I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 235 Two more years have passed.

...

Spring passed and autumn came, and two more years passed, until the eighth year of Hongwu's reign.

Under the dual pressure of Song Jiang's rebel army and the imperial court's ruthless policies, the gentry in the north were either eliminated or compromised, and almost all of them accepted the two new policies.

The poll tax was distributed across the land, abolishing the millennia-old "head tax." Previously, the poll tax in the north was often difficult to collect due to population concealment and the problem of migrants. After the reform, land was used as the basis for taxation, and northern gentry were also required to pay taxes based on land area. This reduced the tax burden on landless or land-poor people in the north, making the court's tax base in the north more stable and significantly increasing fiscal revenue. Furthermore, the privilege of the gentry class being exempt from corvée labor and taxes was broken, requiring northern gentry to pay land taxes and undertake corvée labor (or pay in kind) like the northern common people. This broadened the taxpayer base, reduced tax loopholes, and further increased the court's fiscal revenue.

Previously, the tax exemption privileges of the gentry led to a situation where "the rich owned vast tracts of land yet faced light taxes and corvée labor, while the poor had no land to stand on yet faced heavy taxes and corvée labor," placing a heavy burden on the common people. After the reforms, the privileges of the northern gentry were weakened, the tax burden on the northern people became more equitable, and public resentment caused by unequal taxation decreased in the north. The survival pressure on the lower classes in northern society was greatly alleviated. Furthermore, the "Equalization of Land Tax and Corvée Labor" relieved landless people in the north of their worries about the poll tax, and the relaxation of restrictions on population movement in the north allowed northern people to engage in handicrafts and commerce more freely, promoting social mobility.

In addition, the imperial court vigorously promoted industrial development in the north, which sparked an industrial revolution in the Central Plains and shifted the focus of foreign trade to the north.

As a result, the situation in the north of the Zhao Song Dynasty was quite different.

The northern gentry, who had previously hidden their land holdings, saw a significant decrease in income from land after losing their tax privileges. They were forced to shift their funds to industry, and a large number of factories, such as textile mills, sprang up across the northern land like mushrooms after rain.

At the same time, with the development of agriculture, especially the promotion of advanced agricultural tools developed by Ma Xiaojiao, farming no longer requires so many people.

—While fewer people were farming, thanks to the high-yield grains and advanced planting techniques developed by Yuan Qingcheng, grain production generally doubled, and in some areas it even more than doubled. It can be said that the North has almost achieved self-sufficiency in grain by growing its own grain.

As a result, a large number of surplus rural laborers, now well-fed, began to flood into the cities, injecting fresh blood into the emerging industries. These people took off their mud-stained clothes, put on clean work clothes, and transformed from farmers in the fields into producers in the factories. Their identities and destinies quietly changed in this historical torrent.

Northern towns expanded rapidly with the surge in population, and commerce flourished accordingly. Markets teemed with goods from all directions, ranging from exquisite porcelain to practical mechanical parts, from soft cotton fabrics to sturdy steel products—all showcasing the achievements of the Industrial Revolution. Merchants flocked to the area, and the streets were bustling with activity. Teahouses, restaurants, theaters, and other entertainment venues sprang up, becoming popular places for leisure and recreation. The once relatively desolate northern land was now a vibrant and prosperous place.

As the center of maritime trade shifted northward to Dengzhou Port and Banqiao Town Port in Mizhou, merchant fleets that originally only reached the south now frequently traverse the Bohai Bay.

At the docks, cargo ships laden with glass, soap, porcelain, silk, and tea sailed day and night. Spices from Arabia and Persia were traded with cotton products, sugar products, canned fruits, liquor, wooden bicycles, rickshaws, matches, clocks, kerosene lamps, flour, perfumes, and other goods produced by factories in the north of the Song Dynasty.

Customs revenue from Dengzhou Port and Banqiao Town Port in Mizhou increased more than fiftyfold in two years, making them new "golden ports".

To ensure the smooth flow of industry, the imperial court, backed by abundant finances, launched a wave of infrastructure construction in the Central Plains. The old course of the Yellow River was dredged and tributaries of the Grand Canal were excavated. The once silted-up waterways were reopened, and cargo ships loaded with cement and coal could reach the factory docks directly. Newly built official roads stretched out like a spider web, with horse-drawn carriages, wooden bicycles, rickshaws, and wheelbarrows flowing in an endless stream, transporting industrial products to all directions.

It is worth mentioning that after so many years of research and development, Ma Xiaojiao has made breakthrough progress in the development of the steam engine, and it is believed that the train will be born soon.

When that day comes, the economy of the North will not just take off, but will experience a true explosion of the Industrial Revolution.

In short, after years of painful transition, the north of the Zhao Song Dynasty finally ushered in unprecedented prosperity and revival. This transformative force not only reshaped the economic structure of the north but also profoundly influenced the lifestyles and ideologies of its people.

The scene in the South was quite different from the prosperous and thriving scene in the North.

With their deep-rooted power, the gentry group viewed the new policies and two strategies implemented by the imperial court as a monstrous threat and united to resist them. They colluded with local officials, used their clan influence to manipulate public opinion, and even incited uninformed people to riot, making it extremely difficult for the imperial court's reforms to proceed in the water towns of Jiangnan and Lingnan.

In terms of taxation, the South maintained a distorted situation where "the rich evaded taxes with ease, while the poor were burdened by exorbitant levies." The gentry shifted a large portion of the tax burden onto the common people by concealing land holdings and falsifying population figures. Countless tenant farmers had to bear both high rents and heavy poll taxes, and even in years of plenty, they struggled to survive. Hearing that the North was thriving, with everyone free from hunger and no more infant drownings, many farmers migrated north to escape taxes, ensure they had enough to eat, and achieve a life of food freedom. This led to the abandonment of fertile land overgrown with weeds.

Industrial development in the South was particularly difficult. Because the gentry monopolized vast tracts of land, they could have easily made huge profits from land rents, and clinging to the outdated notion of "agriculture as the foundation, commerce as the secondary," they refused to invest their wealth in industry, making it difficult for large-scale factories to emerge in the South. The few merchants who dared to try setting up workshops also lacked competitiveness due to the inability to achieve economies of scale. The streets remained dotted with traditional handicraft workshops, characterized by low production efficiency, limited product variety, and a complete lack of modern industrial character. Many shrewd and ambitious Southerners headed north to establish factories, and some even settled permanently in the North.

In the commercial sphere, although the South possessed convenient water transport conditions, it gradually declined due to sharp social contradictions and low purchasing power among the people. Once prosperous commercial centers like Yangzhou and Hangzhou saw sparse crowds in their markets, with shops closing down one after another. Compared to the bustling scenes of merchants gathering and goods flowing across the seas in the North, the South's trade routes became increasingly narrow, and its foreign trade relied solely on a few ports such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou to maintain a meager vitality. Moreover, the traded goods were mostly traditional silk and tea, lacking the competitiveness of emerging industrial products.

In terms of urban development, it cannot be said that the South lagged behind. However, because southern towns did not receive financial investment from the imperial court, and the North's demand for grain from the South was not as great, the imperial court was unwilling to invest more money in cleaning the Grand Canal. This forced the South to maintain its previous status quo, or even begin to decline. This contrasted sharply with the wide and clean official roads and the extensive waterways in the North.

In rural areas, a large number of people were tied to the land and burdened by heavy taxes. The common people had no ability to improve production techniques or promote new agricultural tools. The gentry made money by renting out land, and their income was guaranteed regardless of drought or flood. They had no incentive to increase grain production, and grain production stagnated for many years, wasting the precious land in the south.

In short, the social classes in the South remained firmly controlled by the gentry, with limited upward mobility for ordinary people and conservative, rigid thinking. Teahouses were filled not with discussions of industrial innovation and commercial opportunities, but with mundane family matters and outdated social norms; academies continued to teach the Four Books and Five Classics, with few paying attention to science, technology, or emerging ideas. This stagnant atmosphere, compared to the vibrant, enterprising spirit of the North, was like two completely different worlds.

……

Muzhou, Qingxi County.

Fang La, a man in his thirties, wearing a blue headscarf, a dark gray old hemp coat, a dark red coarse cloth belt, and worn-out slippers, addressed the hundred or so young men in front of him in a loud voice:
"The principles governing the world and the nation are the same. Children toil in the fields and weave cloth all year round, yet their meager harvest of food and cloth is squandered by their fathers and elder brothers; if they are slightly displeased, they are whipped and cruelly abused. Do you gentlemen willingly endure this?!"

"cannot!"

"The gentry have become richer and more powerful by relying on my resources, yet they bully me and deny me a way to make a living! Are you all at ease?"

"How can this be?!" "The court originally intended to introduce two new policies to alleviate the plight of our people, but the gentry, greedy and conservative, are determined not to give up sucking the blood and sweat of us, the people of the southeast, and are thus greatly hindering the court's reforms. As a result, our people toil all year round, while their wives and children freeze and starve, and they cannot even get a full meal for a day. What do you all think?"

"As you command!"

This atmosphere, resembling a pyramid scheme, was the result of Fang La, a Manichaean figure, inciting young people in the vicinity, oppressed by the local gentry Fang Youchang, to revolt with him.

Historically, the development of the North has lagged behind that of the South.

However, because the gentry in the south were too united, they managed the south like an impenetrable fortress, making it difficult for the new policies and strategies implemented by the court to truly penetrate. The prosperity and wealth of the south, on the contrary, became a breeding ground for the greedy desires of these gentry. This also meant that the south had no soil for industrial development, and Zhao Yu was unwilling to develop the south under the control of the gentry, thus increasing the strength and power of his enemies.

As a result, under Zhao Yu's instructions, the North, which implemented two new policies, developed rapidly and overtook the South. Crucially, the ordinary people in the North are now much happier than those in the South.

Yes.

In this era, both transportation and communication were extremely backward.

The gentry could temporarily deceive the people of the south by blocking information, keeping them immersed in a false sense of peace and oblivious to the changes and rise in the north.

However, the truth, like a tender sprout that bravely breaks through the soil in spring, will eventually be revealed in the sunlight.

As more and more southerners went north to make a living, the lies and deceptions once carefully woven by the gentry gradually dissipated like mist in the morning light. Those who witnessed firsthand the earth-shaking changes in the north and experienced the peaceful and prosperous lives of the people under a fair tax system returned home like a breath of fresh spring air, penetrating the carefully woven information cocoon of the gentry. They carried with them shock and hope, passing on the stories of the north by word of mouth, igniting the long-dormant flame in the hearts of the southern people by every campfire and every rice paddy.

Fang La had never been to the north, but he was a Manichaean and often heard his followers who had been to the north talk about the changes that had taken place there in recent years. This made him resentful, as he felt that the people of the south were like lambs imprisoned in darkness, while the light of change in the north seemed to never shine into this land shrouded in the greed of the gentry.

The key point is that once when Fang La went to wash his hands by the water, he saw himself in the water wearing a dragon robe and a crown, looking exactly like an emperor.

This made Fang La feel that he might become emperor.

What convinced Fang La even more was that not long ago, a Taoist priest with a Shandong accent met Fang La and gave him a copy of the "Tui Bei Tu" (a book on prophecy).

One of the diagrams in the "Tui Bei Tu" reads: "Ten thousand plus one point, winter ends and one is honored. Crossing the Zhejiang River, one's traces appear in Wuxing."

"Ten thousand" is "ten thousand", and adding a dot makes the character "fang". "Winter ends" refers to "la" (腊). "Chengzun" means to be the ruler facing south. Together, they correspond to the two characters "Fang La". The following two lines indicate that Fang La was rampant in the Zhejiang area, occupying various counties in Jiangnan, and his sphere of influence was in Wuxing and other places.

Therefore, Fang La became even more convinced that he could become emperor and establish a separatist regime in Jiangnan.

Fang La then organized this uprising.

"The debts of this spring have not been settled, and the debts of autumn are coming again. Public and private debts are fought and fought over. The grain has not yet left the field, and the silk has not yet come off the loom, but it is no longer ours. We poor people work hard all year, but in the end, our wives and children still suffer from cold and hunger. Even worse, some people rely on the powerful and wealthy to take away their land, wives and daughters at will, causing their families to be destroyed and their own lives to be lost."

"The people of the South have long suffered from exploitation. In recent years, the gentry have been stubborn and refused to reform, and the court and the emperor have abandoned the people of the South, which is even more distressing. If you gentlemen can rise up in righteousness, people from all directions will surely respond, and within ten days, tens of thousands can be gathered!"

"Upon hearing this, the local officials, to avoid punishment, will certainly not dare to report it and will only try to appease them. I will use a plan to keep them occupied for a month or two, and then the counties south of the Yangtze River can be taken in one fell swoop!"

"Upon receiving the report, the imperial court convened a meeting to discuss the matter, mobilized troops, and allocated provisions. It will take at least six months to dispatch a large army!"

"At that time, my power was already secured, so there was nothing to worry about!"

"At that time, I guarded the river, reduced taxes and levies to ease the burden on the people, and who from all directions did not bow down and come to pay homage?"

"After ten years, we will finally be united!"

"Otherwise, they will only die from the exploitation of the gentry!"

"What do you think?"

Over a hundred people responded loudly, "Good!"

Seeing that everyone supported his uprising, Fang La kicked over the wine table in front of him, drew his rusty iron sword from his waist, and shouted, "Since that's the case, gentlemen, follow me to kill Fang Youchang and rise up!" Then he strode out and headed straight for the lacquer garden where they worked...

……

(End of this chapter)