It would be damning if the rebels could capture Jining City. The Ming Dynasty was not that cowardly yet.
Let’s not talk about how high Jining’s city wall is or how deep its moat is. Let’s just talk about the military strength here. There are more than 1,600 people from the Beijing Cao Army, more than 2,300 people from the grain transport army, and more than 600 people from the city garrison.
, more than 400 people from the field army.
The above is just the strength on paper, there must be empty pay, and there are quite a few who take advantage of it.
However, just half a month ago, Linqing commander Zong Min came over with all the Linqing garrison troops. After careful calculation, adding up the forces before and after, Jining Prefecture's paper strength was as high as 8,000!
The governor of Shandong could not transfer these soldiers from Jining, because they also shouldered the responsibility of rushing to aid Yanzhou - Yanzhou was the residence of King Lu.
The contemporary King of Lu is called Zhu Yangzhu, and his name will remain in history, but his reputation is not very glorious.
Thirty-two years ago, the King of Lu and the Princess drank with outsiders. After getting drunk, the palace man Zhu Huarong, the soldier Yuan Bin, and the Princess's brother Zhang Shiju actually engaged in a group of people in the Palace of Lu. Princess Qixia caught them and reported them.
No one knows whether King Lu and his wife were involved, and there is no record in the history books. However, King Lu was deprived of two-thirds of his Lumi, Princess Zhang was deposed, Yuan Bin was beheaded in public, Zhang Shiju and Zhu Huarong were hanged.
The rest were sent to the army, and all the officials below Chang Shi were convicted. It was those officials in the palace who were really unjustly accused. For example, Chang Shi, King of Lu, was shot while lying down.
Zhu Yangzhu, the king of Lu, stopped from then on, cultivated his moral character, and waited for a long time. He endured the death of his son and his grandson, and later his great-grandson directly succeeded him as King of Lu.
Not long ago, the rebels attacked Yanzhou. King Lu and the soldiers who defended the city killed the rebels. But they were afraid of the rebels coming again, so they asked the court to increase the defense of Yanzhou. The court sent the soldiers from Linqingzhou to Jining to protect the water transportation channel.
Secondly, you can quickly rush to the aid of King Lu.
At this moment, Jining has three commanders, four commanders, six commanders, one deputy military envoy, one water transportation general, two officers, two governors, more than ten thousand households, and seventy people.
Hundreds of households!
These civil and military generals alone can form a hundred-man army.
Yang Hu led his men to attack the city, but was beaten and forced to retreat. One day later, he chose to retreat.
When leaving, Yang Hu robbed more than a hundred watercrafts and burned more than 1,200 watercrafts, setting Jining Nancheng Wharf on fire.
On the tower, Shen Fucong's face turned pale.
Li Sanlang, who took the initiative to help defend the city, patted Shen Fucong on the shoulder and comforted him: "Mr. Shen, don't worry too much. You really can't bear such a big crime."
Shen Fucong looked at Liang Xi, the water transportation officer not far away, and said with a wry smile: "It seems that being a junior official has its benefits."
Liang Xi had already sat down on the ground, muttering to himself: "It's over, it's all over!"
Liang Xi was lucky. The real unlucky guy was Wang Chong, the head of the Dushui Division. This man was too responsible, and the rebels came. He also led his men to transport grain, but was caught on the spot by the rebels.
Zhao Hao personally interrogated Wang Chong and found that the chief officer had no bad deeds and was actually an official. Zhao Hao planned to recruit him under his command and be responsible for supervising food for the rebels. However, Wang Chong refused to obey. Zhao Hao said
He sighed and let Wang Chong go.
Being caught by the rebels and released by the rebels, I'm afraid there will be a lot of gossip.
After Yang Hu and Zhao Hao led their troops to leave, Li Sanlang immediately took the leopard cat to the north, fearing that he would be blocked by rebels if he walked slowly.
When Li Ying came to the capital, the punishments from the Ministry of War also came down: Gu Shilong, the commander-in-chief of water transport and the Marquis of Zhenyuan, Liang Xi, the general of water transport, Zhang Jin, the censor of the capital, the eunuch of Shandong garrison, the governor of Shandong, the chief envoy of Shandong, and the inspector-general of Shandong. The magistrate of Jining, the magistrate of Jining, the magistrate of Jining, and the officers of the Jining Guards Station, as well as the military preparations, military leaders, city patrol officers, and Zhang Jun, the deputy general in charge of assisting Jining, were all suspended from their posts and ordered to He has done meritorious deeds!
When the sky falls, Shen Fucong, the state magistrate, is still supported by a bunch of big guys.
But he had just taken up the post and had not received his official seal yet. He had to bear such a punishment. Shen Fucong felt that his future career would be very bumpy.
On the contrary, Wang Chong, who was captured and released by the bandits, had no merit or demerit because he had fulfilled his duties.
Seeing that Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang Jun was suspended from pay, the three generals Xu Tai, Feng Zhen and Que Yong immediately mobilized all their energy to pursue the rebels. Soon they captured more than 2,000 thieves and captured the leader Zhu Qianhu alive. A famous rebel thief on the list can be promoted to the third level if captured).
…
Suburbs of Beijing.
Zhou Chong pointed to a piece of fertile land in front of him and said happily: "Second brother, that is our family's private land. Although ten acres is not much, we have property in the capital. From now on, I can bring you my master and my wife to enjoy the blessings."
There were not only fields, but also tenants.
A total of three people including his family, dressed in patched clothes, came to kneel down and kowtow to Wang Yuan: "Young man Zhang Fang, pay your respects to the great master!"
"Everyone, get up." Wang Yuan said.
The emperor often talked about "leaning" when granting land. Ten acres of fertile land was really not much. With the output and rent in ancient times, it was impossible to support a few people.
Wang Yuan's ten acres of granted land are in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, close to the Bahe River, and it is very convenient for irrigation. The private land that used to belong to Liu Jin was confiscated after Liu Jin was overthrown. Unfortunately, the farmers whose land was taken away were still tenants.
These tenants were already of low status and were now dependent on Wang Yuan and had certain personal rights. Strictly speaking, they were in a semi-slave state.
Wang Yuan was not stupid enough to fight against the feudal system. He only asked: "How much rent did you pay before? Do you need to pay taxes and services?"
A middle-aged man said: "As far as I'm concerned, you can pay eight bushels of wheat and seven bushels of millet per acre of land, so you don't need to pay any more taxes."
In the northern fields of the Ming Dynasty, the average yield of spring wheat and autumn millet was more than one stone per mu, which combined was an annual output of two stone. Although the yield per mu of these fertile fields was much higher than the average, the land rent collected by Liu Jin and the government before was also high, almost already 70% of the total output.
In the family of three in front of me, all the young and old are dead, leaving only a middle-aged couple and a teenage girl.
They work hard to cultivate ten acres of land every year, but can only leave four shi of wheat and four shi of corn, which means more than 900 kilograms of food to feed three people for a year, and the average daily ration for each person is less than one kilogram. Moreover, these grains A part of it needs to be used in exchange for oil, salt and other items. It is a rare thing to be able to guarantee that you will not starve to death.
This woman and girl must have spun cloth to support their family, otherwise they would never have survived to this day.
Wang Yuan immediately said: "I am also from a poor background. I have only been able to eat sorghum in the mountains since I was a child, and I can't even get a little bit of oil and salt. From now on, the rent for wheat and millet per acre is five dou, so you have to take good care of the fields!"
The three of them were stunned for a moment, then they were overjoyed and knelt down to kowtow frantically to Wang Yuan.
Wang Yuan warned: "Don't publicize it. When others ask, just say that the land rent remains the same as before."
"Thank you for your kindness, sir. I promise not to talk nonsense." The tenant farmer named Zhang Fang kowtowed again.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that a fifth-rank imperial official would be exempted from grain for fourteen dan, and Wang Yuan would not have to pay any tax on these ten acres of land.
It is said that the salaries of officials in the Ming Dynasty were very low. In fact, even if tax exemptions and exemptions were not included, the salaries of middle and lower-level officials were much higher than those of middle- and lower-level officials in the Han Dynasty.
So where is the low point?
The official salary is folded into banknotes, rice is folded into banknotes, cloth is folded into banknotes, and cloth is folded into silver. This is the actual salary of an official, calculated using the official value of Ming Dynasty treasure banknotes, and then using the treasure banknotes to fold into rice grain and cloth, and then press
Rice grains and cloth were converted into silver.
Once the treasure money turns into waste paper, the officials will really starve to death!
By the middle of the Ming Dynasty, people no longer dared to fold treasure banknotes, and instead distributed actual rice cloth. In this way, middle- and lower-level officials were actually doing okay. They could eat well even if they were not corrupt, and their treatment was better than that of officials of the same level in the Han Dynasty.
Those who are really low are the middle and upper-level officials, whose salaries are so small that they cannot afford to eat without corruption.
"What's your name?" Wang Yuan asked the woman.
The woman replied: "The civilian woman is called Zhang He."
Wang Yuan said: "I will teach you a way to raise chickens. It is a native method from my hometown. In a few days, I will ask Zhou Chong to buy some chickens."
The three of them were horrified and quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy.
This is just like raising horses for the government in the north and donkeys for the government in Guizhou. No ordinary people dare to touch them. If they are raised to death, they will lose their fortune.
Wang Yuan had no choice but to explain: "I won't let you compensate me if I die."
The three of them felt relieved and kowtowed to Wang Yuan again in shock.
Wang Yuan smiled helplessly and took Zhou Chong back to the city.
In the evening of that day, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky, and Venus was in the constellation Dou, which symbolized constant military disasters.
This is the second vision this month. Just a few days ago, a meteor fell and exploded into three small stars in the sky. All the people in the capital could see it clearly.
All the officials were shocked, and memorials flew into the cabinet like snowflakes, requesting that all the imperial estates be abandoned, all the estates be given to the poor people, and all illegal tax cards set up by the imperial estates be removed. At the same time, the officials showed their power and impeached two people in one fell swoop.
More than a hundred civil and military officials and eunuchs were honored.
With this kind of astronomical phenomena coming one after another, all the officials, including Wang Yuan, must go to court to express their opinions.