Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 181 Private Visit on WeChat (4k)

When new bullets are developed, the speed of loading firearms will be further reduced. By then, the role of the Shenwu Spear Formation created by Zhu Di will be greatly reduced.

When the time comes, just take the most direct and brutal approach and simply line up in a few rows.

There seems to be no tactic at all, but in the era of flintlock guns, this was the most effective tactic.

Generally speaking, they directly form three or two rows of fighting lines. When the troops spread out in three lines, the soldiers in the three lines fire volleys in sequence, retreat to reload, and fire again.

Each row of soldiers maintains a fighting posture, a kneeling posture, and a retreating reloading posture. This can ensure the density and continuity of firepower to the greatest extent.

In terms of fire suppression alone, it is much stronger than Zhu Di's Shenwu Spear Formation.

Later, Britain relied on this tactic to win war after war, and finally established an empire on which the sun never sets.

Of course these are later stories.

Beijing.

With the arrival of late autumn, all parts of the country have also entered the autumn harvest stage.

Zhu Yuanzhang once again thought of paying a private visit incognito.

These days, ministers have written letters from time to time, explicitly or covertly intending to postpone the implementation of the new tax system.

Judging from the summer tax situation, the performance of areas under the old tax system is not bad either.

In addition to preparing for the next campaign in Mobei, directly expropriating rice can obviously replenish the grain storehouse.And if there is a new tax system, you will have to spend money to buy food again.

But in this matter, there have been some problems recently in the Xinshui Jiangnan region.

That is, the imperial court was buying grain, but could not find sufficient supply for a while. There was something fishy about it.

Zhu Yuanzhang has sent people to investigate.

During this private visit incognito, in addition to visiting the grain depot, he also wanted to see with his own eyes whether the old tax system was really hopeless.

The idea is made.

All that's left now is to think about where to go.

"Boss, where do you think it is more suitable to go?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

It’s best not to go anywhere.

Zhu Biao complained in his heart.

Zhu Biao thought about it carefully and said, "Father, why don't we go to Guangdong? We will pass through the Jiangnan region along the way, so we can make a comparison."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while, nodded and said: "It is indeed a good choice, so let's just call it a day."

Zhu Yuanzhang has always been a resolute person. He has already decided, so of course he should set off as soon as possible.

Since it is a private visit incognito, the ostentation cannot be too grand. I just prepared a simple outfit and traveled lightly.

The only accompanying persons were Zhu Biao and Zhu Di.

Of course, personal safety must be guaranteed.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor immediately, his strength is in military ability. After all, he is not as good as Liu Yu and Erfeng in terms of personal force value.

Guarding always has to be arranged properly.

In addition to experts like Mao Xiang accompanying them closely, a small team of elite members from the Shenji Battalion were also directly transferred over.

With such a configuration, it is almost possible to walk sideways in the Ming Dynasty.

In this way, Zhu Yuanzhang and his three men, disguised as a caravan, traveled all the way from Nanjing through the Jiangnan area and arrived in Guangdong.

Inside a bumpy carriage.

Zhu Yuanzhang closed his eyes and suddenly said: "Boss, where are you?"

Zhu Biao replied: "We have arrived in Guangdong Province, and we should be in the Shaozhou Prefecture now."

"This journey has been really tough. My bones are almost falling apart. It would be great if Yang Xian's rail trains could be rolled out across the country." Zhu Di suddenly said at this time.

Who said no.

Zhu Biao and Zhu Yuanzhang had the same idea at this time.

It’s not that they are too delicate to bear the bumps along the way.With their bodies and bones, they could not even ride a horse for a long-distance attack, let alone a carriage.But there is an old Chinese saying that goes: It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

Zhu Yuanzhang and others have already tasted the benefits of rail trains, and now if they are asked to ride a carriage, the gap will naturally arise.

"It is only a matter of time that rail trains are laid across the country. The Railway Bureau has always had plans, but now the national treasury is not enough to support it." Zhu Biao smiled and then said. "But the good news is that the track from Beijing to Peking should be completed this year."

In the carriage, everyone was chatting.

Outside the car, Mao Xiang suddenly said: "Master, it seems that the autumn grain is being harvested in front."

"It's been a long journey in the carriage, and I can't even stretch my body. Father, why don't we go take a look." Zhu Di said, with a look of anticipation on his face.

"Remember, call father outside." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and agreed to Zhu Di's request.

When Zhu Yuanzhang and others walked by and took a look, they saw only a few subordinate officials collecting autumn grain, accompanied by some accompanying government servants, and people carrying sacks were lining up to check and accept. ,

"Open the scale!"

"We were ordered to harvest the autumn grain, and each household paid according to the amount. There should be no shortage of a pound or a tael."

"According to the rules, the scales should be weighed first, and then the dendrobium should be weighed."

"The first household is Hong Defang." A subordinate official shouted loudly.

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the crowd hurriedly responded: "Yes."

Then I saw a man in his 30s walking out of the crowd carrying a large bag of food.

"Are you Hong Defang?" The subordinate in charge of registration glanced at the man in front of him and said.

"The little guy is."

"How many people are there?"

"A family of three, including a seven-year-old son Hong Jin and his wife Yinhua."

"There's gold and silver here, you can do it." The subordinate then raised his head and looked at the man in front of him, obviously amused by what he said.

A tenant farmer who didn't even know a few Chinese characters gave his son this name.

Gold and silver, for a mud-legged person like you, you can only see a few copper coins in your lifetime, which is considered a blessing from your previous life.

"Okay, let's weigh it." The subordinate waved his hand.Immediately, two government officials came forward, took the bag of rice from Hong Defang, and began to weigh it with two people on the scale.

"Hong Defang, sixty pounds of white rice!"

"Master, it's not big, right? This bag is exactly five buckets of rice, 75 kilograms." When he heard that the weight reported by the subordinate was inconsistent with what he weighed, the tenant named Hong Defang was obviously panicked. He hurriedly stepped forward. road. "You can't lose even one tael or a penny."

Because this is all the surplus food his family can produce.

"What? Can't you trust this official scale?" When Hong Defang made such a fuss, the subordinate frowned and his face immediately darkened. "Do you think there is no official character engraved on this official scale?"

The subordinate officer pointed at the big official characters on the side and mocked: "Do you recognize what the characters are on this?"

"Everyone, please listen to me. This scale is an official scale, and this Dendrobium is an official Dendrobium." The assistant raised his voice and then spoke. "This official character is as big as the sky. If anyone doesn't recognize this official character, don't blame this official character for not recognizing you!"

After saying this, the junior official glared at Hong Defang, waved his hand, and said loudly: "Pass Dendrobium!"

Upon hearing this, the yamen servant on the side immediately poured the bag in his hand into the official dendrobium that had been prepared.

Pearl-like white rice poured down like sand, and soon the Guan Dendrobium was more than half full. The subordinate took out an iron ruler and wiped it in the Guan Dendrobium, and immediately smoothed the hill of white rice.

"You see, this is five buckets of dendrobium. If there are really five buckets of rice, why is there no white on the mouth of the dendrobium, ah?!"

The subordinate official looked at Hong Defang indifferently and said coldly: "Linjian!"

The officer behind him immediately kicked the stems with his feet after hearing the order.

"Linjian kicking the dendrobium" means that in the old days, in order to collect more rice, the tax collectors deliberately kicked the dendrobium with their feet, causing the top of the pile of dendrobium to spill. The spilled grain was not allowed to be taken back by the people, and it was considered a loss. The people then took the remaining grain from the dendrobium. Taking it to be weighed, invisibly handing over more grain, became a semi-public income for Ming Dynasty officials.

You must know that this kick is very particular. The subordinates have practiced hard for this kick for a long time. The specific method may be to find a tree near your home and start by kicking the tree. The trunk will not move and the leaves will fall. They have reached the highest level.

Of course, some people choose to practice kicking the door, and they must kick it open with one kick. If it is kicked with more than two kicks, they are disqualified and need to continue practicing.

Whatever is kicked down belongs to oneself.

If you don't practice, it won't work. It's like a yamen officer playing with a plank. The door is inside the door.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw this scene not far away, he suppressed the anger in his heart and asked a commoner next to him who was also waiting to hand over his autumn grain. He asked, "Isn't this a clear sign of bullying?"

"Shh, officer, please keep your voice down." The old man explained when he saw that Zhu Yuanzhang and the others did not dress like farmers, and their accents did not sound like locals. "Everyone knows that there are three major pitfalls in tax collection: big scales, big dendrobium, and big feet. This year it is especially excessive, but what can you do if you go too far? You can only endure it silently. Otherwise, this young man in front of you will end up."

"If he hadn't questioned the official scale at the beginning, there would still be 75 jins left of the [-] jins of rice. Now that he's making such a fuss, I'm afraid he won't be able to keep the [-] jins."

Sure enough, the old man had just finished speaking.

Just listen to the subordinate official singing and shouting loudly: "Hong Defang has 55 kilograms of rice, remember!"

Hong Defang immediately knelt down and begged: "Master, this is a total loss of twenty kilograms."

"Master, we have to act with conscience. The rice vats in my Hong family are all empty."

"Why, do you think I cheated you?"

The subordinate clasped his hands in his fists, bowed towards the north, and said: "We collect autumn grain according to the system. This is the rule set by the emperor. It doesn't matter if I cheat you. Could it be that the emperor cheated you?!"

"Master!" Hong Defang knelt on the ground and just kept crying.

Seeing this scene in the distance, Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that his lungs almost exploded.

In fact, if it was in previous years, Hong Defang's 75 kilograms of rice would have been deducted by these subordinates at most 10 kilograms.But this year, the superiors issued a strict order to make the tax report card beautiful, so they immediately deducted 15 pounds.

These 15 pounds cannot go into your pocket as before, but must be paid as taxes.

That's why these subordinates said what they just said. I guess they themselves are angry.

In their opinion, all the extra white rice was given directly to the imperial court. Wasn't it because the emperor had deceived the common people like them?

The subordinate officials were already agitated, but when Hong Defang made such a fuss, they asked the government servants on the side to drag him down.

You know, this is still the first one. If everyone makes trouble with him like this, will the autumn harvest be harvested?
"Father, it is not appropriate for us to reveal our identities now." Zhu Biao said in a low voice, fearing that Zhu Yuanzhang would get angry.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know this truth. This was his first stop in Guangdong. If he was exposed directly like this, wouldn't this private visit incognito be in vain?

Therefore, even if Zhu Yuanzhang was angry again at this moment, he did not step forward to teach these guys who committed crimes under his own banner. Instead, he asked Mao Xiang on the side to write down the names and appearances of the subordinate officials present.

When they arrived at Shaozhou Fucheng, Zhu Yuanzhang and the others were not idle either.

He immediately began to observe the public sentiment, and they soon discovered that the prices in Shaozhou Fucheng were much higher than where he had been before, and even much higher than in the Jiangnan area.

If something goes wrong, there must be a monster. Several people are keenly aware that there must be something big here.

Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was about to ask his subordinates to investigate, several subordinate officials began to collect taxes on the street.

"Master, didn't you just pay your taxes a few days ago?" an egg vendor asked.

The subordinate official said: "The tax has been increased a bit, but it is for the purpose of giving His Majesty the Emperor a training palace and to honor His Majesty. Do you understand?"

"Those who are willing to pay taxes are loyal people, and those who are unwilling to pay are rebellious people!"

Hearing what the subordinate said, the egg vendor dared to talk back. It was obvious that he had suffered a lot before.

All I could do was pick out a dozen good-looking eggs from the vegetable basket, wrap them carefully in cloth, and deliver them to the police officer in front of me.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was gloomy, and he led Zhu Biao and Zhu Di into a medicine shop.

After some inquiries, I found out that not only the vegetables, rice and noodles in the market, but also the medicinal materials were ridiculously expensive.

One tael of licorice alone is two cents more expensive than in Jiangnan.

You must know that according to the past, the most expensive places in the country were in Jiangnan, because the Jiangnan area was rich.

The drug store owner hurriedly explained: "Gentlemen, I can't help it. In previous years, the tax was thirty tax one. This year, for some reason, it was changed to thirty tax three."

“Why is there a sudden increase in taxes this year?”

"Then you have to ask our prefect about this. In the past, there were many types of taxes, and at least we could still survive. But this year, the increase has suddenly increased so much, and there is no way to do this business." The drug store owner said with a bitter face.

Then he began to popularize science with Zhu Yuanzhang about various outrageous local taxes.

There is no such thing as a commercial tax, a residential tax, a meat tax, or a road occupation tax. They are all collected at random.

If you don't pay these taxes, it's not enough. If you don't pay, you'll have to go to jail.

"Don't we need a general order to levy new taxes?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

The drug store owner raised his head and glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang. The look in his eyes meant several things. The first one was that he didn't realize that you were a man who understood the law. It seemed that your status was not low. The second one was that although you had a high status, you couldn't even connect. I can't see through this, I'm still too young.

"The general order is not a matter of a piece of paper. I heard that the entire Guangdong Province is doing this this year." The drug store owner said.

it is good!it is good!it is good!
When he first arrived in Guangdong Province, he encountered three things that made Zhu Yuanzhang feel more angry than the last.

(End of this chapter)