Rule over Ming Dynasty

Chapter 204

When the two Jin Yiwei heard this question, they also turned their heads to look at Sun Jiao, and also wanted to know who was standing behind Sun Jiao.

Although there is no high-ranking official in the imperial court who dares to stand up against the emperor openly, but civil servants have always been insidious, and it is unknown which big boss is behind it.

Kill it, kill them all, these hypocrites should all go to hell.

"It's true that I promoted them, but what does that mean? Which Wenxuan official doesn't take care of his own people? As for what they did and why they assassinated Liu Zhong and Wang Zhi, I don't know anything about it!" Sun After hearing this question, he immediately closed his eyes silently to show that he refused to confess.

Seeing that Sun Jiao was really unwilling to reveal the truth, Mu Bin smiled and said, "Don't you know? You may not know one thing!"

"What's the matter?" Sun Jiao felt a little uneasy in his heart, so he opened his eyes again and asked.

Mou Bin squinted his eyes and looked at Sun Jiao, seeming to say every single word: "I am a first-class expert in torture, and there is no mouth in this world that I can't pry open!"

When it came to the last word, he deliberately bit down hard, invisibly putting more psychological pressure on Sun Jiao.

"Mu Bin, you want to persecute Zhongliang, aren't you afraid that the pen of history is like iron?" Sun Jiao asked angrily when he knew the horrors of Beizhen Fusi's torture tools.

Are you Zhongliang?Hehe... You are Zhongliang!
A contemptuous laugh sounded in the passage of the cell, and Mou Bin stopped talking nonsense to this brazen civil servant, and immediately asked his subordinates to put him on charge, and strode towards the interrogation room full of [-] instruments of torture.

As for the iron pen of history, he knows that these civil servants do have the ability to reverse black and white, but he believes that future generations will eventually be able to see through the falsehood and directly hit the historical facts.

Even if Sun Jiao and other literati continue to smear him into being stupid, and now the Holy Majesty is cruel, the rise and fall of the times will explain everything, and what he has to do now is to help His Majesty pry Sun Jiao's mouth away.

In mid-July, cotton flowers bloom.

The silver light is dotted with a million years of abundance, and the stars are shaking like melting snow.

Whoever is warm in the plain wrapping group, enters the time and space covered by light body.

……

When the Ming Dynasty Hall was still undercurrents and fighting openly and secretly, the land of Gyeonggi had already ushered in the harvest season.

Since there were no locust plagues in the spring and summer in North Zhili this year, and cotton is a drought-resistant crop, the output of cotton-growing families in Gyeonggi is gratifying.

Although the vast majority of Wu Xun rejected Zhu Youtang's call to plant cotton, many low-level people were actually quite obedient, so they cooperated with the call of the Shuntian government office to plant cotton.

In fact, as early as the early Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had already noticed the value of cotton, so he attached great importance to the cultivation of cotton, and even issued a decree.

At that time, the imperial court ordered that every commoner should plant half an acre of mulberry, hemp, and cotton in five to ten mu of fields, and double the amount for more than ten mu.

According to historical records: In the 20 years of Hongwu, the output of cotton cloth in the seven prefectures of Zhangde, Weihui, and Guangping in Henan reached 180 catties.

永乐17年，朝廷共征收棉布120万六千880七匹，丝棉24万六千57斤，棉花绒58万三千320四斤。

Cotton has already become an important economic crop in Ming Dynasty, and it is also a powerful guarantee for the Chinese people to survive the severe winters.

Many people know that the tea horses of the Ming Dynasty and the ethnic minorities in the west, but the cotton cloth made of cotton is also welcomed by them, so the Ming Dynasty will also exchange cotton cloth with the ethnic minorities for horses.

In fact, cotton cloth has always been a hard currency in Ming's trade with other countries or tribes of all sizes.

Zhao Laosi is an ordinary citizen in Beizhili, who has been farming here for a living from generation to generation.

Because he was a law-abiding man, he always spent every penny he had, and dug weeds for a living if he had no money, but he kept the [-] mu of land passed down from his ancestors.

During the spring plowing this year, he responded to the call of the Shuntian government office, and also received some free cotton seeds, and used two acres of the field to plant cotton.

When it was harvest time, his two-acre field, like other people's cotton fields, also ushered in a bumper harvest.

He led his two sons and two daughters-in-law to pick cotton in the field. Picking cotton seemed to be a very interesting thing, but his grandson and granddaughter came to help.

Faced with this kind of cotton that is as white as snow, the family always has the joy of a good harvest.

Because of manual picking, they can avoid miscellaneous branches and miscellaneous branches very well, so that the picked cotton is very clean.It only needs to be exposed to the sun for one day, and then the cotton that can be sold is obtained after removing seeds and impurities.

After weighing, the two acres of cotton land this time actually weighed [-] catties.If it is processed into a quilt weighing six catties, this harvest alone can be turned into a hundred quilts.

But before that, he needs to notify the head of grain and the clerks of the Yahu Department of Wanping County, and they will come to collect taxes.

Born in Daming, no matter what crops his [-] mu of land is used to grow, he has to pay taxes at the standard of "thirty tax one". Now cotton is naturally the same.

However, this year's situation is quite special. The imperial court introduced a preferential tax policy for cotton.

If the cotton harvested by the family is good, the tax can be paid according to the preferential tax of six catties per mu proposed by the Ministry of Households, that is, it is enough to directly pay twelve catties of cotton.

If there is a special situation that leads to a default in the cotton field, you can choose to pay taxes to Wanping County according to the traditional "Thirty Taxes and One" method.

Zhao Laosi did some calculations. If according to the standard of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he would only have to pay [-] catties of cotton to the imperial court, but if he followed the traditional method, he would have to pay [-] catties of cotton.

Zhao Laosi knew that the policy of [-] jins of taxes formulated during the Taizu period was very kind, so he decided not to take advantage of the court, and immediately paid [-] catties of cotton in the traditional way.

After paying the tax, the family has 580 catties of cotton left.

It's just that cotton can't be eaten as food, and a family has ten mouths, so cotton needs to be exchanged for silver to buy firewood, rice, oil, salt and vinegar to guarantee their daily living expenses.

The fourth son of Zhao sent his eldest son to the capital to find cotton for sale by the second dealer, so he picked up his hoe and prepared to go to the cotton field to do the final finishing work.

"Run! The governor of Shuntian Prefecture came to the entrance of the village with a few servants, and asked to find you by name!"

"Why did Yin Shuntian look for me, and why did I run away?"

"Have you forgotten how we peeked at Widow Liu taking a shower when we were young? Those legs, those buttocks, and how white the chest is..."

……

Zhao Laosi couldn't help but think of 40 years ago, that body was really white, and he can't forget it until now, as if it was a dream engraved in his bones.

Thinking of his innocence for most of his life, he and Zhu Laoliu were about to flee to the other side of the village, but suddenly realized something was wrong.

This old guy is lazy and has become a tenant. He is the same everywhere, but his twenty acres of land are still growing in the field, can he still take it away?
"You are the fourth brother Zhao?" Song Cheng rode forward and confirmed his identity to the fourth brother Zhao who was kneeling on the ground.

The accompanying clerk of Wanping Household took a look at Zhao Laoliu, seeing that Zhao Laosi was too nervous to speak, Dang even assured him: "Master Fuyin, he is Zhao Laosi!"

Zhao Laosi has lived in this land for decades. Although he was lucky enough to see Wanping's county lord from afar, he has never met the Fuyin lord at all, let alone the Fuyin lord talking to him.

At this moment, he was kneeling on the ground, his head was buzzing all the time.

Zhao Laosi knew that he couldn't hide the fact that he had peeked at Widow Liu's bath, so he immediately begged for mercy and said: "The grassroots know their mistakes, please ask the governor to beat the grassroots!"

"This is not a big mistake! It's just that the reason why the new government implements preferential tax policies is to benefit the people. In the future, if there is a bumper harvest, you can pay according to the fixed amount of the household department. You can take the initiative to pay [-] The catty of cotton handed over is enough to prove that you are a good citizen of Ming Dynasty, and His Majesty is very pleased. The difference will not be refunded this time. This is a new Hongzhi cloth ticket issued by the Ministry of Households, which can be regarded as the court's kindness to you. A reward for the people. Because the first batch of cotton cloth from the Royal Weaving Factory will be traded with foreign barbarians, this ticket will not be effective until August. At that time, you or send someone to the Royal Cloth Shop to exchange it. Any piece of cotton cloth!" Song Cheng gave the accompanying officials a wink, and then seriously explained.

This trip to the countryside, he was actually in a good mood.

The imperial courts have always wanted to exploit more from the people, and even tried every means to impose additional taxes on the people in the name of cleverness. Only the new dynasty still worried that the people would suffer losses, and even issued Hongzhi Cloth Tickets to subsidize them.

This is indeed good governance. People like Zhao Laosi who know that they can pay eight catties less cotton by paying according to the preferential tax policy, but still insist on paying the tax of [-] per cent, really shouldn't be the one who suffers.

ah?Reward?

Zhao Laosi was stunned for a moment, and seemed to accept the cloth ticket delivered over in disbelief.

One look at this cloth ticket and you can tell that it is not ordinary. It looks very much like a Daming banknote, the quality of the paper is surprisingly good, and there is a clear word "a piece of cotton cloth" on it.

Seeing that the matter had been settled, Song Cheng got on his horse and planned to go to the village in front to continue rewarding the distribution tickets. There were also two honest villagers in that village who did not choose to "take advantage of the court".

It has to be said that the people of Huaxia are actually very simple. With such kind people as the foundation, how can the Ming Dynasty not create a prosperous age?
Zhao Laosi sat on the stone in front of his house, watching the team disappearing around the corner, and found that everything had become so unreal.

"Our Lord Fu Yin actually came to our village in person. He is really a good official who is rare in a hundred years!" Seeing Lord Fu Yin leave, Zhao Laosi's wife, Mrs. Zhang, came out and said with emotion.

Zhao Laosi glanced at his wife, and immediately said with a straight face: "What do you know as a woman? Mr. Fu Yin is a good official, but we have actually met a good emperor!"

"Father, what does this have to do with the emperor?" The second son suddenly seemed puzzled when he heard this.

Zhao Laosi glared at his second son, and then preached: "Songfu Yin is so young and has such low qualifications that he can be Shuntian Fuyin. I heard that Song Fuyin is also from a poor family. Do you really think that Song Fuyin himself Can you sit in the position of Governor of Shuntian? Just now Governor of Song Dynasty also said that this cloth ticket was issued by the Ministry of Households, and it was rewarded by the emperor to our family. This is the good governance of the new dynasty, and we must thank Your Majesty."

After all, he has lived most of his life, but he knows who is leading all this.

"Master, can this cloth ticket really be exchanged for a piece of cotton cloth?" Mrs. Zhang wanted to examine that cloth ticket, but expressed doubts.

The eldest daughter-in-law who has been silent for a long time said crisply: "Mother, I saw this kind of cloth ticket in the hands of my sister-in-law when I went back to my mother's house a few days ago. The employees of the Royal Weaving Factory distribute monthly money, and they can also buy it." Choose a cloth ticket, the cloth ticket is discounted according to the ex-factory price, so my sister-in-law chose two! The Royal Weaving Factory and the Royal Cloth Shop are the same, and this cloth ticket must be exchangeable!"

"If that's the case, let's go back to change the cotton cloth at that time, and I will make new clothes for my two grandsons!" Zhang's eyes lit up immediately, and he quickly accepted the cloth ticket.

At this time, the eldest son Zhao Wu rushed back, but he didn't pay attention to everyone staying at the door, and ran into the kitchen without even saying hello.

Fortunately, he was not looking for a kitchen knife, but stood at the door with a ladle of water and drank it, and then reported with a smile on his face: "Father, I just found out that the market for cotton this year is particularly good. I just entered the gate of the city. Knowing that our family has 580 catties of cotton, a group of cotton dealers surrounded me. The price has been negotiated, they will come to our village at noon tomorrow, and take away our [-] catties of cotton at twice the previous purchase price , the total is ten taels of silver, and I have already forced a deposit of one tael!"

"Bodhisattva bless you! This year's cotton market is so good, our Zhao family is finally going to have a good life!" Mrs. Zhang said gratefully in the direction of Guanyin Temple when she saw that there were many happy events today.

Zhao Laosi took the one or two deposits, and it was like a dream.

In the past, I worked hard for a whole year, and although I could still have some money during the harvest period, it was the silver that had to be harvested in the next season, so a copper coin had to be broken in half to spend.

It's just that now the new dynasty not only no longer makes famous rumors to sell more cotton, but also gives preferential tax policies. The purchase price of cotton this year can still be so high, which makes the hand suddenly loose.

Although the latest policy of the imperial court is to only allow him to use half of the field to grow cotton and other cash crops, as long as the cotton market is maintained, life will definitely get better and better in the future.

Zhao Laosi looked up at his dilapidated thatched hut, and immediately made a decision: "Our family will continue to grow cotton well, and strive to build a new house in three years' time!"

Upon hearing the words, Mrs. Zhang and the others suddenly felt that their life finally had hope.

"Father, I bought some cumin and pepper from the city. I heard that grilled fish with a little cumin and pepper is very delicious. Even the dignitaries in the capital eat it, and it is said that the emperor eats it! I'm going to the pond now Touch two fish, and our family will also grill fish tonight!" The eldest son took out a little pepper that he brought back, and said happily.

When Zhao Laosi heard that it was the way of the dignitaries in the capital, especially the emperor, Dang even readily agreed.

(End of this chapter)