Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 286 I'll give him double what he pays

The answer is naturally the yangban aristocracy.

They controlled the most land in the country, but paid the least tribute. They often used their dominant position to annex the land of ordinary people and forced them into slavery.

According to the tax books of the Joseon household department, players learned that the government held a total of 152 million kilos of land on paper. Before the invasion of the Japanese pirates, the total land in Korea was as high as 172 million kilos, and this did not include the number of hidden fields.

One knot of land is the land that produces 300 dou of grain per year, and 15 dou of Korea is equivalent to one dan of Ming Dynasty, which means that one knot of Korean land produces 20 dan of grain per year.

In the past, the yangban nobles only had to pay a symbolic amount of land taxes and tributes, but maintaining the operation of the country required a large amount of funds, and such a heavy burden was naturally passed on to the lower-class people.

The tax borne by self-cultivating farmers for each piece of land they cultivated was as high as dozens or even hundreds of dou.

If self-cultivating farmers were unable to afford the tribute, they would have to borrow money. If they could not repay the debt, they would have to sell their land or even become private slaves.

Over time, the land and the people all became the private property of the yangban nobles.

A yangban family often had hundreds of slaves who worked for them, including farming, fetching water, washing clothes, chopping wood, cooking, tending horses, clearing out manure, cleaning, weaving, mending, dressing, washing feet, carrying things, and beating...

This feudal dependent relationship is often unchangeable from generation to generation. If your parents are slaves, you will be born a slave too.

But now the new king has borrowed the heavenly soldiers to drive out the Tartars and decided to change the current poor and weak situation of Korea.

From the time the royal decree reached all places, taxes were levied according to the amount of land, with a tax of thirty dou levied in spring and autumn for each land. If taxes were paid in gold or silver, a 20% discount would be offered.

In addition, the coastal fishing tax, salt tax, and ship tax, which were previously controlled by the nobles, were all collected by the government.

The new king also encouraged mining and smelting in various places and increased the number of sea trade licenses...

As the news of the "Datong Law" spread, farmers everywhere cheered, as their burden was now reduced by at least half, or even 60% to 70%.

The people's lives can finally take a breather, and the North Korean government can also increase a large amount of tax grain.

But some are happy, while others are sad.

Thirty dou of tax grain was equivalent to one-tenth of the output. The nobles, who had previously paid almost no taxes, suddenly had an additional "fixed expense" and felt somewhat painful.

They would rather spend the money on wine and women than give it to the king.

What's more, the series of new laws promulgated by the new king have a somewhat provocative feeling of pointing fingers at the yangban and scolding them.

Why could the king just say so much and cut off the wealth and property they had accumulated over generations?

After all, North Korea is not the wealthy Ming Dynasty, and its central government is strong enough to crush local forces.

If the local tyrants here become powerful enough, they can really overthrow the king by force.

The Yangban nobles were not unfamiliar with the "Datong Law". The previous King Gwanghaegun and the previous King Taesang had both implemented similar "Seonhye Laws".

However, the former was overthrown by the nobles, and the latter was strongly opposed by the yangban class, and was hastily abolished before it was even fully implemented in Gyeonggi Province.

The new king has been on the throne for only a few days, but he is already eager to seek death. Does he really think that the nobles are well-versed in Confucian classics and only know the basics?

Anyone who dared not win over the yangban nobles would inevitably be "abdicated" or even die unexpectedly, not to mention that the new king's ascension to the throne would be somewhat tainted by a coup...

The spread of the new law made the middle and lower classes happy, but sighs were heard from an aristocratic mansion in Quanzhou City.

"I never thought that the villain, even under house arrest in the Eastern Palace, could still rally the rebels to rebel and usurp the throne! A few days ago, I saw that the villain treated the scholars harshly and caused the Pyongyang Scholar Disaster. I knew that this villain had the intention of treason. Today, I see that it is indeed as I expected..."

A nobleman in his fifties sighed, and the thick beard on his chin and cheeks swayed from side to side like a ball of broom bristles.

"There are more than thousands of imperial soldiers stationed in Hanyang. How could that villain succeed? Now that the evil law is about to come, what should we do?" Another middle-aged noble slammed the table, making the tea bowls and copper bowls clang.

"Master Zheng, don't be impatient. The traitor has already usurped the throne, and it's up to us, the loyal ministers and righteous men, to restore order. Don't you know the Central Plains fable: it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost?"

"Of course I don't understand these principles, but I still feel a sense of injustice and resentment in my heart, and I can't accept it!" The middle-aged nobleman said with a sad face, "The traitor has used the crime of 'collaboration with the enemy' to massacre scholars. I wish I could take a sharp sword and stab this traitorous leader to death with one blow!"

"Alas, the thief master is hateful..."

"Why not cross the sea to the capital and sue the rebel leader for treason?"

The twenty or so people present were slightly startled, and half of them quickly nodded in agreement. "That's right. The High Kingdom has recently successfully recovered the lost territory of Liaodong and has regained the might it once had in expelling the Japanese pirates. As long as the High Kingdom issues an edict, the Beiwei Army will definitely issue an edict to suppress the rebellion. No matter how many new troops the rebel leader raises, they are nothing but chickens and dogs in front of the Heavenly Army."

"That's inappropriate..." Someone shook their head. "Right now, the coast is frozen over, making it difficult to sail. Besides, diplomatic missions to the upper kingdom are subject to etiquette. A trip and return trip would take months, or even a year, and I'm afraid the rebel leader would have already established himself. Furthermore, there have always been bandits rebelling within the upper kingdom. We can't even mobilize the Beiwei Army to suppress them in time, so how could we allow the heavenly soldiers to stay in our Eastern Kingdom for long?"

More than ten years ago, we assisted His Highness in overthrowing Gwanghaegun, which was considered a rebellion without justification in the eyes of the upper country. However, at that time the upper country urgently needed the help of our Dongguo, so we conferred the title on His Highness.

Now, in contrast, it seems that in order to concentrate on suppressing the bandits, the upper country will still enthronize the rebel leader as king as in the past..."

This negative speech immediately made everyone fall silent, and most people realized that what this person said was right.

Although North Korea was forced to sever its tributary relationship with the Ming Dynasty in recent years, private smuggling merchant ships still brought news from the Central Plains from time to time.

The biggest trouble maker in the country was the beggar bandits, who almost occupied all the provinces in the Central Plains. If it weren't for the loyal governor Li who led the troops in southern Henan to contain the bandits, I'm afraid the beggar bandits would have already gathered a large force and marched north to the capital.

The rebels were active in the Shaanxi-Gansu area. They suffered a crushing defeat in an attack on Xi'an Prefecture and then retreated to the surrounding areas to capture cities and territories, but they were already a force in the northwest that could not be ignored.

The second most powerful group after the beggars are the Western bandits.

The western bandits broke through Jiujiang and joined forces with the mining bandits in southern Hunan and the Gezuo Five Battalions to formally establish a regime. They called themselves "the Grand Marshal of Civil and Military Affairs who acts on behalf of Heaven" and appointed Luo Rucai as the chief commander, Sun Kewang as the deputy commander, and Yang Wenli as the military advisor. They also conferred titles on other civil and military officials, and were just one step away from becoming king and founding a country.

Although the upper country recovered the lost territory in Liaodong, the situation inside the Great Wall was not optimistic.

"What should we do? The rebel lord promulgates one law today and adds another one tomorrow. The noose around our necks is getting tighter and tighter. Should we allow the rebel lord to act recklessly and cause chaos in the East Country?!" A rather young noble suddenly stood up and shouted loudly.

However, everyone also knew that the so-called chaos in North Korea was just the chaos among the Yangban class.

The new laws promulgated by the pseudo-king all benefited the middle and lower class people and merchants, and almost isolated the two classes.

When the "Xuanhui Law" was promulgated in the past, the two classes had many ways to deal with it.

The eight provinces of Korea are mostly mountainous, and the speed of spreading laws is extremely slow, while the lower-class people are mostly illiterate.

The yangban could easily manipulate the people's impression of the laws by blocking the channels of communication, distorting the interpretation of the laws, and colluding with local officials to continue to increase the burden on the people.

The new law, originally intended to ease the burden, turned into an evil law that increased the burden. The yangban then jumped out to play the good guys who "upheld justice" and led the deceived illiterate people to resist the "evil law." As a result, the disgusting "evil law" had to be repealed midway.

However, the fake king's experienced tactics were totally unlike those of a young king who had just ascended the throne.

It was common knowledge in Liaodong that the Beiwei Army hated the Tartars. As soon as they recaptured Hanyang, they immediately went to various parts of Korea to hunt down the Tartars, vowing to tear them into pieces.

Here comes the fake king's cunningness.

He ordered the slaves who had been demoted to follow the heavenly soldiers back to their hometown, humming the "children's songs" compiled with the new laws along the way, and even hired actors and actresses to perform the content of the new laws in various places along the way.

Nursery rhymes and operas are much easier to understand than notices. Even poor people who cannot read a single word can know the details of Wang Ting’s new laws, and they are spread more widely and deeper into the grassroots.

These propaganda teams followed the heavenly soldiers and stopped and walked, and the two squads did not dare to stop them.

This directly led to the fact that the nobles' methods of blocking reforms were almost ineffective - the people all knew the content of the new law, so how could you deceive them in the dark?
Even forcing the emperor to abdicate, a method with a very high success rate, has become a dead end.

The precedents of the Pyongyang Palace Scholar Incident, the Jeongjeon Massacre, the hunt for pro-Kuomintang officials, etc., all prove that the false king does not care about his reputation in the yangban group at all, and does not even listen to the evaluation of the scholar-official community.

He didn't care even if history books recorded him as a tyrant.

However, the yangban had to admit that if a monarch held military power and did not care about face and reputation, then his power would be almost unlimited.

"The false king is at the peak of his powers, so we can only be patient for the time being."

"Ah?" The young noble was startled at the words, as if struck on the back of the head by a hammer. He slumped down in a daze, his eyes fixed on the wine glass on the table. The milky white wine in the glass swayed gently. "Am I really left to the rebellious lord's yoke?"

"Well, a ten percent tax a year isn't that heavy."

"How can it not be a burden? My family owns three hundred kilos of fertile land. According to the new law, we must pay nine thousand dou of grain, which would allow us to purchase a civilian ship in two years! The Heavenly Soldier promised to open the Liaonan Salt Road, so I could make a fortune by buying ships and selling salt. But now, we are being exploited by the fake king."

The nobleman's face was full of resentment, but in fact his family still had a hundred knots of hidden land and had never paid a penny of tax.

"It's a pity that we don't have enough soldiers, and it takes time to forge weapons..."

"I think the time is not far off. The fake king is only twenty years old, and he has suddenly gained power over the country. He is becoming increasingly arrogant and domineering, and his flaws will definitely be revealed in the future."

"How about we falsely claim that the three southern provinces are auspicious and lure the false king away from Hanyang? Then we can march into Hanyang and restore His Highness to the throne?"

"No, the fake king is no child. With all the unrest going on right now, he won't leave the capital easily... Hmm..." The speaker paused for a moment before continuing, "But we can't wait any longer. Once the fake king has trained the new imperial army, it will be difficult for us to rebel again."

"Send someone to contact the two northern factions. Only if all parties join forces can we have a chance of victory."

"Don't get too involved. If the Northerners are exposed, the whole situation will be affected, and our grand plan will be ruined."

As soon as these words were spoken, some shrewd nobles quickly understood the hidden meaning.

Most of the Northern and Southern Yangban factions are "dissident" factions. It is better for people from different factions to cooperate less. When planning things, both sides will work together, but after the things are done, there will be fierce party struggles.

However, the young nobles, who had not understood the meaning of the party struggle, nodded repeatedly and said, "Mr. Lu is right. We must choose a loyal person as the contact person, and when the matter is done, he will be..." As he spoke, he made a gesture of wiping his neck.

"I still have one thing I'm worried about. If the yangban rebel across Korea, what will the heavenly soldiers do?"

This is indeed a wise statement. The Heavenly Army entered Korea with more than 30,000 troops. Excluding the Korean soldiers who returned to their hometowns and the casualties incurred along the way, they still had about 20,000 combat-ready soldiers.

The combat effectiveness of the heavenly soldiers is unquestionable, at least four or five times the number of the imperial army.

The nobles might not even be able to defeat the king's royal camp, let alone confront the heavenly soldiers head-on.

"The false king has been causing chaos until now, but the heavenly soldiers have turned a blind eye."

"So the Heavenly Soldiers only want to eliminate the Tartars and not interfere in our Eastern internal affairs?"

"According to Eunuch Zhao, not long after the Heavenly Army arrived in Hanyang, their commander entered the palace to demand money and food from Your Highness... It's said he demanded 700,000 taels of silver..."

"Ah! Seven hundred thousand!" Everyone gasped.

"So that's how it is! So that's how it is! The false king must have promised great benefits, which is why the heavenly soldiers turned a blind eye."

"The false king is treacherous!"

"If we also want the Heavenly Soldiers to stand idly by, we must pay more than 700,000 taels."

"Then give the Heavenly Soldier one million taels of silver! You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child!"

"one million?"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the heads of most nobles, chilling their hearts.

These nobles from the two classes had to each contribute a thousand taels of silver, or even more than a thousand taels of silver to make up for the loss.

Korea was not as wealthy as the Ming Dynasty. The gentry of the Ming Dynasty had to pay a few thousand taels of silver to break the bank, but they had to pay more than a thousand taels of silver out of their own pockets, which would have shaken their family fortunes.

Moreover, the amount of silver and copper coins circulating in the market in North Korea was even scarcer than that in the Ming Dynasty, and ordinary transactions at the grassroots level were basically "barter".

It would be fine if the heavenly soldiers asked for one million Huashi of grain, but it would be bad if they asked for one million taels of silver.

"I'm not asking you to pay money right now, why are you all so panicked?"

"But if we really defeat the false king, we can't afford the one million taels of silver. If the silver is not enough, the heavenly soldiers will not leave."

"Make a promise first! Increase the tributes of the common people, and take some from the mining and shipping taxes, and have each family share some. No matter how big the debt is, it will be repaid one day. As long as we send the heavenly soldiers away safely and restore His Highness to the throne, there will be no shortage of benefits in the future. None of them have any plans—"

But we must be careful that the Heavenly Soldiers may take advantage of both sides, so we must send out loyal servants who are not able to verify the details to make promises to the Heavenly Soldiers..."

"Mr. Lu is absolutely right!"

The conspiracy was thus decided. The next step was to unite other allies who had the "intention to rebel" and wait for all parties to reach an agreement and set a unified time to launch the rebellion.

Having finalized the plan, Lu Demeng excitedly raised his glass and congratulated everyone, but there was a hint of viciousness hidden in the corner of his joy.

He looked towards the door, and a more sinister plan intensified in his mind.

(End of this chapter)