On the cracked yellow earth, more than 100 Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers were sitting in danger, quietly listening to the emperor's speech, but one by one, their hearts gradually set off waves.

"The burden brought by the clan vassal kings to the people is very heavy, but they have no power after all, even the rice is collected by the government on behalf of the government, and it is really far away from the people."

"The most oppressive of the people are the gentry and the wicked officials. The inferior gentry, relying on their fame, occupied a large amount of land, but did not pay any taxes themselves. According to the imperial court tax system, each prefecture and county had a fixed amount of taxes to be collected, and the inferior gentry did not pay taxes, and all taxes could only be imposed on the heads of ordinary people who had no power or power.

Not to mention, the most odious thing is that the officials and gentry colluded to forcibly occupy the fields of ordinary people, and ordinary people have no power and power, and have no way to ask for help, so they can only be bullied. In every famine year, these inferior gentry will issue usury loans and force the desperate people to borrow money, and the money will roll in and the people will not be able to pay it back at all, and the landowners can only sell their land to pay off their debts, and sell their sons and daughters if they have no land. In every year of famine, the people starved to death countless times, but it was when these poor gentry who were unkind to the rich wantonly annexed the fields, and exchanged a few buckets of rice for the fields on which the people depended, forcing the people to be tenant farmers and slaves and let them oppress.

As far as I know, only 10% of the fields in northern Shaanxi are in the hands of ordinary people, and the rest are owned by the inferior gentry and clan kings. Most of the people have been reduced to tenants and slaves of the gentry, living a life of no hope! ”

When they heard this, some soldiers couldn't help but sobbed in a low voice, they remembered the situation of their own family, what Zhu Youzhen said was exactly what many of their families had experienced. Most of them don't have their own fields, most of them are tenants for the gentry, and most of the grain harvested every year has to be handed over to the gentry for rent, and the rest has to pay taxes to the government, and life is miserable!

"The most hateful thing is the evil officials of the government, one by one, relying on their official status, facing the people like wolves and tigers, wanton bullying, levying taxes to knock on the bones and sucking the marrow, eager to snatch away the last grain of food from the people. The court levied a tael of silver to pay a tax, and it would become ten taels in their mouths, and the excess silver was secretly greedy for ink by them. They set up clever names and wantonly extorted the people, and most of the wealth accumulated by the people with the grain they had worked hard to grow fell into their pockets.

In the year of famine, the people froze to death and starved to death and sold their sons and daughters, but it became a good opportunity for them to make a fortune. Less than 10% of the money and food that the court gave to the people could reach the people, and most of them were greedy for ink. Countless people starved to death, but they could not arouse the slightest mercy!

Just this year, I issued an order to relieve the famine in Shaanxi and exempted taxes for one year, but the evil officials still came to collect taxes, and in the entire Qingjian County, the people who were relieved of the disaster did not see a grain of grain! ”

"You say, 'With these three mountains, where is there still a way for the people to live?' How do they not fight back? Zhu Youzhen said angrily.

The eyes of the officers and soldiers sitting there burst into flames, remembering the situation of being bullied by the evil officials of the government. Who has not been bullied by officials, who has not been beaten by officials?

"This world is my world, and it is also the world of the people under heaven. But I was kept in the dark all day long, and I had to go out of the palace to know the truth, while my people were humiliated and lived a life that was inferior to pigs and dogs!

These chaotic people outside, they are ordinary and kind people like you, the difference is that you were recruited by me as Praetorian Guards to live a good life, and they are helpless and can only be bullied. Life could not go on, so they took risks.

If you don't change all this, they, the kind and duty-loving people, will become murderous butchers and man-eating beasts, and they will raid everywhere, making the world full of beacon fires, and the entire Ming Dynasty will be overturned and sunk! The entire northern Shaanxi and even the entire Ming Dynasty, hundreds of millions of people, will not survive because of the war......"

"Therefore, I brought you here, not only to quell the riots, but also to relieve the suffering people outside, so that the Ming Dynasty can avoid war."

After a long speech, Zhu Youzhen stopped and gasped slightly.

And the officers and soldiers sitting below have all been instigated by him, even Zhang Shize, a noble son, who was excited and flushed when he heard it.

"Your Majesty, tell me, what do you want us to do?" Zhang Shize was the first to shout.

"Your Majesty, please give an order to kill all those evil officials and bad gentry." Soldier commissar Lei Shisheng also shouted.

"Your Majesty, please give an order...... more people shouted.

Zhou Yuji and other officers were silent, but their hearts were also agitated. Compared with ordinary soldiers, they came from a better background, but they did not come from a gentry family, and they had no sympathy for the inferior gentry who bullied the people.

Zhu Youzhen shook his head: "I don't want you to kill people, the Ming Dynasty has a Ming law, and those bad gentry and evil officials will use the Ming law to convict them." What I need you to do is to tell the captives outside who you are, and tell them why I brought you here.

Tell them that I have already brought relief food from Henan, and that no one will starve to death.

Tell them that I have issued a decree to reduce taxes in Shaanxi for three years, and within three years, no more officials will come to collect taxes, and if there is, they will be lawbreakers who disobey the holy decree, and they can be killed directly.

Tell them that from tomorrow, I will personally accept the petition, and the grievances and humiliations they have suffered over the years can be told to me, and I will make decisions for them, punish those criminals who have bullied them, and return this land of northern Shaanxi to a prosperous future! ”

"Your Majesty, long live, long live, long live!" All the officers and soldiers knelt down in unison and shouted loudly.

Once upon a time, when they were bullied, they also wanted to have a chance to seek justice, but they had no way to ask for help. After all, there are too few Qingtian lords like Hai Rui in Daming, and more officials and gentry are complicit, which will only oppress them even more!

Zhu Youzhen, with the respect of the emperor, did not punish these rebellious people, but wanted to avenge them, in the eyes of these soldiers who were also from peasant households, what a saint, what a great grace of the emperor!

With the same background, these soldiers empathize with the suffering of the people of northern Shaanxi, and Zhu Youzhen's grace to these people of northern Shaanxi is even more like being added to them, so that their reverence for the emperor can not be expressed by shouting a few "Your Majesty Shengming"?

Zhou Yuji and other Wujin-born officers also shouted in unison, they were also in a surging mood, such a benevolent emperor was worthy of their lives to protect.

Looking at the excited expressions of the officers and soldiers, Zhu Youzhen nodded slightly, knowing that from this moment on, these soldiers have truly become their loyal irons, and they will live for themselves and die for themselves.

However, it is the duty of the Son of Heaven to treat the people of the world well and let the people live with food and clothing and dignity!