The fighting, the persuasion, the coaxing, the bullying, the chaos and the commotion. Hong Qihui hid in the shadows under the tree, ignoring the nearby movements.

The prince only sent a Fu brother to be a lobbyist? It is not human, he secretly commented, and there was a trace of contempt for the prince of Shu who had never met. He himself supports rent reduction, and seventy or eighty percent of the rents have driven the tenants to a dead end. This time, the thieves shouted "Remove the five beetles", and all the people participated in it from the beginning, and it was not forced by excessive taxes! The tax is too high, and of course it should be reduced. As for the specific reduction, the two main tenants can discuss. But tax cuts and contributions are clearly two different things! The prince used the method of dedication to reduce the rent, which inevitably hurt the face of the scholar too much!

Ming scholars, or with the imperial examination on the right path to achieve fame (jinshi, juren or xiucai); or the inmates of the northern and southern prisons and the students of the prefecture and county schools shall obtain the qualification to be directly conferred official positions (tribute). The Ming Dynasty has always favored scholars, who enjoyed the political rights and economic preferences prescribed by the imperial court, including the treatment of lulu, living allowance and preferential exemption from some taxes. Those who have a wide range of land in their homes are respected as gentlemen. Whether or not to go to school, whether to have official status and fame, is completely different from the gentry landlord and the ordinary common landlord. During the Jiajing period, he once set the preferential exemption method for scholars in the world: Beijing officials are free of 30 stone of grain for a product, and 30 ding for each person. The following decreases, to nine products free of grain and six stones, and six people are decided. The number of magistrates is halved compared to that of Beijing officials. Those who pay homage to the official are exempted from seven-tenths, and those who live idle are exempted from half. The lifters, prisoners, and students are each exempt from two stones of food, and two pieces of food are exempted. After the Wanli whip, these grains were folded into silver again. However, these scholars will not be satisfied with this preferential treatment of the imperial court, and they will use their political position to try their best to evade taxes. The simplest way is this: the land of a certain gentleman is registered in the tax book of the state and county that the land has been sold to such and such on a certain year, month, and day. Now that the legal transfer of land ownership has been completed. According to the tax law, the government can only tax buyers, not sellers. However, the buyer was either dead or fleeing, and the government would never be able to find the buyers on the register. The buyer is nowhere to be seen, but the land is never deserted. As a result, a large chunk of the tax went into the hands of the gentry and the officials who colluded with them (Note 1)

Scholars don't need to donate to the palace at all, and there is no law to pay taxes. Don't you know? They are rich and powerful, and they have always relied on their own identity to receive donations from other people's families, how can they be willing to surrender to the palace?

Hong Qihui thought about it, and felt that something was wrong. He called Hong Qiren and said, "Second brother, you go and quietly call Fu Yuanxiu over, and the eldest brother has to ask him again!" ”

The occupation of Peng Yuanke's house was simple and smooth. Except for Peng Yuanke's private family, most of the servants in the house were Peng Yuanke's private envoys. Yazhou was in turmoil, and Ruan Shiqi of Qianhu was in a hurry, and forced all the soldiers in the city to return to the team to defend Wang Guochen and himself, so Peng Yuanke's house was empty. At the beginning of the rebellion into the city, the first thing to rob was this rich area, and Peng Yuanke's house was the first few to be looted because of the weak guards. Gao Antai led his retinue and three reinforced squads of about sixty men and laid down the city wall at the east gate. They were led by the Peng family, and hurried along an alley parallel to Dongmen Street, and soon came to the outside of the Peng family's house. Several waves of chaotic people met Gao Antai's team, and saw that they were numerous, and there were knives and guns in hand, so the road was facing the sky, and everyone walked half of it, and everyone was safe. Outside the house wall, Gao Antai gave an order, and several flexible toast soldiers set up a human ladder and climbed over the high wall.

"Damn X, the door isn't closed!" The soldiers outside the wall couldn't help but laugh when they heard a secret curse from inside.

The gate was not closed, and it was clear that it had been ransacked.

"Laugh at what! Don't go through the door yet? Gao Antai has no pleasure of revenge, and a fire in his heart is holding back. Everyone entered the Peng family's house through the open door, and saw that the house seemed to have been washed by water. There were no furniture, ornaments and other valuable items left, and even the windows were demolished.

"Damn X, it's still too late!" Gao Antai also burst into a foul mouth, grabbed the family and said, "You say, does Peng Yuanke have a cellar where gold is hidden?" ”

The family shook his head and said, "The villain doesn't know. ”

"Then you're useless, cut it for me!" Gao Antai ordered. A few toast soldiers came up and pressed the man to the ground, one grabbed his hair bun so that his neck was exposed as much as possible, and the other drew his knife.

The family suddenly flew out of the sky, and hurriedly said: "My lord, spare my life!" I used to hear the brothers say that once Peng Yuanke was drunk, and he showed a sentence. It is said that there is a secret compartment in his house, which is extremely hidden, and no one can find it! ”

"You still dare to cheat at this time!" Gao Antai glanced contemptuously and said, "Why don't you hurry up and take us to find it!" Little ones, let's go to the study bedroom first! Tear down the walls and pry the floor tiles! Men's private money is generally hidden there! ”

There were two dead bodies in the courtyard of the back house, and one more in the main house. The bodies were identified as Peng Yuanke's family members. Gao Antai commanded: "People die for money, birds die for food!" People die here, and the silver is nearby! Let's light the torches and look for them separately! ”

In less than a quarter of an hour, a voice came from the study. Gao Antai broke away the onlookers, squeezed to the front to take a look, and couldn't help sticking out his tongue, "Damn X, this guy is really rich!" ”

It turned out that the west wall of the main house where Peng Yuan could live was a sandwich wall. A small brick door with a carved hollow window lattice, just perfect to cover the crack of the door. When ordinary people see it, they will naturally think that this is a fake window for decoration, and they will not think that there is a private vault at the back. It's just that the carved hollow window lattice was also pried open by the rioters, revealing a trace of the door, which exposed the traces.

"Three people go up to the roof and signal the city tower to move things!" Gao Antai is not a person who has never seen a large pile of silver, he took a few looks, and then estimated the weight of the silver, "Look for it, see if there are any big cars around!" ”

"Shizi!" Song Zhensi, who was in charge of the lookout, strode into Zhu Pingjin's temporary dormitory and reported: "I saw three torch circles in the direction of Peng Yuanke's house, which was the same as Mr. Gao's agreement!" ”

Zhu Pingjin was wrapped in two soldiers' cotton jackets and was sleeping soundly on the arrow tower, when Song Zhensi woke him up with the sound of dong when he went upstairs. He rubbed his eyes and said, "Leave the guards behind, and let the caravans carry things." Remember to take our horses with you! After Zhu Pingjin finished speaking, he wrapped his padded jacket, turned over, and continued to sleep.

Gao Antai successfully occupied Peng Yuanke's house and seized a lot of money. However, Chen Youfu's occupation of the house of Fan Wenguang, a former member of the household department in Nanjing, was blocked. The men and horses led by Chen Youfu had his platoon and four reinforced squads, with a total of more than 60 people. They sneaked all the way to the vicinity of Fan Wenguang's house, and saw the people in front of them boiling and the flames were lit. Chen Youfu let the brigade lurk in a nearby house that had been robbed, and he led a few people in the platoon out to find out the news.

When Yazhou was in turmoil, Fan Wenguang did not escape. His family has a big business, and he can't leave anything after he runs away. Besides, the Fan family has been rich for many years, and there are more than 300 servants in the nursing home, and there are no less than 200 people in the clan who dare to fight with knives, so Fan Wenguang is not panicked. He believed that even if foreign aid did not arrive, only by relying on the strength of the Fan family and the officials, soldiers and gentry in the city, they could suppress the civil unrest and defend their own houses. After Ding Wei made a comeback, with this credit for quelling the chaos, the court will inevitably be of great use.

However, a wise man will make a mistake if he thinks a thousand times. Fan Wenguang underestimated the scale of the riots and overestimated the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers.

Outside the Fan family's mansion, hundreds of chaotic people are swarming up, taking turns attacking the gate. The gate has been burned down, but the inside is firmly sealed with rockeries, stone mills, stone water tanks and other objects, and several of the daredevils who rushed in have not heard from them, and they are estimated to have died inside. Now the people outside did not dare to break in, but while shouting and intimidating, they threw torches along the fence, hoping to burn the people inside.

Chen Youfu and the others stood at the entrance of a small street outside the Fan family's compound, and when they saw this formation, they knew that they had come at the wrong time. Lao Tan whispered: "Leader, let's wait and do it again, now it's a death to join in!" ”

Chen Youfu nodded with a gloomy face. Lao Tan meant that he would not come out until the rebels or the Fan family had almost killed the other party. The truth of eating peaches and picking up rakes (Note 2), of course Chen Youfu understands. But at present, the offensive of the rebels is obviously blocked, and I don't know when I will have a chance.

Chen Youfu was thinking about it, and a big hand slapped him on the back.

"Hey, tall!" A man said loudly behind him: "You also came to Fan's house to pick up things?" ”

The night wind blew. A disgusting bad breath came with the sound and turned into Chen Youfu's nasal cavity.

"Exactly. You ......" Chen Youfu turned around and saw that a man about thirty years old behind him was smirking at him.

The big man looked at the rotten clothes on their bodies and the sharpened bamboo sticks in their hands, and his broad face showed a simple and excited smile. The big man said, "We just came here!" Damn, I've been walking all day, and I've hit a few restaurants without any oil and water! Lao Tzu saw that there was a lot of movement here, so he brought his brothers over to take a look! Have you heard that a group of officers and soldiers came over and occupied the east, west, and north gates, and only the south gate was still empty! ”

"I haven't heard of it." Chen Youfu shook his head and said, "Why don't you run quickly when the official army comes?" ”

"Ran through! I haven't picked it up yet! The big man shook his head contemptuously and said, "What kind of virtue does that official army have, Lao Tzu doesn't know!" Don't think that if you occupy the city gate, you can scare Lao Tzu away! Be careful to force the Lao Tzu to be anxious, and the Lao Tzu will not recognize the six relatives! Hey, you guys come here! The big man turned his head and beckoned behind him.

A few people ran over, and the big man grabbed a lewd old man who was running fast and lifted his collar. Under the firelight, it can be seen clearly, and it is a mandarin duck battle jacket.

"See? Officers and soldiers who are serious! The big man was triumphant, his eyebrows fluttering, "This old thing of the dog day is very slippery, and never rushes forward!" Didn't Lao Tzu see that there were two grandsons in his house who were going to starve to death, and he would have kicked him out! ”

"You're a battalion soldier or a guard, how did you get here?" Chen Youfu asked the old man curiously.

"The villain is a CD defender. The family was so hungry that I happened to meet a good man passing by a few days ago, so several of our families also came. ”

"Aren't you local?" Chen Youfu asked again.

"Lao Tzu Peng County, they have a few counties!" The big man grabbed the conversation and said: "The two eldest brothers, Wang Gang and Renji, took us to kill the yayi beetle in Peng County, and quickly sent a heroic post to the surrounding counties. Lao Tzu went all the way south from Peng County to Yazhou! Lao Tzu in Xinfan and Chongning counties have entered, only CD and Qiongzhou Lao Tzu have not entered! The dog officer there knew the news in advance, so he closed the city gates! ”

"Have you been to Renshou County?" Chen Youfu asked. He knew that the family members of the caravan were all in Renshou County, so he would inquire by the way.

"Renshou? Haven't been! We didn't want to take a detour, so we went straight to Qiongzhou after Chongqing. After picking up things in Yazhou this time, maybe I will go to Meizhou, Renshou, or go south to Jiading...... In short, there are many things in that place, so let's go wherever they go! Dahan was quick to talk and immediately answered what was in his heart. After speaking, he asked rhetorically: "Listening to the accent, you are not a local either?" ”

"I'm from Kuizhou's house." Chen Youfu also answered honestly.

"Kuizhou's? Kawato's? I haven't been there, but I've heard that it's far away! Hearing that someone had gone farther than him, the big man might have been a little frustrated, "How did you come here so far?" ”

"My family was hit by a local riot, and the fields could not be planted, so I had to ask for food to come here. I just found a long-term (long-term worker) job, and now the main family ......," Chen Youfu said, looking into the wall.

Ha ha! and everyone burst out laughing. The big man smiled heartily, and then said to Chen Youfu: "I thought you picked it up all the way from Kuizhou Mansion!" I see that your tall brother is also a good man, how about we join forces to pour it in? I have a surplus of good knives and guns here, all for the official and military, how about it? ”

Note 1: Some of the historical facts here refer to the "History of the Ming Dynasty" written by Tang Gang and Nan Bingwen.

Note 2: Sichuan native language, the meaning is equivalent to picking up soft persimmons in the northern dialect.