Chapter 736 835 Yingtian and Beijing

In the Ming Dynasty, the implementation of the nationwide one-whip method began in the ninth year of Jiajing. The earliest implementation was in Nanzhili and Zhejiang provinces with heavy taxes and levies, followed by Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi.

But at this time, it was only limited to certain prefectures, states, and counties, and was not universally implemented.

Since the reform of taxes and servitude affected the economic interests of the officials, gentry and landlords, there was great resistance and progress was slow in the beginning.

But even so, the people of Yingtian Shifu are also aware of the one-whip law. After all, their prefecture and county were still enforcing this tax law maybe two years ago.

But later, for some unknown reason, it suddenly stopped being implemented.

Whether it works or not, these things are really far away from the common people, and they don't understand them, but the pros and cons of implementing this method on their lives are still clear.

The temple is so high and the rivers and lakes are so far away, the common people don’t know it. But after the government officials once again came to each village to publicize that the imperial court was going to resume the implementation of the One Whip Law to collect taxes, the people generally supported it. After all, the comparison before and after the implementation was very obvious and it was convenient. many.

Although the taxes to be paid have not decreased, the collection will be completed twice a year, instead of more than ten times a year, the government will urge you to pay various taxes. The names of the taxes are also various, not to mention the common people and official officials. It must be made clear.

"My lord, are you talking about this tax being levied like it was originally, after two years and then no more, or will it continue to be levied like this?"

"Yes, sir, I remember a few years ago, when Mr. Hu was here, we kept him like this for more than a year. Then Mr. Hu was transferred away, and things changed immediately."

"Yes, yes, I remember that once Mr. Hu leaves, it will no longer be used. Is it still the way we collect taxes now? Will it change back in the future?"

In a larger village, a group of ragged villagers gathered around an official, chattering and asking questions.

Feeling a little annoyed by the noise, the official shouted impatiently: "Stop, stop, shut up.

What will happen in the future is a matter for the imperial court and the gentlemen to consider. It is not yours to say.

Besides, let’s move on to this now. How do I know how long this one-whip method will last?

It's not just what the eldest master ordered, I'll just tell you.

To be honest, it is convenient for us to collect taxes this way. Who would be willing to come down dozens of times a year just to collect something? "

After shouting at the people, although the people around him did not immediately disperse, they unconsciously took a few steps back, leaving a not-so-small space beside the official.

At this time, the official said to an old man next to him who was wearing a slightly decent dress: "Chief Qin, I'm coming down this time. That's what happened. Now the Yamen has to do what Mr. Hu did at that time." Tax collection, do you remember?”

"Remember, just come to the village and I will do a good job."

Chief Qin Jia was also from this village. At this moment, he nodded and bowed to the yamen servants photographed by the county yamen.

"Look at these people in Qinmen Village. They ask so many questions. No wonder their clothes are so shabby. If you have time to ask questions, you might as well weave two more feet of cloth and dress decently.

You just have to do whatever the court wants to collect taxes. It's convenient for you, but it's not convenient for us either. "

The official glanced at the surrounding villagers and said with disdain.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Cha is right, these villagers are just lazy and lazy all day long, that's why they live like this.

If their little land had listened to me and given it to Mr. Xu to be a tenant with peace of mind, it would have been so troublesome. Mr. Cha, don’t you think so? "

The commander said again.

"Qin Jia is still a wise man, but now my master's mind has changed again, and I can't say anything like surrender.

The first few villages knew that they had returned to this situation. How could people who had just donated their money for just two years regret it? Haha.

I just said, what are you crying about? Maybe it will change back after two years. What is there to cry about? Do you think you are right?

They are all farmers anyway, so what does the little land in their hands mean?

Mr. Xu kindly took over your land without even looking at it, and even let you farm the same land as you did back home. What else do you expect?

Just farm the land with peace of mind. You really think you can dig out a golden baby from the soil. If someone really takes a small amount of land, you will have to cry and beg to give it away in two years. "

The official said with a joking smile. Apparently he had done some shady things in the past, and he seemed to have a very open mind about the following things.

Indeed, what he said was correct. Those who listened to him and donated their land deeds and household registers now live a simple life even though they no longer have the land inherited from their families.

As long as you pay the rent every year, you don't have to worry about anything.

If all the farmers in this area gave away their land, he wouldn't have to come here this time. Who would want to go to this remote place?

"Okay, let's clean up. I have to rush back to the county to do some work."

The official looked at the farmers around him with a look of contempt on his face.

"Master, the village has prepared a small gift, I will send it to you right now."

The commander hurriedly smiled and waved to his son behind him, gesturing for him to go back to the thing.

"How embarrassing is this? It will cost Brother Qin a lot of money when we come back."

The officer pretended to decline, and the title changed now. It was no longer so blunt, but instead he was called "brother" affectionately.

"Master Cha took the trouble to come to our small village. It's already hard work, and there isn't much good stuff in the village. There are just some local specialties. I hope Master Cha will accept it."

"Okay, okay, stop talking. Then I'll accept it shamelessly. Seeing how polite you are, it seems like it's my fault if you don't accept it."

The official and the yamen runner walked out of the crowd, talking and laughing, and walked out of the village. There was a donkey tied under a big tree at the head of the village.

Soon, chickens and ducks were tied to the donkey's back. The official just bowed to Qin Jiachang, untied the reins, climbed on the donkey's back, rode the donkey, humming a little tune and swaying away.

In these two days, the people of Yingtian Prefecture also began to talk about it, pointing fingers at the "One Whip Law" that was suddenly introduced.

Most of the people who have land and households certainly support this tax law, because after the implementation of this law, although their burden will be slightly heavier, they will no longer have to worry about being drafted to do corvée, which is the root cause of family ruin.

Although they support this decree, they are also worried that it will be abolished after one or two years of implementation, and return to the original tax collection method, and they have to remind the village's Jiachang and Lichang to serve the big figures with fear and caution.

As for the officials in the yamen, they are still a little far away from them, so they are not very worried.

As for those who have already donated their land, they naturally hope that this law will soon come to an end, because they have lost out.

Their land was given to others, at least on the surface. The land deed is in someone else's name, and they can only continue to cultivate it. The reason for this is that they have a bad relationship with the head of the village and the head of the village, and they are worried that they will be drafted to perform corvée and die in a foreign land.

Although the land was given away, the annual rent to be paid is actually only slightly higher than those of self-cultivating farmers, but no longer worrying about corvée seems to be acceptable.

However, if the court really implements this law for a long time in the future, it will be a bit of a loss.

After all, the most important thing is that their status has changed after the donation.

Not only did they lose the nominal ownership of the land, but they also lost their household registration and became slaves of the master's family. If they can have a promising child, they cannot participate in the imperial examination, which is a shame to their ancestors.

In stark contrast to the views of later generations on farmers of this era, although the people of the Ming Dynasty as a whole were subject to various "harsh taxes", the overall living standard was not as low as imagined.

Each farmer would send their children to elementary school when they were eight or nine years old, and study in private schools for one or two years so that they could recognize a few words and at least write their own names.

The awareness that "everything is inferior, only reading is superior" is deeply rooted in people's hearts.

If the private school teacher says that the child is talented, then he will sell his pot and iron to support his child's studies until he can no longer afford it, in order to gamble on the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination, hoping that his child can fight his way out of the thousands of troops, and get the fame of Juren and Jinshi, and finally become an official, completely changing the fate of the family.

Why is the culture of Jiangnan so prosperous? Because the folk customs are like this, everyone is willing to let their children study for a bright future, and even sell their houses and land to gamble on the future of the whole family.

Of course, such families are few and far between, and private school teachers will not lie to deceive children who have no talent for studying to study in private schools for the sake of the annual tuition, saying that they are the descendant of Wenquxing.

They are all people with achievements, and they still have to have face.

If they accept too many useless students, few of them can pass the examination even for the title of scholar, and they will feel ashamed in front of their classmates and friends.

For teachers who run private schools, their own road to fame is hopeless, so they put their hopes on their own children and scholars, and the requirements for scholars are naturally better to have no one than to have a bad one.

At this time, those families who donated land will sadly find that their children cannot take the imperial examination because they are slaves of the master's family. Even if the master's family kindly agrees that their children can take the examination, it must be in the name of the master's children.

So, their hearts began to change.

In order for their children to succeed, some families will start to make trouble with the master's family, hoping to unite more people's strength and change something together.

The title deed had been changed, so naturally there was no hope. However, as long as they could file a complaint with the government, even if they could not get the land back, they would at least want to change the relationship between the slaves and the master to a tenant relationship, and restore their own household register, so that their children could go to school.

Officially, when the ten prefectures of Yingtian and their subordinate states and counties began to vigorously convey the implementation of the "One Whip Law" policy to the people, the people in the folks also began to spontaneously connect.

Of course, those who participated in the connection were those who had donated land and committed themselves to being servants in the early years, and the most active among them were naturally those who had someone in the family studying and who was considered by the teacher to have a talent for studying.

However, all this had just begun. Although there were some actions below, it was not completely out of the question. Everyone was more aware of the changes in the court's policies through various channels.

It was not until a few days later that they knew that Jiangxi had obtained permission from the court to start the pilot implementation of the One Whip Law throughout the province as early as last year, and the court seemed to be planning to implement it nationwide, that their hearts, which had been eager to move before, became completely hot.

One petition after another flew into the county and prefectural offices. Whether it was the county magistrate or the prefect, they all knew the connection. If such a petition was handed to them in normal times, they would just throw it away without even looking at it, but now the situation is different.

Who is the governor of Yingtian?

He is the famous Hai Rui, who dared to carry the coffin to advise Emperor Jiajing, and who cursed the emperor and the treacherous ministers in a memorial, and who completely disregarded life and death.

When he was in office in Jiangxi and Zhejiang, he cracked down on the powerful, dredged rivers, built water conservancy projects, advocated severe punishment of corrupt officials, prohibited bribery for personal gain, and implemented the "One Whip Law", forcing gentry to return land to the people, so he was known as "Hai Qingtian".

Well, these petitions seem to be common in Chun'an and Xingguo. If he pretends to be stupid and fools around at this time, he will be in trouble.

The higher the official, the more powerful he is. Even if the officials are afraid of the gentry, they are more worried about Hai Rui at this time.

If this guy goes crazy, they can't afford to offend him.

So, the officials who received the petitions all sent them to the governor's office. If they can't afford to offend him, then let's see if Governor Hai dares to offend him.

Just when Hai Rui was reading the petitions sent by various prefectures and counties every day and felt shocked, Wei Guangde and other cabinet ministers were once again summoned by Li Chunfang to the duty room in the cabinet of the imperial city in the capital to discuss matters.

This time, they were discussing several memorials that appeared today. The cabinet ministers were not able to make a decision after reading them, so they handed them to the Prime Minister for his decision.

"You have all read them, so let's talk about the first memorial first. Liu Tao, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, resigned from the concurrent management of Fujian military affairs because the pirates had been pacified. He also said that Guangdong's military preparations and control of Fujian Zhangquan were temporary expedients. Now I ask to restore the old title."

Li Chunfang said.

If Wei Guangde had not taken out the letter from Yu Dayou, such a memorial would definitely be "yes".

But the situation is different now. Everyone knows that the pirates and Japanese pirates have not been wiped out, but have retreated to the sea.

Although they are afraid of being killed by the government army, they may come back after all.

After Li Chunfang finished speaking, he saw that everyone looked at Wei Guangde, obviously waiting for him to speak.

Wei Guangde heard Yin Shizhan mention this memorial at noon, and it was he who sent it to Li Chunfang.

Wei Guangde also noticed it. Seeing that Chen Yiqin and Zhang Juzheng were looking at him, he had to cough and said, "Gentlemen, as a good loan, just agree."

He knew that the reason why Yin Shizhen submitted this memorial was that he was worried that the pirates would make a comeback. If he approved it, the responsibility would be on his head.

The emperor would not be wrong, only the assistant ministers were wrong.

"Now the large pirates have been wiped out by the government army, and the small pirates are no longer a force to be reckoned with. Even if the original military system of Fujian and Guangdong is restored, they can still cope with it."

Wei Guangde continued to explain why he said that, that is, the existing pirates no longer pose a threat to the mainland, so there is no need to let Liu Tao continue to be the governor of Fujian military affairs.

"Yifu, what do you think?"

After listening to Wei Guangde's words, Li Chunfang turned to Chen Yiqin and asked.

Chen Yiqin nodded. He agreed with Wei Guangde's words. Although Yu Dayou said that only the large pirates were defeated, there were also stragglers who fled.

It was normal for Yin Shizhen to be worried, but Wei Guangde's words seemed more realistic.

So he nodded and said to Li Chunfang: "Prime Minister, I have no objection to Shandai's words, and the cabinet can support it. '