Later, Zhang Rui finally figured it out.

In the final analysis, the Manchus simply did not run China as if it were their own.

Although the Manchurians have already entered the Central Plains, they have no bottom in their hearts. After all, it is almost impossible to suppress the huge Han people with a small number of Manchus, and there is a Meng Yuan in front of them, which can be described as a lesson from the past.

Therefore, they are naturally exploiting the people living in this land, so how can they bother to build it?

In fact, the Lafayette in the back also understood this, so he dared to say shamelessly: measure the material resources of China and form a friendship with the country. That's the way it goes.

However, although the Manchus could not build a country, their control over the people was to the extreme.

And this control mainly comes from the living economy.

At that time, the average peasant short-term worker (now known as a temporary worker) was paid about 10 yuan a day.

In the twenty-first year of Qianlong, Lu Kuiyuan from Tanghe County, Henan Province, worked for the local Zheng Tianlu family for a long time, with a salary of 2,500 wen a year, and an average of 200 wen a month. During the Qianlong period, one tael of silver was worth one thousand copper coins, which means that an ordinary peasant short-term worker could only earn less than three taels of silver a year. The income of ordinary people who work for landlords is relatively high, and they can earn about four taels of silver. ①

Ordinary yeoman farmers (poor peasants) who own land earn about 20 to 25 taels of silver a year; Ordinary tenant farmers (farmers who make a living by renting land) earn about eight to nine taels of silver a year from farming.

However, the basic expenses of an ordinary person need at least five taels of silver a year, and if there are four people in the family, they will have to spend at least twenty taels of silver a year.

A middle-peasant family owns quite a lot of land, and they can earn about thirty-five taels of silver a year. However, the minimum annual expenses of a middle-class peasant family are about 38 taels of silver.

That is to say, they have to be in debt for about three taels of silver when they work hard for a whole year to live, and there is no production surplus at all.

And their situation should be maintained in the years when there were no natural and man-made disasters, if there was a famine, many peasant families would go bankrupt, sell their children and daughters, eat tree bark, and dig Guanyin soil. ②

It seems like a simple three taels of silver, but it is enough to make the people below run around and work hard to die for basic life. Naturally, they did not have the energy to rebel against the rule of the Manchus.

It is undeniable that the Manchus did have a good hand at enslaving the common people, but the whole country it obtained was only a few weak, selfish, indifferent, and insensitive slaves.

If the people of a country lack self-esteem and creativity, how can it develop?

The so-called food and clothing are full and know honor and disgrace.

Therefore, if you want to change the people who were enslaved by the Manchus, you have to give them food and clothing, a place to live, freedom and honor.

And the most basic thing is to make them rich. So that they can earn money and they can save money.

The so-called: the king regards the minister as a sibling, and the minister regards the king as the heart; The monarch regards the minister as a dog and a horse, and the minister regards the monarch as a countryman; The king regards his ministers as mustard, and the ministers regard him as an enemy.

Only by using practical actions to make them feel that you are really good for them, so that they can have food, clothing, a spacious house, and free speech. Only then will they truly accept you, support you, and defend you.

In fact, in the areas occupied by the bandits, the peasants who farmed the land no longer had to pay taxes other than agricultural taxes.

As for those unknown purposes, the bandit army is not allowed to collect them. Whoever dares to collect indiscriminately, the people can go to the local procuratorate to report it. Naturally, there will be officials who will come down to deal with it when the time comes.

Even the conscription, which had not changed for thousands of years, was abolished by Zhang Rui. Nowadays, most of the food that the army sells are auxiliary soldiers, and as for the people, they are also hired for money and grain.

It is precisely in this way that the happiness of the people occupied by the bandit army came so suddenly, and they all supported the arrival of the bandit army. At the same time, it is even more unconditionally supported for the work carried out by the anti-bandit army.

The people who benefited all shouted that the world must be ruled by the King of Han. Only when the Han king became the emperor would he treat the Han people in the world as his subjects, not as the Manchu Qing Dynasty did, and only regarded the Han people as slaves to be exploited.

Even, in the area occupied by the bandit army, if someone dares to say bad things about Zhang Rui in private, he will immediately be attacked by others spontaneously.

What the people think, Zhang Rui doesn't know.

The reason why Zhang Rui ordered that the annual family income is more than fifty taels and does not need to be taxed is because he feels that he does not want to be ashamed.

Because in Britain during the same period, an ordinary peasant household should be able to have twenty or thirty taels left over every year, except for the necessary expenses. And if the industrious people under his rule have not left a penny of silver after removing the basic necessities of life, does that not mean that they have failed too much?

Of course, this is not only an element of vindictiveness, but more importantly, Zhang Rui hopes to change the fate of the people who are exploited.

It is precisely in this way that in the area occupied by Zhang Rui, some people often joke: You can't even pay taxes, why are you talking about your family's money?

Even if someone marries a daughter, the first thing to see is whether his family can come up with the tax receipts issued by the government to his family.

Although the area occupied by the bandit army has not been long ago, the people are constantly changing unconsciously.

Before that, they were more at a loss and helpless about the future, and now they are looking forward to the future more and more.

And some people among the people also asked, what if the bandit army is defeated by the Qing army? Will we ever have to go back to living under the Manchus?

To this, some people replied like this: As long as the king of Han is there, the bandit army will not be defeated. Whoever dares to fight against the King of Han, I dare to take my life to him. As long as the bandit army needs me, I am ready to carry a knife and a gun to the battlefield at any time.

I don't know if this man meant what he said. But it also reflected from the side, in the area occupied by the bandit army, the people have tasted the taste of being a human being, and it is difficult for them to adapt to being slaves again.

"King Han, what's wrong?" Looking at Zhang Rui, who was suddenly silent, Chen Deyun thought that his words had stimulated him, and couldn't help but ask worriedly.

Although Zhang Rui's work is often incomprehensible, in Chen Deyun's mind, King Han is really good to their old brothers. It is precisely in this way that Chen Deyun respects Zhang Rui from the bottom of his heart.

Note (1): From the record of the General History of China.

(2): The information comes from China and the World in the Eighteenth Century: Agriculture Volume.