Late Ming Dynasty: Conquering the world starting from riding and cutting

Lingnan is in chaos!

Beginning in the twelfth lunar month of the third year of Chongzhen's reign, the turmoil spread rapidly upstream and downstream along the Ling Canal from Chang County, where the anti-grain and tax resistance first broke out.

In Zhenjiang, Lechang, Shixing, Renhua, Wengyuan, and Xinfeng, there were reports of peasant uprisings against grain and taxes. From time to time, officials who went to the countryside to collect taxes were beaten to death.

The tax collectors and landowners throughout Lingnan were panicked, especially those who owned tenants. Now they basically dare not go to the fields. Some even packed their bags and put a pillar on their ancestors in the ancestral hall. The incense of confession, along with gold, silver and soft objects, fled into various prefectures and counties to escape this wave of civil unrest.

However, there is still good news that makes officials at all levels in Lingnan feel a little more at ease. Rioters like Zhan Chenjiu and Gu Shengzhi only know how to roam the countryside and rob markets, towns and villages, but they dare not touch the prefectures and counties at all.

Coincidentally, just when Lingnan officials were worried about this anti-grain and anti-tax trend, another bad news came.

A civil uprising also broke out in Lingnan Tieshan, one of the four major cast iron towns in the world.

For the villagers in the countryside, the annual collection of land rent, money and grain, and taxes are three sharp knives hanging over their heads. But for ordinary citizens and craftsmen such as blacksmiths and smelters living in the county, taxes, taxes, and donations , apportionment, are also three sharp blades.

Since it is a sharp blade, it is something that can kill people.

When the tax collectors took the tax books and asked the workers in the blacksmith shops to pay the eight percent tax rate according to the Liao rate that was levied in the 45th year of Wanli, and then pay the three-and-two percent tax rate that was increased from the first year of Chongzhen. , the blacksmiths of Tieshan were angry!

Ten years ago it was only eight cents, but now it has increased four times. Wouldn't it cost them their lives?

Even if they worked day and night, they would not be able to repay the extra two and a half cents.

Coupled with the dumping of Keelung ironware in the past two years, Tieshan's ironware business has been declining day by day.

What's more, Tieshan uses charcoal as fuel to smelt pig iron and make various iron tools, which is inherently more expensive than using blast furnaces to use coke as fuel to smelt iron in Keelung. At the same time, Keelung adopts a modern enterprise management system to form an integrated industrial system from mining, transportation, and chain washing, which minimizes the cost of intermediate links.

In Tieshan's smelting industry, it's just the opposite. One company buys ore, and another buys timber. There's no one that even transports it. An even more staggering cost is the contribution and management of all officials in Tieshan.

Calculated in this way, every kilogram of wrought iron smelted by iron smelters in Tieshan is thirty to forty yuan more expensive than the Keelung wrought iron equipment sold in Lingnan street shops. Very few can match the price.

Of course, in addition to the high price, Tieshan's blacksmiths also found something that made them even more helpless. No matter what craftsmanship they used, the final tools they built were not as good as those made in Keelung.

My own sickle started to have cracks, scratches, and dull edges after only one year, but Keelung's sickle, even if it was used to cut rice for a whole year, was still shiny and sharp.

A strange phenomenon occurred.

No matter how hard Tieshan's craftsmen try, they can't make any money!

When they heard that taxes were going to be increased again this year, the blacksmiths could no longer hold back their anger and beat the tax collectors out with sledgehammers and tongs.

Anyone who asks them for taxes will starve their whole family to death.

When the beaten tax collectors with broken muscles and bones were struggling to escape on the streets, the iron smelters who came after hearing the news enthusiastically left them here.

Led by Sun Tiejiang, the guild leader who was the first to wield the hammer, the blacksmiths of Tieshan began their own uprising against taxes and donations.

For a time, the blacksmiths holding their own weapons and the farmers holding various farm tools echoed from north to south, as if they were going to throw the entire southern border of the Ming Dynasty into chaos.

When people in the city were worried about the furniture in their homes and the food hidden in the cellars, even worse news came from Lingxi.

In Lingxi, there were not only civil uprisings to resist food and taxes, but also mutinies.

As a major feature of the local area, the local magistrates and other local officials also took advantage of the situation to rebel and began to rob prefectures and counties, using their usual methods.

Since the rebellion of the Wanli Bozhou chieftains, the chieftains in the Lingxi area have become much more stable, but this uprising has revived their originally stable thoughts.

Their methods are much more tyrannical than those of the rebels. Armed with swords, guns, and armor, they are not only the local magistrates, but also the leaders of major villages.

When they come together, Lingxi is completely in chaos.

Such a situation does not disturb the New Year thoughts of officials from all over Guangdong and Guangxi at all.

"Damn it! I originally thought about collecting some of the fire damage as a benefit, so that I could go to the provincial capital to take care of Governor Xiong, or I could change my place, but now it's better!"

More than one local official jumped around in the mansion and cursed. With such chaos, not only whether he could be promoted, but also whether he could secure his current position became a huge problem.

In order to prevent themselves from losing their jobs and losing their livelihood in the future, most officials make as much money as they can now.

Their idea made the gentry who had taken refuge in the county complain incessantly. A defense tax cost them most of their wealth.

However, some direct officials began to convene military attachés to discuss strategies to quell the chaos.

"Sir, our brothers in the camp already hold official positions. It is only natural for us to go out and fight those people who are rebelling against the tax. Who told us that this is what we have to eat?"

"That's very good. I hope we can send troops soon!"

"But there is a problem. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, but the brothers have not received food and salary for more than half a year. The wives, children and children at home are all hungry. If it were not for the official position, the Sa family would also like to go out and cause trouble."

In the past, in front of the magistrates and other civil servants in various places, he behaved like a servant, but today he can't see it at all.

One by one, Ji sat in front of them, chatting and laughing loudly, just showing off their own difficulties, and even worse, saying in front of the magistrate that they would go out to rebel if they had no money or food.

^.^，

"The world is so cold!"

Seeing this group of rude warriors in front of scholars being so presumptuous made officials at all levels gnash their teeth and hate them. They wished they could eat these common warriors alive one by one to relieve their hatred.

They began to miss the glory of Emperor Jiajing when he was in power. No matter whether it was you, Qi Jiguang or Yu Dayou, even if a first-grade military officer met a third-grade civil servant, he would greet him from a distance and bow to each other.

But what is the current situation?

Even a small boss dares to sit on an equal footing in front of those of us who have passed the imperial examination on the right track!

What is it? !

But no matter how much I cursed in my heart, I still had to settle the chaos in front of me first. Otherwise, when the higher authorities investigate, the first thing that will be unlucky is that this group of civil servants are not managing the place well.

So both parties started to get along (bargain).

"I will make up for half a year's salary arrears, and then give you half a year's military salary. One month's salary."

"In addition to military pay, isn't it almost the Chinese New Year? I don't have much cotton cloth at home, so I would like to ask you all to send some. I don't have much. Each brother will be given a set of cotton clothes and three pairs of straw sandals. But the cotton cloth must be from Keelung. It’s produced, so don’t use it to fool people like Jiangnan.”

"By the way, sir, please allocate funds to purchase a batch of weapons. It is said that thieves from all over the country have robbed big houses everywhere, and the weapons in their hands are quite sophisticated. The weapons in our hands have long been out of use. "

Hearing the conditions put forward by this group of officers on different occasions, the adults who have read the books of sages raised eyebrows, "The lion is opening its mouth!"

But now that the situation is like this, there is nothing to do but collect money and food. After some bargaining, the civil servants and military attachés finally reached an agreement to supplement the military pay and all their requirements.

The civil servants have only one request, which is to quell the rebellion within a month. If this cannot be accomplished, not only the civil servants in Lingnan, but also the general military attachés will be unable to escape.

Removal is a trivial matter, but beheading would be an unjust death.

Since then, the counter-insurgency campaign in Lingnan has been in full swing.