Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1003
On both banks of the Huai River, heat waves rolled in, the green wheat seedlings were slightly yellowish, and a breeze blew by, stirring up waves of wheat.

The short jacket on Zhao Shitou's body was soaked, and the trousers were rolled up above the knees, exposing his strong and dark thighs. He buried his head in the field, constantly clearing the silt from the ditches and filling them in the ridge superior.

The people nearby are all the same. In this harvest season, what they fear most is drought and flood. The importance of ditches in these two disasters is self-evident.

The ditches can not only drain water, but also introduce water from the Huaihe River into the fields to feed the wheat seedlings.

Under the sun, farmers consciously maintain the ditches, look forward to the wheat fields from time to time, and look forward to the harvest season.

"Father, wipe off your sweat!"

Before I knew it, the sun was shining, and the daughter and mother-in-law who delivered the food came over with bamboo baskets, their foreheads covered with beads of sweat.

Zhao Shitou took the towel soaked in well water, wiped the sweat from his face, and then hung it directly on his neck. The well water flowed into his back, and it was cool, making him feel much more comfortable.

"Hey, this is a sheep towel!"

At this time, Zhao Erhu from the next door came over with a hoe on his back, and when he saw the white towel, he showed envy:

"Stone, this is the dowry gift from your future son-in-law!"

"Sheep towels are very popular in the city, and one can sell for thirty yuan (text)!"

"This is not a betrothal gift." Zhao Shitou grinned, showing his yellow and white teeth, his eyes narrowed: "This is his filial piety to me."

"They won't get married until the twelfth lunar month."

After speaking, he walked side by side with Zhao Erhu, and came to enjoy the shade under the shade of a tree.

At the same time, the whole family also prepared meals, multigrain rice porridge, and a plate of pickles.

Father and mother, eldest son, youngest son, daughter who is about to marry, mother-in-law, a family of six, it is lively.

The rice porridge in the basket is rationed. The men who work have a large bowl, and the women and children have small bowls, each eating.

The youngest son was only seven or eight years old, and he didn't have much in his stomach, so he finished eating all at once, and then stared at his father's big bowl of porridge.

"I told you to eat so fast." The mother-in-law scolded, then dragged a few mouthfuls of porridge into her bowl.

The 16-year-old daughter wore two thick braids, and her slightly dark face showed doting. She took out two red berries from her bosom: "Eat it, I don't know how much I can eat."

"Don't spoil him." Zhao Shitou couldn't help scolding the family when he saw the kindness of his family, but he couldn't stop the smile on his lips.

It's only been a few years for such a happy life.

The raging Huaihe River in the past is no longer flooding. Even if the income is low, it can barely fill the stomach in the face of low agricultural taxes.

"Hey, you pickles, why are you red and green?"

At this time, Zhao Erhu, who was holding the rice bowl, saw that the pickles in their house were different, so he couldn't help asking.

"Pickled watermelon rinds." The woman smiled and said, "That kid, Da Niu, sent two big watermelons to the city not long ago. After eating, he couldn't bear to throw away the rinds, so he pickled them to make pickles."

"It's hot and sour, but open your mouth."

Zhao Erhu couldn't help envious: "Daniu is promising, and he works in the countryside!"

"Thanks to his cousin for taking care of him." Zhao Shitou couldn't help grinning.

Zhao Shitou couldn't be more satisfied with Wang Daniu's son-in-law.

On weekdays, he is clever, doesn't like to do farm work, is lazy, and no one talks about marriage.

But I can't help but have a cousin who came down from the army and became the head of the village directly last year. Now he works in the township office, and he can be regarded as an official.

After all the hard work, he agreed to the marriage.

He would send some fashionable things here every now and then, and everyone in the family liked him.

Zhao Erhu took a mouthful of the watermelon rind, which tasted pretty good, then drank the porridge in three mouthfuls and lay down in the shade of a tree to ponder.

Seeing his troubled face, the wife on the side asked in puzzlement, "Why are you bothered? The pickles from Shishi's house are delicious?"

"Say, how about sending the boss to join the army?"

Zhao Erhu turned his head and said.

"Master, are you crazy? If you become a soldier, you might not be able to come back!"

The mother-in-law complained: "I heard that I have to run around, maybe I will die on the way, and the bones will not be able to return home!"

Zhao Erhu said angrily: "You have long hair but short knowledge, the future of joining the army is very bright!"

"Boss is not a material for studying, if he goes to the army, he will be the village elder when he comes back!"

"Even if it's not in our county, but in the next county, our family was glorious at that time."

Hearing this, the mother-in-law hesitated, and she was also thinking about the scenery of the old lady of the village elder in her mind.

At that time, who in the village would dare to show the old lady's face?
Washing clothes by the pond, why don't you give up the biggest and brightest stone slab to yourself?

"It's different now." Zhao Erhu sighed: "Today, I have only served in the army for 15 years, with food and lodging included. If you do a good job, you can still be an official when you come back. Who wouldn't like that?"

"No matter how bad you are, you can go to the county patrol camp to eat. You won't be hungry. It's much better to plan food in the soil with us."

"Then when can I be?" the mother-in-law couldn't help asking.

"Let me first say that the county recruits people in August, and then go to the province to train soldiers, and then send them to the various prefectures to make arrangements. Let's ask when the time comes!"

Hearing this, the eldest son on the side quickly picked up the porridge, and then said loudly: "Father, mother, I want to be a soldier."

"I heard that being a soldier can fill your stomach, and you can eat meat every now and then. It's more comfortable than a scholar in the village!"

"Stinky boy, if you want to be a soldier, you have to see if they will accept you or not!" Zhao Erhu patted his head.

The whole family was disturbed by the military incident.

In the evening, taking advantage of the darkness, the men, women and children in the village hurried back home.

Just finished eating, suddenly the village sent people from door to door to inform that there was a shadow play tonight.

The grain drying field became crowded in an instant, and every household was sitting with a small bench, watching eagerly as the curtain stand was erected and the curtain was erected.

The row in front is for the village elders, even the village head can only sit in the second row.

The three men sat down, one was beating a gong, one was playing a drum, and the other was blowing a trumpet.

Under the light of a few torches, two villains appeared in front of the villagers.

It is small, no more than one foot high, but it is carefully carved and lifelike.

Suddenly, gongs and drums sounded:
"Yeah, at the end of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, taxes were levied, and the people were struggling to survive. Emperor Taizu was born in Fengyang. On that day, the room was filled with red lights, and the sky was filled with colorful clouds. The sky was full of gods and Buddhas, and a strange fragrance wafted for hundreds of miles..."

The shadow puppet version of "The Legend of the Heroes of the Ming Dynasty" began to be staged in the whole village.

There are characters, soundtracks, and voices, which are so vivid that they are just like the stage, making the common people watch in silence.

Everyone understood that this was the story of Emperor Taizu, and Emperor Taizu came from their Fengyang Mansion, the central capital of Ming Dynasty.

This makes them proud, even if they are poor, they are still proud.

The first performance lasted for an hour, and it talked about Taizu entering Haozhou and defecting to Guo Zixing. The few raps were exhausted, but the common people were not satisfied.

They asked for encores.

But the head teacher was very embarrassed.

At this time, several wealthy households in the village pooled two silver dollars and asked them to sing for two days.

Only then did the head teacher smile.

Zhaojia Village has been lively for several days because of the shadow puppet theater.

At this time, several nearby villages were also excited, contributing money and efforts, and demanding performances.

Obviously, under the pressure of heavy life, the common people still love to have a spiritual emptiness. Although the shadow play is small, it fills their entertainment life.

The class leader was overjoyed: "I thought the countryside was poor, but there are many rich people, and many people like to watch it."

The village head said: "The Huaihe River has not had any disasters in the past few years, life is much better, and money is more generous..."

Fengyang County, as the seat of the prefectural city, has been a lively place since the beginning of Ming Dynasty. It was only after Zhang Xianzhong burned down Fengyang City that this central capital was covered with dust.

Immediately after Shaowu Zhongxing, the descendants of the Zhu family sat on the throne again, Fengyang's political status was preserved, and the city was repaired.

Although there are few yamen, the high walls of Fengyang, as the place of imprisonment of the clan, have always been feared by the clan's children.

However, with the popularization of the exile system, the clan's children are no longer imprisoned, but exiled overseas after committing crimes, but Fengyang's reputation is still spreading.

Fang Boshan opened the curtain of the car, feeling the heat wave and the noise in his ears. In such a time, Fengyang is still prosperous.

Immediately, the carriage arrived at Tongju Yamen.

"Second master, you are finally here."

As soon as he got off the car, the servant Zao, who had been waiting for a long time at the door, rushed over eagerly, his face full of urgency.

In a government, the magistrate is generally respected by the gentry as the prefect, or the Ming government, or the government office.

But in the yamen, the magistrate is called the big master, and the second master is the prefect of the government.

In the same way, he was set aside separately in Tongsan to be in charge of judiciary and prisons, and he was ranked as an official like the magistrate, only from the fourth rank.

Therefore, Tong San was respected as the first master by the yamen, and the judge in charge of the case was the second master.

"What's wrong?" Fang Boshan was taken aback.

"Several villages fought for water, and the county didn't dare to control it, so they called it to our mansion."

The yamen servant said with a single mind: "The elder is having a headache because of this."

"Is there a Juren inside?"

"That's right, if it's just a scholar..."

Fang Boshan also felt a headache.

The gap between a scholar and a scholar is no less than that between a scholar and a scholar.

Even with the current provincial examination, there are only a few scholars who are county magistrates, and most of them are book offices in various counties.

"Let's go!"

Sure enough, as soon as he entered, he saw Master Tongpan with a tiger's face, full of displeasure.

Fang Boshan said hello carefully.

Tong San waved his hand: "It's nothing like a small matter like a weapon fight, I've already submitted it to the Futai."

"Look now, this is a case brought up by the county."

Fang Boshan looked puzzled and looked carefully.

As early as the previous reforms, after any case was tried in the county, as long as there was an appeal for grievances, it would have to be tried again in the government, instead of being ignored as rough as before.

In this way, the pressure on the government judge suddenly increased.

But Fang Boshan took a closer look and found that these cases were basically the same, they were all disappearance cases.

In other words, they all refer to the Escort Bureau.

Escorts traveling all over the world often help to transport goods in this way, but after some things are damaged, there is no compensation for the cost.

There are also some bodyguard bureaus that have no way to lead them to wander around, which arouses dissatisfaction among the counties.

The existence of Luyin is actually to restrict the people in various counties from circulating without authorization, reduce the cost of management, and thus control the countryside to the greatest extent.

But the existence of the Escort Bureau broke this practice, but this was allowed by the superiors, which annoyed the subordinates for a while.

If you manage it, you will easily offend the people behind it; if you don't, some escort bureaus are large in scale, with bandits and bandits, making people sleepless.

The guide system is almost nonexistent in the Escort.

Fang Boshan thought about it, this was even more troublesome than those weapon fights just now.

Tong Juan sighed: "If this matter is managed, it will surely offend those members of the Escort Bureau, we can't afford to be offended."

"But now I can't do anything about it. A few gentry threatened to sue the court. I am now in a difficult position to ride a tiger."

As a general judge, Fang Boshan is familiar with the law: "Fatai, the imperial court has issued an order long ago, saying that the road guides will be canceled within a prefecture, and all counties will communicate with each other."

"Looking at it this way, sooner or later the province will cancel the road guide. This matter cannot be stopped quickly, it has to be delayed."

"That's right, it has to be delayed."

……

In Tianjin, the port and wharf are very lively. As soon as the ships berth and dock, the tax collectors can't wait to board the ship and collect taxes.

Taxes on ships are levied on the value of the cargo.

Usually, all goods are divided into three tiers, according to the three-tier tax rate of [-] taxes, [-] tiers, and [-] tiers.

The lowest level is for daily consumption such as food.

The middle one is coarse cloth and cotton cloth.

The most high-end, of course, are luxury goods such as spices, silk and porcelain.

The value relied on is naturally that the imperial court collects [-]% of the parity price of various commodities in Beijing, which is barely fair and just.

For example, the high cotton cloth is two or three silver dollars per piece, the inferior one is only half a silver dollar, and the cheap one is about one piece. According to one piece and one piece, the tax is ten and two.

In the past, the taxation of ships was generally based on the length and width of the ship's side, and did not look at the goods carried on it at all.

The boatman was very winking and immediately delivered the manifest.

At this time, the tax collectors only need to approve it, which usually takes less than half an hour for a ship.

And once there is a discrepancy with the manifest and you want to evade taxes, you will be punished twice.

The tax collector saw that the invoice he submitted was correct, and immediately smiled: "Very good."

After saying that, there was no more text, looking around from the lower left, the officials under his hands were still rummaging.

Seeing this, Chuan Zhu had no choice but to stuff a few more bank notes in the past, and the latter laughed:

"I didn't mean to embarrass you on purpose. I'm afraid you don't know. The road inspection has been strict recently!"

"Look at the sailors on your ship. I guess they are all from the south. I have only heard that guides are not required in a prefecture, but guides are required in other provinces."

"You shouldn't have given them directions."

"Oh my God, a guide can be as little as three to five cents, and as much as one yuan. Where did you get so much money to provide them with a guide?"

The owner smiled wryly: "I can only let them stay on the deck instead of disembarking."

"So, you have to do it yourself."

The tax collector laughed and said, "I'm collecting money to save you trouble."

(End of this chapter)