In the past few thousand years of history, as long as it is not at the end of the dynasty, people have always refused to change their living habits, even if some people advocate that this change can make their lives better, few people will respond, this is the stubbornness of the small peasant economy and society.

However, the continuous natural disasters since the end of Wanli, coupled with the continuous struggle of the ruling ministers of the DPRK and China, made the people of the Ming Dynasty have to face a changing social environment whether they want to or not, which has prompted them to change their living habits.

From the end of Wanli to the end of the Apocalypse, during the period of these three emperors, they faced a deteriorating social environment, and most of them chose to endure such changes silently, hoping that their lives could return to normal.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, this period of continuous decline gradually saw the end, but with it, it was followed by more active and drastic social changes than in the past. Although this kind of social change cannot change the reality that the people at the bottom of the Ming Dynasty are still paying the greatest sacrifice, this kind of social change finally allows the upper class of society to start sacrificing and paying, thus slightly alleviating the suffering of the people at the bottom.

However, Daming is a huge country with a border of tens of thousands of miles between the north and the south, and thousands of miles at the east and west ends. The changes caused by this kind of social change vary from place to place, with poor areas generally being more receptive to change, while wealthy regions are more likely to resist change; The closer the area was to Beijing, the more obedient it was to the imperial court's orders; And the farther away from Beijing, the more likely it is to disobey the yin.

Therefore, in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the reform policy of the imperial court was implemented better in the north than in the south, and the implementation in the east was stronger than that in the west. For example, after the Henan gentry were repaired by the imperial court several times, the Henan gentry and the common people took the initiative to implement the policies issued by the imperial court.

In particular, the people of Henan Province in Henan Province have mostly benefited from the imperial court's reform policies over the years, and as a border area with Shaanxi and Shanxi, this area is also a necessary place for displaced people from these two provinces to flee the famine. Even the stupid gentry knew that without the support of the imperial court, these swarming refugees alone would be able to turn Henan Mansion into a disaster area.

Therefore, the gentry rebound, which worried Niu Jinxing, was not as stormy as he expected. Of course, Xia Yunyi's own popularity and the ability to do things over the years made his wrists extremely flexible and soft when implementing the policy of integrating the gentry with grain and apportioning the land to the mu, which also reduced the resistance of many gentry.

In addition to Xia Yunyi's ability, the school system in Henan Province also played a very important role, which allowed Xia Yunyi to introduce his policies to the ears of the people at the bottom through these students in the school, thus seizing the control of the gentry in local public opinion, and allowing the government to bypass the gentry class and gain the support of the people at the bottom.

The system of the Youth Society also made the county officials of Henan Province first stand by Xia Yunyi instead of the local gentry, so that in just one year, the gentry of Henan Province have implemented the policy of paying grain and apportioning the land to the mu.

As the representative of the local gentry class and the gentry conference organized, Zhang Chonghui froze the power of these gentry representatives in the name of reorganizing the local council, so that the gentry meeting basically failed to play any role in this incident.

In fact, when Zhang Chonghui reorganized the local council, he eliminated whether the gentry representatives could become parliamentary representatives based on whether they supported the reform of the New Deal and the amount of grain taxes.

As an agriculturally developed plain region, Henan itself was a province with serious land annexation during hundreds of years of peace. Although since the first year of Chongzhen, the emperor has carried out continuous attacks on the gentry and clans in Henan, but the proportion of large gentry in Henan is still the highest among the northern provinces, which can almost be compared with the Jiangnan region.

Although there are many children of the gentry, there are also a few who can study and become officials. Others can only play prestige in front of those countrymen, even if they have some money in the family, it has nothing to do with them. Except for a few prodigal sons who spend a lot of time drinking and drinking and don't care about it, for those children who have read a few books but can't find a way out, this kind of life is no different from sitting in prison for life.

The gentry council, on the other hand, gave these people hope that even if they could not make it to the imperial examinations, they would be able to articulate their political ideas through such a body, and after gaining the approval of the other delegates, they would be able to turn them into local policies, and this sense of accomplishment was indescribable.

Not to mention, as the system of gentry councils became more and more perfect, the privileges of gentry representatives were slowly fixed. The privileges of the gentry were much stronger than those of the gentry, and to some extent they could even compete with the local prefectural ordinances, so that they could protect their families.

Under the old gentry system, although for the common people, the gentry had an undoubted advantage. But within the gentry class, there was also a distinction between high and low. For example, most of the food of the tiger in the mountains is lambs and elk, but it will not refuse to eat one or two wolf and tooth sacrifice if it has the opportunity.

After all, in a place like Henan, where the gentry occupy a high proportion of the population, good land has long been in the hands of the powerful clans, and some families that have just started their careers will always choose one or two declining big families as prey, so as to quickly accumulate their own wealth. For example, Niu Jinxing was almost killed by his own relatives, which is the fate of the gentry who have money but no power to protect themselves.

However, the emergence of the gentry meeting gave those weak gentry a chance to protect themselves, and let them see another way out of their official careers.

Therefore, when Zhang Chonghui came to Henan Mansion to reorganize the gentry council into a local council, in order to keep his position as a representative or to seek a position in the local council in the future, these gentry and landlords in Henan Prefecture adopted a compromise policy towards Xia Yunyi, and only a very small number of gentry chose to write to the imperial court, accusing Xia Yunyi of implementing disorderly government in the local area.

Unfortunately, 1638 was another year of drought and little rain for the northern region. This is not only the second year in a row that there has been a large-scale drought in the north, but the most severe drought has also shifted from Shanxi to Henan, especially Henan Province.

Although the imperial court vigorously developed the north-south shipping and built two vertical and one horizontal railways, the political task of ensuring the water level of the northern canal gradually came to an end. But the Yellow River's water is still not enough to feed agriculture in the middle and lower reaches, even in Henan, which is close to the Yellow River.

In order to resist drought and disasters, we can only drill wells in large areas and use groundwater to solve irrigation and human and livestock problems. Although the amount of water in the Yellow River has decreased, the area adjacent to the Yellow River has much more groundwater than in other regions. Obviously, this kind of large-scale drilling of wells is not something that individuals can afford, and they can only rely on the government to mobilize the manpower and resources of various counties to carry out the battle.

At this time, whoever dared to jump out against the gentry to pay for food and serve in one piece, and even without the government's action, the local villagers were already blocking the village entrance and scolding the streets. Therefore, the discordant voices of the gentry of Henan Mansion quickly disappeared.

In particular, the scattered displaced people who fled from Shaanxi and Shanxi in June made the officials and people of Henan Province work hard to save themselves. Sweet potatoes and corn have become treasures for famine relief in the north, and Henan Province, which is rich in coal resources, has also purchased dozens of steam engines from the capital for pumping water for irrigation with donations from the gentry organized by Niu Jinxing.

Of course, the gentry of Henan Province shut up because of the impact of the famine, but those gentry in the south who were not affected by the disaster felt deeply disgusted by the local policies implemented by Henan Province, and they not only criticized the gentry for paying grain in one piece and sharing the land into the mu These policies are evil policies, and even compared Xia Yunyi, Niu Jinxing and others to the four evils, believing that it was the imperial court that appointed these wicked people who reversed the norm that would make the heavens continue to send disasters.

After these southern gentry bureaucrats criticized Xia Yunyi, Niu Jinxing, and others for several months without seeing any movement in the imperial court, they began to target Qian Qian, the first assistant of the cabinet, and became more and more difficult, saying that after this first assistant took office, he continued to have drought in the north and floods in the south for many years, and now he is still shielding Xia Yunyi, Niu Jinxing, and other traitors.

Qian Qianyi obviously did not have such a good mentality as Chongzhen, and after being scolded by several newspapers and periodicals run by the gentry in the south, he had to take these newspapers to the emperor to ask for guilt, and wanted to take this opportunity to probe the emperor's tone and see what the emperor's attitude was towards what young officials such as Xia Yunyi and Niu Jinxing were doing in Henan.

Zhu Youzhen took the newspaper sent by Qian Qianyi and looked at it a few times, then said with a smile: "It's just some buzzing flies, and even the scolding sentences are clichés, why should Mr. care."

Hehe, they also compare you to Yan Song, I see, Mr. is still inferior to Yan Song. The gentleman came with such a newspaper to complain to me? Or do you have something else in mind? ”

In Qian Qianyi's eyes, the emperor who was holding the newspaper and flipped through it looked relaxed, without the slightest nervousness and anxiety, which made his original idea also discounted. So he said cautiously: "It's nothing for these newspapers to scold the ministers, but Xia Yunyi and Niu Jinxing are after all the figures that His Majesty is optimistic about, and they are also really honest people, so being ruined by others may not be conducive to their future future." The minister thought that whether to transfer Xia Yunyi and Niu Jinxing back to the capital to take up posts, first calm down the discussion. ”

Zhu Youzhen put down the newspaper, looked at Shoufu and said: "What Mr. said is not right, transferring Xia Yunyi and Niu Jinxing out of Henan Mansion is not a delusion to the people of the world, indicating that the policies implemented by Henan Mansion are wrong." Does the gentleman also think that the policy of the gentry paying grain in one and apportioning the land to the mu is wrong? ”

If Qian Qianyi is not the first assistant now, he must think that this policy is wrong. However, as the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty, he is now more concerned about the emperor's thoughts.

Therefore, without blinking his eyes, he replied firmly: "The minister thinks that the gentry pay grain and divide the land into the mu are both good governance that should be implemented in this dynasty. We, the gentry, are deeply favored by the country, so naturally we should do our best for the country.

As His Majesty said, it is difficult for people to believe that a person who is not even willing to pay state taxes keeps saying that he is patriotic and loyal to the monarch. Now that the northern and southern provinces of the Ming Dynasty have encountered disasters year after year, they are still unwilling to give up the privilege of the gentry to be free of food and free of duty, which is obviously too selfish..."

Zhu Youzhen immediately clapped his hands and said: "Mr. said well, Mr. will write down these words, I will write you a comment, and then publish it in the Daming Times as a riposte."

As for the affairs of Henan Mansion, it will be handed over to Xia Yunyi and Niu Jinxing. What can happen to a mere Henan Mansion, even if something happens, I have the confidence to calm down.

In addition, he may allow the Cabinet to discuss the formulation of rules on the remarks of newspapers and publications. We allow the people to speak, but we cannot condone rumors and slanders..."

Qian Qianyi's face was stunned, this seemed to be too far from his original intention, as if his words were a little too much.