Seeing Su Wen mention this, shopkeeper Xu couldn't help but sigh: "It's not that there was trouble on Shannan Road, but it has recently affected us..."
After listening to shopkeeper Xu's detailed explanation, Su Wen realized that a riot had occurred on Shannan Road three months ago, sweeping half of Shannan Road.
The cause of the incident was that the governor of Shannan Province improperly implemented the New Deal and the officials forced the people to rebel. As a result, countless peasants revolted, set fire to the yamen, occupied the city, and became kings and hegemons.
However, the garrison at Shannan Road quickly reacted. In less than half a month, they were overwhelmed, killing the leaders of the uprising, and suppressed the rebellion.
But the matter did not end there. The remnants of the rebel army were running around, hiding in the mountains and forests, which not only had a huge impact on Shannan Road, but Jiangnan Road was also implicated.
Guyang Town bore the brunt.
Merchants would rather take a detour by sea or river than take the shortcut to Guyang Town.
Su Wen knew nothing about what happened on Shannan Road. After hearing about it, he suddenly realized. Since there were rebel bandit activities on the trade road, it was naturally sparsely populated. Even Guyang Town was in turmoil, people were panicked, and it looked like a dilapidated scene.
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"Weren't those rebels who turned into bandits already wiped out last month?"
Sun Yehou said at this time.
Su Wen didn't know much about what happened on Shannan Road, but he had been paying attention to it. In fact, "Qingshan Daily" had been following up on the matter. He learned a lot about it from the newspaper, and even many ordinary people didn't know it.
Knowing the inside story, he can also deduce more information from some obscure mentions in newspapers and restore the truth.
The governor of Shannan Province declared in his memorial to the court that the people were opposed to the "one whip law" implemented by the court. They hoped to use grain instead of silver to pay taxes, but were rejected. In the end, they became angry and rebelled.
Yu Chunfeng, the governor of Shannan Province, stated in a memorial that the imperial court should suspend the implementation of the one-whip law and other new policies, restore the old system, and even contract taxes to local gentry to save trouble.
Yu Chunfeng's memorial aroused widespread discussion in the court. Many people echoed his suggestions and felt that it should be so. Firstly, the court could reduce its work, and secondly, it would have stable tax revenue, and it could also deepen the relationship between the court and the gentry and sages.
Relationships and maintenance serve multiple purposes.
However, His Majesty the Emperor ignored this and continued to implement the reform firmly. He also sent eunuchs from the palace to severely scold Yu Chunfeng. Eventually, the government and the public were in an uproar. Many ministers even wrote letters accusing His Majesty of insulting ministers and damaging the wise emperor.
In the name of oneself, one can be punished by an edict.
His Majesty the Emperor sneered at this, took out all these ministers and scolded them, with harsh words, saying that the reform must be implemented to the end, and whoever dared to oppose would die.
"Haha... wipe out? It's hard to say whether the current gangsters are the original rebels or someone else pretending to be them."
When Zhang Yu saw this matter mentioned, he became angry and resentful in his heart: "Who doesn't know that if Yu Chunfeng hadn't deliberately stirred up trouble and forced the people to rebel, how could there have been so many troubles?"
Manager Xu didn't dare to answer the question and could only smile bitterly. After hearing this, Su Wen knew that what Zhang Xi said must be right.
After listening to a few words, Su Wen finally understood.
Yu Chunfeng originally served as the right minister of Shangshu Province in the imperial court. He was demoted because he opposed the New Deal, and was finally promoted to the position of governor of Shannan Province.
With the implementation of the New Deal, Shannan Road naturally had to cooperate with the imperial decree to implement the New Deal.
Yu Chunfeng did not resist the implementation of the New Deal, and even implemented it very hard, and was even suspected of overcorrecting.
Originally, the court planned to spend three years measuring the population and land in the entire Tao, but it took Yu Chunfeng only half a year to do so. Regardless of the landlords' objections, a large amount of farmland was confiscated and distributed to ownerless farmers. For a time, the squire landlords
, there were complaints.
But the peasants who got the land were not happy either.
Because most of the allocated land was inferior land, but when it was divided, it was regarded as inferior. When the taxes were finally paid, they were paid according to the superior land. The gentry and landlords seemed to be deprived of many fields, but
What was deprived was almost all mountainous and forest land, good land for growing grains, and was basically retained. It was even changed to lower-grade fields through the replacement of land titles, so that less taxes could be paid.
This is not the main reason for the peasant uprising.
What is even more irritating is that after the New Deal began, the government provided free seeds and cattle to farmers, but Shannan Road was replaced by leases and even had to pay interest to repay them, causing great resentment among the people.
Yu Chunfeng did not keep this tax privately, but reported it to the treasury and used it as national tax revenue. Therefore, when the emperor wanted to use this as an excuse to punish him, there were hundreds of officials who interceded on his behalf.
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What ultimately triggered the popular uprising was that this year was a rare good year, with products nearly 30% more than in previous years.
But the people did not get much benefit from this. When there was more grain, the price would not be good, and the low price of grain hurt farmers. This is not a joke, especially when paying taxes, grain is no longer used, but is used uniformly.
When the money is paid, it hurts the farmers even more.
However, when the imperial court implemented the new law, it had already considered this aspect and formulated corresponding policies. When the price of millet was too low, the government must purchase the millet from farmers at the normal price in previous years, and every household even
There is also a certain amount of tax, that is, the part of the grain that is taxed on the sale of millet is exempt from transaction tax, and there is even a certain premium price subsidy.
But in Shannan Road, these policies have not been implemented at all.
Yu Chunfeng not only refused to buy grain at the official price, but also further released the grain stored in the official warehouse, further suppressing grain prices, and then urged officials to speed up tax collection.
In order to pay taxes on time, farmers had to sell their millet to merchants and landlords at low prices, and even sold off all the land they had just received, turning them into landless people during the good years.
In the past, these landless peasants would at best have returned to being dependent on the landlords as tenant farmers, but this time it was different.
There are several veterans who returned from the northern border. Although they have never read a book, they have awakened to the military culture and become soldiers.
Several people became small landowners due to their military exploits and the land granted by the imperial court. The governor's actions had little impact on them.
But after all, several of them were from poor backgrounds, and it was understandable that they were angry when they saw their fellow villagers destroying their families in a good harvest year.
He went to the prefecture and county to argue with the officials, but was accused of treason and had to kill the officials to escape.
When the people heard what happened to these people, they were furious.
Then an uprising suddenly broke out, and by the time a few people came to their senses, hundreds of people had gathered around them.
Then, under the coercion of everyone, they broke into the county seat, killed the county magistrate, gathered many gangsters, recruited many desperadoes, and then broke through the county seat, and were suppressed in the blink of an eye.
The reporters of "Qingshan Daily" noticed the incident on Shannan Road when the retired veterans killed officials and rebelled, and followed and reported it for a period of time.
Therefore, Zhang Xi, who often hung out in the newspaper office, knew a lot about this matter. He even believed that what happened on Shannan Road was planned by Yu Chunfeng.
"Yu Chunfeng...is an extraordinary person?"
When Su Wen heard this, he already felt something was wrong.
He found that what Yu Chunfeng did was not at all like what a feudal official should do.
But...if Yu Chunfeng is an extraordinary person, then the reason for his actions can be found.
Xie Lingyun was also the governor of Jiangnan Province, but for a forbidden object, he did not hesitate to destroy the spiritual prison and regard the lives of all the people in Wuning City as sacrificial sacrifices.
"You mean...he is completing the promotion ceremony?"
Sun Yehou's face sank.
But he quickly shook his head and said: "As far as I know, Yu Chunfeng is a Confucian scholar. When he was demoted, he was a gentleman of the third rank. After so many years, he should be a Confucian scholar... We Confucians are upright, and he
By doing this, you are blocking your path to advancement!"
"What if he finds a loophole in the ritual?"
Su Wen is well aware that there are many loopholes in the promotion ritual, and he has taken advantage of the loopholes many times to get promoted. For those extraordinary people with evil intentions, the more upright the promotion ritual looks, the more evil they can find to complete it.
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"That's right... it's possible... if he is a gentleman and wants to complete the promotion ceremony of a Confucian scholar, what he does makes perfect sense from the beginning."
Sun Yehou changed his mind. After thinking for a moment, he agreed with Su Wen's statement and murmured: "The rituals have collapsed and the music has collapsed, so restore the old system."