Zhang Sunzhen and Chen Zilong were taken aback when they heard Ma Cheng say that the officials and gentry were on an errand to pay grain and return to the public with fire consumption, although they didn't know the specific meaning of these two terms, but these two people were officials who had accumulated years, so they could naturally understand what they meant literally.

Chen Zilong stepped forward to cover Ma Cheng's mouth and whispered, "My Supervisor, are you crazy?" This kind of thing must not be said nonsense, if it spreads out for a star and a half, not only you, but also Yuansuke will be ruined! ”

Chen Zilong's worries are not unreasonable, these two things have touched the core interests of officials, whether they are implemented or not, as long as the wind spreads, the officials who discuss this matter will be unlucky, whether you are a eunuch party or a Donglin party.

Zhang Sunzhen was also frightened half to death by Ma Cheng's words, although he wanted to implement a whip law, but what Ma Cheng said was completely two things, a whip method was just a skin, and what Ma Cheng said was preparing to pout the ancestral graves of all officials in the world.

"Zhonghe Xian, who did you listen to these two new methods? Is it Gensuke or which literati? ”

It is true that Zhang Sunzhen is Ma Shiying's henchman, but he is not a cronie, and now he is very shocked to hear Ma Cheng say this, and hurriedly asked who Ma Cheng said he was listening to? Zhang Sunzhen summed up in his heart, if these two measures were what Ma Shiying wanted, then it seemed that he should stay away from Ma Shiying to avoid news leakage affecting his small pond fish.

But Zhang Sunzhen was wrong, don't say it's Ma Shiying, no one in the Ming Dynasty can come up with it or dare to think of it, this is all what Ma Cheng learned about watching TV series in later generations. But Ma Cheng can't say that he learned from watching TV series, he can only say: "These are all things that the kid thought of himself!" ”

Zhang Sunzhen and Chen Zilong both know what kind of virtue Ma Cheng is, although he doesn't know a word from Douda, but at most he knows a basket, how can this kind of national plan be thought of by an illiterate? So after hearing what Ma Cheng said, the two of them looked at Ma Cheng with strange eyes.

Ma Cheng saw these two people looking at him like this, and knew that these two people didn't believe him, so he hurriedly said loudly: "This is really what the kid thinks about himself, although the kid is not very literate, but he is smart, and he thinks diligently every day, just to share his father's worries!" One day, suddenly there was a flash of wisdom, and then I thought of these two good prescriptions! ”

Although Ma Cheng struggled to explain, Zhang Chen and the others obviously didn't believe what he said, Zhang Sunzhen was not in the mood to care about Ma Cheng's nonsense at this time, lowered his head and thought for a while and said: "Zhonghe, among the people, today's matter must be kept secret, if we leak a little, the three of us will be in trouble!" ”

Chen Zilong also knew that the matter was important, and hurriedly promised: "Lord Fantai, please rest assured, you know what to do!" ”

Ma Cheng saw that the two of them were talking to themselves, so he excluded him, and hurriedly asked on the side: "Uncle Zhang, when will the little nephew just say that the officials and gentry pay the grain and the fire consumption will be implemented?" ”

Zhang Sunzhen saw that Ma Cheng, a two-pole who didn't understand the importance of things, was so angry that he said angrily: "Master Inspector, you don't have to worry about these things!" After speaking, Zhang Sunzhen picked up the tea and said: "The old man is tired, so he won't leave the two of them to eat, send off the guests!" ”

Ma Cheng saw that Zhang Sunzhen had already sent off the guests, so he stood up unhappily and took Chen Zilong out. Ma Chen and the others left, but Zhang Sunzhen couldn't calm down, what Ma Cheng said just now was too much

He was shocked, but now that he thought about it, the two new methods that Ma Cheng said were very suitable for the current situation.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, at the end of the dynasty, land annexation has reached the extreme, and a large area of land here in Nanzhili belongs to the big families, and these big families don't have to pay a penny to the state because of various privileges. However, the state needs money to exercise the power of the state, it needs money for domestic rebellions, it needs money for disaster relief in the north, it needs money to fight the Manchus, and it is really difficult to move an inch without money. Therefore, in the last years of Chongzhen, the three major salaries have risen to the standard of one tael or four yuan per mu of land, but in the end, the tax collected by the imperial court is only more than 7 million taels, which means that there are less than 10 million mu of land in the whole country to pay taxes.

Of course, a country can't just have 10 million acres of land, so where does the rest of the land go? One is that a large number of clans have occupied the land, and the other is the land forcibly occupied by countless people, jinshi, and officials across the country.

Needless to say, just here in Nanzhili, the Xu Jiejia in Songjiang Mansion occupies more than 200,000 mu of land, the Xu Taishi family in Suzhou also has nearly 100,000 mu of land, and the rest of the Qian Qianyi family in Changshu, Wang Shizhen's family in Taicang, Chen Zilong and Xia Yunyi's family in Huating, which family is not a big landlord with tens of thousands of acres of land?

These big landlords relied on the accumulation of several generations of officials in their own families, and colluded with local tycoons, and in addition to not paying taxes, they also had to get involved in the commercial taxes, customs duties, and salt taxes of the countries of origin. During the Apocalypse, he could have collected millions of taels of silver in the salt tax and commercial tax, but Chongzhen came to power to get Wei Zhongxian and handed over all the government to the righteous people of the Donglin Party, and the court could no longer collect money on these three taxes. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, he could collect 640,000 taels of tea tax, but in the second year of Chongzhen, only 10 taels of silver were collected.

Zhang Sunzhen was originally an imperial historian and knew very well about these tax changes in the imperial court, but he was dismissed from office in the early years of Chongzhen, so he had no say in the imperial government.

This time, Zhang Sunzhen has become a feudal official again, and naturally he wants to put into practice the ideal life he has planned at home in the past few years. However, Zhang Sunzhen's personal level is limited, and it is impossible for him to invent any new law, so Zhang Sunzhen has to pick up Zhang Juzheng Yahui and implement a whip method in Nanzhili.

A whip method was not pioneered by Zhang Juzheng, but it was indeed promoted by Zhang Juzheng to the whole country, so Zhang Juzheng left a great name of a capable official in history. Although Zhang Sunzhen's character is not very good, he also wants to learn from Zhang Juzheng's history and leave a name, so after listening to the names of the two new laws said by Ma Cheng, he was overjoyed, and quickly wrote a letter to Ma Shiying, explaining the new law that Ma Cheng said, and then asked Ma Shiying what his opinion was.

Zhang Sunzhen wrote a letter to Ma Shiying in the mansion without mentioning it, Ma Cheng and Chen Zilong went out, and Ma Cheng did not talk to Chen Zilong, but rode on a horse and walked out of the city with his own soldiers. Chen Zilong originally wanted to return to the Yamen, but was coerced by Ma Cheng's own soldiers, so he had no choice but to follow Ma Cheng out of the city.

The street in front of the Yamen Gate of the political envoy is called the front street, and it is connected with Suzhou Xumen to the west, and more than 40 miles away from Xumen is Taihu Lake, and the middle of Suzhou City and Taihu Lake is the best fertile land. At this time, the summer grain of Nanzhili has been harvested, and it is reasonable to plant autumn grain, but in recent years, due to the influence of the Xiaoice River, the autumn grain will go south without waiting for the cold current to mature, and the rice seedlings all over the land will be frozen to death, so the autumn grain of Nanzhili has been changed to plant some early-maturing crops, such as cabbage and other greens.

Ma Cheng led the team out of the city without saying a word, and happened to see a farmland on the side of the road, where an old man and two middle-aged men were farming. Ma Cheng stopped, came to the edge of the farmland, and shouted to the old man: "Old man, come here!" ”

The old man was farming with his two sons, and suddenly heard someone calling him, and when he looked up, he found a group of people standing not far away, led by a young man, dressed in gorgeous clothes, and at first glance he was not an ordinary person. Behind this young man stood more than a hundred burly men, all wearing the bright red military uniforms of the Ming army.

As soon as the old man saw this posture, he knew that the young man in front of him must be some kind of big man, and if he couldn't figure it out, he quickly knelt on the ground with his two sons and shouted to meet Lord Yanai.

Ma Cheng saw that the father and son were scared like this, and hurriedly said with a pleasant face: "Old man, come here, I have something to ask you!" ”

Seeing that Ma Cheng was amiable, the old man came to Ma Cheng tremblingly, knelt down and said, "I don't know what is the matter with this little old man in the Yanei?" ”

Ma Cheng saw that the old man's face was full of wrinkles, he was sixty or seventy years old, and his two sons were also in their forties.

"Old man, are you expensive this year?"

The old man didn't know what Gui Geng meant, and Gu Yong behind Ma Cheng said, "Ask how old you are!" ”

Gu Yong's tone was a little heavy, the frightened old man didn't dare to speak for a long time, Ma Cheng glared at Gu Yong, waved his hand to keep him away, and then asked, "Old man, how old are you?" Are those two your sons? ”

Seeing Ma Cheng's appearance, the old man said: "Little Lao'er is forty-three, those two are my sons, Ah Da is twenty-six years old, Ah Twenty-four years old." ”

It turned out to be a father and son, but this age difference is too much. Ma Cheng is twenty-two years old this year, although he is a little old after a long battle, he is also much younger than that Ah Er. As for this old man, he is similar in age to Chen Zilong behind him, how can he look like Chen Zilong's grandfather.

Ma Cheng turned around and asked Chen Zilong: "Mr. Chen, are you Guigeng this year?" ”

"Lord Hui, born in the thirty-sixth year of Wanli, he is forty-one years old this year!"

Ma Cheng looked at Chen Zilong, and then at the old man, obviously only two years old, how could he be like two generations. Chen Zilong's jade tree is in the wind, coupled with the short beard hanging down to his chest, he looks like a good son, and some people believe him in his early thirties. But the old man in front of him has been weathered and weathered, and he looks sixty years old.

Chen Zilong was embarrassed by Ma Cheng, so he had to explain in a low voice: "My lord, the people work in the fields every day, and it is normal for them to be old in the wind and sun!" ”

Seeing that Chen Zilong was embarrassed, Ma Cheng didn't look at him, but turned his head and asked, "Old man, is this your family's field?" How is the harvest every year? ”

The old man looked at Ma Cheng and asked him, and replied crampedly: "Back to this adult, this is not the field of the little old man, this is the field of Chen Juren in the city, and the little old man is the tenant of the Chen family!" ”

Chen Zilong has been the prefect of Suzhou for more than a year, and he knows the big and small families in the city very well, so he hurriedly whispered: "My lord, this Chen Juren is called Chen Daoxuan, and he is a Juren in the forty-sixth year of Wanli!" After Chen Zilong finished speaking, he looked at Ma Cheng again, and then continued: "It's a lowly uncle!" ”