Daming: Wanted to be a small landlord, but was forced to ascend the throne

Chapter 426 The Imperial Court Has Arrived

Zhu Zhen was originally the commander-in-chief of Datong.

Wang Xun was promoted after the Battle of Yingzhou, and Zhu Zhen became the general of Datong.

To be honest, compared to Wang Xun, Zhu Zhen's combat ability has not improved much, but his ability to be greedy for money is stronger.

To what extent was the military, government, and corruption of the Ming Dynasty?
Datong has been in arrears for 12 years!

Yes, Datong and other guards... 13 years without monthly rations!

It is conceivable how miserable the lives of the soldiers are without monthly rations for 13 years.

Soldiers don't receive monthly rations, so naturally they don't have much other oil to squeeze!

Lao Zhu was harsh on officials, and military attaches were no exception.

The salaries of officials are actually a little meager. If they have to eat and drink on their own, it’s okay. The problem is that many people still support a large family, with seniors and juniors.

For those who have special hobbies, they will raise a few concubines; they still have to socialize and curry favor with their bosses in normal times, and they should be filial during the holidays.

Where do these things come from, they can only be withheld from soldiers.

Soldiers have not been given monthly rations for more than ten years now, so what else is there to squeeze out?
The lives of officials were not easy, so soldiers still had to be squeezed. In the early days, officials ate meat, and soldiers could mix some soup with them.

Now that the officers are drinking soup, the squeeze on the soldiers is even more severe.

In the early days, military households and soldiers still had farmland to plant. Although the land in Datong was barren, at least there was land, and it was good to be able to harvest something to make do with it.

But as the officers were cash-strapped, they paid attention to farming.

During the Yongle period, the annual harvest of the Daming Weisuo's field was more than 300 million stones, and the income from the army's field accounted for more than 70.00% of the country's tax and grain.

The harvest is still very good!

But a good harvest did not come with a good report. The story of overharvesting three or five buckets was the same for military households in the Ming Dynasty. The harvested grain had to be handed in. The imperial court only distributed 120 catties of grain to each military household every month.

Those officials calculated for a while, and felt that this amount was just enough to meet the needs of a family.

In their eyes, those military households had enough to eat and didn’t starve to death. The rest of the food produced had to be handed over.

The military households have almost no food left every month, and they suffer from hunger as much as they do, so no one wants to lose weight.

As the enthusiasm of military households to grow grain decreased, the output of military fields also decreased. However, the output decreased but the grain to be handed over remained unchanged.

In this era, there is no so-called contraception. If you have children, you can only give birth. No matter how many children are born, it is only the food. Many families, especially in disaster years, starve to death.

Since they couldn't survive, many sergeants began to flee continuously.

Especially during the Yongle period, Zhu Di continued to fight with foreign countries, a large number of soldiers were transferred to help, and there were fewer and fewer farming soldiers.

According to statistics, by the third year of Zhengtong, the number of fugitive Ming troops had reached 160 million, and the rest were old, weak, sick and disabled.

A large number of fields are barren, and the harvest of farmland is getting lower and lower. Such a vicious cycle has caused a large number of fields to be barren.

Some aristocratic families and military officers saw this kind of poverty, and began to buy these wastelands, and organized long-term workers or family servants to farm the fields.

The imperial court also knew that there were fewer soldiers in the field, and the land was barren, causing waste. Facing those rich and powerful who bought it, the first was to involve their own interests, and the other was to think that selling it in this way would also increase taxes and increase the income of the imperial court, so they acquiesced The act of an aristocratic family annexing fields.

Of course, at the beginning, those nobles from aristocratic families still obeyed the rules.

After a long time, it is inevitable that some privileges will start to seize, and some people will do a lot of tricks when buying.

The military settlements have been basically destroyed by now. The military households have no land, and they have to spend their time on the fields of the officers and dignitaries in exchange for food. When fighting, they have to bring their own dry food to fight. What a miserable day!
The garrison system was destroyed, the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty was low, the national treasury was empty, and the huge military expenditure could not be paid. , not only soldiers, but also officers nowadays, accidents are inevitable.

Furthermore, when the mutiny broke out, the soldiers demanded their wages and mutinied, and the Datong mutiny was only the beginning of the Ming mutiny.

When Zhu Zhen was the deputy general of Xuanfu in Datong, he was not much different from those officials who were greedy for salary.

It's just that he offended his political opponents and was impeached and imprisoned. He thought this was the end of his life.

It would be unlucky to be impeached and imprisoned in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, but if you have a backer, it would be better if you have someone to help you.

Zhu Zhen was not so lucky, he was born in an ordinary family, and there was no big tree behind him to enjoy the shade.

It is precisely because he has no background that he withholds some military silver issued by the court, thinking that he has money in his hand, so that he can make connections and improve his position.

It's just that before the matter was successful, he was reported and sent to this prison.

I thought it would be difficult to turn over in this life, even if I get out of prison, I guess I will be a white man in the future.

A man is not afraid of blood and tears, but he is afraid of losing his future.

Zhu Zhen was already in despair. Unexpectedly, there was a mutiny in Datong. Those people not only opened the granary to grab food, but also opened the prison to release many prisoners.

Knowing his identity, those people simply supported him as the leader, hoping that he could negotiate with the court and have some way out.

Guo Jian and Liu Zhong, who took the lead in the uprising this time, were actually the team leaders responsible for building the military fort.

Although they were small leaders in name, they were actually just leading the soldiers to work. Those overseers not only scolded the soldiers, but also severely punished them, and even blamed the construction period on them.

With no way out, the two took the lead in rioting!

Although Guo Jian was born in a military family, he was young, smart and strong, and had a certain authority among the soldiers, so he was appointed as the squad leader.

Even though he doesn't have much education, this kid is fierce and smart.

Seeing Zhu Zhen directly changed their original plan to join Beifan.

After all, I have lived in Daming for many years, and I am more familiar with the situation here. I don't know what the situation is like there, and there is a greater risk. If I had a choice, I would naturally not go to Beifan.

Guo Jian had an idea when he saw Zhu Zhen in prison.

They were forced to revolt, and it was a last resort. If a leader spoke for them, maybe they would have other ways out.

And Zhu Zhen is the most suitable leader!
He had been a deputy commander in chief, and he was considered a high official to them!

Also, he is now in prison and was rescued by them. If he can bring them to negotiate with the court, it will be a chance for Zhu Zhen himself and them!
It's just that although Zhu Zhen agreed, he still showed a reluctance.

He also gave them a lot of conditions and asked them to obey him.

Guo Scar is the father of Guo Jian. He has three sons, all of whom died on the battlefield. Now there are only two men in the family: him and his sons.

Although the youngest son, Guo Jian, is young, he is smart, courageous and resourceful. He has always listened to his son's advice, but in this situation, there are doubts.

"Father, don't worry, he has already been set on fire by us, and it is impossible to get out of his body! Now we only need to see when the imperial court will send people over!"

Guo Jian sneered.

He knew Zhu Zhen's plan, this person was unwilling on the surface, but he must have planned it secretly.

If he is too willing, the court will definitely suspect that he is the leader, and he wants to put aside the relationship.

It's just that this relationship, can you just put it aside if you want?
"Jian'er! It has been many days, and no one from the court has come. In such a situation, there should be an urgent march to bring the court officials here. Now..."

Guo Scarzi felt that the situation was not optimistic.

Da da da!Da da da!Da da da!
There are noises outside!

"The imperial court is here! The imperial court is here!"

There were cheers on the walls.

(End of this chapter)