Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 328: Attacking Annan

"Something's wrong, something's wrong with this village..."

As he walked back to the dirt road from the field in embarrassment, Zhu Di muttered that something was wrong, and spoke to Xu Zengshou and Wang Yan on the dirt road:

"Tell me, is there something wrong with these villagers?"

"There is indeed something wrong. It seems that I don't dare to communicate with outsiders." Xu Zengshou and Wang Yan nodded in agreement, and Zhu Di also nodded frequently.

"There must be something fishy in this village. Go to Sister Xu and call those two subordinates."

"Yes!"

Zhu Di ordered Wang Yan, who immediately led several soldiers to Queen Xu.

When Queen Xu saw this, she knew that Zhu Di was frustrated, so she said to her left and right, "Let's go and come to His Majesty."

She led Zhang Ping and others towards Zhu Di. Wang Yan did not act when he saw this, but followed Queen Xu back to Zhu Di.

She told Zhu Di what she heard from Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, but Zhu Di looked at the two of them suspiciously.

"According to you, the villagers have a good relationship with you?"

"Back to the magistrate, it's not bad." Zhang Ping and Wang Wu bowed and replied. Seeing this, Zhu Di also raised his chin and signaled:

"Then you guys call me two common people, and I'll question them in front of you."

"By the way, let's call him the one who snatched my hoe just now."

Zhu Di pointed at a few old farmers who were looking in his direction. Seeing this, Zhang Ping and Wang Wu had no choice but to go down to the field and called the old farmers to the dirt road.

Although there are many mountains in Shandong, they are treeless like most areas under the Ming Dynasty.

Without trees, there is no cover, and what happens on the road is easily visible to everyone.

With the summons of Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, the old farmers who had previously killed Zhu Di realized that this guy who kept talking about me was really a big shot.

"This is Zhu Zhi County, who is heading north to Wanping County. He comes to ask us about things. He mainly wants to extend the New Deal to Beiping."

"Whenever Magistrate Zhu asks, you can tell us what you have to say and don't worry about us."

After Zhang Ping and Wang Wu finished talking, the old farmers looked at each other, and Zhu Di also said to them: "You go over there and wait."

"Yes..." The two of them were pushed away by Zhu Di, and then Zhu Di also began to say to these old farmers who looked to be in their fifties:

"You guys tell me honestly about this place. If you are worried about those two threatening you, I will move them to another place."

"No, no, no, sir, please don't change!" Upon hearing that Zhu Di wanted to replace Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, several old farmers quickly knelt on the ground, clasped their hands and begged for mercy.

Wang Yan brought two matzha, and after Zhu Di and Queen Xu sat down, he asked the kneeling farmers:

"If you answer my question, I will naturally not change them, and I will also give you money and food, but the premise is that you must tell the truth."

"Let me ask you first. In the past, the imperial court gave Shandong only one tax per thirty, but now it is one per ten. How is your life compared with before?"

Zhu Di waited eagerly for the answers from the old farmers. In other words, he was asking questions with the answers in mind, just to know something different.

Several old farmers looked at each other, and finally the oldest one said tremblingly: "It's better than before..."

"How could it be possible?!" Zhu Di's voice made several farmers tremble. In order to prove that his answer was correct, he also specifically said: "Thirty gifts plus some miscellaneous items, at most only ten per mu." How can one or two kilograms of taxed grain be inferior to one in ten taxes?"

"This..." The old farmer hesitated, and finally answered under the pressure of Zhu Di's eyes:

"The regular tax is eight catties and five taels per mu, but for miscellaneous items, you have to charge five or six catties."

After he finished speaking, another old farmer next to him said: "The previous village chiefs were okay. At least they could be rotated, so it wouldn't be too much. But the grain chiefs didn't change all the year round. Every year, they had to fight privately to collect grain. Every acre of land had to be paid in full." The taxable grain is at least thirty kilograms..."

"Yes!" Another old farmer echoed: "When you encounter a difficult official in the county, each household has to chip in some money to give him. It's normal to kill chickens, fish, and entertain him."

After the three people finished answering, Zhu Di couldn't help but ask: "How much?"

"Every family has three cents..." the old farmer replied, and Queen Xu asked again: "How many families are there in Xiaogouhe Village? How many acres of cultivated land are there?"

"Seventy-two families, about two thousand acres," the old farmer replied without thinking. After hearing this, Queen Xu and Zhu Di looked at each other.

According to the old farmer, this subordinate can earn at least 200 coins by collecting taxes and grains, and he can also have a good meal.

As for the district chiefs and grain chiefs, they also stole a lot of grain during the harvesting process, at least 30,000 kilograms, equivalent to more than 200 dan.

They would definitely not be able to eat such a large sum of food, and since subordinate officials were corrupt, they would naturally not give up taking bribes.

Zhu Di probably remembered that there were more than 40,000 villages in the world. If each village was inscribed with 200 shi, it would be 8 million shi, which was close to a quarter of the total amount of grain in Damingtian.

That’s eight million stones of grain. If given to the people, it can feed nearly two million people. If used in the Northern Expedition, it can support hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians for several years.

When he thought of this, Zhu Di wanted to catch all the corrupt officials in Shandong and kill them all.

Just when he thought about it, Sun Cheng did cause many major cases in Shandong and arrested many people. I am afraid that the previous batch of subordinate officials were exiled to the Bohai Sea.

"Have all your villages within a radius of ten miles changed their village chiefs and grain chiefs?"

Zhu Di asked about this, and the old farmer nodded and said: "They must have all been changed. The current li chief and grain chief are sent by the imperial court. It is said that each person will be transferred after serving for three years."

"How are they treating you?" Zhu Di asked, and promised: "If they don't treat you well, if you speak now, I will transfer them immediately."

"It's not bad. It's much better than before. The harvesting of grain is also done by official fighting, that's..." The old farmer couldn't continue talking. When Zhu Di saw this, he immediately got excited, thinking that he had grasped the handle, and asked: "That's right. What?"

"Their rations need to be paid by the village, but it's not much. Each household pays twenty kilograms." The old farmer said what he cared about, but when he thought that Zhang Ping and Wang Wu would be transferred away, he He immediately changed his tune and said it wasn't too much.

"Twenty pounds is not much?!" When Zhu Di heard this, he became furious, turned to Wang Yan and said: "Call those two people!"

"My slave, take your orders!" Wang Yan hurriedly went to do it, and soon summoned Zhang Ping and Wang Wu in front of him and asked:

"Is it true that you don't work in the village and let the people support you?"

Zhang Ping and Wang Wu looked at each other in confusion upon hearing this, and said with a guilty conscience: "It's true, but this is an unwritten rule. After all, we have a lot of government affairs in our hands."

"Government affairs? What kind of government affairs can you, a small subordinate, have?" Zhu Di stared at them, not thinking that only managing seventy-two households could have any government affairs worth being busy with.

Seeing what Zhu Di said, Zhang Ping cried bitterly: "The grain in the hands of these people needs to be sold, so the two of us need to travel north and south to find the grain merchant to collect the grain."

"The imperial court doesn't provide carriages and horses, so we have to go on foot."

"Even if there is a post station, it only provides us with shelter. We still have to pay for food and food, so there is nothing we can do to collect more rations from the people."

"Isn't the salary the court gives you enough?" Zhu Di glared at him, but Queen Xu next to him interrupted:

"Salaries are what their lives depend on. It's a bit harsh for you to ask them to use their own salaries to help the people."

Zhu Di didn't have to listen to what others said, but since Queen Xu spoke, Zhu Di stroked his beard and did not continue to attack them on this point. Instead, he looked at the stunned old farmers:

"In addition to rations, did these two people also tax you for more food?"

"No, no!" The old farmers shook their heads, fearing that Zhang Ping and Wang Wu would suffer disaster if they talked too much.

For farmers in this era, people like Zhang Ping and Wang Wu who exploited only a dozen dan per year were already good officials.

If Zhang Ping and Wang Wu are driven away, who can predict whether the next batch of subordinate officials will be the same as the previous ones?

"Really or falsely?" Zhu Di asked and continued to guarantee.

"Don't be afraid. Tell them all. I will make the decision for you. If there is any, I will help you punish these two people."

"Really not, sir!" The old farmers kowtowed quickly after hearing this: "Zhang Liangchang and Wang Liangchang have been the best Liangchang and Liangchang to us in the past decades."

"Yes, without them, each of our families would have to pay fifty or sixty kilograms more grain."

"Sir, we just said the wrong thing, please don't send them away."

Several old farmers were frightened by Zhu Di's words, and they all said good things for Zhang Ping and Wang Wu.

In fact, Zhu Di also knew that Zhang Ping and Wang Wu probably had no criminal records other than rations. He did this mainly because he wanted Zhang Ping and Wang Wu not to hold grudges against these old farmers, so he gave the old farmers a chance to intercede.

"Well, in that case, let's forget it because of the pleading of these three people."

"But I still have to figure out how to settle the accounts for asking for rations from the people of Shandong."

"Thank you for your kindness!" Zhang Ping and Wang Wu kowtowed one after another. After the end, Zhang Ping said:

"Actually, as long as the inn can provide food for us, we won't ask for rations from the people. If we don't go out to find merchants or go to the town to report work, we don't need so much rations. Eating in the village is enough. .”

Zhang Ping's suggestion made Zhu Di nod. According to the previous rules of the inn, the rations of subordinate officials were generally not included.

Looking at it now, places like Shandong that implement the New Deal can be more open.

"I know this. Please tell me about the methods used by subordinate officials, grain chiefs, and li chiefs to exploit you in the past."

Zhu Di was very concerned about how subordinate subordinates at the grassroots level exploited the people. Upon seeing this, Zhang Ping, Wang Wu and three old farmers also talked about the methods of those people.

What Zhu Di heard was actually similar to what Zhu Gaoxu found out at the beginning. Anyway, all the equipment used to collect grains needed to be paid by the people, and at a high price.

Even if a dustpan is used for ten years, people still have to pay for one dustpan every year.

Hearing these methods, even Zhu Di, who had been working around in Peiping all year round, had to admire the exploitative methods of Shandong's subordinate officials.

He didn't know this before because the scope of his activities was basically in the Daning and Peiping areas, and most of these places were military households that moved to guard the border. They were managed by the guards' officers, so there were not so many twists and turns.

Now it seems that civil administration is really not as good as military administration, and the burden on the people is almost as high as that of military households during the Hongwu period.

"How are you doing now?"

Zhu Di had already roughly guessed it, but he still asked the old farmers. "It's much better than before. The court has not sent out corvees for two years. Only occasionally will Chief Zhang and Chief Wang take us to weed the roads in the village, which is not far from our doorstep."

"I can save fifty or sixty kilograms of grain a year, and with some wild vegetables I can raise a pig."

"Sir, I heard that the imperial court has a new policy. In the future, we will not be forced to do corvee work, but we will be sent to work and paid. Is this true?"

The three old farmers had different concerns. The older one felt that he would be happy if he did not send corvees, the middle-aged one was concerned about the extra grain that could be used to raise livestock, and the younger one was thinking about working to earn wages.

Zhu Di had read these issues in his memorials these days, but now he could see the hope on the faces of these three old farmers.

The people were looking forward to the court's new policy. This look alone told Zhu Di that Zhu Gaoxu's new policy may have many problems, but at least he would solve the people's problems.

"It will all happen, and the days will get better and better."

Zhu Di comforted a few people and asked about the current situation of grain collection: "How do you collect grain now?"

"The people harvest the grain under the supervision of the two of me, and then punch out the grain and weigh it and take one-tenth of it." Zhang Ping answered honestly: "Including the rations, we basically pay about 25 kilograms per mu. The village can pay 10% of the grain every year. The court's handover ranges from 300 to 350 shi."

"What happened before?" What the first three old farmers said was too complicated, and Zhu Di failed to calculate it carefully, so he chose to ask Zhang Ping and the others directly.

He originally thought that Zhang Ping and the others needed to do calculations before they could answer, but he didn't expect them to bow to each other without thinking, and Wang Wu answered:

"According to the situation in the first year of Yongle, the people handed over about 400 shi, but the village paid only about 260 shi to the county."

"We have calculated that in the first year of Yongle, the court stipulated that the taxation of miscellaneous items per mu was about fifteen kilograms, but the people actually paid thirty-eight kilograms per mu. Now they actually pay twenty-five kilograms, and the burden per mu has been reduced by about thirteen kilograms. .”

After all, they are students who graduated from Bohai Official School, and arithmetic is a daily routine for them. All the data contained in the booklet has been calculated by them.

Maybe their calculations are not so accurate, but in this era, they are already rare grassroots talents.

Their words made Zhu Di breathe a sigh of relief. He did not expect that his second son would understand the people's sentiments so well. After the promotion of the New Deal, it not only did not increase the burden on the people, but also reduced it.

"Okay, that's all. You guys do your best, and remember not to anger these three people, or I will deal with you next time I go north."

"Yes Yes Yes……"

Zhu Di spoke, Zhang Ping and Wang Wu kowtowed quickly. Seeing the two of them doing this, Zhu Di also took Queen Xu back to the official road.

After returning to the carriage, Queen Xu smiled and said: "You always say that Gao Xu takes too big steps, but now it seems that the people are eager for him to take bigger steps."

"I don't understand the truth, not to mention that he has indeed taken too big steps in the past two years." Zhu Di stroked his beard, and then said with emotion:

"I finally figured it out. The second brother is equivalent to returning part of the money and food that was originally used by corrupt officials to the people, and the rest is taken into the imperial treasury."

"But after reading this article, I can see how abominable the corruption of this subordinate official is."

"If the subordinate officials in Shandong are as corrupt as the officials during the Hongwu period, then my Ming Dynasty may really be in danger."

Zhu Di's trip to Xiaogouhe made him understand the reason why the court's tax collection was not high, but it still burdened local people heavily.

It is true that the paper burden on the people is not high, or even very low, but the actual burden is far higher than the paper burden.

"They harvest 38 jins of grain per acre, but only give me 15 jins. I don't even mention the 23 jins of grain. They still have to ask the people for money."

"If the second brother hadn't sent them to Zhaozhou, I would have really wanted to chop off their heads one by one!"

While the carriage was walking, Zhu Di angrily expressed his thoughts to Queen Xu, while Queen Xu listened to Zhu Di's words with a smile throughout.

After he finished speaking, she said: "Your Majesty has Gao Xu to help you, so I can rest assured."

"Huh?" Hearing what Empress Xu said, Zhu Di immediately grabbed her hand: "I can let Gao Xu do the government affairs, but the inner court has to be you, Sister Xu."

"Yes..." Queen Xu agreed with a chuckle, and the carriage went all the way north, taking Zhu Di to visit many villages and towns.

While he was visiting and feeling that the people of Shandong were living and working in peace and contentment, Annan, thousands of miles away, was experiencing war.

Among them, the land north of the Red River, which had just emerged from the war, was undoubtedly the most peaceful place on this land.

"The number of mouths has dropped so much?"

South of the Red River, in a mansion not far from the Royal Palace of Shenglong City, when Mu Chun, who was sitting in the main seat, received the yellow book of the land of Hebei, he was speechless for a moment.

The prefectural capital of Hebei, which had a population of more than 800,000 before the war, now has only 379,000 people left, and 20,000 of them are people who have just migrated from Guangdong, Fujian and other places.

"The number of people who have declined is quite large, but most of them have fled to the Shannan area."

"It's not just the north side, it's the same on the South Fifth Road."

The voice came from Muchun's side, and the person who said this was Fu Rang from the East Route Army.

Compared to Muchun, Fu Rang is much crueler. After all, what he has experienced is much more tragic than what Muchun has experienced.

"I heard that you united with the Duke of Yue and commanded Cui Jun, Zhang Fu and others to drive the people into the Shannan area?"

The Shannan area mentioned by Muchun is the area currently controlled by Chen Jikou, Jian Ding and other Chen Dynasty officials.

"Not only in Shannan, but also in Xinghua. Otherwise, Duke Qian, are you going to keep them within our jurisdiction?"

Fu Rang and Muchun looked at each other and reminded: "You should know better than the general what the instructions given to us by the East Palace are."

"I know." Mu Chun frowned slightly and said at the same time: "What I mean is, don't let the imperial army come forward for this kind of thing. Mu Sheng's local soldiers will bear the responsibility."

"It's too slow to rely on them alone." Fu Rang shook his head: "Driving people to Shannan and Xinghua will definitely not be able to feed so many people based on the local conditions. This will force them to fight with our army. "

"When the soldiers and people of the Chen Dynasty instigated the chieftains in our country to rebel against the imperial court, they should have thought about this retribution."

"It won't work if you drive too many away." Muchun interrupted:

"There is too much abandoned land right now, and the immigration rate from Guangdong and Fujian is too slow. By the time they arrive, the local cultivated land is already overgrown with weeds."

"I've looked at the situation in the state capitals and it's best to end it now."

"Yes." Fu Rang did not refute Muchun, but nodded in agreement after the other party put forward his opinion.

In fact, he did not drive too many people to Shannan and Xinghua. After all, the number of Ming troops entering Vietnam was only a small number, and the civilians were not very powerful, so it was not easy to drive people away.

Moreover, as far as the current situation is concerned, too many people in Annan have been killed or injured due to the war, and if it continues, it will have some impact on the economy.

"Zheng Zheng is here!"

The sudden sound of singing made the two of them stand up. Not long after, Zheng He, dressed in official uniforms, walked into the temporary government office with several military attachés.

"Zheng Zhengshi..."

"Dong Guizhou, Governor Fu..."

Both sides bowed and saluted, and then sat down one after another.

As soon as they sat down, Zheng He started talking to the two about Annan.

"The fleet has been cooperating with the official army for four months, and the rebellion in the south has gradually subsided."

"I came here this time to ask you two when we will launch a general attack."

Zheng He's main job was to cooperate in the campaign against Annan and go south after the war was over.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't rush, but the reality forced him to do so.

"To tell you the truth, the weather has been getting hotter and hotter recently, and many officers and soldiers are not accustomed to the climate and have fallen ill."

"In the past month, the navy suppressed tens of thousands of rebels on the Fifth South Road without killing or injuring many people. However, the acclimatization and epidemic killed nearly a thousand people."

"It's not the hottest time in Annan yet. If that happens, I'm worried that the fleet's voyage to the Western Ocean will be delayed."

Diseases such as acclimatization, malaria, and miasma are almost unsolvable in this era. Even though the Ming army has been fighting in the southwest all year round and has found a way to avoid miasma, it cannot avoid casualties after all.

There were only 20,000 people in the navy who went to the Western Ocean. Now nearly a thousand people have died of illness, which has already begun to shake the morale of the military.

Because of this, Zheng He had to ask the two about the time of their general attack.

Regarding his question, Muchun and Fu Rang also looked ugly when they heard this, because not only the navy was suffering from acclimatization and disease, but also the eastern and western armies.

During the four months of the conquest of Annan, the Ming army lost more than 7,000 troops, of which less than 2,000 died in battle, and the remaining 5,000 died of illness.

If things continue like this, before Chen Jikuo and Hu and his son can counterattack, they may have to voluntarily abandon some of their strongholds in towns and villages close to dense forests.

Fu Rang drove away the Annan people and forced Chen Jikuo to take the lead because the Ming army could no longer hold on.

"April 15th." As the person with the highest title and official position present, Muchun had to be the first to give the answer and added:

"If Chen Jikuo and Hu and his son don't take action on April 15th, then we will take the lead."

"No matter what, we must hit their main force hard before May, and then evacuate the brothers who cannot adapt to the local area from Annan."

Muchun gave the answer, and Fu Rang and Zheng He bowed after hearing the words.

In this way, the only two remaining local forces in Annan entered the countdown...

　"Record of the Southern Expedition": "In February of the third year, Annan was hit by a flood, and refugees were everywhere. Although the Duke of Guizhou gave rice porridge, there were so many hungry people that it was difficult to provide relief, so he had to drive them away. The people rushed to Shannan and Shanxi, and were attacked by Lord Chen and others. Lord Hu sent troops to drive them away, and countless people died from starvation."

　　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In the second month of Jiashen, when Ji Kuo drove away the hungry people, the Hu family raised the butcher knife, but Master Wang gave away rice porridge and fed hundreds of thousands of people."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)