I

In the blink of an eye, it was the spring of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, and it had been a month since Qian Qianyi received the errand.

Beijing.

Hou Xun, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, Fang Kongshao, Xiong Wencan, Li Fengshen... a large number of "criminal officials" all walked out of the imperial prison.

They were released relatively late, because their families all rushed from the south, carrying money all the way to the Ministry of Punishment to redeem their people.

The court was completely out of money, and Chongzhen was thinking of ways to do it, and one of them was to fine the minister of money to redeem himself.

The wealth-generating effect is pretty good, and it doesn't attract too much criticism.

Because many of the guilty officials in the imperial edict were imprisoned for failing to do things well, or were even held accountable and imprisoned for no apparent reason.

"Please take good care of me and say goodbye!"

Li Fengshen handed over to everyone and got into the carriage hired by his son Li Wen.

Lu Xiangsheng also clasped his fists and said, "Farewell!"

Lu Xiangsheng's younger brother Lu Xiangjin hired a carriage with Li Wen. They were going back to Jiangnan together.

"well!"

Sun Chuanting shook his head and walked in the other direction.

Xiong Wencan led his son straight to his in-laws' mansion. He and the cabinet minister Yao Minggong were fellow villagers and got married very early. Xiong Wencan was appreciated by Yang Sichang largely because of Yao Minggong's recommendation.

Xiong Wencan had already made up his mind to say goodbye to his in-laws and leave Beijing.

Fang Kongzheng, Fang Yizhi, Hou Xun, and Hou Fangyu, two pairs of father and son took a leisurely walk.

"How is the situation in the south?" Hou Xun asked.

Hou Fangyu replied: "Jiangzuo, Jiangyou, Guangdong, and Fujian were all controlled by Zhao Han. Huguang was divided into two, and the area south of the Yangtze River was renamed Hunan Province."

"It seems that the Zhao thief has already made plans to annex the entire Huguang area," Fang Kongzhen said with a smile. "In the future, we will definitely re-divide the area. Only the area south of Dongting Lake will be called Hunan."

Hou Xun shook his head and sighed: "After three years in prison, things have changed, and the situation has deteriorated to this point." He stopped and turned around, asking, "Brother Qianfu, are you planning to return to your hometown to join that Zhao thief?"

"Let's talk about it later." Fang Kongzhen answered ambiguously.

The two of them had nothing to say, so they walked together for a while and then parted ways.

After they separated, Hou Fangyu said to his father: "The bandits are raging in Henan, and everyone in the country has formed a stronghold to protect themselves. Our family is also recruiting troops to form a stronghold."

"We'll talk about it when we get home!" Hou Xun said.

The gentry and wealthy families in Henan have completely entered the troubled times mode.

Often one or more families would build a stronghold and arm their slaves, not to kill thieves, but to protect themselves. When the bandits come, they give them food. Under normal circumstances, as long as they provide enough food, the bandits won't bother to waste their energy in attacking.

Another street.

Fang Yizhi said to his father: "My uncle has become the prefect of Shizhou."

"Shi Zhouwei?" Fang Kongzhen confirmed.

Fang Yizhi explained: "Zhao Han changed Shizhouwei into Shizhoufu, and the government was in Shizhou (Enshi), and Badong and Jianshi were also included under it. Shinan, Rongmei, Shiliang, Jin All the chieftains in Dongtong were rehabilitated, and some chieftains were revoked."

"Didn't the chieftain rebel?" Fang Kongzhen asked in surprise.

Fang Yizhi said: "From last summer's harvest to now, Zhao Han's Datong Army has been fighting Shizhou Chieftain for seven months."

Fang Kongzhen sighed: "Zhao Thief is still too impatient. It takes a long time to change the situation. How can it be done overnight?"

Fang Yizhi said:

"This time is different. After Zhao Han occupied Shizhou, he immediately allocated land to the military households in Shizhou, Jiannan and other guard posts. He also allocated land to the surrounding Hanized Miao people (mostly Tujia), and also declared the entire Shizhou The government will exempt the land tax for three years and encourage the Han and Miao people to open up wasteland."

"After gaining the allegiance of the Sinicized Miao people, they used these Miao people as guides to cut off the disobedient chieftains around them and force them to return to their native land. Han people were appointed as the officials and the Sinicized Miao people were assistant officials. They were ordered not to discriminate against the Miao people and promoted the Han Miao people everywhere. One policy.”

"Their peasant associations are very powerful, and they have also been organized among the Miao people. Those Miao people who can't even speak Chinese, because they are divided into fields, exempted from taxes, and no longer have to do corvee labor, they all help in turn. The government went to fight the chieftain."

"After fighting for half a year, almost all the soldiers under the little chieftain went to Zhao Han."

There are many ethnic minorities in Enshi, most of whom are descendants of the ancient Ba people, but they were collectively called Miao people and Tuman in the Ming Dynasty.

A large number of ethnic minority compatriots, including military households in various places, are living in dire straits.

Divide fields for them, bring them sweet potatoes and other crops, exempt them from grain taxes for three years, and exempt them from all kinds of corvee. The revolutionary enthusiasm was immediately ignited. Some small chieftains were killed by the local soldiers and local people without the Datong army taking action.

After half a year, there were only six chieftains left, Dawang, Sanmao, Labidong, Muche, Xiping, and Tangya. Huang Yao left 2,000 regular soldiers and 2,000 peasant soldiers to slowly cooperate with the prefect in the expedition.

There are actually some small chieftains here, and each chieftain can have hundreds of soldiers under his command. Conquering the chieftains is similar to exterminating the bandits. The slow attack is purely due to the difficulty of walking. When the actual battle is fought, it is often defeated in one blow.

Fang Kongzheng sighed: "Your uncle has been sent away."

"No," Fang Yizhi explained, "the more Zhao Han values ​​​​people, the more he assigns them to do hard work. Once the job is done, he will definitely get a high promotion. If uncle can manage Shizhou Mansion properly, he will probably be better off in the future. Promoted directly to Chief Envoy."

Fang Kongzheng smiled and asked, "Why do you understand so well?"

Fang Yizhi said: "My uncle has written many times to ask the child to seek refuge with Zhao Han as soon as possible. Now that his father is released from prison, he has no worries. The child is going to Ji'an Mansion."

"Let's go together. I also want to visit Jiangxi." Fang Kongzhen was completely disappointed with the court.

The father and son had not gone far when suddenly a horse came running towards them.

"Fang Yushi," Xingren (the emperor's envoy) dismounted and said, "Your Majesty has an oral message, please ask Fang Yushi to stay in the capital temporarily, and read out the appointment edict on a day, and also give Shang Fang a sword."

Hearing this, Fang Kongzhen was so angry that he almost wanted to curse Chongzhen on the spot.

I was imprisoned for more than a year and my family was asked to pay money to atone for my sins. I was reinstated just two blocks after being released from prison?

If you really want to reuse me, wouldn't you just reinstate me? I just want to get more atonement money!

Fang Kongzheng immediately agreed and found an inn in the outer city of Beijing. The father and son left early the next morning.

Lu Xiangsheng sat in the carriage, speechless all the way.

In the city of Beijing, people are dying of hunger everywhere, and people begging can be seen everywhere.

After leaving the city, the fields were barren, and many nobles' land was actually overgrown with weeds.

"Why is that so?" Lu Xiangsheng couldn't believe it.

Lu Xiangjin explained: "The noble gentry is exploited day by day. There was another severe drought this spring, and many tenants did not want to farm anymore, so they became gangs of thieves. If it weren't for Governor Hong (Hong Chengchou) running around to suppress thieves, the common people would not dare to do so. After leaving the city, Yudi took the silver north this time and was almost robbed by thieves several times."

Lu Xiangsheng was speechless and didn't know what to say.

In ancient times, land rent was basically not divided into shares, but fixed rent was paid.

Regardless of good weather or natural or man-made disasters, tenant farmers have to pay so much rent, and at most they can ask the landlord to pay less. Nowadays, there have been severe disasters in recent years, and the food produced in the fields is not enough for farmers to pay rent. Who the hell is willing to farm?

Beizhili is better, and many prefectures and counties in Henan can already be described as having ten rooms and nine empty spaces.

Not all of them starved to death, but a large number of them fled to other places, or simply rebelled. Anyway, whoever grows food is the fool.

Lu Xiangjin said: "The price of rice in Beijing this spring is seven taels of silver per stone."

Lu Xiangsheng was stunned when he heard this. No wonder Chongzhen was willing to release the guilty ministers as long as he paid the atonement silver. They were forced to have no choice. If the prison was not vacated quickly, the prisoners would not be able to afford food.

Lu Xiangjin smiled and said to Li Fengshen: "Shanghai has opened a port and built a seaport, and the sea ban has been completely lifted."

"That's a good thing." Li Fengshen said with a smile.

Li Fengshen and Li Wen, father and son, were from Shanghai. Their family also engaged in some trade and smuggled it to maritime merchants through fishermen.

But after all, it belongs to Southern Zhili, and smuggling in Shanghai is strictly investigated. In addition, it can be transported to the north along the Yangtze River, so the smuggling phenomenon in Shanghai is far less than that in Guangzhou.

If you open the sea and do business casually, it will be a way of making money for the Li family.

Li Wen said: "Father, my child wants to go to Jiangxi. Father, let's go together."

Li Fengshen shook his head: "I have been in prison for several years, and I no longer want to be an official."

Life in imperial prisons in the late Ming Dynasty was pretty good. As long as you were given enough money, the jailers generally would not treat you harshly.

It is true that Chongzhen often suffered from convulsions, and a bunch of them were thrown in every now and then. He might be reinstated and promoted one day, so it was best not to easily become enemies with these guilty officials.

Everyone took the boat south and passed Xuzhou all the way before returning to the world from hell.

There is famine all over Shandong!

When they were at Taoyuan Shuiyi, they met a group of scholars, and some even dragged their families south.

Lu Xiangsheng went over and asked, "Is my friend going to move south?"

A scholar returned the favor with his hands raised: "Here in the north, there is no use for being a scholar. If you go to the south, you will have the opportunity to display your ambitions. Mr. Zhao will be the founder of the country! Mr. Zhao's song "To You All" is Write it to the northern scholars like me!"

This poem spread so quickly, naturally it is inseparable from Xu Ying's contribution.

Xu Ying has moved to Huai'an Prefecture and goes to schools to distribute promotional materials in various prefectures and counties along the canal.

Every month, scholars go south together to seek refuge with the Ming Dynasty.

Especially those poor scholars, they see no hope in the north. So they sold off their only possessions and headed south like "moths flying to the flame". They might even starve to death along the way.

Staying in the north means death!

Xu Ying began to hire ships to sail back and forth along the canals in Shandong and South Zhili. As long as you can recite the original text of "The University", you can take a boat south for free, and simple meals will also be provided.

These scholars left their homes and careers to go south, and Zhao Han could use them with confidence, without so many interests involved.

Lu Xiangsheng and the others simply changed to the "Scholarship Boat".

There were many poor scholars in the cabin, and almost all of them had family members starving to death.

Looking at their condition, we can see that they are all in ragged clothes, with an average of only two or three people in each family, and some are even alone.

"Don't be discouraged, gentlemen. The world is so big that there must be a place for us!"

A scholar stood up, wearing tattered Confucian clothes, raised his arms and shouted: "On the journey of the great road, the world is for the common good, select the virtuous and capable, be faithful and cultivate harmony. Therefore, we do not only kiss our relatives, nor do we only have children. In the end, those who are strong will be useful, those who are young will be able to grow, and those who are lonely, lonely and sick will all be supported..."

The voice became louder and louder, and everyone in the cabin was reciting it. In the dim light, people's eyes burst out with energy.

"The world is unified!"

"The world is unified!"

The scholar who guides everyone's emotions may be regarded as a charlatan, but it is indeed real and belongs to the scholars of the newly developed Datong Society in the north.

Lu Xiangsheng's blood boiled with excitement and his hair stood on end at the same time. He felt that the power in front of him could overthrow everything!

After taking a boat trip to Nanjing, someone was reading a notice at the pier.

However, Qian Qianyi didn't know who to ask for help, so he directly posted a notice inviting famous experts to compile "Datong Zhengyin" together, and the office was located in a garden left by Wei Guogong.

The North couldn't even afford food, but the South was compiling phonological books.

All the scholars had tears in their eyes just by looking at the notice.

The classics of the prosperous age, they escaped from hell, but seemed to see a glorious and prosperous age.