The ruthless emperor in the late Ming Dynasty forced Chongzhen to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 166 Fighting between courtesans and gentry landlords

With Ma Shiying as the cabinet assistant and Lu Jiude as the eunuch who is the supervisor of ceremonies and writing pens, plus six other affairs, the daily government affairs in Nanjing are completely in line with those in Beijing.

In Ming Dynasty, the two capitals were really divided.

Zhang Yan suddenly became more relaxed, and unexpectedly began to help Zhu Cihong in the draft.

As for Ma Shiying, Lu Jiude and the six others, they were all full of energy and didn't feel bored at all.

Especially Ma Shiying and Lu Jiude, they were so excited that they could not wait to deal with those memorials all night long.

Most of the civil servants also turned to Ma Shiying one after another, making Gao Hongtu and other Donglin party officials feel anxious but helpless.

The New Year's Eve of the first year of Shenwu came as scheduled. For a whole year, Da Ming did not have any wars. Everyone couldn't believe it. It was as if they were in a dream. It seemed that Da Ming was so revived unconsciously.

All civil servants can't accept this fact. What they can't accept is that Daming has been decadent for so many years, so that it was riddled with holes in the end.

Countless good and loyal ministers tried their best to turn the tide, but in the end they could only watch the wrecked ship of Daming sank faster and faster.

However, it has been less than two years since today's son ascended the throne, and he did not use a civil official, but only used some shameless means in the eyes of everyone, and abruptly saved Daming back.

Could it be that the good strategies for governing the country proposed by the sages are not as effective as some low-level methods?

Is it really useless to be a scholar?

Some literati with lofty ideals who truly cared about the world kept asking questions in their hearts and began to reflect.

Because of Daming's ills, almost anyone with a little knowledge knows where the problem lies, and has been thinking about the solution.

But now there is no need to think about it anymore, His Majesty has proved to them with actions that the solution is very simple.

As long as the salt merchants and Nanjing nobles are copied, and the money and food are not passed through the hands of civil officials, Daming will live.

At least judging from the current situation, it will not be a problem to survive for another few decades.

As the garrison troops and female shopkeepers arrived in various counties and counties in Nanzhili, thousands of courtesans took flower boats and took maids and bodyguards to various places to publicize. Almost everyone knew the purpose of His Majesty's visit to Nanjing.

It turned out to be a reform, or the most taboo land reform in all dynasties, that is, the land is divided into acres, and the officials and gentry pay taxes together, which sounds scary.

The gentry and literati in the south of the Yangtze River were both expected and unexpected. What was expected was that they had long expected that his Majesty's Nanjing would definitely reform. Unexpectedly, they did not expect to be so radical.

At this time, Anqing Mansion, Wangjiang County, a small village on the edge of the Yangtze River, was very lively.

I saw a high platform set up on the grain drying ground in the village, and a pretty-looking woman in a gorgeous dress, with the help of maids and staff, was cutting cotton cloth into pieces and distributing them to the villagers. children and old people.

Every piece of cotton cloth can make a new set of clothes. The villagers have experienced such a good thing twice.

Even the women in the village didn't care whether it was a prostitute or not, and all of them couldn't close their mouths while laughing, watching the children line up.

"Thank you for the reward, the imperial concubine, the imperial concubine is a good person, a female Bodhisattva who saves the suffering..."

After a seven or eight-year-old child took the cloth, he knelt down, kowtowed and shouted.

"This time the cloth was rewarded by His Majesty. I want to thank Your Majesty. I want to say that Your Majesty is the number one sage in the ages, and a good emperor who loves the people like a son."

The famous prostitute at the side hurriedly corrected her.

"Oh, thank you for your reward. Your Majesty is the number one sage in all ages, and a good emperor who loves the people like his own son."

The child didn't care so much, he knelt down and shouted again, and then ran away with the cloth.

When all the children and old people in this village distributed three-foot cloth, the gentry and landowners in Wangjiang County also rushed over after hearing the news, each with a dozen servants carrying sticks.

After arriving in the village, looking at the famous prostitutes on the high platform, all the gentry and landowners looked ashen, as if they were facing an enemy.

"Folks, don't be in a hurry to go back. There is another great thing to tell everyone. Everyone knows that His Majesty has come to Nanjing, right?"

"Ah? Your Majesty has come to Nanjing?"

These people obviously didn't know that the emperor had arrived in Nanjing.

"Folks, Your Majesty has been in Nanjing for more than half a month. Your Majesty is well aware of the sufferings of the people in the south. This time I came to Nanjing to reform the law so that everyone can live a better life in the future..."

When the famous prostitute said something, the bodyguard next to her would follow up at the top of her voice to ensure that everyone could hear her clearly.

Hearing that people without land will no longer have to pay any taxes and no longer have to serve corvee, almost all the people are excited.

Zhu Cihong's edict to permanently exempt corvee has been issued for more than a year, but obviously the people at the bottom are still unaware of it.

"Miss Liu, is it true? From now on, everyone really doesn't have to pay taxes and don't have to do corvée?"

"Then there is such a good thing, you won't lie to us, will you?"

After the boiling, the common people also calmed down, and looked suspiciously at the famous prostitute on the stage.

"Folks, it's absolutely true. My employer is the former personal servant of the imperial concubine. Can there be any falsehood?"

The courtesan obviously didn't dare to say that she was sent by the emperor, and even dared not say that her employer was a concubine, only Chen Yuanyuan.

Sure enough, after hearing what she said, it occurred to her that she had come twice, to distribute salt to the big guys, and to thank the imperial concubine and His Majesty when she got something. Almost all the people believed it.

The famous prostitute hit the rails while it was hot: "Folks, Your Majesty loves the people like a son. He knows that the big guys don't have much land and their lives are hard. That's why they don't collect your taxes. Instead, they collect taxes from those who have land. When we come down, if someone instigates everyone to riot and resist the New Deal, he must have no good intentions, he doesn’t want to pay taxes, and he doesn’t want everyone to live a good life, everyone must not be fooled..."

"It's a bunch of nonsense, it's just a lie to confuse the crowd."

"It's unreasonable. They're all scattered. When they go back, no one is allowed to come out. Anyone who dares to go out today will stop planting my Wu family's fields."

A group of gentry and landowners couldn't listen anymore when they heard this, and their beards were all raised with anger, but these famous prostitutes couldn't move, so they directly threatened the people.

Sure enough, the people were so frightened that they ran back to their homes one after another, never daring to come out again.

"Humph!"

A group of gentry and landowners came to the high platform with satisfaction, and they all stroked their beards with complacent faces.

The last time this woman came to buy people's hearts, they looked at the face of the imperial concubine and empress, and they turned a blind eye. Who would have thought that she would go one step further, but this time she came here not only to buy people's hearts, but also to deceive people. Is the decoration not working?

If they can't take care of her, can't they take care of these muddy legs?

"Everyone, although the status of the slave family is humble, everyone must know who sent the slave family. Don't you worry about angering Tianyan by making such trouble and persecuting the people?"

Seeing that they drove the people away, the famous prostitute looked a little ugly, and said in a low voice while looking at them.

Obviously backed by the emperor, he speaks confidently.

Sure enough, the faces of all the gentry and landlords changed slightly, and then they all snorted coldly: "I don't know who you are, and I don't care who sent you here. These villagers are all tenants of my Wu family. The old man asked them to go home and close the door to prevent theft and thieves, why not, what crime did they commit?"

"That's right, girl, you have unknown origin and identity, and you came here to confuse the common people. It's good enough that I haven't arrested you before the officials."

"Let's go..."

The famous prostitute also knew that she didn't have official documents, and even her identity was lowly, so she couldn't justify them, so she didn't bother with them, and went directly to the next village with people and things.

A group of gentry and landowners also followed with their servants, and warned the people in the village not to come out in advance, and all the doors and windows were closed.

"Miss, what should we do? If the people don't come out, how do we distribute things and explain the New Deal to them?"

The servant girl looked at the gentry and landowners who followed like rambunctious dogs, and smirked complacently, both angry and anxious.

"Come on, let's go door-to-door to deliver and talk, I don't believe they can plug the ears of the people."

As the courtesan spoke, she led her people to the outside of a farmer's yard, and asked the bodyguards to climb over the wall and stuff the cotton cloth into the house through the window, and then began to explain to the house.

Seeing this scene, the gentry and landowners were also dumbfounded, they didn't expect her to be so determined.

"Brother Wu, what should we do? Or just arrest them directly..."

"Don't do it, it's going to be a big deal."

"Yes, you must not mess around at this time."

A landlord said sternly, but was immediately stopped by other gentry landlords.

Now there are [-] soldiers stationed outside the county seat, and [-] soldiers stationed in Fucheng. If they really capture this woman or something, they will be used as an example immediately.

Such a superficial truth, everyone naturally understands, don't just pretend to do it, just kill this woman secretly, in the end, I'm afraid they will have to attract the emperor's attention, and everyone will be finished.

The famous prostitutes didn't really go door-to-door to explain, but just picked a few to explain and let them communicate with each other. At that time, each household stuffed a piece of cotton cloth.

Even so, he only ran to three villages in one day, and even if he was carried away in a soft sedan by the bodyguards, he was still very tired.

The landlords and gentry also did not watch the sentry in person, but sent their nephews or stewards to follow along with their servants, even if they could not completely stop them, they would make trouble.

Such a scene in Wangjiang County happened in almost all the counties and counties of Nanzhili. Obviously, the gentry and landlords everywhere began to obstruct it in every possible way before the New Deal was implemented.

If it weren't for the imperial soldiers stationed everywhere, and all the gentry and landowners knew that the backing behind these prostitutes was the red lady, His Majesty must have ordered them to come this time, otherwise the famous prostitutes who died for no reason would be ignored number.

However, although the gentry and landowners in various places obstructed in every possible way, there are almost ten of the more than 1000 prostitutes in each county. Each person promotes one or two villages a day, and one village promotes seven or eight households. All the people in Lili are about to know the content of the New Deal.

They also understand that the New Deal is for their own good, His Majesty is a good emperor who loves the people like his own son, and those gentry and landlords have nothing good.

By this time, the time had come to the beginning of February.

Obviously, the troubles caused by the gentry and landlords in various places delayed Zhu Cihong's follow-up plan for nearly half a month.

(End of this chapter)