Chongming County, the mansion in the east of the city.
Zhou Hezhi was drinking tea. The Huzhou Anji white tea given by the prison government was fragrant. There were several close brothers in the room, but they were not in the mood to drink tea.
"Brother, it's clear that he wants to supervise the country. He wants to annex our people." Seeing that his eldest brother was still so leisurely, Zhou Rui couldn't help shouting.
"Who is the Jianguo? You are the regent of the Jianguo. How can that be called annexing our people? When he was in Fujian, Zheng Zhilong wanted to annex our people. In Zhoushan, Huang Binqing also always wanted to annex our people. Only this time
,no."
He took a sip of tea and pointed at Zhou Rui, Zhao Xin, Deng Xian, Huang Rong, and Li Yu, "You were originally pirates like me, but now you have been granted the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy by the Supervisor.
Isn’t it enough?”
These five newly appointed generals of the five towns of the Yangtze River Navy are all pirates. Among them, Zhou Rui is the younger brother of Zhou Hezhi, and the other four are all from Fujian and Guangdong. Among them, Huang Rong and Li Yu are even Dan
People, Dan people are a very miserable ethnic group. They are discriminated against and are called untouchables. They are only allowed to live on the water and are not allowed to settle on land. They are not even allowed to read, be literate, take exams, work as officials, and are not allowed to interact with land residents.
Intermarriage etc.
They live on boats and drift with the waves.
The two of them joined the pirates, and then gradually became the leader, and now they are awarded the title of commander-in-chief of a town by Lu Jianguo. There is really nothing to say. I remember that when the Chongzhen court recruited Zhou Hezhi, they only gave him a commander-in-chief. Zheng Zhilong has always thought about it.
He recruited and annexed this group of people, but he was only willing to give him a thousand bosses.
Later, they joined forces and went to Zhoushan to form a partnership with Huang Binqing, with Zhou Hezhi as the governor and the others with guerrilla titles.
Now he is directly awarded the title of Commander-in-Chief, but he has been promoted several levels in a row.
"Everyone, why did we go to Zhoushan when we were free on the sea? Aren't we all to fight against the Tartars and protect our ancestors' culture and rituals?"
Zhou Rui was a little worried, "I don't really believe in the imperial court. If we are reorganized and they come back to do it again, wouldn't we be powerless to resist, just like Huang Binqing today?"
"Everyone, we are no longer pirates. We are officers and generals. As generals, we must obey military orders and be dispatched. From now on, we will all be naval generals. If the court really wants to make moves, that is normal. Don't return the boss's orders.
Look at the current situation from the perspective of what we used to do at sea."
Pirates have pirate rules, and the imperial court has imperial systems.
In general, the sea is more dangerous and pirates are cunning and selfish.
Zhou Hezhi is also a person who has been traveling in the sea since he was a teenager, and he is also an old man in the world of rivers and lakes. He even has seven names in the world of rivers and lakes, Zhou Hezhi, Zhou Cuizhi, Cui Zhi, Zhou Zhi, etc. He is known as the seven-headed dragon.
What kind of storms and waves have he never seen? Before coming this time, he had already thought about it carefully. Outside the city, he was very decisive and simply made up his mind and no longer hesitated to wait and see.
"Everyone, the supervisor of the country treats us as soldiers, and we will repay them as soldiers. Although we are from humble backgrounds, we are also good thieves. Don't have any doubts anymore. Go back and cooperate with the court in reorganizing the navy. From now on, we will
They are the officers and soldiers of the Yangtze River Navy. You must lead your own soldiers and be worthy of this reward. Don't forget the original intention of our recruitment. We not only seek fame and wealth, but also deserve to be worthy of our ancestors.
The identity of the Chinese Han people!"
"Brothers can't spend their whole lives wandering on the sea and being bandits. Now we have the opportunity to go ashore. It's a rare opportunity. We should cherish it." Zhou Hezhi waved his hands and asked the brothers to go back to their camps.
·····
Suzhou.
Boluo and Duoduo joined forces. Prince Yu was very dissatisfied with the fact that Li Shutai died in battle and even had his head cut off, so he ordered the execution of Li Shutai's group of soldiers.
"If Su Song caused such a big mess this time, Tu Guobao, you are responsible."
Tu Guobao immediately knelt down and apologized, "It's all slaves who neglected their duties and deserve to die."
"I hope you can quickly put down Su Song's rebellion and defeat the rebels, which can be regarded as redemption." Duduo frowned and said. After this chaos, although Su Song recovered the entire territory, he also killed a large number of rebels.
, but also severely damaged.
Changsu, Songtai, three prefectures and one prefecture were all looted, and all the counties below were also looted.
This loss is very huge. The summer tax revenue was gone before it was escorted and turned over. Now the government offices and green camps all over the country have no money or food.
Not to mention that a large number of gentry who had surrendered were also purged during this great rebellion.
The order to shave their heads made the originally obedient people become restless.
Not to mention that a minister died, and he was not of ordinary origin.
The regent Dorgon was very angry in Beijing and reprimanded Duduo, Boluo and Hong Chengchou. They had made great achievements in pacifying Jiangnan, but now there was such a chaos just before the ban. Duduo was also very angry.
Dorgon is his biological brother, but this time he scolded him so much.
Fortunately, Su Song's rebellion was quickly put down, and Tu Guobao, this slave, still has some abilities, not to mention that Yan Wogong's performance was particularly eye-catching this time.
Compared with Su Song's green camp, which is incompetent, the green camp in western Zhejiang performed well.
"Now the rebels are running around, and one of them has fled to Chongming Island. The lower-level people lack ships, so they have to build ships to prepare for war."
Before Duduo arrived, he had also received many detailed reports. Knowing that peace had returned to Jiangnan, a little false rebellion was no longer harmful.
He didn't have the time to study these defeated soldiers in detail now, and waved his hand, "I'll leave all these matters to you, Tufuyuan. Wu Shengzhao, Li Chengdong, Yang Chengzu and others have done meritorious service. General Li will guard Songjiang and do a good job. We must wipe out these fake thieves as soon as possible."
.”
Duduo and Bolo will still return to Beijing as originally planned and will not cause any further delays in Jiangnan.
After he left, Hong Chengchou, a great scholar in recruiting, became the governor of the military and political affairs of the Jiangnan provinces.
The main force of the Eight Banners returned to the north, leaving only a small number to garrison in important towns such as Jiangning, Hangzhou, and Suzhou. The rest of the places were left to the green battalion. One of the important tasks of the governors such as Tu Guobao was to reorganize the green battalion and garrison in different locations.
, continued to wipe out the puppet Ming rebels, and then implemented shaving of hair, changing clothes, and collecting taxes.
Anyway, Jiangnan has been generally pacified, and Beijing is anxious to summon Duduo to wait for him to return.
Duduo looked at Tu Guobao and said, "Although you have derelict in your duties this time, you still have merit. I will make it clear to you one by one after you return to Beijing. You should guard Su Song well and don't go on business trips again."
"Su Song encountered this rebellion and looting, his treasury was empty, and all summer taxes were lost. Beijing has issued a decree to immediately levy an additional three rates in Jiangnan, and an additional three cents of silver per mu."
"This amount of money must be collected in the autumn, and no penny should be lost."
After hearing this, Tu Guobao nodded repeatedly. The additional levy of three cents of silver per acre was a big burden for the people, but for him, it was a good way to make money. He didn't care about the lives of the people.
He even echoed, "The land in the south of the Yangtze River is fertile. The additional tax of three cents per mu will only account for about 10% of the land expenditure. Adding the original tax, it will only account for 20% of the land expenditure. The people will collect ten cents and pay twenty cents."
, still very wealthy."
He did not say at all that the official taxes of the imperial court often accounted for only a fraction of the actual burden of the people. Those additional levies, high expenditures, and extravagant exploitation by officials were sometimes several times the official taxes, especially the heavy levies.
He Zheyin, this is the real bulk of the labor force.
But Tu Guobao didn't know this, but he didn't care at all.
Just like the Liao rate among the three rates, it was levied starting from the Wanli period. Initially it was 3.5 cents per mu, then it was increased one by one, and finally it was 9 cents per mu. It was raised to 1.2 cents per mu during the Chongzhen period. You can get silver in one year.
Six million six hundred thousand taels, plus customs duties, salt taxes and other miscellaneous items, you can get more than seven million four hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver.
Later, a new suppression rate of 2.8 million taels and a training rate of 7.3 million taels were established.
However, the Chongzhen Dynasty's three rates did not last long.
In the face of opposition, Yang Sichang, Minister of the Ministry of War, opened his eyes and told lies. He said that the tax increase came from the land and the land would go to the powerful families, and the increase of silver by three or four coins was a little restrained from annexation.
But in fact, really powerful families often find ways not to pay this amount or to pay less, passing the burden onto ordinary people.
Now Tu Guobao is telling lies with open eyes, saying that the three wages plus three cents of silver per acre only accounts for 10% of the land output, and only 20% plus regular taxes. The common people still have 80% of the land per acre, so they can still live a good life.
He lived a very relaxed and comfortable life. But in his heart, he was already thinking that the court would ask for three cents of silver per mu, and he planned to set a price of one cent per mu for fire.
He directly levied four cents per acre, three cents were handed over to the court, and one cent was the income for him and the officials.
Su Songchang's cultivated land in the fifth prefecture of Zhenning is more than 48 million acres in the official account books, of which Suzhou Prefecture has more than 10 million acres. An additional 1 cent of fire consumption and interception is levied on each acre, which is more than 480,000 taels of silver.
.
After calculating this small account, Tu Guobao almost laughed out loud on the spot. The money he owed Zhu Wu, the fake admiral who had killed a thousand swords, was settled, and he no longer had to worry about it all day long.
"Tufuyuan, with three additional taxes, can we raise the levy?" Duduo saw him in a daze and thought it would be difficult.
As a result, Tu Guobao immediately responded and said very simply and decisively, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, we will definitely complete the task on time. If any unruly people dare to resist the tax and refuse to pay, they will directly confiscate their homes and behead them to serve as a warning to others."
"Very good, the Tufuyuan is decisive and straightforward in handling affairs." Duduo was very satisfied. Dorgon told him that Beijing's financial problems were serious now, so he could only re-levy the three rates of the Ming Dynasty, and he had to levy the three rates together, and even the total amount was repaid.
A little more, the three rates will be levied at 20 million taels to cover the huge military and financial expenses.
The Beijing court now only has about two million taels of silver left in the treasury, but military expenditures and other huge expenditures have also begun to default on military pay, especially the military pay of the Green Camp, which has been generally delayed for several months.
The Tatars were good at robbery, and Dorgon had no other way to generate money, so he asked various places to collect taxes, not only to collect the regular taxes, but also to levy three rates again, or even to collect the three rates together.
He didn't even bother to change his name. He was so shameless as to practice and suppress his name.
With half of the world, an additional 20 million taels were levied. For the people of the Ming Dynasty in the occupied areas, this was equivalent to double the three rates of Chongzhen.
"Jiangnan can rest assured to leave it to you."
Yan Wogong sat aside, looking at the arrogant Duduo and Bolo, as well as the greedy and cruel Tu Guobao, etc., with mixed feelings in his heart.
Once these three rates were imposed, the people of Jiangnan would no longer have peace.
Please remember the first domain name of this book: ._