Qiming 1158

Chapter 734
The Luoxiao Mountains have been inhabited as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty.

It’s not that people can’t live in the mountains, and it’s not that they can’t cultivate fields. It’s just that there are fewer places suitable for human life, the soil is thin and not fertile enough, and there are few places that can be cultivated, making it difficult to achieve large-scale human settlements.

There can only be one settlement and one settlement to live apart, so from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the present, there has been no large-scale human settlements, and most of the areas are still uninhabited primitive forest areas.

However, since the Song Dynasty, more and more people have entered the mountainous areas to become bandits because of the tyranny.

Zhao Yucheng, Xu Tong, Du Qi and others drilled in the mountains for more than two months, and discovered some mountain basins suitable for human habitation in the mountains.

As far as they found, there are five mountain basins, two of which are unmanned and three are occupied. The people who occupy these mountain basins are naturally bandits, and they rely on the steep mountains to survive here. .

It seems that these bandits did not rely entirely on looting for a living. They also cultivated the land. There are also suitable places for farming in these mountain basins. These bandits gathered fleeing households to join them. Blood.

This feeling is good, as long as the mountain basin can be found in the mountains and people can live, then there is no problem.

In addition to these living areas, they also choose hidden places in the mountains as reserve bases. They buy food in batches, and find channels to buy private salt and weapons. Some are stored in their residences, and some are stored in the mountains, just in case. need.

Such channels are not difficult to find.

In a place full of bandit dens, private salt and weapons are not difficult to get, and if they are willing to pay, they can even help to get armor and crossbows.

It seems that there are so many bandits in these places, and the government has repeatedly attacked and suppressed them, which is not a strange thing.

Obviously, officials need bandits, bandits need officials, and everyone needs each other.

After understanding this kind of thing, Zhao Yucheng became even more disdainful of the local government. He felt that the Southern Song government's level of local governance was uneven, but it was a uniform high level in terms of forcing the good into prostitution.

Soon, everything that should be prepared was ready, Zhao Yucheng and others began to prepare to awaken the people and ignite the first fire.

They began to scatter into and out of the villages, and contact the villagers through their identities as small business merchants.

Investigate their real living conditions, experience the hardships of their labor, and then sell them at a very low price or even give them away some daily necessities, rice noodles, oil and the like.

In addition, before they set off, with Su Yonglin's suggestion, they generally learned some simple medical skills, mastered some folk remedies that are very effective in treating headaches and brain fever, and gave free diagnosis and treatment to some villagers who were sick but had no money for treatment.

In this way, these scattered Fuxing members gradually gained the gratitude and trust of the local people, and established a relatively good relationship with them. Zhang San, Li, Si Wang and Er Mazi were able to call out their names and were quite familiar with each other.

After they got acquainted with them, they used the education of young children who could not be produced in the village as an entry point, and got more thanks from the villagers, and the trust between them was further increased.

When the revival members were preparing to spread new ideas and new ideas from this aspect, an accident happened.

Last year, Jiangnan West Road was generally hit by drought, and food production was reduced. Ben Lai'an learned that the disaster allowed the local government to reduce or exempt agricultural taxes as appropriate, so as to help farmers survive the disaster.

However, the local officials made a reading comprehension on the word "discretionary", which misinterpreted the original meaning of Lin'an.

Lin'an allows the local government to reduce or exempt agricultural taxes and reduce the burden on the people. This is a good time for local officials to fill the gap.

Because officials of various sizes eat and drink at public expense, build large-scale construction projects, and embezzle state funds for various reasons, Luling's finances have become very ugly, and a group of officials are having a headache.

As a result, the imperial court reduced or exempted agricultural taxes as appropriate!

Isn't this a great time to fill the gap?

The imperial court said that it can be reduced or exempted as appropriate, so if I reduce or exempt a hundred pennies, it is also a reduction or exemption, and a reduction or exemption of a pennies is also a reduction or exemption.
As a result, the officials of Luling County acted with their minds, which means that there is no tax reduction or exemption. All the various extortionate and miscellaneous taxes that have been levied in the past are all counted, and there is nothing less, pay it to me!
The deficit can be filled only after the payment is made. If you do not submit it, it will be checked from above. How can we explain it?

In addition to this meaning, they have a deeper meaning.

Although these troublemakers are poor ghosts, they can't squeeze much oil and water alone, but there are so many poor ghosts. One poor ghost can't squeeze oil and water, but a hundred can squeeze out rich oil and water.

They also have land, but if they are ruined by taxation, the land will inevitably be sold.

At that time, some well-known big landlords and local tyrants will send people to buy land at a low price, keep the price low, and eat all the land.

Landlords and gentry eat the land, and of course they have to benefit the government. The government has enough to eat and drink, and can fill the gap, and get rid of these restless poor ghosts in one breath, isn't it beautiful?

Simply win.

The county government sent ferocious tax collectors to the villages to collect taxes, but worried that there would be insufficient manpower and deterrence, and that some unscrupulous people would not pay taxes obediently, so they hired some idle people from the city to go to the countryside with them.

Good guy, that's making a fuss about a chicken and a dog.

Forget those who are unwilling to pay the tax, and some who are willing to pay the tax are also disturbed by the tossing of their homes, and even their homes are destroyed.

The tax collectors and the idle people who followed them were fierce like wolves and leopards. Wearing an official uniform was like a gold-plated body. The diamonds were not bad. If the villagers bumped into them, it was considered a rebellion and they should be punished. .

Even though it was a year of famine, the tax collection was more fierce than before, which made many people unable to bear it. Bankruptcy, bankruptcy, escape, death, injury, and grief were everywhere.

Seeing this, Zhao Yucheng couldn't bear it any longer.

Taking advantage of his reputation in Nanhuangtu Village, Luling County, he raised his arms, issued them weapons, and led more than 90 men in the village to surround and kill [-] tax collectors and gangsters who came to collect taxes.

The 13 people were hung up and beaten, and then beheaded one by one while blocking the faces of everyone in the village. Zhao Yucheng gave a speech to the villagers while beheading them.

"Why do they increase taxation in the famine years? Shouldn't the tax be reduced in the famine years? Why do they have to increase taxes instead? Are everyone very puzzled and do not understand why these people in the government have to increase taxes instead? , isn't this going to force everyone to death?
That's right!They just want to kill us!They just squeezed the last bit of money from everyone, and then forced us to die together!In this way, the rest of the land we have left is theirs, and they can sell it to the big landlords and gentry, and let them buy the land at a low price!

and then?Landlords and gentry have land, and officials can get a return from the landlords and gentry, they can get a lot of money, and they can spend a lot of money, but what about us?I'm going to starve, freeze, and be exhausted!Die on the wasteland, the dog eats the corpse, and the dead bones are left! "

Zhao Yucheng stood on the high platform with a flushed face, looked at the red-eyed villagers, and roared, "I ask you! Are you willing to starve to death and freeze to death?"

"I don't want to!!"

The villagers shouted.

The voices went from low to high, from scattered to uniform, and the momentum was not too big. The tax collectors and the gangsters shivered with fright.

"Since you don't want to die, then pick up the weapon in your hand, pick up the knife, and hack all these bastards who are killing us! Your own land, your family, and your own money must be taken with the knife in your hand. guard!"

Zhao Yucheng roared angrily, raised his knife, and dropped the knife, cutting off the head of a tax collector.

The tax collector's head rolled off the platform, and the headless body fell limply to the ground.

It was followed by the fervent shouting of the peasants and the shrill screams of the tax collectors and the gangsters.

Thirteen lackeys of the government were killed. Zhao Yucheng led more than 400 people in the village to rise up and embark on the journey of rebellion.

(End of this chapter)