When the two brocade guards heard this question, they also turned their heads to look at Sun Jiao, and they also wanted to know which court boss was standing behind Sun Jiao.

Although no high-ranking official in the imperial court dares to openly jump out against the emperor, civil officials have always been insidious, but I don't know which bigwig is stumbling behind it.

Kill, kill them all, these hypocrites should all go to hell.

"It's true that this official promoted them, but what does this mean? Which official of the Anthology Division does not take care of his own people? As for what they did, why they wanted to assassinate Liu Zhong and Wang Zhi, this official has no idea! When Sun Jiao heard this question, he immediately closed his eyes silently to show that he refused to confess.

Mu Bin saw that Sun Jiao was really unwilling to reveal the truth, so he smiled and said, "Don't you know?" You probably don't know one thing yet! ”

"What's the matter?" Sun Jiao felt a faint uneasiness in his heart, so he opened his eyes again and asked.

Mu Bin squinted his eyes and looked at Sun Jiao, and said word by word: "I am a first-class master in terms of torture, and there is no mouth in this world that I can't pry open!" ”

Speaking of the last word, he deliberately bit it very hard, which invisibly put heavier psychological pressure on Sun Jiao.

"Mu Bin, do you want to persecute Zhongliang, aren't you afraid that history is like iron?" Sun Jiao knew the horror of the Beizhen Fusi's torture equipment, and asked angrily.

Are you loyal? Hehe...... You are loyal!

A laugh full of disdain sounded in the passage of the cell, and Mu Bin stopped talking nonsense to this brazen civil official, and immediately asked his subordinates to escort the person and strode towards the interrogation room full of eighteen torture instruments.

As for the iron pen of history, he knows that these civil officials do have the ability to reverse black and white, but he believes that future generations will finally be able to see through the falsehood and directly attack the historical facts.

Even if Sun Jiao and other literati smear Chenghua and mediocrity like this, and now the saint is brutal, the rise and fall of the times will explain everything, and what he has to do now is to help His Majesty pry Sun Jiao's mouth open.

In mid-July, cotton blooms.

The silver light is dyed with trillions of years, and the stars are shaking like snow.

Wrapped in a group of people, who is warm, lightly into the sheltered time and space.

……

When the Ming Dynasty was still surging with undercurrents and fighting openly and secretly, the land of Gyeonggi had ushered in a bumper harvest.

Since there was no locust plague in the spring and summer of Beizhili this year, and cotton is a drought-tolerant crop, the yield of cotton growers in Gyeonggi is gratifying.

Although the vast majority of Wuxun rejected Zhu Youji's call to plant cotton, many low-level people were actually quite obedient, so they cooperated with the call of the Shuntian Mansion to plant cotton.

In fact, as early as the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang had already noticed the value of cotton, so he attached great importance to the planting of cotton, and even issued a decree.

At that time, the imperial court ordered: All people should plant half an acre of mulberry, hemp, and cotton in five to ten acres of land, and double more than ten acres.

According to historical records: in the 20th year of Hongwu, the output of cotton cloth in Zhangde, Weihui and Guangping in Henan Province was as high as 11.83 million catties.

In the seventeenth year of Yongle, the imperial court collected a total of 1,26,887 pieces of cotton cloth, 246,57 catties of silk cotton, and 583,324 catties of cotton wool.

Cotton has long become an important cash crop in the Ming Dynasty, and it is also a strong guarantee for the Chinese people to withstand the cold winters.

Many people know the tea and horse division of the Ming Dynasty and the ethnic minorities in the west, but the cotton cloth woven from cotton is also popular with them, so the Ming Dynasty will also use cotton cloth to exchange horses with ethnic minorities.

In fact, in the trade between the Ming Dynasty and other countries or tribes, cotton cloth has always been hard currency.

Zhao Laosi is an ordinary person in Beizhili, who has been farming here for generations.

Because he was a man of peace and self-preservation, he always spent a penny when he had a penny, and if he didn't have money, he honestly dug weeds to survive, but he kept the twenty acres of land handed down by his ancestors.

At the time of spring plowing this year, he responded to the call of the Shuntian Mansion and received some cotton seeds that did not cost money, and used two acres of land to plant cotton.

When it was harvest time, his two acres of land, like other people's cotton fields, ushered in a bumper harvest.

He led his two sons and two daughters-in-law to the field to pick cotton, which seemed to be a lot of fun, and his grandson and granddaughter came to help.

In the face of this white cotton, the family has always had the joy of a bumper harvest.

Because they are hand-picked, they are able to avoid twigs and twigs, so that the cotton is clean. It only needs to be exposed to the sun for a day, and then the seeds and impurities are removed, and the cotton is ready for sale.

After weighing, the two acres of cotton land turned out to be 600 catties. If it is processed into a six-pound quilt, this harvest alone can be turned into a hundred quilts.

Only before that, he needed to inform the grain chief and the clerk of the Yahu Department of Wanping County, and they would come to collect taxes.

Born in Daming, no matter what crops his 20 acres of land are used to grow, he has to pay taxes according to the standard of "30 taxes and 1", and now cotton is naturally the same.

However, this year's situation is special, and the imperial court has launched a preferential tax policy for cotton.

If the cotton planted by the family is harvested, you can pay the tax according to the preferential tax of six catties per mu formulated by the household department, that is, you can directly pay 12 catties of cotton.

If there are special circumstances that lead to the failure of the cotton harvest in their own fields, they can choose to pay taxes to Wanping County in the traditional way of "30 taxes and 1".

Zhao Laosi calculated, if according to the standard of the household department, he only had to pay twelve catties of cotton to the imperial court, and if he had to pay twenty catties of cotton according to the traditional way.

Zhao Laosi knew that the policy of thirty taxes and one was already very generous during the Taizu period, so he decided not to take advantage of the imperial court, and immediately paid 20 catties of cotton in the traditional way.

After paying the tax, he had 580 catties of cotton left.

It's just that cotton can't be eaten as food, and a family of all sizes has ten mouths, so cotton needs to be exchanged for silver to buy firewood, rice, oil, salt and vinegar to ensure their daily living expenses.

Zhao Laosi sent his eldest son to the capital to find a second cotton dealer to sell cotton, so he picked up a hoe and prepared to go to the cotton field to do the final finishing work.

"Run! Shuntianfu Yin came to the entrance of the village with a few yacha and named you by name! ”

"Why is Shuntianfu Yin looking for me, and why am I running?"

"Have you forgotten when we were young and peeked at Widow Liu taking a bath? The legs, the buttocks, and the white ...... the chest."

……

Zhao Laosi couldn't help but think of forty years ago, when his body was really white, and he still can't forget it, as if it was a dream engraved into his bones.

Thinking that his reputation for most of his life was not guaranteed, he and Zhu Lao Liu were about to flee to the other side of the village, but suddenly realized that something was wrong.

This old man is lazy and has become a tenant, he is the same everywhere, but his twenty acres of land are still growing in the ground, can he still take it away?

"You are Zhao Laosi?" Song Cheng rode a horse and confirmed the identity of Zhao Laosi who was kneeling on the ground.

The accompanying Wanping household clerk glanced at Zhao Laoliu, and saw that Zhao Laosi was so nervous that he couldn't speak, so he promised: "Lord Fu Yin, he is Zhao Laosi!" ”

Zhao Laosi has lived in this land for decades, and although he was fortunate enough to see the county lord of Wanping from afar, he had never seen Lord Fu Yin at all, let alone Lord Fu Yin talking to him.

He was on his knees at the moment, his head buzzing all the time.

Zhao Laosi knew that he couldn't hide the fact that he peeked at Widow Liu's bath, so he begged for mercy and said: "The grass people know their mistakes, please ask Lord Yin to beat the grass people's board!" ”

"That's not a big mistake! However, the reason why the new dynasty implemented the preferential tax policy was to benefit the people, and if there was a bumper harvest in the future, you could pay the quota according to the household department. The fact that you can take the initiative to hand over 20 catties of cotton this time is enough to prove that you are a good people of the Ming Dynasty, and Your Majesty's Sacred Heart is very pleased. The difference will not be refunded, this is a new Hongzhi cloth ticket issued by the Ministry of Households, and it can be regarded as a reward from the imperial court for good people like you. Since the first batch of cotton cloth from the Royal Weaving Factory had to be traded with foreign countries, this ticket will not be valid until August, when you may send someone to the Royal Cloth Store with a ticket to exchange for any cotton cloth! Song Cheng handed a look to the accompanying officials, and then explained seriously.

This time he went to the countryside, and he was actually in a very good mood.

The imperial court has always wanted to extort more from the people, and even tried every possible way to set up additional levies on the people in the name of it, but the new dynasty would be worried that the people would suffer losses, and even issued additional Hongzhi cloth tickets for subsidies.

This is indeed a good governance, like Zhao Laosi, who knows that he can pay eight catties of cotton less if he pays according to the preferential tax policy, but still insists on paying taxes according to 30 taxes, which should indeed not be the party that suffers.

Yes? Reward?

Zhao Laosi was stunned for a moment, and took the cloth ticket sent over in disbelief.

This cloth ticket is not ordinary at a glance, it looks like a Ming treasure banknote, not to mention, the quality of the paper is surprisingly good, and there is a clear "cotton cloth" on it.

Song Cheng saw that the matter had been done, so he turned over and planned to go to the village in front of him to continue to reward the cloth tickets, and there were also two honest villagers in that village who did not choose to "take advantage of the imperial court".

I have to say that the people of China are actually very simple, with such a good people as the base, how can the Ming Dynasty not create a prosperous world?

Zhao Laosi sat on the stone in front of his house, looked at the team that disappeared around the corner, and found that everything had become so unreal.

"Our Lord Yin can actually go down to our village in person, he is really a good official who is rare to see in a hundred years!" Seeing Lord Fu Yin leaving, Zhao Laosi's wife Zhang came out and sighed with emotion.

Zhao Laosi glanced at his wife, and immediately straightened his face and said, "What do you know as a woman?" It's true that Lord Fu Yin is a good official, but we actually met a good emperor! ”

"Dad, what does this have to do with the emperor?" When the second son heard this, he immediately looked puzzled.

Zhao Laosi glared at his second son, and then preached: "Song Fu Yin is so young and has such little qualifications to be Shuntian Mansion Yin, I heard that Song Mansion Yin is also from a poor family, do you really think that Song Mansion Yin can sit in the position of Shuntian Mansion Yin by himself?" Just now, Song Fu Yin also said that this cloth ticket was issued by the household department, and it was rewarded by the emperor for our family, which is the good governance of the new dynasty, and we should be grateful to Your Majesty. ”

After all, he has lived most of his life, but he knows who is in charge of it all.

"Master, can this cloth ticket really be exchanged for a cotton cloth?" Zhang asked for the cloth ticket to take a closer look, but he was skeptical.

The eldest daughter-in-law, who has been silent, said crisply: "Mother, I went back to my parents' house a few days ago and saw this kind of cloth ticket in the hands of my brother and daughter-in-law, the employees of the Royal Weaving Factory distribute monthly money every month, and they can also choose cloth tickets, and the cloth tickets are folded according to the factory price, so my brother and daughter-in-law chose two!" The Royal Weaving Factory and the Royal Cloth Shop are one and the same, and this cloth ticket must be exchangeable! ”

"If that's the case, let's go and change back into cotton when the time comes, and I'll make new clothes for my two grandchildren!" Zhang's eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly accepted the cloth ticket.

At this time, the eldest son Zhao Wu hurried back, but he didn't pay attention to everyone who stayed at the door, and didn't even say hello, so he ran directly into the kitchen.

Fortunately, he was not looking for a kitchen knife, but scooped a scoop of water and stood at the door and drank it, and then reported with a smile: "Dad, I have inquired clearly just now, and the cotton market is particularly good this year." As soon as I entered the city gate, I learned that our family had 600 catties of cotton, and a group of cotton sellers surrounded me. The price has been negotiated, and they will come to our village at noon tomorrow and take away our 580 catties of cotton at twice the purchase price before, a total of 10 taels of silver, and they have already forced me to give me a deposit of one or two! ”

"Bodhisattva bless! This year's cotton has such a good market, our Zhao family is finally going to live a good life! Seeing that today was a happy event, Zhang immediately thanked him in the direction of Guanyin Temple.

Zhao Laosi took the deposit or two, as if he had a dream.

In the past, although there was a lot of money to be spent in the harvest period, it was the silver that had to be saved until the next harvest, so a copper plate had to be broken in half to spend.

It's just that now the new dynasty not only no longer coincidentally makes famous words to get more cotton, but also gives preferential tax policies, and the purchase price of cotton this year can be so high, so that the hand has suddenly become relaxed.

Although the latest policy of the imperial court is to allow him to only spend half of his land to grow cotton and other cash crops, as long as the cotton market is maintained, the future will definitely get better and better.

Zhao Laosi looked up at his dilapidated thatched hut, and immediately made a decision: "Our family will continue to grow cotton and strive to build a new house in three years!" ”

When Zhang and the others heard this, they suddenly felt that their life was finally hopeful.

"Dad, I bought some cumin and pepper from the city, I heard that grilled fish with a little cumin and pepper is particularly delicious, even the dignitaries in the capital are eating it, and it is rumored that the emperor is eating it! I'm going to the pond right now to touch two fish, and we'll grill them tonight!" The eldest son took out a little pepper he had brought back and said with a smile on his face.

Zhao Laosi heard that it was the way to eat the dignitaries in the capital, especially even the emperor, so he readily agreed.

(End of chapter)