Daming: I, the emperor who trains the carpenter

Chapter 866 The Great Ming collapsed and the Northwest Uprising broke out

"The grassland tribes will always be your most loyal friends, Yuanfu."

"We are also willing to join the Datong Party!"

The leaders of the grassland ministries could not refuse the conditions proposed by Zhang Haogu. They urgently needed a reliable and powerful ally, and the appearance of Zhang Haogu perfectly met all their needs.

"Datong Society always welcomes all friends."

In Chahanhot, Zhang Haogu reached an agreement with the grassland tribes, and the two sides swore an oath. Afterwards, a grand banquet was held outside the city of Chahanhot.

The boys from various tribes in the grassland showed themselves enthusiastically, such as horse racing, riding and archery, wrestling, etc., showing their bravery in front of the girls.

The children were cheering, playing and running around, and the women were all smiling at this rare event.

This grand event is too important for the tribes of Mongolia. It means that the tribes of the grassland will have a reliable support in the increasingly terrifying white hair wind in the future. The tribes can continue, and no cattle and sheep will freeze to death. No one will freeze to death or starve to death.

And the old people are even more emotional, they have experienced too many dynasties, unlike young people and children who have no feeling for the end of the Tianqi Dynasty. They were all frozen to death and buried under the ice and snow, and experienced the lack of food, the old and the weak, women and children starved to death in the dome
They know the preciousness of good days best, and they are most grateful for Zhang Haogu's arrival.

The leaders of the ministries, these old people, know better than the young people what is the most important.

With a smile on his face, Zhang Haogu was admiring the youthful and powerful competitions of the young people from various ministries. A leader of the ministries came up and said very seriously: "Yuanfu, if you encounter a war, please notify us, we will I am willing to provide Yuanfu with [-] strong young men, they are all proficient in riding and shooting, and they can die for Yuanfu."

"And we, our tribe can also provide Yuansuke with [-] masters!"

"Our tribe can provide 5000 people, and all of them can fight to the end!"

"Yuanfu, our tribe can die for you!"

"."

Zhang Haogu raised his wine bowl to these leaders: "Leaders, I assure you that if there is a war, I will not forget you."

After staying in Mongolia for more than ten days, Zhang Haogu left Mongolia and returned to Liaodong.

After returning to Liaodong, Zhang Haogu didn't have time to rest. There are many affairs waiting to be reported to him in various ministries.

"The newly developed farmland in each prefecture and county must be properly distributed. What the common people value most is land and food. At this point, it must be ensured that the farmland must be allocated to the common people so that the common people can farm steadily."

In the Hall of Qinzheng, Zhang Haogu chatted with Zhou Jinyong, the director of the Ministry of Agriculture, about the newly opened farmland in the three provinces.

"Yuanfu, don't worry, we have already made sufficient preparations for this aspect, and the local government is already fully prepared to deal with various problems." Zhou Jinyong said.

After Zhou Jinyong left, Huang Zongxi came in again and said, "Yuan Fu, Chief Cui has arrived."

"Oh, please come in quickly." Zhang Haogu said, took out the brochure submitted by the Ministry of Commerce and began to read it.

"Yuanfu, I'm here." Cui Chengxiu said with a smile.

"Oh, our Chief Cui is in a good mood, it's a good thing." Zhang Haogu also laughed.

Cui Chengxiu said: "This is thanks to Chongzhen's help. If he hadn't restored the sea ban, our current business might not be so good."

Zhang Haogu nodded: "Now not only the merchants from the south are doing business with us, but also merchants from Southeast Asian and Western countries are coming to do business. With the help of these merchants, our industrial construction is now faster."

"This is good news. The various ministries must negotiate and treat these businessmen who have come from thousands of miles away properly. They can come to us to do business at this time because of their trust in us."

"We are a big party now. Right now we are the ruling party in the five northern provinces and Dongying, and we will be the ruling party in the entire 24 provinces of Ming Dynasty in the future."

"So our reputation is very important, we must be honest, fair and just."

Cui Chengxiu smiled and said, "Yuanfu don't worry, we are much better than the imperial court in this respect."

"The imperial court buys and sells by force, and oppresses overseas businessmen, asks for bribes, withholds goods, and even puts merchants in jail to swallow their goods. Those corrupt officials have completely lost the credibility of the imperial court."

The officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty were more than that. In fact, what Cui Chengxiu said was light.

The real situation is that those corrupt officials have nothing to dare to do, extortion is nothing, asking for bribes is nothing, it is nothing to lock up businessmen on unwarranted charges for embezzling property and shops, these are all petty troubles.

Now these people really have no scruples.

In the imperial court, Xungui and the officials of the Donglin Party concealed each other, and although Wei Zhongxian still controlled the Dongchang, Jin Yiwei had been infiltrated by the Donglin Party members and Xungui, and was no longer the eyes and ears of the emperor.

Even in Dongchang, Wei Zhongxian now, in order to please Chongzhen and enjoy his old age in peace, let others control him, ignoring his own rights less and less.

Without Dongchang and Jinyiwei as eyes and ears, Chongzhen's understanding of the outside world is only officials' memorials and court meetings, but what practical things are there in the memorials and court meetings?
If the DPRK Council is really useful, the Apocalypse Dynasty will not abolish the external DPRK and the internal DPRK to determine military affairs.

If the memorials of the Donglin Party members were credible, there would not be so much turmoil in the world.

From the beginning of the third year of Chongzhen to the end of the fourth year of Chongzhen, during these two years, there have been more and more turmoil in the Chongzhen Dynasty, taxes in various places have become less and less, the people have become more and more unbearable, and uprisings and turmoil have been frequent in various places, but these news have been suppressed , Zhu Youjian only heard some rumors, but he didn't know what the chaos outside was like.

The Donglin party members and Xungui took this opportunity to encroach on the fields and occupy one piece after another of good land in the local circle.

Take Wen Tiren, the Minister of Rites and Minister of the Cabinet, as an example. As the powerful cabinet elder who holds the imperial examinations, Wen Tiren’s hometown in Huzhou, the Wen family already has 30 mu of fertile land!

As for the money shop, these are not counted.

The Wen family's caravan not only did business all over the south, but even went to Liaodong, Nanyang, and Dongying even though there was a sea ban.

As for the others, Shi Fenglai, Shangshu of the Ministry of Households, and Yang Changsi, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, are almost in the same situation.

The cabinet elders wantonly enclose land in their hometown, so other officials are naturally educated and well-educated, and it is unscrupulous to embezzle the land one by one.

The fields that were originally distributed to the common people by the Tianqi Dynasty are now swallowed up by these corrupt officials.

Because the land is occupied by landlords, gentry and officials, the number of land that can pay taxes is less and less, and a large number of people are reduced to tenants. The self-cultivating peasants cannot afford the increasingly heavy taxes. However, the Chongzhen Dynasty’s exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes are getting heavier day by day. , but the tax that the court can collect is getting less and less.

The imperial court could not collect taxes, and Emperor Chongzhen saw that the imperial court’s tax revenue was getting less and less. In the first year of Chongzhen, there were more than 4000 million taels, but in the second year of Chongzhen, it was less than 2000 million taels, and in the third year of Chongzhen, only 800 million taels were left.

This drop in taxation made Emperor Chongzhen wonder what happened to Daming. Otherwise, how could there be such a high taxation in the past two years, and now there are only so few left?
Is Daming out of money?

No, Daming has money, but the people of Ming have no money.

All the money was in the hands of officials in Ming Dynasty and in the hands of landlords and gentry.

These officials and nobles used their own caravans to do business everywhere, and did not give a penny of the money they earned to the court. Each of them had a large number of fertile land in their families, but they still did not have to bear a penny of taxes.

When they become rich, ordinary merchants and common people will suffer. All kinds of taxes have been raised. They eat in stores and walk in business. There is nothing that cannot be taxed.

But all kinds of taxes go up, but they don't reach the court at all.

This forced Chongzhen to continue to collect taxes. Otherwise, how could millions of taels of silver a year support the noble princes and officials from all over the world? The Ming court needs a lot of money every year to operate.

People all over the world are forced to suffer terribly by exorbitant taxes. If the yamen can't collect money, they will cooperate with the local ruffians and give these ruffian officials the title of official and let them collect taxes. The adults divided it into threes and sevens.

This made the local hooligans very excited. They can still make money by picking up an official position for nothing. Naturally, these local hooligans wantonly extort money from ordinary people, and every shop has to pay various protection fees, otherwise it will be trivial to destroy , Burn your shop down without any reason.

As for the taxes collected by these local ruffians, the yamen will naturally take half of them, and the rest will be handed over.

And the local yamen will take [-]% of the extra money collected, and only [-]% will be kept for the local ruffians, which is regarded as hard work.

Of course, the risk of local hooligans is also very high. Once the local people can't stand it anymore, the Yamen will directly arrest this group of local hooligans and put them in prison, and then another group of local hooligans will continue to come.

Taxes are always there anyway.

Therefore, during the two years from the third year of Chongzhen to the fourth year of Chongzhen, more and more people rebelled everywhere, and there were also more and more bandits and robbers.

Many of them were desperate people who were forced to rebel and become robbers, while those whose families were ruined by corrupt officials and landlords and gentry had basically become bandits and bandits.

The world of Ming Dynasty is already in chaos, but there are more and more painted boats on the Qinhuai River. Suhang, Jinling, and other prosperous places are still prosperous. Miss officials, ladies of noble families, and gentry students are still traveling in mountains and rivers, reciting poems and writing poems. Fu, watching lanterns and guessing riddles.

The more turbulent the place was, the heavier the levies and miscellaneous taxes, and the more prosperous some places and industries were. I don't know how many good families were sold to brothels, and I don't know how many people were sent to prisons and mines.

The people's resentment towards the imperial court is getting heavier and heavier, and the powder keg under the Ming court's buttocks is also getting bigger and bigger. Now just wait for a spark to detonate all this.

This Mars is coming soon.

In the fifth year of Chongzhen, [-] A.D., there was a severe drought in Gansu and Shanxi, and the red land was thousands of miles away.

There is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, bones are exposed in the wild, people are displaced, people's grievances are boiling, and rebels abound.

This severe drought involved three provinces in Northwest China, and countless people were affected. Emperor Chongzhen was stunned when he heard the news: "The severe drought in Gansu and Shanxi has displaced millions of people. How severe is this severe drought?"

Qian Qianyi said: "Your Majesty, the situation is very serious. Millions of people in the Northwest have reached the point where they have to change their sons to eat. If so many people are hungry all the time, the court will be in danger."

Zhu Youjian is not a real fool, and he also knows that the people cannot really be hungry all the time, but Chongzhen’s tax revenue for four years is only 600 million taels. After all kinds of expenses, the court is still in debt of more than 200 million taels. Difficult.

"Your Majesty, please send me money for disaster relief!" Qian Qianyi said.

Zhu Youjian looked at the other cabinet ministers and found that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Zhu Youjian knew that he could not be stingy at this time, so he calculated the money in his inner pocket. Zhu Youjian asked: "The imperial court How much money do you need for disaster relief?"

Shi Fenglai, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, said: "At least 300 million taels!"

"300 million taels!" Zhu Youjian gasped, this is too much!
Qian Qianyi said: "Three million taels is already a figure that cannot be less. When this money arrives in the disaster area, it is far from enough for millions of victims."

Wen Tiren stood up at this moment, and said with awe-inspiring righteousness: "Your Majesty, as a cabinet bachelor, I am willing to donate this year's salary to support the Northwest!"

Shi Fenglai followed up and said: "I am also willing to donate this year's salary to support the Northwest!"

Qian Qianyi looked at Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai with contempt in his eyes. Your annual salary is only a few taels of silver. How much silver and acres of food have you been greedy for all these years?
Now that the imperial court encounters a natural disaster, you will donate one year's salary. Where do you send beggars?
However, Zhu Youjian was very moved. He highly praised Wen Tiren and Shi Fenglai's political awareness and benevolence of worrying about the country and the people, and praised them greatly at the court meeting.

Upon seeing this, all civil and military officials donated their salaries one after another, expressing that they would do their part for the Northwest.

At the same time, Shi Fenglai also hoped that Zhu Youjian would call on gentry from all over the world to donate money and food to support the Northwest, and Zhu Youjian also agreed.

Subsequently, the imperial court issued a decree requiring all provinces to donate a specified amount of money and food to support the Northwest.

The provincial governors saw the apportioned share from the imperial court, smiled and added [-]% to the prefectures and counties below.

The prefectures and counties added another [-]% and handed it over to the gentry and hooligans below to help them fulfill the requirements of the imperial court.

So a voluntary donation was turned into a designated showdown by the cabinet, and the amount of the designated showdown has doubled in prefectures and counties, and in the end most of the amount fell on the common people and ordinary businessmen .

But what kind of business can ordinary businessmen do in recent years?
All kinds of exorbitant taxes, all kinds of extortion, some businessmen are already impoverished, and the people are even poorer. The walls of the house are good, at least there are four walls and a thatched roof in the house.

But regardless of whether the local yamen ignored it, the apportionment required by the court must be completed!

In the midst of people's grievances and mourning, the yamen in various places forcibly squeezed out the last bit of bone marrow and blood of merchants and common people, and completed the apportionment quota required by the imperial court.

After the money arrived at the imperial court layer by layer, Shi Fenglai and Wen Tiren expressed to Zhu Youjian very excitedly: "Your Majesty, great joy!"

"The gentry from all over the country learned of the severe drought in the Northwest, and after knowing His Majesty's painstaking efforts, they donated enthusiastically. The provincial governments donated a total of 500 million taels of silver and a large amount of food."

"Including 300 million taels from the imperial court and 15 taels donated by the officials of the capital, the total is 8105 million taels of silver, which is enough to solve the urgent needs of the three northwestern provinces!"

Zhu Youjian was also very pleased when he heard that the gentry from all over the country can donate 500 million taels of silver, which shows that Ming Dynasty is still rich, and it is a good thing to hide wealth among the people.

At the moment, he doesn't care about why last year's tax revenue was only 600 million taels. He now wants to solve the drought in the northwest as soon as possible.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian ordered the cabinet to quickly solve the problem of the severe drought in the northwest.

But the 800 million taels of silver in the cabinet stopped.

"Nowadays, the catastrophe in the Northwest requires silver, but 800 million taels of silver is too much to send to the Northwest, and corruption will inevitably occur in the local area. It is better to send 300 million taels, and the remaining 500 million taels are placed in the household department. Deal with other things." Shi Fenglai said.

As for other matters, everyone also knew in their hearts that it was nothing more than the increasingly raging civil uprisings and rebellions in various places. Naturally, these needed to be suppressed by a large army, and now if you want to mobilize the eighth uncle Qiu, you can't do it without real money.

The 20 new troops in Zhili in the north and south have been arguing for many times, and there is no more money to be distributed. It is estimated that these people will have to arm themselves to ask for salary.

Liu Hongxun said: "The 20 new troops in Zhili from the north and the south, and the 18 young and strong recruits, are waiting for money."

Wen Tiren said again: "There are also various expenditures of the imperial court, and they also need money."

If you do the math, there will be more than 500 million taels to be sent out for 200 million taels, but in the end there will be more than 200 million taels left, which is enough to solve many problems.

So everyone in the cabinet reached an agreement to use 300 million taels of silver to buy grain and send it to the northwest for disaster relief.

But the elders in the cabinet obviously overestimated the awareness of the governors in the northwest. When they learned that the imperial court had sent 300 million taels of grain, the governors in the northwest were very happy.

As soon as the court food arrived, they withheld it.

Soon, they conveyed the good news to the local prefects, and said that the food will be distributed immediately, and all localities must properly dispose of the disaster relief food.

The prefects in various places were also very enlightened. When the food was distributed to them, they immediately resold it to the gentry and nobles at a high price, and then kept [-]% of the money, and sent the rest to the governors and governors.

The governors and governors were naturally very satisfied. The grain of 300 million taels still had more than 200 million taels in their hands in the end. This amount of money was enough to do a lot of things.

Soon these governors and governors sent part of the money to the capital to be handed over to the elders, and the rest was transferred back to their hometown to buy more land. As for the people, what should they do?
This is easy to handle. Although there is not much food left, there is still bran.

Bran is a good thing, much better than bark and Guanyin clay.

The governors, prefects and county magistrates bought a large amount of bran with a small amount of money, mixed with bark, leaves, and weeds, and distributed them as disaster relief food. Of course, the people also had to pay for the disaster relief food, and the imperial court did not give it away for free. Disaster relief food.

The people in the Northwest couldn't bear such blatant cannibalism by the local government.

In September of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the Northwest Uprising broke out!
(End of this chapter)