Seeing that the topic talked about the turmoil in Henan, Li Xingzheng asked: "Big brother, why is it that Li Zicheng can pull out an army of tens of thousands of people when he rides into Henan alone for a few months." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

Li Zhi groaned and said: "As far as I saw in Henan, the reason why Li Zicheng can develop so fast is all forced by the gentry and landlords. It is now a disaster year in Henan, and the gentry and landlords are in surplus with grain, while the yeoman farmers and tenant farmers are digging grass roots and eating tree bark. Although Li Zicheng was defeated by us, if these gentry and landlords do not change, it will not be long before Zhang Zicheng and Wang Zicheng raise the anti-flag again. The official army was arranged in Henan, and Li Zicheng would go to Huguang. If the officers and troops were to go to Huguang in part, Li Zicheng would start up in Shaanxi and Shanxi. ”

Li Xing nodded and said, "What the eldest brother said makes sense!" ”

Li Zhi Kankan said: "Those gentlemen are full of morality, but they do dirty and ugly things in private. On weekdays, they only know how to collect rents, avoid taxes, and put taxes on fewer and fewer homesteaders. In a good year, farmers can still grow grain for export and pay taxes. If there is a slight famine, there will be no food rations after paying the taxes. ”

"From the time of Emperor Taizu Gao to the present more than 200 years, the population of the Ming Dynasty has continued to multiply, and more and more cultivated land has been cultivated. But now the land that pays taxes is only a little more than half of what Emperor Gao used to be, how ridiculous is this? When Emperor Taizu Gao, he lightly dismissed the meager endowment and rested with the people. But now the country's tax revenue is pressed on this field, which is only half of the original field, not only has a regular tax, but also corrupt officials and corrupt officials have imposed taxes on fire consumption and miscellaneous taxes, and the tax can even account for 6 or 7 percent of the harvest at its peak, and the burden of the poor people can be imagined. ”

"The rise of the Tartars in the northeast, the Ming Dynasty was seriously troubled, and if you want to train the army with silver, you can only add taxes from these fewer and fewer peasants. The taxes borne by small peasants are getting heavier and heavier. As a result, the additional taxes not only failed to wipe out the tartars, but crushed the peasants who paid the taxes. After paying the tax, the peasants had no food to eat, so they had to work as thieves. The taxes were too heavy, and the people were looking forward to King Chuang every day, and wanted to follow King Chuang to rob the gentry and landlords who did not pay taxes and accumulated countless grains. ”

"In the final analysis, the matter in Henan is the contradiction between the gentleman who does not pay taxes and the yeoman farmers who pay heavy taxes, and the so-called drought has only exacerbated this contradiction. Therefore, as soon as Li Zicheng, who led the crowd to rob, arrived, the people rushed to be the first to surrender to the thieves, and they threw themselves into the long-drought firewood like a spark and ignited a raging fire. ”

"Li Zicheng and his ilk don't do anything about production, and if they rob today, there will be no tomorrow. But the people are so pressed by taxes that they don't have today, so where can they think about tomorrow? ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, everyone in the room fell silent. Although everyone knows that there must be an internal cause for the scourge of thieves, it is the first time to hear Li Zhi's thorough analysis.

Gao Ligong arched his hand and said: "Uncle is wise, analyze the subtlety and whip up the close, and deaf and deafening!" ”

Cui Changwu said: "Brother-in-law, although the world is big, the situation in various places is not much different from Henan. It doesn't matter what province it is, it's the same. If someone ascends to the top and shouts, I'm afraid they will all be crowded. Zhang Xianzhong ravaged Huguang and Sichuan, and he also had the support of poor peasants. The people, who had nothing to eat, turned their hearts on the sidelines, and went with the thieves to rob others. ”

Li Xing said: "In the past few years, the climate has been quite abnormal, and natural disasters have been common. Big brother, we can't help but take precautions, and think of a way to make the world not appear in Henan. Otherwise, thieves will rise everywhere, trade routes will be cut off, and our industry will probably bear great losses. ”

Gao Ligong nodded and said: "Although the uncle fought in the south and the north, so that the Ming Dynasty has a peaceful scene for the time being, I am afraid that this peace will not last long." If there is another famine in various places, I am afraid that the thieves will rise again. When the time comes, when Dongnu re-enters the Kou border pass, there will be a great disaster. ”

Li Zhi nodded and said: "This short-lived peaceful scene, with a turbulent undercurrent underneath, really can't last long. ”

Gao Ligong arched his hand and said: "Uncle, does he have a good plan to correct the world?" ”

Li Zhi said: "The key to keeping farmers from thieves is to increase farmers' harvests in disaster years. To do this, we can build water conservancy facilities to resist drought and floods, we can let the big gentry open up warehouses to help the people in disaster years, or we can reduce the taxes borne by yeoman farmers and small landlords, and let the big gentry share the taxes. ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, Cui Changwu said: "Now that there is a shortage of soldiers, party strife in the court, and corruption among officials, the gentry and big families only consider the current income when doing things, and let them spend a lot of money to build water conservancy facilities and invest for tomorrow, I am afraid it will not be possible." ”

Li Xing said: "Today's gentry are not good, they have never been the only ones who eat the poor, and no poor people have eaten them. Expecting them to contribute their own food to feed the poor in disaster years may not work. ”

Li Zhi said: "In this way, if you want the people not to become thieves in disaster years, you can only start with the government collecting taxes, and distribute the heavy taxes on the poor peasants to the gentry and landlords who evade taxes." ”

Hearing Li Zhi's words, everyone in the room was stunned. Cui Changwu's face was shocked when he heard this, and he asked, "Uncle wants to collect taxes from the gentry in Tianjin?" ”

Li Zhi smiled and said, "That's right. ”

Gao Ligong's face turned pale in shock, and he glanced at Cui Changwu, and said: "Uncle, think twice, tax exemption is the foundation of the gentry. Those gentry seem to have countless fertile fields, and speaking of which, I don't know how many of them were traitors who brought their fields to sacrifice in order not to pay taxes. Once the gentry were made to pay taxes, the gentry's estate would probably fall apart. ”

"The adults asked the gentry to pay taxes because they wanted the lives of the gentry. Their counterattack can be imagined. ”

Li Zhi said lightly: "Let them come, I'll try how many means they have!" ”

"I have eliminated the two thieves and destroyed the poor peasants in the world from the way out of the thieves, and I can't help but find a new way of life for the poor people in the world!"

Li Zhi looked at Li Xing and said slowly: "Li Xing, you go and inform the chief officials of the twenty counties of one prefecture and two prefectures in Tianjin Town, and ask them to hand over the Yellow Book of Enlistment and the Fish Scale Atlas, and in the future, this tax will be collected by our General Military Office!" Those gentry who have a reputation and do not pay taxes will not be able to escape from me! ”

Li Xing's mouth opened wide in shock, and he couldn't react for a long time.

Gao Ligong's face was so anxious that his face turned red, he knelt on the ground with a puff, and said loudly: "Uncle think twice, Uncle is doing this to start a war against the gentry of the world!" In this Ming Dynasty, the gentry had a status much higher than that of the common people, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they were in power with the Son of Heaven. The gentry of the world will never let their uncle draw taxes from themselves if they don't break the bloodshed. ”

Li Zhi said lightly: "I have made up my mind, I will rely on these 20,000 tigers to fight with the gentry of the world to see who will kill the deer?" ”