In China, there has always been a subtle distinction between official culture and folk culture, whether it is in language, movement, thinking habits, and written expression.

For example, the item of "serving tea to send guests" is definitely not available in ordinary people's homes. Otherwise, as soon as the host offered the tea, the guests would have to take the initiative to leave, so the end returned to the starting point, and nothing was done. It's not the same in officialdom. If the host finishes his words and picks up the tea cup and invites the guests to drink tea, it probably means that you take the initiative to say goodbye and leave, so as not to embarrass everyone. Zhu Pingjin pondered for a long time with a teacup in his hand, Hong Qihui thought that his words had exposed the scales of the world, and he was going to be invited out, and he couldn't help but feel worried. Fortunately, Zhu Pingjin did not invite guests to drink, and asked for a good solution, which reassured him.

Hong Qihui replied: "The students thought that the original intention of the prince to accept the sacrifice was only two: the first was to reduce the rent, and the second was to collect grain. This matter shook the interests of the gentry, so it was bound to obstruct it in every way. However, although this is difficult, there is still something to be done! ”

Zhu Pingjin didn't speak, he quietly waited for Hong Qihui's answer.

Hong Qihui said: "The family of the gentry is nothing more than officials and scholars. In the final analysis, they are all scholars. For 300 years, they have flourished and entrenched themselves in the region. The sage built bridges and paved roads to provide relief to the victims; The wicked are rich and unkind, and dominate one side. The thief is known as "except for the five beetles", the yabeetle, the house beetle, the hao beetle, the eunuch beetle, and the learning beetle. How many beetles are not related to readers? ”

In fact, only the Fu beetle has little to do with the scholars, but has a close relationship with Zhu Pingjian. Zhu Pingjin continued to say nothing and listened carefully to Hong Qihui's words.

Hong Qihui did not pause because of the royal mansion. He said: "The court is a heavy scholar, and the country is governed by a scholar." With this benefit, they took advantage of Jun'en in vain, and evaded the imperial court taxes by trickery and fugitives. The officials of the yamen are not unaware of the hidden situation. Just because they are all readers, there is always an incense love for each other. And because most of the gentry's homes were powerful and powerful in the local area, the government did not dare to offend the gentry, so they had to turn to the common people to collect taxes. Before the students came, they had already asked clearly, and most of the people in Yazhou were small landowners, yeoman farmers, tenants, small merchants, workshop craftsmen, and slaves of large families......"

Zhu Pingjin interrupted Hong Qihui and said, "Mr. Hong's intention is to let this prince receive the contributions of these ordinary people?" ”

"The son of the world is really talented and intelligent, and what Brother Fu said is true!" Hong Qihui praised from the bottom of his heart, "Although there are many scholars in the world, compared to the common people, they are just a drop in the ocean!" The prince collects all the contributions of these common people, where will the government collect the taxes? In desperation, they had no choice but to take the gentry under the knife. No matter how powerful the gentry are, how can they dare to compare with the royal government? ”

The landlords of the Ming Dynasty can be roughly divided into seven categories: royal family (emperor, vassal king, county king, general, lieutenant, princess, county lord, county lord, etc.), nobles (meritorious heroes), gentry landlords (officials and scholars), officer landlords, temple landlords, common landlords and yeoman farmers. The royal family and the nobility, because of their marriage, can be combined into one category.

Sichuan is located in the southwest border, except for the Shu Domain, there is no other division, so the Shu Domain is a monopoly; The military landlords and the landlords of the monasteries all occupy the land according to the scope of the license issued by the state (Juntun or Dumu), although the land is huge, but now Zhu Pingjin does not plan to touch it immediately; The remaining gentry landlords, common landlords, and yeoman farmers were undoubtedly the main body of the landlords.

However, there are also superiors among the subjects. The gentry landlords, although they did not have a pedigree advantage over the common landlords and yeoman farmers, were the current officials, the retired officials, and the reserve of the officials. They are powerful and powerful, and they have the right to speak in the court, representing justice and fairness. They took advantage of their political and economic advantages and the frequent natural disasters of the Xiaoice Age to frantically occupy land, monopolize commerce, wantonly evade taxes, engage in a crony economy, and infringe on the interests of ordinary landlords and yeoman farmers.

It can be seen that the common landlords and yeoman farmers are the bottom of society. Compared to the lowest tenant farmers and untouchables, it is a little better. Under the persecution of natural and man-made disasters, they went bankrupt one after another, and became tenants, long-term laborers, and even displaced people. Therefore, the common landlords and yeoman peasants had a fundamental conflict of interest with the royal family, the aristocracy, and the gentry landlords, and the contradictions between them were no less intense than those between the landlords and the peasants!

The contradiction between the royal family, the nobles, the gentry landlords, and the common landlords and the yeoman farmers is essentially the contradiction between the powerful and the commoners. At the same time, the common landlords and yeoman peasants, as the propertied class, naturally demanded the stability of the country, suppressed the thieves, and resisted foreign humiliation, which was completely consistent with Zhu Pingjian's pursuit goal.

Hong Qihui keenly discovered this and suggested that the royal government should come forward to co-opt the common landlords and yeoman farmers in Sichuan, and base Zhu Pingjian's support on the common people, including common landlords, small urban merchants, handicraftsmen, and even displaced people. In this way, the class foundation of the Zhu Pingjin clique will be very solid, and there will be an uninterrupted supply of food, money, and people.

The essence of Hong Qihui's suggestion is that Zhu Pingjin, a big magnate of the royal family, joined hands with the common people and small landlords to run out of the gentry and small magnates!

"The class struggle is a good idea! I forgot how I joined forces with the national bourgeoisie to fight the four major families together! Mom's, D Shi Bai has learned! Zhu Pingjin sighed in his heart, and his knuckles couldn't help but tap heavily on the table.

Seeing Hong Qihui staring at him, Zhu Pingjin smiled and explained his understanding: "According to Mr. Hong's law, if there is a yeoman farmer who votes for my palace, the palace only takes one percent of him, which is much lower than the government's taxes, why is he not happy?" Although the small landlord collected seventy or eighty percent of the tenants' rent, and the government levied taxes on him, there was still very little left. If he votes for my king's house, the palace will only take one percent of him, and the government will pay no taxes. The remaining six or seven percent are all his own, why should he not do it? If he is a donor of the gentry's house, the gentry's family will take him 30%. He voted for my palace, and the palace only took one percent, why didn't he switch to the palace? In this way, if Wang Zhuang reduces the rent, the gentry will have to follow up......"

Hong Qihui stroked his palm and smiled: "Exactly! Since there is a 10% donation of the palace, the gentry naturally do not dare to overcharge, otherwise the donors will switch to the palace; The palace lowered the rent to fifty percent, and the gentry did not dare to overcharge, otherwise even the tenants would run away. As a result, the rent also dropped...... The merchants and craftsmen in the city also suffered from the five beetles, and the students advised the prince to take them all together, not only to relieve the people's difficulties, but also to collect silver taels. Why not have the best of both worlds? Students are only afraid that once this case is opened, the people who donate will be in the market! ”

The brain is open, and the world is cheerful. The two looked at each other and laughed.

"It's just that the land in the palace is too small to accommodate so many people!" Zhu Pingjin was happy, but also worried, "The gentry wantonly annexed, and I don't know how much land those small landlords and yeoman farmers have!" ”

Hong Qihui didn't know the answer either. He replied in general terms: "Now that the price of grain is too high and there are too many displaced people, the gentry can always find people to cultivate the land." According to the students' estimates, as long as the price of grain falls to one tael, within three years, four or five out of ten of the land in Shuzhong will be returned to the world. ”

Zhu Pingjin shook his head and said: "The world is in chaos, and its situation is unknown. It is too early for food prices to fall to one tael. This son wants to buy grain from big families in the city, what does Mr. Hong think? ”

Hong Qihui had thought about this question a long time ago. When the army entered the city, it was not to grab grain but to buy it, which was already the world's first-class benevolent and righteous army. So he immediately replied: "As long as the price is fair, there should be 50,000 stone surplus grain in Yazhou!" But now that the state city is suddenly in turmoil, the students are afraid that the gentry will sit on the ground and raise prices......"

Zhu Pingjin smiled and said: "This prince is not afraid that they will sit on the ground and raise the price, and Lord Wang should come forward in this matter!" Mr. Hong is talented, if he can enter my shogunate, this son will be of great use, I don't know what Mr. wants? ”

The prince suddenly invited the shogunate, but this time Hong Qihui hesitated.

His original intention of offering the prince was to marry the palace, and then get the state government yamen through the palace, and even the political secretary or the governor's yamen recommended to the officials of the imperial court, so as to realize his ideal of governing the country and leveling the world, and by the way solve the trouble of his Hongjiatian deed being burned. He, like all scholars in the world, was not willing to bet his life's future on a vassal king with no real political rights. But somehow, the young man in front of him always made him feel like a confidant of sympathy. When Zhu Pingjin really proposed to solicit, he hesitated.

As if seeing Hong Qihui's inner thoughts, Zhu Pingjin said: "Mr. He is an orphan of a loyal minister, and the imperial court of Chongzhen gave him a prison life for ten years, but he has not been an official for a long time, so he has to open a shop and camp a farm. Last month, he followed this son, because of his great merit, this son has asked Lord Wang to protect him as the deputy envoy of the inspection from the Jiupin Feixian Pass. Although the official is slight, he will eventually enter the official career, and he will accumulate merit in the future and move to the right, and he will not lose a state capital! If Mr. is willing to follow this son, this son can promise Mr. that within five years, how will Mr. Ben Shizi also protect Mr. Governor's state? ”

This cake that flew in plain air was a bit big, and Hong Qihui couldn't help but be moved.

Hong Qihui doubted: "Is what the prince said true? ”

Zhu Pingjin nodded and affirmed: "You don't have any jokes, naturally take it seriously!" If the son of this world fails to make an appointment, Mr. can choose any of the kings to go, even if the son of this world makes amends to Mr.! ”

With the common revolutionary concept and a little coercion and temptation, Hong Qihui finally bowed his head to Zhu Pingjin, and by the way, he also recommended to Zhu Pingjin his two younger brothers Hong Qiren and Hong Qixin, as well as Cheng Xiangfeng and Liu Daozhen, and classmates Zhang Shilin, Tang Mo, Zhong Zhishou, Hu Dasheng, etc. Except for Hu Dasheng's lover who insisted on refusing, and Liu Daozhen's dead mother who was guarding the system, these people all put Zhu Pingjian's bag.

Hong Qihui made a special trip to apologize to Zhu Pingjin for Hu Dasheng's incident, and Zhu Pingjin only smiled lightly: "He's still a doll, what does he know?" ”

Zhu Pingjin met these newcomers, but because of a lack of understanding of them, he opened an agency because of the people's affairs, which was in charge of the people's contributions, and the internal name was "Shu Wangfu Wangzhuang Wangdianya, Qiong, Mei, Jiading, Tianquan Office Contribution Section." ”

Whoever suggests and who implements this is Zhu Pingjin's consistent method of employing people to do things.

The chief of the contribution section is Hong Qihui. He recommended Zhang Shilin and Zhong Zhishou as deputy section chiefs. Zhu Pingjin made a slight adjustment to this, and the deputy section chief added Fu Yuanxiu, who took the lead in contributing.

Fu Yuanxiu also served as the head of the Yazhou Investment Contribution Unit, and Tang Mo served as the deputy chief; Zhang Shilin served as the deputy section chief and concurrently served as the head of the Qiongzhou Investment Contribution Unit, and Fu Yuanlan served as the deputy chief; Zhong Zhishou served as the deputy section chief and concurrently served as the head of the Meizhou Investment Contribution Unit, and Hong Qiren served as the deputy chief.

Their main task is to be stationed in Ya, Qiong, and Meizhou to publicize the donation policy of the palace and accept all kinds of contributions from the people on behalf of the palace. As for Jiading Prefecture, because the palace has no power here, it has not been set up for the time being.

Hong Qihui's third brother, Hong Qixin, is an outlier. He envied the prestige of the Song brothers, and Zhu Pingjin sent him to Bifengxia for military training. As for Cheng Xiangfeng, the person with the highest education, Zhu Pingjin has not arranged a position for the time being, but just stays by his side.

The offices of Wang Zhuang Wangdianya, Qiong, Mei, Jiading and Tianquan in the palace of Shu Wangfu are located in the Fan family compound in Yazhou City. In Zhu Pingjin's planning, this office was the head organ of the palace in the southwestern base area of Sichuan. It will not only manage the huge industries of the palace and Zhu Pingjin in this area and provide a steady stream of food and soldiers for Zhu Pingjin's army, but it will also be Zhu Pingjin's industrial base, scientific research base, border trade base, military training and logistics base.

Such an important and sensitive position, Cao Santai, as a eunuch, is obviously not suitable. Zhu Pingjin thought about it, except for his wife Luo Yuhong, there was no second candidate.