It wasn't until the third day that the anti-locust war in Jingyang County came to an end. Because Zhu Youjian ordered the workers to repeatedly scatter thatch to attract locusts, the flying locusts that were originally raging in several surrounding counties were finally attracted to them. With the joint efforts of several thousand workers, the army of locusts that had entered Shaanxi was finally completely wiped out.

At this time, the use of the word "corpses are like mountains" can no longer accurately describe the wilderness outside Qinwangzhuang. It was a sea of locust corpses! Zhu Youzhen is not interested in statistics, if you want to count, the kind of big bamboo basket that you pick at both ends of the flat shoulder, I'm afraid you have to load tens of thousands of baskets!

At this time, information from the surrounding provinces, including Shanxi and Henan, also came. In addition to being partially eradicated, the locusts soon died in large numbers because they had eaten up all the field crops in other areas and had no food source.

Although this locust plague came and went quickly, the damage caused was very staggering. Due to the climate in the north of Xi'an, the summer harvest has not yet ended, and the result is all eaten by locusts, which is equivalent to no harvest. Originally, the farmers were tired for more than half a year, so they pointed to this grain to make a living, but the result was that the bamboo basket was empty.

Since there was no grain to eat, many farmers began to peel tree bark, dig wild vegetables, and even began to eat Guanyin soil again. At this time, the imperial court was overwhelmed by the Jurchens and thieves, and the Hubu treasury was already empty, so how could there be time to deal with these victims. Of course, the victims of the disaster refused to starve to death, so there were frequent incidents of "eating big households" in various places, and even caused civil uprisings.

The so-called "big eaters" actually mean that in every famine year, desperate hungry people spontaneously organize themselves and pour into the homes of rich landlords in droves, either without leaving for three meals a day, or simply grab grain.

On the face of it, it is certainly not legal to "eat big". But the poor people have long been exploited and oppressed by the landlords and rich gentry, and they can barely fill their stomachs in the past, so they don't dare to do anything; But now that he can't even save his life, how can he manage so much?

These rich gentry, who usually run rampant in the township, were also dumbfounded at this time. These ordinary people, who usually lower their eyebrows and don't even dare to raise their heads when they see them, suddenly became fierce and vicious; The rich gentry not only have to eat, drink and entertain well, but also have to nod and be polite, otherwise they will inevitably suffer from flesh and skin.

And the number of hungry people is more than one million, and the good and the bad are uneven. Among them, there are also some idle and bad temperaments, in addition to grabbing food, they also take a lot of things from the rich gentry's house, and some even rape the female relatives of large families.

The rich gentry went to report to the officials, but the government did not dare to take care of it, and often had to count the rich gentry: "As the saying goes, 'the people take food as the sky', and now that the crops are gone, you have a lot of food, who will you eat if you don't eat?" Now that the situation is like this, what can I do if I eat you a few meals and sleep with your woman? Look at that county, the hungry people killed the whole family of a large family, threw his children into the pot and cooked them! What else do you sue, be content! ”

Rao is like this, and the counties in northern Shaanxi are still frequently changing people. Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other thieves who started earlier had already entered Henan and Hubei at this time, and a new wave of thieves rose up one after another. Just like a patient with a bad sore, the old sores have not yet healed, and the new sores have rotted again in the original place, and finally they are out of control.

Compared to these places, Jingyang County has simply become a paradise on earth. Although the millet in the fields was destroyed by locusts, after all, some of the winter wheat had been harvested, and the peasants had more or less surplus grain in their homes.

As soon as the summer grain is harvested, the field endowment should be handed over. Originally, as the Qin king's caiyi, the fields in Jingyang County were not handed over to the household department, but all belonged to Zhu Youzhen. According to Zhu Youzhen's meaning, this year's catastrophe is one disaster after another, and the people can't even eat, so Tian Fu will simply be exempted.

But after communicating with Sun Chuanting, Zhu Youzhen knew that even if he didn't collect the field endowment, the people still had to donate, because there was an additional burden in addition to the field endowment, that is, the "three salaries".

The so-called "three salaries" are Liao's salary, thistle's salary and training salary. No matter what the name, it is always used in military affairs. Liao salary has long existed, and thistle salary and practice salary have only been levied since this year, and they are all nine cents of silver per mu, and a total of two cents and seven cents of silver per mu.

Originally, since the beginning of the Wanli period, the imperial court has implemented the "one whip" law, that is, the collection of Tian Fu into silver. It stands to reason that this is a progressive measure to monetize taxes. However, the so-called "if you are an official, you will have a private interest, and if you are private, there will be disadvantages", with the increasing officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty, this "one whip" law has also appeared a big problem, the most unreasonable of which is the converted price of money and grain.

Because when the "one whip" law was just formulated, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty was still very strong, and the price of rice was relatively low. At that time, it was stipulated that one stone of rice was worth eight cents of silver, which was similar to the market price of rice, so the common people were happy to accept it.

However, with the frequent natural disasters at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the inflation caused by the massive inflow of silver, food prices began to skyrocket. In the year of the Apocalypse, even in the rice-producing areas of the south of the Yangtze River, one stone of rice was converted into two taels of silver was already a very fair price. Take Xi'an Mansion as an example, Zhu Youzhen tried his best to stabilize the price of rice at the level of three taels and one stone.

Soon the imperial court discovered that if the "one whip" law was still implemented according to the eight cents of silver per stone, then the silver collected would not be able to buy so much grain at all.

Originally, this matter was also simple, and it was just discounted according to the market price. However, local officials everywhere immediately thought of a vicious method: instead of leviing it in silver according to the "one whip" law, they still levied grain in kind, but the price of money and grain was still eight cents per stone!

It's too bad. As a simple example, the amount of tax assigned by the imperial court to a certain county is 30,000 taels of silver, and as long as this amount is paid to the imperial court, the county order is considered to have completed the task. The amount of tax set by the imperial court took into account the changes in grain prices. For example, in the Wanli period, the same county, the tax amount was less than 10,000 taels. From the emperor's point of view, although he collects more money now, he can only buy so much grain, so he does not feel that it has increased the burden on the common people.

But when it was levied from the common people, the magistrate converted 30,000 taels of silver into 40,000 stone of grain at the price of eight cents per stone. And the market price of grain is at least three taels or more, and 40,000 stone can be sold for more than 100,000 taels of silver. The county order only paid 30,000 taels to the imperial court, and the rest was all in his pocket!

In this way, the burden on the common people has increased several times out of thin air. Although the officials have made a fortune, the common people are overwhelmed. Counting the additional "three salaries", it is even worse.

If calculated according to this method, the levy of the three salaries is equivalent to 40 catties per mu, accounting for almost one-third of the yield per mu!

"I'm going to him!" After listening to Sun Chuanting's speech, Zhu Youzhen stayed for a long time, and finally couldn't hold back his anger, and slapped the table fiercely, and his hands were swollen!

After pondering for a moment, he said categorically: "I didn't expect these corrupt officials to be so cunning and robbing, this is not what the officials are forcing the people!" Master Sun, I think it's good, this year's three salaries, this king paid for the people of Jingyang! ”