"My Emperor, the Ming Dynasty, is in such a miserable state. The big reason is because the gentry do not pay taxes!"
"If the gentry pays taxes and taxes and servitude are equally shared, the common people will no longer suffer from the pressure of land tax that cannot make ends meet, and there will not be so many people who become angry and engage in thieves! If the gentry pays taxes, the number of taxed acres in the world can be more than doubled, and the court will not
If you can't collect the land tax, you will have money to raise troops, and the Tatars will not dare to enter the pass and plunder, destroying the countryside!"
Hearing Li Laosi's words, the people watching the excitement below were a little moved. Who doesn't have a pure heart? Who is willing to watch this great world collapse? Who is willing to be a slave under the rule of the Manchu Tatars?
How can the egg be finished if it is laid? If the Ming Dynasty is finished, then Jiangnan, which is full of food and clothing, will also be finished.
Everything Li Laosi said was reasonable, and the people couldn't help but re-examine Master Huben's behavior. In the eyes of most people, the full hostility gradually softened.
Even the gentry who had been there to incite the people's emotions did not dare to make any noise for a while. The high platform surrounded by tens of thousands of people gradually became quiet from inside to outside.
Li Laosi rolled up his sleeves and said loudly: "However, Zhang Pu and the others ordered the gentry in the world to deal with Uncle Xing Guo and resist taxes. They would rather destroy the world than let the court take out a copper coin from the pockets of the gentry!"
"
"Such a person should be killed!"
"I, Li Laosi, are a rough man. Everyone knows my origin by my name. But today, in Suzhou, I have to do a big thing. I am willing to bear the world's infamy and kill Zhang Pu, the leader of the society, for Xing Guobo
The three of you, let’s take a correct look!”
When the citizens of Suzhou heard this, they all had mixed expressions. Although Zhang Pu was the pride of Suzhou, what Li Laosi said made sense. The Ming Dynasty was in turmoil. If the gentry continued not to pay taxes, the Ming Dynasty would not be able to survive.
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Some gentry were anxious when they saw that the people no longer hated Master Hu Ben. On the right side of the wooden platform in the execution place, a group of twenty or thirty gentry sons suddenly shouted: "Thief Li has deceived the world, kill me in Suzhou clothes!"
"The people in the south of the Yangtze River have enough food and clothing. How could the Ming Dynasty be in danger of overthrowing? Don't be deceived by them!"
"Now that the bandits have been wiped out, the Tatars are hurt and dare not enter the customs, and the world is at peace. What's the use of paying so many land taxes? Are they left to the emperor to squander? How much did Emperor Tianqi spend on the three palaces? How much did it cost the people of the world? More is needed
Is the money squandered by them? The gentry does not pay taxes, and the people under the gentry's family also benefit!"
These sons of the gentry began to use their interests to incite the onlookers.
Indeed, the gentry did not pay taxes, and the common people who donated their land to the gentry also benefited. How much land did those gentry who achieved fame have? A considerable part of the land they owned was donated by unruly people who hoped not to pay land taxes.
The gentry collected land rent from the unruly people that was lower than the tax, and both the unruly people and the gentry gained a win-win situation.
In the end, it was only the most honest common people who were unlucky. The land tax fell entirely on the most honest common people, who were the least willing to dedicate their fields to the gentry.
For hundreds of years during the Ming Dynasty, the population multiplied and wastelands were continuously reclaimed. The population at the end of the Ming Dynasty was at least several times that at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and the taxable fields were only half of the original. It can be seen that at least half of the people did not pay taxes.
Some Suzhou citizens and their relatives in the countryside are entrusted to the gentry and do not pay taxes.
Although these people are not gentry, they have the same position as the gentry. Although they are shocked by Li Laosi's conclusive truth, what Li Laosi is talking about is the long-term future. The long-term future is too slim, and the immediate interests are here.
It is difficult to change their stance at once.
Among the group of noisy gentry sons, the leader, a scholar in his thirties, shouted loudly: "Everyone, tens of thousands of people rush forward to save Zhang Tianru!"
Hearing the scholar's instigation, the crowd next to the execution ground suddenly divided into several groups: some of the citizens had relatives who were poor people and were oppressed by taxes. They all stood by Li Laosi and did not move at all.
But other citizens, whose relatives were under the care of the gentry and did not pay taxes, were ready to take action under the instigation of the scholar.
Some people have both kinds of relatives, or some people have neither kind of relatives, so they remain silent and make no progress or retreat.
Li Laosi looked at the people on the field and said coldly: "That's it. Anyone who dares to resist taxes and cause trouble will be killed!"
The scholar took the risk. Seeing that some citizens around him were ready to make a move, he took the lead and rushed forward, bumping into the soldiers maintaining order at the platform.
The scholars behind him were inspired and rushed forward with a huff, attacking the soldiers maintaining order.
Behind the sons of the gentry, some citizens were eager to follow the gentry into the execution ground and rescue Zhang Tianru. The scene suddenly became very chaotic.
If it weren't for the iron-blooded Tiger Master who killed people who didn't dare to go up, otherwise the situation would have been out of control.
Li Laosi looked at the more than twenty gentry boys pushing the soldiers, waved his hand and shouted: "Let them come in!"
The soldiers who were under attack got the order and made way for dozens of gentry boys to rush onto the platform. Those gentry boys broke free of the restraints, with ecstasy on their faces, and ran towards the platform, hoping to rob the execution site.
But the smiles on their faces only lasted for a moment and then all disappeared.
Li Laosi waved his hand, and a hundred Huben division rifles were pointed at them, and they opened fire without hesitation.
There was only a crackling sound of gunfire, like exploding beans, and a hundred bullets were fired at the more than 20 people who rushed to the execution ground, beating these people into a sieve at once. Pillars of blood fell from the bodies of the gentry sons who rushed to the execution ground.
It burst out and splashed for several meters, staining the originally clean execution platform with large areas of blood red.
The more than twenty people who rushed onto the platform were all shot to death before they even had time to scream.
The smoke from the firing of a hundred rifles spread, spreading the pungent smell of gunpowder to the entire place. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the bloody smell of more than twenty corpses on the ground, the smell was disgusting.
Some unscrupulous people who were eager to try just now turned pale when they saw the corpse on the platform. They hid behind each other and did not dare to move forward.
A wealthy man wearing a straight-cut silk skirt looked at the corpse on the stage, fell to his knees on the ground, and cried loudly.
"My son!"
Li Laosi did not even look at the corpse on the ground, but said coldly: "The time has come, I will kill Zhang Pu and three others for the sake of the world!"
"Prepare for execution!"
The executing soldier put the muzzle of the gun on the heads of Zhang and Pu, and looked coldly at the three leaders of the society who had shaken the world.
Zhang Pu laughed and shouted: "Zhou Yanru will not let you go, I have already seen the death date of Thief Li!"
Li Laosi waved his hand.
"shot!"
"Bah, bang, bang," three gunshots rang out.
Some people watching in the audience screamed when they heard the gunfire that killed Zhang Pu, as if the bullet had been shot at them.
A blood flower burst out from the back of Zhang Pu's head and splashed several meters away. He opened his eyes wide, shook his body, and fell forward on the platform with a thud, and there was no more movement.
Zhang Cai and Chen Zilong were also shot in the head and fell in a pool of blood.
Next, the gentry who smashed Fanjiazhuang's goods and the prefect of Suzhou Prefecture who indulged the gentry were also shot, and the sound of execution guns rang out.
After the execution, more than a hundred corpses were strewn across the execution ground, and the scene was very bloody.
Li Laosi stood on the platform and said coldly: "Who in the world dares to cause trouble and resist taxes? There are such thieves!"
