After Li Yu arrived in Taiyuan, this young man went out of the city to see him on behalf of Song Tongyin, and the two had already met.

"That's it, if I don't leave the military department, they will definitely drive me away if I don't give it," Li Yu was very aggrieved and said to the young man, "Brother Zixuan, Brother Xianglin and Sister Fengyi also said the same." ”

This young man is Zhang Fengyi's brother Zhang Daojun, Zixuan, the grandson of Zhang Wudian, the secretary of the Wanli Dynasty's military department, and the son of Zhang Quan, the Liaodong patrol of Shenyang, Meng Shiyin once served as the commander of the Jinyi Guard, during his tenure in Beijing, he first impeached the scholar Liu Hongxun for accepting bribes and usurping the decree, and then impeached the scholar Chengji for perverting the law and prevaricating Yuan Chonghuan's case, so as to get involved in the party dispute, and was dismissed and returned to his hometown for the fault of disorderly government. Soon after Zhang Daojun returned to his hometown, he was invited by Song Tongyin, who had just arrived in Taiyuan to serve as the governor of Shanxi, to join the shogunate to praise the military and political affairs, Li Yu had Zhang Fengyi's eldest sister's letter, and the two became old acquaintances as soon as they met.

"He was played like a fool by others, and you still protect him," Song Tongyin glared at Zhang Daojun very dissatisfied, waved his hand to Li Yu and said, "You get out of the city for me, when do you figure it out and come to see this official again,"

"My lord, what about my soldiers and my salary? You're not really going to let me take these two hundred or so hungry people to fight the thieves, are you? Li Yu stood up and scratched his head and asked.

"Where does this official have soldiers for you, if you don't want to send them to death, take your Fengzhou Iron Cavalry to suppress thieves, and the official can't afford to pay for food, so you go to the court to ask for it."

Seeing that Song Tongyin was about to get angry again, Li Yu hurriedly walked out, and Song Tongyin shouted behind him, "Take away the two carts of grain and those pigs outside the door, and kill you kid!" ”

Li Yu ran away as soon as he slipped away, Song Tongyin and Zhang Daojun couldn't help laughing, Zhang Daojun said with a smile: "My sister-in-law and brother-in-law praised this Li Hanmin as a rare handsome man in the world. ”

"He is the person brought up by the official, there is always the love of incense, the official sometimes just hates him for not having a heart, it's just that this world is still reliable for people like Li Hanmin, but the official is going to worry about preparing for food and salary," Song Tongyin shook his head slightly, thought for a while and said, "The weather is getting colder and colder, and the Yellow River will freeze in a few days, and then the Liukou in northern Shaanxi will definitely take the opportunity to cross the river, Zixuan, you have to try to raise more food, Li Hanmin can't stop the thieves coming in no matter how much he can fight, and his iron cavalry outside the Saiwai will come in handy again." ”

Zhang Daojun hesitated a little: "There are too many vacancies in Shanxi's official army, and there will never be many people and horses in Fengzhou. ”

"Nonsense, the people of Fengzhou have long been subordinated to our dynasty, and Li Hanmin is also my military general of the Ming Dynasty, they can enter the defense of King Qin, but can't they enter Shanxi to suppress thieves? Inform Wang Guoliang of Ningwu Pass that the Yellow River will be opened and closed as soon as it freezes, and the Fengzhou Iron Horse will enter the pass. ”

"My subordinates understand, I'll do it." Zhang Daojun knew what Song Tongyin was worried about, the strength of Shanxi Town has always been weak, and the only few battalions of elite troops were also defeated in Liangxiang when they entered the defense of King Qin, and there were almost no available soldiers at present, and the new Shanxi General Soldier Wang Guoliang had not fought many battles, and his ability was really worrisome.

Song Tongyin nodded and continued: "Zixuan is familiar with local affairs in Shanxi, so this official wants to send you to Li Hanmin's army to supervise military affairs, one is to help him dredge the local government and county, and the other is to monitor military discipline to prevent him from harassing the locality. Li Hanmin has also worked hard along the way, just let him rest outside Taiyuan City for some time, you can also take the opportunity to get closer to him, he is a person, the most important thing is friendship, and the set of loyalty to the country is useless to him. ”

"My sister-in-law and brother-in-law also said the same thing in the letter, and their subordinates are so close to this Li Hanmin." Zhang Daojun replied with a smile, and then he took out a letter and said, "But Li Hanmin caused some trouble for the adults, and Lou Zijing, the governor of Pingding Prefecture, sent a letter to complain about his complaint." ”

"Lou Zijing is a Qing official in Shanxi, how could Li Hanmin provoke him?" Song Tongyin was a little surprised.

"Lou Zijing said a lot of nonsense, and his subordinates felt that Li Hanmin was not wrong, it was nothing more than Li Hanmin who cheated him on three days' food plus two big fat pigs, but he didn't help him do anything." Zhang Daojun said disdainfully.

Song Tongyin took the letter and glanced at it hastily, and said disappreciably: "Lou Zijing thinks that he has a good official reputation, so he can arbitrarily instruct the imperial court to aid and suppress the deputy generals?" Li Hanmin finally has a bit of a brain, and he Lou Zijing has to force out the people to change, does this Lou Zijing still think that Shanxi is not chaotic? ”

"My lord, Lou Zijing prides himself on being honest, but he doesn't know how to be flexible, the drought in Shanxi did not get the imperial court's tax exemption, but instead increased the salary and collected the tax arrears, Shanxi has been boiling with public resentment, and other prefectures and counties know that they can delay and deceive, but he seriously obeys the imperial edict, it seems that only he is a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, so if it goes on, it must cause trouble for the adult, this kind of person can not stay."

Song Tongyin pondered for a while and said: "This official knows in his heart, don't mention this matter again, you just take care of Li Hanmin." ”

Li Yu and his entourage came out of Beijing and ran for more than 1,000 miles in a row, and they were already sleepy and tired, so they just took this opportunity to rest. Zhang Daojun must go to the camp every day to deal with the camp affairs, not only to supplement them with grain, grass, ordnance, but also in the name of the governor of Shanxi to reward each person with five dollars of silver to buy cotton clothes, Zhang Daojun told everyone, when they arrive in Shanxi, they are their own family, and the military department does not care about it, then Shanxi will take care of everyone, not only will there be food and salary in the future, but also will recruit troops and expand the army for everyone, as long as the thief is dedicated, the governor will never treat everyone badly.

Everyone is finally at ease, in fact, there are not many requirements to be a soldier, as long as you are well fed, clothed and paid, it is the same wherever you work, Li Yu has a good impression of Zhang Daojun, this person is not only knowledgeable, but also good at reasoning and practical, handling the camp affairs in an orderly manner, and having his help can save a lot of worry.

Song Tongyin took the time to find Li Yu and told him the idea of borrowing Fengzhou iron cavalry to suppress thieves, Li Yu agreed, in fact, this was also expected by Li Yu, he had no other choice, Fengzhou was too poor and weak, and going out to fight could at least save food for his family, and Li Yu gradually understood that the opportunity for the development of Fengzhou could only be played, and there was no way out at home, Li Yu returned to the camp and sent Chaolu and Chen Erzhu to Fengzhou to deliver the letter.

The weather is getting colder and colder, and Song Tongyin specially invited Li Yu and Zhang Daojun to his home for a mutton meal - Song Tongyin is old, and when he sees Li Yu and Zhang Daojun, he likes them, and almost regards them as his sons and nephews. When the three of them were eating, Li Yu honestly told the matter of Pingdingzhou, Song Tongyin and Zhang Daojun covered their stomachs and laughed when they heard it, saying that Lou Zijing, a person who prides himself on being a clean official, has always regarded himself very highly, and he was actually tricked by Li Yu and his gang as soldiers, and he must have been so angry that he couldn't sleep.

Li Yu asked seriously: "My lord, you and Brother Zixuan tell me, that Lou Zijing said that the Ming Dynasty was light on taxes, and one of the thirty per mu of land was paid, and the additional Liao salary of nine cents of silver per mu did not seem to be much, and the burden should not be heavy, why did the people flee from their hometowns if they couldn't survive?" And that Lou Zhizhou is not like a corrupt official, why is he so tyrannical to the people under his rule? ”

Song Tongyin asked with a smile: "Han Min is a military general, why is he also interested in government affairs?" ”

Li Yu blushed and said: "My lord, don't laugh at me, I don't grow up in reading, and I don't know much about reason, but there are 50,000 villagers in my Fengzhou who want to live, and I am afraid that I will take the wrong road and let the villagers suffer!" ”

"Hermes-Epitek is such a kind person!" Song Tongyin put away his smile and said with a serious expression, "According to the law of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is indeed a light tax, but this is just written on the paper and there is a virtual surface, in fact, the heavy tax of the Ming Dynasty and the complexity of forced labor are far better than those of the previous dynasties. ”

Li Yu lowered his head and pondered, Song Tongyin pointed at Zhang Daojun and said: "Zixuan, you are from a family of eunuchs for generations, and your family education must be profound, you come to tell Hanmin about the tax system of the Ming Dynasty." ”

Zhang Daojun nodded and agreed, and said in a low voice: The Ming tax system has accumulated deep drawbacks, one of its drawbacks is that it is too simple, Emperor Taizu abolished the prime minister of the foreign dynasty at the beginning of the founding of the country, and the imperial power is in charge of the prime minister's power, and the treasury is not divided into internal and external, the wealth can be at the disposal of the emperor, and the imperial power lacks the assistance of the foreign court, Taizu has to shirk a large number of affairs that the imperial court must undertake in the simplest way, and the affairs undertaken by the imperial court are less, and the emperor feels that the taxes in his hand are enough, so the so-called light tax can be implemented, but the state can not be less, but most of the burden is passed on to the people and localities, such as supporting the official army, the Ming Dynasty adopted the guard system, to the military households to distribute land, so that they can raise their own fields, most of the income from cultivation must also be paid to the tuntian grains for the imperial court to raise soldiers, Taizu claimed not to waste the people a drop and raise millions of soldiers, and the military households of the guard are like slavery, and the state is miserable; Another example is the tax liberation, the Ming Dynasty collected taxes in kind, and Emperor Taizu set up the chief and the grain chief to collect in the people, regardless of the distance, or to the Beijing division or to the border town, all of them organized the people to solve the tax with the chief and the grain chief, which required a lot of labor and consumption, and these were all pressed on the people; Another example is the use of local government affairs, the Ming tax is only about 30% of the local people, the local retention is not only used for local government affairs, but also to bear the local clan money, it is normal to make ends meet, and the property and forced labor used in local government affairs can only be apportioned to the local people, so the name of the Ming Dynasty is light and thin, and it is actually a heavy tax service.

The second disadvantage of the Ming tax system lies in the conservative and rigid, Emperor Taizu compiled the world's households into the "Yellow Book of Enlistment", and compiled the land of the world into the "Fish Scale Atlas", which was used as the basis for levying taxes and forced labor, Taizu thought that the taxes levied were enough for the country, so according to the taxes of the Hongwu year, the amount of taxes was determined to be customized, and the taxes of the Ming prefectures and counties were engraved on the stone tablet in the Great Inner Dynasty, and the edict was told that future generations would never increase the amount of money and not tamper with it. The land is changing but the tax amount remains the same, how absurd it is, for example, Taizu's "Enslavement Yellow Book" and "Fish Scale Atlas" are still used to this day, Wanli Dynasty Zhang Juzheng has verified the household registration, Qingzhang land, and intends to rebuild the "Yellow Book" and "Fish Scale Book", but the Ming Dynasty has accumulated deep drawbacks, dignitaries, and powerful forces, the so-called rebuilding of the two volumes is just a small rain, and finally it ends hastily, and there is no great benefit to the country; And Taizu's guard system also exists in name only, the guard field has become the private property of officers and heroes, soldiers have no place to be bound, or they become tenants or can only flee, the court has no available soldiers, can only replace the guard system with a conscription system, and the recruits must have military salaries, this money Taizu can never imagine, and it is conceivable that the court cannot make ends meet; Another example is the clan of Lu, Taizu divided the sons in various places, from all over the place to keep and support, Taizu was only twenty-four feudal kings, now two hundred and sixty years, the local clan has multiplied no less than 100,000, how to support the local survival, Jiajing Dynasty Yushi Lin Run once reported that Shanxi left 1.52 million stones, Zhufu Zonglu 312 stones, Henan 843,000 stones, Zonglu 1.92 million stones, the grain of the two provinces was lost, less than half of the rice for Lu, and the situation was out of it. Taizu certainly can't think of today's predicament, the later generations of the Ming Dynasty did not dare to change the ancestral system, so they could only find another way, and the mining tax and additional distribution of the Wanli Dynasty were such examples.

The third disadvantage of the Ming tax system lies in the chaos of tax management, the collection of taxes in the Ming Dynasty, the people have the chief, the grain chief, the prefecture and county have officials, and then there are court officials at all levels, there are too many links and complicated tax service, every level has the opportunity to go up and down, the tax levied by the court may fall on the people may be more than ten times, more troublesome is that there is a large amount of land can not pay taxes or pay less taxes, the emperor's imperial land, the vassal king's food land, and even relatives, nobles and eunuchs will not pay taxes at all, powerful officials, Meritorious scholars, military generals can also get no tax or less tax exemption, and the Ming Dynasty taxes are levied according to the ancestral system, these taxes will be passed on to other people, the people are overwhelmed, or take the land to the name of the person who has the right to be exempted, or sell the land and become tenants, so that the land annexation is becoming more and more intense, the people are not heavy on the surface, but the actual burden is far heavier, it is not easy to support the family, and there is almost no way to live in the face of natural and man-made disasters.

Zhang Daojun shook his head and sighed: "There have been hidden dangers in the Ming tax system since the beginning, and it is undoubtedly evident today, coupled with the corruption of the officials, the officials and the powerful are in their hands, and the people are struggling to survive, and there are many years of famine, and it is difficult to survive!" It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty is now hard to return, and ZTE has no day! ”

Li Yu thought for a while and asked: "Brother Zixuan, is it beneficial to benefit the people's livelihood that Zhang Taiyuegong implements the 'One Whip Law', which integrates taxes, forced labor and miscellaneous labor, spreads into the acres of land, and folds the cashier?" ”

Zhang Daojun peeked at Song Tongyin, Song Tongyin was always expressionless and silent, Zhang Daojun hesitated for a moment before whispering: "Zhang Taiyue Gong only solved the matter of increasing the income of the imperial court, and it is not of much benefit to the people's livelihood, at least we Shanxi people do not like 'a whip law', Shanxi did not implement this law until the fifteenth year of Wanli, and the cashier must have silver in the hands of the people, but there is no silver in Shanxi, which involves the "Money Law", the people of the Ming Dynasty use copper coins, and many people have never seen silver in their lives. The court should have minted a large number of coins for the use of the people, but whimsically used the silver two, to put it mildly, the court is to make the poor happy! ”

Zhang Daojun couldn't help but complain when he said this: "The imperial court changed the levy in kind to levy silver, and the taxes and salaries were more than 10 million taels exported to Beijing every year, and more than 5 million taels were exported from Beijing to Liaoxi. ”

Song Tongyin coughed at this time, and said lightly: "Zixuan can't talk about the government in vain, you have said enough today, it's better for Hanmin to think slowly." ”

Li Yu's mind was a little messy, he felt that there were too many things he couldn't understand, and then asked: "That Lou Zijing is a Qing official, and he is a scholar who understands things, so he should understand the people's feelings and help the people tide over the difficulties, but why should he force the people who can't survive?" ”

"Do you think that the rule of officials is as simple as dividing clean officials and corrupt officials, there is good governance, corrupt officials will also do good deeds, and bad government will be carried out, and clean officials can do bad things more than corrupt officials," Song Tongyin replied disdainfully, and then patted Li Yu on the shoulder and said, "Hanmin, I know that you have a good temperament, you should still be your military general, political affairs are too dirty, and good people who fall into it will become bad, and you are still not good." ”

Li Yu was dizzy and said goodbye after eating this meal, Song Tongyin and Zhang Daojun looked at Li Yu's listless appearance, and couldn't help but shake their heads again and again - this kid is still too tender, and this little thing makes him uneasy.

When it was dark, Li Yu returned to the camp outside the city, and as soon as he walked to the door of the big tent, Meng Ke rushed to find it, followed by two people, both of whom wore wide-brimmed felt hats to cover their faces, Li Yu felt a little familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was for a while.

"Big boss, look who's coming!" Meng Ke shouted when he saw Li Yu, and the two people behind him took off their felt hats and saluted Li Yu, and Li Yu immediately recognized it, it turned out to be Zhang Shi'an and Fan Erxi from Fengzhou.

"Lao Zhang, Brother Erxi, why did you also go to Taiyuan?" Li Yu asked in surprise.

"Great Commander, don't call me that, I'm now the commander of the Fengzhou Banner, and I'll be your subordinate in the future." Fan Erxi replied proudly.

"Grand Commander, I am also your subordinate, and the Grand Commander's Mansion has awarded me the official position of General Titang of Fengzhou, with the title of deputy thousand households." Zhang Shi'an also said happily.

Li Yu dragged these two officials into the big tent, and the two of them didn't wait for Li Yu to ask, so they talked about you and me.