Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 355 Food

See-saw negotiations have been going on for nearly a year, and it was completed in mid-September of the ninth year of Chongzhen. The Qihuo Army is officially accepting the imperial court's recruitment, and the official position given to Song Qingshu is not small this time. Governor Ma Shiying has [-] soldiers and [-]% of the annual salary. The vast area north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huaihe River is nominally his defense zone, but in fact, his army is still nestled in Yinghuo Mountain and Anqing.

Although the court has been flirting with the court for a long time, after Gao Yingxiang was killed, the recruiting of the begging army still shocked the peasant army quite a lot. After all, the begging army was also an important branch of the 36th battalion killed from northern Shaanxi. The reputation of the army is not small. Many peasant army generals are said to be pointing to the south and yelling. Even Li Zicheng, who succeeded King Chuang, cut down a tree to show his anger.

The only one who didn't scold Song Qingshu loudly was Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king.

However, the Qihuo army is fundamentally different from other peasant armies. What Song Qingshu built was an army that safeguarded the interests of the emerging bourgeoisie in the late Ming Dynasty. Song Qingshu must also obey the interests of this class.

This benefit lies in grain. Lianghuai is another large production area besides Huguang. September is the time for autumn harvest.

Wuwei State, Nihe Town.

With the irrigation of the Yangtze River, even in the Little Ice Age, the rice fields here are still lush and green. The ninth month of the lunar calendar is the autumn harvest time. Unfortunately, the farmers here are still not happy when they see the heavy wheat in the fields, especially It was Li Laobai, the grain chief, looking at the rice fields, he was extremely worried.

As far as the head of grain is concerned, he was very impressive in the early Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Yuanzhang established his capital in Nanjing, he divided several grain areas in the south of the Yangtze River, and the local big households were the head of grain. Although the head of grain was not an official, he had great power. They have the final say on the collection of money and food and the escort. They even have the right to speak in the drafting of the field records and the declaration of famine relief. high officials.

But after Ming Chengzu moved the capital to the capital, the life of the head of grain was not so good. The management of the head of grain was directly transferred from the emperor to the Ministry of household affairs, and the right to see him was gone, but he still had the opportunity to use his privileges. Most of them are still proud of being the head of grain, and the head of grain also adopts a hereditary system. Unless the family commits a crime, it will always be theirs.

However, there is a saying that those who have eaten will spit it out sooner or later. In the Zhengde period, the prosperity of the grain grower will come to an end. These years, the land in the south of the Yangtze River has been merged rapidly, and the number of households with privileges who do not pay grain is also increasing. The farmers who directly produce have already Overwhelmed by the burden, they began to flee one after another. The farmers could escape, but the grain chiefs could not. They had to pay the unfinished tax burden. Many large households that had been prosperous for more than 100 years went bankrupt in just a few years, and there were fewer and fewer people. I am willing to be the head of grain, so that the government's requirements have to plummet. At first, middle-level people can also serve as the chief.

By the time of Tianqi, the semi-official nature of the head of grain had come to an abrupt end, and he had become a burden similar to that of corvee. Li Laobai was like this.

Regardless of how well the rice grows, less than half of it can be expropriated, and one-third of this half needs to be paid rent to the landlords in the city. Disaster.

This is not the most difficult thing, the most difficult thing is that Li Laoshi still has to be responsible for escorting the grain to Yingtianfu, where it will be loaded into tanks and shipped to the north.

To pull these things, it will cost five or six thousand to hire two long-distance trucks in future generations, not to mention the low transportation capacity now. While cutting the wheat, Li Laoshi is still muttering sadly.

"I hope those gentlemen in Yangzhou can come earlier this year, otherwise, it will be much worse!"

It is no wonder that the ancients said that there are no traitors and no merchants. Sometimes grain merchants who hoard strange things are indeed abominable. Yangzhou is not only the stronghold of salt merchants, but also the inherent position of grain merchants. The only remaining right of Li Laobai is that he can organize Villagers in a village sell all their grain to a certain grain merchant. This right is not granted by the government, but most of the landlords have moved to the city during urbanization. He is the only person who has been to Yingtian Mansion and has knowledge.

Selling grain to a grain merchant in Yangzhou, the benefit given to him by the grain merchant is that the taxed grain can be transported to Yingtianfu by the grain merchant's grain ship, but the price is that the price of grain has been suppressed to death, and the price of grain in the north has reached [-]. Two, even in some places, you can’t buy a bucket of rice for ten taels. Even in the south of the Yangtze River, it’s almost a tael of silver for a load of rice. The grain merchants only pay five hundred cash for a load of rice. Although it’s not as lucrative as salt, it’s It is also nearly double the profit.

However, the grain merchants in Yangzhou are still dominated by Anhui merchants, after all, Huizhou merchants occupy a favorable location.

Although it is possible to take the grain ships of Huizhou merchants, these profiteers also made Li Laobai gnash his teeth. Every September for the autumn harvest, they only come down to collect grain in October, or even almost October. The farmers who are afraid that the grain will rot If you don't rush to sell it at a very low price, it will rot a lot every year.

People were starving to death, but a large part of the moldy food was thrown away in vain.

While cutting, Li Laobai kept muttering in his mouth. At this time, on the muddy country road, a group of soldiers came far away carrying flags, and Li Laobai's heart trembled when he saw it.

These days, the soldiers of Ming Dynasty are rotten to the root. If soldiers go to the countryside, it will never be a good thing, either to grab food, or to grab food and money together with the girls. The villagers hurried back to the village to hide the family's food, chickens, ducks, big girls, and big kids, but he still had to come out sadly.

"Master Jun, our Gada is a poor village, and there is nothing to grab. This is a sympathy from the villagers. Please, don't enter the village."

I have to say that these soldiers are well dressed. Although they are not brand new, the black military uniform does not even have a patch. It looks like it was back then, and the armor on the outside also looks quite familiar and neat. , with a firecracker of more than one meter hanging on his back, holding less than a tael of silver, while peeking at it, Li Laobai was still begging for it.

Who knew that the soldier slapped the silver in his hand aside, and shouted angrily: "How dare you bribe the begging army, don't you want to live?"

Too little?Hurriedly picking up the broken silver, Li Laobai nodded and bowed again.

"Master Jun, you, tell me the number, as long as you don't enter the village, everyone will try their best to make it up for you!"

"Stop the fucking nonsense, in the name of the commander-in-chief of the Huaihe River, all your grains have been confiscated as military rations! If you dare to sell a piece of your own, tell the grain chief of your village to follow the military law. Behead the whole family!"

The soldier did not enter the village, but went to the next village in an orderly manner. Looking at their backs, Li Laobai really wished that they would enter the village to grab a few chickens, or molested good women, it was better than killing him Strong!I have never heard of the Lianghuai General Soldier before, but no matter who the official is, he, a commoner, is not able to resist. He lost the mood of harvesting grain, sat on the ground, and Li Laobai smoked a cigarette sadly.

Even so, the grain still had to be harvested, otherwise the rent would be paid, and the food for oneself would not be available. Just after Li Laobai's village beat down the autumn grain with a sad face, the team of soldiers came again.

Unexpectedly, the merchant's carriage followed behind the soldiers.

These Yankees with northern accents are really difficult to serve. They can pick out even a little sand mixed in the harvested rice. It's a little smaller, and it's the same size as the bucket sold in the grain store.

Moreover, for the first time!The soldier actually pays!It is still the sky-high price of [-] Wen per load of grain.

When the food was received, these Yankee merchants directly gave the silver, and holding the shiny silver in their hands, Li Laobai gritted his teeth in disbelief. A defective product like standard silver.

It's only natural to grow food to get money, but poor Li Laobai became scared while holding the money, and held it to the front of the officer's army with trepidation, a little bit reluctant, and a little scared to ask.

"Well, sir, didn't you say that all the food was confiscated as military rations? Why, return the money?"

"Which of your goddamn ears heard about the collection of military rations, don't talk nonsense, or I will chop you off for defaming the officers and soldiers!"

This group of soldiers was really fierce, they would kill and chop at every turn, so frightened that Li Laobai shrank his neck tremblingly, and quickly slipped away again.

The food was collected for a day, and the Yankee merchants were carrying the food and heading south with smiles on their faces. The farmers in the village also showed a rare smile, just like the opera sang, charging three or five more Dou, you can think about getting a wife, and have fun with the money for a long time, but soon, Li Laobai's face turned sad again.

The fellow villager was lucky, he sold the grain to others, who would help him transport the grain to Yingtian Mansion!If this fails to meet the tolerance, his family will still have to go to jail!

Maybe the soldier was fierce, but at least he didn't grab it, maybe he was really pushed, Li Laobai bravely rushed up again.

"Hi, Master?"

"Why? I missed the military order and be careful with your head!" Carefully delivering food to each other, the soldier turned around impatiently, trembling with fright again, Li Laobai held his fists and bowed pitifully. .

"Mr. Jun, are you transporting this grain to the edge of the Yangtze River and going down the river by boat?"

"What are you going to do?" There are bandits everywhere these days, and the soldiers are also afraid of being robbed, so their expressions immediately become vigilant, and they quickly bowed again when they saw the unlucky grain chief.

"Well, the little one doesn't mean anything else. The young one is the local food chief. He wants to escort the food and grass to Yingtian Mansion. I beg the Lord Jun to give me a favor, can I take a boat?"

"This... I can't make the decision, but I can ask you!"

"Thank you, Mr. Jun, for this, you can accept it!"

Before covering the hot silver, Li Laobai took another two or two out of pain, and took it out, who knew that the soldier turned his face away again, and slapped him aside, opening his mouth to curse.

"My mother's military salary is more than 40 taels a year. Because of you, I lost my official position and cut you off. Get out!"

He never expected to see that there were still angry officers and soldiers in Yinzi, and trembling with fright, Li Laobai hurriedly picked up Yinzi and ran back in a hurry.

After selling the grain, Li Laobai was still worried when he looked at the piles of taxes, but anyway, the worry of a village has now become the worry of his family. In the past two days, Li Laobai can be seen everywhere in the village like Mrs. Xianglin. He muttered to himself endlessly, this is meeting a personal soldier, he knew what he was doing with that money, and he offended him!

Unexpectedly, a few days later, that team of soldiers came again.

"Mr. Jun." This time he didn't dare to take money to bribe again, full of hope, Li Laobai nodded and bowed as he walked, with a piece of bacon in his pocket to give, and he was afraid of offending others again, but fortunately, this soldier The ones were straightforward enough, and the straightforward ones started to yell.

"Old guy, you're in luck, our commander is merciful, and got you some boats to go south alone."

"Thank you, Commander, thank you, Commander!"

Although I don't know which commander it is, at this moment Li Laobai also wished to marry his own daughter to him, but before he finished thanking Dade, the soldier's tone changed again.

"However, there are conditions for taking my family's commander-in-chief's grain ship. Your village, the remaining grain for rent, must be sold to us!"

"This……"

Looking back at the protruding granary, Li Laobai's eyeballs straightened...

(End of this chapter)