The village drink mentioned by Gao Xianning before is a kind of regular gathering, with strict hierarchy and orderly. In addition to being organized by Confucianism at all levels of government, the village elders will also invite guests and gather villagers for village drinks. This was an important means for the Ming Dynasty to maintain the order of the common people.

The people who grasp public opinion in this are, of course, the gentry and village elders who are literate and literate.

Less than 50 years after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the rural grassroots are far from being rotten. The gentry, especially the meritorious literati, did not become discredited and used as a derogatory term for exploiting the common people. On the contrary, for the sake of fame, fame, or face, they often talk about moral rules, and they understand things better than ordinary people, and will do some good deeds such as building roads and bridges to help the widows and orphans. As a result, the villagers believed the words of the gentry more, or at least the people felt that the gentry were more reliable than the villagers, who were also commoners.

However, probation alone is not enough to deter the common people and maintain the "simplicity" of the people's customs.

The gentry generally had dealings with the government, and those who had studied in the county school even called the magistrate a teacher. With their connections and family background, the village elders and gentry can directly adjudicate some less serious disputes.

There is also an important activity in the village drink, which is to find out those "moral corruption", chickens and dogs, thieves, and bullies who bully men and women. If anyone is not used to being looked down upon by many people, they will be thrown out of the country drink; Then the township elders organized people to send them to the county office. After being approved by the county government, the people sent the bully to the border to open up the wasteland.

Therefore, if you are not pleasing to everyone, it is quite dangerous, and if you are not careful, you may be exiled in a daze. Everyone is afraid of offending people, and the folk customs are naturally simple.

The village drink in Xiguan, Binzhou Prefecture, has one on the fifteenth day of the first month; Recently, the villagers said that they would convey the emperor's holy message, and they temporarily added it again. All the villagers, men, women and children, went to the Tang family ancestral hall, and Tang Sai'er also followed her father.

This time, the local drink was more lively and grand than last time. The guests who came seemed to have a very high status, and those people were all in the hall inside, and it was said that there were scholars from Jinan Prefecture, as well as Xiucai from the nearby township. Tang Sai'er, a little lady who has neither fame nor an elder, can only stand in the courtyard outside, and there is no place to sit.

However, the people in the hall inside are very restrained, bowing at every turn, and they are not very lively; The courtyard outside is more comfortable, there is a commotion around, everyone is gossiping, and the mouths of those aunts and eight women have not stopped.

Tang Sai'er soon saw Lin San in the crowd. Lin San was also constantly looking this way, and when he saw Tang Sai'er's gaze, he was a little shy to dodge his eyes; On the contrary, it was Tang Sai'er, who smiled at him very generously.

Her father has been specially sent by Binzhou Mansion and has been found from other places, and things are done very quickly, and the people in the government are also "Donald" and very polite. With the elders in charge, she will marry Lin San this year. Tang Sai'er was very satisfied with Lin San, and heard from his neighbors that he was hard-working and strong, and Tang Sai'er occasionally had the opportunity to observe him, and found that he was honest and dutiful, and he would blush when he looked at a little girl. She likes this kind of afterlife.

Nearby villagers, some people are talking about the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect in Qingzhou Mansion, and the matter over there has already spread all over the place. This time, the emperor issued a holy decree to increase the number of village drinks in the township, and it is estimated that it is also because of the matter of Qingzhou Mansion, and even the villagers have guessed it.

It is said that there are more and more people in the White Lotus Sect, and they have captured Linqu County, killing officials and robbing the rich, like a flood, all the way to Changle County.

However, Tang Sai'er only wanted to hear what the Holy Decree had to say today, and she was suddenly very interested in this matter. Because she received some uninvited guests last year, the villager told her afterwards that the strong man "Hong Gongzi" turned out to be the Ming Emperor! No wonder that man made a generous move and gave Tang Sai'er a large sum of money, and those officials were also respectful in front of him.

When her father came back, he talked about it. Speaking of both sides, Tang Dad didn't know any nobles at all, and there was no way to help him when he saw injustice, he had always been working as a coolie in the place where the people gathered. The official lied, and the matter was very strange, and Tang Sai'er still didn't understand how the Ming Emperor found him.

However, the bag of money given by the emperor gave Tang Sai'er a rich and decent dowry for a relatively poor family. At that time, the Lin San family will definitely have a surprise.

After a few rounds of liturgy in the church, it was finally time to recite the decree. Hongori was walking up the steps and said, "Folks, don't talk yet, the gentleman wants to read the holy decree, and everyone is noisy and can't hear clearly." ”

I don't know who in the crowd said, "We don't understand." ”

Li Zheng said: "I understand, I understand." ”

Everyone was quiet, and Tang Sai'er listened attentively, she was illiterate, for fear that she would not understand the emperor's decree, but she wanted to understand what the man said in the decree.

"Fengtian carries the emperor's ......" came from a loud voice, and the person who read the text had a good voice. The guests in the hall fell to their knees, and the people on the steps and in the courtyard followed suit.

The voice inside said: "The edict said: A few years ago, the Ming Dynasty fought in the country, and the military disasters affected the people of Shandong. I know all these things.

My Emperor Taizu expelled the Tatars, restored his clothes, and sat in the world in the name of righteousness, so that the people were freed from the oppression of the Tatars, and Taizu wanted to let the people of the Ming Dynasty live a good life. The people of our family have always been most concerned about the people of Daming. When the people are in trouble, I am the grandson of the Taizu, and I will never ignore it after I know it.

I have decreed that from this year onwards, the entire territory of Shandong will be exempted from grain tax and forced labor for at least three years, not a single grain will be collected, and no one will be allowed to leave his hometown; And the money and grain were transferred into the country, and stored in the righteous warehouses in various places to help the poor and needy. May the people of Shandong rest and recuperate, live and work in peace and contentment, and be comforted.

Since Taizu, the royal family hates corrupt officials the most, and hopes that officials from all over the country will abstain from it, and they will definitely work with the court to tide over the difficulties. When the people of Shandong are suffering, if anyone wants to make a fortune through this, don't blame me for not saying ugly things in advance, you will have no good fruit to eat. Chin this. ”

The holy decree was actually written like this, and Tang Sai'er understood all the contents, and did not leave a word. She still remembered the voice of "Hong Gongzi", and she was vaguely in a trance at this time, as if she heard the voice speaking in front of her.

"Long live, long live, long live......" A shout sounded, and Tang Sai'er suddenly woke up and understood that there was no Hong Gongzi talking.

After everyone got up from the ground, the noise filled the courtyard again. Some people commented in private, and a voice said: "Grandpa Tai has a virtuous grandson, and we, the Emperor of Wude, also dare to act." Another voice said, "Japan, Tatar, and the West have all been beaten, and their martial arts are no less than Taizu." Someone asked where Japan and the West were, but the people who talked about it didn't know, probably he heard it from a scholar and then bragged about it in front of the villagers.

In a few moments, a handsome and white scribe came out of the hall and stood on the steps to speak to the people.

In the usual country drink, these gentry with status would not come out, they all spoke in the hall, and then someone stood at the door and relayed the indoctrination inside. Today, the gentry seem to have been influenced by the emperor's decree to be close to the people, so they went straight out to preach to the people.

The gentry talked about the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect in Qingzhou Mansion. It is said that when the leader of the White Lotus Sect was in the cave house of the villagers, he went to the bride's bed, but asked the bridegroom to serve outside the tent; Everyone was immediately indignant, and there was a burst of scolding in the courtyard. Lin San, who was not far away, probably because he was going to get married, was also indignant in the crowd.

After years of Confucian moral persuasion, the etiquette of men and women has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the people of the world are very resistant to this kind of thing that violates common sense. And the people of the clan attach great importance to the inheritance of their descendants and the spread of their branches, and this eldest son has become someone else's seed, which is simply challenging people's knowledge.

Tang Sai'er knew the local people who believed in the White Lotus Sect, but at this time she was also a little disgusted with the White Lotus Sect. Maybe because Tang Sai'er has a good impression of the current emperor and thinks that he is a good person, so most of the people who rebel against the emperor are not good people.

The gentry also talked about the White Lotus Sect's rebellious soldiers robbing the righteous warehouse, as well as all kinds of evil deeds. The person who speaks is a scholar who wants to be faced, and since he dares to preach it in public, most of the things are true, and the villagers still believe in the scholars.

For a while, the reputation of the White Lotus Sect had fallen to the bottom in Xiguan Township, and it was like a group of demons. There may be villagers in the crowd who have quietly believed in the White Lotus Sect, but those people can't keep their voices, and if they argue at this time, I'm afraid they will be immediately taken out and exiled to the border.

This time the hometown drink is very good, and the students and literati have a firm grasp of public opinion.

…… At this time, the rebel army on the side of Qingzhou Mansion was still in full swing, and the situation was very good. It is because the Qingzhou guard army in the vicinity does not move, and only cares about protecting the capital city and the acropolis, and the manpower of the local county town and the rich manor is not enough to resist the large number of people; As long as the White Lotus Sect rebel army bypassed the city, it would be like a bamboo.

However, Bai Long, Liu Jun and other leaders have realized that of course the government will not always watch the fire from the other side of the strait, and then it will definitely deploy troops to counterattack. On the one hand, they managed their territory in the mountains to the west, and on the other hand, they collected as much rations as possible from all over the country as a long-term solution. During this period, people from all walks of life came from different sources, and of course they could not accurately choose what should be robbed and what should not be robbed. The robbery of the righteous warehouses in the township also happens from time to time, and there is no way to avoid those who take the opportunity to do evil.

Most of the soldiers of the righteous army rebelled in anxiety, only to find that the government of the Ming Dynasty responded slowly and was ineffective. However, they did not realize that in just three or two months, the rebel army had lost a lot in another hidden "battlefield" and a place with a more long-term impact.