"Something is wrong, something is wrong with this village......"

Walking back to the dirt road from the field in embarrassment, Zhu Di muttered that something was wrong, and said to Xu Zengshou and Wang Yan on the dirt road:

"Tell me, is there something wrong with this group of villagers?"

"There's really something wrong, and I don't seem to be able to communicate with outsiders." Xu Zengshou and Wang Yan nodded in agreement, and Zhu Di also nodded frequently.

"There must be cats in this village, go to Sister Xu's and call those two officials."

"Yes!"

Zhu Di instructed Wang Yan, and Wang Yan immediately walked to Queen Xu with a few soldiers.

Seeing this, Empress Xu also knew that Zhu Di was deflated, so she said to the left and right: "Let's go, go to Your Majesty." ”

She took Zhang Ping and others to Zhu Di, and Wang Yan did not act when she saw this, but followed Queen Xu back to Zhu Di's side.

She told Zhu Di what she heard from Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, but Zhu Di looked at the two of them suspiciously after hearing it.

"According to you, the villagers have a good relationship with you?"

"Back to Zhi County, it's okay." Zhang Ping and Wang Wu replied, and Zhu Di also raised his chin when he saw this, and signaled:

"Then you will call me two people, and I will question them in your presence."

"By the way, it's the one who grabbed my hoe just now."

Zhu Di pointed to a few old farmers who were looking at him, and Zhang Ping and Wang Wu could only go down to the field and call the old farmers to the dirt road.

Although there are quite a few mountain ranges in Shandong, they are as treeless as most areas under the Ming Dynasty.

Without trees, there is no shelter, and what is happening on the road is easy for everyone to see.

With the summoning of Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, the old farmers who had murdered Zhu Di before realized that this guy who was a mouthful was really a big man.

"This is Zhu Zhi County, who went to Wanping County from the north, to ask us about things, mainly to promote the new policy to Beiping."

"But if Zhu Zhixian asks, you can say whatever you have, don't worry about us."

Zhang Ping and Wang Wu said, the old farmers looked at each other, and Zhu Di also said to the two: "You go over there and wait." ”

"Yes......" The two were separated by Zhu Di, and then Zhu Di also began to say to these old farmers who looked to be in their fifties:

"Tell me honestly about this place, and if you are afraid that the two of you will threaten you, I will move them somewhere else."

"No, no, no, don't change it, my lord!" Hearing that Zhu Di was going to replace Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, several old farmers hurriedly knelt on the ground and begged for mercy with their hands folded.

Wang Yan brought two horses, and after Zhu Di and Empress Xu sat down, he asked the kneeling peasants:

"If you answer my question, I will naturally not change them, and I will give you money and food, but only if you tell the truth."

"Let me ask you first, before the imperial court gave Shandong thirty to one, and now it is ten to one, how is your life compared to before?"

Zhu Di waited for the answers of a few old farmers with burning eyes, or he asked questions with the answers, and he wanted to know something different.

Several old peasants looked at each other, and finally the eldest one said tremblingly: "It's better than before......

"How so?!" Zhu Di's voice made several farmers tremble, and in order to prove that his answer was right, he also deliberately said: "Thirty endowments plus some miscellaneous items, at most, it is only 11 or 2 catties of tax grain per mu, how can it be inferior to ten endowments?" ”

"This ......" the old peasant hesitated, and finally replied under the pressure of Zhu Di's eyes:

"The positive tax is eight catties and five taels per mu, but miscellaneous items have to be collected five or six catties."

After he said that, another old farmer next to him said: "The previous lieutenant chief said that at least it can be rotated, not too much, but the grain chief does not change all year round, and uses private fighting to collect grain every year, and each mu of land has to pay full taxes and grain, at least 30 catties ......"

"Yes!" Another old farmer chimed in: "When encountering a difficult county official in the county, each family has to scrape together some money for him, and it is normal to kill chickens and fish for banquets." ”

After the three of them answered, Zhu Di couldn't help but speak: "How much?" ”

"Each family has three ......," the old farmer replied, and Queen Xu asked again: "How many families are there in this Xiaogouhe Village?" How many acres of arable land? ”

"Seventy-two, about two thousand acres" The old farmer replied without thinking, and Queen Xu and Zhu Di, who heard this, looked at each other.

According to the old peasant, this one official can earn at least 200 wen by collecting taxes and grain, and by the way, he can also have a full meal.

As for those lieutenants and grain chiefs, they also greedily inked a lot of grain in the process of collecting grain, at least 30,000 catties, equivalent to more than 200 stones.

With such a large amount of grain, they will definitely not be able to eat it alone, and since the officials are corrupt, they will naturally not give up taking bribes.

Zhu Di probably remembered that there were more than 40,000 villages in the world, and if each village was greedy for 200 stones, it would be 8 million stones, close to a quarter of the total amount of grain given to Damingtian.

That's 8 million stone grain, which can feed nearly 2 million people when given to the people, and can support hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of people for several years when it is used for the Northern Expedition.

As soon as he thought of this, Zhu Di couldn't wait to catch and kill the corrupt officials in Shandong.

It's just that when he thought about it, Sun Cheng did raise a lot of big cases in Shandong and arrested a lot of people, so I am afraid that the previous batch of officials were exiled to Bohai.

"Have all your villages within a radius of more than ten miles changed the chief of the mile and the chief of the grain?"

Zhu Di asked about this, and the old farmer also nodded and said: "It should have been changed, the current lieutenant chief and grain chief were sent down by the imperial court, and said that each of them would be transferred after three years." ”

"How do they treat you?" Zhu Di asked and promised: "If you can't be treated, you speak now, and I will transfer them immediately." ”

"It's not bad, it's much better than before, and the grain is also used to collect grain, it's just ......" The old farmer couldn't go on as he spoke, Zhu Di was immediately excited when he saw this, thinking that he had grabbed the handle, and asked: "What's it?" ”

"It's that their rations need to be provided by the village, but it is not much, and each family needs to pay 20 catties." The old farmer said what he cared about, but when he thought that this matter would make Zhang Ping and Wang Wu transfer away, he immediately changed his tone and said that it was not too much.

"Twenty pounds is not much?!" When Zhu Di heard this, he was furious, and turned his head to Wang Yan and said, "Call those two people!" ”

"Slave and maid command!" Wang Yan hurriedly went to do it, and soon summoned Zhang Ping and Wang Wu to the front and asked:

"Is it true that you don't work in the village and let the people support you?"

Zhang Ping and Wang Wu looked at each other when they heard this, and said weakly: "It's a fact, but this is an unwritten rule, after all, we have a lot of government affairs in our hands." ”

"Government affairs? What kind of government can you little officials have? Zhu Di glared at them, and didn't think that only managing seventy-two families and ordinary people could have any government affairs worth being busy.

Seeing Zhu Di say this, Zhang Ping said bitterly: "The grain in the hands of this people needs to be sold, so the two of us need to go north and south to find the grain merchant to come and collect the grain." ”

"The imperial court doesn't provide carriages and horses, so I can only go on foot."

"Even if there is a post station, it is only to provide us with shelter, and we still have to give money and food for food, so it is helpless to levy more rations from the people."

"Isn't the court enough to spend on you?" Zhu Di glared at him, but Queen Xu next to him interrupted:

"Yulu is their livelihood, and you let them pay for their own money to help the people, but it is a bit harsh."

Zhu Di didn't listen to the words of others, but since Queen Xu spoke, Zhu Di also brushed his beard, and did not continue to attack them on this point, but looked at the stunned old farmers:

"In addition to the rations, did these two people levy more food on you?"

"No, no!" The old peasants shook their heads one after another, for fear that their words would cause disaster to Zhang Ping and Wang Wu.

For the peasants of this era, Zhang Ping and Wang Wu, who only exploited a dozen stones a year, were already good officials.

If Zhang Ping and Wang Wu were driven away, who could have predicted that the next batch of Xu officials would be the same as the previous ones?

"True or false?" Zhu Di asked and continued to assure.

"Don't be afraid, say it all, I will make the decision for you, if there is really one, I will help you punish these two."

"Not really, sir!" When the old peasants heard this, they hurriedly kowtowed and said, "Zhang Lichang and Wang Liangchang are already the best lieutenants and grain chiefs for us in the past few decades." ”

"Yes, without them, we would have to pay fifty or sixty catties of food per family."

"My lord, we just said the wrong thing, don't transfer them away."

Several old farmers were frightened by Zhu Di's words, and they all said good things for Zhang Ping and Wang Wu.

In fact, Zhu Di also knew that Zhang Ping and Wang Wu probably had no case records other than rations, and he did this mainly to make Zhang Ping and Wang Wu not hold a grudge against these old farmers, so he gave the old farmers a chance to intercede.

"Well, in that case, let's just look at the faces of these three people pleading."

"But when it comes to asking the people of Shandong for rations, I still have to think about how to settle the account."

"Thank you, Lord Longen!" Zhang Ping and Wang Wu kowtowed one after another, and when it was over, Zhang Ping said:

"In fact, as long as the post station can provide us with food, we will not ask the people for rations, if we don't go out to find businessmen and report to the town, we don't need so many rations to go out, and it is enough to eat in the village."

Zhang Ping's suggestion made Zhu Di bow his head, and in the previous rules of the post station, the rations of the officials were generally not counted.

Now, places like Shandong that implement the new policy can be more open.

"Now that I know about this, tell me about the methods used by the officials and the chief of the grain and the chief of the department to exploit you."

Zhu Di was very concerned about how the grassroots officials exploited the people, and seeing this, Zhang Ping, Wang Wu and the three old peasants also talked about the methods of that group of people.

What Zhu Di heard was actually similar to what Zhu Gaoxu had found out at the beginning, anyway, all the utensils used to collect grain needed to be paid by the people, and they still paid at a high price.

Even if a dustpan is used for ten years, the people have to pay for a dustpan every year.

Hearing these methods, even Zhu Di, a perennial person who has been in Beiping all year round, had to admire the way of exploitation of Shandong officials.

He didn't know this before, because his scope of activities was basically in the area of Daning and Beiping, and most of these places were military households that migrated to the border and were managed by the officers of the guards, so there were not so many twists and turns.

Now it seems that the civilian management is really inferior to the military management, and the burden of the people is about to catch up with the military households in the Hongwu period.

"How's it going?"

Zhu Di had already guessed it, but he still asked the old farmers.

"It's a lot better than before, the imperial court hasn't sent a levy for two years, only occasionally Zhang Lichang and Wang Liangchang will take us to weed the road in the village, which is not far from the door of the house."

"I can save fifty or sixty catties of grain a year, and I can raise a pig with some wild vegetables."

"My lord, I heard that there is a new policy in the imperial court, and there will be no forced labor in the future, and we will be sent to do it, and we will be paid, is this true?"

The three old peasants were not the same, the old ones felt that they would be happy if they did not send conscripts, the middle ones were concerned about the extra grain that could be used to raise livestock, and the younger ones were thinking about working for wages.

Zhu Di has seen these problems in these days, but now he can see the expectation from the faces of these three old farmers.

The people were looking forward to the new policy of the imperial court, and with just this one look, they told Zhu Di that Zhu Gaoxu's new policy may have many problems, but at least he solved the problems of the people.

"There will be, and the days will get better and better."

Zhu Di appeased a few people, and then asked about the current grain harvest: "How are you collecting grain now?" ”

"The people harvested the grain under the supervision of the two of us, and then they threwd the grain and weighed it for a tithe." Zhang Ping replied honestly: "Counting the rations, each mu is basically about 25 catties, and the village can pay 300 to 350 stone to the imperial court every year." ”

"What about before?" The first three old farmers said too complicated, and Zhu Di couldn't calculate it well, so he chose to ask Zhang Ping directly about them.

He thought that Zhang Ping and the others needed to do the math before they could answer, but he didn't want the two of them to do it without thinking, and Wang Wu replied:

"According to the situation in the first year of Yongle, the people handed over about 400 stones, but the village only paid about 260 stones to the county."

"I have calculated that in the first year of Yongle, the imperial court stipulated that the tax and miscellaneous items per mu were about fifteen catties, but the people actually paid thirty-eight catties per mu, and now they actually pay twenty-five catties, and the burden per mu is reduced by about thirteen catties."

After all, they are students who graduated from Bohai Official School, and perennial arithmetic is already daily for them, and all the data contained in the content of the book have been calculated by them.

Maybe they are not so accurate, but in this era, they are already rare grassroots talents.

Their words made Zhu Di breathe a sigh of relief, he didn't expect his second child to understand the people's feelings so well, and after the promotion of the new deal, not only did not increase the burden on the people, but reduced it.

"Okay, the matter is almost over, you guys do it well, remember not to anger these three people, otherwise I will definitely clean you up next time I go north."

"Yes yes yes ......"

Zhu Di spoke, Zhang Ping and Wang Wu hurriedly kowtowed, seeing that the two of them were like this, Zhu Di also returned to the official road with Queen Xu.

After returning to the carriage, Empress Xu said with a smile: "You always say that Gao Xu's steps are too big, but now it seems that the people wish he was taking a bigger step." ”

"I don't know the truth, not to mention that he really took too big steps in the first two years." Zhu Di stroked his beard, and then sighed:

"I know that the second child is equivalent to returning part of the money and grain that was originally corrupt officials and corrupt officials to the people, and the rest was taken to the treasury of the imperial court."

"But after this whole article, I can see the abhorrence of this official's corruption."

"If the officials in Shandong are as corrupt as the officials in the Hongwu period, then I am afraid that my Ming dynasty will really be unsafe."

Zhu Di's trip to Xiaogou River made him understand the reason why the imperial court did not collect high taxes, but it would still burden the local people.

It is true that the burden on paper of the people is not high, or even very low, but the actual burden is far higher than the burden on paper.

"They collect 38 catties of grain per mu, only give me 15 catties, and do not mention 23 catties themselves, and ask the people for money."

"If it weren't for the second child who sent people to Zhaozhou, I really wanted to cut off their heads one by one!"

When the carriage was walking, Zhu Di angrily told Queen Xu his thoughts, and Queen Xu listened to Zhu Di's words with a smile throughout the whole process.

After he finished speaking, she spoke: "Your Majesty has Gao Xu's help, and the concubines will rest assured." ”

"Huh?" Hearing what Queen Xu said, Zhu Di immediately took her hand: "The government can let Gao Xu do it, but the inner court has to be Sister Xu." ”

"Yes......" Queen Xu chuckled in response, and the carriage also went all the way north, taking Zhu Di to visit many villages and towns.

While he was searching for and feeling that the people of Shandong were living and working in peace and contentment, Annan, thousands of miles away from here, was experiencing war.

Among them, the land north of the Red River, which has just emerged from the war, is undoubtedly the most peaceful place in this land.

"The number of mouths has dropped so much?"

South of the Red River, in a mansion not far from the Imperial Palace of Shenglong City, when Mu Chun, who was sitting on the main seat, got the Yellow Book of the Land of Hebei, he was dumbfounded for a moment.

The capital of Hebei Prefecture, which had a population of more than 800,000 before the war, now has only about 379,000 people, and 20,000 of them are ordinary people who have just migrated from Guangdong, Fujian and other places.

"The number of declines is a lot, but most of them have fled to the Shannan area."

"Not only in the north, but also in the south of the fifth road."

The voice came from Mu Chun's side, and the person who said this was Fu Rang of the Eastern Route Army.

Compared with Mu Chun, Fu Rang is too ruthless, after all, what he has experienced is much more tragic than what Mu Chun has experienced.

"I heard that you united with the Duke of Yue Guo and commanded Cui Jun and Zhang Fu to drive the people into the Shannan region?"

The Shannan region mentioned by Mu Chun is the area that is now controlled by Chen Jikuo, Jian Ding and other Chen Dynasty relics.

"Not only Shannan, but even Xinghua, otherwise Qianguo Gong, are you going to leave them in our jurisdiction?"

Fu Rang and Mu Chun looked at each other and reminded: "What is the decree given to us by the East Palace, you should know better than the last general. ”

"I know." Mu Chun frowned slightly, and said at the same time: "I mean, don't let the imperial court's army come forward for this kind of thing, Mu Sheng's native soldiers will take responsibility." ”

"It's too slow for them alone." Fu Rang shook his head: "Driving people to Shannan and Xinghua, with the local situation, it is absolutely impossible to support so many people, so that they can be forced to fight with our army." ”

"When the soldiers and civilians of the Chen Dynasty instigated the Tusi in our territory to rebel against the imperial court, they should have thought that there would be such retribution."

"It's not okay to drive too much." Mu Chun interrupted:

"There is so much land abandoned at the moment, and the migration from Guangdong and Fujian is too slow, and by the time they arrive, the local farmland is already overgrown with weeds."

"I've looked at the state capitals, and it's best to end it now."

"Yes." Fu Rang did not refute Mu Chun, but nodded in agreement after the other party put forward his opinion.

In fact, he didn't drive too many people to Shannan and Xinghua, after all, the number of Ming troops in Vietnam was so small, and the people were not considered to be much combat power, so it was not easy to drive people away.

Moreover, in the current situation, there are already too many people killed and injured in Annan because of the war, and if it continues, it will have some impact on the economy.

"Zheng Zheng is here!"

The sudden singing of the salute made the two of them get up one after another, and after a while, Zheng He, who was dressed in a given uniform, walked into this temporary yamen with several military attachés.

"Zheng Zheng envoy ......"

"Qianguo Gong, Fu Du Du ......"

The two sides bowed, and then sat down one after another.

As soon as he sat down, Zheng He opened his mouth and talked to the two about Annan.

"The fleet has been fighting with the officers and soldiers for four months, and the rebellion in the south has gradually subsided."

"I'm here to ask when you're going to launch a general attack."

Zheng He's main job was to cooperate with the conquest of Annam and to move south after the end of the war.

It stands to reason that he shouldn't be urging, but the reality of the situation makes him have to rush.

"Don't hide it from you, the weather has been getting hot recently, and many officers and soldiers have become sick because they are not accustomed to the water and soil."

"In the past month, the navy has suppressed tens of thousands of rebels on the South Fifth Road, and there have been few casualties, but nearly 1,000 people have been tortured and killed due to the lack of adaptation and epidemics."

"It's not the hottest time in Annan, and if that happens, I'm worried that the fleet's voyage to the West will be delayed."

Diseases such as malaria and miasma are almost insoluble in this era, even if the Ming army has been fighting in the southwest all the year round, and has found a set of ways to avoid miasma, but this cannot avoid deaths and injuries after all.

There are a total of 20,000 navies in the West, and now nearly 1,000 people have died of illness, which has already shaken the morale of the military.

Because of this, Zheng He had to come and ask the two about the time of the general attack.

Regarding his question, Mu Chun and Fu Rang's faces were also ugly when they heard this, because not only the navy was suffering from water and soil adaptation and disease, but also the eastern and western armies.

During the four months of the conquest of Annam, the Ming army successively reduced more than 7,000 people, of which less than 2,000 were killed in battle, and the remaining 5,000 died of disease.

If this goes on for a long time, without waiting for Chen Jikuo and the Hu family and his son to counterattack, they may have to take the initiative to give up some township strongholds close to the dense forest.

Fu Rang drove away the people of Annan and forced Chen Jikuo to take the lead because the Ming army couldn't drag it out.

"April 15th." Mu Chun, as the person with the highest rank and official position present, had to take the lead in giving the answer, and added:

"If Chen Jikuo and the Hu father and son don't do it on April 15, then we will take the lead."

"In any case, we must deal a heavy blow to their main forces before May, and then withdraw the brothers who cannot adapt to the local area from Annam."

Mu Chun gave the answer, and Fu Rang and Zheng He were at loggerheads when they heard the words.

In this way, the countdown to Annan's two remaining local forces entered the countdown......

"Southern Expedition": "In February of the third year, Annan was hit by a flood, and the displaced people were everywhere. The people rushed to Shannan and Shanxi, and were driven away by the troops sent by Lord Chen and Lord Hu, and the number of starving deaths was innumerable. ”

"Records of Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In February Jiashen, Ji Kuan drove the hungry people, the Hu family raised a butcher's knife, and only the king gave rice porridge to feed hundreds of thousands of people. ”

(End of chapter)