After the Hongmen banquet on the night of the Midyear Festival, the division between friend and foe was basically clear.

Shen Shuren knew very well that Yuan Zhongyi, a handful of "local tyrants and inferior gentry", would not cooperate with the government, and they also wanted to knock on the bone and suck the marrow to ensure that their interests were maximized.

Just like those officials who were forced to donate by Chongzhen, what they care about may not be the money and food at the moment, but after this opening, the poor will be nailed households, and the government will think they are easy to bully.

This can be regarded as a series of sequelae brought about by the lack of rule of law and the lack of protection of private property in ancient society. All the rich people think in their hearts is "I have sucupted to the robbers for the first time, and the robbers will stare at me in the future", and they will not give in until they are tortured.

However, Yuan Zhongyi and the others at least did not dare to tear their faces directly with Shen Shuren, and Shen Shuren was not in a hurry to tear their faces - the real contradiction would not completely break out until the autumn grain was collected.

At present, these people are engaged in other small actions that are not directly confrontational.

As for what kind of small action it is, Shen Shuren's IQ can basically guess it.

……

The day after the Hongmen banquet, Shen Shuren called his henchman Shen Fu and asked him a few questions: "Have you ever killed someone in those years of fighting at sea?" Have you ever led your men to kill someone? ”

Shen Fu was not ambiguous, and changed his cautious appearance when he was a follower to the eldest young master before, and it was rare to show a bit of fierceness:

"Three years ago, I was still running in North Korea, and once I encountered a typhoon on my return trip from selling ginseng, and the route deviated and drifted south to Jeju. When I returned to Ningbo from Jeju, I met the seal ship of the Hizen Matsukura clan on the sea, and we even killed the real wolf. ”

Shen Shuren almost showed a look of surprise, but fortunately, he was in the deep city, and quickly controlled it, and asked in disguise:

"Oh? Do you still have what it takes? It seems that my father arranged you to be by my side, and he also knows your ability. No wonder he did well when he delivered grain to Shi Futai last year. By the way, why didn't the Matsukura clan retaliate later? And isn't that place Zheng Zhilong's territory? ”

Shen Fu rarely showed a presumptuous smile, as if recalling the proud things in his life, and said as if he was a treasurer:

"Wasn't it chaotic that year, Zheng Zhilong, in order to avoid suspicion, restrained his subordinates to suspend the sailing of several ports in Hizen and Higo, so as not to offend the Edo shogunate and be misunderstood as a thief.

As a result, the Shimabara Rebellion broke out in Kyushu the following year, and the feudal lord Matsukura Katsuya was captured by Tokugawa Iemitsu and beheaded in Edo because of the rebellion. ”

Shen Shuren has a good history, and he also loved to play games in his previous life, and after a little recollection, he will understand what is going on.

The "Shimabara Rebellion" was a rebellion in 1637~1638 in the Kitakyushu region of Japan in which the Tenzhu sect rebelled against the shogunate. The leader of the rebellion, "Amakusa Shiro Tokisada", is the prototype of the big boss in the "Samurai Shodown" series of games.

The Shen family's status as the "overlord of the Yellow Sea" is really not for nothing. Even if there is only one-twentieth of the Zheng family's power, it is more than enough to deal with these inland river merchants now.

After Shen Shuren was relieved, he directly had a showdown with his subordinates: "At the Hongmen banquet last night, I confided in those gentry about the source of tilapia, Indian chicken, and corn and potatoes. This is also my deliberate sincerity and asking for directions.

Those gentry who are willing to cooperate with the government should hurry up in the next few days to pay the money, and actively apportionment and re-sign the lease deed, so as to exchange for the good breed of chicken and fish in my hands.

And those who are unwilling to cooperate, hearing that these things are highly productive, will definitely not be idle, and it is estimated that they will find a way to find and bypass me, the 'middleman', from Jiangxi, and prevent me from making the difference.

You are all old running to the sea, and our boat is also fast, and we have been keeping an eye on the dock towns of Qishui, Bashui, and Xishui estuaries in the past few days. Look at the gentry who want to get around me.

In addition, since the matter of money and food has been ordered, the matter of recruiting and training troops must also be taken into account. You can first recruit the local poor people who have lost their land and turned into fishermen, screen their character, and bring the old and new ones into our Shen family fleet.

In terms of ships, you can also take some silver, expand the collection of civilian ships, and then let the hometown in Suzhou transfer a little. Anyway, I want to kill the business travelers in Huangzhou counties to take the Yangtze River waterway, and if I want to go to Jiangxi, I have to count. ”

When Shen Fu heard this, his face was embarrassed: "If you don't use unscrupulous means, just keep an eye on it, it's not difficult to arrive." But if we want to come in secret, we don't have enough men and ships. Young master, you only brought twenty or thirty big ships, five hundred sailors, and five hundred elite family members with you this time. ”

Shen Shuren waved his hand: "You don't have to be completely dark, it's okay to be clear." In a few days, I will announce in due course that Liu Xiyao has become more rampant, looting civilian boats in Huanggang, and will go out by water to rob grain in various counties. I will strengthen vigilance, set up speculation and inventory inspections at various river esturies, and temporarily collect escort fees by the way. ”

The young master's words made Shen Fu startled, he also knew a little bit of the imperial court household rules, and knew what the money and grain taxes were.

Daming does have a commercial tax, but the proportion of the total fiscal revenue is very low, Linqing, Yangzhou, Suzhou and other Caoyun hub nodes of the big banknotes, every year is only a hundred thousand taels to two or three hundred thousand taels of silver commercial tax, other banknotes can have tens of thousands of taels of silver is very good.

However, the system of "centijin" was obviously unprecedented in the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court did not allow the collection of commercial trade circulation tax in places other than legal banknotes.

Shen Fu was worried that the young master would violate the law of the country, so he hurriedly reminded him euphemistically.

Shen Shuren didn't care, just waved his hand lightly: "What's this, first of all, it's wartime now, what's wrong with the local government in order to raise troops and suppress thieves?"

Secondly, the imperial court originally had a tax card in Wuchang, but it wasn't Liu Xiyao and other thieves who cut off the Yangtze River, and there were many leaks in Wuchang, and in fact, they couldn't collect it?

In the end, what we collect is not a 'tax', but only the money for the escort of the people's merchant fleet, which is too natural.

Even if His Majesty is worried, he will only turn a blind eye and see the curative effect first. If the effect is not good, or if it provokes a larger problem, it is possible that Your Majesty will blame me to appease the indignation. If the curative effect is good and the situation is controllable, His Majesty is eager to push the boat with the current.

Besides, the escort collects money, and the Zheng family in Fujian has been doing it for a long time, and we are not the first birds. ”

Shen Shuren said this, and there is no need to finish talking about it in the future, Shen Fu already knows what the young master is targeting.

According to the Zheng family's model of flag silver, the de facto commercial circulation tax is collected, isn't that "if you give a protection fee, I will escort you and ensure your safety." If you don't pay protection money, you will definitely be robbed by the river thieves."

Zheng Zhilong's family business, most of which came from this - the Zheng family owns one or two thousand sea ships, and the sea ships of other countries in East and Southeast Asia add up to one or two thousand, each of which pays the Zheng family three thousand taels of silver every year, that is, the protection fee.

This one has 1,000 to 12 million taels per year, which is equivalent to two of the three salaries of the imperial court.

The Shen family is in the Yellow Sea, in fact, there is a similar model, but the scale is only one-twentieth of the Zheng family, but everyone is familiar with the operation process.

Shen Fu took a deep breath and cautiously begged the young master to give a final measure: "Young master, if you really operate according to the method of 'flag silver' and encounter someone who resists stubbornly, can you push it to the head of 'died at the hands of Liu Xiyao's river thieves'?"

This inland is no easier to wear than the sea. The lord is still an official in the capital, so he won't cause trouble to the lord, right? ”

Shen Shuren's face sank: "It's really a last resort, pay attention to the scale, pay attention to confidentiality." The thieves are so messy, some things are not clear.

Huangzhou is a closed place, as long as you can control the navigation on the river, they still want to turn the sky, they have to take the land to go to the Yinghuo Mountains to An, Lu.

Liu Xiyao is in the north, Lin Yangcheng is in the east, if these gentry really have the ability to break through the thieves' defense area, will they be beaten to only four or five counties? ”

Shen Shuren thought very clearly, what he gambled on was that these people couldn't kill the thieves and couldn't kill a bloody way. Even if he is powerful in Huangzhou, these people will be temporarily intimidated by his obscenity.

After the rebels have endured hardships, they may not give up their hatred, but they will definitely put aside their hatred, thinking, "Now that the news is blocked, you can't send out the lawless news that Shen Tongzhi knows."

But as long as you endure for a year and a half, wait for the imperial army to clear Liu Xiyao and open the way." Then won't they be able to go out and report the crime and count on the blue sky! You can't take a risk in vain for the sake of "robbing the time difference in reporting".

And only Shen Shuren knows that today's Daming has a situation every year. This year, the imperial court can still manage the local government to collect taxes or oppress the gentry in order to suppress thieves, but next year it will be even more chaotic and larger.

At that time, as long as he has meritorious deeds, Shen Shuren is not afraid of these small fish and shrimp rolling up the waves at all.

Two years before the death of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Lu killed the Han envoys. Two years before Chongzhen's death, couldn't he Shen Shuren kill those insects!

If you want to go to Dabie Mountain to report the case, please do it yourself. It is their ability to fight a bloody way.

……

Shen Shuren knew very well in his heart that in today's remote and isolated mountainous areas, the deterrence of the Ming officialdom was no longer useful. In its place, there is an even more law of the jungle.

It's a pity that Yuan Zhongyi and these people don't know that they still cling to the rules of officialdom and are crazy about making profits for themselves.

According to the young master's orders, Shen Fu organized a fleet to patrol and deploy, and after only half a month of investigation, he found that Yuan Zhongyi and these guys had problems.

They actually made a trip to southern Gannan and tried to get back the seeds and eggs of the good varieties from the Fujianese.

The point is that some of these people still do not cooperate with the warnings of the Lord.

Tongzhi repeatedly told them that Liu Xiyao had recently obtained a lot of civilian boats, and there was another famine in Huanggang County, and Liu Xiyao organized people to come out by water to rob and solve his famine. But these guys just use the warning of Lord Tongzhi as an excuse to collect protection money! Still refusing to enroll!

The risk may not explode for a while, but it will definitely explode eventually.

No, one day in early August, about a week before the Mid-Autumn Festival, an accident occurred with the Yuan family's fleet trying to return to their hometown.

After the fleet came to Qizhou after transporting corn and eggs, it was on the way back to Jiangxi. Yuan Daotai's distant nephew, Yuan Zhongyi, also planned to return to Jiangxi with the fleet in person this day, so that he could report to his old family and discuss some matters.

Who knew that as soon as the fleet came out of the mouth of the Xishui River, it encountered the interception and killing of Liu Xiyao's rogue sailors on the Yangtze River.

Yuan Zhongyi and the Yuan family's merchant fleet of 100 people were all killed by the river thieves, and there was not a single person left alive. However, their family had not yet paid the protection fee, so there was no escort by Shen Tongzhi's sailor patrol ship at that time.

Despite this, out of the mentality of loving the people like children and the consideration of humanitarian attention, Shen Tongzhi still rushed to the scene with troops and ships to understand the situation and guide the aftermath work as soon as he got the news.

Martial law was also declared on the Huangzhou border. Local boats were not allowed to go out of the river, so as not to be harmed by Liu Xiyao.

If you have to go far away, please take the land route over the Dabie Mountain and cross the defense area of the 5th Battalion of Gezuo.