At this time, it is February of the seventh year of the Apocalypse (1627 AD), spring has been sent, winter has gone, it should be the spring cold and steep, all things recover, beautiful and beautiful season, but for the majority of poor people, this season is also very difficult.

At this time of year, the government has to collect the "spring payment" from the people. The "spring fu" here is not "the meaning of a poem of spring talent", it is not so poetic, and no one is still in the mood to write poetry at such a time, because the "spring fu" here refers to the spring tax.

Some friends who are not familiar with history think that the taxes of the Ming Dynasty are very low, but in fact, they ...... These friends are right, because for businessmen, the taxes of the Ming Dynasty are indeed very low. For the gentry class, it was tax-free at all, but for ordinary people, the taxes of the Ming Dynasty were very heavy.

Daming collects taxes twice a year, once called spring fu and once autumn fu. As the name suggests, the spring harvest is the spring harvest, and the autumn harvest is the autumn harvest, and these two taxes are very heavy, making many people's families ruined. Especially from the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618 AD), the military salary of Liaodong was insufficient, and the salary of Liaodong was increased (and later it was added several times, and nine cents of silver were added per mu of land). This additional faction has been retained until the death of the Ming Dynasty, and it has not been canceled, which has made the people miserable.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the hillside, watching the big yellow cow graze, and watching a villager living nearby walk into the Ma family compound. The people in this hometown chose to visit the Ma family during the Spring Festival, but in fact, there was only one purpose - "trickery".

The so-called "trickery" is to hang one's own property in someone else's name.

As mentioned earlier, the gentry class is exempt from taxes, but the common people must pay heavy taxes, in this case, some people who can't get by, will go to the local gentry's house, visit the door, and take the initiative to say: "Please take me as a slave, and I and my land will all belong to your family......"

Then the gentry must have smiled and said, "How dare you do this?" Of course it's good that you want to come to my house, so come and come! I will not take your field, you will continue to plough it yourself, as long as you pay me a small amount of money every year. ”

As a result, the field is still the same field, and the peasants who cultivate the land are still the same peasants, but in the information of the government, that field no longer belongs to a peasant, but to a gentry, and the peasants who cultivate the land have also become the long-term workers of the gentry's family, and this field naturally does not need to be taxed...... The taxes that should have been collected by the state became collected by the local gentry, and the state finances were not as good as the other.

Of course, although there are many people who are willing to take the initiative to join others as slaves, they still constitute a minority in the entire peasant class. Chinese people have a strong sense of locality, a piece of land is the lifeblood of a peasant, and if ordinary people are not cornered, it is impossible to do this kind of thing of giving all their lives to others.

According to Zhu Ba's memory, people used to come to the Ma family every year, but there were only three or five families in a year, not too many...... This year is very different, Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the hillside and watched for a while, only half a day, three farmers came to "send it", according to this development, from the beginning to the end of the "spring fu", at least thirty or forty families have to "send it" to the Ma family, becoming the nominal long-term worker of the Ma family. Thirty or forty families represent hundreds of acres of land, and the tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty will drop by another hundred acres.

"The drought is getting worse." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, the number of people who "send" has increased, indicating that there are more people who can't afford to pay taxes, which is undoubtedly the effect of the great drought, but this is not what Zhu Yuanzhang is most worried about, what he is worried about is the problem of the system......

Floating in the sky for hundreds of years as a bystander, he has seen many malpractices in the Ming Dynasty, including the financial problems brought by the tax exemption of the gentry class to the country, which is a serious maladministration that must be solved, but even the eloquent Zhu Yuanzhang feels that this problem is difficult to solve!

Why? Because to revise this decree, it is equivalent to being the enemy of the gentry class of the entire Ming Dynasty!

But...... If this tax problem is not solved, the finances of the Ming Dynasty will not be alleviated and the country will not be saved......

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but think: "If I am made the emperor of the Ming Dynasty now, how can I fight against the gentry of the whole world?" Ordered to kill them all like in the Hongwu period? No, definitely not! During the Hongwu period, the situation was different from now, when I had a heavy army and a high prestige, so that I could support the army to kill all the disobedient people. Now, even if I am made emperor, the entire army of the country will not be able to listen to me, and the only consequence of opposing the gentry of the whole world is that a certain general will lead his troops to rebel, and then the ministers will echo, and I will be isolated...... After being killed by the rebels, a new monarch was established. ”

Forget it, it's too early to think about this, I'm just a cowherd baby of the Ma family, my identity is too low, I haven't found a starting point to save the Ming Dynasty, it's useless to think too much.

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang thought of this, he suddenly heard a few long-term workers shouting at the foot of the small hill: "Zhu Ba, come back quickly, do you have something to do with the Qi manager?" ”

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses, took the big scalper, hurried back to the side courtyard of the Ma family, and walked straight to the hut where the manager Qi was.

I saw that there were still a lot of people in the hut where the Qi steward was, in addition to the Qi steward himself, there was also Yang Chao, and there were three middle-aged farmers, all over forty years old, with weathered faces, rough hands and feet, honest, and the kind that couldn't say a word. Zhu Yuanzhang recognized it at a glance, these people were all villagers who came to Ma's house this morning to "send it". Although these three people seem to be honest, they may not, if they are really honest and honest, how can they come to "trick and send"?

"Get ready, come with me to the county yamen." Steward Qi said to Zhu Yuanzhang: "I want to take these people to the yamen to go through some formalities, you and Yang Chao will go with me and help me out." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang is so smart, he only understands after listening to this sentence that Manager Qi is planning to take these people to blatantly evade taxes. He swept his eyes to the table, and sure enough, there were three just-written deeds of sale on the table, the content was exactly the same, to the effect that I Zhang Moumou, I Li Moumou, and I Liu Moumou are now voluntarily sold to the Ma family as slaves, and the family's fields are given to the Ma family...... The back is drawn, covered with finger prints. There are still several land deeds and house deeds pressed under the deed of sale, and the transfer vouchers have been written.

The three honest peasants also brought their own household registration stickers, which indicated which township they were from, Dingkou, name, age, surname, field house, cattle and livestock...... These things are very important, in the Ming Dynasty, you must have a household registration sticker, otherwise you will not be able to go a few miles, and you will be arrested by the government to fill the army.

This is a system made by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, and he is very familiar with it. Since these peasants have signed the deed of sale, their household registration must be modified, and ordinary people are not qualified to change it by themselves. If you want to change this thing, you must go to the yamen, and the master in charge of document processing will change it, and after the change, you must stamp the big seal of the yamen.

A wave of anger rose in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart again, these people were wantonly infringing on the interests of the Ming Dynasty. If Zhu Yuanzhang, who held great power in his previous life, had already ordered all these people to be pushed out and beheaded at this time, but at this time, he could only endure it, and with a flash of anger in his eyes, he was quickly suppressed by him, and turned into a calm color.

Yang Chao next to him seemed to have a different look in his eyes, but when he looked at it carefully, he couldn't see anything, he would be wrong, and he thought that Zhu Ba was stupid and didn't know what was happening in front of him. He was anxious to behave in front of Steward Qi, suppress Zhu Ba, and hurriedly seized this opportunity and said, "Zhu Ba, do you know what we are going to do in the Yamen?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "These big brothers want to enter our Ma family and work with us to do the work for Qi Steward, of course we should help them." ”

Yang Chao suddenly laughed and laughed loudly: "Zhu Ba, you kid is really stupid, you don't even understand 'trickery'?" He turned his head and smiled flatteringly at Steward Qi: "Steward Qi, look at what this kid Zhu Ba has become, he doesn't understand anything, he will definitely do bad things for you in the future." ”

As soon as the words fell, Steward Qi raised his palms and gave Yang Chao a big ear bracket with a "snap": "You stupid killer, can you say the word 'trickery' out loud?" This kind of thing, you can only do it, you can't take it out and say it, you stupid person can learn more from Zhu Ba, people understand in their hearts, don't say it with your mouth, but you stupid person has to say it with a mouth that you don't understand...... I don't think you know how to do things. ”

Yang Chao covered his face and took two steps back, with his poor intelligence, he really didn't understand why he was beaten.

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed in his heart: You are really not a good material to be a follower, how can a follower have the reason to shout loudly about the illegal things he has done? At such a time, you have to pretend not to understand if you understand, and those who don't pretend to be stupid are really stupid!

His face was calm, without showing the slightest expression of ridicule at Yang Chao, he walked to the edge of the table by himself, packed up the house deed, title deed, and deed of sale on the table, and after reading it carefully, he helped Steward Qi into his arms. Don't be ostentatious, don't swagger, don't talk nonsense, just do what is at hand.

Steward Qi nodded, and greeted the three honest villagers: "Let's go, I have to come back before dark, and I will enter the yamen in a while, don't talk nonsense to me." He turned his head, glared at Yang Chao fiercely, and sneered: "If you also open your mouth and shout in the yamen, I will ask someone to tear your mouth when you come back." ”

"Yes...... The little ones don't dare anymore. Yang Chao knew that he had lost points again, so he quickly nodded.