easily defeated the Xiang Yong Army, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not have the slightest smug look on his face, but just lightly ordered: "Pick up the spears that the Xiang Yong dropped on the ground and take them away, especially the iron spear tip, it is very useful to us!" ”

"Yes!" The soldiers agreed, and they all stepped forward to clean up the battlefield and pick up spears on the ground.

At this time, the poodle that followed behind was already stunned! What a powerful Zhu Ba! Using 400 people to clean up Xu Renjie, who also had 400 people, was a matter of a flick of a finger, they just had time to blink, and before they could react to what was going on, Xu Renjie's township army was beaten so that they didn't even know their grandmother.

The two brothers of the poodle dog used to be famous for their pimple, and the fight was a first-class death, and they also took the villagers to fight with other villages, and the reason for the fight was nothing more than that the Zhang family stole a chicken from the Li family, and the west village occupied a piece of land in the east village.

They know one thing very well, if it is a large-scale group fight, such as the kind of hundreds against hundreds of people, it usually takes a long time, and the winning side will inevitably have a blue nose and swollen face. But Zhu Yuanzhang taught them a lesson with practical actions, even if it was a large group of 400 people against 400 people, they could complete the battle in a very short time, and only beat the enemy to a blue nose and swollen face, and only scratched a little skin himself.

The poodle was so impressed that when they first went up the mountain, they did have fire and Wang Lun's thoughts, but now, this little bit of thought has also flown out of the clouds. What was left in my heart was only the five big characters "Zhu Ba is so powerful".

The recruits of the New Ninth Team and the New Tenth Team they brought with them were also so surprised that they couldn't keep their mouths shut. In the past, the veterans laughed at them, and they were a little unconvinced, but now after seeing the majesty of the veterans in the war, they realized that it was not for nothing that they were ridiculed, and it was indeed too vegetable. Later...... To the veterans in the cottage, let's be respectful.

After cleaning up the battlefield as quickly as possible, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to continue to move forward, defeating the Xiangyong team was not the point, the purpose of his trip was to collect food.

Passing through the battlefield, soon came to the front of a gentry compound. The owner of this compound is surnamed Lu, known as Lu Yuanwai, and his family had a county order three generations ago, so he has accumulated hundreds of acres of fertile land. When Zhu Yuanzhang was in turmoil last year, his family obediently paid "taxes", so Zhu Yuanzhang did not clean him up.

But this year, he seems to be a little tougher, the Lu family compound has obviously been reinforced, the courtyard wall has become thicker, and it has been increased to more than a zhang, and there are a lot of hidden grids on the wall, which seems to be convenient for spears to stab out, and there are nearly 100 guards with weapons at home, and there are dozens of archers lying on the wall. Looking at this driving momentum, he has the courage to fight with Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang surrounded the compound first, and he was not in a hurry to attack, but just called out loudly: "Please Lu Yuan go up to the wall to talk......

After a while, the fat-headed and big-eared Lu Yuanwai climbed up the courtyard wall, only half of his head was exposed, and shouted loudly: "King Zhu, you led troops to surround my yard, what are you doing?" ”

As soon as Lu Yuanwai opened his mouth, he was half stunned, and actually called Zhu Yuanzhang King Zhu, and used the honorific title of "you", just listening to this tone, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that he was afraid of himself.

"Lu Yuanwai, I came from afar with my troops, and you didn't greet me and invite me to drink tea, but closed the door tightly, and took the archer to lie on the wall, what does this mean?" Zhu Yuanzhang snorted.

Lu Yuanwai was startled and quickly explained: "This ...... Recently, Baishui has been restless, there are small bands of thieves everywhere, and we are here to prevent small bands, not for you. ”

"Since you're not coming for me, why don't you withdraw the archers and open the door......," Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

"This ...... This one...... cough cough...... "Lu Yuanwai Khan, he will never withdraw the archers and open the gate."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, and he said seriously: "I was in the Baishui Uprising last year, and I think you know what you did. At that time, I gave you two options, one was against me, and I destroyed the house. The second is to cooperate with me and pay taxes obediently...... You chose to cooperate with me, so you have lived peacefully until now, so now I will give you another chance, you can choose your own path. ”

Lu Yuanwai's sweat was dripping, he wiped his face, and said loudly: "King Zhu...... Didn't I pay this tax last year? Why are you here again this year! If you collect your taxes like this every year, I'm ...... I might as well choose the first path and die. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang put on a curious expression on his face: "Huh? That's amazing! Ordinary people pay taxes twice a year, autumn and spring, and so on, how did you get here, can you pay taxes once in a lifetime? ”

"I ...... My family was originally tax-exempt! Lu Yuanwai argued.

"Your family is abiding by the rules of the imperial court!" Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly: "However, don't forget that I am against the imperial court, the imperial court collects taxes from the villagers twice a year and exempts you from taxes, but I prefer to come the other way around, I collect taxes from you twice a year, and exempt the villagers from taxes, so that they can complement each other with the tax policy of the imperial court, right?" ”

"You...... You ......" Lu Yuanwai was angry, but he didn't dare to speak ill of him.

Zhu Yuanzhang said patiently: "The villagers pay taxes twice a year, pay them for hundreds of years, and never say a word, until the drought can no longer survive, and they make a little mood." You never pay taxes, but I just came to you twice to ask for taxes, and you will die or live with me, you say...... Is this a problem that you are used to? ”

"This ...... This ......" Lu Yuanwai was speechless.

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out three fingers and said: "I'll count three times, you give me a clear idea, decide to pay taxes or go against me!" ”

"One!"

For the tax-free class of gentry like him, it really doesn't cost a lot of money to pay taxes, but for hundreds of years, or thousands of years, the feudal system in China has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the gentry class has always been tax-free, just like Zhu Yuanzhang said, this is a habitual problem.

There are many kinds of problems in the world, and the most difficult thing to change is the habitual problem. It's really hard to change! It's not a matter of money at all, it's a habit to stand tall on the head of the people and show off his might, and now he has to pay taxes like the people, and it's hard for him to turn around.

"Two!"

The outside of Lu Yuan is like an earthy color.

Human beings, as a creature, have any problems that cannot be changed, because the price paid is not big enough. For example, if someone has a surname, it is because he has not paid a heavy price because of his surname. This is especially true for young people, who are extravagant and waste money, because they don't know how hard it is to get money!

Zhu Yuanzhang knows deeply that if you want to get rid of this person's bad habits, the best way is to let him know that if you don't dare to do this, you have to pay a heavy price. The current Lu Yuanwai is facing such a problem, he can either change his habitual thinking and pay taxes obediently, or he will fight with Zhu Yuanzhang, once he is defeated, he will definitely be wiped out, this price is really too great.

"Three!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's third finger had just bent down, and Lu Yuanwai hurriedly shouted: "I pay taxes!" I pay taxes...... I...... I paid my taxes. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's raised hand was gently lowered, and for a moment, he really wanted to order Lu Yuanwai's house to be razed to the ground, but he still forcibly held back, knowing that the tax-free class is not just this one, but all over the land of China. And these families, almost without exception, are intellectuals and belong to a part of the wealth of society.

If you kill all these people, the country will not be a country!

Zhu Yuanzhang is not here to sabotage, he is here to rebuild the Ming Dynasty, so it is impossible for him to kill all the intellectuals, and the result of that will only make the country worse, and it is impossible to get better. For these gentry classes, he can only suppress, or indoctrinate, reform, and must not kill them all.

Soon, the "Spring Fu" handed in by Lu Yuanwai was put in a basket and hung down from the courtyard wall. According to the amount of land in his family, he should have handed over one hundred and fifty-four taels of silver, but the frightened Lu Yuanwai dared to hand over this number, and he obediently handed over two hundred taels of silver.

Zhu Yuanzhang casually picked up a fifty-tael ingots from the silver pile, threw them back into the yard with a flick of his hand, and said loudly: "I'm here to collect taxes, not to rob, I don't want the excess!" Besides, give me this hundred and fifty taels of silver, and I want to convert it into grain, so take it back and exchange it for grain for me. ”

How dare Lu Yuanwai not comply, hurry up and change the grain.

However, this exchange of grain immediately caused trouble, and one hundred and fifty taels of silver were thrown back from the wall, but Lu Yuanwai only sent down fifty stones of rice.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his eyebrows: "Lu Yuanwai, what do you mean by this?" One hundred and fifty taels of silver for only fifty stone of rice? ”

Lu Yuanwai on the wall hurriedly shouted: "King, I didn't mean to offend you...... Just now...... The current price of rice is like this, we have three taels of silver and one stone of rice here, and one hundred and fifty taels of silver is fifty stones, I didn't dare to take advantage of you. ”

"Three taels of silver and one stone?" Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly surprised, when he was a wandering soul, he mainly observed the major events in the world, and he didn't notice such a trivial matter as grain prices, so he didn't know about the grain price problem in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and now he suddenly heard the price of rice, which scared him a lot.

You must know that when he was the emperor in the previous life, that is, during the Hongwu period, the price of grain was as big as one or two silver to buy two stone rice, and during the Yongle period, he went to understand it once in order to evaluate Zhu Di's political achievements, and the grain price at that time was one or two silver to buy seven or eight stone rice, but I didn't expect that during the Chongzhen period, it would take three taels of silver to buy one stone of rice, and the price of this grain soared too outrageously.

"Why are food prices so outrageous?" Zhu Yuanzhang's face darkened.

Lu Yuanwai smiled bitterly, and quickly shook his hand and said, "This is not my business, my family is not in business." It was some merchants who ran the rice shop, and they hoarded all the grain and raised the price together...... It's none of my business to cause such a scene. ”