wei Guangde stayed in Jiujiang Mansion to study most of the time, except for returning to Pengze twice to attend the wedding of his cousin and elder brother.

At this time, Wei Guangde couldn't help but think of the future life he was in.

It seems that at that time, people in small cities and rural areas got married earlier, while those in metropolitan cities generally married later. This is actually the case in this era.

Zhang Hongfu's age is about the same as that of his elder brother, and he has not heard of the marriage until now.

In Wei Guangde's impression, he vaguely heard that Zhang Hongfu had an unmarried daughter-in-law, but he didn't know why he didn't talk about getting married for so long.

Without incentives, Wei Guangde naturally would not ask.

As for the lending business that Wei Guangde placed high hopes on, he has not yet found a suitable one.

There is no way, there are only a few types of big business these days.

Salt, tea, cloth and porcelain, etc., and the market interests of these consumer goods in Daming have already been divided up.

A few years ago, there was a golden time for the private lending business. In fact, most of the bosses who borrowed money at that time invested their money in textile factories in Suzhou and Songjiang Prefectures. Most of the products were smuggled and trafficked overseas by sea merchants. , to make huge profits.

After the 31 years of Jiajing’s Japanese pirates’ troubles in Zhejiang, the coastal state capitals of the entire Ming Dynasty are now full of rumors and wars, and they are very afraid of attracting Japanese pirates.

Ordinary people don't know, but for those officials, they are naturally well-informed, what is the situation in Zhejiang after being ravaged by Japanese pirates.

The soldiers in the guards are invincible, and the Japanese pirates are extremely vicious.

Businessmen, as the type of people who had the most contact with those officials, naturally knew about the situation.

Before, many of them still hooked up with these sea merchants and called them brothers and sisters, but now they dare not recognize any of them.

These days, wouldn't it be fatal if people knew that you knew these people who lived at sea?

In the past, these maritime merchants still did serious business with merchants. Although they violated the laws of the court, as long as they were not caught, they would be fine.

But now, they found a way to make more money, that is to take the Japanese pirates directly ashore to rob and do business without capital.

Almost every time Wei Guangde went to restaurants and teahouses in Jiujiang City, he could hear businessmen complaining about the difficulty in doing business, the pirates along the coast getting more and more violent, and the bad news that the court officers and soldiers were encircling and suppressing them.

In these years, the government and the military have the fastest channels for news transmission. There are post stations all over the country and postmen running back and forth on the post roads.

All kinds of battle reports of the ongoing wars in various parts of the Ming Empire were first collected in the northern and southern capitals, and then passed on from there.

Zhang Hongfu, Wei Guangde and other members of the guards had heard and seen a lot of information at home.

It can be said that the entire 32 years of Jiajing has never stopped since the first lunar month.

Since the beginning of the first month, the coastal prefectures have been constantly alerted. From Nanzhili to various prefectures in Fujian, small groups of Japanese pirates have landed. Only Wenzhou general Tang Kekuan led his troops to repel the Japanese pirates who invaded Wenzhou. not big.

What's more, Shanghai County of Songjiang Prefecture was burned by the Japanese pirates who invaded, and the loss of property was irrelevant.

When people in the south of the Yangtze River were in panic because of the Japanese pirates, Alda Khan in the north led tens of thousands of captives to break through the Yansui defense line, and went south from Mizhichuan to invade Yanzhou, Ganquan and other places.

The report of the North-South War was spread to Jiujiang Mansion through various channels, and was sent to the Jiujiang Guard Commander Division, which made the commanders of Jiujiang Guards who had just experienced a big battle frightened.

The Ming Dynasty, which has been in peace for a hundred years, seems to have become precarious overnight.

"Guangde, the very powerful general you mentioned, according to the news I saw yesterday, he was suspended from his post a few months ago because he was not good at fighting the Japanese."

On this day, Wei Guangde followed his father to Zhang's mansion. His father and uncle went to Zhang Tongzhi's study to discuss matters, while he and Zhang Hongfu found a room to drink tea and warm up by the fire.

At this time, it was the beginning of December in the 32nd year of Jiajing, and the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were a mess for almost a whole year. Wei Guangde had vowed before that the Taizhou general Yu Dayou, who was optimistic, had been suspended due to the unfavorable war, so Zhang Hongfu said this. .

Wei Guangde had known this news for a long time. To be honest, he was also very surprised when he saw this news. Who would have thought that Yu Dayou would also lose a battle, and he would lose quite badly. Taizhou under his jurisdiction Most of the coastal villages and forts were captured by Japanese pirates.

In stark contrast to his poor record, although Tang Kekuan, the general of Wenzhou, had been defeated many times, his performance was generally equal to that of the imperial court.

Wei Guangde not only reads books, but also likes military affairs. Zhang Hongfu discovered this a long time ago, so he also likes to sit with Wei Guangde and discuss the current situation.

"I didn't expect it either."

Wei Guangde spread his hands and said, "I thought he had a good record in suppressing thieves in Qiongzhou and Guangxi before, so I took it for granted that fighting Japanese pirates is easy."

Wei Guangde actually wondered in his heart, who is Tang Kekuan, and how can he fight so well?

Judging from the current situation, it seems that he can fight more than Yu Dayou, but it seems that he has never heard of such a number one person, which is really strange.

"Which one of the southern Japanese and northern captives is more powerful?"

Zhang Hongfu asked again.

(End of this chapter)