Paper Maker: This is the end of the Ming Dynasty in Liaozhai

Chapter 94

Just seeing the remaining 9 enlightenment points on the system panel, Su Hao couldn't help sighing, now he really returned to before liberation.

Before going from Jining Prefecture to Jinan Prefecture, he traveled with Fang Haichuan and others. Fang Haichuan and the others were all wearing flying fish suits. Naturally, no bandits would be stupid enough to attack them. After leaving Jinan Prefecture, he has been relying on the carriage Practicing lightness kung fu, although it looks a bit stupid, but others see that he has martial arts, so naturally they will stay away from him.

In the past year, there have been rebellions one after another everywhere, and there are signs of great chaos in the world. Bandits are everywhere, some are forced to fall into bandits, and some local gentry and villains secretly become bandits. The most serious is the desertion of the guards.

In the Ming Dynasty, the issue of guard deserters was a problem. The guard system established by Zhu Yuanzhang was actually not wrong. In the chaotic state at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the guard system calmed down the Ming Dynasty in the shortest possible time. down.

Moreover, as a commoner born as a beggar, Zhu Yuanzhang has personally experienced the sufferings of the common people. When he established the guard system, he equipped each guard with enough military households and farmland, and the military households cultivated the farmland, and then paid Food tax feeds the guards and achieves self-sufficiency.

It's a pity that Zhu Yuanzhang overestimated his authority and underestimated the greed of human nature. Those military households occupying dozens of acres of land were no less than big fat sheep in the eyes of the guards officers and local gentry.

So the inside and the outside cooperated, and the officers and gentry of the guards divided up the farmland of these military households together, and bought all the officials in the court, so that the military households had nowhere to sue. In addition to Zhu Yuanzhang's military household system, these are gone. Tian's military households can only be reduced to the personal servants of the officers of the guard, and some who can't bear it can only choose to flee and become bandits.

In addition to deserters, there are many people who are forced to live by exorbitant taxes. When it comes to exorbitant taxes, the Ming Dynasty is even worse than other dynasties.

At the beginning, Zhu Yuanzhang himself was born in poverty, and after he became emperor, he was extremely harsh on officials. The monthly salary of a high-ranking official was only 87 shi. Sixteen coins means that 87 stones are exchanged for about 50 taels of silver.

Good guy!
When an official reaches this level, who is not a big family member, he needs servants to serve him, he needs rich clothes and fine food, he needs to talk about ostentation, he needs to communicate with others, and 50 taels of silver a month is worth it.

And the most miserable one is the magistrate of the seventh rank, whose monthly salary is only seven shi, which is about four taels in silver. When he heard He Liu say that the salary of a hundred Jinyiwei households is ten shi, it is six taels in silver. He was also dumbfounded, he had to pay more than 1000 taels to buy a plant of precious medicine, and with that little salary, he would not be able to afford a plant of precious medicine for the rest of his life.

But there is no worst, only worse. Although this little money is not enough to live well, it can still survive, but the old Zhu family is not a good person, so this little salary is actually deducted. When Zhu Yuanzhang was around, most of the salary was given out. Part of the money is issued, and the officials of the seventh and eighth ranks basically distribute food every month.

But when it came to Zhu Di, this guy's heart became even darker, and he even invented the "Zhese" system that damaged his grandma's family. Zhese is rice folding, mainly into pepper, sumac, and silk Cloth, cotton and other sundries, now the whole Daming is rotten from the root.

It is said that being an official for thousands of miles is only for money, and now you can't even survive, so naturally you have to find a way to survive, so various official money has gradually become popular, such as ice respect, charcoal respect, tea money, there are countless, Moreover, it is recognized by the official circles, and the court will not pursue it if it is taken, because everyone has a share.

He also has these regular money, and he can get thousands of taels of silver in a year, and it’s not good if he doesn’t take it. In the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, only a few literati such as Hai Rui who believed in honesty and honesty would refuse to take these regular money, but these People are also aliens in officialdom, and it is self-evident where the regular money comes from.

So at the beginning, their Su family's large family business was still under the control of Zhang Jiatao. If Zhang Jiatao hadn't protected them, after a few rounds of exorbitant taxes, the Su family would not be far from going bankrupt.

However, Su Hao didn't have any pity for these people who were forced to become bandits. They all said that poor people must have something to hate, and it's the same for these people.

Because after these people were forced to become bandits, they only persecuted the poorer ordinary people. If they rose up, or attacked those rich and powerful families, he could still call them heroes. Unfortunately, after these people became bandits, they only Will point the knife at the weaker people and become a member of the persecutors.

After passing through Qingzhou Mansion, Su Hao turned southward. Although Daming's official roads have already penetrated all the prefectures, and there are official roads from the prefectures to the counties under the rule, but there are only a few official roads. When he thought of Mengyin County, he had to First go to Qingzhou Fucheng, go south through the official road of Fucheng, pass through Linqu, Yishui, and Yinan counties, and then pass through Yinan to Mengyin County.

……

After four days of long journey, Su Hao came to Yishui County.

After entering the county seat, Su Hao randomly found an inn to settle down. After washing up a bit, he ordered a table of food and wine, and feasted on it. Although he was assisted by precious medicines during his cultivation, he didn't need to eat a lot like ordinary fighters, but four He has been eating dry food with cold water for five days, and he is tired of eating.

Just when Su Hao was feasting, the conversation of two diners at the side caught Su Hao's attention.

"Have you heard?"

One of the taller men said mysteriously: "There is a man named Ma in the East Village. The man named Ma died a few years ago, but the woman named Ma was pregnant again half a year ago, and gave birth to the baby some time ago." A big fat boy, everyone said she stole someone, but she insisted that it was her dead ghost husband who came back from the underworld and gave birth to her."

"Your news is too slow."

The other shorter said with a smile: "This matter was brought up in front of the county lord yesterday, and I heard that the county lord is going to interrogate himself."

"Really?"

The tall man was suspicious: "Can this matter alarm the county magistrate?"

"The mother-in-law of the Ma family insisted that this child was born to her by her husband, a dead ghost, with the help of a clay puppet."

The short man said helplessly: "Now the county lord is also worried that there will be evil spirits causing trouble. I heard that some time ago, there were ghosts harming people in Fucheng."

Hearing this, Su Hao suddenly frowned. According to the travel notes of the ancestors of the Su family, life and death are different. A living body, otherwise it would be very difficult for a ghost to touch a living person, let alone give birth to a child.

"Forbe, what do you think?"

Really couldn't figure it out, Su Hao could only finish eating in a hurry, then came to the carriage and asked Uncle Fu.

"Dog puppet?"

After listening to Su Hao's words, Uncle Fu pondered for a long time, and finally said slowly: "Maybe it's a ghost."

PS: The original text and translation from "Volume [-] Earth Puppets" have been placed in the works, and those who are interested can go and have a look.

　() Three requirements for quality, seeking collection, recommendation, and pursuit
　　


(End of this chapter)