Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 335 Happy Lantern Festival

Bai Siwen, who came from a local prominent family and was already a scholar, secretly cursed the traitor for his unchanging bandit nature.

When the rebels were loyal and had not yet rebelled, they had many conflicts with the gentry. Bai Siwen just thought that they were arrogant because of their outstanding achievements.

At present, the rebels are entrenched in Liaodong and Denglai, and they seem to be separatist. Why are they still as rude and disrespectful as before, and are only interested in squeezing money from the gentry and the rich?
Although Bai Siwen did not pass the imperial examination, his ancestors were high-ranking officials in the ministry, and his father was also an "old hand" who had been in the local officialdom for decades and had a lot of influence and lessons on him.

He knew very well that the gentry and literati were the pillars and foundation of the grassroots. How could the country be governed by a bunch of peasants?

You Red Turban bandits have just taken over two prefectures, and you are already frantically offending the grassroots. When the government troops arrive to reinforce and the gentry rise up in response, how will you, the rebels, be able to withstand it?
The right approach is to win over the gentry as soon as possible, consolidate the territory of the two prefectures, advance towards Qingzhou Prefecture, and then seize the entire Shandong region.

The hearts of the peasants should be won over, but the hearts of the gentry are not important?

Bai Siwen racked his brains but couldn't figure out what the rebel was thinking.

Are the Red Turban bandits going to do the same as the Dongjiang rebels did back then, looting some money and food before withdrawing from Denglai?

What kind of situation can such banditry achieve?

Bai Siwen remembered the northwestern bandits that had caused trouble in the early years of Chongzhen. Even now, more than ten years later, they were still not a force to be reckoned with, because they only knew how to harm the gentry and did not know how to win them over.

If the beggars had not suddenly emerged, the rebels and the Western bandits would have been wiped out long ago.

Bai Siwen thought to himself that the Taizu of this dynasty conquered a piece of territory early on, and then cooperated deeply with the local gentry, stored grain, built high cities, and slowly proclaimed himself king. Only in this way did he have the foundation to compete for the world. Otherwise, it would be a flash in the pan.

Thinking of this, Bai Siwen's resentment towards the Red Scarf Bandits deepened even more.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he heard a group of people talking heatedly.

"My whole family owns nine mu of land. So I'm in the first tier. Those with less than fifteen mu only need to pay 10% of their grain."

"Haha, this is great! My family can't pay much, but this year we can finally pay back Mr. Bai's principal and interest."

"My family owns 82 mu of land. Oh my! We have to pay 25% tax! This tax is too high! Eh? Newly reclaimed land only pays the lowest tax rate. Fortunately, 30% of my land is poor land that we reclaimed last year, so now we only have to pay 15%."

Only then did Bai Siwen decide to squeeze to the front of the crowd and carefully examine the notice.

The notice was divided into two halves, the right half contained the general content, and the left half contained several rectangles filled with text.

Although this plan was very novel, Bai Siwen understood it after taking a closer look.

The Ming government divided the land into several levels according to its fertility, and finally settled the final land ownership of the farmers according to the "unified tax calculation per mu".

For example, if a farmer actually has three mu of land, but calculates the fertility of the land, it is only two and a half mu. In this case, the tax rate should be based on two and a half mu. Of course, this is an ideal situation.

The Red Turban bandits were divided into different levels based on their wealth and the size of their land.

The lowest level requires a tax rate of 10% for land below 15 mu, while the highest level requires 40%.

In addition, the average labor force per household is also taken into consideration. If there are too many able-bodied men in a household and they are not divided into households, then the tax payment level will be increased accordingly...

Bai Siwen took a closer look and saw that the second-to-last tier had more than 100 mu, and paid 30% of its grain output, while the highest tier had more than 300 mu.

This is bad.

His Bai family is a big family in the local area. Even if we put aside the "contributing households", his family still owns tens of thousands of acres of land, and the number of people in the family exceeds the "level limit". Looking at the small additional brackets, if the highest level is raised by one level, it will be 50% of the total output!

boom!
Bai Siwen suddenly felt that disaster was about to happen.

Although the wealthy families have more acres of land, their annual expenses are also high. Even if the extra land is distributed among the adults, each person can still get several thousand acres.

But you still have to pay the highest tax rate of 40%.

Unable to afford the high pressure of heavy taxes, they had to sell off their excess land to less than 300 acres.

If the owner of 300 acres of land had a few more sons, when the family property was divided after his death, he would instantly become a small landlord of dozens of acres.

good good!
Bai Siwen cursed with gritted teeth, it turned out that the Red Turban bandits were planning to use a "disguised enfeoffment order" to slowly eliminate all the wealthy families.

He was just feeling resentful when he suddenly heard a group of impoverished farmers making a commotion.

"I just divided my property and only have 4.7 mu (approximately 1.5 acres) of land. Why doesn't the notice specify how much grain I have to pay?"

"Me too, me too. Didn't I see any notice about how to pay the grain?"

"I have three mu of thin farmland in the mountains. What should I do?"

Dozens of small farmers with limited land under their command frowned.

They were illiterate and did not understand the meaning of the complicated "progressive system" on the notice. Even after listening to the explanation from passers-by, they were still confused.

They only knew that the number of acres of their land was not included in the notice, and they thought they had to pay additional heavy taxes. They were so anxious that they were sweating and sighing.

They had originally borrowed money from the landlord to buy seeds and farm tools. After a year of hard work, the wheat was finally ripe. They were preparing to sell the grain to repay part of the interest and ease their debt.

As a result, when I heard the notice being read, there was no information on how to pay taxes for land of less than five mu.

What should we do?
Mr. Qian set a "deadline". If the loan is not repaid one month after the summer harvest, they will be required to use their land as collateral!
After a famine, poor farmers are often forced to sell a few acres of ancestral land in exchange for food to save their family's lives.

It’s a shame that old dog Qian took the opportunity to lower the price of land. Usually, the land would cost more than ten taels of silver, but he was only willing to pay two taels of silver for one mu. If the poor peasants refused, the landlord would take them to see the officials.

How could ordinary people dare to see an official? When they heard that they were going to sue the official, they were so scared that their legs trembled and they had to agree to the low price offered by Mr. Qian.

As a result, the old farmers fell from their previous state of being able to make ends meet to a state of extreme poverty.

They only have the last bit of ancestral heritage left now. If even this little bit of ancestral land is taken away by Old Dog Qian, they will not be able to face their ancestors!
Moreover, there are few jobs these days, and if you really become a landless refugee, sooner or later you will have to sell your children or even starve to death on the roadside.

The poor peasants pulled the literate people around them and hurriedly asked for solutions. For a while, the crowd in front of the notice was surging, and the cries and shouts were deafening.

Bai Siwen was delighted when he saw this and said that the rebels did not know how to govern the country, and now even the peasants did not support them.

The clerks were silent beside the government office. They wanted to show their former masterly style to intimidate these peasants, but when they thought of the instructions of the Red Turban Army, they could only let the peasants make noise.

Fortunately, the poor people's unrest did not last long because the patrolling Red Turban Army arrived.

They arrived quickly as if they had been tipped off.

"Don't panic, folks. Take a break and drink a couple of cups of tea..."

Several strong men who looked like soldiers walked in from the periphery.

They waved to the farmers, and then waved to several clerks who were in charge of the notice. The latter hurried into the government office and quickly brought over several buckets of herbal tea.

When the Red Turban Army understood the whole story, some of them immediately fell backwards and were carried into the government office by the other soldiers. Haha, Bai Siwen thought to himself, you traitors have finally met this day. You must have fainted from anger when you encountered a problem you couldn't solve, right?
Hahaha, so refreshing!

Bai Siwen suddenly felt relieved and wished he had a pot of good wine to drink.

Humph, the soldiers are so rude and violent. If you want to govern the place well, you still have to abolish the evil laws and ask the gentry to go back.

By that time, the price of winning over the gentry would not be the same as it is today.

Before his fantasy took shape, Bai Siwen saw the Red Turban Army, who had just entered the yamen, coming out again.

With new notices and buckets of paint in hand, they skillfully and quickly covered the old notices.

The new notice is not much different from the old one. The description of the tax payment level has become clearer and more specific. It is no longer about what tax rate will be applied for land below XX mu, but for land between XX mu and XX mu. In addition, several new policies have been added:

If you have no land but only five mu, you only need to pay half of it.

Landlords are not allowed to pay rent higher than 30% of the output.

The annual interest rate for any loan shall not exceed 36% of the principal, and compound interest is not allowed.

From the date of the notice, all "illegal" interests from the past twenty years will not be recognized.

As soon as these words were spoken, the poor farmers who were crying and wailing instantly quieted down. People who had less than five acres of land only had to pay 5% of their harvest?

The poor peasants stared at the Red Turban Army in disbelief, thinking they were hallucinating.

The Ming Taizu set a very low tax on self-cultivating farmers, basically fluctuating between 5% and 10% of the harvest, but this was only the regular tax of the court. The rice consumption, fire consumption and other surcharges added by grassroots governments were extremely high.

The actual tax rate borne by each farmer is far more than 30%, and in some areas it can even reach 50%.

For the poor peasants at the bottom, the policies of the Red Turban Army were like a blessing after a long drought!

Almost half of the burden on their shoulders was lifted, and they immediately jumped for joy, as if imitating the Red Turban Army soldiers who loved to jump, celebrating the good news they heard today.

If the Ming government promulgated this law, they would scoff at it.

They had complete faith in the Red Turban Army, which was desperately trying to put out fires and distribute rations to the victims. After all, the rebels had just arrived and had already demonstrated their trust through their actions.

The people around them jumped and sang, and returned to their hometowns happily, intending to bring the good news to their fellow villagers.

But the young gentry man like Bai Siwen standing beside them felt as if he had lost his parents.

Not only did they impose heavy taxes on the gentry, but they also set land rent rates and restricted loan interest rates?!
What made Bai Siwen even more puzzled was that these were just soldiers from the Laizhou County government office. For such a major matter as revising the tax rate, shouldn't they ask the Red Turban Army commander for his opinion?

After the generals gathered together, they called some direct advisors to discuss the matter together, then debated for several days, went to the countryside for dozens of days to conduct research, and finally reported the details to the general. Everyone then discussed the matter over tea, and finally came up with a new tax law after the summer tax was over.

This process lasted for at least half a year, and some inefficient officials spent at least one or two years, or even longer.

How come your Red Turban Army came up with a patched new tax law in less than half an hour?

Such incredible efficiency has never existed in any dynasty.

Bai Siwen immediately concluded that it was a few pawns who acted on their own initiative.

If even a small pawn can make important decisions for the commander-in-chief, where is the commander-in-chief's dignity and where is the hierarchy?
It's impossible that the Marshal communicated with you through the air, confirmed the information with each other, and then issued the order to pass?

However, Bai Siwen hated the Red Turban Army so much that he would not go to complain and help them correct the "usurpation" of the soldiers.

The rebel army was in chaos, and he was happy to see it happen.

Looking at this group of happy poor people, Bai Siwen cursed them inwardly for being so clueless that they couldn't even notice the Red Turban Army soldiers acting on their own initiative and just stood there laughing foolishly.

You see, once the Red Turban Army leader realizes this and changes this evil law, you bunch of peasants will end up in tragedy.

With malicious thoughts in mind, Bai Siwen immediately led his servants and retainers back home.

The Bai family originally had a luxurious mansion in the provincial capital, but it was reduced to ruins by a fire that burned down the city a few days ago, so the whole family returned to their village in the countryside.

Nowadays, the country is in chaos and war, and you may occasionally encounter defeated soldiers and bandits. It is a good choice to return to Tuwei and wait and see how the situation changes.

Bai Siwen passed through several villages along the way, and the people were cheering and celebrating.

I heard that the Red Turban Army also made mandatory regulations for grain merchants, stipulating that the price of grain must not be lower than the average price within five years. Of course, the different prices in years of famine are not included.

It is also not allowed to use low-quality silver and money to perfunctorily deal with farmers. Those who violate the order will be fined three times the amount of the goods at the very least, and at the worst, all their property will be confiscated and they will be sent to mines to dig for gold and copper.

Hearing about the gold, Bai Siwen had another reason to resent the bandit army.

It is well known that Shandong has many gold mines, which are mainly concentrated in Denglai. Originally, the profits were shared by the powerful gentry and wealthy people in Denglai.

The rebels are coming like wolves and tigers. How can we let go of this piece of fat meat?

When he thought about how, as a scholar, he could not enjoy any benefits under the rule of the rebels, his privileges were gone, and he had to lose his interests continuously, and he didn't even have a "high-ranking official of the Red Turban Army" to talk to.

Damn traitor, are you going to be satisfied only if I shave you from head to toe?!
Bai Siwen quickly returned to his hometown, only to find hundreds of simply dressed farmers standing in front of the earthen wall and making a lot of noise.

When he stepped forward and took a look, he realized that these people were tenant farmers who had donated land to the Bai family.

It turned out that the "new law" of the bandit army spread quickly. The peasants pulled the notices posted by the bandit army and declared that the bandit army had set the rules of "reducing rent and interest" and had also severely cracked down on surrendering and false sending of money.

Anyone who has calculated land acreage unreasonably or evaded taxes in violation of regulations will be banned one by one.

Bai Siwen was immediately furious. You bunch of peasants originally "voluntarily" surrendered to avoid taxes and military service, and you saved a huge amount of money and grain every year.

Now that the policy has changed, the Bai family's protection of you for many years has become meaningless, right?
These fence-sitters and traitors deserve to be severely punished!

The enemy army was strong in both men and horses, and he found it difficult to resist.

His Bai family specially hired a group of gun and stick coaches to teach servants and clansmen martial arts. Beating these peasants was no different from stepping on ants.

Just as Bai Siwen was about to order his servants to drive away the "traitors", he saw his father lowering several wooden boxes from the earthen wall.

When the box was opened, it turned out to be a lot of land deeds.

Bai Siwen was stunned and pointed at his father on the wall, speechless for a moment.

When did my father become so weak and vulnerable?

(End of this chapter)