In China, there has always been a subtle distinction between official culture and folk culture, in terms of language, movements, 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 the host has just presented the fragrant tea, and the guests have to take the initiative to leave, so the end is back to the starting point, and nothing has been 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 common people call it "in addition to 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 his remarks about the palace, he said: "The court is a heavy scholar, and the country is governed by a scholar." With this benefit, they took advantage of Jun's grace in vain, and evaded the imperial court's taxes by accepting offerings and sending fugitives. The officials of the yamen are not ignorant of the secret here, just because they are all scholars, and there is always an incense relationship between them. 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......"

"Mr. Hong......" Zhu Pingjin interrupted Hong Qihui's speech and said, "What does Mr. Hong mean, let this son 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? Only Najin Gentry opened the knife. No matter how powerful the gentry are, how dare they compare with the royal palace? ”

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. Royalty and nobility can be counted as one category. In addition to the Shu domain, Sichuan did not divide other nobles; 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. The reason why the imperial family, nobles, and gentry landlords were able to frantically occupy land in the late Ming Dynasty was that they took advantage of their political and economic advantages and the frequent natural disasters of the Xiaoice Age to engage in a powerful economy and infringe on the interests of ordinary landlords and yeoman farmers. Under the persecution of natural and man-made disasters, common landlords and yeoman farmers 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 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 farmers, as the propertied class, naturally demanded the stability of the country, suppressed the thieves, and resisted foreign humiliation, which was completely consistent with Zhu Pingjin's pursuit goals. 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. At the same time, Zhu Pingjin, a big magnate of the royal family, joined hands with the common people to squeeze out the gentry and small magnates, and the living space of the small magnates was doubtful.

"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, he 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 him a percent, which is much lower than the government's taxes, why is he not happy?" If a small landlord votes for our palace, he collects seventy or eighty percent of the tenants' rent, and the government levies taxes on him, but there is very little left. The palace only took one percent of him, and the government paid 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! There is a clear offering of the palace, and the gentry naturally dare not 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? ”

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

"It's just that there is too little land in this world 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, he replied in general: "The main reason is that the price of grain is too high, there are too many displaced people, and the gentry's family can always find a farmer." 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. The price of grain fell to one or two, and this son thought it was too early. 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. The army entered the city in a peaceful manner, not to grab grain but to buy grain, which is 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 so talented, if he can enter my shogunate, this son will be of great use, I don't know what Mr. thinks? ”

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 stake his future on a vassal king with no real political rights. But somehow, he always felt that he and Zhu Pingjin had a sense of sympathy for each other. 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 store in the field. 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, who was in a bad mood and insisted on refusing, and Liu Daozhen's mother who died and was guarding the system, these people all threw 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 with these newcomers, but because of a lack of understanding of them, he set up an agency to take charge of the people's contributions, and the internal name was "Shu Wangfu Wangzhuang Wangdianya, Qiong, Mei, Jiading, Tianquan Office Contribution Section." "Whoever recommends and who implements, Hong Qihui will naturally serve as the section chief, and Hong Qihui, the deputy section chief, will recommend Zhang Shilin and Zhong Zhishou to serve as two people. 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. Zhu Pingjin has no power in Jiading Prefecture, so it is not set up for the time being. Hong Qihui's third brother, Hong Qixin, because he envied the prestige of the Song brothers, 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 Wangzhuang Wangdianya, Qiong, Mei, Jiading and Tianquan 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.