The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 623 Seven Tombstones

In the early days of the establishment of the Great Qi, there were frequent wars in the north, business was in decline, and the provinces were extremely short of cash.

If Zhang Juzheng's "One Whip Law" or the Qing Dynasty's "increase the population and never increase taxes" policy were directly copied at this time, the capital's deprivation and division of land returns would be sharply increased.

The collapse of the weak agricultural economy in the north is imminent.

In this context, direct state control of land production and the implementation of polarized rule is an expedient measure - at least it is better than allowing farmers to go bankrupt on a large scale and become refugees.

Of course, there is actually another way to solve this kind of problem, which is to carry out more human elimination plans in densely populated areas, just like the Qing Dynasty, to effectively control the contradiction between people and land.

Although Liu Zhaosun was cruel, he had not yet degenerated to the point of castrating himself for the sake of order and artificially reducing the population.

Compared with the impoverished north, Jiangnan is rich enough to withstand the turmoil, plus there are some other reasons.

This place became a testing ground for the empire's economic policies.

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The new policy may be able to deceive the untouchables and beggars, deceive the impoverished self-cultivating farmers, and fool the few ignorant small landlords.

But he couldn't fool Wang Heng.

Policy like increasing population and never increasing taxes is obviously not a good sign.

Wang Heng was very clear that the new policy was to take food from these wealthy and powerful families.

Saying that one robs the rich to help the poor, or takes from the rich to give to the poor, is all false praise.

The land measurement was not perfect as early as the time of Zhang Juzheng. Because it involved very complex aspects, the chain of interests involved cannot be explained clearly in a few words.

The focus of Zhang Juzheng's land measurement was not to crack down on the powerful and pursue fairness.

The integrated inspection is only to increase national tax revenue.

Similar to the era of Zhang Juzheng, the land survey of the Great Qi court was issued in the form of apportionment.

According to the standards set by Emperor Guangde, during the tax collection process, as long as the virgin land has been cultivated for three years, it will be taxed as cultivated land.

Usually, cultivated fields with fertile soil and considerable yields belong to landlords, while virgin fields are usually reclaimed by the lower-class people.

So, in a sense, land surveying—if successful—would broaden the range of taxable entities, regardless of the wealth of the landowner.

To put it more bluntly, after the empire has exploited the gentry and wealthy, the next step is to exploit the poor people.

First, redeem the land from the gentry (at a low price or for free), re-measure the land, and distribute it to tenant farmers at a low price or for free. Note that it is rented, which means that the ownership of the land has always been in the hands of the court.

Then, it wouldn't be long - usually three years - before agricultural cooperatives were established in various villages. The land was taken back from the tenants and unified into the agricultural cooperatives, which then distributed it to the tenants for cultivation. The agricultural cooperatives were responsible for management and distributed food and supplies based on the farmers' work performance. This was called collective labor.

In the end, the tenant farmers became part of the state machine, or a small part of it, toiling all their lives from birth to death, dedicating their all (except for the food they needed for themselves and their families) to the empire.

Compared with the past, the exploitation suffered by farmers under the rule of the Great Qi would only be more severe throughout their lives.

Of course, all the labor and dedication will be given more meaning in the slogan of fighting for the empire and educating the barbarians.

By eliminating the gentry and wealthy and winning over the lower classes, once the situation is under control, they turn around and exploit the lower classes even more, mobilize the majority of people, "rule" the minority of opponents, and realize the tyranny of the majority.

In the end, everyone was tied to the chariot that was moving forward madly and was completely drained...

They were forced to pay back land taxes, have their land confiscated, and finally have their homes raided and their names silenced.

Liu Ze had done this kind of thing before in western Liaoning, and now he was just very familiar with it.

Wang Heng understood Liu Zhaosun's ambitions better than any other gentry. So, at the most dangerous moment, this retired court painter of the Great Qi decided to lead everyone and fight to the death with the violent Qi.

Fighting to the death certainly does not mean putting yourself in danger. On the battlefield, you have to fight back with a knife - this is not something everyone is good at.

"How many soldiers does Liu Zhaosun have?"

"Qi has twelve major military corps. The smallest, the artillery corps, has 18,000 men. So, he must have at least 150,000 troops, right?"

Wang Heng shook his hand gently and told everyone a shocking conclusion he knew.

"No, Liu Zhaosun only has 500 soldiers, or even less."

"Five hundred soldiers? How is that possible?"

"How could the Qi army defeat Zuo Liangyu and Zheng Sen with only 500 soldiers?"

After everyone's discussion subsided for a while, Wang Heng coughed and continued:

"The Great Qi now has over twenty provinces, north and south, and its territory is several times larger than that of the former Ming Dynasty. Of the thousands of prefectures and counties across the country, at least half refuse to submit to Nanjing's rule, and all regions are merely maintaining a superficial peace. With 120,000 to 30,000 troops and 300,000 former Ming troops surrendering, what can we do with this small number of troops if we spread them across the country?"

"Liu Zhaosun has committed atrocities, and all the provinces north and south are rebelling against him. Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong all have troops stationed there. That's why I say he only has 500 soldiers in Taicang, perhaps even fewer."

"But everyone knows that Zhang Yunxiu brought a thousand men from Nanjing this time."

Wang Heng smiled coldly: "Don't forget, one thousand combat soldiers are to be used in the whole of Jiangsu. In addition to Taicang, Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture are also waiting to send troops. ... How many of a thousand soldiers can be allocated to Taicang? One hundred?" Hearing this, everyone felt that what the pimp said made sense, and the haze that had been suppressed in their hearts for many days suddenly dissipated a lot.

People began to whisper and laugh.

Eunuch Cao looked at Prince Wang with sharp eyes:
"Zhixian Wang's intention is to send someone to hand these soldiers over..."

Wang Heng dismissed the guests twice, shook his head and waved his hands, saying:

"I know you all hate Liu the thief to the core, and you hate Zhang Yunxiu, the hawk, even more, wanting to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin. However, the time is not yet ripe."

"What do you think, Prince Wang?"

Wang Heng was waiting for this sentence, and he reiterated the importance of silver.

"A generous reward will always bring courage. Don't be stingy with your money. Liu Zhaosun is in power in Taicang. What you have taken out from your homes is not just ten thousand taels, but your entire fortune."

Everyone was silent and listened quietly to Wang Heng's arrangements.

"If the young emperor wants to reform, we will follow his lead, but it must be done in our own way."

Eunuch Cao narrowed his eyes and found Wang Heng's words interesting. He smiled and said:

"If you want to take something, you must first give it. Retreat in order to advance. What exactly do you want to do, Prince Wang?"

Wang Heng said with a sinister smile, "How to do it? Pretend to obey, but secretly disobey! Openly reform the law, but secretly make things difficult for them."

"Master Cai, you are in charge of the Southern Grand Canal. Tomorrow, if all the grain transport boats from the same banknote customs are stopped, just say the sluice gate is broken."

Cai, the chief official, grinned and said, "The bank collects tens of thousands of taels of silver a day..."

Wang Heng angrily said, "Didn't I just tell you? If you don't bring down Zhang Yunxiu, I will confiscate your property and not leave you a single penny."

Cai Zhushi had no choice but to agree and follow Wang Heng's instructions to prepare to close the gate tomorrow.

"Several clan leaders." Wang Heng looked at the four major families in Taicang Prefecture and said word by word:

"The officials Zhang Yunxiu has sent to clear the fields in the counties below are only three or five in number. They won't be difficult to deal with. Prepare in advance. Kill a few of them and bury them alive. Don't even see their bodies, even if they're still alive."

The four major families in Taicang nodded. These wealthy families knew that instead of being gradually devoured by the Emperor of Qi and losing their fortunes, it would be better to fight now.

Wang Heng finally turned his attention to the governor of the weaving bureau.

He was the head of the weaving bureau and also the richest eunuch. After the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty, most of the elite Jinyiwei stationed in Taicang Prefecture joined his camp and became Eunuch Cao's loyal followers.

"Eunuch Cao, do you know Huang Wenye?"

Eunuch Cao sneered, "Of course I know. This person is not the same kind as you and me. He always thinks he is aloof, so no one asked him to discuss important matters this time."

Hearing that the court had sent people to survey the land, Huang Wenye, who owned 100 hectares of land (one hectare is 120 mu), actually took the initiative to collude with Zhang Yunxiu. He went to the provincial government every few days in the past few days, and no one knew what he was doing.

Wang Heng smiled awkwardly.

In the entire Taicang city, Huang Wenye was the only gentry with land of more than 1,000 mu who took the initiative to survey the land.

Manager Cai snorted, "In the entire Taicang, only the Huang family's money is clean, making us look so dirty."

Last year, when Taihu Lake flooded, the people of Loucheng suffered and were forced to sell their land. Huang Wenye always paid the actual price for the land, not taking advantage of the situation to lower the price. He sold the land in cash and gave the tenants a bushel of millet for every acre he bought. This year, after some farmers had a good harvest, he sold the land back at a low price. These actions are quite unusual in Taicang, where mergers and acquisitions are rampant.

"Since ancient times, good people have never been rewarded. Since Mr. Huang wants to plead for the people, let's fulfill his wish and take his life."

Wang Heng said murderously, "Please ask Eunuch Cao to send his assassins to sneak into Huang's house tonight and kill him. Make it look like he died from torture. Leave his body at his doorstep and take something with him, like a note saying 'Disobeying the Emperor's order, unforgivable crime'..."

Everyone gasped. They didn't expect that Wang Xijue's son was so vicious. Even if he didn't provoke a civil uprising in Taicang, Zhang Yunxiu's new policy would be difficult to implement.

Eunuch Cao looked at Wang Heng with a slightly different expression.

Zhang Yuan stood up and said, "Master Wang, I remember the Taicang Wang family motto: 'Do not deceive Heaven, do not harm others.' If you harm others like this, aren't you afraid of dying and being ashamed to face our ancestors?"

Seeing that it was Zhang Yuan who refuted him, Wang Heng snorted and said disdainfully, "The Wang family has a family motto that you probably don't know: Do not indulge in evil and cultivate your vitality. The thief Liu is the evil one in the world. To sit back and watch this thief harm Jiangnan and do nothing is the true deception of heaven and man."

"As for Mr. Huang, we deserved his death for the sake of the people of Jiangnan. I believe his spirit in heaven will understand us."

Eunuch Cao said in a sly tone, "Do you think the people of Taicang are fools? Mr. Huang has been so kind, helping the poor and needy, and alleviating suffering. The people of Taicang call him Huang Fozi. How can you convince them by having him killed for no reason?"

Chief Cai then asked, "Aren't you afraid that Zhang Yunxiu and the others will take action first and track down the murderer? And arrest us?"

Wang Heng said calmly, "People only believe what they want to believe. I have my own way of making them believe. The pawnbrokers, of course, are all helping us. As for the rest of the ignorant masses, their livelihoods are their top priority, and they're all about money over their lives. All we need to do is spread rumors that the new law will take their jobs, bribe a few guild leaders, and there's no shortage of trouble."

"We're not afraid they won't investigate. If they do, we'll investigate according to the rules. We'll send seven people over to him and form the 'Seven Gentlemen of Taicang'. If they dare arrest anyone, Taicang will be in turmoil. We'll turn our covert tactics into overt ones. Strike! Ban the market! Cut off the South Grand Canal! I wonder if the little emperor will surrender then."

"Burial alive a few of the officials Zhang Yunxiu sent to various counties to investigate land ownership. I've already contacted my father's former students and officials and sent them some more silver. When this gets out of hand, we'll all impeach Zhang Yunxiu, accusing him of disregarding human life in Taicang and forcing the people of Wu to rebel... This way, with multiple approaches, we can be sure of victory. Taicang's situation remains unchanged."

(End of this chapter)