Ming Dynasty: A mere unruly commoner is rebelling against the heaven?

Chapter 60: Hami Wei is destroyed, Your Majesty, please avenge us!
Hamiwei was in chaos, with people fighting everywhere.

The Turpan Khanate gained the upper hand in a short period of time with deliberate tactics.

After the initial panic, the soldiers stationed in Hami Guard reorganized small resistance forces in a very short time.

However, because King Zhongshun Han Shen had been assassinated by Ahem Khan, the group was leaderless and could not form an effective, large-scale resistance force.

At this moment, although the two sides have reached a stalemate, if things continue like this, the collapse of the Ming army is only a matter of time.

Amulang, the commander of Hami Guard, held a saber in his hand, his face flushed red as he kept hacking and killing the people of Turpan Khanate around him.

He had just drunk a lot of wine and his head was still a little dizzy, but he must not fall down at this time.

Because he was the highest-ranking border guard here, after King Zhongshun Han Shen was assassinated, he became the supreme commander of all Ming soldiers here.

"Don't panic! Don't get confused! Gather around me!"

"Go to the stable and get the horse! Quick!"

"Follow me, follow me!"

While Amulang was fighting desperately, he gathered the lone Ming soldiers and organized a team of dozens of people.

The team successfully broke through the encirclement and ran towards the stable where the war horses were kept.

But when they rushed out on their horses, they saw a scene that made them despair.

The west gate of Hami Guard was wide open, and the Turpan Khanate general Yalan led thousands of Turpan Khanate cavalry and charged into Hami Guard!
"kill!"

Yalan held a saber in his hand and pointed at the entire Hami Guard!

"kill!"

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen behind Yalan roared, waved their sabers, urged their horses, and rushed towards all the Ming troops in Hami City.

The charging cavalry versus the scattered infantry would be a one-sided massacre.

A large number of Ming troops were slaughtered by the cavalry of the Turpan Khanate, which made Amulang's eyes bloodshot.

But he knew that when Yalan led tens of thousands of cavalrymen to attack the city, the fall of Hamiwei was inevitable.

There is no point in charging forward at this point.

Only by conveying the news of Ahama Khan's attack on Hami Wei to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty as quickly as possible.

The most important thing to do now is to ask the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to send troops to help.

With tears in his eyes and full of hatred, Amulan looked at Ahamakhan and Yalan, memorized their faces deeply in his mind, and turned his horse around.

"Everyone listen up, follow me out of the Hami Guard from the east gate and report the intelligence to His Majesty!"

"Yes!"

Amulan and his group turned around and rushed towards the east gate of Hamiwei.

At this time, Amulan's actions attracted Yalan's attention.

Yalan immediately rode his horse towards Amulan and gave orders.

"Follow me and charge forward. Kill all the Ming troops. Never allow any Ming soldier to leave Hamiwei alive!"

"call!"

Hundreds of fat and strong cavalrymen behind Yalan charged forward with her and were about to catch up with Amulan.

Amulan's personal guards suddenly slowed down their horses.

"General Amulan, please go and report the situation to His Majesty. We will cover your rear!"

After saying this, the general of the personal guards turned his horse around and rushed towards Yalan's charge fearlessly.

"General Amulang, don't look back, hurry to the capital!"

"General Amulan, Your Majesty, please avenge us!!!"

"..."

The remaining dozens of Ming soldiers also tightened the reins and turned their horses around.

Following the personal guard general, the final charge was launched.

Amulan did not slow down or look back, with tears streaming down his eyes.

When he was about to leave the city gate, Amulan finally glanced back.

But he just happened to see that the saber in Yalan's hand chopped off the head of the personal guard general.

Amulang gritted his teeth, slapped the horse under him even harder, and ran quickly towards the capital. "Lord Yalan, one escaped!"

Someone pointed at Amulan's figure and reported to Yalan.

Yalan held out her hand: "Bring me the bow."

A two-handled stone carved bow was placed in Yalan's hand.

Yalan pulled the bow to its full extent, and the arrow shot like a sword, hitting Amulan's shoulder.

Yalan sneered: "Chase him, chop off his head and come back to see me."

"call!"

At Yalan's command, ten cavalrymen rode their horses to chase after Amulang.

Yalan, with the other cavalry, turned around and attacked Hami Guard again.

That night, Hamiwei was like hell on earth.

……

In September, the capital city had already entered deep autumn.

A cold wind blew, and the trees, flowers and plants lost their leaves.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was in the fourth Little Ice Age.

The weather was unusually cold, the winter was exceptionally long, and various natural disasters occurred constantly.

It is only late autumn now, but looking at the sky, it seems like it is about to snow.

In the palace, the Fire Dragon Officer had already lit fire dragons in various places in the palace to keep warm.

Zhu Youtang's office was also moved from the Imperial Study to the Hongde Hall.

This is a small hall located next to the Qianqing Palace. It is very warm with the fire dragon burning.

Hongde Hall.

The Minister of Revenue Xu Pu, the Minister of Works Jia Jun and the newly appointed Minister of War Liu Daxia were reporting on state affairs to Zhu Youtang.

Xu Pu looked through the account book he brought with him and reported to Zhu Youtang the Ministry of Revenue's summer tax revenue this year.

"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has already collected this year's summer taxes."

"In terms of silver and currency taxation, a total of 35164 taels of silver were collected, 521 strings of Hongzhi Baochao, 4512 million strings of household notes, and 3841 million strings of miscellaneous tax notes."

"The total amount of tax in kind is: about 1096 million dan of rice, about 541 million dan of wheat, about 2000 jin of silk, and about 135 million jin of cotton..."

Among these, one string of Hongzhi Baochao is equal to one tael of silver.

The remaining treasure notes had depreciated severely, with one string of coins being worth only one cent.

There were 4512 million strings of banknotes in the household register, but their actual value was only equal to taels of silver.

In terms of silver and currency taxes, the summer taxes collected by the Ming Dynasty for half a year amounted to only more than 100,000 taels.

Shockingly low!

The Two Tax System was implemented in the early and middle Ming Dynasty. The summer tax was completed before August of the year, and the autumn tax was completed before February of the following year.

Moreover, the taxation in the Ming Dynasty was mainly in the form of tax in kind, and the tax rate was surprisingly low.

The agricultural tax on private land is one dou of rice per mu, about 19 jin.

The official field has one to three dou and a little more, about 50 jin.

The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was 3.3/, which is only %.
The taxes collected by the imperial court were very small, but the burden on the people was not light at all.

So who got all this money and grain?
What the people paid was grain instead of money, and the civil servants in the capital were not very interested in grain.

There is only one explanation: the grain either remained in the hands of local officials or fell into the hands of landlords and gentry.

Or, those landlords and gentry don’t pay taxes at all!

Zhu Youtang's face was as gloomy as water, and he stretched out his hand to interrupt Xu Pu's endless chatter.

Zhu Youtang stared at Xu Pu and asked only one question.

"Nanzhili, Zhejiang, and Ganzhou are fertile and have thousands of miles of good farmland. They are known as the granaries of the Ming Dynasty."

"How much are the summer taxes, silver, and rice in these three places?"

(End of this chapter)